{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_18507/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_18507","id":"gutenberg_18507","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18507","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Providence and government of God -- Christianity"],"text":"Produced by William J. Rotella\n\n\n\n\n\nAngelic Wisdom about DIVINE PROVIDENCE\n\nby\n\nEmanuel Swedenborg\n\nTranslation By\n\nWILLIAM FREDERIC WUNSCH\n\n_Standard Edition_\n\nSWEDENBORG FOUNDATION\nINCORPORATED\nNEW YORK\nESTABLISHED IN 1850\n\nOriginally published in Latin at Amsterdam 1764\nFirst English translation published in U.S.A. 1851\n51st Printing, 1975\n(5th Printing Wunsch Translation).\n\nISBN 0-87785-059-3 (Student)\n0-87785-060-7 (Trade)\n\n_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-30441_\n\nManufactured in the United States of America\n\nCONTENTS[1]\n\n\n\nTranslator's Preface\n\nI. What Divine Providence Is\n\nII. The Goal of Divine Providence\n\nIII. The Outlook of Divine Providence\n\nIV. Providence has its Laws\n\nV. Its Regard for Human Freedom and Reason\n\nVI. Even in the Struggle against Evil\n\nVII. The Law of Noncompulsion\n\nVIII. The Law of Overt Guidance\n\nIX. The Law of Hidden Operation\n\nX. Divine Providence and Human Prudence\n\nXI. Binding Time and Eternity\n\nXII. The Law Guarding against Profanation\n\nXIII. Laws of Tolerance in the Laws of Providence\n\nXIV. Why Evil is Permitted\n\nXV. Providence Attends the Evil and the Good\n\nXVI. Providence and Prudence in the Appropriation of Good and Evil to Man\n\nXVII. The Salvation of All the Design of Providence\n\nXVIII. The Steadfast Observance of its Laws by Providence\n\nIndex of Scripture Passages\n\nSubject Index\n\n[1]Swedenborg gave neither numbers nor brief captions to the chapters of\nthe book. Nor did he prefix a recital of all the propositions and\nsubsidiary propositions to come in the book; this was the work of the\nLatin editor. For this the above, giving the reader a succinct idea of\nthe book's contents, is substituted. _Tr._\n\n\nTRANSLATOR'S PREFACE\n\nTHE Book\n\nThe reader will find in this book a firm assurance of God's care of\nmankind as a whole and of each human being. The assurance is rested in\nGod's infinite love and wisdom, the love pure mercy, the wisdom giving\nlove its ways and means. It is further grounded in an interpretation of\nthe universe as a spiritual-natural world, an interpretation fully set\nforth in the earlier book, _Divine Love and Wisdom_, on which the present\nwork draws heavily. As there is a world of the spirit, no view of\nprovidence can be adequate which does not take that world into account.\nFor in that world must be channels for the outreach of God's care to the\nhuman spirit. There also any eternal goal--such as a heaven from the human\nrace--must exist. A view of providence limited to the horizons of the\npassing existence can hardly resemble the care which the eternal God\ntakes of men and women who, besides possessing perishable bodies, are\nthemselves creatures of the spirit and immortal. The full title of the\nbook, _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence_, implies that its author,\nin an other-world experience, had at hand the knowledge which men and\nwomen in heaven have of God's care. Who should know the divine guidance\nif not the men and women in heaven who have obviously enjoyed it? \"The\nlaws of divine providence, hitherto hidden with angels in their wisdom,\nare to be revealed now\" (n. 70).\n\nAs it is presented in this book, providence seeks to engage man in its\npurposes, and to enlist all his faculties, his freedom and reason, his\nwill and understanding, his prudence and enterprise. It acts first of all\non his volitions and thinking, to align them with itself. That it falls\ndirectly on history, its events and our circumstances, is a superficial\nview. It is man's inner life which first feels the omnipresent divine\ninfluence and must do so. If we cannot be lifted to our best selves and\nif our aims and outlook cannot be modified for the better, how shall the\nworld be bettered which we affect to handle? Paramount in God's presence\nwith all men, if only in their possibilities, is His providential care.\n\nThis care, to which man's inner life is open, is alert every moment, not\noccasional. It is gentle and not tyrannical, constantly respecting man's\nfreedom and reason, otherwise losing him as a human being. It has set\nthis and other laws for itself which it pursues undeviatingly. The larger\npart of the book is an exposition of these laws in the conviction that by\nthem the nature of providence is best seen. Is it not to be expected in a\nuniverse which has its laws, and in which impersonal forces are governed\nby laws, that the Creator of all should pursue laws in His concern with\nthe lives of conscious beings? To fit a world of laws must not the divine\ncare have its laws, too? Adjustment of thought about divine providence to\nscientific thought is not the overriding necessity, for scientific\nthought must keep adjusting to laws which it discerns in the physical\nworld. In consonance, religious thought seeks to learn the lawful order\nin the guidance of the human spirit.\n\nDo not each and all things in tree or shrub proceed constantly and\nwonderfully from purpose to purpose according to the laws of their order\nof things? Why should not the supreme purpose, a heaven from the human\nrace, proceed in similar fashion? Can there be anything in its progress\nwhich does not proceed with all constancy according to the laws of divine\nprovidence? (n 332)\n\nRespecting the laws of providence, it is to be noted that there are more\nlaws than those, five in number, which are stated at the heads of as many\nchapters in the book. Further laws are embodied in other chapters. At\nn. 249(2) we are told that further laws were presented in nn. 191-213,\n214-220, and 221-233. In fact, at n. 243. there is a reference to laws\nwhich follow in even later chapters. In nn. 191-213 the law, partly\nstated in the heading over the chapter, comes to full sight particularly\nat n. 210(2), namely, that providence, in engaging human response, shall\nalign human prudence with itself, so that providence becomes one's\nprudence (n. 311e). In nn. 214-220 the law is that providence employ the\ntemporal goals of distinction and wealth towards its eternal goals, and\nperpetuate standing and wealth in a higher form, for a man will then have\nsought them not for themselves and handled them for the use they can be.\nTo keep a person from premature spiritual experience, nn. 221-233, is\nobviously a law of providence, guarding against relapse and consequent\nprofanation of what had become sacred to him.\n\nThe paradox of divine foreknowledge and human freedom, regularly\ndiscussed in studies of providence, receives an explanation which becomes\nmore and more enlightening in the course of the book. The paradox,\nprobably nowhere else discussed, of man's thinking and willing to all\nappearance all by himself, and of the fact that volition and thought come\nto him from beyond him, receives a similar, cumulative answer. The\ntension between the divine will and human self-will is a subject that\npervades the book; to that subject the profoundest insights into the\nhidden activity of providence and into human nature are brought. On the\nquestion, \"Is providence only general or also detailed?\" the emphatic\nanswer is that it cannot be general unless it takes note of the least\nthings. On miracle and on chance conclusions unusual in religious thought\nmeet the reader. The inequalities, injustices and tragedies in life which\nraise doubts of the divine care are faced in a long chapter after the\nconcept of providence has been spread before the reader. What would be\nthe point in considering them before what providence is has been\nconsidered? Against what manner of providence are the arguments valid? A\nchapter such as this, on doubts of providence and on the mentality which\ncherishes them, becomes a monograph on the subject, as the chapter on\npremature spiritual experience, with the risk of relapse and profanation,\nbecomes a monograph on kinds of profanation.\n\nComing by revelation and by a lengthy other-world experience on\nSwedenborg's part (in which he learned of the incorrectness of some of\nhis own beliefs, nn. 279(2), 290) the book, like others of his,\nnevertheless has for an outstanding feature a steady address to the\nreason. The profoundest truths of the spiritual life, among them the\nnature of God and the laws and ways of providence, are not beyond grasp\nby the reason. Sound reason Swedenborg credits with lofty insights.\n\n_Divine Providence_ is a book to be studied, and not merely read, and\nstudied slowly. By its own way of proceeding, it extends an invitation to\nread, not straight through, but something like a chapter at a time. In a\nnew chapter Swedenborg will recall for the reader what was said in the\npreceding chapter, as though the reader had mean-while laid the book\ndown. The revelator proceeds at a measured pace, carries along the whole\nbody of his thought, and places each new point in this larger context,\nwhere it receives its precise significance and its full force. It is an\naccumulation of thought and not a repetition of statements merely that\none meets. \"What has been written earlier cannot be as closely connected\nwith what is written later as it will be if the same things are recalled\nand placed with both in view\" (n. 193 (1)).\n\nTHE TRANSLATION\n\nThis volume has been translated afresh from the Latin; it is not a\nrevision of any earlier edition. Greater readableness has been striven\nfor. In the past, it is generally recognized, Latin sentence structure\nand word order were clung to unnecessarily. \"The defects in previous\ntranslations of Swedenborg have arisen mainly from too close an adherence\nto cognate words and to the Latin order of words and phrases.\" So wrote\nthe Rev. John C. Ager in 1899 in his translator's note in the Library\nEdition of _Divine Providence_. Why, indeed, should English not be\nallowed its own sentence structure and word order? In addition, in this\ntranslation, long sentences, readily followed in an inflected language\nlike Latin, have been broken up into short ones. English also uses fewer\nparticles of logical relation than are at home in Latin. There is more\nparagraphing, aiding the eye, which both British and American translators\nhave been doing for some years. Latin has neither a definite article nor\nan indefinite article, and a translator into English must decide when to\nuse either or neither. The definite article, the present translator\nthinks, has been overused, perhaps in a dogmatic tendency to be as\nprecise as can be. When, for instance, one is admitted into \"truths of\nfaith\" he is certainly not admitted into \"the truths of faith,\" as though\nhe could comprehend them all. The very title of the book changes the\nimpression which it makes as the definite article is inserted or omitted\nin it. \"The divine providence\" seems to single out a theological concept;\n\"divine providence\" seems more likely to lead the thought to God's actual\ncare.\n\nSwedenborg has his carefully chosen terms, of course, like \"proprium,\"\nwhich are best kept, although in the present translation that term is\nsometimes rendered by an explanatory word and one which, in the\nparticular context, is an equivalent. The verb \"appropriate\" presents a\ndifficulty, but has been kept, partly because of the noun \"proprium.\" One\ncould translate rather wordily \"make\"--something good or evil--\"one's own.\"\nThe English word now means \"take exclusive possession of,\" which one can\nhardly do of good or evil. Assimilation is the thought and the act, and\nwith that in mind the verb \"appropriate\" and the noun \"appropriation\" can\nbe retained. The unusual locution \"affection of truth\" or \"of good,\"\nwhich Mr. Ager abandoned, translating \"for truth\" and \"for good,\" has\nbeen returned to. Much is implied in that phrase which is not to be found\nin the other wording, namely, that we are affected by truth and by good,\nand that there is an influx of these into the human spirit. Similarly\nmeaningful is another unusual way of speaking in English, of a person's\nbeing \"in\" faith or \"in\" charity, where we say that he has faith or\nexercises charity. The thought is that faith and charity, truth and\ngoodness beckon to us, to be welcomed and entered into.\n\nLatin sometimes has a number of words for an idea or an entity, and the\nEnglish has not, but when English has the richer vocabulary, why not\navail oneself of the variety possible? The Latin word \"finis,\" for\nexample, used in so many connections, can be rendered by one word in one\nconnection and by another in another connection. The \"goal\" or the\n\"object\" of providence is plainer than the \"end\" of providence. The\n\"close\" of life is common speech. \"Meritorious\" has been kept in our\ntranslations, for in a restricted field of traditional theology it does\nmean that virtue, for example, _earns_ a reward. To most readers the word\nwill be misleading, for they will understand it in its usual meaning,\nthat some act is well-deserving. The former is Swedenborg's meaning,\nwhich is that an act is done to earn merit, or is considered to have\nearned merit. We translate variously according to context to make that\nmeaning clear (nn. 321(11), 326(8), 90).\n\nAs it is what Swedenborg has written that is to be translated, the\nScripture passages which he quotes are translated without an effort to\nfollow the Authorized Version, which he did not know. This is also done\nwhen he refers to the book which stands last in our Bibles; the name he\nknew it by, the Apocalypse, is retained.\n\nTHE SUBJECT INDEX\n\nThe rewording in this translation would have necessitated revision of the\nindex long used in editions of _Divine Providence_, which goes back to an\nindex in French done by M. Le Boys des Guays. The opportunity was seized\nto compile a subject instead of a word index. It is based on an analysis\nof the contents of the book, and can serve as a reading guide. It does\nnot usually quote the text, but sends the reader to it. Definitions of a\nnumber of terms are embodied in it.\n\nThe appearance that man thinks, wills, speaks and acts all of his own\ndoing is the subject of much of the book, and this the index shows. The\n\"life's love\" deserves to be a separate entry, for little of a\npsychological nature in the book becomes more prominent than the love\nwhich forms in the way one actually lives, and which embodies one's\nactual belief and thought. Single words which have been scattered entries\nin the index long used--usually Scripture words of which the\ncorrespondential meaning is given--are assembled alphabetically under the\nentry \"Correspondences.\"\n\nA signal feature of Swedenborg's thought is the unities he perceives. Of\nlove and wisdom he says that they can only be perceived as one (4(5)). So\ngood and truth do not exist apart, nor charity and faith, nor affection\nand thought. These and other pairs of terms are therefore entered in the\nindex; after references on the two together, references follow on each\nterm alone.\n\nThe index, it is hoped, will do more than introduce the reader to\nstatements made in the book, but will carry him into its stream of\nthought.\n\nWM. F. WUNSCH\n\nAngelic Wisdom about DIVINE PROVIDENCE\n\nDIVINE PROVIDENCE\n\nI.  DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS GOVERNMENT BY THE LORD'S DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM\n\n1. To understand what divine providence is--namely, government by the\nLord's divine love and wisdom--one needs to know what was said and shown\nearlier about divine love and wisdom in the treatise about them: \"In the\nLord divine love is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom of divine love\"\n(nn. 34-39); \"Divine love and wisdom cannot but be in, and be manifested\nin, all else, created by them\" (nn. 47-51); \"All things in the universe\nwere created by them\" (nn. 52, 53, 151-156); \"All are recipients of that\nlove and wisdom\" (nn. 55-60); \"The Lord appears before the angels as a\nsun, the heat proceeding from it being love, and the light wisdom\" (nn.\n83-88, 89-92, 93-98, 296-301); \"Divine love and wisdom, proceeding from\nthe Lord, make one\" (nn. 99-102); \"The Lord from eternity, who is\nJehovah, created the universe and everything in it from Himself, and not\nfrom nothing\" (nn. 282-284, 290-295). This is to be found in the treatise\nentitled _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom._\n\n2. Putting with these propositions the description of creation in that\ntreatise, one may indeed see that what is called divine providence is\ngovernment by the Lord's divine love and wisdom. In that treatise,\nhowever, creation was the subject, and not the preservation of the state\nof things after creation--yet this is the Lord's government. We now treat\nof this, therefore, and in the present chapter, of the preservation of\nthe union of divine love and wisdom or of divine good and truth in what\nwas created, which will be done in the following order:\n\ni. The universe, with each and all things in it, was created from divine\nlove by divine wisdom.\nii Divine love and wisdom proceed as one from the Lord.\niii. This one is in some image in every created thing.\niv. It is of the divine providence that every created thing, as a whole\nand in part, should be such a one, and if it is not, should become such a\none.\nv. Good of love is good only so far as it is united to truth of wisdom,\nand truth of wisdom truth only so far as it is united to good of love.\nvi. Good of love not united to truth of wisdom is not good in itself but\nseeming good, and truth of wisdom not united to good of love is not truth\nin itself but seeming truth.\nvii. The Lord does not suffer anything to be divided; therefore it must\nbe either in good and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the\nsame time in falsity.\nviii. That which is in good and at the same time in truth is something;\nthat which is in evil and at the same time in falsity is not anything.\nix. The Lord's divine providence causes evil and the attendant falsity to\nserve for equilibrium, contrast, and purification, and so for the\nconjunction of good and truth in others.\n\n3. (i) _The universe, with each and all things in it, was created from\ndivine love by divine wisdom._ In the work _Divine Love and Wisdom_ we\nshowed that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, is in essence divine\nlove and wisdom, and that He created the universe and all things in it\nfrom Himself. It follows that the universe, with each and all things in\nit, was created from divine love by means of divine wisdom. We also\nshowed in that treatise that love can do nothing without wisdom, and\nwisdom nothing without love. For love apart from wisdom, or the will\napart from understanding, cannot think anything, indeed cannot see, feel\nor say anything, so cannot do anything. Likewise, wisdom apart from love,\nor understanding apart from will, cannot think, see, feel, or speak,\ntherefore cannot do, anything. For if love is removed from wisdom or\nunderstanding, there is no willing and thus no doing. If this is true of\nman, for him to do anything, it was much more true of God--who is love\nitself and wisdom itself--when He created and made the world and all that\nit contains.\n\n[2] That the universe, with each and all things in it, was created from\ndivine love by divine wisdom may also be established from objects to be\nseen in the world. Take a particular object, examine it with some wisdom,\nand you will be convinced. Take the seed, fruit, flower or leaf of a\ntree, muster your wisdom, examine the object with a strong microscope,\nand you will see marvels. Even more wonderful are the more interior\nthings which you do not see. Note the unfolding order in the growth of a\ntree from seed to new seed; reflect on the continuous effort in all\nstages after self-propagation--the end to which it moves is seed in which\nits reproductive power arises anew. If then you will think spiritually,\nas you can if you will, will you not see wisdom in all this? Furthermore,\nif you can think spiritually enough, you will see that this energy does\nnot come from the seed, nor from the sun of the world, which is only\nfire, but is in the seed from God the Creator whose wisdom is infinite,\nand is from Him not only at the moment of creation but ever after, too.\nFor maintenance is perpetual creation, as continuance is perpetual coming\nto be. Else it is quite as work ceases when you withdraw will from\naction, or as utterance fails when you remove thought from speech, or as\nmotion ceases when you remove impetus; in a word, as an effect perishes\nwhen you remove the cause.\n\n[3] Every created thing is endowed with energy, indeed, but this does\nnothing of itself but from Him who implanted it. Examine any other\nearthly object, like a silkworm, bee or other small creature. View it\nfirst naturally, then rationally, and at length spiritually, and if you\ncan think deeply, you will be astounded at all you see. Let wisdom speak\nin you, and you will exclaim in astonishment, \"Who does not see the\ndivine in such things? They are all of divine wisdom.\" Still more will\nyou exclaim, if you note the uses of all created things, how they mount\nin regular order even to the human being, and from man to the Creator\nwhence they are, and that the connection, and if you will acknowledge it,\nthe preservation also of them all, depend on the conjunction of the\nCreator with man. That divine love created all things, but nothing apart\nfrom the divine wisdom, will be seen in what follows.\n\n4. (ii) _Divine love and wisdom proceed as one from the Lord._ This, too,\nis plain from what was shown in the work _Divine Love and Wisdom,_\nespecially in the propositions: \"Esse and existere are distinguishably\none in the Lord\" (nn. 14-17); \"Infinite things are distinguishably one in\nHim\" (nn. 17-22); \"Divine love is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom of\ndivine love\" (nn. 34-39); \"Love not married to wisdom cannot effect\nanything\" (nn. 401-403); \"Love does nothing except in union with wisdom\"\n(nn. 409, 410); \"Spiritual heat and light, proceeding from the Lord as a\nsun, make one as divine love and wisdom make one in Him\" (nn. 99-102).\nThe truth of the present proposition is plain from these propositions,\ndemonstrated in that treatise. But as it is not known how two distinct\nthings can act as one, I wish now to show that there is no \"one\" apart\nfrom form, and that the form itself makes it a unit; then, that a form\nmakes a \"one\" the more perfectly as the elements entering into it are\ndistinctly different and yet united.\n\n[2] _There is no \"one\" apart from form, and the form itself makes it a\nunit._ Everyone who brings his mind to bear on the matter can see clearly\nthat there is no \"one\" apart from form, and if a thing exists at all, it\nis a form. For what exists at all derives from form what is known as its\ncharacter and its predicates, its changes of state, also its relevance,\nand so on. A thing without form has no way of affecting us, and what has\nno power of affecting, has no reality. It is form which enables to all\nthis. And as all things have a form, then if the form is perfect, all\nthings in it regard each other mutually, as link does link in a chain. It\nfollows that it is form which makes a thing a unit and thus an entity of\nwhich character, state, affection or anything else can be predicated;\neach is predicated of it according to the perfection of the form.\n\n[3] Such a unit is every object which meets the eye in the world. Such,\ntoo, is everything not seen with the eye, whether in interior nature or\nin the spiritual world. The human being is such a unit, human society is,\nlikewise the church, and in the Lord's view the whole angelic heaven,\ntoo; in short, all creation in general and in every particular. For each\nand all things to be forms, He who created all things must be form\nitself, and all things made must be from that form. This, therefore, was\nalso demonstrated in the work _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ as that \"Divine\nlove and wisdom are substance and form\" (nn. 40-43); \"Divine love and\nwisdom are form itself, thus the one Self and the single independent\nexistence\" (nn. 44-46); \"Divine love and wisdom are one in the Lord\" (nn.\n14-17, 18-22), \"and proceed as one from Him\" (nn. 99-102, and elsewhere).\n\n[4] _A form makes a one the more perfectly as the elements entering into\nit are distinctly different and yet united._ This hardly falls into a\ncomprehension not elevated, for the appearance is that a form cannot make\na one except as its elements are quite alike. I have spoken with angels\noften on the subject. They said that this is a secret perceived clearly\nby their wiser men, obscurely by the less wise. They said it is the truth\nthat a form is the more perfect as its constituents are distinctly\ndifferent and yet severally united. They established the fact from the\nsocieties which in the aggregate constitute the form of heaven, and from\nthe angels of a society, for as these are different and free and love\ntheir associates from themselves and from their own affection, the form\nof the society is more perfect. They also illustrated the fact from the\nmarriage of good and truth, in that the more distinguishably two these\nare, the more perfectly do they make a one; similarly, of love and\nwisdom. The indistinguishable is confusion, they said, whence comes\nimperfection of form.\n\n[5] In various ways they went on to establish the manner in which\nperfectly distinct things are united and thus make a one, especially by\nwhat is in the human body, in which are innumerable things quite distinct\nand yet united, held distinct by coverings and united by ligaments. It is\nso with love, they said, and all its things, and wisdom and all its\nthings, for love and wisdom are not perceived except as one. See further\non the subject in _Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 14-22) and in the work\n_Heaven and Hell_ (nn. 56 and 489). This has been adduced as part of\nangelic wisdom.\n\n5. (iii) _This \"one\" is in some image in every created thing._ It can be\nseen from what was demonstrated throughout the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ and especially at nn. 47-51, 55-60, 282-284, 290-295, 313-318,\n319-326, 349-357, that divine love and wisdom which are one in the Lord\nand proceed as one from Him, are in some image in each created thing. It\nwas shown that the divine is in every created thing because God the\nCreator, who is the Lord from eternity, produced the sun of the spiritual\nworld from Himself, and all things of the universe through that sun. That\nsun, which is from Him and in which He is, is therefore not only the\nfirst but the sole substance from which are all things. As this is the\none substance, it is in everything made, but with endless variety in\naccord with uses.\n\n[2] In the Lord, then, are divine love and wisdom, and in the sun from\nHim divine fire and radiance, and from the sun spiritual heat and light;\nand in each instance the two make one. It follows that this oneness is in\nevery created thing. All things in the world are referable, therefore, to\ngood and truth, in fact to the conjunction of them. Or, what is the same,\nthey are referable to love and wisdom and to the union of these; for good\nis of love and truth of wisdom, love calling all its own, \"good,\" and\nwisdom calling all its own, \"truth.\" It will be seen in what follows that\nthere is a conjunction of these in each created thing.\n\n6. Many avow that there is a single substance which is also the first,\nfrom which are all things, but what that substance is, is not known. The\nbelief is that it is so simple nothing is more so, and that it can be\nlikened to a point without dimensions, and that dimensional forms arose\nout of an infinite number of such points. But this is a fallacy,\nspringing from an idea of space. To such an idea there seems to be such a\nleast thing. The truth is that the simpler and purer a thing is, the more\nreplete it is and the more complete. This is why the more interiorly a\nthing is examined, the more wonderful, perfect, and well formed are the\nthings seen in it, and in the first substance the most wonderful, perfect\nand fully formed of all. For the first substance is from the spiritual\nsun, which, as we said, is from the Lord and in which He is. That sun is\ntherefore the sole substance and, not being in space, is all in all, and\nis in the greatest and least things of the created universe.\n\n[2] As that sun is the first and sole substance from which all things\nare, it follows that in it are infinitely more things than can possibly\nappear in substances arising from it, called substantial and lastly\nmaterial. This infinity cannot appear in derivative substances because\nthese descend from that sun by degrees of two kinds in accord with which\nperfections decline. For that reason, as we said above, the more\ninteriorly a thing is regarded, the more wonderful, perfect and well\nformed are the things seen. This has been said to establish the fact that\nthe divine is in some image in every created thing, but is less and less\nmanifest with the descent over degrees, and still less when a lower\ndegree, parted from the higher by being closed, is also choked with\nearthy matter. These concepts cannot but seem obscure unless one has read\nand understood what was shown in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_\nabout the spiritual sun (nn. 83-172), about degrees (nn. 173-281) and\nabout the creation of the world (nn. 282-357).\n\n7. (iv) _It is of the divine providence that every created thing as a\nwhole and in part should be such a one or should become such a one,_ or\nthat there be in it something of the divine love and wisdom, or what is\nthe same, that there be good and truth in it, or a union of them.\n(Inasmuch as good is of love and truth is of wisdom, as was said above\n(n. 5), in what follows we shall at times say good and truth instead of\nlove and wisdom, and marriage of good and truth instead of union of love\nand wisdom.)\n\n8. It is evident from the preceding proposition that divine love and\nwisdom, which are one in the Lord and proceed as one from Him, are in\nsome image in everything created by Him. Something shall be said now\nspecifically of the \"one\" or the union called the marriage of good and\ntruth. 1. This marriage is in the Lord Himself--for, as we said, divine\nlove and wisdom in Him are one. 2. This marriage is from Him, for in all\nthat proceeds from Him love and wisdom are fully united. The two proceed\nfrom Him as a sun, divine love as heat, and divine wisdom as light. 3.\nThese are received as two, indeed, by angels, likewise by men of the\nchurch, but are made one in them by the Lord. 4. In view of this influx\nof love and wisdom as one from the Lord with angels of heaven and men of\nthe church, and in view of their reception of it, the Lord is spoken of\nin the Word as bridegroom and husband, and heaven and the church are\ncalled bride and wife. 5. An image and a likeness of the Lord are\ntherefore to be found in heaven and in the church in general, and in an\nangel of heaven and a man of the church in particular, so far as they are\nin that union or in the marriage of good and truth. For good and truth in\nthe Lord are one, indeed are the Lord. 6. Love and wisdom in heaven and\nin the church as a whole, and in an angel of heaven and a man of the\nchurch, are one when will and understanding, thus when good and truth,\nmake one; or what is still the same, when doctrine from the Word and life\naccording to doctrine make one. 7. How the two make one in man and in all\nthat pertains to him was shown, moreover, in Part V of the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom,_ where the creation of man, and especially the\ncorrespondence of will and understanding with heart and lungs, were\ntreated of (nn. 358-432).\n\n9. How good and truth, however, make one in what is below or outside man,\nin both the animal and the vegetable kingdom, shall be told from time to\ntime in what follows. Three points are premised. _First,_ in the universe\nand in each and all things of it as created by the Lord, there was a\nmarriage of good and truth. _Second,_ after creation this marriage was\nsevered in man. _Third,_ it is the work of divine providence to unite\nwhat was severed, and so to restore the marriage of good and truth. As\nall three points were established by many things in the work _Divine Love\nand Wisdom,_ there is no need to substantiate them further. Anyone can\nsee from reason, moreover, that if there was a marriage of good and truth\nin each created thing and later it was severed, the Lord must be working\nconstantly to restore it, and that the restoration of it, and hence the\nconjunction of the created world with the Lord through man, are of divine\nprovidence.\n\n10. (v) _Good of love is good only so far as it is united to truth of\nwisdom, and truth of wisdom is truth only so far as it is united to good\nof love._ Good and truth have this from their origin, the one and the\nother originating in the Lord, who is good itself and truth itself and in\nwhom the two are one. Hence in angels in heaven and men on earth, good is\nnot good basically except so far as it is joined to truth, and truth is\nnot truth basically except so far as it is joined to good. Granted that\nall good and truth are from the Lord, then inasmuch as good makes one\nwith truth and truth with good in Him, good to be good in itself and\ntruth to be truth in itself must make one in the recipient, that is, the\nangel in heaven or the man on earth.\n\n11. It is indeed known that all things in the world are referable to good\nand truth. For by good is meant what universally embraces and involves\nall things of love; and by truth what universally embraces and involves\nall things of wisdom. Still it is not known that good is nothing except\nwhen it is joined to truth, and truth nothing unless it is joined to\ngood. Good apart from truth and truth apart from good still seem to be\nsomething; yet they are not. For love (to which all that is called good\npertains) is the _esse_ of a thing, and wisdom (to which all things\ncalled truths pertain) is a thing's _existere_ from that _esse_ (as was\nshown in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ nn. 14-16). Therefore, as\n_esse_ is nothing apart from _existere,_ or _existere_ apart from _esse,_\ngood is nothing apart from truth or truth from good. What, again, is good\nwhich has no relation to anything? Can it be called good if it is without\naffection and perception?\n\n[2] That which is associated with good, permitting it to affect and to be\nperceived and felt, is referable to truth, since it has relation to what\nis in the understanding. Tell someone, not that a given thing is good,\nbut simply say \"good\"--is good anything? It becomes something from what is\nperceived along with it. This is united with good only in the\nunderstanding, and all understanding has relation to truth. It is the\nsame with willing. Apart from knowing, perceiving and thinking what one\nwills, to will is nothing actual; together with them it becomes\nsomething. All volition is of love and is referable to good; and all\nknowing, perceiving and thinking is of the understanding, and is\nreferable to truth. It is clear, then, that to will is nothing actual,\nbut to will this or that means something.\n\n[3] So also with a use, inasmuch as a use is a good. Unless a use is\naddressed to something which makes one with it, it is not a use, and thus\nnot anything. A use derives its something from the understanding, and\nwhat is thence conjoined or adjoined to it, has relation to truth. So a\nuse gets its character.\n\n[4] From these few things it is plain that good is nothing apart from\ntruth, nor truth anything apart from good. But if good together with\ntruth and truth together with good are something, evil with falsity and\nfalsity with evil are not, for the latter are opposite to the former and\nthe opposition destroys--that is, destroys the something. But of this in\nwhat follows.\n\n12. Marriage of good and truth may, however, be found either in a cause\nor from the cause in an effect. In a cause the marriage of good and truth\nis one of will and understanding, or of love and wisdom. Such a marriage\nis in all that a man wills and thinks and in all his ensuing\ndeterminations and purposes. This marriage enters into and in fact\nproduces the effect. But in producing the effect, good and truth seem\ndistinct, for then the simultaneous turns successive. When, for example,\na man wills and thinks about food, clothing, shelter, business or\nemployment, or about his relationship to others, first he wills and\nthinks or comes to his conclusions and intentions all at the same time;\nbut when these are determined to effects, truth follows on good, though\nin will and thought they continue to make one. In the effects the uses\npertain to love or good, and the ways of performing the uses pertain to\nunderstanding or truth. Anyone can confirm these general truths by\nparticular instances provided he perceives what is referable respectively\nto good of love and to truth of wisdom, and also how differently it is\nreferable in cause and in effect.\n\n13. We have said often that love constitutes man's life. This does not\nmean, however, love separate from wisdom or good from truth in the cause,\nfor love separate or good separate is not an actuality. The love which\nmakes man's inmost life--the life he has from the Lord--is therefore love\nand wisdom together; neither is the love which makes his life as a\nrecipient being separate in the cause, but only in the effect. For love\ncannot be understood except from its quality, which is wisdom; and the\nquality or wisdom can exist only from its own _esse,_ which is love;\nthence it is that they are one; it is the same with good and truth. Since\ntruth is from good as wisdom is from love, it is the two taken together\nthat are called good or love. For love has wisdom for its form, and good\nfor its form truth, and form is the source, and the one source, of\nquality. It is plain from all this that good is good only so far as it\nhas become one with its truth, and truth truth only so far as it has\nbecome one with its good.\n\n14. (vi) _Good of love not united to truth of wisdom is not good in\nitself but seeming good; and truth of wisdom not conjoined with good of\nlove is not truth in itself but seeming truth._ The fact is that no good,\nin itself good, can exist unless joined with its truth, and no truth, in\nitself truth, can exist unless it has become joined with its good. And\nyet good separate from truth is possible, and truth separate from good.\nThey are found in hypocrites and flatterers, in evil persons of every\nsort, and in such as are in natural but not spiritual good. These can all\ndo well by church, country, society, fellow-citizens, the needy, the\npoor, and widows and orphans. They can also comprehend truths, from\nunderstanding think them, and from thought speak and teach them. But the\ngoods and truths are not interiorly such, that is, basically goods and\ntruths, but only outwardly and seemingly such. For such good and truth\nlook to self and the world, not to good itself and truth itself; they are\nnot from good and truth; they are of the mouth and body only, therefore,\nand not of the heart.\n\n[2] They may be likened to gold or silver which is spread on dross,\nrotten wood or mire. When uttered the truths may be likened to a breath\nexhaled and gone, or to a delusive light which dies away, though they\nappear outwardly like genuine truths. They are seeming truths in those\nwho utter them; to those hearing and assenting, and unaware of this, they\nmay be altogether different. For everyone is affected by what is external\naccording to his internal. A truth, by whomsoever uttered, enters\nanother's hearing and is taken up by his mind in keeping with the state\nor character of his mind.\n\nOf those in natural good by inheritance, but in no spiritual good, nearly\nthe same is true as of those described above. The internal of every good\nor truth is spiritual. The spiritual dispels falsities and evils, but the\nnatural left to itself favors them. To favor evil and falsity does not\naccord with doing good.\n\n15. Good can be separated from truth, and truth from good, and then still\nappear as good or truth, for the reason that the human being has a\ncapacity to act which is called liberty, and a capacity of understanding\ncalled rationality. By abuse of these powers a man can appear in\nexternals other than he is in internals; an evil man can do good and\nspeak truth, and a devil feign himself an angel of light. But on this see\nthe following propositions in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom:_ \"The\norigin of evil is in the abuse of faculties proper to man, called liberty\nand rationality\" (nn. 246-270); \"These two faculties are to be found with\nthe evil as well as with the good\" (n. 425); \"Love not married to wisdom,\nand good not married to truth, can effect nothing\" (n. 401); \"Love does\nnothing except in conjunction with wisdom or understanding, and it brings\nwisdom or the understanding reciprocally into conjunction with itself\"\n(nn. 410-412); \"From power given it by love, wisdom or understanding can\nbe elevated and can perceive and receive the things of light from heaven\"\n(n. 413); \"Love can be raised similarly to receive the things of heat\nfrom heaven if it loves its mate, wisdom, in that degree\" (nn. 414, 415);\n\"Else love pulls wisdom or the understanding down from its elevation to\nact at one with itself\" (nn. 416-418); \"If the two are elevated, love is\npurified in the understanding\" (nn. 419-421); \"Purified by wisdom in the\nunderstanding, love becomes spiritual and celestial, but defiled in the\nunderstanding it become sensuous and corporeal\" (nn. 422-424); \"What is\ntrue of love and wisdom and their union is true of charity and faith and\ntheir conjunction\" (nn. 427-430). What charity in heaven is, see n. 431.\n\n16. (vii) _The Lord does not suffer anything to be divided; it must be\neither in good and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the same\ntime in falsity._ The Lord's divine providence has for its goal, and to\nthis end it labors, that man shall be in good and at the same time in\ntruth. For then he is his own good and love and his own truth and wisdom;\nthereby the human being is human, for he is then an image of the Lord.\nBut while he lives in the world he can be in good and at the same time in\nfalsity, likewise in evil and at the same time in truth, indeed in evil\nand at the same time in good, and thus be double. As the cleavage\ndestroys the Lord's image in him and thus the man, the Lord's divine\nprovidence takes care in every least act that this division shall not be.\nAnd as it is better for man to be in evil and at the same time in falsity\nthan to be in good and at the same time in evil, the Lord permits it, not\nas one willing it, but as one unable to resist because of the end sought,\nwhich is salvation.\n\n[2] A man can be simultaneously in evil and in truth and the Lord be\nunable to prevent it in view of the end, which is salvation, for the\nreason that man's understanding can be raised into the light of wisdom\nand see truths, or acknowledge them when he hears them, while his love\nremains below. Thus a man can be in heaven as to understanding, while as\nto his love he is in hell. This is not denied him, because the two\nfaculties of liberty and rationality, by virtue of which he is a human\nbeing and distinguished from beasts and by which alone he can be\nregenerated and thus saved, cannot be taken away. By means of them, he\ncan act according to wisdom and at the same time according to an unwise\nlove. From wisdom above he can view the love below and also the thoughts,\nintentions and affections, therefore the evils and falsities as well as\nthe goods and truths of his life and doctrine, without a knowledge and\nrecognition of which he cannot be reformed. We spoke of the two faculties\nbefore and shall say more in what follows. What has been said explains\nhow man can be simultaneously in good and truth, or in evil and falsity,\nor in mixtures of them.\n\n17. In this world a man can hardly come into one or the other conjunction\nor union, that is, of good and truth or of evil and falsity, for during\nhis life in the world he is kept in a state of reformation or\nregeneration. After death, however, every man comes into the one union or\nthe other, because he can then no longer be reformed or regenerated. He\nremains such as his life was in the world, that is, such as his reigning\nlove was. If therefore his was a life of an evil love, all the truth\nacquired by him in the world from teacher, pulpit or Word is taken away.\nOn the removal of it, he absorbs the falsity agreeing with his evil as a\nsponge does water. On the other hand, if his was the life of a good love,\nall the falsity is removed which he may have picked up in the world by\nhearing or from reading but did not confirm in himself, and in its place\ntruth congruous with his good is given him. This is meant by the Lord's\nwords:\n\nTake . . . the talent from him, and give it to him that has ten talents.\nFor to everyone who has, shall be given until he abounds but from him\nwho has not, even what he has shall be taken away (Mt 25:28, 29; 13:12;\nMk 4:25; Lu 8:18; 19:24-26).\n\n18. After death everyone must be either in good and at the same time in\ntruth or in evil and at the same time in falsity, for the reason that\ngood and evil cannot be united, nor can good and the falsity of evil, nor\nevil and the truth of good. For these are opposites, and opposites\ncontend until one destroys the other. Those who are at the same time in\nevil and in good are meant in the Apocalypse in these words of the Lord\nto the church of the Laodiceans:\n\nI know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; would that you were\ncold or hot; but because you are lukewarm, I will spue you out of my\nmouth (3:15, 16):\n\nalso in these words of the Lord:\n\nNo man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love\nthe other, or cleave to the one and not heed the other (Mt 6:24).\n\n19. ( viii) _That which is in good and at the same time in truth is\nsomething; that which is in evil and at the same time in falsity is not\nanything._ See above (n. 11) that what is in good and at the same time in\ntruth is something. It follows that what is at once evil and false is not\nanything. By not being anything is meant that it is without power and\nwithout spiritual life. Those at once in evil and in falsity (all of whom\nare in hell) have power indeed among themselves, for an evil man can do\nevil and does so in a thousand ways. Yet he can do evil to the evil only\nby reason of their evil; he cannot harm the good at all; if, as sometimes\nhappens, he does, it is by conjunction with their evil.\n\n[2] In this way temptations arise; they are infestations by evil spirits\nwho are with a man; so combats ensue by which the good are freed from\ntheir evils. Since the wicked have no power, all hell in the Lord's sight\nis not only nothing, but nothing at all in point of power, as I have seen\nproved by much experience. But it is remarkable that the evil all deem\nthemselves powerful, and the good all think themselves powerless. This is\nbecause the evil ascribe everything to their own power or shrewdness and\nmalice, and nothing to the Lord; whereas the good ascribe nothing to\ntheir own prudence, but all to the Lord who is almighty. Evil and falsity\ntogether are not anything for the further reason that they have no\nspiritual life. The life of the infernals is therefore called death, not\nlife. Since life holds everything, death has nothing.\n\n20. Men in evil and at the same time in truths may be likened to eagles\nflying aloft which, deprived of their wings, fall. For after death, on\nbecoming spirits, men do the like who have understood and spoken and\ntaught truths and yet have not looked to God in their lives. By means of\nthings of the understanding they raise themselves aloft and even enter\nheaven at times and feign themselves angels of light. But when they are\ndeprived of truths and are cast out, they fall down to hell. Eagles also\nsignify rapacious men with intellectual acumen, and wings signify\nspiritual truths. Such, we said, are those who have not looked to God in\ntheir lives. To look to God in life means simply to think that a given\nevil is a sin against God, and for that reason not to commit it.\n\n21. (ix) _The Lord's divine providence causes evil and its falsity to\nserve for equilibrium, contrast, and purification, and so for the\nconjunction of good and truth in others._ It is obvious from the\npreceding that the Lord's divine providence continually operates in order\nthat truth may be united in man with good and good with truth, because\nthat union is the church and heaven. For that union is in the Lord and in\nall that proceeds from Him. From that union, heaven and the church are\ncalled a marriage, and the kingdom of God is likened in the Word to a\nmarriage. Again, the Sabbath signified that union and was the holiest\nobservance in the worship of the Israelitish Church. From that union also\nthere is a marriage of good and truth in the Word and in each and all\nthings of it (on this see _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred\nScripture,_ nn. 80-90). The marriage of good and truth is from the\nmarriage of the Lord with the church, and this in turn from the marriage\nof love and wisdom in Him, for good is of love, and truth of wisdom. It\nis plain, then, that it is the constant aim of divine providence to unite\ngood to truth and truth to good in a man, for so he is united to the\nLord.\n\n22. But many have severed and do sever this marriage, especially by\nseparating faith from charity (for faith is of truth and truth is of\nfaith, and charity is of good and good is of charity), and in so doing\nthey conjoin evil and falsity in themselves and thus come into and\ncontinue in the opposite to good and truth. The Lord therefore provides\nthat they shall nevertheless serve for uniting good and truth in others,\nthrough equilibrium, contrast and purification.\n\n23. Conjunction of good and truth in others is provided by the Lord\nthrough _equilibrium_ between heaven and hell. From hell evil and at the\nsame time falsity constantly exhale, and from heaven good and at the same\ntime truth. In equilibrium between them, and so in freedom to think,\nwill, speak and act in which he can be reformed, every man is kept while\nhe lives in the world. On the spiritual equilibrium from which the human\nbeing has freedom, see the work _Heaven and Hell,_ nn. 589-596, 597-603.\n\n24. Conjunction of good and truth is provided by the Lord through\n_contrast._ For the nature of good is not known except by contrast with\nwhat is less good and by its contrariety to evil. All perceptiveness and\nsensitivity arise so; their quality is thence. All pleasantness is\nperceived and felt over against the less pleasant and the unpleasant; all\nthe beautiful by reference to the less beautiful and the unbeautiful;\nsimilarly all good of love by reference to lesser good and to evil; all\ntruth of wisdom by a sense of lesser truth and of falsity. Everything\ninevitably varies from greatest to least, and with the same variation in\nits opposite and with equilibrium between them, there is contrast degree\nby degree, and the perception and sensation of a thing increase or\ndiminish. But be it known that an opposite may either lower or exalt\nperceptions and sensitivities. It lowers them when it mingles in and\nexalts them when it does not mingle in, for which reason the Lord\nseparates good and evil with man that they shall not mingle, as\nexquisitely as He does heaven and hell.\n\n25. Conjunction of good and truth in others is provided by the Lord\nthrough _purification_ in two ways; one through temptations, and the\nother through fermentations. _Spiritual temptations_ are nothing else\nthan combats against the evils and falsities exhaled from hell and\naffecting man. By these combats a man is purified from evils and\nfalsities, and good and truth are united in him. _Spiritual\nfermentations_ take place in many ways, and in heaven as well as on\nearth; but in the world it is not known what they are or how they come\nabout. For evils and their falsities, let into societies, act as ferments\ndo in meal or in must, separating the heterogeneous and conjoining the\nhomogeneous until there is clarity and purity. Such fermentations are\nmeant in the Lord's words:\n\nThe kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three\nmeasures of meal until the whole was leavened (Mt 13:33; Lu 12:21).\n\n26. The Lord provides these uses through the united evil and falsity of\nthose in hell. The Lord's kingdom, which extends over hell as well as\nover heaven, is a kingdom of uses. It is the Lord's providence that there\nshall be no creature and no thing whereby a use is not performed.\n\nII. THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE HAS FOR ITS OBJECT A HEAVEN FROM THE\nHUMAN RACE\n\n27. Heaven does not consist of angels created such to begin with, nor\ndoes hell come from any devil created an angel of light and cast down\nfrom heaven. Both heaven and hell are from mankind, heaven consisting of\nthose in the love of good and consequent understanding of truth, and hell\nof those in the love of evil and consequent understanding of falsity.\nThis has been made known and sure to me by long-continued intercourse\nwith angels and spirits. See what was said on the subject in the work\n_Heaven and Hell_ (nn. 311-316); also in the little work _The Last\nJudgment_ (nn. 14-27), and in _Continuation about the Last Judgment and\nthe Spiritual World_ (throughout).\n\n[2] As heaven is from mankind and is an abiding with the Lord to\neternity, it must have been the Lord's purpose in creation; being the\npurpose in creation, it is the purpose of His providence. The Lord\ncreated the world not for His own sake but for the sake of those with\nwhom He would be in heaven. Spiritual love by nature desires to give its\nown to another, and so far as it can do so is in its _esse,_ peace, and\nblessedness. Spiritual love derives this from the Lord's divine love\nwhich is such infinitely. It follows that the divine love and hence\ndivine providence has for its object a heaven consisting of human beings\nwho have become or are becoming angels, on whom the Lord can bestow all\nthe blessings and felicities of love and wisdom and do so from Himself in\nmen. It must be in this way, for the Lord's image and likeness are in men\nfrom creation, the image in them wisdom and the likeness love.\nFurthermore, the Lord in them is love united to wisdom and wisdom united\nto love or (what is the same) is good united to truth and truth united to\ngood (this union was treated of in the preceding chapter).\n\n[3] What heaven is in general or with a number, and in particular or with\nan individual, is not known. Nor is it known what heaven is in the\nspiritual world and what it is in the natural world. Yet this knowledge\nis important, for heaven is the purpose of providence. I therefore desire\nto set the subject in some light in this order:\n\ni. Heaven is conjunction with the Lord.\nii. By creation the human being is such that he can be conjoined more and\nmore closely to the Lord.\niii. The more closely one is conjoined to the Lord the wiser one becomes.\niv. The more closely one is conjoined to the Lord the happier one\nbecomes.\nv. The more closely one is conjoined to the Lord the more distinctly does\nhe seem to himself to be his own, and the more plainly does he recognize\nthat he is the Lord's.\n\n28. (i) _Heaven is conjunction with the Lord._ Heaven is heaven, not from\nthe angels but from the Lord. For the love and wisdom in which angels are\nand which make heaven are not theirs, but the Lord's, indeed are the Lord\nin them. And as love and wisdom are the Lord's, and are the Lord in\nheaven, and make the life of angels, it is plain that their life is the\nLord's, indeed is the Lord. The angels themselves avow that they live\nfrom the Lord. Hence it is evident that heaven is conjunction with the\nLord. But conjunction with Him is various and one man's heaven is not\nanother's; therefore heaven is also according to the conjunction with the\nLord. In the following proposition it will be seen that conjunction is\nmore and more close or more and more remote.\n\n[2] Here let something be said about how the conjunction takes place and\nwhat the nature of it is. It is a conjunction of the Lord with the angels\nand of the angels with Him, therefore is reciprocal. The Lord flows into\nthe life's love of the angels, and they receive Him in wisdom, thus in\nturn conjoining themselves with Him. It must be said, however, that it\nseems to the angels that they conjoin themselves to the Lord by wisdom;\nactually the Lord conjoins them to Himself by their wisdom, for the\nwisdom is also from the Lord. It is the same thing if we say that the\nLord conjoins Himself to the angels by good and they in turn conjoin\nthemselves to the Lord by truth, for all good is of love, and truth, of\nwisdom.\n\n[3] This reciprocal conjunction is an arcanum, however, which few can\nunderstand unless it is explained. I want therefore to unfold it so far\nas it can be done by things within one's grasp. We showed in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 404, 405) how love unites itself with\nwisdom, namely, through affection for knowing from which comes an\naffection for truth, through affection for understanding from which comes\nperception of truth, and through affection for seeing what is known and\nunderstood, from which comes thought. Into all these affections the Lord\nflows, for they are all derivatives of one's life's love, and the angels\nreceive the influx in perception of truth and in thought, for in these\nthe influx becomes apparent to them, but not in the affections.\n\n[4] As the perceptions and thoughts appear to the angels to be their own,\nalthough they arise from affections which are from the Lord, the\nappearance is that the angels reciprocally conjoin themselves to the\nLord, when nevertheless the Lord conjoins them to Himself. The affection\nitself produces the perceptions and thoughts, for the affection, which is\nof love, is their soul. Apart from affection no one can perceive or think\nanything, and every one perceives and thinks according to his affection.\nIt is evident that the reciprocal conjunction of the angels with the Lord\nis not from them, but as it were from them. Such, too, is the conjunction\nof the Lord with the church and of the church with Him, a union called\ncelestial and spiritual marriage.\n\n29. All conjunction in the spiritual world is effected by intent regard.\nWhen anyone there thinks of another with a desire to speak with him, the\nother is at once present, and the two come face to face. Likewise, when\none thinks of another from an affection of love; by this affection,\nhowever, there is conjunction, but by the other only presence. This is\npeculiar to the spiritual world; for there all are spiritual beings. It\nis otherwise in the natural world where all are physical beings. In the\nnatural world something similar takes place in the affections and\nthoughts of the spirit; but as there is space here, while in the\nspiritual world space is appearance only, what takes place here in one's\nspirit occurs outwardly there.\n\n[2] We have said so much to make known how conjunction of the Lord with\nangels and their seemingly reciprocal conjunction with Him is effected.\nAll angels turn the face to the Lord; He regards them in the forehead,\nand they regard Him with the eyes. The reason is that the forehead\ncorresponds to love and its affections, and the eyes correspond to wisdom\nand its perceptions. Still the angels do not of themselves turn the face\nto the Lord, but He faces them toward Himself, doing so by influx into\ntheir life's love, by this entering the perceptions and thoughts, and so\nturning the angels to Him.\n\n[3] There is such a circuit from love to thoughts and under love's\nimpulse from thoughts to love in all the mind's activity. It may be\ncalled the circling of life. On these subjects see some things also in\nthe treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom:_ as that \"Angels constantly turn\nthe face to the Lord as a sun\" (nn. 129-134); \"All the interiors of both\nthe mind and the bodies of the angels are likewise turned to the Lord as\na sun\" (nn. 135-139); \"Every spirit, whatever his character, turns\nhimself likewise to his ruling love\" (nn. 140-145); \"Love conjoins itself\nto wisdom and causes wisdom to be conjoined reciprocally with it\" (nn.\n410-412); \"Angels are in the Lord and He in them; and as the angels are\nonly recipients, the Lord alone is heaven\" (nn. 113-118).\n\n30. The Lord's heaven in the natural world is called the church; an angel\nof this heaven is a man of the church who is conjoined to the Lord; on\ndeparture from this world he also becomes an angel of the spiritual\nheaven. What was said of the angelic heaven is evidently to be\nunderstood, then, of the human heaven also which is called the church.\nThe reciprocal conjunction with the Lord which makes heaven in the human\nbeing is revealed by the Lord in these words in John:\n\nAbide in Me, and I in you; ... he who abides in Me, and I in him, bears\nmuch fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (15:4, 5, 7).\n\n31. It is plain from this that the Lord is heaven not only in general\nwith all in heaven, but in particular with each one there. For each angel\nis a heaven in least form; of as many heavens as there are angels, does\nheaven in general consist. In substantiation see _Heaven and Hell_ (nn.\n51-58). Since this is so, let no one cherish the mistaken idea, which\nfirst visits the thought of so many, that the Lord dwells in heaven among\nthe angels or is among them like a king in his kingdom. To the sight He\nis above them in the sun there; He is in them in their life of love and\nwisdom.\n\n32. (ii) _By creation the human being is such that he can be conjoined\nmore and more closely to the Lord._ This becomes evident from what was\nshown about degrees in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ Part III,\nespecially in the propositions: \"By creation there are three discrete\ndegrees or degrees of height in the human being\" (nn. 230-235); \"These\nthree degrees are in man from birth, and as they are opened, the man is\nin the Lord, and the Lord in him\" (nn. 236-241); \"All perfection\nincreases and mounts with and according to the degrees\" (nn. 199-204).\nEvidently, then, man is such by creation that he can be conjoined with\nthe Lord more and more closely according to these degrees.\n\n[2] But one must know well what degrees are and that there are two kinds\n--discrete degrees or degrees of height, and continuous degrees or degrees\nof breadth; also how they differ. It must be known, too, that every human\nbeing has by creation and hence from birth three discrete degrees or\ndegrees of height, and that he comes at birth into the first degree,\ncalled natural, and can grow in this degree continuously until he becomes\nrational. He comes into the second degree, called spiritual, if he lives\naccording to spiritual laws of order, which are divine truths. He can\nalso come into the third degree, called celestial, if he lives according\nto the celestial laws of order, which are divine goods.\n\n[3] These degrees are opened in a person by the Lord according to his\nlife and actually opened in the world, but not perceptibly and sensibly\nuntil after his departure from the world. As they are opened and later\nperfected a man is conjoined to the Lord more and more closely. This\nconjunction can grow to eternity in nearness to God and does so with the\nangels. And yet no angel can attain or touch the first degree of the\nLord's love and wisdom, for the Lord is infinite and an angel is finite,\nand between infinite and finite no ratio obtains. Man's state and the\nstate of his elevation and nearness to the Lord cannot be understood\nwithout a knowledge of these degrees; they have been specifically treated\nof, therefore, in the treatise Divine _Love and Wisdom,_ nn. 173-281,\nwhich see.\n\n33. We shall say briefly how man can be more and more closely conjoined\nto the Lord, and then how the conjunction seems closer and closer. _How\nman is more and more closely conjoined to the Lord:_ this is effected not\nby knowledge alone, nor by intelligence alone, nor even by wisdom alone,\nbut by a life conjoined to them. A man's life is his love, and love is\nmanifold. In general there are love of good and love of evil. Love of\nevil is love of committing adultery, taking revenge, defrauding,\nblaspheming, depriving others of their possessions. In thinking and doing\nsuch things the love of evil finds its pleasure and joy. Of this love\nthere are as many derivatives, which are affections, as there are evils\nin which it can find expression. And there are as many perceptions and\nthoughts of this love as there are falsities favoring and confirming such\nevils. The falsities make one with the evils as understanding makes one\nwith will; they are mutually inseparable; the one is of the other.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as the Lord flows into one's life's love and by its\naffections into the perceptions and thoughts, and not the other way\nabout, as we said above, it follows that the Lord can conjoin Himself\nmore closely to a man only as the love of evil is removed along with its\naffections, which are lusts. These lusts reside in the natural man. What\na man does from the natural man he feels that he does of himself. For his\npart, therefore, a man should remove the evils of that love; so far as he\ndoes, the Lord comes nearer and conjoins Himself to him. Anyone can see\nfrom reason that lusts with their pleasures block and close the door to\nthe Lord and cannot be cast out by the Lord as long as the man himself\nkeeps the door shut and presses and pushes from outside to keep it from\nbeing opened. It is plain from the Lord's words in the Apocalypse that a\nman must himself open the door:\n\nBehold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens\nthe door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me (3:20).\n\n[3] Plainly, then, so far as one shuns evils as diabolical and as\nobstacles to the Lord's entrance, he is more and more closely conjoined\nto the Lord, and he the most closely who abhors them as so many dusky and\nfiery devils. For evil and the devil are one and the same, and the\nfalsity of evil and satan are one and the same. As the Lord's influx is\ninto the love of good and into its affections and by these into the\nperceptions and thoughts, which have it from the good in which a man is\nthat they are truths, so the influx of the devil, that is of hell, is\ninto the love of evil and its affections, which are lusts, and by these\ninto the perceptions and thoughts, which have it from the evil in which\nthe man is that they are falsities.\n\n[4] _How the conjunction seems closer and closer._ The more the evils in\nthe natural man are removed by shunning and turning away from them, the\nmore closely a man is conjoined to the Lord. Love and wisdom, which are\nthe Lord Himself, are not in space, as affection which is of love, and\nthought which is of wisdom, have nothing in common with space. In the\nmeasure of the conjunction by love and wisdom, therefore, the Lord seems\nnearer; and, contrariwise, in the measure of the rejection of love and\nwisdom, more distant. There is no space in the spiritual world; distance\nand presence there are appearances according to similarity or\ndissimilarity of the affections. For, as we said, affections which are of\nlove, and thoughts which are of wisdom, in themselves spiritual, are not\nin space (on this see what was shown in the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom,_ nn. 7-10, 69-72, and elsewhere).\n\n[5] The Lord's conjunction with a man in whom evils have been put away is\nmeant by the Lord's words:\n\nThe pure in heart shall see God (Mt 5:8);\n\nand by the words:\n\nHe who has my commandments and does them . . . with him will I make an\nabode (Jn 14:21, 23).\n\n\"To have the commandments\" is to know and \"to do them\" is to love, for it\nis also said: \"he who does my commandments, he it is that loves Me.\"\n\n34. (iii) _The more closely one is conjoined to the Lord the wiser one\nbecomes._ As there are three degrees of life in man by creation and so\nfrom birth (see just above, n. 32), there are specifically three degrees\nof wisdom in him. These degrees it is that are opened in man according to\nconjunction, that is, according to love, for love is conjunction itself.\nLove's ascent by degrees, however, is only obscurely perceived by man;\nbut wisdom's ascent is clearly perceived by those who know and see what\nwisdom is. The degrees of wisdom are perceived because love by its\naffections enters the perceptions and thoughts, and these present\nthemselves to the internal mental sight, which corresponds to the\nexternal bodily sight. Thus wisdom appears, but not the affection of love\nwhich produces it. It is the same with all a man's deeds; he is aware how\nthe body does them, but not how the soul does them. So he perceives how\nhe meditates, perceives and thinks, but not how the soul of these mental\nactivities, which is an affection of good and truth, produces them.\n\n[2] There are three degrees of wisdom: natural, spiritual, and celestial.\nMan is in the natural degree of wisdom during his life in the world. This\ndegree can be perfected in him to its height, but even so cannot pass\ninto the spiritual degree, for the latter is not continuous with it, but\nconjoined to it by correspondences. After death man is in the spiritual\ndegree of wisdom. This degree also is such that it can be perfected to\nits height, and yet cannot pass into the celestial degree of wisdom,\nbecause neither is this continuous with the spiritual but conjoined to it\nby correspondences. Plainly, then, wisdom can be raised threefold, and in\neach degree can be perfected but only to its peak.\n\n[3] One who understands the elevation and perfecting of these degrees can\nsee to an extent why angelic wisdom is said to be ineffable. So\nineffable, indeed, is it, that a thousand ideas in the thought of angels\nin their wisdom can present only a single idea in the thought of men in\ntheir wisdom, the other nine hundred and ninety-nine ideas being\nunutterable, because they are supernatural. Many a time have I been given\nto know this by living experience. But, as was said, no one can enter\ninto the ineffable wisdom of the angels except by and according to\nconjunction with the Lord, for He alone opens spiritual and celestial\ndegrees, and only in those who are wise from Him. Those are wise from the\nLord who cast the devil, that is, evil, out of themselves.\n\n35. But let no one believe that he has wisdom because he knows many\nthings, perceives them in some light, and is able to talk intelligently\nabout them, unless his wisdom is conjoined to love. For it is love that\nthrough its affections produces wisdom. Not conjoined to love, wisdom is\nlike a meteor vanishing in the air and like a falling star. Wisdom united\nto love is like the abiding light of the sun and like a fixed star. A man\nhas the love of wisdom when he is averse to the diabolical crew, that is,\nto the lusts of evil and falsity.\n\n36. Wisdom that comes to perception is perception of truth from being\naffected by it, especially perception of spiritual truth. For there is\ncivil, moral, and spiritual truth. Those who have some perception of\nspiritual truth from affection by it also have perceptions of moral and\ncivil truth, for the affection of spiritual truth is the soul of those\nperceptions. I have spoken with angels at times about wisdom who said\nthat wisdom is conjunction with the Lord because He is wisdom itself, and\nthat the man who rejects hell comes into this conjunction and comes into\nit so far as he rejects hell. They said that they picture wisdom to\nthemselves as a magnificent and highly ornate palace into which one\nmounts by twelve steps. No one arrives at even the first step, they said,\nexcept from the Lord by conjunction with Him; and according to the\nmeasure of conjunction one ascends; also as one ascends, one perceives\nthat no man is wise from himself but from the Lord. Furthermore, they\nsaid that the things in which one is wise are to those in which one is\nnot wise like a few drops of water to a large lake. By the twelve steps\ninto the palace of wisdom are meant goods united to truths and truths\nunited to goods.\n\n37. (iv) _The more closely one is conjoined to the Lord the happier one\nbecomes._ The like can be said of degrees of happiness as was said (nn.\n32 and 34) of degrees of life and of wisdom according to conjunction with\nthe Lord. Happiness, that is, blessedness and joy, also are heightened as\nthe higher degrees of the mind, called spiritual and celestial, are\nopened with man. After his life in the world these degrees grow to\neternity.\n\n38. No one who is in the pleasures of the lusts of evil can know anything\nof the joys of the affections of good in which the angelic heaven is.\nThese pleasures and joys are opposites in internals and hence inwardly in\nexternals, though superficially they may differ little. Every love has\nits enjoyments; the love of evil with those in lusts also has, such as\nthe love of committing adultery, of taking revenge, of defrauding, of\nstealing, of acting cruelly, indeed, in the worst men, of blaspheming the\nholy things of the church and of inveighing against God. The fountainhead\nof those enjoyments is the love of ruling from self-love. They come of\nlusts which obsess the interiors of the mind, from these flow into the\nbody, and excite uncleannesses there which titillate the fibers. The\nphysical pleasure springs from the pleasure which the mind takes in\nlusts.\n\n[2] After death everyone comes to know in the spiritual world what the\nuncleannesses are which titillate the body's fibers in such persons and\ncomes to know the nature of them. In general they are things cadaverous,\nexcrementitious, filthy, malodorous, and urinous; for their hells teem\nwith such uncleannesses. These are correspondences, as may be seen in the\ntreatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 422-424). After one has entered\nhell, however, these filthy delights are turned into wretchedness. This\nhas been told in order that it may be understood what heaven's felicity\nis and its nature, of which we are now to speak; for a thing is known\nfrom its opposite.\n\n39. It is impossible to describe in words the blessedness, satisfaction,\njoy and pleasure, in short, the felicity of heaven, so sensibly perceived\nthere. What is perceived solely by feeling, cannot be described, for it\ndoes not fall into ideas of thought nor, therefore, into words. For the\nunderstanding sees only and sees what is of wisdom or truth, but not what\nis of love or good. Those felicities are therefore inexpressible, but\nstill they ascend in like degree with wisdom. They are infinitely\nvarious, and each is ineffable. I have heard this, also perceived it.\n\n[2] These felicities enter when a man, of himself and yet from the Lord,\ncasts out the lusts of the love of evil and falsity. For these felicities\nare the happinesses of the affections of good and truth, the opposites of\nthe lusts of the love of evil and falsity. Those happinesses begin from\nthe Lord, thus from the inmost, diffuse themselves thence into things\nlower even to lowermost things, and thus fill the angel, making him a\nbody of delight. Such happinesses are to be found in infinite variety in\nevery affection of good and truth, and eminently in the affection of\nwisdom.\n\n40. There is no comparing the joys of the lusts of evil and the joys of\nthe affections of good. Inwardly in the former is the devil, in the\nlatter the Lord. If comparisons are to be ventured, the pleasures of the\nlusts of evil can only be compared to the lewd pleasures of frogs in\nstagnant ponds or to those of snakes in filth, while the pleasures of the\naffections of good must be likened to the delights which the mind takes\nin gardens and flower beds. For things like those which affect frogs and\nsnakes affect those in the hells who are in lusts of evil; and things\nlike those which affect the mind in gardens and flower beds affect those\nin the heavens who are in affections of good. For, as was said above,\ncorresponding uncleannesses affect the evil, and corresponding\ncleannesses the good.\n\n41. Plainly, then, the more closely one is conjoined with the Lord the\nhappier one is. This happiness rarely shows itself in the world, however;\nfor man is then in a natural state, and the natural does not communicate\nwith the spiritual by continuity, but by correspondence. The\ncommunication is felt only in a certain repose and peace of mind,\nespecially after struggles against evil. But when a person puts off the\nnatural state and enters the spiritual state, as he does on leaving the\nworld, the happiness described above gradually manifests itself.\n\n42. (v) _The more closely one is conjoined to the Lord the more\ndistinctly does he seem to himself to be his own, and the more plainly\ndoes he recognize that he is the Lord's._ The appearance is that the more\nclosely one is conjoined to the Lord the less one is one's own. This\nappearance prevails with all the evil. It also prevails with those who\nfrom religion believe that they are not under the yoke of the law and\nthat no one can of himself do good. All these inevitably think that to be\nfree only to do good and not to think and will evil is not to be one's\nown. Inasmuch as a man who is conjoined to the Lord does not will and\ncannot think or will evil, they conclude from the look that this is not\nto be one's own. Yet that is the opposite of the truth.\n\n43. There is infernal freedom, and there is heavenly freedom. Thinking\nand willing evil and also speaking and doing it so far as civil and moral\nlaws do not prevent, is from infernal freedom. But thinking and willing\ngood and speaking and doing it so far as opportunity offers, is from\nheavenly freedom. A man perceives as his own what he thinks, wills,\nspeaks and does in freedom. The freedom anyone has always comes from his\nlove. The man in an evil love cannot but deem infernal freedom to be real\nfreedom, and a man in love of the good perceives that heavenly freedom is\nreal freedom; consequently each regards the opposite of his freedom as\nbondage. No one can deny that one or the other must be freedom, for two\nkinds of freedom opposed to each other cannot both be freedom.\nFurthermore it cannot be denied that to be led by good is freedom and to\nbe led by evil is bondage. For to be led by good is to be led by the\nLord, but to be led by evil is to be led by the devil.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as all he does in freedom appears to a man to be his own,\ncoming as it does from what he loves, and to act from one's love, as was\nsaid, is to act freely, it follows that conjunction with the Lord causes\na man to seem free and also his own, and the more closely he is conjoined\nto the Lord, to seem so much freer and so much more his own. He seems the\nmore distinctly his own because it is the nature of the divine love to\nwant its own to be another's, that is, to be the angel's or the man's.\nAll spiritual love is such, preeminently the Lord's. The Lord, moreover,\nnever coerces anyone. For nothing to which one is coerced seems one's\nown, and what seems not one's own cannot be done from one's love or be\nappropriated to one as one's own. Man is always led in freedom by the\nLord, therefore, and reformed and regenerated in freedom. On this much\nmore will be said in what follows; also see some things above, n. 4.\n\n44. The reason why the more distinctly a man seems to be his own the more\nplainly he sees that he is the Lord's, is that the more closely he is\nconjoined to the Lord the wiser he becomes (as was shown, nn. 34-36), and\nwisdom teaches and recognizes this. The angels of the third heaven, as\nthe wisest angels, perceive this and call it freedom itself; but to be\nled by themselves they call bondage. They give as the reason for this\nthat the Lord does not flow immediately into the perceptions and thoughts\nof wisdom, but into the affections of the love of good and by these into\nthe former, and this influx they perceive in the affection by which they\nhave wisdom. Hence, they say, all that they think from wisdom seems to be\nfrom themselves, thus seemingly their own, and this gives reciprocal\nconjunction.\n\n45. As the Lord's divine providence has for its object a heaven from\nmankind, it has for its object the conjunction of the human race with Him\n(see nn. 28-31). It also has for its object that man should be more and\nmore closely conjoined to Him (nn. 32, 33); for thus man possesses a more\ninterior heaven. Further, it has for its object that by the conjunction\nman should become wiser (nn. 34-36) and happier (nn. 37-41), for he has\nheaven by and according to wisdom, and happiness by wisdom, too. Finally,\nprovidence has for its object that man shall seem more distinctly his\nown, yet recognize the more clearly that he is the Lord's (nn. 42-44).\nAll these are of the Lord's divine providence, for all are heaven and\nheaven is its object.\n\nIII. IN ALL THAT IT DOES THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE LOOKS TO WHAT IS\nINFINITE AND ETERNAL\n\n46. Christendom knows that God is infinite and eternal. The doctrine of\nthe Trinity which is named for Athanasius says that God the Father is\ninfinite, eternal and omnipotent, so also God the Son, and God the Holy\nSpirit, and that nevertheless there are not three who are infinite,\neternal and omnipotent, but One. As God is infinite and eternal, only\nwhat is infinite and eternal can be predicated of Him. What infinite and\neternal are, finite man cannot comprehend and yet can comprehend. He\ncannot comprehend them because the finite is incapable of what is\ninfinite; he can comprehend them because there are abstract ideas by\nwhich one can see _that_ things are, though not _what_ they are. Of the\ninfinite such ideas are possible as that God or the Divine, being\ninfinite, is _esse_ itself, is essence and substance itself, wisdom and\nlove themselves or good and truth themselves, thus is the one Self,\nindeed is veritable Man; there is such an idea, too, in speaking of the\ninfinite as \"all,\" as that infinite wisdom is _omniscience_ and infinite\npower _omnipotence._\n\n[2] Still these ideas turn obscure to thought and may meet denial for not\nbeing comprehended, unless what one's thought gets from nature is removed\nfrom the idea, especially what it gets from the two properties of nature,\nspace and time. For these are bound to restrict the ideas and to make\nabstract ideas seem to be nothing. But if such things can be removed in a\nman, as they are in an angel, what is infinite can be comprehended by the\nmeans just mentioned. Then also it will be grasped that the human being\nis something because he was created by infinite God who is all; also that\nhe is a finite substance, having been created by infinite God who is\nsubstance itself; further that man is wisdom inasmuch as he was created\nby infinite God who is wisdom itself; and so on. For were infinite God\nnot all, and were He not substance and wisdom themselves, man would not\nbe anything actual, thus would either be nothing or exist only in idea,\nas those visionaries think who are called idealists.\n\n[3] It is plain from what was shown in the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ that the divine essence is love and wisdom (nn. 28-39); that\ndivine love and wisdom are substance itself and form itself, the one Self\nand the sole underived being (nn. 40-46); and that God created the\nuniverse and its contents from Himself, and not from nothing (nn. 282-284\n). It follows that every creature and above all the human being and the\nlove and wisdom in him, are real, and do not exist only in idea. For were\nGod not infinite, the finite would not be; were the infinite not all, no\nparticular thing would be; and had not God created all things from\nHimself, nothing whatever would be. In a word, we are because God is.\n\n47. We are considering divine providence and at this point how it regards\nwhat is infinite and eternal in all that it does. This can be clearly\ntold only in some order. Let this be the order:\n\ni. The infinite and eternal in itself is the same as the Divine.\nii. What is infinite and eternal in itself cannot but look to what is\ninfinite and eternal from itself in finite things.\niii. Divine providence looks to the infinite and eternal from itself in\nall that it does, especially in saving mankind.\niv. An image of the infinite and eternal offers in an angelic heaven\nformed from a redeemed mankind.\nv. The heart of divine providence is to look to what is infinite and\neternal by fashioning an angelic heaven, for it to be like one human\nbeing before the Lord, an image of Him.\n\n48. (i) _The infinite and eternal in itself is the same as the Divine._\nThis is plain from what was shown in many places in the work _Divine Love\nand Wisdom._ The concept comes from the angelic idea. By the infinite,\nangels understand nothing else than the divine _esse_ and by the eternal\nthe divine _existere._ But men can see and cannot see that what is\ninfinite and eternal in itself is the Divine. Those can see this who do\nnot think of the infinite from space and of the eternal from time; those\ncannot see it who think of infinite and eternal in terms of space and\ntime. Those, therefore, can see it who think at some elevation, that is,\ninwardly in the rational mind; those cannot who think in a lower, that is,\nmore external way.\n\n[2] Those by whom it can be seen reflect that a spatial infinite is an\nimpossibility, so likewise a temporal eternity or an eternity from which\nthe world has been. The infinite has no first or final limit or\nboundaries. They also reflect that there cannot be another infinite from\nit, for \"from it\" implies a boundary or beginning, or a prior source.\nThey therefore think that it is meaningless to speak of an infinite and\neternal from itself, for that is like talking of an _esse_ from itself,\nwhich is a contradiction. An infinite from itself could only be an\ninfinite from an infinite, and _esse_ from itself only _esse_ from\n_esse._ Such an infinite or _esse_ would either be the same with the\ninfinite or be finite. From these and like considerations, inwardly seen\nin the rational mind, it is plain that there is what is infinite in\nitself and eternal in itself, and that they are the Divine whence are all\nthings.\n\n49. I know that many will say to themselves, \"How can anybody grasp\nanything inwardly and rationally apart from space and time, and think\nthat it not only exists, but is also the all and the self from which are\nall things?\" But think deeply whether love or any affection of love, or\nwisdom or any perception of wisdom, yes, whether thought is in space and\ntime, and you will grasp the fact that they are not. The Divine,\ntherefore, being love itself and wisdom itself, cannot be conceived of in\nspace and time; neither, then, can the infinite. To see this more clearly\nponder whether thought is in time and space. Suppose thought is sustained\nfor ten or twelve hours; may not the length of time seem like one or two\nhours? May it not seem like one or two days? The seeming duration is\naccording to the state of affection from which the thought springs. If\nthe affection is a joyous one, in which time is not noticed, thought over\nten or twelve hours seems as though it were one or two hours. The\ncontrary is true if the affection is a sorrowful one, in which one\nwatches the passage of time. It is evident from this that time is only an\nappearance according to the state of affection from which the thought\nsprings. The same is true of one's thought of the distance on a walk or a\njourney.\n\n50. Since angels and spirits are affections of love and thoughts thence\nthey are not in space or time, either, but only in an appearance of them.\nSpace and time appear to them in keeping with the states of their\naffections and their thoughts thence. When one of them, therefore, thinks\nwith affection of another, intently desiring to see or speak with him,\nthe other is at once present.\n\n[2] Hence, too, present with every man are spirits who are in an\naffection like his--evil spirits with a man in an affection of similar\nevil, and good spirits with the man in an affection of similar good. They\nare as fully present as though he was one of their society. Space and\ntime have nothing to do with their presence, for affection and thought\ntherefrom are not in space and time, and spirits and angels are\naffections and thoughts therefrom.\n\n[3] I have been given to know this by living experience over many years.\nFor I have spoken with many on their death, some in different kingdoms of\nEurope, and some in different kingdoms of Asia and Africa, and all were\nnear me. If space and time existed for them, a journey and time to make\nit would have intervened.\n\n[4] Indeed, every man knows this by some instinct in him or in his mind,\nas has been verified to me by the fact that nobody has thought of\ndistances when I have reported that I had spoken with some person who\ndied in Asia, Africa or Europe, for example with Calvin, Luther, or\nMelancthon, or with some king, governor or priest in a far region. The\nthought occurred to no one, \"How could he speak with those who had lived\nthere, and how could they come and be present with him, when lands and\nseas lay between?\" So it was plain to me that in thinking of those in the\nspiritual world a man does not think of space and time. For those there,\nhowever, there is an appearance of time and space; see the work _Heaven\nand Hell,_ nn. 162-169, 191-199.\n\n51. From these considerations it may now be plain that the infinite and\neternal, thus the Lord, are to be thought of apart from space and time\nand can be so thought of; plain, likewise, that they are so thought of by\nthose who think interiorly and rationally; and plain that the infinite\nand eternal are identical with the Divine. So think angels and spirits.\nIn thought withdrawn from space and time, divine omnipresence is\ncomprehended, and divine omnipotence, also the Divine from eternity, but\nthese are not at all grasped by thought to which an idea of space and\ntime adheres. Plain it is, then, that one can conceive of God from\neternity, but never of nature from eternity. So one can think of the\ncreation of the world by God, but never of its creation from nature, for\nspace and time are proper to nature, but the Divine is apart from them.\nThat the Divine is apart from space and time may be seen in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 7-10, 69-72, 73-76, and other places).\n\n52. (ii) _What is infinite and eternal in itself cannot but look to what\nis infinite and eternal from itself in finite things._ By what is\ninfinite and eternal in itself the Divine itself is meant, as was shown\nin the preceding section. By finite things are meant all things created\nby the Lord, especially men, spirits, and angels. By looking to the\ninfinite and eternal from itself is meant to look to the Divine, that is\nto Himself, in these, as a person beholds his image in a mirror. This was\nshown in several places in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_\nparticularly where it was demonstrated that in the created universe there\nis an image of the human being and that this is an image of the infinite\nand eternal (nn. 317, 318), that is, of God the Creator, namely, the Lord\nfrom eternity. But be it known that the Divine-in-itself is in the Lord;\nwhereas the divine-from-itself is the divine from the Lord in things\ncreated.\n\n53. But for better comprehension let this be illustrated. The Divine can\nlook only to the divine, and can do so only in what has been created by\nit. This is evident from the fact that no one can regard another except\nfrom what is his own in himself. One who loves another regards him from\nhis own love; a wise man regards another from his own wisdom. He can note\nwhether the other loves him or not, is wise or not; but this he does from\nthe love and wisdom in himself. Therefore he unites himself with the\nother so far as the other loves him as he loves the other, or so far as\nthe other is wise as he is wise; for thus they make one.\n\n[2] It is the same with the Divine-in-itself. For the Divine cannot look\nto itself from another, that is, from man, spirit, or angel. For there is\nnothing in them of the Divine-in-itself from which are all things, and to\nlook to the Divine from another in whom there is nothing of the Divine\nwould be to look to the Divine from what is not divine, which is an\nimpossibility. Hence the Lord is so conjoined to man, spirit, or angel\nthat all which is referable to the Divine is not from them but from the\nLord. For it is known that all good and truth which anyone has are not\nfrom him but from the Lord; indeed that no one can name the Lord or speak\nHis names Jesus and Christ except from Him.\n\n[3] Consequently the infinite and eternal, which is the same as the\nDivine, looks to all things in finite beings infinitely and conjoins\nitself with them in the degree in which they receive love and wisdom. In\na word, the Lord can have His abode and dwell with man and angel only in\nHis own, and not in what is solely theirs, for this is evil; if it is\ngood, it is still finite, which in and of itself is incapable of the\ninfinite. Plainly, the finite cannot possibly look to what is infinite,\nbut the infinite can look to the infinite-from-itself in finite beings.\n\n54. It seems as if the infinite could not be conjoined to the finite\nbecause no ratio is possible between them and because the finite cannot\ncompass the infinite. Conjunction is possible, nevertheless, both because\nthe Infinite created all things from Himself (as was shown in the work\n_Divine Love and Wisdom,_ nn. 282-284), and because the Infinite cannot\nbut look in things finite to what is infinite from Him, and this\ninfinite-from-Him in finite beings can appear as if it were in them.\nThereby a ratio is possible between finite and infinite, not from the\nfinite, indeed, but from the infinite in the finite. Thereby, too, the\nfinite is capable of the infinite, not the finite being in himself, but\nas if in himself from the infinite-from-itself in him. But of this more\nin what follows.\n\n55. (iii) _Divine providence looks to the infinite and eternal from\nitself in all that it does, especially in saving mankind._ The infinite\nand eternal in itself is the Divine itself, or the Lord in Himself; the\ninfinite and eternal _from_ itself is the proceeding Divine or the Lord\nin others created by Him, thus in men and angels. This Divine is\nidentical with divine providence, for by the divine from Himself the Lord\nprovides that all things shall be held together in the order in which and\ninto which they were created. This the Divine in the act of proceeding\naccomplishes and consequently all this is divine providence.\n\n56. That divine providence in all that it does looks to what is infinite\nand eternal from itself is evident from the fact that every created thing\nproceeds from a first, which is the infinite and eternal, to things last,\nand from things last to the first whence it is (as was shown in the work\n_Divine Love and Wisdom,_ in the part in which the creation of the world\nis treated of). But the first whence anything is, is inmostly in all the\nprogression, and therefore the proceeding Divine or divine providence in\nall that it does has in view some image of the infinite and eternal. It\ndoes so in all things, in some obviously so that it is perceptible, in\nothers not. It makes that image evident to perception in the variety, and\nin the fructification and multiplication, of all things.\n\n[2] _An image of the infinite and eternal is apparent in the variety of\nall things,_ in that no one thing is the same as another nor can be to\neternity. The eye beholds this in the variety of human faces ever since\ncreation; in the variety of minds, of which faces are types; and in the\nvariety of affections, perceptions and thoughts, for of these the mind\nconsists. In all heaven, therefore, no two angels or spirits are the\nsame, nor can be to eternity. The same is true of every object to be seen\nin either the natural or the spiritual world. Plainly, the variety is\ninfinite and eternal.\n\n[3] _An image of the infinite and eternal is manifest in the\nfructification and multiplication of all things,_ in the vegetable\nkingdom in the capacity implanted in seeds, and in the animal kingdom in\nreproduction, especially in the family of fishes. Were the seeds to bear\nfruit and the animals to multiply in the measure of ability, they would\nfill all the world, even the universe, in a generation. Obviously there\nis latent in that ability an endeavor after self-propagation to infinity.\nAnd as fructification and multiplication have not failed from the\nbeginning of creation and never will, plainly there is in that ability an\nendeavor after self-propagation to eternity also.\n\n57. The like is true of human beings as to their affections, which are of\nlove, and their perceptions, which are of wisdom. The variety of either\nis infinite and eternal; so, too, is their fructification and\nmultiplication, which is spiritual. No person enjoys an affection and\nperception so like another's as to be identical with it, nor ever will.\nAffections, moreover, may be fructified and perceptions multiplied\nwithout end. Knowledge, it is well known, is inexhaustible. This capacity\nof fructification and multiplication without end or to infinity and\neternity exists in natural things with men, in spiritual with the\nspiritual angels, and in celestial with the celestial angels. Affections,\nperceptions and knowledges have this endless capacity not only in\ngeneral, but in every least particular. They have it because they exist\nfrom the infinite and eternal in itself through what is infinite and\neternal from itself. But as the finite has in it nothing of the Divine,\nnothing of the kind, not the least, is in the human being as his own. Man\nor angel is finite and only a receptacle, by itself dead. Whatever is\nliving in him is from the proceeding Divine, joined to him by contact,\nand appearing in him as if it were his. The truth of this will be seen in\nwhat follows.\n\n58. Divine providence regards what is infinite and eternal from itself\nespecially in saving mankind because its object is a heaven from mankind\n(as was shown, nn. 27-45), and therefore it is man's reformation and\nregeneration or salvation to which it especially looks, since heaven\nconsists of the saved or regenerate. To regenerate man, moreover, is to\nunite good and truth or love and wisdom in him, as they are united in the\nLord's proceeding Divine; to this especially, therefore, providence looks\nin saving the race. The image of the infinite and eternal is not to be\nfound elsewhere in man than in the marriage of good and truth. This\nmarriage the proceeding Divine effects. Men filled by the proceeding\nDivine, which is called the Holy Spirit, have prophesied, as we know from\nthe Word; men enlightened by it see divine truths in heaven's light;\nabove all, angels sensibly perceive the presence, influx and conjunction,\nthough they are aware that the conjunction is no more than can be termed\nadjunction.\n\n59. It has not been known that divine providence in all its procedure\nwith man looks to his eternal state. It can look to nothing else because\nthe Divine is infinite and eternal, and the infinite and eternal or the\nDivine is not in time; therefore all future things are present to it. It\nfollows that there is eternity in all that the Divine does. But those who\nthink from time and space perceive this with difficulty, not only because\nthey love temporal things, but also because they think from what is on\nhand in the world and not from what is at hand in heaven; this is as\nremote to them as the ends of the earth. Those, however, who are in the\nDivine, inasmuch as they think from the Lord, think from what is eternal\nas well as from what is at present, asking themselves, \"What is that\nwhich is not eternal? Is not the temporal relatively nothing and does it\nnot become nothing when it is past?\" The eternal is not so; it alone\n_is;_ its _esse_ has no end. To think thus is to think both from the\npresent and the eternal, and when a man not only thinks so but lives so,\nthe proceeding Divine with him or divine providence looks in all its\nprocedure to the state of his eternal life in heaven and guides to it. In\nwhat follows it will be seen that the Divine looks to the eternal in\neverybody, in an evil as well as in a good person.\n\n60. (iv) _An image of the infinite and eternal offers in an angelic\nheaven._ Among things we need to know about is the angelic heaven.\nEveryone who has any religion thinks about heaven and wishes to go there.\nYet heaven is granted only to those who know the way to it and walk in\nthat way. We can know the way to an extent by knowing the character of\nthose who constitute heaven and by knowing that no one becomes an angel\nor comes into heaven unless he brings with him from the world what is\nangelic. In what is angelic there is a knowledge of the way from walking\nin it, and a walking in the way through a knowledge of it. In the\nspiritual world, moreover, there are actually ways leading to every\nsociety of heaven or of hell. Each sees his own way as if for himself. He\ndoes so because a way is there for every love; the love discloses the way\nand takes a man to his fellows. No one sees other ways than the way of\nhis love. Plain it is from this that angels are nothing but heavenly\nloves; otherwise they would not have seen the ways tending to heaven.\nThis will be plainer still when heaven is described.\n\n61. Every man's spirit is affection and thought therefrom. And as all\naffection is of love, and thought is of the understanding, every spirit\nis his own love and his own understanding therefrom. When a man is\nthinking solely from his own spirit, therefore, as he does in private\nmeditation at home, he thinks from the affection belonging to his love.\nIt is clear, then, that when a man becomes a spirit, as he does after\ndeath, he is the affection of his own love and has no other thought than\nthat of his affection. If his love has been one of evil, he is an evil\naffection, which is a lust; if his love has been one of good, he is a\ngood affection. Everyone has a good affection so far as he has shunned\nevils as sins, and an evil affection so far as he has not shunned evils\nas sins. As all spirits and angels, then, are affections, the whole\nangelic heaven is nothing but the love of all the affections of good and\nthe attendant wisdom of all the perceptions of truth. Since all good and\ntruth are from the Lord and He is love itself, the angelic heaven is an\nimage of Him. Furthermore, as divine love and wisdom are human in form,\nit also follows that the angelic heaven must be in that form. Of this we\nshall say more in the following section.\n\n62. The angelic heaven is an image of the infinite and eternal, then,\nbecause it is an image of the Lord, who is infinite and eternal. The\nimage of His infinity and eternity is manifest in heaven's being\nconstituted of myriads and myriads of angels, and in its consisting of as\nmany societies as there are general affections of heavenly love;\nmanifest, again, in every angel's being distinctly his own affection;\nmanifest further in that the form of heaven--a unit in the divine sight\njust as man is a unit--is assembled from so many affections, general and\nparticular; also manifest in that this form is perfected to eternity with\nthe increase in numbers, the greater the number of those entering into\nthe form of the divine love which is the form of forms, the more perfect\nthe resulting unity. It is plain from all this that the angelic heaven\npresents an image of the infinite and eternal.\n\n63. From the knowledge of heaven to be had from this brief description it\nis evident that it is an affection of the love of good that makes heaven\nin a man. But who knows this today? Who knows even what an affection of\nthe love of good is, or that these affections are innumerable, in fact,\ninfinite? For, as was said, each angel is his own particular affection;\nand the form of heaven is the form of all the affections of the divine\nlove there. Only one Being can combine all affections into this form--only\nHe who is love and wisdom itself and who is at once infinite and eternal.\nFor throughout that form is what is infinite and eternal; the infinite is\nin its unity and the eternal in its perpetuity; were they removed the\nform would instantly collapse. Who else can combine affections into a\nform? Who else can bring about this unity? The unity can be accomplished\nonly in an idea of the total, and the total realized only in thought for\neach single part. Myriads on myriads compose that form; annually myriads\nenter it and will do so to eternity. All infants enter it and all adults\nwho are affections of the love of good. Again from all this the image of\nthe infinite and eternal in the angelic heaven is to be seen.\n\n64. (v) _The heart of divine providence is to look to what is infinite\nand eternal by fashioning an angelic heaven for it to be like one human\nbeing before the Lord, an image of Him._ See in the work _Heaven and\nHell_ (nn. 59-86) that heaven as a whole is like one man in the Lord's\nsight; that each society of heaven also is; that as a result each angel\nis a human being in perfect form; and that this is because God the\nCreator, who is the Lord from eternity, is Man; also (nn. 87-102) that as\na result there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all\nthings in the human being. The entire heaven as one man has not been seen\nby me, for only the Lord can so behold it; but that an entire society,\nwhether large or small, can appear as one man, I have seen. I was then\ntold that the largest society of all, which is heaven in its entirety, so\nappears, but to the Lord alone; and that this causes every angel to be in\nfull form a human being.\n\n65. As all heaven is like one man in the Lord's view, it is divided into\nas many general societies as there are organs, viscera and members in\nman, and each general society into as many less general or particular\nsocieties as there are larger divisions in each of the viscera and\norgans. This makes evident what heaven is. Because the Lord is very Man\nand heaven is His image, to be in heaven is called \"being in the Lord.\"\nSee in the work _Divine Love and Wisdom_ that the Lord is very Man\n(nn. 11-13, 285-289).\n\n66. From all this the arcanum, well called angelic, can in a measure be\nseen, that each affection of good and at the same time of truth is human\nin form. For whatever proceeds from the Lord gets from His divine love\nthat it is an affection of good and from His divine wisdom that it is an\naffection of truth. An affection of truth proceeding from the Lord\nappears in angel and man as perception and consequent thought of truth.\nFor we are aware of perception and thought, but little aware of the\naffection whence they are, although all come as one from the Lord.\n\n67. Man, then, is by creation a heaven in least form and hence an image\nof the Lord; heaven consists of as many affections as there are angels;\nand each affection in its form is man. It must then be the constant\nstriving of divine providence that a man may become a heaven in form and\nan image of the Lord, and as this is effected by means of an affection of\nthe good and true, that he may become such an affection. This is\ntherefore the unceasing effort of divine providence. But its inmost aim\nis that a man may be here or there in heaven or in the divine heavenly\nman, for so he is in the Lord. But this is accomplished with those whom\nthe Lord can lead to heaven. As He foresees who can be led He also\nprovides continually that a man may become amenable; for thus everyone\nwho suffers himself to be led to heaven is prepared for his own place\nthere.\n\n68. We have said that heaven is divided into as many societies as there\nare organs, viscera and members in man; and in these no part can be in\nany place but its own. As angels are the parts in the divine heavenly\nman, and none become angels who were not men in the world, the man who\nsuffers himself to be led to heaven is continually prepared by the Lord\nfor his own place there. This is done by the affection of good and truth\nwhich corresponds with that place. To this place every angel-man is also\nassigned on his departure from the world. This is the inmost of divine\nprovidence touching heaven.\n\n69. On the other hand, a man who does not permit himself to be led to\nheaven and allotted a place there is prepared for his own place in hell.\nOf himself a man tends constantly to the depths of hell but is\ncontinually withheld by the Lord. He who cannot be withheld is prepared\nfor a given place in hell, to which he is assigned on departure from the\nworld. This place is opposite one in heaven; for hell is the opposite of\nheaven. So, as the angel-man according to his affection of good and truth\nis allotted his place in heaven, the devil-man according to his affection\nof evil and falsity is allotted his in hell. The two opposites, set\nexactly over against each other, are kept in connection. This is the\ninmost of divine providence touching hell.\n\nIV. THERE ARE LAWS OF PROVIDENCE THAT ARE UNKNOWN TO MEN\n\n70. Men know there is divine providence, but not what its nature is. This\nis not known because its laws are arcana, hitherto hidden in the wisdom\nof angels. These laws are to be revealed now in order that what belongs\nto the Lord may be ascribed to Him, and nothing ascribed to man that is\nnot man's. For very many in the world attribute everything to themselves\nand their prudence, and what they cannot so attribute they call\nfortuitous and accidental, not knowing that human prudence is nothing and\nthat \"fortuitous\" and \"accidental\" are idle words.\n\n[2] We say that the laws of divine providence are arcana \"hidden until\nnow in the wisdom of the angels.\" They have been hidden because the\nunderstanding has been closed in Christendom in religion's name on divine\nthings, and has been rendered so dull and averse in these matters that\nman has not been able because he has not been willing, or has not been\nwilling because he has not been able, to understand anything about\nprovidence beyond the mere fact that it exists, or to do more than argue\nwhether it exists or not, also whether it is only general or also\ndetailed. Closed up on divine things in the name of religion,\nunderstanding could advance no further.\n\n[3] But it is acknowledged in the church that man cannot of himself do\ngood which is in itself good or of himself think truth which is in itself\ntruth. This acknowledgment is at one with divine providence; these are\ninterdependent beliefs. Lest therefore one be affirmed and the other\ndenied and both fail, what divine providence is must by all means be\nrevealed. It cannot be revealed unless the laws by which the Lord\noversees and governs the volitions and thoughts of the human being are\ndisclosed. The laws enable one to know the nature of providence, and only\none who knows its nature can acknowledge providence, for then he beholds\nit. The laws of divine providence, hitherto hidden with angels in their\nwisdom, are therefore to be revealed now.\n\nV. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL ACT FROM FREEDOM\nACCORDING TO REASON\n\n71. As is known, man is free to think and will as he wishes, but not to\nspeak whatever he thinks or to do whatever he wills. The freedom meant\nhere, therefore, is spiritual freedom and natural freedom only as they\nmake one; for thinking and willing are spiritual, and speaking and acting\nare natural. The two are readily distinguishable in man, for he can think\nwhat he does not utter and will what he does not do; plainly, spiritual\nand natural are discriminated in him. He can pass from the former to the\nlatter therefore only on a decision to do so--a decision which can be\nlikened to a door that must first be unfastened and opened. This door, it\nis true, stands open, as it were, in those who think and will from reason\nin accord with the civil laws of the land and the moral laws of society,\nfor they speak what they think and do what they will to do. But in those\nwho think and will contrary to those laws, the door stands shut, as it\nwere. One who watches his volitions and subsequent deeds knows that such\na decision intervenes, sometimes more than once in a single utterance or\naction. This we have premised for it to be understood that by acting from\nfreedom according to reason is meant to think and will freely _and_\nthence to speak and do freely what is according to reason.\n\n72. Since few know, however, that the law above can be a law of divine\nprovidence, principally because a man is also free then to think evil and\nfalsity (still divine providence is continually leading him to think and\nwill what is good and true), for clearer perception we must proceed step\nby step and shall do so in this order:\n\ni. The human being has reason and freedom or rationality and liberty, and\nhas these two faculties from the Lord.\nii. Whatever a man does in freedom, whether with reason or not, provided\nit is according to his reason, seems to him to be his.\niii. Whatever a man does in freedom according to his thought, is\nappropriated to him as his and remains.\niv. A man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord by means of the two\nfaculties and cannot be reformed and regenerated without them.\nv. A man can be reformed and regenerated by means of the two faculties so\nfar as he can be led by them to acknowledge that all truth and good which\nhe thinks and does are from the Lord and not from himself.\nvi. The conjunction of the Lord with man, and man's reciprocal\nconjunction with the Lord, is effected by means of these two faculties.\nvii. In all the procedure of His divine providence the Lord safeguards\nthe two faculties in man unimpaired and as sacred.\nviii. It is therefore of the divine providence that man shall act in\nfreedom according to reason.\n\n73. (i) _The human being has reason and freedom or rationality and\nliberty, and has these two faculties from the Lord._ Man has a faculty of\nunderstanding, which is rationality, and a faculty of thinking, willing,\nspeaking and doing what he understands, which is liberty; and he has\nthese two faculties from the Lord (see the work _Divine Love and Wisdom,_\nnn. 264-270, 425, and above, nn. 43, 44). But many doubts may arise about\neither of the two faculties when thought is given to them; therefore I\nwant to say something at this point just about man's freedom to act\naccording to reason.\n\n[2] First, it should be known that all freedom is of love, so much so\nthat love and freedom are one. As love is man's life, freedom is of his\nlife, too. For man's every enjoyment is from some love of his and has no\nother source, and to act from the enjoyment of one's love is to act in\nfreedom. Enjoyment leads a man as the current bears an object along on a\nstream. But loves are many, some harmonious, others not; therefore\nfreedoms are many. In general there are three: natural, rational, and\nspiritual freedom.\n\n[3] _Natural freedom_ is man's by heredity. In it he loves only himself\nand the world: his first life is nothing else. From these two loves,\nmoreover, all evils arise and thus attach to love. Hence to think and\nwill evil is man's natural freedom, and when he has also confirmed evils\nin himself by reasonings, he does them in freedom according to his\nreason. Doing them is from his faculty called liberty, and confirming\nthem from his faculty called rationality.\n\n[4] For example, it is from the love into which he is born that he\ndesires to commit adultery, to defraud, to blaspheme, to take revenge.\nConfirming these evils in himself and by this making them allowable, he\nthen, from his love's enjoyment in them, thinks and wills them freely and\nas if according to reason, and so far as civil laws do not hinder, speaks\nand does them. It is of the Lord's divine providence that man is allowed\nto do so, for freedom or liberty is his. This natural freedom is man's by\nnature because by heredity, and those are in this freedom who have\nconfirmed it in themselves by reasonings from enjoyment in self-love and\nlove of the world.\n\n[5] _Rational freedom_ is from the love of good repute for the sake of\nstanding or gain. The delight of this love is to seem outwardly a moral\nperson. Loving this reputation, the man does not defraud, commit\nadultery, take revenge, or blaspheme; and making this his reasoned\ncourse, he also does in freedom according to reason what is sincere,\njust, chaste, and friendly; indeed from reason can advocate such conduct.\nBut if his rational is only natural and not spiritual, his freedom is\nonly external and not internal. He does not love these goods inwardly at\nall, but only outwardly for reputation's sake, as we said. The good deeds\nhe does are therefore not in themselves good. He can also say that they\nshould be done for the sake of the general welfare, but he speaks out of\nno love for that welfare, but from love of his own standing or gain. His\nfreedom therefore derives nothing from love of the public good, nor does\nhis reason, which complies with his love. This rational freedom,\ntherefore, is inwardly natural freedom. The Lord's divine providence\nleaves everyone this freedom too.\n\n[6] _Spiritual freedom_ is from love of eternal life. Into this love and\nits enjoyment only he comes who regards evils as sins and therefore does\nnot will them, and who also looks to the Lord. Once a man does this he is\nin this freedom. One can refuse to will and do evils for the reason that\nthey are sins, only from an interior or higher freedom, belonging to his\ninterior or higher love. This freedom does not seem at first to be\nfreedom, yet it is. Later it does seem freedom, and the man acts in real\nfreedom according to true reason, thinking, willing, speaking and doing\nthe good and the true. This freedom grows as natural freedom decreases\nand serves it; and it unites with rational freedom and purifies it.\n\n[7] Anyone can come into this freedom if he is willing to think that\nthere is a life eternal, and that the joy and bliss of life in time and\nfor a time is like a passing shadow to the joy and bliss of life in\neternity and for eternity. A man can think so if he will, for he has\nrationality and liberty, and the Lord, from whom he has the two\nfaculties, constantly enables him to do so.\n\n74. (ii) _Whatever a man does in freedom, whether with reason or not,\nprovided it is according to his reason, seems to him to be his._ Nothing\nmakes so clear what rationality and liberty are, which are proper to the\nhuman being, as to compare man and beast. Beasts do not have any\nrationality or faculty of understanding, or any liberty or faculty of\nwilling freely. They do not have understanding or will, therefore, but\ninstead of understanding they have knowledge and instead of will\naffection, both of these natural. Not having the two faculties, animals\ndo not have thought, but instead an internal sight which makes one with\ntheir external sight by correspondence.\n\n[2] Every affection has its mate, its consort, so to speak. An affection\nof natural love has knowledge, one of spiritual love has intelligence,\nand one of celestial love, wisdom. Without its mate or consort an\naffection is nothing, but is like esse apart from existere or substance\nwithout form, of which nothing can be predicated. Hence there is in every\ncreated thing something referable to the marriage of good and truth, as\nwe have shown several times. In beasts it is a marriage of affection and\nknowledge; the affection is one of natural good, and the knowledge is\nknowledge of natural truth.\n\n[3] Affection and knowledge in beasts act altogether as one. Their\naffection cannot be raised above their knowledge, nor the knowledge above\nthe affection; if they are raised, they are raised together. Nor have\nanimals a spiritual mind into which, or into the heat and light of which,\nthey can be raised. Thus they have no faculty of understanding or\nrationality, or faculty of freely willing or liberty, and nothing more\nthan natural affection with its knowledge. Their natural affection is\nthat of finding food and shelter, of propagating, of avoiding and\nguarding against injury, together with the knowledge needed for this. As\nthis is their kind of existence, they cannot think, \"I will this but not\nthat,\" or \"I know this but not that,\" still less, \"I understand this\" or\n\"I love that.\" They are borne along by affection and its knowledge\nwithout rationality and liberty. It is not from the natural world that\nthey are borne along so, but from the spiritual world. Nothing can exist\nin the natural world that does not have its connection with the spiritual\nworld: thence is every cause that accomplishes an effect. On this see\nalso some things below (n. 96).\n\n75. It is otherwise with man, who has affections not only of natural\nlove, but also of spiritual and celestial loves. For man's mind is of\nthree degrees, as was shown in Part III of the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom._ Man can be raised therefore from natural knowledge into\nspiritual intelligence and on into celestial wisdom. From the two,\nintelligence and wisdom, he can look to the Lord, be conjoined with Him,\nand thereby live to eternity. This elevation as to affection would not be\npossible did he not from rationality have the power to raise the\nunderstanding, and from liberty the power to will this.\n\n[2] By means of the two faculties man can think in himself about what he\nperceives outside him through the senses, and can also think on high\nabout what he thinks below. Anyone can say, \"I have thought and I think\nso and so,\" \"I have willed and I will so and so,\" \"I understand that this\nis a fact,\" \"I love this for what it is,\" and so on. Obviously, man\nthinks above his thought, and sees it, as it were, below him. This comes\nto him from rationality and liberty; from rationality he can think on\nhigh, and from liberty he can will so to think. Unless he had liberty to\nthink so, he would not have the will, nor the thought from it.\n\n[3] Those, therefore, who will to understand only what is of the world\nand nature and not what moral and spiritual good and truth are, cannot be\nraised from knowledge into intelligence, still less into wisdom, for they\nhave stifled those faculties. They render themselves no longer men except\nthat they can understand if they wish, and can also will, by virtue of\nthe implanted rationality and liberty; from the two capacities it is that\none can think and from thought speak. In other respects, they are not men\nbut beasts, and some, in their abuse of those faculties, are worse than\nbeasts.\n\n76. From an unclouded rationality anyone can see or grasp that without\nthe appearance that it is his own a man cannot be in any affection to\nknow or to understand. Every joy and pleasure, thus everything of the\nwill, is from an affection of some love. Who can wish to know or to\nunderstand anything except that an affection of his takes pleasure in it?\nWho can feel this pleasure unless what he is affected by seems to be his?\nWere it not his, but another's altogether, that is, if another from his\naffection should infuse something into his mind when he himself felt no\naffection for knowing or grasping it, would he receive it? Indeed, could\nhe receive it? Would he not be like one called a dullard or a clod?\n\n[2] It should be manifest then that although everything that a man\nperceives, thinks, knows and, according to perception, wills and does,\nflows into him, nevertheless it is of the Lord's divine providence that\nit seems to be the man's. Otherwise, as we said, a man would not receive\nanything and so could be given no intelligence or wisdom. It is known\nthat all good and truth are the Lord's and not man's, and yet appear to\nbe man's. As good and truth so appear, so do all things of the church and\nof heaven, and all things of love and wisdom, and all things of charity\nand faith; yet none of them is man's. No one can receive them from the\nLord unless it seems to him that he perceives them for himself. Plainly,\nthe truth of the matter is that whatever a man does in freedom, whether\nwith reason or not, provided only that it accords with his reason, seems\nto him to be his.\n\n77. Who cannot from his faculty called rationality understand that a\ngiven good is serviceable to society, and a given evil harmful to\nsociety? That, for example, justice, sincerity, the chastity of marriage\nare serviceable to it, and injustice, insincerity, and misconduct with\nthe wives of others, harmful? Consequently that these evils are in\nthemselves injuries, and those goods in themselves benefits? Who then\ncannot make this a matter of his reason if only he will? He has\nrationality and he has liberty; the two faculties are bared, show, take\ncharge and enable him to perceive and do in the measure that he avoids\nthose evils because they are evils. So far as a man does this he looks on\nthose goods as a friend looks on friends.\n\n[2] By his faculty called rationality a man can conclude from this what\ngoods are useful to society in the spiritual world and what evils are\nhurtful there, if instead of evils he sees sins and instead of goods\nworks of charity. This he can also make a matter of his reason if he\nwill, since he has liberty and rationality. His rationality and liberty\nemerge, become manifest, take charge and give him perception and power so\nfar as he shuns evils as sins. So far as he does this he regards the\ngoods of charity as neighbor regards neighbor in mutual love.\n\n[3] For the sake of reception and union the Lord wills that whatever a\nman does freely according to reason shall seem to him to be his; this\nagrees with reason itself. It follows that a man can from his reason will\nsomething on the ground that it means his eternal happiness and can\nperform it by the Lord's divine power, implored by him.\n\n78. (iii) _Whatever a man does in freedom according to his thought is\nappropriated to him as his and remains._ The reason is that a man's own\nand his freedom make one. His proprium is of his life, and what he does\nfrom his life he does in freedom. His proprium is also of his love, for\nlove is one's life, and what he does from his life's love he does in\nfreedom. We speak of his acting in freedom \"according to his thought\"\nbecause what is of his life or love he also thinks and confirms by\nthought, and what is so confirmed he does in freedom then according to\nthought. What a man does, he does from the will by the understanding;\nfreedom is of the will and thought is of the understanding.\n\n[2] A man can also act freely contrary to reason, likewise not freely in\naccord with reason: then nothing is appropriated to him--what he does is\nonly of the mouth and body, not of the spirit or heart; only what is of\nthe spirit and heart, when it is also of the mouth and body, is\nappropriated. The truth of this can be illustrated by many things, but\nthis is not the place.\n\n[3] By being appropriated to man is meant entering his life and becoming\npart of it, consequently becoming his own. It will be seen in what\nfollows that there is nothing, however, which is man's very own; it only\nseems to him as if it were. Only this now: all the good a man does in\nfreedom according to reason is appropriated to him as if it were his\nbecause it seems to be his in that he thinks, wills, speaks and does it.\nGood is not man's, however, but the Lord's with man (above, n. 76). How\nevil is appropriated to man will appear in a section of its own.\n\n79. We said that what a man does in freedom in accord with his thought\nalso remains. For nothing that a man has appropriated to himself can be\neradicated; it has been made part of his love and at the same time of his\nreason, or of his will and at the same time of his understanding, and so\nof his life. It can be put aside indeed, but not cast out; put aside, it\nis borne from center to periphery, where it stays; this is what we mean\nby its remaining.\n\n[2] If, for example, in boyhood or youth, a man appropriated an evil to\nhimself by doing it with enjoyment from love of it--a fraud, blasphemy,\nrevenge, or fornication--having done it freely with the assent of thought,\nhe made it his; but if later he repents, shuns it and considers it a sin\nto be averse from, and so desists from it freely according to reason,\nthen the opposite good is appropriated to him. Good then takes the center\nand removes evil to the periphery, farther according to his aversion and\nabhorrence for it. Still the evil cannot be so thrust out that one can\nsay it is extirpated; it may indeed in that removal seem extirpated. What\noccurs is that the man is withheld from the evil by the Lord and held in\ngood. This can happen with all inherited evil and all a man's actual\nevil.\n\n[3] I have seen this verified by the experience of some in heaven who\nthought they were without evil, being held in good as they were by the\nLord. Lest they should believe that the good in which they were was their\nown, they were let down from heaven and let into their evils until they\nacknowledged that of themselves they were in evil, and in good only from\nthe Lord. Upon this acknowledgment they were returned to heaven.\n\n[4] Be it known, therefore, that goods are appropriated to man only in\nthat they are constantly with him from the Lord, and that as a man\nacknowledges this the Lord grants that good shall seem to be the man's,\nthat is, that it shall seem to him that he loves the neighbor or has\ncharity, believes or has faith, does good and understands truth, thus is\nwise, of himself. From this an enlightened person may see the nature and\nthe strength of the appearance in which the Lord wills man to be. The\nLord wills it for salvation's sake, for without that appearance no one\ncan be saved. Also see what was shown above on the subject (nn. 42-45).\n\n80. Nothing that a person only thinks, not even what he thinks to will,\nis appropriated to him unless he also wills it so that he does it when\nopportunity offers. For when a man then does it, he does it from the will\nby the understanding or from affection of the will by thought of the\nunderstanding. If it is something thought only, it cannot be\nappropriated, for the understanding does not conjoin itself to the will,\nor the thought of the understanding to the affection of the will, but the\nlatter with the former, as we have shown many times in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom,_ Part V. This is meant by the Lord's words,\n\nNot that which enters the mouth renders a man unclean, but that which\ngoes forth from the heart by the mouth renders a man unclean ( Mt 15:11,\n17, 18, 19).\n\nIn the spiritual sense thought is meant by \"mouth,\" for thought is spoken\nby it; affection which is of love is meant by \"heart\"; if the man thinks\nand speaks from this he makes himself unclean. In Luke 6:45 also by\n\"heart\" an affection of love or of the will is meant, and by \"mouth\" the\nthought of the understanding.\n\n81. Evils which a man believes are allowable, though he does not do them,\nare also appropriated to him, for the licitness in thought is from the\nwill, as there is assent. When a man deems an evil allowable he loosens\nthe internal bond on it and is kept from doing it only by external bonds,\nwhich are fears. As his spirit favors the evil, he commits it when\nexternal bonds are removed as allowable, and meanwhile is committing it\nin spirit. But on this see _Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem,_  nn.\n108-113.\n\n82. (iv) _A man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord by means of the\ntwo faculties and cannot be reformed or regenerated without them._ The\nLord teaches that,\n\nUnless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God (Jn 3:3,5,7).\n\nFew know what it is to be born anew or regenerated. For most do not know\nwhat love and charity are, therefore what faith is, either. One who does\nnot know what love and charity are cannot know what faith is because\ncharity and faith make one as good and truth do, and as affection which\nis of the will, and thought which is of the understanding, do. On this\nunion see the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ nn. 427-431; also\n_Doctrine for the New Jerusalem,_ nn. 13-24; and above, nn. 3-20.\n\n83. No one can enter the kingdom of God unless he has been born anew for\nthe reason that by heredity from his parents he is born into evils of\nevery kind, with the capacity of becoming spiritual through removal of\nthe evils; unless he becomes spiritual, then, he cannot enter heaven. To\nbecome spiritual from being natural is to be born again or regenerated.\nThree things need to be considered if one is to know how man is\nregenerated: the nature of his first state, which is one of damnation;\nthe nature of his second state, which is one of reformation; and the\nnature of his third state, which is one of regeneration.\n\n[2] Man's first state, which is one of damnation, is every one's state by\nheredity from his parents. For man is born thereby into self-love and\nlove of the world, and from these as fountains into evils of every kind.\nBy the enjoyments of those loves he is led, and they keep him from\nknowing that he is in evil, for the enjoyment of any love is felt to be\ngood. Unless he is regenerated, therefore, a man knows no otherwise than\nthat to love himself and the world above all things is good itself, and\nto rule over others and possess their riches is the supreme good. So\ncomes all evil. For only oneself is regarded with love. If another is\nregarded with love it is as devil loves devil or thief thief when they\nare in league.\n\n[3] Those who confirm these loves with themselves and the evils flowing\nfrom them, from enjoyment in them, remain natural and become\nsensuous-corporeal, and in their own thinking, which is that of their\nspirit, are insane. And yet, as long as they are in the world they can\nspeak and act rationally and wisely, for they are human beings and so\nhave rationality and liberty, though they still do this from self-love\nand love of the world. After death and on becoming spirits, they can\nenjoy nothing that they did not enjoy in the world. Their enjoyment is\nthat of an infernal love and is turned into the unpleasant, sorrowful\nand dreadful, meant in the Word by torment and hell-fire. Plain it is,\nthen, that man's first state is one of damnation and that they are in it\nwho do not suffer themselves to be regenerated.\n\n[4] Man's second state--of reformation--is his state when he begins to\nthink of heaven for the joy there, thus of God from whom he has heaven's\njoy. But at first the thought comes from the enjoyment of self-love; to\nhim heaven's joy is that enjoyment. While the enjoyments of that love and\nof the evils flowing from it rule, moreover, he cannot but think that to\ngain heaven is to pour out prayers, hear sermons, observe the Supper,\ngive to the poor, help the needy, make offerings to churches, contribute\nto hospitals, and the like. In this state a man is persuaded that merely\nto think about what religion teaches, whether this is called faith or\ncalled faith and charity, is to be saved. He is so minded because he\ngives no thought to the evils in the enjoyments of which he is. While\nthose enjoyments remain, the evils do. The enjoyments of the evils are\nfrom the lust for them which continually inspires them and, when no fear\nrestrains, brings them to pass.\n\n[5] While evils remain in the lusts of love for them and so in one's\nenjoyments, there is no faith, piety, charity or worship except in\nexternals, which seem real in the world's sight, but are not. They may be\nlikened to waters flowing from an impure fountain, which one cannot\ndrink. While a man is such that he thinks about heaven and God from\nreligion but gives no thought to evils as sins, he is still in the first\nstate. He comes into the second state, which is one of reformation, when\nhe begins to think that there is such a thing as sin and still more when\nhe thinks that a given evil is a sin, explores it somewhat in himself,\nand does not will it.\n\n[6] Man's third state, which is one of regeneration, sets in and\ncontinues from the former. It begins when a man desists from evils as\nsins, progresses as he shuns them, and is perfected as he battles against\nthem. Then as he conquers from the Lord he is regenerated. The order of\nhis life is changed; from natural he becomes spiritual; the natural\nseparated from the spiritual is in disorder and the spiritual is in\norder. The regenerated man acts from charity and makes what is of his\nfaith a part of his charity. But he becomes spiritual only in the measure\nin which he is in truths. Everyone is regenerated by means of truths and\nof a life in accord with them; by truths he knows life and by his life he\ndoes the truths. So he unites good and truth, which is the spiritual\nmarriage in which heaven is.\n\n85.* Man is reformed and regenerated by means of the two faculties called\nrationality and liberty, and cannot be reformed or regenerated without\nthem, because it is by means of rationality that he can understand and\nknow what is evil and what is good, and hence what is false and true, and\nby means of liberty that he can will what he understands and knows. But\nwhile the enjoyment of an evil love rules him he cannot will good and\ntruth freely or make them a matter of his reason, and therefore cannot\nappropriate them to him. For, as was shown above, what a man does in\nfreedom from reason is appropriated to him as his, and unless it is so\nappropriated, he is not reformed and regenerated. He acts from the\nenjoyment of a love of good and truth for the first time when the\nenjoyment of love for the evil and false has been removed. Two opposite\nkinds of enjoyments of love at one and the same time are impossible. To\nact from the enjoyment of love is to act freely and is also to act\naccording to reason, inasmuch as the reason favors the love.\n\n* This number must be kept though there is no number 84; long established\nreferences to Swedenborg's books make it necessary to keep the numbering\nin the Latin original.\n\n86. Because an evil man as well as a good man has rationality and\nliberty, the evil man as well as the good can understand truth and do\ngood. The evil man cannot do this in freedom according to reason, while a\ngood man can; for the evil man is in the enjoyment of a love of evil, the\ngood man in the enjoyment of a love of good. The truth which an evil man\nunderstands and the good he does are therefore not appropriated to him,\nas they are to the good man, and aside from appropriation there is no\nreformation or regeneration. With the evil man evils with their falsities\noccupy the center, as it were, and goods with their truths the\ncircumference, but goods with their truths the center with the good man\nand evils with their falsities the periphery. In each case what is at the\ncenter is diffused to the circumference, as heat is from a fiery center\nand cold from an icy one. Thus with the wicked the good at the\ncircumference is defiled by evils at the center, and with the good evils\nat the circumference grow mild from the good at the center. For this\nreason evils do not condemn a regenerating man, nor do goods save the\nunregenerate.\n\n87. (v) _A man can be reformed and regenerated by means of the two\nfaculties so far as he can be led by them to acknowledge that all truth\nand good which he thinks and does are from the Lord and not from\nhimself._ What reformation and regeneration are has been told just above,\nlikewise that man is reformed and regenerated by means of the two\nfaculties of rationality and liberty. Because it is done by those\nfaculties, something more is to be said of them. From rationality a man\ncan understand and from liberty he can will, doing each as of himself.\nYet he does not have the ability to will good in freedom and to do it in\naccord with reason unless he is regenerated. An evil man can will only\nevil in freedom and do it according to his thinking, which by\nconfirmations he has made to be his reasoning. For evil can be confirmed\nas well as good, but is confirmed by fallacies and appearances which then\nbecome falsities; evil so confirmed seems to accord with reason.\n\n88. Anyone thinking from interior understanding can see that the power to\nwill and the power to understand are not from man, but from Him who has\npower itself, that is, power in its essence. Only think whence power is.\nIs it not from Him who has it in its full might, that is, who possesses\nit in and from Himself? Power in itself, therefore, is divine. All power\nmust have a supply on which to draw and direction from an interior or\nhigher self. Of itself the eye cannot see, nor the ear hear, nor the\nmouth speak, nor the hand do; there must be supply and direction from the\nmind. Nor can the mind of itself think or will this or that unless\nsomething more interior or higher determines the mind to it. The same is\ntrue of the power to understand and the power to will. These are possible\nonly from Him who has in Himself the power of willing and understanding.\n\n[2] It is plain, then, that the two faculties called rationality and\nliberty are from the Lord and not from man. Man can therefore will or\nunderstand something only as if of himself, and not of himself. Anyone\ncan confirm the truth of this for himself who knows and believes that the\nwill to good and the understanding of truth are wholly from the Lord, and\nnot from man. The Word teaches that man can take nothing of himself and\ndo nothing of himself (Jn 3:27; 15:5).\n\n89. As all willing is from love and all understanding is from wisdom, the\nability to will is from divine love, and the ability to understand is\nfrom divine wisdom; thus both are from the Lord who is divine love itself\nand divine wisdom itself. Hence to act in freedom according to reason has\nno other source. Everyone acts in freedom because, like love, freedom\ncannot be separated from willing. But there is interior and exterior\nwilling, and a man can act upon the exterior without acting at the same\ntime on the interior willing; so hypocrite and flatterer act. Exterior\nwilling, however, is still from freedom, being from a love of appearing\nother than one is, or from love of an evil which the person intends in\nthe love of his inner will. An evil man, however, as has been said,\ncannot in freedom according to reason do anything but evil; he cannot do\ngood in freedom according to reason; he can do good, to be sure, but not\nin the inner freedom which is his own, from which the outer freedom has\nits character of not being good.\n\n90. A person can be reformed and regenerated, we have said, in the\nmeasure in which he is led by the two faculties to acknowledge that all\ngood and truth which he thinks and does are from the Lord and not from\nhimself. A man can make this acknowledgment only by means of the two\nfaculties, because they are from the Lord and are the Lord's in him, as\nis plain from what has been said. Man can make this acknowledgment,\ntherefore, only from the Lord and not from himself; he can make it as if\nof himself; this the Lord gives everyone to do. He may believe that it is\nof himself, but when wiser acknowledge that it is not of himself.\nOtherwise the truth he thinks and the good he does are not in themselves\ntruth and good, for the man and not the Lord is in them. Good in which\nthe man is and which is done by him for salvation's sake is\nself-righteous, but not that in which the Lord is.\n\n91. Few can grasp with understanding that acknowledgment of the Lord, and\nacknowledgment that all good and truth are from Him, cause one to be\nreformed and regenerated. For a person may think, \"What does the\nacknowledgment effect when the Lord is omnipotent and wills the salvation\nof all? This He wills and can accomplish if only He is moved to mercy.\"\nOne is not thinking then from the Lord, nor from the interior sight of\nthe understanding, that is, from enlightenment. Let me say briefly what\nthe acknowledgment accomplishes.\n\n[2] In the spiritual world where space is appearance only, wisdom brings\nabout presence and love union, or the contrary happens. One can\nacknowledge the Lord from wisdom, and one can acknowledge Him from love.\nThe acknowledgment of Him from wisdom (viewed in itself this is only\nknowledge) is made by doctrine; acknowledgment from love is made in a\nlife according to doctrine. This effects union, the other, presence.\nThose, therefore, who reject instruction about the Lord remove themselves\nfrom Him, and as they also refuse life they part from Him. Those who do\nnot reject instruction, but do refuse life, are present but still\nseparated--like friends who converse but do not love each other, or like\ntwo one of whom speaks as a friend with the other, although as his enemy\nhe hates him.\n\n[3] The truth of this is commonly recognized in the idea that one who\nteaches and lives well is saved but not one who teaches well but lives\nwickedly, and in the idea that one who does not acknowledge God cannot be\nsaved. This makes plain what kind of religion it is only to think about\nthe Lord from faith, so called, and not to do something from charity.\nTherefore the Lord says,\n\nWhy do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say? Everyone who\ncomes to Me and hears my words and does them .. . is like a house-builder\nwho has placed the foundation on a rock, but the man who hears and does\nnot do, is like a man building a house on the ground without a foundation\n(Lu 6:46-49).\n\n92. (vi) _The conjunction of the Lord with man and man's reciprocal\nconjunction with the Lord is effected by these two faculties._\nConjunction with the Lord and regeneration are one and the same thing,\nfor a man is regenerated in the measure that he is conjoined with the\nLord. All that we have said above about regeneration can be said\ntherefore of the conjunction, and all we said about conjunction can be\nsaid about regeneration. The Lord Himself teaches in John that there is a\nconjunction of the Lord with man and a reciprocal conjunction of man with\nthe Lord.\n\nAbide in Me, and I in you. . . . He that abides in Me and I in him,\nbrings forth much fruit (15:4, 5).\n\nIn that day you will know that you are in Me and I in you (14:20).\n\n[2] From reason alone anyone can see that there is no conjunction of\nminds unless it is reciprocal, and that what is reciprocal conjoins. If\none loves another without being loved in return, then as he approaches,\nthe other withdraws; but if he is loved in return, as he approaches, the\nother does also, and there is conjunction. Love also wills to be loved;\nthis is implanted in it; and so far as it is loved in return it is in\nitself and in its delight. Thence it is plain that if the Lord loves man\nand is not in turn loved by man, the Lord advances but man withdraws;\nthus the Lord would be constantly willing to meet with man and enter him,\nbut man would be turning back and departing. So it is with those in hell,\nbut with those in heaven there is mutual conjunction.\n\n[3] Since the Lord wills conjunction with man for salvation's sake, He\nalso provides something reciprocal with man. This consists in the fact\nthat the good a man wills and does in freedom and the truth he thinks and\nspeaks from the will according to reason seem to be from himself, and\nthat the good in his will and the truth in his understanding seem to be\nhis--indeed they seem to the man to be from himself and to be as\ncompletely his as though they really were; there is no difference; does\nanyone perceive otherwise by any sense? See above (nn. 74-77) on the\nappearance as of self, and (nn. 78-81) on appropriation as of oneself.\nThe only difference is the acknowledgment which a man ought to make, that\nhe does good and thinks truth not of himself but from the Lord, and hence\nthat the good he does and the truth he thinks are not his. So to think\nfrom some love of the will because it is the truth makes conjunction; for\nthen a man looks to the Lord and the Lord looks on the man.\n\n93. I have been granted both to hear and see in the spiritual world what\nthe difference is between those who believe that all good is from the\nLord and those who believe that good is from themselves. Those who\nbelieve that good is from the Lord turn their faces to Him and receive\nthe enjoyment and blessedness of good. Those who think that good is from\nthemselves look to themselves and think they have merit. Looking to\nthemselves, they perceive only the enjoyment of their own good which is\nthe enjoyment not of good but of evil, for man's own is evil, and\nenjoyment of evil perceived as good is hell. Those who have done good but\nbelieved it was of themselves, and who after death do not receive the\ntruth that all good is from the Lord, mingle with infernal spirits and\nfinally join them. Those who receive that truth, however, are reformed,\nthough no others receive it than those who have looked to God in their\nlife. To look to God in one's life is nothing else than to shun evils as\nsins.\n\n94. The Lord's conjunction with man and man's reciprocal conjunction with\nthe Lord is effected by loving the neighbor as one's self and the Lord\nabove all. To love the neighbor as one's self consists simply in not\nacting insincerely or unjustly with him, not hating him or avenging one's\nself on him, not cursing and defaming him, not committing adultery with\nhis wife, and not doing other like things to him. Who cannot see that\nthose who do such things do not love the neighbor as themselves? Those,\nhowever, who do not do such things because they are evils to the neighbor\nand at the same time sins against the Lord, deal sincerely, justly,\namicably and faithfully by the neighbor; as the Lord does likewise,\nreciprocal conjunction takes place. And when conjunction is reciprocal,\nwhatever a man does to the neighbor he does from the Lord, and what he\ndoes from the Lord is good. The neighbor to him then is not the person,\nbut the good in the person. To love the Lord above all is to do no evil\nto the Word, for the Lord is in the Word, or to the holy things of the\nchurch, for He is in these, too, and to do no evil to the soul of\nanother, for everyone's soul is in the Lord's hand. Those who shun these\nevils as monstrous sins against the Lord love Him above all else. None\ncan do this except those who love the neighbor as themselves, for the two\nloves are conjoined.\n\n95. In view of the fact that there is a conjunction of the Lord with man\nand of man with the Lord, there are two tables of the Law, one for the\nLord and the other for man. So far as man as of himself keeps the laws of\nhis table, the Lord enables him to observe the laws of the Lord's table.\nA man, however, who does not keep the laws of his table, which are all\nreferable to love for the neighbor, cannot do the laws of the Lord's\ntable, which are all referable to love for the Lord. How can a murderer,\nthief, adulterer, or false witness love God? Does reason not insist that\nto be any of these and to love God is a contradiction? Is not the devil\nsuch? Must he not hate God? But a man can love God when he abhors murder,\nadultery, theft and false witness, for then he turns his face away from\nthe devil to the Lord; turning his face to the Lord he is given love and\nwisdom--these enter him by the face, and not by the back of the neck. As\nconjunction is accomplished only so, the two tables are called a\ncovenant, and a covenant exists between two.\n\n96. (vii) _In all the procedure of His divine providence the Lord\nsafeguards the two faculties in man unimpaired and as sacred._ The\nreasons are that without those two faculties man would not have\nunderstanding and will and thus would not be human; likewise that without\nthem he could not be conjoined to the Lord and so be reformed and\nregenerated; and because without them he would not have immortality and\neternal life. The truth of this can be seen from what has been said about\nthe two faculties, liberty and rationality, but not clearly seen unless\nthe reasons just given are brought forward as conclusions. They are,\ntherefore to be clarified.\n\n[2] _Without those two faculties man would not have understanding and\nwill and thus would not be human._ Man has will only in that he can will\nfreely as of himself, and to will freely as of oneself is from the\nfaculty called liberty, steadily imparted by the Lord. Man has\nunderstanding only in that he can understand as of himself whether a\nthing is of reason or not, and so to understand is from the other\nfaculty, called rationality, steadily imparted to him by the Lord. These\nfaculties unite in man as will and understanding do, for because a man\ncan will, he can also understand; willing is impossible without\nunderstanding; understanding is its partner and mate apart from which it\ncannot exist. With the faculty called liberty there is therefore given\nthe faculty called rationality. If, too, you take willing away from\nunderstanding, you understand nothing.\n\n[3] In the measure that you will, you can understand provided the helps,\ncalled knowledges, are present or available, for these are like tools to\na workman. We say, in the measure you will you can understand, meaning,\nso far as you love to understand, for will and love act as one. This\nseems like a paradox, but it appears so to those who do not love or hence\nwill to understand. They say they cannot understand, but in the following\nsection we shall tell who cannot understand, and who can hardly\nunderstand.\n\n[4] It is plain without confirmation that unless man had will from the\nfaculty called liberty, and understanding from the faculty called\nrationality, he would not be human. Beasts do not have these faculties.\nBeasts seem to be able to will and to understand, but cannot do so. They\nare led and moved to do what they do solely by a natural affection, in\nitself desire, which has knowledge for its mate. Something civil and\nmoral there is in their knowledge, but it does not transcend the\nknowledge, for they have nothing spiritual enabling them to perceive or\nto think analytically of what is moral. They can indeed be taught to do\nsomething, but this is natural only, is assimilated to their knowledge\nand at the same time to their affection, and reproduced through sight or\nhearing, but never becomes with them anything of thought, still less of\nreason. On this see some things above, n. 74.\n\n[5] _Without those two faculties man could not be con-joined to the Lord\nor reformed and regenerated._ This has been shown above. The Lord resides\nwith men, whether evil or good, in these two faculties and conjoins\nHimself by them to every man. Hence an evil man as well as a good man can\nunderstand and has the will of good and the understanding of truth\npotentially--that he does not possess them actually is owing to abuse of\nthose faculties. The Lord resides in those faculties in everyone by the\ninflux of His will, namely, to be received by man and to have an abode\nwith him, and to give him the felicities of eternal life; all this is of\nthe Lord's will, being of His divine love. It is this will of the Lord\nwhich causes what a man thinks, speaks, wills and does, to seem to be his\nown.\n\n[6] That the influx of the Lord's will effects this can be confirmed by\nmuch in the spiritual world. Sometimes the Lord fills an angel with His\ndivine so that the angel does not know but that he is the Lord. Thus\ninspired were the angels who appeared to Abraham, Hagar, and Gideon, and\nwho therefore spoke of themselves as Jehovah; of whom the Word tells. So\nalso one spirit may be filled by another so that he does not know but\nthat he is the other; I have seen this often. In heaven it is general\nknowledge that the Lord operates all things by willing, and that what He\nwills takes place.\n\nFrom all this it is plain that it is by those two faculties that the Lord\nconjoins Himself to man and causes the man to be reciprocally conjoined.\nWe told above and shall say more below about how man is reciprocally\nconjoined by the two faculties and how, consequently, he is reformed and\nregenerated by means of them.\n\n[7] _Without those two faculties man would not have immortality or\neternal life._ This follows from what has been said: that by the two\nfaculties there is conjunction with the Lord and also reformation and\nregeneration. By conjunction man has immortality, and through reformation\nand regeneration he has eternal life. As every man, evil as well as good,\nis conjoined to the Lord by the two faculties every man has immortality.\nEternal life, or the life of heaven, however, only that man has with whom\nthere is reciprocal conjunction from inmosts to outmosts.\n\nThe reasons may now be clear why the Lord, in all the procedure of His\ndivine providence, safeguards the two faculties in man unimpaired and as\nsacred.\n\n97. ( viii) _It is therefore [a law] of divine providence that man shall\nact in freedom from reason._ To act in freedom according to reason, to\nact from liberty and rationality, and to act from will and understanding,\nare the same. But it is one thing to act in freedom according to reason,\nor from liberty and rationality, and another thing to act from freedom\nitself according to reason itself or from liberty and rationality\nthemselves. The man who does evil from love of evil and confirms it in\nhimself acts indeed from freedom according to reason, but his freedom is\nnot in itself freedom or very freedom, but an infernal freedom which in\nitself is bondage, and his reason is not in itself reason, but is either\nspurious or false or plausible through confirmations. Still, either is of\ndivine providence. For if freedom to will evil and do it as of the reason\nthrough confirmation of it were taken from the natural man, liberty and\nrationality and at the same time will and understanding would perish, and\nhe could not be withdrawn any longer from evils, be reformed or united\nwith the Lord, and live to eternity. The Lord therefore guards man's\nfreedom as a man does the apple of his eye. Through that freedom the Lord\nsteadily withdraws man from evils and so far as He can do this implants\ngoods, thus gradually putting heavenly freedom in place of infernal\nfreedom.\n\n98. We said above that every man has the faculty of volition called\nliberty and the faculty of understanding called rationality. Those\nfaculties, moreover, it should be known, are as it were inherent in man,\nfor humanness itself is in them. But as was just said, it is one thing to\nact from freedom in accord with reason, and another thing to act from\nfreedom itself and according to reason itself. Only those do the latter\nwho have suffered themselves to be regenerated by the Lord; others act in\nfreedom according to thought which they make seem like reason. Unless he\nwas born foolish or supremely stupid, every person can attain to reason\nitself and by it to liberty itself. Many reasons why all do not do so\nwill be disclosed in what follows. Here we shall only tell to whom\nfreedom itself or liberty itself, and at the same time reason itself or\nrationality itself cannot be given and to whom they can hardly be given.\n\n[2] True liberty and rationality cannot be given to those foolish from\nbirth or to those who become foolish later, while they remain so. Nor can\nthey be given to those born stupid and dull or to any made so by the\ntorpor of idleness, or by a disease which perverts or entirely closes the\ninteriors of the mind, or by love of a bestial life.\n\n[3] Genuine liberty and rationality cannot be given to those in\nChristendom who utterly deny the Divine of the Lord and the holiness of\nthe Word, and have kept that denial confirmed to life's close. For this\nis meant by the sin against the Holy Spirit which is not forgiven in this\nworld or in the world to come (Mt 12:31, 32).\n\n[4] Liberty itself and rationality itself cannot be given to those who\nascribe all things to nature and nothing to the Divine, and have made\nthis a conviction by reasonings from visible things; for these are\natheists.\n\n[5] True liberty and rationality can hardly be given to those who have\nconfirmed themselves much in falsities of religion; for a confirmer of\nfalsity is a denier of truth. But they can be given to those, in whatever\nreligion, who have not so confirmed themselves. On this see what is\nadduced in _Doctrine for the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture,_\nnn. 91-97.\n\n[6] Infants and children cannot attain to essential liberty and\nrationality before they grow up. For the interiors of the mind of man are\nopened gradually, and meanwhile are like seeds in unripe fruit, without\nground in which to sprout.\n\n99. We have said that true liberty and rationality cannot be given to\nthose who have denied the Divine of the Lord and the holiness of the\nWord; to those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature and\nagainst the Divine; and hardly to those who have strongly confirmed\nthemselves in falsities of religion; still none of these have destroyed\nthe faculties themselves. I have heard atheists, who had become devils\nand satans, understand arcana of wisdom quite as well as angels, but only\nwhile they heard them from others; on returning into their own thought,\nthey did not understand them, for the reason that they did not will to do\nso. They were shown that they could also will this, did not the love and\nenjoyment of evil turn them away. This they understood, too, when they\nheard it. Indeed they asserted that they could but did not will to be\nable to do so, for then they could not will what they did will, namely,\nevil from enjoyment in the lust of it. I have often heard such\nastonishing things in the spiritual world. I am fully persuaded therefore\nthat every man has liberty and rationality, and that every man can attain\ntrue liberty and rationality if he shuns evils as sins. But the adult who\nhas not come into true liberty and rationality in the world can never do\nso after death, for the state of his life remains to eternity what it was\nin the world.\n\nVI. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL REMOVE EVILS AS SINS\nIN THE EXTERNAL MAN OF HIMSELF, AND ONLY SO CAN THE LORD REMOVE THE EVILS\nIN THE INTERNAL MAN AND AT THE SAME TIME IN THE EXTERNAL\n\n100. Anyone can see from reason alone that the Lord who is good itself\nand truth itself cannot enter man unless the evils and falsities in him\nare removed. For evil is opposed to good, and falsity to truth, and two\nopposites cannot mingle, but as one approaches the other, combat arises\nwhich lasts until one gives way to the other; what gives way departs and\nthe other takes its place. Heaven and hell, or the Lord and the devil,\nare in such opposition. Can anyone reasonably think that the Lord can\nenter where the devil reigns, or heaven be where hell is? By the\nrationality with which every sane person is endowed, who cannot see that\nfor the Lord to enter, the devil must be cast out, or for heaven to\nenter, hell must be removed?\n\n[2] This opposition is meant by Abraham's words from heaven to the rich\nman in hell:\n\nBetween us and you a great gulf is fixed, so that those who would cross\nfrom us to you cannot, nor those over there cross to us (Lu 16:26).\n\nEvil is itself hell, and good is itself heaven, or what is the same, evil\nis itself the devil, and good itself the Lord. A person in whom evil\nreigns is a hell in least form, and one in whom good reigns is a heaven\nin least form. How, then, can heaven enter hell when a gulf is fixed\nbetween them so great that there is no crossing from one to the other? It\nfollows that hell must by all means be removed for the Lord to enter with\nheaven.\n\n101. But many, especially those who have confirmed themselves in faith\nsevered from charity, do not know that they are in hell when they are in\nevils. In fact, they do not know what evils are, giving them no thought.\nThey say that they are not under the yoke of the law and so the law does\nnot condemn them; likewise, that as they cannot contribute to their\nsalvation, they cannot remove any evil of themselves and furthermore\ncannot do any good of themselves. It is these who neglect to give some\nthought to evil and therefore keep on in evil. They are meant by the Lord\nunder \"goats\" in Matthew 25:32, 33; 41-46, as may be seen in _Doctrine of\nthe New Jerusalem on Faith,_ nn. 61-68; to them it is said in verse 41,\n\"Depart from Me, you accursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the\ndevil and his angels.\"\n\n[2] Persons who give no thought to the evils in them, and who do not\nexamine themselves and then desist from the evils, cannot but be ignorant\nwhat evil is, and cannot but love it then from delighting in it. For one\nwho is ignorant of it loves it, and one who fails to give it thought,\ngoes on in it, blind to it. Thought sees good and evil as the eye sees\nbeauty and ugliness. One who thinks and wills evil is in evil, and so is\na person who thinks that it does not come to God's sight, or if it does\nis forgiven by Him; he supposes then that he is without evil. If such\npersons refrain from doing evil, they do so not because it is a sin\nagainst God, but for fear of the law and for their reputation's sake. In\nspirit they still do evil, for it is man's spirit that thinks and wills.\nAs a result, what a man thinks in his spirit in the world, he commits\nwhen he becomes a spirit on his departure from the world.\n\n[3] In the spiritual world, into which everyone comes after death, the\nquestion is not asked what your belief has been or your doctrine, but\nwhat your life has been. Was it such or such? For, as is known, such as\none's life is, such is one's belief, yes, one's doctrine. For life\nfashions a doctrine and a belief for itself.\n\n102. From all this it is plain that it is a law of divine providence that\nevils be removed by man, for without the removal of them the Lord cannot\nbe conjoined to man and from Himself lead man to heaven. But it is not\nknown that man ought to remove evils in the external man as of himself\nand that unless he does so the Lord cannot remove the evils in his\ninternal man. This is to be presented, therefore, to the reason in light\nof its own in this order:\n\ni. Every man has an external and an internal of thought.\nii. His external of thought is in itself such as his internal is.\niii. The internal cannot be purified from the lusts of evil as long as\nthe evils in the external man have not been removed, for these impede.\niv. Only with the man's participation can evils in the external man be\nremoved by the Lord.\nv. Therefore a man ought to remove evils from the external man as of\nhimself.\nvi. The Lord then purifies him from the lusts of evil in the internal man\nand from the evils themselves in the external.\nvii. The continuous effort of the Lord in His divine providence is to\nunite man to Himself and Himself to man, in order to be able to bestow\nthe felicities of eternal life on him, which can be done only so far as\nevils, along with their lusts, are removed.\n\n103. (i) _Every man has an external and an internal of thought._ By\nexternal and internal of thought the same is meant here as by external\nand internal man, and by this nothing else is meant than external and\ninternal of will and understanding, for will and understanding constitute\nman, and as they both manifest themselves in thoughts, we speak of\nexternal and internal of thought. And as it is man's spirit and not his\nbody which wills and understands and consequently thinks, external and\ninternal are external and internal of his spirit. The body's activity in\nspeech or deed is only an effect from the external and internal of man's\nspirit, for the body is so much obedience.\n\n104. As he grows older, every person has an external and an internal of\nthought, or an external and an internal of will and understanding or of\nhis spirit, identical with external and internal man. This is evident to\nanyone who observes another's thoughts and intentions as they are\nrevealed in speech or deed, or who observes his own when he is in company\nand when he is by himself. For from the external thought one can talk\namicably with another and yet in internal thought be hostile. From\nexternal thought and from its affection, too, a man can talk about love\nfor the neighbor and for God when in his internal thought he cares\nnothing for the neighbor and does not fear God. From external thought\ntogether with its affection he can talk about the justice of civil laws,\nthe virtues of the moral life, and matters of doctrine and the spiritual\nlife, and yet in private and from his internal thought and its affection\nspeak against the civil laws, the moral virtues, and matters of doctrine\nand spiritual life. So those do who are in lusts of evil but want to\nappear to the world not to be in them.\n\n[2] Many also, as they listen to others, think to themselves, \"Do those\nspeaking think inwardly in themselves as they think in utterance? Are\nthey to be believed or not? What do they intend?\" Flatterers and\nhypocrites notoriously possess a twofold thought. They can be\nself-restrained and guard against the interior thought's being disclosed,\nand some can hide it more and more deeply and bar the door against its\nappearing. That a man possesses external and internal thought is also\nplain in that from his interior thought he can behold the exterior\nthought, can reflect on it, too, and judge whether or not it is evil. The\nhuman mind is such because of the two faculties, called liberty and\nrationality, which one has from the Lord. Unless he possessed internal\nand external of thought from these faculties, a man could not perceive\nand see an evil in himself and be reformed. In fact, he could not speak\nbut only make sounds like a beast.\n\n105. The internal of thought comes out of the life's love, its affections\nand the perceptions from them. The external of thought is from what is in\nthe memory, serving the life's love for confirmation and as means to its\nend. From childhood to early manhood a person is in the external of\nthought from an affection for knowledge, which is then his internal; from\nthe life's love born in one from parents something of lust and hence of\ndisposition issues, too. Later, however, his life's love is as he lives,\nand its affections and the perceptions from them make the internal of his\nthought. From his life's love comes a love of means; the enjoyments of\nthese means and the information drawn thereby from the memory make his\nexternal of thought.\n\n106. (ii) _Man's external of thought is in itself such as his internal\nis._ We showed earlier that from head to foot a man is what his life's\nlove is. Something must be said about his life's love, for until this is\ndone nothing can be said about the affections which together with\nperceptions make the internal of man, or about the enjoyments of the\naffections together with thoughts which make his external. Loves are\nmany, but two--heavenly love and infernal love--are like lords or kings.\nHeavenly love is love to the Lord and the neighbor; infernal love is love\nof self and the world. These are opposite to each other as heaven and\nhell are. For a man in love of self and the world wishes well only to\nhimself; a man in love to the Lord and the neighbor wishes well to all.\nThese two are the loves of man's life, though with much variety. Heavenly\nlove is the life's love of those whom the Lord leads, and infernal love\nthe life's love of those whom the devil leads.\n\n[2] No one's life's love can be without derivatives, called affections.\nThe derivatives of infernal love are affections of evil and falsity\n--lusts, properly speaking; and those of heavenly love are affections of\ngood and truth--loves, strictly. Affections, or strictly lusts, of\ninfernal love are as numerous as evils are, and affections, or properly\nloves, of heavenly love are as many as there are goods. Love dwells in\nits affections like a lord in his domain and a king in his realm; its\ndomain or realm is over the things of the mind, that is, of the will and\nunderstanding and thence of the body. By its affections and the\nperceptions from them and by its enjoyments and the thoughts therefrom,\nthe life's love of man rules him completely, the internal of the mind by\nthe affections and perceptions from them, and the external by the\nenjoyments of the affections and of the thoughts from them.\n\n107. The manner of this rule may be seen to some extent from comparisons.\nHeavenly love with its affections of good and truth and the perceptions\nfrom them, together with the enjoyments of such affections and the\nthoughts from these, may be compared to a tree, notable for its branches,\nleaves and fruit. The life's love is the tree; the branches with their\nleaves are the affections of good and truth with their perceptions; and\nthe fruits are the enjoyments of the affections with their thoughts.\nInfernal love, however, with its affections or lusts of evil and falsity,\ntogether with the enjoyments of the lusts and the thinking from those\nenjoyments, may be compared to a spider and the web spun about it. The\nlove itself is the spider; the lusts of evil and falsity together with\ntheir subtle cunning are the net of threads nearest the spider's post;\nand the enjoyments of the lusts together with their crafty schemes are\nthe more remote threads where flies are snared on the wing, enveloped\nand eaten.\n\n108. These comparisons may help one to see the connection of all things\nof the will and understanding or of man's mind with his life's love, and\nyet not to see it rationally. Rationally it may be seen in this way.\nEverywhere there are three which make one, called end, cause and effect.\nHere the life's love is end; the affections with their perceptions are\ncause; and the enjoyments of the affections and consequent thoughts are\neffect. For as an end passes into effect through a cause, love passes by\nits affections to its enjoyments and by its perceptions to its thoughts.\nThe effects are in the enjoyments of the mind and the thoughts thence\nwhen the enjoyments are from the will and the thoughts from the attendant\nunderstanding, that is, when all fully agree. The effects are then part\nof man's spirit and although they do not come into bodily act are still a\ndeed there when there is this agreement. At the same time they are in the\nbody, dwelling there with man's life's love and longing for the deed,\nwhich occurs when nothing hinders. The same is true of lusts of evil and\nevil deeds with those who make evils allowable in spirit.\n\n[2] As an end unites itself with a cause and by the cause with an effect,\nthe life's love unites itself with the internal of thought and by this\nwith its external. It is plain then that man's external of thought is in\nitself what his internal is, for an end imparts all of itself to the\ncause and through the cause to the effect. Nothing essential is present\nin an effect which is not in the cause and through the cause in the end,\nand as the end is what essentially enters cause and effect, these are\ncalled \"mediate end\" and \"final end\" respectively.\n\n109. Sometimes the external of thought seems to be different in itself\nfrom the internal. This is because the life's love with its internals\nabout it sets a vicar under it called the love of means, and directs it\nto watch and guard against anything of its lusts appearing. This vicar,\nwith the cunning of its chief, the life's love, therefore speaks and acts\nin accordance with the laws of a kingdom, the ethical demands of reason,\nand the spiritual requirements of the church, so cunningly, too, and\ncleverly that no one sees that persons are other than they say and act,\nand finally the persons themselves, so disguised, scarcely know\notherwise. Such are all hypocrites. Such are priests, also, who at heart\ncare nothing for the neighbor and do not fear God, yet preach about love\nof the neighbor and of God. Such are judges who judge by gifts and\nfriendships while affecting zeal for justice and speaking with reason\nabout judgment. Such are traders who at heart are insincere and\nfraudulent while dealing honestly for the sake of profit. Such are\nadulterers when, from the rationality every man possesses, they talk\nabout the chastity of marriage; and so on.\n\n[2] The same persons, when they strip the love of means, the vicar of\ntheir life's love, of the purple and linen which they have thrown around\nit and put its house dress on it, then think exactly the contrary, and\nexchanging thought with their best friends who are in a similar life's\nlove, they speak so. It may be believed that when they have spoken so\njustly, honestly and piously from the love of means, the character of the\ninternal of thought was not in the external of their thought; yet it was;\nhypocrisy is in them, and love of self and the world is in them, the\ncunning of which aims to capture a reputation for the sake of standing or\ngain through just the outward appearance. This, the nature of the\ninternal, is in the external of their thought when they speak and act so.\n\n110. With those in a heavenly love, however, internal and external of\nthought or internal and external man make one when they speak, and they\nare aware of no difference. Their life's love, with its affections of\ngood and the perceptions of truth from these, is like a soul in what they\nthink and then say and do. If they are priests, they preach out of love\nto the neighbor and to the Lord; if judges, they judge from justice\nitself; if tradesmen, they deal with honesty; if they are husbands, they\nlove the partner with true chastity; and so on. Their life's love also\nhas a love of the means for vicar, which it teaches and leads to act with\nprudence and clothes with garments of a zeal for both truths of doctrine\nand goods of life.\n\n111. ( iii) _The internal cannot be purified from the lusts of evil as\nlong as evils in the external man are not removed, for these impede._\nThis follows from what has been said above, that the external of man's\nthought is in itself what the internal of his thought is and that they\ncohere as what is not only in the other but also from the other; one\ncannot be removed, therefore, unless the other is at the same time. This\nis true of any external which is from an internal, and of anything\nsubsequent from what is prior, and of every effect from a cause.\n\n[2] As lusts together with slynesses make the internal of thought with\nevil persons, and the enjoyments of the lusts together with scheming make\nthe external of thought in them, and the two are joined into one, it\nfollows that the internal cannot be purified from the lusts as long as\nthe evils in the external man are not removed. It should be known that\nman's internal will is in the lusts; his internal understanding in the\nslynesses; his external will in the enjoyments of the lusts; and his\nexternal understanding in the sly scheming. Anyone can see that lusts and\ntheir enjoyments make one, that slynesses and scheming also do, and that\nthe four are one series and as it were make a single bundle. From this\nagain it is evident that the internal, consisting of lusts, cannot be\ncast out except on the removal of the external, consisting of evils.\nLusts produce evils by their enjoyments, and when evils are deemed\nallowable, as they are when will and understanding agree on it, the\nenjoyments and the evils make one. It is well known that assent is deed;\nthis is also what the Lord said:\n\nIf anyone looks on the woman of another to lust after her, he has already\ncommitted adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28).*\n\nThe same is true of all other evils.\n\n* The Greek is simply \"on a woman\" and does not have the word here\nrendered \"of another.\" Though Swedenborg quotes the verse several times\nin his works he seems not to have checked as he usually did beyond the\nrendering of the Schmidius Latin Bible which he used.\n\n112. From this it may now be evident that for a person to be purified\nfrom the lusts of evil, evils must by all means be removed from the\nexternal man, for the lusts have no way out before. If no outlet exists,\nthey remain within and breathe out enjoyments and so incite man to\nconsent, thus to deed. Lusts enter the body by the external of thought;\nwhen there is consent, therefore, in the external of thought they are\ninstantly in the body; the enjoyment felt is bodily. See in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 362-370) that the body, thus the whole man,\nis what the mind is. This can be illustrated by comparisons, and by\nexamples.\n\n[2] By _comparisons:_ lusts with their enjoyments can be compared to a\nfire which blazes the more, the more it is nursed; the freer its way the\nmore widely it spreads until in a city it consumes houses and in a woods\nthe trees. In the Word, moreover, lusts are compared to fire, and the\nevils from them to a conflagration. The lusts of evil with their\nenjoyments also appear as fires in the spiritual world; hellfire is\nnothing else. Lusts may also be compared to floods and inundations as\ndikes or dams give way. They may also be likened to gangrene and\nabscesses which bring death to the body as they run their course or are\nnot healed.\n\n[3] By _examples:_ it is obvious that when evils are not removed in the\nexternal man, the lusts with their enjoyments grow and flourish. The more\nhe steals the more a thief lusts to steal until he cannot stop; so with a\ndefrauder, the more he defrauds; it is the same with hatred and\nvengeance, luxury and intemperance, whoredom and blasphemy. It is\nnotorious that the love of ruling from the love of self increases when\nleft unbridled; so also the love of possessing things from love of the\nworld; they seem to have no limit or end. Plain it is then that so far as\nevils are not removed in the external man, lusts for them intensify; also\nthat in the degree that evils are given free rein, the lusts increase.\n\n113. A person does not see the lusts of his evil; he sees their\nenjoyments, to be sure, but still he reflects little on them, for they\ndivert thought and drive off reflection. Unless he learned from elsewhere\nthat they are evils he would call them goods and give them expression\nfreely according to his thought's reasoning; doing so, he appropriates\nthem to himself. So far as he confirms them as allowable he enlarges the\ncourt of his ruling love, which is his life's love. Lusts constitute its\ncourt, being its ministers and retinue, as it were, by which it governs\nthe exteriors of its realm. But such as is the king, such are the\nministers and retinue, and such is the kingdom. If the king is diabolic,\nhis ministers and the retinue are insanities, and the people of his realm\nare falsities of every kind. The ministers (who are called wise although\nthey are insane) cause these falsities to appear as truths by reasonings\nfrom fallacies and by fantasies and cause them to be acknowledged as\ntruths. Can such a state in a man be changed except by the evils being\nremoved in the external man? Then the lusts which cling to the evils are\nalso removed. Otherwise no outlet offers for the lusts; they are shut in\nlike a besieged city or like an indurated ulcer.\n\n114. (iv) _Only with man's participation can evils in the external man be\nremoved by the Lord._ In all Christian churches it is an accepted point\nof doctrine that before coming to the Holy Communion a person should\nexamine himself, see and confess his sins, and do penitence, desisting\nfrom his sins and rejecting them because they are from the devil; and\nthat otherwise the sins are not forgiven him and he is damned. The\nEnglish, despite the fact that they are in the doctrine of faith alone,\nnevertheless in the exhortation to the Holy Communion openly teach\nself-examination, acknowledgment, confession of sins, penitence and\nrenewal of life, and warn those who do not do these things with the words\nthat otherwise the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, fill\nthem with all iniquity, and destroy both body and soul. Germans, Swedes\nand Danes, who are also in the doctrine of faith alone, teach the same in\nthe exhortation to the Holy Communion, also warning that otherwise the\ncommunicants will make themselves liable to infernal punishments and\neternal damnation for mixing sacred and profane together. These words are\nread out by the priest in a deep voice to all who are about to observe\nthe Holy Supper, and are listened to by them in full acknowledgment that\nthey are true.\n\n[2] Nevertheless, after hearing a sermon on the same day about faith\nalone and to the effect that the law does not condemn them because the\nLord has fulfilled it for them, and that of themselves they cannot do any\ngood which is not self-righteous and thus that one's works have nothing\nsaving in them, only faith alone has, these same persons return home\ncompletely forgetting their earlier confession and rejecting it so far as\nthey think along the lines of the sermon. But which is true, the latter\nor the former? Contrary to each other, both cannot be true. Which is?\nThat there can be no forgiveness of sins, thus no salvation but only\neternal damnation, apart from self-examination, the knowledge and\nacknowledgment, confession and breaking off of sins, that is, apart from\nrepentance? Or that such things effect nothing towards salvation inasmuch\nas full satisfaction for all the sins of men has been made by the Lord\nthrough the passion of the cross for those who have faith, and that those\nin faith alone with trust that it is so and with confidence in the\nimputation of the Lord's merit, are sinless and appear before God like\nmen with shining faces for having washed?\n\n[3] It is plain from this that the religion common to all churches in\nChristendom is that one shall examine himself, see and acknowledge his\nsins and then desist from them, and that otherwise there is no salvation,\nbut damnation. This, moreover, is divine truth itself, as is plain from\npassages in the Word in which man is bidden to do penitence, as from the\nfollowing:\n\nJohn said, Do . . . fruits worthy of repentance . . . this moment the axe\nis at the root of the tree; every tree not giving good fruit will be cut\ndown and cast into the fire (Lu 3:8, 9).\n\nJesus said, Unless you do repentance, you shall all . . . perish\n(Lu 13:3,5).\n\nJesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God; . . . do repentance, and\nbelieve the gospel (Mk 1:14, 15).\n\nJesus sent out the disciples who on going out were to preach that men\nshould repent (Mk 6:12).\n\nJesus told the apostles that they were to preach repentance and the\nremission of sins to all peoples (Lu 24:27).\n\nJohn preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Mk\n1:4; Lu 3:3).\n\nThink about this also with some degree of understanding; if you have\nreligion, you will see that repentance of one's sins is the way to\nheaven, that faith apart from repentance is not faith, and that those in\nno faith for lack of repenting are in the way to hell.\n\n115. Those in faith severed from charity who have confirmed themselves in\nit by Paul's saying to the Romans that a man is justified by faith\nwithout the works of the law (3:28) worship that saying quite like men\nwho worship the sun. They become like those who fix their gaze steadily\non the sun with the result that the blurred vision sees nothing in normal\nlight. For they fail to see what is meant in the passage by \"works of the\nlaw,\" namely, the rituals described by Moses in his books, called \"law\"\nin them everywhere, and not the precepts of the Decalog. Lest it be\nthought these are meant, Paul explains, saying at that point,\n\nDo we not then make the law void through faith? Far from it, rather we\nestablish the law (verse 31 of the same chapter).\n\nThose who have confirmed themselves by that saying in faith severed from\ncharity, looking on it as on the sun, do not see the passages in which\nPaul lists the laws of faith and that these are the very works of\ncharity. What indeed is faith without its laws? Nor do they see the\npassages in which he lists evil works, declaring that those who do them\ncannot enter heaven. What blindness has been brought about by this one\npassage badly understood!\n\n116. Evils in the external man cannot be removed without man's\ncooperation for the reason that it is by divine providence that whatever\na man hears, sees, thinks, wills, speaks and does shall seem to him to be\nhis own doing. Apart from that appearance (as was shown above, nn. 71-95\nff.) there would be no reception of divine truth on man's part, nor\ndetermination to do what is good, nor any appropriation of love and\nwisdom or of charity and faith, hence no conjunction with the Lord, no\nreformation therefore or regeneration, and thus no salvation. Without\nthat appearance, repentance for sins would clearly be impossible and in\nfact faith would; without that appearance, likewise, man is not man but\nis devoid of rational life like the beasts. Let him who will, consult his\nreason whether it appears otherwise than that man thinks from himself\nabout good and truth, spiritual as well as moral and civil; then accept\nthe doctrine that all good and truth are from the Lord and none from man.\nMust he not then acknowledge as a consequence that man is to do good and\nthink truth of himself, yet always acknowledge that these are from the\nLord? And acknowledge further that man is to remove evils of himself, but\nstill acknowledge that he does so from the Lord?\n\n117. Many are unaware that they are in evils since they do not do them\noutwardly, fearing the civil law and the loss of reputation. Thus by\ncustom and habit they practice to avoid evils as detrimental to their\nstanding and interests. But if they do not shun evils on religious\nprinciple, because they are sins and against God, the lusts of evil with\ntheir enjoyments remain in them like impure waters stopped up or\nstagnant. Let them probe their thoughts and intentions and they will come\non the lusts provided they know what sins are.\n\n[2] Many such, who have confirmed themselves in faith separated from\ncharity and who believe that the law does not condemn, pay no attention\nto sins. Some doubt there are sins, or if so, that they exist in God's\nsight, having been pardoned. Such also are natural moralists, who believe\nthat civil and moral life with its prudence accomplishes all things and\ndivine providence nothing. Such are those, also, who strive with great\ncare after a reputation and a name for honesty and sincerity for the sake\nof standing and preferment. But those who are such and who at the same\ntime have spurned religion become lustful spirits after death, appearing\nto themselves like men indeed, but to others at a distance like _priapi;_\nand they see in the dark and not at all in the light, like night-owls.\n\n118. Proposition v, that _a man ought to remove evils from the external\nman of himself,_ is substantiated then. Further explanation may be seen\nin _Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem_ under three propositions: 1.\nNo one can flee evils as sins so as to be averse to them inwardly except\nby combats against them (nn. 92-100); 2. A man ought to shun evils as\nsins and fight against them as of himself (nn. 101-107); and 3. If he\nshuns evils for any other reason than that they are sins, he does not\nshun them, but only keeps them from appearing to the world.\n\n119. (vi) _The Lord then purifies man from the lusts of evil in the\ninternal man and from the evils themselves in the external._ The Lord\npurifies man from the lusts of evil only when man as of himself removes\nthe evils because He cannot do so before. For the evils are in the\nexternal man and the lusts in the internal man, and they cling together\nlike roots and a trunk. Unless the evils are removed, therefore, no\noutlet offers; they block the way and shut the door, which the Lord can\nopen only with a man's participation, as was shown just above. When the\nman as of himself opens the door, the Lord then roots out the lusts.\n\n[2] A second reason why the Lord cannot do so sooner is that He acts upon\nman's inmost and by that on all that follows even to outmosts where man\nhimself is. While outmosts, therefore, are kept closed by man, no\npurification can take place, but only that activity of the Lord in\ninteriors which is His activity in hell, of which the man who is in lusts\nand at the same time in evils is a form--an activity which is solely\nprovision lest one thing destroy another and lest good and truth be\nviolated. It is plain from words of the Lord in the Apocalypse that He\nconstantly urges and prompts man to open the door to Him:\n\nBehold, I stand at the door, and knock; if anyone hears my voice and\nopens the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me\n(3:20).\n\n120. Man knows nothing at all of the interior state of his mind or\ninternal man, yet infinite things are there, not one of which comes to\nhis knowledge. His internal of thought or internal man is his very\nspirit, and in it are things as infinite and innumerable as there are in\nhis body, in fact, more numerous. For his spirit is man in its form, and\nall things in it correspond to all things of his body. Now, just as man\nknows nothing by any sensation about how his mind or soul operates on all\nthings of the body as a whole or severally, so he does not know, either,\nhow the Lord works on all things of his mind or soul, that is, of his\nspirit. The divine activity is unceasing; man has no part in it; still\nthe Lord cannot purify a man from any lust of evil in his spirit or\ninternal man as long as the man keeps the external closed. Man keeps his\nexternal closed by evils, each of which seems to him to be a single\nentity, although in each are infinite things. When a man removes what\nseems a single thing, the Lord removes infinite things in it. So much is\nimplied in the Lord's purifying man from the lusts of evil in the\ninternal man and from the evils themselves in the external.\n\n121. Many believe that a person is purified from evils merely by\nbelieving what the church teaches; some, by doing good; others by\nknowing, speaking and teaching what is of the church; others by reading\nthe Word and books of devotion; others by going to church, hearing\nsermons and especially by observing the Holy Supper; still others, by\nrenouncing the world and devoting oneself to piety; others still by\nconfessing oneself guilty of all sins; and so on. And yet none of these\nthings purifies man at all unless he examines himself, sees his sins,\nacknowledges them, condemns himself on account of them, and repents by\ndesisting from them, and does all this as of himself, yet with the\nacknowledgment in heart that he does so from the Lord.\n\n[2] Until this is done, the things mentioned above do not avail, being\neither self-righteous or hypocritical. Such persons appear to the angels\nin heaven either like pretty courtesans smelling badly of their\ncorruption, or like unsightly women painted to appear handsome, or like\nmasked clowns and mimics in the theater, or like apes in men's clothes.\nBut when evils have been removed, then all that has just been mentioned\nbecomes the expression of love in such persons, and they appear as\nbeautiful human beings to the sight of the angels in heaven and as\npartners and companions of theirs.\n\n122. But it should be rightly known that in repenting a man ought to look\nto the Lord alone. He cannot be purified if he looks to God the Father\nalone, or to the Father for the sake of the Son, or to the Son as a man\nonly. For there is one God and the Lord is He, for His Divine and Human\nis one Person, as we have shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about\nthe Lord._ In order that the intending penitent may look to Him alone,\nthe Lord instituted the Holy Supper, which confirms the remission of sins\nin those who repent, and does so because everyone is kept looking to the\nLord alone in it.\n\n123. (vii) _The perpetual effort of the Lord in His divine providence is\nto conjoin man with Himself and Himself with man, in order to be able to\nbestow the felicities of eternal life on him, which can be done only so\nfar as evils with their lusts have been removed._ It was shown above\n(nn. 27-45) that it is the unceasing effort of the Lord in His divine\nprovidence to conjoin man to Himself and Himself to man; that this\nconjunction is what is called reformation and regeneration; and that by\nit man has salvation. Who does not see that conjunction with God is life\neternal and salvation? Everyone sees this who believes that men by\ncreation are images and likenesses of God (Ge 1:26, 27) and\nwho knows what an image and likeness of God is. [2] What man of sound\nreason, thinking from his rationality and wanting to think in freedom,\ncan believe that there are three Gods equal in essence and that divine\nbeing or essence can be divided? One can conceive and comprehend a Trine\nin the one God, however, just as soul, body and outgoing life in angel\nand man are comprehensible. As this Trine in One exists only in the Lord,\nconjunction must be with Him. Use your power of reason together with your\nliberty of thought, and you will see this truth in its own light; but\nadmit first that God is, and heaven, and eternal life.\n\n[3] As, then, God is one, and the human being was made by creation an\nimage and likeness of Him, and inasmuch as by infernal love and its lusts\nand enjoyments man has come into a love of all evils and thus destroyed\nthe image and likeness of God in him, it follows that it is the\ncontinuous effort of the Lord's divine providence to conjoin man to\nHimself and Himself to man and thus make him an image of Himself. It also\nfollows that this is to the end that the Lord may be able to bestow on\nhim the felicities of eternal life, for such is divine love.\n\n[4] He cannot bestow them, however, nor make man an image of Himself,\nunless man removes sins in the external man as of himself, because the\nLord is not only divine love but also divine wisdom, and divine love does\nnothing except by its divine wisdom and in consonance with it. It is\naccording to divine wisdom that man cannot be conjoined to the Lord and\nthus reformed, regenerated and saved unless he is allowed to act in\nfreedom according to reason, for so man is man. Whatever is according to\nthe Lord's divine wisdom is also of His divine providence.\n\n124. To this let me append two arcana of angelic wisdom showing further\nwhat divine providence is like. One is that the Lord never acts on one\nthing by itself in man, but on all things at the same time, and the\nother is that He acts at once from inmosts and outmosts. He never acts\non some one thing by itself but on all things together because all\nthings in man are in such connection and from this in such form that\nthey act not as a number but as one. We know that there is such\nconnectedness and by it such organization in man's body. The human mind\nis in similar form as a result of the connection of all things, for the\nmind is the spiritual man and truly the man. Hence man's spirit or the\nmind in the body in its entire form is man. Consequently man is man\nafter death equally as he was in the world with the sole difference that\nhe has thrown off the clothing which made up his body in the world.\n\n[2] As the human form, then, is such that all its parts form a community\nwhich acts as a whole, some one thing cannot be moved out of place or\naltered in state except with adaptation of the rest, for if it were, the\nform which acts as a whole would suffer. Hence it is plain that the Lord\nnever acts on any one thing without acting on all. So He acts on the\ntotal angelic heaven since in His view it is like one man; so He acts on\neach angel, for each angel is heaven in least form; so He acts also on\neach man, most nearly on all things of man's mind and by these on all\nthings of his body; for man's mind is his spirit and in the measure of\nconjunction with the Lord is an angel, and the body is obedience.\n\n[3] It is to be well noted, however, that the Lord does act on each\nparticular thing in man singly, singularly so, when acting on all things\nin man's organization; even so He does not alter the state of any part or\nof any one thing except suitably to the whole form. But more will be said\nof this in following numbers where we shall show that divine providence\nis general because it extends to particulars, and particular because it\nis general.\n\n[4] The Lord acts from inmosts and outmosts at the same time because only\nin this way are all things held in connection, for the intermediate\nthings depend one upon another from inmosts to outmosts and are assembled\nin outmosts (it was shown in Part III of the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ that all things from the inmost onward are present simultaneously\nin what is outmost ). For this reason the Lord from eternity or Jehovah\ncame into the world and assumed and bore human nature in outmosts. He\ncould thus be at once from firsts in lasts, and from firsts by lasts\ngovern the whole world and so save whom He could save according to the\nlaws of His divine providence, which are also the laws of His divine\nwisdom. For it is true, as Christendom knows, that no mortal could have\nbeen saved had the Lord not come into the world (see _Doctrine for the\nNew Jerusalem on Faith,_ n. 35). For the same reason the Lord is called\n\"The First and the Last.\"\n\n125. These angelic arcana have been premised in order that it may be\ncomprehended how the Lord's divine providence operates to unite man to\nHim and Himself to man. It does not act upon a particular thing by itself\nin man, but on all things together and from man's inmost and outmosts\nsimultaneously. Man's inmost is his life's love; the outmosts are in the\nexternal of thought; what is intermediate is in the internal of thought\n(what external and internal are like with the wicked was shown earlier);\nfrom which it is plain again that the Lord cannot act by inmosts and\noutmosts simultaneously except together with man, for in the outmosts man\nand the Lord are together. Wherefore, as the man acts in outmosts, which\nare in his determination, being within the range of his freedom, so the\nLord acts from man's inmosts and in what follows from them to the\noutmosts. Man does not know at all what is in the inmosts and in what\nfollows to the outmosts, therefore is unaware of how the Lord acts there\nor what He effects there. But as all these things cohere as one with the\noutmosts, man does not need to know more than that he should shun evils\nas sins and look to the Lord. Only so can his life's love, which by birth\nis infernal, be removed by the Lord and a heavenly life's love be\nimplanted in its place.\n\n126. When a heavenly life's love has been implanted by the Lord in place\nof an infernal life's love, affections of good and truth are implanted in\nplace of lusts of evil and falsity; enjoyments of affections of good are\nimplanted instead of enjoyments of lusts of evil and falsity, and goods\nof heavenly love in place of evils of infernal love; prudence is\nimplanted in place of cunning, wise thinking in place of malevolent. So a\nman is born again and becomes a new man. What goods replace evils you may\nsee in _Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem,_ nn. 67-73, 74-79, 80-86,\n87-91; likewise that so far as man shuns and is averse to evils as sins\nso far he loves truths of wisdom, nn. 32-41, and has faith and is\nspiritual, nn. 42-52.\n\n127. From the exhortations read aloud in all Christian churches before\nHoly Communion we showed that it is the common religion of all\nChristendom that a man should examine himself, see his sins, avow them,\nconfess them before God, and desist from them; and that this is\nrepentance, remission of sins and hence salvation. This is also evident\nfrom the Creed named after Athanasius and received throughout Christendom\nwhich concludes with the words:\n\nThe Lord will come to judge the living and the dead; at whose coming\nthose who have done good will enter into life eternal, and those who have\ndone evil, into everlasting fire.\n\n128. Who does not know from the Word that everyone is allotted a life\nafter death according to his deeds? Open the Word, read it, and you will\nsee this clearly, but the while remove the thoughts from faith and\njustification by faith alone. The few passages following are testimony\nthat the Lord teaches so everywhere in His Word:\n\nEvery tree which does not yield good fruit shall be cut down and cast\ninto the fire. By their fruits therefore shall you know them (Mt 7:19,\n20).\n\nMany will say to Me in that day, Lord . . . have we not prophesied in\nyour name, . . . and in your name done many mighty things? But I shall\nconfess to them then, I know you not, depart from Me, you who work\niniquity (Mt 7:22, 23).\n\nEveryone who hears my words and does them I shall liken to a prudent man\nwho built a house on a rock: . . . but everyone who hears my words but\ndoes not do them shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house on\nthe ground without a foundation (Mt 7:24, 26; Lu 6:46-49).\n\n[2] The Son of man will come in the glory of His Father .. . and render\nthen to everyone according to his deeds (Mt 16:27).\n\nThe kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a people\nbringing forth its fruits (Mt 21:43).\n\nJesus said, These are My mother and brothers who hear the Word of God and\ndo it (Lu 8:21).\n\nThen shall you begin to stand . . . and knock at the door, saying, Lord,\n. . . open to us, but replying He will say to them, I know not whence you\nare; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity (Lu 13:25-27).\n\nThose who have done good shall go out into the resurrection of life, but\nthose who have done evil into the resurrection of judgment (Jn 5:29).\n\n[3] We know . . . that God does not hear sinners, but if a man worships\nGod and does His will, him He hears (Jn 9:31).\n\nIf you know these things, blessed are you if you do them (13:17).\n\nHe who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me, ... and\nI will love him, . . . and I will come to him, and make an abode with him\n(14:15, 21-24).\n\nYou are My friends, if you do whatsoever I command you... . I have chosen\nyou . . . that you may bear fruit and that your fruit may remain (15:14,\n16).\n\n[4] The Lord said to John, Write to the angel of the Ephesian church, I\nknow your works: . . . I have against you that you have left an earlier\ncharity; . . . repent, and do the former works; else . . . I shall remove\nyour candlestick from its place (Apoc 2:1, 2, 4, 5).\n\nTo the angel of the church of the Smyrneans write, I know your works\n(2:8, 9).\n\nTo the angel of the church in Pergamos write, . . . I know your works,\nrepent (2:12, 13, 16).\n\nTo the angel of the church in Thyatira write, . . . I know your works and\ncharity, . . . and your later works are more than the first (2:18, 19).\n\nTo the angel of the church in Sardis write, . . . I know your works, that\nyou have a name that you are alive, but you are dead; . . . I have not\nfound your works perfect before God; . . . repent (3:1-3).\n\nTo the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, I know your works (3:7,\n8).\n\nTo the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, I know your works;\n. . . repent (3:14, 15, 19).\n\nI heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, blessed are the dead who die\nin the Lord from now on; ... their works follow them (14:13).\n\nA book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged,\n... all according to their works (20:12, 13).\n\nLo, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone\naccording to his work (22:12).\n\nThese are passages in the New Testament;\n\n[5] there are still more in the Old, from which I shall quote only this\none:\n\nStand in the gate . . . of Jehovah, and proclaim this word there: Thus\nsays Jehovah Zebaoth the God of Israel, Make your ways good, and your\nworks; . . . put not your trust in lying words, saying, The temple, the\ntemple, the temple of Jehovah is this. . . . Thieving and killing and\ncommitting adultery and swearing falsely . . . will you then come to\nstand before Me in this house which is called by My name and say, We are\ndelivered? When you do those abominable things? Has not this house been\nmade a den of robbers? Even I, lo, I have seen it, is the word of Jehovah\n(Je 7:2-4, 9-11).\n\nVII. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL NOT BE COMPELLED BY\nEXTERNAL MEANS TO THINK AND WILL, THUS TO BELIEVE AND LOVE WHAT PERTAINS\nTO RELIGION, BUT BRING HIMSELF AND AT TIMES COMPEL HIMSELF TO DO SO\n\n129. This law of divine providence follows from the preceding two,\nnamely: man is to act in freedom according to reason (nn. 71-99); and is\nto do this of himself and yet from the Lord, thus as of himself (nn.\n100-128). Inasmuch as being compelled is not to act in freedom according\nto reason and also not to act of oneself, but to act from what is not\nfreedom and from someone else, this law of divine providence follows in\ndue order on the first two. Everyone knows that no one can be forced to\nthink what he is unwilling to think or to will what he decides not to\nwill, thus to believe what he does not believe, least of all what he\nwills not to believe, or to love what he does not love and still less\nwhat he wills not to love. For the spirit or mind of man enjoys complete\nfreedom in thinking, willing, believing and loving. It does so by influx\nwhich is not coercive from the spiritual world (for the human spirit or\nmind is in that world); and not by influx from the natural world,\nreceived only when the two agree.\n\n[2] A man can be driven to say that he thinks and wills, believes and\nloves what is religious, but if this is not a matter of his affection and\nreasoning or does not become so, he does not think, will, believe or love\nit. A man may also be compelled to speak in favor of religion and to act\naccording to it, but he cannot be compelled to think in its favor from\nany faith or to will in its favor out of love for it. In countries in\nwhich justice and judgment are guarded, one is indeed compelled not to\nspeak or act against religion, but still no one can be compelled to think\nand will in its favor. For everyone has freedom to think and to will\nalong with, and in favor of, hell or along with, and in favor of, heaven.\nReason, however, teaches what either course is like and what lot awaits\nit, and by reason the will has the choice and decision.\n\n[3] Plainly, then, what is external cannot coerce what is internal;\nnevertheless it happens sometimes, but that it works harm will be shown\nin this order:\n\ni. No one is reformed by miracles and signs, for they coerce.\nii. No one is reformed by visions and communication with the dead, for\nthey coerce.\niii. No one is reformed by threats and penalties, as these coerce.\niv. No one is reformed in states of no rationality or no freedom.\nv. Self-compulsion is not contrary to rationality and freedom.\nvi. The external man is to be reformed through the internal, and not the\nother way about.\n\n130. (i) _No one is reformed by miracles and signs, for they coerce._ We\nhave shown above that man has an internal and an external of thought, and\nthat the Lord acts into the external by the internal in man and so\nteaches and leads him; also that it is of the Lord's divine providence\nthat man is to act in freedom according to reason. Either action would\nperish in man if miracles were done and he were driven by them to\nbelieve. That this is so can be seen rationally in this way: undeniably\nmiracles induce belief and powerfully persuade a person that what the\nmiracle-doer says and teaches is true, and at first this engages man's\nexternal of thought, virtually holding it spellbound. But one is deprived\nby this of the two faculties called rationality and liberty, thus cannot\nact in freedom according to reason, nor can the Lord then inflow into the\nexternal of man's thought through the internal save only to leave man to\nconfirm from his rationality what has been made a matter of his belief by\nthe miracle.\n\n[2] The state of man's thought is such that from the internal of thought\nhe can see a piece in the external of his thought as in a mirror--for as\nwas said above, one can behold one's own thought, which is possible only\nfrom more interior thought. Beholding the item as in a mirror he can turn\nit this way and that and shape it to look attractive to him. If there is\ntruth in it, it may be likened to an attractive and animated maiden or\nyouth. But if a man cannot turn it this way and that and shape it, but\nonly believe it persuaded of it by a miracle, then if there is truth in\nit, it may be likened to a maiden or youth carved in stone or wood, in\nwhich is nothing alive. It may also be compared to an object which is\nconstantly in view and looked at alone, keeps one from seeing what is to\neither side and behind it. It can also be compared to a continual sound\nin the ear, which does away with perceiving the harmony of many sounds.\nSuch are the blindness and deafness induced on the mind by miracles. It\nis the same with anything confirmed but not regarded from rationality\nbefore it is confirmed.\n\n131. Plain it is from this that a faith induced by miracles is not faith,\nbut persuasion. For it has nothing rational in it, still less anything\nspiritual, as it is only external without an internal. This is true of\neverything a man does from such persuasive faith, whether he is\nacknowledging God, worshiping Him at home or in church, or doing good\ndeeds. When only a miracle leads a person to acknowledgment of God and to\nadoration and piety, he acts from the natural and not the spiritual man.\nFor a miracle infuses belief by an external and not an internal way, thus\nfrom the world and not from heaven. The Lord enters man by an internal\nway, by the Word and by doctrine and preaching from it. As miracles close\nthis way, no miracles are done today.\n\n132. That miracles are of this nature can be clearly established from\nthose performed in the presence of the people of Judah and Israel.\nAlthough they beheld many miracles in the land of Egypt and later at the\nRed Sea and others in the Wilderness and particularly on Mt. Sinai when\nthe Law was promulgated, nevertheless, in a month's time while Moses\ntarried on that mountain, they made themselves a golden calf and hailed\nit as Jehovah who had led them out of the land of Egypt (Ex 32:4-6).\nAgain, it is plain from the miracles done later in the land of Canaan;\nnevertheless the people fell away time and again from the prescribed\nworship. It is equally plain from the miracles which the Lord did before\ntheir eyes when He was in the world; yet they crucified Him.\n\n[2] Miracles were done among the Jews and Israelites because they were\naltogether external men and had been brought into the land of Canaan\nmerely to represent a church and its eternal verities by the\nexternalities of worship--something a bad man as well as a good man can\ndo. For the externals are rituals which with that people signified\nspiritual and celestial things. Indeed Aaron, although he made the golden\ncalf and ordered worship of it (Ex 32:2-5, 35 ), could still represent\nthe Lord and His work of salvation. As the people could not be brought by\nthe internal things of worship to represent them, they were brought to do\nso by miracles--in fact, were driven and forced to it.\n\n[3] They could not be led by internals of worship because they did not\nacknowledge the Lord although the entire Word which they had treats of\nHim alone. One who does not acknowledge the Lord cannot receive anything\ninternal in worship. But miracles ceased after the Lord had manifested\nHimself and was received and acknowledged as eternal God in the churches.\n\n133. The effect of miracles on the good and on the evil differs, however.\nThe good do not desire miracles, but believe those in the Word. If they\nhear of some miracle, they regard it only as a slight indication\nconfirming their faith; for they draw their thought from the Word and\nthus from the Lord, and not from a miracle. It is different with the\nevil. They can be driven and compelled, of course, to belief, to worship,\ntoo, and to piety, but only for a little while. For their evils are\nenclosed, and the lusts of those evils and the enjoyments of the lusts\ncontinually press against the outward worship and piety; and in order\nthat the evils may come out of their confinement and burst forth, the\nwicked ponder the miracle, finally call it ridiculous and a ruse or a\nnatural phenomenon, and so return to their evils. One who returns to his\nevils after having worshiped profanes the truths and goods of worship,\nand the lot of profaners after death is the worst of all fates. They are\nmeant by the Lord's words in Matthew (12:43-45) about those whose last\nstate is worse than the first. Besides, if miracles were to be done for\nthose who have no faith from the miracles in the Word, they would have to\nbe done constantly and before their eyes. It may be plain from all this\nwhy miracles are not done at this day.\n\n134. (ii) No one is reformed by visions or by communication with the\ndead, for they coerce. Visions are of two kinds, divine and diabolic.\nDivine visions are effected by representations in heaven; diabolic by\nmagic in hell. There are also phantasmal visions, which are illusions of\nan estranged mind. Divine visions, produced as we said by representative\nthings in heaven, are such as the prophets had who at the time were not\nin the body but in the spirit, for visions cannot appear to anyone in\nbodily wakefulness. When these came to the prophets, therefore, it is\nremarked that they were \"in the spirit,\" as is plain from the following:\n\nEzekiel said, The Spirit picked me up and carried me to Chaldea to the\ncaptivity in a vision of God, in the spirit of God; so the vision rose\nover me which I saw (11:1, 24).\n\nAgain that the Spirit bore him between earth and heaven and brought him\nto Jerusalem in visions of God (8:3, 4).\n\nHe was likewise in visions of God or in the spirit when he saw four\nbeasts which were cherubim (1 and 10).\n\nSo, too, when he saw a new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring\nthem (40-48 ).\n\nThat he was in \"visions of God\" then, he says at 40:2, 26, and that he\nwas \"in the spirit\" at 43:5.\n\n[2] Zechariah was in a similar state when he saw\n\na horseman among myrtle trees (1:8 ff)\n\nfour horns (1:18) and a man with a measuring line in his hand (2:1-3 ff )\n\na candlestick and two olive trees (4:1 ff)\n\na flying roll and an ephah (5:1, 6)\n\nfour chariots coming out between two mountains, and horses (8:1 ff).\n\nIn a like state was Daniel when he saw\n\nfour beasts coming up from the sea (7:1 ff )\n\na combat between a ram and a he-goat (8:1 ff).\n\nThat he saw these things \"in the vision of his spirit\" is stated at 7:1,\n2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7, 8, and that the angel Gabriel was seen by him in\na \"vision\" at 9:21.\n\n[3] John was also in the vision of the spirit when he beheld what he has\ndescribed in the Apocalypse, as when he saw\n\nseven candlesticks and the Son of man in the midst of them (1:12-16)\n\na throne in heaven, and One sitting on the throne, and around it four\nbeasts, which were cherubim (4)\n\nthe book of life taken by the Lamb (5)\n\nhorses coming out from the book (6)\n\nseven angels with trumpets (8)\n\nthe pit of the abyss opened, and locusts coming out a dragon, and its\nbattle with Michael (12)\n\ntwo beasts, rising, one from the sea and the other from the land (13)\n\na woman seated on a scarlet beast (17)\n\nBabylon destroyed (18)\n\na white horse, and One seated on it (19)\n\na new heaven and a new earth, and the holy Jerusalem descending from\nheaven (21)\n\nthe river of the water of life (22).\n\nThat he saw these \"in the vision of the spirit\" is said 1:10; 4:2; 5:1;\n6:1; 21:1, 2.\n\n[4] Such were the visions which appeared from heaven to the sight of the\nspirit of these men, but not to their bodily sight. Such visions do not\noccur at this day because if they did, they would not be understood\ninasmuch as they are produced by representations the details of which\nsignify internal things of the church and arcana of heaven. Daniel also\nforetold (9:24) that they would cease when the Lord came into the world.\n\nDiabolic visions, however, have occurred at times, incited by fanatical\nand visionary spirits who in their delirium called themselves the Holy\nSpirit. But those spirits have now been gathered together by the Lord and\ncast into a hell separate from the hells of others. There are also\nphantasmal visions which are merely the illusions of an estranged mind.\n\nAll this makes clear that no one can be reformed by any visions other\nthan those in the Word.\n\n134 r. The fact that no one is reformed by communication with the dead is\nplain from the Lord's words about the rich man in hell and Lazarus in\nAbraham's bosom.\n\nFor the rich man said, I ask you, father Abraham, to send Lazarus to my\nfather's house, for I have five brothers, to testify to them lest they\nalso come into this place of torment. Abraham said to him, They have\nMoses and the prophets; let them hear them. But he said, No, father\nAbraham, but if some one will go to them from the dead, they will repent.\nHe replied, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, they will not be\npersuaded either if one should arise from the dead (Lu 16:27-31).\n\nCommunication with the dead would have the same result as miracles (of\nwhich just above), namely, that a man would be influenced and driven into\nworship for a short time. But as this deprives a man of rationality and\nat the same time shuts his evils in, as was said above, the captivation\nor the inward bond is undone, and the imprisoned evils break out, with\nblasphemy and profanation; this last occurs, however, only when spirits\nintroduce something dogmatic from religion, which is never done by a good\nspirit, still less by an angel of heaven.\n\n135. Nevertheless, speech with spirits--rarely with angels of heaven--is\npossible and has been granted to many for ages. When it is granted,\nspirits speak with a man in his native tongue and briefly. And those who\nspeak with the Lord's permission never say anything that takes away the\nfreedom of the reason, nor do they instruct, for the Lord alone teaches\nman, doing so by means of the Word to the man's enlightenment (of this in\nnumbers to come). I have been given to know this in my own experience. I\nhave spoken with spirits and angels for many years now. No spirit has\ndared and no angel has wished to tell me, still less to instruct me,\nabout things in the Word or about any of its doctrine. The Lord alone has\ntaught me, who revealed Himself to me and afterwards continued to appear\nto me as He does now, as the Sun in which He is, as He appears to the\nangels, and He has enlightened me.\n\n136. (iii) _No one is reformed by threats or penalties, as these coerce._\nIt is known that the external cannot compel the internal, but the\ninternal can compel the external; also that the internal refuses to be\ncoerced by the external and turns away. It is likewise known that\nexternal enjoyments entice the assent and love of the internal; and it\nmay also be known that there is a forced internal and a free internal.\nBut all this, though known, needs to be lighted up, for much on being\nheard is perceived at once to be so, because it is truth and hence is\naffirmed, but if it is not confirmed by reasons, it can be weakened by\narguments from fallacies and finally denied. What we have said is known,\nis therefore to be taken up afresh and established rationally.\n\n[2] First: _The external cannot compel the internal, but the internal can\ncompel the external._ Who can be forced to believe or love? One can no\nmore be compelled to believe than he can be compelled to think that\nsomething is so when he thinks it is not so, or to love than to will\nsomething that he does not will; belief attaches to thought, and love to\nthe will. The internal can be compelled, however, by what is external not\nto speak improperly against the laws of a kingdom, the morals of life or\nthe sanctities of the church. The internal can be compelled to this by\nthreats and penalties and is compelled and should be. But this is not the\nspecifically human internal, but one which the human being shares with\nbeasts; they can also be compelled. The human internal resides above this\nanimal internal. Here the human internal which cannot be coerced is\nmeant.\n\n[3] Second: _The internal refuses to be coerced by the external and turns\naway._ The reason is that the internal wills to be in freedom and loves\nfreedom. For, as was shown, freedom attaches to man's love and life. When\nthe internal feels it is being subjected to compulsion, therefore, it\nwithdraws as it were into itself, averts itself, and regards the\ncompulsion as its enemy. For the love which makes man's life is irritated\nand causes him to think that he is then not himself and has no life of\nhis own. The internal of the human being is of this nature by the law of\nthe Lord's divine providence that he shall act from freedom in accord\nwith reason.\n\n[4] Plainly, then, it does harm to compel men to divine worship by\nthreats and penalties. Some permit themselves to be forced to religion,\nsome do not. Many who do are adherents of Catholicism; but this is the\ncase with those in whom there is nothing internal in worship, but all is\nexternal. Among those who do not allow themselves to be coerced are many\nof the English nation, and as a result there is what is internal in their\nworship and what is external is from the internal. Their interiors in\nrespect to religion appear in the light of the spiritual world like\nbright clouds, but those of the former like dark clouds. The one and the\nother appearance is to be seen in that world, and one who wishes may see\nit when he enters that world on death. Furthermore, enforced worship\nshuts one's evils in, which are hidden then like fire in wood under ashes\nwhich keeps stirring and spreading until it bursts into flame. But\nworship, not enforced but spontaneous, does not shut evils in; these are\ntherefore like a fire that flares up and goes out. Thence it is plain\nthat the internal refuses to be forced by the external and turns away.\nThe internal can compel the external because it is like a master and the\nexternal like a servant.\n\n[5] Third: _External enjoyments entice assent and love from the\ninternal._ Enjoyments are of two kinds, of the understanding or of the\nwill. Enjoyments of the understanding are also enjoyments of wisdom, and\nthose of the will also enjoyments of love; for wisdom belongs to the\nunderstanding and love to the will. Enjoyments of the body or of the\nsenses, which are external pleasures, act as one with the internal\nenjoyments, which are enjoyments of the understanding and the will.\nTherefore, just as the internal is so averse to compulsion by the\nexternal as to turn away, it looks so kindly on enjoyment in the external\nthat it turns to it. Assent follows on the part of the understanding, and\nlove on the part of the will.\n\n[6] In the spiritual world all children are introduced by the Lord into\nangelic wisdom and through this into heavenly love by delightful and\ncharming means, first by pretty things in the home and the charms of a\ngarden; then by representations of spiritual things affecting the\ninteriors of their minds with pleasure; and finally by truths of wisdom\nand goods of love. Thus they are steadily led by enjoyments in due order,\nfirst by the enjoyments of a love of the understanding and of its wisdom,\nand then by the enjoyments of the love of the will which is their life's\nlove, to which all else that has entered through enjoyment is kept\nsubordinate.\n\n[7] This is done because the will and understanding must all be formed by\nwhat is external before they are formed by what is internal, for they are\nformed first by what enters by the physical senses, chiefly the sight and\nthe hearing; then when a first will and understanding have been formed,\nthe internal of thought regards them as the externals of its thinking,\nand either joins itself to them or separates itself from them, as they\nare or are not enjoyable to it.\n\n[8] It should be well understood, however, that the internal of the\nunderstanding does not unite itself to the internal of the will, but it\nis the latter that unites itself to the former and causes reciprocal\nunion. This is done by the internal of the will, not at all by the\ninternal of the understanding. Hence it is that man cannot be reformed by\nfaith alone, but by the love of the will which makes a faith for itself.\n\n[9] Fourth: _There is a forced internal and a free one._ A forced\ninternal is found in those who are in external worship only and in none\nthat is internal. Their internal consists of thinking and willing what\nthe external is coerced to. Such are persons who worship living or dead\nmen or idols, or who rest their faith on miracles. No internal is\npossible with them which is not at the same time external. And yet a\nforced internal is possible with persons in internal worship; it may be\nforced by fear or compelled by love. That forced by fear is found in\nthose who worship for fear of the torment and fire of hell. This internal\nis not the internal of thought of which we have treated, however, but an\nexternal of thought called internal here because it partakes of thought.\nThe internal of thought of which we have treated cannot be forced by any\nfear; it can be compelled by love and by fear of failing to love. In the\ntrue sense fear of God is nothing else. To be compelled by love and by\nthe fear of failing in it is self-compulsion, and self-compulsion, it\nwill be seen in what follows, is not contrary to freedom and rationality.\n\n137. It is plain then what forced worship and unforced worship are like.\nForced worship is corporeal, inanimate, obscure and sad--corporeal because\nit is of the body and not of the mind; inanimate because it has no life\nin it; obscure for lack of understanding in it; and sad because it does\nnot have the joy of heaven in it. But worship not forced and real is\nspiritual, living, seeing and joyful--spiritual, because spirit from the\nLord is in it; living, because life from Him is in it; seeing because\nwisdom from Him is in it; and joyful because heaven from Him is in it.\n\n138. (iv) _No one is reformed in states of no liberty or rationality._ We\nshowed above that only what a man does in freedom according to reason is\nmade his. This is because freedom belongs to the will and reason to the\nunderstanding; acting in freedom in accord with reason a man acts from\nthe will by the understanding and what is done in the union of the two is\nappropriated. Now, since the Lord wills that a man be reformed and\nregenerated in order that eternal life or the life of heaven may be his,\nand none can be reformed or regenerated unless good is appropriated to\nhis will and truth to his understanding as if they were his, and only\nthat can be appropriated which is done in freedom of the will and in\naccord with the reason of the understanding, no one is reformed in states\nof no freedom or rationality. There are many such states, but they may be\nsummarized as states of fear, misfortune, mental illness, physical\ndisease, ignorance, and intellectual blindness. Something will be said of\neach.\n\n139. No one is reformed in a _state of fear_ because fear takes away\nfreedom and reason or liberty and rationality. Love opens the mind's\ninteriors but fear closes them, and when they are closed man thinks\nlittle and only what comes to the lower mind or to the senses. All fears\nthat assail the lower mind have this effect.\n\n[2] We showed above that man has an internal and an external of thought.\nFear can never invade the internal of thought; this is always in freedom,\nbeing in a man's life-love. But it can invade the external of thought.\nWhen it does, the internal of thought is closed and thereupon man can no\nlonger act in freedom in accord with his reason, nor be reformed.\n\n[3] The fear which invades the external of thought and closes the\ninternal is chiefly fear of losing standing or profit. Fear of civil\npenalties or of outward ecclesiastical penalties does not close the\ninternal, for the laws respecting them pronounce penalties only on those\nwho speak and act contrary to the civil requirements of the kingdom and\nthe spiritual of the church, but not on those who think contrary to them.\n\n[4] Fear of infernal punishment invades the external of thought, to be\nsure, but only for some moments, hours or days; it is soon restored to\nits freedom by the internal of thought, which is man's spirit and\nlife-love and is called thought of the heart.\n\n[5] Fear of losing one's standing or wealth, however, does invade man's\nexternal of thought, and when it does, closes the internal of thought\nabove to influx from heaven and makes it impossible for man to be\nreformed. This is because everyone's life-love from birth is love of self\nand the world, and self-love is at one with the love of position, and\nlove of the world with the love of wealth. When a man has position or\nwealth, therefore, for fear of losing them he strengthens the means at\nhand--whether civil or churchly and in either case means to power--which\nserve him for position and wealth. The man who does not yet have standing\nor wealth but aspires to them, does the same, but for fear he will lose\nthe reputation they give.\n\n[6] It was said that this fear seizes on the external of thought and\ncloses the internal above to heaven's inflowing. The internal is said to\nbe closed when it makes one completely with the external, as it is then\nnot in itself but in the external.\n\n[7] But as the loves of self and the world are infernal loves and the\nfountain-heads of all evils, it is plain what the internal of thought in\nitself is like with men in whom those loves reign and are their life's\nloves, namely, that it is full of lusts of evils of every kind.\n\n[8] This men do not know who fear loss of place and opulence and are\nstrongly persuaded of their special religion, most particularly if this\npromises that they may be worshiped as holy and also as governors of\nhell; they can blaze, as it were, with zeal for the salvation of souls\nand yet this is from infernal fire. As this fear especially takes away\nrationality itself and liberty itself, which have a heavenly origin,\nplainly it makes against the possibility that a man may be reformed.\n\n140. No one is reformed in a _state of misfortune_ if he thinks about God\nand implores help only then, for it is a coerced state; wherefore, on\ncoming into a free state he returns to his former state when he thought\nlittle if at all about God. It is different with those who feared God in\na state of freedom previously. For by \"fearing God\" is meant fearing to\noffend Him, and by \"offending Him\" to sin, and this comes not from fear\nbut from love. Does not one who loves another fear to hurt him? And the\nmore he loves him, the more he fears hurting him? Lacking this fear, love\nis insipid and superficial, of the mind only and not of the will. By\nstates of misfortune states of despair in danger are meant, in battles,\nfor example, duels, shipwreck, falls, fires, threatening or unexpected\nloss of property, also of office or standing, and similar mishaps. To\nthink about God only then is not to think from God but from self. For\nthen the mind is as it were imprisoned in the body, so is not in freedom\nnor possessed then of rationality, and without these reformation is\nimpossible.\n\n141. No one is reformed in _a state of mental illness_ because such\nillness takes away rationality and thus the liberty of acting in accord\nwith reason. The whole mind is sick and not sane; the sane mind is\nrational, but not a sick one. Such disorders are melancholy, a spurious\nor a false conscience, fantasies of different kinds, mental grief over\nmisfortune, anxiety and anguish of the mind over a bodily defect.\nSometimes these are regarded as temptations, but they are not. Genuine\ntemptations have spiritual objects in view and in them the mind is wise,\nbut these states are concerned with natural objects and in them the mind\nis disordered.\n\n142. No one is reformed in _a state of bodily sickness_ because his\nreason is not then in a state of freedom; the state of the mind depends\non that of the body. When the body is sick, the mind is also, if for no\nother reason because it is withdrawn from the world. Withdrawn from the\nworld it thinks indeed about God but not from Him, for it is not\npossessed of freedom of the reason. Man has this freedom in being midway\nbetween heaven and the world, thus can think from heaven and from the\nworld, likewise from heaven about the world and from the world about\nheaven. So when he is ill and thinks about death and the state of his\nsoul after death, he is not in the world but is withdrawn in spirit. In\nthis state by itself no one can be reformed, but he can be strengthened\nin it if he was reforming before he fell ill.\n\n[2] It is similar with those who renounce the world and all occupation in\nit and give themselves only to thoughts about God, heaven and salvation;\non this further elsewhere. If those of whom we were speaking have not\nbeen reformed before their illness, then if they die they become such as\nthey were before their illness. It is vain, therefore, to suppose that\none can repent or receive some faith in illness; for no deed accompanies\nthe repentance, and there is no charity in the faith; each is oral only\nand not at all from the heart.\n\n143. No one is reformed in _a state of ignorance,_ for all reformation is\nby truths and a life according to them. Therefore those who do not know\ntruths cannot be reformed, but if they long for them with affection for\nthem, after they die they undergo reformation in the spiritual world.\n\n144. Nor can one be reformed in _a state of blindness of the\nunderstanding._ These also have no knowledge of truths or consequently of\nlife, for the understanding must teach truths and the will must do them;\nwhen the will does what the understanding teaches, a man has life in\naccord with truths. When the understanding is blind, however, the will\nalso is indifferent and acts in freedom according to one's reason only to\ndo the evil confirmed in the understanding, and the confirmation is\nfalsity. Besides ignorance, a religion which teaches a blind faith also\nblinds the understanding; so does a false doctrine. For just as truths\nopen the understanding, falsities close it. They close it above and open\nit below, and opened only below, the understanding cannot see truths but\nonly confirm what a man wills, falsity especially. The understanding is\nalso blinded by lusts of evil. As long as the will is in these, it moves\nthe understanding to confirm them, and so far as they are confirmed, the\nwill cannot be in affections of good, from these see truths, and so be\nreformed.\n\n[2] Take, for instance, one who is in the lust of adultery: his will,\nwhich is in the enjoyment of his love, moves his understanding to confirm\nit, saying, \"What is adultery? Is there any evil in it? Does not the like\noccur between husband and wife? Cannot offspring be born of it, too?\nCannot a woman receive more than one without harm? How does anything\nspiritual enter into this?\" So thinks the understanding which is then the\ncourtesan of the will. So stupid is it made by debauchery with the will\nthat it is unable to see that marital love is spiritual and heavenly love\nitself, a reflection of the love between the Lord and the church from\nwhich it is derived; is in itself sacred and chastity itself, purity and\ninnocence; causes men to be forms of love, since partners can love each\nother from inmosts and so form themselves into loves; nor can it see that\nadultery destroys this form and with it the Lord's image; and what is\nabhorrent, that the adulterer mingles his life with that of the husband\nin the wife, for a man's life is in the seed.\n\n[3] Because this is profane, hell is called adultery, and heaven on the\nother hand is called marriage. Furthermore, the love of adultery\ncommunicates with the lowest hell, but true marital love with the inmost\nheaven; the reproductive organs of both sexes also correspond to\nsocieties of the inmost heaven. These things are adduced so that it may\nbe known how blinded the understanding is when the will is in the lust of\nevil, and that no one can be reformed in a state of blindness of the\nunderstanding.\n\n145. (v) _Self-compulsion is not contrary to rationality and liberty._ We\nhave shown that man has an internal and an external of thought; that they\nare distinguishable as prior and subsequent or higher and lower; and that\nbeing so distinct they can act separately and also jointly. They act\nseparately when a man speaks and acts from the external of his thought\notherwise than he thinks and wills inwardly; they act jointly when he\nspeaks and acts as he thinks and wills. The latter is common with the\nsincere, the former with the insincere.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as the internal and the external of the mind are so\ndistinct, the internal can even fight with the external and by combat\ndrive it to compliance. Conflict arises when the man deems evils to be\nsins and resolves to desist from them. When he desists, a door is opened\nand the lusts of evil which have occupied the internal of thought are\ncast out by the Lord and affections of good are implanted in their place.\nThis occurs in the internal of thought. But the enjoyments of evil lust\nwhich occupy the external of thought cannot be cast out at the same time;\nconflict arises therefore between the internal and the external of\nthought. The internal wants to cast out those enjoyments because they are\nenjoyments of evil and do not agree with the affections of good in which\nthe internal now is, and wants to introduce in their place enjoyments of\ngood which do agree. These are what are called goods of charity. From the\ndisagreement comes the conflict which, if it grows severe, is called\ntemptation.\n\n[3] Now as man is man by virtue of the internal of his thought, for this\nis his very spirit, obviously he compels himself when he compels the\nexternal of his thought to comply or to receive the enjoyments of his\naffections or the goods of charity. Plainly this is not contrary to\nrationality and liberty but in accord with them; rationality starts the\ncombat and liberty follows it up; liberty itself resides with rationality\nin the internal man and from that in the external.\n\n[4] Accordingly, when the internal conquers, which it does when it has\nreduced the external to compliance and obedience, man is given liberty\nitself and rationality itself by the Lord, for he is delivered by the\nLord then from infernal freedom which in itself is enslavement, is\nbrought into heavenly freedom which is freedom in itself, and is given\nassociation with angels. The Lord Himself teaches ( John 8:31-36) that\nthose who are in sins are enslaved and that He delivers those who receive\ntruth from Him through the Word.\n\n146. Let an example serve for illustration. A man who has taken pleasure\nin defrauding and deceiving sees and inwardly acknowledges it to be sin\nand resolves to desist from it; with this a battle begins of his internal\nwith the external. The internal man is in an affection for honesty, but\nthe external still in the enjoyment of defrauding. This enjoyment,\nutterly opposed to enjoyment in honesty, does not give way unless forced\nto do so and can be forced to do so only by combat with it. When the\nfight is won, the external man comes into the enjoyment of a love of\nhonesty, which is charity. Then the pleasure of defrauding gradually\nturns unpleasant to him. It is the same with all other sins, with\nadultery and whoredom, revenge and hatred, blasphemy and lying. The most\ndifficult battle of all is with the love of ruling from self-love. A\nperson who subdues this love, easily subdues all other evil loves, for\nthis is their summit.\n\n147. Let it be told briefly how the Lord casts out lusts of evil\noccupying the internal man from birth and in their place bestows\naffections of good when a man on his part removes the evils as sins. It\nwas shown earlier that man possesses a natural, a spiritual and a\ncelestial mind, that he is only in the natural mind as long as he is in\nlusts of evil and their enjoyments, and that during this time the\nspiritual mind is closed. But as soon as a man on self-examination\nconfesses evils to be sins against God because they are contrary to\ndivine laws and accordingly resolves to desist from them, the Lord opens\nthe spiritual mind, enters the natural by affections of truth and good,\nenters the reason, and by the reason puts into order what is disordered\nbelow in the natural. It is this that strikes the man as a battle, and\nstrikes those who have indulged much in enjoyments of evil as temptation,\nfor when the order of its thinking is inverted the lower mind suffers\npain.\n\nInasmuch as the battle is against what is in the man himself and what he\nfeels to be his, and no one can fight against himself except from a more\ninterior self and from freedom in it, it follows that the internal man\nfights against the external and does so from freedom, and compels the\nexternal to obey. This, then, is compelling oneself, and, clearly, it is\nnot contrary to liberty and rationality, but in accord with them.\n\n148. Everyone desires to be free, moreover, and to be rid of the unfree\nor servitude. The boy under a master wishes to be his own master and thus\nfree; so every man-servant under his master or maid under her mistress.\nEvery girl wishes to leave the paternal home and marry, to do freely in a\nhome of her own; and every boy who desires to work, enter business, or\nhold some position wishes to be released from his subordination to others\nand to be at his own disposal. All of these who serve willingly in order\nto be free compel themselves, and in doing so act from freedom according\nto reason but from an inner freedom, by which outward freedom is regarded\nas servant. We add this to confirm the fact that self-compulsion is not\ncontrary to rationality and liberty.\n\n149. One reason why man does not wish in like manner to come out of\nspiritual servitude into spiritual freedom is that he does not know what\neither is; he does not have the truths to teach this, and without them\nspiritual servitude is believed to be freedom and spiritual freedom to be\nservitude. A second reason is that the religion of Christendom has closed\nthe understanding, and \"faith alone\" has sealed it shut. Each has built\nan iron wall around itself in the dogma that theological matters\ntranscend and cannot be approached by the reason, but are for the blind\nand not the seeing. So truths that would teach what spiritual liberty is\nhave been hidden. A third reason is that few examine themselves and see\ntheir sins, and one who does not see and quit them is in the freedom that\nsins have, which is infernal freedom, in itself enslavement. To view\nheavenly freedom, which is genuine freedom, from that freedom is like\ntrying to see daylight in pitch darkness or sunshine from under a black\ncloud. So it happens that it is not known what heavenly freedom is, or\nthat the difference between it and infernal freedom is like the\ndifference between what is living and what is dead.\n\n150. (vi) The external man is to be reformed by the internal, and not the\nother way about. By internal and external man the same is meant as by\nexternal and internal of thought, of which frequently before. The\nexternal must be reformed by the internal because the internal flows into\nthe external and not the reverse. The learned world knows that what is\nspiritual flows into what is natural and not the reverse, for reason\ndictates it; the church knows that the internal man must first be\ncleansed and made new and the external by it then, because the Lord\nteaches it. He does so in the words:\n\nWoe to you . . . hypocrites, for you make the outside of the cup and\nplatter clean, but the inside is full of extortion and excess. Blind\nPharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and platter that the\noutside may also be made clean (Mt 23:25, 26).\n\nWe have shown in a number of places in the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ that reason dictates this. For what the Lord teaches He grants\nman to see rationally. This a man does in two ways: in one, he sees in\nhimself that something is so upon hearing it; in the other, he grasps it\nby reasons for it. Seeing in oneself takes place in the internal man, and\nunderstanding through reasoning in the external man. Who does not\nperceive it within himself when he hears that the internal man is to be\npurified first and the external by it? But one who does not receive the\ngeneral idea of this by influx from heaven may go astray when he consults\nthe external of this thought; from it alone no one sees but that outward\nworks of charity and piety are saving apart from the internal. It is so\nin other things, as that sight and hearing flow into thought, and smell\nand taste into perception, that is, that the external flows into the\ninternal, when the contrary is true. The appearance that what is seen and\nheard flows into the thought is a fallacy, for the understanding does the\nseeing in the eye and the hearing in the ear, and not the other way\nabout. So it is in all else.\n\n151. But something should be said here on how the internal man is\nreformed and by it the external. The internal man is not reformed solely\nby knowing, understanding and being wise, consequently not by thinking\nonly; but by willing what these teach. When a person knows, understands\nand has the wisdom to see that heaven and hell exist and that all evil is\nfrom hell and all good from heaven, and if he then does not will evil\nbecause it is from hell but good because it is from heaven, he has taken\nthe first step in reformation and is on the threshold from hell to\nheaven. When he advances farther and resolves to desist from evils, he is\nat the second step in reformation and is out of hell but not yet in\nheaven; this he beholds above him. There must be this internal for man to\nbe reformed, but he is not reformed unless the external is reformed as\nwell as the internal. The external is reformed by the internal when the\nexternal desists from the evils which the internal sets its will against\nbecause they are infernal, and still further reformed when the external\nshuns and fights against the evils. Thus the internal provides the will,\nthe external the deed. For unless a man does the deed he wills, inwardly\nhe does not will it, and finally he wills not to do it.\n\n[2] One can see from these few considerations how the external man is\nreformed by the internal. This is also meant by the Lord's words to\nPeter:\n\nJesus said, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. Peter said to\nHim, not my feet only but my hands and head. Jesus said to him, he who\nhas been washed has no need except to have his feet washed, and is\nentirely clean (Jn 13:8-10).\n\nBy \"washing\" spiritual washing is meant, which is purification from\nevils; by \"washing head and hands\" purifying the internal man is meant,\nand by \"washing the feet\" purifying the external. That when the internal\nman has been purified, the external must be, is meant by this: \"He who\nhas been washed has no need except to have his feet washed.\" That all\npurification from evils is the Lord's doing, is meant by this, \"If I do\nnot wash you, you have no part with Me.\" We have shown in many places in\n_Arcana Caelestia_ that with the Jews washing represented purification\nfrom evils, that this is signified by \"washing\" in the Word, and that\npurification of the natural or external man is signified by the \"washing\nof feet.\"\n\n152. Since man has an internal and an external and each must be reformed\nfor the man to be reformed, and since no one can be reformed unless he\nexamines himself, sees and admits his evils, and then quits them, not\nonly the external is to be examined, but the internal as well. If a man\nexamines only the external he sees only what he has committed to deed,\nand that he has not murdered or committed adultery or stolen or borne\nfalse witness, and so on. He examines bodily evils and not those in his\nspirit; yet evils of the spirit are to be examined if one is to be\ncapable of reformation. Man lives as a spirit after death and all the\nevils in his spirit persist. The spirit is examined only when a man\nattends to his thoughts, above all to his intentions, for these are\nthoughts from the will. There the evils exist at their source and roots,\nthat is, in their lusts and enjoyments. Unless they are seen and\nacknowledged, a man is still in evils though he may not have committed\nthem outwardly. That to think with intention is to will and do, is plain\nfrom the Lord's words:\n\nIf any one has looked on another's woman to lust after her, he has\nalready committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt 5:28).*\n\n* See footnote at n. 111.\n\nSuch self-examination is of the internal man, and from it the external\nman is truly examined.\n\n153. I have often marveled that although all Christendom knows that evils\nmust be shunned as sins and otherwise are not forgiven, and that if they\nare not forgiven there is no salvation, yet scarcely one person among\nthousands understands this. Inquiry was made about this in the spiritual\nworld, and it was found to be so. Anyone in Christendom knows it from the\nexhortations, read out to those who attend the Holy Supper, in which it\nis publicly stated; and yet when asked whether they know it, they reply\nthat they do not know it and have not known it. The reason is that they\nhave paid no attention to it, and most say they have thought only about\nfaith and salvation by faith alone. I have also marveled that \"faith\nalone\" has closed their eyes so that those who have confirmed themselves\nin it do not see anything in the Word when they read it about love,\ncharity and works. It is as though they spread \"faith\" all over the Word,\nas red lead is spread over writing so that nothing underneath shows; if\nanything does show, it is absorbed by faith and declared to be faith.\n\nVIII. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL BE LED AND TAUGHT\nBY THE LORD OUT OF HEAVEN BY MEANS OF THE WORD AND DOCTRINE AND PREACHING\nFROM IT, AND THIS TO ALL APPEARANCE AS OF HIMSELF\n\n154. The appearance is that man is led and taught by himself; in reality\nhe is led and taught by the Lord alone. Those who confirm the appearance\nin themselves and not the reality at the same time are unable to remove\nevils from themselves as sins, but those who confirm the appearance and\nat the same time the reality can do so; for evils are removed as sins\napparently by the man, but really by the Lord. The latter can be\nreformed, but the former cannot.\n\n[2] All who confirm the appearance in themselves and not the reality\nalso, are idolaters inwardly, for they are worshipers of self and the\nworld. If they have no religion they become worshipers of nature and thus\natheists; if they have some religion they become worshipers of men and of\nimages. Such are meant now in the first commandment of the Decalog under\nthose who worship other gods. Those, however, who confirm in themselves\nthe appearance and also the reality become worshipers of the Lord, for He\nraises them out of what is their own, in which the appearance is,\nconducts them into the light in which the reality is and which is the\nreality, and gives them to perceive inwardly that they are not led and\ntaught by themselves but by Him.\n\n[3] The rational capacity of the two may seem much the same to many, but\nit differs. In those who are at once in the appearance and the reality,\nit is a spiritual reasoning ability, but in those in the appearance but\nnot at the same time in the reality it is a natural reasoning ability;\nthis can be likened to a garden in winter light, and the spiritual\nreasoning capacity to a garden in springtime light. But If these things\nmore in what follows, in this order:\n\ni. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone.\nii. He is led and taught by the Lord alone through and from the angelic\nheaven.\niii. He is led by the Lord through influx and taught through\nenlightenment.\niv. Man is taught by the Lord through the Word and doctrine and preaching\nfrom it, thus immediately by Him alone.\nv. Man is led and taught in externals by the Lord to all appearance as of\nhimself.\n\n155. (i) _Man is led and taught by the Lord alone._ This flows as a\ngeneral consequence from all that was demonstrated in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom;_ from what was said in Part I about the Lord's\ndivine love and wisdom; in Part II about the sun of the spiritual world\nand the sun of the natural world; in Part III about degrees; in Part IV\nabout the creation of the universe; and in Part V about the creation of\nthe human being.\n\n156. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone in that he lives from the\nLord alone; for his life's will is led, and his life's understanding is\ntaught. But this is contrary to the appearance, for it seems to man that\nhe lives of himself, and yet the truth is that he lives from the Lord and\nnot from himself. Man cannot, however, be given a sense-perception of\nthis while he is in the world (the appearance that he lives of himself is\nnot taken away, for without it man is not man). This must be established\nby reasons, therefore, which are then to be confirmed from experience and\nfinally from the Word.\n\n157. That the human being has life from the Lord alone and not of himself\nis established by these considerations: 1. There is an only essence,\nsubstance and form from which all the essences, substances, and forms\nexist that have been created. 2. The one essence, substance and form is\ndivine love and wisdom from which is all that is referable to love and\nwisdom in man. 3. It is also good itself and truth itself to which all\nthings are referable. 4. Likewise it is life, from which is the life of\nall and all things of life. 5. Again the only One and very Self is\nomnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. 6. This only One and very Self is\nthe Lord-from-eternity or Jehovah.\n\n[2] 1. _There is an only essence, substance and form from which all the\nessences, substances, and forms exist that have been created._ This was\ndemonstrated in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn.44-46). In Part\nII it was shown that the sun of the angelic heaven, which is from the\nLord and in which He is, is the one sole substance and form from which\nall that has been created exists, also that nothing can exist or come\ninto existence except from it. In Part III it was shown that all things\narise from that sun by derivations according to degrees.\n\n[3] Who does not perceive by the reason and acknowledge that there is\nsome one essence from which is all essence, or one being from which is\nall being? What can exist apart from being, and what can being be from\nwhich is all other being except being itself? Being itself is also unique\nand is being in itself. Since this is so (and anyone perceives and\nacknowledges it by reason, or if not, can do so), what else follows than\nthat this Being, the Divine itself, Jehovah, is all in all in what is or\ncomes to be?\n\n[4] It is the same if we say there is an only substance from which all\nthings are, and as there is no substance without form there is a single\nform from which all things are. We have shown in the treatise mentioned\nabove that the sun of the angelic heaven is that substance and form, also\nshown how that essence, substance and form is varied in things created.\n\n[5] 2. _The one essence, substance and form is divine love and wisdom\nfrom which is all that is referable to love and wisdom in man._ This also\nwas fully demonstrated in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom._ Whatever\nappears to live in man is referable to will and understanding in him;\nany-one can perceive by the reason and acknowledge that these two\nconstitute his life. What else is \"This I will,\" or \"This I understand,\"\nor \"I love this,\" or \"I think this\"? And as man wills what he loves, and\nthinks what he understands, all things of the will relate to love and\nthose of the understanding to wisdom. As no one has love or wisdom from\nhimself but only from Him who is love itself and wisdom itself, they are\nfrom the Lord-from-eternity or Jehovah. If they were not, man would be\nlove itself and wisdom itself, thus God-from-eternity, at which the human\nreason itself is horrified. Can anything exist except from a prior self?\nOr the prior self exist except from one prior to it? And finally from a\nfirst or from underived being?\n\n[6] 3. _It is also good itself and truth itself, to which all things are\nreferable._ Everyone possessed of reason agrees and acknowledges that God\nis good itself and truth itself, likewise that all good and truth are\nfrom Him, therefore that any good and truth can come only from good\nitself and truth itself. All this is acknowledged by every rational\nperson when he first hears it. When it is said, then, that everything of\nthe will and understanding, of love and wisdom, or of affection and\nthought in a man who is led by the Lord relates to good and truth, it\nfollows that all that such a man wills and understands or loves and has\nfor his wisdom, or is affected by and thinks, is from the Lord. Hence\nanyone in the church knows that whatever good and truth a man has in\nhimself is not good and truth except as it is from the Lord. Since this\nis true, all that such a man wills and thinks is from the Lord. It will\nbe seen in following numbers that an evil man can will and think from no\nother source.\n\n[7] 4. _The one essence, substance and form is likewise life, from which\nis the life of all and all things of life._ This we have shown in many\nplaces in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom._ At the first hearing the\nhuman reason also agrees and acknowledges that all man's life is that of\nthe will and understanding, for if these are taken away he ceases to\nlive, or what is the same, that all his life is one of love and thought,\nfor if these are taken away he does not live. Inasmuch as all of the will\nand understanding or all of love and thought in man is from the Lord, all\nof his life, as we said above, is from Him.\n\n[8] 5. _This only One and very Self is omnipresent, omniscient and\nomnipotent._ This also every Christian acknowledges from his doctrine and\nevery gentile from his religion. In consequence, wherever he is, a man\nthinks that God is there and that he prays to God at hand; thinking and\npraying so, men cannot but think that God is everywhere, that is,\nomnipresent; likewise omniscient and omnipotent. Everyone praying to God,\ntherefore, implores Him from the heart to lead him because He can lead\nhim; thus he acknowledges the divine omnipresence, omniscience and\nomnipotence, doing so in turning his face to the Lord; thereupon the\ntruth flows in from the Lord.\n\n[9] 6. This only One and very Self is the Lord-from-eternity or Jehovah.\nIn Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord it was shown that God is\none in essence and in person and that He is the Lord, and that the Divine\nitself, called Jehovah Father, is the Lord-from-eternity; that the Divine\nHuman is the Son conceived by His Divine from eternity and born in the\nworld; and that the proceeding Divine is the Holy Spirit. He is called\n\"very Self\" and \"only One\" because, as was said, the Lord-from-eternity\nor Jehovah is life itself, being love itself and wisdom itself or good\nitself and truth itself, from which are all things. That the Lord created\nall things from Himself and not from nothing may be seen in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom_ nn. 282-284, 349-357. So the truth that the\nhuman being is led and taught by the Lord alone is established by\nreasons.\n\n158. This same truth is established in angels not only by reasons but\nalso by living perceptions, especially with angels of the third heaven.\nThey perceive the influx of divine love and wisdom from the Lord.\nPerceiving it and in their wisdom aware that love and wisdom are life,\nthey declare that they live from the Lord and not of themselves, and not\nonly say so but love and will it so. Yet they are in the full appearance\nthat they live of themselves, yes, more strongly in the appearance than\nother angels. For as was shown above (nn. 42-45) the more nearly one is\nunited with the Lord, the more distinctly does he seem to himself to be\nhis own, and the more plainly is he aware that he is the Lord's. For many\nyears now it has been granted me to be in a similar simultaneous\nperception and appearance, and I am fully convinced that I will and think\nnothing from myself but that it only appears to be from myself; it has\nalso been granted to love and will it so. The same truth may be\nestablished by much else from the spiritual world, but these two\nreferences must suffice now.\n\n159. It is plain from the following passages in the Word that life is the\nLord's alone.\n\nI am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me, though he die,\nshall live (Jn 11:25).\n\nI am the way and the truth and the life (Jn 14:6).\n\nThe Word was God . . . and in Him was life; and the life was the light of\nmen (Jn 1:1, 4).\n\n\"The Word\" in this passage is the Lord.\n\nAs the Father has life in Himself, so has he given the Son to have life\nin Himself (Jn 5:26).\n\nFrom the following it is clear that man is led and taught by the Lord\nalone:\n\nWithout Me you can do nothing (Jn 15:5).\n\nA man cannot receive anything unless it is given him from heaven (Jn\n3:27).\n\nA man cannot make one hair white or black (Mt 5:36).\n\nBy \"hair\" in the Word the least of all is signified.\n\n160. It will be shown in what follows in an article of its own that the\nlife of the wicked has the same source; now this will merely be\nillustrated by a comparison. Heat and light flow in from the sun of the\nworld alike to trees bearing bad fruit and to trees bearing good fruit,\nand they are alike quickened and grow. The forms into which the heat\nflows make the difference, not the heat in itself. It is the same with\nlight, which is turned into various colors according to the forms into\nwhich it flows. The colors are beautiful and gay or ugly and sombre, and\nyet it is the same light. It is so with the influx of spiritual heat\nwhich in itself is love, and with spiritual light which in itself is\nwisdom, from the sun of the spiritual world. The forms into which they\nflow cause diversity, but not in itself that heat which is love or that\nlight which is wisdom. The forms into which these flow are human minds.\nIt is clear from these considerations that man is led and taught by the\nLord alone.\n\n161. What the life of animals is, however, was shown above (nn. 74, 96),\nnamely that it is a life of merely natural affection with its attendant\nknowledge, and a mediated life corresponding to the life of human beings\nin the spiritual world.\n\n162. (ii) _Man is led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic\nheaven and from it._ We say \"through\" the angelic heaven and from it, but\nthat He does so \"through\" the angelic heaven is the apparent fact, while\n\"from it\" is the reality. The Lord seems to lead and teach through the\nangelic heaven because He appears above that heaven as a sun, but the\nreality is that He does so from heaven because He is in heaven as the\nsoul is in man. For the Lord is omnipresent and not in space, as was\nshown above. Therefore distance is an appearance according to conjunction\nwith Him, and the conjunction is according to the reception of love and\nwisdom from Him. Since no one can be conjoined to the Lord as He exists\nin Himself He appears to angels at a distance as a sun; nevertheless He\nis in the angelic heaven as the soul is in man. He is similarly in every\nsociety of heaven and in every angel, for man's soul is not only the soul\nof man as a whole but also of every part of him.\n\n[2] It is according to the appearance that the Lord governs all heaven\nand through it the world from the sun which is from Him and in which He\nis (about the sun see Part II of the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_),\nand everyone is allowed to speak according to the appearance, cannot, in\nfact, do otherwise. Everyone who is not in wisdom itself is also allowed\nto think that the Lord rules each and all things from His sun and rules\nthe world through the angelic heaven. Angels of the lower heavens think\nfrom the appearance, but those of the higher heavens speak indeed in\nkeeping with the appearance but think from the reality, namely, that the\nLord rules the universe from the angelic heaven, that is, from Himself.\n\n[3] One can illustrate by the sun of the world that simple and wise speak\nalike but do not think alike. All speak from the appearance that the sun\nrises and sets. Despite speaking so the wise think it stands still, which\nis again the reality, as the other is the appearance. The same thing can\nbe illustrated from appearances in the spiritual world, for space and\ndistance appear there but are dissimilarities of affections and of\nresulting thoughts. The same is true of the Lord's appearing in His sun.\n\n163. We shall say briefly how the Lord leads and teaches everyone from\nthe angelic heaven. In the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_ and above in\nthe present treatise, also in the work _Heaven and Hell,_ published in\nLondon in the year 1758, it has been made known from things seen and\nheard that the angelic heaven appears before the Lord as one man, and\neach society of heaven likewise, and it is from this that each angel or\nspirit is a human being in complete form. It was also shown in the\ntreatises mentioned that heaven is not heaven from anything belonging to\nthe angels but from their reception of divine love and wisdom from the\nLord. Hence it may be evident that the Lord rules the whole angelic\nheaven as one man, and since heaven is itself man, it is the very image\nand likeness of the Lord and the Lord rules it as the soul rules its\nbody. Since all mankind is ruled by the Lord, it is ruled by the Lord not\nthrough heaven, but from heaven, consequently by Him, for He is heaven,\nas we have said.\n\n164. This is an arcanum of angelic wisdom, however, and therefore cannot\nbe comprehended by man unless his spiritual mind has been opened; for\nsuch a man, who is united with the Lord, is an angel. From what has\npreceded he can comprehend the following:\n\n1. Men as well as angels are in the Lord and the Lord in them according\nto their conjunction with Him, or, what is the same, according to their\nreception of love and wisdom from Him.\n2. Each of them has a place allotted to him in the Lord, thus in heaven,\naccording to the nature of the conjunction or the reception of Him.\n3. Each in his place has a state of his own distinct from that of others\nand draws his portion from what is had in common according to his\nsituation, function and need, quite as each part does in the human body.\n4. Everyone is brought into his place by the Lord according to his life.\n5. Every human being is introduced from infancy into this divine man\nwhose soul and life is the Lord, and within it and not outside of it is\nled and taught from His divine love according to His divine wisdom; but\nas a man is not deprived of freedom, he can be led and taught only in the\nmeasure of his receptiveness as of himself.\n6. Those who are receptive are conducted to their places through an\ninfinite maze by winding paths, much as the chyle is carried through the\nmesentery and the lacteal vessels there to its cistern, and from this\ninto the blood by the thoracic duct, and so to its place.\n7. Those who are not receptive are parted from those within the divine\nman, as excrement and urine are removed from man.\n\nThese are arcana of angelic wisdom which man can comprehend to some\nextent; there are many more which he cannot.\n\n165. (iii) _Man is led by the Lord through influx and taught through\nenlightenment._ Man is led through influx by the Lord because \"being\nled\" and \"flowing in\" are spoken of love and the will; and he is\ntaught by the Lord through enlightenment because \"being taught\" and\n\"enlightened\" are spoken of wisdom and the understanding. It is known\nthat every person is led by himself from his own love and according to\nit by others, and not by his understanding. He is led by his\nunderstanding and according to it only as his love or his will prompts\nthe understanding, and then it can be said that his understanding is\nled also. Even then the understanding is not led, but the will which\nprompts it.\n\nThe term \"influx\" is used because it is commonly said that the soul flows\ninto the body; influx is spiritual and not physical, as we showed above,\nand man's soul or life is his love or will. For another reason, influx is\ncomparatively like the flow of the blood into the heart and from the\nheart into the lungs. We showed in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom\nthat the heart corresponds to the will and the lungs correspond to the\nunderstanding, and that the conjunction of the will with the\nunderstanding is like the flowing of the blood from the heart to the\nlungs.\n\n166. Man is taught, however, through enlightenment; being taught and\nbeing enlightened are said of the understanding. For the understanding or\nman's internal sight is enlightened by spiritual light quite as the eye\nor man's external sight is by natural light. The two are also taught\nsimilarly; the internal sight, however, which is that of the\nunderstanding, by spiritual objects, and the external sight or the sight\nof the eye by natural objects. There is spiritual light and natural\nlight, one like the other in outward appearance, but dissimilar in\ninternal appearance. For natural light comes from the sun of the natural\nworld and so is in itself dead, but spiritual light, which is from the\nsun of the spiritual world, is in itself living. This light, not\nnature's, enlightens the human intellect. Natural and rational light\ncomes from it and not from nature's light, and is here called natural and\nrational because it is spiritual-natural.\n\n[2] There are three degrees of light in the spiritual world: celestial,\nspiritual and spiritual-natural. Celestial light is a flaming, ruddy\nlight and is the light of those who are in the third heaven; spiritual\nlight is a gleaming white light and is the light of those in the middle\nheaven; and spiritual-natural light is like daylight in our world. This\nis the light of those who are in the lowest heaven and of those in the\nworld of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell; with the\ngood in that world it is like the light of summer on earth and with the\nevil like winter's light.\n\nIt should be known, however, that light in the spiritual world has\nnothing in common with light in the natural world; they are as different\nas what is living and what is lifeless. It is plain, then, from what has\nbeen said that it is spiritual light and not the natural light before our\neyes that enlightens the understanding. Man does not know this, not\nhaving known anything hitherto about spiritual light. In the work _Heaven\nand Hell_ we have shown (nn. 126-140) that spiritual light has its origin\nin divine wisdom and truth.\n\n167. Having spoken about the light of heaven, we should say something\nabout the light of hell. This also is of three degrees. The light in the\nlowest hell is like that from fiery coals; in the middle hell like that\nfrom the flame of a hearth; and in the highest hell like that from\ncandles and to some like moonlight at night. All this is spiritual light\nand not natural, for all natural light is dead and extinguishes the\nunderstanding. As has been shown, those in hell possess the faculty of\nunderstanding called rationality; rationality itself comes from spiritual\nlight and not from natural light. The spiritual light which they have in\nrationality is turned, however, into infernal light, as the light of day\nis into the dark of night.\n\n[2] Nevertheless, all those in the spiritual world, whether in the\nheavens or the hells, see in their own light as clearly as man sees in\nhis by day. This is because everyone's eyesight is formed to receive the\nlight in which it finds itself. Thus the eyesight of the angels of heaven\nis formed to receive the light in which they see, and the sight of the\nspirits of hell is formed to receive their light; this is comparatively\nlike that of birds of night and bats, which see objects at night and in\nthe evening as clearly as other birds see them by day, for their eyes are\nformed to receive their light.\n\n[3] The difference between the one light and the other appears very\nclearly, however, to those who look from one to the other. When, for\ninstance, an angel of heaven looks into hell he sees only thick darkness,\nand when a spirit of hell looks into heaven he sees only thick darkness\nthere. For heavenly wisdom is like thick darkness to those in hell; in\nturn, infernal insanity is like thick darkness to those in heaven. It is\nplain from all this that such as a man's understanding is, such is the\nlight he has, and that after death everyone comes into his own light, for\nhe sees in no other. In the spiritual world, moreover, where all are\nspiritual even to the body, the eyes of all are formed to see by their\nown light. Everyone's life-love fashions an understanding for itself and\nthus a light, also, for love is like the fire of life and from this comes\nthe light of life.\n\n168. As few know anything about the enlightenment in which the\nunderstanding of a man is who is taught by the Lord, something will be\nsaid of it. There is inner and outer enlightenment from the Lord, and\ninner and outer enlightenment from oneself. Inner enlightenment from the\nLord consists in man's perceiving on first hearing something whether it\nis true or not; outer enlightenment consists in thought from this. Inner\nenlightenment from oneself is simply from confirmation and outer\nenlightenment merely from information. We will say something of each.\n\n[2] By inner enlightenment from the Lord a rational person perceives\nabout many things the moment he hears them whether they are true or not;\nfor example, that love is the life of faith or that faith lives by love.\nBy interior enlightenment a person also perceives that a man wills what\nhe loves and does what he wills, consequently that to love is to do;\nagain, that a man wills and does whatever he believes from love, and\ntherefore to have faith is also to do; and that the impious man cannot\nhave love for God or faith then in Him. By inner enlightenment a rational\nman also perceives the following truths at once on hearing them: God is\none; He is omnipresent; all good is from Him; all things have relation to\ngood and truth; all good is from good itself and all truth from truth\nitself. A man perceives these and other similar truths inwardly in\nhimself on hearing them and does so because he possesses a rationality\nwhich is in heaven's enlightening light.\n\n[3] Outer enlightenment is enlightenment of one's thought from this inner\nenlightenment. One's thought is in this enlightenment so far as it\nremains in the perception it has from inner enlightenment and so far as\nit possesses knowledge of good and truth, for it gets from this\nknowledge reasons confirming it. Thought from outer enlightenment sees a\nmatter on both sides; on the one, it sees reasons which confirm it, and\non the other, the appearances that weaken it; it dispels these and\nassembles the reasons.\n\n[4] Inner enlightenment from oneself, however, is quite different. By it\none regards a matter on one side only, and having confirmed it sees it in\nlight apparently like that just spoken of, but it is a wintry light. For\nexample, a judge who judges unjustly in view of gifts or gain, once he\nhas confirmed the judgment by law and reason sees in it nothing but\njustice. Some judges see the injustice but not wanting to see it, they\nkeep it out of sight and blind themselves and so do not see. The same is\ntrue of a judge who renders judgments out of friendship, or to gain\nfavor, or on account of relationship.\n\n[5] Such persons act in the same way in anything they have from a man in\nauthority or from the mouth of a celebrity or have hatched from\nself-intelligence; they are blind reasoners, for they see from the\nfalsities which they confirm; falsity closes the sight, just as truth\nopens it. They do not see any truth in the light of truth nor justice\nfrom a love for it but from the light of confirmation, which is an\nillusory light. They appear in the spiritual world like headless faces or\nlike faces resembling human faces on wooden heads, and are called\nreasoning animals for rationality is potential in them. Those have outer\nenlightenment from themselves who think and speak solely from information\nimpressed on the memory; of themselves they can hardly confirm anything.\n\n169. Such are the differences in enlightenment and consequently in\nperception and thought. There is actual enlightenment by spiritual light,\nbut it is not manifest to one in the natural world because natural light\nhas nothing in common with spiritual light. This enlightenment has\nsometimes been manifested to me in the spiritual world, however, visible\nin those enlightened by the Lord as a luminosity around the head, aglow\nwith the color of the human face. With those in enlightenment from\nthemselves the luminosity was not around the head but around the mouth\nand over the chin.\n\n170. Besides these kinds of enlightenment there is another in which it is\nrevealed to one in what faith, intelligence and wisdom he is; he\nperceives this in himself, such is the revelation. He is admitted into a\nsociety where there is genuine faith and true intelligence and wisdom.\nThere his interior rationality is opened, from which he sees the nature\nof his own faith, intelligence and wisdom, even to avowing it. I have\nseen some as they returned and heard them confessing that they had no\nfaith although in the world they had believed they had much faith and\nmarkedly more than others; they said the same of their intelligence and\nwisdom. Some were in faith alone and in no charity, and some in\nself-intelligence.\n\n171. (iv) _Man is taught by the Lord through the Word and doctrine and\npreaching from it, thus immediately by the Lord alone._ We said and\nshowed above that man is led and taught by the Lord alone, and from\nheaven but not through heaven or any angel there. As it is by the Lord\nalone, it is done immediately and not mediately. How this takes place\nwill be told now.\n\n172. It was shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Sacred\nScripture_ that the Lord is the Word and that all the doctrine of the\nchurch is to be drawn from the Word. Inasmuch as the Lord is the Word the\nman who is taught from the Word is taught by the Lord alone. This is\ncomprehended with difficulty and will be clarified in this order:\n\n1. The Lord is the Word because the Word is from Him and about Him.\n2. Also because the Word is divine truth together with divine good.\n3. To be taught from the Word is to be taught from Him, therefore.\n4. That this is done mediately through preaching does not take away its\nimmediacy.\n\n[2] First: _The Lord is the Word because it is from Him and about Him._\nNo one in the church denies that the Word is from the Lord, but that it\nis about Him alone, while not denied, is not known. This was shown in\n_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord,_ nn. 1-7, 37-44, and in\n_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 62-69,\n80-90, 98-100. Inasmuch as the Word is from the Lord alone and treats of\nHim alone, a man is taught by the Lord when he is taught from the Word,\nfor it is the divine Word. Who can communicate what is divine and implant\nit in the heart except the Divine Himself from whom it is and of whom it\ntreats? Therefore, in speaking of His union with His disciples He says\nthat they are to abide in Him and His words in them (Jn 15:7 ), that His\nwords are spirit and life (Jn 6:63), and that He makes His abode with\nthose who keep His words (Jn 14:20-24). To think from the Lord therefore\nis to think from the Word, and as it were, through the Word. It was shown\nin _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Sacred Scripture_ from\nbeginning to end that all things of the Word have communication with\nheaven, and as the Lord is heaven, this means that all things of the Word\nhave communication with the Lord Himself. The angels of heaven indeed\nhave communication; this, too, is from the Lord.\n\n[3] Second: _The Lord is the Word because it is divine truth together\nwith divine good._ The Lord teaches that He is the Word by these words in\nJohn:\n\nIn the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word\nwas God . . . and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (1:1, 14).\n\nThis passage has been understood hitherto to mean only that God teaches\nmen through the Word and has been explained as an hyperbole, with the\nimplication that the Lord is not the Word itself. This is because\nexpositors did not know that the Word is divine truth together with\ndivine good or, what is the same, divine wisdom together with divine\nlove. That these are the Lord Himself was shown in the treatise _Divine\nLove and Wisdom,_ Part I, and that they are the Word in _Doctrine of the\nNew Jerusalem about the Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 1-86.\n\n[4] We will say briefly in what way the Lord is divine truth together\nwith divine good. Each human being is human not because of face and body\nbut from the good of his love and the truths of his wisdom; and because a\nman is a man from these, he is also his own good and his own truth or his\nown love and his own wisdom; without these he is not a human being. But\nthe Lord is good itself and truth itself or, what is the same, love\nitself and wisdom itself; and these are the Word which in the beginning\nwas with God and was God and which was made flesh.\n\n[5] Third: _To be taught from the Word, then, is to be taught by the Lord\nHimself._ For it means that one is taught from good itself and truth\nitself or from love itself and wisdom itself, and, as we have said, these\nare the Word. But everyone is taught according to an understanding\nagreeing with his love; what goes beyond this does not remain. All who\nare taught by the Lord in the Word are instructed in a few truths while\nin the world but in many when they become angels. For the interiors of\nthe Word, which are divine spiritual and divine celestial, are implanted\nat the time, but are not consciously possessed until a man on his death\nis in heaven where he is in angelic wisdom which, compared with human\nwisdom, thus his earlier wisdom, is ineffable. That divine spiritual and\ndivine celestial things which constitute angelic wisdom are present in\neach and all things of the Word see _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about\nthe Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 5-26.\n\n[6] Fourth: _That this teaching is done mediately through preaching does\nnot take away the immediacy._ Inevitably the Word is taught mediately by\nparents, teachers, preachers, books and particularly by reading. Still it\nis not taught by them but by the Lord through them. Preachers, aware of\nthis, say that they speak not from themselves but from the spirit of God\nand that all truth like all good is from God. They can speak it and bring\nit to the understanding of many, but not to anyone's heart; and what is\nnot in the heart passes away from the understanding; by \"heart\" a man's\nlove is meant. From this it is plain that man is led and taught by the\nLord alone and immediately by Him when he is taught from the Word. This\nis a supreme arcanum of angelic wisdom.\n\n173. We have shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Sacred\nScripture_ (nn. 104-113) that those outside the church who do not have\nthe Word still have light by means of it. Man has light by means of the\nWord and from the light has understanding, and both the wicked and the\ngood have understanding. It follows that from light in its origin there\nis light in its derivatives which are perceptions and thoughts on\nwhatever subject. The Lord says that without Him men can do nothing (Jn\n15:5); that a man can receive nothing unless it is given him from heaven\n(Jn 3:27); and that the Father in the heavens makes His sun to rise on\nthe evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Mt\n5:45). In the Word in its spiritual sense by \"sun\" here, as elsewhere, is\nmeant the divine good of divine love and by \"rain\" the divine truth of\ndivine wisdom. These are extended to the evil and the good, to the unjust\nand the just, for if they were not, no one would possess perception and\nthought. It was shown above that there is only one Life from which all\nhave life. But perception and thought are part of life; they are\ntherefore from the same fountain from which life springs. It has been\nshown many times before that all the light which forms the understanding\nis from the sun of the spiritual world, which is the Lord.\n\n174. (v) _Man is led and taught in externals by the Lord to all\nappearance as of himself._ This is so of man's externals, but not\ninwardly. No one knows how the Lord leads and teaches man inwardly, just\nas no one knows how the soul operates so that the eye sees, the ear\nhears, the tongue and mouth speak, the heart circulates the blood, the\nlungs breathe, the stomach digests, the liver and the pancreas\ndistribute, the kidneys secrete, and much else. These processes do not\ncome to man's perception or sensation. The same is true of what the Lord\ndoes in the infinitely more numerous interior substances and forms of the\nmind. The Lord's activity in these is not apparent to man, but many of\nthe effects are, as well as some of the causes producing the effects. It\nis in the externals that man and the Lord are together, and as the\nexternals make one with the internals, cohering as they do in one series,\nno disposition can be made by the Lord except in keeping with the\ndisposition made in the externals with man's participation.\n\n[2] Everyone knows that man thinks, wills, speaks and acts to all\nappearance as of himself, and everyone can see that without this\nappearance man would have no will and understanding, thus no affection\nand thought, also no reception of any good and truth from the Lord. It\nfollows that without this appearance there would be no rational\nconception of God, no charity and no faith, consequently no reformation\nand regeneration, and therefore no salvation. Plainly, this appearance is\ngranted to man by the Lord for the sake of all these uses and\nparticularly that he may have the power to receive and reciprocate so\nthat the Lord may be united to him and he to the Lord, and that through\nthis conjunction the human being may live forever. This is \"appearance\"\nas it is meant here.\n\nIX. IT IS A LAW OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHALL NOT PERCEIVE OR FEEL\nANY OF THE ACTIVITY OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE, AND YET SHOULD KNOW AND\nACKNOWLEDGE PROVIDENCE\n\n175. The natural man who does not believe in divine providence thinks to\nhimself, \"What can divine providence be when the wicked are promoted to\nhonors and gain wealth more than the good, and many such things go better\nwith those who do not believe in divine providence than with the good who\nbelieve in it? Indeed, infidels and the impious can inflict injuries,\nloss, misfortune and sometimes death on the believing and pious, doing\nso, too, by cunning and malice.\" He thinks therefore, \"Do I not see in\nfull daylight, as it were, in actual experience that crafty schemes\nprevail over fidelity and justice if only a man can make them seem\ntrustworthy and just by a clever artfulness? What is left except\nnecessities, consequences and the fortuitous in which there is no\nsemblance of divine providence? Does not nature have its necessities, and\nare not consequences causes arising from natural or civil order, while\nthe fortuitous comes, does it not, from unknown causes or from none?\" So\nthe natural man thinks to himself who attributes all things to nature and\nnothing to God, for one who ascribes nothing to God ascribes nothing to\ndivine providence either; God and divine providence make one.\n\n[2] But the spiritual man speaks and thinks within himself quite\notherwise. Although he does not perceive the course of divine providence\nby any thought or feel it from any sight of it, he still knows and\nacknowledges providence. Inasmuch as the appearances and resulting\nfallacies just mentioned have blinded the understanding, and this can\nreceive sight only when the fallacies which have induced the blindness\nand the falsities which have induced the darkness are dispelled, and\nsince this can be done only by truths which have the power to dispel\nfalsities, these truths are to be disclosed, and for distinctness let it\nbe in this order:\n\ni. If man perceived or felt the activity of divine providence he would\nnot act in freedom according to reason, nor would anything appear to be\nhis own doing. It would be the same if he foreknew events.\nii. If man saw divine providence plainly, he would inject himself into\nthe order and tenor of its course, and pervert and destroy them.\niii. If man beheld divine providence plainly he would either deny God or\nmake himself god.\niv. Man can see divine providence on the back and not in the face; also\nin a spiritual, not a natural state.\n\n176. (i) _If man perceived or felt the activity of divine providence he\nwould not act in freedom according to reason, nor would anything appear\nto be his own doing. It would be the same if he foreknew events._ In\ngiven articles we made evident to the understanding that it is a law of\nprovidence that man should act in freedom according to reason; also that\nall which a man wills, thinks, speaks and does shall seem to be his own\ndoing; that without this appearance a man would have nothing of his own\nnor be his own man. He would thus have no selfhood and nothing could be\nimputed to him, and in that case whether he did good or evil would not\nmatter, and whether he believed in God or was under the persuasion of\nhell would be immaterial; in a word, he would not be a human being.\n\n[2] We have now to show that man would have no liberty to act according\nto reason and there would be no appearance of self-activity if he\nperceived or felt the activity of divine providence, for if he did he\nwould also be led by it. The Lord leads all men by His divine providence\nand man only seemingly leads himself, as was shown above. If, therefore,\nman had a lively perception or sense of being led, he would not be\nconscious of living life and would be moved to make sounds and act much\nlike a graven image. If he were still conscious of living he would be led\nlike one bound in manacles and fetters or like a yoked animal. Who does\nnot see that man would have no freedom then? And without freedom he would\nbe without reason, for one thinks from and in freedom; whatever he does\nnot so think seems to him to be not from himself but from someone else.\nIndeed if you consider this interiorly you will perceive that he would\nnot possess thought, still less reason, and hence would not be a human\nbeing.\n\n177. The Lord's divine providence is constantly seeking to withdraw man\nfrom evils. If a man perceived or felt this constant activity and yet was\nnot led like one bound, would he not struggle against it continually and\nthen either quarrel with God or mingle himself in divine providence? If\nhe did the latter he would also make himself God; if he did the former he\nwould free himself from constraint and deny God. Manifestly two forces\nwould constantly be acting then against each other, the force of evil\nfrom man and the force of good from the Lord. When two opposites act\nagainst each other, one of them conquers or they both perish. In this\ninstance if one conquers they both perish. For the evil, which is man's,\ndoes not let in good from the Lord in a moment, nor does good from the\nLord cast out evil from man in a moment; if either was done in a moment\nno life would be left to man. These and many other harmful results would\nfollow if man manifestly perceived or felt the operation of divine\nprovidence. This will be demonstrated clearly by examples in what\nfollows.\n\n178. Man is not given a foreknowledge of events for the same reason,\nnamely, that he may be able to act in freedom according to reason. It is\nwell known that man wants what he loves effected, and he guides himself\nto this end by reasoning. It is also known that what a man meditates in\nhis reason comes from his love of giving it effect through thought. If,\nthen, he knew the effect or the eventuality by divine prediction, his\nreason would become inactive and with it his love; for love along with\nreasoning ends with the effect, to begin anew. It is reason's very\nenjoyment to envision with love the effect in thought, not after it is\nattained but before it is, not in the present but as future. So man has\nwhat is called hope, which rises and declines in the reason as he beholds\nor awaits the event. The enjoyment is fulfilled in the event and then is\nforgotten along with thought about the event. The same thing would occur\nwith an event that was foreknown.\n\n[2] The human mind dwells always in the trine called end, cause and\neffect. If one of these is lacking, the mind is not possessed of its\nlife. An affection of the will is the initiating end; the thought of the\nunderstanding is the efficient cause; and bodily action, utterance or\nexternal sensation is the effect from the end by means of the thought.\nAnyone sees that the human mind is not possessed of its life when it is\nonly in an affection of the will and in naught besides, or when it is\nonly in an effect. The mind has no life from one of these separately,\ntherefore, but from the three together. The life of the mind would\ndiminish and depart if an event were foretold.\n\n179. As a foreknowledge of future events takes away humanness itself,\nwhich is action in freedom in accord with one's reason, no one is given\nto know the future; but everyone is allowed to form conclusions by the\nreason about the future; the reason is then fully in its own life.\nAccordingly man does not know his lot after death or know any event until\nhe is on it. For if he knew, he would no longer think from his inner self\nhow he should act or live so as to meet it, but would think only from his\nexterior self that he was meeting it. This state closes the interiors of\nhis mind where the two faculties of his life, liberty and reason,\nespecially reside. A desire to know the future is born with most persons\nbut has its origin in a love of evil. It is taken away, therefore, from\nthose who believe in divine providence; and trust that the Lord disposes\ntheir lot is given them. Therefore they do not desire to know it\nbeforehand lest they inject themselves in some way into divine\nprovidence. The Lord teaches this in many sayings in Luke (12:14-48).\n\n[2] Much from the world of the spirit can confirm that this is a law of\ndivine providence. On entering that world after death most persons desire\nto know their lot. The answer they receive is that if they have lived\nwell their lot is in heaven and if wickedly it is in hell. But as all,\nincluding the wicked, fear hell they ask what they should do and believe\nto get into heaven. They are answered that they are to do and believe as\nthey will, but know that one does not do good or believe truth in hell,\nonly in heaven. \"As you can, seek what is good and true, thinking truth\nand doing good.\" Everyone is thus left to act in freedom according to\nreason in the spiritual world as he is in the natural world; but as one\nhas acted in this world he acts in that, for everyone's life remains to\nhim and so his lot awaits him, for this is his life's lot.\n\n180. (ii) _If man saw divine providence plainly he would inject himself\ninto the order and tenor of its course and pervert and destroy them._ To\nbring this distinctly to the perception of the rational man and also of\nthe natural man, it will be illustrated by examples in this order:\n\n1. External things are so connected with internal things that they make\none in all that is done.\n2. The human being joins the Lord only in some external things and if he\ndid in internal things also, he would pervert and destroy the whole order\nand tenor of the course of divine providence.\n\nAs we said, these points will be illustrated by examples.\n\n[2] First: _External things are so connected with internal things that\nthey make one in all that is done._ Let this be illustrated by examples\nfrom several things in man's body. Everywhere in it are things external\nand internal. The external are called skins, membranes and coverings; the\ninternal are forms variously composed and woven of nerve fibres and blood\nvessels. The covering over these enters into them by extensions from\nitself even to the inmost, so that the external or the covering unites\nwith the internals or the organic forms of fibres and vessels. It follows\nthat the internals act and are acted on as the external acts or is acted\non. For they are all constantly bound up together.\n\n[3] Take such a common covering in the body as the pleura, for example,\nwhich covers the chest cavity and the heart and lungs. Examine it in an\nanatomical view, or if you do not know anatomy consult anatomists, and\nyou will learn that this general covering by various circumvolutions and\nfiner and finer extensions from itself enters into the inmost parts of\nthe lungs, even into the smallest bronchial branches and into the sacs\nthemselves which are the beginnings of the lungs, not to mention its\nsubsequent progress by the trachea into the larynx and toward the tongue.\nFrom this it is plain that there is a constant connection of the outmost\nwith inmosts; the interiors from the inmosts on therefore act and are\nacted upon as the external acts or is acted on. For this reason when that\noutmost covering, the pleura, is congested, inflamed or ulcerated, the\nlungs labor from their inmost parts; if the disease grows worse, all\naction of the lungs ceases and the man dies.\n\n[4] The same is true everywhere else in the body. For instance it is true\nof the peritoneum, the general covering of all the abdominal viscera,\nalso of the coverings on such organs severally as the stomach, liver,\npancreas, spleen, intestines, mesentery, kidneys, and the organs of\ngeneration in both sexes. Choose any one of these viscera, examine it\nyourself or consult those skilled in the science, and you will see or\nhear. Take the liver, for example; you will find there is a connection\nbetween the peritoneum and that organ and by its covering with its inmost\nparts. For the covering puts out constant extensions from itself and\ninsertions towards the interiors and thus continues to inmosts and as a\nresult the whole is bound together. The entire form acts or is acted upon\nin such manner as the covering acts or is acted upon. The same is true of\nthe rest of the organs. For what is general and what is particular or the\nuniversal and the singular in a form act together by a marvelous\nconnection.\n\n[5] You will see below that what occurs in natural forms and their\nprocesses, which relate to motion and actions, occurs similarly in\nspiritual forms and in the changes and variations of their state, which\nrelate to activities of the will and the understanding. Inasmuch as man\njoins the Lord in certain external activities and no one is deprived of\nthe liberty of acting according to reason, the Lord can act in internals\nonly as, together with man, He does in externals. If man does not shun\nand turn away from evils as sins, therefore, the external and at the same\ntime the internal of his thought and will are infected and destroyed,\ncomparatively as the pleura is by the disease in it called pleurisy, of\nwhich the body dies.\n\n[6] Second: _If man were in internals at the same time he would pervert\nand destroy the whole order and tenor of divine providence._ Examples\nfrom the human body will illustrate this also. If man knew all the\nworkings of the two brains into the fibres, of the fibres into the\nmuscles and of the muscles into actions, and by this knowledge were to\nhave the disposition of them as he disposes his deeds, would he not\npervert and destroy all?\n\n[7] If man knew how the stomach digests, and how the surrounding organs\ntake their portion, work the blood and distribute it where needed for\nlife, and if he had the disposing of these as he has of external\nactivities, such as eating and drinking, would he not pervert and destroy\nall? When he cannot handle the external, seemingly a single thing,\nwithout destroying it by luxury and intemperance, what would he do if he\nhad the disposal of the internals, infinite in number? Lest man enter\ninto them by any volition and have control of them, things internal are\ntherefore taken entirely away from the will except for the muscles, which\nare a covering; moreover, how these act is not known, only that they do.\n\n[8] The same can be said of other organs. To give examples: if man had\nthe disposing of the interiors of the eye for seeing, those of the ear\nfor hearing, or the tongue for tasting, those of the skin for feeling,\nthose of the heart for systolic action, of the lungs for breathing, of\nthe mesentery to distribute the chyle, or of the kidneys for secretion,\nthe interiors of the organs of generation for propagation, or those of\nthe womb for perfecting an embryo, and so on, would he not pervert and\ndestroy the ordered course of the divine providence in them in\ninnumerable ways? As we know, man is in externals, for example sees with\nthe eye, hears with the ear, tastes with the tongue, feels with the skin,\nbreathes with the lungs, impregnates a wife, and so on. Is it not enough\nfor him to know the externals and dispose them for health of body and\nmind? When he cannot do this, what would happen if he disposed internals\nalso? It may be plain from this that if man saw divine providence\nplainly, he would inject himself into the order and tenor of its course\nand pervert and destroy them.\n\n181. The like occurs in the spiritual things of the mind to what occurs\nin the natural things of the body for the reason that all things of the\nmind correspond to all things of the body. For the same reason the mind\nactuates the body in externals and generally does so completely. It moves\nthe eyes to see, the ears to hear, the mouth and tongue to eat and drink,\nalso to speak, the hands to do, the feet to walk, the generative organs\nto propagate. The mind not only moves the externals in these ways but the\ninternals, too, in their whole series, outmosts from inmosts and inmosts\nfrom outmosts. Thus while moving the mouth to speak, it moves lungs,\nlarynx, glottis, tongue and lips at the same time, each separately to its\nespecial function, and the face suitably also.\n\n[2] It is clear then that the same can be said of the spiritual forms of\nthe mind as was said of the natural forms of the body, and the same can\nbe said of the spiritual activities of the mind as was said of the\nnatural activities of the body. Consequently the Lord orders the\ninternals as a man does the externals, in one way if the man orders the\nexternals of himself and in another if he orders them under the Lord and\nat the same time as of himself. The mind of man is also in its total\norganization a man, for it is his spirit which appears after death\naltogether as a human being as in the world; hence there are similar\nthings in mind and body. Thus what has been said about the conjunction of\nexternals with internals in the body is to be understood of the\nconjunction of externals with internals in the mind, with the sole\ndifference that the latter is spiritual and the former is natural.\n\n182. ( iii) _If man beheld divine providence plainly he would either deny\nGod or make himself god._ The merely natural man says to himself, \"What\nis divine providence? Is it anything else or more than an expression\nwhich people get from a priest? Who sees anything of it? Is it not by\nprudence, wisdom, cunning and malice that all things are done in the\nworld? Is not all else necessity or consequence? And does not much happen\nby chance? Does divine providence lie concealed in this? How can it do so\nin deceptions and schemes? Yet it is said that divine providence effects\nall things. Then let me see it and I will believe in it. Can one believe\nin it until he sees it?\"\n\n[2] So speaks the merely natural man, but the spiritual man speaks\ndifferently. Acknowledging God he also acknowledges divine providence and\nsees it, too. He cannot make it manifest, however, to anyone whose\nthought is on nature only and from nature, for such a person cannot raise\nhis mind above nature, see anything of divine providence in its\nphenomena, or come to conclusions about providence from nature's laws,\nwhich are also laws of divine wisdom. If, therefore, he beheld divine\nprovidence plainly, he would sink it in nature and thus not only enshroud\nit in fallacies but profane it. Instead of acknowledging it he would deny\nit, and one who denies divine providence in his heart denies God also.\n\n[3] Either one thinks that God governs all things or that nature does. He\nwho thinks that God does thinks that they are ruled by love itself and\nwisdom itself, thus by life itself; but he who thinks that nature governs\nall, thinks that all things are ruled by nature's heat and light,\nalthough these in themselves are dead, coming as they do from a dead sun.\nDoes not what is itself alive govern what is lifeless? Can what is dead\ngovern anything? If you think that what is lifeless can give life to\nitself, you are mad; life must come from life.\n\n183. It does not seem likely that if a man saw divine providence and its\nactivity plainly he would deny God; it would seem that he could not but\nacknowledge it and thus acknowledge God. Yet the contrary is true. Divine\nprovidence never acts in keeping with the love of man's will, but\nconstantly against it. For the human being by force of his hereditary\nevil is ever panting for the lowest hell, but the Lord in His providence\nis constantly leading him away and withdrawing him from it, first to a\nmilder hell, then away from hell, and finally to Himself in heaven. This\nactivity of divine providence is perpetual. If, then, man saw or felt\nthis withdrawing and leading away, he would be angered, consider God his\nenemy, and deny Him on account of the evil of his selfhood. In order that\nman may not know of it, therefore, he is held in freedom and thereby does\nnot know but that he leads himself.\n\n[2] But let examples serve for illustration. By heredity man wants to\nbecome great and also rich. In the measure in which these loves are not\nchecked he wants to become still greater and richer and finally the\ngreatest and richest; even so he would not rest, but would want to become\ngreater than God Himself and possess heaven itself. This lust is hidden\ndeep in hereditary evil and consequently in man's life and in the nature\nof his life. Divine providence does not remove this evil in a moment; if\nit were removed in a moment man would cease to live; but divine\nprovidence removes it quietly and gradually without man's knowing of it.\nIt does this by letting man act according to the thinking which he deems\nrational; then by various means, rational and also civil and moral, it\nleads him away and withdraws him so far as he can be withdrawn in\nfreedom. Nor can evil be removed from anyone unless it comes out and is\nseen and acknowledged; it is like a wound which heals only when opened.\n\n[3] If, therefore, man knew and saw that the Lord in His divine\nprovidence works in this way against his life's love, the source of his\nhighest enjoyment, he could not but go in the opposite direction, be\nenraged, rebel, say harsh things, and finally, on account of his evil,\nbrush aside the activity of divine providence, denying it and so denying\nGod. He would do this especially if he saw success thwarted or saw\nhimself lowered in standing or deprived of wealth.\n\n[4] But it is to be known that the Lord in no wise leads man away from\nseeking position and acquiring wealth, but leads him away from the lust\nof seeking position solely for the sake of eminence or for his own sake,\nand also from acquiring wealth for its own sake or just to have it.\nLeading the man away, He introduces him into the love of uses so that he\nmay regard eminence not for his own sake but for the sake of uses, thus\nas attached to uses and only so to himself, and not as attached to him\nand then to the uses; the same applies to wealth. At many places in the\nWord the Lord Himself teaches that He continually humbles the proud and\nexalts the humble; what He teaches in it is also of His divine\nprovidence.\n\n184. Any other evil in which man is by heredity is dealt with in like\nmanner, such as adultery, fraud, vengeance, blasphemy and other similar\nevils, none of which can be removed except as freedom to think and will\nthem is left to man for him to remove them as if of himself. Nevertheless\nhe can do this only as he acknowledges divine providence and prays that it\nmay be done by it. Apart from this freedom and from divine providence at\nthe same time, the evils would be like poison shut in and not driven out,\nwhich would spread quickly and consign all parts to death, or would be\nlike disease of the heart itself, from which the whole body soon dies.\n\n185. The truth of what has been said cannot be better known than from\nhuman lives after death in the spiritual world. Very many who had become\ngreat or wealthy in the natural world and in their eminence or riches had\nregarded themselves alone, at first speak of God and divine providence as\nthough they had acknowledged them at heart, but seeing divine providence\nclearly then and their final lot under it, namely, for them to enter\nhell, they unite with devils there and not only deny God then but also\nblaspheme Him. Finally they reach such madness that they acknowledge the\nmore powerful among devils as their gods and desire nothing more ardently\nthan to become gods themselves.\n\n186. Man would go contrary to God and also deny Him if he saw the\nactivities of God's divine providence plainly, for the reason that man is\nin the enjoyment of self-love and this enjoyment constitutes his very\nlife. Therefore when man is held in the enjoyment of his life he is in\nhis freedom, for freedom and the enjoyment make one. If, then, he should\nperceive that he is continually being led away from his enjoyment, he\nwould be enraged as against one who wanted to destroy his life and would\nhold him to be an enemy. Lest it happen, the Lord in His divine\nprovidence does not appear manifestly, but leads man by it as silently as\na hidden stream or favorable current does a vessel. Consequently man does\nnot know but that he is steadily in his own, for his freedom and his\nproprium make one. Hence it is plain that freedom appropriates to him\nwhat divine providence introduces, which would not take place if\nprovidence were manifest. To be appropriated means to become of one's\nlife.\n\n187. (iv) _Man can see divine providence on the back and not in the face;\nalso in a spiritual state but not in a natural._ To see divine providence\non the back but not in the face means after it acts and not before. To\nsee it in a spiritual state and not in a natural is to see it from heaven\nand not from the world. All who receive influx from heaven and\nacknowledge divine providence, especially those who have become spiritual\nthrough reformation, on beholding events taking a wonderful course see\nprovidence as it were from an interior acknowledgment and confess it.\nThese do not wish to see it in the face, that is, before it eventuates,\nfearing that their volition may intrude on something of its order and\ntenor.\n\n[2] It is otherwise with those who do not admit any influx from heaven\nbut only from the world, especially with those who have become natural by\nconfirming appearances in themselves. They do not see anything of divine\nprovidence on the back, that is, after it eventuates, but wish to behold\nit in the face or before it eventuates; and as divine providence works by\nmeans, and these are provided through man or the world, they attribute\nprovidence, whether they look it in the face or on the back, to man or to\nnature, and so confirm themselves in the denial of it. They make this\nascription of it because their understanding is closed above, that is, to\nheaven, and open only below, that is, to the world; one cannot see divine\nprovidence in a worldly outlook, only in a heavenly. I have wondered\nsometimes whether they would acknowledge divine providence if their\nunderstanding was opened above and they were to see as in the light of\nday that nature in itself is dead, and human intelligence in itself\nnothing, and that it is by influx that either appears to have being. I\nperceived that those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature and\nof human prudence would not make the acknowledgment because the natural\nlight flowing in from below would immediately extinguish the spiritual\nlight flowing in from above.\n\n189.* The man who has become spiritual by acknowledgment of God, and wise\nby rejection of the proprium, sees divine providence in the world as a\nwhole and in each and all things in it. Looking at natural things, he\nsees it; at civil things, he sees it; at spiritual things, he sees it;\nand in things simultaneous as well as successive. He sees it in ends,\ncauses, effects, uses, forms, things great and small. Above all he sees\nit in the salvation of men, as that Jehovah gave the Word, taught men by\nit about God and about heaven and hell and eternal life, and Himself came\ninto the world to redeem men and save them. Man sees these and many other\nthings and divine providence in them from spiritual light in natural\nlight.\n\n* The Latin original has no number 188.\n\n[2] The merely natural man, however, sees none of these things. He is\nlike a man who sees a magnificent temple and hears a preacher enlightened\nin divine things, but once home asserts that he saw only a stone building\nand heard nothing but sounds made. Again, he is like a near-sighted man\nwho steps into a garden remarkable for fruits of every sort and who\nreports on getting home that he saw only woods and trees. Moreover, when\nsuch persons, having become spirits after death, are taken up into the\nangelic heaven where all objects are in forms representative of love and\nwisdom, they see none of them, not even that they exist. I have seen this\nhappen with a number who denied the Lord's divine providence.\n\n190. Many constant things exist, created that inconstant things may\nexist. Such constants are the ordained changes in the rising and setting\nof sun, moon and stars; their obscurations by interpositions called\neclipses; the heat and light from them; the seasons of the year, called\nspring, summer, autumn and winter; the times of the day, morning, noon,\nevening and night; also atmospheres, waters and lands, viewed in\nthemselves; the vegetative force in the plant kingdom, that and the\nreproductive in the animal kingdom; likewise what is constantly produced\nwhen these forces are set in action in accord with the laws of order.\nThese and many more things existing from the creation are provided so\nthat infinitely varying things may exist, for what varies can exist only\nin what is constant, fixed and certain.\n\n[2] Examples will illustrate this. The varieties of vegetation would not\nbe possible unless sunrise and sunset and the resulting heat and light\nwere constant. Harmonies are infinitely varied, and would not exist\nunless the atmospheres were constant in their laws and the ear in its\nform. Varieties of vision, which are also infinite, would not exist\nunless the ether in its laws and the eye in its organization were\nconstant; equally so, colors, unless light was constant. The same is true\nof thoughts, words and actions, which are of infinite variety too; they\ncould not exist, either, unless the organic forms of the body were\nconstant. Must not a house be steady for a variety of things to be done\nin it by a person? So must a temple be for the various acts of worship,\npreaching, instruction and devout meditation to be possible in it. So in\nmuch else.\n\n[3] As for the varieties found in the constant, fixed and certain, they\ngo on to infinity and have no end; no one thing in the whole universe or\nin any part of it is ever precisely the same as another, nor can be in\nthe progress of things to eternity. Who disposes these varieties which\nproceed to infinity and eternity so that they have order unless it is He\nwho created what is constant to the end that they may exist in it? And\nwho can dispose the infinite varieties of life among men but He who is\nlife itself, that is, love itself and wisdom itself? Except by His divine\nprovidence, which is like a continual creation, can the infinite\naffections of men and their thoughts thence and thus the men themselves\nbe disposed so as to make one? Evil affections and the thoughts from them\nto make one devil which is hell, and good affections and the thoughts\nfrom them one Lord in heaven? We have said and shown several times before\nthat the whole angelic heaven is like one man in the Lord's sight, an\nimage and likeness of Him, and all hell over against it like one\nmonstrous man. This has been said because some natural men seize on\narguments for their madness in favor of nature and of one's own prudence\nfrom even the constant and fixed which must exist for the variable to\nexist in it.\n\nX. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE'S OWN PRUDENCE; THERE ONLY APPEARS TO BE\nAND IT SHOULD SO APPEAR; BUT DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS UNIVERSAL BY BEING IN\nTHE LEAST THINGS\n\n191. That there is no such thing as one's own prudence is contrary to\nappearances and therefore to the belief of many. Because it is, one who\nbelieves, on the strength of the appearance, that human prudence does all\nthings, cannot be convinced except by reasons to be had from a more\nprofound investigation and to be gathered from causes. The appearance is\nan effect, and causes disclose how it arises. By way of introduction\nsomething will be said about the common faith on the subject. Contrary to\nthe appearance the church teaches that love and faith are not from man\nbut from God, so also wisdom and intelligence, therefore prudence also,\nand in general all good and truth. When this teaching is accepted, one\nmust also agree that there is no such thing as one's own prudence, but\nthere only appears to be. Prudence comes only from intelligence and\nwisdom and both of these only from the understanding and its grasp of\ntruth and good. All this is accepted and believed by those who\nacknowledge divine providence, but not by those who only acknowledge\nhuman prudence.\n\n[2] Now, either what the church teaches is true, that all wisdom and\nprudence are from God, or what the world teaches, that they are from man.\nCan these views be reconciled in any other way than this, that what the\nchurch teaches is the truth, and what the world teaches is the\nappearance? For the church establishes its teaching from the Word, but\nthe world its teaching from the proprium; and the Word is God's, and the\nproprium is man's. Because prudence is from God and not from man a\nChristian in his devotions, prays God to lead his thoughts, purposes and\nactions, and also adds that by himself he cannot. Again, seeing someone\ndoing good, he says the person has been led to it by God; and so about\nmuch else. Can anyone speak so unless he inwardly believes it? To believe\nit inwardly comes from heaven. But when a man deliberates and gathers\narguments in favor of human prudence he can believe the contrary, and\nthis is from the world. The internal faith prevails with those who\nacknowledge God in their hearts; the external faith with those who do not\nacknowledge Him at heart, however much they may with the lips.\n\n192. We said that a person who believes, on the strength of the\nappearance, that human prudence does all things, can be convinced only by\nreasons to be had from a more profound investigation and gathered from\ncauses. In order, then, that the reasons gathered from causes may be\nplain to the understanding, let them be put forward in due order as\nfollows:\n\ni. All man's thoughts are from affections of his life's love; there are\nand can he no thoughts apart from them.\nii. The affections of the life's love are known to the Lord alone.\niii. Through His divine providence the Lord leads the affections of the\nlife's love of man and at the same time the thoughts, too, from which\nhuman prudence comes.\niv. By His divine providence the Lord assembles the affections of all\nmankind into one form--the human form.\nv. Heaven and hell, which are from mankind, are therefore in such a form.\nvi. Those who have acknowledged nature alone and human prudence alone\nmake up hell, and those who have acknowledged God and His divine\nprovidence make up heaven.\nvii. All this can be effected only as it appears to man that he thinks\nfrom himself and disposes by himself.\n\n193. ( i ) _All man's thoughts are from affections of his life's love;\nthere are and can be no thoughts apart from them._ It has been shown\nabove in this treatise and also in the one entitled _Angelic Wisdom about\nDivine Love and Wisdom,_ Parts I and V particularly, what the life's love\nand the affections and the thoughts from them are essentially, and what\nthe sensations and actions arising from them in the body are. Inasmuch as\nthese are the causes from which human prudence issues as an effect,\nsomething needs to be said about them here also. For what has been\nwritten earlier elsewhere cannot be as closely connected with what is\nwritten later as it will be if the same things are recalled and placed\nwith both in view.\n\n[2] Earlier in this treatise, and in that just mentioned about _Divine\nLove and Wisdom,_ it was shown that in the Lord are divine love and\nwisdom; that these two are life itself; that from the two man has will\nand understanding, will from the divine love and understanding from the\ndivine wisdom; that heart and lungs in the body correspond to these two;\nthat this may make plain that as the pulsation of the heart along with\nthe respiration of the lungs rules the whole man as to the body, so the\nwill together with the understanding rules him as to his mind; that thus\nthere are two principles of life in everyone, one natural and the other\nspiritual, and that the natural principle of life is the heartbeat, and\nthe spiritual is the will of the mind; that each adjoins a consort to\nitself with which it cohabits and performs the functions of life; and\nthat the heart joins the lungs to itself, and the will the understanding\nto itself.\n\n[3] Now, as the soul of the will is love, and the soul of the\nunderstanding is wisdom, both of them from the Lord, love is the life of\neveryone and is such life as it has in union with wisdom; or what is the\nsame, the will is the life of everyone and is such life as it has in\nconjunction with the understanding. More on the subject may be seen above\nin this treatise and especially in _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and\nWisdom,_ Parts I and V.\n\n194. It was also demonstrated in the treatises mentioned that the life's\nlove produces subordinate loves from itself, called affections; that\nthese are exterior and interior; and that taken together they make one\ndominion or kingdom as it were, in which the life's love is lord or king.\nIt was also shown that these subordinate loves or affections adjoin\nconsorts to themselves, each its own, the interior affections consorts\ncalled perceptions, and the exterior consorts called knowledges, and each\ncohabits with its consort and performs the functions of its life. In each\ninstance, it was shown, the union is like that of life's very being with\nlife's coming forth, which is such that the one is nothing without the\nother; for what is life's being unless it is active and what is life's\nactivity if it is not from life's very being? The conjunction in life, it\nwas likewise shown, is like that of sound and harmony, of sound and\nutterance, too, in general like that of the heart's pulsation and the\nrespiration of the lungs, a union, again, such that one without the other\nis nothing and each becomes something in union with the other. Union must\neither be in them or come about by them.\n\n[2] Consider, for example, sound. One who thinks that sound is something\nif there is nothing distinctive in it is much mistaken. It also\ncorresponds to affection in man, and as something distinctive is always\nin it the affection of a person's love is known from the sound of his\nvoice in speaking, and his thought is known from the varied sounds which\nspeech is. Hence the wiser angels perceive just from the sound of his\nvoice a man's life's love together with some of the affections which are\nits derivatives. This has been remarked that it may be known that no\naffection is possible without its thought, and no thought without its\naffection. More on the subject can be seen above in this treatise and in\n_Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom._\n\n195. Inasmuch as the life's love has its enjoyment, and its wisdom its\npleasure, and likewise every affection, which is essentially a lesser\nlove derived from the life's love like a stream from its source or a\nbranch from a tree or an artery from the heart, therefore every affection\nhas its enjoyment and the perception or thought from it its pleasure.\nConsequently these enjoyments and pleasures make man's life. What is life\nwithout joy and pleasure? It is not animated at all, but inanimate.\nReduce enjoyment and pleasure and you grow cold and torpid; take them\naway and you expire and die. Vital heat comes from the enjoyments of the\naffections and the pleasures of the perceptions and thoughts.\n\n[2] As every affection has its enjoyment and the thought thence its\npleasure, it may be plain whence good and truth are and what they are\nessentially. Whatever is the enjoyment of one's affection is one's good,\nand one's truth is what is pleasant to the thought from that affection.\nFor everyone calls that good which he feels in the love of his will to be\nenjoyable, and calls that truth which he then perceives in the wisdom of\nhis understanding to be pleasant. The enjoyable and the pleasant both\nflow out from the life's love as water does from a spring or blood from\nthe heart; together they are like an element or the atmosphere in which\nman's whole mind is.\n\n[3] The two, enjoyment and pleasure, are spiritual in the mind and\nnatural in the body, and in each make man's life. From this it is plain\nwhat it is in man that is called good, and what it is that is called\ntruth; likewise what it is in man that is called evil and false; whatever\ndestroys the enjoyment of his affection is evil to him, and what destroys\nthe pleasure of his thought thence is false to him. It is plain,\nmoreover, that evil on account of the enjoyment in it and falsity on\naccount of the pleasure in it may be called good and truth and believed\nto be good and truth. Goods and truths are indeed changes and variations\nof state in the forms of the mind, but they are perceived and have life\nonly through the enjoyments and pleasures they have to give. This is\nnoted to make known what affection and thought are in their life.\n\n196. Inasmuch as it is not the body but man's mind that thinks and that\ndoes so from the enjoyment of one's affection, and inasmuch as man's mind\nis his spirit which lives after death, man's spirit is nothing else than\naffection and thought therefrom. It is altogether plain from spirits and\nangels in the spiritual world that thought cannot exist apart from\naffection, for they all think from the affections of their life's love;\nthe enjoyments of these affections attend each as his atmosphere, and all\nare united by these spheres exhaled from the affections by their\nthoughts. The character of each one is known also by the sphere of his\nlife. It may be seen from this that all thought is from an affection and\nis the form of that affection. The same applies to the relationship\nbetween will and understanding, good and truth, and charity and faith.\n\n197. (ii) _The affections of the life's love of man are known to the Lord\nalone._ Man knows his thoughts and his intentions in them because he sees\nthem in himself, and as all prudence is from them, he sees this, too,\nwithin him. Then if his life's love is self-love, he comes to take pride\nin his own intelligence, ascribes prudence to himself, gathers arguments\nin support of it, and thus recedes from acknowledging divine providence.\nMuch the same happens if love of the world is his life's love, but he\ndoes not then recede to the same extent. It is plain from this that these\ntwo loves ascribe all things to man and to his prudence and when\ninteriorly examined ascribe nothing to God and to His providence. When\npersons who do this happen to hear that the reality is that there is no\nsuch thing as human prudence, but that divine providence alone governs\nall things, they laugh at this if they are outright atheists; if they\nhold something of religion in remembrance and are told that all wisdom is\nfrom God, they assent on first hearing it, but inwardly in their spirit\ndeny it. Such especially are priests who love themselves more than God,\nand the world more than heaven, or what is the same, worship God for\nposition's or riches' sake, and yet have been preaching that charity and\nfaith, all good and truth, all wisdom, too, and in fact prudence are from\nGod and none of them from man.\n\n[2] In the spiritual world I once heard two priests debating with a\ncertain royal ambassador about human prudence whether it is from God or\nfrom man, and the debate was heated. The three believed alike at heart,\nnamely, that human prudence does all and divine providence nothing, but\nthe priests in their theological zeal at the moment asserted that there\nwas nothing of wisdom and prudence from man. When the ambassador retorted\nthat there was nothing of thought then, either, they said \"yes, nothing\nof thought.\" But as angels perceived that the three believed alike, they\nbade the ambassador, \"Put on priestly robes, believe yourself to be a\npriest, and then speak.\" He robed himself, believed he was a priest, and\nthereupon declared in a deep voice that never could there be wisdom or\nprudence in man save from God. He defended this with the customary\neloquence filled with rational arguments. Then the two priests were told,\n\"Put off your robes, put on those of political ministers, and believe\nthat that is what you are.\" They did so, thought then from their interior\nselves, and gave voice to the arguments they had entertained inwardly\nbefore in favor of human prudence and against divine providence. Upon\nthis the three, believing alike, became warm friends and set out together\non the path of one's own prudence, which leads to hell.\n\n198. It was shown above that man can have no thought except from some\naffection of his life's love and that the thought is nothing other than\nthe form of the affection. Now, man sees his thought but cannot see his\naffection, which he feels; it is therefore from sight which dwells on the\nappearance, and not from affection which does not come into sight but\ninto feeling, that he concludes that one's own prudence does all things.\nFor affection shows itself only in a certain enjoyment of thought and in\npleasure ever reasoning about it. This pleasure and enjoyment make one\nwith the thought in those who, from self-love or love of the world,\nbelieve in one's own prudence. The thought glides along in its enjoyment\nlike a ship in a river current to which the skipper does not attend,\nattending only to the sails he spreads.\n\n199. Man can indeed reflect on what his external affection finds\nenjoyable when it is also an enjoyment of a bodily sense, but he still\ndoes not reflect that that enjoyment comes from the enjoyment of his\naffection in thought. For example, when a lecher sees a lewd woman his\neyes light with a lascivious fire and from this he feels a physical\npleasure; he does not, however, feel his affection's enjoyment or that of\nthe lust in his thought, only a strong desire more nearly physical. The\nsame is true of the robber in a forest at sight of travelers and of the\npirate at sea on sighting vessels, and so on. Obviously a man's\nenjoyments govern his thoughts, and the thoughts are nothing apart from\nthem; but he thinks he has only the thoughts, when nevertheless these are\naffections put into forms by his life's love so that they appear in the\nlight; for all affection has heat for its element and thought has light.\n\n[2] The external affections of thought manifest themselves in bodily\nsensation, and sometimes in the thought of the mind, but the internal\naffections of the thought from which the external exist never make\nthemselves manifest to man. Of these he knows no more than a rider asleep\nin a carriage does of the road or than one feels the rotation of the\nearth. Now, when man knows nothing of the things beyond number that take\nplace in the interiors of his mind, and the few external things which\ncome to the sight of his thought are produced from the interiors, and the\ninteriors are governed by the Lord alone through His divine providence\nand the few external by the Lord also together with man, how can anyone\nassert that one's own prudence does all things? Were you to see just one\nidea laid open, you would see astounding things, more than tongue can\ntell.\n\n[3] It is clear from the endless things in the body that there are so\nmany things in the mind's interiors that the number cannot be given, and\nnothing of them comes to sight or sense except only a much simplified\naction. Yet to the action thousands of motor or muscular fibres\ncontribute, and thousands of nerve fibres, thousands of blood-vessels,\nthousands of cells in the lungs which must cooperate in every action,\nthousands in the brains and in the spinal cord, and many more things\nstill in the spiritual man which is the human mind, in which all things\nare forms of affections and of perceptions and thoughts from the\naffections. Does not the soul, which disposes the interiors, dispose the\nactions also which spring from them? Man's soul is nothing else than the\nlove of his will and the resulting love of his understanding; such as\nthis love is the whole man is, becoming so according to the disposition\nhe makes of his externals in which he and the Lord are together.\nTherefore, if he attributes all things to himself and to nature,\nself-love becomes the soul; but if he attributes all things to the Lord,\nlove to the Lord becomes the soul; this love is heavenly, the other\ninfernal.\n\n200. Inasmuch as the enjoyments of his affections, from inmosts down\nthrough interiors to exteriors and finally to outermost things in the\nbody, bear man along as wave and wind bear a ship; and inasmuch as\nnothing of this is apparent to man except what takes place in the\noutermost things of the mind and the body, how can he claim for himself\nwhat is divine on the strength merely of the fact that those few\noutermost things seem to be his own? Even less should he claim what is\ndivine for himself, knowing from the Word that a man can receive nothing\nof himself unless it is given by heaven; and knowing from reason that\nthis appearance has been granted him in order to live as a human being,\nsee what is good and evil, choose between them, and appropriate his\nchoice to himself that he may be united reciprocally with the Lord, be\nreformed, regenerated and saved, and live forever. It has been stated and\nshown above that this appearance has been granted to man in order that he\nmay act in freedom according to reason, thus as of himself, and not drop\nhis hands and await influx. From all this it follows that proposition iii\nto be demonstrated has been confirmed: _Through His divine providence the\nLord leads the affections of the life's love of man and at the same time\nthe thoughts, too, from which human prudence comes._\n\n201. (iv) _By His divine providence the Lord assembles the affections of\nall mankind into one form--the human form._ In a subsequent paragraph it\nwill be seen that this is the universal effort of divine providence.\nThose who ascribe everything to nature deny God at heart, and those who\nascribe everything to human prudence, at heart deny divine providence;\nthe one cannot be separated from the other. Yet both groups for their\nreputation's sake and for fear of losing it profess in words that divine\nprovidence is universal, but say its details fall to man and in their\naggregate are grasped by human prudence.\n\n[2] But consider: what is universal providence when the details are taken\nfrom it? Is it anything but just an expression? For that is called\nuniversal which consists of the total of details as what is general does\nof particulars. If, then, you remove details, what is the universal\nexcept something empty, thus like a surface with nothing underneath or an\naggregate without content? If it should be said that divine providence is\na universal government but nothing is governed but only held in\nconnection and items of the government are handled by others, can this be\ncalled a universal government? No king has such a government. For if a\nking gave his subjects the government of everything in his kingdom, he\nwould no longer be king, but would only be called king; he would have the\nstanding in name only and not in fact. In the case of such a king one\ncannot speak of government, still less of universal government.\n\n[3] God's providence is called man's prudence. As universal prudence\ncannot be said of a king who has only kept the name so that the kingdom\nmay be called a kingdom and be held together, so one cannot speak of\nuniversal providence if human beings provide everything by their own\nprudence. The same is true of the terms \"universal providence\" and\n\"universal government\" in reference to nature when they mean that God\ncreated the universe but endowed nature to produce everything from\nherself. What is \"universal providence\" then but a metaphysical term, and\nnothing but a term? Many of those who attribute everything produced to\nnature and everything accomplished to human prudence and yet profess\norally that God created nature, regard divine providence as an empty\nexpression. But the reality is that divine providence is in the least\nthings of nature and of human prudence also and is thereby universal.\n\n202. The Lord's divine providence is universal by being in the least\nthings in that He created the universe in order that an infinite and\neternal creation might come about from Him, and it does as He forms a\nheaven from mankind which in His sight is like one humanity, His image\nand likeness. We showed above (nn. 27-45) that heaven formed of human\nbeings is such in His sight; that this was the purpose of creation; and\nthat the divine regards what is infinite and eternal in all that it\ndoes (nn. 46-69). The infinite and eternal to which the Lord looks in\nforming His heaven from mankind is the growth of it to infinity and\neternity and thus His dwelling constantly in the purpose of His creation.\nThis infinite and eternal creation the Lord provided for in creating the\nuniverse and He pursues it steadily in His divine providence.\n\n[2] Can anyone who knows and believes from the church's doctrine * that\nGod is infinite and eternal be so lacking in reason that he does not\nagree on hearing it that God can then regard only what is infinite and\neternal in the great work of His creation? To what else can He look from\nHis infinite being? To what else in mankind of which He forms His heaven?\nWhat else can divine providence then have for its end than the\nreformation and salvation of mankind? No one can be reformed by himself\nthrough his prudence; he is reformed by the Lord through His divine\nprovidence. Consequently, unless the Lord leads man every least moment\nthe man lapses from the way of reformation and perishes.\n\n* It is the doctrine of all churches in Christendom that God the Father,\nGod the Son and God the Holy Spirit is infinite, eternal, uncreated and\nomnipotent, as may be seen in the Athanasian Creed.\n\n[3] Every change or variation in the state of the human mind means a\nchange or variation in a series of things present and to come; what then\nof progress to eternity? The situation is like that of an arrow shot from\na bow, which if it deviated from the target in the least on being aimed\nwould deviate widely at a thousand feet or more. The like would happen if\nthe Lord did not lead the states of the human mind every least moment.\nThe Lord does so according to the laws of His divine providence; it is\naccording to them that it seems to man he leads himself; but the Lord\nforesees how he leads himself and constantly acts in adaptation. In what\nfollows it will be seen that laws of tolerance are also laws of divine\nprovidence, that every man can be reformed and regenerated, and that no\nother predestination is possible.\n\n203. Since every man lives forever after death and is allotted a place\neither in heaven or in hell according to his life, and heaven and hell\nmust each be in a form to act as a unit, as we said before, and since no\none can be allotted a place in that form other than his own, humanity in\nall the world is under the Lord's guidance and everyone is led by the\nLord from infancy to the close of life in the least things, and his place\nis foreseen and provided.\n\n[2] Clearly then, the Lord's divine providence is universal by being in\nthe least things, and it is an infinite and eternal creation that He has\nprovided for Himself in creating the world. Man does not espy this\nuniversal providence, and if he did, it would look to him like scattered\nheaps and collections of material for building a house such as passersby\nsee, while the Lord beholds rather a magnificent palace, constantly\nbuilding and enlarging.\n\n204. (v) _Heaven and hell are in the form described._ That heaven is in\nthe human form has been made known in the work _Heaven and Hell,_\npublished in London in 1758 (nn. 59-102), also in the treatise _Divine\nLove and Wisdom,_ and here and there in the present treatise. I therefore\nomit further confirmation. Hell is said to be in the human form also, but\nit is in a monstrous human form, like that of the devil, by whom hell in\nits entirety is meant. Hell is in the human form inasmuch as those who\nare in it were born human beings too; they also possess the two human\nfaculties of liberty and rationality, though they have misused liberty by\nwilling and doing evil, and rationality by thinking and confirming evil.\n\n205. (vi) _Those who have acknowledged nature alone and human prudence\nalone make up hell, and those who have acknowledged God and His divine\nprovidence make up heaven._ All who lead an evil life, inwardly\nacknowledge nature and human prudence alone. This acknowledgment lies\nhidden in all evil, however the evil may be veiled by good and truth,\nwhich are borrowed raiment, or like wreaths of perishable flowers, put\naround the evil lest it appear in its nakedness. That all who lead an\nevil life, inwardly acknowledge nature and human prudence alone is not\nknown because of this general covering hiding it from view. The source\nand cause of their acknowledgment, however, may make clear that they\nacknowledge nature and one's own prudence. We shall say, therefore,\nwhence man's own prudence is and what it is; then whence divine\nprovidence is and what it is; next who they are respectively, and of what\ncharacter, who acknowledge divine providence and who acknowledge man's\nown prudence; and lastly show that those who acknowledge divine\nprovidence are in heaven and that those who acknowledge man's own\nprudence are in hell.\n\n206. _Whence man's own prudence is and what it is._ It is from man's\nproprium, which is his nature and is called his soul from his parent.\nThis proprium is self-love and the accompanying love of the world, or it\nis love of the world and the accompanying self-love. Self-love by nature\nregards self only and others as cheap or of no account. If it regards any\nit does so as long as they honor and do it homage. Inmostly in that love,\nlike the endeavor in seed to fructify and propagate, there lies hidden\nthe desire to become great and if possible a king and then possibly a\ngod. A devil is such, for he is self-love itself; he adores himself and\nfavors no one unless he also adores him; another devil like himself he\nhates, because he in turn wants alone to be adored. Since no love is\npossible without its consort and the consort of love or of the will in\nman is called the understanding, when self-love breathes itself into its\nconsort, the understanding, it becomes pride there, which is the pride of\nself-intelligence, and from this comes man's own prudence.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as self-love wants to be the one lord of the world and thus\na god, the lusts of evil which are derived from it have their life from\nit, so have the perceptions of the lusts, which are schemes; likewise\nthe enjoyments of the lusts, which are evils, and the thoughts of the\nlusts, which are falsities. All these are like slaves and ministers of\ntheir lord, responding to his every nod, unaware that they do not act\nbut are acted upon; they are actuated by self-love through the pride of\nself-intelligence. Hence man's own prudence because of its origin lies\nconcealed in every evil.\n\n[3] The acknowledgment of nature alone is also hidden in it, for\nself-love has closed the window overhead through which heaven is plain\nand the side windows, too, in order not to see or hear that the Lord\nalone governs all things, that nature in herself is lifeless, and that\nman's proprium is infernal and consequently love of it is diabolical.\nWith the windows shuttered, self-love is in darkness, builds itself a\nhearth fire at which it sits with its consort, and the two reason\namicably in favor of nature as against God and in favor of man's own\nprudence as against divine providence.\n\n207. _Whence and what divine providence is._ It is the divine activity in\nthe man who has removed self-love. For, as was said, self-love is the\ndevil, and lusts with their enjoyments are the evils of his kingdom,\nwhich is hell. On the removal of self-love the Lord enters with the\naffections of neighborly love, opening the overhead window and then the\nside windows, thus enabling man to see that there is a heaven, a life\nafter death and eternal happiness. By the spiritual light and at the same\ntime the spiritual love which then flow in, the Lord causes him to\nacknowledge that God governs all things by His divine providence.\n\n208. _Who and of what nature those in each group are._ Those who\nacknowledge God and His divine providence are like the angels of heaven,\nwho are averse to being led by themselves and love to be led by the Lord.\nIt is a sign that they are led by the Lord that they love the neighbor.\nThose, however, who acknowledge nature and one's own prudence are like\nthe spirits of hell, who are averse to being led by the Lord and love to\nbe led by themselves. If they were powerful persons in a kingdom or\nprelates in the church they want to dominate all things. If they were\njudges, they pervert judgment and exercise power over the laws. If they\nwere learned, they apply scientific information to confirm nature and\nman's proprium. If they were merchants they act like robbers, and if\nhusbandmen like thieves. All are enemies of God and scoffers at divine\nprovidence.\n\n209. It is amazing that when heaven is opened to such men and they are\ntold that they are insane, and this is made plain to their very\nperception by influx and enlightenment, still they angrily shut heaven\naway from them and look to the earth beneath which is hell. This is done\nwith such men while they are still outside hell. It makes plain how\nmistaken those are who think, \"If I see heaven and hear angels speaking\nwith me, I shall acknowledge.\" Their understanding makes the\nacknowledgment, but if the will does not at the same time, they still do\nnot acknowledge. For the love of the will inspires in the understanding\nwhat it wills (it is not the other way about); indeed, it destroys\neverything in the understanding which is not from itself.\n\n210. _All this can be effected only as it appears to man that he thinks\nfrom himself and disposes by himself._ In what precedes we have shown\nfully that unless it seemed to man that he lives of himself and thus\nthinks and wills, speaks and acts of himself, he would not be man.\nConsequently, unless he could in his own prudence make the disposition of\nall pertaining to his function and life, he could not be led and guided\nby divine providence. He would be like one with his hands hanging limp,\nhis mouth open, his eyes shut, holding his breath in expectation of\ninflux. He would divest himself of the human which he has from the\nperception and sensation that he thinks, wills, speaks and acts as it\nwere of himself. At the same time he would divest himself of the two\nfaculties, liberty and rationality, distinguishing him from the beasts.\nAbove in this treatise and in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_ it\nwas shown that without this appearance a man would not have the power to\nreceive or reciprocate nor have immortality then.\n\n[2] If then you desire to be led by divine providence, use prudence as a\nservant and minister that faithfully dispenses his master's goods. This\nprudence is the talent given to the servants to trade with, of which they\nwere to give account (Lu 19:13-28; Mt 25:14-31). It seems to man to be\nhis own, and he believes it is his own as long as he holds shut up within\nhim the bitterest enemy God and divine providence have, the love of self.\nThis dwells in the interiors of every man by birth; if you do not\nrecognize it (and it wishes not to be recognized), it dwells securely and\nguards the door lest man open the door and the Lord cast it out. The door\nis opened by man through shunning evils as sins as if of himself with the\nacknowledgment that he does so from the Lord. With this prudence divine\nprovidence acts as one.\n\n211. Divine providence operates so secretly that scarcely anyone is aware\nit exists in order that man may not perish. For man's proprium, which is\nhis will, never acts at one with divine providence, against which it has\nan inborn enmity. The proprium is the serpent which seduced the race's\nparents of which it is said,\n\nI will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and\nher Seed, and It shall bruise your head (Ge 3:15).\n\nThe serpent is evil of every sort; its head is self-love. The seed of the\nwoman is the Lord, and the enmity set is between the love of man's\nproprium and the Lord, thus between man's own prudence and the Lord's\ndivine providence. For man's own prudence is constantly exalting that\nhead, and divine providence is constantly abasing it.\n\n[2] If man felt this, he would be enraged and wrought-up against God and\nwould perish. While he does not feel it, he may be enraged and wrought-up\nagainst others or himself or against fortune without perishing. Therefore\nthe Lord leads man by His divine providence in freedom always, and the\nfreedom seems to man to be utterly his own. To lead a man freely in\nopposition to himself is like raising a heavy and resisting weight from\nthe ground by means of screws through the power of which weight and\nresistance are not felt. And it is as though someone is unknowingly with\nan enemy who means to kill him and a friend leads him away quietly and\nonly afterwards tells him the enemy's intention.\n\n212. Who does not talk of fortune? Who does not acknowledge it by\nspeaking of it and know something of it by experience? Yet who knows what\nit is? One cannot deny that it is something, for it exists and occurs,\nand a thing cannot exist and occur without being caused; but the cause of\nthis something, fortune, is not known. Lest fortune be denied merely\nbecause the cause is unknown, consider dice or playing cards and play\nyourself or ask the players; do any deny that fortune exists? For they\nplay with it and it plays with them surprisingly. Who can repulse it if\nit opposes him? Does it not laugh then at prudence and wisdom? When you\nshake the dice or shuffle the cards, does fortune not seem to know and\ndirect the turns and twists of the wrists in favor of one player rather\nthan another for some cause? Can the cause have any other source than\ndivine providence in outermost things where it works along with human\nprudence in a wonderful way, constant or changeful, concealing itself at\nthe same time?\n\n[2] We know that pagans of old acknowledged Fortune and built a temple to\nher, as Italians did at Rome. It has been granted me to learn many things\nwhich I am not permitted to make public about this fortune, which, as was\nsaid, is divine providence in outmosts. These made it plain to me that\nfortune is not an illusion of the mind nor a sport of nature nor\nsomething without a cause, for this has no reality, but is visible\nevidence that divine providence is over the least things in human thought\nand action. As divine providence occurs in these least things which are\ninsignificant and trifling, why should it not in the significant and\nimportant matters of peace and war in the world and of salvation and life\nin heaven?\n\n213. I know, however, that human prudence bears the rational faculty its\nway more than divine providence does its way, for the latter does not\nshow itself and the former does. It can be accepted more readily that\nthere is only one life, namely God, and that all men are recipients of\nlife from Him, as we have shown many times, yet this amounts to saying\nthat prudence is from Him, for prudence is part of life. What man,\nspeaking in favor of nature and of human prudence in his reasoning, is\nnot speaking from the natural or external man? And what man, speaking in\nfavor of divine providence and of God in his reasoning, is not speaking\nfrom the spiritual or internal man? But, \"Pray, write two books,\" I say\nto the natural man, \"and fill them with plausible, likely and lifelike\nreasons which in your judgment are solid ones, the one book in favor of\none's own prudence, and the other in favor of nature. Then hand them to\nany angel. I know he will write down on them these few words: `All this\nis appearance and fallacy.'\"\n\nXI. DIVINE PROVIDENCE LOOKS TO WHAT IS ETERNAL, AND TO THE TEMPORAL ONLY\nAS THIS ACCORDS WITH THE ETERNAL\n\n214. That divine providence looks to what is eternal and to the temporal\nonly so far as this makes one with the eternal, will be demonstrated in\nthis order:\n\ni. The temporal has to do with distinction and wealth, thus with standing\nand gain, in the world.\nii. The eternal has to do with spiritual standing and abundance, of love\nand wisdom, in heaven.\niii. The temporal and the eternal are separated by man, but are united by\nthe Lord.\niv. The uniting of temporal and eternal is the Lord's divine providence.\n\n215. (i) _The temporal has to do with distinction and wealth, thus with\nstanding and gain, in the world._ Many things are temporal, but they are\nall related to distinction and wealth. By the temporal is meant all that\neither perishes in time or at least comes to an end with man's life in\nthe world. By the eternal is meant all that does not perish or come to an\nend in time and thus not with life in the world. Since, as we said, all\nthat is temporal concerns distinction and wealth, it is important to know\nthe following: what, and whence, distinction and wealth are; the nature\nof the love of them for themselves and the nature of the love of them for\nthe sake of use; that these two loves are distinct from each other, as\nhell and heaven are; and that man hardly knows the difference between\nthem. But of these points one by one.\n\n[2] _First: What, and whence, distinction and wealth are._ Distinction\nand wealth in the most ancient times were quite different from what they\ngradually became later. Distinction in those times existed only in the\nrelation of parents and children and was one of love, a love full of\nrespect and veneration, accorded the parents not because of birth from\nthem, but because of the instruction and wisdom received from them, which\nwas a second birth of the children, in itself spiritual, being of their\nspirit. This was the sole distinction in most ancient days because\ntribes, families, and households dwelt separately and not like today\nunder governments. The distinction attached to the head of the family.\nMen of old called the times golden ages.\n\n[3] But after those times the love of ruling, just out of enjoyment of\nthat love, crept in by stages, and as enmity and hostility did so at the\nsame time towards those who were unwilling to submit, tribes, families,\nand households congregated of necessity in communities and set over\nthemselves one whom they called judge at first, then prince, and finally\nking and emperor. They also began to protect themselves by towers,\nearthworks and walls. The lust of ruling spread like a contagion to many\nfrom the judge, prince, king or emperor as from the head into the body,\nand as a result degrees of distinction arose and prestige according to\nthem, and self-love also and pride in one's own prudence.\n\n[4] The same thing happened with the love of riches. In the most ancient\ndays when tribes and families lived by themselves, there was no other\nlove of riches than to possess the necessaries of life which they\nprovided for themselves from flocks and herds and from the lands, fields\nand gardens which supplied their food. Suitable houses, furnished with\nuseful articles of every kind, and clothing were also among their\nnecessities of life. Parents, children and male and female servants,\nmaking up the household, engaged in the care and labor for all these\nnecessities.\n\n[5] But after the love of dominion entered and destroyed this state of\nsociety, the love of having means beyond what was needed crept in also\nand grew to the extreme of wanting to possess the wealth of all other\nmen. The two loves are like blood relatives, for one who wants to rule\nover all things, also wants to possess all things; for then all others\nbecome servants, and they alone masters. This is clearly evident from\nthose in the papist world who have exalted their dominion even into\nheaven, to the Lord's throne, on which they have placed themselves, and\nwho at the same time seek the wealth of the whole earth and want to\nenlarge their treasury endlessly.\n\n[6] Second: _The nature of the love of distinction and wealth for their\nown sake and for usefulness' sake respectively._ The love of distinction\nand standing for their own sake is self-love--strictly, the love of ruling\nfrom self-love; and the love of riches and wealth for their own sake is\nlove of the world--more precisely, the love of possessing the goods of\nothers by whatever device. But the love of distinction and riches for\nusefulness' sake is love of the use, which is the same as love to the\nneighbor; for that for the sake of which a man acts is the purpose from\nwhich he acts, and is first or primary, and all else is means and\nsecondary.\n\n[7] As for the love of distinction and standing, identical with self-love\nand strictly with the love of ruling from self-love, it is the love of\nthe proprium; and man's proprium is all evil. Hence it is said that man\nis born into all evil and that what he has by heredity is nothing but\nevil. What he has by heredity is his proprium in which he is and into\nwhich he comes through self-love and especially through the love of\nruling from self-love; for one who is in that love regards only himself\nand thus immerses his thoughts and affections in his proprium. Hence a\nlove of evil-doing is present in self-love. The reason is that he does\nnot love the neighbor but only himself; and one who loves himself only,\nsees others as outsiders or as mean or nothing worth, despises them, and\ndoes not hesitate to do them injury.\n\n[8] For this reason one who is in the love of ruling from the love of\nself thinks nothing of defrauding his neighbor, committing adultery with\nhis wife, slandering him, breathing vengeance on him even to the death,\ntreating him cruelly, and other such deeds. This a man gets from the fact\nthat the devil himself, with whom he is conjoined and by whom he is led,\nis nothing else than the love of ruling from self-love. One who is led by\nthe devil, that is, by hell, is led into all these evils and is\nconstantly led by enjoyments of these evils. Hence all who are in hell\nwant to do evil to all, but those in heaven want to do well by all. From\nthis opposition there results the intermediate state in which man is and\nin it is in equilibrium, as it were, so that he can turn towards hell or\ntowards heaven. So far as he favors the evils of self-love he turns\ntowards hell, and so far as he removes them from him he turns towards\nheaven.\n\n[9] It has been granted me to feel the nature and also the strength of\nthe enjoyment of ruling from the love of self. I was let into it that I\nmight know. It was such as to exceed all worldly enjoyments. It was an\nenjoyment of the whole mind from its inmosts to its outmosts, but felt in\nthe body only as pleasure and gratification, making the chest swell. It\nwas also granted me to perceive that there issued from this enjoyment as\nfrom their fountainhead the enjoyments of evils of all kinds, such as\nadultery, revenge, fraud, slander, and evil-doing in general. There is a\nsimilar enjoyment in the love of possessing the wealth of others by\nwhatever ruse, and from this love in the lusts derived from it; yet not\nthe same degree of enjoyment unless this love is conjoined with\nself-love. As for distinction and riches sought not for themselves but\nfor usefulness' sake, this is not love of them but love of uses;\ndistinction and wealth serve it as means. This love is heavenly. But of\nit more in what follows.\n\n[10] Third: _These two loves are distinct from each other, as heaven and\nhell are._ This is plain from what has just been said, to which I will\nadd the following. All who are in the love of ruling from self-love,\nwhoever they are and whether they are great or small, are in hell in\nspirit. They are also in the love of all evils. If they do not commit\nthem, still in their spirit they believe that they are allowable, and\nwhen honor, standing, or fear of the law do not deter, they commit them\nphysically. What is more, the love of ruling from self-love hides hatred\nof God deeply within itself, consequently of divine things which are of\nthe church and especially of the Lord. If such men acknowledge God it is\nwith the lips only, and if they acknowledge the divine things of the\nchurch, it is for fear of losing standing. This love hides hatred of the\nLord deeply within it because deep in it is the desire to be God, for it\nworships and adores itself alone. Hence if anyone honors it, even to\nsaying that it possesses divine wisdom and is the god of the world, it\nloves him with all the heart.\n\n[11] It is otherwise with the love of distinction and wealth for\nusefulness' sake; this love is heavenly, for, as was said, it is the same\nas love of the neighbor. By uses goods are meant, and by doing uses doing\ngood is meant, and by doing uses or good, serving and helping others is\nmeant. Although those doing so may possess distinction and wealth, they\nregard these only as means for doing uses, thus for serving and helping.\nThey are meant in these words of the Lord:\n\nWhoever would be great among you, must be your minister; and whoever\nwould . . . be first, must be your servant (Mt 20:26, 27).\n\nIt is these also whom the Lord entrusts with ruling in heaven. For ruling\nis to them the means of doing uses or good, thus of serving; and when\nuses or good deeds are their purpose and their love, they do not rule;\nthe Lord does, from whom is all that is good.\n\n[12] Fourth: _Man hardly knows the difference between the two loves._ For\nmost men of distinction and wealth also perform uses, yet do not know\nwhether they do so for their own sake or for the sake of usefulness. They\nknow this the less because love of self and the world has more fire and\nardor for doing uses than have those who are not in love of self and the\nworld. The former do uses, however, for the sake of fame or gain, thus\nfor their own benefit; but the latter, doing so for the sake of\nusefulness and what is beneficial, act not from themselves but from the\nLord.\n\n[13] The difference between the two loves can scarcely be recognized by\nman, for he is ignorant whether he is being led by the devil or by the\nLord. Led by the devil he does uses for his own sake or the world's; led\nby the Lord, he does them for the sake of the Lord and of heaven. All who\nshun evils as sins do uses from the Lord; all who do not shun evils as\nsins do uses from the devil, for evil is the devil, and use or good is\nthe Lord. Only so is the difference in question recognizable. Outwardly\nthe two loves look the same; inwardly they are wholly unlike. One is like\ngold with dross in it, the other like gold with pure gold in it. One is\nlike artificial fruit, looking outwardly like the fruit of a tree, but is\ncolored wax with dust or pitch in it; the other is like noble fruit,\nflavorsome and fragrant, with seeds in it.\n\n216. (ii) _The eternal has to do with spiritual standing and wealth, of\nlove and wisdom, in heaven._ As the natural man calls the enjoyments of\nself-love, which are also the enjoyments of the lusts of evil, good, and\nconfirms that they are goods, he calls distinction and wealth divine\nblessings. But when the natural man sees the wicked as well as the good\nraised to distinction and prospered, and still more when he beholds the\ngood despised and poorly off and the wicked honored and affluent, he\nthinks to himself, \"Why is this? It cannot be by divine providence. For\nif providence governed everything, it would lavish distinction and wealth\non the good and inflict contempt and poverty on the wicked, and thus\ndrive the wicked to acknowledge there is a God and divine providence.\"\n\n[2] But unless he is enlightened by the spiritual man, that is, is at the\nsame time spiritual, the natural man does not see that distinction and\nwealth can be blessings but also curses, and that when they are from God\nthey are blessings, and when they are from the devil they are curses. It\nis well known, moreover, that the devil bestows distinction and wealth;\nit is on this account that he is called the prince of the world. As it is\nnot known when distinction and wealth are blessings and when they are\ncurses, let it be told in this order: 1. Distinction and wealth are\nblessings and are curses. 2. When they are blessings they are spiritual\nand eternal; when they are curses they are temporal and ephemeral. 3.\nDistinction and wealth which are curses, compared with those which are\nblessings, are as nothing compared with everything or as that which has\nno existence in itself compared with that which has.\n\n217. The three points are now each to be clarified. 1. _Distinction and\nwealth are blessings and are curses._ Common experience attests that both\nthe pious and the impious, or the just and the unjust, that is, the\nwicked and the good, gain distinction and wealth, and yet it is\nundeniable that the impious and unjust, that is, the wicked, enter hell,\nand the pious and just, that is, the good, enter heaven. As this is true,\ndistinction and wealth or standing and means are either blessings or\ncurses, blessings with the good and curses with the evil. It was shown in\nthe work _Heaven and Hell,_ published in London in the year 1758, that\nrich and poor and great and small are found in both heaven and hell (nn.\n357-365). It is plain from this that distinction and wealth with those\nnow in heaven were blessings in the world, and with those now in hell\nwere curses in the world.\n\n[2] If he will think about the matter with reason, anyone can know when\ndistinction and wealth are blessings or curses, namely, that they are\nblessings with those who do not set their heart on them, and curses with\nthose who do. One sets the heart on them in loving oneself in them, and\none does not set the heart on them when he loves uses and not himself in\nthem. Above (n. 215) we told what the difference between the two loves,\nand the nature of it, is. It is to be added that distinction and wealth\nseduce some and not others. They do so when they excite the loves in\nman's proprium, that is, self-love, which is the love found in hell and\nis called the devil (as remarked above), and they do not seduce if they\ndo not excite that love.\n\n[3] Both the wicked and the good come to distinction and are prospered in\nmeans because the wicked as well as the good perform uses. The wicked\nperform uses for the sake of their personal standing and gain; the good\ndo so for the sake of the standing and profit of the work which they do.\nThe good regard the standing and profit of their work as principal causes\nof action, and personal standing and gain as instrumental causes; but the\nwicked regard their personal standing and gain as the main incentives and\nthe standing and gain of their work as the instrumental. Yet who does not\nsee that a person, whatever his function or standing, is to serve the\naffairs which he administers, and not they him? Who does not see that a\njudge is to serve justice, a magistrate the common welfare, a king his\nkingdom, and that it is not to be the other way around? According to the\nlaws of a kingdom, a man is invested therefore with distinction and\nstanding in keeping with the eminence of the work he does. Moreover, who\ndoes not see that the difference between the two loves is like that\nbetween what is principal and what is instrumental? One who ascribes to\nhimself personally the eminence of a position appears in the spiritual\nworld, when this inversion is pictured, as himself inverted, feet up and\nhead down.\n\n[4] Second: _When distinction and wealth are blessings they are spiritual\nand eternal, but when they are curses they are temporal and ephemeral._\nThere are distinction and wealth in heaven as there are in the world. For\ngovernments and hence administrations and functions exist there, trade\nalso and hence wealth, for there are societies and communities. All\nheaven is divided into two kingdoms, one called the celestial kingdom and\nthe other the spiritual kingdom. Each kingdom is divided into innumerable\nsocieties, larger and smaller, all of which with all in them are arranged\naccording to differences of love and of wisdom thence, the societies of\nthe celestial kingdom according to differences of celestial love, which\nis love to the Lord, and the societies of the spiritual kingdom according\nto differences of spiritual love, which is love to the neighbor. Inasmuch\nas there are such societies, and all who are in them were men in the\nworld and hence retain the loves they cherished in the world, with the\none difference that they are spiritual beings now, and that distinction\nand wealth are spiritual in the spiritual kingdom and celestial in the\ncelestial kingdom, therefore those have greater distinction and abundance\nthan others who have greater love and wisdom. And to them distinction and\nwealth in the world were blessings.\n\n[5] The nature of spiritual distinction and wealth may then be plain--they\nattach to one's function and not to one's person. The distinguished\nperson in the spiritual world indeed enjoys magnificence and glory like\nthose of kings on earth, yet does not regard the distinction itself as\nanything but rather the uses in the administration and discharge of which\nhe is engaged. Each also receives the honors of his high post but\nascribes them not to himself but to the uses, and as all uses are from\nthe Lord, he ascribes the honors to the Lord as their source. Such are\nthe spiritual distinction and wealth which are eternal.\n\n[6] It is quite otherwise with those to whom eminence and wealth were\ncurses in the world. Having attributed these to themselves and not to\nuses, and not wanting the uses to control them but wanting to control the\nuses, which they regarded as uses only as they served their own standing\nand honor, they are in hell and are base slaves, despised and wretched.\nTheir distinction and wealth are gone, therefore are called temporal and\nfleeting. The Lord teaches about both sorts in the words:\n\nDo not lay up treasures for yourselves on earth, where moth and rust\ncorrupt and thieves break through and steal; but lay up treasures for\nyourselves in heaven, where neither moth nor rust corrupts and where\nthieves do not break through and steal; for where your treasure is . . .\nyour heart also is (Mt 6:19-21).\n\n[7] Third: _The distinction and wealth which are curses, compared with\nthose which are blessings, are as nothing compared with everything or as\nthat which has no existence in itself compared with that which has._\nEverything that perishes and comes to nothing is inwardly nothing in\nitself. Outwardly, indeed, it is something and appears to be much and to\nsome everything while it lasts; but inwardly in itself it is not. It is\nlike a surface with nothing beneath or like an actor in kingly robes when\nthe play is over. But what remains to eternity is something in itself\nperpetually, thus everything, and it truly is, for it does not cease to\nbe.\n\n218. (iii) _The temporal and the eternal are separated by man, but are\nunited by the Lord._ For all that is man's is temporal, and he may\ntherefore be called temporal, but all things that are the Lord's are\neternal, and so the Lord is called eternal. Temporal things are such as\ncome to an end and perish, eternal things are such as do not. Anyone can\nsee that the two can be united only by the infinite wisdom of the Lord,\nthus by Him and not by man. To make it known, however, that the two are\nseparated by man and united by the Lord, this is to be demonstrated in\nthe following order:\n\n1. What temporal things are and what eternal are.\n2. The human being is in himself temporal and the Lord in Himself\neternal, and only the temporal can proceed from man, and only the eternal\nfrom the Lord.\n3. Temporal things separate eternal things from themselves, while eternal\nthings join temporal things to themselves.\n4. The Lord joins man to Himself by means of appearances.\n5. He does so by correspondences also.\n\n219. These points will be clarified and established one by one. First:\n_What temporal things are and what eternal are._ The temporal are all\nthings that are proper to nature and from nature proper to man. Space and\ntime especially are proper to nature, both of them having a limit or\ntermination. Things thence derived and proper to man are all things of\nhis own will and understanding, thus of his affection and thought and\nespecially of his prudence; it is well known that these are finite and\nlimited. Eternal things, however, are all that are proper to the Lord and\nfrom Him seemingly proper to man. What is proper to the Lord is all of it\ninfinite and eternal, thus timeless, endless and without limit; what is\nseemingly proper to man thence is also infinite and eternal; but nothing\nof this is actually proper to man, but the Lord's alone in him.\n\n[2] Second: _The human being is in himself temporal and the Lord in\nHimself eternal, and only the temporal can proceed from man, and from the\nLord only the eternal._ Man, we said, is in himself temporal and the Lord\nin Himself eternal. Since only what is in a person can proceed from him,\nnothing can proceed from man except what is temporal, and nothing from\nthe Lord except what is eternal. For the infinite cannot proceed from the\nfinite; that it can is a contradiction. The infinite, however, can\nproceed from the finite, still not from the finite but from the infinite\nby the finite. In turn, what is finite cannot proceed from the infinite;\nthis is also a contradiction; it can be produced from the infinite and\nthis is creation and not proceeding. On this subject see _Angelic Wisdom\nabout Divine Love and Wisdom,_ from beginning to end. If then the finite\nproceeds from the Lord, as it does in many ways with man, it proceeds not\nfrom the Lord but from man, and can be said to do so from the Lord by\nman, because it so appears.\n\n[3] This may be clarified by these words of the Lord:\n\nLet your communication be, Yea, yea, Nay, nay, what is more than these\ncomes of evil (Mt 5:37).\n\nSuch is the speech of all in the third heaven. For they never reason\nabout divine things whether a thing is so or not, but see in themselves\nfrom the Lord whether or not it is. To reason about divine things whether\nthey are so or not comes from the reasoner's not seeing them from the\nLord, but wanting to see them from himself, and what one sees from\noneself is evil. But still the Lord desires man to think and speak about\nthings divine, also to reason about them, in order that he may see\nwhether or not they are so. Such thought, speech and reasoning may be\nsaid to be from the Lord in man provided the end is to see the truth,\nalthough they are from the man until he sees and acknowledges the truth.\nMeanwhile it is from the Lord alone that he can think, speak and reason;\nfor he does so from the two faculties, called liberty and rationality,\nwhich are his from the Lord alone.\n\n[4] Third: _Temporal things separate eternal things from themselves,\nwhile eternal things join temporal things to themselves._ That temporal\nthings separate eternal things from themselves means that man, who is\ntemporal, does so from the temporal in himself; and that eternal things\njoin temporal things to themselves means that the Lord, who is eternal,\ndoes so from what is eternal in Himself, as was said above. In what\nprecedes we showed that there is a conjunction of the Lord with man and a\nconjunction in turn of man with the Lord, but the reciprocal conjunction\nof man with the Lord is not man's doing but the Lord's; also that man's\nwill goes counter to the Lord's will or, what is the same, man's own\nprudence goes counter to divine providence. From these circumstances it\nfollows that man puts the eternal things of the Lord aside by force of\nthe temporal things in him, but the Lord joins His eternal things to\nman's temporal, that is, Himself to man and man to Him. As these points\nhave been treated many times in what precedes, there is no need to\nconfirm them further.\n\n[5] Fourth: _The Lord joins man to Himself by means of appearances._ For\nit is an appearance that of himself man loves the neighbor, does good,\nand speaks truth. Unless this appeared to man to be so, he would not love\nthe neighbor, do good, or speak truth, and therefore would not be\nconjoined with the Lord. Since love, good and truth are from the Lord,\nplainly the Lord joins man to Himself by means of the appearance. This\nappearance, and the Lord's conjunction with man and man's with the Lord,\nhave been treated above at length.\n\n[6] Fifth: _The Lord unites man to Himself by means of correspondences._\nHe does this by means of the Word, the sense of the letter of which\nconsists wholly of correspondences. In _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem\nabout Sacred Scripture,_ from beginning to end, it was shown that by\nmeans of that sense there is a conjunction of the Lord with man and a\nreciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord.\n\n220. (iv) _The conjunction of the temporal and the eternal in man is the\nLord's divine providence._ As this cannot come at once to the perception\nof the understanding or before being reduced to order and then unfolded\nand demonstrated according to that order, let this be the order in\nconsidering it:\n\n1. It is by divine providence that man puts off the natural and temporal\nthrough death and puts on the spiritual and eternal.\n2. Through His divine providence the Lord joins Himself with natural\nthings by means of spiritual and to temporal by means of eternal in\naccordance with uses.\n3. The Lord joins Himself to uses by means of correspondences, and so by\nmeans of appearances according as man confirms these.\n4. This conjunction of temporal and eternal is divine providence.\n\nAll this will be placed in clearer light by explanation.\n\n[2] First: _It is of divine providence that man puts off the natural and\ntemporal through death and puts on the spiritual and eternal._ Natural\nand temporal things are the outermost and lowest things which man first\nenters, as he does on being born, to the end that he may be introduced\nthen into interior and higher things; for the outmost and lowest things\nare containants, and these are in the natural world. For this reason no\nangel or spirit was created such at once, but all were born as men first\nand then were introduced into interior and higher things. Thus they have\nan outmost and lowest which in itself is fixed and stable, within and by\nwhich the interiors can be held in connection.\n\n[3] Man first puts on the grosser substances of nature; his body consists\nof them; but he puts these off by death, retaining the purer substances\nof nature nearest to the spiritual, which then are his containants.\nMoreover, all interior or higher things are together in the outmost and\nlowermost, as was shown earlier in passages on the subject. Every\nactivity of the Lord is therefore from topmost and outmost simultaneously\nand so is in fullness. But as the farthest and outmost things of nature as\nthey are in themselves cannot receive the spiritual and eternal things\nfor which the human mind was formed, and yet man was born to become\nspiritual and live forever, man puts them off and retains only those\ninterior natural things which suit and harmonize with the spiritual and\ncelestial and serve to contain them. This is effected by the rejection of\nthe temporal and natural outmosts, which is the death of the body.\n\n[4] Second: _Through His divine providence the Lord joins Himself with\nnatural things by means of spiritual things and to temporal by means of\neternal in accordance with uses._ Natural and temporal things are not\nonly those proper to nature, but also those proper to men in the natural\nworld. At death man puts off both of these and puts on the spiritual and\neternal things corresponding to them. That he puts these on according to\nuses has been shown in much that precedes. The natural things proper to\nnature relate in general to time and space and in particular to things\nvisible on earth. These man leaves behind at death and instead receives\nspiritual things which are similar in outward aspect or appearance but\nnot in their inward aspect and actual essence. This also was considered\nabove.\n\n[5] Temporal things proper to men in the natural world in general are\nrelated to distinction and wealth and in particular to human needs such\nas food, clothing and habitation. These are also put off at death and\nleft behind; things are put on and received that are similar in outward\naspect or appearance but not in their internal aspect and essence. All\nthese get their inward aspect and essence from the uses made of temporal\nthings in the world. Uses are the goods which are called goods of\ncharity. It is evident, then, that the Lord through His divine providence\nunites spiritual and eternal things to natural and temporal things\naccording to uses.\n\n[6] Third: _The Lord joins Himself to uses by means of correspondences,\nand thus by means of appearances according as man confirms these._ As\nthis must seem obscure to those who have not yet acquired a clear idea of\ncorrespondence and appearance, what these are must be illustrated by\nexamples and explained. All the sayings of the Word are outright\ncorrespondences of spiritual and celestial things, and being\ncorrespondences are also appearances, that is, are all divine goods of\ndivine love and divine truths of divine wisdom which in themselves are\nnaked, but are clothed upon by the Word's literal meaning. They therefore\nappear as a man would clothed, if his clothing corresponded to the state\nof his love and wisdom. Obviously, then, if one confirms appearances in\nhimself, he mistakes the clothing for the man, whereupon appearance\nbecomes fallacy. It is otherwise if he seeks truths and sees them in the\nappearances.\n\n[7] Inasmuch as all uses or truths and goods of charity, which a man\nrenders to the neighbor may be rendered either according to the\nappearance or according to the verities of the Word, he is in fallacies\nif he renders them according to the appearances he has confirmed, but\nrenders them as he should if he does so in accord with the verities. This\nmay make plain what is meant when the Lord is said to join Himself to\nuses through correspondences and thus through appearances according to\nthe confirmation of these by man.\n\n[8] Fourth: _This conjunction of temporal and eternal is divine\nprovidence._ This is to be illustrated by two instances in order to bring\nit before the understanding in some light. The one instance is that of\neminence and standing, and the other that of riches and wealth. These are\nall natural and temporal in outward form but spiritual and eternal in\ninward form. Distinction with its standing is natural and temporal when a\nman has regard in them only to himself personally and not to the common\nwelfare and to the uses. For he is bound then to think inwardly that the\ncommunity exists for his sake and not he for its sake. It is like a\nking's thinking that the kingdom and all its members exist for his sake,\nand not he for the sake of kingdom and people.\n\n[9] The identical distinction, however, along with the standing it\nbrings, is spiritual and eternal when man considers that he exists for\nthe sake of the common well-being and for uses, and not these for his\nsake. Doing this, he is in the truth and essence of the distinction and\nof the standing it brings. But doing as described above, he is in the\ncorrespondence and appearance; if then he confirms these, he is in\nfallacies and has conjunction with the Lord only as those have who are in\nfalsities and evils therefrom, for fallacies are falsities with which\nevils unite themselves. Such men have indeed done uses and good but from\nthemselves and not from the Lord, thus have put themselves in the Lord's\nplace.\n\n[10] The same is true of riches and wealth; for these also are natural\nand temporal, and spiritual and eternal. They are natural and temporal\nwith those who have regard only to them and to themselves in them and who\nfind all their pleasure and enjoyment in them. But they are spiritual and\neternal with those who regard good uses in them and take an interior\npleasure and enjoyment in uses. The outward pleasure and enjoyment in\nsuch men also becomes spiritual, and the temporal becomes eternal. They\nare therefore in heaven after death and in palaces there, the useful\ndesigns of which are resplendent with gold and precious stones. They look\non these things, however, as the shining and translucent external of\ninward things, namely, of uses, in which they take a pleasure and\nenjoyment which are the happiness and joy of heaven. The opposite is the\nlot of those who have looked on riches and wealth just for the sake of\nriches and wealth and for their own sake, thus on the externalities and\non nothing inward; thus on appearance and not on the essential reality.\nWhen they put off the externalities, as they do on dying, they come into\ntheir internals, and as these are not spiritual, they cannot but be\ninfernal; they must be one or the other and cannot be spiritual and\ninfernal at the same time. The lot of these men then is poverty instead\nof riches and wretchedness instead of wealth.\n\n[11] By uses not only the necessities of life are meant, such as food,\nraiment and habitation for oneself and one's own, but also the good of\none's country, community and fellow-citizens. Business is such a good\nwhen it is the end-love and money is a mediate, subservient love, as it\nis only when the businessman shuns and is averse to fraud and bad\npractices as sin. It is otherwise when money is the end-love and business\nthe mediate, subservient love. For this is avarice, which is a root of\nevils (on this see Lu 12:15 and the parable on it, verses 16-21).\n\nXII. MAN IS NOT ADMITTED INWARDLY INTO TRUTHS OF FAITH AND GOODS OF\nCHARITY EXCEPT AS HE CAN BE KEPT IN THEM TO THE CLOSE OF LIFE\n\n221. It is well known in Christendom that the Lord wills the salvation of\nall, and also is almighty. From this many conclude that He can save\neveryone and saves those who implore His mercy, especially those who\nimplore it by the formula of the received faith that God the Father may\nbe merciful for the sake of the Son, particularly if they pray at the\nsame time that they may receive this faith. That it is quite otherwise,\nhowever, will be seen in the last chapter of this treatise where it will\nbe explained that the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His divine\nprovidence because that would be acting against His divine love and\nwisdom, thus against Himself. There, too, it will be seen that such\nimmediate mercy is impossible, for man's salvation is effected by means,\nand he can be led in accordance with these means only by Him who wills\nthe salvation of all and is at the same time almighty, thus by the Lord.\nThese means are what are called laws of divine providence. Among them is\nthis, that man is not admitted inwardly into truths of wisdom and goods\nof love except as he can be kept in them to the close of life. To make\nthis plain to the reason, it is to be explained in this order:\n\ni. Man may be admitted into wisdom about spiritual things and also\ninto love of them and still not be reformed.\nii. If he recedes from them afterwards and turns to what is the contrary,\nhe profanes holy things.\niii. There are many kinds of profanation, but this kind is the worst of\nall.\niv. The Lord therefore does not admit man interiorly into truths of\nwisdom and at the same time into goods of love except as man can be kept\nin them to the very close of life.\n\n222. (i) _Man may be admitted into wisdom about spiritual things and also\ninto love of them and still not be reformed._ This is because he\npossesses rationality and liberty; by rationality he can be raised into\nan almost angelic wisdom, and by liberty into love not unlike angelic\nlove. But such as the love is, such is the wisdom; if the love is\ncelestial and spiritual, the wisdom becomes so, but if the love is\ndiabolical and infernal, the wisdom is likewise. Outwardly, and so to\nothers, it may seem to be celestial and spiritual, but in inward form,\nnamely in its essence, it is diabolical and infernal; not as manifested,\nbut as it is within one. That it is of this nature men do not see, for\nthey are natural, see and hear naturally, and the outward form is\nnatural; but angels do see it, for they are spiritual, see and hear\nspiritually, and the inward form is spiritual.\n\n[2] From this it is plain that man can be admitted into wisdom about\nspiritual things and also into love of them and still not be reformed; he\nis admitted only into a natural love of them, not into a spiritual. This\nis for the reason that man can admit himself into a natural love, but the\nLord alone can admit him into a spiritual love, and those admitted into\nthis are reformed, but those admitted only into the natural love are not.\nFor the most part the latter are hypocrites, and many are of the Order of\nJesuits who inwardly do not believe in the divine at all, but play\noutwardly with divine things like actors.\n\n223. It has been granted me by much experience in the spiritual world to\nknow that man possesses in himself the faculty of apprehending arcana of\nwisdom like the angels themselves. For I have seen fiery devils who not\nonly understood arcana of wisdom when they heard them, but who spoke\nthem, too, out of their rationality. But the moment they returned to\ntheir diabolical love they did not understand them, but in place of them\nthe contrary, which was insanity, and this they called wisdom. In fact, I\nwas allowed to hear them laugh at their insanity when they were in a\nstate of wisdom, and at wisdom when they were in an insane state. One who\nhas been of this character in the world, on becoming a spirit after death\nis usually brought into states of wisdom and insanity by turns, for him\nto distinguish the one from the other. But although such men see from the\nwisdom that they are insane, when the choice is given them, as it is to\neach, they betake themselves into the state of insanity, love it and feel\nhatred for the state of wisdom. The reason is that their inward nature\nhas been diabolical and their outward seemingly divine. They are meant by\ndevils who affect to be angels of light, and by the man in the house of\nthe nuptials who was not dressed in a wedding garment and was cast into\nouter darkness (Mt 22:11-13).\n\n224. Who cannot see that it is the internal from which the external\nexists and that consequently the external has its essence from the\ninternal? And who does not know by experience that the external can\nappear out of accord with the essence it has from the internal? It does\nso obviously with hypocrites, flatterers and dissemblers. That a person\ncan outwardly feign to be other than himself is manifest from actors and\nmimics. They know how to represent kings, emperors and even angels in\ntone of voice, speech, face and gesture as though they were really such,\nwhen they are nevertheless only actors. We allude to this because man can\nsimilarly act the deceiver in spiritual things as well as civil and\nmoral, and that many do is well known.\n\n[2] When the internal in its essence is infernal, and the external in its\nform appears to be spiritual and yet has its essence, as we said, from\nthe internal, the question arises where in the external that essence is\nhidden. It does not show in gesture, voice, speech or face, yet is\ninteriorly hidden in all four. That it is, is plain from the same in the\nspiritual world. For when man passes from the natural world to the\nspiritual, as he does at death, he leaves his externals behind along with\nhis body and retains his internals, which he has stored up in his spirit.\nIf his internal was infernal, he then appears as a devil, such as he was\nas to his spirit during life in the world. Who does not acknowledge that\neveryone leaves external things behind with the body and enters into\ninternal things on becoming a spirit?\n\n[3] To this I will add that in the spiritual world there is a\ncommunication of affections and of thoughts from them, which results in\nno one's being able to speak except as he thinks; likewise, everyone\nchanges facial expression and reflects his affection, and thus shows in\nhis face what he is. Hypocrites are allowed sometimes to speak otherwise\nthan they think, but the tone of the voice sounds utterly out of harmony\nwith their interior thoughts, and they are recognized by the discord. It\nmay be evident from this that the internal lies hidden in the tone of\nvoice, the speech, the face and gesture of the external, and that it is\nnot perceived by men in the world, but plainly by angels in the spiritual\nworld.\n\n225. It is plain from this that while he lives in the natural world man\nmay be admitted into wisdom about spiritual things and into love of them\nalso, and that this happens or can happen with the merely natural as well\nas with those who are spiritual, with this difference, however, that the\nlatter are reformed by these means and the former are not. It may seem,\nalso, that the former love wisdom, but they do so only as an adulterer\nloves a noble woman, that is, as mistress, speaking caressingly to her\nand giving her beautiful garments, but saying of her privately to\nhimself, \"She is only a vile harlot whom I will make believe that I love\nbecause she gratifies my lust; if she should not, I would cast her away.\"\nThe internal man of the unreformed lover of wisdom is this adulterer; his\nexternal man is the woman.\n\n226. (ii) _If man recedes from these later and turns to what is contrary,\nhe profanes holy things._ There are many kinds of profanation of what is\nholy, of which in the following section, but this is the gravest of all.\nThose who profane in this way become no longer human beings after death;\nthey live indeed, but are continually in wild fantasies. They seem to\nthemselves to soar aloft and while they remain there they sport with\nfantasies which they see as realities. No longer human, they are referred\nto not as \"he\" or \"she\" but \"it.\" In fact, when they come to view in\nheaven's light they look like skeletons, some like skeletons of the color\nof bone, others like fiery skeletons, and still others like charred ones.\nThe world does not know that profaners of this kind become like this\nafter death, and the reason is that the cause is unknown. The real cause\nis that when man first acknowledges and believes divine things and then\nlapses and denies them, he mixes the holy with the profane. Once they are\nmixed, they cannot be separated without destroying the whole. That these\nthings may be perceived more clearly, they are to be disclosed in due\norder as follows: 1. Whatever a man thinks, speaks and does from the\nwill, whether good or evil, is appropriated to him and remains. 2. The\nLord in His divine providence constantly foresees and disposes that evil\nshall be by itself and good by itself, and thus may be separated. 3. This\ncannot be done, however, if man first acknowledges and lives according to\ntruths of faith and afterwards recedes and denies them. 4. Then he mixes\ngood and evil to the point that they cannot be separated. 5. Since good\nand evil in anyone must be separated, and in such a person cannot be, he\nis destroyed in all that is truly human.\n\n227. These are the causes that lead to such enormity, but as they are\nobscure as a result of ignorance of them, they are to be explained so\nthat they will be plain to the understanding. 1. _Whatever man thinks,\nspeaks and does from the will, whether good or evil, is appropriated to\nhim and remains._ This was explained above (nn. 78-81); for man has an\nexternal or natural memory and an internal or spiritual memory. On the\nlatter memory are written each and all things that he thought, spoke or\ndid from his will in the world, so fully that nothing is lacking. This\nmemory is his book of life, which is opened after death and according to\nwhich he is judged. Much more about this memory is reported from\nexperience in the work _Heaven and Hell_ (nn. 461-465).\n\n[2] 2. _The Lord in His divine providence constantly foresees and\ndisposes that evil shall be by itself and good by itself, and thus may be\nseparated._ Everyone is both in evil and in good, for he is in evil from\nhimself and in good from the Lord; he cannot live without being in both.\nIf he were in himself alone and thus in evil alone, he would not possess\nanything living; nor would he if he were in the Lord alone and thus in\ngood alone. In the latter case he would be like one suffocated and\ngasping for breath or like one dying in agony; in the former case he\nwould be devoid of life, for evil apart from good is dead. Therefore\neveryone is in both, with the difference that in the one instance he is\ninwardly in the Lord and outwardly as if in himself, and in the other\ninwardly in himself and outwardly as if in the Lord. The latter man is in\nevil, the former in good, and yet each is in good and evil both. The\nwicked man is in both because he is in the good of civil and moral life\nand outwardly, in some measure, in the good of spiritual life, too,\nbesides being kept by the Lord in rationality and liberty, making it\npossible for him to be in good. This is the good by means of which\neveryone, even a wicked man, is led by the Lord. It may then be seen that\nthe Lord keeps evil and good apart, so that one is interior and the other\nexterior, and thus provides against their being mingled.\n\n[3] 3. _This cannot be done, however, if man first acknowledges and lives\naccording to truths of faith and then later recedes and denies them._\nThis is plain from what has just been said, that all which a man thinks,\nspeaks and does from the will is appropriated to him and remains; and\nthat the Lord in His divine providence constantly foresees and disposes\nthat good shall be by itself and evil by itself, and so can be separated.\nThey are also separated by the Lord after death. Those who are inwardly\nevil and outwardly good are deprived of the good and left to their evil.\nThe reverse occurs with the inwardly good who outwardly like other men\nhave acquired wealth, sought distinction, delighted in the mundane, and\nindulged some lusts. Good and evil have not been commingled by them,\nhowever, but are separate, like internal and external; they have\nresembled the evil in many ways outwardly but not inwardly. Evil is\nseparate from good in the evil, too, who have appeared outwardly like the\ngood for piety, worship, speech and deeds, although wicked inwardly. With\nthose, however, who have first acknowledged and lived by truths of faith\nand then lived contrary to them and rejected them and particularly if\nthey have denied them, good and evil are no longer separate, but mixed.\nSuch a person has appropriated both good and evil to himself, and thus\ncombined and mixed them.\n\n[4] 4. _He then mixes good and evil to a point where they cannot be\nseparated._ This follows from what has just been said. And if evil cannot\nbe separated from good and good from evil, a person can be neither in\nheaven nor in hell. Everyone must be in one or the other; he cannot be in\nboth; for so he would be now in heaven and now in hell; and in heaven he\nwould act in hell's favor and in hell act in heaven's favor. He would\nthus destroy the life of all around him, heavenly life among the angels\nand infernal life among the devils; as a result everyone's life would\nperish. For everyone must live his own life; no one lives a life foreign\nto his own, still less one opposed to it. Hence, in every man after\ndeath, when he becomes a spirit or a spiritual being, the Lord separates\ngood from evil and evil from good, good from evil in those who are\ninwardly in evil, and evil from good in those inwardly in good. This\naccords with His own words:\n\nTo every one who has, shall be given, that he may abound, and from him\nwho has not, shall even what he has be taken away (Mt 13:12; 25:29; Mk\n4:25; Lu 8:18; 19:26).\n\n[5] Fifth: _Since good and evil in anyone must be separated and in such a\nperson cannot be, he is destroyed in all that is truly human._ As was\nshown earlier, everyone has what is truly human from rationality, in that\nhe can see and know what is true and good if he wishes, and from liberty,\nenabling him to will, think, speak and do it. But this liberty has been\ndestroyed along with their rationality in those who have commingled good\nand evil in themselves, for they cannot from good see evil, nor from evil\nrecognize good; the two make one in them. Hence they no longer possess\nrationality in any efficacy or power, nor any liberty. For this reason\nthey are like the sheerest wild fantasies, as we said above, and no\nlonger look like men but like bones covered with skin, and therefore when\nmentioned are referred to not as \"he\" or \"she\" but \"it.\" Such is the lot\nof those who have commingled sacred and profane in the manner we have\ndescribed. There are several kinds of profanation which are not of this\ncharacter, however; of them in a later section.\n\n228. No one can profane holy things in the way described who is ignorant\nof them. For one who is ignorant of them cannot acknowledge them and then\ndeny them. Those, therefore, who are outside Christendom and know nothing\nof the Lord or of redemption and salvation at His hands do not profane\nthe holiness of this in not accepting it or even by speaking against it.\nThe Jews do not profane its sanctity, for from infancy they have no\ndesire to receive and acknowledge it. It would be otherwise if they\nreceived and acknowledged it and afterwards denied it. This seldom\noccurs, however; for many among them acknowledge it outwardly but deny it\ninwardly and are like hypocrites. But those who first accept and\nacknowledge and later lapse and deny, are the ones who profane holy\nthings by mingling them with profane.\n\n[2] It is beside the point here that holy things are accepted and\nacknowledged in infancy and childhood, as they are by every Christian.\nFor what pertains to faith and charity is not accepted and acknowledged\nat that age from any rationality and liberty, that is, in the\nunderstanding from the will, but only by the memory and from confidence\nin the teacher; and if the life is in accord it is so by blind obedience.\nIf, however, on coming into the exercise of his rationality and freedom,\nwhich one does gradually in growing up to youth and manhood, a man\nacknowledges truths and lives by them only later to deny them, he does\nmingle the holy with the profane and (as was said above) from being human\nbecomes a monster. On the other hand, if a man is in evil after attaining\nrationality and freedom, that is, after becoming his own master, even in\nhis early manhood, but later acknowledges truths of faith and lives by\nthem and remains in them also to the close of life, he does not commingle\nthe holy and the profane. The Lord then severs the evils of his earlier\nlife from the good of his later life, as is done with all who repent. Of\nthis more will be said in what follows.\n\n229. (iii) _There are many kinds of profanation of what is holy, but this\nkind is the worst of all._ In the widest sense by profanation all impiety\nis meant, and by profaners, therefore, all the impious who at heart deny\nGod, the holiness of the Word, and consequently the spiritual things of\nthe church which are essentially holy, and who also speak of them\nimpiously. We are not now treating of such profaners but of those who\nprofess God, uphold the holiness of the Word, and acknowledge the\nspiritual things of the church (yet most persons do so with the lips\nonly). These commit profanation for the reason that holiness from the\nWord is in them and with them, and this which is in them, part of their\nunderstanding and will, they profane. But in the impious who deny the\nDivine and divine things, there is nothing holy which they can profane;\nthey are profaners, of course, but still not profane as the others are.\n\n230. The profanation of what is holy is meant in the second precept of\nthe Decalog, \"You shall not profane the name of your God,\" and that it\nought not to be profaned is meant in the Lord's Prayer by \"Hallowed be\nThy name.\" Hardly anyone in Christendom understands what is meant by\nGod's name. The reason for this is that in the spiritual world names are\nnot what they are in this world; everyone has a name in accord with the\ncharacter of his love and wisdom. As soon as he enters a society or into\nfellowship with others he is named according to his character. This can\nbe done in spiritual language, which is such that it can give a name to\neverything, for each letter in the alphabet signifies some one thing, and\nthe several letters combined in a word, making a person's name, involve\nthe whole state of the subject. This is among the wonders in the\nspiritual world.\n\n[2] From this it is plain that by \"the name of God\" in the Word, God with\nall the divine in Him and proceeding from Him is signified. And as the\nWord is the divine proceeding, it is God's name, and as all the divine\nthings which are called the spiritual things of the church are from the\nWord, they, too, are God's name. It may be seen then what is meant in the\nsecond commandment of the Decalog by\n\nYou shall not profane the name of God (Ex 20:7);\n\nand in the Lord's Prayer by\n\nHallowed be Thy name (Mt 6:9).\n\nThe name of God and of the Lord has a like signification in many passages\nin the Word of either Testament, as in Mt 7:22; 10:22; 18:5, 20; 19:29;\n21:9; 24:9, 10; Jn 1:12; 2:23; 3:17, 18; 12:13, 28; 14:14-16; 16:23, 24,\n26, 27; 17:6; 20:31; besides other passages, and in very many in the Old\nTestament.\n\n[3] One who knows this significance of \"name\" can know what is signified\nby these words of the Lord:\n\nWhoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a\nprophet's reward; whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a\nrighteous man will receive a righteous man's reward . . . and whoever\nwill give one of these little ones to drink a cup of cold water only in\nthe name of a disciple . . . shall not lose a reward (Mt 10:41, 42).\n\nOne who understands by the name of a prophet, of a righteous man and of a\ndisciple only a prophet, a righteous man and a disciple knows only the\nsense of the letter in that passage. Nor does he know what is signified\nby a prophet's reward, a righteous man's reward, or by the reward given a\ndisciple for a cup of cold water, when yet by the name and reward of a\nprophet the state and happiness of those who are in divine truths is\nmeant; by the name and reward of a righteous man is meant the state and\nhappiness of those in divine goods; by a disciple is meant the state of\nthose who are in a measure of the spiritual things of the church, and by\na cup of cold water is meant a measure of truth.\n\n[4] That the nature of a state of love and wisdom or of good and truth is\nmeant by \"name\" is also made evident by these words of the Lord:\n\nHe who enters in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; the porter\nopens to him, and the sheep hear his voice; he calls his own sheep by\nname, and leads them out (Jn 10:2, 3).\n\nTo \"call the sheep by name\" is to teach and lead everyone who is in the\ngood of charity according to the state of his love and wisdom; by the\n\"door\" the Lord is meant, as verse 9 makes plain:\n\nI am the door; if a man enters by Me, he will be saved (Jn 10:9).\n\nIt is clear from this that for one to be saved the Lord Himself is to be\napproached; one who does so is a \"shepherd of the sheep\" and one who does\nnot is a \"thief\"' and a \"robber\" (so the first verse of the chapter).\n\n231. Profanation of what is holy is predicated of those who know truths\nof faith and goods of charity from the Word and also acknowledge them in\nsome measure, not of those who do not know them, nor of those who\nimpiously reject them altogether. Therefore what now follows is said of\nthe former, not of the latter; by the former many kinds of profanation,\nlighter and graver, are committed, but they may be summed up in the seven\nfollowing.\n\nA first kind of profanation on their part is making jokes from the Word\nor about the Word, or of and about the divine things of the church. Some\ndo this from a bad habit, picking names or expressions from the Word and\nmingling them with unseemly and sometimes filthy speech. This cannot be\ndone without some contempt being added for the Word. Yet the Word in each\nand all things is divine and holy; every expression in it stores in its\nbosom something divine and by means of it gives communication with\nheaven. This kind of profanation is lighter or more grave according to\none's acknowledgment of the sacredness of the Word and to the\nunseemliness of the comment into which it is brought by those who jest\nabout it.\n\n[2] A second kind of profanation by those under discussion is that while\nthey understand and acknowledge divine truths, they live contrary to\nthem. Those who only understand profane more lightly, and those who also\nacknowledge profane more seriously; for the understanding only teaches\nquite as a preacher does, but does not of itself unite with the will, but\nacknowledgment does, for one cannot acknowledge anything without the\nconsent of the will. Still this union with the will varies and the\nprofanation is according to the measure of it in living contrary to\nacknowledged truths. Thus if one acknowledges that revenge and hatred,\nadultery and fornication, fraud and deceit, blasphemy and lying are sins\nagainst God and yet commits them, he is therefore in the more grievous of\nthis kind of profanation. For the Lord says:\n\nThe servant who knows his lord's will and does not do it, shall be beaten\nwith many strokes (Lu 12:47).\n\nAnd again,\n\nIf you were blind, you would not have sin, but you say, We see; therefore\nyour sin remains (In 9:41).\n\nBut it is one thing to acknowledge apparent truths and another to\nacknowledge genuine truths. Those who acknowledge genuine truths and yet\ndo not live by them appear in the spiritual world to be without the light\nand warmth of life in voice and speech, as though they were so much\ninertness.\n\n[3] A third kind of profanation is committed by those who apply the sense\nof the letter of the Word to confirm evil loves and false principles.\nThis is because the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth, and\nthe confirmation of evil is a rejection of good. In its bosom the Word is\nnothing but divine truth and good. But this does not appear in the lowest\nsense or sense of the letter in genuine truths, except where the Lord and\nthe very way of salvation are taught, but in clothed truths, called\nappearances of truth.\n\nThat sense can therefore be seized upon to confirm heresies of many\nkinds. But one who confirms evil loves does violence to divine goods, and\none who confirms false principles does violence to divine truths. The\nlatter violence is called falsification of truth and the former\nadulteration of good; both are meant by \"bloods\"* in the Word. For a\nspiritual holiness, which is also the spirit of truth proceeding from the\nLord, is in every particular of the sense of the letter of the Word. This\nholiness is injured when the Word is falsified and adulterated. It is\nplain that this is profanation.\n\n* Plural in the Hebrew, especially of blood that has been shed. \"Both\" is\nemphatic here, and for the significance of the plural see Arcana\nCaelestia, n. 374e and Apocalypse Explained, n. 329(27).\n\n[4] A fourth kind of profanation is committed by those who utter pious\nand holy things and also counterfeit affections of a love for them in\ntone and manner, and yet at heart do not believe and love them. Most of\nthese are hypocrites and Pharisees who are deprived after death of all\ntruth and good and thereupon are sent into outer darkness. Those who have\nconfirmed themselves by this kind of profanation against the Divine and\nagainst the Word and thus against the spiritual things of the Word, sit\nin outer darkness dumb, unable to speak, wanting to babble pious and holy\nthings as they did in the world, but unable to do so. For in the\nspiritual world everyone is compelled to speak as he thinks. A hypocrite,\nhowever, wants to speak otherwise than he thinks, but there is impediment\nin the tongue as a result of which he can only mumble. Hypocrisies are\nlighter or more grave in the measure of the confirmation against God and\nof the outward rationalizing in favor of God.\n\n[5] A fifth kind of profanation is committed by those who ascribe to\nthemselves what is divine. These are meant by Lucifer in Isaiah 14; and\nby Lucifer Babylon is meant, as is plain from verses 4 and 24 of that\nchapter, where the fate, too, of such profaners is described. The same\nprofaners are also meant and described in the Apocalypse (chapter 17)\nunder the harlot seated on the scarlet beast. Babylon and Chaldea are\nmentioned at many places in the Word; by Babylon profanation of good is\nmeant and by Chaldea profanation of truth; the one and the other\ncommitted by those who ascribe to themselves what is divine.\n\n[6] A sixth kind of profanation is committed by those who acknowledge the\nWord but deny the divine of the Lord. In the world they are called\nSocinians and some Arians. The lot of both is that they invoke the Father\nand not the Lord and keep praying the Father, some of them for the sake\nof the Son, that they may be admitted to heaven, but in vain, until they\nlose hope of salvation. They are then sent down to hell among deniers of\nGod. They are meant by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit and who will\nnot be forgiven in this world or that to come (Mt 12:32). For God is one\nin person and essence, in Him is the Trinity, and this God is the Lord.\nSince the Lord is heaven also and thus those in heaven are in the Lord,\nthose who deny the divine of the Lord cannot be admitted to heaven and be\nin the Lord. It was shown above that the Lord is heaven and that those in\nheaven are therefore in Him.\n\n[7] The seventh kind of profanation is committed by those who first\nacknowledge and live by divine truths and then recede from them and deny\nthem. This is the worst kind of profanation because holy things are mixed\nby them with profane to the point where they cannot be separated. Yet\nthey must be separated for one to be either in heaven or in hell, and as\nthis cannot be accomplished with them, all that is human, either of the\nunderstanding or of the will, is rooted out, and they become, as we said,\nno longer human beings. Almost the same occurs with those who acknowledge\nthe divine things of the Word and of the church at heart but immerse them\nentirely in their proprium, which is a love of ruling over all things, of\nwhich much has been said before. After death, when they become spirits,\nthey do not want to be led by the Lord but by themselves. When loose rein\nis given their love, they want to rule not only over heaven but over the\nLord, too; and as they cannot do this, they deny the Lord and become\ndevils. It should be known that the life's love, which is one's reigning\nlove, remains with everyone after death and cannot be taken away.\n\n[8] Profaners of this class are meant by the lukewarm, of whom it is\nwritten in the Apocalypse:\n\nI know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; would that you were\ncold or hot; but because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I\nwill spue you out of my mouth (3:14, 15, 16).\n\nThis manner of profanation is also described by the Lord in Matthew:\n\nWhen the unclean spirit goes out from a man, he walks through dry places,\nseeking rest but finds none. Then he says, I will return to the house\nwhence I came out. When he returns and finds it empty, swept and\ngarnished for him, he goes and gathers to him seven other spirits worse\nthan himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of the\nman is worse than the first (12:43-45).\n\nThe conversion of the man is described by the unclean spirit's going out\nof him; his reverting to his former evils when things good and true have\nbeen cast out, is described by the return of the unclean spirit with\nseven worse than himself into the house garnished for him; and the\nprofanation of the holy by what is profane is described by the last state\nof that man being worse than the first. The same is meant by this passage\nin John,\n\nJesus said to the man healed in the pool of Bethesda: Sin no more, lest\nsomething worse befall you (5:14).\n\n[9] That the Lord provides that man shall not acknowledge truths inwardly\nand afterwards leave them and become profane, is meant by these words:\n\nHe has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not\nsee with their eyes and understand with their heart, and be converted,\nand I should heal them (Jn 12:40).\n\n\"Lest they should be converted, and I should heal them\" signifies lest\nthey should acknowledge truths and then depart from them and thus become\nprofane. For the same reason the Lord spoke in parables, as He Himself\nsays (Mt 13:13). The Jews were forbidden to eat fat and blood (Lev 3:17,\n7:13, 25 ); this signifies that they were not to profane holy things, for\n\"fat\" signifies divine good and \"blood\" divine truth. In Matthew the Lord\nteaches that once converted a man must continue in good and truth to the\nclose of life:\n\nJesus said: Whosoever perseveres to the end, shall be saved (10:20;\nsimilarly Mk 13:13).\n\n232. (iv) _The Lord therefore does not admit man interiorly into truths\nof wisdom and at the same time into goods of love except as man can be\nkept in them to the close of life._ To demonstrate this we must proceed\nby steps for two reasons; one, because it concerns human salvation, and\nthe other, because a knowledge of the laws of permission (to be\nconsidered in the next chapter) depends on a knowledge of this law. It\nconcerns human salvation, because, as has just been said, one who first\nacknowledges what is divine in Word and church and subsequently departs\nfrom them profanes what is holy most grievously. In order, then, that\nthis arcanum of divine providence may be revealed so that the rational\nman can see it in his own light, it is to be unfolded as follows:\n\n1. Evil and good cannot exist together in man's interior being,\nconsequently neither can the falsity of evil and the truth of good.\n2. Good and the truth of good can be introduced into man's interior being\nonly so far as evil and the falsity of evil there have been removed.\n3. If good with its truth were introduced there before or further than\nevil with its falsity is removed, man would depart from the good and go\nback to his evil.\n4. When man is in evil many truths may be introduced into his\nunderstanding and kept in memory, and yet not be profaned.\n5. But the Lord in His divine providence takes the greatest care that\nthey are not received from the understanding by the will sooner or more\nlargely than man as of himself removes evil in the external man.\n6. Should it welcome them sooner or in larger measure, the will would\nadulterate good and the understanding would falsify truth by mingling\nthem with evils and falsities.\n7. The Lord therefore admits man inwardly into truths of wisdom and goods\nof love only so far as man can be kept in them to the close of life.\n\n233. In order, then, that this arcanum of divine providence may be\ndisclosed so that the rational man will see it in his light, the points\nmade will be explained one by one. 1. _Evil and good cannot exist\ntogether in man's interior being, consequently neither can the falsity of\nevil and the truth of good._ By man's interiors the internal of his\nthought is meant. Of this he knows nothing until he comes into the\nspiritual world and its light, which happens on death. In the natural\nworld it can be known only by the enjoyment of his love in the external\nof his thought, and from evils themselves as he examines them in himself.\nFor the internal of thought in man is so closely connected with the\nexternal of thought that they cannot be separated (of this more may be\nseen above). We say \"good and truth of good,\" and \"evil and falsity of\nevil\" because good cannot exist apart from its truth nor evil apart from\nits falsity. They are bedfellows or partners, for the life of good is\nfrom its truth and the life of truth is from its good; the same is to be\nsaid of evil and its falsity.\n\n[2] The rational man can see without explanation that evil with its\nfalsity and good with its truth cannot exist in man's interiors at the\nsame time. For evil is the opposite of good and good the opposite of\nevil; two opposites cannot coexist. Implanted in all evil, moreover, is a\nhatred for good, and implanted in all good the love of protecting itself\nagainst evil and removing it from itself. Consequently one cannot be\nwhere the other is. If they were together conflict and combat would start\nand destruction ensue, as the Lord teaches also in these words:\n\nEvery kingdom divided against itself is desolated, and every city or\nhouse divided against itself does not stand . . . Whoever is not with me\nis against me, and whoever does not gather with me disperses (Mt 25:30);\n\nand in another place,\n\nNo one can serve two masters at the same time: for either he will hate\nthe one and love the other . . . (Mt 6:24).\n\nTwo opposites are impossible in one substance or form without its being\ntorn apart and destroyed. If one should advance and approach the other,\nthey would keep apart like two enemies, one retiring to his camp or fort,\nand the other posting himself outside. This happens with evil and good in\na hypocrite; he harbors both, but the evil is inside and the good outside\nand so the two are separate and not mingled. It is plain then that evil\nwith its falsity and good with its truth cannot coexist.\n\n[3] 2. _Good and the truth of good can be introduced into man's interiors\nonly so far as evil and the falsity of evil there have been removed._\nThis is a necessary consequence from what has preceded, for as evil and\ngood cannot exist together, good cannot be introduced before evil has\nbeen removed. We say man's \"interiors\" and mean by these the internal of\nthought; and in these, now being considered, either the Lord or the devil\nmust be present. The Lord is there after reformation and the devil before\nreformation. So far as man suffers himself to be reformed, therefore, the\ndevil is cast out, but so far as he does not suffer himself to be\nreformed the devil remains. Anyone can see that the Lord cannot enter as\nlong as the devil is there, and he is there as long as man keeps the door\nclosed where man acts together with the Lord. The Lord teaches in the\nApocalypse that He enters when that door is opened by man's mediation:\n\nI stand at the door, and knock; if anyone hears my voice, and opens the\ndoor, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with Me (3:20).\n\nThe door is opened by man's removing evil, fleeing and turning away from\nit as infernal and diabolical. Whether one says \"evil\" or \"the devil,\" it\nis one and the same, in turn whether one says \"good\" or \"the Lord,\" for\nwithin all good is the Lord and within all evil is the devil. From these\nconsiderations the truth of this proposition is plain.\n\n[4] 3. _If good with its truth were introduced before or further than evil\nwith its falsity is removed, man would depart from the good and go back\nto his evil._ This is because evil would be the stronger, and what is\nstronger conquers, eventually if not then. As long as evil is stronger,\ngood cannot be introduced into the inner chambers but only into the entry\nhall; for evil and good, as we said, cannot exist together, and what is\nin the entry hall is removed by its enemy in the chamber. Thus good is\nreceded from and evil is returned to, which is the worst kind of\nprofanation.\n\n[5] Furthermore, it is the enjoyment of man's life to love himself and\nthe world above all else. This enjoyment cannot be removed in a moment,\nbut only gradually. In the measure in which it remains in man, evil is\nstronger in him and can be removed only as self-love becomes a love of\nuses, or as the love of ruling is not for its own sake but for the sake\nof uses. Uses then make the head, and self-love or the love of ruling is\nat first the body under the head and finally the feet, on which to walk.\nWho does not see that good should be the head, and that when it is, the\nLord is there? Good and use are one. Who does not see that when evil is\nthe head, the devil is there? As civil and moral good and, in its\nexternal form, spiritual good, too, are still to be received, who does\nnot see that these then constitute the feet and the soles of the feet,\nand are trodden on?\n\n[6] Inasmuch, then, as man's state of life is to be inverted so that what\nis uppermost may be lowermost, and the inversion cannot be instantaneous,\nfor the chief enjoyment of his life, coming of self-love and the love of\nruling, can be diminished and turned into a love of uses only gradually,\nthe Lord cannot introduce good sooner or further than this evil is\nremoved; done earlier or further, man would recede from good and return\nto his evil.\n\n[7] 4. _When man is in evil many truths may be introduced into his\nunderstanding and kept in memory, and still not be profaned._ This is\nbecause the understanding does not flow into the will, but the will into\nthe understanding. As the understanding does not flow into the will, many\ntruths can be received by the understanding and held in memory and still\nnot be mingled with the evil in the will, and the holy thus not profaned.\nMoreover, it is incumbent on everyone to learn truths from the Word or\nfrom preaching, to lay them up in the memory and to think about them. For\nby truths held in the memory and entering into the thought, the\nunderstanding is to teach the will, that is, the man, what he should do.\nThis is therefore the chief means of reformation. Truths that are only in\nthe understanding and thence in the memory are not in man but outside\nhim.\n\n[8] Man's memory may be compared to the ruminatory stomach of certain\nanimals in which they put their food; as long as it is there, it is not\nin but outside their body; as they draw it thence and consume it, it\nbecomes part of their life, and their body is nourished. The food in\nman's memory is not material but spiritual, namely truths, rightly\nknowledges; so far as he takes them thence by thinking, which is like\nruminating, his spiritual mind is nourished. It is the will's love that\nhas the desire and the appetite, so to speak, and that causes them to be\ntaken thence and to be nourishing. If that love is evil, it desires or\nhas an appetite for what is unclean, but if good, for what is clean, and\nsets aside, rejects and casts out what is unsuitable; this is done in\nvarious ways.\n\n[9] 5. _But the Lord in His divine providence takes the greatest care\nthat truths are not received from the understanding by the will sooner or\nmore largely than man as of himself removes evil in his external man._\nFor what is from the will enters man, is appropriated to him, and becomes\npart of his life, and in that life, which is man's from the will, evil\nand good cannot exist together, for so he would perish. The two may,\nhowever, be in the understanding, where they are called falsities of evil\nand truths of good, and without being mingled; else man could not behold\nevil from good or know good from evil; but there they are distinguishable\nand separated like the inner and outer sections of a house. When a wicked\nman thinks and speaks what is good, he is thinking and speaking\nexternally to himself, but inwardly when he thinks and speaks what is\nevil; his speech, therefore, when he speaks what is good, comes off a\nwall, as it were. It can be likened to fruit fair outside but wormy and\ndecayed inside, or to the shell, especially, of a serpent's egg.\n\n[10] 6. _Should the will welcome truths sooner or in larger measure, it\nwould adulterate good and the understanding would falsify truth by\nmingling them with evils and falsities._ When the will is in evil, it\nadulterates good in the understanding, and good adulterated in the\nunderstanding is evil in the will, for it confirms that evil is good and\ngood is evil. So evil deals with all good, which is its opposite. Evil\nalso falsifies truth, for truth of good is the opposite of the falsity of\nevil; this is done in the understanding by the will, and not by the\nunderstanding alone. Adulterations of good are depicted in the Word by\nadulteries and falsifications of truth by whoredoms. These adulterations\nand falsifications are effected by reasonings from the natural man which\nis in evil, and also by confirmations of appearances in the sense of the\nletter of the Word.\n\n[11] The love of self, the head of all evils, surpasses other loves in\nthe ability to adulterate goods and falsify truths, and it does this by\nmisuse of the rationality which every man, wicked as well as good, enjoys\nfrom the Lord. By confirmations it can in fact make evil look exactly\nlike good and falsity like truth. What can it not do when it can prove by\na thousand arguments that nature created itself and then created human\nbeings, animals and plants of every kind, and also prove that by influx\nfrom within itself nature causes men to live, to think analytically and\nto understand wisely? Self-love excels in ability to prove whatever it\ndesires because a certain glamour of varicolored light overlays it. This\nglamour is the vainglory of that love in being wise and thus also of\nbeing eminent and dominant.\n\n[12] And yet, when self-love has proved such things, it becomes so blind\nthat it sees man only as a beast, and that man and beast both think, and\nif a beast could also speak, conceives it would be man in another form.\nIf it were induced by some manner of persuasion to believe that something\nof the human being survives death, it then is so blind as to believe that\nthe beast also survives; and that the something which lives after death\nis only a subtle exhalation of life, like a vapor, constantly falling\nback to its corpse, or is something vital without sight, hearing or\nspeech, and so is blind, deaf and dumb, soaring about and cogitating.\nSelf-love entertains many other insanities with which nature, in itself\ndead, inspires its fantasy. Such is the effect of self-love, which\nregarded in itself is love of the proprium. Man's proprium, in respect of\nits affections which are all natural, is not unlike the life of a beast,\nand in respect of its perceptions, inasmuch as they spring from these\naffections, is not unlike a bird of night. One who constantly immerses\nhis thoughts in his proprium, therefore, cannot be raised out of natural\nlight into spiritual light and see anything of God, heaven or eternal\nlife. Since the love of the proprium is of this nature and yet excels in\nthe ability to confirm whatever it pleases, it has a similar ability to\nadulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, even while it is\nconstrained by some necessity to confess them.\n\n[13] 7. _The Lord therefore does not admit man inwardly into truths of\nwisdom and goods of love except as man can be kept in them to the close\nof life._ The Lord does this lest man fall into that most serious kind of\nprofanation of which we have treated in this chapter. In view of that\nperil the Lord also tolerates evils of life and many heresies in worship,\nthe tolerance of which will be the subject of the following chapter.\n\nXIII. LAWS ON PERMISSION ARE ALSO LAWS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE\n\n234. There are no laws of permission per se or apart from the laws of\ndivine providence; rather they are the same. Hence to say that God\npermits something does not mean that He wills it, but that He cannot\navert it in view of the end, which is salvation. Whatever is done for the\nsake of that end is in accord with the laws of divine providence. For\ndivine providence, as was said, constantly travels in a different\ndirection from that of man's will and against his will, always intent on\nits objective. At each moment of its activity or at each step in its\nprogress, as it perceives man straying from that end, it directs, turns\nand disposes him according to its laws, leading him away from evil and to\ngood. It will be seen in what follows that this cannot be done without\nthe tolerance of evil. Furthermore, nothing can be permitted for no\ncause, and the cause can only be in some law of divine providence,\nexplaining why it is permitted.\n\n235. One who does not acknowledge divine providence at all does not\nacknowledge God at heart, but nature instead of God, and human prudence\ninstead of divine providence. This does not appear to be so because man\ncan think and speak in two ways. He can think and speak in one way from\nhis inner self and in another from his outer self. This capability is\nlike a hinge that lets a door swing either way, in one direction as one\nenters, in the other as one leaves; or like a sail which can take a ship\none way or the other as the skipper spreads it. Those who have confirmed\nthemselves in favor of human prudence to the denial of divine providence\nsee nothing else as long as they are in this way of thinking, no matter\nwhat they see, hear or read, nor can they, for they accept nothing from\nheaven but only from themselves. As they draw their conclusions from\nappearances and fallacies alone and see nothing else, they can swear that\nprudence is all. If they also recognize nature only, they become enraged\nat defenders of divine providence, except that they think when these are\npriests they are simply pursuing their teaching and office.\n\n236. We will enumerate now some things that are tolerated and yet are in\naccord with laws of divine providence, by which, however, the merely\nnatural man confirms himself in favor of nature and against God and in\nfavor of human prudence and against divine providence. For instance he\nreads in the Word that:\n\n1. Adam, wisest of men, and his wife allowed themselves to be led astray\nby the serpent, and God did not avert this in His divine providence.\n2. Their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not speak\nto him and dissuade him but only afterwards cursed him.\n3. The Israelites worshiped a golden calf in the wilderness and\nacknowledged it as the god that had brought them out of Egypt, yet\nJehovah saw this from Mt. Sinai near by and did not warn against it.\n4. David numbered the people and as a consequence a pestilence befell\nthem in which so many thousands of them perished; God sent the prophet\nGad to him not before but after the deed and denounced punishment.\n5. Solomon was allowed to establish idolatrous worship.\n6. After him many kings were allowed to profane the temple and the sacred\nthings of the church.\n7. And finally that nation was permitted to crucify the Lord.\n\nOne who hails nature and human prudence sees nothing but what contradicts\ndivine providence in these and many other passages of the Word. He can\nuse them as arguments in denial of providence, if not in his outward\nthought nearest to speech, still in his inner thought, remote from it.\n\n237. Every worshiper of self and nature confirms himself against divine\nprovidence:\n\n1. When he sees such numbers of wicked in the world and so many of their\nimpieties and how some glory in them, and sees the men go unpunished by\nGod.\n2. He confirms himself the more against divine providence when he sees\nplots, schemes and frauds succeed even against the devout, just and\nsincere, and injustice triumph over justice in the courts and in\nbusiness.\n3. He confirms himself especially on seeing the impious advanced to\nhonors and becoming leaders in the state or in the church, abounding,\ntoo, in riches and living in luxury and magnificence, and on the other\nhand sees worshipers of God despised and poor.\n4. He also confirms himself against divine providence when he reflects\nthat wars are permitted and the slaughter of so many in them and the\nlooting of so many cities, nations and families.\n5. Furthermore, he reflects that victories are on the side of prudence\nand not always on the side of justice, and that it is immaterial whether\na commander is upright or not.\n\nBesides many other things of the kind, all of which are permissions\naccording to laws of divine providence.\n\n238. The same natural man confirms himself against divine providence when\nhe observes how religion is circumstanced in various nations.\n\n1. Some are totally ignorant of God; some worship the sun and moon;\nothers idols and monstrous graven images, dead men also.\n2. He notes especially that the Mohammedan religion is accepted by so\nmany empires and kingdoms.\n3. He notes that the Christian religion is found only in a very small\npart of the habitable globe, called Europe, and is divided there.\n4. Also that some in Christendom arrogate divine power to themselves,\nwant to be worshiped as gods, and invoke the dead.\n5. And there are those who place salvation in certain phrases which they\nare to think and speak and not at all in good works which they are to do;\nlikewise there are few who live their religion.\n6. Besides there are heretical ideas; these have been many and some exist\ntoday, like those of the Quakers, Moravians and Anabaptists, besides\nothers.\n7. Judaism also persists.\n\nAs a result, one who denies divine providence concludes that religion in\nitself is nothing, but still is needed to serve as a restraint.\n\n239. To these more arguments can be added today by which those who think\ninteriorly in favor of nature and of human prudence alone can still\nfurther confirm themselves. For example:\n\n1. All Christendom has acknowledged three Gods, not knowing that God is\none in essence and in person and that He is the Lord.\n2. It has not been known before this that there is a spiritual sense in\neach particular of the Word from which it derives its holiness.\n3. Again, Christians have not known that to avoid evils as sins is the\nChristian religion itself.\n4. It has also been unknown that the human being lives as such after\ndeath.\n\nFor men may ask themselves and one another, \"Why does divine providence,\nif it exists, reveal such things for the first time now?\"\n\n240. All the points listed in nn. 236-239 have been put forward in order\nthat it may be seen that each and all things which take place in the\nworld are of divine providence; consequently divine providence is in the\nleast of man's thoughts and actions and thereby is universal. But this\ncannot be seen unless the points are taken up one by one; therefore they\nwill be explained briefly in the order in which they were listed,\nbeginning with n. 236.\n\n241. _The wisest of human beings, Adam and his wife, allowed themselves\nto be led astray by the serpent, and God in His divine providence did not\navert this._ This is because by Adam and his wife the first human beings\ncreated in the world are not meant, but the people of the Most Ancient\nChurch, whose new creation or regeneration is described thus: their\ncreation anew or regeneration in Genesis 1 by the creation of heaven and\nearth; their wisdom and intelligence by the Garden of Eden; and the end\nof that church by their eating of the tree of knowledge. For the Word in\nits bosom is spiritual, containing arcana of divine wisdom, and in order\nto contain them has been composed throughout in correspondences and\nrepresentations. It is plain then that the men of that church, who at\nfirst were the wisest of men but finally became the worst through pride\nin their own intelligence, were led astray not by a serpent but by\nself-love, meant in Genesis by \"the serpent's head,\" which the Seed of\nthe woman, namely, the Lord, was to trample.\n\n[2] Who cannot see from reason that other things are meant than those\nrecorded literally like history? For who can understand that the world\ncould be created as there described? The learned therefore labor over the\nexplanation of the things in the first chapter, finally confessing that\nthey do not understand them. So of the two trees placed in the garden or\nparadise, one of life and the other of knowledge, the latter as a\nstumbling-block. Again, that just by eating of this tree they\ntransgressed so greatly that not only they but their posterity--the whole\nhuman race--became subject to damnation; further, how any serpent could\nlead them astray; besides other things, as that the woman was created out\nof a rib of her husband; that they recognized their nakedness after the\nfall and covered it with fig leaves; that coats of skin were given them to\ncover the body; and that cherubim with a flaming sword were stationed to\nguard the way to the tree of life.\n\n[3] All this is representative, describing the establishment, state,\nalteration and finally destruction of the Most Ancient Church. The arcana\ninvolved, contained in the spiritual sense which fills the details, may\nbe seen explained in _Arcana Caelestia,_ on Genesis and Exodus, published\nat London. There it may also be seen that by the tree of life the Lord is\nmeant as to His divine providence, and by the tree of knowledge man is\nmeant as to his own prudence.\n\n242. _Their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not\nspeak to him and dissuade him, but only afterwards cursed him._ As the\nMost Ancient Church is meant by Adam and his wife, as we have just said,\nthe two essentials of a church, love and wisdom or charity and faith are\nmeant by their first sons, Cain and Abel. Love and charity are meant by\nAbel, and wisdom and faith and in particular wisdom separate from love,\nand faith separate from charity, are meant by Cain. Wisdom as well as\nfaith when separate is of such a nature that it not only rejects love and\ncharity, but also destroys them and thus kills its brother. It is well\nknown in Christendom that faith apart from charity does so; see _Doctrine\nof the New Jerusalem about Faith._\n\n[2] The curse on Cain portends the spiritual state into which those come\nafter death who separate faith from charity or wisdom from love. But lest\nwisdom or faith should perish, a mark was put on Cain lest he be slain,\nfor love cannot exist without wisdom, nor charity without faith. As\nalmost the same thing is represented by this as by eating of the tree of\nknowledge, it follows next after the account of Adam and his wife.\nMoreover, those in faith separate from charity are in intelligence of\ntheir own; those who are in charity and thence in faith are in\nintelligence from the Lord, thus in divine providence.\n\n243. _The Israelites worshiped a golden calf in the wilderness and\nacknowledged it as the god that had brought them out of Egypt, yet\nJehovah saw this from Mt. Sinai near by and did not warn against it._\nThis occurred in the desert of Sinai near the mountain. It is in\naccordance with all the laws of divine providence recounted so far and\nwith those to follow that Jehovah did not restrain the Israelites from\nthat atrocious worship. This evil was permitted them that they might not\nall perish. For the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt to\nrepresent the Lord's church; they could not represent it unless the\nEgyptian idolatry was first rooted out of their hearts. This could not be\ndone unless it was left to them to act upon what was in their hearts and\nthen to remove it on being severely punished. What further is signified\nby that worship, by the threat that they would be entirely rejected, and\nby the possibility that a new nation might be raised from Moses, may be\nseen in _Arcana Caelestia_ on Exodus 32, where these things are spoken\nof.\n\n244. _David numbered the people and as a consequence a pestilence befell\nthem in which so many thousands of them perished; God sent the prophet\nGad to him not before but after the deed and denounced punishment._ One\nwho confirms himself against divine providence may have various thoughts\nabout this also and ponder especially why David was not admonished first\nand why the people were so severely punished for the king's\ntransgression. That he was not warned first is in accord with the laws of\ndivine providence already adduced, especially with the two explained at\nnn. 129-153 and 154-174. The people were so severely punished for the\nking's transgression and seventy thousand smitten by the pestilence not\non account of the king but on account of themselves, for we read\n\nThe anger of Jehovah kindled still more against Israel; therefore He\nincited David against them saying, Go, number Israel and Judah (2 Sa\n24:1).\n\n245. _Solomon was allowed to establish idolatrous forms of worship._ For\nhe was to represent the Lord's kingdom or church in all varieties of\nreligion in the world. For the church established with the Israelitish\nand Jewish nation was a representative church; all of its judgments and\nstatutes represented the spiritual things of a church, which are its\ninternals. The people represented the church, the king the Lord, David\nthe Lord to come into the world, Solomon the Lord after His coming. As\nthe Lord after the glorification of His humanity had all power over\nheaven and earth (as He said, Mt 28:18), Solomon as representative of Him\nappeared in glory and magnificence, was wise beyond all earthly kings,\nand also built the temple. Moreover, he permitted and set up the forms of\nworship of many nations, by which the various religions of the world were\nrepresented. His wives, who numbered seven hundred and his concubines who\nnumbered three hundred (1 Kgs 11:13), had a similar signification, for\n\"wife\" in the Word signifies the church and \"concubine\" a form of\nreligion. Hence it may be evident why it was granted Solomon to build the\ntemple, by which the Divine Humanity of the Lord (Jn 2:19, 21) is\nsignified and the church, too; and why he was allowed to establish\nidolatrous forms of worship and to take so many wives. See _Doctrine of\nthe New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (nn. 43, 44) that in many places in the\nWord the Lord who was to come into the world is meant by David.\n\n246. _After Solomon many kings were allowed to profane the temple and the\nsacred things of the church._ This was because the people represented the\nchurch and the king was their head. The Israelitish and Jewish nation was\nof such a nature that they could not represent the church for long, for\nat heart they were idolaters; they therefore relapsed gradually from\nrepresentative worship, perverting all things of the church, even to\ndevastating it finally. This was represented by the profanations of the\ntemple by the kings and by the people's idolatries; the full devastation\nof the church was represented by the destruction of the temple, the\ncarrying off of Israel, and the captivity of Judah in Babylon. Such was\nthe cause of this toleration; and what is done for some cause is done\nunder divine providence according to one of its laws.\n\n247. _That nation was permitted to crucify the Lord._ This was because\nthe church with that nation was entirely devastated and had become such\nthat they not only did not know or acknowledge the Lord, but hated Him.\nStill, all that they did to Him was according to laws of His divine\nprovidence. See in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (nn.\n12-14) and in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Faith_ (nn. 34, 35)\nthat the passion of the cross was the last temptation or battle by which\nthe Lord fully conquered the hells and fully glorified His Humanity.\n\n248. So far the points listed at n. 236 have been explained, involving\npassages in the Word by which the naturally minded reasoner may confirm\nhimself against divine providence. For, as was said, whatever such a man\nsees, hears or reads he can make into an argument against providence. Few\npersons, however, confirm themselves against divine providence from\nincidents in the Word, but many do so from things before their eyes,\nlisted at n. 237. These are to be explained now in like manner.\n\n249. _Every worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against\ndivine providence when he sees so many impious in the world and so many\nof their impieties and how some glory in them, yet sees the impious go\nunpunished by God._ All impieties and all gloryings in them are\npermissions, of which the causes are laws of divine providence. Each\nhuman being can freely, indeed very freely, think what he wills, against\nGod as well as in favor of God. One who thinks against God is rarely\npunished in the natural world, for he is always in a state to be reformed\nthen, but is punished in the spiritual world, which is done after death,\nfor then he can no longer be reformed.\n\n[2] That laws of divine providence are the causes of tolerance is clear\nfrom the laws set forth above, if you will recall and examine them. They\nare: that man shall act in freedom according to reason (of this law\nabove, nn. 71-79); that he shall not be forced by external means to think\nand will, thus to believe and love what is of religion, but bring himself\nand sometimes compel himself to do so (nn. 129-153); that there is no\nsuch thing as one's own prudence, but there only appears to be and it\nshould so appear, but divine providence is universal from being in the\nleast things (nn. 191-213); divine providence looks to what is eternal,\nand to the temporal only as this makes one with the eternal (nn.\n214-220); man is not admitted inwardly into truths of faith and goods of\ncharity except as he can be kept in them to the close of life (nn.\n221-233).\n\n[3] That the laws of divine providence are the causes of tolerance will\nalso be evident from the following, for one thing from this: evils are\ntolerated because of the end, which is salvation. Again from this: that\ndivine providence is continual with the wicked as well as with the good.\nAnd finally from this: the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His\ndivine providence because to do so would be to act contrary to His divine\nlove and wisdom, thus contrary to Himself. Brought together, these laws\ncan make the causes manifest why impieties are tolerated by the Lord and\nare not punished while they exist in the thought only and rarely, too,\nwhile they exist in intention, thus in the will but not in act. Yet its\nown punishment follows every evil; it is as if its punishment were\ninscribed on an evil, and the impious man suffers it after death.\n\n[4] These considerations also explain the next point, listed at n. 237:\n_The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself still more against\ndivine providence when he sees plots, schemes and frauds succeed even\nagainst the devout, just and sincere, and injustice triumph over justice\nin the courts and in business._ All the laws of divine providence have\nrequirements; and as they are the causes why such things are permitted,\nit is plain that for man to live as a human being and be reformed and\nsaved, these things can be removed from him by the Lord only through\nmeans. The Word and, in particular, the precepts of the Decalog are the\nmeans with those who acknowledge all kinds of murder, adultery, theft and\nfalse witness to be sins. With those who do not acknowledge such things\nas sins, they are removed by means of the civil laws and fear of their\npenalties and by means also of the moral laws and fear of disrepute and\nconsequent loss of standing and wealth. By the latter means the Lord\nleads the evil, but only away from doing such things, not from thinking\nand willing them. But by the former means He leads the good, not only\naway from doing them, but from thinking and willing them, too.\n\n250. _The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against divine\nprovidence on seeing the impious advanced to honors and becoming leaders\nin the state and in the church, abounding, too, in riches and living in\nluxury and magnificence, and on the other hand sees worshipers of God\ndespised and poor._ A worshiper of self and of nature believes that\nstanding and riches are the greatest and the one felicity possible, thus\nfelicity itself. If he has some thought of God as a result of worship\nbegun in childhood, he calls them divine blessings, and as long as he is\nnot elated by them he thinks that there is a God and worships Him. But in\nthe worship there lurks a desire, of which he is unaware then, to be\nadvanced by God to still higher standing and to still greater wealth. If\nhe attains them, his worship tends more and more to externalities until\nit slips away and at last he makes little account of God and denies Him.\nThe same thing occurs if he is cast down from the standing and loses the\nriches on which he has set his heart. What, then, are standing and riches\nto the wicked but stumbling blocks?\n\n[2] To the good they are not, for these do not set their heart on them,\nbut on the uses or goods for rendering which standing and wealth serve as\nmeans. Hence only a worshiper of self and of nature can confirm himself\nagainst divine providence because the impious are advanced to honors and\nbecome leaders in the state and in the church. Moreover, what is greater\nor less standing, or greater or less wealth? Is this not in itself\nimaginary? Is one person more blessed and happier than another for it? Is\na great man's standing, or even a king's or an emperor's, not regarded in\na year's time as a commonplace, no longer exalting his heart with joy but\nquite possibly becoming worthless to him? Have those with standing a\nlarger measure of happiness than those with little standing or even the\nleast standing, like farmers and their hands? May not these enjoy more\nhappiness when it is well with them and they are content with their lot?\nWhat is more unquiet at heart, more often provoked, or more violently\nenraged than self-love? It happens as often as it is not honored to suit\nthe haughtiness of its heart or as something does not succeed at its beck\nand wish. What, then, is standing except an idea, unless it attaches to\nthe office or the use? Can the idea exist in any other thought than\nthought about self and the world, and does it not really mean that the\nworld is all and eternity nothing?\n\n[3] Something shall be said now why divine providence permits the impious\nat heart to be promoted to standing and to acquire wealth. The impious or\nthe evil can render services as well as the pious or good, indeed with\nmore fire, for they regard themselves in the use and their standing as\nthe use. As self-love mounts, therefore, the lust of doing service for\none's glory is fired. There is no such fire with the devout or good\nunless it is kindled incidentally to their standing. Therefore the Lord\ngoverns the impious at heart who have standing by their desire for a name\nand arouses them to perform uses to the community or their country, their\nsociety or city, and their fellow citizen or neighbor. With such persons\nthis is the Lord's government which is called divine providence, for the\nLord's kingdom is one of uses, and where only a few perform uses for\nuses' sake providence brings it about that worshipers of self are raised\nto higher offices, in which each is incited by his love to do good.\n\n[4] Suppose an infernal kingdom in the world (though there is none) where\nself-love alone rules, which is itself the devil, would not everyone\nperform uses with the zeal of self-love and for the enhancement of his\nglory more than in another kingdom? The public good is borne on the lips\nof them all, but their own benefit in the heart. And as each relies on\nwhat rules him in order to become greater, and aspires to be greatest,\nhow can he see that God exists? A smoke like that of a conflagration\nenvelops him through which no spiritual truth can pass with its light. I\nhave seen that smoke around the hells of such men. Light a lamp and\ninquire how many in present-day kingdoms aspire to eminence who are not\nloves of self and the world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are\nloves of God, among whom, moreover, only a few aspire to eminence? Since\nso few are loves of God and so many are loves of self and the world and\nsince the latter perform more uses by their ardor, how can one confirm\nhimself against divine providence because the evil surpass the good in\neminence and opulence?\n\n[5] This is borne out also by these words of the Lord:\n\nThe lord praised the unjust steward because he had acted prudently; for\nthe sons of this age are more prudent in their generation than the sons\nof light in their generation. So I say to you, Make friends for\nyourselves of the unjust mammon that when you fail they may receive you\ninto eternal habitations (Lu 16:8, 9).\n\nThe meaning in the sense of the letter is plain. But in the spiritual\nsense by the \"mammon of injustice\" are meant knowledges of good and truth\nwhich the evil possess and employ solely to acquire standing and wealth\nfor themselves. It is of these knowledges that the good or the children\nof light are to make friends for themselves and it is these knowledges\nthat will conduct them into eternal homes. The Lord also teaches that\nmany are loves of self and the world, and few are loves of God, in these\nwords:\n\nWide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leads to destruction, and\nmany there be who enter it, but narrow and strait is the way which leads\nto life, and there are few who find it (Mt 7:13, 14).\n\nIt may be seen above (n. 217) that eminence and riches are either curses\nor blessings, and with whom they are the one or the other.\n\n251. _The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against divine\nprovidence when he reflects that wars are permitted and the slaughter in\nthem of so many men and the plundering of their wealth._ It is not by\ndivine providence that wars occur, for they entail murder, plunder,\nviolence, cruelty, and other terrible evils which are diametrically\nopposed to Christian charity. Yet they cannot but be permitted because\nthe life's love of mankind, since the time of the most ancient people,\nmeant by Adam and his wife (n. 241), has become such that it wants to\nrule over others and finally over all, and also to possess the wealth of\nthe world and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept in\nfetters, for it is according to divine providence that everyone is\nallowed to act in freedom in accordance with reason, as may be seen above\n(nn. 71-97); and apart from permissions man cannot be led from evil by\nthe Lord and consequently cannot be reformed and saved. For unless evils\nwere allowed to break out, man would not see them, therefore would not\nacknowledge them, and thus could not be induced to resist them. Evils\ncannot be repressed, therefore, by any act of providence; if they were,\nthey would remain shut in, and like a disease such as cancer and\ngangrene, would spread and consume everything vital in man.\n\n[2] For from birth man is like a little hell between which and heaven\nthere is perpetual discord. No one can be withdrawn from his hell by the\nLord unless he sees he is in it and desires to be led out of it. This\ncannot be done apart from tolerations the causes of which are laws of\ndivine providence. As a result, minor and major wars occur, the minor\nbetween owners of estates and their neighbors, and the major between\nsovereigns of kingdoms and their neighbors. Except for size the only\ndifference is that the minor conflicts are held within limits by a\ncountry's laws and the major by the law of nations; each may wish to\ntransgress its laws, but the minor cannot, and while the major can, still\nthe possibility has limits.\n\n[3] Hidden in the stores of divine wisdom are several causes why the\nmajor wars of kings and rulers, involving murder, looting, violence and\ncruelty as they do, are not prevented by the Lord, either at their\nbeginning or during their course, only finally when the power of one or\nthe other has been so reduced that he is in danger of annihilation. Some\nof the causes have been revealed to me and among them is this: all wars,\nalthough they are civil in character, represent in heaven states of the\nchurch and are correspondences. The wars described in the Word were all\nof this character; so are all wars at this day. Those in the Word are the\nwars which the children of Israel waged with various nations, Amorites,\nMoabites, Philistines, Syrians, Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians.\nMoreover, it was when the children of Israel, who represented the church,\ndeparted from their precepts and statutes and fell into evils represented\nby other peoples (for each nation with which the children of Israel waged\nwar represented a particular evil), that they were punished by that\nnation. For instance, when they profaned the sanctities of the church by\nfoul idolatries they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans because\nAssyria and Chaldea signify the profanation of what is holy. What was\nsignified by the wars with the Philistines may be seen in _Doctrine of\nthe New Jerusalem about Faith_ (nn. 50-54).\n\n[4] Wars at the present day, wherever they may occur, represent similar\nthings. For all things which occur in the natural world correspond to\nspiritual things in the spiritual world, and all spiritual things are\nrelated to the church. It is not known in the world which kingdoms in\nChristendom represent the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Syrians, the\nPhilistines, the Chaldeans and the Assyrians or others, with whom the\nchildren of Israel waged war; yet there are nations that do so. Moreover,\nthe condition of the church on earth and what the evils are into which it\nfalls and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be seen at all in the\nnatural world, for only externals are manifest here and these do not\nconstitute the church. This is seen, however, in the spiritual world\nwhere internal conditions appear and in these the church itself consists.\nThere all are united according to their various states. Conflicts between\nthem correspond to wars, which on both sides are governed by the Lord\ncorrespondentially in accordance with His divine providence.\n\n[5] The spiritual man acknowledges that wars on earth are ruled by the\nLord's divine providence. The natural man does not, except that at a\ncelebration of a victory he may thank God on his knees for having given\nthe victory, and except for a few words on going into battle. But when he\nreturns into himself he ascribes the victory either to the prudence of\nthe general or to some counsel or incident in the midst of the fighting\nwhich escaped notice and yet decided the victory.\n\n[6] It may be seen above (n. 212) that divine providence, which is called\nfortune, is in the least things, even in trivial ones, and if you\nacknowledge divine providence in these you will certainly do so in the\nissues of war. Success and happy conduct of war, moreover, are in common\nparlance called the fortune of war, and this is divine providence, to be\nfound especially in a general's judgments and plans, although he may at\nthe time and also afterwards ascribe all to his own prudence. This he may\ndo if he will, for he has full freedom to think in favor of divine\nprovidence or against it, indeed in favor of God or against Him; but let\nhim know that no judgment or plan is from himself; it comes either from\nheaven or from hell, from hell by permission, from heaven by providence.\n\n252. _A worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against divine\nprovidence when he thinks, as he sees it, that victories are on the side\nof prudence and not always on the side of justice, and that it is\nimmaterial whether a commander is upright or not._ Victories seem to be\non the side of prudence and not always on the side of justice, because\nman judges by the appearance and favors one side more than the other and\ncan by reasoning confirm what he favors. Nor does he know that the\njustice of a cause is spiritual in heaven and natural in the world, as\nwas said just above, and that the two are united in a connection of\nthings past and of things to come, known only to the Lord.\n\n[2] It is immaterial whether the commander is an upright man or not\nbecause, as was established above (n. 250), the evil as well as the good\nperform uses, and by their zeal more ardently than the good. This is so\nespecially in war because the evil man is more crafty and cunning in\ndevising schemes than a good man, and in his love of glory takes pleasure\nin killing and plundering those whom he knows and declares to be the\nenemy. The good man has prudence and zeal for defense and rarely for\nattacking. This is much the same as it is with spirits of hell and angels\nof heaven; the spirits of hell attack and the angels of heaven defend\nthemselves. Hence comes this conclusion that it is allowable for one to\ndefend his country and his fellow-citizens against invading enemies even\nby iniquitous commanders, but not allowable to make oneself an enemy\nwithout cause. To have the seeking of glory for cause is in itself\ndiabolical, for it comes of self-love.\n\n253. The points made above (n. 237) by which the merely natural man\nconfirms himself against divine providence have now been explained. The\npoints which follow (n. 238) about the varieties of religion in many\nnations, which also serve the merely natural man for arguments against\ndivine providence, are to be clarified next. For the merely natural man\nsays in his heart, How can so many discordant religions exist instead of\none world-wide and true religion when (as was shown above, nn. 27-45)\ndivine providence has a heaven from mankind for its purpose? But pray,\nlisten: all human beings who are born, however numerous and of whatever\nreligion, can be saved if only they acknowledge God and live according to\nthe precepts of the Decalog, which forbid committing murder, adultery,\ntheft, and false witness because to do such things is contrary to\nreligion and therefore contrary to God. Such persons fear God and love\nthe neighbor. They fear God inasmuch as they think that to do such things\nis to act against God, and they love the neighbor because to murder,\ncommit adultery, steal, bear false witness and covet the neighbor's house\nor wife is to act against one's neighbor. Heeding God in their lives and\ndoing no evil to the neighbor, they are led by the Lord, and those whom\nHe leads are also taught about God and the neighbor in accordance with\ntheir religion, for those who live in this way love to be taught, but\nthose living otherwise have no such desire. Loving to be taught, they are\nalso instructed by angels after death when they become spirits, and\nwillingly receive such truths as the Word contains. Something about them\nmay be seen in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture_\n(nn. 91-97 and 104-113).\n\n254. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nwhen he observes the religious conditions in various nations and notes\nthat some people are totally ignorant of God, some worship the sun and\nmoon, and some worship idols and graven images._ Those who argue from\nthese facts against divine providence are ignorant of the arcana of\nheaven; these arcana are innumerable and man is acquainted with hardly\nany of them. Among them is this: man is not taught from heaven directly\nbut mediately (this may be seen treated above, nn. 154-174). Because he\nis taught mediately, and the Gospel could not through the medium of\nmissionaries reach all who dwell in the world, but religion could be\nspread in various ways to inhabitants of the remote corners of the earth,\nthis has been effected by divine providence. For a knowledge of religion\ndoes not come to a man from himself, but through another who has either\nlearned it from the Word or by tradition from others who have learned it,\nfor instance that God is, heaven and hell exist, there is a life after\ndeath, and God must be worshiped for man to be blessed.\n\n[2] See in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture_ (nn.\n101-103) that religion spread throughout the world from the Ancient Word\nand afterwards from the Israelitish Word, and (nn. 114-118) that unless\nthere had been a Word no one could have known about God, heaven and hell,\nlife after death, and still less about the Lord. Once a religion is\nestablished in a nation the Lord leads that nation according to the\nprecepts and tenets of its own religion, and He has provided that there\nshould be precepts in every religion like those in the Decalog, that God\nshould be worshiped, His name not be profaned, a holy day be observed,\nthat parents be honored, murder, adultery and theft not be committed, and\nfalse witness not be spoken. A nation that regards these precepts as\ndivine and lives according to them in religion's name is saved, as was\njust said (n. 253). Most nations remote from Christendom regard these\nlaws not as civil but as divine, and hold them sacred. See in _Doctrine\nof the New Jerusalem [about Life] from the Precepts of the Decalog,_ from\nbeginning to end, that a man is saved by a life according to these\nprecepts.\n\n[3] Also among the arcana of heaven is this: in the Lord's sight the\nangelic heaven is like one man whose soul and life is the Lord. In each\nparticular of his form this divine man is man, not only as to the\nexternal members and organs but as to the more numerous internal members\nand organs, also as to the skins, membranes, cartilages and bones; but in\nthat man all these, both external and internal, are not material but\nspiritual. Further, the Lord has provided that those who cannot be\nreached by the Gospel but only by some form of religion shall also have a\nplace in this divine man, that is, in heaven, by constituting the parts\ncalled skins, membranes, cartilages and bones, and like others should be\nin heavenly joy. For it does not matter whether their joy is that of the\nangels of the highest heaven or of the lowest heaven, for everyone\nentering heaven comes into the highest joy of his own heart; joy higher\nstill he does not endure; he would suffocate in it.\n\n[4] A peasant and a king may serve for comparison. A peasant may reach\nthe height of joy when he steps out in a new suit of homespun wool or\nseats himself at a table with pork, a piece of beef, cheese, beer and\nfiery wine on it. He would feel constricted at heart if he was clothed\nlike a king in purple, silk, gold and silver, or if a table was set for\nhim on which were delicacies and costly viands of many kinds with noble\nwine. It is plain from this that the last as well as the first find\nheavenly happiness, each in his measure, those outside Christendom also,\ntherefore, provided they shun evils as sins against God because these are\ncontrary to religion.\n\n[5] Few are entirely ignorant of God. If they have lived a moral life\nthey are instructed after death by angels and receive what is spiritual\nin their moral life (see _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred\nScripture,_ n. 116). The same is true of those who worship sun and moon,\nbelieving that God is there. They know no better, therefore it is not\nimputed to them as a sin, for the Lord says,\n\nIf you were blind (that is, if you did not know), you would have no sin\n(Jn 9:41).\n\nBut there are many who worship idols and graven images even in the\nChristian world. This, to be sure, is idolatrous, yet not with all. There\nare those for whom graven images serve as a means of exciting thought\nabout God, for by an influx from heaven one who acknowledges God desires\nto see Him, and these, unable to raise the mind above the sensuous as\nthose do who are inwardly spiritual, rouse it by means of statue or\nimage. Those who do so and do not worship the image itself as God are\nsaved if they also live by the precepts of the Decalog from religious\nprinciple.\n\n[6] It is plain, then, that as the Lord desires the salvation of all, He\nhas also provided that everyone who lives well may have a place in\nheaven. See in the work _Heaven and Hell,_ published at London, 1758 (nn.\n59-102 ), in _Arcana Caelestia_ (nn. 5552-5569) and above (nn. 201-204)\nthat heaven in the Lord's sight is like one man; that heaven accordingly\ncorresponds to each and all things in man; and that there are also those\nwho represent skin, membranes, cartilages and bones.\n\n255. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nwhen he sees the Mohammedan religion accepted by so many empires and\nkingdoms._ The fact that this form of religion is accepted by more\nkingdoms than Christianity is may be a stumbling-block to those who give\nthought to divine providence and at the same time believe that no one can\nbe saved unless he has been born a Christian, thus where the Word is, by\nwhich the Lord is known. That form of religion is no stumbling-block,\nhowever, to those who believe that all things are of divine providence.\nThese ask in what the providence consists and find it is in this, that\nMohammedanism, acknowledges the Lord as Son of God, the wisest of men and\na very great prophet who came into the world to teach men; most\nMohammedans consider Him to be greater than Mohammed.\n\n[2] That form of religion was called forth in the divine providence to\ndestroy the idolatries of many nations. To make this fully known we will\npursue some order; first, something on the origin of idolatries.\nPreviously to that form of religion the worship of idols was general in\nthe world. This was because the churches before the Lord's advent were\nall representative churches. The Israelitish church was of this\ncharacter. In it the tabernacle, Aaron's garments, the sacrifices, all\nthings of the temple in Jerusalem, the statutes also, were\nrepresentative. Moreover, the ancients had a knowledge of\ncorrespondences, which is the knowledge of representations--it was the\nchief knowledge of their wise men. This knowledge was cultivated\nespecially in Egypt and was the origin of Egyptian hieroglyphics. By that\nknowledge the ancients knew what animals of every kind signified and what\ntrees of every kind signified, as they did what mountains, hills, rivers\nand fountains signified, as well as sun, moon and stars. As all their\nworship was representative, consisting of sheer correspondences, they\nworshiped on mountains and hills and in groves and gardens, regarded\nfountains as sacred, and in adoration of God faced the rising sun.\nFurthermore, they made graven images of horses, oxen, calves and lambs,\nand of birds, fish and serpents, and placed them in their houses and\nelsewhere, arranged according to the spiritual things of the church to\nwhich they corresponded or which they represented. They placed similar\nobjects in their temples, too, to put them in mind of the holy things\nthey signified.\n\n[3] Later, when the knowledge of correspondences had been lost, their\nposterity began to worship the graven images themselves, as holy in\nthemselves, not knowing that their forefathers had seen no holiness in\nthem, but only that they represented holy things by correspondences and\nthus signified them. So arose the idolatries which filled the whole\nworld, Africa and Europe as well as Asia with its adjacent islands. In\norder that all these idolatries might be uprooted, of the Lord's divine\nprovidence it was brought about that a new religion, adapted to the\ngenius of Orientals, should start up, in which there would be something\nfrom each Testament of the Word, and which would teach that the Lord had\ncome into the world and was a very great prophet, wisest of all, and Son\nof God. This was done through Mohammed, from whom the religion is called\nthe Mohammedan religion.\n\n[4] Of the Lord's divine providence this religion was raised up and, as\nwe said, adapted to the genius of Orientals, in order that it might\ndestroy the idolatries of so many peoples and give them some knowledge of\nthe Lord before they passed into the spiritual world. This religion would\nnot have been accepted by so many kingdoms or had the power to uproot\nidolatries, had it not suited and met the ideas and thinking of them all.\nIt did not acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and earth, for the\nOrientals acknowledged God the Creator of the universe, but could not\ncomprehend that He came into the world and assumed human nature, quite as\nChristians do not comprehend this, who therefore separate His divine from\nHis humanity in their thinking and place His divine near the Father in\nheaven and His humanity they know not where.\n\n[5] Hence it may be seen that the Mohammedan religion arose under the\nLord's divine providence and that all adherents of it who acknowledge the\nLord as Son of God and live according to the precepts of the Decalog,\nwhich they also have, shunning evils as sins, come into a heaven called\nthe Mohammedan heaven. This heaven, like others, is divided into three,\nthe highest, middle and lowest. Those who acknowledge the Lord to be one\nwith the Father and thus the one God are in the highest heaven; in the\nnext heaven are those who renounce a plurality of wives and live with\none; and in the lowest are those who are being initiated. More about this\nreligion may be seen in _Continuation about the Last Judgment and the\nSpiritual World_ (nn. 68-72), where the Mohammedans and Mohammed are\ntreated of.\n\n256. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nwhen he sees that the Christian religion exists only in a small part of\nthe habitable world, called Europe, and there is divided._ The Christian\nreligion exists only in the small part of the habitable world called\nEurope because it was not adapted to the genius of Orientals as was a\nmixed one like the Mohammedan religion, as was just shown; and an\nunadapted religion is not received. For example, a religion which ordains\nthat it is unlawful to take more than one wife is not received but\nrejected by those who for ages have been polygamists. This is true of\nother ordinances of the Christian religion.\n\n[2] Nor is it material whether a smaller or a larger part of the world\nhas received this religion, as long as there are people with whom the\nWord is. For those who are outside the church and do not possess the Word\nstill have light from it, as was shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem\nabout Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 104-113. It is a marvel that where the Word\nis reverently read and the Lord is worshiped from it, He is present with\nheaven. The reason is that He is the Word and the Word is divine truth\nwhich makes heaven. The Lord therefore says:\n\nWhere two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of\nthem (Mt 18:20).\n\nEuropeans can bring this about with the Word in many parts of the\nhabitable globe, for they trade the world over and read or teach the Word\neverywhere. This seems like fiction and yet is true.\n\n[3] The Christian religion is divided because it is from the Word and the\nWord is written in sheer correspondences and these in large part are\nappearances of truth in which, nevertheless, genuine truths lie\nconcealed. As a church's doctrine is to be drawn from the sense of the\nletter of the Word which is of this character, disputes, controversies\nand dissensions were bound to arise over the understanding of the Word,\nbut not over the Word itself or the Divine itself of the Lord. For it is\nacknowledged everywhere that the Word is holy and that the Lord possesses\nthe divine, and these two are essentials of the church. Those, therefore,\nwho deny the Divine of the Lord and are called Socinians have been\nexcommunicated from the church, and those who deny the holiness of the\nWord are not regarded as Christians.\n\n[4] To this let me add a remarkable item about the Word from which one\nmay conclude that inwardly the Word is divine truth itself and inmostly\nthe Lord. When a spirit opens the Word and touches his face or dress with\nit, just from the contact his face or garment shines as brightly as the\nmoon or a star, in the sight of all, too, whom he meets. It is evidence\nthat there is nothing holier in the world than the Word.\n\nThat the Word is written throughout in correspondences may be seen in\n_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 5-26; that\nthe church's doctrine is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the\nWord and confirmed thereby, nn. 50-61; that heresies can be wrested from\nthe sense of the letter of the Word, but that it is harmful to confirm\nthem, nn. 91-97; that the church is from the Word and is such as is its\nunderstanding of the Word, nn. 76-79.\n\n257. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nbecause in many kingdoms where the Christian religion is accepted there\nare those who arrogate divine power to themselves, want to be worshiped\nas gods, and also invoke dead men._ To be sure, they say that they have\nnot arrogated divine power to themselves and do not wish to be worshiped\nas gods. Yet they say that they can open and close heaven, remit and\nretain sins, and so save and condemn men, and this is what is divine\nitself. Divine providence has no other purpose than reformation and hence\nsalvation; this is its unceasing activity with everyone. And salvation\ncan be effected only by acknowledgment of the divine of the Lord and by\nconfidence that He brings salvation as man lives according to His\ncommandments.\n\n[2] Who cannot see that the usurpation of divine power is the Babylon\ndescribed in the Apocalypse and the Babel spoken of here and there in the\nProphets? It is also Lucifer in Isaiah 14, as is plain from verses 4 and\n22 of that chapter, where are the words:\n\nYou shall speak this parable about the king of Babel (verse 4);\n\n(Then), I will cut off the name and remnant of Babel (verse 22);\n\nit is plain from this that this Babel is Lucifer, of whom it is said:\n\nHow you have fallen from heaven, 0 Lucifer, son of the morning! ... For\nyou have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my\nthrone above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the\ncongregation, at the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights\nof the clouds; I will be like the Most High (Isa 14:12-14).\n\nIt is well known that the same persons invoke the dead and pray to them\nfor help. We make the assertion because such invocation was established\nby a papal bull, confirming the decree of the Council of Trent, in which\nit is openly said that the dead are to be invoked. Yet who does not know\nthat only God is to be invoked, and not any dead person?\n\n[3] It shall be told now why the Lord has permitted such things. Can one\ndeny that He has done so for the sake of the end in view, namely\nsalvation? For men know that there is no salvation without the Lord.\nTherefore it was necessary that the Lord should be preached from the Word\nand that the Christian Church should be established by this means. This\ncould be done, however, only by leaders who would act with zeal and no\nothers offered than those who burned with zeal out of self-love. At first\nthis fire aroused them to preach the Lord and teach the Word. From this\ntheir first state Lucifer is called \"the son of the morning\" (14:12).\nBut as they saw that they could dominate by means of the sanctities of\nthe Word and the church, the self-love by which they were first aroused\nto preach the Lord broke out from within and finally exalted itself to\nsuch a height that they transferred all the Lord's divine power to\nthemselves, leaving Him none.\n\n[4] This could not be prevented by the Lord's divine providence, for if\nit had been they would have declared that the Lord is not God and that\nthe Word is not sacred and would have made themselves Socinians and\nArians, so would have destroyed the whole church. But, whatever its\nrulers are, the church continues among the people submissive to them. For\nall in this religion who approach the Lord and shun evils as sins are\nsaved; therefore many heavenly societies are formed from them in the\nspiritual world. It has also been provided that there should be a nation\namong them that has not bowed to the yoke of such domination and that\nregards the Word as holy; this noble nation is the French nation.\n\n[5] But what was done? When self-love exalted its dominion even to the\nLord's throne, removing Him and setting itself on it, that love, which is\nLucifer, could not but have profaned all things of the Word and the\nchurch. Lest this should happen, the Lord in His divine providence took\ncare that they should recede from worship of Him, invoke the dead, pray\nto graven images of the dead, kiss their bones and kneel at their tombs,\nshould ban the reading of the Word, appoint holy worship in masses not\nunderstood by the common people, and sell salvation for money. For if\nthey had not done this, they would have profaned the sanctities of the\nWord and the church. For, as was shown in the preceding section, only\nthose profane holy things who know them.\n\n[6] Lest, too, they should profane the most Holy Supper it is of the\nLord's divine providence that they divide it, giving the bread to the\npeople and drinking the wine themselves. For the wine of the Supper\nsignifies holy truth and the bread holy good; but divided the wine\nsignifies truth profaned and the bread good adulterated. It is also of\nthe Lord's divine providence that they should render the Holy Supper\ncorporeal and material and give it the prime place in religion. Anyone\nwho gives these particulars his attention and reflects on them in some\nenlightenment of his mind can see the amazing action of divine providence\nfor the protection of the sanctities of the church and for the salvation\nof all who can be saved and are ready to be snatched from the fire, so to\nspeak, from which they must be snatched.\n\n258. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nbecause some among those who profess the Christian religion place\nsalvation in certain phrases which they are to think and speak and not at\nall in good works which they are to do._ We showed in _Doctrine of the\nNew Jerusalem about Faith_ that these are such as make faith alone saving\nand not the life of charity, thus such as separate faith from charity. It\nwas also shown that these are meant in the Word by \"Philistines,\"\n\"dragon\" and \"goats.\"\n\n[2] That such doctrine has been permitted is also of divine providence\nlest the divine of the Lord and the sanctity of the Word should be\nprofaned. The divine of the Lord is not profaned when salvation is placed\nin these words: That God the Father may have mercy for the sake of the\nSon, who suffered the Cross and made satisfaction for us. For men do not\nthen address the divine of the Lord but have in mind His human nature,\nwhich they do not acknowledge to be divine. Nor do they profane the Word,\nfor they do not attend to the passages in which love, charity, deeds and\nworks are mentioned. All this, they say, is involved in the faith\nexpressed in the saying quoted. Those who confirm this tell themselves,\n\"The law does not condemn me, neither then does evil, and good does not\nsave because good done by me is not good.\" They are therefore like those\nwho do not know any truth from the Word and consequently cannot profane\nit. Only those confirm the faith expressed in that saying who from\nself-love are in the pride of their own intelligence. Nor are these\nChristians at heart; they only desire to be looked on as such.\n\n[3] It shall now be shown that the Lord's divine providence is\nnevertheless acting constantly to save those with whom faith separated\nfrom charity has become an article of religion. Although this faith has\nbecome an article of their religion, by the Lord's divine providence each\nknows that it is not faith that saves, but a life of charity with which\nfaith makes one. For all churches in which that religion is accepted also\nteach that there is no salvation unless man examines himself, sees and\nacknowledges his sins, repents, desists from them, and begins a new life.\nThis is read out with much zeal in the presence of all who come to the\nHoly Supper. In addition they are told that unless they do so, they\nmingle the holy with the profane and cast themselves into eternal\ncondemnation. Indeed, in England they are told that unless they do so the\ndevil will enter them as he did Judas and destroy them soul and body. It\nis plain, then, that everyone in the churches in which faith alone is\naccepted is nevertheless taught that evils are to be shunned as sins.\n\n[4] Furthermore, everyone who is born a Christian is aware that evils are\nto be shunned as sins because the Decalog is put into the hands of every\nboy and girl and is taught by parents and teachers. The citizens of a\nkingdom and especially the common people are examined by the priest on\nthe Decalog alone, which is recited from memory, for what they know of\nthe Christian religion, and are also admonished to do what is commanded\nin it. At such times they are not told by the priest that they are not\nunder the yoke of that law, or that they cannot do what is commanded\nbecause they cannot do anything good of themselves. Again, the Athanasian\nCreed has been accepted throughout the Christian world and what is said\nat its close is also acknowledged, namely, that the Lord will come to\njudge the living and the dead, and then those who have done good will\nenter everlasting life and those who have done evil will enter\neverlasting fire.\n\n[5] In Sweden, where the religion of faith alone has been received, it is\nalso plainly taught that faith is impossible apart from charity or good\nworks. This is pointed out in an Appendix on things to be remembered,\ninserted in all copies of the Psalms, and called \"Impediments or\nStumbling Blocks of the Impenitent\" (Obotferdigas Foerhinder), where are\nthese words,\n\nThose who are rich in good works thereby show that they are rich in\nfaith, because when faith is saving it acts through charity. For\njustifying faith is never found alone and separate from good works, quite\nas no good tree is without fruit, nor the sun without light and heat, nor\nwater without moisture.\n\n[6] These items have been adduced to make known that although a religious\nformula about faith alone has been accepted, nevertheless goods of\ncharity, which are good works, are taught everywhere and that this is by\nthe Lord's divine providence, lest the common people be led astray by the\nformula. I have heard Luther, with whom I have spoken at times in the\nspiritual world, execrate faith alone and heard him say that when he\nestablished it he was warned by an angel of the Lord not to do it; but\nthat he thought to himself that if he did not reject works, separation\nfrom Catholicism would not be accomplished. Therefore, contrary to the\nwarning, he established that faith.\n\n259. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nin that there have been so many heresies in Christendom and still are,\nsuch as Quakerism, Moravianism, Anabaptism, and more._ For he may think\nto himself, If divine providence is universal in the least things and has\nthe salvation of all for its object, it would have seen to it that one\ntrue religion should exist on the globe, not one divided and, still less,\none torn by heresies. But use reason and think more deeply if you can.\nCan man be saved without being reformed first? For he is born into love\nof self and the world, and as these loves do not have any love of God and\nthe neighbor in them except for the sake of self, he is also born into\nevils of every kind. Is there love or mercy in those loves? Does the man\nmake anything of defrauding or defaming or hating another even to death,\nor of committing adultery with his wife, or of being cruel to him out of\nrevenge, the while having the desire in mind to get the upper hand of all\nand to possess the goods of all others, thus regarding others in\ncomparison with himself as insignificant and of little worth? To be\nsaved, must he not first be led away from these evils and thus be\nreformed? As has been shown above in many places, this can be\naccomplished only in accordance with many laws of divine providence. For\nthe most part these laws are unknown and yet they come of divine wisdom\nand at the same time of divine love, and the Lord cannot act contrary to\nthem, for to do so would result in destroying man, not in saving him.\n\n[2] Look over the laws which have been set forth, bring them together,\nand you will see. According to those laws there is no direct influx from\nheaven but one mediated by the Word, doctrine and preaching; and since\nthe Word, to be divine, had to be composed wholly in correspondences,\ninevitably there are dissensions and heresies. The tolerance of them is\nalso in accord with the laws of divine providence. Furthermore, when the\nchurch itself has taken for essentials what pertains only to the\nunderstanding, that is, to doctrine, and not what pertains to the will,\nthat is, to life, and what pertains to life is not made the essentials of\na church, then man is in complete darkness for understanding and wanders\nlike one blind, striking against things constantly and falling into pits.\nFor the will must see in the understanding and not the understanding in\nthe will, or what is the same, the life and its love must lead the\nunderstanding to think, speak and act, and not the reverse. Were the\nreverse true, the understanding might out of an evil and even diabolical\nlove seize on what comes by the senses and demand that the will do it.\nWhat has been said may show whence dissensions and heresies come.\n\n[3] Yet it has been provided that everyone, in whatever heresy he may be\nintellectually, may still be reformed and saved if he shuns evils as sins\nand does not confirm heretical falsities in himself. For by shunning\nevils as sins the will is reformed and through it the understanding is,\nwhich emerges for the first time then out of obscurity into light. There\nare three essentials of the church: acknowledgment of the divine of the\nLord, acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, and the life which is\ncalled charity. Everyone's faith is according to the life which is\ncharity; from the Word he has a rational perception of what life should\nbe; and from the Lord he has reformation and salvation. Had these three\nbeen regarded as the church's essentials, intellectual differences would\nnot have divided it but only varied it as light varies colors in\nbeautiful objects and as various insignia of royalty give beauty to a\nking's crown.\n\n260. _The merely natural man confirms himself against divine providence\nin that Judaism still continues._ That is, after all these centuries the\nJews have not been converted although they live among Christians and do\nnot, in keeping with prophecies in the Word, confess the Lord and\nacknowledge Him to be the Messiah, who, as they think, was to lead them\nback to the land of Canaan; but they steadfastly persist in denying Him\nand yet it is well with them. Those who take this view, however, and thus\ncall divine providence in question, do not know that by Jews in the Word\nall who are of the church and acknowledge the Lord are meant, and by the\nland of Canaan, into which it is said that they are to be led, the Lord's\nchurch is meant.\n\n[2] But the Jews persist in denying the Lord because they are such that,\nif they received and acknowledged the divine of the Lord and the holy\nthings of His church, they would profane them. Therefore the Lord said of\nthem:\n\nHe has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not\nsee with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted,\nand I should heal them (Jn 12:40; Mt 13:14; Mk 4:12; Lu 8:10; Isa 6:9,\n10).\n\nIt is said, \"lest they should be converted, and I should heal them\"\nbecause if they had been converted and healed they would have committed\nprofanation, and according to the law of divine providence treated above\n(nn. 221-233) no one is admitted interiorly into truths of faith and\ngoods of charity by the Lord except so far as he can be kept in them to\nthe close of life; were he admitted, he would profane what is holy.\n\n[3] This nation has been preserved and dispersed over much of the earth\nfor the sake of the Word in its original language, which they hold more\nsacred than Christians do. The Lord's divine is in every particular of\nthe Word, for it is divine truth joined with divine good coming from the\nLord. By it the Lord is united with the church, and heaven is present, as\nwas shown in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture_ (nn.\n62-69). The Lord and heaven are present wherever the Word is read as\nsacred. This is the end which divine providence has pursued in the\npreservation and in the dispersal of the Jews over much of the world. On\nthe nature of their lot after death see _Continuation about the Last\nJudgment and the Spiritual World_ (nn. 79-82).\n\n261. These then are the objections listed above at n. 238 by which the\nnatural man confirms himself against divine providence, or may do so.\nStill other objections, listed at n. 239, may serve the natural man for\narguments against divine providence; they may occur to the minds of\nothers, too, and excite doubts. They are the following.\n\n262. _Doubt may be raised against divine providence in that the whole of\nChristendom worships one God under three persons, that is, three Gods,\nand has not known hitherto that God is one in person and in essence, in\nwhom is the Trinity, and that this God is the Lord._ One who reasons\nabout divine providence may ask, Are not three persons three Gods if each\nperson by himself is God? Who can think of it otherwise? In fact, who\ndoes? Athanasius himself could not; therefore it is said in the Creed\nwhich bears his name:\n\nAlthough in Christian verity we ought to acknowledge each Person as God\nand Lord, yet by Christian faith it is not allowable to affirm or to name\nthree Gods or three Lords.\n\nThis can only mean that we ought to acknowledge three Gods and Lords, but\nit is not allowable to affirm or name three Gods and three Lords.\n\n[2] Who can possibly have a perception of one God unless He is one in\nperson? If it is said that such a concept is possible if one thinks of\nthe three as having one essence, does one, indeed can one, have any other\nidea than that they are thus of one mind and agree, and yet are three\nGods? Thinking more deeply, one asks oneself, How can the divine essence,\nwhich is infinite, be divided? Further, how can divine essence from\neternity beget another and produce still another who proceeds from them\nboth? It may be said that it is to be believed and not thought about; but\nwho does not think about what he is told must be believed? How else can\nthere be any acknowledgment which in its essence is faith? Was it not\nbecause of the concept of God as three persons that Socinianism and\nArianism arose, which prevail in the hearts of more persons than you\nsuppose? Belief in one God and that this God is the Lord makes the\nchurch, for in Him is the divine trinity. The truth of this may be seen\nin _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord,_ from beginning to end.\n\n[3] But what is thought of the Lord today? Is it not thought that He is\nGod and Man, God from Jehovah the Father of whom He was conceived and Man\nfrom the Virgin Mary from whom He was born? Who thinks that God and Man\nin Him, or His Divine and His Human, are one person, and are one as soul\nand body are? Does anyone know this? Ask the learned in the church and\nthey will say that they have not known it. Yet it is part of the doctrine\nof the church received throughout Christendom, as follows:\n\nOur Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; and although He is\nGod and Man yet there are not two, but there is one Christ. He is one\nbecause the divine took to itself the human; indeed He is altogether one,\nfor He is one Person, since as soul and body make one man, so God and Man\nis one Christ.\n\nThis comes from the Faith or Creed of Athanasius. The learned have not\nknown it because on reading this they have thought of the Lord not as God\nbut only as Man.\n\n[4] When they are asked if they know from whom the Lord was conceived,\nwhether from God the Father or from His own Divine, they reply that He\nwas conceived from God the Father, for this is according to Scripture.\nAre the Father and He not one then, like soul and body? Who can think\nthat He was conceived from two Divines, and if from His own that this was\nHis Father? If you ask them further what their idea of the Lord's Divine\nand of His Human is, they will say that His Divine is from the essence of\nthe Father and His Human from the essence of His mother, and that His\nDivine is with the Father. Then, when they are asked where His Human is,\nthey have no answer, for they separate His Divine and His Human in their\nthinking and make His Divine equal to the Divine of the Father and His\nHuman like the human of another man, unaware that in doing this they\nseparate soul and body; nor do they see the flaw in this, that then a\nrational man would have been born from a mother alone.\n\n[5] As a result of the fixed idea that the Lord's humanity was like that\nof another man, it has come about that a Christian can with difficulty be\nled to think of a Divine Human, even when it is said that the Lord's soul\nor life from conception was and is Jehovah Himself. Now sum up the\nreasons and consider whether there is any other God of the universe than\nthe Lord alone, in whom is the Divine itself, Source of all, called the\nFather; the Divine Human, called the Son; and the proceeding Divine,\ncalled the Holy Spirit; and thus that God is one in person and essence,\nand that this God is the Lord.\n\n[6] You may persist and remark that the Lord Himself spoke of three in\nMatthew:\n\nGo and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the\nFather, the Son and the Holy Spirit (28:19).\n\nBut it is plain from the preceding verse and the one following that the\nLord said this in order to make it known that the Divine Trinity was in\nHim, now glorified. For in the preceding verse He said that all power in\nheaven and on earth was given Him, and in the following verse that He\nwould be with men to the end of the age, speaking of Himself alone and\nnot of three.\n\n[7] Now, why did divine providence permit Christians to worship the one\nGod under three persons, that is, worship three Gods, and not know until\nnow that God is one in essence and person, in whom is the Trinity and\nthat this God is the Lord? Man and not the Lord was the cause. The Lord\nhad taught it plainly in His Word, as is clear from all the passages\ncited in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord,_ and has also\ntaught it in the doctrine of all the churches, in which it is said that\nHis Divine and His Human are not two but one Person united like soul and\nbody.\n\n[8] The first reason why men divided the Divine and the Human and made\nthe Divine equal to the Divine of Jehovah the Father and the Human equal\nto the human of another man, was that the church after its rise fell away\ninto Babylonianism. This took to itself the Lord's divine power, and in\norder that it should be called human and not divine power made the Lord's\nhuman like that of another man. When later the church was reformed and\nfaith alone was received as the one means of salvation--faith that God the\nFather has mercy for the sake of the Son--the Lord's Human could be viewed\nin no other way. For no one can approach the Lord and acknowledge Him at\nheart as God of heaven and earth unless he lives by His precepts. In the\nspiritual world, where everyone is bound to speak as he thinks, no one\ncan so much as mention the name Jesus if he has not lived as a Christian\nin the world; this is by divine providence lest His name be profaned.\n\n263. To make what has just been said clearer I will add what was set\nforth in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (towards the end,\nnn. 60, 61), which is as follows:\n\n\"That God and Man in the Lord, according to the Creed, are not two but\none Person, altogether one as soul and body are, appears clearly in many\nsayings of the Lord, as that the Father and He are one; that all things\nof the Father are His and all His the Father's; that He is in the Father\nand the Father in Him; that all things are given into His hand; that He\nhas all power; that He is God of heaven and earth; that one who believes\non Him has eternal life; and that the wrath of God abides on one who does\nnot believe on Him; and further, that both the Divine and the Human were\ntaken up into heaven; and that as to both He sits at the right hand of\nGod, that is, is almighty; besides the numerous passages in the Word\nabout His Divine Human which were quoted abundantly above. They all\ntestify that God is one both in person and in essence, and in Him is the\nTrinity, and that this God is the Lord.\n\n[2] \"These things about the Lord are published now for the first time\nbecause it is foretold in the Apocalypse, chapters 21 and 22, that at the\nend of the former church a new church is to be established in which this\nwill be the chief doctrine. This church is meant in those chapters by the\nNew Jerusalem into which only one who acknowledges the Lord alone as God\nof heaven and earth can enter; this church is therefore called `the\nLamb's wife'. I can also report that all heaven acknowledges the Lord\nalone and that one who does not is not admitted to heaven, for heaven is\nheaven from the Lord. This very acknowledgment made in love and faith\ncauses men to be in the Lord and Lord in them, as He teaches in John:\n\nIn that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in\nyou (14:20);\n\nagain in the same:\n\nAbide in me, and I in you; ... I am the vine, and you are branches; he\nwho abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can\ndo nothing; unless a man abides in me, he is cast out (15:4-6, also\n17:22, 23).\n\n[3] \"This has not been seen from the Word before, because if it had been,\nit would not have been received. For the last judgment had not been\naccomplished yet, and prior to it the power of hell prevailed over the\npower of heaven. Man is in the midst between heaven and hell; had this\nbeen seen before, therefore, the devil, that is, hell, would have plucked\nit from men's hearts and furthermore would have profaned it. The\npredominance of hell was completely broken by the last judgment which has\nbeen accomplished now; since that judgment, thus today, every man who\nwishes enlightenment and wisdom is able to have it.\"\n\n264. _A doubt may be raised against divine providence in that it has been\nunknown hitherto that in each particular of the Word there is a spiritual\nmeaning from which it has its holiness._ One may raise this doubt about\ndivine providence, asking, \"why has this been revealed for the first time\nnow, and why has it been revealed through any one at all and not through\na church leader?\" But it is at the Lord's good pleasure whether it should\nbe a leader or a leader's servant; He knows the one and the other.\nHowever, that sense of the Word has not been disclosed before because\n1. If it had been, the church would have profaned it and thereby profaned\nthe holiness itself of the Word. 2. Neither were the genuine truths, in\nwhich the spiritual sense of the Word resides, revealed by the Lord until\nthe last judgment was accomplished, and a new church, meant by the Holy\nJerusalem, was about to be established by the Lord. These reasons will be\nexamined separately.\n\n[2] 1. _The spiritual sense of the Word was not disclosed earlier because\nif it had been, the church would have profaned it and thereby would have\nprofaned the holiness itself of the Word._ Not long after it was\nestablished, the church was turned into Babylon, and later into\nPhilistia. Babylon acknowledges the Word, to be sure, and yet esteems it\nlightly, asserting that the Holy Spirit inspires its own highest judgment\njust as much as it did the prophets. They acknowledge the Word for the\nvicarship founded on the Lord's words to Peter, but esteem it lightly\nbecause it does not accord with their teaching. It is therefore taken\nfrom the people also and hidden in monasteries where few read it. If,\ntherefore, the spiritual sense of the Word had been revealed, in which\nthe Lord is present together with all angelic wisdom, the Word would have\nbeen profaned not only, as it is now, in its lowermost expression in the\nsense of the letter, but in its inmosts, too.\n\n[3] Philistia, by which faith separated from charity is meant, would have\nprofaned the spiritual sense of the Word also, because, as we have shown\nbefore, it puts salvation in certain formulas which are to be thought and\nspoken, and not in good works which are to be done. It thus makes saving\nwhat is not saving and also removes the understanding from what is to be\nbelieved. What would they do with the light in which the spiritual sense\nof the Word is? Would that not be turned into darkness? When the natural\nsense is, why not the spiritual sense? Does any one of them who has\nconfirmed himself in faith separate from charity and in justification by\nthis faith alone, want to know what good of life is, what love to the\nLord and towards the neighbor is, what charity is and what the goods of\ncharity are, what good works are and what it is to do them, or in fact\nwhat faith is essentially and what genuine truth is, constituting it?\nThey compose volumes, establish in them only what they call faith, and\ndeclare that all the things just mentioned are present in that faith. It\nis clear from this that if the spiritual sense of the Word had been\nrevealed earlier, it would come to pass according to the Lord's words in\nMatthew:\n\nIf your eye is evil, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then\nthe light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness ( 6:23).\n\nIn the spiritual sense of the Word by \"eye\" the understanding is meant.\n\n[4] 2. _Neither were the genuine truths in which the spiritual sense of\nthe Word resides, revealed by the Lord until after the last judgment was\naccomplished, and a new church, meant by the Holy Jerusalem, was about to\nbe established by the Lord._ The Lord foretold in the Apocalypse that\nafter the last judgment was effected genuine truths were to be revealed,\na new church was to be established, and the spiritual sense of the Word\nwould be disclosed. In the small work, _The Last Judgment,_ and later in\nthe _Continuation_ of that work, it was shown that the last judgment has\nbeen accomplished and that this is meant by the heaven and earth which\nwould pass away (Apoc 21:1). That genuine truths are then to be revealed\nis foretold in these words in the Apocalypse:\n\nAnd he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new\n(11:5; also 19:17, 18; 21:18-21; 22:1, 2).\n\nAt 19:11-16 it was predicted that the spiritual sense of the Word was to\nbe revealed; it is meant by \"the white horse\" on which He who sat was\ncalled the Word of God and was Lord of lords and King of kings (on this\nsee the little work _The White Horse)._ That by the Holy Jerusalem a new\nchurch is meant which was to be established then by the Lord may be seen\nin _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (nn. 62-65).\n\n[5] It is clear, then, that the spiritual sense of the Word was to be\nrevealed for a new church which should acknowledge and worship the Lord\nalone, hold His Word sacred, love divine truths and reject faith\nseparated from charity. More about this sense of the Word may be seen in\n_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture_ (nn. 5-26 and\nfollowing numbers); what the spiritual sense of the Word is (nn. 5-26);\nthat a spiritual sense exists in all of the Word in general and in detail\n(nn. 9-17); that by virtue of the spiritual sense the Word is divinely\ninspired and holy in every expression (nn. 18, 19); that until now the\nspiritual sense has been unknown, and why it was not revealed before (nn.\n20-25); and that henceforth that sense will be open only to one who is\nin genuine truths from the Lord (n. 26).\n\n[6] It may be evident from these propositions that it is by the Lord's\ndivine providence that the spiritual sense has lain concealed from the\nworld until the present day and been kept meanwhile in heaven with the\nangels, who draw their wisdom from it. This sense was known and treasured\namong ancient peoples who lived before Moses, but when their descendants\nconverted the correspondences, of which their Word and hence their\nreligion solely consisted, into various idolatries, and the Egyptians\nconverted them into magic, by the Lord's divine providence this sense was\nclosed up, first with the Israelites and then with Christians for the\nreasons given above, and is now opened for the first time for the Lord's\nnew church.\n\n265. _Doubt may arise against divine providence in that it has been\nunknown hitherto that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion\nitself._ That this is the Christian religion itself was shown in\n_Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem,_ from beginning to end; and as\nfaith separated from charity is the one obstacle to its being received,\nthat also was treated of. We say that it has not been known that to shun\nevils as sins is the Christian religion itself, for it is unknown to\nnearly everyone; yet everyone does know it, as may be seen above\n(n. 258). Nearly all are ignorant of it because faith separate has\nobliterated knowledge of it. For this faith declares that it alone saves\nand not any good work, that is, any good of charity; also that men are no\nlonger under the yoke of the law, but are free. Those who have frequently\nheard such teaching no longer give thought to any evil of life or any\ngood of life. Everyone, moreover, is inclined by nature to embrace such\nteaching, and once he has done so he no longer thinks about the state of\nhis life. This is why it is not known that shunning evils as sins is the\nChristian religion itself.\n\n[2] That this is unknown was disclosed to me in the spiritual world. I\nhave asked more than a thousand newcomers from the world whether they\nknew that to shun evils as sins is religion itself. They said that they\ndid not and that it was a new idea which they had not heard before, but\nhad heard that they cannot of themselves do good and that they are not\nunder the yoke of the law. When I inquired whether they knew that a man\nmust examine himself, see his sins, repent and begin a new life and that\notherwise sins are not remitted, and if sins are not remitted, men are\nnot saved; and when I reminded them that this was read out in a deep\nvoice to them each time they observed the Holy Supper, they replied that\nthey paid no attention to that but only to this, that they have remission\nof sins by the sacrament of the Supper and that faith effects the rest\nwithout their knowing it.\n\n[3] I asked again, Why have you taught your children the Decalog? Was it\nnot that they might know what evils are sins to be shunned? Was it only\nthat they might know and believe, but do nothing? Why is it said that\nthis is new? To this they could only reply that they know and yet do not\nknow, and that they never think of the sixth* commandment when they\ncommit adultery, or about the seventh when they steal or defraud\nsecretly, and so on, and still less that such acts are contrary to divine\nlaw, thus contrary to God.\n\n* Swedenborg follows the numbering of the Commandments customary with\nLutherans, as with Roman Catholics.\n\n[4] When I recalled to them many things from the teachings of the\nchurches and from the Word confirming the fact that to avoid and be\naverse to evils as sins is the Christian religion's very self and that\none who does so has faith, they fell silent. They were convinced of it,\nhowever, when they saw that all were examined as to their life and judged\naccording to their deeds, and no one was judged according to faith apart\nfrom life, for everyone has faith according to his life.\n\n[5] Christendom in large part has not known this because by a law of\ndivine providence everyone is left to act in freedom according to reason\n(on this, above, nn. 71-91 and nn. 101-128); and by another law no one is\ntaught directly from heaven but by means of the Word and by doctrine and\npreaching from it; there are besides all the laws on permission which are\nalso laws of divine providence. On these see above, n. 258.\n\n274.* _A doubt may be raised against divine providence in that it has not\nbeen known before that a man lives as a human being after death and that\nthis has not been disclosed before._ It has been unknown because with\nthose who do not shun evils as sins the belief lies hidden that man does\nnot live after death. It is of no moment therefore to them whether one\nsays that man lives after death or will rise again on the day of the last\njudgment. If belief in resurrection happens to visit one, he tells\nhimself, \"I shall fare no worse than others; if I go to hell I shall have\nthe company of many and also if I pass to heaven.\" Yet all in whom there\nis any religion have an implanted recognition that they will live as\nhuman beings after death. Only those infatuated with their own\nintelligence think that they survive as souls but not as human beings.\n\n* So numbered in the Latin original.\n\nIt may be seen from the following that anyone in whom is any religion has\nan implanted recognition that he lives after death as a human being:\n\n1. Who thinks otherwise when he is dying?\n2. What eulogizer, mourning the dead, does not exalt them to heaven and\nplace them among the angels conversing with them and sharing their joy?\nSome men are deified.\n3. Who among the common people does not believe that when he dies, if he\nhas lived well he will enter a heavenly paradise, be arrayed in white,\nand enjoy eternal life?\n4. What priest does not speak so to the dying? And when he speaks so he\nbelieves it, provided he does not think of the last judgment at the time.\n5. Who does not believe that his little ones are in heaven and that after\ndeath he will see his wife, whom he has loved? Who thinks that they are\nspectres, still less souls or minds hovering in the universe?\n6. Who contradicts when something is said about the lot or state of those\nwho have passed from time into eternal life? I have told many what the\nstate or lot of various persons is and have never heard anyone protest\nthat their lot is not yet determined but will be at the time of the\njudgment.\n7. When one sees angels in paintings or statuary does he not recognize\nthem as such? Who thinks then that they are bodiless spirits or airy\nentities or clouds, as do some of the erudite?\n8. Papists believe that their saints are human beings in heaven and\nothers elsewhere are; so do Mohammedans of their dead; more than others\nAfricans do, and many other peoples do. Why then do not Reformed\nChristians believe it, who know it from the Word?\n9. Moreover, as a result of the recognition implanted in everyone, some\nmen aspire to the immortality of renown. The recognition is given that\nturn in them and makes heroes and brave men of them in war.\n10. Inquiry was made in the spiritual world whether this knowledge is\nimplanted in all men; it was found that it is in a spiritual idea\nattached to their internal thought, not in a natural idea attached to\ntheir external thought.\n\nIt is plain from all this that doubt should not be thrown on the Lord's\ndivine providence on the supposition that only now has it been disclosed\nthat the human being continues such after death. It is only the sensuous\nin man that wants to see and touch what is to be credited. One who does\nnot raise his thinking above it is in the dark of night about the state\nof his own life.\n\nXIV. EVILS ARE TOLERATED IN VIEW OF THE END, WHICH IS SALVATION\n\n275. If man were born into the love for which he was created, he would\nnot be in evil, in fact would not know what evil is. For one who has not\nbeen in evil and is not in it, cannot know what it is; told that this or\nthat is evil, he would not believe it. This is the state of innocence in\nwhich Adam and his wife Eve were; that state was signified by the\nnakedness of which they were not ashamed; the knowledge of evil\nsubsequent to the fall is meant by eating of the tree of the knowledge of\ngood and evil. The love for which the human being was created is love to\nthe neighbor, to wish him as well as one does oneself and even better. He\nis in the enjoyment of this love when he serves his neighbor quite as\nparents do their children. This is truly human love, for in it is what is\nspiritual, distinguishing it from the natural love of brute animals. Were\nman born into this love, he would not be born into the darkness of\nignorance as everyone is now, but into some light of the knowledge and\nhence of the intelligence soon to be his. To be sure, he would creep on\nall fours at first but come erect on his feet by an implanted striving.\nHowever much he might resemble a quadruped, he would not face down to the\nground but forward to heaven and come erect so that he could look up.\n\n276. When love of the neighbor was turned into self-love, however, and\nthis love increased, human love was turned into animal love, and man,\nfrom being man, became a beast, with the difference that he could think\nabout what he sensed physically, could rationally discriminate among\nthings, be taught, and become a civil and moral person and finally a\nspiritual being. For, as was said, man possesses what is spiritual and is\ndistinguished by it from the brute animal. By it he can know what civil\nevil and good are, also what moral evil and good are, and if he so wills,\nwhat spiritual evil and good are also. When love for the neighbor was\nturned into self-love, however, man could no longer be born into the\nlight of knowledge and intelligence but was born into the darkness of\nignorance, being born on the lowest level of life, called\ncorporeal-sensuous. From this he could be led into the interiors of the\nnatural mind by instruction, the spiritual always attending on this. Why\none is born on the lowest level of life known as corporeal-sensuous,\ntherefore into the darkness of ignorance, will be seen in what follows.\n\n[2] Anyone can see that love of the neighbor and self-love are opposites.\nNeighborly love wishes well to all from itself, but self-love wishes\neveryone to wish it well; neighborly love wants to serve everyone, but\nself-love wants all to serve it; love of the neighbor regards everyone as\nbrother and friend, while love of self regards everyone as its servant,\nand if one does not serve it, as its enemy; in short, it regards only\nitself and others scarcely as human beings, esteeming them at heart less\nthan one's horses and dogs. Thinking so meanly of others, it thinks\nnothing of doing evil to them; hence come hatred and vengeance, adultery\nand whoredom, theft and fraud, lying and defamation, violence and\ncruelty, and similar evils. Such are the evils in which man is by birth.\nThat they are tolerated in view of the end, which is salvation, is to be\nshown in this order:\n\ni. Everyone is in evil and must be led away from it to be reformed.\nii. Evils cannot be removed unless they appear.\niii. So far as they are removed they are remitted.\niv. The toleration of evil is therefore for the sake of the end in view,\nnamely, salvation.\n\n277. (i) _Everyone is in evil and must be led away from it to be\nreformed._ The church knows that there is hereditary evil in man and that\nas a result he is in the lust of many evils. Thence it is that he cannot\ndo good of himself, for evil does only such good as has evil in it; the\nevil inwardly in it is that one does good for one's own sake and thus\nonly for the sake of appearances. It is known that hereditary evil comes\nfrom one's parents. It is said to come from Adam and his wife, but this\nis an error; for everyone is born into hereditary evil from his parent,\nand the parent from his parent, and so on; thus it is transmitted from\none to another, is augmented and becomes an accumulation, and is passed\nto one's progeny. There is therefore nothing sound in man but all is\nevil. Who feels that it is evil to love himself above others? Who, then,\nknows that this is an evil, though it is the head of evils?\n\n[2] Inheritance from parents, grandparents and great-grandparents is\nplain from much which is known in the world, from the fact, for instance,\nthat households, families and even nations are distinguishable by the\nface; the face is also a type of the mind which in turn accords with the\naffections of one's love. Sometimes, too, the features of a grandfather\nrecur in a grandson or a great-grandson. From the face alone I know\nwhether a person is a Jew or not; likewise of what stock certain persons\nare; others no doubt know also. If the affections which spring from love\nare thus derived from parents and transmitted by them, evils are, for\nthese spring from affections. But it shall be told how the resemblance\ncomes about.\n\n[3] Everyone's soul comes from his father and is only clothed with the\nbody by one's mother. That the soul is from the father follows not only\nfrom what has been said above, but from many other indications, too; also\nfrom this, that the child of a black man or Moor by a white or European\nwoman is black, and vice versa; and especially in that the soul is in the\nseed, for impregnation is by the seed, and the seed is what is clothed\nwith a body by the mother. The seed is the primal form of the love in\nwhich the father is--the form of his ruling love with its nearest\nderivatives or the inmost affections of that love.\n\n[4] These affections are enveloped in everyone with the honesties of\nmoral life and with the goodnesses partly of civil and partly of\nspiritual life, which are the external of life even with the evil. An\ninfant is born into this external life and is therefore lovable, but\ncoming to boyhood and adolescence he passes from that external to the\ninner life and at length to his father's ruling love. If this has been\nevil and not been moderated and bent by various means by his teachers, it\nbecomes his ruling love as it was his father's. Still the evil is not\neradicated, but put aside; of this in what follows. Plainly, then,\neveryone is in evil.\n\n277 r. It is plain without explanation that man must be led away from\nevil in order to be reformed. For one who is in evil in the world is in\nevil after he has left the world. Not removed in the world, evil cannot\nbe removed afterwards. Where a tree falls, it lies. So, too, when a man\ndies his life remains such as it has been. Everyone is judged according\nto his deeds, not that these are recounted, but he returns to them and\nacts as before. Death is a continuation of life with the difference that\nman cannot then be reformed. For reformation is effected in full, that\nis, in what is inmost and outmost, and what is outmost is reformed\nsuitably to what is inmost only while man is in the world. It cannot be\nreformed afterwards because as it is carried along by the man after death\nit falls quiescent and conforms to his inner life, that is, they act as\none.\n\n278. (ii) _Evils cannot be removed unless they appear._ This does not\nmean that man must do evils in order for them to appear, but that he must\nexamine himself, his thoughts as well as his deeds, and see what he would\ndo if he did not fear the laws and disrepute--see especially what evils he\ndeems allowable in his spirit and does not regard as sins, for these he\nstill does. To enable him to examine himself, man has been given\nunderstanding, and an understanding separate from his will, in order that\nhe may know, comprehend and acknowledge what is good and what is evil,\nlikewise see the character of his will or what it loves and desires. To\nsee this his understanding has been given higher and lower or interior\nand exterior thought, so as to see from the higher or interior what his\nwill prompts in the lower or exterior thinking: he sees this quite as he\ndoes his face in a mirror. When he does and knows what is sin, he is\nable, on imploring the Lord's help, not to will it but to shun it, then\nto act contrary to it, if not freely, then by overcoming it through\nfighting it, and finally to become averse to it and abominate it. Then\nfirst does he perceive and also sense that evil is evil and good is good.\nThis, now, is self-examination--to see one's evils, acknowledge them,\nconfess them and thereupon desist from them.\n\n[2] But as few know that this is the Christian religion itself, and these\nalone have charity and faith and are led by the Lord and do good from\nHim, something will be said of those who fail to examine themselves but\nstill think that they possess religion. They are 1. Those who confess\nthemselves guilty of all sins but do not search out any one sin in\nthemselves. 2. Those who neglect the search on religious principle.\n3. Those who in absorption with the mundane give no thought to sins and\nhence do not know them. 4. Those who favor them and therefore cannot know\nthem. 5. With all these, sins do not appear and therefore cannot be\nremoved. 6. Finally, the reason, so far unknown, will be made plain why\nevils cannot be removed apart from their being searched out, appearing,\nbeing acknowledged, confessed and resisted.\n\n278 r. But these points will be considered one by one, for they are\nfundamentals of the Christian religion on man's part.\n\nFirst, _of those who confess themselves guilty of all sins, but do not\nsearch out any one sin in themselves._ They say, \"I am a sinner. I was\nborn in sin. From head to foot there is nothing sound in me. I am nothing\nbut evil. Good God, be gracious to me, pardon, cleanse and save me. Make\nme to walk in purity and in a right path\"; and more of the kind. And yet\nthe man does not examine himself and hence does not know any evil, and no\none can shun what he is ignorant of, still less fight against it. After\nhis confessions he also thinks that he is clean and washed, when\nnevertheless he is unclean and unwashed from the head to the sole of the\nfoot. For the confession of all sins is the lulling of them all to sleep\nand finally blindness to them. It is like a generality devoid of anything\nspecific, which amounts to nothing.\n\n[2] Second: _Those who omit the search in consequence of their religion._\nThey are especially those who separate charity from faith. They say to\nthemselves, \"Why should I search out evil or good? Why evil, when it does\nnot condemn me? Why good, when it does not save me? Faith alone, thought\nand uttered with trust and confidence, justifies and purifies from all\nsin, and when once I am justified, I am whole in the sight of God. I am\nindeed in evil, but God wipes it away the moment it is committed and it\nno longer appears\"; and much else. But who does not see, if he opens his\neyes, that these are empty words, without reality because nothing of good\nis in them? Who cannot think and speak so, with trust and confidence,\ntoo, even when he is thinking of hell and eternal condemnation? Does he\nwant to know anything further about either truth or good? Of truth he\nsays, \"What is truth except that which confirms this faith?\" and of good,\n\"What is good except what is in me from this faith? And that it may be in\nme I will not do it as from myself, for that would be self-righteous and\nwhat is self-righteous is not good.\" So he neglects all until he does not\nknow what evil is; what then is he to search out and see in himself? Is\nit not his state then that a pent-up fire of lusts of evil consumes the\ninteriors of his mind and lays them waste even to the entrance? He is on\nguard only at the door to keep the fire from appearing. After death the\ndoor is opened and the fire appears for all to see.\n\n[3] Third: _Those absorbed with the mundane give no thought to sins,\nhence do not know of any._ These love the world above all things and\nwelcome no truth that would lead them away from any falsity in their\nreligion. They tell themselves, \"What is this to me? It is not to my way\nof thinking.\" So they reject truth on hearing it and if they listen to it\nsmother it. They do much the same on hearing sermons; they retain some\nsayings but not any of the substance. Dealing in this way with truths\nthey do not know what good is, for truth and good act as one; and from\ngood which is not linked with truth one does not recognize evil except as\none calls it good also, which is done by rationalizing from falsities. It\nis these who are meant by the seed which fell among thorns, of whom the\nLord said:\n\nOther seeds fell among thorns; and the thorns sprang up and choked them\n... These are they who hear the Word, but the cares of this world and the\ndeceitfulness of riches choke the Word so that it become unfruitful (Mt\n13:7, 22; Mk 4:7, 18, 19; Lu 8:7, 14).\n\n[4] Fourth: _Those who favor sins and therefore cannot know them._ These\nacknowledge God and worship Him with the usual ceremonials and assure\nthemselves that a given evil, which is a sin, is not a sin. For they\ncolor it with fallacies and appearances and thus hide its enormity. Then\nthey indulge it and make it their friend and familiar. We say that those\nwho acknowledge God do this, for others do not regard an evil as a sin,\nfor one sins against God. But let examples illustrate this. A man makes\nan evil not to be a sin when in coveting wealth he makes some kinds of\nfraud allowable by reasoning which he devises. So does the man who\nconfirms himself in plundering those who are not his enemies in a war.\n\n[5] Fifth: _Sins do not appear in these men, therefore cannot be\nremoved._ All evil which does not come to sight nurses itself; it is like\nfire in wood under ashes or like matter in an unopened wound; for all\nevil which is repressed increases and does not stop until it destroys\nall. Lest evil be repressed, therefore, everyone is allowed to think in\nfavor of God or against God and in favor of the sanctities of the church\nor against them, without being punished for it in the world. Of this the\nLord says in Isaiah:\n\nFrom the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness; wound,\nand scar, and fresh bruise; they have not been pressed out, nor bound up,\nnor softened with oil.... Wash you, make you clean, remove the evil of\nyour doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good. . . .\nThen if your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; if\nthey have been red like crimson, they shall be like wool. . . . But if\nyou refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword (Isa 1:6, 16,\n17, 18, 20).\n\nTo be devoured by the sword signifies to perish by falsity of evil.\n\n[6] Sixth: _The cause, hidden so far, why evils cannot be removed apart\nfrom their being searched out, appearing, being acknowledged, confessed\nand resisted._ In preceding pages we have mentioned the fact that all\nheaven is arranged in societies according to affections of good, and all\nhell in societies according to the lusts of evil opposite to the\naffections of good. Each person as to his spirit is in some society, in a\nheavenly one if in an affection of good, but in an infernal one if in\nsome lust of evil. While living in the world man does not know this and\nyet as to his spirit he is in some society; otherwise he cannot live; and\nby it he is governed by the Lord. If he is in an infernal society, he\ncannot be led out of it by the Lord except according to the laws of\ndivine providence, among which is this also, that a man shall see that he\nis there, want to leave, and make the effort himself to do so. One can do\nthis while in the world but not after death, for then he remains forever\nin the society in which he put himself in the world. It is for this\nreason that man is to examine himself, see and avow his sins, do\nrepentance, and thereupon persevere to the close of life. I might\nsubstantiate this to full belief by much experience, but this is not the\nplace to document the experience.\n\n279. (iii) _So far as evils are removed they are remitted._ It is an\nerror of the age to believe\n\n1. That evils are separated and in fact cast out from man when they are\nremitted; and\n2. That the state of man's life can be changed in a moment, even to its\nopposite, so that from wicked he becomes good, and consequently can be\nled from hell and be transported straightway to heaven, and this by the\nLord's sheer mercy.\n3. But those who believe and suppose so, do not know at all what evil and\ngood are and nothing at all about the state of man's life.\n4. Moreover, they are wholly unaware that affections, which are of the\nwill, are nothing other than changes and variations of the state of the\npurely organic substances of the mind; and that thoughts, which are of\nthe understanding, also are; and that memory is the permanent state of\nthese changes.\n\nWhen one knows these things, one can see clearly that an evil can be\nremoved only by successive stages, and that the remission of an evil is\nnot complete removal of it. But all this has been said in summary form\nand unless the items are demonstrated may be assented to and yet not\ncomprehended. What is not comprehended is as indistinct as a wheel spun\naround by the hand. The points made above are therefore to be\ndemonstrated one by one in the order in which they were set forth.\n\n[2] First: _It is an error of the age to believe that evils are separated\nand in fact cast out when they are remitted._ It has been granted me to\nlearn from heaven that no evil into which man is born and which he has\nmade actual in him is separated from him, but is removed so as not to\nappear. Earlier I shared the belief of most persons in the world that\nwhen evils are remitted they are cast out and are washed and wiped away\nas dirt is from the face by water. It is not like this with evils or\nsins. They all remain. When they are remitted on repentance, they are\nthrust from the center to the sides. What is in the center, being\ndirectly under view, appears as in the light of day, and what is to one\nside is in shadow and at times in the darkness of night. Inasmuch as\nevils are not separated but only removed, that is, thrust to one side,\nand as man can go from The center to the periphery, he can return, as it\nmay happen, to his evils, which he supposed had been cast out. For the\nhuman being is such that he can go from one affection to another and\nsometimes to the opposite, and thus from one center into another; the\naffection in which he is at the time makes the center, for he is then in\nthe enjoyment and light of it.\n\n[3] Some who are raised after death into heaven by the Lord, for they\nhave lived well, have carried with them, however, the belief that they\nare clean and rid of sins, therefore are not in a state of guilt. In\naccord with their belief they are clothed at first in white garments, for\nwhite garments signify a state purified from evils. But after a time they\nbegin to think, as they did in the world, that they are washed, as it\nwere, from all evil, and to glory that they are no longer sinners like\nother men. This can hardly be kept from being an elation of mind and a\ncontempt of others in comparison with oneself. In order, therefore, that\nthey may be delivered from their imaginary belief, they are sent down\nfrom heaven and let back into the evils which they pursued in the world;\nthey are also shown that they are in hereditary evils of which they had\nnot known. When they have been led in this way to realize that their\nevils have not been separated from them but only put aside, thus that in\nthemselves they are impure, indeed nothing but evil, and that they are\nwithheld from evils and held in goods by the Lord, and that this only\nseems to be their doing, they are raised again into heaven by the Lord.\n\n[4] Second: _It is an error of the age to believe that the state of man's\nlife can be changed in a moment, so that from wicked he can become good,\nand consequently can be led from hell and transported at once to heaven,\nand this by the Lord's direct mercy._ Those who separate charity and\nfaith and place salvation in faith alone, commit this error. For they\nsuppose that merely to think and speak formulas of that faith, if it is\ndone with trust and confidence, justifies and saves one. Many think it is\ndone instantly, too, and if not previously, can be done in the last hour\nof one's life. These are bound to believe that the state of man's life\ncan be changed in a moment and that he can be saved by direct mercy. But\nin the last chapter of this treatise it will be seen that the Lord's\nmercy is mediated, that man cannot become good in a moment from being\nwicked, and can be led from hell and transported to heaven only by the\ncontinual activity of divine providence from infancy to the very close of\nlife. Here it need only be said that all the laws of divine providence\nhave the salvation and reformation of the human being for their object,\nin other words, the inversion of his state, which by nativity is\ninfernal, into the opposite, which is heavenly. This can only be done\nprogressively as man recedes from evil and its enjoyment and comes into\ngood and its enjoyment.\n\n[5] Third: _Those who believe in an instantaneous change do not know at\nall what evil and good are._ For they do not know that evil is the\nenjoyment of the lust of acting and thinking contrary to divine order,\nand good is the enjoyment of the affection for acting and thinking in\naccord with divine order. They do not know, either, that myriads of lusts\nenter into and compose each individual evil and myriads of affections\nenter into and compose each individual good, and that these myriads are\nin such order and connection in man's interiors that it is impossible to\nchange one without changing all at the same time. Those who are ignorant\nof this may believe or suppose that evil, which seems to them to be a\nsingle entity, can be easily removed, and that good, which also seems to\nbe a single entity, can be introduced in its place. Not knowing what evil\nand good are, they cannot but suppose that there is such a thing as\ninstantaneous salvation and such a thing as direct mercy. That these are\nnot possible will be seen in the last chapter of this treatise.\n\n[6] Fourth: _Those who believe in instantaneous salvation and unmediated\nmercy do not know that affections, which are of the will, are nothing\nother than changes of state in the purely organic substances of the mind;\nthat thoughts, which are of the understanding, are nothing other than\nchanges and variations in the form of those substances; and that memory\nis the persisting state of the changes and variations._ Everyone\nacknowledges, on its being said, that affections and thoughts exist only\nin substances and their forms, which are the subjects; existing in the\nbrain which is full of substances and forms, they are called purely\norganic forms. No one who thinks rationally can help laughing at the\nfancies of some that affections and thoughts do not have substantive\nbases, but are exhalations given shape by heat and light, like images\napparently in the air or ether. For thought can no more exist apart from\na substantial form than sight can apart from its form, the eye, or\nhearing apart from its form, the ear, or taste apart from its form, the\ntongue. If you examine the brain, you will see innumerable substances and\nfibres, also, and see, too, that everything in it is organized. What more\nis needed than this ocular proof?\n\n[7] But one may ask, What are affection and thought then? A conclusion\ncan be reached from each and all things in the body. In it are many\nviscera, each fixed in its place, and all performing their several\nfunctions by changes and variations of state and form. It is well known\nthat they are engaged in their own activities--the stomach, the\nintestines, the kidneys, the liver, the pancreas, the spleen, the heart\nand the lungs, each in its particular activity. All the activities are\nmaintained from within, and to be actuated from within means that it is\nby changes and variations of state and form. It may be plain then that\nthe activities of the purely organic substances of the mind are similar,\nthe one difference being that those of the organic substances of the body\nare natural, but of the mind are spiritual; plainly, also, the two make\none by correspondences.\n\n[8] The nature of the changes and variations of state and form in the\norganic substances of the mind, which are affections and thoughts, cannot\nbe shown to the eye. It may, however, be seen as in a mirror by the\nchanges of state in the lungs on speaking and singing. There is\ncorrespondence, moreover; for the sound of the voice in speaking and\nsinging, and the articulations of the sound which are the words of speech\nand the modulations of song, are produced by means of the lungs; sound\ncorresponds to affection, and speech to thought. Sound and speech are\nproduced also from affection and thought. This is done by changes and\nvariations in the state and form of the organic substances of the lungs,\nand from the lungs through the trachea or windpipe in the larynx and\nglottis, and then in the tongue, and finally in the lips. The first\nchanges and variations in the state and form of the sound occur in the\nlungs, the second in trachea and larynx, the third in the glottis by the\ndifferent openings of its orifice, the fourth in the tongue by its\nvarious positions against palate and teeth, and the fifth in the lips by\nthe various modifications of form in them. It may be evident, then, that\nthese consecutive changes and variations in the state of organic forms\nproduce the sounds and their articulations which are speech and song.\nInasmuch, then, as sound and speech are produced from no other source\nthan the affections and thoughts of the mind (for they exist from them\nand are never apart from them), clearly the affections of the will are\nchanges and variations in the state of the purely organic substances of\nthe mind, and the thoughts of the understanding are changes and\nvariations in the form of those substances, quite like those in the\nsubstances of the lungs.\n\n[9] Since affections and thoughts are simply changes of state in the\nforms of the mind, memory is nothing other than the permanent state of\nthose changes. For all changes and variations of state in organic\nsubstances are such that once they are habitual they become permanent. So\nthe lungs are habituated to produce certain sounds in the trachea, to\nvary them in the glottis, articulate them by the tongue, and modify them\nby the mouth; once these organic activities have become habitual, they\nare settled in the organs and can be reproduced. These changes and\nvariations are infinitely more perfect in the organs of the mind than in\nthose of the body, as is evident from what was said in the treatise\n_Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 199-204), where we showed that all\nperfections increase and ascend by and according to degrees. More on this\nwill be seen below (n. 319).\n\n280. _It is also an error of the age to suppose that when sins are\nremitted they are taken away._ This is the error of those who believe\nthat their sins are pardoned by the sacrament of the Holy Supper although\nthey have not removed them from themselves by repentance. Those also\ncommit this error who believe that they are saved by faith alone; those\nalso who believe that they are saved by papal dispensations. All these\nbelieve in unmediated mercy and instant salvation. But when the statement\nis reversed it becomes truth, that is, when sins are removed they are\nalso remitted. For repentance precedes pardon, and aside from repentance\nthere is no pardon. Therefore the Lord bade His disciples:\n\nThat they should preach repentance for the remission of sins (Lu 24:27,\n47),\n\nand John preached\n\nThe baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Lu 3:3).\n\nThe Lord remits the sins of all; He does not accuse and impute; but He\ncan take sins away only in accordance with laws of His divine providence.\nFor when Peter asked how often he was to forgive a brother sinning\nagainst him, whether seven times, the Lord said to him:\n\nThat he should forgive not only seven times, but seventy times seven (Mt\n18:21, 22).\n\nWhat then will the Lord not do, who is mercy itself?\n\n281. (iv) _Thus the permission of evil is for the sake of the end,\nnamely, salvation._ It is well known that man has full liberty to think\nand will but not to say and do whatever he thinks and wills. He may think\nas an atheist, deny God and blaspheme the sanctities of Word and church.\nHe may even want to destroy them utterly by word and deed, but this is\nprevented by civil, moral and ecclesiastical laws. He therefore cherishes\nthis impiety and wickedness inwardly by thinking, willing and even\nintending to do it, but not doing it actually. The man who is not an\natheist also has full liberty to think many evil things, things\nfraudulent, lascivious, revengeful and otherwise insane; he also does\nthem at times. Who can believe that unless man had full liberty, he not\nonly could not be saved but would even perish utterly?\n\n[2] Now let us have the reason for this. Everyone from birth is in evils\nof many kinds. They are in his will, and what is in the will is loved.\nFor what a man wills inwardly he loves, what he loves he wills, and the\nwill's love flows into the understanding where it makes its pleasure felt\nand thereupon enters the thoughts and intentions. If, therefore, he were\nnot allowed to think in accord with the love in his will, which is\nhereditarily implanted in him, that love would remain shut in and never\nbe seen by him. A love of evil which does not become apparent is like an\nenemy in ambush, like matter in an ulcer, like poison in the blood, or\ncorruption in the breast, which cause death when they are kept shut in.\nBut when a person is permitted to think the evils of his life's love,\neven to intend doing them, they are cured by spiritual means as diseases\nare by natural means.\n\n[3] It will be told now what man would be like if he were not permitted\nto think in accord with the enjoyment of his life's love. No longer would\nhe be man, for he would lose his two faculties called liberty and\nrationality in which humanness itself consists. The enjoyment of those\nevils would occupy the interiors of his mind to such an extent that it\nwould burst open the door. He could then only speak and commit the evils;\nhis unsoundness would be manifest not only to himself but to the world;\nand at length he would not know how to cover his shame. In order that he\nmay not come into this state, he is permitted to think and to will the\nevils of his inherited nature but not to say and commit them. Meanwhile\nhe is learning civil, moral and spiritual things. These enter his\nthoughts and remove the unsoundness and he is healed by the Lord by means\nof them, only to the extent, however, of knowing how to guard the door\nunless he also acknowledges God and implores His aid for power to resist\nthe unsoundness. Then, so far as he resists it, he does not let it into\nhis intentions and eventually not even into his thoughts.\n\n[4] Since man is free to think as he pleases to the end that his life's\nlove may emerge from its hiding-place into the light of his\nunderstanding, and since he would not otherwise know anything of his own\nevil and consequently would not know how to shun it, it is also true that\nit would increase in him so much that recovery would become impossible in\nhim and hardly be possible in his children, were he to have children, for\na parent's evil is transmitted to his offspring. The Lord, however,\nprovides that this may not occur.\n\n282. The Lord could heal the understanding in every man and thus cause\nhim to think not evil but good, and this by means of fears of different\nkinds, miracles, conversations with the dead, or visions and dreams. But\nto heal the understanding alone is to heal man only outwardly, for\nunderstanding with its thought is the external of man's life while the\nwill with its affection is the internal. The healing of the understanding\nalone would therefore be like palliative healing in which the interior\nmalignity, closed in and kept from issuing, would destroy first the near\nand then the remote parts till all would become mortified. The will\nitself must be healed, not by the influx of the understanding into it,\nfor that is impossible, but by means of instruction and exhortation from\nthe understanding. Were the understanding alone healed, man would become\nlike a dead body embalmed or covered by fragrant spices and roses which\nwould soon get such a foul odor from the body that they could not be\nbrought near anyone's nostrils. So heavenly truths in the understanding\nwould be affected if the evil love of the will were shut in.\n\n283. Man is permitted, as was said, to think evils even to intending them\nin order that they may be removed by means of what is civil, moral and\nspiritual. This is done when he considers that they are contrary to what\nis just and equitable, to what is honest and decorous and to what is good\nand true, contrary therefore to the peace, joy and blessedness of life.\nBy these three means the Lord heals the love of man's will, in fear at\nfirst, it is true, but with love later. Still the evils are not separated\nfrom the man and cast out, but only removed in him and put to the side.\nWhen they are and good has the center, evils do not appear, for whatever\nhas the central place is squarely under view and is seen and perceived.\nIt should be known, however, that even when good occupies the center man\nis not for that reason in good unless the evils at the side tend downward\nor outward. If they look upward or inward they have not been removed, but\nare still trying to return to the center. They tend downward and outward\nwhen man shuns his evils as sins and still more when he holds them in\naversion, for then he condemns them, consigns them to hell, and makes\nthem face that way.\n\n284. Man's understanding is the recipient of both good and evil and of\nboth truth and falsity, but not his will. His will must be either in evil\nor in good; it cannot be in both, for it is the man himself and in it is\nhis life's love. But good and evil are separate in the understanding like\nwhat is internal and what is external. Thus man may be inwardly in evil\nand outwardly in good. Still, when he is being reformed, the two meet,\nand conflict and combat ensue. This is called temptation when it is\nsevere, but when it is not severe a fermentation like that of wine or\nstrong drink occurs. If good conquers, evil with its falsity is carried\nto the side, as lees, to use an analogy, fall to the bottom of a vessel.\nThe good is like wine that becomes generous on fermentation and like\nstrong drink which becomes clear. But if evil conquers, good with its\ntruth is borne to the side and becomes turbid and noisome like\nunfermented wine or unfermented strong drink. Comparison is made with\nferment because in the Word, as at Hosea 7:4, Luke 12:1 and elsewhere,\n\"ferment\" signifies falsity of evil.\n\n\nXV. DIVINE PROVIDENCE ATTENDS THE EVIL AND THE GOOD ALIKE\n\n285. In every person, good or bad, there are two faculties one of which\nmakes the understanding and the other the will. The faculty making the\nunderstanding is the ability to understand and think, therefore is called\nrationality. The faculty making the will is the ability to do this\nfreely, that is, to think and consequently to speak and act also,\nprovided that it is not contrary to reason or rationality; for to act\nfreely is to act as often as one wills and according as one wills. The\ntwo faculties are constant and are present from first to last in each and\nall things which a man thinks and does. He has them not from himself, but\nfrom the Lord. It follows that the Lord's presence in these faculties is\nalso in the least things, indeed the very least, of man's understanding\nand thought, of his will and affection too, and thence of his speech and\naction. If you remove these faculties from even the very least thing, you\nwill not be able to think or utter it as a human being.\n\n[2] It has already been shown abundantly that the human being is a human\nbeing by virtue of the two faculties, enabled by them to think and speak,\nand to perceive goods and understand truths, not only such as are civil\nand moral but also such as are spiritual, and made capable, too, of being\nreformed and regenerated; in a word, made capable of being conjoined to\nthe Lord and thereby of living forever. It was also shown that not only\ngood men but evil also possess the two faculties. These faculties are in\nman from the Lord and are not appropriated to him as his, for what is\ndivine cannot be appropriated but only adjoined to him and thus appear to\nbe his, and this which is divine with the human being is in the least\nthings pertaining to him. It follows that the Lord governs the least\nthings in an evil man as well as in a good man. This government of His is\nwhat is called divine providence.\n\n286. Inasmuch as it is a law of divine providence that man shall act from\nfreedom according to reason, that is, from the two faculties, liberty and\nrationality; and a law of divine providence that what he does shall\nappear to be from himself and thus his own; and also a law that evils\nmust be permitted in order that man may be led out of them, it follows\nthat man can abuse these faculties and in freedom according to reason\nconfirm whatever he pleases. He can make reasonable whatever he will,\nwhether it is reasonable in itself or not. Some therefore ask, \"What is\ntruth? Can I not make true whatever I will?\" Does not the world do so?\nAnybody can do it by reasoning. Take an utter falsity and bid a clever\nman confirm it, and he will. Tell him, for instance, to show that man is\na beast, or that the soul is like a small spider in its web and governs\nthe body as that does by threads, or tell him that religion is nothing\nbut a restraining bond, and he will prove any one of these propositions\nuntil it appears to be truth. What is more easily done? For he does not\nknow what appearance is or what falsity is which in blind faith is taken\nfor truth.\n\n[2] Hence it is that a man cannot see this truth, namely, that divine\nprovidence is in the very least things of the understanding and the will,\nor what is the same, in the very least things of the thoughts and\naffections of every person, wicked or good. He is perplexed especially\nbecause it seems then that evils are also from the Lord, but it will be\nseen in what follows that nevertheless there is not a particle of evil\nfrom the Lord but that evil is from man in that he confirms in him the\nappearance that he thinks, wills, speaks and acts of himself. In order\nthat these things may be seen clearly, they will be demonstrated in this\norder:\n\ni. Divine providence is universal in the least things with the evil as\nwell as the good, and yet is not in one's evils.\nii. The evil are continually leading themselves into evils, but the Lord\nis continually leading them away from evils.\niii. The evil cannot be fully withdrawn from evil and led in good by the\nLord so long as they believe their own intelligence to be everything and\ndivine providence nothing.\niv. The Lord rules hell through opposites; and rules the evil who are in\nthe world, in hell as to their interiors, but not as to their exteriors.\n\n287. (i) _Divine providence is universal in the least things with the\nevil as well as the good, and yet is not in one's evils._ It was shown\nabove that divine providence is in the least things of man's thoughts and\naffections. This means that man can think and will nothing from himself,\nbut that everything he thinks and wills and consequently says and does,\nis from influx. If it is good, it is from influx out of heaven, and if\nevil, from influx out of hell; or what is the same, the good is from\ninflux from the Lord and the evil from man's proprium. I know that it is\ndifficult to grasp this, because what flows in from heaven or from the\nLord is distinguished from what flows in from hell or from man's\nproprium, and yet divine providence is said to be in the least of man's\nthoughts and affections, even so far that he can think and will nothing\nfrom himself. It appears like a contradiction to say that he can also\nthink and will from hell and from his proprium. Yet it is not, and this\nwill be seen in what follows, after some things have been premised which\nwill clarify the matter.\n\n288. All the angels of heaven confess that no one can think from himself\nbut does so from the Lord, while all the spirits of hell say that no one\ncan think from any other than himself. These spirits have been shown many\ntimes that no one of them thinks or can think from himself, but that\nthought flows in; it was in vain, however; they would not accept the\nidea. But experience will teach, first, that everything of thought and\naffection even with spirits of hell flows in from heaven, but that the\ninflowing good is turned into evil there and truth into falsity, thus\neverything into its opposite. This was shown in this way: a truth from\nthe Word was sent down from heaven, was received by those uppermost in\nhell, and by them sent to lower hells, and on to the lowest. On the way\nit was turned by stages into falsity and finally into falsity the direct\nopposite of the truth. Those with whom it was so changed thought the\nfalsity of themselves seemingly and knew no otherwise; still it was\ntruth, flowing down from heaven on the way to the lowest hell, which was\nthus falsified and perverted. I have heard of this several times. The\nsame thing occurs with good; as it flows down from heaven, it is changed\nstep by step into the evil opposite to it. Hence it was plain that truth\nand good, proceeding from the Lord and received by those who are in\nfalsity and evil, are completely altered and so transformed that their\nfirst form is lost. The like happens in every evil person, for as to his\nspirit he is in hell.\n\n289. I have often been shown that no one in hell thinks from himself but\nthrough others around him, and these do not, but through others still.\nThoughts and affections make their way from one society to another, but\nno one is aware that they do not originate with himself. Some who\nbelieved that they thought and willed of themselves were dispatched to\nanother society and held there, and communication was cut off with the\nsocieties around to which their thoughts usually extended. Then they were\ntold to think differently from the spirits of this society, and compel\nthemselves to think to the contrary; they confessed that they could not.\n\n[2] This was done with a number and with Leibnitz, too, who was also\nconvinced that no one thinks from himself, but from others, nor do these\nthink from themselves, but all think by an influx from heaven, and heaven\nby an influx from the Lord. Some, pondering this, said that it was\namazing, and that hardly anyone can be led to credit it, for it is\nutterly contrary to the appearance, but that they still could not deny\nit, for it was fully demonstrated. Nevertheless, astonished as they were,\nthey said that they are not in fault then in thinking evil; also that it\nseems then as if evil is from the Lord; and, again, that they do not\nunderstand how the one Lord can cause all to think so diversely. The\nthree points will be explained in what follows.\n\n290. To the experiences cited this is also to be added. When it was\ngranted me by the Lord to speak with spirits and angels, the foregoing\narcanum was at once disclosed to me. For I was told from heaven that like\nothers I believed that I thought and willed from myself, when in fact\nnothing was from myself, but if it was good, it was from the Lord, and if\nevil from hell. That this was so, was shown me to the life by various\nthoughts and affections which were induced on me, and gradually I was\ngiven to perceive and feel it. Therefore, as soon as an evil afterwards\nentered my will or a falsity into my thought, I investigated the source\nof it. I inquired from whom it came. This was disclosed to me, and I was\nalso allowed to speak with those spirits, refute them, and compel them to\nwithdraw, thus to take back their evil and falsity and keep it to\nthemselves, and no longer infuse anything of the kind into my thought.\nThis has occurred a thousand times. I have remained in this state for\nmany years, and still do. Yet I seem to myself to think and will from\nmyself like others, with no difference, for of the Lord's providence it\nshould so appear to everyone, as was shown above in the section on it.\nNewly arriving spirits wonder at this state of mine, seeing as they do\nonly that I do not think and will from myself, and am therefore like some\nempty thing. But I disclosed the arcanum to them, and added that I also\nthink more interiorly, and perceive whether what flows into my exterior\nthought is from heaven or from hell, reject the latter and welcome the\nformer, yet seem to myself, like them, to be thinking and willing from\nmyself.\n\n291. It is not unknown in the world that all good is from heaven and all\nevil from hell; it is known to everyone in the church. Who that has been\ninaugurated into the church's priesthood does not teach that all good is\nfrom God, and that man can receive nothing of himself except it be given\nhim from heaven? And also that the devil infuses evils into the thoughts\nand leads astray and incites one to commit evils? Therefore a priest who\nbelieves that he preaches out of a holy zeal, prays that the Holy Spirit\nmay teach him, and guide his thoughts and utterances. Some say that they\nhave sensibly perceived being acted upon, and when a sermon is praised,\nreply piously that they have spoken not from themselves but from God.\nTherefore when they see someone speak and act well, they remark he was\nled to do so by God; on the other hand, seeing someone speak and act\nwickedly, they remark he was led to do so by the devil. That there is\ntalk of the kind in the church is known, but who believes that it is so?\n\n292. Everything that a man thinks and wills, and consequently speaks and\ndoes, flows in from the one Fountain of life, and yet that one Fountain\nof life, namely, the Lord, is not the cause of man's thinking what is\nevil and false. This may be clarified by these facts in the world of\nnature. Heat and light proceed from the sun of the world. They flow into\nall visible subjects and objects, not only into subjects that are good\nand objects that are beautiful, but also into subjects that are evil and\nobjects that are ugly, producing varying effects in them. They flow not\nonly into trees that bear good fruit but into trees that bear bad fruit,\nand into the fruits themselves, quickening their growth. They flow into\ngood seed and into weeds, into shrubs which have a good use and are\nwholesome, and into shrubs that have an evil use and are poisonous. Yet\nit is the same heat and the same light; there is no cause of evil in\nthem; the cause is in the recipient subjects and objects.\n\n[2] The same warmth that hatches eggs in which a screech-owl, a horned\nowl, and a viper lie acts as it does when it hatches those in which a\ndove, a bird of paradise and a swan lie. Put eggs of both sorts under the\nhen and they will be hatched by her warmth, which in itself is innocent\nof harm. What has the heat in common then with what is evil and noxious?\nThe heat flowing into a marsh or a dung-hill or into decaying or dead\nmatter acts in the same way as it does when it flows into things\nflavorsome and fragrant, lush and living. Who does not see that the cause\nis not in the heat but in the recipient subject? The same light gives\npleasing colors in one object and displeasing colors in another; indeed,\nit grows brighter in white objects and becomes dazzling, and dims in\nthose verging on black and becomes dusky.\n\n[3] There is what is similar in the spiritual world. There are heat and\nlight in it from its sun, which is the Lord, and they flow from the sun\ninto their subjects and objects. Now the subjects and objects are angels\nand spirits, in particular their volitional and mental life, and the heat\nis divine love going forth, and the light is divine wisdom going forth.\nThe light and heat are not the cause of the different reception of them\nby one and another. For the Lord says,\n\nHe makes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the\njust and the unjust (Mt 5:45).\n\nIn the highest spiritual sense by the \"sun\" the divine love is meant, and\nby the \"rain\" the divine wisdom.\n\n293. Let me add to this the view of the angels on will and understanding\nin man. This is that there cannot be a grain of will or of prudence in\nman that is his own. They say that if there were, neither heaven nor hell\nwould continue in existence, and all mankind would perish. The reason\nthey give is that myriads of human beings, as many as have been born\nsince the creation of the world, constitute heaven and hell, of which the\none is under the other in such an order that each is a unit, heaven one\ncomely humanity, and hell one monstrous humanity. If the individual had a\ngrain of will and intelligence of his very own, that unity could not\nexist, but would be torn apart. Upon this that divine form would perish,\nwhich can arise and remain only as the Lord is all in all and men are\nnothing besides. A further reason, they say, is that to think and will\nactually from one's own being is the divine itself, and to think and will\nfrom God, is the truly human. The very divine cannot be appropriated to\nanyone, for then man would be God. Bear the above in mind, and if you\nwish you will have confirmation of it by angels when on death you come\ninto the spiritual world.\n\n294. It was stated above (n. 289) that when some were convinced that no\none thinks from himself but from others, nor the others from themselves,\nbut all by influx through heaven from the Lord, they remarked in their\nastonishment that then they are not in fault when they do evil, also that\nthen it seems evil comes from the Lord, nor do they comprehend how the\nLord can cause them all to think so differently. Since these three\nnotions cannot but flow into the thoughts of those who regard effects\nonly from effects and not from causes, they need to be taken up and\nexplained by what causes them.\n\n[2] First: _They are not in fault then in doing evil._ For if all that a\nperson thinks flows into him from others, the fault seems to be theirs\nfrom whom it comes. Yet the fault is the recipient's, for he receives\nwhat inflows as his own and neither knows nor wants to know otherwise.\nFor everyone wants to be his own, to be led by himself, and above all to\nthink and will from himself; this is freedom itself, which appears as the\nproprium in which every person is. If he knew, therefore, that what he\nthinks and wills flows in from another, it would seem to him that he was\nbound and captive and no longer master of himself. All enjoyment in his\nlife would thus perish, and finally his very humanness would perish.\n\n[3] I have often seen this evidenced. It was granted some spirits to\nperceive and sense that they were being led by others. Thereupon they\nwere so enraged that they were reduced almost to mental impotence. They\nsaid that they would rather be kept bound in hell than not to be allowed\nto think as they willed and to will as they thought. This they called\nbeing bound in their very life, which was harder and more intolerable\nthan to be bound bodily. Not being allowed to speak and act as they\nthought and willed, they did not call being bound. For the enjoyment of\ncivil and moral life, which consists in speaking and acting, itself\nrestrains and at the same time mitigates that.\n\n[4] Inasmuch as man does not want to know that he is led to think by\nothers, but wants to think from himself and believes that he does so, it\nfollows that he himself is in fault, nor can he throw off the blame so\nlong as he loves to think what he thinks. If he does not love it, he\nbreaks his connection with those from whom his thought flows. This occurs\nwhen he knows the thought is evil, therefore determines to avoid it and\ndesist from it. He is then also taken by the Lord from the society in\nthat evil and transferred to a society free of it. If, however, he\nrecognizes the evil and does not shun it, fault is imputed to him, and he\nis responsible for the evil. Therefore, whatever a man believes that he\ndoes from himself is said to be done from the man, and not from the Lord.\n\n[5] Second: _It then seems as if evil is from the Lord._ This may be\nthought to be the conclusion from what was shown above (n. 288), namely,\nthat good flowing in from the Lord is turned into evil and truth into\nfalsity in hell. But who cannot see that evil and falsity do not come of\ngood and truth, therefore not from the Lord, but from the recipient\nsubject or object which is in evil and falsity and which perverts and\ninverts what flows into it, as was amply shown above (n. 292). The source\nof evil and falsity in man has been pointed out frequently in the\npreceding pages. Moreover, an experiment was made in the spiritual world\nwith those who believed that the Lord could remove evils in the wicked\nand introduce good instead, thus move the whole of hell into heaven and\nsave all. That this is impossible, however, will be seen towards the end\nof this treatise, where instantaneous salvation and unmediated mercy are\nto be treated of.\n\n[6] Third: _They do not comprehend how the one Lord can cause all to\nthink so diversely._ The Lord's divine love is infinite, likewise His\ndivine wisdom. An infinity of love and wisdom proceeds from Him, flows in\nwith all in heaven, thence with all in hell, and from heaven and hell\nwith all in the world. Thinking and willing therefore cannot lack in\nanyone, for what is infinite is limitless. The infinite things that issue\nfrom the Lord flow in not only universally but also in least things. For\nthe divine is universal by being in least things, and the divine in least\nthings constitutes what is called universal, as was shown above, and the\ndivine in something least is still infinite. Hence it may be evident that\nthe one Lord causes each person to think and will according to the\nperson's nature and does so in accordance with laws of His providence. It\nwas shown above (nn. 46-69) and also in the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ (nn. 17-22), that everything in the Lord, or proceeding from Him,\nis infinite.\n\n295. (ii) _The evil are continually leading themselves into evils, but\nthe Lord is continually leading them away from evils._ The nature of\ndivine providence with the good is more readily comprehended than its\nnature with the evil. As the latter is now under consideration, it will\nbe set forth in this order:\n\n1. In every evil there are innumerable things.\n2. An evil man of himself continually leads himself more and more deeply\ninto his evils.\n3. Divine providence with the evil is a continual tolerance of evil, to\nthe end that there may be a continual withdrawal from it.\n4. Withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in a thousand most secret\nways.\n\n296. In order, then, that divine providence with the evil may be seen\nclearly and therefore understood, the propositions just stated are to be\nexplained in the order in which they were presented.\n\nFirst: _In every evil there are innumerable things._ To man's sight an\nevil appears to be a single thing. Hatred does, and revenge, theft and\nfraud, adultery and whoredom, pride and presumption, and the rest. It is\nunknown that in every evil there are innumerable things, exceeding in\nnumber the fibres and vessels in the human body. For an evil man is a\nhell in least form, and hell consists of myriads and myriads of spirits,\neach of whom is in form like a man, but a monstrous one, in whom all the\nfibres and vessels are inverted. A spirit himself is an evil which\nappears to him as one thing, but in it are innumerable things, as\nnumerous as the lusts of that evil. For everyone, from head to foot, is\nhis own evil or his own good. Since an evil man is such, plainly he is\none evil composed of countless different evils, all severally evils, and\ncalled lusts of evil. It follows that all these, one after another, must\nbe cured and changed by the Lord for man to be reformed, and that it can\nbe done only by the Lord's divine providence, step by step from man's\nfirst years to his last.\n\n[2] Every lust of evil, when it is visually presented, appears in hell\nlike some noxious creature, a serpent, a cockatrice, a viper, a horned\nowl, a screech-owl, or some other; so do the lusts of evil in an evil man\nappear when he is viewed by angels. All these forms of lust must be\nchanged one by one. The man himself, who appears as to his spirit like a\nmonstrous man or devil, must be changed to appear like a comely angel,\nand each lust of evil changed to appear like a lamb or sheep or pigeon or\nturtle dove, as affections of good in angels appear in heaven when they\nare visually represented. Changing a serpent into a lamb, or a cockatrice\ninto a sheep, or an owl into a dove, can be done only gradually, by\nuprooting evil together with its seed and implanting good seed in its\nplace. This can only be done, however, comparatively as is done in the\ngrafting of trees, of which the roots with some of the trunk remain, but\nthe engrafted branch turns the sap drawn through the old root into sap\nthat produces good fruit. The branch to be engrafted in this instance is\nto be had only from the Lord, who is the tree of life; this is also in\nkeeping with the Lord's words in John 15:1-7.\n\n[3] Second: _An evil man from himself continually leads himself more\ndeeply into his evils._ He does so \"from himself\" because all evil is\nfrom man, for, as was said, he turns good, which is from the Lord, into\nevil. He leads himself more and more deeply into evil for the reason,\nessentially, that as he wills and commits evil, he enters more and more\ninteriorly and also more and more deeply into infernal societies. Hence\nthe enjoyment of evil increases, too, and occupies his thoughts until he\nfeels nothing more agreeable. One who has entered more interiorly and\ndeeply into infernal societies becomes like one bound by chains. So long\nas he lives in the world, however, he does not feel his chains; they seem\nto be made of soft wool or smooth silken threads. He loves them, for they\ntitillate; but after death, from being soft, those chains become hard,\nand from being pleasant become galling.\n\n[4] That the enjoyment of evil grows is known from thefts, robberies,\nplunderings, revenge, tyranny, lucre, and other evils. Who does not feel\na heightening of enjoyment in them as he succeeds in them and practices\nthem uninhibited? A thief, we know, feels such enjoyment in thefts that\nhe cannot desist from them, and, a wonder, he loves one stolen coin more\nthan ten that are given him. It would be similar with adultery, had it\nnot been provided that the power to commit this evil decreases with the\nabuse, but with many there still remains the enjoyment of thinking and\ntalking about it, and if nothing more, there is still the lust of touch.\n\n[5] It is not known, however, that this heightening of enjoyment comes\nfrom a man's entering into infernal societies more and more interiorly\nand deeply as he perpetrates evils from the will as well as from thought.\nIf the evils are only in the thoughts, and not in the will, he is not yet\nin an infernal society having that evil; he enters it when the evils are\nalso in the will. Then, if he also thinks the evil is contrary to the\nprecepts of the Decalog and regards these precepts as divine, he commits\nthe evil of set purpose and by so doing plunges to a depth from which he\ncan be brought out only by active repentance. It is to be understood that\neveryone as to his spirit is in the spiritual world, in one of its\nsocieties, an evil man in an infernal society and a good man in a\nheavenly society; sometimes, when in deep meditation one also appears\nthere. Moreover, as sound and, along with it, speech spread on the air in\nthe natural world, affection and thought with it spread among societies\nin the spiritual world; there is correspondence, too, affection\ncorresponding to sound and thought to speech.\n\n[7] Third: _Divine providence with the evil is a continual tolerance of\nevil, to the end that there may be a continual withdrawal from it._\nDivine providence with evil men is continual permission because only evil\ncan issue from their life. For whether he is in good or in evil, man\ncannot be in both at once, nor by turns in one and the other unless he is\nlukewarm. Evil of life is not introduced into the will and through this\ninto the thought by the Lord but by man, and this is named permission.\n\n[8] Inasmuch as everything which an evil man wills and thinks is by\npermission, the question arises, what in this case divine providence is,\nwhich is said to be in the least things with every person, evil or good.\nIt consists in this, that it exercises tolerance continually for the sake\nof its objective, and permits what helps to the end and nothing more. It\nconstantly observes the evils that issue by permission, separates and\npurifies them, and rejects what is unsuitable and discharges it by\nunknown ways. This is done principally in man's interior will and through\nit in his interior thought. Divine providence also sees to it constantly\nthat what must be rejected and discharged is not received again by the\nwill, since all that is received by the will is appropriated to the man;\nwhat is received by the thought, but not by the will, is set aside and\nbanished. Such is the constant divine providence with the evil; as was\nsaid, it is a continual tolerance of evil to the end that there may be\ncontinual withdrawal from it.\n\n[9] Of these activities man knows scarcely anything, for he does not\nperceive them. The chief reason why he does not, is that the evils come\nfrom the lusts of his life's love, and are not felt to be evils but\nenjoyments, to which one does not give thought. Who gives thought to the\nenjoyments of his love? His thought floats along in them like a skiff\ncarried along by the current of a stream; and he perceives a fragrant air\nwhich he inhales with a deep breath. Only in one's external thought does\none have a sense of the enjoyments, but even in it he pays no attention\nto them unless he knows well that they are evil. More will be said on\nthis in what follows.\n\n[10] Fourth: _Withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in a thousand\nmost secret ways._ Only some of these have been disclosed to me, and only\nthe most general ones. For instance, the enjoyments of lusts, of which\nman knows nothing, are let by clusters and bundles into the interior\nthoughts of his spirit and thence into his exterior thoughts, where they\nappear in a feeling of pleasure, delight or longing, and mingle with his\nnatural and sensuous enjoyments. There the means to separation and\npurification and the ways of withdrawal and unburdening are to be found.\nThe means are chiefly the enjoyments of meditation, thought and\nreflection on ends that are uses. Such ends are as numerous as the\nparticulars and details of one's business or occupation. Just as numerous\nare the enjoyments of reflection on such an end as that one shall appear\nto be a civil and moral and also a spiritual person, no matter what\ninterposes which is unenjoyable. These enjoyments, being those of one's\nlove in the external man, are the means to the separation, purification,\nexpulsion and withdrawal of the enjoyments of the lusts in the internal\nman.\n\n[11] Take, for example, an unjust judge who regards gain or friendship as\nthe end or use of his office. Inwardly he is constantly in those ends,\nbut outwardly must act as one learned in the law and just. He is\nconstantly in the enjoyment of meditation, thought, reflection and intent\nto bend and turn a decision and adapt and adjust it so that it may still\nseem to be in conformity with the laws and resemble justice. He does not\nknow that his inward enjoyment consists in craftiness, defrauding,\ndeceit, clandestine theft, and many other evils, and that this enjoyment,\nmade up of so many enjoyments of the lusts of evil, governs each and all\nthings of his external thought, in which he enjoys appearing just and\nsincere. Into the external enjoyment the internal enjoyment is let down,\nthe two are mingled as food is in the stomach, and thereupon the internal\nenjoyments are separated, purified, and withdrawn. Still this is true\nonly of the more grievous enjoyments of the lusts of evil.\n\n[12] For in an evil man the only separation, purification and withdrawal\npossible is of the more grievous evils from the less grievous.\n\nIn a good man, however, separation, purification and withdrawal is\npossible not only of the more grievous evils but also of the less\ngrievous. This is effected by the enjoyments of the affections of what is\ngood and true, and of what is just and sincere, affections into which one\ncomes so far as he regards evils as sins and therefore avoids and is\naverse to them, and still more as he fights against them. It is by these\nmeans that the Lord purifies all who are saved. He purifies them by\nexternal means also, such as fame and standing and sometimes wealth, but\nput into these means by the Lord are the enjoyments of affections of good\nand truth, by which they are directed and fitted to become enjoyments of\nlove for the neighbor.\n\n[13] If one saw the enjoyments of the lusts of evil assembled in some\nform, or perceived them distinctly by some sense, he would see and\nperceive that they are too numerous for definition. For hell in its\nentirety is nothing but the form of all the lusts of evil, and no one\nlust in it is quite similar to or the same as another, nor can be to\neternity. Of these countless lusts man knows scarcely anything, and even\nless how they are connected with one another. Yet the Lord in His divine\nprovidence continually allows them to come forth, for them to be drawn\naway, and this is done in perfect order and sequence. For the evil man is\na hell in miniature, and the good man a heaven in miniature.\n\n[14] The withdrawal from evils, which the Lord effects in a thousand\nhighly secret ways, may best be seen and concluded about from the secret\nactivities of the soul in the body. Man knows that he examines the food\nhe is about to eat, perceives what it is by its odor, hungers for it,\ntastes it, chews it, and by the tongue rolls it down into the esophagus\nand so into the stomach. But then there are the hidden activities of the\nsoul of which he knows nothing, for he has no sensation of them. The\nstomach rolls about the food it receives, opens and breaks it up by\nsolvents, that is, digests it, and offers fit portions to the little\nmouths opening in it and to veins which imbibe it. Some it sends to the\nblood, some to the lymphatic vessels, some to the lacteal vessels of the\nmesentery, and some down to the intestines. Then the chyle, conveyed\nthrough the thoracic duct from its cistern in the mesentery, is carried\nto the vena cava, and so to the heart. From the heart it is carried into\nthe lungs, from them through the left ventricle of the heart into the\naorta, and from this by its branches to viscera throughout the body and\nalso to the kidneys. In each organ separation and purification of the\nblood are effected and removal of the heterogeneous, not to mention how\nthe heart sends its blood up to the brain after purification in the\nlungs, which is done by the arteries called carotids, and how the brain\nreturns the blood, now vivified, to the vena cava just above where the\nthoracic duct brings in the chyle, and so back again to the heart.\n\n[15] These and countless other activities are secret operations of the\nsoul in the body. Man has no sense of them, and unless he is acquainted\nwith the science of anatomy, knows nothing of them. Yet similar\nactivities take place in the interiors of the human mind. Nothing can\ntake place in the body except from the mind, for man's mind is his\nspirit, and his spirit is equally man; the sole difference being that\nwhat is done in the body is done naturally, while what is done in the\nmind is done spiritually; there is all similarity. Plainly, then, divine\nprovidence operates with every man in a thousand hidden ways, and its\nincessant care is to cleanse him, since its purpose is to save him.\nPlainly, too, nothing more is incumbent on man than to remove evils in\nthe outward man; the Lord sees to the rest, when He is implored.\n\n297. (iii) _The evil cannot be fully withdrawn from evil and led in good\nby the Lord so long as they believe their own intelligence to be\neverything and divine providence nothing._ It would seem that man could\nwithdraw himself from evil provided he thought that this or that was\ncontrary to the common good, or to what is useful, or to national or\ninternational law, and this an evil as well as a good man can do if by\nbirth or through practice he is such that he can think clearly within\nhimself, analysing and reasoning. But even then he is not capable of\nwithdrawing himself from evil. The faculty of understanding and of\nperceiving, even abstractly, has indeed been given everyone by the Lord,\nto the evil as well as to the good, as has been shown above in many\nplaces, and yet man cannot deliver himself from evil by means of this\nfaculty. For evil comes of the will, and the understanding influences the\nwill only with light, enlightening and instructing. If the heat of the\nwill, that is, man's love, is hot with the lust of evil, it is cold\ntowards the affection of good, therefore does not receive the light but\neither repels or extinguishes it, or by some fabricated falsity turns it\ninto evil. The light is then like winter light, which is as clear as the\nlight in summer and remains as clear even when it flows into frozen\ntrees. But this can be seen better in the following order:\n\n1. When the will is in evil, one's own intelligence sees only falsity,\nand neither desires to see, nor can see, anything else.\n2. If then one's own intelligence is confronted with truth, it either\nturns away from it or falsifies it.\n3. Divine providence continually causes man to see truth, and also gives\nhim affection for perceiving and receiving it.\n4. Through this means man is withdrawn from evil, not by himself, but by\nthe Lord.\n\n298. For these things to be made apparent to the rational man, whether he\nis evil or good, thus whether he is in the light of winter or in the\nlight of summer (for colors appear the same in them), they are to be\nexplained in due order.\n\nFirst: _When the will is in evil, one's own intelligence sees only\nfalsity, and neither desires nor is able to see anything else._ This has\noften been demonstrated in the spiritual world. Everyone, on becoming a\nspirit, which takes place after death when he puts off the material body\nand puts on the spiritual, is introduced by turns into the two states of\nhis life, the external and the internal. In the external state he speaks\nand acts rationally, quite as a rational and wise man does in the world;\nhe can also instruct others in much that pertains to moral and civil\nlife, and if he has been a preacher he can also give instruction in the\nspiritual life. But when he is brought from this external state into his\ninternal state, and the external is put to sleep and the internal awakes,\nthe scene changes if he is evil. From being rational he becomes sensuous,\nand from being wise he becomes insane. For he thinks then from the evil\nof his will and its enjoyments, thus from his own intelligence, and sees\nonly falsity and does nothing but evil, believing that evil is wisdom and\nthat cunning is prudence. From his own intelligence he believes himself\nto be a deity and with all his mind sucks up nefarious ways.\n\n[2] I have often seen instances of such insanity. I have also seen\nspirits introduced into these alternating states two or three times\nwithin an hour, and it was granted them to see and also acknowledge their\ninsanities. Nevertheless they were unwilling to remain in a rational and\nmoral state, but voluntarily returned to their internal sensuous and\ninsane state. They loved this more than the other because the enjoyment\nof their life's love was in it. Who can believe that an evil man is such\nbeneath his outward appearance and that he undergoes such a\ntransformation when he enters on his internal state? This one experience\nmakes plain the nature of one's own intelligence when one thinks and acts\nfrom the evil of one's will. It is otherwise with the good. When they are\nadmitted from their external state into their internal state, they become\nstill wiser and still more moral.\n\n[3] Second: _If then one's own intelligence is confronted with truth, it\neither turns away from it or falsifies it._ The human being has a\nvolitional and an intellectual proprium. The volitional proprium is evil,\nand the intellectual proprium is falsity derived from evil; the latter is\nmeant by \"the will of man\" and the former by \"the will of the flesh\" in\nJohn 1:13. The volitional proprium is in essence self-love, and the\nintellectual proprium is the pride coming of that love. The two are like\nmarried partners, and their union is called the marriage of evil and\nfalsity. Into this union each evil spirit is admitted before he enters\nhell; he then does not know what good is; he calls his evil good, because\nthat is what he feels to be enjoyable. He also turns away from truth then\nand has no desire to see it, because he sees the  falsity which accords\nwith his evil as the eye beholds what is beautiful, and hears it as the\near hears what is harmonious.\n\n[4] Third: _Divine providence continually causes man to see truth and\nalso gives him affection for perceiving and receiving it._ For divine\nprovidence acts from within and flows thence into the exteriors, that is,\nflows from what is spiritual into what is in the natural man, by the\nlight of heaven enlightening his understanding and by the heat of heaven\nquickening his will. The light of heaven in essence is divine wisdom, and\nthe heat of heaven in essence is divine love. From divine wisdom nothing\ncan flow but truth, and from divine love nothing but good. With good the\nLord bestows an affection in the understanding for seeing and also\nperceiving and receiving truth. Man thus becomes man not only in external\naspect but in internal aspect, too. Everyone desires to appear a rational\nand spiritual man, and knows he so desires in order that others may\nbelieve him to be truly man. If then he is rational and spiritual in\nexternal form only, and not at the same time in his internal form, is he\nman? Is he different from a player on the stage or from an ape with an\nalmost human face? May one not know from this that only he is a human\nbeing who is inwardly what he desires others to think he is? One who\nacknowledges the one fact must admit the other. Man's own intelligence\ncan induce the human form only on externals, but divine providence\ninduces it on internals and thence on externals. When it has been so\ninduced, a man does not only appear to be a man; he is one.\n\n[5] Fourth: _Through this means man is withdrawn from evil, not by\nhimself, but by the Lord._ When divine providence gives man to see truth\nand to be affected by it, he can be withdrawn from evil for the reason\nthat truth points the way and dictates; doing what truth dictates, the\nwill unites with truth and within itself turns it into good, for it\nbecomes something one loves, and what is loved is good. All reformation\nis effected through truth, not without it, for without truth the will\ncontinues in its evil, and should it consult the understanding, is not\ninstructed, rather the evil is confirmed by falsities.\n\n[6] With regard to intelligence, this seems to the good man as well as to\nan evil man to be his and proper to him. Like an evil man, he is also\nbound to act from intelligence as if it were his own. But one who\nbelieves in divine providence is withdrawn from evil, and one who does\nnot believe in it is not withdrawn; he believes who acknowledges that\nevil is sin and desires to be withdrawn from it, and he does not believe\nwho does not so acknowledge and desire. The difference between the two\nkinds of intelligence is like that between what is believed to exist in\nitself and what is believed not to exist in itself but to appear as if it\ndid. It is also like the difference between an external without an\ninternal similar to it and an external with a similar internal. Thus it\nis like the difference between impersonations of kings, princes or\ngenerals by mimes and actors through word and bearing, and actual kings,\nprinces or generals. The latter are such in fact as well as outwardly,\nbut the former only outwardly, and when the exterior is laid off, are\nknown only as comedians, actors or players.\n\n299. (iv) _The Lord governs hell by means of opposites, and those in the\nworld who are evil He governs in hell as to their interiors but not as to\ntheir exteriors._ One who does not know the character of heaven and hell\ncannot know at all that of man's mind; his mind is his spirit which\nsurvives death. For the mind or spirit of man is altogether in form what\nheaven or hell is. The only difference is that one is vast and the other\nvery small, or one is archetype and the other a copy. As to his mind or\nspirit, accordingly, the human being is either heaven or hell in least\nform, heaven if he is led by the Lord, and hell if he is led by his\nproprium. Inasmuch as it has been granted me to know what heaven and hell\nare, and it is important to know what the human being is in respect to\nhis mind or spirit, I will describe both heaven and hell briefly.\n\n300. All who are in heaven are nothing other than affections of good and\nthoughts thence of truth, and all who are in hell are nothing other than\nlusts of evil and imaginations thence of falsity. These are so arranged\nrespectively that the lusts of evil and the imaginings of falsity in hell\nare precisely opposite to the affections of good and the thoughts of\ntruth in heaven. Therefore hell is under heaven and diametrically\nopposite, that is, the two are like two men lying in opposite directions,\nor standing, invertedly, like men at the antipodes, only the soles of\ntheir feet meeting and their heels hitting. At times hell also appears to\nbe so situated or inverted relatively to heaven, for the reason that\nthose in hell make lusts of evil the head and affections of good the\nfeet, while those in heaven make affections of good the head and lusts of\nevil the soles of the feet; hence the mutual opposition. When it is said\nthat in heaven there are affections of good and thoughts of truth from\nthem, and in hell lusts of evil and imaginations of falsity from them,\nthe meaning is that there are spirits and angels who are such. For\neveryone is his affection or his lust, an angel of heaven his affection\nand a spirit of hell his lust.\n\n301. The angels of heaven are affections of good and thoughts thence of\ntruth because they are recipients of divine love and wisdom from the\nLord; for all affections of good are from the divine love and all\nthoughts of truth are from the divine wisdom. But the spirits of hell are\nlusts of evil and the imaginations thence of falsity because they are in\nself-love and their own intelligence, and all lusts of evil come of\nself-love and imaginations of falsity from one's own intelligence.\n\n302. The ordering of affections in heaven and of lusts in hell is\nmarvelous, and is known to the Lord alone. They are each distinguished\ninto genera and species, and are so conjoined as to make a unit. As they\nare distinguished into genera and species, they are distinguished into\nlarger and smaller societies, and as they are so conjoined as to make a\nunit, they are conjoined as all things in man are. Hence in its form\nheaven is like a comely man, whose soul is divine love and wisdom, thus\nthe Lord, and hell in its form is like a monstrous man, his soul\nself-love and self-intelligence, thus the devil. No devil is sole lord\nthere; self-love is so called.\n\n303. But that the nature of heaven and of hell respectively may be better\nknown, instead of affections of good let enjoyments of good be\nunderstood, and enjoyments of evil instead of lusts of evil, for no\naffections or lusts are without their enjoyments, and enjoyments make\none's life. These enjoyments are distinguished and conjoined as we said\naffections of good and lusts of evil are. The enjoyment of his affection\nfills and surrounds each angel, the enjoyment common to a society of\nheaven fills and surrounds each society, and the enjoyment of all the\nangels together or the most widely shared enjoyment fills and envelops\nheaven as a whole. Similarly, the pleasure of his lust fills and envelops\neach spirit of hell, a common enjoyment every society in hell, and the\nenjoyment of all or the most widely shared enjoyment fills and envelops\nall hell. Since, as was said, the affections of heaven and the lusts of\nhell are diametrically opposite to each other, plainly a heavenly joy is\nso unenjoyable to hell that it is unbearable, and in turn an infernal joy\nis so unenjoyable to heaven that it is unbearable, too. Hence the\nantipathy, aversion and separateness.\n\n304. As these enjoyments constitute the life of each individual and of\nall in general, they are not sensed by those in them, but the opposite\nenjoyments are sensed when brought near, especially if they are turned\ninto odors; for every enjoyment corresponds to an odor and in the\nspiritual world may be converted into it. Then the general enjoyment in\nheaven is sensed as the odor of a garden, varied according to the\nfragrance of flowers and fruits; the general enjoyment in hell is sensed\nas the odor of stagnant water, into which filth of various sorts has been\nthrown, the odor varied according to the stench of the things decaying\nand reeking in it. While I have been given to know how the enjoyment of a\nparticular affection of good is sensed in heaven, and the enjoyment of\nsome lust of evil in hell, it would take too long to relate it here.\n\n305. I have heard many newcomers from the world complain that they had\nnot known that their destiny would be according to the affections of\ntheir love. To these, they said, they had given no thought in the world,\nmuch less to the enjoyments of the affections, for they loved what they\nfound enjoyable. They had believed that each person's lot would be\naccording to his thoughts from his intelligence, especially according to\nthoughts of piety and of faith. But they were answered, that they could\nhave known, if they wished, that evil of life is unacceptable to heaven\nand displeasing to God, but acceptable to hell and pleasing to the devil,\nand the other way about, that good of life is acceptable to heaven and\npleasing to God, but unacceptable to hell and displeasing to the devil;\nconsequently that evil in itself is malodorous and good is fragrant. As\nthey might have known this if they wished, why did they not shun evils as\ninfernal and diabolical, but indulge in them merely because they were\nenjoyable? Aware now that the enjoyments of evil smell so foully, they\nmight also know that those full of them cannot enter heaven. Upon this\nreply they betook themselves to those who were in similar enjoyments, for\nonly there could they breathe.\n\n306. From the idea of heaven and hell just given, it may be evident what\nthe nature of man's mind is. For, as was said, man's mind or spirit is\neither a heaven or a hell in least form, that is, his interiors are\nnothing other than affections and thoughts thence, distinguished into\ngenera and species, like the larger and smaller societies of heaven or\nhell, and so connected as to act as a unit. The Lord governs them as He\ndoes heaven or hell. That the human being is either heaven or hell in\nleast form may be seen in the work _Heaven and Hell,_ published at London\nin 1758.\n\n307. Now to the subject proposed, that the Lord governs hell by means of\nopposites, and those in the world who are evil He governs in hell as to\ntheir interiors but not as to their exteriors. On the first point, that\n_the Lord governs hell through opposites,_ it was shown above (nn. 288,\n289) that the angels of heaven are not in love and wisdom, or in the\naffection of good and thence in thought of truth from themselves, but\nfrom the Lord, likewise that good and truth flow from heaven into hell\nwhere good is turned into evil and truth into falsity because the\ninteriors of the minds of those in heaven and in hell respectively are\nturned in opposite directions. Inasmuch then as all things in hell are\nthe opposite of all things in heaven, the Lord governs hell by means of\nopposites.\n\n[2] The second point, that _the Lord governs in hell those in the world\nwho are evil._ This is for the reason that the human being as to his\nspirit is in the spiritual world and in some society there, in an\ninfernal society if he is evil, in a heavenly one if he is good. For his\nmind, which in itself is spiritual, cannot be anywhere but among\nspiritual beings, of whom he becomes one after death. This has also been\nstated and demonstrated above. A man is not there, however, in the same\nway as a spirit is who has been assigned to the society, for man is\nconstantly in a state to be reformed, and therefore, if he is evil, is\ntransferred by the Lord from one infernal society to another according to\nhis life and the changes in it. But if he permits himself to be reformed,\nhe is led out of hell and elevated to heaven, and there, too, he is\ncarried from one society to another until his death, after which this\ndoes not take place as he is then no longer in a state to be reformed,\nbut remains in the state which is his from his life. When a person dies,\ntherefore, he is assigned his place.\n\n[3] Thirdly, _the Lord governs the evil who are in the world in this way\nas to their interiors, but in another way as to their exteriors._ The\nLord governs the interiors of man's mind in the manner just stated, but\ngoverns the exteriors in the world of spirits, which is between heaven\nand hell. The reason is that commonly man is different in externals from\nwhat he is in internals. He can feign outwardly to be an angel of light\nand yet inwardly be a spirit of darkness. His external is therefore\ngoverned in one way, and his internal in another; as long as he is in the\nworld, his external is governed in the world of spirits, and his internal\nin either heaven or hell. On death one also enters the world of spirits\nfirst, therefore, and comes into his external, which he puts off there;\nhaving put it off, he is conducted to the place assigned as his. What the\nworld of spirits is and its nature may be seen in the work _Heaven and\nHell,_ published at London in 1758, nn. 421-535.\n\nXVI. DIVINE PROVIDENCE APPROPRIATES NEITHER EVIL NOR GOOD TO ANYONE, BUT\nONE'S OWN PRUDENCE APPROPRIATES BOTH\n\n308. Almost everyone believes that man thinks and wills, hence speaks and\nacts, from himself. Who of himself can believe otherwise? For the\nappearance that he does is so strong that it differs not at all from\nactually thinking, willing, speaking and acting from oneself, which is\nimpossible. In _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom_ it was shown\nthat there is only one life and that men are recipients of life; also\nthat the human will is the receptacle of love, and the human\nunderstanding the receptacle of wisdom; love and wisdom are the one life.\nIt was also demonstrated that by creation and steadily therefore by\ndivine providence this life appears in the human being quite as though it\nsprang from him and hence was his own, but that this is the appearance so\nthat man can be a receptacle. It was also shown above (nn. 288-294) that\nno one thinks from himself but from others, nor the others from\nthemselves, but all from the Lord, an evil person as well as a good\nperson. We showed further that this is well known in Christendom,\nespecially to those who not only say but also believe that all good and\ntruth, all wisdom and thus all faith and charity are from the Lord, also\nthat all evil and falsity are from the devil or hell.\n\n[2] One can only conclude from all this that everything which a man\nthinks and wills flows into him. And since all speech flows from thought\nas an effect from its cause, and all action flows similarly from the\nwill, it follows that everything which one speaks and does also flows in,\nalbeit derivatively or indirectly. It is undeniable that all which one\nsees, hears, smells, tastes or feels flows in; why not then what he\nthinks and wills? Can there be any difference other than this, that\nentities in the natural world flow into the organs of the external senses\nor of the body, while entities in the spiritual world flow into the\norganic substances of the internal senses or of the mind? Hence as the\norgans of the external senses or of the body are receptacles of natural\nobjects, so the organic substances of the internal senses or of the mind\nare receptacles of spiritual objects. As this is man's situation, what\nthen is his proprium? It cannot consist in his being such or such a\nreceptacle, for then it would only be the man's manner of reception, not\nthe life's proprium. No one understands by proprium anything else than\nthat he lives of himself and consequently thinks and wills of himself;\nbut that there is no such proprium and indeed cannot be with anyone\nfollows from what was said above.\n\n309. But let me relate what I have heard from some in the spiritual\nworld. They were of those who believe that one's own prudence is\neverything and divine providence nothing. I remarked that man has no\nproprium unless you want to call it his proprium that he is such or such\na subject or organ or form. This is not the proprium that is meant,\nhowever, for it is only descriptive of the nature of man. No man, I said,\nhas any proprium as the word is commonly understood. At this those who\nascribed everything to their own prudence and who may be called the very\npicture of proprietorship, flared up so that flames seemed to come from\ntheir nostrils as they said, \"You speak paradox and insanity! Would man\nnot be an empty nothing then? Or an idea or fancy? Or a graven image or\nstatue?\"\n\n[2] To this I could only reply that it is paradox and insanity to believe\nthat man has life of himself, and that wisdom and prudence, likewise the\ngood of charity and the truth of faith, do not flow in from God but are\nin man. To attribute them to oneself every wise person calls insane and\nalso paradoxical. Those who attribute them to themselves are like tenants\nof another's house and property who persuade themselves by living there\nthat it is their own; or like stewards and administrators who consider\nall that their master owns to be theirs; or like servants in business to\nwhom their master gave talents and pounds to trade with, but who rendered\nno account to him but kept all as theirs and thus behaved like robbers.\n\n[3] It may be said of such that they are insane, indeed are nothing and\nempty, likewise are idealists, since they do not have in them from the\nLord good which is the esse itself of life, thus do not have truth,\neither. They are also called \"dead\" therefore and \"nothing and empty\"\n(Isa 40:17, 23), and elsewhere \"makers of images,\" \"graven images\" and\n\"statues.\" More about them in what follows, to be done in this order:\n\ni. What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not one's own is.\nii. By his own prudence man persuades himself and confirms in himself\nthat all good and truth are from him and in him; similarly all evil and\nfalsity.\niii. All that a man is persuaded of and confirms remains with him as his\nown.\niv. If man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth are from\nthe Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not appropriate\ngood to himself and consider it merited, nor appropriate evil to himself\nand make himself responsible for it.\n\n310. (i) _What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not one's own\nis._ Those are in prudence of their own who confirm appearances in\nthemselves and make them truths, especially the appearance that one's own\nprudence is all and divine providence nothing--unless it is something\nuniversal, which it cannot be without singulars to constitute it, as was\nshown above. They are also in fallacies, for every appearance confirmed\nas truth becomes a fallacy, and so far as they confirm themselves by\nfallacies they become naturalists and to that extent believe nothing that\nthey cannot perceive by one of the bodily senses, particularly that of\nsight, for this especially acts as one with thought. They finally become\nsensuous. If they confirm themselves in favor of nature instead of God,\nthey close the interiors of their mind, interpose a veil as it were, and\nthen do their thinking below it and not at all above it. Such\nsense-ridden men were called serpents of the tree of knowledge by the\nancients. It is also said of them in the spiritual world that as they\nconfirm themselves they at length close the interiors of their mind \"to\nthe nose,\" for the nose signifies perception of truth, of which they have\nnone. What their nature is will be told now.\n\n[2] They are more cunning and crafty than others and are ingenious\nreasoners. They call cunning and craftiness intelligence and wisdom, nor\ndo they know otherwise. They look on those who are not like themselves as\nsimple and stupid, especially those who worship God and acknowledge\ndivine providence. In respect of the interior principles of their minds,\nof which they know little, they are like those called Machiavellians, who\nmake murder, adultery, theft and false witness, viewed in themselves, of\nno account; if they reason against them it is only out of prudence not to\nappear to be of that nature.\n\n[3] Of man's life in the world they think it is like that of a beast, and\nof his life after death that it is like a vital vapor which, rising from\nthe body or the grave, sinks back again and dies. From this madness comes\nthe notion that spirits and angels are airy entities, and with those who\nhave been enjoined to believe in everlasting life that the souls of men\nalso are. They therefore do not see, hear or speak, but are blind, deaf\nand dumb, and only cogitate in their particle of air. The sense-ridden\nask, \"How can the soul be anything else? The external senses died with\nthe body, did they not? They cannot be resumed before the soul is\nreunited with the body.\" Inasmuch as they could comprehend the state of\nthe soul after death only sensuously and not spiritually, they have fixed\nupon the state described; otherwise their belief in everlasting life\nwould have perished. Above all, they confirm self-love in themselves,\ncalling it the fire of life and the incentive to various uses in the\nkingdom. Being of this nature, they are their own idols, and their\nthoughts, being fallacies and from fallacies, are images of falsity.\nIndulging in the enjoyments of lusts, they are satans and devils; those\nwho confirm lusts of evil in themselves are satans, and those who live\nthem are called devils.\n\n[4] It has also been granted me to know the nature of the most crafty\nsensuous men. Their hell is deep down at the back, and they want to be\ninconspicuous. Therefore they appear to hover about there like spectres,\nwhich are their fantasies, and they are called _genii._ Some were sent\nout from that hell once for me to learn what they are like. They\nimmediately addressed themselves to my neck below the occiput and thus\nentered my affections, not wanting to enter my thoughts, which they\nadroitly avoided. They altered my affections one by one with a mind to\nbend them imperceptibly into their opposites, which are lusts of evil;\nand as they did not touch my thought at all they would have bent and\ninverted my affections without my knowledge, had not the Lord prevented\nit.\n\n[5] Such do they become who do not believe that there can be any divine\nprovidence, and who search only for cupidities and cravings in others and\nthus lead them along until they dominate them. They do this so secretly\nand artfully that one does not know it, and they remain the same on\ndeath; therefore they are cast down into that hell as soon as they enter\nthe spiritual world. Seen in heaven's light they appear to be without a\nnose, and it is remarkable that although they are so crafty they are more\nsense-ridden than others.\n\n[6] The ancients called a sensuous man a serpent, and such a man is more\ncunning and crafty and a more ingenious reasoner than others; therefore\nit is said,\n\nThe serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field (Ge 3:1), and the\nLord said:\n\nBe prudent as serpents and simple as doves (Mt 10:16).\n\nThe dragon, too, called \"that old serpent\" and the \"devil\" and \"satin,\"\nis described as\n\nHaving seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads seven crowns (Apoc\n12:3, 9).\n\nCraftiness is signified by the seven heads; the power to persuade by\nfallacies is meant by the ten horns; and holy things of the Word and the\nchurch which have been profaned are signified by the seven crowns.\n\n311. From the description of one's own prudence and of those who are in\nit, the nature of prudence not one's own and of those who are in it may\nbe seen. Those have prudence not their own who do not confirm in\nthemselves that intelligence and wisdom are from man. They ask, \"How can\nanyone be wise of himself or do good of himself?\" When they speak so,\nthey see in themselves that it is so, for they think interiorly. They\nalso believe that others think similarly, especially the learned, for\nthey are unaware that any-one can think only exteriorly.\n\n[2] They are not in fallacies by any confirmation of appearances. They\nknow and perceive, therefore, that murder, adultery, theft and false\nwitness are sins and accordingly shun them on that account. They also\nknow that wickedness is not wisdom and cunning is not intelligence. When\nthey hear ingenious reasoning from fallacies they wonder and smile to\nthemselves. This is because with them there is no veil between interiors\nand exteriors, or between the spiritual and the natural things of the\nmind, as there is with the sensuous. They therefore receive influx from\nheaven by which they see these things.\n\n[3] They speak more simply and sincerely than others and place wisdom in\nlife and not in talk. Relatively they are like lambs and sheep while\nthose who are in their own prudence are like wolves and foxes. Or they\nare like those living in a house who see the sky through the windows\nwhile those who are in prudence of their own are like persons living in\nthe basement of a house who can look out through the windows only on what\nis down on the ground. Again they are like persons standing on a mountain\nwho see those who are in prudence of their own as wanderers in valleys\nand forests.\n\n[4] Hence it may be plain that prudence not one's own is prudence from\nthe Lord, in externals appearing similar to prudence of one's own, but\ntotally unlike it in internals. In internals prudence not one's own\nappears in the spiritual world as man, while prudence which is one's own\nappears like a statue, which seems living only because those who are in\nsuch prudence still possess rationality and freedom or the capacity to\nunderstand and to will, hence to speak and act, and by means of these\nfaculties can make it appear that they also are men. They are such\nstatues because evils and falsities have no life; only goods and truths\ndo. By their rationality they know this, for if they did not they would\nnot feign goods and truths; hence in their simulation of them they\npossess a vital humanness.\n\n[5] Who does not know that a man is what he is inwardly? Consequently\nthat he is a man who is inwardly what he wishes to appear to be\noutwardly, while he is a copy who is a man outwardly only and not\ninwardly. Think, as you speak, in favor of God and religion, of\nrighteousness and sincerity, and you will be a man, and divine providence\nwill be your prudence; you will perceive in others that one's own\nprudence is insanity.\n\n312. (ii) _By his own prudence man persuades himself and confirms in\nhimself that all good and truth are from him and in him; similarly all\nevil and falsity._ Rest the argument on the parallel between natural good\nand truth and spiritual good and truth. Ask what truth and good are to\nthe sight of the eye. Is not what is called beautiful truth to it, and\nwhat is called enjoyable good to it? For enjoyment is felt in beholding\nwhat is beautiful. What are truth and good to the hearing? Is not what is\ncalled harmonious truth to it, and what is called pleasing good to it?\nFor pleasure is felt in hearing harmonies. It is the same with the other\nsenses. What natural good and truth are is plain, then. Consider now what\nspiritual good and truth are. Is spiritual truth anything other than\nbeauty and harmony in spiritual matters and objects? And is spiritual\ngood anything other than the enjoyment and pleasure of perceiving the\nbeauty and harmony?\n\n[2] Let us see now whether anything different is to be said of the one\nfrom what is said of the other, that is, of the spiritual from what is\nsaid of the natural. Of the natural we say that what is beautiful and\nenjoyable to the eye flows in from objects, and what is harmonious and\npleasing to the ear flows in from musical instruments. Is something\ndifferent to be said in relation to the organic substances of the mind?\nOf these it is said that the enjoyable and pleasing are in them, while it\nis said of eye and ear that they flow in. If you inquire why it is said\nthat they flow in, the one answer possible is that distance appears\nbetween the objects and the organs. But when one asks why it is said that\nin the other case they are indwelling, the one possible answer is that no\ndistance appears between the two. Consequently, it is the appearance of\ndistance that results in believing one thing about what one thinks and\nperceives, and another thing about what one sees and hears. But this\nbecomes baseless when one reflects that the spiritual is not in space as\nthe natural is. Think of sun or moon, or of Rome or Constantinople: do\nyou not think of them apart from distance (provided the thought is not\njoined to the experience gained by sight or hearing)? Why then persuade\nyourself that because there is no appearance of distance in thought, that\ngood and truth, as also evil and falsity, are indwelling, and do not flow\nin?\n\n[3] Let me add to this an experience which is common in the spiritual\nworld. One spirit can infuse his thoughts and affections into another,\nand the other not know that it is not his own thinking and affection.\nThis is called in that world thinking from and in another. I have\nwitnessed it a thousand times and also done it a hundred times; and it\nseemed to occur at a considerable distance. As soon as the spirits\nlearned that another was introducing the thoughts and affections, they\nwere indignant and turned away, recognizing then, however, that to the\ninternal thought or sight no distance is apparent unless it is disclosed,\nas it may be, to the external sight or the eye; as a result it is\nbelieved that there is influx.\n\n[4] I will add to this experience an everyday experience of mine. Evil\nspirits have often put into my thoughts evils and falsities which seemed\nto me to be in me and to originate from me, or seemed to be my own\nthought. Knowing them to be evils and falsities, I searched out the\nspirits who had introduced them, and they were detected and driven off.\nThey were at a great distance from me.\n\nIt may be manifest from these things that all evil with its falsity flows\nin from hell and all good with its truth flows in from the Lord, and that\nboth appear to be in man.\n\n313. The nature of men who are in prudence of their own, and the nature\nof those in prudence not their own and hence in the divine providence, is\ndepicted in the Word by Adam and his wife Eve in the Garden of Eden where\nwere two trees, one of life and the other of the knowledge of good and\nevil, and by their eating of the latter tree. It may be seen above (n.\n241) that in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word by Adam and Eve,\nhis wife, the Most Ancient Church of the Lord on this earth is meant and\ndescribed, which was more noble and heavenly than subsequent churches.\n\n[2] Following is what is signified by other particulars. The wisdom of\nthe men of that church is signified by the Garden of Eden; the Lord in\nrespect to divine providence is signified by the tree of life, and man in\nrespect to his own prudence is meant by the tree of knowledge; his\nsensuous life and his proprium, which in itself is self-love and pride in\none's own intelligence, and thus is the devil and satan, is signified by\nthe serpent; and the appropriation of good and truth with the thought\nthat they are not from the Lord and are not the Lord's, but are from man\nand are his, is signified by eating of the tree of knowledge. Inasmuch as\ngood and truth are what is divine with man (for everything of love is\nmeant by good, and everything of wisdom by truth), if man claims them as\nhis, he cannot but believe that he is as God. Therefore the serpent said:\n\nIn the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be as\nGod, knowing good and evil (Ge 3:5).\n\nSo do those in hell believe, who are in self-love and thence in the pride\nof their own intelligence.\n\n[3] Condemnation of self-love and self-intelligence is meant by the\ncondemnation of the serpent; the condemnation of the volitional proprium\nis meant by the condemnation of Eve and the condemnation of the\nintellectual proprium by the condemnation of Adam; sheer falsity and evil\nare signified by the thorn and thistle which the earth would produce for\nAdam; the loss of wisdom is signified by the expulsion from the Garden;\nthe Lord's care lest holy things of the Word and the church be violated\nis meant by guarding the way to the tree of life; moral truths, veiling\nmen's self-love and conceit, are signified by the fig leaves with which\nAdam and Eve covered their nakedness; and appearances of truth, in which\nalone they were, are signified by the coats of skin with which they were\nlater clothed. Such is the spiritual understanding of these particulars.\nLet him who wishes remain in the sense of the letter, only let him know\nthat it is so understood in heaven.\n\n314. The nature of those who are infatuated with their own intelligence\ncan be seen from their fancies in matters of interior judgment, as, for\nexample, about influx, thought and life. Their thinking about influx is\ninverted. They think that the sight of the eye flows into the internal\nsight of the mind or into the understanding, and that the hearing of the\near flows into the internal hearing, which also is the understanding.\nThey do not perceive that the understanding from the will flows into the\neye and the ear, and not only constitutes those senses but also employs\nthem as its instruments in the natural world. As this is not according to\nthe appearance, they do not perceive even if it is only said that the\nnatural does not flow into the spiritual, but the spiritual into the\nnatural. They still think, \"What is the spiritual except a finer\nnatural?\" And again, \"When the eye beholds something beautiful or the ear\nhears something melodious, of course the mind, which is understanding and\nwill, is delighted.\" They do not know that the eye does not see of\nitself, nor the tongue taste, nor the nose smell, nor the skin feel of\nitself, but that it is the man's mind or spirit which has the perceptions\nin the sensation and which is affected according to its nature by the\nsensation. Indeed, the mind or spirit does not sense things of itself,\nbut does so from the Lord; to think otherwise is to think from\nappearances, and if these are confirmed, from fallacies.\n\n[2] Regarding thought, they say that it is something modified in the air,\nvaried according to topic, and widened by cultivation; thus that the\nideas in thoughts are images appearing, meteor-like, in the air; and that\nthe memory is a tablet on which they are imprinted. They do not know that\nthought goes on in purely organic substances just as much as sight and\nhearing do. Only let them examine the brain, and they will see that it is\nfull of such substances; injure them and you will become delirious;\ndestroy them and you will die. But what thought and memory are see above\nat n. 279 end.\n\n[3] Regarding life, they know it only as an activity of nature, which\nmakes itself felt in different ways, as a live body bestirs itself\norganically. If it is remarked that nature is alive then, they deny this,\nand say it enables to life. If one asks, \"Is life not dissipated then on\nthe death of the body?\" they reply that life remains in a particle of air\ncalled the soul. Asked \"What then is God? Is He not life itself?\" they\nkeep silence and do not want to utter what they think. Asked, \"Would you\ngrant that divine love and wisdom are life itself?\" they answer, \"What\nare love and wisdom?\" For in their fallacies they do not see what these\nare or what God is.\n\nThese things have been adduced that it may be seen how man is infatuated\nby prudence of his own because he draws all conclusions then from\nappearances and thus from fallacies.\n\n316.* By one's own prudence one is persuaded and confirmed that all good\nand truth are from man and in man, because a man's own prudence is his\nintellectual proprium, flowing in from self-love, which is his volitional\nproprium; proprium inevitably makes everything its own; it cannot be\nraised above doing so. All who are led by the Lord's divine providence\nare raised above the proprium and then see that all good and truth are\nfrom the Lord, indeed see that what in the human being is from the Lord\nis always the Lord's and never man's. He who believes otherwise is like\none who has his master's goods in his care and claims them himself or\nappropriates them--he is no steward, but a thief. As man's proprium is\nnothing but evil, he also immerses the goods in his evil, by which they\nare destroyed like pearls thrown into dung or into acid.\n\n* So numbered in the Latin original.\n\n317. ( iii) _All that a man is persuaded of and confirms remains with him\nas his own._ Many believe that no truth can be seen by man without\nconfirmations of it, but this is false. In civic and economic matters in\na kingdom or republic what is useful and good can be seen only with some\nknowledge of its numerous statutes and ordinances; in judicial matters\nonly with knowledge of the law; and in natural subjects, like physics,\nchemistry, anatomy, mechanics and others, only on acquaintance with those\nsciences. But in purely rational, moral and spiritual matters, truths\nappear in light of their own, if man has become somewhat rational, moral\nand spiritual through a suitable education. This is because everyone as\nto his spirit, which is what thinks, is in the spiritual world and is one\namong those there, consequently is in spiritual light, which enlightens\nthe interiors of his understanding and, as it were, dictates. For\nspiritual light in essence is the divine truth of the Lord's divine\nwisdom. Thence it is that man can think analytically, form conclusions\nabout what is just and right in matters of judgment, see what is\nhonorable in moral life and good in spiritual life, and see many truths,\nwhich are darkened only by the confirmation of falsities. Man sees them\nalmost as readily as he sees another's disposition from his face or\nperceives his affections from the sound of his voice, with no further\nknowledge than is implanted in one. Why should not man in some measure\nsee from influx the interiors of his life, which are spiritual and moral,\nwhen there is no animal that does not know by influx all things necessary\nto it, which are natural? A bird knows how to build its nest, lay its\neggs, hatch its young and recognize its food, besides other wonders which\nare named instinct.\n\n318. How this state is changed, however, by confirmations and consequent\npersuasions will be told now in this order:\n\n1. There is nothing that cannot be confirmed, and falsity is confirmed\nmore readily than truth.\n2. Truth does not appear when falsity has been confirmed, but falsity is\napparent from confirmed truth.\n3. The ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not intelligence but\nonly ingenuity, to be found in the worst of men.\n4. Confirmation may be mental and not at the same time volitional, but\nall volitional confirmation is also mental.\n5. Confirmation of evil both volitional and intellectual causes man to\nbelieve that one's own prudence is everything and divine providence\nnothing, but not confirmation solely intellectual.\n6. Everything confirmed by the will and at the same time by the\nunderstanding, remains to eternity, but not what has been confirmed only\nby the understanding.\n\n[2] Touching the first, that _there is nothing that cannot be confirmed,\nand that falsity is confirmed more readily than truth._  What, indeed,\ncannot be confirmed when atheists confirm that God is not the Creator of\nthe universe but that nature is her own creator; that religion is only a\nrestraint and is for simple and common folks; that man is like the beast\nand dies like one; that adultery and secret theft, fraud and deceitful\nschemes are allowable, and that cunning is intelligence and wickedness is\nwisdom. Everyone confirms his heresy. Volumes are filled with\nconfirmations of the two heresies prevalent in Christendom. Assemble ten\nheresies, however abstruse, ask an ingenious man to confirm them, and he\nwill confirm them all. If you regard them then solely from the\nconfirmations of them, will you not be seeing falsities as truth? Since\nall that is false lights up in the natural man from its appearances and\nfallacies, but truth lights up only in the spiritual man, plainly falsity\ncan be confirmed more readily than truth.\n\n[3] For it to be known that everything false and everything evil can be\nconfirmed even to the point that what is false seems true and what is\nevil seems to be good, take for example the confirmation that light is\ndarkness and darkness is light. A man may ask: \"What is light `in\nitself'? Is not light only something which appears in the eye according\nto the eye's condition? What is light when the eye is closed? Do not bats\nand owls have eyes to see light as darkness and darkness as light? I have\nheard it said that some persons see in like manner, and that infernal\nspirits, despite being in darkness, see one another. Does one not have\nlight in his dreams in the middle of the night? Is darkness not light,\ntherefore, and light darkness?\" It can be replied, \"What of that? Light\nis light as truth is truth, and darkness is darkness as falsity is\nfalsity.\"\n\n[4] Take a further example: confirmation that the crow is white. May its\nblackness not be said to be only a shading which is not the real fact?\nIts feathers are white inside, its body, too; and these are the stuff of\nwhich the bird is made. As its blackness is a shading, the crow turns\nwhite as it grows old--some such have been seen. What is black in itself\nbut white? Pulverize black glass and you will see that the powder is\nwhite. When you call the crow black, therefore, you are speaking of the\nshadow and not of the reality. The reply can be, \"What of it? All birds\nshould be called white then.\"\n\nContrary as they are to sound reason, these arguments have been recited\nto show that it is possible to confirm falsity that is directly opposite\nto truth and evil that is directly opposite to good.\n\n[5] Second: _Truth does not appear when falsity has been confirmed, but\nfalsity is apparent from truth confirmed._ All falsity is in darkness and\nall truth in light. In darkness nothing is seen, nor indeed is it known\nwhat anything is except by contact with it, but it is different in the\nlight. In the Word falsities are therefore called darkness, and those who\nare in falsities are said to walk in darkness and in the shadow of death.\nIn turn, truths are called light in it, and those who are in truths are\nsaid to walk in the light and to be the children of light.\n\n[6] There is much to show that when falsity has been confirmed, truth\ndoes not appear, but when truth has been confirmed, falsity is apparent.\nFor instance, who would see a spiritual truth unless the Word taught it?\nWould there not be darkness that could be dispelled only by the light in\nwhich the Word is, and only with one who wishes to be enlightened? What\nheretic can see his falsities unless he welcomes the genuine truth of the\nchurch? Until then he does not see them. I have talked with those who\nconfirmed themselves in faith apart from charity and who were asked\nwhether they saw the frequent mention in the Word of love and charity,\nworks and deeds, and keeping the Commandments, and the declaration that\nthe man who keeps the Commandments is blessed and wise, but the man who\ndoes not is foolish. They said that on reading these things they saw them\nonly as matters of faith, and passed them by with their eyes closed, so\nto speak.\n\n[7] Those who have confirmed themselves in falsities are like men who see\nstreaks on a wall, and at twilight fancy that they see the figure of a\nhorseman or just of a man, a visionary image which is dissipated when the\ndaylight floods in. Who can sense the spiritual uncleanness of adultery\nexcept one who is in the cleanliness of chastity? Who can feel the\ncruelty of vengeance except one who is in good from love to the neighbor?\nWhat adulterer or what avenger does not sneer at those who call enjoyment\nin such acts as theirs infernal but the enjoyments of marital love and\nneighborly love heavenly? And so on.\n\n[8] Third: _The ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not\nintelligence but only ingenuity, to be found in the worst of men._ Some\nshow the greatest dexterity in confirmation, who know no truth and yet\ncan confirm both truth and falsity. Some of them remark, \"What is truth?\nIs there such a thing? Is not that true which I make true?\" In the world\nthey are believed to be intelligent, and yet they are only daubing a\nwall.* Only those are intelligent who perceive truth to be truth and who\nconfirm it by verities constantly perceived. Little difference may be\nseen between the latter and the former because one cannot distinguish\nbetween the light of confirmation and the light of the perception of\ntruth. Those in the light of confirmation seem also to be in the light of\nthe perception of truth. Yet the difference is like that between illusory\nlight and genuine. In the spiritual world illusory light is such that it\nturns into darkness when genuine light flows in. There is such illusory\nlight with many in hell; on being brought out into genuine light they see\nnothing at all. It is evident, then, that to be able to confirm whatever\none pleases is only ingenuity, which the worst of men may have.\n\n* Cf. Ezekiel 13:10, 11 and _Arcana Caelestia_ n. 739(2), Apocalypse\nExplained nn. 237(5) and 644(25). Tr.\n\n[9] Fourth: _Confirmation may be mental and not at the same time\nvolitional, but all volitional confirmation is also mental._ Let an\nexample serve to illustrate this. Those who confirm faith separate from\ncharity and yet live the life of charity, and in general those who\nconfirm a falsity of doctrine and yet do not live according to it, are in\nintellectual confirmation but not at the same time volitional. On the\nother hand, those who confirm falsity of doctrine and live according to\nit are in volitional and at the same time in intellectual confirmation.\nFor the understanding does not flow into the will, but the will into the\nunderstanding. Hence it is plain what falsity of evil is, and what\nfalsity not of evil is. Falsity which is not of evil can be conjoined\nwith good, but falsity of evil cannot be. For falsity which is not of\nevil is falsity in the understanding but not in the will, while falsity\nof evil is falsity in the understanding which comes of evil in the will.\n\n[10] Fifth: _Confirmation of evil, both volitional and intellectual, but\nnot confirmation only intellectual, causes man to believe that his own\nprudence is everything and divine providence nothing._ Many confirm their\nown prudence in themselves on the strength of appearances in the world,\nand yet do not deny divine providence; theirs is only intellectual\nconfirmation. But in others, who deny divine providence at the same time,\nthere is volitional confirmation; this, together with persuasion, is\nfound chiefly in worshipers of nature and also in worshipers of self.\n\n[11] Sixth: _Everything confirmed by the will and at the same time by the\nunderstanding remains to eternity, but not what is confirmed only by the\nunderstanding._ For what pertains to the understanding alone is not\nwithin man but outside him; it is only in the thought. Nothing enters man\nand is appropriated to him except what is received by the will; then it\ncomes to be of his life's love. This, it will be shown in the next\nnumber, remains to eternity.\n\n319. Everything confirmed by both the will and the understanding remains\nto eternity because everyone is his own love, and love attaches to the\nwill; also because everyone is his own good or his own evil, for that is\ncalled good or evil which belongs to the love. Since man is his own love\nhe is also the form of his love, and may be called the organ of his\nlife's love. It was stated above (n. 279) that the affections of man's\nlove and his resulting thoughts are changes and variations of the state\nand form of the organic substances of his mind. What these changes and\nvariations are and their nature will be explained now. Some idea of them\nmay be obtained from the alternating expansions and compressions or\ndilations and contractions in the heart and lungs, called in the heart\nsystole and diastole, and in the lungs respirations. These are reciprocal\nextensions and retractions or expansions and contractions of their lobes.\nSuch are the changes and variations in the state of the heart and lungs.\nSuch changes and variations occur in the other viscera of the body and in\ntheir parts, too, by which the blood and the animal juices are received\nand transmitted.\n\n[2] Similar changes and variations take place in the organic forms of the\nmind, which, as we showed above, are the substances underlying man's\naffections and thoughts. There is a difference. Their expansions and\ncompressions or reciprocal activities in comparison have so much greater\nperfection that they cannot be described in words of natural language,\nbut only in words of spiritual language, which can sound only as saying\nthat the changes and variations are vortical gyrations in and out, after\nthe manner of perpetually winding spirals wonderfully massed into forms\nreceptive of life.\n\n[3] Now to tell the nature of these purely organic substances and forms\nin the evil and in the good respectively: in the good the spiral forms\ntravel forward, in the evil backward; the forward-traveling are turned to\nthe Lord and receive influx from Him; the retrogressive are turned\ntowards hell and receive influx from hell. It should be known that in the\nmeasure in which they turn backward these forms are open behind and\nclosed in front; and on the other hand in the measure in which they turn\nforward, they are open in front and closed behind.\n\n[4] This can make plain what kind of form or organ an evil man is and\nwhat kind of form or organ a good man is, and that they are turned in\nopposite directions. As the turning once established cannot be twisted\nback it is plain that man remains to eternity such as he is at death.\nThe love of man's will is what effects this turning, or is what either\nconverts or inverts, for, as was said above, each person is his own love.\nHence, on death, everyone goes the way of his love, the man in a good\nlove to heaven, and the man in an evil love to hell, nor does he rest\nexcept in that society where his ruling love is. Marvelous it is that\neach knows the way; it is as though he scents it.\n\n320. (iv) _If man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth are\nfrom the Lord and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not\nappropriate good to himself and consider it merited, nor evil and make\nhimself responsible for it._ This is contrary to the belief of those who\nhave confirmed in themselves the appearance that wisdom and prudence come\nfrom man and do not flow in according to the state of the organization of\nthe mind, treated of above (n. 319). It must therefore be demonstrated,\nand to be done clearly, it will be done in this order:\n\n1. One who confirms in himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence\nare from man and thus in him as his, must take the view that otherwise he\nwould not be a man, but either a beast or a statue; yet the contrary is\ntrue.\n2. To believe and think, as is the truth, that all good and truth are\nfrom the Lord and all evil and falsity from hell, seems impossible, yet\nis truly human and hence angelic.\n3. So to believe and think is impossible to those who do not acknowledge\nthe divine of the Lord and that evils are sins, but possible for those\nwho make these two acknowledgments.\n4. Those who make the two acknowledgments alone reflect on the evils in\nthemselves, and so far as they flee them and are averse to them, they\nsend them back to hell from which they come.\n5. So divine providence appropriates neither evil nor good to anyone, but\none's own prudence appropriates both.\n\n321. These propositions will be explained in the order proposed. First:\n_One who confirms in himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence are\nfrom man and thus in him as his, must take the view that otherwise he\nwould not be a man, but either a beast or a statue; yet the contrary is\ntrue._ It comes from a law of divine providence that man is to think as\nit were from himself and act prudently as of himself, but still\nacknowledge that he does so from the Lord. It follows that one who thinks\nand acts prudently as of himself and acknowledges at the same time that\nhe does so from the Lord, is a man, but that person is not who confirms\nin himself the idea that all he thinks and does is from himself. Neither\nis he a man who, knowing that wisdom and prudence are from God, keeps\nawaiting influx. This man becomes like a statue, the other like a beast.\nOne who waits for influx is obviously like a statue; he is sure to stand\nor sit motionless, his hands dropped, his eyes closed or, if open,\nunblinking, and neither thinking nor breathing. What life has he then?\n\n[2] Plainly, too, one who believes that everything he thinks and does is\nfrom himself is not unlike a beast. For he thinks only from the natural\nmind which man has in common with beasts, and not from the spiritual,\nrational mind which is the truly human mind; for this mind acknowledges\nthat God alone thinks from Himself and that man does so from God.\nTherefore one who thinks only from the natural mind knows no difference\nbetween man and animal except that man speaks and a beast makes sounds,\nand he believes they die alike.\n\n[3] Something further is to be said about those who await influx. They\nreceive none, except for a few who desire it with the whole heart. These\nat times receive some response through a living perception in thought or\nby tacit utterance but rarely by an explicit one, and this then is that\nthey should think and act as they determine and are able, and that one\nwho acts wisely is wise and one who acts foolishly is foolish. They are\nnever instructed what to believe or do, in order that human rationality\nand liberty may not perish, that is, in order that everyone shall act in\nfreedom according to reason in all appearance as of himself. Those who\nare told by influx what they are to believe or do are not being\ninstructed by the Lord, nor by any angel of heaven, but by some spirit,\nan Enthusiast, Quaker or Moravian, and are being misled. All influx from\nthe Lord is effected by enlightenment of the understanding and by an\naffection of truth, and passes by the latter into the former.\n\n[4] Second: _To believe and think, as is the truth, that all good and\ntruth are from the Lord and all evil and falsity from hell, seems\nimpossible, yet is truly human and hence angelic._ To believe and think\nthat all good and truth are from God seems possible, if no more is said,\nfor it falls in with a theological belief contrary to which it is not\nallowable to think. But to believe and think also that all evil and\nfalsity are from hell seems impossible, for in that belief man would not\nthink at all. But man still thinks as from himself though it is from\nhell, for the Lord grants to everyone that his thought, wherever it is\nfrom, shall appear to be his own in him. Else man would not live as a\nhuman being, nor could he be led out of hell and brought into heaven,\nthat is, be reformed, as we have shown many times.\n\n[5] Therefore the Lord also grants man to know and consequently to think\nthat when he is in evil he is in hell, and that if he thinks evil he\nthinks from hell. He likewise grants him to think of the means by which\nhe can escape from hell and not think from hell, but enter heaven and in\nheaven think from the Lord, and He grants man the freedom to choose. From\nall this it may be seen that man can think evil and falsity as if from\nhimself and also think that this or that is evil or false; consequently\nthat it is only an appearance that he does so of himself, an appearance\nwithout which he would not be man. To think from truth is what is human\nitself and consequently angelic itself; it is a truth that man does not\nthink from himself, but is granted by the Lord to think from himself to\nall appearance.\n\n[6] Third: _So to believe and think is impossible to those who do not\nacknowledge the divine of the Lord and that evils are sins, but possible\nto those who make the two acknowledgments._ It is impossible to those who\ndo not acknowledge the divine of the Lord, for the Lord alone gives man\nto think and will; and those who do not acknowledge the divine of the\nLord, being separated from Him believe that they think for themselves. It\nis impossible also to those who do not acknowledge evils to be sins, for\nthey think then from hell, and in hell everyone supposes that he thinks\nfrom himself. That it is possible, however, to those who make the two\nacknowledgments can be seen from what was set forth fully above (nn.\n288-294).\n\n[7] Fourth: _Only those who live in the two acknowledgments reflect on\nthe evils in themselves, and so far as they shun and are averse to them,\nthey send them back to hell from which they come._ All know or can know\nthat evil is from hell and good is from heaven. Who then cannot know that\nso far as man shuns and is averse to evil he shuns and is averse to hell?\nHe can know then, too, that so far as he shuns and is averse to evil, he\nwills and loves what is good, and consequently is so far released from\nhell by the Lord and led to heaven. Every rational person may see these\nthings provided he knows that heaven and hell exist, where good and evil\nhave their respective origins. If, now, he reflects on the evils in him,\nwhich is the same thing as examining himself, and shuns them, he\ndisengages himself from hell, puts it behind him, and brings himself into\nheaven, where he beholds the Lord before him. Man does this, we say, but\nhe does it as of himself and from the Lord now. When a man acknowledges\nthis truth out of a good heart and in a devout faith, it lies inwardly\nhidden in all that he thinks and does afterwards as of himself. It is\nlike the prolific force in a seed which remains in it even until new seed\nis produced, and like the pleasure in one's appetite for food the\nwholesomeness of which one has learned; in a word, like heart and soul in\nall he thinks and does.\n\n[8] Fifth: _So divine providence appropriates neither evil nor good to\nanyone, but one's own prudence appropriates both._ This follows from all\nthat has been said. Good is the objective of divine providence; it\npurposes good in all its activity, therefore. Accordingly, it does not\nappropriate good to anyone, for then this would become self-righteous;\nnor does it appropriate evil to anyone, for so it would make him\nresponsible for evil. But man does both by his proprium, for this is\nnothing but evil. The proprium of the will is self-love and that of the\nunderstanding is the pride of self-intelligence, and of these comes man's\nown prudence.\n\nXVII. EVERY MAN CAN BE REFORMED, AND THERE IS NO PREDESTINATION [as\ncommonly understood*]\n\n* See n. 330 - Tr.\n\n322. Sound reason dictates that all are predestined to heaven and none to\nhell, for all are born human beings and consequently God's image is in\nthem. God's image in them consists in their ability to understand truth\nand to do good. The ability to understand truth comes from the divine\nwisdom, and the ability to do good from the divine love. This ability,\nwhich is God's image, remains in any sane person and is not eradicated.\nHence it is that he can become a civil and moral man, and one who is\ncivil and moral can also become spiritual, for the civil and moral is a\nreceptacle of what is spiritual. He is called a civil man who knows and\nlives according to the laws of the kingdom of which he is a citizen; he\nis called a moral man who makes those laws his ethics and his virtues and\nfrom reason lives by them.\n\n[2] Let me say how civil and moral life is the receptacle of spiritual\nlife. Live these laws not only as civil and moral laws but also as divine\nlaws, and you will be a spiritual man. There is hardly a nation so\nbarbarous that it has not by law prohibited murder, adultery, theft,\nfalse witness and damage to what is another's. The civil and moral man\nkeeps these laws that he may be, or seem to be, a good citizen. If he\ndoes not consider them divine laws also he is only a civil and moral\nnatural man, but if he considers them divine also, he becomes a civil and\nmoral spiritual man. The difference is that the latter is a good citizen\nboth of an earthly kingdom and of a heavenly, while the former is a good\ncitizen only of the earthly kingdom and not of the heavenly. They are\ndistinguishable by the good they do. The good done by civil and moral\nnatural men is not in itself good, for man and the world are in it; the\ngood done by civil and moral spiritual men is in itself good, because the\nLord and heaven are in it.\n\n[3] From all this it may be seen that every person, because he is born\nable to become a civil and moral natural being, is also born able to\nbecome a civil and moral spiritual man. He has only to acknowledge God\nand not commit evils because they are against God, but do good because\ngood is siding with God. Then spirit enters into his civil and moral\nactions and they live; otherwise there is no spirit in them and hence\nthey are not living. Therefore the natural man, however much he acts like\na civil and moral being, is spoken of as dead, but the spiritual man is\nspoken of as living.\n\n[4] Of the Lord's divine providence every nation has some religion, and\nprimary in every religion is the acknowledgment that God is, else it is\nnot called a religion. Every nation that lives its religion, that is,\ndoes not do evil because this is contrary to its God, receives something\nspiritual in its natural life. Who, on hearing a Gentile say he will not\ndo this or that evil because it is contrary to his God, does not say to\nhimself, \"Is this person not saved? It seems, it cannot be otherwise.\"\nSound reason tells him this. On the other hand, hearing a Christian say,\n\"I make no account of this or that evil. What does it mean to say that it\nis contrary to God?\" one says to himself, \"This man is not saved, is he?\nIt would seem, he cannot be.\" Sound reason dictates this also.\n\n[5] Should someone say, \"I was born a Christian, have been baptized, have\nknown the Lord, read the Word, observed the Sacrament of the Supper,\"\nwhat does this amount to when he does not count as sins murder, or the\nrevenge breathing it, adultery, stealing, false witness, or lying, and\ndifferent sorts of violence? Does such a person think of God or of\neternal life? Does he think they exist? Does sound reason not dictate\nthat such a man cannot be saved? This has been said of a Christian, for a\nGentile in his life gives more thought to God from religion than a\nChristian does. But more is to be said on these points in what follows in\nthis order:\n\ni. The goal of creation is a heaven from mankind.\nii. Of divine providence, therefore, every man can be saved, and those\nare saved who acknowledge God and live rightly.\niii. Man himself is in fault if he is not saved.\niv. Thus all are predestined to heaven, and no one to hell.\n\n323. (i) _The goal of creation is a heaven from mankind._ It has been\nshown above and in the work, _Heaven and Hell_ (London, 1758), that\nheaven consists solely of those who have been born as human beings. Since\nheaven consists of no others, it follows that the purpose of creation is\na heaven from mankind. This has been shown above (nn. 27-45), it is true,\nbut will be seen more clearly still with explanation of the following:\n\n1. Everyone is created to live forever.\n2. Everyone is created to live forever in a blessed state.\n3. Thus every person has been created to enter heaven.\n4. The divine love cannot but will this, and the divine wisdom cannot but\nprovide it.\n\n324. One can see from these points that divine providence is none other\nthan predestination to heaven and cannot be altered into anything else.\nWe must now demonstrate, therefore, in the order proposed, that the goal\nof creation is a heaven from the human race. First: _Everyone has been\ncreated to live to eternity._ In the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_\nParts III and V, it was shown that there are three degrees of life in\nman, called natural, spiritual and celestial, that they are actually in\neveryone, and that in animals there is only one degree of life, which is\nlike the lowest degree in man, called the natural. The result is that by\nthe elevation of his life to the Lord man is in such a state above that\nof animals that he can comprehend what is of divine wisdom, and will what\nis of divine love, in other words, receive what is divine; and he who can\nreceive what is divine, so as to see and perceive it within him, cannot\nbut be united with the Lord and by the union live to eternity.\n\n[2] What would the Lord do with all the created universe if He had not\nalso created images and likenesses of Himself to whom He could\ncommunicate His divine? What would He exist for, otherwise, except to\nmake this and not that or bring something into existence but not\nsomething else, and this merely to be able to contemplate from afar only\nincidents and constant changes as on a stage? What would there be divine\nin these unless they were for the purpose of serving subjects who would\nreceive the divine more intimately and see and sense it? The divine is of\nan inexhaustible glory and would not keep it to itself, nor could. For\nlove wants to communicate its own to another, indeed to impart all it can\nof itself. Must not divine love do this, then, being infinite? Can it\nimpart and then take away? Would that not be to give what will perish,\nwhat in itself is nothing, coming to nothing when it perishes? What\nreally _is_ is not in it. But divine love imparts what really _is_ or\nwhat does not cease to be, and this is eternal.\n\n[3] In order that a man may live forever, what is mortal with him is\ntaken away. This mortal of his is his material body, which is taken away\nby its death. His immortal, which is his mind, is thus laid bare and he\nbecomes a spirit in human form; his mind is this spirit. Ancient sages\nand wise men perceived that man's mind cannot die. They asked how the\nmind could die when it is capable of wisdom. Few today know the interior\nidea they had in this. It was the idea, slipping into their general\nperception from heaven, that God is wisdom itself, of which man partakes,\nand God is immortal or eternal.\n\n[4] Since it has been granted me to speak with angels, I will say\nsomething from experience. I have spoken with those who lived many ages\nago, with some who lived before the Flood and some who lived after it,\nwith some who lived at the time of the Lord and with one of His apostles,\nand with many who lived in the centuries since. They all seemed like men\nof middle age and said that they do not know what death can be unless it\nis condemnation. Further, all who have lived well, on coming into heaven,\ncome into the state of early manhood in the world and continue in it to\neternity, even those who had been old and decrepit in the world. Women,\ntoo, although they had become shrunken and old, return into the bloom and\nbeauty of their youth.\n\n[5] That man lives after death to eternity is manifest from the Word,\nwhere life in heaven is called eternal life, as in Mt 19:29, 25:46; Mk\n10:17; Lu 10:25, 18:30; Jn 3:15, 16, 36, 5:24, 25, 39, 6:27, 40, 68,\n12:50; also called simply life (Mt 18:8, 9; Jn 5:40, 20:31). The Lord\nalso told His disciples,\n\nBecause I live, you will live also (Jn 14:19),\n\nand concerning resurrection said that\n\nGod is God of the living and not God of the dead, and that they cannot\ndie any more (Lu 20:38, 36).\n\n[6] Second: _Everyone is created to live forever in a blessed state._\nThis naturally follows. He who wills that man shall live forever also\nwills that he shall live in a blessed state. What would eternal life be\nwithout this? All love desires the good of another. The love of parents\ndesires the good of their children, the love of the bridegroom and the\nhusband desires the good of the bride and the wife, and love in\nfriendship desires the good of one's friends. What then must divine love\ndesire! What is good but enjoyment, and divine good but eternal\nblessedness? All good is so named for its enjoyableness or blessedness.\nTrue, anything one is given or possesses is also called good, but again,\nunless it is enjoyable, it is a barren good, not in itself good. Clearly,\nthen, eternal life is also eternal blessedness. This state of man is the\naim of creation; that only those who come into heaven are in that state\nis not the Lord's fault but man's. That man is in fault will be seen in\nwhat follows.\n\n[7] Third: _Thus every person has been created to come into heaven._ This\nis the goal of creation, but not all enter heaven because they become\nimbued with the enjoyments of hell, the opposite of heavenly blessedness.\nThose who are not in the blessedness of heaven cannot enter heaven, for\nthey cannot endure doing so. No one who comes into the spiritual world is\nrefused ascent into heaven, but when one ascends who is in the enjoyment\nof hell his heart pounds, his breathing labors, his life ebbs, he is in\nanguish and torment and writhes like a snake placed near a fire. This\nhappens because opposites act against each other.\n\n[8] Nevertheless, having been born human beings, consequently with the\nfaculties of thought and volition and hence of speech and action, they\ncannot die, but they can live only with those in a similar enjoyment of\nlife and are sent to them, those in enjoyments of evil to their like, as\nthose in enjoyments of good are to their like. Indeed, everyone is\ngranted the enjoyment of his evil provided that he does not molest those\nwho are in the enjoyment of good. Still, as evil is bound to molest good,\nfor inherently it hates good, those who are in evil are removed lest they\ninflict injury and are cast down to their own places in hell, where their\nenjoyment is turned into joylessness.\n\n[9] But this does not alter the fact that by creation and hence by birth\nman is such that he can enter heaven. For everyone who dies in infancy\nenters heaven, is brought up there and instructed as one is in the world,\nand by the affection of good and truth is imbued with wisdom and becomes\nan angel. So could the man become who is brought up and instructed in the\nworld; the same is in him as in an infant. On infants in the spiritual\nworld see the work _Heaven and Hell,_ London, 1758 (nn. 329-345).\n\n[10] This does not take place, however, with many in the world because\nthey love the first level of their life, called natural, and do not\npurpose to withdraw from it and become spiritual. The natural degree of\nlife, in itself regarded, loves only self and the world, for it keeps\nclose to the bodily senses, which are to the fore, also, in the world.\nBut the spiritual degree of life regarded in itself loves the Lord and\nheaven, and self and the world, too, but God and heaven as higher,\nparamount and controlling, and self and the world as lower, instrumental\nand subservient.\n\n[11] Fourth: _Divine love cannot but will this, and divine wisdom cannot\nbut provide it._ It was fully shown in the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ that the divine essence is divine love and wisdom, and it was\nalso demonstrated there (nn. 358-370) that in every human embryo the Lord\nforms two receptacles, one of the divine love and the other of the divine\nwisdom, the former for man's future will and the latter for his future\nunderstanding, and that in this way the Lord has endowed each human being\nwith the faculty of willing good and the faculty of understanding truth.\n\n[12] Inasmuch as man is endowed from birth with these two faculties by\nthe Lord, and the Lord then is in them as in what is His own with man, it\nis manifest that His divine love cannot but will that man should come\ninto heaven and His divine wisdom cannot but provide for this. But since\nit is of the Lord's divine love that man should feel heavenly blessedness\nin himself as his own, and this cannot be unless man is kept in the\nappearance that he thinks, wills, speaks and acts of himself, the Lord\ncan therefore lead man only according to the laws of His divine\nprovidence.\n\n325. (ii) _Of divine providence, therefore, every man can be saved, and\nthose are saved who acknowledge God and live rightly._ It is plain from\nwhat has been demonstrated above that every human being can be saved.\nSome persons suppose that the Lord's church is to be found only in\nChristendom, because only there is the Lord known and the Word possessed.\nStill many believe that the Lord's church is general, that is, extends\nand is scattered throughout the world, existing thus with those who do\nnot know the Lord or possess the Word. They say that those men are not in\nfault and are without means to overcome their ignorance. They believe\nthat it is contrary to God's love and mercy that any should be born for\nhell who are equally human beings.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as many Christians, if not all, have faith that the church\nis common to many--it is in fact called a communion--there must be some\nvery widely shared things of the church that enter all religions and that\nconstitute this communion. These most widely shared factors are\nacknowledgment of God and good of life, as will be seen in this order:\n\n1. Acknowledgment of God effects a conjunction of God and man; denial of\nGod causes disjunction.\n2. Each one acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him in accord with the\ngoodness of his life.\n3. Goodness of life, or living rightly, is shunning evils because they\nare contrary to religion, thus to God.\n4. These are factors common to all religions, and by them anyone can be\nsaved.\n\n326. To clarify and demonstrate these propositions one by one. First:\n_Acknowledgment of God brings conjunction of God and man; denial of God\nresults in disjunction._ Some may think that those who do not acknowledge\nGod can be saved equally with those who do, if they lead a moral life.\nThey ask, \"What does acknowledgment accomplish? Is it not merely a\nthought? Can I not 'acknowledge God when I learn for certain that God\nthere is? I have heard of Him but not seen Him. Let me see Him and I will\nbelieve.\" Such is the language of many who deny God when they have an\nopportunity to argue with one who acknowledges God. But that an\nacknowledgment of God conjoins and denial disjoins will be clarified by\nsome things made known to me in the spiritual world. In that world when\nanyone thinks of another and desires to speak with him, the other is at\nonce present. The explanation is that there is no distance in the\nspiritual world such as there is in the natural, but only an appearance\nof distance.\n\n[2] A second phenomenon: as thought from some acquaintance with another\ncauses his presence, love from affection for another causes conjunction\nwith him. So spirits move about, converse as friends, dwell together in\none house or in one community, meet often, and render one another\nservices. The opposite happens, also; one who does not love another and\nstill more one who hates another does not see or encounter him; the\ndistance between them is according to the degree in which love is wanting\nor hatred is present. Indeed, one who is present and recalls his hatred,\nvanishes.\n\n[3] From these few particulars it may be evident whence presence and\nconjunction come in the spiritual world. Presence comes with the\nrecollection of another with a desire to see him, and conjunction comes\nof an affection which springs from love. This is true also of all things\nin the human mind. There are countless things in the mind, and its least\nparts are associated and conjoined in accord with affections or as one\nthing attracts another.\n\n[4] This is spiritual conjunction and it is the same in things large and\nthings small. It has its origin in the conjunction of the Lord with the\nspiritual world and the natural world in general and in detail. It is\nmanifest from this that in the measure in which one knows the Lord and\nthinks of Him from knowledge of Him, in that measure the Lord is present,\nand in the measure in which one acknowledges Him from an affection of\nlove, in that measure the Lord is united with him. On the other hand, in\nthe measure of one's ignorance of the Lord, in that measure He is absent;\nand so far as one denies Him, so far is He separated from one.\n\n[5] The result of conjunction is that the Lord turns man's face towards\nHimself and thereupon leads him; the disjunction results in hell's\nturning man's face to it and it leads him. Therefore all the angels of\nheaven turn their faces towards the Lord as the Sun, and all the spirits\nof hell avert their faces from the Lord. It is plain from this what the\nacknowledgment of God and the denial of God each accomplish. Those who\ndeny God in the world deny Him after death also; they have become\norganized as described above (n. 319); the organization induced in the\nworld remains to eternity.\n\n[6] Second: _Everyone acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him\naccording to the goodness of his life._ All who know something of\nreligion can know God; from information or from the memory they can also\nspeak about God, and some may also think about Him from the\nunderstanding. But this only brings about presence if a man does not live\nrightly, for despite it all he can turn away from God and towards hell,\nand this takes place if he lives wickedly. Only those who live rightly\ncan acknowledge God with the heart, and these the Lord turns away from\nhell and towards Himself according to the goodness of their life. For\nthese alone love God; for in doing what comes from Him they love what is\ndivine. The precepts of His law are divine things from Him. They are God\nbecause He is His own proceeding divine. As this is to love God, the Lord\nsays:\n\nHe who keeps my commandments is he who loves me . . . But he who does not\nkeep my commandments does not love me (Jn 14: 21, 24).\n\n[7] Here is the reason why there are two tables of the Decalog, one\nhaving reference to God and the other to man. God works unceasingly that\nman may receive what is in His table, but if man does not do what he is\nbidden in his own table he does not receive with acknowledgment of heart\nwhat is in God's table, and if he does not receive this he is not\nconjoined. The two tables were joined, therefore, to be one and are\ncalled the tables of the covenant; covenant means conjunction. One\nacknowledges God and is conjoined to Him in accord with the goodness of\nhis life because this good is like the good in the Lord and consequently\ncomes from the Lord. So when man is in the good of life there is\nconjunction. The contrary takes place with evil of life; it rejects the\nLord.\n\n[8] Third: _Goodness of life, or living rightly, is shunning evils\nbecause they are contrary to religion, thus to God._ That this is good of\nlife or living rightly is fully shown in _Doctrine of Life for the New\nJerusalem,_ from beginning to end. To this I will only add that if you do\ngood aplenty, build churches for instance, adorn them and fill them with\nofferings, spend money lavishly on hospitals and hostels, give alms\ndaily, aid widows and orphans, diligently observe the sanctities of\nworship, indeed think and speak and preach about them as from the heart,\nand yet do not shun evils as sins against God, all those good deeds are\nnot goodness. They are either hypocritical or done for merit, for evil is\nstill deep in them. Everyone's life pervades all that he does. Goods\nbecome good only by the removal of evil from them. Plainly, then,\nshunning evils because they are contrary to religion and thus to God is\nliving rightly.\n\n[9] Fourth: _These are factors common to all religions, and anyone can be\nsaved by them._ To acknowledge God, and to refrain from evil because it\nis contrary to God, are the two acts that make religion to be religion.\nIf one is lacking, it cannot be called religion, for to acknowledge God\nand to do evil is a contradiction; so it is, too, to do good and yet not\nacknowledge God; one is impossible apart from the other. The Lord has\nprovided that there should be some religion almost everywhere and that\nthese two elements should be in it, and has also provided that everyone\nwho acknowledges God and refrains from doing evil because it is against\nGod shall have a place in heaven. For heaven as a whole is like one man\nwhose life or soul is the Lord. In that heavenly man are all things to be\nfound in a natural man with the difference which obtains between the\nheavenly and the natural.\n\n[10] It is a matter of common knowledge that in the human being there are\nnot only forms organized of blood vessels and nerve fibres, but also\nskins, membranes, tendons, cartilages, bones, nails and teeth. These have\na smaller measure of life than those organized forms, which they serve as\nligaments, coverings or supports. For all these entities to be in the\nheavenly humanity, which is heaven, it cannot be made up of human beings\nall of one religion, but of men of many religions. Therefore all who make\nthese two universals of the church part of their lives have a place in\nthis heavenly man, that is, heaven, and enjoy happiness each in his\nmeasure. More on the subject may be seen above (n. 254).\n\n[11] That these two are primary in all religion is evident from the fact\nthat they are the two which the Decalog teaches. The Decalog was the\nfirst of the Word, promulgated by Jehovah from Mount Sinai by a living\nvoice, and also inscribed on two tables of stone by the finger of God.\nThen, placed in the ark, the Decalog was called Jehovah, and it made the\nholy of holies in the tabernacle and the shrine in the temple of\nJerusalem; all things in each were holy only on account of it. Much more\nabout the Decalog in the ark is to be had from the Word, which is cited\nin _Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem_ (nn. 53-61). To that I will\nadd this. From the Word we know that the ark with the two tables in it on\nwhich the Decalog was written was captured by the Philistines and placed\nin the temple of Dagon in Ashdod; that Dagon fell to the ground before\nit, and afterward his head, together with the palms of the hands, torn\nfrom his body, lay on the temple threshold; that the people of Ashdod and\nEkron to the number of many thousands were smitten with hemorrhoids and\ntheir land was ravaged by mice; that on the advice of the chiefs of their\nnation, the Philistines made five golden hemorrhoids, five golden mice\nand a new cart, and on this placed the ark with the golden hemorrhoids\nand mice beside it; with two cows that lowed before the cart along the\nway, they sent the ark back to the children of Israel and by them cows\nand cart were offered in sacrifice (1 Sa 5 and 6).\n\n[12] To state now what all this signified: the Philistines signified\nthose who are in faith separated from charity; Dagon signified that\nreligiosity; the hemorrhoids by which they were smitten signified natural\nloves which when severed from spiritual love are unclean, and the mice\nsignified the devastation of the church by falsification of truth. The\nnew cart on which the Philistines sent back the ark signified a new but\nstill natural doctrine (chariot in the Word signifies doctrine from\nspiritual truths), and the cows signified good natural affections.\nHemorrhoids of gold signified natural loves purified and made good, and\nthe golden mice signified an end to the devastation of the church by\nmeans of good, for in the Word gold signifies good. The lowing of the\nkine on the way signified the difficult conversion of the lusts of evil\nof the natural man into good affections. That cows and cart were offered\nup as a burnt offering signified that so the Lord was propitiated.\n\n[13] This is how what is told historically is understood spiritually.\nGather all into a single conception and make the application. That those\nwho are in faith severed from charity are represented by the Philistines,\nsee _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Faith_ (nn. 49-54), and that the\nark was the most holy thing of the church because of the Decalog enclosed\nin it, see _Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem_ (nn. 53-61).\n\n327. (iii) _Man himself is in fault if he is not saved._ As soon as he\nhears it any rational man acknowledges the truth that evil cannot issue\nfrom good nor good from evil, for they are opposites; consequently only\ngood comes of good and only evil of evil. When this truth is acknowledged\nthis also is: that good can be turned into evil not by a good but by an\nevil recipient; for any form changes into its own nature what flows into\nit (see above, n. 292). Inasmuch as the Lord is good in its very essence\nor good itself, plainly evil cannot issue from Him or be produced by Him,\nbut good can be turned into evil by a recipient subject whose form is a\nform of evil. Such a subject is man as to his proprium. This constantly\nreceives good from the Lord and constantly turns it into the nature of\nits own form, which is one of evil. It follows that man is in fault if he\nis not saved. Evil is indeed from hell but as man receives it from hell\nas his and appropriates it to himself, it is the same whether one says\nthat evil is from man or from hell. But whence there is an appropriation\nof evil until finally religion perishes will be told in this order:\n\n1. Every religion declines and comes to an end in the course of time.\n2. It does so through the inversion of God's image in man.\n3. This takes place through a continual increase of hereditary evil over\nthe generations.\n4. Nevertheless the Lord provides that everyone may be saved.\n5. It is also provided that a new church shall succeed in place of the\nformer devastated church.\n\n328. These points are to be demonstrated in the order given. First:\n_Every religion declines and comes to an end in the course of time._\nThere have been several churches on this earth, one after another, for\nwherever mankind is, a church is. For, as was shown above, heaven, which\nis the goal of creation, is from mankind, and no one can enter heaven\nunless he is in the two universal marks of the church which, as was shown\njust above (n. 326), are the acknowledgment of God and living aright. It\nfollows that there have been churches on this earth from the most ancient\ntimes to the present. These churches are described in the Word, but not\nhistorically except the Israelitish and Jewish church. There were\nchurches before it which are only described in the Word under the names\nof nations and persons and in a few items about them.\n\n[2] The first, the Most Ancient Church, is described under the names of\nAdam and his wife Eve. The next church, to be called the Ancient Church,\nis described by Noah, his three sons and their posterity. This church was\nwidespread and extended over many of the kingdoms of Asia: the land of\nCanaan on both sides of the Jordan, Syria, Assyria and Chaldea,\nMesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia, Tyre and Sidon. These had the Ancient Word\n_(Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 101-103).\nThat this church existed in those kingdoms is evident from various things\nrecorded about them in the prophetical parts of the Word. This church was\nmarkedly altered by Eber, from whom arose the Hebrew church, in which\nworship by sacrifices was first instituted. From the Hebrew church the\nIsraelitish and Jewish church was born and solemnly established for the\nsake of the Word which was composed in it.\n\n[3] These four churches are meant by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in\na dream, the head of which was of pure gold, the breast and arms of\nsilver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs and feet of iron and\nclay (Da 2:32, 33). Nor is anything else meant by the golden, silver,\ncopper and iron ages mentioned by ancient writers. Needless to say, the\nChristian church succeeded the Jewish. It can be seen from the Word that\nall these churches declined in the course of time, eventually coming to\nan end, called their consummation.\n\n[4] The consummation of the Most Ancient Church, brought about by the\neating of the tree of knowledge, meaning by the pride of one's own\nintelligence, is depicted by the Flood. The consummation of the Ancient\nChurch is depicted in the various devastations of nations mentioned in\nthe historical as well as the prophetical Word and especially by the\nexpulsion of the nations from the land of Canaan by the children of\nIsrael. The consummation of the Israelitish and Jewish church is\nunderstood by the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem and by the\ncarrying away of the people of Israel into permanent captivity and of the\nJewish nation to Babylon, and finally by the second destruction of the\ntemple and of Jerusalem at the same time, and by the dispersion of that\nnation. This consummation is foretold in many places in the Prophets and\nin Daniel 9:24-27. The gradual devastation of the Christian church even\nto its end is pictured by the Lord in Matthew (24), Mark (13) and Luke\n(21), but the end itself in the Apocalypse. Hence it may be manifest that\nin the course of time a church declines and comes to an end; so does a\nreligion.\n\n[5] Second: _Every religion declines and comes to an end through the\ninversion of God's image in man._ It is known that the human being was\ncreated in the image and after the likeness of God (Ge 1:26), but let us\nsay what the image and the likeness of God are. God alone is love and\nwisdom; man was created to be a receptacle of both love and wisdom, his\nwill to be a receptacle of divine love and his understanding a receptacle\nof the divine wisdom. These two receptacles, it was shown above, are in\nman from creation, constitute him, and are formed in everyone in the\nwomb. Man's being an image of God thus means that he is a recipient of\nthe divine wisdom, and his being a likeness of God means that he is a\nrecipient of the divine love. Therefore the receptacle called the\nunderstanding is an image of God, and the receptacle called the will is a\nlikeness of God. Since, then, man was created and formed to be a\nreceptacle, it follows that he was created and formed that his will might\nreceive love from God and his understanding wisdom from God. He receives\nthese when he acknowledges God and lives according to His precepts,\nreceiving them in lesser or larger measure as by religion he has some\nknowledge of God and of His precepts, consequently according to his\nknowledge of truths. For truths teach what God is and how He is to be\nacknowledged, also what His precepts are and how man is to live according\nto them.\n\n[6] The image and likeness of God have not been destroyed in man, but\nseem to have been; they remain inherent in his two faculties called\nliberty and rationality, of which we have treated above at many places.\nThey seem to have been destroyed when man made the receptacle of divine\nlove, namely, his will, a receptacle of self-love, and the receptacle of\ndivine wisdom, namely, his understanding, a receptacle of his own\nintelligence. Doing this, he inverted the image and likeness of God and\nturned these receptacles away from God and towards himself. Consequently\nthey have become closed above and open below, or closed in front and open\nbehind, though by creation they were open in front and closed behind.\nWhen they have been opened and closed contrariwise, the receptacle of\nlove, the will, receives influx from hell or from one's proprium; so does\nthe receptacle of wisdom, the understanding. Hence worship of men arose\nin the churches instead of the worship of God, and worship by doctrines\nof falsity instead of worship by doctrines of truth, the latter arising\nfrom man's own intelligence, and the former from love of self. Thence it\nis evident that religion falls away in the course of time and is ended by\nthe inversion of God's image in man.\n\n[7] Third: _This takes place as a result of a continual increase of\nhereditary evil over the generations._ It was said and explained above\nthat hereditary evil does not come from Adam and his wife Eve by their\nhaving eaten of the tree of knowledge, but is derived and transmitted\nsuccessively from parents to offspring. Thus it grows by continual\nincrease from generation to generation. When evil increases so among\nmany, it spreads to many more, for in all evil there is a lust to lead\nastray, in some burning with anger against goodness--hence a contagion of\nevil. When the contagion reaches leaders, rulers and the prominent in the\nchurch, religion has become perverted, and the means of restoring it to\nhealth, namely truths, become corrupted by falsifications. As a result\nthere is a gradual devastation of good and desolation of truth in the\nchurch on to its end.\n\n[8] Fourth: _Nevertheless the Lord provides that everyone may be saved._\nHe provides that there shall be religion everywhere and in it the two\nessentials for salvation, acknowledgment of God and ceasing from evil\nbecause it is contrary to God. Other things, which pertain to the\nunderstanding and hence to the thinking, called matters of faith, are\nprovided everyone in accord with his life, for they are accessory to life\nand if they have been given precedence, do not become living until they\nare subsidiary. It is also provided that those who have lived rightly and\nacknowledged God are instructed by angels after death. Then those who\nwere in the two essentials of religion while in the world accept such\ntruths of the church as are in the Word, and acknowledge the Lord as God\nof heaven and of the church. This last they receive more readily than do\nChristians who have brought with them from the world an idea of the\nLord's human nature parted from His divine. It is also provided by the\nLord that all are saved who die as infants, no matter where they have\nbeen born.\n\n[9] Furthermore, every person is given the opportunity after death of\namending his life if possible. All are instructed and led by the Lord by\nmeans of angels. Knowing now that they live after death and that heaven\nand hell exist, they at first receive truths. But those who did not\nacknowledge God and shun evils as sins when in the world soon show a\ndistaste for truths and draw back, and those who acknowledged truths with\nthe lips but not with the heart are like the foolish virgins who had\nlamps but no oil and begged oil of others, also went off and bought some,\nbut still were not admitted to the wedding. \"Lamps\" signify truths of\nfaith and \"oil\" signifies the good of charity. It may be evident then\nthat divine providence sees to it that everyone can be saved and that man\nis himself in fault if he is not saved.\n\n[10] Fifth: _It is also provided that a new church shall succeed in place\nof a former devastated church._ It has been so from the most ancient days\nthat on the devastation of a church a new one followed. The Ancient\nChurch succeeded the Most Ancient; the Israelitish or Jewish Church\nfollowed the Ancient; after this came the Christian Church. And this, it\nis foretold in the Apocalypse, will be followed by a new church,\nsignified in that book by the New Jerusalem descending from heaven. The\nreason why a new church is provided by the Lord to follow in place of a\nformer devastated church may be seen in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem\nabout Sacred Scripture_ (nn. 104-113).\n\n329. (iv) _Thus all are predestined to heaven, and no one to hell._ In\nthe work _Heaven and Hell_ (London, 1758) we showed at nn. 545-550 that\nthe Lord casts no one into hell; the spirit himself does this. So it\nhappens with every evil and impious person after death and also while he\nis in the world, with the difference that while he is in the world he can\nbe reformed and can embrace and avail himself of the means of salvation,\nbut not after departure from the world. The means of salvation are summed\nup in these two: that evils are to be shunned because they are contrary\nto the divine laws in the Decalog and that it be acknowledged that God\nexists. Everyone can do both if he does not love evils. For the Lord is\nconstantly flowing into his will with power for shunning evils and into\nhis understanding with power to think that God there is. But no one can\ndo the one without doing the other; the two are joined together like the\ntwo tables of the Decalog, one relating to God and the other to man. In\naccordance with what is in His table the Lord enlightens and empowers\neveryone, but man receives power and enlightenment so far as he does what\nhe is bidden in his table. Until then the two tables appear to be laid\nface to face and to be sealed, but as man acts on the biddings in his\ntable they are unsealed and opened out.\n\n[2] Today is not the Decalog like a small, closed book or document,\nopened only in the hands of children and the young? Tell someone farther\nalong in years, \"Do not do this because it is contrary to the Decalog\"\nand who gives heed? He may give heed if you say, \"Do not do this because\nit is contrary to divine laws,\" and yet the precepts of the Decalog are\nthe divine laws themselves. Experiment was made with a number in the\nspiritual world, who at mention of the Decalog or Catechism rejected it\nwith contempt. This is because in the second table, which is man's, the\nDecalog teaches that evils are to be shunned, and one who does not do so,\nwhether from impiety or from the religious tenet that deeds effect\nnothing, only faith does, hears mention of the Decalog or Catechism with\ndisdain, as though it was a child's book he heard mentioned, no longer\nof use to adults.\n\n[3] These things have been said in order that it may be known that a\nknowledge of the means by which one can be saved is not lacking to\nanyone, nor power if he wants to be saved. It follows that all are\npredestined to heaven and no one to hell. Since, however, a belief in a\npredestination not to salvation but to damnation has prevailed with some,\nand this belief is damaging and cannot be broken up unless one's reason\nsees the insanity and cruelty in it, it is to be dealt with in this\norder:\n\n1. Predestination except to heaven is contrary to divine love and its\ninfiniteness.\n2. Predestination other than to heaven is contrary to divine wisdom and\nits infiniteness.\n3. That only those born in the church are saved is an insane heresy.\n4. That any of mankind are condemned by predestination is a cruel heresy.\n\n330. That it may be apparent how damaging the belief is in predestination\nas this is commonly understood, these four arguments are to be taken up\nand confirmed. First: _Predestination except to heaven is contrary to\ndivine love and its infiniteness._ In the treatise _Divine Love and\nWisdom_ we demonstrated that Jehovah or the Lord is divine love, is\ninfinite, and is the esse of all life; also that the human being was\ncreated in God's image after God's likeness. As everyone is formed in the\nwomb by the Lord into that image and after that likeness, as was also\nshown, the Lord is the heavenly Father of all human beings and they are\nHis spiritual children. So Jehovah or the Lord is called in the Word, and\nso human beings are. Therefore He says:\n\nDo not call your father on earth your father, for One is your Father, who\nis in the heavens (Mt 23:9).\n\nThis means that He alone is the Father with reference to the life in us,\nand the earthly father is father of the covering on life, which is the\nbody. In heaven, therefore, no one but the Lord is called Father. And\nfrom many passages in the Word it is clear that those who do not pervert\nthat life are said to be His sons and to be born from Him.\n\n[2] Plainly, then, the divine love is in every man, an evil man as well\nas a good man, and the Lord who is divine love cannot act otherwise than\na father on earth does with his children, infinitely more lovingly\nbecause divine love is infinite. Furthermore, He cannot withdraw from\nanyone because everyone's life is from Him. He appears to withdraw from\nthose who are evil, but it is they who withdraw, while He still in love\nleads them. Thus the Lord says:\n\nAsk, and it shall be given you; seek and you will find; knock and it\nshall be opened to you . . . What man of you, if his son shall ask bread,\nwill give him a stone? If you, then, who are evil, know how to give good\nthings to your children, how much more shall your Father, who is in\nheaven, give good things to those who ask Him (Mt 7:7-11),\n\nand in another place,\n\nHe makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the\njust and unjust (Mt 5:45).\n\nIt is also known in the church that the Lord desires the salvation of all\nand the death of no one. It may be seen from all this that predestination\nexcept to heaven is contrary to divine love.\n\n[3] Second: _Predestination other than to heaven is contrary to divine\nwisdom, which is infinite._ By its divine wisdom divine love provides the\nmeans by which every man can be saved. To say that there is any\npredestination except to heaven is therefore to say that divine love\ncannot provide means to salvation, when yet the means exist for all, as\nwas shown above, and these are of divine providence which is boundless.\nThe reason that there are those who are not saved is that divine love\ndesires man to feel the felicity and blessedness of heaven for himself,\nelse it would not be heaven to him, and this can be effected only as it\nseems to man that he thinks and wills of himself. For without this\nappearance nothing would be appropriated to him nor would he be a human\nbeing. To this end divine providence exists, which acts by divine wisdom\nout of divine love.\n\n[4] But this does not do away with the truth that all are predestined to\nheaven and no one to hell. Were the means to salvation lacking, it would;\nbut, as was demonstrated above, the means to salvation have been provided\nfor everyone, and heaven is such that all of whatever religion who live\nrightly have a place in it. Man is like the earth which produces fruits\nof every kind, a power the earth has as the earth. That it also produces\nevil fruits does not do away with its capability of producing good\nfruits; it would if it could only produce evil fruits. Or, again, man is\nlike an object which variegates the rays of light in it. If the object\ngives only unpleasing colors, the light is not the cause, for its rays\ncan be variegated to produce pleasing colors.\n\n[5] Third: _That only those who have been born in the church are saved is\nan insane heresy._ Those born outside the church are human beings equally\nwith those born within it; they have the same heavenly origin, and like\nthem they are living and immortal souls. They also have some religion by\nvirtue of which they acknowledge God's existence and that they should\nlive aright. One who acknowledges God and lives aright becomes spiritual\nin his measure and is saved, as we showed above. It may be protested that\nthey have not been baptized, but baptism does not save any who are not\nwashed spiritually, that is, regenerated, of which baptism is a sign and\nreminder.\n\n[6] It is also objected that the Lord is not known to them and that there\nis no salvation without Him. But salvation does not come to a person\nbecause the Lord is known to him, but because he lives according to the\nLord's precepts. Moreover, the Lord is known to everyone who acknowledges\nGod, for He is God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches (Mt 28:18\nand elsewhere). Furthermore, those outside the church have a clearer idea\nabout God as Man than Christians have, and those who have a concept of\nGod as Man and live rightly are accepted by the Lord. They also\nacknowledge God as one in person and essence, differently from\nChristians. They also give thought to God in their lives, for they regard\nevils as sins against God, and those who do this regard God in their\nlives. Christians have precepts of religion from the Word, but few draw\nprecepts of life from it.\n\n[7] Roman Catholics do not read the Word, and the Reformed who are in\nfaith apart from charity do not attend to those utterances in it which\nconcern life, only to those which concern faith, and yet the Word as a\nwhole is nothing else than a doctrine of life. Christianity obtains only\nin Europe; Mohammedanism and Gentilism are found in Asia, the Indies,\nAfrica and America, and the people in these parts of the globe are ten\ntimes more numerous than those in the Christian part, and in this part\nfew put religion in life. What then is more mad than to believe that only\nthese latter are saved and the former condemned, and that a man has\nheaven on the strength of his birth and not on the strength of his life?\nSo the Lord says:\n\nI say to you, many will come from the east and the west, and recline with\nAbraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven; but the children of\nthe kingdom shall be cast out (Mt 8:11, 12).\n\n[8] Fourth: _That any of mankind are condemned by predestination is a\ncruel heresy._ For it is cruel to believe that the Lord, who is love\nitself and mercy itself, suffers so vast a throng of persons to be born\nfor hell or so many myriads of myriads to be born condemned and doomed,\nthat is, to be born devils and satans, and that He does not provide out\nof His divine wisdom that those who live aright and acknowledge God\nshould not be cast into everlasting fire and torment. The Lord is still\nthe Creator and the Savior of all men and wills the death of no one. It\nis cruel therefore to believe and think that a vast multitude of nations\nand peoples under His auspices and care should be handed over as prey to\nthe devil by predestination.\n\nXVIII. THE LORD CANNOT ACT CONTRARY TO THE LAWS OF DIVINE PROVIDENCE\nBECAUSE TO DO SO WOULD BE TO ACT CONTRARY TO HIS DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM,\nTHUS CONTRARY TO HIMSELF\n\n331. It was shown in _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom_ that\nthe Lord is divine love and wisdom, and that these are being itself and\nlife itself from which everything is and lives. It was also shown that\nthey proceed from Him, so that the proceeding divine is the Lord Himself.\nParamount in what proceeds is divine providence, for this is constantly\nin the end for which the universe was created. The operation and progress\nof the end through means is what is called divine providence.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as the proceeding divine is the Lord Himself and paramount\nin it is divine providence, to act contrary to the laws of His divine\nprovidence is to act contrary to Himself. One can also say that the Lord\nis providence just as one says that God is order, for divine providence\nis the divine order with reference primarily to the salvation of men. As\norder does not exist without laws, for they constitute it, and each law\nderives from order that it, too, is order, it follows that God, who is\norder, is also the law of His order. Similarly it is to be said of divine\nprovidence that as the Lord is providence Himself, He is also the law of\nHis providence. Hence it is clear that the Lord cannot act contrary to\nthe laws of His divine providence because to do so would be to act\ncontrary to Himself.\n\n[3] Furthermore, there is no activity except on a subject and on the\nsubject by means; action is impossible except on a subject and on it by\nmeans. Man is the subject of divine providence; divine truths by which he\nhas wisdom, and divine goods by which he has love, are the means; and by\nthese means divine providence pursues its purpose, which is the salvation\nof man. For he who wills the purpose, wills the means. Therefore when he\nwho wills the purpose pursues it, he does so through means. But these\nthings will become plainer on being examined in this order:\n\ni. The activity of divine providence to save man begins at his birth and\ncontinues to the close of his life and afterwards to eternity.\nii. The activity of divine providence is maintained steadily out of pure\nmercy through means.\niii. Instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is impossible.\niv. Instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is the flying fiery serpent\nin the church.\n\n332. (i) _The activity of divine providence to save man begins at his\nbirth and continues to the close of his life and afterwards to eternity._\nIt was shown above that a heaven from mankind is the very purpose of the\ncreation of the universe; that this purpose in its operation and progress\nis the divine providence for the salvation of man; and that all which is\nexternal to man and available to him for use is a secondary end in\ncreation--in brief, all that is to be found in the three kingdoms, animal,\nvegetable and mineral. When all this constantly proceeds according to\nlaws of divine order fixed at the first of creation, how can the primary\nend, which is the salvation of the human race, fail to proceed constantly\naccording to laws of its order, which are the laws of divine providence?\n\n[2] Observe just a fruit tree. It springs up first as a slender shoot\nfrom a tiny seed, grows gradually into a stalk, spreads branches which\nbecome covered with leaves, and then puts forth flowers and bears fruit,\nin which it deposits fresh seed to provide for its perpetuation. This is\nalso true of every shrub and of every herb of the field. Do not each and\nall things in tree or shrub proceed constantly and wonderfully from\npurpose to purpose according to the laws of their order of things? Why\nshould not the supreme end, a heaven from the human race, proceed in\nsimilar fashion? Can there be anything in its progress which does not\nproceed with all constancy according to the laws of divine providence?\n\n[3] As there is a correspondence of man's life with the growth of a tree,\nlet us draw the parallel or make the comparison. His infancy is\nrelatively like the tender shoot of the tree sprouting from seed out of\nthe ground; his childhood and youth are like the shoot grown to a stalk\nwith its small branches; the natural truths with which everyone is imbued\nat first are like the leaves with which the branches are covered\n(\"leaves\" signify precisely this in the Word); man's first steps in the\nmarriage of good and truth or the spiritual marriage are like the\nblossoms which the tree puts forth in the springtime; spiritual truths\nare the petals in these blossoms; the earliest signs of the spiritual\nmarriage are like the start of fruit; spiritual goods, which are goods of\ncharity, are like the fruit (they are also signified in the Word by\n\"fruits\"); the procreations of wisdom from love are like the seed and by\nthem the human being becomes like a garden or paradise. Man is also\ndescribed in the Word by a tree, and his wisdom from love by a garden;\nnothing else is meant by the Garden of Eden.\n\n[4] True, man is a corrupt tree from the seed, but still a grafting or\nbudding with shoots taken from the Tree of Life is possible, by which the\nsap drawn from the old root is turned into sap producing good fruit. The\ncomparison was drawn for it to be known that when the progression of\ndivine providence is so constant in the growth and rebirth of trees, it\nsurely must be constant in the reformation and rebirth of human beings,\nwho are of much more value than trees; so the Lord's words:\n\nAre not five sparrows sold for two farthings, yet not one of them is\nforgotten by God? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered; fear\nnot therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Which of you\nmoreover can by taking thought add a cubit to his stature? .. . if then\nyou are unable to do what is least, why do you take thought for the rest?\nConsider the lilies, how they grow . . . If then God so clothed the\ngrass, which is in the field today and is cast into an oven tomorrow, how\nmuch more will he clothe you, 0 men of little faith? (Lu 12: 6, 7,\n25-28).\n\n333. The activity of divine providence for man's salvation is said to\nbegin with his birth and continue to the close of his life. For this to\nbe understood, it should be known that the Lord sees what a man's nature\nis and foresees what he wills to be and thus what he will be. For him to\nbe man and thus immortal, his freedom of will cannot be taken away. The\nLord therefore foresees his state after death and provides for it from\nthe man's birth to the close of his life. With the evil He makes the\nprovision by permitting and withdrawing from evils, in the case of the\ngood by leading to good. Divine providence is thus continually acting for\nman's salvation, but more cannot be saved than are willing to be saved,\nand those are willing who acknowledge God and are led by Him. Those are\nnot willing who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves. The\nlatter give no thought to eternal life and to salvation, the former do.\nThe Lord sees the unwillingness but still He leads such men, and does so\nin accordance with the laws of His divine providence, contrary to which\nhe cannot act, for to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to\nHis divine love and wisdom, and this is to act contrary to Himself.\n\n[2] Inasmuch as the Lord foresees the states of all after death, and also\nforesees the places in hell of those who do not desire to be saved and\nthe places in heaven of those who do desire to be saved, it follows that\nHe provides their places for the evil by the permitting and withdrawing\nof which we spoke, and their places for the good by leading them. Unless\nthis was done steadily from birth to the close of life neither heaven nor\nhell would remain standing, for apart from this foresight and providence\nneither would be anything but confusion. It may be seen above (nn. 202,\n203) that everyone has his place provided for him by the Lord through\nthis foresight.\n\n[3] A comparison may throw light on this. If a javelin thrower or a\nmarksman should aim at a target, from which a line was drawn straight\nback for a mile and should err in aim by only a finger's breadth, the\nmissile or the bullet at the end of the mile would have deviated very far\nfrom the line. So would it be if the Lord did not, at every moment and\neven the least fraction of a moment, look to what is eternal in\nforeseeing and making provision for one's place after death. But this the\nLord does: the entire future is present to Him, and the entire present is\nto Him eternal. That divine providence looks in all it does to what is\ninfinite and eternal, may be seen above, nn. 46-49, 214 ff.\n\n334. As was said also, the activity of divine providence continues to\neternity, for every angel is being perfected in wisdom to eternity, each,\nhowever, according to the degree of affection of good and truth in which\nhe was when he left this world. It is this degree that is perfected to\neternity; what is beyond that is outside the angel and not in him, and\nwhat is external to him cannot be perfected in him. This perfecting is\nmeant by the\n\n\"Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over\" which\nwill be given into the bosom of those who forgive and give to others (Lu\n6:37, 38),\n\nthat is, those who are in the good of charity.\n\n335. (ii) _The activity of divine providence is maintained steadily out\nof pure mercy through means._ Divine providence has means and methods.\nIts means are the things by which man becomes man and is perfected in\nwill and understanding; its methods are the ways this is accomplished.\nThe means by which man becomes man and is perfected in understanding are\ncollectively called truths. In the thought they become ideas, are called\nobjects of the memory, and in themselves are forms of knowledge from\nwhich information comes. All these means, viewed in themselves, are\nspiritual, but as they exist in what is natural, they seem by reason of\ntheir covering or clothing to be natural and some of them seem to be\nmaterial. They are infinite in number and variety, and more or less\nsimple or composite, and also more or less imperfect or perfect. There\nare means for forming and perfecting natural civil life; likewise for\nforming and perfecting rational moral life; as there are for forming and\nperfecting heavenly spiritual life.\n\n[2] These means advance, one kind after another, from infancy to the last\nof man's life, and thereafter to eternity. As they come along and mount,\nthe earlier ones become means to the later, entering into all that is\nforming as mediate causes. From these every effect or conclusion is\nefficacious and therefore becomes a cause. In turn what is later becomes\nmeans; and as this goes on to eternity, there is nothing farthest on or\nfinal to make an end. For as what is eternal is without end, so a wisdom\nthat increases to eternity is without end. If there were an end to wisdom\nfor a wise man, the enjoyment of his wisdom would perish, which consists\nin the perpetual multiplication and fructification of wisdom. His life's\nenjoyment would also perish; in its place an enjoyment of glory would\nsucceed, in which by itself there is no heavenly life. The wise man then\nbecomes no longer like a youth but like an old man, and at length like a\ndecrepit one.\n\n[3] Although a wise man's wisdom increases forever in heaven, angelic\nwisdom cannot approximate the divine wisdom so much as to touch it. It is\nrelatively like what is said of a straight line drawn about a hyperbola,\nalways approaching but never touching it, and like what is said about\nsquaring a circle. Hence it may be plain what is meant by the means by\nwhich divine providence acts in order that man may be man and be\nperfected in understanding, and that these means are called by the common\nterm truths. There are an equal number of means by which man is formed\nand perfected as to his will. These are called collectively goods. By\nthem man comes to have love, by the others wisdom. The conjunction of\nlove and wisdom makes the man, for what he is is in keeping with the\nnature of this conjunction. This conjunction is what is called the\nmarriage of good and truth.\n\n336. The methods by which divine providence acts on and through the means\nto form and perfect the human being are also infinite in number and\nvariety. They are as numerous as the activities of divine wisdom from\ndivine love to save man, and therefore as numerous as the activities of\ndivine providence in accordance with its laws, treated of above. That\nthese methods are most secret was illustrated above by the activities of\nthe soul in the body, of which man knows so little it is scarcely\nanything--how, for instance, eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin sense things;\nhow the stomach digests; how the mesentery elaborates the chyle and the\nliver the blood; how the pancreas and the spleen purify the blood, the\nkidneys separate it from impure humors, the heart collects and\ndistributes it, and the lungs purify it and pass it on; how the brain\nrefines the blood and vivifies it anew; besides innumerable other things\nwhich are all secret, and of which one can scarcely know. Clearly, the\nhidden activities of divine providence can be entered into even less; it\nis enough to know its laws.\n\n337. Divine providence acts in all things out of pure mercy. For the\ndivine essence is itself pure love; this love acts through divine wisdom\nand its activity is what is called divine providence. This pure love is\npure mercy because 1. It is active with all men the world over, who are\nsuch that they can do nothing of themselves. 2. It is active with the\nevil and unjust and the good and just alike. 3. It leads the former in\nhell and rescues them from it. 4. It strives with them there perpetually\nand fights for them against the devil, that is, against the evils of\nhell. 5. To this end pure love came into the world and endured\ntemptations even to the last of them, which was the passion of the Cross.\n6. It acts continually with the unclean to make them clean and with the\nunsound to make them sound in mind. Thus it labors incessantly out of\npure mercy.\n\n338. (iii) _Instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is impossible._ We\nhave just shown that the activity of divine providence to save man begins\nat his birth and continues to the close of his life and afterwards to\neternity; also that this activity is continually pursued out of pure\nmercy through means. It follows that there is neither instantaneous\nsalvation nor unmediated mercy. But as many, not thinking from the\nunderstanding about things of the church or of religion, believe that\nthey are saved by immediate mercy and hence that salvation is\ninstantaneous, and yet this is contrary to the truth and in addition is a\npernicious belief, it is important that it be considered in due order:\n\n1. Belief in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy has been assumed\nfrom man's natural state.\n2. This belief comes from ignorance of the spiritual state, which is\ncompletely different from the natural state.\n3. The doctrines of all churches in Christendom, viewed interiorly, are\nopposed to instantaneous salvation by direct mercy, but external men of\nthe church nevertheless maintain the belief.\n\n[2] First: _Belief in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy has been\nassumed from man's natural state._ From his state the natural man does\nnot know otherwise than that heavenly joy is like worldly joy and that it\nflows in and is received in the same way; that, for example, it is like a\npoor man's becoming rich and from a sad state of poverty coming into a\nhappy one of plenty, or like a lowly person's being raised to honors and\npassing thus from contempt to renown; or like one's going from a house of\nmourning to happy nuptials. As these states can be changed in a day and\nas there is a like idea of man's state after death, it is plain whence it\ncomes that instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is believed in.\n\n[3] In the world, moreover, many can join in one group or in one civic\ncommunity and enjoy the same things, yet all differ in mind; this is true\nof the natural state. The reason is that the external of one person can\nbe accommodated to that of another, no matter how unlike their internals\nare. From this natural situation it is also concluded that salvation is\nmerely admission among angels in heaven, and that admission is by direct\nmercy. It is also believed, therefore, that heaven can be given to the\nevil as well as to the good, and that their association then is similar\nto that in the world, with the difference that it is filled with joy.\n\n[4] Second: _This belief comes from ignorance of the spiritual state,\nwhich is altogether different from the natural state._ The spiritual\nstate, which is man's state after death, has been treated of in many\nplaces above. It has been shown that everyone is his own love, that no\none can live with others than those who are in a like love, and that if\nhe comes among others he cannot breathe his own life. For this reason\neveryone comes after death into a society of his own people, that is, who\nare in a like love, and recognizes them as relatives and friends, and\nwhat is remarkable, on meeting and seeing them it is as if he had known\nthem from infancy. Spiritual relationship and friendship bring this\nabout. What is more, in a society no one can dwell in any other house\nthan his own. Everyone in a society has his own home, which he finds\nprepared for him as soon as he enters the society. He may be in close\ncompany with others outside his home, but he cannot dwell elsewhere.\nAgain, in somebody else's apartment one can sit only in his own place;\nseated elsewhere he becomes frustrated and mute. And it is remarkable\nthat on entering he knows his own place. This is as true in temples he\nenters and in any companies in which people gather.\n\n[5] It is plain from this that the spiritual state is altogether\ndifferent from the natural state, and is such that no one can be anywhere\nbut where his ruling love is to be found. For there the enjoyment of\none's life is, and everyone desires to be in the enjoyment of his life. A\nman's spirit cannot be anywhere else because that enjoyment constitutes\nhis life, his very breathing, in fact, and his heartbeat. It is different\nin the natural world; there man's external is taught from infancy to\nsimulate in look, speech and bearing other enjoyments than those of his\ninternal man. Accordingly, no conclusion can be formed about man's state\nafter death from his state in the natural world. For after death\neveryone's state is spiritual and is such that he cannot be anywhere\nexcept in the enjoyment of his love, an enjoyment that he has acquired in\nthe natural world by his life.\n\n[6] Hence it is quite plain that no one who is in the enjoyment of hell\ncan be admitted into the enjoyment of heaven, commonly called heavenly\nhappiness, or what is the same, no one who is in the enjoyment of evil\ncan be admitted into the enjoyment of good. This can be concluded still\nmore plainly from the fact that after death no one is denied going up to\nheaven; he is shown the way, has the opportunity given him, and is\nadmitted, but as soon as he enters heaven and inhales its enjoyment, he\nbegins to feel constricted in his chest and racked at heart, and falls\ninto a swoon, in which he writhes as a snake does brought near a fire.\nThen with his face turned away from heaven and towards hell, he flees\nheadlong and does not stop until he is in a society of his own love.\nHence it may be plain that no one reaches heaven by direct mercy.\nConsequently, just to be admitted is not enough, as many in the world\nsuppose. Nor is there any instantaneous salvation, for this presupposes\nunmediated mercy.\n\n[7] When some who had believed in the world in instantaneous salvation by\ndirect mercy became spirits, they wanted their infernal enjoyment or\nenjoyment of evil changed by both divine omnipotence and divine mercy\ninto heavenly enjoyment or enjoyment in the good. As they ardently\ndesired this, permission was given for it to be done by angels, who\nproceeded to remove their infernal enjoyment. But as this was the\nenjoyment of their life's love and consequently their life, they\nthereupon lay as if dead, devoid of all feeling and movement; nor could\nany life be breathed into them except their own, because all things of\nmind and body which had been turned backward could not be reversed. They\nwere therefore revived by letting in the enjoyment of their life's love.\nThey said afterwards that in that state they had experienced something\ndreadful and horrible, which they did not care to divulge. There is a\nsaying in heaven, therefore, that it is easier to change an owl into a\nturtle-dove or a serpent into a lamb than an infernal spirit into an\nangel of heaven.\n\n[8] Third: _The doctrines of all churches in Christendom, viewed\ninteriorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation by direct mercy, but\nstill some external men of the church maintain the idea._ Viewed\ninteriorly, the doctrines of all the churches teach life. Is there a\nchurch whose doctrine does not teach that man ought to examine himself,\nsee and acknowledge his sins, confess them, repent and then live a new\nlife? Who is admitted to Holy Communion without this admonition and\nprecept? Inquire and you will be assured of it. Is there a church whose\ndoctrine is not based on the precepts of the Decalog? The precepts of the\nDecalog are precepts of life. What man of the church, in whom there is\nanything of the church, does not, on hearing it, acknowledge that he who\nlives rightly is saved and he who lives wickedly is condemned? In the\nAthanasian Creed, which is also the doctrine received in the whole\nChristian world, it is therefore said:\n\nThe Lord will come to judge the quick and the dead; and then those who\nhave done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil\ninto everlasting fire.\n\n[9] It is clear, then, that the doctrines of all churches, when viewed\ninteriorly, teach life, and teaching life they teach that salvation is\naccording to the life. Man's life is not breathed into him in a moment\nbut is formed gradually, and it is reformed as the man shuns evils as\nsins, consequently as he learns what sin is, recognizes and acknowledges\nit, does not will it but desists from it, and also learns the helps that\ncome with a knowledge of God. By all these means man's life is formed and\nreformed, and they cannot be given on the instant. For hereditary evil,\nin itself infernal, has to be removed, and good, in itself heavenly,\nimplanted in its place. Because of his hereditary evil man may be\ncompared to an owl as to the understanding and to a serpent as to the\nwill, but when he has been reformed, he may be compared to a dove as to\nthe understanding and to a sheep as to the will. Instantaneous\nreformation and hence salvation would be like changing an owl at once\ninto a dove or a serpent at once into a sheep. Who that knows anything\nabout man's life does not see the impossibility of this? Salvation is\nimpossible unless the owl and serpent nature is removed and the nature of\nthe dove and sheep implanted instead.\n\n[10] Moreover, it is common knowledge that every intelligent person can\nbecome more intelligent than he is, and every wise man wiser than he is,\nand that intelligence and wisdom in man may increase and do so in some\nmen from infancy to the close of life, and that man is thus continually\nperfected. Why should not spiritual intelligence and wisdom increase as\nwell? These rise by two degrees above natural intelligence and wisdom,\nand as they ascend become angelic intelligence and wisdom, which are\nineffable. These in turn increase to eternity with the angels. Who cannot\nunderstand, if he will, that what is being perfected to eternity cannot\npossibly be made perfect in an instant?\n\n339. Thence it is evident now that all who give thought to salvation for\ntheir life's sake do not think of an instantaneous salvation by immediate\nmercy. Their thought is about the means to salvation, on and by which the\nLord acts in accord with the laws of His divine providence, and thus by\nwhich man is led by the Lord out of pure mercy. Those, however, who do\nnot think of salvation for their life's sake presume an instantaneousness\nin salvation and an immediacy in mercy, as do those who, separating faith\nfrom charity (charity is life), presume that faith can be instantaneous,\nat the final hour of death, if not earlier. Those do this, too, who\nbelieve remission of sins without any repentance to be absolution from\nsins and thus salvation, when attending the Holy Supper. So again those\ndo who trust to indulgences of monks, their prayers for the dead, and the\ndispensations they grant by the authority which they claim over the souls\nof men.\n\n340. (iv) _Instantaneous salvation by unmediated mercy is the flying\nfiery serpent in the church._ By a flying fiery serpent evil aglow with\ninfernal fire is meant, as it is by the flying fiery serpent in Isaiah:\n\nRejoice not, all Philistia, that the rod which smote you is broken, for\nout of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, whose fruit is a\nflying fiery serpent (14:29).\n\nEvil of the kind is flying about in the church when belief is put in\ninstantaneous salvation by immediate mercy, for this 1. abolishes\nreligion; 2. induces security; and 3. charges condemnation to the Lord.\n\n[2] First: _It abolishes religion._ Two things are the essentials and at\nthe same time the universals of religion, namely, acknowledgment of God,\nand repentance. Neither has meaning for those who believe that they are\nsaved out of mercy alone no matter how they live. What need then to do\nmore than cry, \"Have mercy on me, O God\"? In all else pertaining to\nreligion they are in darkness, even loving the darkness. In regard to the\nfirst essential of the church, which is an acknowledgment of God, they\nonly think, \"What is God? Who has seen Him?\" If told that God is, and is\none, they say that He is one; if told there are three, they also say\nthere are three, but the three must be called one. Such is their\nacknowledgment of God.\n\n[3] Touching the church's second essential, namely, repentance, they give\nthis no thought, nor thought to any sin, and finally do not know that\nthere is such a thing as sin. Then they hear and drink in with pleasure\nthat the law does not condemn them because a Christian is not under its\nyoke. If only you say, \"Have mercy on me, 0 God, for the sake of the\nSon,\" you will be saved. This is repentance in their life. If, however,\nyou take away repentance, or what is the same thing, separate life from\nreligion, what is left except the words, \"Have mercy on me\"? They are\ntherefore sure to maintain that salvation is instantaneous, accomplished\nby these words, even if uttered at the hour of death, if not before. What\ndoes the Word become to them then but an obscure and cryptic utterance\nissuing from a tripod in a cave, or like an incomprehensible response\nfrom the oracle of an idol? In a word, if you remove repentance, that is,\nsever life from religion, what is human nature then but evil aglow with\ninfernal fire or a flying fiery serpent in the church? For without\nrepentance man is in evil, and evil is hell.\n\n[4] Second: _By the belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy\nalone security of life is induced._ Security of life arises either from\nthe belief of the impious man that there is no life after death, or from\nthe belief of one who separates life from salvation. Although the latter\nmay believe in eternal life, he still thinks, \"whether I live rightly or\nwickedly, I can be saved, for salvation is by outright mercy, and God's\nmercy is universal, for He does not desire the death of anyone.\" If it\noccurs to him that mercy should be implored in the words of the\ntraditional faith, he can think that this can be done, if not earlier,\njust before death. Everyone who feels this security, makes light of\nadultery, fraud, injustice, acts of violence, blasphemy and revenge, and\ngives a free rein to body and spirit for committing all these evils; nor\ndoes he know what spiritual evil, or the lust of evil, is. Should he hear\nsomething about it from the Word, it is like something falling on ebony\nand rebounding, or falling into a ditch and being swallowed up.\n\n[5] Third: _By this belief condemnation is charged to the Lord._ If the\nLord can save anybody out of pure mercy, who is not going to conclude\nthat if man is not saved, it is not he but the Lord who is in fault? If\nit is asserted that faith is the medium of salvation, what man cannot\nhave this faith? For it is only a thought, and this can be imparted,\nalong with confidence, in any state of the spirit withdrawn from the\nmundane. Man may also declare \"I cannot acquire this faith of myself.\"\nHence if it is not vouchsafed him and he is condemned, what else can he\nthink except that the Lord is in fault who could have given him the faith\nbut would not? Would this not amount to calling the Lord unmerciful?\nMoreover, in the fervor of his belief he may ask, \"How can God see so\nmany condemned in hell when He can save them all in an instant from pure\nmercy?\" And more such things, which can only be called an atrocious\nindictment of the Divine. From the above it may be evident that belief in\ninstantaneous salvation out of sheer mercy is the flying fiery serpent in\nthe church.\n\n[6] Excuse the addition of what follows to fill the remainder of the\nsheet.\n\nCertain spirits were permitted to ascend from hell who said to me, \"You\nhave written much from the Lord; write something from us, too.\" I asked,\n\"What shall I write?\" They said, \"Write that every spirit, good or evil,\nhas his own enjoyment; a good spirit is in the enjoyment of his good, and\nan evil spirit in the enjoyment of his evil.\" I then asked, \"What is your\nenjoyment?\" They answered that it was the enjoyment of committing\nadultery, stealing, defrauding and lying. Again I inquired, \"What is the\nnature of those enjoyments?\" They replied, \"By others they are perceived\nas offensive odors from excrement and as the putrid smell from dead\nbodies and as the reeking stench from stagnant urine.\" I then said, \"Do\nyou find them enjoyable?\" \"Most enjoyable,\" they said. I remarked, \"Then\nyou are like unclean beasts which live in such filth.\" They replied to\nthis, \"If we are, we are; but such things are delightful to our\nnostrils.\"\n\n[7] I asked, \"What more shall I write from you?\" They said, \"Write this.\nEveryone is allowed to be in his own enjoyment, even the most unclean, as\nit is called, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels, but as\nwe could not but infest them, we were driven off and cast into hell,\nwhere we suffer fearful things.\" I asked, \"Why did you infest the good?\"\nThey replied that they could not help it; a fury seems to seize them when\nthey see an angel and feel the divine sphere around him. Then I said, \"So\nyou are also like savage beasts!\" On hearing this, a fury came over them\nwhich appeared like the fire of hate, and lest they inflict some injury,\nthey were drawn back into hell. On enjoyments sensed as odors or as\nstenches in the spiritual world, see above (nn. 303-305, 324).","title":"Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":134600}