The Doctrine Of Life - Emanuel Swedenborg
I.
All religion is of the life, and the life of religion is to do that which
is good
II. No one can from himself do what is good that is really good
III. In proportion as a man shuns evils an sins, in the same proportion he
does goods, not from himself but from the Lord
IV. In proportion as any one shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he
loves truths
V. In proportion as any one shuns evils as sins, in the same proportion he
has faith, and is spiritual
VI. The decalogue teaches what evils are sins
VII. Murders, adulteries, thefts, false witness, together with all concupiscence
for these things, are the evils which must be shunned as sins
VIII. In proportion as any one shuns murders of every kind as sins, in the
same proportion he has love toward the neighbor
IX. In proportion as any one shuns adulteries of every kind as sins, in the
same proportion he loves chastity
X. In proportion as any one shuns thefts of every kind as sins, in the same
proportion he loves sincerity
XI. In proportion as any one shuns false witness of every kind as sin, in
the same proportion he loves the truth
XII. No one can shun evils as sins so as to be inwardly averse to them except
by means of combats against them
XIII. A man ought to shun evils as sins and fight against them as of himself
XIV. If any one shuns evils for any other reason than because they are sins,
he does not shun them, but merely prevent them from appearing before the world
I. ALL RELIGION IS OF THE LIFE, AND THE LIFE OF RELIGION IS TO DO THAT WHICH
IS GOOD
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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. 5:21).
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. 5:22,
23).
Every one 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. 5:24, 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?
Every one 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 lamb 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).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 6. (In this paragraph Swedenborg presents a translation into Latin of
the foregoing Exhortation.)
LIFE 7. I have been permitted to ask some of the English clergy who had professed
and preached faith alone (this was done in the spiritual world), whether while
they were reading in church this Exhortation-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.
LIFE 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. After death a man is such as his life had
been in this world, see (HH n. 470-484).
II. NO ONE CAN FROM HIMSELF DO WHAT IS GOOD THAT IS REALLY GOOD
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 14. From what has been said in the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (Sacred
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.
LIFE 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 the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture
(Sacred 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 (John3:27).
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 bridechamber
(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.
III. IN PROPORTION AS A MAN SHUNS EVILS AN SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE
DOES GOODS, NOT FROM HIMSELF BUT FROM THE LORD
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 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 be turns to
evil he turns away from good; if he turns to good he turns away from evil.
LIFE 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 (HH n. 589-596; 597-603). That every
man is kept in freedom, and that from no one is it taken away, will be seen
in its proper place.
LIFE 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 ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE DOES GOODS.
LIFE 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, be 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.
LIFE 23. From what has been said three things follow:--i. If a man wills and
does goods before he shuns evils as sins, the goods are not good. ii. If a
man thinks and speaks pious things while not shunning evils as sins, the pious
things are not pious. iii. If a man knows and is wise in many things, and
does not shun evils as sins, he is nevertheless not wise.
LIFE 24. i. 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).
LIFE 25. ii. 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 27. iii. 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.
LIFE 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).
LIFE 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).
LIFE 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
sepulchres, 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 doing 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 (Isaiah 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 (Jeremiah
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 (Isaiah 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 (Isaiah
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 (Isaiah 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).
LIFE 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.
IV. IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE
LOVES TRUTHS
LIFE 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, 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 (HH 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 on Divine Love and
Divine Wisdom.)
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 be 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).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
V. IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS, IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE
HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 45. From all this then it follows that just in so far 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 Saviour;
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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 (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).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
VI. THE DECALOGUE TEACHES WHAT EVILS ARE SINS
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 59. What has been said above (n. 55) 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, 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. 25:1-40; 26:1-37; 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. 2:1-34).
That there was then over the habitation a cloud by day and a fire by night
(Exod. 40:38; Num. 9:15-23; 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 be 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).
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 6:6 and 7).
That the ark was placed in the midst of the temple in Jerusalem, where it
constituted the shrine (1 Kings 6:19; 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).
LIFE 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). 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.
LIFE 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 (Daniel 7:7, 20, 24). The like is signified by ten (Leviticus 26:26;
Zechariah 8:23). This is the origin of tithes, for "tithes" (or
"tenths") signify something from all.
VII. MURDERS, ADULTERIES, THEFTS, FALSE WITNESS, TOGETHER WITH ALL CONCUPISCENCE
FOR THESE THINGS, ARE THE EVILS WHICH MUST BE SHUNNED AS SINS
LIFE 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 (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 the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture (Sacred
n. 67). This is why it is said "murders, adulteries, thefts, and false
witness of every kind."
LIFE 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
concupiscence 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 concupiscence 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.
LIFE 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,
see (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 the Doctrine of Faith.
LIFE 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 (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).
And by these:--
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).
LIFE 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 concupiscences, 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
concupiscences; 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. (Sacred 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 concupiscences. But more about
these matters in the chapter on combats against evils.
VIII. IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS, IN THE
SAME PROPORTION HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 even kind, together with the concupiscences 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. (n. 20-22.)
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 the Book of 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 (Revelation 3:15, 16).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 73. The Lord teaches the good of love is 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 (Matthew
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 thing whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them; for this is the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 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, also to commit murder (Matt. 5:21, 22).
IX. IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS ADULTERIES OF EVERY KIND AS SINS, IN THE
SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES CHASTITY
LIFE 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. But those who from their faith and their life do not regard adulteries
as sins, are in adulteries of every kind at once.
LIFE 75. That in proportion as anyone shuns adultery, in the same proportion
be 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.
LIFE 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, be 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 (n. 111).
LIFE 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 Heaven and Hell, (HH n. 366-386).
LIFE 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 (Matthew
5:27, 28).
LIFE 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 (Jeremiah 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
(Ezekiel 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 the Doctrine of
the Lord (L 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.) For the same reason
the Lord called the Jewish nation an adulterous generation (Matt. 12:39 16:4;
Mark 8:38).
X. IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS THEFTS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS, IN THE SAME
PROPORTION HE LOVES SINCERITY
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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 (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.
LIFE 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 tone, nor doeth evil to his companion (Ps. 15:1-3).
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, be 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 up-right, 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).
LIFE 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. The mind of man is his
understanding and will together, (n. 43.)
LIFE 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 winter time a garden is in light but not in accompanying heat,
but in summer time 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 winter time, 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 summer time. 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 concupiscences 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 concupiscences 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 concupiscences have been dispersed by the Lord, the man
is in heaven. Furthermore: so long as the concupiscences 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 concupiscences 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 concupiscences 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 concupiscences
of evils block up the interiors of the natural mind, the man is like a garden
in winter time, but the moment these concupiscences 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.
XI. IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS FALSE WITNESS OF EVERY KIND AS SIN, IN
THE SAME PROPORTION HE LOVES THE TRUTH
LIFE 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 the Doctrine of the Holy Scripture
(Sacred n. 5-7, 57).
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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
concupiscences 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 concupiscences
of evil, but in those in whom the concupiscences of evil have been dispersed
by the Lord. In these the "seed"-that is, the truth-takes root in
their spiritual mind (n. 86).
LIFE 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 (n. 42-52). Take
counsel of reason and observe whether, so long as he is in the concupiscence
of these evils, any murderer, adulterer, thief, or false witness is able to
have faith; and also, further, whether the concupiscence 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 (Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11).
XII. NO ONE CAN SHUN EVILS AS SINS SO AS TO BE INWARDLY AVERSE TO THEM EXCEPT
BY MEANS OF COMBATS AGAINST THEM
LIFE 92. Everybody knows from the Word and from doctrine drawn from it that
the Own of man is evil from his birth, and that this is the reason why from
inborn concupiscence 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 ties 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 94. Every one 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 concupiscence 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 97. This combat is not severe except in the case of those who have given
free rein to their concupiscences, 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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; 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 the
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).
LIFE 100. These battlings are temptations (HD n. 187-201); Whence and what
they are (HD n. 196, 197) Now and where they take place (HD n. 198) What good
they effect (HD n. 199) That the Lord fights for man (HD n. 200); Concerning
the Lord's battlings or temptations (HD n. 201).
XIII. A MAN OUGHT TO SHUN EVILS AS SINS AND FIGHT AGAINST THEM AS OF HIMSELF
LIFE 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 he 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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).
LIFE 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).
Every one 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 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.
XIV. IF ANY ONE 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
LIFE 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, practise 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.
LIFE 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.
LIFE 110. The concupiscences 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 concupiscences 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.
LIFE 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 none the less does be 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.
LIFE 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 concupiscence 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.
LIFE 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 (Matthew 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 (Isaiah 1:16, 18).
LIFE 114. To what has already been said shall be added the following:
" 1. 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.
" 2. All other things that he does are not the proper works of charity,
but are either its signs, its benefactions, or its obligations.
Footnotes
1 That is, a complex whole which constitutes a unity. (Tr)
1 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: The Delights of Wisdom concerning Conjugial Love; after
which follow the Pleasures of Insanity concerning Scortatory Love. The original
MS outline for the 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 Dr. Jo. Fr. Im. Tafel in the year 1860. (TR)
1 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. (TR)
1 That man has freedom from the Lord, see above (n. 19, 20); and in the work
on Heaven and Hell (HH n. 589-596, 597-603). What freedom is, see the Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem, published in London in 1758 (HD n. 141-149).