THE LIBRARY OF LIGHT
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DOCTRINE OF LIFE
Emanuel Swedenborg
1763
www.cosmic-people.com
www.angels-heaven.org
CONTENTS
(1)
All religion is of the life, and the life of religion is to do that which is good (nos. 1-8)
(2)
No one can from himself do what is good that is really good (9-17)
(3)
In proportion as a man shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he does goods, not from himself but from the Lord (18-31)
(4)
In proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he loves truths (32-41)
(5)
In proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he has faith, and is spiritual (42-52)
(6)
The Decalogue teaches what evils are sins (53-61)
(7)
Murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, together with all lust for these things, are the evils which must be shunned as sins (62-66)
(8)
In proportion as anyone shuns murders of every kind as sins, in the same proportion he has love toward the neighbor (67-73)
(9)
In proportion as anyone shuns adulteries of every kind as sins, in the same proportion he loves chastity (74-79)
(10)
In proportion as anyone shuns thefts of every kind as sins, in the same proportion he loves sincerity (80-86)
(11)
In proportion as anyone shuns false witness of every kind as sin, in the same proportion he loves the truth (87-91)
(12)
No one can shun evils as sins so as to be inwardly averse to them except by means of combats against them (92-100)
(13)
A man ought to shun evils as sins and fight against them as of himself (101-107)
(14)
If anyone shuns evils for any other reason than because they are sins, he does not shun them, but merely prevents them from appearing before the world (108-114)
(*)
Index of Scripture Passages
DOCTRINE OF LIFE
All religion is of the life, and the life of religion is to do that which is good
1. Every man who has religion knows and acknowledges that he who leads a good life is saved, and that he who leads an evil life is damned; for he knows and acknowledges that the man who lives aright thinks aright, not only about God but also about his neighbor; but not so the man whose life is evil. The life of man is his love, and that which he loves he not only likes to be doing, but also likes to be thinking. The reason therefore why we say that the life is to do that which is good is that doing what is good acts as a one with thinking what is good, for if in a man these two things do not act as a one, they are not of his life. The demonstration of these matters shall now follow.
2. That religion is of the life and that the life of religion is to do that which is good is seen by everyone who reads the Word, and is acknowledged by him while he is reading it. The Word contains the following declarations:
Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:19-20).
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them (Matt. 7:19-20).
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in the heavens (Matt. 7:21).
Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by thy name, and in thy name done many mighty things? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23).
Everyone who heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and everyone that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand (Matt. 7:24, 26).
Jesus said, Behold, the sower went forth to sow; some seeds fell on the hard way, others fell upon the rocky places, others fell among the thorns, and others fell into good ground; he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the Word, and attendeth to it, who thence beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. When Jesus had said these things, he cried, saying, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matt. 13:3-9, 23, 43).
For the son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, and then shall he render unto everyone according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).
The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given unto a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43).
When the son of man shall come in his glory, then shall he sit on the throne of his glory. And he shall say to the sheep on his right hand, Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer, When saw we thee so? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. And the king shall say the like things to the goats on the left, and because they have not done such things, he shall say, Depart from me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:31-41).
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance; even now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees; every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire (Luke 3:8-9).
Jesus said, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Everyone that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, he is like a man building a house, and he laid a foundation upon the rock; but he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation (Luke 6:46-49).
Jesus said, My mother and my brethren are these who hear the Word of God, and do it (Luke 8:21).
Then shall ye begin to stand, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:25-27).
This is the judgment: that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil; for everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, lest his works should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God (John 3:19-21).
And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection [of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection] of judgment (John 5:29).
We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshiper of God, and do his will, him he heareth (John 9:31).
If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:17).
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my words (John 14:21-24).
Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser; every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit (John 15:1-2).
Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall be made my disciples (John 15:8).
Ye are my friends if ye do the things which I command you; I have chosen you, that ye should bear fruit, and your fruit should abide (John 15:14, 16).
The Lord said to John, To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: I know thy works; I have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity; repent, and do the first works, or else I will move thy lamp stand out of its place (Rev. 2:1-2, 4-5).
To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: I know thy works (Rev. 2:8-9).
To the angel of the church in Pergamos write: I know thy works, repent (Rev. 2:12, 16).
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: I know thy works and charity, and thy last works are more than the first (Rev. 2:18-19).
To the angel of the church in Sardis write: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, but art dead; I have not found thy works perfect before God; repent (Rev. 3:1-3).
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: I know thy works (Rev. 3:7-8).
To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: I know thy works; repent (Rev. 3:14-15, 19).
I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them (Rev. 14:13).
Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, all according to their works (Rev. 20:12-13).
Behold, I come quickly, and my reward is with me, to give to everyone according to his work (Rev. 22:12).
In like manner in the Old Testament:
Recompense them according to their work, and according to the deed of their hands (Jer. 25:14).
Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works (Jer. 32:19).
I will visit according to his ways, and will reward him his works (Hos. 4:9).
Jehovah, according to our ways, according to our works doth he to us (Zech. 1:6).
And in many places it is said that the statutes, commandments, and laws were to be done:
Ye shall observe my statutes, and my judgments, which if a man do, he shall live by them (Lev. 18:5).
Ye shall observe all my statutes, and my judgments, that ye may do them (Lev. 19:37; 20:8; 22:31).
The blessings, if they did the commandments; and the curses if they did them not (Lev. 26:4-46).
The sons of Israel were commanded to make for themselves a fringe on the borders of their garments, that they might remember all the commandments of Jehovah, to do them (Num. 15:38-39).
So in a thousand other places. That works are what make a man of the church, and that he is saved according to them, is also taught by the Lord in the parables, many of which imply that those who do what is good are accepted, and that those who do what is evil are rejected. As in the parable
of the husbandmen in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-44); of the fig tree that did not yield fruit (Luke 13:6-9);
of the talents, and the pounds, with which they were to trade (Matt. 25:14-31; Luke 19:13-25);
of the Samaritan who bound up the wounds of him that was wounded by robbers (Luke 10:30-37);
of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31); of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-12).
3. That everyone who has religion knows and acknowledges that whoever leads a good life is saved, and that whoever leads an evil one is damned, is owing to the conjunction of heaven with the man who knows from the Word that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death. Such is the source of this general perception. Therefore in the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed respecting the trinity, which has been universally received in the Christian world, the following declaration, at the end of it, has also been universally received:
Jesus Christ, who suffered for our salvation, ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father almighty, whence he will come to judge the quick and the dead; and then they that have done good will enter into life eternal, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
4. In the Christian churches, however, there are many who teach that faith alone saves, and not any good of life, or good work, and they add that evil of life or evil work does not condemn those who have been justified by faith alone, because such are in God and in grace. Wonderful to say, however, although they teach such things, they nevertheless acknowledge (in consequence of a perception from heaven common to all) that those who lead a good life are saved, and that those who live an evil one are damned. That they do acknowledge this is evident from the exhortation which not only in England but also in Germany, Sweden, and Denmark is read in the places of worship before the people coming to the holy supper. As is well known, it is in these kingdoms that those are found who teach that faith alone.
5. The exhortation read in England before the people who approach the sacrament of the supper, is as follows:
The way and means to be received as worthy partakers of that holy table is, first, to examine your lives and conversations by the rule of God’s commandments; and whereinsoever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended, either by will, word, or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and if ye shall perceive your offenses to be such as are not only against God, but also against your neighbors, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction, according to the uttermost of your powers, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offenses at God’s hand; for otherwise the receiving of the holy communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, a hinderer or slanderer of his Word, an adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to that holy table; lest after the taking of that holy sacrament the devil enter into you as he entered into Judas, and fill you full of all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.
6. [In this paragraph Swedenborg presents a translation into Latin of the foregoing exhortation.]
7. I have been permitted to ask some of the English clerk who had professed and preached faith alone (this was done in the spiritual world), whether while they were reading in church this exhortation—in which faith is not even mentioned—they believed it to be true; for example, that if people do evil things, and do not repent, the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, and destroy them both body and soul. They said that in the state in which they were when reading the exhortation they had no other knowledge or thought than that this was religion itself; but that while composing and elaborating their discourses or sermons they had a different thought about it, because they were then thinking of faith as being the sole means of salvation, and of the good of life as being a moral accessory for the public good. Nevertheless it was incontestably proved to them that with them too there was that common perception that he who leads a good life is saved, and that he who leads an evil one is damned; and that they possess this perception when they are not in what is their own.
8. The reason why all religion is of the life, is that after death everyone is his own life, for the life stays the same as it had been in this world, and undergoes no change. For an evil life cannot be converted into a good one, nor a good life into an evil one, because they are opposites, and conversion into what is opposite is extinction. And, being opposites, a good life is called life, and an evil one death. This is why religion is of life, and why its life is to do what is good. (That after death a man is such as had been his life in this world may be seen in Heaven and Hell, n. 470-484).
No one can from himself do what is good that is really good
9. That hitherto scarcely anyone knows whether the good done by him is from self or from God is because the church has sundered faith from charity, and good is of charity. A man gives to the poor; relieves the needy; endows places of worship and hospitals; has regard for the church, his country, and his fellow citizen; is diligent in his attendance at a place of worship, where he listens and prays devoutly; reads the Word and books of piety; and thinks about salvation; and yet is not aware whether he is doing these things from himself, or from God. He may be doing the very same things from God, or he may be doing them from self. If he does them from God they are good, if from self they are not good. In fact there are goods of this kind done from self which are eminently evil, such as hypocritical goods, the purpose of which is deception and fraud.
10. Goods from God, and goods from self, may be compared to gold. Gold that is gold from the inmost, called pure gold, is good gold. Gold alloyed with silver is also gold, but is good according to the amount of the alloy. Less good still is gold that is alloyed with copper. But a gold made by art, and resembling gold only from its color, is not good at all, for there is no substance of gold in it. There is also what is gilded, such as gilded silver, copper, iron, tin, lead, and also gilded wood and gilded stone, which on the surface may appear like gold; but not being such, they are valued either according to the workmanship, the value of the gilded material, or that of the gold which can be scraped off. In goodness these differ from real gold as a garment differs from a man. Moreover rotten wood, dross, or even ordure, may be overlaid with gold; and such is the gold to which pharisaic good may be likened.
11. From science a man knows whether gold is good in substance, is alloyed and falsified, or is merely overlaid; but he does not know from science whether the good he does is good in itself. This only does he know: that good from God is good, and that good from man is not good. Therefore, as it concerns his salvation for him to know whether the good he does is from God, or is not from God, this must be revealed. But before this is done something shall be said about goods.
12. There are civic good, moral good, and spiritual good. Civic good is that which a man does from the civic law: by means of and according to this good is the man a citizen in the natural world. Moral good is that which a man does from the law of reason: by means of and according to this good is he a man. Spiritual good is that which a man does from spiritual law: by means of and according to this good is he a citizen in the spiritual world. These goods succeed one another in the following order: spiritual good is the highest, moral good is intermediate, and civic good is last.
13. A man who possesses spiritual good is also a moral man and a civic man; but a man who does not possess spiritual good may appear to be a moral man and a civic man, yet is not so. The reason why a man who possesses spiritual good is also a moral man and a civic man, is that spiritual good has the essence of good within it, and moral and civic good have this essence from spiritual good. The essence of good can be from no other source than him who is good itself. Think the matter over from every point of view, and try to find out from what it is that good is good, and you will see that it is so from its inmost being [esse], and that that is good which has within it the esse of good; consequently that that is good which is from good itself, thus from God; and therefore that good which is not from God, but from man, is not good.
14. From what has been said in Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (n. 27-28, 38), it may be seen that what is highest, what is intermediate, and what is last, make a one, like end, cause, and effect; and that because they make a one, the end itself is called the first end, the cause the intermediate end, and the effect the last end. From this it must be evident that in the case of a man who possesses spiritual good, what is moral in him is intermediate spiritual, and what is civic is ultimate spiritual. And for this reason it has been said that a man who possesses spiritual good is also a moral man and a civic man; and that a man who does not possess spiritual good is neither a moral man nor a civic man, although he may appear to be so both to himself and to others.
15. That a man who is not spiritual can yet think rationally and speak from that thought, like a spiritual man, is because man’s understanding can be uplifted into the light of heaven, which is truth, and can see from it; but his will cannot be in the same way uplifted into the heat of heaven, which is love, so as to act from that heat. It is for this reason that truth and love do not make a one in a man unless he is spiritual. And it is for this reason also that man can speak; and it is this which makes the difference between a man and a beast. It is by means of this capacity of the understanding to be uplifted into heaven when as yet the will is not so uplifted, that it is possible for a man to be reformed and to become spiritual; but he does not begin to be reformed and become spiritual until his will also is uplifted. It is from this superior endowment of the understanding over the will, that a man, of whatever character he may be, even if evil, is able to think and therefore to speak rationally, as if he were spiritual. That still in spite of this he is not rational, is because the understanding does not lead the will, but the will leads the understanding. The understanding merely teaches and shows the way, as has been said in Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (n. 115). And so long as the will is not in heaven together with the understanding, the man is not spiritual, and consequently is not rational; for when he is left to his will or love, he throws off the rational things of his understanding respecting God, heaven, and eternal life, and adopts in their stead such things as are in agreement with his will’s love, and these he calls rational. But these matters shall be elucidated in the treatises on angelic wisdom.
16. In the following pages, those who do what is good from themselves will be called natural men, because with them the moral and the civic is in its essence natural; and those who do what is good from the Lord will be called spiritual men, because with them the moral and the civic is in its essence spiritual.
17. That no one can from himself do any good that is really good, is taught by the Lord in John:
A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven (John 3:27).
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).
“He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit,” means that all good is from the Lord; “fruit” means what is good. “Without me ye can do nothing,” means that no man can from himself do anything. Those who believe in the Lord, and from him do what is good, are called
sons of light (John 12:36; Luke 16:8); sons of the bride chamber (Mark 2:19); sons of the resurrection (Luke 20:36); sons of God (Luke 20:36; John 1:12); born of God (John 1:13).
It is said that they shall see God (Matt. 5:8);
that the Lord will make his abode with them (John 14:23); that they have the faith of God (Mark 11:22);
that their works are done from God (John 3:21).
These things are all summed up in the following words:
As many as received him, to them gave he power [potestas] to be sons of God, to them that believe in his name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13).
To “believe in the name of the son of God” is to believe the Word and to live according to it; “the will of the flesh” is what is proper to man’s will, which in itself is evil; “the will of man” is what is proper to his understanding, which in itself is falsity from evil; those “born of” these, are those who will and act, and also think and speak, from what is proper to themselves; those “born of God,” are those who do all this from the Lord. In short: that which is from man is not good; but that which is good is from the Lord.
In proportion as a man shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he does goods, not from himself but from the Lord
18. Who does not or may not know that evils stand in the way of the Lord’s entrance to a man? For evil is hell, and the Lord is heaven, and hell and heaven are opposites. In proportion therefore as a man is in the one, in the same proportion he cannot be in the other. For the one acts against the other and destroys it.
19. So long as a man is in this world, he is midway between hell and heaven: hell is below him, and heaven is above him, and he is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to hell he turns away from heaven; if he turns to heaven he turns away from hell. Or what is the same, so long as a man is in this world he stands midway between the Lord and the devil, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to the devil he turns away from the Lord; if he turns to the Lord he turns away from the devil. Or what is again the same, so long as a man is in this world he is midway between evil and good, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to evil he turns away from good; if he turns to good he turns away from evil.
20. We have said that a man is kept in freedom to turn himself one way or the other. It is not from himself that every man has this freedom, but he has it from the Lord, and this is why he is said to be kept in it. (Concerning the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and that man is in it and owes his freedom to that fact, see Heaven and Hell, n. 589-603.) That every man is kept in freedom, and that from no one is it taken away, will be seen in its proper place.
21. It is plainly evident from all this that in proportion as a man shuns evils, in the same proportion is he with the Lord and in the Lord; and that in proportion as he is in the Lord, in the same proportion he does goods, not from self but from him. From this results the general law: In proportion as anyone shuns evils, in the same proportion he does goods.
22. Two things however are requisite: first, the man must shun evils because they are sins, that is, because they are infernal and diabolical, and therefore contrary to the Lord and the Divine laws, and secondly, he must do this as of himself, while knowing and believing that it is of the Lord. But these two requisites will be considered in subsequent chapters.
23. From what has been said three things follow:
(a) If a man wills and does goods before he shuns evils as sins, the goods are not good.
(b) If a man thinks and speaks pious things while not shunning evils as sins, the pious things are not pious.
(c) If a man knows and is wise in many things, and does not shun evils as sins, he is nevertheless not wise.
24. (a) If a man wills and does goods before he shuns evils as sins, the goods are not good. This is because, as already said, he is not in the Lord before he does so. For example: if a man gives to the poor, renders aid to the needy, contributes to places of worship and to hospitals, renders good service to the church, his country, and his fellow citizens, teaches the gospel and makes converts, does justice in his judgments, acts with sincerity in business, and with uprightness in his works; and yet makes no account of evils as being sins, such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils, then he can do only such goods as are evil within, because he does them from himself and not from the Lord, and therefore self is in them and not the Lord, and the goods in which is a man’s self are all defiled with his evils, and have regard to himself and the world. And yet these very deeds that have just been enumerated are inwardly good if the man shuns evils as sins (such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils), because in this case he does them from the Lord, and they are said to be “wrought in God” (John 3:19-21).
25. (b) If a man thinks and speaks pious things while not shunning evils as sins, the pious things are not pious. This is because he is not in the Lord. If for example he frequents places of worship, listens devoutly to the preaching, reads the Word and books of piety, goes to the sacrament of the supper, pours forth prayers daily, and even if he thinks much about God and salvation, and yet regards as of no moment the evils which are sins (such as fraud, adultery, hatred, blasphemy, and other like evils), he then cannot do otherwise than think and speak such pious things as inwardly are not pious, because the man himself is in them with his evils. At the time indeed he is not aware of them, yet they are present within deeply hidden out of his sight; for he is like a spring the water of which is foul from its source. His performances of piety are either mere customs of habit, or else are the outcome of self-merit or hypocrisy. They do indeed rise up toward heaven, but turn back before they get there, and settle down, like smoke in the atmosphere.
26. I have been permitted to see and hear many after death who reckoned up their good works and performances of piety, such as those mentioned above (n. 24-25), and many others besides. Among them I have also seen some who had lamps and no oil. Inquiry was made as to whether they had shunned evils as sins, and it was found that they had not, and therefore they were told that they were evil. Afterwards also they were seen to go into caverns where evil ones like them had their abode.
27. (c) If a man knows and is wise about many things, and does not shun evils as sins, he is nevertheless not wise. This is so for the reason already given: that he is wise from himself and not from the Lord. If for example he has an accurate knowledge of the doctrine of his church and of all things that belong to it, if he knows how to confirm them by the Word and by reasonings, if he knows the doctrines held by all churches for ages, together with the edicts of all the councils, and even if he knows truths, and also sees and understands them; thus if he knows the nature of faith, charity, piety, repentance and the remission of sins, regeneration, baptism, the holy supper, the Lord, and redemption and salvation, still he is not wise unless he shuns evils as sins, because his knowledges [cognitiones] are devoid of life, being of his understanding only and not at the same time of his will; and such knowledges in time perish, for the reason given above (n. 15). After death also the man himself throws them off, because they are not in accordance with his will’s love. Nevertheless knowledges are in the highest degree necessary, because they teach how a man is to act; and when he acts them, then they are alive in him, and not till then.
28. All that has been said thus far is taught by the Word in many places, of which only the following shall be presented. The Word teaches that no one can be in good and at the same time in evil, or what is the same, that no one can be (in respect to his soul) in heaven and at the same time in hell. This is taught in the following passages:
No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matt. 6:24).
How can ye, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth good things, and the evil man out of its evil treasure bringeth forth evil things (Matt. 12:34-35).
A good tree produceth not evil fruit, nor doth an evil tree produce good fruit. Every tree is known by its own fruit; for of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes (Luke 6:43-44).
29. The Word teaches that no one can do what is good from himself, but that he does it from the Lord:
Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather him, and cast him into the fire, and he is burned (John 15:1-6).
30. The Word teaches that in proportion as a man has not been purified from evils, his goods are not good, nor are his pious things pious, and neither is he wise: it also teaches the converse:
Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which outwardly indeed appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly indeed appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Woe unto you, for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also (Matt. 23:25-28).
The same appears from these words in Isaiah:
Hear the word of Jehovah, ye princes of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Bring no more a meat offering of vanity; incense is an abomination unto me; new moon and sabbath, I cannot bear iniquity; your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth; therefore when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, if ye make many prayers, I will not hear; your hands are full of bloods. Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they have been red, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:10-18).
These words in brief amount to this: that unless a man shuns evils, nothing of his worship is good, and in like manner nothing of his works, for it is said, “I cannot bear iniquity, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings, cease to do evil.” In Jeremiah:
Return ye every man from his evil way, and make your works good (Jer. 35:15).
[2] That the same are not wise is declared in Isaiah:
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent before their own faces (Isa. 5:21).
The wisdom of the wise shall perish, and the intelligence of the intelligent; woe unto them that are deeply wise, and their works are done in the dark (Isa. 29:14-15).
Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help, and put their stay on horses, and trust in chariots because they are many, and in horsemen because they are strong; but they look not unto the holy one of Israel, neither seek Jehovah. But he will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. For Egypt is man, and not God; and the horses thereof are flesh, and not spirit (Isa. 31:1-3).
Thus is described man’s self-intelligence. “Egypt” is memory- knowledge; a “horse,” the understanding therefrom; a “chariot,” the doctrine therefrom; a “horseman,” the intelligence therefrom; of all of which it is said, “Woe to them that look not unto the Holy one of Israel, neither seek Jehovah.” Their destruction through evils is meant by: “he will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.” That these things are from man’s own, and that consequently there is no life in them, is meant by its being said that “Egypt is man and not God,” and that “the horses thereof are flesh and not spirit.” “Man” and “flesh” denote what is man’s own; “God” and “spirit” denote life from the Lord; the “horses of Egypt” denote self-intelligence. There are many such things in the Word concerning intelligence from self, and intelligence from the Lord, which can be seen only by means of the spiritual sense.
[3] That no one is saved by means of goods from self, because they are not good, is evident from the following:
Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that doeth the will of my Father: many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and in thy name done many mighty things? But then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity (Matt. 7:21-23).
Then shall ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and ye shall begin to say, We did eat and drink in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets; but he shall say, I tell you I know ye not whence ye are, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity (Luke 13:25-27).
For such persons are like the Pharisee,
who stood in the temple and prayed, saying that he was not as other men, an extortioner, unjust, an adulterer; that he fasted twice in the week, and gave tithes of all that he possessed (Luke 18:11-14).
Such persons moreover are those who are called
unprofitable servants (Luke 17:10).
31. That no man can from himself do what is really good is the truth. But so to use this truth as to do away with all the good of charity that is done by a man who shuns evils as sins is a great wickedness, for it is diametrically contrary to the Word, which commands that a man shall do. It is contrary to the commandments of love to God and love toward the neighbor on which the law and the prophets hang, and it is to flout and undermine everything of religion. For everyone knows that religion is to do what is good, and that everyone will be judged according to his deeds. Every man is so constituted as to be able (by the Lord’s power, if he begs for it) to shun evils as of himself; and that which he afterwards does is good from the Lord.
In proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he loves truths
32. There are two universals that proceed from the Lord: Divine good, and Divine truth. Divine good is of his Divine love, and Divine truth is of his Divine wisdom. In the Lord these two are a one,31 and therefore they proceed from him as a one, but they are not received as a one by angels in the heavens, or by men on earth. There are both angels and men who receive more from Divine truth than from Divine good; and there are others who receive more from Divine good than from Divine truth. This is why the heavens are distinguished into two distinct kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom. The heavens that receive more from Divine good constitute the celestial kingdom, and those which receive more from Divine truth constitute the spiritual kingdom. (Concerning these two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, see Heaven and Hell, n. 20-28.)
But still the angels of all the heavens are in wisdom and intelligence in proportion to the degree in which the good in them makes a one with truth. The good that does not make a one with truth is to them not good; and on the other hand the truth that does not make a one with good is to them not truth. From this we see that good conjoined with truth constitutes love and wisdom in both angel and man; and as an angel is an angel, and a man a man, from the love and wisdom in him, it is evident that good conjoined with truth causes an angel to be an angel of heaven, and a man a man of the church.
33. As good and truth are a one in the Lord, and proceed as a one from him, it follows that good loves truth and truth loves good, and they will to be a one. It is the same with their opposites: evil loves falsity, and falsity loves evil, and these will to be a one. In the following pages the conjunction of good and truth will be called the heavenly marriage, and that of evil and falsity the infernal marriage.
34. It follows from these premises that in proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he loves truths (for in the same proportion he is in good, as has been shown in the preceding chapter); and also that in proportion as anyone does not shun evils as sins, in the same proportion he does not love truths, because in the same proportion he is not in good.
35. It is indeed possible for a man to love truths who does not shun evils as sins; yet he does not love them because they are truths, but because they minister to his reputation, and thereby to his honors or gains, so that if they do not minister to it he loves them not.
36. Good is of the will, truth of the understanding. From the love of good in the will proceeds the love of truth in the understanding; from the love of truth proceeds the perception of truth; from the perception of truth comes thought about truth; and from all of these together comes the acknowledgment of truth which in the true sense is faith. (That this is the progression from the love of good to faith, will be shown in the treatise Divine Love and Wisdom.)
37. As good is not good unless it is conjoined with truth, as already said, it follows that previous thereto good does not come into manifest being. But as it continually desires to come into manifest being it longs for and procures truths in order to do so, for truths are the agency of its nourishment and formation. This is the reason why a man loves truths in the same proportion that he is in good, consequently in the same proportion that he shuns evils as sins, for it is in proportion that he does this that anyone is in good.
38. In proportion as anyone is in good, and from good loves truths, in the same proportion he loves the Lord, because the Lord is good itself and truth itself. The Lord is therefore with man in good and in truth. If the latter is loved from good the Lord is loved, but not otherwise. This the Lord teaches in John:
He that hath my commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth me; he that loveth me not keepeth not my words (John 14:21, 24).
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love (John 15:10).
The “commandments” and “words” of the Lord are truths.
39. That good loves truth may be illustrated by comparison with a priest, a soldier, a trader, and an artificer. With a priest: if he is in the good of the priesthood, which is to care for the salvation of souls, to teach the way to heaven, and to lead those whom he teaches, then in proportion as he is in this good (thus from his love and its desire) he acquires the truths which he may teach, and by means of which he may lead. But a priest who is not in the good of the priesthood, but is in the delight of his office from the love of self and of the world, which to him is the only good, he too from his love and its desire acquires those truths in abundance in proportion as he is inspired by the delight which is his good. With a soldier: if he is in the love of military service, and is sensible of its good, whether it be that of national defense, or that of his own fame, from this good and according to it he acquires its special knowledge, and if he is a commander, its intelligence; these are like truths by which the delight of love which is his good is nourished and formed. With a trader: if he has taken up this calling from the love of it, he learns with avidity everything that enters into and makes up that love as its means; these also are like truths, while trading is his good. With an artificer: if he applies himself with earnestness to his work, and loves it as the good of his life, he purchases tools, and perfects himself by whatever pertains to a knowledge of it, and by these means he so does his work that it is a good. From these comparisons it is evident that truths are the means through which the good of love comes into manifest being, and becomes something; consequently that good loves truths in order that it may do so. Hence in the Word to “do the truth” means to cause good to come into manifest being. This is meant by
doing the truth (John 3:21);
doing the Lord’s sayings (Luke 6:47);
keeping his commandments (John 14:24); doing his words (Matt. 7:24);
doing the Word of God (Luke 8:21); and by doing the statutes and judgments (Lev. 18:5).
And this also is to “do what is good,” and to “bear fruit,” for “good” and “fruit” are that which comes into manifest being [est id quod existit].
40. That good loves truth and wills to be conjoined with it, may also be illustrated by comparison with food and water, or with bread and wine. Both are necessary. Food or bread alone effects nothing in the body in the way of nourishment; it does so only together with water or with wine; and therefore the one has an appetite and longing for the other. Moreover in the Word “food” and “bread” mean good, in the spiritual sense; and “water” and “wine” mean truth.
41. From all that has been said it is now evident that he who shuns evils as sins, loves truths and longs for them; and that the more he shuns them, so much the more love and longing does he feel, because so much the more he is in good. The result is that he comes into the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth, in which is heaven, and in which must be the church.
In proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he has faith, and is spiritual
42. Faith and life are distinct from each other in the same way as are thinking and doing; and as thinking is of the understanding and doing is of the will, it follows that faith and life are distinct from each other in the same way as are the understanding and the will. He who knows the distinction between the two latter knows that between the two former; and he who knows the conjunction of the two latter knows that of the two former. For this reason something shall first be set forth about the understanding and the will.
43. Man possesses two faculties, one of which is called the will, and the other the understanding. They are distinct from each other, but are so created that they may be a one, and when they are a one they are called the mind, so that the human mind consists of these two faculties, and the whole of man’s life is in them. Just as all things in the universe that are in accordance with Divine order bear relation to good and truth, so do all things in man bear relation to the will and the understanding; for the good in a man belongs to his will and the truth in him belongs to his understanding, these two faculties being their receptacles and subjects; the will, of all things of good, and the understanding of all things of truth. The goods and truths in a man are nowhere else, and so therefore neither are the love and faith, because love is of good and good is of love, and faith is of truth and truth is of faith. It is of the utmost importance to know how the will and the understanding make one mind. They do so in the same way that good and truth make a one, for there is a like marriage between the will and the understanding to that which exists between good and truth. The nature of this latter marriage has been in some measure told in the preceding chapter, and to this we should add that just as good is the very being [esse] of a thing, and truth is its derivative manifestation [existere], so the will in man is the very being of his life, and the understanding is its derivative manifestation, for the good that is of the will shapes itself forth in the understanding, and presents itself to view within fixed and settled outlines [certo modo].
44. It has been shown above (n. 27-28) that a man may know many things, may think them over, may understand them, and yet may not be wise. And as it is the province of faith to know and to think, and still more to understand, that a thing is true, a man may well believe that he has faith and yet not have it. The reason why he has it not, is that he is in evil of life, and evil of life and truth of faith cannot possibly act as a one. The evil of life destroys the truth of faith, because the evil of life is of the will and the truth of faith is of the understanding, and the will leads the understanding and makes it act as a one with itself, so that if there is anything in the understanding that is not in accord with the will, and the man is left to himself, and thinks from his own evil and the love of it, he then either casts out the truth that is in the understanding, or else by falsifying it forces it into oneness. Quite different is it with those who are in the good of life: such when left to themselves think from what is good, and love the truth that is in the understanding because it is in accord. In this way there takes place a conjunction of faith and life such as is that of truth and good, and both these conjunctions are like that of the understanding and the will.
45. From all this then it follows that just insofar as a man shuns evils as sins, just so far has he faith, because just so far is he in good, as shown above. This is confirmed also by its contrary: that he who does not shun evils as sins, has not faith because he is in evil, and evil inwardly hates truth. Outwardly indeed he may act as a friend to truth, and suffer it to be in the understanding, may even love to have it there; but when what is outward is put off, as is done after death, he first casts out truth his friend in this world, then denies that it is truth, and finally feels aversion for it.
46. The faith of an evil man is an intellectual faith, in which there is nothing of good from the will. Thus it is a dead faith, which is like the breathing of the lungs without there being any life or soul in it from the heart. Moreover the understanding corresponds to the lungs, and the will to the heart. Such faith is also like a good-looking harlot dressed up in crimson and gold, but full of disease and corruption. A harlot also corresponds to the falsification of truth, and therefore in the Word signifies it. Such faith is also like a tree luxuriant in foliage but barren of fruit, which the gardener cuts down. A tree moreover signifies a man, its leaves and blossoms signify the truths of faith, and its fruit the good of love. But very different is that faith in the understanding which has in it good from the will. This faith is living, and is like a breathing of the lungs in which there is life and soul from the heart. It is also like a lovely wife whose chastity endears her to her husband. It is also like a tree that bears fruit.
47. There are many things that appear to be mere matters of faith, such as that there is a God; that the Lord, who is God, is the redeemer and savior; that there is a heaven and a hell; that there is a life after death; and many other things of which it is not said that they are to be done, but that they are to be believed. These things of faith also are dead with a man who is in evil, but are living with a man who is in good. The reason is that a man who is in good not only acts aright from the will but also thinks aright from the understanding, and this not only before the world but also before himself when he is alone. Not so a man who is in evil.
48. We have said that these things appear to be mere matters of faith. But the thought of the understanding derives its coming into manifest being [trahit suum existere] from the love of the will, which is the inmost being [qui est esse] of the thought in the understanding, as has been said above (n. 43). For whatever anyone wills from love, he wills to do, he wills to think, he wills to understand, and he wills to speak; or, what is the same, whatever anyone loves from the will, he loves to do, he loves to think, he loves to understand, and he loves to speak. To this is also to be added, that when a man shuns what is evil as a sin, he is in the Lord, as shown above, and the Lord then works everything. And therefore to those who asked him what they should do that they might work the works of God, he said:
This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom he hath sent (John 6:28-29).
To “believe in the Lord” is not only to think that he is, but also to do his words, as he teaches elsewhere.
49. That those who are in evils have no faith, no matter how much they may suppose themselves to have it, has been shown in the spiritual world in the case of persons of this character. They were brought into a heavenly society, which caused the spiritual sphere of faith as existing with the angels to enter into the interiors of their faith, and the result was that the angels perceived that those persons possessed only what is natural or external of faith, and not what is spiritual or internal of it, and therefore those persons themselves confessed that they had nothing whatever of faith, and that in the world they had persuaded themselves that to believe or have faith consists in thinking a thing to be true, no matter what the ground for so thinking. Very different was perceived to be the faith of those who had not been in evil.
50. From all this it may be seen what spiritual faith is; and also what is faith not spiritual. Spiritual faith exists with those who do not commit sins, for those who do not commit sins do things that are good, not from themselves but from the Lord (see above, n. 18-21), and through faith become spiritual. Faith with these is the truth. This the Lord teaches in John:
This is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, because their works were evil. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, lest his works should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God (John 3:19-21).
51. All the foregoing is confirmed by the following passages in the Word:
A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh (Luke 6:45; Matt. 12:35).
The “heart” in the Word means man’s will, and as man thinks and speaks from this, it is said: “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”
Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth the man; but that which goeth out of the heart, this defileth the man (Matt. 15:11, 18).
The “heart” here too means the will. Jesus said of the woman who anointed his feet with ointment:
Her sins are forgiven, for she loved much; thy faith hath saved thee (Luke 7:47, 50);
from which it is evident that when sins have been remitted or forgiven, thus when they exist no longer, faith saves. That those are called “sons of God” and “born of God” who are not in the own of their will, and consequently are not in the own of their understanding; that is to say, who are not in evil and from this in falsity; and that these are they who believe in the Lord, he himself teaches in John 1:12, 13, which passage may be seen explained above in n. 17, at the end.
52. From these premises there follows this conclusion:That no man has in him a grain of truth more than he has of good; thus that he has not a grain of faith more than he has of life. In the understanding indeed there may exist the thought that such or such a thing is true, but not the acknowledgment which is faith, unless there is consent thereto in the will. Thus do faith and life keep step as they walk. From all this it is now evident that in proportion as anyone shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he has faith and is spiritual.
The Decalogue teaches what evils are sins
53. What nation in the wide world is not aware that it is evil to steal, to commit adultery, to kill, and to bear false witness? If men were not aware of this, and if they did not by laws guard against the commission of these evils, it would be all over with them; for without such laws the community, the commonwealth, and the kingdom would perish. Who can imagine that the Israelitish nation was so much more senseless than other nations as not to know that these were evils? One might therefore wonder why these laws, known as they are the world over, were promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah himself with so great a miracle. But listen: they were promulgated with so great a miracle in order that men may know that these laws are not only civic and moral laws, but are also spiritual laws; and that to act contrary to them is not only to do evil to a fellow citizen and to the community, but is also to sin against God. For this reason those laws, through promulgation from Mount Sinai by Jehovah, were made laws of religion; for it is evident that whatever Jehovah God commands, he commands in order that it may be of religion, and that it is to be done for his sake, and for the sake of the man that he may be saved.
54. As these laws were the first fruits of the Word, and therefore the first fruits of the church that was to be again set up by the Lord with the Israelitish nation, and as they were in a brief summary a complex of all those things of religion by means of which there is conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, they were so holy that nothing is more so.
55. That they were most holy is evident from the fact that Jehovah himself (that is, the Lord) came down upon Mount Sinai in fire, and with angels, and promulgated them from it by a living voice, and that the people had prepared themselves for three days to see and to hear; that the mountain was fenced about lest anyone should go near it and should die; that neither were the priests nor the elders to draw near, but Moses only; that those laws were written by the finger of God on two tables of stone; that when Moses brought the tables down from the mountain the second time, his face shone; that the tables were afterwards laid away in the ark, and the ark in the inmost of the tabernacle, and upon it was placed the mercy seat, and upon this cherubs of gold; that this was the most holy thing of their church, being called the holy of holies; that outside the veil that hung before it there were placed things that represented holy things of heaven and the church, namely, the lampstand with its seven golden lamps, the golden altar of incense, and the table overlaid with gold on which were the loaves of faces, and surrounded with curtains of fine linen, bright crimson, and scarlet. The holiness of this whole tabernacle had no other source than the law that was in the ark.
[2] On account of this holiness of the tabernacle from the law in the ark, the whole people of Israel, by command, encamped around it in the order of their tribes, and marched in order after it, and there was then a cloud over it by day, and a fire by night. On account of the holiness of that law, and the presence of the Lord in it, the Lord spoke with Moses above the mercy seat between the cherubs, and the ark was called “Jehovah there.” Aaron also was not allowed to enter within the veil except with sacrifices and incense. Because that law was the very holiness of the church, the ark was brought by David into Zion; and later it was kept in the midst of the temple at Jerusalem, and constituted its shrine.
[3] On account of the Lord’s presence in that law and around it, miracles were wrought by the ark in which was that law: the waters of Jordan were cleft asunder, and so long as the ark was resting in the midst of it, the people passed over on dry ground; when the ark was carried round the walls of Jericho they fell; Dagon the god of the Philistines fell down before it, and afterwards lay on the threshold of the temple without his head; and on its account the Bethshemites were smitten to the number of many thousands; not to mention other miracles. These were all performed solely by the Lord’s presence in his ten words, which are the commandments of the Decalogue.
56. So great a power and so great a holiness existed in that law for the further reason that it was a complex of all things of religion; for it consisted of two tables of which the one contains all things that are on the part of God, and the other in a complex all things that are on the part of man. The commandments of this law are therefore called the “ten words,” and are so called because “ten” signifies all. But how this law is a complex of all things of religion will be seen in the following chapter.
57. As by means of this law there is a conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, it is called the “covenant,” and the “testimony,” the “covenant” because it conjoins, and the “testimony” because it bears witness, for a “covenant” signifies conjunction, and a “testimony” the attestation of it. For this reason there were two tables, one for the Lord and the other for man. The conjunction is effected by the Lord, but only when the man does the things that have been written in his table. For the Lord is constantly present and working, and wills to enter in, but man must open to the Lord in the freedom which he has from him; for the Lord says:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me (Rev. 3:20).
58. In the second table, which is for man, it is not said that man must do this or that good, but that he must not do this or that evil, as for example, “thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, thou shalt not covet.” The reason is that man cannot do any good whatever from himself, but when he no longer does evils, then he does good, not from himself but from the Lord. That by the power of the Lord a man is able to shun evils as of himself if he begs for that power, will be seen in the following pages.
59. What has been said above (n. 51) respecting the promulgation, holiness, and power of that law, will be found in the following places in the Word:
That Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai in fire, and that the mountain smoked and quaked, and that there were thunderings, lightnings, and a thick cloud, and the voice of a trumpet (Exod. 19:16, 18; Deut. 4:11; 5:22-26).
That before the descent of Jehovah the people prepared and sanctified themselves for three days (Exod. 19:10-11, 15).
That bounds were set round the mountain, lest anyone should come near its base, and should die; and that not even were the priests to come near, but Moses only (Exod. 19:12-13, 20-23; 24:1-2).
That the law was promulgated from Mount Sinai (Exod. 20:2-17; Deut. 5:6-21).
That that law was written by the finger of God on two tables of stone (Exod. 31:18; 32:15-16; Deut. 9:10).
That when Moses brought those tables down from the mountain the second time, his face shone (Exod. 34:29-35).
That the tables were kept in the ark (Exod. 25:16; 40:20; Deut. 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9).
That upon the ark was placed the mercy seat, and upon this the golden cherubs (Exod. 25:17-21).
That the ark, together with the mercy seat and the cherubs, constituted the inmost of the tabernacle, and that the golden lampstand, the golden altar of incense, and the table overlaid with gold on which were the loaves of faces, constituted the exterior of the tabernacle and the ten curtains of fine linen, bright crimson, and scarlet, its outermost (Exod. 25:1-end; 26:1-end; 40:17-28).
That the place where the ark was, was called the holy of holies (Exod. 26:33).
That the whole people of Israel encamped around the habitation in order according to their tribes, and marched in order after it (Num. 2:1-end).
That there was then over the habitation a cloud by day and a fire by night (Exod. 40:38; Num. 9:15-end; 14:14; Deut. 1:33).
That the Lord spoke with Moses from over the ark between the cherubs (Exod. 25:22; Num. 7:89).
That the ark, from the law within it, was called Jehovah-there, for when the ark set forward, Moses said, Rise up, Jehovah; and when it rested he said, Return Jehovah (Num. 10:35-36); and see further 2 Sam. 6:2; Ps. 132:7-8.
That on account of the holiness of that law Aaron was not allowed to enter within the veil except with sacrifices and with incense (Lev. 16:2-14, etc.).
That the ark was brought into Zion by David with sacrifices and with shouting (2 Sam. 6:1-19). That on that occasion, Uzzah, who touched it, died (2 Sam.:6-7).
That the ark was placed in the midst of the temple in Jerusalem, where it constituted the shrine (1 Kings 6:19, etc.; 8:3-9).
That by the Lord’s presence and power in the law that was in the ark, the waters of Jordan were cleft asunder, and so long as the ark rested in the midst of it, the people passed over on dry ground (Josh. 3:1-17; 4:5-20).
That when the ark was carried around them, the walls of Jericho fell (Josh. 6:1-20).
That Dagon the god of the Philistines fell to the earth before the ark, and afterwards lay upon the threshold of the temple headless (1 Sam. 5:1-4).
That on account of the ark the Bethshemites were smitten, to the number of many thousands (1 Sam. 6:19).
60. That the tables of stone on which the law was written were called “the tables of the covenant,” and that from them the ark was called “the ark of the covenant,” and the law itself “the covenant,” see Num. 10:33; Deut. 4:13, 23; 5:2, 3; 9:9; Josh. 3:11; 1 Kings 8:19, 21; Rev. 11:19; and in many other places. The reason why the law was called the “covenant,” is that “covenant” signifies conjunction; and it is therefore said of the Lord that:
he shall be for a covenant to the people (Isa. 42:6; 49:8;
and he is called:
the messenger of the covenant (Mal. 3:1);
and his blood:
the blood of the covenant (Matt. 26:28; Zech. 9:11; Exod. 24:4-10).
And therefore the Word is called the “old covenant,” and the “new covenant.” Moreover covenants are made for the sake of love, friendship, association, and thus for the sake of conjunction.
61. That the commandments of this law were called the “ten words,” see Exod. 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4. They are so called because “ten” signifies all, and “words” signifies truths, for there were more than ten words. As “ten” signifies all,
the curtains of the tabernacle were ten (Exod. 26:1);
And for the same reason the Lord said
that a certain man who was to receive a kingdom, called ten of his servants, and gave them ten pounds to trade with (Luke 19:13).
And for the same reason also the Lord
likened the kingdom of the heavens to ten virgins (Matt. 25:1).
For the same reason also, the dragon is described as having ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems (Rev. 12:3).
In like manner the beast that came up out of the sea (Rev. 13:1). And another beast also (Rev. 17:3, 7).
Likewise the beast in Daniel (7:7, 20, 24).
The like is signified by ten in Leviticus 26:26, and in Zechariah 8:23, and in other places.
This is the origin of tithes, for “tithes” (or “tenths”) signify something from all.
Murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, together with all lust for these things, are the evils which must be shunned as sins
62. It is well known that the law of Sinai was written on two tables, and that the first table contains the things of God, and the other the things of man. That the first table contains all things that belong to God, and the second all that belong to man, does not appear in the letter, yet are they all in them, and it is for this reason that they are called the ten words, by which are signified all truths in the complex (as may be seen just above, n. 61). But in what way all things are in them cannot be set forth in a few words, but may be apprehended from what has been presented in Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (n. 67), which see. This is why it is said “murders, adulteries, thefts, and false witness of every kind.”
63. A religious tenet has prevailed to the effect that no one is able to fulfill the law; the law being not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness. Every civic man and moral man is able to fulfill these commandments of the law by a civic and moral life; but this tenet denies that he can do so by a spiritual life; from which it follows that his not doing these evils is only for the sake of avoiding penalties and losses in this world, and not for the sake of avoiding penalties and losses after he has left it. It is for this reason that a man with whom this tenet has prevailed, thinks these evils allowable in the sight of God, but not so in that of the world.
[2] And in consequence of such thought from this his tenet, the man is in lust for all these evils, and refrains from doing them merely for the world’s sake; and therefore after death such a man, although he had not committed murders, adulteries, thefts, and false witness, nevertheless desires to commit them, and does commit them when the external possessed by him in this world is taken away from him. Every lust he has had remains with him after death. It is owing to this that such persons act as one with hell, and cannot but have their lot among those who are there.
[3] Very different is the lot of those who are unwilling to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, and to bear false witness for the reason that to do these things is contrary to God. These persons, after some battling with these evils, do not will them, thus do not desire to commit them: they say in their hearts that they are sins, and in themselves are infernal and devilish. After death, when the external which they had possessed for this world is taken away from them, they act as one with heaven, and as they are in the Lord they come into heaven.
64. It is a common principle of every religion that a man ought to examine himself, repent, and desist from sins, and that if he fails to do so he is in a state of damnation. (That this is a common principle of every religion may be seen above, n. 4-8.) Teaching the Decalogue is also a common thing throughout the whole Christian world, and by it little children are commonly initiated into the Christian religion, for it is in the hands of all young children. Their parents and teachers tell them that to commit these evils is to sin against God, and in fact while speaking to the children they know nothing different.
We may well wonder that these same persons, and the children too when they become adults, think that they are not under this law, and that they are not able to do the things that belong to it. Can there be any other cause for their learning to think in this way, than that they love evils and consequently the false notions that favor them? These therefore are the people who do not make the commandments of the Decalogue a matter of religion. And that these same persons live without religion will be seen in Doctrine of Faith.
65. All nations in the wide world who have religion possess precepts like those in the Decalogue, and all who from religion live them are saved, and all who do not live them from religion are damned. When those who live them from religion are instructed after death by the angels, they receive truths, and acknowledge the Lord; the reason of which is that they shun evils as sins, and are consequently in good, and good loves truth, and from the desire of this love, receives it (as has been shown above, n. 32-41). This is meant by the words of the Lord to the Jews:
The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43).
And also by these:
When therefore the Lord of the vineyard shall come, he will destroy those evil men, and will let out his vineyard to other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their season (Matt. 21:40-41).
I say unto you that many shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God, but the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness (Matt. 8:11-12; Luke 13:29).
66. We read in Mark:
That a certain rich man came to Jesus, and asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life, and that Jesus said to him, thou knowest the commandments: thou shalt not commit adultery; thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not be a false witness; thou shalt not defraud; honor thy father and mother. And he answering said, All these things have I kept from my youth. And Jesus looked upon him and loved him, yet said unto him, One thing thou lackest; go, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor; so shalt thou have treasure in the heavens; and come, take up the cross and follow me (Mark 10:17-22).
It is said that Jesus “loved him.” This was because the man said that he had kept those commandments from his youth. But because he lacked three things, which were that he had not removed his heart from riches, had not fought against lusts, and had not yet acknowledged the Lord to be God, the Lord said that he should “sell all that he had,” by which is meant that he should remove his heart from riches; that he should “take up the cross,” by which is meant that he should fight against lusts; and that he should “follow him,” by which is meant that he should acknowledge the Lord to be God. The Lord spoke these things as he spoke all things, by correspondences. (See Doctrine of the Holy Scripture, n. 17.) For no one is able to shun evils as sins unless he acknowledges the Lord and goes to him, and unless he fights against evils and so removes lusts. But more about these matters in the chapter on combats against evils.
In proportion as anyone shuns murders of every kind as sins, in the same proportion he has love toward the neighbor
67. “Murders of every kind” include enmity, hatred, and revenge of every kind, which breathe murder, for murder lies hidden in them, like fire in wood underneath the ashes. Infernal fire is nothing else, and this is the origin of the expressions to “kindle with hatred,” and to “burn with revenge.” All these are “murders” in the natural sense. But in the spiritual sense “murders” mean all methods of killing and destroying the souls of men, which methods are varied and many. And in the highest sense “murder” means to hate the Lord. These three kinds of “murder” form a one, and cleave together, for he who wills the murder of a man’s body in this world, after death wills the murder of his soul, and wills the murder of the Lord, for he burns with anger against him, and desires to blot out his name.
68. These kinds of murder lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, but from early childhood he learns to veil them over with the civic and moral behavior that he is bound to show toward men in the world, and in proportion as he loves honors or gains he guards against their appearance. This forms his external, while his internal is these kinds of murder. Such is man in himself. Now as when he dies he lays aside that external together with his body, and retains the internal, it is evident what a devil he would be unless he were reformed.
69. As the kinds of murder mentioned above lie inwardly hidden in man from his birth, as has been said, and at the same time thefts of every kind, and false witness of every kind, together with the lusts for them (of which we shall speak farther on), it is evident that unless the Lord provided means of reformation, a man must perish everlastingly. The means of reformation provided by the Lord are as follows: that man is born into total ignorance; that when newly born he is kept in a state of external innocence; a little after in a state of external charity; and later in a state of external friendship; but in proportion as he comes into the exercise of thought from his own understanding, he is kept in a certain freedom of acting according to reason. This is the state that has been described above (n. 19), and the description shall be here repeated for the sake of what is to follow:
So long as a man is in this world he is midway between hell and heaven; hell is below him, and heaven is above him; and he is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to hell he turns away from heaven; if he turns to heaven he turns away from hell. Or what is the same, so long as a man is in this world he stands midway between the Lord and the devil, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to the devil he turns away from the Lord; if he turns to the Lord he turns away from the devil. Or what is again the same, so long as a man is in this world he is midway between evil and good, and is kept in freedom to turn himself to either the one or the other; if he turns to evil he turns away from good; if he turns to good he turns away from evil. (See also what follows this, n. 20-22.)
70. Now as evil and good are two opposite things, precisely as are hell and heaven, or as are the devil and the Lord, it follows that if a man shuns evil as sin, he comes into the good that is opposite to the evil. The good opposite to the evil that is meant by “murder” is the good of love toward the neighbor.
71. As this good and that evil are opposites, it follows that the latter is removed by means of the former. Two opposites cannot be together, even as heaven and hell cannot; if they were together there would be lukewarmness, of which it is said in Revelation:
I know that thou art neither cold nor hot; I would thou wert cold or hot; but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth (Rev. 3:15-16).
72. When a man is no longer in the evil of murder, but in the good of love toward the neighbor, whatever he does is a good of this love, and therefore it is a good work. A priest who is in this good does a good work whenever he teaches and leads, because he acts from the love of saving souls. A magistrate who is in this good does a good work whenever he delivers a decision or a judgment, because he acts from the love of taking care of his country, of the community, and of his fellow citizen. The same with a trader: if he is in this good, everything of his trading is a good work; there is in him the love of the neighbor; and his country, the community, his fellow citizen, and also the members of his household, are the neighbor whose welfare he has care for in providing for his own. A workman also who is in this good, works faithfully from it, for others as for himself, fearing his neighbor’s loss as he would his own. The reason why the doings of these men are good works is that in proportion as anyone shuns evil, in the same proportion he does good, according to the general law stated above (n. 21), and he who shuns evil as sin, does good not from himself but from the Lord (n. 18-31). The contrary is the case with him who does not regard as sins the various kinds of murder, which are enmities, hatred, revenge, and many more. Whether he be priest, magistrate, trader, or workman, whatever he does is not a good work, because every work of his partakes of the evil that is within him; for his internal is what gives it birth. The external may be good, but only as regards others, not as regards himself.
73. The Lord teaches the good of love in many places in the Word. He teaches it in Matthew by what he says about reconciliation with the neighbor:
If thou art offering thy gift upon the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. Be well-minded to thine adversary quickly, while thou art in the way with him; lest the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence, till thou hast paid the last farthing (Matt. 5:23-26).
To be “reconciled to one’s brother” is to shun enmity, hatred, and revenge; that it is to shun them as sin is evident. The Lord also teaches in Matthew:
All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matt. 7:12);
thus that we should not do evil. He teaches the same in many other places. The Lord also teaches that to be angry with one’s brother or the neighbor rashly, and to hold him as an enemy, is also to commit murder (Matt. 5:21-22).
In proportion as anyone shuns adulteries of every kind as sins, in the same proportion he loves chastity
74. To “commit adultery,” as mentioned in the sixth (or as it is usually called, the seventh) commandment, means, in the natural sense, not only to commit whoredom, but also to do obscene things, to speak lascivious things, and to think about filthy things. But in the spiritual sense to “commit adultery” means to adulterate the goods of the Word, and to falsify its truths. In the highest sense to “commit adultery” means to deny the divinity of the Lord, and to profane the Word. These are the “adulteries of every kind.” The natural man is able to know from rational light that to “commit adultery” includes in its meaning the doing of things obscene, the speaking of things lascivious, and the thinking of things that are filthy; but he does not know that to commit adultery means also to adulterate the goods of the Word and to falsify its truths, and still less that it means to deny the divinity of the Lord and to profane the Word. Consequently neither does he know that adultery is so great an evil that it may be called diabolism itself, for he who is in natural adultery is also in spiritual adultery, and the converse. That this is so will be shown in a separate little work entitled De Conjugio.32 But those who from their faith and their life do not regard adulteries as sins are in adulteries of every kind at once.
75. That in proportion as anyone shuns adultery, in the same proportion he loves marriage; or what is the same, in proportion as anyone shuns the lasciviousness of adultery, in the same proportion he loves the chastity of marriage, is because the lasciviousness of adultery and the chastity of marriage are two opposite things, and therefore in proportion as anyone is not in the one, he is in the other. It is precisely as has been said above at n. 70.
76. No one can know the nature of the chastity of marriage except the man who shuns as a sin the lasciviousness of adultery. For a man may know that in which he is, but cannot know that in which he is not. If from description or from thinking about it a man knows something in which he is not, he nevertheless knows of it merely as of something in the dark, and there remains some doubt about it, so that no one sees anything in the light and free from doubt until he is actually in it. This last therefore is to know, whereas the other is both to know and not to know. The truth is that the lasciviousness of adultery and the chastity of marriage stand toward each other exactly as do hell and heaven, and that the lasciviousness of adultery makes hell in a man, and the chastity of marriage makes heaven. But the chastity of marriage exists solely with the man who shuns as sin the lasciviousness of adultery. (See below, n. 111.)
77. From all this we can conclude and see, in no dubious manner, whether a man is a Christian or not, and even whether a man has any religion or not. If from his faith and from his life a man does not regard adulteries as sins, then he is not a Christian, and neither has he any religion. And on the other hand, if a man shuns adulteries as sins, and especially if on that account he feels aversion for them, and still more especially if on that account he abhors them, then he has religion, and if he is in the Christian church he is a Christian. (But more about these matters in the little work entitled De Conjugio, and in the meantime see what has been said on this subject in Heaven and Hell, n. 366-386.)
78. That to “commit adultery” means also to do obscene things, to speak lascivious things, and to think about filthy things, is evident from the Lord’s words in Matthew:
Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery; but I say unto you that whosoever looketh on the woman of another to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. 5:27-28).
79. That to “commit adultery” in the spiritual sense means to adulterate the good of the Word and to falsify its truth, is evident from the following passages:
Babylon hath made all the nations drink of the wine of her fornication (Rev. 14:8).
The angel said, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication (Rev. 17:1-2).
Babylon hath made all the nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her (Rev. 18:3).
God hath judged the great harlot who did corrupt the earth with her fornication (Rev. 19:2).
“Whoredom” is predicated of Babylon, because “Babylon” means those who arrogate to themselves the Lord’s Divine sovereign power, and profane the Word by adulterating and falsifying it; and for this reason Babylon is called:
The mother of the whoredoms and of the abominations of the earth (Rev. 17:5).
[2] The same is signified by “whoredom” in the prophets, as in Jeremiah:
In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible obstinacy in committing adultery and walking in lying (Jer. 23:14).
And in Ezekiel:
Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth; the one committed whoredom when she was mine, and doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors; she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, yet she forsook not her whoredoms in Egypt; the other corrupted her love more than she, and her whoredoms were more than the whoredoms of her sister; she added to her whoredoms, she loved the Chaldeans, the sons of Babel came to her to the bed of loves, and defiled her with their whoredom (Ezek. 23:2-17).
These things are said of the Israelitish and the Jewish church, here called the “daughters of one mother.” Their “whoredoms” mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word, and as in the Word “Egypt” signifies memory-knowledge, “Assyria” reasoning, “Chaldea” the profanation of truth, and “Babel” the profanation of good, it is said that they “committed whoredom” with them.
[3] The same is said of “Jerusalem,” by which is signified the church in respect to doctrine:
Thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst commit whoredom because of thy renown, so that thou pouredst out thy whoredoms on everyone that passed by; thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt thy neighbors, great of flesh, and hast multiplied thy whoredom; thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur; and when thou wast not satisfied with those with whom thou didst commit whoredom, thou hast multiplied thy whoredoms unto the land of traffic, to Chaldea. An adulterous woman that receiveth strangers instead of her husband! All give hire to their harlots, but thou hast given hire to all thy lovers that they may come unto thee on every side in thy whoredoms.
Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah (Ezek. 16:15, 26, 28-29, 32-33, 35).
That “Jerusalem” means the church may be seen in Doctrine of the Lord (n. 62-63).
(The like is signified by “whoredoms” in Isa. 23:17, 18; 57:3; Jer. 3:2, 6, 8, 9; 5:1, 7; 13:27; 29:23; Micah 1:7; Nahum 3:4; Hos. 4:10, 11; Lev. 20:5; Num. 14:33; 15:39; and elsewhere.) For the same reason the Lord called the Jewish nation:
An adulterous generation (Matt. 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38).
In proportion as anyone shuns thefts of every kind as sins, in the same proportion he loves sincerity
80. To “steal,” in the natural sense, means not only to commit theft and robbery, but also to defraud, and under some pretext take from another his goods. But in the spiritual sense to “steal” means to deprive another of his truths of faith and his goods of charity. And in the highest sense to “steal” means to take away from the Lord that which is his, and attribute it to one’s self, and thus to claim righteousness and merit for one’s self. These are the “thefts of every kind.” And they also make a one, as do adulteries of every kind, and murders of every kind, of which we have already treated. The reason why they make a one is that they are one within another.
81. The evil of theft enters more deeply into a man than any other evil, because it is conjoined with cunning and deceit; and cunning and deceit insinuate themselves even into the spiritual mind of man in which is his thought with understanding. That man possesses a spiritual mind and a natural mind will be seen below.
82. That in proportion as anyone shuns theft as a sin, in the same proportion he loves sincerity, is because theft is also fraud, and fraud and sincerity are two opposite things, so that in proportion as anyone is not in theft in the same proportion he is in sincerity.
83. Sincerity is to be understood as including integrity, justice, fidelity, and rectitude. In these no man can be from himself so as to love them from and for themselves. But he is in them who shuns as sins, fraud, cunning, and deceit, and is therefore in them not from himself but from the Lord (as shown above, n. 18-31) Such is the case with a priest, a magistrate, a judge, a trader, and with everyone in his own office and his own work.
84. This is taught by the Word in many passages, among which are the following:
He that walketh in righteousnesses, and speaketh uprightnesses; he that despiseth oppressions for gain, that shaketh his hands from holding bribes, that stoppeth his ears from the hearing of bloods, and shutteth his eyes from seeing evil; he shall dwell on high (Isa. 33:15-16).
Jehovah, who shall abide in thy tent? Who shall dwell in the mountain of thy holiness? He that walketh uprightly, and doeth righteousness; he that slandereth not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his companion (Ps. 15:1-3, etc.).
Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he that walketh in the way of the upright, he shall minister unto me. He that worketh deceit shall not dwell in the midst of my house. He that speaketh lies shall not stand before mine eyes. In the dawning will I cut off all the wicked of the land, to cut off from the city all the workers of iniquity (Ps. 101:6-8).
That unless a man is interiorly sincere, just, faithful, and upright, he is insincere, unjust, unfaithful, and base is taught by the Lord in these words:
Except your righteousness shall exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:10).
The “righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees” means the interior righteousness in which is the man who is in the Lord. That he is in the Lord is taught by the Lord himself in John:
The glory which thou hast given me I have given unto them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them, and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one; that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:22-23, 26).
From this it is evident that they are “perfect” when the Lord is in them. These are they who are called:
The pure in heart, who shall see God; and, those who are perfect as is their Father in the heavens (Matt. 5:8, 48).
85. It has been said above (n. 81), that the evil of theft enters more deeply into a man than any other evil because it is conjoined with cunning and deceit, and that cunning and deceit insinuate themselves even into the spiritual mind of man in which is his thought with understanding. Something shall therefore now be said about the mind of man. (That the mind of man is his understanding and will together, see above, n. 43.)
86. Man possesses a natural mind and a spiritual mind. The natural mind is below, and the spiritual mind above. The natural mind is the mind of man’s world, and the spiritual mind is the mind of his heaven. The natural mind may be called the animal mind, and the spiritual mind the human mind. Man is discriminated from the animal by possessing a spiritual mind. By means of this mind he can be in heaven while still in the world; and it is by means of this mind also that man lives after death.
[2] In his understanding a man is able to be in the spiritual mind, and consequently in heaven, but unless he shuns evils as sins he cannot be in the spiritual mind and consequently in heaven, as to his will. And if he is not there as to his will, he is not in heaven, in spite of the fact that he is there in understanding, for the will drags the understanding down, and causes it to be just as natural and animal as it is itself.
[3] Man may be compared to a garden—his understanding to light, and his will to heat. In wintertime a garden is in light but not in accompanying heat, but in summertime it is in light accompanied by heat. Just so a man who is in the light of the understanding alone is like a garden in wintertime, whereas one who is in the light of the understanding and at the same time in the heat of the will is like a garden in summertime. Moreover the understanding is wise from spiritual light, and the will loves from spiritual heat, for spiritual light is Divine wisdom, and spiritual heat is Divine love.
[4] So long as a man does not shun evils as sins, the lusts of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind on the part of the will, being like a thick veil there, and like a black cloud beneath the spiritual mind, and they prevent its being opened. But in very deed the moment a man shuns evils as sins, the Lord inflows from heaven, takes away the veil, dispels the cloud, opens the spiritual mind, and so introduces the man into heaven.
[5] So long as the lusts of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind (in the way we have indicated), so long is the man in hell; the moment, however, that these lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the man is in heaven. Furthermore: so long as the lusts of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is the man natural; but the moment they have been dispersed by the Lord, he is spiritual.
Furthermore: so long as the lusts of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, so long is the man animal, differing only in his ability to think and speak, even of such things as he does not see with his eyes, which ability he derives from his capacity of uplifting his understanding into the light of heaven. The moment however that these lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, the man is a man, because he then thinks what is true in the understanding from what is good in the will.
And furthermore: so long as the lusts of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, the man is like a garden in winter time, but the moment these lusts have been dispersed by the Lord, he is like a garden in summer time.
[6] The conjunction in a man of the will and the understanding is meant in the Word by “heart and soul,” and by “heart and spirit.” For example: that we must love God:
with all the heart, and with all the soul (Matt. 22:37).
And that God will give:
a new heart, and a new spirit (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26-27).
The “heart” means the will and its love, and the “soul” and the “spirit,” the understanding and its wisdom.
In proportion as anyone shuns false witness of every kind as sin, in the same proportion he loves the truth
87. To “bear false witness,” in the natural sense, means not only to play the false witness, but also to lie, and to defame. In the spiritual sense, to “bear false witness” means to declare some false thing to be true or some evil thing good, and to persuade others that it is so; and the converse. And in the highest sense, to “bear false witness” means to blaspheme the Lord and the Word.
These are the three senses of “bearing false witness.” That these make a one in the man who bears false witness, utters a lie, or defames, is evident from what has been shown respecting the three senses of all things of the Word, in Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (n. 5-7, etc. and n. 57).
88. As lying and the truth are two opposite things, it follows that in proportion as anyone shuns lying as sin, in the same proportion he loves the truth.
89. In proportion as anyone loves the truth, in the same proportion he desires to know it, and in the same proportion is affected at heart when he finds it. No one else comes into wisdom. And in proportion as anyone loves to do the truth, in the same proportion he is sensible of the pleasantness of the light in which the truth is. It is the same with all the other things spoken of above; with sincerity and justice in the case of one who shuns thefts of every kind; with chastity and purity in the case of one who shuns adulteries of every kind; and with love and charity in the case of one who shuns murders of every kind; and so forth. On the other hand, one who is in the opposites to these heavenly things knows nothing about them, although everything that is truly something is present in them.
90. It is the truth that is meant by the “seed in the field,” of which the Lord said:
A sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed some fell upon the way, and it was trodden down, and the fowls of heaven devoured it; and some fell upon stony places, and as soon as it was sprung up, because it had no root it withered away; and some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up with it and choked it; and other fell into the good ground, and sprung up, and bare fruit manifold (Luke 8:5-8; Matt. 13:3-8; Mark 4:3-8).
Here the “sower” is the Lord, and the “seed” is his Word, thus the truth; the “seed upon the way” exists with those who do not care for the truth; the “seed upon stony places” exists with those who do care for the truth, but not for its own sake, thus not interiorly; the “seed in the midst of thorns” exists with those who are in the lusts of evil; but the “seed in good ground” exists with those who love the truths that are in the Word from the Lord, and do them from him, thus who bear fruit.
That these things are meant is evident from the explication of the parable by the Lord (Matt. 13:19-23, 37; Mark 4:14-20; Luke 8:11-15). From all this it is evident that the truth of the Word cannot take root in those who do not care for the truth, nor in those who love the truth outwardly and not inwardly, nor in those who are in the lusts of evil, but in those in whom the lusts of evil have been dispersed by the Lord. In these the “seed”—that is, the truth—takes root in their spiritual mind (concerning which above, n. 86 at the end).
91. It is a general opinion at the present day that to be saved consists in believing this thing or that which the church teaches, and that it does not consist in keeping the commandments (which are, do not kill, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness) in both the restricted and the extended sense. For it is maintained that works are not regarded by God, but faith, when nevertheless the truth is that in proportion as anyone is in these evils, in that same proportion he has no faith. (See above n. 42-52.)
Take counsel of reason and observe whether, so long as he is in the lust of these evils, any murderer, adulterer, thief, or false witness is able to have faith; and also, further, whether the lust of these evils can be shaken off in any other way than by refusing to will to commit them for the reason that they are sins, that is, because they are infernal and devilish. So that whoever imagines that being saved consists in believing this thing or that which is taught by the church, while himself remaining thus evil in feeling and in character, must needs be a “foolish man,” in accordance with the words of the Lord in Matthew 7:26. Such a church is thus described in Jeremiah:
Stand in the gate of Jehovah’s house, and proclaim there this word: Thus saith Jehovah of armies the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings; trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these. Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered, while ye do all these abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah (Jer. 7:2-4, 9-11).
No one can shun evils as sins so as to be inwardly averse to them except by means of combats against them
92. Everybody knows from the Word and from doctrine drawn from it that the own33 of man is evil from his birth, and that this is the reason why from inborn lust he loves evils and is drawn into them. This is why he desires to have revenge, and to commit fraud, defamation, and adultery. And unless he takes thought that such things are sins, and on this account resists them, he does them whenever an opportunity offers, provided that his reputation and thereby his honors and gains do not suffer. Consider also that unless he has religion the man does these things from delight.
93. As this own of man constitutes the first root of his life, it is evident what kind of a tree a man would be unless this root were plucked up, and a new root planted in its place. He would be a rotted tree, of which it is said that it must be cut down and cast into the fire (Matt. 3:10; 7:19). And this root is not removed and a new one set in its place unless the man regards the evils that constitute the root as injurious to his soul, and on this account desires to rid himself of them. But as these evils belong to man’s own, and are therefore delightful to him, he cannot do this except against his will, with a struggle, and therefore with battling.
94. Everyone does this battling who believes in the existence of hell and of heaven: that heaven is eternal happiness, and hell eternal unhappiness; and that those who do evils go to hell, and those who do goods to heaven. And one who thus fights acts from within, and against the lust itself which constitutes the root of the evil, for one who fights against anything does not will it, and to desire is to will. This shows that the root of evil is not removed except by means of combat.
95. In proportion therefore as anyone battles with and thus removes evil, in the same proportion good takes its place, and from this good the man in the same proportion looks evil in the face, and sees that it is infernal and horrible, and on this account he not only shuns it, but feels averse to it, and at last abhors it.
96. A man who fights against evils cannot but do so as of himself, for one who does not fight as of himself does not do so at all, but stands like an automaton that sees nothing and does nothing, and from evil he is continually thinking in favor of evil, and not against it. But be it well known that it is the Lord alone who fights in a man against his evils, and that it only appears to the man that he fights of himself, and also that the Lord wills that it should so appear to him, because without this appearance no combat takes place and therefore no reformation.
97. This combat is not severe except in the case of those who have given free rein to their lusts, and have indulged them of set purpose, and also in the case of those who have stubbornly cast off the holy things of the Word and of the church. With others it is not severe; let them even once in a week, or twice in a month, resist the evils they are inclined to, and they will perceive a change.
98. The Christian church is called the church militant, and it cannot be called militant except as against the devil, and thus against the evils that are from hell. Hell is the devil. And the temptation that the man of the church undergoes is this warfare.
99. Battlings against evils, which battlings are temptations, are treated of in many places in the Word. They are meant by these words of the Lord:
I say unto you, Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit (John 12:24).
And also by these:
If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whosoever would save his life shall lose it and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s, the same shall save it (Mark 8:34-35).
The “cross” means temptation (as also in Matt. 10:38; 16:24; Mark 10:21; Luke 14:27). By his “life” is meant the life of man’s own (as also in Matt. 10:39; 16:25; Luke 9:24; and especially in John 12:25), which is also the “life of the flesh that profiteth nothing” (John 6:63).
In regard to battlings against evils, and victories over them, the Lord speaks in Revelation to all the churches:
To the church in Ephesus: to him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Rev. 2:7).
To the church in Smyrna: he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death (Rev. 2:11).
To the church in Pergamos: to him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it (Rev. 2:17).
To the church in Thyatira: he that overcometh, and that keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power [potestas] over the nations; and the morning star (Rev. 2:26, 28).
To the church in Sardis: [he that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels (Rev. 3:5).
To the church in Philadelphia:] he that overcometh I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, of the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and my new name (Rev. 3:12).
To the church in Laodicea: he that overcometh I will give to him to sit down with me in my throne (Rev. 3:21).
100. These battlings, which are temptations, may be seen specially treated of in New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London in the year 1758 (n. 187-201): whence and what they are (n. 196-197); how and where they take place (n. 198); what good they effect (n. 199); that the Lord fights for man (n. 200); concerning the Lord’s battlings or temptations (n. 201).
A man ought to shun evils as sins and fight against them as of himself
101. It is in accordance with Divine order that man should act in freedom according to reason, because to act in freedom according to reason is to act from himself. And yet these two faculties, freedom and reason, are not proper to man, but are the Lord’s in him; and in so far as he is a man they must not be taken away from him, because without them he cannot be reformed, for without them he cannot perform repentance, he cannot fight against evils, and afterwards bring forth fruits worthy of repentance. Now as it is from the Lord that man possesses freedom and reason, and as man acts from them, it follows that he does not act from himself, but as from himself.34
102. The Lord loves man and wills to dwell with him, yet he cannot love him and dwell with him unless he is received and loved in return. From this alone comes conjunction. For this reason the Lord has given man freedom and reason, freedom to think and will as of himself, and reason in accordance with which he may do so. To love and to be conjoined with one in whom there is nothing reciprocal is not possible, nor is it possible to enter in and abide with one in whom there is no reception. As there are in man, from the Lord, reception and reciprocation, the Lord says:
Abide in me, and I in you (John 15:4).
He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (John 15:5).
At that day ye shall know that ye are in me, and I in you (John 14:20).
The Lord also teaches that he is in the truths and in the goods that a man receives, and that are in him:
If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love (John 15:7, 10).
He that hath my commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth me and I will love him, and will make my abode with him (John 14:21, 23).
So that the Lord dwells in a man in what is his own, and the man dwells in those things which are from the Lord, and thus dwells in the Lord.
103. As there is in man, from the Lord, this ability to reciprocate and return, and consequently this mutuality, the Lord says that a man must do the work of repentance, which no one can do except as of himself:
Jesus said: Except ye repent ye shall all perish (Luke 13:3, 5).
Jesus said: The kingdom of God is at hand; repent ye, and believe the gospel (Mark 1:14-15).
Jesus said: I am come to call sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). Jesus said to the churches: repent (Rev. 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3).
It is also said:
they repented not of their works (Rev. 16:11).
104. As there is in man, from the Lord, this ability to reciprocate and return, and consequently this mutuality, the Lord says that a man must keep the commandments, and also that he must bring forth fruit:
Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46-49).
If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them (John 13:17).
Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you (John 15:14).
Whosoever shall do and teach them shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens (Matt. 5:19).
Everyone therefore who heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, I will liken to a wise man (Matt. 7:24).
Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance (Matt. 3:8). Make the tree good, and its fruit good (Matt. 12:33).
The kingdom shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof (Matt. 21:43).
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matt. 7:19).
And so in many other places: from all which it is evident that a man must act of himself but from the Lord’s power, which he must petition for. For this is to act as from himself.
105. As there is in man, from the Lord, this ability to reciprocate and return, and consequently this mutuality, a man must render an account of his works, and will be requited according to them. For the Lord says:
The son of man shall come, and shall render to every man according to his deeds (Matt. 16:27).
They shall come forth: they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evils unto the resurrection of judgment (John 5:29).
Their works do follow with them (Rev. 14:13).
They were judged every man according to his works (Rev. 20:13).
Behold, I come, and my reward is with me, to give every man according to his work (Rev. 22:12).
If there were in man no reciprocality, there would be no imputation.
106. As in man there are reception and reciprocality, the church teaches that a man must examine himself, confess his sins before God, desist from them, and lead a new life. It may be seen above (n. 3-8) that every church in the Christian world teaches this.
107. Unless there were reception by man, and at the same time a taking thought as it were by him, nothing could have been said about faith, for faith is not from man. Without this reception and reciprocality, man would be like chaff in the wind, and would stand as if lifeless, with mouth open, and hands hanging down, awaiting influx, devoid of thought and action in regard to the things that concern his salvation. It is indeed true that he is by no means the agent in regard to these things, but yet he is a reagent as of himself. But these matters will be set forth in still clearer light in the treatises on angelic wisdom.
If anyone shuns evils for any other reason than because they are sins, he does not shun them, but merely prevents them from appearing before the world
108. There are moral men who keep the commandments of the second table of the Decalogue, not committing fraud, blasphemy, revenge, or adultery; and such of them as confirm themselves in the belief that such things are evils because they are injurious to the public weal, and are therefore contrary to the laws of humane conduct, practice charity, sincerity, justice, chastity. But if they do these goods and shun those evils merely because they are evils, and not at the same time because they are sins, they are still merely natural men, and with the merely natural the root of evil remains imbedded and is not dislodged; for which reason the goods they do are not goods, because they are from themselves.
109. Before men, a natural moral man may appear exactly like a spiritual moral man, but not before the angels. Before the angels in heaven, if he is in goods he appears like an image of wood, if in truths like an image of marble, lifeless, and very different from a spiritual moral man. For a natural moral man is an outwardly moral man, and a spiritual moral man is an inwardly moral man, and what is outward without what is inward is lifeless. It does indeed live, but not the life that is called life.
110. The lusts of evil that constitute the interiors of man from his birth can be removed by the Lord alone. For the Lord inflows from what is spiritual into what is natural; but man, of himself, from what is natural into what is spiritual; and this influx is contrary to order, and does not operate into the lusts and remove them, but shuts them in closer and closer in proportion as it confirms itself. And as the hereditary evil thus lurks there, shut in, after death when the man becomes a spirit it bursts the cover that had hidden it here, and breaks out like the discharge from an ulcer that has been healed only outwardly.
111. There are various and many causes that make a man moral in the outward form, but unless he is moral in the inward form also, he is nevertheless not moral. For example: if a man abstains from adulteries and whoredom from the fear of the civil law and its penalties; from the fear of losing his good name and esteem; from the fear of the consequent diseases; from the fear of his wife’s tongue in his home, and the consequent inquietude of his life; from the fear of the husband’s vengeance, or that of some relative; from poverty, or avarice; from disability caused either by disease, abuse, age, or impotence; nay, if he abstains from such things on account of any natural or moral law, and not at the same time on account of the spiritual law, he nevertheless is inwardly an adulterer and whoremonger, for nonetheless does he believe that such things are not sins.
As toward God, therefore, he in his spirit makes them not unlawful, and so in spirit he commits them, although not in the body in the sight of the world; and therefore after death, when he becomes a spirit, he speaks openly in favor of them. From all this it is evident that an ungodly man is able to shun evils as injurious, but only a Christian can shun them as sins.
112. It is the same with thefts and frauds of every kind, with murders and revengeful acts of every kind, and with false witness and lies of every kind. No one can of himself be cleansed and made pure from such things, for within every lust there are infinite things which the man sees only as one simple thing, whereas the Lord sees the smallest details of the whole series. In a word, a man cannot regenerate himself, that is, form in himself a new heart and a new spirit, but the Lord alone can do this, who himself is the reformer and the regenerator. Therefore if a man wills to make himself new by his own sagacity and intelligence, it is merely like painting an ugly face, or smearing a skin detergent over a part that is infected with inward corruption.
113. Therefore the Lord says in Matthew:
Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also (Matt. 23:26).
And in Isaiah:
Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your works from before mine eyes, cease to do evil; and then though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:16, 18).
114. To what has already been said shall be added the following:
(a) Christian charity, with everyone, consists in faithfully performing what belongs to his calling, for by this, if he shuns evils as sins, he every day is doing goods, and is himself his own use in the general body. In this way also the common good is cared for, and the good of each person in particular.
(b) All other things that he does are not the proper works of charity, but are either its signs, its benefactions, or its obligations.
(*)
Index of Scripture Passages
EXODUS
19:10, 11, 15 59
12, 13, 20-23 59
16, 18 59
20:2-17 59
24:1-2 59
4-10 60
25:1 to end 59
16 59
17-21 59
22 59
26:1 to end 59
1 61
33 59
31:18 59
32:15, 16 59
34:28 61
29-35 59
40:17-28 59
20 59
38 59
LEVITICUS
16:2-14 seq. 59
18:5 2, 39
19:37 2
20:5 79
8 2
22:31 2
26:4-46 2
26 61
NUMBERS
2:1 to end 59
7:89 59
9:15 to end 59
10:33 60
35, 36 59
14:14 59
33 79
15:38, 39 2
39 79
DEUTERONOMY
1:33 59
4:11 59
13 61
13, 23 60
5:2, 3 60
6-21 59
22-26 59
9:9 60
10 59
10:4 61
5 59
JOSHUA
3:1-17 59
11 60
4:5-20 59
6:1-20 59
1 SAMUEL
5:3, 4 59
6:19 59
2 SAMUEL
6:1-19 59
2 59
6, 7 59
1 KINGS
6:19 seq. 59
8:3-9 59
9 59
21 60
PSALMS
15:1-3 84
101:6-8 84
132:7-8 59
ISAIAH
1:10-18 30
16, 18 113
5:21 30
23:17, 18 79
29:14, 15 30
31:1-3 30
33:15, 16 84
42:6 60
49:8 60
57:3 79
JEREMIAH
3:2, 6, 8, 9 79
5:1, 7 79
7:2-4, 9-11 91
13:27 79
23:14 79
25:14 2
29:23 79
32:19 2
35:15 30
EZEKIEL
11:19 86
16:15, 26, 28-29, 32-33,
35 79
23:2-17 79
36;26, 27 86
DANIEL
7:7, 20, 24 61
HOSEA
4:9 2
10, 11 79
MICAH
1:7 79
NAHUM
3:4 79
ZECHARIAH
1:6 2
8:23 61
9:11 60
MALACHI
3:1 60
MATTHEW
3:8 104
1093
5:8 17
8, 48 84
19 104
19, 20 2
20 84
21, 22 73
23-26 73
27, 28 78
6:24 28
7:12 73
19 104
19 93
19, 20 2
21 2
21-23 30
22, 23 2
24 104
24 39
24, 26 2
26 91
8:11, 12 65
10:38 99
39 99
12:33 104
34, 35 28
35 51
39 79
13:3-8 90
3-9, 23 2
19-23, 37 90
15:11 51
16:4 79
24 99
25 99
27 105
21:33, 34 2
40, 41 65
43 65
43 104
22:37 86
23:25, 26, 27, 28 30
26 113
25:1 61
1-12 2
14-31 2
31-46 2
26:28 60
MARK
1:18 103
2:19 17
4:3-8 90
14-20 90
8:34, 35 99
38 79
10:17-22 66
21 99
11:22 17
LUKE
3:8, 9 2
5:32 103
6:43, 44 28
45 51
46-49 2, 104
47 39
7:47-50 51
8:5-8 90
11-15 90
21 2, 39
9:24 99
10:30-37 2
13:3, 5 103
6-9 2
25-27 30
25, 27 2
29 65
14:27 99
16:8 17
19-31 2
17:10 30
18:11-14 30
19:13 61
13-25 2
20:36 (twice) 17
JOHN
1:12 17
13 17
12, 13 51
3:19-21 2, 50
19-21 24
21 17, 39
27 17
5:29 2, 105
6:28-29 48
63 99
9:31 2
12:24 99
25 99
36 17
13:17 2, 104
14:21, 23, 24 2
20 102
21, 23 102
21, 24 38, 39
23 17
15:1, 2 2
1, 2, 4-6 29
4 102
5 17
5 102
7, 10 102
8 2
10 38
14 104
14, 16 2
17:22, 23, 26 84
REVELATION
2:1, 2, 4, 5 2
16, 21, 22 103
7 99
8, 9 2
11 99
12, 16 2
17 99
18, 19 2
26, 28 99
3:1-3 2
3 103
7, 8 2
5 99
12 99
14, 15, 19 2
15, 16 71
20 57
21 99
11:19 60
12:3 61
13:1 61
14:8 79
13 2, 105
16:11 103
17:1, 2 79
3, 7 61
5 79
18:3 79
19:2 79
20:12 2
13 105
22:12 2, 105
________________________________________________________
Footnotes
31. That is, a complex whole which constitutes a unity. [Translator]
32. This projected little work was afterwards expanded by Swedenborg into a large one, and was published by him in Amsterdam in the year 1768, under the translated title: Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love; after which follow the Pleasures of Insanity concerning Scortatory Love. The original manuscript outline for De Conjugio is now preserved in the library of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. It was published in the original Latin at Tubingen by Jo. Fr. Im. Tafel in the year 1860. [Translator]
There is an English version in volume 2, Posthumous Theological Works, of this Standard Edition. [Editor]
33. The Latin word proprium is the term used in the original text that in this and other places has been rendered by the expression “own.” The dictionary meaning of proprius, as an adjective, is “one’s own,” “proper,” “belonging to one’s self alone,” “special,” “particular,” “peculiar.” The neuter of this, which is the word proprium, when used as a noun means “possession,” “property”; also “a peculiarity,” “characteristic mark,” “distinguishing sign,” “characteristic.” The English adjective “own” is defined by Webster to mean “belonging to,” “belonging exclusively or especially to,” “peculiar”; so that our word “own” is a very exact equivalent of proprius, and if we make it a noun by writing it “own,” in order to answer to the Latin proprium, we effect a very close translation. [Translator]
34. That man has freedom from the Lord, see above (n. 19-20); and in Heaven and Hell (n. 589-596, and n. 597-603). What freedom is, see New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London in 1758 (n. 141-149). [Translator]
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