Full text of "Works"
LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY
PRINCETON, N. J.
PRESENTED BY
The Trustees of the
Lydia S. Rotch Legacy
Division
Section
8*
S7H
v. ^5
Digitized
by the Internet Archive
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n2014
https ://arch i ve . o rg/detai Is/wo rks25swed
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
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OF
SWEDENBORG'S WORKS
Vi^i9 HEAVENLY ARCANA
20 INDEX ARCANA
21 HEAVEN AND HELL
22 MISCELLANEOUS WORKS
Final Judgment
White Horse
Earths in the Universe
Summary Exposition
23 FOUR DOCTRINES
New Jerusalem and its Heavenly
Doctrines
24 DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM
Intercourse between the Soul
and the Body
25 DIVINE PROVIDENCE
26-28 APOCALYPSE REVEALED
29 MARRIAGE LOVE
30-32 TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
ANGELIC WISDOM
CONCERNING
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
First published in Latin, Amsterdam, 1764
Rote!) ©Dttton
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
QTrjc ftibersibe Settee Cambridge
CONTENTS
The Divine Providence is the Government of the Lord's
Divine Love and Wisdom
I. The universe with the things, each and all, belonging to
it, has been created from the Divine Love by the Di-
vine Wisdom
II. The Divine Love and Wisdom proceed from the Lord as
one
1. There cannot be a one without a form, but the form
itself makes the one
2. The form makes a one the more perfectly, as the
things entering into the form are individually dis-
tinct and yet united
III. This one is in a certain image in every created thing . .
IV. It is of the Divine Providence for every created thing, in
general and in particular, to be such a one ; and if it is
not, for it to be made so
V. The good of love is not good any further than it is united
to the truth of wisdom ; and the truth of wisdom is
not truth any further than it is united to the good of
love
VI. The good of love not united to the truth of wisdom is
not good in itself, but is apparent good ; and the truth
of wisdom not united to the good of love is not truth
in itself, but is apparent truth
VII. The Lord does not suffer any thing to be divided ; where-
fore it must either be in good and at the same time in
truth, or it must be in evil and at the same time in fal-
sity
VIII. That which is in good and at the same time in truth, is
something ; and that which is in evil and at the same
time in falsity, is not any thing
IX. The Lord's Divine Providence causes evil and falsity
that are together to serve for equilibrium, for relation,
for purification, and thus for the conjunction of good
and truth in others
vi
CONTENTS.
The Ix>rd's Divine Providence has for its end a heaven
from the human race 27 '45
1. Heaven is conjunction with the Lord 28
II. Man is from creation such that he can be more and more
closely conjoined with the Lord 3a
1. How a man is more and more closely conjoined
with the Lord 33
2. How that conjunction appears closer and closer . . 33
III. The more closely a man is conjoined with the Lord, the
wiser he becomes 34
IV. The more closely a man is conjoined with the Lord, the
happier he becomes . . 37
V. The more closely a man is conjoined with the Lord, the
more distinctly he seems to himself as if he were his
own [suns], and the more clearly he recognizes that he
is the Lord's 42
The Lord's Divine Providence, in all that it does, re-
gards THE INFINITE AND THE ETERNAL 46-69
I. The Infinite in itself and Eternal in itself is the same as
the Divine 48
II. The Infinite and Eternal in itself cannot but regard what
is infinite and eternal from itself in the finite . . -52
III. The Divine Providence, in all which it does, regards
what is infinite and eternal from itself, especially in
saving the human race 55
1. An image of the infinite and eternal in the variety
of all things 56
2. An image of the infinite and eternal in the fructifica-
tion and multiplication of all things 56
IV. An image of the Infinite and Eternal is shown in the
angelic heaven 60
V. To regard the Infinite and Eternal in forming the angelic
heaven, that it may be before the Lord as one man, the
image of Himself, is the inmost of the Divine Provi-
dence 64
There are Laws of the Divine Providence which are
unknown to men 70
It is a Law of the Divine Providence that man should
act from freedom according to reason . . . . 71-99
I. Man has reason and freedom, or rationality and liberty,
and these two faculties are from the Lord in man . . 73
CONTENTS. vii
II. Whatever a man does from freedom, whether it be of
reason or not, provided it is according to his reason,
appears to him as his 74
III. Whatever a man does from freedom, according to his
thought, is appropriated to him as his, and remains . 78
IV. By means of these two faculties man is reiormed and re-
generated by the Lord; and he cannot be reformed
and regenerated without them 82
1. Man's first state, which is a state of damnation . . 1$
2. Man's second state, which is the state of reforma-
tion 83
3. Man's third state, which is the state of regeneration 83
V. With these two faculties as the means, a man can be re-
formed and regenerated so far as by them he can be
led to acknowledge that every thing good and true
which he thinks and does, is from the Lord and not
from himself 87
VI. The conjunction of the Lord with man, and the recipro-
cal conjunction of man with the Lord, is effected by
means of these two faculties 92
VII. The Lord keeps these two faculties in man, unimpaired and
as sacred, in all the course of His Divine Providence . 96
1. Without these two faculties man would not have a
will and an understanding, and so would not be
man 96
2. Without these two faculties man would not have
been able to be conjoined with the Lord, and so
would not have been able to be reformed and re-
generated 96
3. Without these two faculties man would not have
immortality and eternal life 96
VIII. Therefore it is of the Divine Providence that man should
act from freedom according to reason 97
It is a Law of the Divine Providence that man should,
as from himself, remove evils as sins in the external
man ; and thus, but not otherwise, the lord can
remove evils in the internal man, and then at the
same time in the external iocw28
I. Every man has an external and an internal of thought . 103
II. The external of man's thought is in itself of the same
quality as its internal 106
IIL The internal cannot be cleansed from the lusts of evil as
riii
CONTENTS.
long as the evils in the external man are not removed,
because they obstruct Ill
IV. The evils in the external man cannot be removed by the
Lord, except by means of the man 114
V. Therefore man ought, as from himself, to remove evils
from the external man 1 18
VI. The Lord then cleanses man from the lusts of evil in the
internal man, and from the evils themselves in the ex-
ternal 119
VII. The continual [working] of the Lord's Divine Provi-
dence is to conjoin man with Himself, and Himself
with man, that He may be able to give him the happy
things of eternal life ; which can be done only so far as
evils with their lusts are removed 123
1. The Lord in no wise acts upon any particular in
man, singly, without acting at the same time on
all things belonging to him 124
2. The Lord acts from inmosts and from ultimates at
the same time 124
It is a Law of the Divine Providence that man should
not be compelled by external means to think and
will, thus to believe and love, the things of religion;
but that man should bring himself to it, and some-
times compel himself i29-is3
I. No man is reformed by miracles and signs, because they
compel 130
II. No one is reformed by visions and by conversations with
those who have died, because they compel .... 134
III. No one is reformed by threats and punishments, because
they compel 136
1. The external cannot compel the internal, but the in-
ternal can compel the external 136
2. The internal is so averse to compulsion by the ex-
ternal that it turns itself away I3<S
3. External enjoyments allure the internal to consent,
and also to love 136
4. There is a forced internal and a free internal . . . 136
IV No one is reformed in states that are not of rationality
and liberty : — 138
1. In a state of fear, 139
2. In a state of misfortune, ... 140
3. In a state of disordered mind, 141
CONTENTS.
il
Nix
4. In a state of bodily disease, . . .... 142
5. In a state of ignorance 143
6. In a state of blindness of the undei standing, . . . 144
V. It is not contrary to rationality and liberty to compel
oneself 145
VI. The external man must be reformed by means of the in-
ternal, and not the reverse 150
It is a Law of the Divine Providence that man should
be led and taught by the lord from heaven, through
the Word, and doctrine and preaching from it, and
this in all appearance as by himself i54-'74
I. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone 155
I. There is an only essence, an only substance, and an
only form, from which are all the essences, sub-
stances, and forms that have been created . . . 157
3. That only essence, substance, and form, is the Di-
vine Love and Wisdom, from which are all things
having relation to love and wisdom in man . . . 157
3. In like manner it is Good itself, and Truth itself,
to which all things have relation 157
4. They are the life, from which are the life of all
things and all things of life 157
5. This Only [from which all else is], and Itself [which
alone is], is omnipresent, omniscient, and omni-
potent 157
6. This Only and Itself is the Lord from eternity or
Jehovah 157
II. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone through the
angelic heaven and from it 162
III. Man is led by the Lord by influx, and taught by enlight-
enment 165
IV. Man is taught by the Lord through the Word, and doc-
trine and preaching from it, and thus immediately from
Him alone 171
1. The Lord is the Word, because it is from Him, and
concerning Him 173
2. The Lord is the Word, because it is the Divine
Truth of the Divine Good 17a
3. So to be taught from the Word is to be taught by
the Lord Himself 173
4. Its being done mediately through preaching does
not take away the itnmediateness 17a
A*
X
CONTENTS.
Hi
V. Man is led and taught by the Lord in externals to all
appearance as by himself 174
Ji is a Law of the Divine Providence that man should
NOT HAVE A PERCEPTION AND SENSE OF ANY THING OF THE
OPERATION OF THE DlVINE PROVIDENCE, BUT YET SHOULD
KNOW AND ACKNOWLEDGE IT I75-'90
I. If man had a perception and sense of the working of the
Divine Providence, he would not act from freedom ac-
cording to reason ; nor would any thing appear to him
as his. It would be the same if he foreknew events . . 176
II. If man clearly saw the Divine Providence he would
intrude self in the order and tenor of its course, and
pervert and destroy it 180
1. Externals are so connected with internals that they
make one in every operation 180
2. If man were at the same time in the internals, he
would pervert and destroy all the order and tenor
of the Divine Providence 180
III. If man clearly saw the Divine Providence, he would
either deny God, or make himself to be God .... 182
IV. It is granted man to see the Divine Providence in the
back and not in the face ; also, in a spiritual state, and
not in his natural state 187
There is no such thing as one's own prudence; there
only appears to be; and it also ought to appear as
if there were ; but the dlvine providence is univer-
sal from being in things most particular, severally i9i-213
I. All man's thoughts are from the affections of his life's
love ; and there are no thoughts whatever, nor can
there be, apart from them 193
II. The affections of a man's life's love are known to the
Lord alone 197
III. The Lord by His Divine Providence leads the affections
of a man's life's love, and at the same time also the
thoughts from which is human prudence 200
IV. The Lord by His Divine Providence gathers the affec-
tions [of the whole human race] into one form, which
is the human 201
V. Heaven and hell are in such form 204
VL They who have acknowledged nature alone, and human
prudence alone, make hell ; and they who have ac-
CONTENTS.
xi
No.
Icnowledged God and His Divine Providence, make
heaven 205
1. Whence and what man's own prudence is ... 206
2. Whence and what the Divine Providence is . . ■ 207
3. Who and of what quality are those of each class . 208
VII. All these things cannot be done without its appearing to
man that he thinks from himself and makes disposition
from himself .210
The Divine Providence regards eternal things, and
temporal things so far only as they accord with
the eternal 214-220
I. Temporal things relate to dignities and riches, thus to
honors and possessions, in the world 215
1. What dignities and riches are, and whence they are 213
2. Of what quality is the love of dignities and riches
for their own sake ; and of what quality is the
love of dignities and riches for the sake of uses . 215
3. These two loves are distinct from each other, like
hell and heaven 215
4. The difference between these loves is with difficulty
known by man 215
II. Eternal things relate to spiritual honors and wealth,
which are of love and wisdom, in heaven 216
1. Honors and wealth are blessings, and they are curses 217
2. Dignities and wealth, when they are blessings, are
spiritual and eternal ; and, when curses, are tem-
poral and perishable 217
3. The dignities and wealth which are curses, compared
with those which are blessings, are as nothing to
every thing ; or as that which in itself is not, to
that which in itself is 217
III. By man, things temporal and eternal are separated ; but
they are conjoined by the Lord 218
1. What temporal things are, and what eternal things 219
2. Man is in himself temporal, and the Lord is in Him-
self eternal ; and therefore from man can proceed
only what is temporal, and from the Lord only
what is eternal 219
3» Temporal things separate from themselves the eter-
nal, and things eternal conjoin the temporal to
themselves 219
4. The Lord conjoins man with Himself by appearances 219
xii
CONTENTS.
5. The Lord conjoins man with Himself by correspond-
ences 219
IV. The conjunction of things temporal and eternal in man is
the Lord's Divine Providence 220
1. It is from the Divine Providence that man by death
puts off natural and temporal things, and puts on
spiritual and eternal 220
2. The Lord by His Divine Providence conjoins Him-
self with natural things by spiritual, and with tem-
poral by eternal things, according to uses . . . 220
3. The Lord conjoins Himself with uses by corre-
spondences, and thus by appearances according to
the confirmations of them by man 22C
4. Such conjunction of temporal and eternal things is
the Divine Providence 220
Man is not admitted interiorly into the truths of
faith and into the goods of charity, except so far
as he can be kept in them even to the end of life 221-233
I. A man can be admitted into the wisdom of spiritual
things, and also into a love of them, and still not be
reformed 222
II. If a man afterwards recedes from them, and goes away
into what is contrary, he profanes holy things . . . 226
1. Whatever man thinks, says, and does from the will,
whether good or evil, is appropriated to him and
remains 227
2. But the Lord by His Divine Providence continually
watches and disposes things so that evil may be by
itself, and good by itself, and thus that they may
be separated 227
3. But this cannot be done if man first acknowledges
truths of faith and lives according to them, and
afterwards falls back and denies them .... 227
4. He then commingles good and evil even so that they
cannot be separated 227
5. As the good and the evil in every human being must
be separated, and in such a one cannot be, he is
therefore destroyed as to all that is truly human . 227
III There are many other kinds of profanation of what is
holy, but this is the worst of all 229
I. The first kind of profanation is committed by those
who make jests from the Word, and about it, or
CONTENTS.
xiii
from the Divine things of the church and about
them 231
S. A second kind of profanation is committed by those
who understand and acknowledge Divine Tiuths,
and still live contrary to them 231
3. A third kind of profanation is committed by those
who apply the literal sense of the Word to the
confirmation of evil loves and false principles . . 231
4. A fourth kind of profanation is committed by those
who with the mouth say pious and holy things,
and also simulate the affections of the love of them
in tone and in gesture, and yet in heart do not be-
lieve and love them 231
5. A fifth kind of profanation is committed by those
who attribute to themselves what is Divine . . 231
6. A sixth kind of profanation is committed by those
who acknowledge the Word, and still deny the
Divinity of the Lord 231
7. The seventh kind of profanation is committed by
those who first acknowledge Divine troths, and
live according to them, and afterwards fall back
and deny them 231
IV. Therefore the Lord does not admit man interiorly into
the truths of wisdom and at the same time into the
goods of love, except so far as man can be kept in them
even to the end of life 23a
I. Good and evil cannot be in man's interiors together,
nor, therefore, the falsity of evil and the truth of
good together 233
a. Good and the truth of good cannot be brought by
the Lord into man'3 interiors, except so far as evil
and the falsity of evil have been there removed . 233
3. If good with its truth were brought in sooner or more
than as evil with its falsity is removed, man would
fall back from good and return to his evil . . . 233
4. When man is in evil, many truths may be brought
into his understanding, and these may be stored in
the memory, and yet not be profaned 233
5. But the Lord by His Providence is most especially
watchful that there shall not be reception there-
from by the will, sooner or more than man as from
himself removes the evil in the external man . . 233
6 If there were reception sooner and more, then the
xiv
CONTENTS
will would adulterate good and the understanding
would falsify truth by commingling them with evils
and the falsities from them .... ....
J3S
7. Therefore the Lord does not admit man interiorly
into the truths of wisdom, and into the goods of
love, except so far as he can be kept in them even
to the end of life
233
The Laws of Permission are also Laws of the Divine
Some things explained which are things of permission,
and still according to the laws of the Divine Providence,
by which the merely natural man confirms himself in
favor of nature against God, and in favor of human
prudence against the Divine Providence (see n. 236-
240) : —
I. The wisest of mankind, Adam and his wife, suffered
themselves to be seduced by a serpent, and God did
not avert this by His Divine Providence 241
II. Their first son Cain killed his brother Abel, and God did
not then withhold him by speaking with him, but only
after the deed by cursing him 243
III. The Israelitish nation worshipped a golden calf in the
wilderness, and acknowledged it as God Who led them
out of the land of Egypt ; when yet Jehovah saw this
from Mount Sinai near by, and did not take precautions
against it ... 243
IV. David numbered the people, and therefore a plague was
sent upon them, by which so many thousands of men
perished ; and God, not before but after the deed, sent
Gad the prophet to him, and denounced punishment . 244
V. Solomon was permitted to establish idolatrous worship . 245
VI. Many kings after Solomon were permitted to profane the
temple and the holy things of the church 246
VII. That nation was permitted to crucify the Lord . . . 247
And further : —
I. Every worshipper of himself and of nature confirms him-
self against the Divine Providence when he sees in the
world so many impious people, and so many of their
impieties, and at the same time the glorying of some in
them, and yet no punishment of them from God . . . 249
And the worshipper of himself and of nature confirms
himself still more against the Divine Providence, when
Providence
234-274
CONTENTS. XT
No.
he sets that plots, devices, and craft are successful
even against the pious, just, and sincere ; and that in-
justice triumphs over justice in the courts and in busi-
ness 249
II. The worshipper of himself and of nature confirms himself
against the Divine Providence, when he sees the im-
pious exalted to honors, and becoming great men and
leadeis, also abounding in wealth, and living in elegance
and magnificence, and sees the worshippers of God in
contempt and poverty 250
HI. The worshipper of himself and of nature confirms himself
against the Divine Providence, when he reflects that
wars are permitted, and in them the slaughter of so
many men, and the plundering of their wealth . . . 251
IV. The worshipper of himself and of nature confirms himself
against the Divine Providence, when, according to his
perception, he reflects that victories are on the side of
prudence, and sometimes not on that of justice ; and
that it makes no difference whether the commander is
an upright man or not . . 253
Still further: —
I. The merely natural man confirms himself against the Di-
vine Providence, when he views the matters of religion
in various nations ; as that some people are found who
are totally ignorant of God ; some who worship the
sun and moon ; some who worship idols and graven
images 254
II. Tre merely natural mar. confirms himself against the
Divine Providence when he sees the Mohammedan re-
ligious system received by so many empires and king-
doms 255
III. The merely natural man confirms himself against the
Divine Providence when he sees that the Christian re-
ligion is only in the smaller division of the habitable
globe called Europe, and that it is divided there . . . 256
IV. The merely natural man confirms himself against the
Divine Providence from the fact, that in most of the
kingdoms where the Christian religion is received,
there are some who claim for themselves Divine power,
and wish to be worshipped as gods ; and that they in-
voke the dead 157
V. The merely natural man confirms himself against tbe
Divine Providence from the fact, that among those who
xvi
CONTENTS.
Mo
profess the Christian religion, there are some who
place salvation in certain words which they may think
of and say, and none in the goods that they may do . 258
VI. The merely natural man confirms himself against the
Divine Providence from the fact, that there have been
and still are so many heresies in the Christian world,
as Quakerism, Moravianism, Anabaptism, and more
besides 259
VII. The merely natural man confirms himself against the
Divine Providence from the fact that Judaism still con-
tinues 200
And once more : —
I. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine Providence
from the fact, that the whole Christian world worships
one God under three Persons, which is to worship three
Gods ; and that hitherto it has not known that God is
one in Person and Essence, in Whom is a Trinity, and
that the Lord is that God 26a
II. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine Providence
from the fact, that hitherto men have not known that
in the particulars of the Word there is a spiritual sense,
and that the holiness of the Word is therefrom . . . 264
1. The spiritual sense of the Word was not revealed
before, because if it had been, the church would
have profaned it, and would thereby have profaned
the very holiness of the Word 264
2. Neither were genuine truths, in which is the spirit-
ual sense of the Word, revealed by the Lord until
after the last judgment was accomplished, and the
new church which is meant by the Holy Jerusalem
was about to be established by the Lord .... 264
III. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine Providence
from the fact, that hitherto men have not known that
to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself . . 265
IV. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine Providence
from the fact, that men have hitherto not known that
man lives a man after death ; and that this has not
been disclosed before 274
Evils are permitted for the sake of the end, which is
salvation 275-284
I. Every man is in evil, and must be led away from evil in
order to be reformed 277
CONTENTS.
xvii
No.
II. Evils cannot be removed unless they appear 278
1. Of those who confess themselves guilty of all sins,
and do not search out any one sin in themselves . 278
2. Of those who from religion omit the search . . . 278
3. Of those who on account of worldly matters think
nothing about sins, and therefore do not know
them 278
4. Of those who favor sins, and therefore cannot know
them 278
5. With these, sins do not appear, and therefore cannot
be removed 278
6. The cause, hitherto hidden, why evils cannot be
removed without the examination, appearance,
acknowledgment, confession, and resistance of
them 278
III So far as evils are removed, they are remitted .... 279
1. It is an error of the age to believe that evils have
been separated, and even cast out, when they have
been remitted 279
2. It is an error of the age to believe that the state of
man's life can be changed in a moment, and so that
man from being evil can become good, consequently
can be led out of hell, and transferred straightway
into heaven, and this from the Lord's immediate
mercy 279
3. They who so believe do not know at all what evil
is and what good is 279
4. They who believe in instantaneous salvation and
immediate mercy do not know that affections, which
belong to the will, are mere changes of the state
of the purely organic substances of the mind ; and
that thoughts, which belong to the understanding,
are mere changes and variations of the form of
those substances ; and that memory is the per-
manent state of these changes and variations . . 279
IV. The permission of evil is thus for the sake of the end,
that there may be salvation 281
The Divine Providence is equally with the evil and the
GOOD 2oS-307
I. The Divine Providence, not only with the good but also
with the evil, is universal in the most minute particulars
severally ; and still it is not in their evils .... 287
xviii
CONTENTS.
Ho
Certain ones, convinced that no one thinks from him-
self, but from influx through heaven from the Lord,
said, —
1. That thus they would not be to blame for doing evil 294
2. That thus it seems that evil is from the Lord . . . 294
3. That they do,not comprehend that the Lord alone
can cause all to think in such different ways . . 294
IL The evil are continually leading themselves into evils,
but the Lord is continually leading them away from
evils 295
1. In every evil there are things innumerable .... 296
2. An evil man from himself continually leads himself
deeper into his evils 296
3. The Divine Providence with the evil is a continual
permission of evil, to the end that there may be a
continual withdrawal from it 296
4. The withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in
a thousand ways, even the most secret .... 296
IIL The evil cannot be wholly led by the Lord away from evil
and into good, so long as they believe their own
intelligence to be all, and the Divine Providence
nothing 297
I. One's own intelligence, when the will is in evil, sees
nothing but falsity, and does not desire nor is it
able to see any thing else 298
If one's own intelligence then sees truth, it either
turns itself away, or it falsifies the truth .... 298
3. The Divine Providence continually causes man to
see truth, and also gives an affection for per-
ceiving it and for receiving it 298
4. Man is thereby withdrawn from evil, not by himself
but by the Lord 298
IV. The Lord governs hell by opposites ; and the evil who
are in the world He governs in hell as to interiors, and
not as to exteriors 299
The Divine Providence appropriates neither evil nor
good to any one, but man's own prudence appropriates
BOTH 308-321
I. What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not
one's own is 31c
II. Man from his own prudence persuades himself and con-
firms in himself that all good and truth are from him*
CONTENTS.
xix
Ha
self and in himself; in like manner all evil and fal-
sity 31*
IIL Every thing of which man has persuaded himself and
which he has confirmed in himself, remains in him as his
own 317
I. Every thing whatever can be confirmed, and falsity
more than the truth 318
a. When falsity has been confirmed, truth does not ap-
pear ; but from confirmed truth, falsity becomes
apparent .... 318
3. Ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not intelli-
gence, but only ingenuity, which may be even in
the worst of men 318
4. There is confirmation that is intellectual and not at
the same time voluntary, but all voluntary confir-
mation is also intellectual . 318
J The confirmation of evil that is voluntary and at the
same time intellectual, causes man to believe that
his own prudence is all, and the Divine Providence
nothing ; not so, intellectual confirmation alone . 318
6. Every thing confirmed by the will and at the same
time from the understanding, remains for ever ;
but not that which has been confirmed by the un-
derstanding only 318
IV. If man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth
are from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, he
would not appropriate good to himself and make it
meritorious, nor appropriate evil to himself and make
himself guilty of it 320
1. He who confirms in himself the appearance that wis-
dom and prudence are from man and in man as
his, cannot see but that otherwise he would not be
a man, but a beast, or a statue ; when yet the con-
trary is the case 321
2. To believe and think, as is the truth, that all good
and truth are from the Lord, and all evil and fal-
sity from hell, appears like an impossibility ; when
yet it is truly human, and thus angelic 321
3. So to believe and think, is impossible to those who
do not acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and
who do not acknowledge that evils are sins ; but
is possible to those who are in these two acknowl-
edgments .... 321
XX
CONTENTS.
4. They who are in these two acknowledgments only
reflect upon the evils within them, and cast them
back from themselves to hell, from whence they
are, as far as they shun them and are averse to
them as sins 321
5. Thus the Divine Providence does not appropriate
evil to any one, nor good to any one, but his own
prudence appropriates both 321
Every man can be reformed, and there is no predestina-
tion 322-330
L The end of creation is a heaven from the human race . 323
1. Every man has been created that he may live for
ever 324
2. Every man has been created that he may live for
ever in a blessed state 324
3. Thus every man has been created that he may come
into heaven 324
4. The Divine Love cannot but will this, and the Di-
vine Wisdom cannot but provide it 324
II. Hence it is from the Divine Providence that every man
can be saved ; and they are saved who acknowledge
God and live well 325
I. The acknowledgment of God makes a conjunction
of God with man, and of man with God ; and the
denial of God makes separation 326
a. Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with
Him according to the good of his life 326
3. Good of life, or to live well, is to shun evils because
they are against religion, thus against God . . . 326
4. These are the general principles of all religions, by
which every one can be saved 326
HI. Man himself is in fault if he is not saved 327
1. In process of time every religion decreases and is
consummated 328
2. Every religion decreases and is consummated by the
inversion of God's image in man 328
3. This comes to pass from the continual increase of
hereditary evil in successive generations .... 328
4. Still it is provided by the Lord that every one can
be saved . . 328
5 It is provided also that a new church should succeed
in place of the former durastated church ... 328
CONTENTS.
xxi
No.
IV. Thus all have been predestined to heaven, and no one to
hell 329
1. Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to
the Divine Love, which is infinite 330
2. Any predestination except to heaven is contiary to
the Divine Wisdom, which is infinite 330
3. That only those born within the church are saved,
is an insane heresy 330
4. That any of the human race have been damned from
predestination, is a cruel heresy 330
The Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of the Di-
vine Providence, because to act contrary to them
would be to act contrary to his divine love and con-
TRARY to His Divine Wisdom, thus contrary to Him-
&*lf 33'-340
I. The operation of the Divine Providence to save man be-
gins at his birth, and continues even to the end of his
life, and afterward for ever 332
II. The operation of the Divine Providence continually goes
on by means, from pure mercy 335
III. Instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is not pos-
sible 338
1. The belief concerning instantaneous salvation from
immediate mercy has been taken from man's nat-
ural state 338
2. This belief is from ignorance of the spiritual state,
which is altogether different from the natural . . 338
3. The doctrines of the churches in the Christian world,
viewed interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous
salvation from immediate mercy ; but still the ex-
ternal men of the church establish it 338
IV. Instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is the
fiery flying serpent in the church 340
1. Religion is abolished thereby 340
2. By a belief in instantaneous salvation from pure
mercy and it alone, a security of life is induced . 340
3. By that belief damnation is attributed to the Lord . 340
ANGELIC WISDOM
CONCERNING
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS THE GOVERNMENT OF
THE LORD'S DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM.
1. In order to understand what the Divine Providence
is, and that it is the Government of the Lord's Divine
Love and Wisdom, it is important to know the things con-
cerning the Divine Love and Wisdom that have already
been said and shown in the treatise upon them. They
are these : In the Lord the Divine Love is of the Divine
Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom is of the Divine Love
(n. 34-39). The Divine Love and Divine Wisdom must
needs be and exist in others, created by them (n. 47-51).
All things of the universe have been created by the Divine
Love and Wisdom (n. 52, 53, 1 51-156). All things of the
universe are recipients of the Divine Love and Wisdom
(n. 55-60). The Lord appears before the angels as a Sun ;
the heat thence proceeding is love, and the light thence
proceeding is wisdom (n. 83-88, 89-92, 93-98, 296-301).
The Divine Love and Wisdom which proceed from the
Lord make one (n. 99-102). The Lord from eternity,
who is Jehovah, created the universe and all things thereof
from Himself, and not from nothing (n. 282-284, 29°-295).
These things are in the treatise entitled " Angelic Wisdom
concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom."
2. From these things, when compared with the things
concerning Creation presented in the same treatise, it may
2
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 3.
indeed be evident that the Government of the Lord's
Divine Love and Wisdom is what is called the Divine
Providence ; but as creation was there treated of, and not
the preservation of the state of things after creation, which
is the Lord's government, therefore this is now to be treated
of. But the present article will treat of the preservation of
the union of Divine Love and Wisdom, or of Divine Good
and Truth, in the things which are created ; and of these
things we are to speak in the following order : I. The uni-
verse with the things, each and all, belonging to it has
been created from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom.
II. The Divine Love and Wisdom proceed from the Lord
as one. III. This one is in a certain image in every created
thing. IV. It is of the Divine Providence for every created
thing, in general and in particular, to be such a one ; and
if it is not, for it to be made so. V. The good of love is
not good any further than it is united to the truth of wis-
dom ; and the truth of wisdom is not truth any further than
it is united to the good of love. VI. The good of love not
united to the truth of wisdom is not good in itself, but is
apparent good ; and the truth of wisdom not united to the
good of love is not truth in itself, but is apparent truth.
VII. The Lord does not suffer any thing to be divided ;
wherefore it must either be in good and truth together, or
it must be in evil and falsity together. VIII. That which
is in good and truth together is something ; and that which
is in evil and falsity together is not any thing. IX. The
Lord's Divine Providence causes evil and falsity that are
together to serve for equilibrium, for relation, and for puri-
fication ; and thus for the conjunction of good and truth
in others.
3. I. The tcniverse with the things, each and all, belonging
to it has been created from the Divine Love by the Divine
Wisdom. It has been shown in the treatise concerning the
" Divine Love and Wisdom," that the Lord from eternity,
who is Jehovah, is, as to essence, Divine Love and Wisdom,
No. 3-] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 3
and that He has created the universe and all things of it
from Himself. It follows from this, that the universe with
the things, each and all, belonging to it has been created
from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom. In the same
treatise it was also shown that love without wisdom cannot
do any thing, nor can wisdom do any thing without love.
For love without wisdom, or will without understanding, can-
not think any thing, nor yet can it see and feel any thing,
nor can it say any thing ; therefore love without wisdom,
or will without understanding, cannot do any thing. In
like manner wisdom without love, or understanding with-
out will, cannot think any thing, nor can it see and feel any
thing, nor yet can it say any thing ; therefore wisdom with-
out love, or understanding without will, cannot do any thing ;
for if love is taken away, there is no longer any willing, and
so there is no acting. Since it is so with a man when
he is doing any thing, much more was it so with God, who
is Love itself and Wisdom itself, when He created and
made the universe and all things thereof. That the uni
verse with the things, each and all, belonging to it has
been created from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom
may be proved from all things submitted to the sight in the
world. Only take a particular object, and examine it with
some wisdom, and you will be convinced. Take a tree, or
its seed, its fruit, its flower, or its leaf, gather the wisdom
that is in you, view the object with a good microscope, and
you will see wonderful things ; and the interiors, which you
do not see, are more wonderful still. M<*rk the order in
its progression ; how the tree grows from the seed even till
new seed is produced ; and consider whether at every suc-
cessive stage there is not a continual endeavor to propa-
gate itself further ; for the last thing to which it is tending
is seed, in which is its prolific principle anew. If then you
wish to think spiritually also, and you can do this if you
desire, will you not see wisdom here ? And if you are 'vill-
iug to go far enough in spiritual thought, will you not furthel
4
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 4.
see that this is not from the seed, nor from the sun of the
world, which is pure fire, but that it is in the seed from
God the Creator, whose wisdom is infinite ? And that it
not only was in the seed at creation, but is continually in
it afterwards? — for upholding is perpetual creation, as
subsistence is perpetual existence. This is just as if you
should take away will from action ; the work then stops : il
from speech you take away thought, speech stops ; or if
from motion you take away effort, motion stops ; in a word,
if from an effect you take away the cause, the effect per-
ishes ; and so on. Every such created thing is gifted with
power ; but power acts not from itself, but from him who
gave the power. Subject any thing else on earth to observa-
tion, as the silkworm, the bee, or some other little object of
the animal kingdom ; look at it first naturally, afterwards
rationally, and at length spiritually : then, if you can think
deeply, you will be astonished at all things ; and if you
let wisdom speak within you, you will say in amazement,
" Who does not see the Divine in these things ? All things
are of the Divine Wisdom." Still more will this be so,
if you look to the uses of all created things, seeing how
'.hey follow on in their order even to man, and from man to
the Creator from whom they are ; seeing, too, that upon the
conjunction of the Creator with man the connection of all
things is dependent ; and, if you are willing to acknowledge
it, the preservation of all things. In what follows it will be
seen that the Divine Love created all things, but nothing
without the Divine Wisdom.
4. II. The Divine Love and Wisdom proceed from the
Lord as one. This, also, is manifest from what was shown
in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom,"
especially from these things there : Esse and Existere [to be
and to exist] are in the Lord distinctly o le (n. 14-17). In
the Lord infinite things are distinctly one (n. 17-22). The
Divine Love is of the Divine Wisdom, and the Divine
Wisdom is of the Divine Love (n. 34-39). Love without
No. 4.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
5
marriage with wisdom cannot do any thing (n. 401-403).
Love acts in nothing except in conjunction with wisdom
(n. 409, 410). Spiritual heat and spiritual light, in pro-
ceeding from the Lord as a Sun, make one, as the Divine
Love and Divine Wisdom in the Lord are one (n. 99-102).
From what is shown in the places referred to, the truth of
the proposition is manifest. But as it is not known how
two things distinct from each other can act as one, I wish
to show here that there cannot be a one without a form,
but the form itself makes the one ; and next, that the form
makes a one the more perfectly, as the things entering
into the form are individually distinct and yet united.
There cannot be a one without a form, but the form itself
makes the one . — Every person who thinks intently, may see
clearly that there is not a one without a form, and if there
is a one it is a form ; for every thing existing derives from
its form that which is called quality, and whatever is called
predicate, also that which is called change of state, that too
which is called relation, and the like. Wherefore, that
which is not in a form is not [the subject] of any power
to affect; and what is not [the subject] of any power
to affect is [the subject] of nothing real. Form itself
gives all these things. And because all the things which
are in a form, if the form is perfect, mutually regard
each other, as link does link in a chain, therefore it
follows that the form itself makes the one; and thus
makes a subject, of which may be predicated quality, state,
power to affect, thus any thing, according to the perfec-
tion of the form. Such a one is every thing that the
eye can see in the world ; and such a one also is every
thing that is not seen with the eye, whether it be in inte-
rior nature or in the spiritual world : such a one is man,
and such a one is human society ; the church is such a one,
and the whole angelic heaven before the Lord ; in a word,
such a one is the created universe, not only in general but
also in every particular. For things, each and all, to be
6
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 4
forms, it must needs be that He who created all tilings is
Form itself, and that all things which have been created in
forms are from Form itself: this, therefore, is what was
shown in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and
Wisdom," as follows : The Divine Love and Wisdom are
substance and are form (n. 40-43). The Divine Love
and Wisdom are Form in itself, thus the Itself [which
alone is, n. 45], and the Only [from which all else is,
n. 45], n. 44-46. The Divine Love and Wisdom are one
in the Lord (n. 14-17, n. 18-22). And they proceed as
one from the Lord (n. 99-102, and in other places). The
form makes a one the more perfectly, as the things entering
into the form are individually distinct and yet united: —
This comes with difficulty into the understanding, unless it
is elevated ; for the appearance is that a form can make a
one only by similitudes coming from uniformity in the
things that enter into the form. On this subject I have
frequently spoken with angels, who said that it is an
arcanum which their wiser ones perceive clearly, and the
less wise obscurely ; but that the truth is, that a form is
the more perfect as the things that make it are individually
distinct, and yet, each in its own way, united. They con-
firmed this by the societies in the heavens, which, taken
together, constitute the form of heaven ; also by the angels
of each society, for the form of a society is more perfect in
proportion as each angel is more distinctly his own \suus\
and thus free, and so loves his consociates as from himself
and his affection. They illustrated it also by the marriage
of good and truth ; showing that the more distinctly they
are two, the more perfectly they can make one ; so, too,
with love and wisdom ; and that what is not distinct is
confused, giving rise to every imperfection of form. But
how things perfectly distinct are united and so make one,
they also proved by many things, especially by the things
that are in the human body, in which innumerable parts
are thus distinct and yet united, distinct by their coverings
No. S]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
7
and united by their ligaments ; showing that it is likewise
so with love and all that belongs to it, and with wisdom
and all the things belonging to it, which are perceived
only as one. More on these subjects may be seen in the
treatise on the "Divine Love and Wisdom" (n. 14-22),
and in the work concerning " Heaven and Hell " (n. 56
and 489). This has been adduced because it is of Angelic
Wisdom.
5. III. This one is in a certain image in every created
thing. That the Divine Love and Wisdom, which in the
Lord are one and proceed as one from Him, are in a cer-
tain image in every created thing may be evident from
what is shown throughout the treatise concerning the
Divine Love and Wisdom, and especially in n. 47-51, 55-
60, 282-284, 290-295, 313-318, 319-326, 349-357 J where
it is shown that the Divine is in every created thing, be-
cause God the Creator, Who is the Lord from eternity, had
produced from Himself the Sun of the spiritual world, and
by that Sun all things of the universe ; consequently that
that Sun, which is from the Lord, and in which the Lord
is, is not only the first substance, but is also the only
substance from which all things are ; and because it is the
only substance, it follows that it is in every created thing,
but with infinite variety according to uses. Now because
Divine Love and Wisdom are in the Lord, and Divine fire
and brightness are in the Sun from Him, and from the Sun
are spiritual heat and spiritual light, and these two make
one, it follows that this one is in a certain image in every
created thing. Hence it is that all things in the universe
have relation to good and truth, yea, to their conjunction ;
or, what is the same, that all things in the universe have
relation to love and wisdom, and to their conjunction ; for
good is of love, and truth is of wisdom ; for love calls all
belonging to it good, and wisdom calls all belonging to it
truth. That there is a conjunction of these in every created
thing will be seen in what follows.
8
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No.
6. It is acknowledged by many that there is an only sub-
stance, which is also the first, from which all things are \
but what that substance is in quality is not known. It is
believed to be so simple that nothing is more simple ; that
it may be Lkened to a point, with no dimension ; and that
from an infinite number of such the forms of dimension
have their existence. This, however, is a fallacy, originat-
ing from the idea of space j for, from this idea, there seems
to be such a least thing ; but still the truth is, that the sim-
pler and purer any thing is, the more and the fuller it is.
For this reason, the more deeply any object is examined,
the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful are the things
seen in it; and thus in the first substance are the most
wonderful, perfect, and beautiful of all. This is so, because
the first substance is from the spiritual Sun, which, as was
said, is from the Lord, and the Lord is in it ; thus that Sun
is itself the only substance which, as it is not in space, is
the all in all, and is in the greatest and the least things of
the created universe. Since that Sun is the first and only
substance, from which all things are, it follows that there
are in that substance infinitely more things than can ap-
pear in the substances originating from it, which are called
substantiated [D. L. & W. n. 229], and at length mat-
ter ; they cannot appear in these, because they descend
from that Sun by degrees of a twofold kind, according to
which all perfections decrease. Hence, as was said above,
the more deeply any thing is examined, the more wonder-
ful, perfect, and beautiful are the things that are seen.
These things are said, to prove that in a certain image the
Divine is in every created thing j but that it is less and less
apparent in descending through the degrees, and still less
when the lower degree, separated from the higher by closing,
is blocked up with earthly matters. But these things must
needs seem obscure, unless the things have been read and
understood which are shown in the treatise on the " Divine
Love and Wisdom," concerning the spiritual Sun, n. 83-
No. 8.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
9
172 ; concerning degrees, n. 173-281 ; and concerning the
creation of the universe, n. 282-357.
7. IV. It is of the Divine Providence for every created
thing, in general and in particular, to be such a one ; and if it
is not, for it to be made so : that is, that in every created
thing there shall be something from the Divine Love and
at the same time from the Divine Wisdom ; or, what is the
same, that in every created thing there is good and truth,
or the conjunction of good and truth. Since good is of
love and truth is of wisdom, as was said above (n. 5), in
the following pages the terms good and truth will be
used throughout instead of love and wisdom ; and the
marriage of good and truth, instead of the union of love
and wisdom.
8. From the preceding article it is manifest that the
Divine Love and Wisdom, which in the Lord are one, and
which proceed as one from the Lord, are in a certain
image in every thing created by Him. Now, also, some-
thing shall be said particularly concerning that one, or the
union which is called the marriage of good and truth. This
marriage is, I. In the Lord Himself ; for, as was said, the
Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom are one in Him.
II. It is from the Lord ; for, in every thing that proceeds
from Him, love and wisdom are fully united ; the two pro-
ceed from the Lord as a Sun, the Divine Love as heat, and
the Divine Wisdom as light. III. They are indeed received
as two by the angels, but they are united in them by the
Lord ; so, too, with the men of the church. IV. It is from
the influx of love and wisdom as one from the Lord with
the angels of heaven and the men of the church, and from
their reception by angels and men, that the Lord is called
in the Word the Bridegroom and the Husband, and heaven
and the church are called the bride and the wife. V. As
far, therefore, as heaven and the church in general, and an
angel of heaven and a man of the church in particular, are
in that union, or in the marriage of good and truth, so far
1*
lO ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. ia
they are the Lord's image and likeness ; since these two
are one in the Lord, yea, are the Lord. VI. Love and
wisdom, in heaven and in the church in general, also in an
angel of heaven and in a man of the church, are one when
the will and the understanding, thus when good and truth,
make one ; or, what is the same, when charity and faith
make one ; or, what is still the same, when doctrine from
the Word and a life according to it make one. VII. How
the two make one in man and in all belonging to him is
shown in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and
Wisdom " (Part V., n. 358-432), where it treats of the crea-
tion of man, and especially of the correspondence of the
will and understanding with the heart and lungs.
9. In what now follows it will throughout be told how
the two make one in things below man or external to him,
in the animal and the vegetable kingdoms ; but these three
things are to be premised : First, In the universe and in
each and all of the things belonging to it, as created by the
Lord, there was the marriage of good and truth. Second,
This marriage was severed in man after creation. Third,
It is of the Divine Providence that the separated should
be made one, and thus the marriage of good and truth
restored. As these three things are abundantly proved in
the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom,"
further proof is unnecessary. Any one may also see from
reason, that, as there was from creation the marriage of
good and truth in every created thing, and as it was after-
wards severed, the Lord is continually working to restore
it ; consequently that its restoration, and thence the con-
junction of the created universe with the Lord through
man, is of the Divine Providence.
1 o. V. The good of love is not good any further than it is
united to the truth of wisdom ; and the truth of wisdom is not
truth any further than it is united to the good of love. Good
and truth have this from their origin. Good in its origin
s in the Lord, and likewise truth ; for the Lord is Good
No. n.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
U
itself and Truth itself ; and the two in Him are one. Hence
it is, that good in the angels of heaven and in men of an
earth is not good in itself, except so far as it is united to
truth ; and that truth is not truth in itself, except so far as
it is united to good. It is known that every good and
every truth is from the Lord ; hence, as good makes one
with truth, and truth with good, it follows that good to be
good in itself, and truth to be truth in itself, must make
one in the recipient ; that is, in an angel of heaven and a
man of an earth.
n. It is indeed known that all things in the universe
have relation to good and truth ; because by good is under-
stood that which universally comprehends and involves all
things of love, and by truth is understood that which uni-
versally comprehends and involves all things of wisdom.
But it is not yet known that good is not any thing unless
united to truth, and that truth is not any thing unless united
to good. The appearance indeed is that good is something
without truth, and that truth is something without good,
but still they are not ; for love (all things of which are called
goods) is the esse [to be] of a thing ; and wisdom (all things
of which are called truths) is the existere [to exist] of a thing
from that esse, as is shown in the treatise concerning " Divine
Love and Wisdom " (n. 14-16) ; wherefore, as esse without
existere is not any thing, nor existere without esse, so good
without truth is not any thing, nor truth without good. So,
too, what is good without relation to something ? Can it
be called good, as it does not affect, and causes no per-
ception ? The something connected with good, which
affects, and which gives itself to be perceived and felt, has
relation to truth, for it has relation to what is in the under-
standing. Speak to any one simply of good, not saying
that this or that is good, and is the good any thing? But
from this or from that which is perceived as one with the
good, it is something. This is united to good nowhere but
in the understanding, and every thing of the understanding
12 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [Nc u.
has relation to truth. It is the same with willing ; to w.ll,
without knowing, perceiving, and thinking what one wills,
is not any thing ; but together with these, it becomes some-
thing. All willing is of the love, and has relation to good ;
and all knowing, perceiving, and thinking are of the under-
standing, and have relation to truth ; hence it is manifest
that willing is not any thing, but willing this or that is some-
thing. It is the same with every use, because a use is a
good. Unless determined to something with which it may
be one, it is not use, and thus it is not any thing. Use
derives from the understanding its something to which it
may be determined ; and what comes from the understand-
ing, and is conjoined or adjoined to the use, has relation to
truth ; and from it the use derives its quality. From these
few things it may be evident that good without truth is not
any thing ; also, that truth without good is not any thing.
It is said that good with truth and truth with good are
something ; and from this it follows, that evil with falsity
and falsity with evil are not any thing ; for the latter are
opposite to the former, and opposition destroys, and in this
case destroys that something. But more concerning this
in what follows.
12. But there is a marriage of good and truth in the
cause, and there is a marriage of good and truth from the
cause in the effect. The marriage of good and truth in
the cause is the marriage of will and understanding, or of
love and wisdom ; this marriage is in every thing which a
man wills and thinks, and which he thence concludes and
purposes. This marriage enters the effect and makes it '
but in passing into effect the good and the truth appear dis-
tinct, because the simultaneous then makes the successive.
For example : While a man is willing and thinking about
being fed, clothed, having a dwelling, doing business and
work, or enjoying society, then at first he wills and thinks
of it, both at once, or concludes and purposes ; but when he
has determined the good and truth into effects, then one
No. 14.J
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
13
of them follows the other, while in his will and thought
they still continue to make one. In these effects the uses
are what belong to love or to good, while the means to the
uses belong to the understanding or to truth. Any one
may confirm these general truths by particulars, if he per-
ceives distinctly what has relation to the good of love, and
what to the truth of wisdom, and also how the relation is
in the cause, and how it is in the effect.
13. It has been said several times that love makes man's
life ; but this does not mean love separate from wisdom, or
good separate from truth, in the cause ; for love separate,
or good separate, is not any thing ; wherefore the love
which makes man's inmost life, which life is from the Lord,
is love and wisdom together ; the love, too, that makes the
life of man so far as he is a recipient, is not love separate
in the cause, but in the effect ; for love cannot be under-
stood apart from its quality, and its quality is wisdom ; and
quality, or wisdom, can be given only from its esse [to be\
which is love ; hence they are one. It is the same with
good and truth. Now because truth is from good, as wis-
dom is from love, therefore both taken together are called
love or good ; for love in its form is wisdom, and good in
its form is truth. From form and from no other source is
all quality. From these things it may now be evident that
good is not good any further than as it is united to its
truth, and that truth is not truth any further than as it is
united to its good.
14. VI. The good of love not united to the truth of wisdom
is not good in itself, but is apparent good ; and the truth of wis-
dom not united to the good of love is not truth in itself but it
apparent truth. The truth is that there is no good which is
good in itself, unless united to its truth ; nor any truth which
is truth in itself, unless united to its good. Nevertheless
good is found separate from truth, and truth separate from
good. They are so in hypocrites and flatterers, in evil per-
sons of ever)' kind, and also in those who are in natural good
'4
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 15.
and no spiritual good. Both of these classes can do good
to the church, their country, society, their fellow-citizens, the
needy, the poor, the widow, and the orphan ; and they also
can understand truths, from understanding can think of
them, and from thought can speak and teach them ; but still,
the goods and truths in them are not interiorly, thus not in
themselves, goods and truths, but they are so outwardly,
and thus are only apparent ; for they are only for the sake
of self and the world, and not for the sake of good itself
and truth itself, consequently they are not from good and
truth ; so they are of the mouth and the body only, and not
of the heart. They may be likened to gold and silver with
which dross or rotten wood or dung is overlaid ; and the
truths that are uttered are like a breath that passes away,
or a delusive light that vanishes, though they appear out-
wardly like real truths. In those who speak them, how-
ever, such truths are only apparent ; but still, they may be
otherwise to those who hear and receive them, not knowing
this ; for an external thing affects every one according to
his internal ; a truth, from whatever mouth it is uttered,
enters into another's hearing, and is taken up by the mind
according to its state and quality. Nearly the same as has
been described is really the case with those who are
hereditarily in natural good and are in no spiritual good ;
for the internal of every good and of every truth is spiritual,
and this repels falsities and evils ; but these are favored
by the natural alone ; and to favor evils and falsities and
to do good are not in agreement.
15. Good may be separated from truth, and truth from
good, and, when separated, still appear as good and truth,
because man has the faculty of acting, which is called liberty,
and the faculty of understanding, which is called rationality.
It is from the abuse of these faculties that man can seem
in externals different from what he is in internals ; and that
a bad man can do good and speak truth, or that a devil
can feign himself an angel of light But on this subject
No. i6.|
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
15
see the following passages in the treatise on the Divine
Love and Wisdom : " The origin of evil is from the abuse
of the faculties propel to man, which are called rationality
and liberty (n. 264-270). As these two faculties are in the
good, so they are in the evil (n. 425). Love without mar-
riage with wisdom, or good without marriage with truth,
cannot do any thing (n. 401). Love acts in nothing except
in conjunction with wisdom or the understanding (n. 409).
Love conjoins itself with wisdom or the understanding, and
it causes wisdom or the understanding to be reciprocally
conjoined with it (410-412). Wisdom or the understand-
ing, from the power given it by love, may be elevated, and
perceive the things which are of the light from heaven, and
may receive them (n. 413). Love can in like manner be
elevated, and receive the things which are of the heat from
heaven, if it loves its partner wisdom in that degree (n. 414,
415). Otherwise love draws wisdom or the understanding
down from its elevation, to act as one with itself (n. 416-
418). Love is purified in the understanding, if they are
elevated together (n. 419-421). Love purified by wisdom
in the understanding becomes spiritual and heavenly
[celestial] ; but love defiled in the understanding becomes
sensual and corporeal (n. 422-424). It is the same with
charity and faith and their conjunction as it is with love
and wisdom and their conjunction (n. 427-430). What
charity is in the heavens (n. 431).
16. VII. The Lord does not suffer any thing to be divided ;
wherefore it must either be in good and at the same time in
truth, or it must be in evil and at the same time in falsity.
The Divine Providence of the Lord especially has for its
end that man should be in good and at the same time in
truth, and it works for this ; for thus a man is his own
[suns'] good and his own love, and also is his own truth and
his own wisdom ; for thus man is man, being then the
Lord's image. But- because a man while living in the
world can be in good and at the same time in falsity, — can
l6 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. t|.
be in evil and at the same time in truth, — yea, can be in
evil and at the same time in good, and thus as it were be
double, — and because this division destroys that image and
so destroys the man, therefore the Lord's Divine Provi-
dence in all and in each of the things belonging to it has
in view that this division shall not be. And because it is
to a man's advantage to be in evil and at the same time in
falsity rather than to be in good and at the same time in
evil, therefore the Lord permits it to be so, not as if willing.
but as if unable to prevent, because of the end which is
salvation. The reason that a man has the ability to be in
evil and at the same time in truth, and that the Lord is un-
able to prevent because of His end which is salvation, is
as follows : A man's understanding can be elevated into
the light of wisdom, and see truths, or acknowledge them
when heard, while his love remains below, for a man can
so be in heaven with the understanding, but in hell with
the love. And further : The ability to be so cannot be de-
nied man, because he cannot be deprived of the two facul-
ties, rationality and liberty, by which he is a man and is
distinguished from the beasts, and by which only he can be
regenerated and so saved. For by these a man can act
according to wisdom, and can also act acct rding to a love
that is not of wisdom ; by these also, from wisdom above
he can see the love below, and thus see the thoughts, the
intentions, the affections, thus the evils and falsities and
also the goods and truths of his life and doctrine ; without
a knowledge and acknowledgment of which in himself, he
cannot be reformed. Of these two faculties something has
already been said, and more will be said in what follows.
This is the reason why man can be in good and at the
same time in truth, also in evil and at the same time in fal-
sity, and also in their various combinations.
17. In the world a man can hardly come into the one or
the other conjunction or union, — that is, of good and truth,
or of evil and falsity ; for as long as he lives in the world,
No. iS.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
17
he is held in a state of reformation or of regeneration ; but
after death every man comes into one or the other, because
he then can no longer be reformed and regenerated ; he
then remains such as his life in the world, that is, such as
his reigning love has been. If his life, therefore, has been
a life of the love of evil, all the truth is taken away that he
acquired in the world from a teacher, from preaching, or
the Word ; and this having been taken away, as a sponge
takes up water so he drinks-in falsity agreeing with his
evil. And on the other hand : If his life has been a life of
the love of good, then is removed all the falsity which he
gathered in the world from hearing and from reading, but
which he did not confirm in himself ; and in its place there
is given him truth agreeing with his good. This is meant
by these words of the Lord : Take therefore the talent from
him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents ; for unto every
one that hath shall be given, that he may have abundance ; but
from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which
he hath (Matt. xxv. 28, 29; xiii. 12 ; Mark iv. 25 ; Luke
viii. 18 ; xix. 24-26).
18. That every one after death must be either in good
and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the same
time in falsity, is because good and evil cannot be con-
joined, nor can good and the falsity of evil that are to-
gether, nor evil and the good of truth that are together ;
for they are opposites, and opposites fight each other until
one destroys the other. Those who are in evil and at the
same time in good are meant by these words of the Lord
to the church of the Laodiceans, in the Apocalypse : 1
know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot ; I would
thou wert cold or hot ; so then because thou art lukewarm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth
(hi. 15, 16): and also by these words of the Lord: No
nan can serve two masters ; fur either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will iold to the one and neglect
the other (Matt. vi. 24).
18
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 2a
19. VIII. That which is in good and at the same time in
truth, is something ; and that which is in evil and at the same
time in falsity, is not any thing. It may be seen above
(n. 1 1), that what is in good and at the same time in truth
is something ; and from this it follows that what is evil and
at the same time false is not any thing. By its not being
any thing, is meant that it has no power and no spiritual
life. Those who are in evil and at the same time in falsity,
who are all in hell, have indeed power with one another ;
for one who is evil can do evil, and he also does it in a
thousand ways ; nevertheless, he can do evil to the evil
only from [their] evil ; but he cannot harm the good in the
least, except, as is sometimes done, by a conjunction with
their evil ; whence come temptations, which are infestations
by the evil who are with them, and the combats thence
arising, whereby the good can be freed from their evils.
Since the evil have no power, all hell before the Lord is
not only as nothing, but is absolutely nothing in power, as
I have seen proved by abundant experience. But it is
wonderful that the wicked all believe themselves to be
powerful, and the good all believe themselves to be without
power. This is because the evil attribute all things to their
own power, and thus to cunning and malice, and attribute
nothing to the Lord; bu. the good attribute nothing to
their own prudence, but all to the Lord who is Almighty.
Furthermore, evil and falsity together are not any thing,
because there is no spiritual life in them ; for this reason
the life of the infernals is not called life, but death ; there-
fore, since all that is any thing belongs to life, there can-
not be any thing belonging to death.
20. They who are in evil and at the same time in truths,
may be compared to eagles that soar on high, but drop
when deprived of the use of their wings ; for so do men
after death, when they have become spirits, if they have
understood truths, have spoken them, and have taught
them, and yet have had no regard to God in the life. They
No. 22.) THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. ig
raise themselves on high, by means of the things belonging
to their understanding ; and sometimes they enter the
heavens and feign themselves angels of light ; but whei
truths are taken from them and they are sent out, they fal.
down into hell. Eagles, moreover, signify men given to
apine, who have intellectual sight ; and wings signify
piritual truths. It was said that they are such, who have
had no regard to God in their life. Looking to God in
the life, means nothing else than thinking this evil or that
to be sin against Him, and therefore not doing it.
21. IX. The Lord's Divine Providence causes evil and
falsity that are together to serve for equilibrium, for relation,
for purification, and thus for the conjunction of good and truth
in others. From what has been said it may be evident that
the Lord's Divine Providence continually works for truth
to be united to good, and good to truth in man, because
this union is the church and is heaven. For this union is
in the Lord, and in all things that proceed from Him. It
is from this union that heaven and the church are called a
marriage ; therefore the kingdom of God is likened in the
Word to a marriage. It is from that union that in the
Israelitish church the Sabbath was a most holy thing of
worship ; for it signified that union. It is also from the
same, that in the Word, and in each and all of the things
:r. it, there is a marriage of good and truth ; concerning
which see the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Sacred Scripture " (n. 80-90). The marriage of good
and truth is from the Lord's marriage with the church ;
and this is from the marriage of Love and Wisdom in the
Lord ; for good is of love, and truth is of wisdom. From
these things it may be seen, that the perpetual object of
the Divine Providence is to unite good to truth and truth
to good in man, for so man is united to the Lord.
22. But as many have broken and are breaking this mar-
riage, especially by the separation of faith from charity, —
for faith is of truth and truth is of faith, and charity is of
20
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 24.
good and good is of charity, — and as they thereby conjoin
in themselves evil and falsity, and have thus become and
are becoming opposed [to the Lord], it is nevertheless pro-
vided by the Lord, by means of equilibrium, relation, and
purification, that they may still be of service for the con-
junction of good and truth in others.
23. The conjunction of good and truth in others is pro-
vided by the Lord, by means of the Equilibrium between
heaven and hell ; for there is a constant exhalation of evil
together with falsity from hell ; but from heaven there is a
constant exhalation of good together with truth. In this equi-
librium every man is kept as long as he lives in the world ;
and by means of it he is kept in that liberty of thinking, of
willing, of speaking, and of doing, in which he can be re-
formed. Concerning this spiritual equilibrium, from which
man has freedom, see the work concerning " Heaven and
Hell " (n. 589-596, and n. 597-603).
24. The conjunction of good and truth is provided by
the Lord by means of Relation ; for there is cognition
of the quality of good only by its relation to what is less
good, and by its contrariety to evil. Hence comes all that
gives perception and sensation, because from this is their
quality ; for thus every thing pleasing is perceived and felt
from the less pleasing and by means of the unpleasant ;
every thing beautiful, from the less beautiful and by means
of the unbeautiful ; and likewise ever)' good which is of
love, from the less good and by means of evil ; and every
truth which is of wisdom, from the less true and by means
of falsity. There must be variety in every real thing, from
the greatest to the least of it ; and when there is the variety
in its opposite also, from the least to the greatest, and there
comes equilibrium between them, then a relation is estab-
lished according to the degrees on both sides ; and the
perception of the thing and the sensation increase or are
lessened. But it is to be known that an opposite may take
away or may exalt the perceptions and sensations ; when
No. 26. |
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
21
an opposite commingles itself with its opposite, it takes
them away ; but when it does not commingle itself, it ex-
alts them j on which account the Lord exquisitely separates
good and evil in man that they may not be mingled, as He
separates heaven and hell.
25. The conjunction of good and truth in others is pro-
vided by the Lord by means of Purification, which is
effected in two ways, one by temptations, and the other by
fermentations. Spiritual temptations are nothing else than
combats against the evils and falsities that are exhaled
from hell and affect man. By these combats he is purified
from evils and falsities, and good is conjoined to truth in
him, and truth to good. Spiritual fermentations take place
in many ways, in the heavens as well as on earth ; but in
the world it is not known what they are and how they are
effected. For there are evils having falsities with them,
which do a work, when introduced into societies, like that
done by the things put into meal and into new wine to
cause fermentation, by which heterogeneous things are
separated and homogeneous things conjoined, and purity
and clearness are the result. They are what are meant
by these words of the Lord : The kingdom of the heavens is
like unto leaven, which a woman took and kid in three meas-
ures of meal, till the whole was leavened (Matt. xiii. 33, Luke
xiii. 21).
26. These uses are provided by the Lord from the con-
junction of evil and falsity in those who are in hell ; for the
Lord's kingdom, which is not only over heaven, but also
over hell, is a kingdom of uses ; and it is the Lord's Prov-
idence that there shall be there no person by whom use is
not performed, and no tiling by means of which it is not
done.
22
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 27.
THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE HAS FOR ITS END
A HEAVEN FROM THE HUMAN RACE.
27. By long-continued intercourse with angels and spirits,
it has been made known to me and proved that heaven is
not from any angels so created from the beginning, and
that hell is not from any devil created an angel of light and
cast down from heaven ; but that both heaven and hell are
from the human race, — heaven from those who are in the
love of good and thence in the understanding of truth,
and hell from those who are in the love of evil and thence
in the understanding of falsity. On this subject see also
what has been shown in the work concerning " Heaven and
Hell" (n. 311-316); in the little work concerning the
"Last Judgment " (n. 14-27); and in the "Continuation
concerning the Last Judgment and concerning the Spir-
itual World," from beginning to end. Now as heaven is
from the human race, and as heaven is abiding with the
Lord for ever, it follows that it was the Lord's end in
creation ; and because heaven was the end in creation, it
is the end of His Divine Providence. The Lord did not
create the universe for the sake of Himself, but for the
sake of those with whom He will be in heaven ; for spirit-
ual love is such that it wishes to give its own [suum]
to another ; and so far as it can do this, it is in its esse [to
be\ in its peace, and its blessedness. Spiritual love has
this from the Lord's Divine Love, which is such infinitely.
From this it follows, that the Divine Love, and hence the
Divine Providence, has for its end a heaven, consisting of
men who have become and who are becoming angels, to
whom the Lord can give all the blessings and happiness of
love and wisdom, and give these from Himself in them.
Nor can He give them in any other way ; for there is in
them from creation the image and likeness of Himself;
the image in them is wisdom, and the likeness in them is
love ; and the Lord in them is love united to wisdom and
No. 28.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
^3
wisdom united to love ; or, what is the same, is good united
to truth and truth united to good ; which union was treated
of in the preceding article. But as it is not known what
heaven is in general or with many persons, and what it is
in particular or with any one, what it is in the spiritual
world and what in the natural world, — and yet it is im
portant to know this, because heaven is the end of the
Divine Providence, — I wish to present the subject in
some measure of light, in the following order : I. Heaven
is conjunction with the Lord. II. Man is from creation
such that he can be more and more closely conjoined with
the Lord. III. The more closely a man is conjoined with
the Lord, the wiser he becomes. IV. The more closely a
man is conjoined with the Lord, the happier he becomes.
V. The more closely a man is conjoined with the Lord,
the more distinctly he seems to himself as if he were his
own [suus], and the more clearly he recognizes that he is
'he Lord's.
28. I. Heaven is conjunction with the Lord. Heaven is
not heaven from the angels, but from the Lord ; for the
love and wisdom in which the angels are, and which make
heaven, are not from them, but from the Lord, and are
indeed the Lord in them. And since love and wisdom are
the Lord's, and are the Lord in heaven, and since love and
wisdom make the life of the angels, it is also manifest that
their life is the Lord's, yea, is the Lord. The angels them-
selves confess that they live from the Lord ; and from this
it may be evident that heaven is conjunction with the Lord.
But as conjunction with the Lord is various, and hence
heaven is not the same to one as to another, it also follow*
that heaven is according to the conjunction with the Lord.
It will be seen in the following article that the conjunction
is closer and closer, or is more and more remote. Some-
thing will now be said concerning that conjunction, how it
is effected, and of what quality it is : It is a conjunction
of the Lord with the angels, and of the angels with tha
24
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [N~2*.
Lord ; thus it is reciprocal. The Lord flows into the lire's
love of the angels, and the angels receive Him in wisdom,
and by this they in turn conjoin themselves with the Lord.
But it is to be well known that it appears to the angels as
if they conjoin themselves with the Lord by wisdom, but
still the Lord conjoins them with Himself by wisdom ; for
their wisdom also is from the Lord. It is the same if it is
said that the Lord conjoins Himself with the angels by
good, and that the angels in turn conjoin themselves with
the Lord by truth ; for all good is of love, and all truth
is of wisdom. But as this reciprocal conjunction is an
arcanum which few can understand without explanation, I
wish to unfold it, as far as possible, by things that are
adapted to the comprehension. In the treatise concerning
the " Divine Love and Wisdom " (n. 404, 405), it is shown
how love conjoins itself with wisdom ; namely, by the
affection for knowing, from which comes the affection for
truth, and by the affection for understanding, from which
comes the perception of truth, and by the affection for see-
ing what is known and understood, from which comes
thought. The Lord flows into all these affections, for they
are derivations from the life's love of every one ; and the
angels receive the influx in the perception of truth and in
the thought, for in these the influx becomes apparent to
them, but not in the affections. Now, as perceptions and
thoughts appear to the angels as if they were theirs, when
yet they are from affections which are from the Lord,
therefore there is that appearance that the angels conjoin
themselves reciprocally with the Lord, when yet the Lord
conjoins them with Himself ; for affection itself produces
the perceptions and thoughts, as affection which is of love
is their soul ; for no one can perceive and think any thing
without affection, and every one perceives and thinks ac-
cording to affection. Hence it is manifest that the recip-
rocal conjunction of the angels with the Lord is not from
the angels, but as from them. Such also is the conjunction
No. 29.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
25
of the Lord with the church, and of the church with the
Lord, which is called the heavenly and spiritual mar-
riage.
29. All conjunction in the spiritual world is effected by
means of looking to [another]. When any one there is
thinking of another from an affection for speaking with
him, the other becomes present forthwith, and they see
each other face to face. And so it is when any one is
thinking of another from an affection of love ; but by this
affection conjunction is effected ; by the other, presence
only. This is peculiar to the spiritual world, for the reason
that all are spiritual there ; it being otherwise in the natu-
ral world, in which all are material. In the natural world
the same takes place with men in the affections and
thoughts of their spirit ; but because there are spaces in
the natural world, while in the spiritual world the spaces
are only appearances, therefore in the spiritual world that
takes place actually, which takes place in the thought
of every one's spirit. This has been said that it may be
known how the Lord's conjunction with the angels is
effected, and also how the apparent reciprocal conjunction
of the angels with the Lord. For all the angels turn the face
to the Lord, and the Lord looks at them in the forehead, and
the angels look to the Lord with the eyes, for the reason
that the forehead corresponds to love and its affections,
and the eyes correspond to wisdom and its perceptions ;
but still the angels do not from themselves turn the face to
the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Himself ; and He
turns them by influx into their life's love, and through that
He enters into the perceptions and thoughts, and so He
turns them round. Such a circle of love to the thoughts,
and from the thoughts to the love from love, is in all things
of the human mind ; which circle may be called the circle
of life. On these subjects some things may also be seen
in the treatise concerning the "Divine Love and Wis-
dom \ " as these : The angels constantly turn the face
2
26 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 32.
to the Lord as a Sun (n. 129-134). All the interiors, both
of the mind and the body of the angels, are likewise turned
to the Lord as a Sun (n. 135-139). Every spirit, of what-
ever quality, turns himself likewise to his reigning love
(n. 140-145). Love conjoins itself with wisdom, and makes
wisdom to be reciprocally conjoined (n. 410-412). The
angels are in the Lord, and the Lord is in them ; and be-
cause the angels are recipients, the Lord alone is heaven
(n. 113-118).
30. The Lord's heaven in the natural world is called the
church ; and an angel of this heaven is a man of the
church who is conjoined with the Lord ; he also becomes
in angel of the spiritual heaven after his departure from
the world. And from this it is manifest that what has
Seen said concerning the angelic heaven must be under-
stood likewise of the human heaven that is called the
church. The reciprocal conjunction with the Lord which
makes heaven in man is revealed by the Lord in these
words : Abide in Me and I in you. He that abideth in Me
and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit ; for with
out Me ye can do nothing (John xv. 4, 5).
31. From these things it may be evident that the Lord
is heaven not only in general with all there, but also in
particular with every one there. For every angel is a
heaven in the least form ; and heaven in general consists of
as many heavens as there are angels, as may be seen in
the work concerning "Heaven and Hell" (n. 51-58).
Since this is so, let no one cherish the error which enters
into the first thought with many, that the Lord is in heaven
among the angels, or that He is with them as a king in his
kingdom. As to aspect He is above them, in the Sun
there ; but as to the life of their love and wisdom, He is
in them.
32. II. Man is from creation such that he can be more
and more closely conjoined with the Lord. This may be
evident from what is shown concerning Degrees, in the
No. 32.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
27
treatise on the " Divine Love and Wisdom," Part III., and
especially from the following: There are three discrete
degrees or degrees of height in man from creation (n. 230-
235). These three degrees are in every man from birth \
and as they are opened, the man is in the Lord and the
Lord in him (n. 236-241). All perfections increase and
ascend with the degrees, and according to them (n. 199-
204). From which it is manifest that man is from creation
such that he can be more and more closely conjoined with
the Lord, by the degrees. But it is necessary to know well
what degrees are, and that they are of a two-fold kind, dis-
crete or degrees of height, and continuous or degrees of
breadth, and the difference between them; — to know,
also, that every man from creation, and thence from birth,
has the three discrete degrees or the degrees of height ; —
and that man comes into the first degree, which is called
the natural, when he is born, and may enlarge this degree
in himself by continuous additions even till he becomes
rational; — and that he comes into the second degree,
which is called the spiritual, if he lives according to the
spiritual laws of order, which are Divine truths ; — and
that he can also come into the third degree, which is
called the heavenly [celestial], if he lives according to the
heavenly laws of order, which are Divine goods. These
degrees are opened by the Lord in man according to his
life, actually in the world, but not perceptibly and sensibly
till after he leaves the world ; and as they are opened and
afterwards perfected, man is more and more closely con-
joined with the Lord. By drawing nearer, this conjunction
may be increasing for ever, and with the angels it is foi
ever increasing ; but still an angel cannot attain or even
touch the first degree of the Lord's Love and Wisdom, be-
cause the Lord is Infinite and an angel is finite, and there
is no ratio between the Infinite and the finite. Since nc
one can understand man's state, and the state of his ele-
vation and approximation to the Lord, unless he has a
2& ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 33
knowledge of these degrees, they have been particularly
considered in the treatise concerning the " Divine Lova
and Wisdom " (n. 173-281), which may be seen.
33. It will now be briefly told how a man can be more
closely conjoined with the Lord, and then how the conjunc-
tion appears closer and closer. A man is more and more
closely conjoined with the Lord, not by knowledge alone, nor
by intelligence alone, nor even by wisdom alone, but by the
life conjoined with them. Man's life is his love, and love
is manifold. In general, there is the love of evil, and the
love of good. The love of evil is the love of committing
adultery, of taking revenge, of defrauding, of blaspheming,
of depriving others of their goods ; the love of evil finds
pleasure and enjoyment in thinking of these things and
doing them. The derivations of this love, which are its
affections, are as -many as the evils are to which it has de-
termined itself j and the perceptions and thoughts of this
love are as many as the falsities are which favor the evils
and confirm them. These falsities make one with the evils,
as the understanding makes one with the will ; they are
not separated from each other, for one is of the other.
Now because the Lord flows into the life's love of every
one, and through its affections into the perceptions and
thoughts, and not the reverse, as was said above, it follows
that He can conjoin Himself closely only in proportion as
the love of evil with its affections, which are lusts, has been
removed. And as these reside in the natural man, and as
man feels as if he does from himself whatever he does
from the natural man, therefore man ought as if from him-
self to remove the evils of that love ; and then, as far as he
removes them, the Lord draws nearer and conjoins Him-
self with him. Any one may see from reason that lusts
with their enjoyments block the way and close the doors
before the Lord, and cannot be cast out by the Lord while
man himself is keeping the doors shut, and is pressing and
pushing from the outside, that they may not be opened
No. 33] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
29
That man ought himself to open them, is manifest from the
Lord's words in the Apocalypse : Behold I stand at the door
and knock ; if any man hear My voice and open the door, I
will cotne in to him, and will sup with him and he with Me
(iii. 20). It is hence manifest that, as far as one shuns
evils as diabolical and as obstacles to the Lord's entrance,
he is more and more closely conjoined with the Lord, and
he the most closely who abominates them as so many
dusky and fiery devils ; for evil and the devil are one, and
the falsity of evil and Satan are one. For as the Lord's
influx is into the love of good and into its affections, and
through these affections into the perceptions and thoughts
(and it is from the good in which the man is that these all
are truths), so the influx of the devil, that is, of hell, is into
the love of evil and into its affections which are lusts, and
through these into the perceptions and thoughts (and it is
from the evil in which the man is that these all are falsities).
How that conjunction appears closer and closer : The more
fully the evils in the natural man are removed by shunning
them and becoming averse to them, the more closely is the
man conjoined with the Lord. And as love and wisdom,
which are the Lord Himself, are not in space, for affection
which is of love and thought which is of wisdom have
nothing in common with space, therefore according to the
conjunction by love and wisdom the Lord seems nearer ;
and, on the other hand, more remote according to the re-
jection of love and wisdom. There is not space in the
spiritual world, but distances and presence there are ap-
pearances in accordance with similarities and dissimilari-
ties of affections ; for, as before said, affections which are
of love, and thoughts which are of wisdom, and which in
themselves are spiritual, are not in space. On this subject
see what is shown in the treatise on the " Divine Love and
Wisdom" (n. 7-10, 69-72, and elsewhere). The Lord's
conjunction with the man in whom evils have been re-
moved, is meant by these words of the Lord : The pure in
30 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 34.
heart skull see God (Matt. v. 8) : and by these : He thai
hat/i My commandments and keepcth them . . . We will comt
unto him and make our abode with him (John xiv. 21, 23).
To liave the commandments is to know, and to keep them
is to love ; for it is also there said, He that keepetk My com-
mandments, he it is tkat lovetk Me.
34. III. The more closely a man is conjoined with tht
Lord, the wiser he becomes. Since there are three degrees
of life in man from creation, and thence from birth (of
which just above, n. 32), there are especially three degrees
of wisdom in him. These are the degrees which are
opened in man according to conjunction ; they are opened
according to love, for love is conjunction itself. But of
the ascent of love according to degrees, man has only an.
obscure perception ; the ascent of wisdom, however, is
clearly perceived with those who know and see what wisdom
is. The degrees of wisdom are perceived, because love en-
ters through the affections into the perceptions and thoughts,
and these place themselves within the mind's internal sight,
which corresponds to the external sight of the body. It is
owing to this that wisdom appears, but not the affection of
love that produces it. It is with this as with all things tl.at
are actually done by man. How the body does them is ob-
served ; but not how the soul. So, also, man's mod* of
meditation, perception, and thought is perceived ; but the
manner in which their soul, which is the affection of good
and truth, produces the meditation, perception, and thought,
is not perceived. But there are three degrees of wisdom,
the natural, the spiritual, and the heavenly [celestial].
Man is in the natural degree of wisdom while he lives in
the world. This degree may then be perfected in him to
its highest point, and still it cannot enter the spiritual de-
gree, because this degree is not connected with the natural
degree continuously, but is conjoined with it by coirespon-
de.ices. After death man is in the spiritual degree of
wisdom ; and this degree is also such that it may be per
No. 36.|
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
31
fected to tre highest point, but still it cannot enter the
heavenly degiee of wisdom, for this degree is not connected
with the spiritual continuously, but is conjoined with it by
correspondences. From this it may be evident that wisdom
can be elevated in a triplicate ratio ; and that in each de-
gree it may be perfected to the highest point, in a simple
ratio. One who comprehends the steps of elevation and
the perfecting of these degrees can in some measure per-
ceive the truth of what is said concerning angelic wisdom,
that it is ineffable ; and, moreover, it is so ineffable that a
thousand ideas in the thought of the angels from their
wisdom can present but a single idea in the thought of
men from their wisdom ; the nine hundred and ninety-nine
ideas in the thought of the angels not being able to gain
entrance, for they are supernatural. That this is so, it has
been given me to know by repeated living experience. But,
as was said above, no one can come into that ineffable
wisdom of the angels, unless by conjunction with the Lord
and according to it, for the Lord alone opens the spiritual
degree and the heavenly [celestial] degree, and in those
only who are wise from Him ; and they are wise from the
Lord who reject the devil, that is, evil, from themselves.
35. But let no one believe that it is wisdom in any one
to know many things, to perceive them in some light, and
to be able to discourse intelligently concerning them, unless
the wisdom is conjoined with love ; for love by its affec-
tions produces wisdom ; and if it is not conjoined with love,
it is like a meteor vanishing in the air, and like a falling
star. But wisdom conjoined with love is like the abiding
light of the sun, and like a fixed star. A man has the love
of wisdom so far as he holds in aversion the diabolic
crowd of the lusts of evil and falsity.
36. The wisdom that comes to the perception is the per-
ception of truth from the affection for it, especially the
perception of spiritual truth, — for there is civil truth,
moral truth, and spiritual truth. They who are in the per-
32 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 38.
ception of spiritual truth from the affection for it, are also
in the perception of moral and of civil truth ; for the affec-
tion for spiritual truth is the soul of these perceptions. I
have sometimes spoken with the angels concerning wisdom ;
and they said that wisdom is conjunction with the Lord,
because He is Wisdom itself ; and that one comes into that
conjunction who rejects hell from himself and as far as he
rejects it. They said that they represent wisdom to them-
selves as a palace, magnificent and highly adorned, the
ascent to which is by twelve steps ; and that no one reaches
the first step unless from the Lord by conjunction with
Him ; and every one goes higher according to the conjunc-
tion ; and as he ascends, he perceives that no one is wise
from himself, but from the Lord ; also, that the things in
which a man is wise, compared with the things in which he
Is not wise, are as a few drops to a great lake. The twelve
steps to the palace of wisdom signify goods conjoined with
truths and truths conjoined with goods.
37. IV. The more closely a man is conjoined 'with the Lord,
the happier he becomes. Things may be said concerning
degrees of happiness like what were said above (n. 32 and
34), concerning the degrees of life and wisdom according
to conjunction with the Lord. For felicities or beatitudes
and delights rise, as the higher degrees of the mind which
are called the spiritual and the heavenly [celestial] are
opened in man ; and after his life in the world these de-
grees for ever grow.
38. No one who is in the enjoyments of the lusts of evil
can know any thing concerning the enjoyments of the
affections of good in which the angelic heaven is ; for the
enjoyments are wholly opposite to each other in internals,
and consequently are interiorly opposite in externals ; but
yet they differ but little on the mere surface. For every
love has its own enjoyments ; even a love of evil has them
with those who are in lusts, — as the love of committing
Adultery, of taking revenge, of defrauding, stealing, doing
No 39.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
35
cruel deeds ; yea, in the most wicked, of blaspheming the
holy things of the church, and pouring out their venom in
words against God. The love of bearing rule from self-
love is the fountain-head of these delights ; they are from
the lusts that beset the interiors of the mind ; fiom them
they flow down into the body, and there excite the unclean
things that titillate the fibres ; and thus from the mind's
enjoyment, according to the lusts, comes enjoyment to the
body. What the unclean things are that titillate the bodily
fibres of those who are in such lusts, and their quality, any
one may know after death, in the spiritual world. In gen-
eral, they are cadaverous, excrementitious, stercoraceous,
nidorous, and urinous ; for their hells abound in such un-
clean things. That they are correspondences may be seen
in the treatise on the " Divine Love and Wisdom " (n. 422-
424). But after those in whom they are have entered hell,
the filthy delights are turned into direful things. These
things have been said, to aid in understanding what and
of what quality the happiness of heaven is, — of which, in
what now follows ; for every thing is cognized from its
opposite.
39. The blessings, the charms, the delights and ameni-
ties, in a word the felicities of heaven, cannot be described
by words, though perceptible to the sense in heaven ; for
what is perceptible to sense only, cannot be described ; for it
does not fall into ideas of thought, nor, therefore, into words j
for only the understanding sees ; and it sees the things
which are of wisdom or tmth, not the things that are of
love or good ; wherefore those felicities are inexpressible,
but still they rise in &. like degree with wisdom. Their
varieties are unlimited, and each is ineffable. I have heard
this and have perceived it. But the felicities enter as man
removes the lusts of the love of evil and falsity as if from
himself but still from the Lord ; for these felicities are the
felicities of the affections of good and truth, which are
opposite to the lusts of the love of evil and falsity. Tbj
2*
34
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 43
fel cities of the affections of the love of good and truth
begin from the Lord, thus from the inmost ; and they dif-
fuse themselves thence into lower things even to the ulti-
mates ; and so they fill the angel, making him to be as it were
wholly a delight. Such felicities, in infinite variety, are in
every affection of good and truth, especially in the affection
of wisdom.
40. The delights of the lusts of evil and the delights of
che affections of good cannot be compared ; because the
devil is inwardly in the delights of the lusts of evil, and the
Lord is inwardly in the delights of the affections of good. If
a comparison is to be made, the delights of the lusts of evil
can be compared only with the lascivious delights of frogs
in stagnant waters, and of serpents amid stenches ; while
the delights of the affections of good may be compared to
the delights of the mind [animus] in gardens and flower-
beds ; for things like those which affect the frogs and
the serpents, also affect those in the hells who are in the
lusts of evil ; and things like those which affect the
mind [animus] in gardens and flower-beds, also affect
those in the heavens who are in the affections of good ;
for, as was said above, corresponding unclean things
affect the evil, and corresponding clean things affect the
good.
41. It may be evident from these things that the more
closely any one is conjoined with the Lord, the happier he
becomes. But this happiness rarely shows itself in the
world j for man is then in the natural state, and the natural
does not communicate with the spiritual by continuity, but
by correspondences ; and this communication is not felt
except by a certain quiet and peace of mind [animus],
chiefly following combats against evils. But when man
puts off the natural state and enters the spiritual, which
he does after his departure from the world, then the hap-
piness above described gradually manifests itself.
42. V. The more closely a man is conjoined with the Zord,
No. 43 J
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
35
the more distinctly he seems to himself as if he were his own
[suus~\, and the more clearly he recognizes that he is the Lord's.
There is an appearance that the more closely one is con-
joined with the Lord, the less he is his own [suns]. It
appears so to all the evil ; it also appears so to those who
from religion believe that they are not under the yoke of
the law, and that no one can do good from himself. For
these last, and also the evil, are unable to see otherwise
than this, — that not to be allowed to think and will evil,
but only good, is not to be one's own [suus] • and because
those who are conjoined with the Lord are neither willing
nor able to think and will evil, these two classes conclude,
from the appearance to themselves, that this is not to be
one's own ; when nevertheless the contrary is the truth.
43. There is infernal freedom and there is heavenly free-
dom. It is from infernal freedom that one thinks and wills
evil, and speaks and does it so far as civil and moral laws
do not hinder ; but it is from heavenly freedom that one
thinks and wills good, and speaks and does it so far as op-
portunity is granted. A man perceives as his whatever he
thinks, wills, speaks, and does from freedom ; for every
one's freedom is all from his love ; therefore they who are
in the love of evil do not perceive that infernal freedom is
not freedom itself ; but they who are in the love of good
perceive that heavenly freedom is freedom itself, and that,
consequently, the opposite is slavery to both. Still it can-
not be denied by any one that the one or the other is
freedom ; for two kinds of freedom, in themselves opposite,
cannot each be freedom itself. Moreover, it cannot be
denied that to be led by good is freedom, and to be led by
evil is slavery ; for to be led by good is to be led by the
Lord, and to be led by evil is to be led by the devil.
Now, because all that a man does from freedom ap-
pears as his, for it is of his love (and to do from one's
love is to do from freedom, as was said above), it fol-
lows that conjunction with the Lord makes a man seem
36
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 4*
to himself free and therefore his own [suus] ; and the
closer the conjunction with the Lord is, the more free he
seems, and hence, the more his own. That he seems to
himself more distinctly as his own, is because the Divine
Love is such that it wills its own to be another's, thus to be
a man's and an angel's. Such is all spiritual love, and pre-
eminently the Divine Love. And further : the Lord in no
wise compels any one ; for any thing whatever to which
one is forced, does not appear as his ; and what does not
seem as one's own, cannot be made his love's, and thus
appropriated to him as his. Therefore man is led by the Lord
continually in freedom, and is also reformed and regenerated
in freedom. But concerning this, more will be said in what
follows ; something may also be seen above (n. 4).
44. That the more distinctly a man appears to himself
as his own [suus], the more clearly he recognizes that he is
the Lord's, is because the more closely he is conjoined
with the Lord the wiser he becomes, as shown above (n. 34-
36) ; and wisdom teaches this, and also recognizes it. The
angels of the third heaven, as they are the wisest of the
angels, also perceive this ; and further, they call it freedom
itself ; but they call it slavery to be led by themselves.
They also give the reason : That the Lord does not flow
immediately into the things that are of their perception
and thought coming from wisdom, but into the affections
of the love of good, and through these into the others ;
and that they have a perception of the influx in the affec-
tion from which they have wisdom ; and that, thereafter,
all which they think from wisdom appears as from them-
selves, thus as their own ; and that by this a reciprocal
conjunction is established.
45. As the Lord's Divine Providence has a heaven from
the human race for its end, it follows that its end is the
conjunction of the human race with Himself (of which,
n. 28-31) : and again, that its end is, for man to be more
and more closely conjoined with Him (of which, n. 32, 33),
No. 46.I
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
37
for thus man has heaven more interiorly : and also, that
its end is for man by this conjunction to become wiser
(n. 34-36) ; and he becomes happier (n. 37-41), because it
is from wisdom and according to it that man has heaven,
and by it he has happiness also ; and finally, that its end
is for man to appear to himself more distinctly as his own
[suits], and still to recognize more clearly that he is the
Lord's (of which, n. 42-44). All these things are ot the
Lord's Divine Providence ; for they all are heaven, which
it has for its end.
THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE, IN ALL THAT
IT DOES, REGARDS THE INFINITE AND THE
. ETERNAL.
46. It is known in the Christian world that God is In-
finite and Eternal ; for, in the Doctrine of the Trinity that
has its name from Athanasius, it is said that God the Father
is Infinite, Eternal, and Omnipotent, in like manner God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit ; and that, nevertheless,
there are not three Infinite, Eternal, and Omnipotent, but
One. It follows from this that, as God is Infinite and
Eternal, nothing can be predicated of God but the Infinite
and the Eternal. But what the Infinite and Eternal is
cannot be comprehended by the finite, and also it can be ;
k cannot be comprehended because the finite cannot hold
the infinite ; and it can, because there are abstract ideas,
by which things are seen to be, though what they are in
quality be not seen. Such ideas are given concerning the
Infinite ; as, that God because He is Infinite, or the Di-
vine because it is Infinite, is Esse itself, is Essence and
Substance itself, is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or is Good
itself and Truth itself, is thus the Itself, yea, is Man Him-
self ; they are given, too, if it is said that the Infinite is
the All, — as, that Infinite Wisdom is [All Knowledge or]
Omniscience, and that Infinite Power is [All Might or]
Omnipotence. But still these things fall into indistinctness
j8 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo 47
of thought, and, from being incomprehensible, perchance
into denial, unless the things which thought derives from
nature be withdrawn from the idea ; especially the things
which thought has from the two properties of nature, space
and time ; for these cannot but limit ideas, and cause ab-
stract ideas to be as nothing. But if those things can be
withdrawn from the idea in man, as they are in an angel,
then may the Infinite be comprehended by means of such
ideas as were enumerated above ; hence, also, it may be
comprehended that man is something, because he was
created by the Infinite God who is All ; and again, that he
is a finite substance, because he was created by the In-
finite God who is Substance itself; and also, that he is
wisdom, because he was created by the Infinite God who
is Wisdom itself ; and so on. For unless the Infinite
God were the All, Substance itself, and Wisdom itself,
man would not be any thing ; thus would either be noth-
ing, or merely an idea of being, according to the visionaries
called idealists. From the things shown in the trea-
tise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom," it is
manifest that the Divine Essence is Love and Wisdom
(n. 28-39) '> tnat Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom
are Substance itself and Form itself, also the Itself [which
alone is], and the Only [from which all else is] (n. 40-46) ;
and that God created the universe and all things thereof
from Himself and not from nothing (n. 282-284). It fol-
lows from this, that every created thing, and especially
man, and the love and wisdom in him, are something, and
not merely ideas of being. For unless God were Infinite,
there would not be the finite ; and unless the Infinite were
All, there would not be any thing ; and unless God had
created all things from Himself, there would be nullity or
nothing. In a word, We are because God Is.
47. As the Divine Providence is now treated of, and as
it is here to be shown that, in all which it does, it regards
the infinite and the eternal, and as this cannot be set forth
No. 48.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
39
distinctly unless in some order, the order shall be as fol-
lows : I. The Infinite in itself and Eternal in itself is
the same as the Divine. II. The Infinite and Eternal in
itself cannot but regard what is infinite [and eternal] from
itself in the finite. III. The Divine Providence, in all
which it does, regards what is infinite and eternal from
itself, especially in saving the human race. IV. An image
of the Infinite and Eternal is shown in the angelic heaven
from a saved human race. V. To regard the Infinite and
Eternal in forming the angelic heaven, that it may be be
fore the Lord as one man, the image of Himself, is the
inmost of the Divine Providence.
48. I. The Infinite in itself and Eternal in itself is the
same as the Divine. This may be evident from what has
been shown in many places in the treatise concerning the
" Divine Love and Wisdom." That the Infinite in itself
and Eternal in itself is the Divine, is according to the angelic
idea ; by the Infinite, the angels understand nothing else
than the Divine Esse [To be\ and by the Eternal, the
Divine Existere [To exist]. But that the Infinite in itself
and Eternal in itself is the Divine, can be seen by men, and
cannot be seen. It can be seen by those who think of the
Infinite, not from space, and of the Eternal, not from time ;
but it cannot be seen by those who think of the infinite
and the eternal from space and time. Thus it can be seen
by those who think on a higher plane, that is, interiorly in
the rational [mind] ; but it cannot be seen by those who
think on a lower plane, that is, externally. Those by whom
it can be seen, reflect that an infinity of space cannot be ;
so neither an infinity of time, which is an eternity from
which [things have been] j because infinity has no end,
either first or last, or is without limits. They also reflect
that neither can there be an Infinite from itself ; because
from itself supposes limit, and a beginning or prior from
which it is ; and therefore it is unmeaning to speak of th«
Infinite and Eternal from itself, for this would be like say-
40
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 5a
ing Esse {To be\ from itself, which is contradictory ; for an
Infinite from itself would be an Infinite from an Infinite,
and Esse from itself would be Esse from Esse ; and this
Infinite and Esse would either be the same with The In-
finite, or would be finite. From these and similar reasons,
which may be seen interiorly in the rational [mind], it is
manifest that there is the Infinite in itself, and the Eternal
in itself ; and that this Infinite and Eternal is the Divine
from which all things are.
49. I know that many will say within themselves, How
can one interiorly in his rational [mind] comprehend a
something without space and without time ; and that it not
only is, but also that it is the all, and is the itself from
which all things are ? But reflect interiorly whether love
or any one of its affections, or wisdom or any one of its per-
ceptions, yea, whether thought, is in space and in time ;
and you will find that they are not. And since the Divine
is Love itself and Wisdom itself, it follows that the Divine
cannot be conceived of as in space and time ; so neither
can the Infinite. For a clearer perception of this, examine
the question whether thought is in time and space : Sup-
pose thought to go on for ten or twelve hours ; may not
this space of time seem but an hour or two ? and may it
not possibly seem to be one or two days ? Its appearance
is according to the state of the affection from which the
thought comes. If the affection is one of gladness, in
which there is no thought of time, ten or twelve hours spent
in thought seem hardly one or two. But the reverse is the
case if the affection is one of sorrow, in which time is
noticed. From this it is manifest, that time is only an ap-
pearance according to the state of affection from which
thought comes. So it is with distance in space while in
thought, when walking or when journeying.
50. Since angels and spirits are affections that are of
love, and thoughts from affection, they, therefore, are not
in space and time, but only in the appearance of them. To
No. So.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 41
them there is an appearance of space and time according
to the states of the affections and of the thoughts from the
affections. Wherefore, when one is thinking of another
from affection, with the purpose and wish to see him or :o
speak with him, he is forthwith presented before him.
Hence it is, that there are spirits present with every man
who are in like affection with himself ; evil spirits with one
who is in the affection of similar evil, and good spirits with
one who is in the affection of similar good ; and they are
as really present as if the man were included in their
society. Space and time do nothing towards the presence ;
because affection and the thought from it are not in space
and time ; and spirits and angels are affections, and
thoughts from affection. It has been given me to know
that this is so from the living experience of many years ;
and also from having conversed with many after their
death, some in Europe and its various kingdoms, and
some in Asia and Africa and their various kingdoms ; and
they were all near me : so if there were space and time
with them, a journey and time to make it would inter-
vene. Indeed every man knows this from what is in-
herent in himself or in his own mind, of which I have had
evidence in this, — that no one has thought of any dis-
tance in space when I have told him that I had spoken
with some one who died in Asia, Africa, or in Europe ;
as, for example, with Calvin, Luther, Melancthon, or
with some king, ruler, or priest in a distant land ; nor
did even the thought arise, — How could he speak with
those who lived there ? and how could they come and
be with him, while land and sea lie between ? From this
also it has been manifest to me that one does not think
from space and time while he is thinking of those who
are in the spiritual world. Nevertheless, that there is to
them the appearance of space and of time may be seen in
the wor'.c concerning " Heaven and Hell " (n. 162-169,
191-199).
42 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 53.
51. From these things it may now be evident that the
Infinite and Eternal, thus the Lord, is to be thought of
without space and time ; and that such thought is possible ;
also that they have such thought who think interiorly in the
rational [mind] ; and that then the Infinite and Eternal is
the same as the Divine. So do angels and spirits think.
From thought abstracted from time and space, there is a
comprehension of the Divine Omnipresence and the Divine
Omnipotence, also of the Divine from Eternity ; but none
at all from thought to which cleaves the idea from space
and time. From these things it is manifest that there can
be thought concerning God from eternity, but in no wise
concerning nature from eternity ; consequently, there can
be thought concerning the creation of the universe by God,
but none at all concerning creation from nature ; for space
and time are properties of nature, but the Divine is without
them. That the Divine is without space and time may be
seen in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wis-
dom " (n. 7-10, 69-72, 73-76, and elsewhere).
52. II. The Infinite and Eternal in itself cannot but regard
what is infinite and eternal from itself in the finite. By the
Infinite and Eternal in itself is meant the Divine itself, as
was shown in the preceding article ; by the finite are
meant all things created by It, and especially men, spirits,
and angels ; and to regard what is infinite and eternal from
Itself, is to regard the Divine, that is, Itself in them, as a
man looks at an image of himself in a mirror. That it is
so, is shown in many places in the treatise concerning the
" Divine Love and Wisdom," especially where it is shown
that in the created universe there is an image of man, and
an image of the infinite and the eternal (n. 317, 318), thus an
image of God the Creator, that is, of the Lord from
eternity. But it is to be known that the Divine in itself is
in the Lord ; but the Divine from itself is the Divine from
the Lord in created things.
53. But this must be illustrated, that it may be niort
No. S3 ]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
43
fully understood. The Divine can regard only the Divine ;
and it can regard this nowhere but in things created by
Itself. That it is so is evident from this, that no one can
regard another except from what is his own [situs] in him-
self. He who loves another regards him from his own
love in himself ; one who is wise regards another from his
own wisdom in himself. He may indeed see that the other
loves him or does not love him, and that he is wise or that
he is not wise ; but he sees this from the love and the wis-
dom in himself. Therefore he conjoins himself with the
other so far as the other loves him as he loves the other,
or so far as the other is wise as he is wise ; for so they
make one. It is similar with the Divine in itself ; for the
Divine in itself cannot regard Itself from another, as from
a man, a spirit, or an angel ; for in them there is nothing
of the Divine in itself, from which [all things are] ; and to
regard the Divine from another in whom there is nothing
of the Divine, would be to regard the Divine from what is
not Divine, which is impossible. From this it is, that the
Lord is so conjoined with man, spirit, and angel, that all
which has relation to the Divine is from the Lord, and not
from them. For it is known that all the good and all the
truth which any one has, is not from him but from the Lord ;
yes, that one cannot even name the Lord, or speak His
names Jesus and Christ, unless from Him. From this it
now follows, that the Infinite and Eternal, which is the
same as the Divine, regards all things in the finite infinitely ;
and that He conjoins Himself with them according to the
degree of the reception of wisdom and love in them. In a
word, the Lord cannot have a dwelling-place in man and
angel, and abide with them, except in His Own ; not in
what belongs to them, for this is evil ; and if it were good,
still it is finite, which in itself and from itself is not capable
of holding the Infinite. From the things that have beep
said, it is manifest that a finite one can in no wise behold
the Infinite, but that the Infinite One regards what is in-
finite from Himself in the finite.
44
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 50.
54. It appears as if the Infinite could not be conjoined
with the finite, because there is no ratio between them, and
because the finite is incapable of holding what is infinite :
but still there is conjunction, both because the Infinite
One created all things from Himself (according to what is
shown in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love £.nd
Wisdom " (n. 282, 283), and because the Infinite One can-
not regard any thing in those who are finite except what is
infinite from Himself, and [He provides] that this may ap-
pear to the finite as in them. And thus there is a ratio
between the finite and the infinite, not from the finite, but
from the infinite in the finite ; and also one who is finite is
thus capable of holding what is infinite ; not the finite one
in himself, but as in himself, from what is infinite from
itself, in him. But of this more in what now follows.
55. III. The Divine Providence, in all which it does, re-
gards what is infinite and eternal from itself, especially in
saving the human race. The Infinite and Eternal in itself
is the Divine itself, or the Lord in Himself ; but the Infi-
nite and Eternal from itself is the proceeding Divine, or the
Lord in others created from Himself, thus in men and in
angels ; and this Divine is the same as the Divine Provi-
dence ; for the Lord, by the Divine from Himself, provides
for all things to be held together in the order in which and
into which they were created. And because the proceed-
ing Divine works this, it follows that all this is the Divine
Providence.
56. That the Divine Providence in all which it does re-
gards what is infinite and eternal from itself, may be
evident from this, — that every created thing proceeds
from the First, who is the Infinite and Eternal, to ultimates ;
and from ultimates to the First from whom it came ; as is
shown in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and
Wisdom," in the part which treats of the creation of the
universe. And because most interiorly in all progression
is the First from which it is, it follows that the proceeding
No. S7.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
45
Divine or the Divine Providence regards, in all that it does,
some image of the infinite and eternal : it regards this in
all things ; in some things so that perception is a witness,
in others not. It presents that image to tht evidence of
perception in the variety of all things, and in the fructifi-
cation and multiplication of all things. An image of the
infinite and eternal in the variety of all things, is apparent in
this, — that there is not one thing which is the same as
another, nor can there be to eternity. This is manifest to
the eye, in the faces of human beings from their first crea-
tion ; also from their minds [animus], of which their faces
are the types ; and also from the affections, perceptions,
and thoughts, for the mind [animus] is from these. For
this reason, there are no two angels in the whole heaven,
nor two spirits, who are the same ; nor can there be, to
eternity. And so it is with every object of sight, in both
worlds, the natural and the spiritual. From this it may be
evident that variety is infinite and eternal. An image of
the infinite ami eternal in the fructification and multiplication
of all things, is evident from the power inherent in the
seeds of the vegetable kingdom, and from prolification in
the animal kingdom, especially in the family of fishes ; for
if they were fructified and multiplied according to their
ability, they would within a century fill the space of the
whole world, and even of the universe. From this it is
manifest that in the power of increase lies hidden the en-
deavor to propagate oneself to infinity. And as fructifica-
tion and multiplication have not failed from the beginning
of creation, and will never cease, it follows that in this
faculty there is the endeavor to propagate oneself to
etei nity.
57. It is the same with men as to their affections which
are of love, and their perceptions which are of wisdom.
The variety of them both is infinite and eternal ; so, too,
their fructification and multiplication, which are spiritual.
No man enjoys an affection and perception so like anothsr'a
46
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 5S
as to be the same ; nor can such ever be. Moreover,
affections may be fructified and perceptions multiplied
without end. That knowledge is inexhaustible is known.
This faculty of fructification and multiplication without
limit, or to infinity and eternity, men have in natural things
but it is in spiritual things with the spiritual angels, and in
heavenly things with the heavenly [celestial] angels. Not
only are affections, perceptions, and knowledges such in
general ; but also every single thing in them, even the
most minute, in particular. They are such because they
have their existence from the Infinite and Eternal in itself,
by what is infinite and eternal from itself. But because
the finite has not any thing of the Divine in itself, there is
therefore no such thing, not even the most minute, in man
or angel, as his ; for a man or an angel is finite, and only
a receptacle, in itself dead. What is living, in him, is from
the proceeding Divine conjoined with him by contiguity,
and appearing to him as his. That the case is so will be
seen in what follows.
58. The Divine Providence regards what is infinite and
eternal from itself especially in saving the human race, be-
cause a heaven from the human race is the end of the
Divine Providence, as was shown above (n. 27-45) ; and
this being the end, it follows that the reformation and the
regeneration of man, thus his salvation, is what the Divine
Providence especially regards ; for from those who are
saved, or the regenerate, heaven has existence. Since to
regenerate man is to unite in him good and truth, or love
and wisdom, as they are united in the Divine which pro-
ceeds from the Lord, therefore the Divine Providence
piunarily regards this in saving the human race; the
image of the Infinite and Eternal is nowhere in man but in
the marriage of good and truth. That the proceeding
Divine does this in the human race, is known from those
who, filled with the proceeding Divine which is called the
Holy Spirit, have prophesied, of whom in the Word ; also
No. 60. |
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
47
from those who, being enlightened, see Divine truths in the
light of heaven ; especially with the angels, who sensibly
perceive the presence, the influx, and the conjunction ; but
the angels also recognize that the conjunction is only what
may be called adjunction.
59. It has not been known that the Divine Providence
in all the progression in man regards his eternal state ; but
it cannot regard any thing else, because the Divine is the
Infinite and the Eternal, and the Infinite and Eternal 01
the Divine is not in time, and hence all things that are to
be are present to It ; and as the Divine is such, it follows
that the eternal is in all things and in each thing that It
does. But they who think from time and space hardly per-
ceive this, not only because they love the things of time,
but also because they think from the present in the world
and not from the present in heaven, this being to them as
far away as the end of the earth. But because they who
are in the Divine think from the Lord, they think also from
what is eternal while they think from the present ; saying
within themselves, — What is this which is not eternal ? Is
not the temporal comparatively as nothing, and does it not
also become nothing when it is ended ? It is different with
the eternal ; this alone Is ; for its esse [to be\ is not ended.
To think thus is to think at the same time from the eternal
while one is thinking from the present ; and when a man
thinks so, and at the same time lives so, then the proceed-
ing Divine with him, or the Divine Providence, in all the
progression, regards the state of his eternal life in heaven,
and leads to that. That the Divine, in every man, evil
and good, regards what is eternal, will be seen in what fol-
lows.
60. IV. An image of the Infinite atid Eternal is shmvn in
the angelic heaven. Among the things of which it is neces-
sary to have knowledge, is also the angelic heaven ; for
every one who has a religion thinks of it, and wishes to
reach it But heaven is given to none but those who know
48
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 61.
the way to it, and who walk in that way. This way may
also be somewhat known from a cognition of the quality of
those who constitute heaven, and that no one becomes an
angel, or comes into heaven, unless he carries with him
from the world what is angelic ; and in the angelic there is
a cognition of the way from walking in it, and a walking in
the way by cognition of it. In the spiritual world, also,
there are actually ways, running to every society of heaven
and to every society of hell ; and each one, as from him-
self, sees his way. That he sees it, is because the ways
there are one for every love ; and the love opens it, and
leads one to his fellows. No one sees other ways than
the way of his love. From which it is manifest that the
angels are no other than heavenly loves ; for otherwise
they would not have seen the ways leading to heaven. But
this may be more evident from a description of heaven.
61. Every man's spirit is affection and the thought from
it ; and as all affection is of love and thought is of the un-
derstanding, every spirit is his own love [suus], and thence
his own understanding. For this reason, when a man is
thinking only from his own spirit, which he does while
meditating at home by himself, he thinks from the affection
which is of his love. It may hence be evident that a man
when he becomes a spirit, as he does after death, is the
affection from his own love, and is no other thought than
what is of his affection. He is an evil affection, which is
lust, if his love has been the love of evil ; and he is a good
affection if his love has been the love of good ; and with
every one, there is good affection as he has shunned evils
as sins ; and with every one there is evil affection as he has
not so shunned evils. Now because all spirits and angels
are affections, it is manifest that the universal angelic
heaven is nothing but the love of all the affections of good,
and thence the wisdom of all the perceptions of truth.
And as all good and truth are from the Lord, and the Lord
is Love itself and Wisdom itself, it follows that the angelic
No. 63.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
49
heaven is His image. And as the Divine Love and Wis-
dom in their Form are Man, it follows, also, that the
angelic heaven cannot be otherwise than in such a form.
But of this more will be said in the following article.
62. The angelic heaven is an image of the Infinite and
Eternal because it is an image of the Lord, and the Lord
is the Infinite and Eternal. An image of His Infinite and
Eternal appears in this, that there are myriads of myriads
of angels constituting heaven, and that as many societies
constitute it as there are general affections of heavenly
love, and that every angel in each society is his own affec-
tion [suits], distinctly ; and that from so many affections,
generally and particularly, is the Form of Heaven, which
before the Lord is as one, even as a man is one ; and that
this form is for ever perfecting according to the increase of
membe-s, for the more they are who enter the form of the
Divine Love, which is the Form of forms, the more perfect
the union becomes. From these things it is clearly mani-
fest that an image of the Infinite and Eternal is presented
in the angelic heaven.
63. From the cognition of heaven given by this brief de-
scription, it is manifest that the affection which is from the
love of good, makes heaven with a man. But who at the
present day knows this ? or who knows even what an affec-
tion from the love of good is ? and that the affections from
the love of good are innumerable, yes, infinite? — for, as
was said, every angel is his own affection, distinctly ; and
the Form of Heaven is the form of all the affections of the
Divine Love there. To unite all the affections into this
form, no other is able than He who is Love itself and
Wisdom itself together, and who at once is Infinite and
Eternal j for what is infinite and eternal is in all of the
form, the infinite in the conjunction, and the eternal in the
perpetuity ; if the infinite and the eternal were withdrawn
from it, in a moment it would crumble. Who else can
unite affections into form ? Or who else can even unite a
3
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 65
single one that enters it ? For its unit cannot be united
without a universal idea of all ; and the universal of all
cannot, unless from a particular idea of each. There are
myriads of myriads composing that form ; myriads enter
it every year, and will for ever. All infants come into it ;
and as many adults as are affections from the love of good.
From these things again may be seen the image of the In-
finite and Eternal in the angelic heaven.
64. V. To regard the Infinite and Eternal in forming the
angelic heaven, that it may be before the Lord as one man, the
image of Himself, is the inmost of the Divine Providence.
That the universal heaven is as one man before the Lord,
and every society of heaven likewise, and that it is thence
that every angel is a man in perfect form, and this because
God the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, is Man,
may be seen in the work concerning " Heaven and Hell "
(n. 59-86) ; and again, that thence there is a correspon-
dence of all the things of heaven with all the things of man
(n. 87-102). It has not been manifested to my sight that
the universal heaven is as one man, for the universal
heaven can be seen only by the Lord ; but that an entire
society of heaven, greater and smaller, appeared as one
man, has several times been seen by me ; and it has then
been said that the greatest society, which is heaven in
the whole aggregate, appears so likewise, but before the
Lord ; and that this is the cause of every angel's being in
all his form a man.
65. Since the universal heaven in the Lord's sight is as
one man, therefore heaven is distinguished into as many
general societies as there are organs, viscera, and members
in a man ; and every general society, into as many less
general or particular societies as there are larger divisions
in each of the viscera and organs ; from which is manifest
the quality of a heaven. Now because the Lord is The
Man, and heaven is His image, therefore to be in heaven
is called being in the Lord. That the Lord is The Man,
No. 68.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
51
may be seen in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love
and Wisdom" (n. 11-13, 285-289).
66. From these things may in some measure be seen this
arcanum, which may be called angelic, — that every a.fec-
tion of good and at the same time of truth, is in its foim a
man. For whatever proceeds from the Lord, has it irom
His Divine Love that it is an affection of good, and lrom
His Divine Wisdom that it is an affection of truth. The
affection of truth, which proceeds from the Lord, appears
as perception and thence thought of truth, in angei and in
man ; because attention is given to the perception and
thought, and little to the affection from which these come,
though they proceed from the Lord as one with the aifec-
tion of truth.
67. Now as a man from creation is a heaven in the least
form, and is thence an image of the Lord, and as heuven
consists of as many affections as there are angels, and
every affection in its form is man, it follows that the con-
tinual [working] of the Divine Providence is for man to be
made a heaven in form, and hence an image of the Lord ;
and, because this is done by means of the affection of
good and truth, for him to be made this affection. This,
therefore, is the continual [working] of the Divine Provi-
dence. But its inmost is, for man to be here or to be there
in heaven ; or, here or there in the Divine heavenly man ;
for so he is in the Lord. But this is done with those whom
the Lord can lead to heaven. And as the Lord fore-
sees this, He also provides continually for man to be such
as has been described ; for so every one who suffers him-
self to be led to heaven is prepared for his own place in
heaven.
68. As was said above, heaven is distinguished into socie-
ties, as many as the organs, viscera, and members in a
man ; and in these, no part can be in any place but its
own [suus]. Since, therefore, the angels are such parts in
the Divine heavenly man, and none are made angels but
52
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 7a
those who have been men in the world, it follows that the
man who suffers himself to be led to heaven is continually
prepared by the Lord for his own place, which is done by
means of such an affection of good and truth as corresponds
with it. To this place also every man-angel is assigned
after his departure from the world. This is the inmost of
the Divine Providence respecting heaven.
69. But the man who does not suffer himself to be led
and assigned to heavei. is prepared for his own place in
hell. For man from himself continually tends to the lowest
of hell, but is continually withheld by the Lord ; and he
who cannot be withheld, is prepared for a certain place
there, to which also he is assigned immediately after his
departure out of the world ; and this place there is opposite
to a certain place in heaven ; for hell is the direct opposite
of heaven. Wherefore, as the man-angel, according to the
affection of good and truth, is allotted his own [suns] place
in heaven, so the man-devil, according to the affection of
evil and falsity, is allotted his own [situs] place in hell.
For two opposites set in similar position against each other
are held in a connection. This is the inmost of the Divine
Providence concerning hell.
THERE ARE LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
WHICH ARE UNKNOWN TO MEN.
70. That there is a Divine Providence is known ; but of
what quality it is, is not known. This is not known, be-
cause the laws of the Divine Providence are arcana, hitherto
hidden within the wisdom of the angels, but now to be re-
vealed, that what is the Lord's may be ascribed to Him,
and that what is not man's may not be ascribed to any man.
For very many in the world attribute all things to :hem-
selves and their prudence ; or what they cannot, they call
fortuitous and accidental, not knowing that human prudence
is nothing, and that fortuitous and accidental are idle
No. 71.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
53
words. It is said that the laws of the Divine Providence
are arcana, hitherto hidden in the wisdom of the angels.
This is because in the Christian world the understanding
in Divine things has been closed, from religion ; and hence
it has become so obtuse and resistant in those things, that
man has not been able because he has not been willing, or
has not been willing because he has not been able, to un-
derstand any thing more concerning the Divine Providence
than merely that it is ; also to reason whether it is or not,
and also whether it is universal only, or also particular.
The understanding, being closed in Divine things from the
religion, could advance no further. But as there has been
an acknowledgment in the church that man cannot from
himself do good that is in itself good, nor from himself
think truth that is in itself truth, and as this is one with a
Divine Providence (wherefore faith in the one depends on
faith in the other), that the one may not be affirmed and
the other denied and thus both perish, what the Divine
Providence is must by all means be revealed. But this
cannot be revealed unless the laws are disclosed by which
the Lord provides and rules the things of man's will and
understanding. For the laws make known the quality of
the Divine Providence ; and he alone who knows its
quality can acknowledge it, for then he sees it. For this
reason the laws of the Divine Providence, hitherto hidden
within the wisdom that the angels have, are now revealed.
IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT
MAN SHOULD ACT FROM FREEDOM ACCORDING TO
REASON.
71. That man has the freedom of thinking and willing
as he pleases, but not the freedom to say whatever he
thinks and to do whatever he wills, is known. Therefore
the freedom here meant is spiritual freedom, and not natu-
ral, except when the two make one. For thinking and
54 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 7a
willing are spiritual, but speaking and doing are natural
They are, moreover, clearly distinguished in man; for a
man can think what he does not utter, and can will what
he does not do ; from which it is manifest that the spiritual
and the natural in man are discriminated ; therefore man
cannot pass from one to the other but by determination.
This determination may be compared to a door, which is
first to be unfastened and opened. But this door as it
were stands open in those who think and will from reason
in accordance with the civil laws of the kingdom and the
moral laws of society ; for they say what they think, and
they do as they will ; but the door as it were stands shut
in those who think and will in opposition to those laws.
Whoever attends to his wishes and the consequent actions,
will notice that such determination comes in, and some-
times frequently in a single conversation and a single
action. These things have been premised, that it may be
known that by acting from freedom according to reason is
meant to freely think and will, and thence freely to speak
and do, what is according to reason.
72. But as few know that this can be a Law of the Di-
vine Providence, chiefly because man thus has also freedom
to think evil and falsity, while yet the Divine Providence
is continually leading him to think and will good and truth,
that there may be a perception of it, we must therefore pro-
ceed by distinct steps ; which will be done in the following
order : I. Man has reason and freedom, or rationality and
liberty, and these two faculties are from the Lord in man.
II. Whatever a man does from freedom, whether it be of
reason or not, provided it is according to his reason, ap-
pears to him as his. III. Whatever a man does from free-
dom, according to his thought, is appropriated to him as
his, and remains. IV. By means of these two faculties
man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord ; and he can-
not be reformed and regenerated without them. V. With
these two faculties as the means, a man can be reformed
No. 731
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
55
and regenerated so far as by them he can be led to ac-
knowledge that every thing good and true which he thinks
and does is from the Lord and not from himself. VI. The
conjunction of the Lord with man, and the reciprocal con-
junction of man with the Lord, is effected by means of
these two faculties. VII. The Lord keeps these two facul-
ties in man, unimpaired and as sacred, in all the course of
His Divine Providence. VIII. Therefore it is of the Di-
vine Providence that man should act from freedom accord-
ing to reason.
73. I. Man has reason and freedom, or rationality and
liberty, and these two faculties are from the Lord in man.
That man has the faculty of understanding, which is ration-
ality, and the faculty of thinking, willing, speaking, and
doing what he understands, which is liberty, and that these
two faculties are from the Lord in man, has been treated
of in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wis-
dom" (n. 264-270, 425 ; also above, n. 43, 44). But as
many doubts may occur concerning each of these faculties
when they are made subjects of thought, in this prelimi-
nary I wish merely to present something concerning the
freedom of acting according to reason that is in man.
But first it is to be known, that all freedom is of love,
even so that love and freedom are one ; and because love
is man's life, freedom is of his life also ; for all the en-
joyment that a man has is from his love, no enjoyment
coming from any other source ; and to act from love's en-
joyment is acting from freedom ; for a man is led by the
enjoyment, as any thing is borne along by a river's cur-
rent. Now as there are many loves, some in harmony
and some discordant, it follows that there are many kinds
of freedom, likewise ; but, in general, there are three,
natural, rational, and spiritual. Natural Freedom, every
man has by inheritance ; from it he loves nothing but him-
self and the world ; his first life is nothing else. And as
all evils have their existence from the loves of self and tha
56 ANGELIC -WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 73.
world, and the evils which are from them also become of
the love, it follows that man's natural freedom is to think
and to will evils ; also, that, when he has confirmed them
in himself by reasonings, he does them from freedom ac-
cording to his reason. To do so is from his faculty which
is called liberty ; and to confirm them is from his faculty
which is called rationality. For example : It is from the
love into which a man is born, that he wishes to commit
adultery, to defraud, to blaspheme, to take revenge; and
when he confirms these evils in himself, and so makes them
allowable, then freely from the enjoyment in the love of
them, and as it were according to reason, he thinks and wills
them ; and, so far as civil laws do not restrain, he speaks
and acts. It is from the Lord's Divine Providence that
man is allowed to do so, for he has freedom or liberty.
Man is in this freedom by nature, because hereditarily ;
and they are in this freedom who have confirmed it in
themselves by reasonings, from the enjoyment in the love
of self and the world. Rational freedom is from the love of
reputation for the sake of honor or for the sake of gain.
The enjoyment of this love is in one's appearing externally
as a moral man ; and because he loves the reputation of
this, he does not defraud, commit adultery, take revenge,
nor blaspheme ; and because he makes his course a mat-
ter of reason, he also acts from freedom according to his
reason, sincerely, justly, chastely, and in a friendly way ;
he can from reason even speak well in favor of so living.
But if his rational is merely natural and not at the same
time spiritual, that freedom is only external freedom, not
internal ; for he still does not love the goods inwardly, but
only outwardly for the sake of the reputation, as was said.
Wherefore the good deeds which he does are not in them-
selves good. He may also say that these ought to be done
for the public welfare ; but he says this not from love of
the public good, but from love of his own honor or gain,
Hia freedom, therefore, derives nothing from the lot e ol
no. 74.J
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
57
the public good ; nor does his reason, because this assents
to his love. This rational freedom is, therefore, inwardly
natural freedom. This freedom also is left to every one,
from the Lord's Divine Providence. Spiritual freedom is
from the love of eternal life. Into this love and its enjoy-
ment no one comes but he who thinks evils to be sins and
therefore does not will them, and who at the same time
looks to the Lord. When a man first does this, he is in
that freedom. For no one is able not to will evils be-
cause they are sins, and therefore not to do them, unless
from the more internal or higher freedom which is from
his more internal or higher love. At first this freedom
does not seem to be freedom, yet still it is ; but it after-
wards appears so, and then man acts from real freedom
according to true reason in thinking, willing, speaking, and
doing what is good and true. This freedom grows, as the
natural freedom decreases and becomes subservient ; and
it conjoins itself with rational freedom and purifies it. Any
one may come into this freedom, if he is but willing to re-
flect that life is eternal, and that the temporary enjoyment
and bliss of a life in time are but as a fleeting shadow, com-
pared with the never-ending enjoyment and bliss of a life
in eternity ; and a man can think so if he wishes, because
he has rationality and liberty, and because the Lord, from
whom these two faculties are, continually gives the ability.
74. II. Whatever a man does from freedom, whether it be
of reason or not, provided it is according to his reason, appears
to him as his. What rationality is, and what liberty, which
are proper to man, cannot be more clearly known than by
a comparison of men with beasts ; for the beasts have no
rationality or faculty of understanding, nor any liberty 01
faculty of willing freely ; and hence they have not under
standing and will, but instead of understanding they havfc
knowledge, and instead of will, affection ; both natural
And because they have not those two faculties, neither
have they thought, but instead of thought they have an in
3*
58
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 75
ternal sight which by correspondence makes one with their
external sight. Every affection has its mate as a partner ;
an affection of natural love has knowledge, an affection of
spiritual love has intelligence, and an affection of heavenly
love, wisdom ; for affection without its mate as a partner is
not any thing ; for it is as esse be] without existere [to
exist], and as substance without form, of which nothing can
be predicated. Hence, within every created thing there is
something which may be referred to the marriage of good
and truth, as has been shown above in many places. In
beasts there is the marriage of affection and knowledge ,
here the affection is of natural good, and the knowledge
is of natural truth. Now because affection and knowl-
edge act altogether as one in them, and their affection can-
not be raised above their knowledge, nor their knowledge
above their affection, but when elevated they are both
elevated together ; and because they have no spiritual
mind, into which, or into the light and heat of which, they
can be elevated ; therefore they have not the faculty of un-
derstanding, or rationality, nor the faculty of willing freely,
or liberty, but merely natural affection with its knowledge.
The natural affection which they have, is an affection for
taking food, finding shelter, having offspring, escaping and
avoiding injury ; with all requisite knowledge of these
things. Such being the state of their life, they are not able
to reflect that they desire one thing and not another, that
they know one thing and not another, still less that they
understand and love any thing ; but from their affection,
by means of the knowledge, they are carried along, without
rationality and liberty. It is not from the natural world,
but from the spiritual, that they are so carried ; for there
is not any thing in the natural world unconnected with the
spiritual world ; every cause producing an effect is there-
from. Something on this subject may also be seen below
(n. 96).
75. It is otherwise with man ; he has not only the affec
Nc 76.) THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
59
tion of natural love but also the affection of spiritual and
of heavenly [celestial] love. For the human mind is of
three degrees, as shown in Part Third of the treatise con-
cerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom." Wherefore a
man can be raised from natural knowledge into spiritual
intelligence, and from this into heavenly [celestial] wisdom ;
and from these two, intelligence and wisdom, he can look
to the Lord, and thus be conjoined with Him ; by which
means he lives for ever. But as to the affection there
would not be this elevation, unless man had from ration-
ality ability to elevate the understanding, and from liberty,
ability to wish to do so. By means of these two faculties
he is able to reflect within himself upon the things which
he perceives without, through the bodily senses ; and he
can also think above, concerning what he is thinking below.
For any one can say, I have thought this, and I think this ;
also, This I have willed, and this I will ; or again, I under-
stand this, that it is so, and I love this because it is such ;
and so on. Thus it is manifest that man can think above
the thought, seeing it as beneath him ; this ability man has
from rationality and from liberty ; from rationality, that he
can think higher ; from liberty, that from affection he wills
to think so : for unless he had liberty so to think, he would
not have the will, and thus not the thought. Wherefore
they who do not wish to understand any thing but what is
of the world and its nature, — not even what moral and
spiritual good and truth are, — cannot be raised from
knowledge into intelligence, still less into wisdom ; for they
have blocked up these faculties ; they therefore make them-
selves to be men only in being able to understand if they
wish, and in being able to wish, from the rationality and
liberty implanted in them. From these two faculties one
is able to think, and to speak from the thought ; in all other
things they are not men, but beasts ; and some, from the
abuse of these faculties, are worse than beasts.
76. Any one from a rationality not beclouded may seo
oo
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 77
~>r comprehend that man, without the appearance that it is
his, cannot be in any affection of knowing, nor in any
affection of understanding ; for all enjoyment and pleasure,
thus all that belongs to will, is from affection that is ol
love Who can wish to know any thing and to understand
any thing, unless he has some pleasure from affection ?
And who can have this pleasure of affection unless that
with which he is affected appears as his ? If nothing
were his, but all another's, or, if any one from his own
affections should infuse any thing into the mind of another
who had no affections for knowing and understanding as
from himself, would he receive, nay, could he receive it ?
Would he not be what is called a dullard and a stock ?
From this it may be clearly evident that, though all flows
in of which a man has perception and thence thought and
knowledge, and which according to perception he wills and
does, still it is of the Lord's Divine Providence for it to ap-
pear as the man's ; for, as was said, otherwise the man
would receive nothing, thus could not be gifted with any
intelligence and wisdom. It is known that all that is good
and true is not man's, but the Lord's, and yet that it ap-
pears to man as his ; and because every thing good and
true so appears, so do all things of the church and of heaven,
consequently all things of love and wisdom, and of charity
and faith ; and nevertheless, not one of them is man's.
No one can receive them from the Lord unless it appears
to him that he perceives them as from himself. Frcm
these things may be evident the truth of the statement,
that whatever a man does from freedom, whether it be of
reason or not, provided it is according to his reason, ap-
pears to him as his.
77. Who, from his faculty called rationality, cannot
understand that this good or that is useful to the com-
munity at large, and that this or that evil is hurtful to it ?
For example : that justice, sincerity, and the chastity of
marriage are useful to the community , and that injustice,
No. 78.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
61
insincerity, and adulterous relations with the wives of
others, are hurtful to it ; consequently, that these evils in
themselves are injuries, and that the goods in themselves
are benefits. Who cannot therefore make these things
matters of his reason, if he choose ? He has rationality,
and he has liberty. His liberty and rationality are un
veiled, they show themselves, they regulate, they give per
ception and ability, as far as from these considerations man
shuns those evils in himself ; and as far as he does this, he
regards those goods as a friend regards friends. From his
faculty that is called rationality a man may afterwards draw
conclusions from these things in relation to the things
that are for the common good in the spiritual world, and
in relation to the evils which are hurtful there, if for evils
he only has a perception of sins, and for good things, works
of charity. This also he can make a matter of his reason,
if he choose, since he has rationality and liberty ; and
these are unveiled, show themselves, regulate, and give
perception and ability, as far as he shuns the same evils
as sins ; and as far as he does this, he regards the goods of
charity as neighbor regards neighbor, from love on both
sides. Now as it is the Lord's will, for the sake of recep-
tion and conjunction, that whatever a man does freely ac-
cording to reason should appear to him as his, and as this
work is in accordance with reason itself, it follows that
man from reason, because it is his eternal happiness, can
will this ; and can do it from the Lord's Divine power for
which he has made supplication.
78. III. Whatever a man does from freedom, according to
his thought, is appropriated to him as his, and remains. This
is because the proprium [o7cnhood] of man and his freedom
make one. Man's proprium is of his life ; and what a man
does from the life he does from freedom ; also, man's pr>-
prium is what is of his love, for the love is every one's life ;
and what a man does from his life's love he does from
freedom. Man from freedom does according to the thought,
62
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 7>
for the reason that whatever is of any one's life or love he
also thinks of, and it is confirmed by the thought ; and
when confirmed, he then does it from freedom according
to the thought. For whatever man does, he does from the
will by the understanding ; and freedom is of the will, and
thought is of the understanding. Man can also from free-
dom act contrary to reason ; again, he can act according to
reason, and not from freedom ; but things so done are not
appropriated to the man ; they are merely of the tongue and
his body, not of the spirit or his heart. But the chings
that are of his spirit and heart, when they are made of the
mouth and the body also, are appropriated to him. That
this is so might be shown by many illustrations ; but this
is not the place for them. By being appropriated to man
is meant to enter his life, and to become of his life, conse-
quently to become his own. That there is not any thing
man's own, however, but that it appears to him as if there
were, will be seen in what follows. Here let it only be
said, that every good which a man does from freedom ac-
cording to reason is appropriated to him as his, because in
the thinking, the willing, the speaking, and the doing, it
appears to him as his ; still, the good is not the man's but
the Lord's in the man, as may be seen above (n. 76). Put
how evil is appropriated to man will be seen in the propet
article.
79. What a man does from freedom according to his
thought is also said to remain, for nothing that man has
appropriated to himself can be eradicated ; for it has be-
come of his love and at the same time of his reason, or of
his will and at the same time of his understanding, and
hence of his life. It may be removed, indeed, but still
not cast out ; and when it is removed, it is transferred as
from a centre to circumferences, and there it stays. This
is meant by its remaining. For example, if a man has in
boyhood and youth appropriated to himself some evil by
doing it from the enjoyment of its love, — as, if he has de-
No. 79 ]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
63
frauded, blasphemed, taken revenge, committed whoredom;
— then, as he did those things from freedom according to
thought, he has also appropriated them to himself ; but if
he afterwards repents, shuns them, and looks at them as
sins which are to be held in aversion, and so from freedom
according to reason desists from them, then are appropri-
ated to him the goods to which those evils are opposite.
These goods then make the centre, and they remove the evils
towards circumferences, further and further, according to
his aversion for them and his turning away from them. Yet
still they cannot be so cast out that they can be said to be
extirpated ; but yet, by that removal they may appear as it
were extirpated. This comes to pass by a man's being
withheld from evils and held in goods by the Lord ; it is
so done with all hereditary evil, and likewise with all man's
actual evil. I have also seen this proved by experience
with some in heaven who supposed themselves to be with-
out evils, because they were held in good by the Lord ;
but lest they should believe the good in which they were to
be their own, they were let down from heaven and again
let into their evils, even till they acknowledged that they
were in evils from themselves, but in goods from the Lord ;
after this acknowledgment they were led back into heaven.
Let it be known, therefore, that the goods are appropriated
to man in this way only, that they are constantly the Lord's
in man ; and that as far as man acknowledges this, it is
the Lord's gift for the good to appear to man as his ; that
is, for it to appear to man that he loves the neighbor or
has charity as from himself, believes or has faith as from
himself, does good and understands truths and so is wise
as from himself. From which one who is enlightened may
see the nature and the strength of the appearance in
which it is the Lord's will that man should be ; and the
Lord wills this for the sake of man's salvation ; for no one
can be saved without this appearance. On this subject see
also what was shown above (n. 42-45).
64
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 82
80. Nothing is appropriated to man which he merely
thinks, nor i ; even that appropriated which he thinks of will-
ing, unless he at the same time wills it so far as to do it
also when opportunity offers. The reason is that while
man then does it he does it from the will by the under-
standing, or from the affection of the will by the thought of
the understanding ; but as long as it is of the thought alone,
it cannot be appropriated, because the understanding does
not conjoin itself with the will, or the thought of the under-
standing does not conjoin itself with the affection of the will,
but the will and its affection conjoin themselves with the un-
derstanding and its thought, as was shown in many places in
Pait Fifth of the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and
Wisdom." .. This is meant by the words of the Lord : Not that
which goeth into the mouth defdeth a man ; but that which
goeth out of the heart through the mouth, this defileth a man
(Matt. xv. 11 ; also 17, 18, 19). In the spiritual sense, by
the mouth is meant thought, because thought speaks by the
mouth ; and by heart, in that sense, is meant affection
which is of love. If man thinks and speaks from this affec-
tion, he then makes himself unclean. Heart also signifies
affection which is of love or of the will, and mouth signifies
thought which is of the understanding, in Luke vi. 45.
81. The evils which a man believes to be allowable are
also appropriated to him, even though he does not do them ;
for to be allowable in the thought comes from the will, as
there is consent. Wherefore, when a man believes any evil
to be allowable, he frees it from internal restraint ; and he is
withheld from doing it only by external restraints, which
are fears. And because the spirit of the man favors the
evil, therefore, when external restraints are removed, he does
it as allowable ; and meanwhile he continually does it in
his spirit. But concerning this, see the " Doctrine of Life
for the New Jerusalem " (n. 108-113).
82. IV. By means of these two faculties man is reformed
and regenerated by the Lord; and he cannot be reformed and
No. 83.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
65
regenerated without them. The Lord teaches that unless a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God
(John iii. 3, 5, 7) ; but what it is to be born again or re-
generated is known to few, for the reason that it has not
been known what love and charity are, nor, therefore, what
faith is ; for one who does not know what love and charity
are, cannot know what faith is, since charity and faith
make one, like good and truth, and like affection which is
of the will and thought which is of the understanding ; con-
cerning which union, see the treatise concerning the " Di-
vine Love and Wisdom " (n. 427-431) ; and the " Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem " (n. 13-24) ; but it may be seen
above (n. 3-20).
83. The reason that no one can come into God's kingdom
unless he has been born again is, that man hereditarily,
from his parents, is born into evils of every kind, with the
capacity of becoming spiritual by the removal of the evils ;
and unless he become spiritual, he cannot come into heaven.
From natural to become spiritual is to be born again or
regenerated. But that it may be known how man is re-
generated, these three things must be considered : the
quality of his first state, which is a state of damnation ; the
quality of his second state, which is the state of reforma-
tion ; and the quality of his third state, which is the state of
regeneration. Man's first state, which is a state of damna-
tion, every one has by inheritance from his parents ; for
man is born therefrom into the love of sei and the love of.
the world, and from these as fountains into evils of every
kind. He is led by the enjoyments of these loves, and the
enjoyments cause him not to know that he is in evils ; for
every enjoyment from a love is felt only as good ; there-
fore, also, unless a man is regenerated he does not know
but that to love himself and the world above all things is
good itself ; and to rule over all, and to possess the wealth
of all others, is the chief good. Hence, also, is all evil ;
for he regards no one else from love, but himself alone ; 01
66
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 83
if he regards another from love, it is as devil regards devil,
and as thief regards thief, when they are acting together.
They who confirm in themselves these loves and the evils
springing from them, on account of the enjoyment that they
have from them, remain natural and become corporeal-
sensual ; and in their own thought, which is that of their
spirit, they are insane. Yet they are able while in the world
to speak and act rationally, for they are men, and they there-
fore have rationality and liberty ; but they do even this from
the love of self and the world. After death, when they be-
come spirits, they are unable to have other enjoyment than
that which they had in their spirit while in the world ; and
that is the enjoyment of infernal love, now turned into the un-
delightful, the painful, and the terrible, meant in the Word
by torment and hell-fire. From this it is manifest that
man's first state is a state of damnation, and that they are
in it who do not suffer themselves to be regenerated. Man's
second state, which is the state of reformation, is that in which
he begins to think of heaven on account of the joy there ;
and thus concerning God, from whom is the joy of heaven
for him. But at first he has this thought from the enjoyment
in the love of self ; to him the joy of heaven is such en-
joyment ; but as long as the enjoyment of that love reigns,
together with the enjoyments of the evils springing from it,
he cannot understand but that to approach heaven is to utter
many prayers, listen to preachings, go to the Holy Supper,
give to the poor, help the needy; spend money on churches,
make his contributions to hospitals, and so on. Nor does a
man in this state know but that one is saved merely by think-
ing of the things which religion teaches, whether it be of that
which is called faith, or that which is called faith and charity.
That he does not understand otherwise than that one is saved
by merely thinking of these things, is because he thinks
nothing of the evils in the enjoyments of which he is ; and
as long as their enjoyments remain the evils also remain ;
the enjoyments are from the lust of them, which continually
No. 85.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
67
inspires them and which also produces them when no fear
restrains. So long as evils remain in the lusts of their
love, and consequently in the enjoyments, there is no faith,
charity, piety, nor worship except in externals only, which
to the world seem real, and yet are not. They may be
compared to water issuing from an impure fountain, which
no one can drink. As long as man is such that he thinks
of heaven and of God from religion and yet thinks nothing
concerning evils as sins, he is still in the first state. But
he comes into the second state, or that of reformation,
when he begins to think that there is such a thing as sin ;
and still more when he thinks that some particular thing is
sin, and when he examines it to some extent in himself, and
does not will it. Man's third state, which is the state of re-
generation, takes up and continues the work of the former
state. It begins when man desists from evils as sins, and
progresses as he shuns them, and it is perfected as he fights
against them ; and then, so far as he conquers from the
Lord, he is regenerated. With man, while he is regener-
ated, the order of life is reversed ; from being natural he
becomes spiritual ; for the natural separated from the
spiritual is contrary to order, and the spiritual is according
to order. Wherefore the regenerate man acts from charity ;
and he makes that to be of his faith which is of his charity.
Yet he becomes spiritual as far only as he is in truths ; for
every man is regenerated by truths and a life according
to them ; for by truths he knows life, and by the life he
does the truths. So he conjoins good and truth, which
is the spiritual marriage in which is heaven.
85. Man is reformed and regenerated by means of the
two faculties called rationality and liberty, and he cannot be
reformed and regenerated without them ; because by ration-
ality he can understand and know what is evil and what
is good, and, thereby, what is false and what is true ; and
by liberty he can will what he understands and knows.
But as long as enjoyment from the love of evil reigns, he
68
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 87.
cannot freely will good and truth, and make them of his
reason ; wherefore he cannot appropriate them to him-
self ; for, as shown above, things which a man does from
freedom according to reason are appropriated to him as
pis ; and unless good and truth are appropriated as his,
man is not reformed and regenerated. Also, he first acts
from the enjoyment coming from the love of good and
truth when the enjoyment from the love of evil and falsity
has been removed ; for two kinds of enjoyment from love,
opposite to each other, are not given at the same time. To
act from the enjoyment that is of love, is to act from free-
dom ; and as the reason favors the love, it is also to act
according to reason.
86. As all men, evil and good, have rationality and lib
erty, an evil man like a good man can understand truth
and do good ; but an evil man cannot do so from freedom
according to reason, while a good man can ; because the
evil man is in enjoyment from the love of evil, but the good
man is in enjoyment from the love of good. Therefore the
truth which the evil man understands and the good which
he does are not appropriated to him, while they are ap-
propriated to the good man ; and without appropriation as
his, there is not reformation nor regeneration. For in the
wicked, evils with falsities are as in the centre, and goods
with truths in the circumferences ; but in the good, goods
with truths are in the centre, and evils with falsities in the
circumferences : and in both cases, the things which are
of the centre diffuse themselves even to the circumferences,
as heat from fire at the centre, and as cold from icy cold
at the centre. Thus with the evil, goods in the circum-
ferences are defiled by the evils of the centre ; and witb
the good, evils in the circumferences grow mild from the
goods of the centre. This is the reason that evils do not
damn the regenerate man, and goods do not save the un-
regenerate.
87. V. With these two faculties as the meant, a man can
No. S8.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
69
k reforme I and regenerated so far as by them he can be led to
acknowledge that every thing good and true which he thinks
and does, is from the Lord and not from himself. What ref-
ormation is, and what regeneration, has been told just
above ; also that man is reformed and regenerated by
means of the two faculties rationality and liberty ; and
because this is done by their means, some things shall still
be said concerning them. From rationality man has the
abilit) to understand ; and from liberty, the ability to will ;
both, as from himself ; yet none but a regenerate man can
have the ability to will good from freedom, and thence to
do it according to reason. An evil man can from freedom
will only evil, and do it according to the thought which he
makes as of reason by confirmations ; for evil, as well as
good, can be confirmed ; but evil is confirmed by fallacies
and appearances, which become falsities while confirmed ;
and when it has been confirmed, it appears as if it were of
reason.
88. Every one who has any thought from interior under-
standing may see that the power to will and understand is
not from man, but from Him Who has Power itself, or
Who has Power in its essence. Only consider whence
comes the power. Is it not from Him Who has it in its
very potency, that is, Who has it in Himself, and thus from
Himself ? Power, therefore, in itself is Divine. For every
power there must be supply, which is to be given it ; ana
thus, determination from what is more internal or higher
than itself. The eye has not the power to see from itself,
nor has the ear power to hear from itself, nor the mouth to
speak from itself, nor the hand to do from itself ; these
must be supplied, and hence there must be determination,
from the mind. Nor has the mind the power to think and
to will one thing or another from itself, without something
more internal or higher to determine the mind to it. It is
the same with the power to understand and the power to
will ; these can be given only by Him Who i ft Himself has
7o
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 9a
the power of willing and the power of understanding.
From these things it is manifest that the two facu ties
called rationality and liberty are from the Lord and not
fiom man ; and as they are from the Lord, it follows that
man wills nothing whatever from himself, nor does he un-
derstand from himself, but only as from himself. That
it is so, any one can confirm in himself, who knows and
believes that the will of every good and the understanding
of every truth is from the Lord, and not from man. The
Word teaches that a man cannot take any thing from himself,
and cannot do any thing from himself (John iii. 27 ; xv. 5).
• 89. Now as all willing is from love, and all understand-
ing is from wisdom, it follows that the power to will is from
the Divine Love, and the power to understand is from the
Divine Wisdom j both, therefore, from the Lord, who is
the Divine Love itself and the Divine Wisdom itself.
From this it follows, that acting from freedom according to
reason is from no other source. Every one acts according
to reason, because freedom, like love, cannot be separated
from willing. But in man there is an interior willing and
an exterior ; and he can act according to the exterior while
not acting at the same time according to the interior ; so
he acts the hypocrite and the flatterer ; and still the ex-
terior willing is from freedom, for it is from the man's love
of appearing different from what he is, or from a love of
some evil which he has in intention from the love of the
interior will. But, as before said, an evil man cannot from
freedom according to his reason do any thing but evil ; he
cannot from freedom according to reason do good. H<
can indeed do it, but not from the interior freedom whicl
is his proper freedom, from which the exterior freedom has
its quality that it is not good.
90. It is said that man may be reformed and regenerated
so far as, by means of these two faculties, he can be led to
acknowledge that every thing good and true which he
thinks and does, is from the Lord and not from himself.
No. 91.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
71
That man can acknowledge this only by means of these
two faculties, is because they are from the Lord and are
the Lord's in man, as is manifest from what has already
been said. It therefore follows that man cannot do this
from himself, but from the Lord ; but still he can do it as
from himself ; this the Lord gives to every one. If he be-
lieves it to be from himself, still, when he is wise, he will
acknowledge that it is not from himself ; otherwise the
truth which he thinks and the good which he does are not
truth and good in themselves ; for the man, and not the
Lord, is in them ; and the good in which man is, if it is for
the sake of safety, is meritorious good ; but good in
which the Lord is, is not meritorious.
91. But that the acknowledgment of the Lord, with the
acknowledgment that all that is good and true is from Him,
makes a man to be reformed and regenerated, is what few
can see with the understanding ; for there may be the
thought, What does that acknowledgment do, since the
Lord is omnipotent and wills to save all ? And from this
may come the thought that He can and will, provided He
is moved to mercy. But to think so is not from the Lord ;
nor, therefore, is it from the understanding's interior sight,
that is, from any enlightenment. Therefore it shall here be
told in a few words what the acknowledgment works. In the
spiritual world, where spaces are only appearances, wisdom
makes presence, and love makes conjunction ; and via
versa. There is an acknowledgment of the Lord from wis-
dom, and there is an acknowledgment of the Lord from
love. The acknowledgment of the Lord from wisdom,
which regarded in itself is only cognition, comes from
doctrine ; and the acknowledgment of the Lord from love
comes from the life according to it ; this gives conjunction,
but the other gives presence ; for this reason, they who re-
ject doctrine concerning the Lord, remove themselves from
Him ; and because they also reject the life, they separate
themselves from Him ; while they who do not reject the
72
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. qa.
doctrine but the life, are present but still are separated ;
the)' are like those who converse together as friends, but do
not love each other ; and they are like two persons, one of
whom speaks to the other as a friend, but hates him as an
enemy. That this is so, is also known from the common
idea that he who teaches well and lives well is saved, but
not he who teaches well and lives wickedly ; also, that he
who does not acknowledge God, cannot be saved. From
these things it is manifest what kind of religion it is to
think concerning the Lord from faith, as it is called, and
not to do any thing from charity. Wherefore the Lord
says, Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which
J say ? Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings,
and doeth them, is like a man who built a house, and laid the
foundation on a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is
like a man that without a foundation built a house upon the
earth (Luke vi. 46-49).
92. VI. The conjunction of the Lord with man, and the
reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord, is effected by
means of these two faculties. Conjunction with the Lord
and regeneration are one, for as far as any one is con-
joined with the Lord he is regenerated. Wheiefore all
that has been said above concerning regeneration may be
said of conjunction ; and what is here said concerning con-
junction may be said of regeneration. That there is con-
junction of the Lord with man, and a reciprocal conjunction
of man with the Lord, the Lord Himself teaches in John :
Abide in Me and L in you. He that abideth in Me and L in
him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (xv. 4, 5). At that
day ye shall know that L am in My Father, and ye in Me,
and L in you (xiv. 20). Any one may see fiom reason
alone that there is no conjunction of minds [animus'] unless
it is also reciprocal, and that the reciprocation conjoins. If
one loves another and is not loved in return, then as the
one advances the other retires ; but if he is loved in re
turn, then as the one advances the other advances also, and
No. 93 J
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
73
conjunction takes place. Moreover, love wills to be loved ;
this is implanted in it ; and as far as it is loved in return,
it is in itself and in its enjoyment. From these things it is
manifest that if the Lord loved man only, and were not
loved in return by man, the Lord would advance and man
would draw back ; so the Lord would continually will to
come to man and to enter in to him, and man would turn
back and go away. This is the case with those who are in
hell ; but with those who are in heaven there is mutual
conjunction. Since the Lord wills a conjunction with man
for the sake of his salvation, He also provides that there
shall be in man something reciprocal. The reciprocal in
man is this, That the good which he wills and does from
freedom, and the truth which, from that willing, he thinks
and speaks according to reason, appear as if from him ,
and that this good in his will and this truth in his under-
standing appear as his. Yes, they appear to man as from
himself and as his, just as if they were his, there is no dif-
ference whatever ; observe whether any one by any sense
perceives it to be otherwise. Concerning this "seeming
as if from oneself," see above (n. 74-77) ; and concerning
"appropriation as his " (n. 78-81). The only difference is,
that man ought to acknowledge that he does not do good
and think truth from himself, but from the Lord ; and
therefore that the good which he does, and the truth which
he thinks, are not his. To think so, from some love in the
will, because it is the truth, makes conjunction ; for so
man looks to the Lord, and the Lord looks on man.
93. What the difference is between those who believe all
good to be from the Lord, and those who believe good to
be from themselves, it has been given me both to hear and
see in the spiritual world. They who believe good to be
from the Lord, turn the face to Him, and receive the en-
joyment and the blessedness of good. But they who
believe good to be from themselves, regard themselves,
and think in themselves that they have had merit ; and
4
74
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 94.
because they regard themselves, they can perceive only
the enjoyment from their good, which is not the enjoy-
ment of good, but of evil ; for what is man's own is evil :
and the enjoyment of evil, perceived as good, is hell.
They who have done good and have believed it to be
from themselves, if they do not after death receive the
truth that all good is from the Lord, mingle with infernal
genii, and at length make one with them ; while they who
receive this truth are reformed. But none receive it but
those who have looked to God in their life. Looking to God
in their life is nothing else than shunning evils as sins.
94. The conjunction of the Lord with man and the re-
ciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord is effected by
loving the neighbor as oneself and loving the Lord above
all things. To love the neighbor as oneself is nothing else
than wot to act insincerely and unjustly towards him, not
to hold him in hatred and to burn with revenge against
him, not to revile and defame him, not to commit adultery
with his wife, and not to do other like things against him.
Who cannot see that they who do such things do not love
tne neighbor as themselves ? But they who do not do such
things because they are evils against the neighbor and at
the same time sins against the Lord, act sincerely, justly,
friendly, and faithfully with the neighbor ; and as the Lord
does likewise, reciprocal conjunction takes place. And when
there is reciprocal conjunction, whatever a man does to the
neighbor he does from the Lord ; and whatever a man does
from the Lord is good. Then to him the person is not the
neighbor, but the good in the person. To love the Lord
above all things is nothing else than to do no evil to the
Word because the Lord is in the Word, nor to the holy
things of the church because the Lord is in the holy
things of the church, nor to the soul of any one because
every one's soul is in the Lord's hand. They who shun
these evils as enormous sins, love the Lord above all
things ; none can do this, however, but they who love the
neighbor as themselves ; for the two are conjoined.
No. 96.I
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
75
95. As there is a conjunction of the Lord with man, and
of man with the Lord, there are therefore two tables of the
law, one for the Lord, and the other for man. As far as a
man as from himself does the laws of man's table, so far
the Lord enables him to do the laws of His table. But
one who does not keep the laws of his own table, which all
have reference to the love of the neighbor, cannot do the
laws of the Lord's table, which all have reference to the
love of the Lord. How can a murderer, thief, adulterer,
and false witness love the Lord ? Does not reason say
that to be of such a character and to love God are con-
tradictory ? Is not the devil such ? Can he do otherwise
than hate God ? But when a man holds murder, adultery,
theft, and false witness in aversion as infernal, then he
can love the Lord ; for he then turns the face from the
devil to the Lord ; and when he turns the face to the Lord,
love and wisdom are given him. These enter man by the
face, and not by the back of the neck. As conjunction
with the Lord takes place in this way, and in no other,
therefore those two tables are called a covenant ; and a
covenant is between two.
96. VII. The Lord keeps these two faculties in man, un-
impaired and as sacred, in all the course of His Divine Provi-
dence. The reasons are, that without these two faculties
a man would not have an understanding and a will, and so
would not be man ; and again, without these two faculties
man would not have been able to be conjoined with the
Lord, and so would not have been able to be reformed and
regenerated ; and further, without these two faculties man
would not have immortality and eternal life. That this is
so may indeed be seen from a cognition of what liberty
and rationality are (for they are the two faculties that are
meant), as given in the preceding pages ; but not clearly,
unless the things just stated as reasons are presented to
view as conclusions ; they must therefore be illustrated.
Without these two faculties man would not have a will and
76
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 96.
un understanding, and so would not be man. For a man has
a Will only from being able freely to will as from himself j
and to will freely as from himself, is from the faculty con-
tinually given him by the Lord which is called liberty. And
a man has an Understanding only from being able to un-
derstand as from himself whether a thing is of reason or
not ; and to understand whether a thing is of reason or
not, is from the other faculty continually given him by the
Lord which is called rationality. These faculties conjoin
themselves in man, like the will and the understanding ;
thus : Because a man can will, he can also understand ;
for willing is not given without understanding ; understand-
ing is its consort or mate, without which it cannot be ;
wherefore, with the faculty called liberty, is given the faculty
called rationality. And further : if from understanding
you take away willing, you understand nothing ; and as far
as you will, so far you have power to understand, provided
the aids which are called cognitions are at hand, or are
opened at the same time, for these are like tools to the
workman. It is said, you can understand as far as you
will, that is, as far as you love to understand, for the will
and the love act as one. This, indeed, may seem to be an
absurdity ; but it seems so to those who do not love, and
therefore do not wish, to understand ; and they who will
not, say they cannot. But who cannot understand, and
who can understand but with difficulty, will be told in the
following article. It is manifest without proof, that unless
man had a will from the faculty that is called liberty, and
an understanding from the faculty that is called rationality,
he would not be man. Beasts have not these faculties. It
seems as if beasts were able to will and to understand, but
they are not. Natural affection, which in itself is desire,
with knowledge as its mate, alone leads and moves them to
do what they do. There is indeed a civil and a moral
[element] in their knowledge ; but these are not above the
knowledge, for they have not the spiritual which gives a
Nc 96.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
77
perception of the moral, and consequent analytic thought
of it. They can, indeed, be taught to do something ; but
this is only something natural which adds itself to their
knowledge and at the same time to their affection, and is
reproduced either through the sight or the hearing ; but in
no wise does it become a subject of thought, still less of
reason in them. But something concerning this may be
seen above (n. 74). That without these two faculties man
would not have been able to be conjoined with the Lord, and so
would not have been able to be reformed and regenerated, has
been shown above. For the Lord has a residence in these
two faculties both with evil men and with good ; and by
means of them He conjoins Himself with every man. It
is from this that an evil man, as well as a good man, can
understand ; and hence he has, in potency, the will of good
and the understanding of truth ; that they are not in act, is
owing to the abuse of these faculties. That the Lord has
a residence with every man in these faculties, is from the
influx of His will, — His willing to be received by man, to
have His abode in him, and to give him the happy things
of eternal life ; these are of the Lord's Will, for they are of
His Divine Love. It is this will of the Lord that makes
what a man thinks, speaks, wills, and does to appear in the
man as his. That the influx of the Lord's will works this,
may be proved by many things from the spiritual world.
For sometimes the Lord so fills an angel with His Divine
that the angel does not know that he is not the Lord. So
were the angels filled who were seen by Abraham, Hagar,
and Gideon, who therefore called themselves Jehovah ; of
whom in the Word. So, too, can one spirit be filled bj
another, till he knows not but that he is the other. I have
seen this very often. It is also known in heaven that the
Lord works all things by willing, and that what He wills is
done. From these things it is manifest, that it is by these
two faculties that the Lord conjoins Himself with man, and
causes man to be reciprocally conjoined. But how man
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 97
is reciprocally conjoined by these faculties, and how, con-
sequently, he is reformed and regenerated by them, it was
told above, and more will be said below. That man with-
out these two faculties would not have immortality and eternal
life, follows from the things just said, that conjunction with
the Lord is by them, also reformation and regeneration ; by
the conjunction man has immortality, and by reformation
and regeneration he has eternal life. And as by means of
these two faculties there is conjunction of the Lord with
every man, evil and good alike, as has been said, therefore
every man has immortality. But the man has eternal life,
that is, the life of heaven, in whom there is a reciprocal
conjunction from inmosts to ultimates. From these things
the reasons may be seen why the Lord keeps these two
faculties in man, unimpaired and as sacred, in all the course
01 His Divine Providence.
97. VIII. Therefore it is of the Divine Providence thai
man should act from freedom according to reason. To act
from freedom according to reason, to act from liberty and
rationality, and also to act from the will and the under
standing, are the same thing; but it is one thing to act
from freedom according to reason, or from liberty and
rationality, and another to act from freedom itself accord
ing to reason itself, or from liberty itself and from ration-
ality itself ; for even the man who does evil from the love
of evil and confirms it in himself, acts from freedom ac-
cording to reason; but still his freedom is not in itsell
freedom, or freedom itself, but it is infernal freedom, which
in itself is slavery ; and his reason is not in itself reason,
but it is either spurious or false, or what appears as reason
from confirmations. But still, both are of the Divine
Providence ; for if freedom to will evil, and by confirma-
tions to make it seem according to reason, were taken away
from the natural man, liberty and rationality would perish,
and will and understanding with them ; and he could not
be withdrawn from evils, and reformed ; so he could not
No. y8.|
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
79
he conjoined with the Lord and live for ever. Wherefore
ihe Ix>rd guards the freedom in man, as man guards the
apple of his eye. But yet the Lord through man's freedom
continually withdraws him from evils ; and so far as He
can so withdraw him, He implants what is good, through
freedom. Thus in the place of infernal freedom He gradu-
ally endows him with heavenly freedom.
98. It was said above that every man has the faculty of
willing which is called liberty, and the faculty of under-
standing which is called rationality ; but it is to be well
known that these faculties are as if inborn in man, for his
humanity itself is in them. But, as has just been said, it
is one thing to act from freedom according to reason, and
another to act from freedom itself according to reason
itself. None act from freedom itself according to reason
itself but they who have suffered themselves to be regener-
ated by the Lord ; all others, however, act from freedom
according to thought to which they give the semblance of
reason. But still, every man, unless born foolish or exces-
sively stupid, is able to attain to reason itself, and by it to
freedom itself ; but other reasons why all do not do so
will be made known in what follows ; here it will only be
told who they are to whom freedom itself or liberty itself,
together with reason itself or rationality itself, cannot be
given ; and to whom they can hardly be given. Liberty
itself and rationality itself cannot be given to those who
are born foolish, nor to those who have become foolish so
long as they remain so. They cannot be given to those
born stupid and dull, nor to any who have become so from
the torpor of idleness, or from sickness that has perverted
or wholly closed the interiors of the mind, or from the love
of a beastly life. They cannot be given with those in the
Christian world who wholly deny the Lord's Divinity and
the holiness of the Word, and have maintained this denial
confirmed within them to the end of life ; for this is meant
by the sin against the Holy Spirit, which is not forgiven in
80 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 99.
this world nor in the world to come (Matt. xii. 31, 32).
Neither can liberty itself and rationality itself be given in
those who attribute all things to nature and nothing to the
Divine, and have made this of their faith by reasonings from
things that can be seen ; for these are atheists. Liberty
itself and rationality itself can hardly be given in those
who have confirmed themselves much in falsities of religion,
for a confirmer of falsity is a denier of truth ; but they can
be given in those who have not confirmed themselves, in
whatever religion they may be ; on which subject see what
has been presented in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
concerning the Sacred Scripture " (n. 91-97). Infants and
children cannot come into liberty itself and rationality
itself before they reach the age of adolescence ; for in man
the interiors of the mind are opened successively ; mean-
while they are as seeds in unripe fruit, which cannot sprout
in the ground.
99. It has been stated that liberty itself and rationality
itself cannot be given in those who have denied the Lord's
Divinity and the holiness of the Word, nor in those who
have confirmed themselves in favor of nature against the
Divine ; and can hardly be given with those who have in
many ways confirmed themselves in falsities of religion.
Yet still they have not all lost the faculties themselves. I
have heard that atheists, who have become devils and
satans, have understood the arcana of wisdom as well as
angels, but only while they heard them from others ; and
when they returned into their own thoughts [suits], they
did not understand, because they did not wish to. Bui
they were shown that they also could wish to understand,
if the love and thence the enjoyment of evil did not lead
them away. This also they understood when they heard
it ; and they asserted that they had the power but did not
wish to have it ; for thus they would not have been able to
will what they will, which is evil, from their enjoyment in
its lust. I have often heard such wonderful things in the
No. ioo.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
8l
ipiritual world ; and from them it has been fully proved
to me that every man has liberty and rationality ; and that
every one can come into liberty itself and rationality itself
if he shuns evils as sins. But the adult who has not come
into liberty itself and rationality itself in the world, can in
no wise come into them after death ; for then his state of
life remains for ever such as it had been in the world.
IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN
SHOULD, AS FROM HIMSELF, REMOVE EVILS AS
SINS IN THE EXTERNAL MAN; AND THUS, BUT
NOT OTHERWISE, THE LORD CAN REMOVE EVILS
IN THE INTERNAL MAN, AND THEN AT THE SAME
TIME IN THE EXTERNAL
ioo. Any one may see from reason alone that the Lord,
who is Good itself and Truth itself, cannot enter into man
unless the evils and falsities in him are removed ; for evil
is opposite to good, and falsity is opposite to truth ; and
two opposites can in no wise be commingled, but when one
draws near to the other a combat takes place, which lasts
until one gives place to the other ; and that which yields
goes away, while the other takes the place. In such op-
position are heaven and hell, or the Lord and the devil.
Can any one reasonably think that the Lord can enter in
where the devil reigns ? or that heaven can be where hell
is ? From the rationality given to every sane man, who
does not see that for the Lord to enter, the devil must be
cast out ; or for heaven to enter, hell must be removed ?
This opposition is meant by Abraham's words from heaven
to the rich man in hell, Between us and you a vast gulf is
fixed ; so that they who would pass from hence to you can-
not ; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence
(Luke xvi. 26). Evil itself is hell, and good itself is
heaven; or, what is the same, evil :' tself is the devil, and
good itself is the Lord ; and the rr an in whom evil reigns,
is a hell in the least form ; and the man in whom good
4*
82 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 101
reigns, is a heaven in the least form. This being the case,
how can heaven enter hell, since between them is fixed so
vast a chasm, that there may be no crossing from one to
the other ? From this it follows that hell must by all means
be removed, that the Lord with heaven may be able to
come in.
101. But many, especially those who have confirmed
themselves in faith separate from charity, do not know that
they are in hell when in evils ; nor do they even know what
evils are, because they think nothing about them ; for they
say that they are not under the yoke of the law, and so
that the law does not condemn them ; also that, as they
cannot contribute any thing to salvation, they cannot re-
move from themselves any evil ; and, moreover, that they
cannot do any good from themselves. These are they who
neglect to think concerning evil j and because they neglect
this, they are continually in evil. They are meant by the
goats, spoken of by the Lord in Matthew (xxv. 32, 33, 41-
46), as may be seen in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
concerning Faith" (n. 61-68). In verse 41 it is said of
them, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, pre-
pared for the devil and his angels. For they who think
nothing concerning the evils in themselves, that is, do not
examine themselves, and afterwards desist from them, can-
not but be ignorant of what evil is, and then love it from
an enjoyment in it ; for he who is ignorant of what it is,
loves it ; and one who neglects to think of it, is continually
in it. Like a blind man, he does not see ; for thought
sees good and evil, as the eye sees the beautiful and the
ugly. He is in evil who thinks and wills it, as also he who
believes that evil does not come into God's sight, and who
also believes that if it does appear it is forgiven ; for so he
thinks himself free from evil. If they abstain from doing
evils, they do not abstain because these are sins against
God, but because they fear the laws and the reputation ;
but still they do them in their spirit, for it is a man's spirit
No. 103.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
83
that thinks and wills ; wherefore, what a man thinks in his
spirit in the world, after his departure from the world when
he becomes a spirit, that he does. In the spiritual world,
into which every man comes after death, inquiry is not
made as to what your faith has been, nor what your doc-
rine, but what your life ; thus, whether the life has been of
me character or of another ; for it is known that such as
one's life is, such is his faith, yes, his doctrine ; for the life
makes doctrine for itself, and a faith for itself.
102. From what has now been said it may be evident
that it is a law of the Divine Providence that evils should
be removed by man ; for without their removal, the Lord
cannot be conjoined with man, and from Himself lead man
into heaven. But as it has not been known that man ought
as from himself to remove the evils in the external man,
and that unless man does this as from himself the Lord
cannot remove the evils that are in him in his internal,
these things shall therefore be set before the reason in its
light, in the following order : I. Every man has an ex-
ternal and an internal of thought. II. The external of
man's thought is in itself of the same quality as its internal.
III. The internal cannot be cleansed from the lusts of evil
as long as the evils in the external man are not removed,
because they obstruct. IV. The evils in the external man
cannot be removed by the Lord, except by means of the
man. V. Therefore man ought as from himself to remove
evils from the external man. VI. The Lord then cleanses
man from the lusts of evil in the internal man, and from
the evils themselves in the external. VII. The continual
[woiking] of the Lord's Divine Providence is to conjoin
man with Himself, and Himself with man, that He may be
able to give him the happy things of eternal life ; which
can be done only so far as evils with their lusts are re-
moved.
103. I. Every man has an external and en internal of
thought. The external and internal of thougnt here hav€
84
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 104.
a like meaning with the external and internal man, by
which nothing else is meant than the external and internal
of the will and understanding ; for the will and understand-
ing make the man : and as both of these manifest them-
selves in the thoughts, we say the external and internal of
thought. Now as it is not man's body but his spirit that
wills and understands, and therefore thinks, it follows that
this external and internal are the external and internal of
man's spirit. What the body does, whether in words or
deeds, is only an effect from the internal and external of
man's spirit ; for the body is merely obedience.
104. That every man, as he grows older, has an external
and an internal of thought, and therefore an external [and
an internal] of the will and the understanding, or an ex-
ternal and an internal of the spirit, which is the same as
the external and the internal man, is manifest to any one
who gives attention to another's thoughts and intentions,
shown from his words or deeds ; and his own also, when he
is in company and when he is alone. For one can talk
with another in a friendly way from external thought, and
yet be his enemy in internal thought. From external
thought and at the same time from its affection, one may
talk about love towards the neighbor and love to God,
when yet in his internal thought he cares nothing for the
neighbor, and does not fear God. A man may also talk
from external thought and affection together, about the jus-
tice of civil laws, the virtues of moral life, and matters of
doctrine and spiritual life ; and yet, when he is alone by
himself, from internal thought and its affection he ma)
speak against civil laws, the virtues of moral life, and mat-
ters of doctrine and spiritual life. They do so who are in
the lusts of evil, and who yet wish it to appear before the
world that they are not in them. Many, also, when they
hear others talking, think within themselves, Do they think
interiorly in themselves as they think while talking ? are
they to be believed or not ? and what is their design f
No. io6.| THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
85
That flatterers and hypocrites have double thought is known ;
lor they are able to restrain themselves and to take care
not to disclose their interior thought ; and some can con-
ceal it more and more internally, and, as it were, block up
the doors, lest it should appear. That exterior thought
and interior thought are given to man, is clearly manifest
from his being able to see the exterior thought from the in-
terior, and also to reflect upon it, and to judge concerning
it, whether it is evil or not evil. That the human mind is
such, is due to the two faculties which he has from the
Lord, called iiberty and rationality ; unless man had an
external and an internal of thought from these, he would
have been unable to perceive and to see any evil in himself
and to be reformed ; nor, indeed, would he have been able
to speak, but merely to utter sounds like a beast.
105. The internal of thought is from the life's love and
its affections and the perceptions from them j the external
of thought is from the things in the memory, which are
serviceable to the life's love for confirmations and as means
to its end. From infancy even to early manhood, man is
in the external of thought, from the affection for knowing
which then makes its internal ; and besides this, from the
life's love that is born with him from his parents, there
goes forth something of concupiscence and the inclination
from it. But afterwards his life's love is established ac-
cording to the way he lives ; and its affections, with the
perceptions from them, make the internal of his thought.
And from the life's love comes the love of the means [it
uses] ; the enjoyments of which, and the knowledges
thereby called forth from the memory, make the external
of his thought.
106. II. The external of man's thought is in itself of the
tame quality as its internal. That man from head to foot is
such as his life's love is, was shown above. Here, there-
fore, something shall first be told concerning man's life's
love ; for till this has been done, nothing can be told coi>
86
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING 'No. 107
cerning the affections which together with the perceptions
make man's internal, and concerning the enjoyments of the
affections together with the thoughts, which make his ex-
ternal. Loves are manifold ; but two of them, namely,
heavenly love and infernal love, are like lords and kings.
Heavenly love is love to the Lord and towards the neigh-
bor ; and infernal love is love of self and the world. These
loves and the two others are opposite to each other, as hell
and heaven are ; for one who is in the love of self and the
world does not wish good to any one but himself ; while he
who is in love to the Lord and in love towards the neigh-
bor, has good-will for all. The two loves are the loves of
man's life, but with much variety. Heavenly love is the life's
love of those who are led by the Lord, and infernal love is
the life's love of those whom the devil leads. But the life's
love of any one cannot be without derivations, which are
called affections. The derivations of infernal love are the
affections of evil and falsity, — properly, lusts ; and the deri-
vations of heavenly love are the affections of good and
truth, — properly, loving preferences. The affections of
infernal love, which properly are lusts, are as many as there
are evils ; and the affections of heavenly love, which are
properly loving preferences, are as many as there are goods.
Love dwells in its affections as a lord in his manor, or as a
king in his kingdom ; their dominion and sovereignty are
over the things belonging to the mind, that is, the things of
man's will and understanding, and thence of the body.
Man's life's love rules the whole man by its affections and
the perceptions from them, and by its enjoyments and the
thoughts from them; — the internal of his mind by the
affections and the perceptions from them, and the external,
by the enjoyments of the affections and by the thoughts
from these.
107. The form of this government may be seen to some
extent by comparisons. Heavenly love with the affections
of good and truth and the perceptions therefrom, togethei
No. 108.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE,
87
with the enjoyments from these affections and the thoughts
therefrom, may be compared to a tree noted for its branches,
its leaves and its fruits. The life's love is the tree ; the
branches with the leaves are the affections of good and
truth with their perceptions ; and the fruits are the enjoy-
ments of the affections with the thoughts from the enjoy-
ments. But infernal love with its affections of evil and
falsity, which are lusts, together with the enjoyments of the
lusts, and the thoughts from these enjoyments, may be
-.ompared to a spider and the web about it. The love is
tie spider ; the lusts of evil and falsity with their interior
files, are the net-like threads nearest the spider's seat ;
»nd the enjoyments of the lusts, with their crafty cou-
trivances. are the remoter threads, whepe the flies are caught
on the wing, bound, and eaten.
108. The conjunction of all things of the will and under-
standing, or man's mind, with his life's love, may indeed
be seen from these comparisons, but still not seen ration-
ally. The conjunction may be seen rationally in this way :
Everywhere there are three things together to make one ;
these are called end, cause, and effect ; here the life's love
is the end, the affections with their perceptions are the
cause, and the enjoyments of the affections with the thoughts
from the enjoyments are the effect ; for as the end through
the cause comes into the effect, so too does the love
through its affections come likewise to its enjoyments, and
through its perceptions to its thoughts. The effects them-
selves are in the mind's enjoyments and their thoughts,
when the enjoyments are of the will and the thoughts are
of the understanding therefrom, thus when there is full
consent there ; for then the effects are of his spirit, and if
they do not come into bodily act, still they are as if in act
when there is the consent ; moreover, they are then together
in the body, and there they dwell with his life's love, and
they pant for action, which takes place provided nothing
hinders. Such are the lusts of evil, and evils tbe«w*v«%
88
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 109
in those who in their spirit make evils allowable. Now as
the end conjoins itself with the cause, and through the
cause with the effect, so does the life's love with the inter-
nal of thought, and through this with its external. It is
manifest, therefore, that the external of man's thought is
in itself of the same quality as its internal ; for the end
gives all belonging to it to the cause, and through the
cause to the effect ; for there is nothing essential in the
effect but what is in the cause, and through the cause in
the end. And as the end is thus the very essential which
enters into the cause and the effect, therefore cause and
effect are called the mediate and the ultimate ends.
109. The external of man's thought sometimes seems not
to be in itself such as the internal is ; but this is because
the life's love, with its internals about it, places an agent
below itself, which is called the love of means, and instructs
it to take heed and watch that nothing from its lusts may
show itself. This agent, therefore, from the cunning of
its chief, that is, the life's love, talks and acts according
to the civil [laws] of the kingdom, the moral [laws] of rea-
son, and the spiritual [laws] of the church. Some do this
so craftily and ingeniously, that no one sees that they are
not such as they seem to be in speech and act ; and at
last, from the habit of concealment, they hardly know it
themselves. Such are all hypocrites ; such are priests who
at heart care nothing for the neighbor and do not fear
God, and yet preach about the love of the neighbor and the
love of God ; such are judges who give judgment accord-
ing to gifts and friendship, while they show a pretended
zeal for justice, and from reason talk of judgment ; such are
merchants insincere and fraudulent at heart, while they act
sincerely for the sake of gain ; and such are adulterers,
when from the rationality belonging to all men they talk of
the chastity of marriage ; and so on. But if these same
persons strip their love of means (the agent of their
life's love), of the garments of purple and fine linen with
No. III.) THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
89
which they have clothed it, and put on it its own home
dress, then they think, and sometimes with their dearest
friends, whose life's love is like theirs, from their thought
they speak, in a manner altogether opposite. It may be
believed, that when they talked so justly, sincerely, and
piously, from the love of means, the quality of the inter-
nal of their thought was not in its external ; but yet it
was ; hypocrisy is in them ; the love of self and the world
is in them, the craft of which is to secure a reputation, for
the sake of honor or wealth, even to the ultimate appear-
ance. This quality of the internal is in the external of
their thought when they so speak and act.
110. With those, however, who are in heavenly love, the
internal and the external of thought, or the internal and
the external man, make one when they speak ; nor do they
know any difference between them. Their life's love, with
its affections of good and the perceptions of truth from
these affections, is as a soul in their thoughts and in what
they speak and do from them. If they are priests, they
preach from love towards the neighbor and from love to
the Lord j if judges, they judge from justice itself ; if mer-
chants, they act from real sincerity ; if married, they love
the wife from chastity itself ; and so on. The life's love of
these, too, has a love of means as its agent, which it
teaches and leads to act from prudence, and clothes with
the garments of zeal for the truths of doctrine and at the
same time for the goods of life.
in. III. The internal cannot be cleansed from the lusts
of evil as long as the evils in the external man are not removed,
because they obstruct. This follows from what has been
said already, that the external of man's thought is in itself
of the same quality as its internal ; and that they cohere
like things which are not only one within the other, but
one from the other ; wherefore one cannot be removed
unless the other is removed at the same time. So it is
ivith every external that is from an internal, and with every
go
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. na
tiling posterior that is from a prior, and with every effect
that is from a cause. Now as lusts together with devices
make the internal of thought in the evil, and the enjoyments
of lusts together with their contrivances make the external
of thought in them, and these last are conjoined with the
others in one, it follows that the internal cannot be cleansed
from lusts as long as the evils in the external man are -ot
removed. It is to be known that man's internal will is
what is in the lusts, and the internal understanding in the
devices, and that the external will is what is in the enjoy-
ments of the lusts, and the external understanding in the
contrivances from the devices. Any one may see that lusts
and their enjoyments make one, and that the devices and
the contrivances make one ; also that the four are in one
series, and together make as it were one bundle ; from
which it is again manifest, that the internal which consists
of lusts cannot be cast out except by the removal of the
external which consists of evils. Lusts through their en-
;oyments produce evils ; but when evils are believed to be
'lowable, which comes from consent of will and under-
handing, then the enjoyments and the evils make one.
i'hat consent is a deed is known ; this also is what the
Lord says, Whosoever looketh on another's woman to lust
after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his
heart (Matt. v. 28). So it is with other evils.
112. From these things it may now be evident, that
evils must by all means be removed from the external
man, for man to be purified from the lusts of evil ; foi
until this is done, the lusts have no way out ; and if no
road to go away is given, the lusts remain within, and ex-
hale enjoyments from themselves, and so they urge man on
to consent, thus to the deed. Through the external of
thought, lusts enter the body ; wherefore, when there is con
sent in the external of thought, they are instantly in the
body ; the enjoyment which is felt is there. That as is thf
mind such is the body, thus the whole man, may be seer
No. 113.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 91
in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wis-
dom" (n. 362-370). This may be illustrated by compari-
sons, and also by examples. By comparisons : Lusts with
their enjoyments may be compared to fire ; the more it
is fed, the more it burns ; and the freer the course given
it, the further it spreads, until in a city it consumes the
houses, and the trees in a forest. The lusts of evil are
also compared to fire in the Word, and their evils to its
burning. Moreover, the lusts of evil with their enjoy-
ments in the spiritual world also appear as fires ; infernal
fire is nothing else. They may also be compared to floods
and inundations of water, when levees or dams give way.
They may also be compared to gangrenous sores and ulcers,
which, if they run their course or are not cured, bring death
to the body. By examples : It is clearly manifest that, if
the evils in the external man are not removed, the lusts
and their enjoyments grow and flourish. The more a thief
steals the more lust he has for stealing, till at last he can-
not stop ; so with the defrauder, the more he cheats. It is
the same with hatred and revenge, with luxury and in
temperance, with impure relations, and with blasphemy.
It is known that the love of bearing rule, from the love of
self, grows while it has loose rein ; just so the love oi
possession, from the love of the world ; it seems as if t\'ej
had no limit or end. From which it is manifest that *>s far
as the evils in the external man are not removed, their
lusts flourish ; and again, that the lusts increase in the
degree in which the evils have loose rein.
113. Man cannot have a perception of the lusts of his
evil ; he indeed perceives their enjoyments, but still he
reflects little upon them ; for the enjoyments captivate the
thoughts and banish reflection. Wherefore if one did not
know from some other source that they are evils, he would
call them goods ; and, from freedom according to the rea-
son of his thought, he would commit them ; when he does
this he appropriates them to himself. So far as he con-
92
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 114.
firms them as allowable, he enlarges the court of the reign-
ing love, which is his life's love. Lusts make its court ;
for they are as its ministers and attendants, through which
it governs the exteriors which constitute its kingdom. But
as is the king, such are the ministers and attendants, and
such the kingdom. If the krng is a devil, then his ministers
and attendants are insanities, and the people of his king-
dom are falsities of every kind ; which his ministers, whom
they call wise though they are insane, cause to appear as
truths, by reasonings from fallacies and by illusions, and
also cause them to be acknowledged as truths. Can such
a state in man be changed except by the removal of the
evils in the external man? — for so, too, the lusts which
cohere with the evils a e removed. Otherwise there is no
way open for the lusts to depart ; for they are shut in, as
a besieged city, and as a closed ulcer.
114. IV. The evils in the external man cannot be removed
by the Lord, except by means of the man. In all Christian
churches this point of doctrine has been received, that man,
before he approaches the holy Communion, is to examine
himself, to see ar.d acknowledge his sins, and to do the
work of repentance by desisting from them and by reject-
ing them because they are from the devil ; and that other-
wise his sins a? » not forgiven, and he is damned. The
English, though they hold the doctrine of faith alone, yet,
in their exhort ition to the holy Communion, openly teach
examination, -jcknowledgment, confession of sins, repent-
ance, and rer ewal of life ; and those who do not do these
things are ti reatened in these words, — That otherwise the
devil will enter into them as he did into Judas, and will fill
them with all iniquity, and destroy both body and soul.
The Germans, the Swedes, and the Danes, who also hold
the doctrine of faith alone, in the exhortation to the holy
Communion teach nearly the same ; threatening, moreover,
that otherwise they will be subject to infernal punishments
rfc i to eternal damnation, for their mixing the holy and the
No. 114.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
93
profane. This is read by the priest with a loud voice be-
fore those who are about to come to the Holy Supper j
and it is listened to by them, with full acknowledgment
that it is so. Nevertheless when these same persons the
same day hear preaching concerning faith alone, and thai
the law does not condemn them because the Lord fulfilled
it for them, and that from themselves they can do no good
except what is meritorious, and that works thus have noth-
ing saving in them, but faith alone, they return home en-
tirely forgetful of their former confession, and rejecting it
so far as their thought comes from the preaching concerning
faith alone. Now which of these is true ? (for two things
opposite to each other cannot both be true,) that without
the examination, recognition, acknowledgment, confession,
and rejection of sins, thus without repentance, there is no
forgiveness of them ; thus no salvation, but eternal dam-
nation ? or, that such things do nothing towards salvation,
because the Lord by the passion of the cross, has made
full satisfaction for all man's sins in favor of those who are
in faith ; and that they who have faith only, with a con-
fidence that this is so, and with a trust in the imputation
of the Lord's merit, are without sins, and appear before
God like those who have a glowing face after washing ? It
is manifest from this, that it is the common religion of all
the churches in the Christian world that man should ex-
amine himself, should see and acknowledge his sins, and
afterwards desist from them ; and that otherwise there is
not salvation, but damnation. That this is also the very
Divine Truth, is manifest from the passages in the Word
where man is commanded to repent ; as from the follow-
ing : John said, Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of re-
pentance. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the
trees; every tree therefore which bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down, and cast into the fire (Luke iii. 8, 9) ; Jesus
said, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish (Luke xiii.
3, 5) ; jfesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of tht
94
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 116.
kingdom of God, and saying, Repent ye and believe the gospel
(Mark i. 14, 15); Jesus sent forth His disciples, and they
went out and preached that men should repent (Mark vi. 12) ;
Jesus said to the apostles that it was necessary that re-
pentance and remission of sins should be preached in His
name, among all nations (Luke xxiv. 47) ; John preached
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins
(Mark i. 4 ; Luke iii. 3). Think of this also with some un-
derstanding ; and if you have religion you will see that
repentance from sins is the way to heaven, and that faith
apart from repentance is not faith ; and that they who are not
in faith because they do not repent, are on the way to hell.
115. They who are in faith separate from charity, and
have confirmed themselves in it from Paul's saying to the
Romans that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of
the laiu (Rom. iii. 28), adore this saying like men who adore
the sun ; and they become like those who fix their eyes
steadily on the sun, by which means the sight is so clouded
that they cannot see any thing in the midst of light. For
they do not see that by the deeds of the law are meant the
rituals described by Moses in his books, which are every-
where called the law in them ; and that the precepts of
the decalogue are not meant. Wherefore lest it should be
thought that these are meant, Paul explains, by saying,
Do we then make void the laiv through faith 1 God forbid ;
yea, we establish the law (verse 31, same chapter). They who
from this saying have confirmed themselves in faith separ-
ate from charity, from gazing at this passage as at the sun,
do not see where Paul enumerates the laws of faith as
being the very works of charity ; and what is faith without
its laws ? Nor do they see where he enumerates evil works,
and says that they who do them cannot enter into heaven.
From which it is manifest what blindness has been induced
from this single passage wrongly understood.
116. The evils in the external man cannot be removed
except by means of the man, because it is from the Lord's
No. 117.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
95
Divine Providence that whatever a man hears, sees, thinks,
wills, speaks, and does, appears wholly as his ; and it was
shown above (n. 71-95, and in subsequent numbers), that
without this appearance there would be in man no recep-
tion of the Divine Truth, no determination towards doing
good, no appropriation of love and wisdom nor of charity
and faith, and therefore no conjunction with the Lord ;
consequently no reformation and regeneration, and thus sal-
vation. That without this appearance there cannot be
repentance from sins, nor even faith, is evident ; as also
that man without this appearance is not man, but devoid
of rational life, like a beast. Let him who will, consult
his reason, and see whether there is any other appear-
ance than that a man thinks of good and truth, spiritual
as well as moral and civil, from himself ; next receive
this doctrinal, that every thing good and true is from the
Lord, and nothing from man ; now will you not acknowl-
edge this consequence, that man must do good and think
truth as from himself, but still acknowledge that he does it
from the Lord ; consequently also, that man must remove
evils as of himself, but still acknowledge that he does it of
the Lord?
117. There are many who do not know that they are in
evils, because they do not do them outwardly ; for they
fear the civil laws and also the loss of reputation ; and so
from custom and habit they learn to shun evils as detri-
mental to their honor and their wealth. But if they do not
shun evils from religious principle, because they are sins
and against God, the lusts of evil with their enjoyments
still remain in them, like impure waters confined and
stagnant. Let them examine their thoughts and intentions
and they will find those lusts, provided they know what sin
is. Such are many who have confirmed themselves in faith
separate from charity, who, because they believe the law
does not condemn them, pay no attention to sins ; and
some are doubtful whether there are sins, and think that if
there are, they arc not sins before God, because they have
96
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 119.
been pardoned. Natural moralists are also such, who be-
lieve that civil and moral life with its prudence produces
all things, and the Divine Providence not any thing. They
also are of this character who studiously strive to gain a
reputation and a name for honesty and sincerity, for the
sake of honor or profit. But they who are of this character,
and have also despised religion, after death become spirits
of lusts, appearing to themselves as if they were men, but
appearing to those at a distance as priapi ; like birds of
night they see in the dark and not in the light.
118. V. Therefore man ought as from himself to remove
evils from the external man. This article comes already
proved from what has gone before, which may also be seen
explained in three articles in the "Doctrine of Life from
the New Jerusalem," as follows : in one, That no one can
shun evils as sins so as to be interiorly averse to them,
unless by combats against them (n. 92-100): in a second,
That man ought to shun evils as sins and to fight against
them, as from himself (n. 1 01-107) : m a third, That if one
shuns evils for any cause whatever but that they are sins,
he does not shun them, but only prevents their appearing
before the world (n. 108-113).
119. VI. The Lord then cleanses man from the hist s of
evil in the internal man, and from the evils themselves in the
external. The Lord then cleanses a man from the lusts of
evil while the man as from himself removes the evils, be-
cause the Lord cannot cleanse him before ; for the evils
are in the external man, and the lusts of evil are in the
internal man, and they are joined like roots and trunk.
Wherefore, unless evils are removed, there is no opening ;
for they obstruct and close the door ; and this cannot be
opened by the Lord but by means of the man, as was
shown just above. When man thus as from himself opens
the door, the Lord then at the same time extirpates the
lusts. A reason also is, that the Lord acts into man's
inmost, and from the inmost into all that follows, even to
ultimates : and in the ultimates is the man, at the same time.
No. 120.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
97
As long therefore as the ultimates are kept closed by the
man himself, there cannot be any purification ; but work can
only be done by the Lord in the interiors, like His opera-
tion in hell (and the man who is in lusts and at the same
time in evils is a form of hell), which operation is only such
disposition that one thing may not destroy another, and
that good and truth may not be violated. That the Lord
continually urges and presses man to open the door to
Him, is manifest from His own words, 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 (Apoc. iii. 20).
120. Man knows nothing at all of the interior state of
his mind, or of his internal man ; nevertheless there are
infinite things there not one of which comes to man's cog-
nizance. For the internal of man's thought, or his in-
ternal man, is man's spirit itself ; and in it are things as
infinite and beyond number as there are in his body ; yes,
even more innumerable ; for man's spirit is man in its
form, and all the things belonging to it correspond with all
the things of man in his body. Now as man knows noth-
ing, from any sensation, of the manner in which his mind
or the soul is operating upon all the things belonging to
the body, conjointly and severally, so neither does he know
in what manner the Lord is operating upon all the things
of his mind or soul, that is, upon all the things of his spirit.
The operation is continual ; man has no part in this ; but
still, the Lord cannot cleanse man from any lust of evil in
his spirit or the internal man, as long as man keeps the
external closed. Man keeps his external closed by evils j
every one of which seems to him as one, although there
are infinite things in every one ; when man removes an evil
as one, then the Lord removes the infinite things in it
This is what is meant by the Lord's then cleansing man
from the lusts of evil in the internal man, and from the
evils themselves in the external.
9«
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 123
12 1. Many hold the belief that merely believing what the
church teaches purifies a man from evils ; some, that doing
good purifies ; some, knowing, saying, and teaching the
things belonging to the church ; some, reading the Word
and pious books ; some, frequenting churches, listening to
preaching, and especially coming to the Holy Supper ;
others, renouncing the world and devoting oneself to piety ;
and others, confessing oneself guilty of all sins ; and so on.
Yet all these do not purify man at all, unless he examines
himself, sees his sins, acknowledges them, condemns him-
self for them, and repents by desisting from them ; and he
must do all this as from himself, but still from the heart's
acknowledgment that he does it from the Lord. Before
this is done, the things that have been mentioned are of no
help ; for they are either meritorious or hypocritical ; and
they who do them appear in heaven before the angels like
beautiful harlots, smelling badly from their diseases ; or
like ill-favored women, painted so as to appear handsome ;
or like masked actors and mimics on the stage ; or like
apes in human clothing. But when evils are removed,
then the acts above-mentioned become of their love ; and
they appear in heaven before the angels as beautiful human
beings, and as their partners and companions.
122. But it must be known well that a man beginning to
repent ought to look to the Lord alone ; if he looks to God
the Father only, he cannot be purified ; nor if he looks to
the Father for the sake of the Son ; nor if to the Son as
only a man. For there is one God, and the Lord is He,
His Divine and Human being one Person, as shown in
the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord."
That every one beginning to repent may look to the Lord
alone, He instituted the Holy Supper which confirms the
remission of sins in those who repent. It confirms it, be-
cause in that Supper or Communion every one is kept look
ing to the Lord only.
123. VII. The continual [working] of the Lord's Divine
No. 123.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
99
Providence is to conjoin man with Himself, and Himself with
nan, that He may be able to give him the happy things of
eternal life ; which can be done only so far as evils with their
lusts are removed. That it is the continual [working] of
the Lord's Divine Providence to conjoin man with Him-
self, and Himself with man, and that this conjunction is
what is called reformation and regeneration, and that from
it man has salvation, was shown above (n. 27-45). Who does
not see that conjunction with God is life eternal and sal-
vation ? Every one sees it who believes that men are from
creation images and likenesses of God (Gen. i. 26, 27), and
who knows what an image and a likeness of God is. Who
that has sound reason, while thinking from his rationality,
and willing to think from his liberty, can believe that there
are three Gods, equal in essence, and that the Divine Esse
or the Divine Essence can be divided ? That there is
a Trine in the one God can be thought of and compre-
hended, as one can comprehend that there are soul and
Dody and the outgoing of life from these, in angel and in
man. And as this Trine in One is in the Lord only, it follows
that the conjunction must be with Him. Make use of your
rationality and at the same time your liberty of thinking, and
you will see this truth in its light ; but first grant that God is,
and that there is a heaven, and that there is eternal life.
Now, as God is one, and man from creation was made an
image and likeness of Him, and as by infernal love and by
its lusts and their enjoyments he has come into the love of
all evils, and has thereby destroyed in himself the image
and likeness of God, it follows that the continual [working!
of the Lord's Divine Providence is, to conjoin man with
Himself and Himself with man, and thus to make man to
be His image. It also lollows, that this is for the end that
the Lord may give man the happy things of eternal life ;
for such is the Divine Love. But He cannot give them to
man, nor can He make him the image of Himself, unless
man as from himself removes sins in the ex' ;rnal man,
IOO ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 124
because the Lord is not only Divine Love, but is also Di
vine Wisdom, and Divine Love does nothing but from its
own Divine Wisdom and according to it. That man can-
not be conjoined with the Lord, and thus reformed, re-
generated, and saved, unless allowed to act from freedom
according to reason (for by this man is man), is according to
the Lord's Divine Wisdom ; and whatever is according to
His Divine Wisdom, is also of His Divine Providence.
124. To this I will add two arcana of angelic wisdom,
from which the quality of the Divine Providence may be
seen : one is, that the Lord in no wise acts upon any par-
ticular in man, singly, without acting at the same time on
all things ; the other is, that the Lord acts from inmosts
and from ultimates at the same time. That the Lord in no
wise acts upon any particular in man, singly, without acting
at the same time on all things belonging to him, is because all
things belonging to man are in such connection, and, by
the connection, in such form, that they act not as many
but as one. It is known that man as to the body is in such
connection, and by the connection in such form. The
human mind also is in similar form, from the connection
of all things in it ; for the human mind is the spiritual man,
and is also actually man. It is from this that man's spirit,
which is his mind in the body, is a man in all its form ;
wherefore a man after death is as much a man as when in
the world, only with this difference, that he has cast off the
coverings which made up his body in the world. Now as
the human form is such that all the parts make a general
whole which acts as one, it follows that one part cannot be
moved out of place and changed in state, unless with the
consent of the rest ; for if one were removed from its place
and changed in state, the form which acts as one would
suffer. It is manifest from this, that the Lord in no wise
acts upon any one particular without acting simultaneously
upon all. So does the Lord act upon the universal angelic
heaven, since the universal angelic heaven in the Lord's
No. 125.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. IOI
sight is as one man. So, too, does He act upon each angel,
because each angel is a heaven in the least form. So, also,
does He act upon every man, proximately upon all things
of his mind, and through these upon all things of his body ;
for man's mind is his spirit, and according to its conjunc-
tion with the Lord is an angel, while the body is obedience.
But it should be well noted that the Lord also acts upon
the particulars in man singly, yes, acts upon them abso-
lutely one by one, but at the same time through all things
of his form ; still He does not change the state of any part
or of any thing in particulars, unless suitably to the whole
form. But more will be said of this in what follows ; where
it will be shown that the Lord's Divine Providence is uni-
versal because it is in the particulars severally, and that it
is in the particulars severally because it is universal. The
Lord acts from inmosts and from ultimates at the same time,
because only thus are all things and single things held
together, in connection ; for intermediates follow in a de-
pendent series from inmosts even to ultimates, and in the
ultimates they are together ; for, as shown in Part Third of
the treatise on the " Divine Love and Wisdom," in the ulti-
mate is the simultaneous [presence] of all things from the
first. Because of this, also, the Lord from eternity or Je-
hovah came into the world, and there put on and bore Hu-
manity in ultimates, that He might be from what is first and
in ultimates at the same time ; and so, from firsts through
ultimates, might rule the whole world and thus save men
whom He is able to save according to the laws of His Di-
vine Providence, which are also the laws of His Divine
Wisdom. And thus it is, as known in the Christian world,
that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had
come into the world ; concerning which see the " Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith" (n. 35). From
this, the Lord is called the First and the Last.
125. These angelic arcana have been premised, that it may
be comprehended how the Lord's Divine Providence works
102
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 126.
to conjoin man with Himself and Himself with nan ; and
not singly, upon some particular thing belong ng to man,
unless upon all that belongs to him, at once ; and the work
is done from man's inmost and from his ultimates, at the
same time. Man's inmost is his life's love ; the ultimates
are the things that are in the external of the thought ; and
the intermediates are the things that are in the internal of
his thought. Of what quality these are in the evil man, has
been already shown. From this it is again manifest that
the Lord cannot act from inmosts and ultimates at the
same time, unless together with man ; for man is together
with the Lord in the ultimates. Wherefore as man acts in
ultimates, which are at his disposal, because in his free-
dom, so the Lord acts from man's inmosts and in what suc-
ceeds them even to ultimates. The things that are in man's
inmosts and in what succeeds them even to the ultimates
are wholly unknown to man ; and therefore he is wholly
ignorant of how the Lord works there, and what He does ;
but as those things cohere as one with the ultimates, it is
therefore not necessary to know more than that he must
shun evils as sins and look to the Lord. Thus, and in no
other way, can his life's love, which from birth is infernal,
be removed by the Lord, and a heavenly life's love be im-
planted in its place.
126. When a heavenly life's love has been implanled by
the Lord in 1 ace of the infernal life's love, then affections
of good and truth are implanted in place of the lusts of
evil and falsity ; and the enjoyments of the affections of
good are implanted in place of the enjoyments of the lusts
of evil and falsity ; and the goods of heavenly love are im-
planted in place of the evils of infernal love. Then instead
of cunning is implanted prudence, and instead of thoughts
of wickedness are implanted thoughts of wisdom. So a
man is born again and becomes a new man. What kinds
of good succeed in place of the evils, may be seen in the
" Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem " (n. 67-73, 74-
No. 128.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 103
79, 80-86, 87-91): and that as far as man shuns and is
averse to evils as sins, he loves the truths of wisdom (n. 32-
41) ; and so far he has faith and is spiritual (n. 42-52).
127. It has been shown above from the exhortations
read in all Christian churches before the holy Communion,
that the common religion of the whole Christian world is,
that man must examine himself, see his sins, acknowledge
them, confess them before God, and desist from them ; and
that this is repentance, remission of sins, and consequently
salvation. The same may also be evident from the Faith
that takes its name from Athanasius, and which has been
received in the whole Christian world ; at the end of wnich
are these words : " The Lord will come to judge the living
and the dead, at Whose coming, they who have done good
shall enter into life eternal, and they who have done evil
into eternal fire."
128. Who does not know from the Word that a life is
allotted to every one after death according to his deeds ?
Open the Word, read it, and you will see this clearly ; but,
while doing this, remove the thoughts from faith and justi-
fication by it alone. That the Lord teaches this every-
where in His Word, take these few examples as testimony :
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn
doivn, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye
shall know them (Matt. vii. 19, 20). Many will say to Me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name,
and in Thy Name done many wonderful works ? And then
will I profess unto them, 1 never knew you : depart from Me,yc
that work iniquity (Matt. vii. 22, 23). Therefore whcsoexier
heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth th em, / will liken
him unto a wise man tvho built his house upoti a rock : and
every one that heareth these sayings of Mine, and doeth them
not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house
upon the ground without a foundation (Matt. vii. 24, 26 ;
Luke vi. 46-49). For the Son of Man shall come in the glory
of His Father, and then He shall reward every man ao
104
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo 128
cording to his works (Matt. xvi. 27). The kingdom of
God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation
BRINGING FORTH THE FRUITS THEREOF (Matt. XXI. 43).
Jesus said unto them, My mother and My brethren are these
who hear the Word of God and do it (Luke viii. 21). Then
shall ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, say-
ing, Lord, Lord, open unto us ; but He shall say, L tell you, 1
know you not whence ye are ; depart from Me, all ye work-
ers of iniquity (Luke xiii. 25-27). 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 v. 29). Now we know that God heareth not sinners ;
but if any man be a worshipper of God, and DO His will,
him He heareth (John ix. 31). If ye know these things,
happy are ye if ye do them (John xiii. 17). He that hath My
commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me,
and I will love him, and will come to him, and make My
abode with him (John xiv. 21,23; also verses 15 and 24). Ye
are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you. I have
chosen you that ye should bring forth fruit, and that your
fruit should remain (John xv. 14, 16). The Lord said to
John, Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, I know
thy works, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, be-
cause thou hast left thy first charity ; repent, and DO THE
first works, or else I will remove thy candlestick out of its
place (Apoc. ii. 1, 2, 4, 5). And unto the angel of the church
in Smyrna write; I know thy works (Apoc. ii. 8, 9). And
to the angel of the church in Pergamos write ; I know thy
works ; repent (Apoc. ii. 12, 13, 16). And unto the angel
of the church in Thyatira write; I know thy works and
charity, and the last to be more than the first (Apoc. ii. 18,
19). And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write ; I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest,
and art dead. I have not found thy works perfect be-
fore Cod ; repent (Apoc. iii. 1, 2, 3). And to the anget
of the church in Philadelphia write ; I know thy works
No 129.) THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. W$
(Apoc. iii. 7, 8). And unto the angel of the church of the
Laodiceans write; I know thy works : repent (Apoc. iii.
14, 15, 19). I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me,
Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from hence-
forth : THEIR WORKS DO FOLLOW THEM (ApOC. xiv. 13).
And another book was opened, which is the book of life ; and
the dead were judged every man according to their
works (Apoc. xx. 12, 13). And, behold, I come quickly;
and My reward is with Me, TO give every man according
as his work shall be (Apoc. xxii. 12). Thus far the New
Testament. Still more numerous examples are in the Old,
from which I will adduce this one only : Stand in the gate
of Jehovah, and proclaim there this word: Thus saith Je-
hovah Zebaoth, 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
these abominations I Is this house become a den of robbers 1
Behold, even I have seen it, saith Jehovah (Jer. vii. 2, 3, 4,
9, io, 11).
IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT
MAN SHOULD NOT BE COMPELLED BY EXTERNAL
MEANS TO THINK AND WILL, THUS TO BELfcEVE
AND LOVE, THE THINGS OF RELIGION; BUT THAT
MAN SHOULD BRING HIMSELF TO IT, AND SOME-
TIMES COMPEL HIMSELF.
129. This law of the Divine Providence follows from the
two preceding, which are, That man should act from free-
dom according to reason, concerning which see n. 71-99;
and that he should do this from himself although from the
Lord ; thus, as from himself, concerning which see n. 100-
128. And as it is not from freedom according to reason
5*
I06 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 129.
for one to be compelled, and as it is not from oneself, but
is from what is not freedom, and is from another; therefore
this law of the Divine Providence follows in order after the
two former. Every one knows, moreover, that one cannot
be compelled to think what he is not willing to think, nor
to will what his thought forbids his willing ; so neither can
he be compelled to believe what he does not believe, and
still less what he is not willing to believe ; nor to love
what he does not love, and still less what he is not willing
to love. For man's spirit, or his mind, is in the full liberty
of thinking, willing, believing, and loving ; it is in this
liberty by influx from the spiritual world which does not
compel (for man's spirit or mind is in that world), but not
by influx from the natural world, which is not received,
unless they act as one. A man can be driven to say that
he thinks and wishes these things, and that he believes and
loves these things ; but if they are not of his affection and
thence of his reason, or if they do not become so, he still
does not think, will, believe, and love them. A man may
also be compelled to speak in favor of religion, and to do
according to it ; but he cannot be compelled to think in its
favor from any faith, and to will in its favor from any love.
Moreover, in kingdoms where justice and judgment are
guarded, one is required not to speak against religion, and
not to do any thing against it ; but still, no one can be com-
pelled to think and to will in its favor. For every one is
at liberty to think with hell and to will in its favor, and
also to think and to will in favor of heaven ; but reason
teaches what the one is in quality, and what the other ;
and what kind of lot awaits the one, and what the other ;
and from reason, the will has a preference and its choice.
From this it may be evident that the external may not
compel the internal. Nevertheless, this is sometimes done j
but that it is hurtful, will be shown in this order : I. No
one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they com-
pel. II. No one is reformed by visions and by conversa-
No. 130.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
107
tions with those who have died, because they compel.
III. No one is reformed by threats and punishments, be
cause they compel. IV. No one is reformed in states that
are not of rationality and liberty. V. It is not contrary to
rationality and liberty to compel oneself. VI. The external
man must be reformed by means of the internal, and not
the reverse.
130. I. No one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they
compel. That man has an internal and an external of thought,
and that the Lord flows in through the internal of thought
with man into its external, and so teaches and leads him,
was shown above ; also, that it is from the Lord's Divine
Providence that man should act from freedom according
to reason. All this would perish with man, if miracles
were wrought, and man were driven by them to believe.
That this is true, may be rationally seen in this way : It
cannot be denied but that miracles induce a faith, and
powerfully persuade that what is said and taught by him
who does the miracles is true ; and that all this at first so
occupies man's external thought, as, in a manner, to bind
and fascinate it. But man is thus deprived of his two
faculties called rationality and liberty, and thus of the
ability to act from freedom according to reason ; and the
Lord cannot flow in through the internal into the ex-
ternal of his thought, except merely to leave man to con-
firm from his rationality the thing that has been made of
his faith by a miracle. The state of man's thought is such
that from the internal of thought he sees a thing in the ex-
ternal of his thought as in a sort of mirror ; for, as was said
above, a man can see his thought, which cannot be except
from more internal thought. And when he sees the thing
as in a mirror, he can also turn it in this way and that, and
shape it till it appears to him beautiful. The object, if it
is a truth, may be compared to a virgin or a young man,
beautiful and living ; but if the man cannot turn it in this
way and that, and shape it, but only believe in it from the
io8
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [So. 13a
persuasion induced by a miracle, then, if it is a truth, it
can be compared to a virgin or a young man carved from
wood or stone, in which there is no life. It may also be
compared to an object which is constantly before the sight,
itself alone being seen, and hiding from view all that is at
either side of it or behind it. Again, it may be compared
to a sound continually in the ear, which takes away the
perception of harmony from many sounds. Such blindness
and deafness are induced on the human mind by miracles.
It is the same with every thing confirmed, which is not
viewed with some rationality before its confirmation.
131. It may be evident from this, that a faith induced
by miracles is not faith but persuasion ; for in it there is
not any thing rational, still less any thing spiritual ; for it
is only an external without an internal. It is similar with
every thing which the man does from that persuasive faith,
whether he acknowledges God, worships Him at home or
in churches, or does good deeds. When a miracle alone
leads the man to the acknowledgment, to worship, and
piety, he acts from the natural man and not from the spir-
itual. For a miracle infuses faith by the external way.
and not by the internal way ; thus from the world, and not
from heaven ; and the Lord does not enter by any other
ivay with man than the internal way, which is by the Word
ind by doctrine and preaching from the Word. And as
•niracles close this way, therefore at this day no miracles
are wrought.
132. That miracles are such, may be clearly manifest
from those wrought before the people of Judah and Israel.
Although they had seen so many miracles in the land of
Egypt, and afterwards at the Red Sea, and others in the
desert, and especially on Mount Sinai when the Law was
promulgated, nevertheless, a single month afterward, while
Moses tarried on that mountain, they made themselves a
golden calf, and acknowledged it for Jehovah who led them
forth from the land of Egypt (Ex. xxxii. 4, 5, 6). Then
No. 133.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 109
again, from the miracles afterwards wrought in the land of
Canaan ; and nevertheless they as often departed from the
worship that was commanded them. It is equally manifest
from the miracles that the Lord wrought before them when
He was in the world ; and yet they crucified Him. Miracles
were performed among them, because the men of Judah and
of Israel were wholly external, and were introduced into
the land of Canaan merely that they might represent the
church and its internals by means of the externals of wor-
ship (and a bad man can represent, as well as a good
man) ; for externals are rituals, all of which among these
people were significative of spiritual and heavenly things :
even Aaron, although he made the golden calf, and com-
manded the worship of it (Ex. xxxii. 2-5, 35), still could
represent the Lord and His work of salvation. And be-
cause they could not be led by-ftie internals of worship to
represent those things, they were therefore led to it, yes,
driven and forced by miracles. They could not be led by
the internals of worship, because they did not acknowledge
the Lord, although the whole Word which they had treats
of Him alone ; and one who does not acknowledge the
Lord cannot receive any internal of worship. But after
the Lord manifested Himself, and was received and ac-
knowledged in the churches as the eternal God, miracles
ceased.
133. But the effect of miracles upon the good is differ-
ent from their effect on the wicked. The good do not
wish for miracles, but they believe in the miracles recorded
in the Word. And if they hear any thing concerning a
miracle, they give their attention only as to an argument
of no great weight, which confirms their faith ; for they
think from the Word, thus from the Lord, and not from
the miracle. It is otherwise with the wicked : by miracles
they may indeed be driven and forced to faith, yes, to
worship and to piety, but only for a litlle while ; for their
evils are shut in ; and the lusts of the evils and the en-
IIO ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING (No. 134
joyments from the lusts continually act against their ex-
ternal of worship and piety ; and in order to get out of
their confinement and break away, they think about the
miracle, and at last call it a trick or artifice, or a work of
nature, and so they return to their evils. And he who
after worship returns to his evils, profanes the goods and
truths of worship ; and the lot after death of those who
commit profanation, is the worst of all. These are they
who are meant by the Lord's words (Matt. xii. 43-45), that
their last state becomes worse than the first. Moreover, if
miracles were wrought with those who do not believe from
the miracles in the Word, they would be wrought con-
tinually, and before the sight, with all such persons. From
this it may be manifest why miracles are not wrought at
this day.
134. II. No one is reformed by visions and by conversa-
tions with those who have died, because they compel. Visions
are of two kinds, Divine and diabolical. Divine visions
take place by means of representatives in heaven ; and
diabolical visions, by means of magic in hell. There are
also fantastic visions, which are the illusions of an abstracted
mind. Divine visions, which, as has been said, are pro-
duced by means of representatives in heaven, are such as
the prophets had ; who, when they were in vision, were not
in the body, but in the spirit ; for visions cannot appear to
any one in a state of bodily wakefulness. Wherefore, when
they appeared to the prophets, it is also said that they were
then in the spirit ; as is manifest from the passages that
follow: Ezekiel says, Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and
brought me in a vision of God, in the Spirit of God, into
Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had
seen went up over me (xi. 1, 24). Again he says that the
Spirit lifted him up between the earth and the heaven, and
brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem (Ez. viii. 3,
and following verses). He was in like manner in the vision
of God or in the spirit, when he saw the four living creat
No. 134.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
Ill
ures which were cherubim (chap. i. and x.) ; as also when
he saw the new temple and the new earth and the angel
measuring them (chap, xl.-xlviii.). That he was then in the
visions of God, he says (xl. 2) ; and in the spirit (xliii. 5).
In a like state was Zechariah, when he saw the man riding
among the myrtle trees (Zech. i. 8, &c.) ; when he saw the
four horns (i. 18) ; and a man in whose hand was a meas-
uring-line (ii. 1, &c.) ; when he saw the candlestick and two
olive trees (iv. 1, &c.) ; when he saw the flying roll and the
ephah (v. 1-6) ; when he saw the four chariots coming out
from between two mountains, and the horses (vi. 1, &c).
In a like state was Daniel, when he saw the four beasts
coming up from the sea (Dan. vii. 1, &c.) ; when he saw
the combat between the ram and the he-goat (viii. 1, &c).
That he saw these things in the vision of his spirit is stated
(vii. 1, 2, 7, 13 ; viii. 2 ; x. 1, 7, 8) ; and that the angel
Gabriel was seen by him in vision (ix. 21). John, also, was
in the vision of the spirit when he saw what he described
in the Apocalypse ; as when he saw the seven candlesticks,
and in their midst the Son of Man (Apoc. i. 12-16) ; when
he saw the throne in heaven, and One sitting upon the
throne, and the four animals, which were cherubim, round
about it (chap, iv.) ; when he saw the book of life taken by
the Lamb (chap, v) ; when he saw the horses going out from
the book (chap, vi.) ; when he saw the seven angels with
trumpets (chap, viii.) ; when he saw the pit of the abyss
opened, and locusts going out of it (chap, ix.) ; when he saw
the dragon, and its combat with Michael (chap, xii.) ; when
he saw the two beasts, one rising up out of the sea, and the
other out of the earth (chap, xiii.) ; when he saw the woman
sitting upon the scarlet-colored beast (chap, xvii.) : and
Babylon destroyed (chap, xviii.) ; when he saw the white
horse and Him Who sat upon it (chap, xix.) ; when he saw
the new heaven and the new earth, and the holy Jerusalem
descending from heaven (chap, xxi.) ; and when he saw the
river of the water of life (chap. xxii.). That he saw these
112
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 134.
things in the vision of the spirit, is said (i. 10 ; iv. 2 ; v. 1 ;
vi. 1 ; xxi. i, 2). Such were the visions which appeared to
them from heaven, before the sight of the spirit, and not of
the body. Such do not take place at the present day, for
if they did they would not be understood ; because they
are made by representatives, in which every thing is signifi-
cative of the internal things of the church and the arcana of
heaven. Moreover, it was foretold by Daniel (ix. 24), that
they would cease when the Lord should come into the
world. But diabolical visions have sometimes been shown,
induced by enthusiastic and visionary spirits, who, from the
delirium in which they are, called themselves the Holy
Spirit. But these spirits have now been gathered, and
cast into a hell separate from the hells of others. From
these things it is manifest, that no one can be reformed by
any other visions than those in the Word. There are also
fantastic visions, but these are mere illusions of an ab-
stracted mind.
That neither is any one reformed by discourse with those
who have died, is evident from the Lord's words concern-
ing the rich man in hell, and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom ;
for the rich man said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou
wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five breth-
ren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this
place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses
and the Prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay,
father Abraham ; but if one went unto them from the dead, they
will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses
and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead (Luke xvi. 27-31). Discourse with the
dead would produce an effect like that of miracles, of which
just above ; namely, that man would be persuaded and driven
to worship for a little while ; but as this deprives a man of
rationality, and at the same time shuts in his evils, as said
above, this spell or internal bond is loosed, and the evils
that have been shut in break out; with blasphemy and pro-
No. 136.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
"3
fanation. But this takes place only when spirits bring in
some dogma of religion ; which is in no wise done by any
good spirit, still less by any angel of heaven.
135. But still there is conversation with spirits, rarely
with the angels of heaven, and this has been granted to
many for ages back ; but when it takes place, they speak
with a man in his mother-tongue, and only a few woids ;
but they who speak by the Lord's permission, never say any
thing which takes away the freedom of the reason, nor do
they teach ; for the Lord alone teaches man, but mediately
through the Word in a state of enlightenment, of which here-
after. The knowledge that this is so has been given me
by personal experience. I have had discourse with spirits
and with angels now for several years ; nor has any spirit
dared, nor any angel wished, to tell me any thing, still less
to instruct me, concerning any things in the Word, or con-
cerning any doctrine from the Word ; but the Lord alone
has taught me, Who has been revealed to me, and has
since appeared constantly and does now appear before my
eyes as a Sun in which He is, as He appears to the angels,
and has enlightened me.
136. III. No one is reformed by threats and punishments,
because they compel. It is known that the external cannot
compel the internal, but that the internal can compel the
external ; also that the internal is so averse to compulsion
by the external that it turns itself away. It is also known
that external enjoyments allure the internal to consent and
to love ; it may also be known that there is a forced inter-
nal and a free internal. But all these things, though
known, still need illustration ; for there are many things
which when heard, because they are true are at once per-
ceived to be so, and they therefore are affirmed ; but if
they are not at the same time confirmed by reasons, they
may by arguments from fallacies be made doubtful ; and
at last may be denied. Therefore the things that have
just been mentioned as known must be again taken up and
114 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 13d
proved rationally. First : The external cannot compel the
internal, but the internal can compel the external. Who can
be compelled to believe and to love ? One can no more
be compelled to believe, than to think that a thing is so
when he thinks that it is not so ; and one can no more be
compelled to love, than to will what he does not will : faith,
also, is of the thought, and love is of the will. But the in-
ternal may be compelled by the external not to speak ill of
the laws of the kingdom, the moralities of life, and the
sanctities of the church ; thus far the internal may be com-
pelled by threats and punishments ; and it also is com-
pelled, and ought to be. This internal, however, is not
the internal that is properly human ; but it is an internal
that man has in common with the beasts ; and they too can
be compelled. The human internal has its seat higher
than this animal internal. It is the human internal which
is here meant, that cannot be compelled. Second : Ihe
internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it
turns itself away. This is because the internal wishes to
be in freedom, and loves freedom ; for freedom belongs to
man's love or life, as shown above. Wherefore when free-
dom feels itself to be forced, it withdraws as it were within
itself, and turns itself away, and looks upon compulsion as
its enemy ; for the love which makes man's life is exasper-
ated, and causes the man to think that in this way he is
not his own, consequently that he does not live for himself.
That man's internal is such, comes from the law of the
Lord's Divine Providence, that man should act from free-
dom according to reason. From this it is manifest that it
is hurtful to compel men to Divine worship by threats and
punishments. But there are some who suffer themselves
to be forced to religion, and some who do not. Among
those who suffer themselves to be forced to religion, are
many within the papal jurisdiction ; but this takes place
with those in whose worship there is nothing internal, but
all is external. Among those who do not suffer themselves
No. 136.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 1 1 5
to be compelled, are many of the English nation ; and from
this it results that there is an internal in their worship j
and what there is in the external is from the internal.
In spiritual light their interiors as to religion appear like
bright clouds ; but in the light of heaven the interiors of
the former as to religion appear like dark clouds. Both of
these appearances are presented to sight in the spiritual
world, and any one who wishes will see them when he
comes into that world after death. Moreover, forced wor-
ship shuts in evils, which then lie hidden like fire in wood
under ashes, which is continually kindling and spreading,
till it breaks out in flames ; while worship not forced but
spontaneous does not shut evils in, which therefore are like
fires that blaze up at once and are gone. From this it is
manifest that the internal is so averse to compulsion that
it turns itself away. The internal may compel the ex-
ternal, because the internal is as a master, and the external
as a servant. Third : External enjoyments allure the inter-
nal to consent, and also to love. Enjoyments are of two
kinds, the enjoyments of the understanding and the enjoy-
ments of the will ; those of the understanding are also
enjoyments of wisdom ; and those of the will are also en-
joyments of love ; for wisdom is of the understanding, and
love is of the will. Now as the enjoyments of the body
and its senses, which are external delights, act as one with
internal enjoyments which belong to the understanding and
will, it follows that as the internal is so averse to com-
pulsion by the external as to turn itself away, so does it
look with favor on enjoyment in the external, even so as to
turn itself to it ; thus comes consent on the part of the
understanding, and love on the will's part. All infants in
the spiritual world are introduced by the Lord into angelic
wisdom, and thereby into heavenly love, by means of en-
joyments and pleasing things ; first by things beautiful in
their homes, and by what is pleasing in gardens ; then by
representations of spiritual things, which affect the interiors
Il6 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 13d
of their minds with pleasure ; and at length by truths ol
wisdom, and so by the goods of love : thus continually by
enjoyments in their order ; first by the enjoyments of the
understanding's love and of its wisdom ; and at length by
the enjoyments of the will's love, which becomes their life's
love, to which all other things that have entered by enjoy-
ments are held subordinate. This takes place because
every thing of the understanding and of the will must be
formed by the external before it is formed by the internal ;
for every thing of the understanding and of the will is
formed first by means of what enters through the senses
of the body, especially through sight and hearing; and
when the first understanding and the first will have been
formed, then the internal of thought regards these as the
externals of its thought, and either conjoins itself with them
or separates itself from them ; it conjoins itself with them
if they are pleasant, and it separates itself from them if
they are not. But it must be well known that the internal
of the understanding does not conjoin itself with the in-
ternal of the will, but that the internal of the will conjoins
itself with the internal of the understanding, and makes the
conjunction to be reciprocal ; but this is done by the inter-
nal of the will, and in no measure by the internal of the
understanding. From this it is that man cannot be re-
formed by faith alone, but by the will's love, which makes a
faith for itself. Fourth : There is a forced internal and a fret
internal. They have a forced internal who are in external
worship only, and in no internal worship ; for it is their in-
ternal to think and to will that to which the external is
forced. These are they who worship men, living and dead,
and who thence worship idols, and are in the faith of
miracles ; there is no internal in them but what is at the
same time external. But with those who are in the internal
of worship, there is an internal that is compelled ; com-
pelled from fear, or compelled from love. An internal
forced from fear, is with those who are in worship from tho
tlo. 138.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
117
fear of the torment of hell and of its fire ; but this internal
is not the internal of thought which was before treated of,
but is the external of thought, which is here called an in-
ternal because it belongs to thought. The internal of
thought, treated of before, cannot be compelled by any
fear ; but it can be compelled by love, and by the fear of
its loss. The fear of God in the true sense is no other.
To be compelled by love and by the fear of its loss, is com-
pelling oneself ; and that to compel oneself is not contrary
to liberty and rationality, will be seen below.
137. From this may be manifest the quality of forced
worship, and of worship not forced. Forced worship is
corporeal, lifeless, obscure, and sad ; corporeal^ because it
belongs to the body and not to the mind ; lifeless, because
there is no life in it ; obscure, because the understanding
is not in it ; and sad, because the enjoyment of heaven is
not in it. But worship not forced, when genuine, is spir-
itual, living, lucid, and joyful ; spiritual, because spirit from
the Lord is in it ; living, because life from the Lord is in
it ; lucid, because wisdom from the Lord is in it ; and joy-
ful, because there is heaven from the Lord in it.
138. IV. No one is reformed in states that are not of
rationality and liberty. It was shown above that nothing is
appropriated to man except what he does from freedom ac-
cording to reason. This is because freedom is of the will,
and reason is of the understanding 3 and when man acts
from freedom according to reason, he then acts from the
will by his understanding ; and whatever is done in the
conjunction of the two, is appropriated. Now as the Lord
wills that man should be reformed and regenerated, that he
may have eternal life or the life of heaven ; and as no one
can be reformed and regenerated unless good is appropri-
ated to his will, to be as his, and unless truth is appropriated
to his understanding, also to be as his ; and as nolhing can
be appropriated to any one except what is done from the
freedom of the will according to the reason of the under-
Il8 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. r»
standing, it follows that no one is reformed in states of
non-liberty and non-rationality. These states are many, but
in general they may be referred to the following, namely :
states of fear, of misfortune, of disordered mind [animus],
of bodily disease, of ignorance, and of blindness of the
understanding. But something shall be said of each state
in particular.
139. No one is reformed in a state of fear, because fear
takes away freedom and reason, or liberty and rationality ;
for love opens the interiors of the mind, but fear closes
them ; and when they are closed, man thinks but little, and
only of what then presents itself to the mind [animus'] or
the senses. So with all fears which seize the mind [animus].
It was shown above that man has an internal and an external
of thought: fear can in no wise seize the internal of
thought ; this is always in freedom, because in its life's
love ; but it can seize the external of thought, and when it
does so, the internal of thought is closed ; and when this is
closed, man no longer can act from freedom according to
his reason, and so cannot be reformed. The fear which
seizes the external of thought and closes the internal, is
especially the fear of the loss of honor or wealth ; but the
fear of civil punishments and of external ecclesiastical pun-
ishments does not close the internal of thought, because
these laws only declare penalties for those who speak and
act contrary to the civil interests of the kingdom and the
spiritual things of the church, but not for those who think
in opposition to them. The fear of infernal punishments
does indeed seize the external of thought, but only for a
few moments, hours, or days ; it is soon restored to its
freedom that comes from the internal of thought, which is.
properly of its spirit and of the life's love, and is called the
thought of the heart. But fear of the loss of honor and
wealth seizes the external of man's thought ; and when ij
does so, it then closes the internal of thought from above
against influx from heaven, and makes it that man cannot
No. 140.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 1 19
be reformed. The reason of this is, that every man's life's
love from birth is the love of self and the world ; and the
love of self makes one with the love of honor, and the love
of the world makes one with the love of gain. Therefore
when man is in the possession of honor or wealth, from
fear of losing them he strengthens with himself the means
that are of service for honor and gain ; which may be either
civil or ecclesiastical, and, in either case, means of author-
ity. He does likewise who is not yet in possession of
honor and wealth, if he aspires to them ; but he does it
from a fear of the loss of reputation on account of them.
It is said that that fear seizes the external of thought, and
closes the internal from above against the influx of heaven.
This is said to be closed when it wholly makes"one with
the external, for it is not then in itself, but in the external.
But as the loves of self and the world are infernal loves,
and are the fountain-heads of all evils, it is manifest of
what quality the internal of thought is in itself in those
with whom these loves are the life's loves, or in whom they
reign ; namely, that it is full of the lusts of evil of every
kind. They do not know this, who, from fear of the loss
of dignity and opulence, are in a strong persuasion con-
cerning the religious system in which they are ; especially
in that religious system which involves the idea that
they are to be worshipped as deities, and at the same time
as having sovereign power over hell. These are as in a
blaze of zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet this is from
infernal fire. As this fear especially takes away rationality
itself and liberty itself, which are heavenly by origin, it is
manifest that it stands in the way to prevent man's refor-
mation.
140. No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if he
thinks of God then only, and implores His aid, because
this is a forced state j therefore, when the man comes into a
free state, he returns into his former state, in which he had
thought little or nothing concerning God. It is otherwise
120
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 14a
with those who in a free state feared God before. By fear-
ing God is meant the fear of offending Him ; and to offend
Him is to sin ; and this is not of fear, but of love ; for does
not one who loves another fear to do him wrong ? and fear
it the more, the more he loves ? Without this fear, love is
insipid and superficial ; of the thought alone, and of no
will. By states of misfortune are meant states of despera-
tion from danger, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls,
fires, loss of wealth whether threatened or coming unex-
pectedly, loss of office and thus of honors, and other things
like these. To think of God during these only, is not from
God but from self. For the mind is then as it were im-
prisoned in the body ; thus not at liberty, and therefore
not in rationality ; without which there is no reformation.
141. No one is reformed in a state of disordered mind
[animus'], because this takes away rationality, and conse-
quently freedom of acting according to reason. For the
mind is sick and not sound ; and a sound mind is rational,
but a sick mind is not. Such disordered conditions are
melancholy, spurious and false conscience, hallucinations
of various kinds, pains of mind [animus] from misfortunes,
anxieties and mental suffering from a vitiated condition of
the body, which are sometimes regarded as temptations
but they are not ; for genuine temptations have spiritual
things for their objects, and in them the mind is wise ;
while these have natural things for their objects, and in
them the mind is unsound.
142. No one is reformed in a state of bodily disease, be-
cause the reason is then not in a free state ; for the state
of the mind depends on the state of the body. When the
body is sick, the mind also is sick, by removal from the
world, if not otherwise ; for the mind removed from the
world thinks indeed concerning God, but not from God,
for it is not in freedom of reason. Man has freedom of
reason from this, that he is in the midst between heaven
and the world, and that he can think from heaven and fioni
Na 144]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
121
the world, also from heaven concerning the world, and
from the world concerning heaven. When therefore man
is in a state of disease and is thinking about death and the
state of his soul after death, he is not then in the world ;
in spirit he is withdrawn ; and in this state alone no one
can be reformed ; but he may be confirmed, if he was re-
formed before he fell sick. It is similar with those who
give up the world and all business there, and give them-
selves solely to thoughts concerning God, heaven, and sal-
vation ; but of this more elsewhere. Therefore these same
persons, if they were not reformed before their sickness,
after it, if they die, become such as they were before the
sickness- It is therefore vain to think that any can, do the
work of repentance or receive any faith during sickness ;
foi in that repentance there is no action, and in that faith
there is no charity ; in them both, therefore, all is of the
mouth and nothing of the heart.
143. No one is reformed in a state of ignorance, because
all reformation is effected by truths and a life according to
them : wherefore they who do not know truths cannot be
reformed ; but if they desire truths from affection for them,
aftei death they are reformed in the spiritual world.
144. Neither can any one be reformed in a state of blind-
ness of the understanding. They also who are in this state
do not know truths, and consequently do not know life ;
for the understanding must teach truths, and the will must
do them ; and when the will does what the understand-
ing .eaches, then its life is made according to the truths.
But when the understanding is blinded, the will is also
closed up ; and from freedom according to its reason it
does only the evil confirmed in the understanding, which
is falsity. Besides ignorance, the religion also that teaches
blind faith darkens the understanding ; so too does the
doctrine of falsity ; for as truths open the understanding
so falsities close it ; they close it above, and open it below :
and the understanding opened only underneath cannot see
6
122 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 145,
truths, but can only confirm wnatever it wills, especially
falsity. The understanding is also blinded by the lusts of
evil ; so long as the will is in them it acts on the under-
standing for their confirmation ; and so far as the lusts of
evil are confirmed, the will cannot be in the affections of
good, and see truths from them, and so be reformed. For
example : With one who is in the lust of adultery, his will,
which is in the enjoyment of his love, acts on the under-
standing for its confirmation ; for it says, What is adultery ?
Is there any thing wicked in it ? Is there not between
husband and wife what is like it ? Cannot offspring be
born from adultery as well as from marriage ? Cannot a
woman receive more than one without hurt ? What has
the spiritual to do with this ? So thinks the understanding,
which is then the will's prostitute, and which has become
so stupid from debauchery with the will that it cannot see
that conjugial love is spiritual, heavenly love itself, which is
the image of the love of the Lord and the church, from
which also it is derived ; and thus that it is in itself holy, is
chastity itself, purity, and innocence ; and that it makes men
to be loves in form, as consorts can love each other mutually
from inmosts, and thus form themselves into loves ; and
that adultery destroys this form, and with it the image of
the Lord ; and, which is horrible, the adulterer commingles
his life with the husband's life in his wife, man's life being
in the seed. And as this is profane, therefore hell is called
adultery, and heaven on the other hand is called marriage.
Moreover, the love of adultery communicates with the
lowest hell, while love truly conjugial communicates with
the inmost heaven ; the organs of generation also, in either
sex, correspond to societies of the inmost heaven. These
things have been brought forward for it to be known how
blinded the understanding is when the will is in the lust of
evil ; and that no man can be reformed in a state of blind-
ness of the understanding.
145. V. // is not contrary to rationality and liberty to
No. 145]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
123
compel oneself. It has been shown already that man has an
internal and an external of thought, and that these are dis-
tinct as prior and posterior, or as higher and lower ; and
that because they are so distinct, they can act separately
and can act conjointly. They act separately when a man
from the external of his thought says and does in one way
while he interiorly thinks and wills in another ; and they
act conjointly when a man says and does as he interiorly
thinks and wills ; this is common with the sincere, the other
with the insincere. Now since the mind's internal and ex-
ternal are thus distinct, the internal may even fight with
the external, and by combat force it to consent. Combat
exists when man thinks that evils are sins and therefore
wishes to desist from them ; for when he desists, the door
is opened ; and when it is opened, the lusts of evil that
occupied the internal of thought are cast out by the Lord,
and affections of good are implanted in place of them.
This is done in the internal of thought. But as the enjoy,
ments of the lusts of evil which occupy the external of
thought cannot be cast out at the same time, therefore
combat exists between the internal and the external of
thought. The internal wishes to cast out those enjoyments
because they are enjoyments of evil and not in concord with
the affections of good in which the internal now is ; and,
in place of the enjoyments of evil, it wishes to introduce en-
joyments of good which are in concord ; the enjoyments of
good are what are called the goods of charity. From this
contrariety arises combat, which if it becomes severe is
called temptation. Now as a man is man from the internal
of his thought, for this is man's very spirit, it is evident
that a man compels himself when he compels the external
of his thought to consent, or to receive the enjoyments of
his affections, which are goods of charity. It is manifest
that this is not contrary to rationality and liberty, but ac-
cording to them, for rationality excites the combat, and
liberty carries it on; liberty also, together with rationality
124 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 147
has its seat in the internal man, and from this in the external
When, therefore, the internal conquers, as it does when the
internal has reduced the external to consent and com
pliance, then the Lord gives man liberty itself and ration-
ality itself ; for then man is withdrawn by the Lord from
infernal freedom, which in itself is slavery, and is brought
into heavenly freedom, which in itself is real freedom, and
there is given him fellowship with the angels. That they
are slaves who are in sins, and that the Lord makes those
free who through the Word receive truth from Him, He
teaches in John (viii. 31-36).
146. This may be illustrated by the example of a man
who has perceived enjoyment in fraud and secret theft, and
now sees and interiorly acknowledges that they are sins,
and therefore wishes to desist from them. When he de-
sists, then there arises a combat of the internal man with
the external. The internal man is in the affection for
sincerity ; but the external still finds enjoyment in de-
frauding ; which enjoyment, because it is wholly opposite
to the enjoyment of sincerity, does not yield unless com-
pelled ; nor can it be compelled except by combat ; and
then, when the victory has been gained, the external man
comes into the enjoyment of the love of what is sincere,
which is charity ; afterwards the enjoyment in fraud gradu-
ally beomes unpleasant to him. It is the same with al!
other sins, as with adultery and whoredom, revenge and
hatred, blasphemy and lying. But the hardest struggle of
all is with the love of rule from the love of self ; he who
subdues this, easily subdues the other evil loves, for this
is their head.
147. It shall also be briefly stated how the Lord casts
nut the lusts of evil which possess the internal man from
birth, and puts in their stead affections for good, when a
man as from himself removes evils as sins. It has already
been shown that man has a natural mind, a spiritual mind,
and a heavenly [celestial'] mind ; and that a man is in the
No. 148.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
125
natural mind alone, as long as he is in the lusts of evil and
in their enjoyments ; and that so long the spiritual mind
is closed. But as soon as the man after examination ac-
knowledges evils as sins against God, because contrary to
Divine laws, and therefore wishes to desist from them, the
Lord then opens the spiritual mind, and enters into the
natural by affections for good and truth ; and He enters
into the rational, and from it He disposes in order the
things which, lower in the natural, are contrary to order.
This is what appears to man as combat ; and, with those
who have indulged much in the enjoyments of evil, it ap-
pears as temptation ; for there comes suffering to the nund
[animus'] when the order of its thoughts is inverting. Now
as the combat is against the things that are in the man
himself, and which he feels as his own, and as no one can
fight against himself unless from a more internal self and
also from freedom there, it follows that the internal man
then fights against the external, and from freedom, and
that it compels the external to obedience ; this, then, is
compelling oneself. It is manifest that this is not contrary
to liberty and rationality, but according to them.
148. Moreover, every man wishes to be free, and to re-
move from himself what is not free or what is servile.
Every boy who is under a teacher wishes to be his own
master, and thus free ; so every servant under his master,
and every maid under her mistress ; every virgin desires
to leave her father's house and marry, that she may
act freely in her own house ; every youth wishing to work
or do business or discharge the duties of any office, while
he is subject to the control of others, wishes to be released,
so as to be at his own disposal. They all compel them-
selves who serve of their own accord for the sake of liberty ;
and when they compel themselves, they act from freedom
according to reason, but from an interior freedom, from
which exterior freedom is looked upon as a servant. This
has been adduced in proof that it is not contrary to ration
ality and liberty to compel oneself.
126 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 150.
149. One reason why man does not in like manner wish
to come out of spiritual servitude into spiritual liberty, is,
lhat he does not know what spiritual servitude is, and what
spiritual liberty is ; he has not the truths that teach this ;
ind without truths, it is believed that spiritual servitude is
freedom, and spiritual freedom servitude. Another reason
6, that the religion of the Christian world has closed up
the understanding, and faith alone has fixed the seal ; for
each of these has placed around itself as a wall of iron the
dogma that theological matters are transcendent, and are
therefore not to be reached from any exercise of the reason,
and that they are for the blind, not for those who see ; thus
the truths have been hidden that teach what spiritual liberty
is. A third reason is, that few examine themselves and
see their sins ; and one who does not see them and desist
from them is in their freedom, which is infernal freedom,
in itself slavery j and from this to see heavenly freedom
which is freedom itself, is like seeing day in thick darkness,
and like seeing while under a dark cloud what is from the
sun above. It is for these reasons that it is not known
what heavenly freedom is, and that the difference between
it and infernal freedom is like the difference between what
is alive and what is dead.
150. VI. The external man must be reformed by means of
the internal, and not the reverse. By the internal and ex-
ternal man is meant the same as by the internal and ex
ternal of thought, of which frequently above. That the
external is reformed by the internal, is, that the internal
flows into the external, and not the reverse. That there is
influx of the spiritual into the natural, and not the reverse,
is known in the learned world ; and that the internal man
must be first purified and renewed, and so the external, is
known in the church ; it is known, because the Lord teaches
it, and reason dictates it. The Lord teaches it in these
words : Woe unto you, hypocrites, for ye make clean the out'
side of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full oj
No. 151.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
127
extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the
inside of the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be
clean also (Matt, xxiii. 25, 26). That reason so dictates,
has been abundantly shown in the treatise concerning the
"Divine Love and Wisdom." For the Lord grants that
man may perceive by reason what He teaches, and this in
two ways ; in one, the man sees in himself that a thing is
so, as soon as he hears it ; in the other, he understands it
by reasons. The seeing in himself, is in his internal man ;
and the understanding by reasons, is in the external man.
Who does not see in himself, when he hears that the inter-
nal man must be purified first, and the external by rrcans
of it ? But one who does not receive a general idea of this
subject from influx from heaven, may wander when he
consults the external of his thought ; from this alone no
one sees but that the external works of charity and piety
save, without the internal. So in other things ; as that
sight and hearing flow into thought, and that smell and
taste flow into perception, thus the external into the in-
ternal, while nevertheless the contrary is the case. The
appearance that what are seen and heard flow into the
thought, is a fallacy ; for in the eye the understanding sees,
and it hears in the ear, and not the reverse. So it is in all
other things.
151. But it shall here be told briefly, how the internal man
is reformed, and the external by means of it. The internal
man is not reformed merely by knowing, understanding, and
having wisdom, consequently not by thinking only; but by
willing what knowledge, understanding, and wisaom teach.
When a man has knowledge, understanding, and wisdom con-
cerning the existence of heaven and hell, concerning all evils
being from hell, and all good from heaven, if then he does
not will evil because it is from hell, but does will good be-
cause it is from heaven, he is then taking the first step in
reformation, and is at the threshold of the way from hell
into heaven. When he goes further, and wishes to desist
128 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 152
from evils, he is taking a second step in reformation, and
is then outside of hell, but not yet in heaven ; this he
sees above him. There must be this internal, that a man
may be reformed ; but the man is not reformed unless
the external and the internal both are reformed. The
external is reformed by means of the internal, when the
external ceases to do the evils which the internal does
not will because they are infernal, and still more when
it therefore shuns them and fights against them. Thus,
willing is the internal, and doing is the external ; for un-
less one does what he wills, an unwillingness is within,
and at last it comes that he will not. From these few state-
ments it may be seen how the external man is reformed
by means of the internal ; this also is the meaning of the
Lord's words to Peter : Jesus answered him, If I wash
thee not, thou hast no part with Me. Simon Peter saith
unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my
head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not
save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit (John xiii. 8, 9,
10). By washing is meant spiritual washing, which is puri-
fication from evils ; by washing the head and the hands, is
meant to purify the internal man ; and by washing the
feet, to purify the external man. That when the internal
man has been purified, the external must be purified, is
meant by this, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his
feet. That all purification from evils is from the Lord is
meant by this, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with
Me. That washing represented among the Jews purifica-
tion from evils, and that this is signified in the Word by
washing, and that by the washing of the feet is signified the
purification of the natural or external man, has been shown
in the "Arcana Ccelestia," in many places.
152. Since a man has an internal and an external, and
both must be reformed that the man may be reformed j
and since no one can be reformed unless he examines him-
Relf, sees and acknowledges his evils, and afterwards ceases
No. .53 J
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
129
from them, it follows that not only must the external be
examined, but the internal also. If the external alone is
examined, a man sees only what he has actually done, as
that he has not committed murder, nor adultery, nor theft,
and has not borne false witness ; and so on : he thus ex-
amines the evils of his body, and not the evils of his spirit ;
and yet the evils of the spirit must be examined, that one
may be reformed ; for after death man lives a spirit, and
all the evils which are in the spirit remain ; and the spirit
is examined only by man's giving attention to his thoughts,
especially his intentions, for intentions are thoughts fro,>jn
the will ; evils are there, in their origin and in their root,
that is, in their lusts and in their enjoyments ; and unless
these are seen and acknowledged, the man is still in evils,
although in externals he has not committed them. That to
think from purpose, is to will and to do, is manifest from
the Lord's words, Whosoever looketh on another's woman to
lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in
his heart (Matt. v. 28). Such is the examination of the
internal man, from which the external man is essentially
examined.
153. I have very often wondered, that although the
whole Christian world has recognized that evils must be
shunned as sins, and that otherwise they are not remitted,
and if not remitted there is no salvation, yet hardly one in
thousands knows this. Inquiry was made concerning this
in the spiritual world, and it was found to be so. For
every one in the Christian world has recognized this, from
the exhortations read before those who come to the Holy
Supper, for it is openly declared in them ; and yet, when
asked whether they know this, they answer that they do
not, and that they have never known it. This is because
they have not thought about it, and because the greater
number have thought only of faith, and of salvation by it
alone. And I have also wondered that faith alone so
closed the eyes, that when they who have confirmed them-
6*
130 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 154.
selves in it are reading the Word, they see nothing that is
there said concerning love, charity, and works. It is as il
they had daubed faith over all things of the Word, as one
covers writing with vermilion, on which account nothing
that is under it appears ; and if any thing does appear, it is
absorbed by the faith, and it is said to be faith.
IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT
MAN SHOULD BE LED AND TAUGHT BY THE LORD
FROM HEAVEN, THROUGH THE WORD, AND DOC-
TRINE AND PREACHING FROM IT, AND THIS IN
ALL APPEARANCE AS BY HIMSELF.
154. According to the appearance, man is led and taughr
by himself ; but according to the truth, he is led and taught
by the Lord alone. They who confirm in themselves the
appearance, and not at the same time the truth, cannot re-
move evils as sins from themselves ; but they who confirm
in themselves the appearance and the truth at the same
time, can ; for evils as sins are to appearance removed by
man, and in truth by the Lord. These can be reformed ;
the former cannot. They who confirm in themselves the
appearance and not the truth at the same time, are all in-
terior idolaters, for they are worshippers of self and the
world ; if they have no religion, they become wot shippers
of nature, and so atheists ; but if they have a religion, they
become worshippers of men and at the same time of
images. These are they who are now meant in the first
commandment of the decalogue, by those who worship
other gods. But they who confirm in themselves the ap-
pearance and at the same time the truth, become worship-
pers of the Lord ; for the Lord raises them from their
proprium \ownhood\ which is in the appearance, and
brings them into light, in which is truth and which is truth ;
and He enables them to perceive interiorly that they are
not led and taught by themselves but by the Lord. Theii
No. 1 561 THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 131
rational may appear to many to be like that of the others ;
but it is unlike it. The rational of those who are in the
appearance and at the same time in the truth, is the spiritual
rational ; while the rational of those who are in the appear-
ance and not at the same time in the truth, is the natural
rational ; but this rational may be compared to a garden as
it is in the light of winter, while the spiritual rational may
be compared to a garden as it is in the light of spring.
But more concerning these things will follow in this order :
I. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone. II. Man is
led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic
heaven and from it. III. Man is led by the Lord by in-
flux, and taught by enlightenment. IV. Man is taught by
the Lord through the Word, and doctrine and preaching
from it, thus immediately by Him alone. V. Man is led
and taught by the Lord in externals to all appearance as by
himself.
155. I. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone. This
flows as a universal consequence from all the things shown
in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom ; "
as well from those that were there demonstrated concerning
the Lord's Divine Love and His Divine Wisdom, in Part
First, as from those concerning the Sun of the spiritual
world, and the sun of the natural world, in Part Second ;
also concerning degrees, in Part Third ; and concerning
the creation of the universe, in Part Fourth ; and also con-
cerning the creation of man, in Part Fifth.
156. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone,
means that he lives from the Lord alone ; for his life's will
is led, and his life's understanding is taught. But this is
contrary to appearance ; for the appearance to man is that
he lives from himself, and yet the truth is that he lives
from the Lord and not from himself. Now because there
cannot be given to man while he is in the world the per-
ception by sensation that he lives from the Lord alone
(since the appearance that he lives from himself is not
132
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 157
taken away from him, for without this a man is not man),
therefore it is to be made evident by reasons, which must
next be confirmed by experience, and finally by the Word
157. That man lives from the Lord alone, and not froro
himself, is made evident by these reasons : There is an
only essence, an only substance, and an only form, from
which are all the essences, substances, and forms, that have
been created. That only essence, substance, and form, is
the Divine Love and Wisdom, from which are all things
having relation to love and wisdom in man. It is also
the Good itself and the Truth itself, to which all things
have relation. And those are the life, from which are
the life of all things and all things of life. Also, that the
Only [from which all else is, D. L. & W. n. 45], and the
Itself [which alone is, D. L. & W. n. 45] is omnipresent
omniscient, and omnipotent. And that this Only and
Itself is the Lord from eternity or Jehovah. First : There
is an only essence, an only substance, and an only form,
from which are all the essences, substances, and forms, that
have been created. This is shown in the treatise concern-
ing the " Divine Love and Wisdom " (n. 44-46) ; and in
Part Second of that work it is shown, that the Sun of
the angelic heaven, which is from the Lord and in which
the Lord is, is that only substance and form from which
are all things that have been created, and that there is
nothing and can be nothing which is not from that Sun.
That all things are from it by derivations according to de-
grees, is there demonstrated in Part Third. Who does no»
from reason perceive and acknowledge that there is an
only essence, from which is all essence, or an only Esse
[To be] from which is all esse 1 What can exist without
esse ? And what is the Esse from which is all esse, unless
Esse itself? And that which is Esse itself is also the
only Esse, and Esse in itself. Since this is so (and every
one from reason perceives and acknowledges this, or if
not, he can perceive and acknowledge it), then what else
No. 157.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
133
follows but ihat this Esse, which is the Divine itself, which
is Jehovah, is the all of all things that are and exist ? And
so it is, if it is said that there is an only substance from
which are all things ; and as substance without form is not
any thing, it follows also that there is an only form from
which are all things. That the Sun of the angelic heaven
is this only substance and form, and how this essence, sub-
stance, and form is varied in created things, has been de-
monstrated in the treatise named above. Second: That
only essence, substance, and form, is the Divine Love and Wis-
dom, from which are all things having relation to love afid
wisdom in man. This also has been fully shown in the trea-
tise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom." In man,
whatever things appear to live, have relation to the will and
the understanding in him ; and that these two make man's
life, any one perceives and acknowledges from reason.
What else do we hear but, This I will, or this I understand,
— or, I love this, or I think this? And as a man wills
what he loves and thinks what he understands, therefore
all things of the will have relation to love, and all things
of the understanding to wisdom. And as love and wisdom
cannot be given in any one from himself, but from Him
who is Love itself and Wisdom itself, it follows that this is
from the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah ; if it were not so>
man would be love itself and wisdom itself, thus God from
eternity ; at the thought of which human reason itself
shudders. Can any thing be given except from what is
prior to itself ? And can there be this prior, unless from
what is prior to it also ? and thus finally, unless from the
First which is in itself ? Third : In like manner, it is Good
itself and Truth itself, to which all things have relation. It
is accepted and acknowledged by every one who has
reason, that God is Good itself and Truth itself, and that all
good and truth are from Him ; and, accordingly, that all
good and truth can come from no other source than frorr
Good itself and Truth itself. This is acknowledged
134 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 157.
ever)' rational man, as soon as heard. When it is then said
that all of the will and the understanding, or all of love
and wisdom, or all of affection and thought, in the man
who is led by the Lord, has relation to good and truth, it
follows that all things which that man wills and under-
stands, or that which he loves and in which he is wise, or
that for which he has affection and which he thinks are
from the Lord. From this it conies, that every one in the
church knows that all the good and truth from man are not
good and truth in themselves, but that only which is from
the Lord. Since these things are the truth, it follows, that all
that such a man wills and thinks is from the Lord. It will
be seen in what follows, that every evil man is able to will
and to think from no other origin. Fourth : They are the
life, from which are the life of all things and all things of
life. This has been shown in many places in the treatise
concerning the "Divine Love and Wisdom." Human
reason, at the first hearing, also accepts and acknowledges
that all man's life is of his will and understanding, for if
they be taken away he does not live ; or, what is the same,
that all man's life is of his love and thought, for if these
be taken away he does not live. Now because all of the
will and understanding, or all of love and thought in man,
is from the Lord, as has already been stated, it follows
that all of life is from Him. Fifth : This Only [from
which all else is, D. L. & W. n. 45], and Itself [which alone
is, D. L. & W. n. 45], is omnipresent, omniscient, and o?nnipo~
tetit. This, too, every Christian acknowledges from his doc-
trine, and every Gentile from his religion. Hence, also,
every one, wherever he is, thinks that God is where he is,
and prays to Him as present. And since every one so
thinks and so prays, it follows that men can have no othei
thought than that God is everywhere, thus omnipresent.
So as to His being omniscient and omnipotent. Therefore
every one praying in his heart to God, implores Him to
lead him, because He is able. Thus every one then ac
No. 158.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
135
knowledges the Divine omnipresence, omniscience, and
omnipotence ; he acknowledges them because he then turns
his face to the Lord, and this truth then flows in from Him.
Sixth : This Only and Itself is the Lord from eternity or Je-
hovah. In the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Lord," it has been shown that God is One in essence
and in person, and that this God is the Lord ; and that the
Divine Itself, which is called Jehovah the Father, is the
Lord from eternity ; that the Divine Human is the Son
conceived from His Divine from eternity, ^nd born in the
world ; and that the proceeding Divine is the Holy Spirit!.1
It is said, the Itself and the Only, since it was said before
that the Lord from eternity or Jehovah is Life itself be-
cause He is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or Good itself
and Truth itself, from which all things are. That the Lord
created all things from Himself, and not from nothing, may
be seen in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and
Wisdom" (n. 282-284, 349~357)- Thus the truth that
man is led and taught by the Lord alone, is confirmed by
reasons.
158. The same truth is confirmed not by reasons only;
but to angels, especially the angels of the third heaven,
it is confirmed by living perceptions. The angels of this
heaven perceive the influx of Divine Love and Divine Wis-
dom from the Lord. And because they perceive it, and from
their wisdom recognize that these are life, they therefore
say that they live from the Lord and not from themselves ;
and they do not merely say this, but they also love and
wish to have it so. And still in all appearance they are as
if they lived from themselves ; yes, in the appearance
stronger than with other angels ; for, as was shown above
(n. 42-45), The more closely any one is conjoined with the
Lord, the more distinctly he seems to himself as if he were his
own [suus], and the more clearly he recognizes that he is the
Lord's. It has also been granted me to be in similar per-
ception, and at the same time in the appearance, now for
»36
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. i6<x
many years ; from which I have been fully convinced that
I will and think nothing from me, but that it appears as if
from me ; and it has also been given me to will and to love
this. The same can be confirmed by many other things
from the spiritual world ; but these two are enough for the
present.
159. That the Lord alone has life, is manifest from these
passages in the Word : / am the resurrection and the life ;
he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live
(John xi. 25). / am the way, the truth, and the life (John
xiv. 6). The Word was God. In Him was life, and the
life was the light of men (John i. 1, 4). The Word there is
the Lord. As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He
given to the Son to have life in Himself (John v. 26). That
man is led and taught by the Lord alone, is manifest from
these passages : Without Me ye can do nothing (John xv. 5).
A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven
(John iii. 27). A man cannot make one hair white or black
(Matt. v. 36). By a hair in the Word is signified the least
of all things.
160. That the life of the wicked also is from the same
origin, will be demonstrated in its own article further on.
Now it will merely be illustrated by comparison. From the
sun of the world flow heat and light ; and they flow alike
into trees that bear bad fruit, and into those bearing good
fruit ; and alike they put forth shoots and grow. The
forms into which the heat flows, not the heat in itself, make
this diversity. It is similar with light; it is turned into
various colors according to the forms into which it flows ;
there are colors beautiful and pleasing, and there are colors
that are ugly and gloomy ; and still the light is the same.
So it is with the influx of spiritual heat which in itself is
love, and of spiritual light which in itself is wisdom, from
the Sun of the spiritual world. The forms into which they
fiow make diversity, but not this heat which is love, and
this light which is wisdom, in themselves. The forms into
No. 162.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
137
which they flow are human minds. From this it is now
manifest that man is led and taught by the Lord alone.
161. But what the life of animals is, was shown above ;
namely, that it is the life of merely natural affection with
its knowledge that is its mate ; and that it is a mediate
life, corresponding to the life of those who are in the spir-
itual world.
162. II. Man is led and taught by the Lord alone through
the angelic heaven and from it. It is said that man is led by
the Lord through the angelic heaven and from it ; but that
he is led through the angelic heaven is according to the
appearance ; while it is according to the truth that he is led
from that heaven. The appearance is that it is through
the angelic heaven, because the Lord appears above that
heaven as a Sun ; the truth is that it is from that heaven,
because the Lord is in it as the soul is in man. For the
Lord is omnipresent, and is not in space, as was shown
above ; therefore distance is an appearance according to
the conjunction with Him ; and conjunction is according
to reception of love and wisdom from Him. And as no
one can be conjoined with the Lord as He is in Himself,
therefore He appears to the angels at a distance, as a Sun ;
but still He is in the whole angelic heaven, as the soul in
man ; and in like manner in every society of heaven, and in
every angel therein ; for a man's soul is not only the soul
of the whole, but also of every part. But as it does ap-
pear that the Lord rules the universal heaven, and through
it the world, from the Sun which is from Him and in which
He is (concerning which Sun see the treatise on the " Di-
vine Love and Wisdom," Part Second) ; and as it is allow-
able for any man to speak from the appearance, nor can
he do otherwise, therefore it is also allowable for any
one who is not in wisdom itself, to think that the Lord
rules all things and each thing from His Sun ; and also
that He rules the world through the angelic heaven.
Angels of the lower heavens also think from such appear
'38
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 163.
ance ; but angels of the higher heavens indeed speak from
the appearance, but they think from the truth, which is that
the Lord rules the universe from the angelic heaven, which
is, from Himself. That the simple and the wise speak alike
but do not think alike, may be illustrated by the sun of the
world. All speak of it according to the appearance, say-
ing that it rises and sets ; but the wise, although they
speak in the same way, yet think of the sun as standing
unmoved, which also is the truth, while the other is the
appearance. The same may also be illustrated by appear-
ances in the spiritual world ; for spaces and distances
appear there as in the natural world ; but still they are ap-
pearances according to dissimilitude of affections and
thence of thoughts. It is similar with the appearance of
the Lord in His Sun.
163. But how the Lord leads and teaches every man
from the angelic heaven, will be told in a few words. In
the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom,"
and above in the present treatise on the " Divine Provi-
dence," and also in the work concerning " Heaven and
Hell," published in London in 1758, it has been made
known from things seen and heard, that the universal
angelic heaven appears before the Lord as one man, and
likewise every society of heaven ; and that it is from this
that every angel and spirit is in perfect form a man. And
it has also been shown in these treatises, that heaven is
not heaven from what is proper to the angels, but from
their reception of the Divine Love and Wisdom from the
Lord. From which it may be evident that the Lord rules
the universal angelic heaven as one man ; and that this
heaven, because in itself it is man, is the very image and
likeness of the Lord ; and that the Lord rules it as the
soul rules its body. And as the universal human race i9
ruled by the Lord, it may be evident that it is not ruled
through heaven, but from heaven by the Lord ; consequentlj
from Himself, because He is heaven, as before stated-
No. 165.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
139
164. But as this is an arcanum of angelic wisdom, it can
be comprehended only by the man whose spiritual mind is
opened ; for he, from conjunction with the Lord, is an
angel ; by this man, from what has been premised, the
things that now follow may be comprehended : 1. All, both
men and angels, are in the Lord, and the Lord in them,
according to conjunction with Him, or, which is the same,
according to reception of love and wisdom from Him.
2. Every one is from these allotted a place in the Lord,
thus in heaven, according to the quality of the conjunction,
or of the reception of Him. 3. Every one in his place has
his state distinct from the state of others ; and from the
common stock he takes up what is assigned him according
to his situation, his function, and his need, altogether like
each thing in the human body. 4. Every man is initiated
into his place by the Lord according to his life. 5. Every
one is from infancy brought into that Divine Man whose
soul and life is the Lord ; and in Him, not out of Him, he
is led and taught from His Divine Love according to His
Divine Wisdom. But as freedom is not taken away from
man, a man cannot be led and taught otherwise than ac-
cording to reception as by himself. 6. They who receive,
are borne to their places by infinite windings, as by mean-
dering streams, almost as the chyle is carried through the
mesentery and its lacteals into its receptacle, and from this
through the thoracic duct into the blood, and so to its
destination. 7. They who do not receive, are separated
from those who are within the Divine Man, as the faeces
and urine are separated from man. These are arcana of
angelic wisdom which man can in some measure compre
hend ; but there are many more which he cannot.
165. III. Man is led by the Lord by inflicx, and taught
by enlightenment. Man is led by the Lord by influx, for
leading and inflowing are expressions used concerning love
and the will ; and man is taught by the Lord by enlighten-
ment, because teaching and enlightening are expressions
I40 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. i64
properly used concerning wisdom and the understanding.
That every man is led by himself from his love, and is led
by others according to it, and not from the understanding,
is well known. He is led from the understanding and
according to it, only when the love or the will makes it ;
and when this is the case, it can also be said of the under-
standing that it is led ; but still, then it is not the under-
standing that is led, but the will from which it is. The
term influx is used, because it has become customary to
say that the soul flows into the body, and that influx is
spiritual and not physical, and a man's soul or life is his
love or will, as has already been shown ; also, because in-
flux is comparatively like the influx of the blood into the
heart, and from the heart into the lungs. That there is a
correspondence of the heart with the will, and of the lungs
with the understanding, and that the conjunction of the
will with the understanding is like the influx of the blood
from the heart into the lungs, has been shown in the treatise
concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom " (n. 371-432).
166. But man is taught by enlightenment ; for teaching
and enlightenment are expressions used concerning the
understanding ; for the understanding, which is man's in-
ternal sight, is enlightened by spiritual light, as the eye or
man's external sight is enlightened by natural light. The
two, also, are taught in similar ways ; but the internal
sight, which is that of the understanding, is taught from
spiritual objects ; and the external sight, which is that of
the eye, is taught from natural objects. There is spiritual
light, and there is natural, alike in outward appearance,
but unlike as to the internal ; for natural light is from the
sun of the natural world, and therefore in itself is dead ;
but spiritual light is from the Sun of the spiritual world,
and is therefore in itself alive. Spiritual light enlightens
the human understanding, not natural light. Natural and
rational light \lumen\ is not from this latter, but from the
former. It is called natural and rational light [/umen], be-
No. 167.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 14I
cause it is spiritual-natural ; for in the spiritual world there
are three degrees of light, heavenly [celestial^ light, spiritual
light, and spiritual-natural light. Heavenly light is a flam-
ing ruddy light ; they have it who are in the third heaven.
Spiritual light is a white shining light ; they have it who
are in the middle heaven. And spiritual-natural light is
like the light of day in our world ; they who are in the
ultimate heaven have this light ; also they who are in the
world of spirits which is mediate between heaven and hell ;
but in the world of spirits this light with the good is like
that of summer on earth, and with the evil like that of
winter. It must be known, however, that all the light oi
the spiritual world has nothing in common with the light
of the natural world ; they differ as what is alive and wha4
is dead. From which it is manifest that natural light such
as is before our eyes does not enlighten the understanding,
but spiritual light does this. Man is ignorant of this, be-
cause he has heretofore known nothing concerning spiritual
light. That in its origin spiritual light is Divine Wisdom
or Divine Truth, was shown in the work concerning
"Heaven and Hell " (n. 126-140).
167. As the light of heaven has now been spoken of,
something must also be said concerning the light of hell.
Light in hell is also of three degrees. The light in the
lowest hell is like that from burning charcoal ; that in the
middle hell is like light from the flame of a fire on
;he hearth ; and light in the uppermost hell is like the light
from candles, and to some like the light of the moon by
night. Nor are these lights natural, but they too are
spiritual ; for all natural light is dead and extinguishes the
understanding ; and those who are in he'd have the faculty
of understanding that is called rationality, as was before
shown, and rationality itself is from spiritual light, and not
at all from natural light ; and the spiritual light which they
have from rationality is changed into infernal light, as the
light of day to the darkness of night. But still, all in the
142
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 168
spiritual world, both those in the heavens and those in
the hells, see in their light as clearly as man sees by day
in his ; the reason of which is, that the eyesight of all is
formed for the reception of the light in which it is. Thus the
eyesight of the angels of heaven is formed for the reception
of the light it has ; and the eyesight of the spirits of hell,
for the reception of the light it has, is, comparatively, as
with owls and bats, that see objects at night by the evening
light, as clearly as other birds see them in the day ; for
their eyes are formed for the reception of their light. But
the difference between these lights is very perceptible to
those who look from one light into another ; as when an
angel of heaven looks into hell, he sees nothing but mere
thick darkness there ; and when a spirit of hell looks into
heaven he sees nothing but thick darkness there. This is
because heavenly wisdom is as thick darkness to those who
are in hell ; and on the other hand, infernal insanity is as
thick darkness to those in heaven. From this it may be
evident that the light which a man has, is in quality such
as his understanding is ; and that every one comes into his
light after death, for he does not see in other light. And
in the spiritual world, where all are spiritual even as to the
body, the eyes of all are formed to see from their light.
The life's love of every one makes the understanding for
itself, and so also the light ; for love is like the fire of life,
from which is the light of life.
1 68. As few know any thing of the enlightenment in which
the understanding is, with a man who is taught by the Lord,
something shall be said of it. There is enlightenment
from the Lord, interior and exterior ; and there is also en-
lightenment from man, interior and exterior. There is
interior enlightenment from the Lord for man to perceive
at the first hearing whether what is said is true or is not
true ; exterior enlightenment is from this, in the thought.
Interior enlightenment from man is from confirmation alone ;
and exterior enlightenment from man is from knowledge
No. 168.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
143
alone. But something shall be said of these, severally. From
interior enlightenment from the Lord the rational man at the
first hearing perceives whether very many things are true
or not true ; as for example, that love is the life of faith,
or that faith lives from love. From interior enlightenment
also man perceives that whatever one loves he wills, and
what he wills he does, and consequently that to love is to
do ; and again, that whatever man believes from love, tins
too he wills and does, and consequently that to have fa'th
also is to do ; and also that an impious man cannot have
the love of God, and so cannot have the faith of God .
The rational man, from interior enlightenment, as soon as
he hears, perceives that God is One ; that He is omni-
present ; that all good is from Him ; also that all things
have relation to good and truth ; and that all good is
from Good itself, and all truth from Truth itself. Man has
a perception of these things and others like them, interiorly
in himself, when he hears them ; he has this perception,
because he has rationality, and this is in the light of
heaven which enlightens. Exterior enlightenment is an en-
lightenment of the thought, coming from that interior
enlightenment ; and the thought is in this enlightenment
so far as it remains in the perception which it has from the
interior enlightenment, and so far as at the same time it
has cognitions of truth and good ; for from these it draws
reasons, by which it has confirmation. Thought from this
exterior enlightenment sees a thing on both sides ; on the
one it sees the reasons that confirm, on the other the ap-
pearances that weaken ; these it disperses, the others it
gathers together. But the interior enlightenment from man
is wholly different. By it, man sees a thing on one side
and not on the other ; and when he has confirmed it, he
sees it in a light apparently like the light spoken of above,
but it is a winter light. For example : A judge who be-
cause of gifts and for the sake of gain gives an unjust judg-
ment, after he has confirmed the decision by the laws and
144 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING |No. 170.
by reasons, sees in it nothing but what is just. Some see
the injustice ; but as they do not wish to see it, they darken
and blind themselves, and so do not see. It is the same
with a judge who gives his decisions for the sake of friend-
ship, to gain favor, and from the ties of relationship. With
such persons, it is the same with every thing that they
catch from the mouth of a man in authority or one of celeb-
rity, or that they have brought out from their own intelli-
gence ; they are blind reasoners ; for they have their sight
from the falsities which they confirm ; and falsity closes
the sight, while truth opens it. Such persons see no truth
from the light of truth, and nothing just from the love of
justice, but only from the light of confirmation, which is a
delusive light. In the spiritual world they appear like
faces with no head, or as faces resembling human faces
with wooden heads back of them ; and they are called
rational animals, because they have rationality potentially.
But they have exterior enlightenment from man, who think
and talk from mere knowledge impressed on the memory ;
they can scarcely confirm any thing from themselves.
169. These are the differences in enlightenment, and
tl.ence in perception and thought. There is an actual en-
lightenment, by spiritual light ; but the enlightenment from
tnat light is not itself apparent to any one in the natural
world, for natural light has nothing in common with spir-
itual light ; but this enlightenment has sometimes been
apparent to me in the spiritual world, being seen with those
who were in enlightenment from the Lord, as a luminous
appearance around the head, glowing with the color of the
human face. With those, however, who were in enlighten-
ment from themselves, this luminous appearance was not
about the head, but about the mouth and above the chin. -
170. Besides these kinds of enlightenment, there is also
another, by which it is revealed to man in what faith he is,
«dso in what intelligence and wisdom ; this revelation is
such that he himself perceives the condition in himself
No. 172.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 145
He is admitted into a society where there is genuine faith
and where there are true intelligence and wisdom ; and
there his interior rationality is opened, from which he sees
the quality of his faith and his intelligence and wisdom,
even to the acknowledgment of it. I have seen some on
their way back ; and have heard them confess that they
had no faith, although in the world they believed they had
much, surpassing that of others ; so also of their intelli-
gence and wisdom. They were persons who were in faith
alone, and in no charity, and who were in their own intelljj
gence.
171. IV. Man is taught by the Lord through the Word,
and doctrine and preaching from it, and thus immediately
from Him a/one. It has been said and shown above, that
man is led and taught by the Lord alone, and this from
heaven and not through heaven or through any angel there ;
and as he is led by the Lord alone, it follows that he is led
immediately and not mediately. But how this is done, will
now be told.
172. In the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Sacred Scripture," it has been shown that the Lord is
the Word, and that all doctrine of the church must be
drawn from the Word. Now because the Lord is the Word,
it follows that the man who is taught from the Word is
taught by the Lord alone. But as this is not easily com-
prehended, it shall be illustrated in the following order :
1. The Lord is the Word because the Word is from Him
and concerning Him. 2. And because it is the Divine
Truth of the Divine Good. 3. So to be taught from the
Word is to be taught from Him. 4. Its being done medi-
ately through preaching does not take away the immediate
ness. First : The Lord is the Word, because it is from Him
and concerning Him. That the Word is from the Lord, is
not denied by any one in the church ; but that the Word
\s concerning the Lord alone, although not denied is un-
known ; but it is shown in the " Doctrine of the New Jeru«
7
146 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 172
lalem concerning the Lord" (n. 1-7, and n. 37-44); also
in the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the
Sacred Scripture" (n. 62-69 > n- 80-90 ; n. 98-100). Now
as the Word is from the Lord alone, and is concerning the
Lord alone, it follows that when man is taught from the
Word, he is taught from the Lord. For the Word is Di-
vine. Who can communicate the Divine, and plant it in
the heart, except the Divine Himself, from Whom it is,
and of Whom it treats ? Wherefore the Lord says, when
speaking of His conjunction with the disciples, that they
should abide in Him, and His words in them (John xv. 7) ;
that His words are spirit and life (John vi. 63) ; and that
He makes His abode with those who keep His words (John
xiv. 20-24). Wherefore to think from the Lord is from the
Word, as if through the Word. That all things of the
Word have communication with heaven, has been shown
in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the
Sacred Scripture," throughout. And since the Lord is
heaven, this means that all things of the Word have com-
munication with the Lord Himself. The angels of heaver
do indeed have communication ; but this also is from the
Lord. Second : The Lord is the Word, because it is the Di-
vine Truth of the Divine Good. That the Lord is the Word,
He teaches in John in these words : In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was
God, and the Word was made Flesh, and dwelt among us
(John i. 1, 14). Because this has been hitherto understood
to mean only that God taught man through the Word,
therefore it has been explained as a hyperbolical expression ;
and its being so called implies that the Lord is not the
Word itself. This is because they did not know that the
Word means the Divine Truth of the Divine Good, or,
which is the same, the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love.
That these are the Lord Himself is shown in Part First of
the treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom : "
and that they are the Word, is shown in the " Doctrine 0/
No. 172.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
147
the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture"
(n. 1-86) How the Lord is the Divine Truth of the Divine
Good, shall also be here briefly told. No man is man from
the face and the body, but from the good of his love and
from the truths of his wisdom ; and because a man is man
from these, every man also is his truth and his good, cr his
love and his wisdom ; without them, he is not man. But
the Lord is Good itself and Truth itself, or, which is the
same, is Love itself and Wisdom itself ; and these are the
Word which was in the beginning with God, and which wap,
God, and which was made Flesh. Third : So to be taught
from the Word is to be taught by the Lord Himself, because
it is from Good itself and from Truth itself, or from Love
itself and from Wisdom itself, which are the Word, as has
been said ; but every one is taught according to his own
love's understanding ; what is above this, is not permanent.
All who are taught by the Lord in the Word, are taught in
a few truths in the world, but in many when they become
angels ; for the interiors of the Word, which are Divine
spiritual and Divine heavenly (celestial) things, are im-
planted at the same time, but they are not opened in man
until after his death, thus in heaven, where he is in angelic
wisdom, which, compared to human wisdom, thus to his
former wisdom, is ineffable. That Divine spiritual and
Divine heavenly things, which make angelic wisdom, are
in all and in every thing of the Word, may be seen in the
" Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred
Scripture " (n. 5-26). Fourth : Its being done mediately through
preaching does not take away the immediateness. The Word
cannot be taught otherwise than mediately by parents,
teachers, preachers, books, and especially the reading of it.
Yet it is not taught by them, but by the Lord through
them. This is also known by preachers, who say that
they do not speak from themselves but from the Spirit of
God ; and that all truth, like all good, is from God ;
they can indeed speak it, and bring it to the understand-
148
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 174.
ing of many, but not to the heart of any one ; and what is
not in the heart, perishes in the understanding ; by the
heart is meant man's love. From these things it may be
seen that man is led and taught by the Lord alone ; and
immediately by Him, when from the Word. This is the
arcanum of the arcana of angelic wisdom.
173. That by means of the Word they also have light
who are out of the church and have not the Word, is shown
in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the
Sacred Scripture " (n. 104-113). And as man has light by
means of the Word, and has understanding from the light,
and as the evil as well as the good have understanding,
it follows that from light in its origin there is light in its
derivatives, which are perceptions and thoughts on any
subject whatever. The Lord says: Without Me ye can do
nothing (John xv. 5) ; A man can receive nothing, except it be
given him from heaven (John iii. 27) ; and that the Father
in the heavens maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt,
v. 45). By the sun here, as elsewhere in the Word, in its
spiritual sense, is meant the Divine Good of the Divine
Love ; and by rain, the Divine Truth of the Divine Wis-
dom. These are given to the evil and the good, and to
the just and the unjust ; for if they were not given, no one
would have perception and thought. That there is one
only life, from which there is life to all, was shown above ;
and perception and thought are of life ; perception and
thought are therefore from the same fountain from which
life is. That all the light which makes the understanding
is from the Sun of the spiritual world, which is the Lord,
has already been fully demonstrated.
174. V. Man is led and taught by the Lord in externals
tr all appearance as by himself. This is so done in man's
externals, but not in internals. No one knows how the
I ord leads and teaches man in his internals, as no cne
Jf nows how the soul operates for the body to see, the eat
No. 174]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
149
to hear, the tongue and mouth to speak, the heart to give
motion to the blood, the lungs to breathe, the stomach to
digest, the liver and pancreas to distribute, the kidneys to
secrete, and countless other things. These things do not
come to man's perception and sensation. It is similar with
the things which are done by the Lord in the interior sub-
stances and forms of the mind, and which are infinitely
more numerous ; the Lord's operations in them are not
apparent to man. But the effects which are numerous are
themselves apparent, and also some of the causes pro-
ducing the effects. These are the externals, in which msfh
is together with the Lord. And as externals make one
with internals, for they cohere in one series, therefore no
disposition can be made by the Lord in internals except in
accordance with the disposition that is made in the exter-
nals by means of man. Every one recognizes that man
thinks, wills, speaks, and acts to all appearance as from
himself ; and every one may see that without this appear-
ance man would have no will and understanding, thus no
affection and thought, and also no reception of any good
and truth from the Lord. Such being the case, it follows
that without this appearance there would be no cognition
of God, no charity and faith, and consequently no refor-
mation and regeneration, therefore no salvation. From
which it is manifest that this appearance is given to man
by the Lord for the sake of all these uses ; and chiefly that
man may have a power to receive and to reciprocate, by
which the Lord may be conjoined with him and he with
the Lord, and that by this conjunction man may live for
ever. This is the appearance here meant.
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 175.
IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN
SHOULD NOT HAVE A PERCEPTION AND SENSE OF
ANY THING OF THE OPERATION OF THE DIVINE
PROVIDENCE, BUT YET SHOULD KNOW AND AC-
KNOWLEDGE IT.
175. The natural man who does not believe in the Divine
Providence, thinks to himself, "What is Divine Providence,
when the wicked are advanced to honors and gather wealth
more than the good ? and when many such things succeed
with those who do not believe in a Divine Providence
better than with those who do ? Yes, when I see that the
unbelieving and the impious can bring injury, loss, mis-
fortune, and sometimes death, upon the believing and
pious, and this through deceit and malice." And so he
thinks, " Do I not see from experience itself as in open
day that crafty contrivances, provided a man with ingenious
shrewdness can make them seem trustworthy and just,
prevail over fidelity and justice ? What are other things
but necessities, consequences, and things of chance, in
which nothing from a Divine Providence appears ? Do
not necessities belong to nature ? Are not consequences
the causes flowing out of natural or civil order ? And
are not things of chance either from unknown causes
or from no cause ? " So the natural man thinks to him-
self, ascribing nothing to God, but all things to nature;
for one who does not attribute any thing to God, attributes
nothing to the Divine Providence ; for God and the Divine
Providence make one. But the spiritual man says or thinks
differently to himself. Although he does not in thought
perceive the Divine Providence in its course, nor is sensible
of it from the sight of the eye, still he knows and acknowl-
edges it. Now as the appearances that have been men-
tionec and the fallacies from them have blinded the
understanding, and as it can receive no sight unless the
fallacies which have brought blindness and the falsities
No. 176.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
which have brought thick darkness be dispelled, and as this
can be done only by truths, in which is the power of dis-
pelling falsities, therefore these truths are to be unfolded ;
but for the sake of distinctness, it will be done in the fol-
lowing order : I. If man had a perception and sense of the
working of the Divine Providence, he would not act from
freedom according to reason ; nor would any thing appear
to him as from himself. It would be the same if he fore-
knew events. II. If man clearly saw the Divine Provi-
dence, he would intrude self in the order and tenor of its
course, and pervert and destroy it. III. If man clearly saw
the Divine Providence, he would either deny God, or make
himself to be God. IV. It is granted man to see the Di-
vine Providence in the back and not in the face ; also, in
a spiritual state and not in a natural state.
176. I. Jf man had a perception and sense of the working
of the Divine Providence, he would not act from freedom ac-
cording to reason ; nor would any thing appear to him as his.
It would be the same if he foreknew events. That it is a law of
the Divine Providence that man should act from freedom
according to reason ; and that every thing that a man wills,
thinks, speaks, and does should appear to him as from
himself ; and that without this appearance there would be
nothing his to any man, nor would he be his own man
[suus], thus he would have no proprium [ownhood] ; and so
there would be no imputation to him, without which it
would be a matter of indifference whether he did evil or
good, whether he had the faith of God or the persuasion of
hell ; in a word, that he would not be man, has been made
clear to the understanding in the proper articles above.
And now it shall be shown that man would have no liberty
to act according to reason, and that there would be no ap-
pearance of acting as from himself, if he had a perception
ind sense of the working of the Divine Providence ; since,
if he perceived and felt it, he would also be led by it ; for
the Lord leads all by means of His Divine Providence, and
152 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 177.
man does not lead himself except in appearance, as was
also shown above. Wherefore if he were led, with a living
perception and sensation of being led, he would not be
conscious of life j and then almost like a statue he would
be impelled to utter sounds and to act. If he still were
conscious of life, he would then be led like a man in mana-
cles and fetters, or like a beast before a cart. Who does
not see that a man would thus have no freedom ? And if
he had no freedom, he would have no reason ; for every
one thinks from freedom and in freedom, and whatever he
does not think from freedom and in freedom does not
seem to him to be from himself but from another ; yes, if
you consider it interiorly, you will perceive that he would
not have thought, still less reason, and therefore would not
be a man.
177. Withdrawing man from evils is the continual work
of the Divine Providence. If any one had a perception
and sense of this continual work, and yet were not led as
one bound, would he not continually struggle against it, and
then either strive with God, or mix himself in with the Divine
Providence ? If ;he latter, he would make himself also God :
if the other, he would release himself from restraint and
would deny God. This is clearly manifest, that there would
be two powers, continually acting against each other, the
power of evil from man and the power of good from the
Lord , and when two opposites act against each other,
then one conquers or both perish ; but in this case if one
conquers they both perish ; for the evil which belongs to
man does not receive good from the Lord in a moment, noi
does good from the Lord cast out evil from man in a
moment ; if either were done in a moment, there would be
no life left to the man. These and many other hurtful
consequences would ensue, if man were to have a manifest
perception or sense of the working of the Divine Provi-
dence. But this will be clearly demonstrated in what
follows.
No. 179.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
153
178. A foreknowledge of what is to come to pass is not
given to man ; and this, too, that he may be able to act from
freedom according to reason ; for it is known that, what-
ever a man loves, he wishes to have in effect, and he leads
himself to the effect by reason ; also that there is nothing
that a man considers with the reason, which is not from
the love that it may come into effect through the thought.
Therefore if he knew the effect or event from Divine pre-
diction, the reason would cease to act, and with the reason
the love ; for the love rests with the reason in the effect ;
and from that it then begins anew. It is reason's very en- v
joyment, from love to see the effect in thought, — not in
effect but before it, or not in the present but in the future.
Hence man has what is called Hope, which increases and
decreases in the reason as he sees or anticipates the event.
The enjoyment is complete in the event ; but it is after-
wards obliterated, together with the thought concerning
the event. So would it be with an event foreknown. Man's
mind is continually in the end, the cause, and the effect, —
the three. If one of these is wanting, the human mind is
not in its life. The will's affection is the end from which j
the understanding's thought is the cause by which ; and
the action of the body, the speech of the lips, and external
sensation, are the effects of the end through the thought.
That the human mind is not in its life when it is only in
the will's affection and nothing else, in like manner when
it is merely in the effect, is manifest to any one. Where-
fore the mind has no life from one of these separately, but
from the three conjointly. This life of the mind would be
lessened and would recede in an event foretold.
179. As a knowledge of future events takes away the
human itself, which is, to act from freedom according to
reason, a knowledge of the future is therefore given to nc
ane ; but it is allowable for every one to form conclusion1
about the future from reasons ; reason with all that belongs
to it is in its life from this. It is for this reason that a
7"
'54
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 180.
man does not know his lot after death, or know any event be-
fore he is in it ; for if he knew, he would no longer think
from the interior self, how he should do or how he should
live so as to come to it ; but only from the exterior self,
that he is coming ; and this state closes the interiors of his
mind, in which the two faculties of his life, liberty and
rationality, have their chief seat. The desire to know the
future is born with most people ; but this desire has its
origin from a love of evil ; it is therefore taken away from
those who believe in the Divine Providence, and there is
given them a trust that the Lord is disposing their lot ; and
consequently they do not wish for a foreknowledge of it,
lest in some way they should interfere with the Divine
Providence. This the Lord teaches by many things in
Luke xii. 14-48. That this is a law of the Divine Provi-
dence may be confirmed by many things from the spiritual
world. Most persons when they come into that world after
death wish to know their lot ; but they are told that if they
have lived well their lot is in heaven, if they have lived
wickedly, in hell. But as all, even the evil, fear hell, they
ask what they shall do and what they shall believe, to come
into heaven j but the answer is, for them to do and believe
as they will, but to know that in hell they do not do good
nor believe truth, but in heaven. Seek out what is good
and what is true, and think the truth and do the good, if
thou art able. So every one is left to act from freedom
according to reason, in the spiritual world as in the nat-
ural ; but as they have done in this world, so they do in
that ; for every one's life awaits him, and hence his lot ;
for the lot is the life's.
180. II. If man clearly saw the Divine Providence, he
would intrude self in the order and tenor of its course, and per-
vert and destroy it. For these things to come distinctly to
the perception of the rational man, and of the natural man
also, they must be illustrated by examples in this order :
I. Externals are so connected with internals that thef
No. 180.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
155
make one in every operation. 2. Man Is with the Lord
only in certain externals ; and if he were at the same time
in interna]-,, he would pervert and destroy all the order and
tenor of the course of the Divine Providence. But, as be-
fore said, these shall be illustrated by examples. First : Ex-
ternals are so connected with internals that they make one in
every operation. In illustration of this by examples, take
certain parts of the human body. In the whole body and
in every part there are externals and internals ; its exter-
nals are called skins, membranes, and sheaths ; the in-
ternals are forms variously composed and interwoven, of"
nerve-fibres and blood-vessels. The sheath that surrounds
them, by continuations from itself enters into all the in-
teriors even to the inmosts ; thus the external which is the
sheath, conjoins itself with all the internals which are the
organic forms, fibrous and vascular. From which it follows
that as the external acts or is acted upon, so also do the
internals act or are acted upon ; for throughout they are
together in their little bundles. Only take some general
covering in the body, the pleura, for example, which is the
common covering of the chest, or of the heart and lungs,
and examine it with an anatomical eye ; or, if you have
not made anatomy a study, consult anatomists ; and you
will find that this general sheath, by various circumvolu-
tions and then by continuations from itself, finer and finer,
enters into the inmosts of the lungs, even into the smallest
bronchial branches, and into the very follicles that are the
beginnings of the lungs ; not to mention its subsequent prog-
ress through the trachea to the larynx towards the tongue.
From which it is manifest that there is a perpetual connec-
tion between the outermost and the inmosts ; wherefore
as the outermost acts or is acted upon, so also do interiors
from the inmosts act or are acted upon. For this reason,
when this outermost sheath, the pleura, is congested or in-
flamed or ulcerated, the lungs labor from their inmosts;
and, if the disease grows worse, all action of the lungs
156 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 180
r:eas:es, and man dies. It is the same everywhere else in
;he whole body : as with the peritoneum, which is the com-
mon sheath of all the abdominal viscera, and also the
sheaths surrounding the several organs, as the stomach,
liver, pancreas, spleen, intestines, mesentery, kidneys, and
the organs of generation in either sex. Take any one of
these abdominal viscera, and either examine it yourself and
you will see, or ask those skilled in anatomical knowledge
and you will be told. Take, for instance, the liver, and
you will find that there is a connection between the peri-
toneum and the sheath of that organ, and, through the
sheath, with its inmosts ; for there are perpetual extensions
from the sheath, with insertions towards the interior parts,
and in this way continuations to the inmosts ; and by these
means all the parts are so banded together that, when the
sheath acts or is acted upon, the whole form acts or is
acted upon in like manner. It is the same with the other
organs ; and this is because in every form the general and
the particular, or the universal and the special, by wonder-
ful conjunction, act as one. It will be seen below that
what is done in spiritual forms, and in the changes and
variations of their state which have relation to the opera-
tions of the will and the understanding, is like that which
takes place in natural forms and their operations which
have relation to motion and action. Now as man works
together with the Lord in some external operations, and as
the liberty of acting according to reason is taken from no
one, it follows that the Lord cannot act otherwise in in-
ternals than as He acts together with man in externals.
Wherefore if man does not shun and turn away from evils
as sins, the external of the thought and will becomes viti-
ated and destroyed, and their internals at the same time ;
comparatively as the pleura by its disease called pleurisy,
which causes the death of the body. Second : If man wert
at the same time in the internals, he would pervert and destroy
all the order and tenor of the Divine Providence. This also
No. 180.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
157
may be illustrated by examples from the human body. If
tn. ui were to know all the workings of both brains into the
fibres, of the fibres into the muscles, and of the muscles
into the actions, and from his knowledge of them were to
make a disposition of all things as he does of the actions,
would he not pervert and destroy all ? If man knew how
the stomach digests, how the viscera around it take up
what is assigned them, elaborate the blood, and distribute
it for every work of life, and if in tht disposition of these
things he were situated as he is in external things, such as
eating and drinking, would he not pervert and destroy all?
When he cannot make disposition of the external, that
seems to be a single thing, without destroying it by luxury
and intemperance, what then would he do if he had the
disposition of the internals which are without number?
Therefore all the internals are wholly exempt from man's
will, that he may not enter into them with any will and sub-
ject them to his control ; excepting only the muscles, which
make a covering ; and, besides, it is not known how these
act ; it is only known that they act. So it is with the other
organs : as if man were to dispose the interiors of the eye
for seeing, the interiors of the ear for hearing, of the tongue
for tasting, of the skin for feeling, of the heart for its con-
traction, of the lungs for breathing, of the mesentery for
distributing the chyle, of the kidneys for their work of
secretion, of the organs of generation to propagate, of the
womb to perfect the embryo, and so on ; would he not in
ways beyond number pervert and destroy in them the
order of progress of the Divine Providence ? It is known
that man is in externals ; as that he sees with the eye,
hears with the ear, tastes with the tongue, feels with the
skin, breathes with the lungs, impregnates the wife, and so
on. Is it not enough for him to know the externals, and
to dispose them for the health of body and mind ? When
he cannot do this, what would be the result if he also had
the disposition of internal things ? From these things il
IS8 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING (No. 182.
may now be evident that if a man clearly saw the Divine
Providence, he would intrude self in the orde: and tenor
of its course, and pervert and destroy it.
181. It is the same in the spiritual things of the mind as
in the natural things of the body, because all the things of
the mind correspond to all of the body ; therefore also the
mind actuates the body in externals, and, in general, at its
full pleasure. It actuates the eye to see, the ear to hear,
the mouth and tongue to eat and drink, and also to speak,
the hands to work, the feet to walk, the generative organs
to propagate. The mind moves not only the externals to
these actions, but the internals also in all their series, —
the ultimates from the inmosts, and the inmosts from the
ultimates. So while it is moving the mouth to speak, at the
same time it moves the lungs, the larynx, the glottis,
the tongue, the lips, each with distinct adaptation to its
part of the work, and also the face to be in harmony. It
is therefore manifest that what has been said concerning
the natural forms of the body, must likewise be said of the
spiritual forms of the mind ; and that what has been said
of the body's natural operations must be said of the mind's
spiritual operations ; consequently, as man disposes the
externals, the Lord disposes the internals ; thus in one
way if man disposes the externals from himself, and in
another if he disposes the externals from the Lord and at
the same time as from himself. Man's mind is, moreover,
in all its form a man ; for it is his spirit, which after death
appears a man precisely as in the world ; there are theie-
fore similar things in body and mind. Therefore what has
been said of the conjunction of externals with internals in
the body, is to be understood also of the conjunction of
externals with internals in the mind, with the sole difference
that one is natural while the other is spiritual.
182. III. If man clearly saw the Divine Providence, hi
would either deny God, or make himself to be God. The
merely natural man says to himself, What is Divine Provi-
No. 183.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
159
dence ? Is it any thing else or more than a word with the
common people, that they have from the priest? Who
sees any thing of it ? Are not all things in the world done
from prudence, wisdom, shrewdness, and spite ? And are
not all other things thence necessities and consequences ?
And also there are many contingencies, besides. Does the
Divine Providence lie concealed in these ? How can it
in wiles and craft ? Yet it is said that the Divine Provi-
dence works all things. Then make me see it, and I will
believe in it. Can any one believe in it before he sees it ?
So says the merely natural man ; but the spiritual manr
says differently ; because he acknowledges God, he also
acknowledges the Divine Providence, and he also sees it.
But he cannot make it manifest to any one who thinks only
in nature from nature ; for such a one cannot lift his mind
above nature and see in its appearances something of the
Divine Providence, or from its laws which also are laws of
the Divine Wisdom draw conclusions concerning it. Where-
fore if he were to see it manifestly, he would confound it
with nature, and thus would not only enshroud it with falla-
cies, but would also profane it ; and instead of acknowl-
edging it, he would deny it ; and one who in heart denies
the Divine Providence, also denies God. It will be thought
that God rules all things, or that nature does. He who thinks
that God governs all things, thinks that they are governed
by Love itself and Wisdom itself, thus by Life itself. But
he who thinks that nature governs all things, thinks that they
are governed by natural heat and natural light, which
nevertheless in themselves are dead because they are from
a sun that is dead. Does not what is itself living govern
the dead ? Can what is dead govern any thing ? If you
think that what is dead can give life to itself, you are not
sane ; life must be from Life.
183. That man, if he manifestly saw the Divine Provi-
dence and its operation, would deny God, does not appear
probable ; for it seems as if any one who clearly saw it,
l6o ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. i8>
could not but acknowledge it, and thus acknowledge God \
yet the opposite is the truth. The Divine Providence
never acts in unity with the love in man's will, but con-
stantly against it ; for man from his hereditary evil is always
panting for the lowest hell, but the Lord by His Provi-
dence is continually leading him away and withdrawing him
from it, first to a milder hell, then away from hell, and
finally to Himself in heaven. This working of the Divine
Providence is perpetual. Wherefore if man openly saw or
felt this withdrawal or leading away, he would be angry,
and would regard God as his enemy, and from the evil of
his proprium [own/iood] would deny Him. Therefore, that
man may not know this, he is kept in freedom, from which
he knows not but that he leads himself. But let examples
serve for illustration : Man by inheritance has the desire
to become great ; and he also wishes to become rich ; and
so far as these loves are unrestrained, he wishes to become
greater and richer, and at length to be greatest and richest.
And he would not rest here ; but he would wish to be greater
than God Himself, and to own heaven itself. This longing
desire lies most deeply hidden in hereditary evil, and conse-
quently in man's life and his life's nature. The Divine Provi-
dence does not take away this evil in a moment, for if it did,
man would not live ; but it takes it away too quietly and
gradually for man to know any thing about it. This is done
by allowing man to act according to the thought which he
makes to be of reason ; and then by various means, rational
and civil and moral, the Divine Providence leads him away \
thus he is led back so far as he can be led in freedom. Nor
can evil be taken away from any one unless it appears, is
seen, and acknowledged ; it is like a wound which does not
heal unless opened. If, therefore, man were to see and
know that the Lord by His Divine Providence is so working
against his life's love from which he has his chief enjoy-
ment, he could not but go in the opposite direction, become
enraged, bear witness against it, say hard words ; and finally
No. 185.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 161
from his evil remove the operation of the Divine Provi
dence, by denying it and so denying God ; especially if he.
were to see it in the way of his success, himself cast dowr
from honor and stripped of wealth. But it is to be known
that the Lord never leads man away from seeking honors
or from gathering wealth, but that He leads him from the
longing desire to seek honors for the sake of eminence alone,
or for the sake of himself ; so, too, from gathering wealth
for the sake of opulence alone, or for the sake of the
riches. But when He leads him away from these, He leads
him into the love of uses ; to regard eminence not for the
sake of himself but for the sake of use, and thus to regard
it as belonging to uses, and as his from them, not as be-
longing to him and to uses from him ; and so with opulence.
That the Lord continually humbles the proud and exalts
the humble, He teaches in many places in the Word ; and
what He there teaches is also of His Divine Providence.
184. The same is done with other evils in which man is
by hereditary transmission, as adulteries, frauds, revenge,
blasphemy, and others like these ; none of which could be
removed unless the liberty of thinking and of willing them
were left to man, that so he might remove them as from
himself ; which nevertheless he cannot do unless he ac-
knowledges the Divine Providence and implores that the
work may be done by it. Without that liberty and the Di-
vine Providence together, those evils would be like poison
kept within and not discharged, which would soon spread
and carry death to the whole system ; and they would be
like a disease of the heart itself, from which the whole body
soon dies.
185. It cannot be better known that this is so than from
the condition of men after death, in the spiritual world.
Most of those there who in the natural world became great
and wealthy, and in honors and wealth regarded them-
selves only, at first talk about God and the Divine Provi-
dence, as if they had acknowledged them in heart. But as
162
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 187
they then manifestly see the Divine Providence, and from
it their final lot, which is that they are to come into hell,
they join themselves with the devils there, and then not
only deny but also blaspheme God ; and at last they come
into a state of such madness as to acknowledge the more
powerful among the devils as their gods, and they desire
nothing more ardently than to become gods themselves
also.
186. Man would run counter to God, and would also
deny Him, if he manifestly saw the workings of His Divine
Providence, because he is in the enjoyment of his love,
and this enjoyment makes his very life ; therefore when
man is kept in his life's enjoyment, he is in his freedom ;
for freedom and that enjoyment make one. If therefore
he were to perceive that he is continually led away from
his enjoyment, he would be enraged as against one who was
desiring to destroy his life, whom he would regard as an
enemy. That this may not be, the Lord does not mani-
festly appear in His Divine Providence, but by it He leads
man as silently as a hidden stream or an onward current
bears a vessel. Therefore man does not know but that he
is constantly in his proprium \ownhood\ for freedom makes
one with proprium. It is hence manifest that freedom
appropriates to man what the Divine Providence intro-
duces ; which would not be so if the Divine Providence made
itself manifest. To be appropriated is to become of the
life.
187. IV. It is granted man to see the Divine Providence
in the back and not in the face ; also, in a spiritual state, and
not in his natural state. To see the Divine Providence in
the back and not in the face, is to see after the Providence
and not before it ; and to see it from a spiritual but not
from a natural state, is to see it from heaven and not from
the world. All who receive influx from heaven and ac-
knowledge the Divine Providence, and especially those who
by reformation have become spiritual, while they see eventt
No. 1 89. | THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 163
in some wonderful series, from interior acknowledgment
they as it were see the Divine Providence, and they confess
it. They do not wish to see it in the face, that is, before
it is in existence ; for they fear lest their will should in-
trude itself into something of its order and tenor. With
those who admit no influx from heaven, but only from the
world, it is otherwise ; especially with those who have be-
come natural from the confirmation of appearances in
them. These do not see any thing of the Divine Provi-
dence in the back, or after the Providence ; but they wish
to see it in the face or before it is in existence ; and as the t
Divine Providence works by means, and the means come
by man or by the world, therefore whether they see it in
the face or the back they attribute it either to man or to
nature, and so they confirm themselves in the denial of it.
They so attribute it, because their understanding is closed
from above, and open only from below, thus closed towards
heaven and open towards the world ; and it is not granted
to see the Divine Providence from the world, but from
heaven. I have sometimes thought within myself whether
they would acknowledge the Divine Providence if their
understanding were opened from above, and they should
see as in clear day that nature in itself is dead, and that
human intelligence in itself is nothing, while it is from in-
flux that both of them appear to be ; and I perceived that
they who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature and
of human prudence would not ; because the natural light
flowing in from below would immediately extinguish the
spiritual light flowing in from above.
189. The man who has become spiritual by the acknowl-
edgment of God, and wise by a rejection of proprium
\mvnhood\ sees the Divine Providence in the whole world,
and in all and each of the things belonging to it. If he
looks at natural things, he sees it ; if he looks at civil
matters, he sees it ; if he looks at spiritual things, he
sees it ; and this alike in the simultaneous and the sue
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 190
cessive relations of things, in ends, in causes, in effects
in uses, in forms, in things great and small. Especial])
does he see it in the salvation of men, — that Jehoval
gave the Word, taught them by it concerning God, con
cerning heaven and hell, concerning eternal life, and came
Himself into the world to redeem and save men. From
spiritual light in natural light the man sees these things,
and more beside, and the Divine Providence in them.
But the merely natural man sees none of these things.
He is like one who sees a magnificent temple, and hears
a preacher enlightened in Divine things, and says at home
that he has seen nothing but a house of stone, and has
heard nothing but an articulate sound ; or like a near-
sighted person, who visits a garden remarkable for its fruits
of every kind, and then goes home and tells that he has
seen only a forest and trees. Such persons also aftei
death, having become spirits, when they are raised up intc
the angelic heaven where all things are in forms representa
tive of love and wisdom, do not see any thing, not evei
that they exist ; as I have seen tried with many who hav
denied the Lord's Divine Providence.
190. There are many things created to be constant, thai
things not constant may have existence. The constants
are the stated changes in the rising and setting of the sup
and moon, and of the stars also ; their obscuration by in-
terpositions called eclipses ; the heat and light from them ■
the seasons of the year, called spring, summer, autumn,
and winter ; the times of the clay, morning, noon, evening,
and night ; also the atmospheres, waters, and lands, viewed
in themselves ; the vegetative faculty in the vegetable king-
dom ; both the vegetative faculty and the prolific in the
animal kingdom ; and further, whatever is constantly
brought about from these while they are made to pass into
act according to the laws of order. These things and many
more beside have been from creation ; so provided that
things of endless variety may exist ; for the varying cannot
No. 190.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
exist unless in the constant, the steadfast, and the certain.
But let examples illustrate : There would not be the varieties
of vegetation, if the rising and setting of the sun, and heat
and light from the sun in its course, were not constant.
Harmony is of endless variety, but it could not be unless
the atmospheres were constant in their laws, and the ear
in its form. There could not be variety in sight, which is
also endless if the ether in its laws and the eye in its form
were not constant ; nor of color, unless the light were con-
stant. It is similar with thoughts, words, and actions,
which are also of endless variety ; these could not be if the
organic forms of the body were not constant^ Must not a
house be fixed, that various things may be done in it by
man ? A temple, too, that in it there may be various woi
ship, sermons, instruction, and pious meditation ? So in
other things. As to the varieties themselves which have
their existence in the constant, the steadfast, and the cer-
tain : they run on to the infinite, and have no end, and yet
there is never one wholly the same as another among all
the things of the universe or in any one of them ; nor can
there be in those that are to follow, to eternity. Who dis-
poses these varieties reaching to infinity and eternity, so
that they may be in order, but He who created the con-
stant things so that the varieties might have existence in
them ? And who can dispose the infinite varieties of life
in men, but He who is Life itself, that is, Love itself and
Wisdom itself ? Without His Divine Providence, which is
like continual creation, could men's numberless affections
and the thoughts from them, and thus the men themselves,
be disposed so as to make one? — evil affections and the
thoughts from them, one devil that is hell ; and good affec-
tions and the thoughts from them one Lord in heaven ?
That the whole angelic heaven is in the Lord's sight as one
man, His image and likeness, and that all hell is opposed
to it as a human monstrosity, has been stated and shewn
several times before. These things have been said, be
166 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 191
cause some natural men, even from the constant and stead"
fast, which are necessary to the end that things variable
may have existence in them, seize upon the arguments of
thair madness in favor of nature and one's own prudence.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ONE'S OWN PRU-
DENCE; THERE ONLY APPEARS TO BE; AND IT
ALSO OUGHT TO APPEAR AS IF THERE WERE ;
BUT THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS UNIVERSAL FROM
BEING IN THINGS MOST PARTICULAR, SEVERALLY
191. That there is no such thing as one's own prudence is
wholly contrary to the appearance, and is therefore contrary
to the belief of many ; and for this reason, one who from the
appearance believes that human prudence does all things,
cannot be convinced unless by reasons from deeper investi-
gation, which are to be gathered from causes ; this appear-
ance is an effect, and the causes disclose whence it comes.
In this introduction, something shall be said concerning the
general belief on this subject. Contrary to the appearance
is this teaching of the church, that love and faith are not
from man but from God, as also wisdom and intelligence,
thus prudence also, and in general all that is good and true.
When these teachings are accepted, it must also be accepted
that there is no such thing as one's own prudence, but there
only appears to be. Prudence comes only from intelligence
and wisdom, and these two come only from the understand-
ing and thence the thought of truth and good. What has
now been stated is accepted and believed by those who
acknowledge the Divine Providence, but not by those who
acknowledge human prudence alone. Now the truth must
either be what the church teaches, that all wisdom and
prudence are from God, or what the world teaches, that all
wisdom and prudence are from man. Can they be recon-
ciled in any other way than this, that what the church
teaches is the truth, and that what the world teaches is the
appearance ? For the church draws its proof from the
No. 192.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
I67
Word, but the world its from proprium [ownhood], and tne
Word is from God and proprium is from man. Since pru-
dence is from God and not from man, the Christian in his
devotions prays that God will lead his thoughts, counsels,
and deeds ; and he also adds, because he from himself
cannot. And when he sees any one doing good, he says
that he has been led to it by God ; and many other things
like these. Now can any one speak so unless at the
time he believes it interiorly ? And to believe it interiorly
comes from heaven. But when he thinks within himself,
and collects arguments in favor of human prudence, he
can believe the opposite ; and this is from the world. But
the internal faith prevails in those who acknowledge God
in heart ; and the external faith, in those who do not
acknowledge God in heart, however they may with the
lips.
192. It has been said that one who from the appearance
believes that human prudence does all things, cannot be
convinced unless by reasons from deeper investigation,
which are to be gathered from causes. Wherefore that
reasons gathered from causes may be manifest before the
understanding, they must be presented in their order,
which will be this : I. All man's thoughts are from the
affections of his life's love ; and there are no thoughts
whatever, nor can there be, apart from them. II. The
affections of a man's life's love are known to the Lord
alone. III. The Lord by His Divine Providence leads the
affections of a man's life's love, and at the same time aho
the thoughts from which is human prudence. IV. The
Lord by His Divine Providence gathers the affections of
the whole human race into one form, which is the human.
V. Therefore heaven and hell, which are from the human
race, are in such form. VI. They who have acknowledged
nature alone and human prudence alone, make hell ; and
they who have acknowledged God and His Divine Provi-
dence, make heaven. VII. All these things cannot bo
i68
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 19J
done without its appearing to man that he thinks from him-
self and makes disposition from himself.
193. I. All man's thoughts are from the affections of his
life's love ; and there are no thoughts whatever, nor can then
be, apart from them. What in their essence are the life's
love, and the affections and their thoughts, and the sensa-
tions and actions from them, existing in the body, was
shown above in this treatise, and also in that entitled
" Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wis-
dom," particularly in Parts First and Fifth. Now as from
these are the causes from which human prudence flows
forth as an effect, it is necessary here also to adduce some
things concerning them ; for things recorded in earlier
pages cannot while so placed be continuously connected
with things written later, as they may when repeated and
placed in sight together. Earlier in the present treatise,
and in the one just named concerning the " Divine Love
and Wisdom," it has been demonstrated as follows : In the
Lord there are Divine Love and Wisdom ; these two are
Life itself ; from them man has will and understanding,
will from the Divine Love and understanding from the Di-
vine Wisdom ; the heart and lungs in the body correspond
to them ; and it may therefore be evident that as the
motion of the heart together with the respiration of the
lungs governs the whole man as to his body, so the will
together with the understanding governs the whole man as
to his mind ; and thus there are two principles of life in
every man, the one natural and the other spiritual, the nat-
ural principle of life being the heart's motion, and the spir-
itual principle of life being the mind's will ; and each joins
to itself its mate, with which it cohabits and with which it
performs the functions of life, the heart joining with itsell
the lungs, and the will joining with itself the understand
ing. Now as love is the soul of the will, and wisdom the
SO'il of the understanding, both of them from the Lord, h
follows that love is every one's life, and is Ife of a quality
Ao. 194.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
169
dependent on its conjunction with wisdom ; or, what is the
same, that the will is every one's life, and is life of a
quality dependent on its conjunction with the understand-
ing. But more concerning these things may be seen above
in this treatise, and especially in Parts First and Fifth of
the "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and
Wisdom."
194. It has also been shown in these treatises that the
life's love produces from itself subordinate loves, which
are called affections, and that they are exterior and in-
terior j also, that taken together they form as it w,ere one
dominion or kingdom, in which the life's love is lord or
king. It has also been shown that these subordinate loves
or affections join to themselves mates, each its own ; the
interior affections joining to themselves mates called per-
ceptions, and the exterior affections joining to themselves
mates called thoughts ; and that each cohabits with its
own mate, and discharges the offices of its life ; and that
the conjunction of a pair is like that of life's esse [to oe\
with life's existere [to exist], which is such that one is noth-
ing unless together with the other ; for what is the esse of
life unless it exists ? And what the existere of life unless
l". is from the esse? Also that the conjunction in the life is
like that between tone and harmony, or tone and speech,
and in general like that between the heart-beat and the
respiration of the lungs ; which conjunction is such that
one is nothing without the other, and it becomes something
by conjunction with the other. There must either be con-
junctions in them, or they take place by them. Take tone
for an example : Whoever thinks that tone is any thing un-
less there is in it what makes it distinctive, is mistaken ; the
tone with man also corresponds with the affection ; and
because there is always something in it that is distinctive,
therefore from the tone of one who is speaking, the affec-
tion of his love is recognized ; and from the variation of it,
which is speech, his thought is recognized. For this reason
170
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 19$.
the wiser angels, merely from the sound of the voice of
one speaking, perceive his life's loves, together with cer-
tain affections derived from them. These things have
been said that it may be known that no affection is without
its thought ; nor is any thought without its affection. But
more on these subjects may be seen above in the present
treatise ; also in " Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine
Love and Wisdom."
195. Now as the life's love has its enjoyment, and its
wisdom has its pleasantness, so is it with every affection,
which in its essence is a subordinate love derived from the
life's love as a stream from its fountain, as a branch from
its tree, or as an artery from its heart ; therefore every par-
ticular affection has its enjoyment, and every perception
and thought therefrom has its pleasantness. Hence it fol-
lows, that the varieties of the enjoyment and the pleasant-
ness make man's life. What is life without enjoyment and
pleasantness ? It is not any thing animate, but lifeless.
Lessen these, and you will grow cold or torpid ; let them
be taken away, and you will breathe your last and will die.
Vital heat is from the enjoyments of the affections, and
from the pleasantness of the perceptions and thoughts.
Since every affection has its enjoyment, and the thought
thence has its pleasantness, it may be evident whence come
good and truth, also what good and truth are in their
essence. To every one, good is that which is the enjoy-
ment of his affection ; and truth is that which is the pleas-
antness of his thought from the affection ; for every one
calls that good which, from the love in his will, he feels as
enjoyment ; and he calls that truth which, from the wis-
dom of his understanding, he perceives to be pleasantness
therefrom. Both flow from the life's love, as water flows
from a fountain, or as blood from the heart ; taken together
they are like a wave, or an atmosphere, in which is the
whole human mind. The two, enjoyment and pleasant
ness, in the mind are spiritual, but in the body they are
No. 197.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
171
natural ; cn both sides, they make man's life. From this
it is manifest what it is in man which is called good, and
what it is which is called truth j also what it is in man
which is called evil, and which is called falsity ; that being
evil to him which destroys the enjoyment of his affection,
and that being falsity which destroys the pleasantness of
his thought that is from it ; it is also manifest that evil
from its enjoyment and falsity from its pleasantness may
be called and may be believed to be good and truth.
Goods and truths are indeed changes and variations of
state in the forms of the mind ; but these are perceived
and they live solely by the enjoyments and the pleasant-
ness of good and truth. These things have been presented
that it may be known what affection and thought are in
their life.
196. Now as it is man's mind, and not the body, which
thinks (and it thinks from the enjoyment of its affection),
and as man's mind is his spirit which lives after death, it fol-
lows that man's spirit is nothing but affection, and thought
from affection. That there cannot be any thought without
affection, is clearly manifest from spirits and angels in the
spiritual world ; as all there think from the affections of
their life's love, and the enjoyment of these affections en-
compasses every one as his atmosphere ; and as all are there
conjoined according to these spheres exhaled from their
affections, through their thoughts ; the quality of each one
also is recognized from the sphere of his life. It may be
evident, therefore, that every thought is from affection, and
that it is a form of its affection. And so it is with the will
and the understanding j so, too, w'.th good and truth ; and
so with charity and faith.
197. II. The affections of a man's life's love are known
to the Lord alone. Man knows his own thoughts and thence
his intentions, because he sees them in himself ; and as all
prudence is from them, he also sees this in himself. If,
then, his life's love is the love of himself, he comes into
172 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 197.
the pride of his own intelligence, and ascribes prudence to
himself ; and he collects arguments in its favor, and so
falls back from the acknowledgment of the Divine Provi-
dence. So, too, if his life's love is the love of the world ;
but this does not cause him to fall back in the same de-
gree. It is thus manifest that these two loves ascribe every
thing to man and his prudence, and, if interiorly examined,
nothing to God and His Providence. Wherefore, when
such men happen to hear that the truth is that there is no
human prudence, but that it is the Divine Providence alone
which governs all things, if they are wholly atheists they
laugh at it ; but if they retain in memory something from
religion, and it is said to them that all wisdom is from
God, at the first hearing they assent ; but still inwardly in
their spirit they deny it. Such, especially, are those priests
who love themselves more than God, and the world more
than heaven ; or, what is the same, who worship God for
the sake of honors and gain, and still have preached that
charity and faith, all good and truth, also all wisdom, and
even prudence, are from God, and nothing from man. In
the spiritual world I once heard two priests disputing with
a certain royal ambassador about human prudence, whether
it is from God or from man. The dispute was warm. In
heart the three believed alike, that human prudence does
all things, and the Divine Providence nothing ; but the
priests, who were then in their theological zeal, said tha
nothing of wisdom and prudence is from man ; and when
the ambassador retorted that in this way nothing of the
thought is from him, they said that nothing is. And as the
angels perceived that the three believed alike, it was said
to the ambassador, Put on the vestments of a priest, and
believe that you are a priest, and then speak. He put
them on and believed ; and then he said loudly that there
could not possibly be any thing of wisdom and prudence
in man except from God ; and with his accustomed elo-
quence, full of rational arguments, he defended this. After«
No. 199.] THE DI\ WE PROVIDENCE.
wards it was also said to the priests, Lay aside your vest-
ments, and put on the gairnents of officers of state, and
believe yourselves to be such. And they did so ; and
they then at once thought from the interior self, and they
spoke from those arguments that they had inwardly cher-
ished before, in favor of human prudence and against the
Divine Providence. After this the three, because they
were in the same belief, became cordial friends, and to-
gether they entered upon the way of one's own prudence,
which leads to hell.
198. It was shown above that a man has no thought ex-
cept from some affection of his life's love ; and that thought
is nothing but affection's form. Since, therefore, man sees
his thought, and cannot see his affection, for this he feels,
it follows that from the sight (which is in the appearance),
and not from the affection (which does not come into the
sight, but into the feeling), he concludes that one's own
prudence does all things. For affection manifests itself
only by a certain enjoyment of thought and gratification in
reasoning about it ; and then this gratification and enjoy-
ment make one with thought in those who from self-love or
from love of the world believe in their own prudence ; and
thought floats on in its enjoyment, like a ship in the cur-
rent of a stream, to which the master does not attend, re-
garding only the sails he sets.
199. Man may indeed reflect upon the enjoyment of his
external affection, while it acts as one with the enjoyment
of some bodily sense ; but still he does not reflect that that
enjoyment is from the enjoyment of his affection in the
thought. For example : when a man of impure life sees a
lewd woman, his eye glows from the fire of lasciviousness
and from it he feels enjoyment in the body ; but yet he
does not feel the enjoyment of its affection or concupiscence
in the thought, except some desire connected with the
body. So a robber in the forest, when he sees travellers \
and a pirate on the sea, when he sees vessels ; and so on.
174 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 199
It is manifest that those enjoyments govern the man'*
thoughts, and that die thoughts are nothing without them ,
but he thinks that they are only thoughts, when yet the
thoughts are nothing Dut affections composed into forms
by his life's love, so as to be presented in light ; for all
affection is in heat, and thought is in light. These are ex-
ternal affections of thought, which indeed manifest them-
selves in the sensation of the body, but rarely in the thought
of the mind. But the internal affections of thought, from
which the external have their existence, in no wise mani-
fest themselves before man ; of them he knows no more
than one sleeping in a carriage knows of the road, or than
one feels the revolution of the earth. Now since man
knows nothing of the things that are going on in the in-
teriors of his mind, infinite beyond number, and yet the
few externals which come within the view of the thought
are produced from the interiors, and the interiors are
governed by the Lord alone by His Divine Providence,
and those few externals by the Lord together with the
man, how then can any one say that his own prudence
does all things ? If you were to see but one idea of
thought laid open, you would see stupendous things more
than tongue can express. That in the interiors of man's
mind there are infinite things beyond number, is manifest
from the infinite things in the body, from which nothing
reaches the sight and sense but action only, in much sim-
plicity ; to it, however, thousands of motive or muscular
fibres concur, thousands of nervous fibres, thousands of
blood-vessels, thousands of things belonging to the lungs
which must give their co-operation in every action, thou-
sands in the brains and spinal cord ; and many more yet
in the spiritual man, which is the human mind, in which all
things are forms of affections and thence of perceptions
and thoughts. Does not the soul, which disposes interiors,
also dispose the actions from them ? Man's soul is no
other than "his will's love, and consequently the love be
No. 201. j THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
175
ionging to his understanding. Such as this love is, such is
the whole man ; and the quality is determined by the
disposition in externals, in which man is together with the
Lord. If, therefore, he attributes all things to himself and
to nature, the love of self becomes the soul ; but if he
attributes all things to the Lord, the love of the Lord be-
comes the soul ; and this love is heavenly, the other
infernal.
200. Now as the enjoyments of man's affections, coming
from inmosts through interiors to exteriors and at last to
the outermosts which are in the body, bear man along, as
a wave and the wind bear a ship, and nothing of them ap-
pears to man except what goes on in the outermosts of the
mind and of the body, how can man claim for himself what
is Divine, merely because those few outermosts appear
to him as his ? Still less ought he to claim to himself what
is Divine, when he knows from the Word that a man can-
not take any thing from himself, unless it be given him
from heaven ; and from Reason, that this appearance has
been given him that he may live a man, may see what is
good and what is evil, may choose one or the other, may
appropriate to himself that which he chooses, so that he
may be conjoined reciprocally with the Lord, reformed,
regenerated, saved, and may live for ever. That this ap-
pearance has been given to man in order that he may act
from freedom according to reason, thus as from himself,
and not let the hand hang down and wait for influx, was
stated and shown above. From this follows, already proved,
that which was to be next demonstrated, namely, III. The
Lord by His Divine Providence leads the affections of a man's
life's love, and at the same time also the thoughts from which
is human prudence.
201. IV. The Lord by His Divine Providence gathers the
affections [of the whole human race] into one form, which is
the human. That this is a universal [work] of the Divine
Providence, will be seen in the paragraph immediately fol-
176
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [N ). 20U
lowing. They who ascribe all things to nature also ascribe
all things to human prudence ; for they who ascribe all
things to nature, in heart deny God ; and they who ascribe
all things to human prudence. ;n heart deny the Divine
Providence ; the two things go together. But still both
classes, for the sake of their good name and from fear of
losing it, are ready to say that the Divine Providence is
universal, but that its particulars severally rest with man,
and that the several particulars in the aggregate are meant
by human prudence. But reflect within yourself what a uni-
versal Providence is, when the single particulars are taken
away ; is it any thing more than a word ? For that is called
universal which is made up by all single things together,
like a general thing existing from particulars. If therefore
you take away the single things, what then is the uni-
versal but as something which is empty within, and so
like a surface with nothing inside, or a complex containing
nothing ? If the Divine Providence were said to be a uni-
versal government, and still nothing is governed by it, but
only held in its connection, and the things belonging to
government are conducted by others, can this be called a
universal government ? No king has such a government ;
for if any king were to allow his subjects to govern all
things of his kingdom, he would no longer be a king but
would only be called so ; thus he would have the dignity
of a name only, and not of any reality. Government can-
not be predicated of such a king, still less universal govern-
ment. What is called Providence in God is called prudence
in a man. As universal prudence cannot be said to belong
to a king, who has reserved but the name, in order that
the kingdom may be called a kingdom and may thus be
kept together, so there cannot be said to be a universal
Providence if men from their own prudence provide all
things. And so it is with the name of universal Providence
and universal government when applied to nature, and mean-
ing that God created the universe, and endowed nature with
NO. 202.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
177
the power of producing all things from itself. In this case,
what is universal Providence but a metaphysical term
which, except as a term, is a non-entity ? Moreover,
among those who attribute to nature all that is produced,
and to human prudence all that is done, and who still say
with the lips that God created nature, there are many who
think of the Divine Providence only as of an unmeaning
word. But the real truth of the case is, that the Divir.e
Providence is in the smallest particulars of nature severally,
and in the smallest particulars of human prudence sever-
ally, and that it is universal from them.
202. The Lord's Divine Providence is universal, from being
in the smallest particulars severally, in this : He created
the universe, that in it there may exist infinite and eternal
creation by Himself ; and this creation exists by the Lord's
forming a heaven from men, to be before Him as one mm,
His image and likeness. That heaven formed of men is
such in the Lord's sight, and that it was the end of cre-
ation, is shown above (n. 27-45) ; also that the Divine, in
all that it does, regards the infinite and eternal (n. 46-69).
The infinite and eternal which the Lord regards in forming
His heaven of men, is that it shall be enlarged to infinity
and to eternity ; and thus that He may constantly dwell in
the end of His creation. This is the infinite and eternal
creation, for which the Lord provided by the creation of
the universe ; and He is constantly in that creation by His
Divine Providence. Who that knows and believes from
the doctrine of the church that God is infinite and eternal
(for it is in the doctrine of all the churches in the Christian
world that God the Father, God the Son, and God the
Holy Spirit, is infinite, eternal, uncreated, and omnipotent,
as may be seen in the Athanasian creed), can be so devoid
of reason as not to admit as soon as he hears it, that God
cannot do otherwise man regard the infinite and eternal
in the great work of His creation ? What else can he look
to while He looks from Himself ? Also that He regards
8*
178 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 203
the same in the human race, from which He forms that
heaven which is His own. Now what else can the Divine
Providence have for its end than the reformation of the
human race, and its salvation ? And no one can be reformed
by himself, by means of his own prudence, but by the Lord,
by means of His Divine Providence. It thus follows that
unless the Lord leads a man every moment, even every
part of a moment, the man falls back from the way of refor-
mation and perishes. Every change and variation of the
state of the human mind makes some change and variation
in the series of things present, and therefore of things that
follow ; why not progressively to eternity ? It is like an
arrow shot from a bow, which if it missed the direction of
the mark in the least when leaving the bow, at a distance
of a thousand paces or more, would miss it immensely. So
would it be if the Lord did not lead the states of human
minds every part of a moment. The Lord does this ac-
cording to the laws of His Divine Providence ; and it is
in accordance with these laws for it to appear to man as if
he led himself ; but the Lord foresees how he leads him-
self, and continually provides accordingly. That the laws
of permission are also laws of the Divine Providence, and
that every man can be reformed and regenerated, and that
there is not any thing predestined, will be seen in what
follows.
203. Since, therefore, every man after death lives for
ever, and is allotted a place according to his life, either in
heaven or in hell, and as each of these, heaven as well as
hell, must be in a form which will act as one, as before
stated, and as no one in that form can be allotted any
place but his own, it follows that the human race through-
out all lands is under the Lord's auspices ; and that every
one, from infancy even to the end of his life is led by Him
in the smallest several particulars, and his place foreseen
and at the same time provided. From which it is manifest,
that the Divine Providence is universal because it is in the
No. 205.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
179
smallest particulars severally ; and that this is the infinite
and eternal creation vrhich the Lord provided for Himself
by the creation of the universe. Of this universal Provi-
dence man does not see any thing ; and if he did, it could
only appear in his eyes as the scattered piles and collected
material from which a house is to be built appear to those
passing by ; but by the Lord it is seen as a magnificent
palace, with its work of construction and enlargement ever
going on.
204. V. Heaven and hell are in such form. That heaven
is in the human form, has been made known in the work con-
cerning "Heaven and Hell," published in London in 1758
(n. 59-102); also in the treatise concerning the "Divine
Love and Wisdom ; " and also in several passages of the
present treatise. Further proof will therefore be omitted.
It is said that hell, too, is in human form ; but it is in a
monstrous human form, such as the devil is in, by whom is
meant hell in the whole complex. It is in human form,
because those who are there, too, were born men, and they
also have the two human faculties called liberty and ration-
ality; although they have abused liberty, in willing and
doing evil, and rationality, in thinking and confirming it.
205. VI. They who have acknowledged nature alone and
human prudence alone, make hell ; and they who have ac-
knowledged God and His Divine Providmce, make heaven.
All who lead an evil life, interiorly acknowledge nature and
human prudence alone ; the acknowledgment of these is
inwardly hidden in all evil, howsoever it may be covered
over with goods and truths ; these are only borrowed
clothing, or like wreaths of perishable flowerets, put on lest
evil should appear in its nakedness. Owing to this gen-
eral covering, it is not known that all who lead an evil life
interiorly acknowledge nature alone and human prudence
alone ; for by the covering this is hidden from sight ; but
still that their acknowledgment is such, may be evident
from '.he origin and cause of their acknowledgment of
180 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 206,
these ; that this may be disclosed, it shall be told whence
man's own prudence is, and what it is ; next, whence the
Divine Providence is, and what it is ; then, who and of
what quality are those of each class ; and lastly, that they
who acknowledge the Divine Providence are in heaven,
and they who acknowledge their own prudence are in hell.
206. Whence and what man's own prudence is : It is from
man's proprium [ownhood], which is his nature, and is
called his soul from his parent. This proprium is the love
of self and the love of the world from it, or is the love of
the world and the love of self from it. The love of self is
such that it regards self only, and others as of but little
consequence or as of no account ; if it considers any as of
some importance, it is only so long as they honor and pay
court to it. Inmostly in that love, like the endeavor to
make fruit and to make offspring in the seed, is hidden
the desire to become a magnate, and if possible a king, and
if then possible a god. A devil is such ; for he is self-love
itself ; he is such that he adores himself, and favors no one
who does not also adore him ; another devil like himself
he hates, because he wishes to be adored alone. As there
is no love without its mate, and the mate of love or of the
will in man is called the understanding, when self-love in-
spires its mate the understanding with its own love, this in
the mate becomes pride, which is the pride of one's own
intelligence ; one's own prudence is from this. Now as it
is the will of self-love to be sole lord of the world, thus also
a god, therefore the lusts of evil which are derivatives of
self-love have the life that is in them from it ; as do also
the perceptions belonging to the lusts, which are devices ;
and likewise the enjoyments belonging to the lusts, which
are evils ; and the thoughts belonging to the enjoyments,
which are falsities. They are all like servants and attend-
ants of their lord, and act at every nod of his, not know-
ing that they are not acting but acted upon ; they are acted
Upon by self-love, through the pride of their own intelli
No. 208.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
I8l
gence. Thus it is that in every evil, from its origin, there
lies hid one's own prudence. The acknowledgment of
nature alone is also hidden in it, because self-love has
closed the window of its roof by which heaven is open, and
also the side-windows lest it should see and hear that the
Lord alone governs all things, and that nature in itself is
dead, and that man's proprium [ownhood] is hell, and con-
sequently the love of the proprium is a devil ; and then,
with closed windows, it is in the darkness, and there it
makes its hearth, at which it sits with its mate, and in a
friendly way they reason in favor of nature and against
God, and in favor of one's own prudence and against the
Divine Providence.
207. Whence and what the Divine Providence is. It is
the Divine operation in the man who has removed the love
of self ; for the love of self is, as has been said, the devil ;
and lusts and their enjoyments are the evils of his kingdom,
which is hell ; this being removed, the Lord enters with
affections of the love of the neighbor, and opens the win-
dow of his roof, and then the side-windows, and makes
him see that there is a heaven, a life after death, and eter-
nal happiness ; and by the spiritual light and at the same
time by the spiritual love then flowing in, He makes him
acknowledge that God governs all things by His Divine
Providence.
208. Who and of what quality are those of each class.
Those who acknowledge God and His Divine Providence,
are as the angels of heaven, who are averse to being led by
themselves and love to be led by the Lord. A token that
they are led by the Lord, is that they love the neighbor.
But those who acknowledge nature and their own prudence,
are as the spirits of hell, who are averse to being led by
the Lord and love to be led by themselves ; if they have
been the great men of the kingdom, they wish to rule over
all things ; so, too, il they have been primates of the church ;
if they have been judges, they pervert judgment, and ex-
182 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 210
ercise arbitrary power over the laws ; if they have been
learned, they apply the truths of science to the confirma-
tion of man's proprium [ownhood] and of nature ; if they
have been merchants, they act as robbers ; if husbandmen,
as thieves. They are all enemies of God, and scoffers a'
the Divine Providence.
209. It is remarkable that when heaven is opened to
such persons, and it is told them that they are insane, and
this is also made manifest to their very perception, which
is done by influx and enlightenment, still out of indignation
they shut heaven on themselves, and look to the earth
under which is hell. This takes place with those in the
spiritual world who are still out of hell, and who are such
in character. And from this is manifest the error of those
who think, When I have seen heaven, and have heard
angels talking with me, I shall acknowledge. Their under-
standing acknowledges ; but if the will does not at the
same time, still they do not acknowledge ; for the will's
love inspires the understanding with whatever it desires,
and not the reverse ; yes, it destroys in the understanding
every thing that is not from itself.
210. VII. All these things cannot be done without its ap-
pearing to man that he thinks from himself and makes dis-
position frotn himself It has been fully demonstrated in
what has gone before, that man would not be man unless
it appeared to him as if he lived from himself ; and that so
he thinks and wills, speaks and acts as from himself. From
which it follows, that unless man as from his own prudence
disposes all things belonging to his employment and life,
he cannot be led, and disposition of him cannot be made,
from the Divine Providence; for he would be like one
standing with hands hanging down, mouth open, eyes
shut, and breath held, in expectation of influx ; he would
thus divest himself of humanity, which he has from the
perception and the sensation that he lives, thinks, wills,
speaks, and acts as from himself; and he would at the
No. 211.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
183
same time divest himself of his two faculties, liberty and
rationality, by which he is distinguished from beasts.
That without that appearance a man would not have
capacity to receive and to reciprocate, and thus would not
have immortality, has been demonstrated above in the
present treatise, and also in that concerning the " Divine
Love and Wisdom." Wherefore, if you wish to be led by
the Divine Providence, use prudence, as a servant and
minister who faithfully dispenses the goods of his master.
This prudence is a talent given to the servants to trade
with, an account of which they must render (Luke xix.
13-28 ; Matt. xxv. 14-31). The prudence itself seems to
man as his own ; and it is believed to be his own, so long as
man keeps shut up within him the deadliest enemy of God
and the Divine Providence, the love of himself. This has
its abode in every man's interiors from birth ; if you do not
recognize it (for it does not wish to be recognized), it
dwells securely, and guards the door lest man should open
it, and itself be then cast out by the Lord. This door is
opened by man by his shunning evils as sins as from him-
self, with the acknowledgment that he does it from the
Lord. This is the prudence with which the Divine Provi-
dence acts as one.
2ii. The Divine Providence works so secretly that
scarcely any one knows of its existence, in order that man
may not perish. For man's proprium [ownhood], which is
his will, in no wise acts as one with the Divine Providence ;
man's proprium has an inborn enmity against it ; for the
proprium is the serpent that seduced the first parents, of
which it is said, I will put enmity between thee and the woman,
and between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head
(Gen. iii. 15). The serpent is evil of every kind ; its head
is self-love ; the Seed of the woman is the Lord ; the
enmity which is established, is between the love belonging
to man's proprium and the Lord, thus also between man's
own prudence and the Lord's Divine Providence ; for his
1 84
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 21a.
own prudence is continually lifting up its head, and the Di-
vine Providence is continually putting it down. If man felt
this, he would be angry and enraged with God, and would
perish ; but while he does not feel it, he may be angry and
enraged with men and with himself, and also with fortune,
by which he does not perish. For this reason the Lord by
His Divine Providence continually leads man in freedom,
and the freedom appears to him only as his own. And to
lead man in opposition to himself in freedom, is like rais-
ing a heavy and resisting weight from the earth by screws ;
owing to the power of which, the weight and resistance are
not felt ; and it is like a man in company with an enemy
who has it in mind [animus] to kill him, which he then
does not know ; and a friend leads him away by unknown
paths, and afterwards discloses the intention [animus] of
his enemy.
212. Who does not speak of fortune? And who does
not acknowledge it, as lie speaks of it, and as he knows
something of it from experience ? But who knows what it
is ? That it is something, because it is and is given, can-
not be denied ; and a thing cannot be and be given without
a cause ; but the cause of this something, or of fortune, is
unknown. Lest fortune should be denied, however, from
mere ignorance of its cause, take dice or cards, and play,
or talk with those who play. Does any one of them deny
fortune ? for they play with it, and it with them, in a won-
derful way. Who can succeed against fortune if it is set
against him ? Does it not then laugh at prudence and
wisdom ? While you shake the dice and shuffle the cards,
does not fortune seem to know and to control the turns
and the movements of the muscles of the hand, to favor
one party more than the other, from some cause ? And
can a cause be given from any other source than the Di-
vine Providence in ultimates ? where by constancy and by
change it deals wonderfully with human prudence, and still
conceals itself. It is known that the gentiles formerly ac-
No. 213.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. l8$
knowledged Fortune and built her a temple, as did the
Italians in Rome. Of this fortune, which is, as was said,
the Divine Providence in ultimates, I have been permitted
to learn many things, which I am not at liberty to make
known ; from which it has become manifest to me that it
is no illusion of the mind, nor sport of nature, nor a some-
thing without a cause, for this is not any thing ; but that it
is evidence to the eye that the Divine Providence is in the
smallest particulars of man's thoughts and actions, sever-
ally. Since the Divine Providence is in the smallest single
particulars of things even of so little consequence and
trifling, why not in those of things that are not insignificant
and trifling, as the affairs of peace and war in the world,
and the things of safety and of life in heaven ?
213. But I know that human prudence brings the rational
to its side more than the Divine Providence does ; because
the Divine Providence does not show itself, but human
prudence does. It is of easier acceptance that there is
one only Life, which is God, and that all men are recipients
of life from Him, as frequently shown before ; and yet this
is the same thing, for prudence belongs to the life. Who
in his reasoning does not speak in favor of one's own pru-
dence and in favor of nature, while speaking from the
natural or external man ? Who also in his reasoning does
not speak in favor of the Divine Providence and of God,
while speaking from the spiritual or internal man ? But,
I say to the natural man, Pray write books, one in favor of
man's own prudence, the other in favor of nature, and fill
them with arguments plausible, probable, likely, and in
your judgment solid ; and then give them into the hand of
any angel ; and I know that the angel will write, under-
neath, these few words, They are all Appearances and
Fallacies
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 215
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE REGARDS ETERNAL THINGS
AND TEMPORAL THINGS SO FAR ONLY AS THEY
ACCORD WITH THE ETERNAL.
214. That the Divine Providence regards eternal things,
and temporal things so far only as they make one with
eternal, is to be demonstrated in the following order :
I. Temporal things relate to dignities and riches, thus to
nonors and possessions, in the world. II. Eternal things
relate to spiritual honors and wealth, which are of love and
wisdom, in heaven. III. By man, things temporal and
eternal are separated ; but they are conjoined by the Lord.
IV. The conjunction of things temporal and eternal is the
Lord's Divine Providence.
215. I. Temporal things relate to dignities and riches,
thus to honors and possessions, in the world. Temporal
things are many, yet they all relate to dignities and riches.
By temporal things are meant such as either perish with
time, or cease only with man's life in the world ; but by
eternal things are meant those which do not perish and
cease with time, thus not with life in the world. Since, as
has been stated, all temporal things have relation to dig-
nities and riches, it is important to know the following,
namely, What dignities and riches are, and whence they are ;
Of what quality is the love of them for their own sake, and
of what quality is the love of them for the sake of uses ;
That these two loves are distinct from each other like hell
and heaven ; That the difference between these loves is
with difficulty known by man. But of these separately.
First : What dignities and riches are, and whence they are.
Dignities and riches in the most ancient times were alto-
gether different from what they afterwards gradually be-
came. Dignities in the earliest times were such only as
there are between parents and children ; they were dignities
of love, full of respect and veneration ; not because oi
No. 215.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
187
birth from them, but on account of instruction and wisdom
received from them, being another birth, in itself spiritual,
because it was the birth of their spirit. This was the only
dignity in the earliest times ; for tribes, families, and house-
holds then dwelt apart, and not under general governments
as at this day. This dignity was in the father of the family.
Those times were called by the ancients the Golden Ages.
But after those times, the love of rule from the mere en-
joyment in that love gradually made its invasion ; and
because there then came in at the same time enmity and
hostility against those who were not willing to yield sub-
mission, tribes, families, and houses gathered themselves
together from necessity into general communities, and ap-
pointed over themselves one whom they at first called
judge, and afterwards prince, and finally king and emperor;
and they also then began to protect themselves by towers,
earth-works, and walls. From the judge, prince, king, or
emperor, as from the head into the body, the lust of ruling
spread as a contagion to others ; thence sprung up degrees
of dignity, and also honors according to them ; and with
these the love of self, and the pride of one's own prudence.
Something like this took place with the love of riches. In
the earliest times, when tribes and families dwelt distinct
from one another, there was no other love of riches than a
desire to possess the necessaries of life, which they pro-
cured for themselves by flocks and herds, and by their
lands, fields, and gardens, which furnished them food.
Among the necessaries of their life, were also neat houses,
furnished with useful things of every kind, and also cloth-
ing ; the parents, children, servants, and maids in a house,
were engaged in the care of all these things and in the
necessary work. But after the love of rule had entered
and destroyed this republic, the love of possessing wealth
beyond their necessities also entered, and grew to such a
height that it desired to possess the wealth of all others.
These two loves are like blood-relations ; for he who wishes
188 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 2IJ
<o rule over all things, also desires to possess all things ;
for thus all others become servants, and they alone masters.
This is clearly manifest from those within the papal juris-
diction, who have exalted their dominion even into heaven
to the throne of the Lord, upon which they have placed
themselves ; for they also seek to grasp the wealth of all
the earth, and they enlarge their treasuries without end.
Second : Of what quality is the love of dignities and riches
for their own sake ; and of what. quality is the love of digni-
ties and riches for the sake of uses. The love of dignities
and honors for the sake of dignities and honors, is the love
of self, — properly it is the love of rule, from the love of
self ; and the love of riches and wealth for the sake of
riches and wealth, is the love of the world, — properly, the
love of possessing the goods of others by any art whatever.
But the love of dignities and riches for the sake of uses,
is the love of uses, which is the same as the love of the
neighbor ; for that for the sake of which man acts, is the
end from which he acts ; and this is first or primary ; but
other things are means and are secondary. As to the love
of dignities and honors for their own sake, which is the
same as the love of self, — properly, as the love of rule,
from the love of self, — it is the love of proprium [own-
hood], and man's proprium is every evil. Man is therefore
said to be born into all evil, and what he has hereditarily
is said to be nothing but evil. What man has hereditarily
is his proprium, in which he is, and into which he comes
by the love of self, and especially by the love of ruling that
comes from his self-love ; for the man who is in that love
regards nothing but himself, and so immerses his thoughts
and affections in his proprium. From this it is, that in the
love of self there is the love of doing evil. The reason is,
because the man loves not the neighbor, but himself alone j
and one who loves only himself, sees others only as apart
from himself, or as of but little consequence, or as of no
account, whom he desoises in comparison with himself, ao
No. 2I5-] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 1 89
counting it nothing to inflict evil on them. For this reason,
one who, from the love of himself, is in the love of ruling,
thinks nothing of defrauding the neighbor, of committing
adulter}' with his wife, of defaming him, of breathing re-
venge against him even to the death, of cruelty towards
him, and so on. Man contracts this condition because the
devil himself, with whom he has become conjoined and by
whom he is led, is nothing else than the love of ruling from
the love of self ; and he who is led by the devil, that is, by
hell, is led into all these evils ; and he is led continually by
means of the enjoyments of these evils. In consequence of
this, all who are in hell wish to do evil to all ; but they
who are in heaven wish to do good to all. From the op-
position between them, there exists what is intermediate ;
man is in this, and in it he is as it were in equilibrium, so
that he can turn either to hell or to heaven ; and so far as
he favors the evils of self-love, he turns toward hell ; but
so far as he removes those evils from him, he turns toward
heaven. It has been given me to feel of what quality and
how great is the enjoyment of the love of ruling from the
love of self. I was let into it for the purpose of becoming
acquainted with it ; and it was such as to exceed all the
enjoyments that there are in the world ; it was an enjoy-
ment of the whole mind from its inmosts to its ultimates ;
but in the body it was felt only as an agreeable and pleas-
urable sensation in the swelling breast ; and it was also
given me to feel that from that enjoyment, as from their
fountain, gushed forth the enjoyments of all evils, as
of adulter)-, revenge, fraud, blasphemy, and of evil-doing
in general. There is also a similar enjoyment in the love
of possessing the property of others by whatever art, and
from the love in the lusts that are derived from it ; yet not
in the same degree, unless this love is conjoined with the
love of self. But as regards dignities and riches not foi
their own sake but for the sake of uses : this love of them
is not love of the digr ities and riches, but love of the uses,
I90 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 215.
io which love dignities and riches are of service as means ;
this love is heavenly. But more on this subject hereafter.
Third : That these two loves are distinct from each other like
hell and heaven, is manifest from what has just been said j
to which I will add, that all who from the love of self are
in the love of rule are as to the spirit in hell, whoever they
are, whether great or small ; and that all who are in that
love are in the love of all evils ; and if they do not commit
them, still in their spirit they believe them allowable ; and
consequently they do them in body when dignity and
honor and the fear of the law do not hinder ; and what is
more, the love of rule from the love of self inmostly con-
ceals in itself hatred against God, consequently against the
Divine things which belong to the church, and especially
against the Lord. If God is acknowledged, it is done only
with the mouth ; and if the Divine things of the church are
acknowledged, it is done from a fear of losing honor. The
reason why that love inmostly conceals hatred against the
Lord, is because there is inmostly in it the desire to be
God ; for it worships and adores itself alone. Hence, if
any one honors it so far as to say that it has Divine wis-
dom, and is the deity of the world, it loves him cordially.
Not so with the love of dignities and riches for the sake of
uses ; this love is heavenly, for, as was said, it is the same
as the love of the neighbor. By uses are meant goods ;
and, therefore, by doing uses is meant doing goods ; and
by doing uses or goods is meant serving others and minis-
tering to them. Although they who do this have dignity
and wealth, yet they regard them only as means for per-
forming uses, thus for serving and ministering. Such are
meant by these words of the Lord : Whosoever will be great
among you, let him be your minister ; and whosoever will bt
•hie/ among you, let him be your servant (Matt. xx. 26, 27).
To them, also, is dominion in heaven intrusted by the Lord ;
for to them this is a means of doing uses or goods, thus
of serving ; and when uses or goods are the ends or loves,
No. 216.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
191
then they do not rule, but the Lord, for all good is from
Him. Fourth : The difference between these loves is ivith
difficulty known by man, because most of those who have
dignity and wealth also do uses ; but they do not know
whether they do them for their own sake or for the sake of
the uses ; and they know it the less because in the love of
self and the world there is more of the fire and ardoi
of doing uses than they possess who are not in the love of
self and the world ; but the former do uses for the sake of
fame or profit, thus for the sake of themselves ; but
they who do uses for the sake of the uses, or goods for
the sake of the goods, do them not from themselves but
from the Lord. The difference between them can with
difficulty be recognized by man, because he knows not
whether one is led by the devil or by the Lord. One who
is led by the devil does uses for the sake of himself and
the world ; but one who is led by the Lord does uses for
the sake of the Lord and heaven ; and they who shun
evils as sins all do uses from the Lord, but they who do
not shun evils as sins all do uses from the devil ; for evil
is the devil, and use or good is the Lord. In this way
and in no other is there a cognition of the difference. In
the external form they both look alike ; but in the internal
form they are wholly unlike ; one is like gold within which
is dross, but the other is like gold with pure gold within ;
and one is like artificial fruit, which in the external form
appears like fruit from a tree, when yet it is colored wax
enclosing within it dust or bitumen ; while the other is
like a noble fruit, pleasing in taste and smell, and contain-
ing seeds within.
216. II. Eternal things relate to spiritual honors and
wealth, which are of love and wisdom, in heaven. Since the
enjoyments of the love of self, which are also the enjoy-
ments of the lusts of evil, are called good by the natural
man, and as he also confirms them to be good, he therefore
calls honors and wealth Divine blessings. But when this
IQ2
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 217
natural man sees that the evil as well as the good are ex-
alted to honors and promoted to wealth, and still more
when he sees the good despised and in poverty, and the.
evil in glory and opulence, he thinks to himself, Why is
this ? It cannot be of the Divine Providence ; for if that
governed all things it would heap honors and wealth upon
the good, and would afflict the evil with poverty and con-
tempt, and would thus drive the evil to the acknowledgment
that there is a God and a Divine Providence. But the
natural man, unless enlightened by the spiritual man, that
is, unless he is at the same time spiritual, does not see
that honors and wealth may be blessings, and also may
be curses ; and that when they are blessings they are
from God, and when curses, are from the devil. That
honors and wealth are also given by the devil is known ;
for owing to this he is called the prince of the world.
Now as it is not known when honors and wealth are bless-
ings, and when they are curses, it must be told ; and in the
following order : 1. Honors and wealth are blessings, and
they are curses. 2. Honors and wealth, when they are
blessings, are spiritual and eternal ; but when they are
curses, they are temporal and perishable. 3. The honors
and wealth which are curses, compared with those which
are blessings, are as nothing to every thing, or as that
which in itself is not to that which in itself is.
217. These three points are now to be illustrated sepa-
rately. First : Honors and wealth are blessings, and they
are curses. General experience witnesses that both the
pious and the impious, or both the just and the unjust, that
is, both the good and the evil, alike enjoy dignities and
wealth ; and yet it cannot be denied by any one that the
impious and unjust, that is, the wicked, come into hell ;
while the pious and just, that is, the good, come into heaven.
This being true, it follows that dignities and riches, or
honors and wealth, are blessings or are curses, and Ciat
they are blessings to the good and curses to the evil. In
So. 217.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
the work concerning "Heaven and Hell," published at
London in the year 1758 (n. 357-365), it is shown that
in heaven there are both rich and pour, both great and
small, and in hell also ; from which it is manifest that dig-
nities and riches were blessings in the world to those who
are now in heaven, and that they were curses in the world
to those now in hell. But whence they are blessings, and
whence they are curses, any one may know if he only re-
flects a little upon the subject from reason ; that is, he
may know that they are blessings to those who do not set
the heart in them, and curses to those who do set the heart
in them. To set the heart in them is to love oneself in
them ; and not to set the heart in them is to love uses and
not self in them. What the difference is between these
two loves, and what its quality, was told above (n. 215).
To which it must be added that dignities and wealth seduce
some, and some they do not seduce. They seduce while
they excite the loves of man's proprium \pwnhood~\ which
is self-love (and that this is the love of hell, which is called
the devil, was also told above) ; but they do not seduce
while they do not excite this love. That the evil as well
as the good are exalted to honors and advanced to wealth,
is because the evil equally with the good do uses ; but the
evil do them for the sake of honors and profit to their own
person ; but the good, for the sake of the honor and profit
of the thing itself [for which they work]. The good regard
the honors and profit of the thing itself as principal causes,
and those to their own person as instrumental ; but the
evil regard the honors and profit to the person as principal
causes, and those of the thing as instrumental. But who
does not see that the person, his function, and honor, are
for the sake of the thing to which he ministers, and not the
reverse ? Who does not see that the judge is for the sake
of justice, the magistrate for the sake of the common wel
tare, and the king for the sake of the kingdom, and not the
reverse ? And therefore every one according to the laws of
9
•94
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 217
tl e kingdom, has dignity and honor according to the dignity
of the work that it is his office to perform. And who does
not see that the difference is like that between the principal
and the instrumental ? One who attributes to himself or
to his own person the honor belonging to the thing, ap-
pears in the spiritual world, while a representation is made
of it, as a man with the body inverted, feet up and head
down. Second : Dignities and wealth, when they are bless-
ings, are spiritual and eternal; and when curses, are temporal
and perishable. There are dignities and wealth in heaven
as in the world, for there are governments there, and con-
sequently administrations and functions; business is also
transacted from which comes wealth, since there are
societies and assemblies there. The universal heaven is
distinguished into two kingdoms, one of which is called the
heavenly [celestial] kingdom, the other the spiritual ; and
each kingdom into societies without number, larger and
smaller ; all of which, with all who are in them, are ordered
according to differences of love, and thence of wisdom ;
the societies of the heavenly [celestial] kingdom according
to the differences of heavenly love which is love to the
Lord, and the societies of the spiritual kingdom according
to the differences of spiritual love which is love towards
the neighbor. As there are such societies, and all who
are in them have been men in the world, and therefore re-
tain in them the loves which they had in the world (with
the difference that they are now spiritual, and that the dig-
nities and wealth are themselves spiritual in the spiritual
kingdom and heavenly in the heavenly kingdom), conse-
quently they have dignities and wealth more than others
who have love and wisdom more than others ; and they
are those to whom dignities and wealth were blessings in
the world. From this may be seen the nature of spiritual
dignities and wealth, as belonging to the thing and not tc
the person. A person who is in dignity there, is indeed ir.
magnificence and glory like that of kings on earth ; yet the
No. 218.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
195
dignity itself they do not regard as any thing, but the uses,
in the ministration and discharge of which they are en-
gaged. They indeed receive honors, suited to the dignity
of each one ; but they do not attribute them to themselves,
but to the uses ; and because all uses are from the Lord,
they attribute the honors to Him from whom they come.
Such, therefore, are spiritual dignities and wealth which
are eternal. But the case is different with those to whom
dignities and wealth in the world were curses. Because
they attributed them to themselves and not to the uses,
and because they did not wish to have uses govern them
but they wished to control uses, regarding them as uses so
far only as they were serviceable to their honor and their
glory, they therefore are in hell, and are vile slaves there,
despised and miserable. Therefore because their dignities
and wealth perish, they are called temporal and perishable.
Of these two classes the Lord thus teaches : Lay not up for
yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor
rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor
steal ; for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also
(Matt. vi. 19-21). Third : The dignities and wealth which
are curses, compared with those which are blessings, are as
nothing to every thing; or as that which in itself is not, to that
which in itself is. Every thing which perishes, and does not
become any thing, inwardly in itself is not any thing ; out-
wardly, indeed, it is something, yes, it seems to be much,
and to some it seems tc be every thing while it lasts ; but
not inwardly in itself It is like a surface, with nothing
within it ; and like an actor in royal robes, when the play
is over. But that which remains for ever is in itself some-
thing perpetually, thus every thing ; and it also Is, for it
does not cease to be.
ci8. III. By man, things temporal and eternal are sepa-
rated; but they are conjoined by the Lord. This is because
ig6 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 219.
all things pertaining to man are temporal, and from them
man may be called temporal ; and all things pertaining to
the Lord are eternal, and from these the Lord is called
eternal. Temporal things, too, are those which have an
end and perish j but eternal things are those which have
no end and do not perish. Any one may see that the two
cannot be conjoined unless by the Lord's infinite wisdom ;
and thus that they can be conjoined by the Lord, and not
by man. But that it may be known that the two are sepa-
rated by man, and are conjoined by the Lord, it must be
demonstrated in this order : 1. What temporal things are,
and what eternal things. 2. Man is in himself temporal,
and the Lord is in Himself eternal ; and therefore from
man can proceed only what is temporal, and from the Lord
only what is eternal. 3. Temporal things separate from
themselves the eternal, and things eternal conjoin the tem-
poral to themselves. 4. The Lord conjoins man with Him-
self by appearances : 5. Also by correspondences.
219. But these points must be illustrated and confirmed
one by one. First : What tempo?-al things are, and what
eternal things. Temporal things are all those which are
proper to nature, and which consequently are proper to
man. The things proper to nature are especially spaces
and times, both of them having limit and termination ; the
things thence proper to man, are those which belong to his
own will and understanding, and consequently to his affec-
tion and thought, and especially to his prudence ; it is
known that these are finite and limited. But things eternal
are all that are proper to the Lord, and that from Him are
as if proper to man. Things proper to the Lord are all
infinite and eternal, thus without time, consequently with-
out limit and without end. Things which are thence as if
proper to man, are likewise infinite and eternal ; yet no
part of them is man's, but they are of the Lord alone in
man. Second : Man is in himself temporal, and the Lord is
in Himself eternal ; and therefore from man can proceed only
No. 219 ] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
197
what is temporal, and from the Lord only what is eternal.
It was stated above that man in himself is temporal, and
the Lord in Himself eternal. As nothing but what is 111
any one can proceed from him, it follows that from man
can proceed nothing but what is temporal, and from the
Lord nothing but what is eternal. For the infinite cannot
proceed from the finite ; that it can, is a contradiction. But
still the infinite can proceed from the finite, yet not from the
finite but from the infinite through the finite. On the other
hand, the finite cannot proceed from the infinite ; that it
can, is also a contradiction ; yet the finite can be pro-
duced by the infinite ; but this is creating, not proceeding.
On this subject see " Angelic Wisdom concerning the Di-
vine Love and Wisdom," from beginning to end. Where-
fore, if from the Lord there proceeds what is finite, as is
the case in many things in man, it does not proceed from
the Lord but from the man ; and it can be said to be
from the Lord through the man, because it appears so.
This may be illustrated by these words of the Lord : But
let your communication be, Yea, yea ; Nay, nay ; for what-
soever is more than these cometh of evil (Matt. v. 37). Such
is the discourse of all in the third heaven ; for they never
reason about Divine things, whether this is so or not so ;
but from the Lord they see in themselves that it is so, or
is not so. Wherefore reasoning concerning Divine things,
whether they are so or not, comes from the reasoner's not
seeing them from the Lord, but wishing to see from him-
self ; and what man sees from himself is evil. But still
the Lord is not only willing that a man should think and
talk of Divine things, but should also reason about diem,
for the end that he may see a thing to be so or not so ; and
this thought, conversation, or reasoning, provided the end
is to see the truth, may be said to be from the Lord in
man ; but it is from the man even till he sees the truth and
acknowledges it. Meanwhile it is only from the Lord that
he has ability to think, to talk, and to reason ; for he haa
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 219
this ability from the two faculties called liberty and ration
ality, and man has these faculties from the Lord alone.
Third : Temporal things separate from themselves the ett mal,
and things eternal conjoin the temporal to themselves. That
temporal things separate eternal things from themselves,
means that man does so, who is temporal from the temporal
things in him ; and that eternal things conjoin temporal
things to themselves, means that the Lord does so, Who is
eternal from the eternal things in Himself, as was said
above [n. 218]. In the foregoing pages it is shown that
there is a conjunction of the Lord with man, and a re-
ciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord ; but that the re-
ciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord is not from man,
but from the Lord ; also that man's will runs counter to
the Lord's will ; or, what is the same thing, man's own
prudence runs counter to the Lord's Divine Providence.
From this it follows, that man from his temporal things
separates from himself the Lord's eternal things, but that
the Lord conjoins His eternal things with man's temporal
things, that is, Himself with man and man with Himself.
As these points have been fully treated in what has gone
before, further confirmation is not needed. Fourth : The
Lord conjoins man with Himself by appearances. For the
appearance is that man from himself loves the neighbor,
does good, and speaks truth. Unless these appeared to
man as if from him, he would not love the neighbor, do
good and speak truth, thus would not be conjoined with
the Lord. But as love, good, and truth are from the Lord,
it is manifest that the Lord conjoins man with Himself by
appearances. But of this appearance, and of the Lord's
conjunction with man, and of man's reciprocal conjunction
with the Lord by it, it has been fully treated above. Fifth :
The Lord conjoins man with Himself by correspondences.
This is done with the Word as the medium, the litera'
sense of which consists of mere correspondences. That
by this sense there is conjunction of the Lord with man,
No. 220 ]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
and a reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord, is
shown in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
the Sacred Scripture," from beginning to end.
220. IV. The conjunction of things temporal and eternal
in man is the Lord's Divine Providence. But as these
things cannot fall into the understanding's first perception
unless they are first arranged in order, and are unfolded
and demonstrated according to it, therefore this shall be
the order : 1. It is from the Divine Providence that man
by death puts off natural and temporal things, and puts on
spiritual and eternal. 2. The Lord by His Divine Provi-
dence conjoins Himself with natural things by spiritual,
and with temporal by eternal things, according to uses.
3. The Lord conjoins Himself with uses by correspond-
ences, and thus by appearances according to the confirma-
tions by man. 4. Such conjunction of temporal and
eternal things is the Divine Providence. But these things
will be set in clearer light by the explanations. First : //
is from the Divine Providence that man by death puts off
natural and temporal things, and puts on spiritual and eternal.
The natural and temporal are the outermosts and ultimates,
into which man first enters, which he does at birth, in
order that he may be able afterwards to be introduced into
more internal and higher things ; for outermosts and ulti-
mates are containants, and these are in the natural world.
This is why no angel or spirit was created immediately ;
but they were all born men first, and were so introduced
[into more internal and higher things] ; hence they have the
outermosts and ultimates which in themselves are fixed and
established, within which and by which interiors can be
held together in connection. But man first puts on the
grosser things of nature ; his body is from them ; but by
death he puts these off, and retains the purer things of nat-
ure which are nearest to spiritual things ; and these then
are his containants. Furthermore, all more internal or
higher things are together in the outermosts or ultimates,
200 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. aa&
as has already been shown in the proper places ; where-
fore all the Lord's working is from firsts and lasts together,
thus in fulness. But as the outermosts and ultimates of
nature cannot receive the spiritual and eternal things to
which the human mind has been formed as these are in
themselves, and yet man was born to become spiritual and
live for ever, therefore man puts them off, and retains only
the interior natural which meet and accord with the spirit-
ual and heavenly [celestial], and subserve them as con-
'ainants ; this is done by the rejection of temporal and
natural ultimates, which is the death of the body. Second :
The Lord by His Divine Providence conjoins Himself with
natural things by spiritual, and with temporal by eternal
things, according to uses. Natural and temporal things are
not only what are proper to nature, but also what are
proper to men in the natural world. Man puts off both by
death, and puts on spiritual and eternal things correspond-
ing to them. That he puts these on according to uses, has
been shown by many things in the foregoing pages. The
natural things which are proper to nature, have relation in
general to times and spaces, and specially to the things that
are seen on the earth. Man leaves these by death, and in
phi.ce ot vthm he has spiritual things, which are similar in
the outer face or appearance, but not in the internal face
and very essence ; of which also it has been treated above.
The temporal things which are proper to men in the nat-
ural world, in general have relation to dignities and wealth,
and specially to the necessities of every man, which are
food, clothing, and a place to live in. These also are put
off by death and left behind ; and there are put on and re-
ceived things that in the outer face or appearance are
similar, but not in the internal face and in essence. These
all have their internal face and their essence from the uses
of temporal things in the world. Uses are the goods which
are called goods of charity. From these things it may
be evident that the Lord by His Divine Providence con-
No. 220.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 201
joins spiritual and eternal things with the natural and
temporal according to uses. Third : The Lord conjoins
Himself with uses by correspondences, and thus by appear-
ances according to the confirmations of them by man. But as
these things cannot but seem obscure to those who have
not yet gained a clear notion of what correspondence is
and what appearance is, they therefore must be illustrated
by example, and so explained. All things of the Word are
mere correspondences of spiritual and heavenly [celestial]
things ; and because they are correspondences they are
also appearances ; that is, all things of the Word are the
Divine Goods of the Divine Love and the Divine Truths
of the Divine Wisdom, which are in themselves naked, but
in the literal sense of the Word are clothed. They there-
fore present an appearance like a man in clothing which
corresponds to the state of his love and wisdom. From
which it is manifest that if a man confirms appearances, it
is like proving that the clothes are the man ; thus appear-
ances become fallacies. It is otherwise, if man seeks out
truths and sees them in the appearances. Now as all uses,
or the truths and goods of charity which man does to the
neighbor, may be done either according to appearances 01
according to the very truths in the Word, therefore, if he
does them according to appearances confirmed within him,
he is in fallacies ; but if he does them according to truths,
he does them as he ought. From these things it may be
evident what is meant by the Lord's conjoining Himself
with uses by correspondences, and thus by appearances
according to the confirmations of them by man. Fourth :
Such conjunction of temporal and eternal things is the Divine
Providence. To place this before the understanding in
some light, it may be illustrated by two examples ; by one
which concerns dignities and honors, and by another which
concerns riches and wealth. Both are natural and tem-
poral in the external form ; but in the internal form they
are spiritual and eternal. Dignities with their honors are
9*
202 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 22a
natural and temporal when in them man regards himseM
personally, and not the commonwealth and uses ; for man
then cannot but interiorly think within himself that the
commonwealth is for him, and not he for the common-
wealth. He is like a king who thinks that the kingdom
and all the people in it exist for him, and not that he lives
for the sake of the kingdom and its people. But these
same dignities with their honors are spiritual and eternal
when man regards himself personally as living for the
commonwealth and for uses, and not them as existing
for him. If man does this, then he is in the truth and the
essence of his dignity and honor; but if the former, he
is then in the correspondence and the appearance ; and
if he confirms these in himself, he is in fallacies, and is in
conjunction with the Lord only as those are who are in
falsities and in evils from them ; for fallacies are the
falsities with which evils join themselves. They have
indeed promoted uses and good works, but from themselves
and not from the Lord ; so they have put themselves in
the Lord's place. It is the same with riches and posses-
sions, which also are natural and temporal or are spiritual
and eternal. They are natural and temporal with those
who regard only these, and themselves in them, finding in
the two all their pleasure and enjoyment ; but the same
things are spiritual and eternal with those who in them
regard good uses, finding interior pleasure and enjoy-
ment in them With these even the outward pleasure and
enjoyment become spiritual, and the temporal becomes
eternal. Therefore after death they are in heaven, and
there they live in palaces in which the forms for various use
are resplendent with gold and precious stones ; these, how-
ever, they regard only as externals, resplendent and trans-
lucent from the internals which are the uses, from which
they have real pleasure and delight, which in themselves
are the charms and happiness of heaven. An opposite lot
is for those who have regarded riches and possessions
No. 221.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
203
polely for the sake of them and for themselves, thus for
the sake of externals and not at the same time of internals ;
po according to appearances and not their essences. When
they put these off, which they do at death, they put on the
internals belonging to them ; which, not being spiritual,
cannot but be infernal ; for either the one or the other is
in them ; both cannot be together. Therefore for riches
they have poverty, and tor possessions, misery. By uses
are meant not only the necessaries of life, which have re-
lation to food, clothing, and a place to live in, for a man
and those dependent on him ; but the good of one's country,
of society, and of the fellow-citizen is also meant. Mercan-
tile business is such good when it is the final love and
money is a mediate and subservient love, provided the
merchant shuns and is averse to frauds and wrongful arts
as sins. It is otherwise when money is the final love, and
the business is the mediate and subservient love ; for this
is avarice, which is the root of evils ; concerning which see
Luke xii. 15 ; and the parable concerning it, verses 16-21.
MAN IS NOT ADMITTED INTERIORLY INTO THE
TRUTHS OF FAITH AND INTO THE GOODS OF
CHARITY, EXCEPT SO FAR AS HE CAN BE KEPT IN
THEM EVEN TO THE END OF LIFE.
221. It is known in the Christian world that the Lord
vills the safety of all, and also that He is almighty ; there
fore many conclude from this that He is able to save every
one, and that He saves those who implore His mercy ;
especially those who implore it after the formula of the
received faith, that God the Father will be merciful for
the sake of the Son ; especially if at the same time they
pray that they may receive that faith. But that it is wholly
otherwise, will be seen in the last article of this treatise,
where it will be explained that the Lord cannot act con-
trary to the laws of His Divine Providence, because to act
204 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 221
against them would be to act contrary to His own Divine
Love and Wisdom, thus contrary to Himself ; and where it
will be seen that such immediate mercy is not possible, be-
cause the salvation of man is effected by means, and to
lead man according to these no other is able than He who
wills the safety of all, and is at the same time almighty, thus,
the Lord. The means by which man is led by the Lord are
what are called the laws of the Divine Providence ; among
which is also this, that man is not admitted interiorly into
the truths of wisdom and into the goods of love except so
far as he can be kept in them even to the end of life. But
that this may be manifest to the reason, it must be ex-
plained in the following order : I. A man can be admitted
into the wisdom of spiritual things, and also into a love of
them, and still not be reformed. II. If a min afterwards
recedes from them, and goes away into what is contrary,
he profanes holy things. III. There are many other kinds
of profanation, but this is the worst of all. IV. Therefore
the Lord does not admit man interiorly into the truths of
wisdom and at the same time into the goods of love, ex-
cept so far as man can be kept in them even to the end of
life.
222. Y. A man can be ad?nitted into the wisdom of spirit-
ual things, and also into a love of them, and still not be re-
formed. This is because man has rationality and liberty ;
by rationality he may be elevated into wisdom almost
angelic ; and by liberty into love not unlike angelic love.
But still, as the love is, such is the wisdom ; if the love is
heavenly and spiritual, the wisdom also becomes heavenly
ind spiritual ; but if the love is diabolical and infernal, the
wisdom also is diabolical and infernal : in outward form,
and thus before others, this may indeed appear as if heav
enly and spiritual ; but in the internal form, which is its
very essence, it is diabolical and infernal ; not as it is out
of the man, but as it is within him. It does not seem to
be such to men, because they are natural, and they see and
No. 223.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
205
hear naturally ; and the external form is natural. But to
the angels it seems to be such, because they are spiritual,
and they see and hear spiritually ; and the internal form is
spiritual. From these things it is manifest that a man can
be admitted into the wisdom of spiritual things, and also
into a love of them, and still not be reformed ; but he is
then admitted only into a natural love of them, and not
into the spiritual love of them. This is because a man can
let himself into the natural love, but the Lord alone can
admit him into the spiritual love ; and they who are ad-
mitted into this are reformed, but they are not reformed
who are let into the natural love alone. For the latter are
for the most part hypocrites, and very many of them are oi
the order of Jesuits, and do not interiorly believe in the
Divine at all, but play with Divine things outwardly, like
soothsayers.
223. By much experience in the spiritual world it hap-
been made known to me, that man possesses the faculty ok.
understanding arcana of wisdom like the angels themselves
For I have seen fiery devils who, while they have beer
hearing arcana of wisdom, have not only understood then*
but have also spoken them from their rationality ; but
soon as they returned to their diabolical love, they did not
understand them ; but instead of them, contrary thing*
which were from insanity, and this they then called wisdom.
I have even been permitted to hear them, when in a state of
wisdom, laughing at their insanity ; and when in a state
of insanity, laughing at wisdom. A man who has been
of this character in the world, after death when he becomes
a spirit is commonly let into alternate states of wisdom and
insanity, that he may see the latter from the former. E at
although from wisdom they see that they are insane, still
when the choice is given them, as is done with every o e,
they let themselves into the state of insanity and love t,
and then they hold the state of wisdom in hatred. Thii is
because their internal has been diabolical, and the external
2o6
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 124.
as if Divine. These are they who are meant by the devils
who make themselves angels of light ; also by him who in
the marriage-house was not clothed in a wedding garment,
and was cast into outer darkness (Matt. xxii. 11-13).
224. Who cannot see that it is the internal from which
the external exists, and consequently that the external has
its essence from the internal ? And who does not know
from experience that the external may have an appearance
not in accordance with its essence from the internal ? For
manifestly there is such appearance in the case of hypo-
crites, flatterers, and pretenders. And that a man can
externally personate characters not his own, is manifest
from players and mimics ; for they know how to represent
kings, emperors, yes, angels, in tone, language, face, and
gesture, as if they were such ; when yet they are but actors.
This also has been stated, because a man can in a similar
manner play the sycophant in civil and moral things as in
spiritual things, and because it also is a known thing that
many do so. When, therefore, the internal in its essence is
infernal, and the external in its form seems spiritual, and
yet the external draws its essence from the internal, as said
already, it is a question where that essence is concealed in
the external. It does not appear in gesture, in tone, in
word, or in look ; but yet it is interiorly hidden in all four
of them. That it is interiorly hidden in them is clearly
manifest from the same in the spiritual world ; for when a
man comes from the natural world into the spiritual world,
which he does at death, he then relinquishes his externals
with the body, and he retains his internals which he had
stored up in his spirit ; and then, if his internal has been
infernal, he appears like a devil, such as he also was as to
his spirit while he lived in the world. Who does not ac-
knowledge that every man relinquishes externals with the
body, and enters into internals when he becomes a spirit ?
To this I will also add, that in the spiritual world there is
a communication of affections and thence of thoughts ; and
No. J2i THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
207
It is owing to this, that no one there can speak otherwise
than as he thinks ; also, that every one there changes the
face, and becomes like his own affection ; so that what he
is in character is also apparent from the face. Hypocrites
are sometimes permitted to speak otherwise than as they
think ; but the sound of what they say is to the ear wholly
out of harmony with their interior thoughts ; and by the
discordance they are known from others. Evidently, there-
fore, the internal is hidden interiorly in the tone, in the
words, in the face, and in the gestures of the external ; and
this is not perceived by men in the natural world, but is
perceived manifestly by angels in the spiritual world.
225. From these things it is now manifest that man, as
long as he lives in the natural world, can be admitted into
the wisdom of spiritual things, and also into a love of them ;
and that this may take place, and does take place, with
those who are merely natural, as well as with those who
aie spiritual; but with the difference, that the latter are
thereby reformed, but the former by the same means are
not. In these there may also be the appearance of their
loving wisdom ; but they do not love it except as an
adulterer loves an honorable woman as if she were a cour-
tesan, talking sweetly to her, giving her beautiful garments,
but saying to himself at home, She is only a vile harlot,
whom I will make believe that I love her because she
gratifies my lust ; but if she should not gratify it, I would
cast her off. His internal man is that adulterer ; and his
external, is that woman.
226. II. If a man afterwards recedes from them, and goes
away into what is contrary, he profanes holy things. There
are many other kinds of profanation of what is holy, of
which in the following article ; but this kind is the most
grievous of all ; for profaners of this class after death be-
come no longer men ; they live, indeed, but continually
under fantastic hallucinations ; they seem to themselves to
De flying on high, and while they remain thf.re they sport
208
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 22J.
with fantasies which are seen by them as real things ; and
because they are no longer men, they are not called he and
she, but it. Yes, when presented to view in the light of
heaven, they appear like skeletons, some like skeletons of
the color of bone, some as fiery skeletons, and others as
charred. It is not known in the world that the profane of
this class become such after death ; and it is unknown be-
cause the cause is not known. The cause itself is that
when a man at first acknowledges Divine things and
believes in them, and afterwards falls back and denies
them, he then commingles holy things with profane ; and
when these have been commingled they cannot be separated
otherwise than by the destruction of the whole. But that
these things may be perceived more clearly, they must be
unfolded in their order, as follows : i. Whatever man thinks,
says, and does from the will, whether good or evil, is ap-
propriated to him, and remains. 2. But the Lord by His
Divine Providence, continually watches and disposes things
10 that evil may be by itself, and good by itself, and thus
that they may be separated. 3. But this cannot be done
if man first acknowledges truths of faith and lives accord-
ing to them, and afterwards falls back and denies them.
4. He then commingles good and evil even so that they
cannot be separated. 5. And as the good and the evil in
every human being must be separated, and in such a one
cannot be, he is therefore destroyed as to all that is truly
human.
227. These are the causes from which such an enormity
exists; but as they are obscure, owing to ignorance of
them, they must be so explained as to be manifest to the
understanding. First: Whatever man thinks, says, and does
from the will, whether good or evil, is appropriated to him,
md remains. This was shown above (n. 78-81). For man
has an external or natural memory, and an internal or
spiritual memory. In this latter memory are inscribed all
things and every single thing which from the will he had
No. 227-] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
209
thought, spoken, and done in the world ; all things and
every single thing, so that not one is wanting. This mem-
ory is the book of man's life, which is opened after death,
and according to which he is judged. Many other things
are adduced respecting this memory, from actual experience,
in the work concerning " Heaven and Hell " (n. 461-465).
Second : But the Lord by His Divine Providence continually
watches and disposes things so that evil may be by itself, and
good by itself, and thus that they may be separated. Every
man is both in evil and in good ; for he is in evil from him-
self, and in good from the Lord ; and man cannot live un-
less he is in both ; for if he were in self alone, and thus in
evil alone, he would have nothing of life ; nor if he were in
the Lord alone, and thus in good alone, would he have any
thing of life ; for in this latter condition of life, man would
be like one suffocated, continually gasping for breath, as
if in the agony of death ; and in its former condition, he
would become extinct, for evil without any good is in itself
dead. Wherefore every man is in both ; but the difference
is that one is interiorly in the Lord and exteriorly as it
were in himself; and the other is interiorly in himself, but
exteriorly as it were in the Lord ; and this latter is in evil,
and the first is in good ; nevertheless each is in both.
That the evil man, too, is in both, is because he is in the
good of civil and moral life, and also outwardly in some
good of spiritual life ; besides, he is kept by the Lord in
rationality and liberty, that he may be able to be in good \
this is the good by which every one, even a bad man, is
led by the Lord. From these things it may be seen that
the Lord separates evil and good, so that one may be
interior and the other exterior, and so He watches that
they may not be commingled. Third : But this cannot be
done if man first acknowledges truths of faith and lives accord-
ing to them, and afterwards falls back and denies them. This
is manifest from what has now been stated : first, that all
things which man thinks, says, and does from the will, are
210
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. txj.
appropriated to him and remain ; and second, that the
Lord by His Divine Providence continually watches and
disposes things so that good may be by itself, and evil
by itself, and so that they can be separated. Moreover,
they are separated by the Lord after death ; with those
who are interiorly evil and outwardly good, good is taken
away, and so they are left to their evil ; the reverse takes
place with those who are interiorly good, and who out-
wardly like other men have labored to gain property, sought
for dignities, found delight in various things of the world,
and favored some lusts. With these, however, good and
evil are not commingled, but are separate like internal and
external ; thus in the external form they have been in many
things like the evil, but not in the internal. The reverse is
the case with the wicked who in the external form have
appeared like the good in piety, worship, words, and works,
and yet have been in the internal form wicked ; with them,
also, evil is separated from good. But with those who first
acknowledged truths of faith, and lived according to them,
and who have afterwards gone away into what is contrary
and have rejected them, and especially if they have denied
them, goods and evils are no longer separate but com-
mingled j for such a man has appropriated good to himself,
and he has also appropriated evil to himself, and so he has
conjoined and commingled them. Fourth : He then com-
mingles good and evil even so that they cannot be separated.
This follows from what has just been stated ; and if evil
cannot be separated from good, and good from evil, it is
not possible to be in heaven or in hell. Every humat.
being must be either in one or the other ; he cannot be in
both ; for so he would be now in heaven, now in hell ; and
while in heaven he would act in favor of hell, and while in
hell he would act in favor of heaven ; thus he would de-
stroy the life of all around him, heavenly life among the
angels, and infernal life among the devils; and in this way
the life of ever)- one would perish ; for every one must
No. 228.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
211
have his life 3 one does not live in another's life, still less
in the opposite life. For this reason, in every man after
death, when he becomes a spirit or a spiritual man, the
Lord separates the good from tbr evil, and the evil from
the good ; good from evil, in those who are interiorly in
2vil ; and evil from good in those who are interiorly in
;ood ; which is according to His words : For whosoever
hath, io him shall be given, and he shall have more abun-
dance ; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath (Matt. xiii. 12 ; xxv. 29 ; Mark iv. 25 ;
Luke viii. 18 ; xix. 26). Fifth : As the good and the evil in
every human being must be separated, and in such a one can-
not be, he is therefore destroyed as to all that is truly human.
Every one has the truly human from rationality, in being
able to see and to know, if he will, what is true and what
is good ; and also in being able, from liberty, to will, think,
say, and do it ; as before shown. But this liberty with its
rationality has been destroyed in those who have com-
mingled in themselves good and evil ; for they cannot from
good see evil, nor from evil recognize good, for they make
one ; therefore they have no longer rationality in the faculty,
or potentially, nor therefore any liberty. For this reason
they are like mere fantastic hallucinations, as was said
above ; and they appear no more as men, but as bones with
some skin drawn over them ; and therefore when mentioned
they are not called he or she, but it. Such is the lot of
those who in this way commingle holy things with profane.
But there are other kinds of profanation, which yet are not
such as this ; of which in the next article.
228. No man thus profanes holy things who has no
knowledge of them ; for one who does not know them can-
not acknowledge them and afterward deny them. There-
fore they who are outside of the Christian world, and do
aot know any thing concerning the Lord, and of redemption
and salvation by Him, do not profane this holy thing when
they do not receive it, or even when they speak against it.
212 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 229
Nor do the Jews themselves profane this, as from infancy
they are unwilling to accept and acknowledge it ; it would be
otherwise if they were to receive and acknowledge it, and
afterwards deny it, which, however, is rarely done ; many
from among them, however, acknowledge it exteriorly but
deny it interiorly, and are like hypocrites. But those pro-
fane holy things by commingling them with profane, who
first receive and acknowledge, and afterwards go away and
deny. Not so because they are received and acknowledged
in early childhood and boyhood ; this is done by every
Christian ; for the things belonging to faith and charity are
not then received and acknowledged from any rationality
and liberty, that is, in understanding from the will, but only
from memory and from confidence in the teacher ; and if
the life is according to them, it is from blind obedience.
But when a man comes into the use of his rationality and
liberty, which he does gradually, just as he grows into
youth and grows into manhood, if he then acknowledges
truths and lives according to them, and afterwards denies
them, he commingles holy things with profane, and from a
man he becomes such a monster ; as said above. But if a
man is in evil from the time when he comes to his own
rationality and liberty, that is, under his own control [suus],
even into early manhood, and afterwards acknowledges
the truths of faith and lives according to them, provided he
then remains in them until the end of life, he does not
commingle them ; for the Lord then separates the evils of
the former life from the goods of the later life. It is so
done with all who repent. But of these things, more in
what follows.
229. III. There are many other kinds of profanation of
what is holy, but this is the worst of all. In a most general
sense, by profanation is meant all impiety ; so by profaners
are meant all the impious, who in heart dery God, the
holiness of the Word, and consequently the spiritual things
of the church ; these are the holy things ; and concerning
No. 230. J
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
213
these they also speak impiously. But we are not now
treating of them, but of those who profess to believe in
God, hold the sanctity of the Word, and acknowledge the
spiritual thingy of the church ; the greater number, how-
ever, only with the mouth. These commit profanation,
because what is holy from the Word is in them and with
them, and they profane this which is in them and which
makes some part of their understanding and will ; while in
the impious, who deny the Divine and Divine things, there
is nothing holy which they can profane. They are indeed
profaners, but still not the profane.
230. The profanation of what is holy is meant in the
Second Commandment of the Decalogue [in our common
division the Third], by, Thou shalt not profane the Na?ne of
thy God; and that profanation must not be committed, is
meant in the Lord's Prayer by, Hallowed be Thy Name.
Hardly any one in the Christian world knows what is meant
by God's Name. This is because it is not known that in
the spiritual world names are not as in the natural world,
but every one is named according to the quality of his love
and wisdom ; for when any one comes into society or com-
mon lot with others, he is immediately named according to
his quality there. The naming is done by spiritual lan-
guage, which is such that it can give a name to every thing ;
for there each letter in the alphabet signifies one thing, and
the several letters joined into one word, making a person's
name, involve the whole state of the thing. This is one of
the wonders of the spiritual world. From these things it
is manifest, that in the Word God's Name signifies God with
ill the Divine that is in Him and that proceeds from Him ;
and as the Word is the proceeding Divine, it is the Name
of God ; and as all the Divine things which are called the
spiritual things of the church are from the Word, they too
are God's Name. From these things may be seen what is
meant in the Second [in our division, the Third] Command-
ment of the Decalogue by, Thou shalt not profane the Nam
2I4
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING | No. 13a
of God; and in the Lord's Prayer by, Hallowed be 2 'hy
Name. The Name of God and the Lord has a similar
signification in many places in the Word of both Testa-
ments, as in Matt. vii. 22; x. 22; xviii. 5, 20; xix. .-9;
xxi. 9; xxiv. 9; John i. 12; ii. 23; iii. 18 j xii. 13, 28; xiv.
13, 14; xvi. 23, 24, 26; xvii. 6; xx. 31; besides cthef
places ; and very frequently in the Old Testament. One
who is acquainted with this signification of name, may know
what is signified by these words of the Lord : He that te-
ceiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a
prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in
the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's
reward; and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these
little ones a cup of cold water only in the natne of a disciple
shall in no wise lose his reward (Matt. x. 41, 42). He who
by the name of a prophet, a just man, and a disciple, hore
understands only a prophet, a just man, and a disciple,
knows no other sense here than that of the letter only ; nor
does he know what the reward of a prophet is, or of a just
man, or the reward for a cup of cold water given to a dis-
ciple ; when yet the name and the reward of a prophet,
mean the state and the happiness of those who are in Di-
vine truths ; the name and reward of a just man, mean
the state and the happiness of those who are in Divine
goods ; and by a disciple is meant the state of those who
are in some of the spiritual things of the church ; the cup
of cold water means some truth. That the quality of the
state of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, is signified
by name, is also made evident by these words of the Lord :
He that entereth in by the Door, is the shepherd of Hie sheep ;
to him the porter ope net h, and the sheep hear his voice; and
he callcth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out (John
x. 2, 3). To call the sheep by name, is to teach and to
lead every one who is in the good of charity, according to
the state of his love and wisdom ; by the Door is meant the
Lord, as is evident from the ninth verse: lam the Door.
No. 131.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
215
by Me if any man enter in, he shall be saved. From which
it is manifest that the Lord Himself must be approached,
that any one may be saved ; and he who goes to Him is a
shepherd of the sheep; and he who does not go to Him is
a thief and a robber, as is said in the first verse of the same
chapter.
231. Since by the profanation of what is holy is meant
profanation by those who from the Word have a knowledge
of the truths of faith and the goods of charity, and who
also in some measure acknowledge them, and not by those
who do not know them, nor by those who from impiety
wholly reject them, therefore what now follows is said of
those first mentioned, not of the others. Their profanation
is of several kinds, some lighter and some more grievous ;
but they may be referred to these seven : The first kind
of profanation is committed by those who make jests from
the Word, and about it, or from the Divine things of the
church and about them. This is done by some from a
vicious habit, by selecting names or expressions from the
Word and introducing them in remarks that are hardly be-
coming, and sometimes foul ; this cannot but be joined
with some contempt for the Word ; when yet the Word in
all things and in every single thing is Divine and holy ; for
every expression therein stores in its bosom something Di-
vine, and has communication with heaven by it. But this
kind of profanation is lighter or more grievous according
to the acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, and
the unbecoming character of the discourse into which it is
brought by those who jest with it. A second kind op
profanation is committed by those who understand and ac-
knowledge Divine Truths, and still live contrary to them.
But they profane more lightly who only understand, and
1hey more grievously who also acknowledge ; for the under-
s anding only teaches, almost like a preacher, and does
n )t from itself conjoin itself with the will j but acknowl-
tdgment conjoins itself, for nothing can be acknowledged
216
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. J31,
except with the will's consent. But still the conjunction is
various, and when a man lives contrary to truths which are
acknowledged, the profanation is according to the conjunc-
tion. For example : If one acknowledges that revenge
and hatred, adultery and fornication, fraud and deceit,
blasphemy and lying, are sins against God, and still com-
mits them, he is in this kind of profanation and in the more
grievous variety ; for the Lord says that the servant who
kuoweth his Lord 's will, and doeth not His will, shall be beaten
with many strides (Luke xii. 47). And in another place :
If ye were blind, ye should have no sin ; but now ye say, We
see; therefore your sin remaineth (John ix. 41). But it is
one thing to acknowledge appearances of truth, and another
to acknowledge genuine truths ; they who acknowledge
genuine truths, and still do not live according to them, in
the spiritual world appear without the light and heat of life
in the tone of the voice and in their speech, as if they were
mere inert things. A third kind of profanation is com-
mitted by those who apply the literal sense of the Word to the
confirmation of evil loves and false principles. This is be-
cause the confirmation of what is false is a denial of the
truth, and the confirmation of evil is a rejection of what is
good ; and the Word in its bosom is nothing but Divine
Truth and Divine Good ; and this in the ultimate sense
which ij that of the letter does not appear in genuine
truths, except where it teaches of the Lord and the way
of safety, but in truths clothed, which are called appear-
ances of truth. Therefore that sense can be turned to the
confirmation of many kinds of heresies. But the man who
confirms evil loves, does violence to the Divine Goods ;
and he who confirms false principles does violence to the
Divine Truths. This violence is called the falsification of
truth ; the other, the adulteration of good ; both are meant
in the Word by bloods. For a spiritual Holiness, which is
also called the Spirit of Truth proceeding from the Lord,
is within the several particulars of the literal sense of the
No. 231.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 217
Word. This Holiness is hurt when the Word is falsified and
adulterated. That this is profanation, is manifest. A
fourth kind of profanation is committed by those who
with the mouth say pious and holy things, and also simulate
the affections of the love of them in tone and in gesture, and
yet in heart do not believe and love them. Most of these are
hypocrites and Pharisees, from whom after death all truth
and good are taken away, and then they are sent into
outer darkness. Those who from profanation of this kind
have confirmed themselves against the Divine and against
the Word, and consequently against the spiritual things of
the Word also, sit in that darkness dumb, unable to speak,
wishing to babble pious and holy things, as in the world,
but unable to do so ; for in the spiritual world every one is
compelled to speak as he thinks ; but a hypocrite wishes
to speak otherwise than as he thinks ; hence comes an
opposition in the mouth, owing to which they can only
mutter. But the varieties of hypocrisy are lighter and
more grievous according to confirmations against God, and
reasonings in favor of Him outwardly. A fifth kind of
profanation is committed by those who attribute to themselves
what is Divine. Such are meant by Lucifer, in the four-
teenth chapter of Isaiah. Lucifer there means Babel, as is
evident from the fourth and twenty-second verses of the
same chapter, where the lot of such is also described. The
same, too, are meant and described, in the seventeenth
chapter of the Apocalypse, by the whore sitting on the
scarlet beast. Babel and Chaldea are mentioned in many
places in the Word ; and by Babel is there meant the pro-
fanation of good, and by Chaldea the profanation of truth ;
both of them with those who attribute to themselves what
is Divine. A sixth kind of profanation is committed by
those who acknowledge the Word, and still deny the Divinity
of the Lord. These in the world are called Socinians, and
some of them Arians. The lot of both is, that they call on
the Father and not the Lord, and continually pray to the
10
218
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 23L
Father, some even for the sake of the Son, to be admitted
into heaven, but in vain, even till they are left without
hope of salvation ; and then they are let down into hell
among those who deny God. These are meant by those
who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, for whom there will be no
remission in this world nor in the world to come (Matt,
xii. 32). This is because God is one in Person and in
Essence, in whom is a Trinity, and this God is the Lord ;
and as the Lord is also Heaven, and as consequently those
who are in heaven are in the Lord, therefore those who
deny the Divinity of the Lord cannot be admitted into
heaven and be in the Lord. That the Lord is Heaven, and
that consequently those who are in heaven are in the Lord,
was shown above. The seventh kind of profanation
is committed by those who first acknowledge Divine truths, and
live according to them, and afterwards fall back and deny
them. This is the worst kind of profanation ; for they
commingle holy things with profane even so that they can-
not be separated ; and yet they must be separated, for men
to be either in heaven or in hell ; and because this cannot
be done with them, all that is human, both intellectual and
voluntary, is rooted out ; and, as said before, they become
no longer men. Nearly the same takes place with those
who in heart acknowledge the Divine things of the Word
and the church, and immerse them wholly in their proprium
\ownhood\ which is the love of ruling over all things; of
which much has been said before; for after death when
they become spirits, these are wholly unwilling to be led
by the Lord, but wish to be led by themselves ; and when
loose rein is given to their love, they wish not only to rule
over heaven, but also over the Lord ; and as they cannot
do this, they deny the Lord, and become devils. It must
be known that the life's love, which is also the reigning
love, remains in every one after death, and cannot be taken
away. The profane of this class are meant by the luke-
warm ; of whom in the Apocalypse as follows : / know
No. 231.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
219
thy works, that thou art 7ieither cold nor hot; T would
thou wert cold or hot : so then because thou art luken>arm,
and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth
(iii. 15, 16). This kind of profanation is thus described
by the Lord in Matthew : When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest,
and findeth none : Then he saith, I will return into my house,
from whence I came out ; and when he is come, he findeth
it empty, and swept and furnished for him. Then gceth
he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked
than himself; and they enter in and dwell there; and the last
state of that man is worse than the first (xii. 43-45). Man's
conversion is there described by the unclean spirit's going
out of him ; and his turning again to former evils, goods
and truths being cast out, is described by the return of the
unclean spirit with seven others worse than himself, into
the house furnished for him ; and the profanation of what
is holy by a profane person, is described by later things
with that man becoming worse than the first. The same
is meant by this in John : Jesus said to him who had been
healed at the pool of Bethesda, Sin no more, lest a worse
thing come unto thee (v. 14). That the Lord provides
against man's acknowledging truths interiorly, and after-
wards falling back and becoming profane, is meant by
these words : He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their
heart ; that they should not see with their eyes nor understand
with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them
(John xii. 40). Lest they should turn themselves and I
should heal them, signifies lest they should acknowledge
truths and then fall back, and so become profane. For
the same reason the Lord spoke in parables, as He Him-
self says (Matt. xiii. 13). That the Jews were forbidden to
eat fat or blood (Lev. iii. 17 ; vii. 23, 25), signified that
they should not profane what is holy ; for fat signified Di-
vine Good, and blood Divine Truth. That he who is once
converted must remain in what is good and true to the end
220
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 232
of life, the Lord teaches in Matthew : Jesus said, He that
endureth to the end shall be saved (x. 22 ; also in Mark
riii. 13).
232. IV. Therefore the Lord does not admit man interiorly
into the truths of wisdom and at the same time into the goods
of love, except so far as man can be kept in them even to the
md of life. In the demonstration of this we must proceed
by distinct steps, for two reasons ; one, it concerns human
safety ; the other, on the recognition of this law de-
pends the recognition of the laws of permission, of which
the next chapter will treat. It concerns human safety ;
for, as was said above, one who first acknowledges the Di-
vine things of the Word, and consequently of the church,
and afterwards falls back from them, profanes holy things
most grievously. Therefore, that this arcanum of the Di-
vine Providence may be laid open even so that the rational
man may see it in his light, it must be unfolded in the fol-
lowing order : 1. Good and evil cannot be in man's interiors
together, nor, therefore, the falsity of evil and the truth of
good together. 2. Good and the truth of good cannot be
brought by the Lord into man's interiors, except so far as
evil and the falsity of evil there have been removed. 3. If
good with its truth were there brought in sooner or more
than as evil with its falsity is removed, man would fall
back from good and return to his evil. 4. When man is
in evil, many truths may be brought into his understanding,
and these may be stored in the memory, and yet not be
profaned. 5. But the Lord by His Providence is most
especially watchful that there shall not be reception there-
from by the will, sooner or more than man as from himself
removes the evil in the external man. 6. If there were re-
ception sooner and more, then the will would adulterate
good and the understanding would falsify truth by com-
mingling ihem with evils and with falsities. 7. Therefore
the Lord does not admit man interiorly into the truths of
wisdom and into the goods of love, except so far as he can
be kept in them even to the end of life.
No. 233.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
221
233. In order, therefore, to lay open this arcanum of the
Divine Providence even so that the rational man may see
it in his light, the points that have now been presented
must be explained one by one. First : Good and evil cannot
be in man's interiors together, nor, therefore, the falsity of evil
and the truth of good together. By man's interiors is meant
the internal of his thought, of which he knows nothing
before he comes into the spiritual world and its light, which
he does after death. In the natural world this can only
be recognized from the enjoyment of his love in the ex-
ternal of his thought, and from evils themselves while he
is examining them in himself ; for, as shown above, the in-
ternal of thought in man coheres with the external of
thought in such a connection that they cannot be separated.
But concerning this, more may be seen above. It is said
good and the truth of good, also evil and the falsity of evil ;
for good cannot be given without its truth, nor evil without
its falsity ; for they share the bed together, or are consorts ;
for the life of good is from its truth, and the life of truth
is from its good ; and so it is with evil and its falsity.
That evil with its falsity and good with its truth cannot be
in man's interiors together, may be seen by the rational
man without explanation ; for evil is opposite to good, and
good to evil, and two opposites cannot be together. More-
over, there is inherent in all evil a hatred of good, and
there is inherent in all good a love of protecting itself
against evil and of removing it from itself ; whence it fol-
lows that one cannot be together with the other ; and if
they were together, there would arise first conflict and
combat, and then destruction ; as the Lord also teaches in
these words : Every kingdom divided against itself is brought
to desolation ; and every city or house divided against itself
shall not stand. He that is not with Me is against Me ; and
he that gathcreth not with Me, scattereth abroad (Matt. xii.
25-30). And in another place : No man can serve two
masters ; for cither he will hate the one and love the other, Of
222
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 233
el se he will hold to the one and despise the other (Matt. vi. 24)
1 xo opposites cannot be together in one substance ol
form without its being torn asunder and perishing. If one
should approach and draw near to the other, they would
surely separate, like two enemies, one of whom would keep
himself within his camp or within his fortifications, and the
other would keep without. So is it with evil and good in
a hypocrite ; he is in both, but the evil is within, and the
good is without, and so the two are separate and not com-
mingled. From this it is now manifest that evil with its
falsity and good with its truth cannot be together. Second :
Good and the truth of good cannot be brought by the Lord into
man's interiors, except so far as evil and the falsity of evil
have been there removed. This is the consequence of the
foregoing ; for when evil and good cannot be together,
good cannot be brought in before evil has been removed.
It is said, man's interiors, by which is meant the inter-
nal of thought ; of these it is now treated ; and in them
must be either the Lord or the devil ; the Lord is there
after reformation, and the devil is there before it ; and
thus, so far as man suffers himself to be reformed, the
devil is cast out ; but so far as he does not suffer himself
to be reformed, the devil remains. Who cannot see that
the Lord cannot enter as long as the devil is there ? And
he is there so long as man keeps the door-way closed, in
which man and the Lord are together. That the Lord
enters when that way is opened by man's means, He
teaches in the Apocalypse : 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
(iii. 20). 7'he door is opened by man's removing evil, by
shunning it and holding it in aversion as infernal and
diabolical ; for whether it is said evil or the devil, it is the
same ; and on the other hand, whether it is said Good ol
the Lord, it is the same; for the Lord is within all good,
and the devil is within all evil. The truth of the thing is
No. 233.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
223
thus manifest. Third : If good with its truth were brought in
sooner or more than as evil with its falsity is removed, man
would fall back from good and return to his evil. The reason
is that evil would be the stronger, and the stronger con-
quers ; if not at the time, yet afterwards. While evil is still
the stronger, good cannot be brought into the inmost apart-
ments, but only into the halls of entrance ; since, as was said,
evil and good cannot be together, and what is only in the
entrance-halls is removed by the enemy that is in the apart-
ments ; thence comes a falling-back from good, and a return
to evil, which is the worst kind of profanation. Moreover,
the very enjoyment of man's life is to love himself and the
world above all things. This enjoyment cannot be re-
moved in a moment, but gradually ; but as far as any thing
from this enjoyment remains in man, so far evil is there the
stronger. And this evil can be removed in no other way
than by the love of self's becoming the love of uses, while
the love of bearing rule must be not for the sake of self but
for the sake of uses ; for thus uses make the head, and the
love of self or of ruling first makes the body beneath the
head, and afterward the feet to walk with. Who does not
see that good must make the head, and that when it
does, the Lord is there ? Good and use are one. Who
does not see that if evil makes the head the devil is there ?
And as civil good and moral good, and in an external form
spiritual good also, must still be received, who does not see
that the good there makes the feet, and their soles, and is
tiodden upon? Since therefore the state of man's life
must be reversed, so that what is above may be below (and
this reversal cannot be effected in a moment, for the great-
est enjoyment of life, which is from the love of self and the
love of dominion coming from this, cannot be diminished
and turned into the love of uses, except gradually), there-
fore good cannot be brought in by the Lord sooner or more
than as this ev;l is removed ; and if it were, man would fall
back from good, and return to his evil. Fourth : Wlun
224
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 233.
man is in evil, many truths may be brought into his under-
standing, and these may be stored in the memory, and yet not
be profaned. This is because the understanding does not
flow into the will, but the will into the understanding ; and
as it does not flow into the will, many truths may be re-
ceived by the understanding, and they may be stored in the
memory, and yet not be commingled with the evil of the
will, and so holy things will not be profaned. It is also
incumbent upon every one to learn truths from the Word,
or from preaching, to lay them up in the memory, and to
think of them. For from the truths which are in the
memory, and which come from it into thought, the under-
standing must teach the will, that is, must teach the man,
what to do. This therefore is the principal means ol
reformation. While truths are only in the understanding,
and from it in the memory, they are not in the man, but
without. Man's memory may be compared to the stomach
connected with the rumination of certain animals, into
which they first admit their food ; which, while it is there,
is not in their body, but without ; when, however, they draw
the food out of this stomach and eat it, it becomes of theii
life, and the body is nourished. But in man's memory
there are not articles of material but of spiritual food, which
are meant by truths, and which in themselves are cogni-
tions ; so far as man takes these out of it, by thinking or as
it were by ruminating, his spiritual mind is nourished. The
will's love is what desires and as it were has an appetite
for them, and causes them to be taken in, and to give
nourishment. If that love is evil, it desires and as it were
has an appetite for things unclean ; but if good, it desires
and as it were has an appetite for things that are clean ;
and it separates, dismisses, and expels those things wiiicb
do not suit it ; which is done in various ways. Fifth .
But the Lord by His Providence is most especially ivatch-
ful that there shall not be reception therefrom by the will,
sooner or more than man as from himself removes the evil in
No. 233.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 225
the external man. For what is received by the will comes
into the man, and is appropriated to him and becomes of
his life ; and in the life itself, which man has from the will,
there cannot be evil and good together, for so he would
perish ; but in the understanding there can be the two,
called there falsities of evil or truths of good, but yet not
together ; otherwise man would not be able from good to
see evil, and from evil to have cognition of good ; but they
are there distinguished and separated, as a house into in-
terior parts and outer. When an evil man thinks and says
good things, then he thinks and speaks exteriorly ; but
when evil things, then interiorly ; therefore when he says
good things, his speech comes as from the outer wall of
the house ; it may also be compared with fruit fair on the
surface, but which is wormy and rotten within ; and also
to a dragon's egg, with a beautiful shell. Sixth : If there
were reception sooner and more, then the will would adulterate
good and the understanding would falsify truth by com-
mingling them with evils and the falsities from them. When
the will is in evil, it then adulterates good in the under-
standing ; and good adulterated in the understanding is in
the will evil, for it proves that evil is good, and that good
is evil ; evil does this with all good, which is opposite to
itself. Evil also falsifies truth, for the truth of good is
opposite to the falsity of evil ; the will does this, too, in the
understanding; and not the understanding from itself.
Adulterations of good are described in the Word by adul-
teries ; and falsifications of truth by whoredoms. These
adulterations and falsifications are produced by reasonings
from the natural man that is in evil j and also by confirma-
tions from the appearances of the literal sense of the Word.
Self-love, which is the head of all evils, surpasses other
loves in its ingenuity in adulterating goods and falsifying
truths ; and it does this by an abuse of the rationality
which every man has from the Lord, the evil as well as the
good. Yes, by confirmations it can make evil appear alto
226
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 233
gether like good, and falsity like truth. What can it not
do, when it can prove by a thousand arguments that nature
created itself, and that it then created men, beasts, and the
things of the vegetable kingdom, of every kind ? also that
by influx from its inner self nature causes men to live,
to think analytically, and to understand wisely ? Self-love
excels in its ingenuity in confirming whatever it will, be-
cause a certain brightness, of light variegated in different
colors, makes its outer surface. This brightness is the
glory of being wise, belonging to that love, and also of thus
being eminent and bearing rule. But when that love has
confirmed such things, it then becomes so blind as not to
see but that man is a beast, and that they think alike ;
yes, that if the beast could also speak, it would be man in
another form. If it should be induced from some per-
suasion to believe that something of man lives after death,
it is then so blind as to believe that it is so with the beast
also ; and that this something that lives after death is only
a subtile exhalation of life, like a vapor, which still settles
back to its corpse; or that it is something vital without
sight, hearing, or speech, thus blind, deaf, and dumb, ever
floating and thinking ; besides other crazy things, with
which nature itself, which in itself is dead, inspires its fancy.
The love of self does this, which viewed in itself is the love
of proprium \ownhood~\ ; and man's proprium, as to its
affections which are all natural, is not unlike the life of a
beast ; and as to its perceptions, because they are from
these affections, is not unlike a bird of night. Wherefore
one who continually immerses the thoughts in his proprium,
cannot be raised out of natural into spiritual light, and see
any thing of God, of heaven, and of eternal life. Because
this love is such, and still excels in its ingenuity in con-
firming whatever it pleases, it can therefore with similar
ingenuity adulterate the goods of the Word, and falsify its
truths, while from some necessity it is kept in the confession
of them. Seventh : Therefore the Lord does not admit man
No. 235.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
227
interiorly into the truths of wisdom, and into the goods of /ove,
except so far as he can be kept in them even to the end of life.
The Lord so does, that man may not fall into that most
grievous kind of profanation of what is holy, which has
been treated of in this article. On account of this danger
the Lord also permits evils of life, and many heresies in
worship. Concerning their permission, something will be
seen in the sections that follow.
THE LAWS OF PERMISSION ARE ALSO LAWS OF HIE
DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
234. There are no laws of permission by themselves or
apart from the laws of the Divine Providence, but they are
the same ; it is therefore said that God permits a thing,
which does not mean that He wills it, but that He cannot
avert it, on account of the end, which is salvation. What-
ever is done for the sake of the end, which is salvation, is
according to the laws of the Divine Providence. For, as
said before, the Divine Providence is perpetually going to
what differs from man's will and is contrary to it, continu-
ally purposing its end ; wherefore, at every moment of its
operation, or at every step of its progress, where it observes
man to swerve from the end, it directs, bends, and disposes
him according to its laws, by leading him away from evil
and leading him to good. That this cannot be done with-
out the permission of evil, will be seen in what follows.
Moreover, nothing can be permitted without a cause, and
the cause is found only in some law of the Divine Provi-
dence, which law teaches why it is permitted.
235. He who does not at all acknowledge the Divine
Providence, in his heart does not acknowledge God, but
instead of God he acknowledges nature, and instead of the
Divine Providence, human prudence. It is not apparent
that this is so; for a man can think in one way and in
another, and can talk in one way and in another; he can
228 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 236
think and talk in one way from the interior self, and in
another from the outer self ; he is like a hinge that can let
the door turn either way, one way when a person is coming
in, and the other when he is going out ; or like a sail by
which a vessel can be turned in its course, as the mastei
sets it. They who have confirmed themselves in favor of
human prudence even so far as to deny the Divine Provi-
dence, in whatever they see, hear, and read while in that
thought of theirs, notice nothing else ; nor can they, indeed ;
for they take nothing from heaven, but only from them
selves ; and because they draw conclusions from appear
ances and fallacies only, and see nothing else, they cat.
swear that it is so. And if they also acknowledge nature
alone, they may be angry with those defenders of the Divine
Providence who are not priests, for with them they think
this a matter belonging to their doctrine or office.
236. Some things will now be enumerated which art
things of permission, and still according to the laws of the
Divine Providence, by which the merely natural man con-
firms himself in favor of nature against God, and in favor
of human prudence against the Divine Providence. As for
example : when he reads in the Word that the wisest of
mankind, Adam and his wife, suffered themselves to be
seduced by a serpent, and that God did not avert this by
His Divine Providence ; that their first son Cain killed his
brother Abel, and that God did not then withhold him by
speaking with him, but only after the deed by cursing him ;
that the Israelitish nation worshipped a golden calf in the
wilderness, and acknowledged it as God who led them out
of the land of Egypt, when yet Jehovah saw this from
Mount Sinai near by, and did not take precautions against
it ; and again, that David numbered the people, and there-
fore a plague was sent upon them, by which so many
thousands of men perished, and that God, not before but
a 'ter the deed, sent Gad the prophet to him and denounced
punishment ; that Solomon was permitted to establish idola-
No. 2JS.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
229
trous wo ship, and many kings after him were permitted
to profane the temple and the holy things of the church ;
and finally, that that nation was permitted to crucify the
Lord. In these and many other things in the Word, one
who acknowledges nature and human prudence sees nothing
but what is contrary to the Divine Providence, and he can
therefore use them as arguments for its denial, if not in his
exterior thought which is nearest to language, still in that
interior thought which is remote from it.
237. Every worshipper of himself and of nature confirms
himself against the Divine Providence, when he sees in the
world so many impious people, and so many of their im-
pieties, and at the same time the glorying of some on
account of them, and yet no punishment to them from God
for this. And he confirms himself still more against the
Divine Providence, when he sees that plots, devices, and
craft are successful even against the pious, just, and sin-
cere ; and that injustice triumphs over justice in the courts
and in business. Especially does he confirm himself when
he sees the impious exalted to honors, and becoming great
men and leaders, also abounding in wealth, and living in
elegance and magnificence ; and sees on the other hand
the worshippers of God in contempt and poverty. He
also confirms himself against the Divine Providence, when
he reflects that wars are permitted, and in them the
slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of so many
cities, nations, and families ; and also that victories are on
the side of prudence, and sometimes not on that of justice ;
and that it makes no difference whether the commander is
an upright man or not ; besides other things like these ;
all of which are permissions following the laws of the Divine
Providence.
238. The same natural man confirms himself against the
Divine Providence, when he views the matters of religion
in various nations ; as that some people are found who are
totally ignorant of God ; some who worship the sun and
i30 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 24a
moon ; some also who worship idols and even monstrous
graven images ; and some, also, who worship the dead.
Moreover he confirms himself against it, when he sees the
Mohammedan religious system received by so many em-
pires and kingdoms, and the Christian religion only in
Europe, the smallest division of the habitable globe ; and
that it is divided there ; and that there are some there who
claim for themselves Divine power, and wish to be wor-
shipped as gods; and that some invoke the dead; also
that there are some who place salvation in certain words
which they may think of and say, and none in the goods
that they may do ; again, that there are few who live their
religion ; besides the heresies, which have been very many,
and some of which exist at this day, as those of the Quak-
ers, the Moravians, the Anabaptists, and others ; also that
Judaism still continues. From these things, he who denies
the Divine Providence concludes that religion in itself is
nothing, but still that it is necessary because it serves as
a restraint.
239. To these arguments more can be added at this day,
by which they who think interiorly in favor of nature and
human prudence alone may still further confirm themselves;
as that the whole Christian world has acknowledged three
Gods, not knowing that God is one in Person and in
Essence, and that the Lord is He; also that it has not
hitherto been known that in every particular of the Word
there is a spiritual sense, and that its holiness is from this ;
as also that it has not been known that to shun evils as
sins is the Christian religion itself; and that it has not
been known that man lives a man after death. For men
can say within themselves and to one another, Why does
the Divine Providence, if there is any, now reveal such
things for the first time ?
240. All the things that have been enumerated in num-
bers 236, 237, 238, and 239, have been presented to the end
that it may be seen that all and each of the things which
No. 241.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
231
take place in the world, as well with the evil as the good,
are of the Divine Providence ; consequently that the Divine
Providence is in the smallest particulars of man's thoughts
and actions severally, and that therefore it is universal.
But as this cannot be seen from the things presented,
unless each one is explained by itself, therefore they must
be briefly explained in the order in which they were pre-
sented, beginning with number 236.
241. I. The wisest of mankind, Adam and his wife, suf-
fered themselves to be seduced by a serpent, and God did not
avert this by His Divine Providence. This is because by
Adam and his wife are not meant the first of all mankind
that were created in this world, but the men of the Most
Ancient Church, whose new creation or regeneration is so
described ; the new creation itself or their regeneration, in
the first chapter of Genesis, by the creation of heaven and
earth; their wisdom and intelligence by the garden of
Eden ; and the end of that church by their eating from the
tree of knowledge. For in its bosom the Word is spiritual,
containing arcana of Divine Wisdom ; and that they may
be contained, it is written throughout by mere correspond-
ences and representations. From which it is manifest that
the men of that church, who were in the beginning the
wisest of men, and in the end, from the pride of their own
intelligence, the worst, were not seduced by any serpent,
but by self-love, which is there the serpent's head that the
Seed of the woman, that is, the Lord, should bruise. Who
cannot see from reason that other things are meant than
those which are there related in the letter in the form of his-
tory? For who can comprehend that the creation of the world
could possibly have been as is there described ? Therefore
the learned toil in the explanation of the contents of that
first chapter, and at last confess that they do not understand
it. Then that two trees, one of life and one of knowledge,
were placed in their garden or paradise, and this as a cause
of stumbling; as also, that from tbe mere eating of this
2$2 ANGELIC WISDuM CONCERNING [No. 241
last-named tree, they so far transgressed that not only they
but also the whole human race their posterity became liable
to damnation ; further, that any serpent could have seduced
them : besides other things there stated ; as that the wife
was created from the rib of the husband ; that they ac-
knowledged their nakedness after the fall, and covered it
with fig-leaves ; and that coats of skin were given them to
cover the body ; and that cherubim were placed with a
flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. All
these things are representatives, by which is described the
establishment of the Most Ancient Church, its state, its
change, and at last its destruction. The arcana in all
these things, contained in the spiritual sense which is in
every particular, may be found explained in the " Arcana
Coelestia " on Genesis and Exodus, published at London ;
from which it may also be manifest, that by the Tree of
Life is there meant the Lord as to His Divine Provi-
dence ; and by the tree of knowledge, man as to his own
prudence.
24^. II. Their first son Cain killed his brother Abel, and
God lid not then withhold him by speaking with him, but only
a/tei the deed by cursing him. Since by Adam and his wife
is meant the Most Ancient Church, as stated just above,
therefore by Cain and Abel, their first sons, are meant the
two essentials of the Church, which are love and wisdom,
or charity and faith, — by Abel, love and charity, and by
Cain, wisdom or faith, particularly wisdom separated from
love, or faith separated from charity ; and wisdom or faith
so separated is such as not only to reject love and charity,
but also to annihilate them ; and so it kills its brother.
That faith separate from charity does so, is known full
well m the Christian Church ; see the " Doctrine of the
New Jerusalem concerning Faith." The cursing of Cain
invo ves the spiritual state into which they come after death
who separate faith from charity, or wisdom from love. But
yet, test wisdom or faith should therefore perish, a mark
No. 244 ]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
233
was put upon Cain, that he might not be slain ; for without
wisdom love is not given, nor charity without faith. Since
by these things almost the same is iepresented as by the
eating from the tree of knowledge, therefore it follows in
order after the description of Adam and his wife. More-
over, they who are in faith separated from charity are in
their own intelligence ; and they who are in charity and
thence in faith are in intelligence from the Lord, thus in
the Divine Providence.
243. III. The Israelitish nation worshipped a golden calf
in the wilderness, and acknowledged it as God who led them
out of the land of Egypt; when yet yehovah saw this from
Mount Sinai near by, and did not take precautions against it.
This took place in the wilderness of Sinai near the mount.
That Jehovah did not withhold them from that abominable
worship, is in accordance with all the laws of the Divine
Providence hitherto set forth, and also in accordance with
those which follow. This evil was permitted them lest
they should all perish ; for the children of Israel were led
out of Egypt that they might represent the Lord's church ;
and this they could not represent unless Egyptian idolatry
were first eradicated from their hearts ; and this could not
be done if it had not been left for them to act according to
what was in their hearts, and so to remove it by means of
severe punishment. What is further signified by that wor-
ship, and by the threat that they should be wholly rejected
and that a new nation should be raised up from Moses,
may be seen in the "Arcana Ccelestia " on the thirty-second
chapter of Exodus, where these things are treated of.
244. IV. David numbered the people, and therefore a plague
was sent upon them, by which so many thousands of men per-
ished; and God, not before but after the deed, sent Gad the
prophet to him, and denounced punishment. One who con-
firms himself against the Divine Providence may have
various thoughts and reflections about this also, especially
as to why David was not admonished before, and why
234
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING JNo. 245.
the people were so severely punished for the king's trans-
gression. His not being previously admonished is in ac-
cordance with the laws of the Divine Providence already
shown, especially the two explained from n. 129 to 153, and
from n. 154 to 174. The punishing of the people so severely
on account of the transgression of the king, and the smit-
ing of seventy thousand with the plague, was not on the
king's account, but on account of the people ; for we read,
The anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel / therefore
He moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel
and Judah (2 Sam. xxiv. 1).
245. V. Solomoti was permitted to establish idolatrous wor-
ship. This was done that he might represent the Lord's king-
dom, or the church together with all the religious systems
in the whole world; for the church instituted with the
nation of Israel and Judah was a representative church ;
therefore all the judgments and statutes of that church re-
presented the spiritual things of the church, which are its
internals ; that people itself representing the church ; the
king representing the Lord ; David, the Lord who was to
come into the world ; and Solomon, the Lord after His
coming. And because the Lord after His glorification had
power over heaven and earth, as He says (Matt, xxviii. 18),
therefore Solomon His representative appeared in glory
and magnificence and was in wisdom above all the kings
of the earth j he also built the temple. And besides,
Solomon permitted and instituted the worship of many
other nations, by which were represented the various re-
ligious systems in the world. Similar was the signification
of his wives who were seven hundred in number, and his
concubines who numbered three hundred (1 Kings xi. 3) ;
for a wife in the Word signifies the church, and a concu-
bine some religious system. From this it may be evident
why it was granted Solomon to build the temple which
signified the Lord's Divine Human (John ii. 19, 21) and
also the church j and why he was permitted to establish
No. 24S.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
235
dolatrous worship, and to marry so many wives. That by
David, in many places in the Word, is meant the Lord who
was to come into the world, may be seen in the " Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord " (n. 43, 44).
246. VI. Many kings after Solomon were permitted to
profane the temple and the holy things of the church. This
was because the people were representing the church, and
the king was their head. And as the nation of Israel and
Judah was such that they could no longer represent the
church, for they were idolaters in heart, they therefore
gradually fell away from representative worship, by per-
verting all things of the church, even so as at last to de-
vastate it. This was represented by the profanations of
the temple by the kings, and by their idolatries ; the very
devastation of the church being represented by the destruc-
tion of the temple itself, and by the carrying away of the
people of Israel, and by the captivity of the people of Judah
in Babylonia. This was the cause ; and whatever takes
place from some cause, takes place from the Divine Provi
dence according to some law of it.
247. VII. That nation was permitted to crucify the Lord.
This was because the church with that nation was totally
devastated, and had become such that they not only did
not recognize and acknowledge the Lord, but they even
held Him in hatred ; but still all things that they did to
Him were according to the laws of His Divine Providence.
That the passion of the cross was the last temptation or the
last combat, by which the Lord fully conquered the hells
and fully glorified His Human, may be seen in the " Doc-
trine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord " (n. 12-
14) ; and in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concern-
ing Faith " (n. 34, 35).
248. Thus far have been explained the things enumerated
above, n. 236 ; which are things from the Word by which
a natural man who is a reasoner can confirm himself
against the Divine Providence. For, as before said, what-
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 249
ever such a man sees, hears, and reads, he may take as an
argument against it. Few, however, confirm themselves
against the Divine Providence from such things as are in
the Word ; but many more do so from things that take
place before their eyes, such as are mentioned in n. 237,
which are now likewise to be explained.
249. I. Every worshipper of himself and of nature con-
firms himself against the Divine Providence when he sees in the
world so many impious people, and so many of their impieties,
and at the same tune the glorying of some in them, and yet no
punishment of them from God. All the impieties, and also
the glorying in them, are permissions, the causes of which
are laws of the Divine Providence. Every man can freely,
yes, most freely, think what he will, against God or for
Him alike ; and one who thinks against God is rarely pun-
ished in the natural world, because there he is always in
the state for reformation ; but he is punished in the spiritual
world, after death, for then he can no longer be reformed
That the laws of the Divine Providence are the causes of
the permissions, is manifest from its laws above set forth,
if they are recalled and examined ; they are these : Man
should act from freedom according to reason ; concerning
which law see above, n. 71-99: Man should not be com-
pelled by external means to think and will, thus to believe
and love the things of religion ; but man should bring
himself to it, and sometimes compel himself; concerning
which law, see n. 129-153 : There is no such thing as one's
own prudence ; there only appears to be ; and it also ought
to appear as if there were ; but the Divine Providence is uni-
versal from being in things most particular, severally, n. 191-
213 : The Divine Providence regards eternal things, and tem-
poral things so far only as they make one with the eternal
(n. 214-220) : Man is not admitted interiorly into the truths
of faith and into the goods of charity, except so far as he can
be kept in them even to the end of life ; concerning which
law, see n. 221-233. That the causes of permissions are
No. 249.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
237
laws of the Divine Providence will also be manifest from
what is to follow, as from this : Evils are permitted for the
sake of the end, which is salvation. Also from this : The
Divine Providence is contirual, equally with the evil as
with the good. And finally from this : The Lord cannot
act contrary to the laws of His Divine Providence, for to
act contrary to them would be acting contrary to His Di-
vine Love and to His Divine Wisdom, thus contrary to
Himself. These laws, if collated, may make manifest the
reasons why impieties are permitted by the Lord, and are
not punished while they are in thought, and rarely while in
intention also, and thus too in the will, when they are not
in the deed. But still its own punishment follows every
evil ; it is as if upon evil were inscribed its punishment,
which the impious man suffers after death. By what has
now been brought forward, the things are also explained
that were presented above in n. 237, which are these :
The worshipper of himself and of nature confirms himself still
more against the Divine Providence, when he sees that plots,
devices, and craft are successful even against the pious, just,
and sincere; and that injustice triumphs over justice in the
courts and in business. All the laws of Divine Providence
are necessities; and as they are the causes of the per-
mission of such things, it is manifest that in order that
man may be able to live, to be ref( rmed, and to be saved,
such things cannot be removed frcm him by the Lord ex-
cept mediately by the Word, and particularly by the com-
mandments of the Decalogue, with those who acknowledge
all kinds of murder, adultery, theft, and false witness as
sins ; but with those who do not acknowledge that such
things are sins, mediately through the civil laws and the
fear of their punishments ; also mediately by moral laws,
and the fear of the loss of reputation, and thereby of honor
and wealth. By these means the Lord leads the evil, but
only from doing those things, not, however, from thinking
and willing them ; but by the means first mentioned, the
238 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 250.
Lord leads the good, not only from doing them, out also
from thinking and willing them.
250. II. The worshipper of himself and of nature eon-
firms himself against the Divine Providence, when he sees the
impious exalted to honors, and becoming great men and leaders,
also abounding in wealth, and living in elegance and magnifi-
cence, and sees the worshippers of God in contempt and
poverty. The worshipper of himself and of nature believes
dignities and wealth to be the highest and the only happi-
ness that can be given, thus happiness itself ; and if he has
any thought of God from the worship begun in infancy, he
calls them Divine blessings ; and so long as he is not puffed
up from them, he thinks that there is a God, and also wor-
ships Him ; but in the worship there is concealed what he is
himself then ignorant of, the purpose that he may be raised
by God to dignities still higher, and to still greater wealth ;
and if he reaches these, his worship goes more and more
to outward things, until it falls away, so that at length he
thinks little of God and denies Him ; and so he does if cast
down from the dignity and opulence on which he has set
his heart. What then are dignities and wealth to the wicked
but stumbling-blocks ? Not so, however, to the good ;
for they do not set the heart upon them, but on the uses
or the goods ; in the performance of which, dignities and
wealth are of service as means. Wherefore, from the ad-
vancement of the impious to honors and wealth, and their
becoming great men and leaders, no one can confirm him-
self against the Divine Providence but one who is a wor-
shipper of himself and of nature. Moreover, what is dignity
whether greater or less ? And what is opulence, greater
and less ? Is it in itself any thing but something imagi-
nary? Is one person more highly favored and happier
than another ? With the great man, yes, with the king and
the emperor, after a single year is the dignity otherwise re-
garded than as something common, which no longer lifts
his heart with joy, and which may even become worthless
No. 250.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
239
in his sight ? Are they from their dignities happy in a
greater degree than those who are in less dignity, or even in
the least, as farmers and also their servants ? These may
have happiness in greater measure, when it is well with them
and they are content with their lot. What is more restless
at heart, more easily provoked, more violently enraged,
than self-love, and this as often as it is not honored accord-
ing to the uplifting of its heart, and as any thing does
not succeed with it according to its pleasure and desire ?
What then is dignity but an idea, if it be not of the thing
or the use ? And can there be such an idea in any other
thought than that respecting oneself and the world? And
this in itself is that the world is all, and the eternal nothing.
Now something shall be said concerning the Divine Provi-
dence, as to why it permits the impious in heart to be
raised to dignities and enriched with wealth. The impious
or wicked can perform uses equally with the pious or good ;
yes, with greater fire, for in the uses they regard them-
selves, and the honors as the uses ; therefore, to whatever
height the love of self climbs, the lust of doing uses for the
sake of its own glory is there set on fire. There is not
such fire with the pious or good, unless kindled below by
some honor. Wherefore the Lord governs the impious in
heart who are in positions of dignity, by the celebrity of
their name, and incites them to do uses to the public or
their country, to the society or city in which they dwell,
and also to their fellow-citizen or neighbor with whom they
are. With such, this is the Lord's government which is
called the Divine Providence ; for the Lord's kingdom is a
kingdom of uses ; and where there are but few who perform
uses for the sake of the uses, He causes the worshippers of
self to be raised to the higher offices, in which each one is
incited to do good through his love. Suppose an infernal
kingdom in the world (there is none such, however), where
none but the loves of self bear rule ; and the love of self
is itself the devil : will not every one do uses from the fire
24P ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING TNo 25a
of self-love and for the splendor of his glory, more than in
any other kingdom ? The public good is there in every
mouth, but the good of himself in every heart. And as
every one looks to his own chief for his advancement (for
he aspires to be the greatest), can such a one see that
there is a God ? There is smoke like that of a conflagra-
tion surrounding him, through which no spiritual truth in
its own light can pass. I have seen that smoke about the
hells of such Light your lamp, and make inquiry how
many there are in the kingdoms of the present day who
aspire to dignities, and who are not loves of self and the
world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are loves of
God, and among these some few who aspire to dignities ?
Since therefore they are so few who are loves of God, and
they so many who are loves of self and the world, and
since the latter, from their fire perform uses more than the
loves of God from theirs, how then can any one confirm
himself [against the Divine Providence] by the fact that
the evil are in eminence and opulence above the good ?
This also is confirmed by these words of the Lord : And the
lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done
■wisely ; for the children of this world are in their generation
wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, make
to yourselves friends of the mammon of utirighteousness ; that
when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habita-
tions (Luke xvi. 8, 9). What is meant by these things in
the natural sense is manifest ; but in the spiritual sense
the mammon of unrighteousness means the cognitions of
truth and good possessed by the evil, and which they use
only in procuring for themselves dignities and wealth;
from these cognitions the good or the children of light
are to make to themselves friends, and they are what will
receive them into everlasting habitations. That many are
loves of self and the world, and that few are loves of God, the
Lord also teaches in these words : Wide is the gate, and
broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and n.any then
No. 251.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
24I
be which go in thereat ; because strait is the gate, and narrow is
the way, which kadeth unto life, and few there be that find it
(Matt. vii. 13, 14). That dignities and wealth may be
either curses or blessings, and in whom they are the one
and the other, may be seen above (n. 217).
251. III. The worshipper of himself and of nature con-
firms himself against the Divine Providence, when he reflects
that ivars are permitted, and in them the slaughter of so many
men, and the plundering of their wealth. It is not from the
Divine Providence that wars should exist, for they are united
with murders, plundering, violence, cruelty, and other enor-
mous evils, which are diametrically opposed to Christian
charity ; but still they cannot but be permitted, because
man's life's love since the time of the most ancient people
meant by Adam and his wife (of whom above, n. 241), has
become such as to desire to rule over others, and at length
over all, and to possess the wealth of the world, and at
last all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept bound,
since it is according to the Divine Providence for every
one to be allowed to act from freedom according to reason
(concerning which see above, n. 71-99); and without per-
missions man cannot be led from evil by the Lord, and
so cannot be reformed and saved ; for unless evils were
permitted to break out, man would not see them, thus would
not acknowledge them, and so could not be led to resist
them. Hence evils cannot be repressed by any Provi-
dence ; for so they would remain shut in, and like the
diseases called cancer and gangrene would spread and
consume all that is vital in man. For man is from birth
like a little hell, between which and heaven there is per-
petual variance. No man can be withdrawn from his hell
by the Lord, unless he sees that he is there, and unless he
wishes to be led out; and this cannot be done without per-
missions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine Provi-
dence. For this reason there are lesser and greater wars,
the lesser between possessors of estates and their r.-;ighbors,
11
242
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 251.
and the greater between the sovereigns of kingdoms and
their neighbors. Whether lesser or greater makes no dif-
ference, except that a lesser one is kept within bounds by
the laws of the nation, and a greater by the laws of nations ;
and that, while both the lesser and the greater wish to
transgress their laws, the lesser cannot, and the greater
can do so, though not beyond the limits of its ability.
There are many other causes, stored in the treasury of
Divine Wisdom, why the greater wars, united as they are
with murders, depredations, violence, and cruelty, are not
repressed by the Lord with the kings and commanders ;
neither in the beginning, nor in their progress, but only at
the end, when the power of one or the other has become so
reduced that he is in danger of destruction. Some of these
causes have been revealed to me, and among them is this ;
that all wars, however much they may belong to civil
affairs, represent in heaven the states of the church, and
that they are correspondences. Such were all the wars
described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this
day. The wars described in the Word are those which
the children of Israel carried on with various nations, as
the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philis-
tines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the
Assyrians ; and when the children of Israel, who repre-
sented the church, departed from their precepts and statutes,
and fell into the evils which were signified by those nations,
as each nation with which the children of Israel carried on
war signified some particular kind of evil, then by that
nation they were punished. For example, when they pro
faned the holy things of the church by foul idolatries, they
were punished by the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, be-
cause by Assyria and Chaldea is signified the profanation
of what is holy. What was signified by their wars with the
Philistines, may be seen in the " Doctrine of the New Je«
msalem concerning Faith " (n. 50-54). Similar things are
represented by the wars of the present day, wherever they
No. 251] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
243
are ; for all things which take place in the natural world
correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and
nil spiritual things concern the church. It is not known
in this world what kingdoms in the Christian world answer
to the Moabites and Ammonites, what to the Syrians and
Philistines, and what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and
the others with whom the children of Israel carried on
wars ; but still there are those which answer to them. But
the quality of the church on earth, and what are the evils
into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars,
cannot be wholly seen in the natural world ; because in this
world externals only, which do not make the church, are
manifest : but this is seen in the spiritual world, where in-
ternals, in which the church itself is, are apparent; and
there all are conjoined according to their various states.
The conflicts of these states in the spiritual world, corre-
spond to wars ; and according to correspondence these are
governed by the Lord on both sides, in accordance with His
Divine Providence. That wars in the world are governed
by the Divine Providence, the spiritual man acknowledges;
but not the natural man, except that, when a festival is ap-
pointed on account of a victory, he is able to return thanks
on his knees to God that He has given the victory ; and
excepting, also, the few words before he goes into battle.
But when he returns into himself, he then either ascribes
the victory to the prudence of the general, or to some meas
ure or occurrence in the midst of the battle, which they
had not thought of, from which nevertheless came the vic-
tory. That the Divine Providence, which is called fc 'tune,
is in the smallest several particulars of even trivial things,
may be seen above (n. 212) ; and if you acknowledge the
Divine Providence in them, you must certainly acknowledge
it in the affairs of war. Successes, also, and the things of
war that are carried out happily, are called by the common
expression, the fortune of war; and this is the Divine
Providence, especially in the plans and preparations of the
244
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 25a.
general, even though he then and afterwards were to ascribe
the whole to his prudence. And let him do this if he will,
for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine
Providence and against it, yes, in favor of God and against
Him ; but let him know that no part whatever of the plan
and the preparation is from himself ; it all flows in, either
from heaven or from hell, — from hell by permission, from
heaven by Providence.
252. IV. The worshipper of himself and of nature con-
firms himself against the Divine Providence, when, according
to his perception, he reflects that victories are on the side of
prudence, and sometimes not on that of justice; and that
it makes no difference whether the commander is an up-
right man or not. Victories seem to be on the side of
prudence, and sometimes not on that of justice, because
man judges from the appearance, and he favors one side
more than the other, and what he favors he may by reason-
ings confirm ; nor does he know that there is a spiritual
justice to a cause in heaven, and a natural justice in the
world, as has just been stated ; and that they are conjoined
by means of the connection between things past and future
things which are known only to the Lord. That it makes
no difference whether the commander is an upright man or
not, is for the reason that was confirmed above (n. 250),
namely, that the wicked equally with the good do uses, and
the evil from their fire with more ardor than the good,
especially in wars, because the evil man is more crafty and
shrewd in contriving snares ; and from the love of glory he
is in the delight of killing and plundering those whom he
knows and declares to be his enemies, more than the good
man ; for a good man is prudent and zealous to defend,
but rarely is he prudent and zealous in any degree to make
an invasion. This is the same as with spirits <5f hell and
angels of heaven ; the spirits of hell attack, and the angels
of heaven defend themselves. From these things comes
the conclusion, that it is allowable for any one to defend
No. 253.1 THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
245
his country and his fellows against invading enemies, even
by means of wicked commanders, but that it is not allow-
able to make oneself an enemy of others without cause ;
the cause of glory alo le is in itself diabolical, for it beiongs
to the love of self.
253. Thus far have been explained the things presented
above (in n. 237), by which the natural man confirms him-
self against the Divine Providence. Now are to be explained
the things following (in n. 238), having reference to the re-
ligious systems of various nations, and which can also serve
the merely natural man as arguments against the Divine
Providence ; for he says in his heart, How can so many
discordant religions exist, instead of one true religion over
all the earth, when the Divine Providence has for its end
a heaven from the human race? as shown above (n. 27-45).
But listen, I pray : All the human beings that are born,
however many, and in whatever religion, can be saved,
provided they acknowledge God and live according to the
precepts that are in the Decalogue, which are that they
must not kill, commit adultery, steal, or bear false wit-
ness, because to do such things is contrary to religion, and
so is contrary to God. With such there is the fear of God,
and the love of the neighbor ; a fear of God, because they
keep it in thought that to do those things is contrary to
God ; and a love of the neighbor, because they think that
it is against the neighbor to kill, to commit adultery, to
steal, to bear false witness, and to covet his house and his
wife. These, because in their life they look to God, and
do not do evil to the neighbor, are led by the Lord ; and
they who are led, are also taught concerning God and the
neighbor, according to their religion ; for they who so live
love to be taught, while they who live otherwise do not ;
and because they love to be taught, after death when they
become spirits they are also instructed by the angels, and
they gladly receive truths such as are in the Word. Some-
thing concerning them may be seen in the " Doctrine of
246 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INu 25+
the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture "
(n. 91-97, and n. 104-113).
254. I. The merely natural man confirms himself against
the Divine Providence, when he views the matters of religion
in various nations ; as that some people are found who art
totally ignorant of God ; some who worship the sun and
moon ; some who worship idols and graven images. They who
from these things deduce arguments against the Divine,
Providence do not know the arcana of heaven, which are
innumerable, and of which man is hardly acquainted with
one ; among them is also this, that man is not taught im-
mediately from heaven, but mediately ; concerning which,
see above (n. 154-174); and because man is taught me-
diately, and the Gospel could not through missionaries
reach all who dwell in the whole earth, but still religion
could in various ways be spread abroad even to the nations
that are in the corners of the world, therefore by the Divine
Providence this has been done. For no man has religion
from himself, but through another, who has learned, either
directly from the Word, or by derivation from others who
have learned from the Word, that there is a God, that there
are a heaven and a hell, that there is a life after death,
and that one must worship God in order to become happy.
That religion was transplanted throughout the world from
the Ancient Word and afterwards from the Israelitish
Word, may be seen in the "Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 101-103); and that
unless there had been a Word, no one would have known
of God, of heaven and hell, the life after death, still less of
the Lord, see the same work (n. 114-118). When a re-
ligion has been once implanted in a nation, the nation is
led by the Lord according to the precepts and dogmas of
its own religion ; and the Lord has provided that in every
religion there are precepts such as are in the Decalogue ;
as, that God is to be worshipped ; His name is not to be
profaned ; a festival is to be observed ; parents are to be
No. 2S4.|
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
247
honored ; murder, adultery, and theft are not to be com-
mitted ; false witness is not to be borne. The nation which
regards these precepts as Divine, and lives according to
them from religion, is saved, as was said just above (n. 253) :
moreover, most nations remote from Christendom regard
them not as civil but as Divine laws, and hold them sacred.
That man is saved by a life according to those precepts,
may be seen in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem con-
cerning Life, from the Commandments of the Decalogue,"
from beginning to end. Among the arcana of heaven is
also this : The angelic heaven before the Lord is as one
Man, whose soul and life is the Lord ; and this Divine
man is a man in all the form, not only as to the external
members and organs, but also as to the more numerous
internal members and organs, and also as to the skins,
membranes, cartilages, and bones; but in that man all
these are not material, but spiritual. And it has also been
provided by the Lord, that those whom the Gospel has
not been able to reach, but a religion only, should also be
able to have a place in that Divine man, that is, in heaven,
by constituting the parts that are called skins, membranes,
cartilages, and bones ; and that they like others should bt
in heavenly joy ; for it is not a matter of concern whethei
they are in such joy as the angels of the highest heaveif
have, or in such as the angels of the ultimate heaven have ;
for every one who comes into heaven, comes into the high-
est joy of his heart ; he does not bear a higher joy, for he
would be suffocated in it. The case is comparatively like
that of a peasant and a king : A peasant may be :'ai a state
of the highest joy when he goes with new clothing of coarse
wool, and sits down to a table on which is pork, a bit
of beef, cheese, beer, and common wine ; he would be op-
pressed at heart, if like a king he were clothed in purple
and silk, gold and silver, and a table were placed before
him covered with delicacies and costly dishes of many
kinds, with noble wine. From which it is manifest, thai
248 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 255.
there is heavenly happiness for the last as well as for the
first, for each in his degree ; so also for those who are out-
side of the Christian world, provided they shun evils a?
sins against God, because they are contrary to religion.
There are a few who are totally ignorant of God. That
they, if they have lived a moral life, are instructed by
angels after death, and receive in their moral life something
spiritual, may be seen in the " Doctrine of the New Jeru-
salem concerning the Sacred Scripture" (n. 116). So
with those who worship the sun and moon, believing God
to be there ; they do not know otherwise, therefore this is
not imputed to them as sin ; for the Lord says, If ye were
blind ye should have no sift, that is, if ye did not know (John
ix. 41). But there are many others who worship idols and
graven images, even in the Christian world. This is indeed
idolatrous, but not with all ; for there are some to whom
graven images serve as a means of awakening thought con-
cerning God ; for it is from influx from heaven that one
who acknowledges God should wish to see Him ; and as
these cannot lift the mind above sensual things like the
interiorly spiritual, therefore from the graven thing or
image they arouse that [desire to see Him]. They who do
this and do not adore the graven image itself as God, if
they also from religion live according to the precepts of the
Decalogue, are saved. From these things it is manifest,
that as the Lord wills the safety of all, He has provided
also that every one may have some place in heaven if he
lives well. That before the Lord heaven is as one man,
and that therefore heaven corresponds to all things and to
every single thing in man, and also that there are those
who answer to skins, membranes, cartilages, and bones,
may be seen in the work concerning " Heaven and Hell,"
published at London, in the year 1758 (n. 59-102); and ir.
the "Arcana Ccelestia " (n. 5552-5569); and also above
(n. 201-204).
255. II. The merely natural man confirms himself against
No. 255.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
249
the Divine Providence when he sees the Mohammedan religious
system received by so many empires and kingdoms. The fact
that this religious system is received by more kingdoms
than the Christian religion may he a stumbling-block to
those who think about the Divine Providence, and at the
same time believe that no one can be saved except those
who are born Christians ; thus where the Word is, and by
it the Lord is known. But the Mohammedan religious
system is not a stumbling-block to those who believe that
all things are of the Divine Providence ; they ask in what
this is, and they also find out ; it is in this, that the Moham-
medan religion acknowledges the Lord as the Son of God,
the wisest of men, and as a very great prophet, who came
into the world to teach men ; a veiy great part of the
Mohammedans make Him greater than Mohammed. That
it may be known fully that that religious system was raised
up, owing to the Lord's Divine Providence, to destroy the
idolatries of many nations, it shall be told in some order.
First, then, concerning the origin of idolatry. Previous to
that religious system, the worship of idols was common
throughout the world. This was because the churches
before the coming of the Lord were all representative
churches. Such, too, was the Israelitish church ; in it the
tent, Aaron's garments, the sacrifices, all things belonging
to the temple at Jerusalem, and the statutes also, were
representative. And among the ancients there was a knowl-
edge of correspondences, which is also a knowledge of rep-
resentations, the very knowledge of the wise, which was
especially cultivated in Egypt; hence their hieroglyphics.
From their knowledge of correspondences, they knew the
signification of animals of every kind, also of all kinds of
trees, and of mountains, hills, rivers, fountains, and also of
the sun, the moon, and the stars ; and as all their worship
was representative, consisting of mere correspondences,
they therefore worshipped on mountains and hills, and also
in groves and gardens ; and therefore they consecrated
2$0 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 255
fountains, and in their adoration of God they turned theii
faces to the rising sun j and moreover they made sculpt-
ured horses, oxen, calves, lambs, birds too, and fishes, also
serpent? ; and at home and elsewhere they placed these in
an order following the spiritual things of the church to
which they corresponded, or which they represented. They
ahio placed things like these in their temples, to call to
remembrance the holy things which they signified. After
a time, when the knowledge of correspondences was ob-
literated, their posterity began to worship the sculptured
things themselves, as holy in themselves, not knowing that
their fathers of ancient time had not seen any holiness in
them, but only that according to correspondences they
represented and therefore signified holy things. Thence
arose the idolatries which filled the whole world • Asia with
the islands around it, Africa, and Europe. For the extir-
pation of all these idolatries, from the Lord's Divine Provi-
dence it was brought about that a new religion should
auspiciously begin, accommodated to the genius of the
people of the East, in which there should be something
from the Word of both Testaments, and which should
teach that the Lord came into the world, and that He was
a very great prophet, the wisest of all men, and the Son of
God. This was done through Mohammed, from whom
that religion has been called the Mohammedan religion.
From the Lord's Divine Providence this religion was raised
up, and accommodated to the genius of the people of the
East, as already said, for the end that it might destroy the
idolatries of so many nations, and give them some knowl-
edge concerning the Lord before they should come into
the spiritual world ; and this religion would not have been
received by so many kingdoms, and had power to extirpate
idolatries, if it had not been made conformable and ade-
quate to the ideas of thought and to the life of them all.
That it did not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven
and earth, was because the Orientals acknowledged God
No. 256.I
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
25I
the Creator of the universe ; and they were not able to
comprehend that He came into the world and assumed the
Human ; even as Christians do not comprehend this, who
therefore in their thought separate His Divine from His
Human, and place the Divine near the Father in heaven,
and His Human they know not where. From these things
it may be seen that the Mohammedan religion also arose
from the Lord's Divine Providence ; and that all of that
religion who acknowledge the Lord as the Son of God, and
at the same time live according to the precepts of the
Decalogue, which they also have, by shunning evils as
sins, come into a heaven which is called the Mohammedan
heaven. This heaven has also been divided into three
heavens, a highest, a middle, and a lowest. They are in
the highest heaven, who acknowledge the Lord as one with
the Father, and so acknowledge Him as the only God ; in the
second heaven are they who give up their many wives, and
live with one wife ; and in the last, those who are being
initiated. More may be seen concerning this religion in
the " Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, and con-
cerning the Spiritual World " (n. 68-72), where it is treated
of the Mohammedans and of Mohammed.
256. III. The merely natural man confirms himself 'against
the Divine Providence when he sees that the Christian religion
is only in the smaller division of the habitable globe called
Europe, and that it is divided there. The Christian religion
is only in the smaller division of the habitable globe called
Europe, because it has not been accommodated to the
genius of the Orientals, like the Mohammedan religion,
which is mixed, as was shown just above ; and a religion
not accommodated is not received. For example, a re-
ligion which ordains that it is not lawful to marry more
than one wife, is not received but is rejected by those who
for ages have been polygamists; so, too, with some other
ordinances of the Christian religion. Nor is it a matter of
concern whether a smaller or a greater part of the world
t$2 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. <t$6.
has received that religion, provided there are peoples with
whom the Word is ; for there still is light therefrom to those
who are outside of the church and have not the Word, as
is shown in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concern-
ing the Sacred Scripture" (n. 104-113)3 and, what is
wonderful, where the Word is read with sanctity, and the
Lord is worshipped from the Word, the Lord with heaven
is there ; this is because the Lord is the Word, and the
Word is Divine Truth, which makes heaven ; wherefore
the Lord says : Where two or three are gathered together in
My Name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt, xviii. 20).
This can be done with the Word by Europeans in many
parts of the habitable world, because their commerce ex-
tends over all the earth, and everywhere the Word is read
by them, or there is teaching from the Word. This seems
like an invention, but still it is true. The Christian religion
is divided because it is from the Word, and the Word is
written throughout by mere correspondences, and the cor-
respondences are in great part appearances of truth, en-
closed within which, nevertheless, are concealed genuine
truths. And as the doctrine of the church must be drawn
from the literal sense of the Word, which is such, there
could not but exist disputes, controversies, and dissensions
in the church, especially as to the understanding of the
Word, but not as to the Word itself and as to the Lord's
Divine itself ; for it is everywhere acknowledged that the
Word is holy, and that Divinity belongs to the Lord;
and these two are the essentials of the church. Therefore
also they who deny the Lord's Divine, who are those called
Socinians, have been excommunicated from the church;
and they who deny the holiness of the Word are not re-
garded as Christians. To this I will add something con-
cerning the Word, worthy of remembrance, from which may
be drawn the conclusion that the Word interiorly is the
Divine Truth itself, and inmostly is the Lord : When any
spj'it opens the Word, and rubs his face or clothing with
No. 257.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
253
t, then his face or clothing shines from the mere rubbing,
as brightly as the moon or a star, and this in the sight of
all whom he meets. This is evidence that there is nothing
in the world more holy than the Word. That the Word is
written throughout by mere correspondences, may be seen
in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the
Sacred Scripture" (n. 5-26). That the doctrine of the
church must be drawn from the literal sense of the Word
and confirmed by it (n. 50-61 of the same work). That
heresies can be taken from the literal sense of the Word,
but that it is hurtful to confirm them (n. 91-97). That the
church is from the Word, and that it is such as its under-
standing of the Word is (n. 76-79).
257. IV. The merely natural man confirms himself against
the Divine Providence from the fact, that i?i most of the king-
doms where the Christian religion is received, there are some
who claim for themselves Divine power, and wish to be wor-
shipped as gods ; and that they invoke the dead. They say,
indeed, that they have not arrogated to themselves Divine
power, and that they do not wish to be worshipped as
gods ; but still they say that they can open and close
heaven, remit and retain sins, and therefore save and con-
demn men ; and this is Divinity itself ; for the Divine
Providence has for its end nothing else than reformation,
and from this, salvation ; this is its continual operation
with every one ; and the work of salvation cannot be done
except by the acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord,
and a confidence that He does it, while man lives accord-
ing to His precepts. Who cannot see that this is the
Babylonia described in the Apocalypse, and that it is the
Babel [or Babylon] spoken of everywhere in the prophets?
That it is also Lucifer, spoken of in Isaiah xiv., is manifest
from the verses of that chapter in which are these words .
Thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babel
(verse 4) ; and I will cut off from Babel the name and
remnant (verse 22); from which it follows that Babel [or
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 257.
Babylon] there is Lucifer j of whom it is said : How art
thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning/ Fo*
thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into heaven ; I will
exalt my throne above the stars of God ; I will sit also upon
the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north ; I will
ascend above the heights of the clouds ; I will be like the Most
High (verses 12-14). That they invoke the dead, and pray
that they will bring help, is known. They are said to in-
voke them ; because their invocation was established by a
papal bull confirming the decree of the Council of Trent,
in which it is openly said that the dead are to be invoked.
Yet who does not know that God alone is to be invoked, and
not any dead person ? But it shall now be told why the
Lord has permitted such things. That He has permitted
them for the sake of the end, which is salvation, cannot be
denied. For it is known that without the Lord there is no
safety ; and for this reason, it was necessary that the Lord
should be preached from the Word, and that the Christian
church should by that means be established. But this
could not be done except by those who would press to the
fight, and would do this from zeal ; nor were others found
than those who were in a glow like zeal, from the fire of
self-love. This fire first excited them to preach the Lord
and to teach the Word ; and it is from this their first state,
that Lucifer is called the Son of the morning (verse 12). But
as they saw that they could have dominion by the holy
things of the church, the love of self by which they were
first excited to preach the Lord broke forth from within,
and at length exalted itself to such a height that they trans-
ferred to themselves all of the Lord's Divine power, leaving
nothing. This could not be absolutely prevented by the
Lord ; for if it had been, they would have pronounced the
Lord not God, and the Word not holy, and would have
made themselves Socinians or Arians, and so would have
destroyed the whole church ; which, whatever may be the
character of the prelates, still endures with the subject
No. 258.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
255
nation ; for all of this religion, also, who go to the Lord
and shun evils as sins, are saved ; wherefore there are
many other heavenly societies of them, too, in the spiritual
world. And moreover it has been provided that there
should be a nation among them which has not passed under
the yoke of such domination, and which holds the Word to
be holy ; it is the noble French nation. But what has
been done ? When the love of self lifted up its dominion
even to the Lord's throne, removed Him, and set itself
thereon, that love, which is Lucifer, could not but profane
all things of the Word and the church ; to prevent which,
the Lord by His Divine Providence took care that they
should recede from the worship of Him, and should invoke
the dead, should pray to their images, kiss their bones, and
bow down at their tombs, should forbid the reading of the
Word, place holy worship in masses not understood by the
common people, and sell safety for money ; since if they
had not done these things they would have profaned the
holy things of the Word and the church ; for, as shown in
the preceding section, none profane holy things but those
who know them. And so, lest they should profane the
most Holy Supper, it is from the Lord's Divine Providence
for them to divide it, and give the bread to the people, and
drink the wine themselves (for the wine in the Holy Supper
signifies holy truth, and the bread, holy good ; but when
they are divided, the wine signifies profaned truth, and the
bread, adulterated good) ; and further, for them to make it
corporeal and material, and assume this as the primary of
religion. Any one who turns his mind to these several
things, and considers them with some enlightenment of
mind, may see the wonders of the Divine Providence for
guarding the holy things of the church, for saving all, how-
ever many, who can be saved, and as it were in snatching
from the fire those who are willing to be rescued.
258. V. The merely natural man confirm1: himself against
the Divine Providence from the fact, that among those wfus
256 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [S >. 2$.
profess the Christian religion, there are some who place salva-
tion in certain words which they may think of and say, and
none in the goods that they may do. That such are they who
make faith alone saving, and not the life of charity, and
who accordingly separate faith from charity, is shown in
the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith ; "
there, too, it is shown that they are meant in the Word by
the Philistines, by the dragon, and by the goats. That
such doctrine also has been permitted, is from the Divine
Providence, that the Divinity of the Lord and the holiness
of the Word might not be profaned. The Divinity of the
Lord is not profaned when salvation is placed in the words,
"That God the Father may be merciful for the sake of His
Son who endured the cross, and made satisfaction for us ; "
for men do not thus go to the Lord's Divine, but to the
Human which they do not acknowledge as Divine. Nor is
the Word profaned, for they pay no attention to the pas-
sages where love, charity, doing, and works are named.
They say that these are all included in a belief in the
words that have just been quoted ; and they who confirm
this, say to themselves, " The law does not condemn me,
so neither does evil ; and good does not save, because the
good from me is not good." They therefore are like those
who have no knowledge of truth from the Word, and on
that account cannot profane it. But none confirm the faith
of those words, except those who from the love of them-
selves are in the pride of their own intelligence ; nor are
they Christians at heart, but only wish to seem so. That
still the Lord's Divine Providence is continually working
for the salvation of those with whom faith separate from
charity has been made of the religion, shall now be told.
It is from the Lord's Divine Providence that, although that
faith has been made of the religion, still every one knows
that that faith does not save, but the life of charity with
which faith acts as one ; for in all the churches where that re-
ligian is held, it is taught that there is no salvation unless man
No. 258.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
examines himself, sees his sins, acknowledges them, repenti,
desists from them, and enters on a new life. This is real
with much zeal previous to the Lord's Supper, in the pres-
ence of all who are approaching it ; to which is added, that
unless they do this, they commingle what is holy with what
is profane, and cast themselves into eternal damnation ;
yes, and in England it is added, that unless they do this,
the devil will enter into them as he entered into Judas, and
destroy them both soul and body. It is manifest from this,
that even in the churches where the doctrine of faith alone
has been received, every one still is taught that evils are k>
be shunned as sins. Furthermore, every one who w.s
born a Christian also knows that evils are to be shuni .d
as sins, because the Decalogue is placed in the hands of
every boy and every girl, and is taught them by parents
and teachers ; and further, all the citizens of the kingdom,
especially the common people, are examined by the priest,
from the Decalogue alone, repeated from memory, as to
what they know of the Christian religion, and are also
counselled to do the things that are there commanded. In
no case is it said then by any leader that they arc not
under the yoke of that law, or that they cannot do the
things commanded because they cannot do any good from
themselves. Again, the Athanasian Creed has also been
accepted in the whole Christian world ; and what is said
in it last is also acknowledged, namely, that the Lord shall
come to judge the living and the dead, and then they who
have done good shall enter into life eternal, and they who
have done evil into everlasting fire. In Sweden, where the
religion of faith alone has been received, it is also plainly
taught that faith separate from charity or without good works
is not given ; this is found in a certain Appendix containing
things to be kept in remembrance, attached to all their
psalm-books,* called " Hindrances or Stumbling-blocks of
* This Appendix was left out in the revision of the psalm-book
made in the year 1S19.
258
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 259.
the Impenitent " (" Obotfardigas forhinder ") ; in it are these
words : " They who are rich in good works thereby show
that they are rich in faith, since when faith is saving, it
operates through charity ; for justifying faith never exists
alone and separate from good works, just as a good tree is
not without fruit, or as the sun is not without light and
heat, or as water is not without moisture." These few
things have been adduced that it may be known that,
although a religious system respecting faith alone has been
received, still the goods of charity, which are good works,
are everywhere taught ; and that this is from the Lord's
Divine Providence, lest the common people should be
seduced by it. I have heard Luther, with whom I have
sometimes conversed in the spiritual world, execrating faith
alone, and saying that when he established it he was warned
by an Angel of the Lord not to do it; but that he thought:
to himself that if he were not to reject works, separation
from the Catholic religious system would not be effected ;
therefore, contrary to the admonition, he confirmed that
faith.
259. VI. The merely natural man confirms himself against
the Divine Providence frotn the fact, that there have been and
still are so many heresies in the Christian world, as Quaker-
ism, Moravianism, Anabaptism, and more besides. For he may
think to himself, If the Divine Providence were universal ir
the smallest particulars severally, and had the safety of
all for its end, it would have caused one true religion to
exist throughout the world, and that not divided, still less
torn into heresies. But make use of reason, and think
more deeply, if you can. Can a man be saved unless he
be first reformed ? For he has been born into the love of
himself and the world ; and as these loves do not carry
in them any thing of love to God and of love towards the
neighbor except for the sake of self, he has been born also
into evils of every kind. What love or mercy is there in
those loves? Does the man account it any thing to de«
No. 259-1 THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
2=59
fraud another, to curse him, to hate him even to the death,
to commit adultery with his wife, to be cruel in his revenge
on him, while he carries in mind [animus] the wish to be
highest of all, and to possess the goods of all others, thus
while he regards others as of little consequence and worth-
less, compared with himself ? For such a man to be saved,
must he not first be led away from these evils, and so re-
formed ? That this cannot be done, unless in accordance
with many laws which are laws of the Divine Providence,
has been shown above in many places. These laws are for
the most part unknown ; nevertheless they are of the Divine
Wisdom and at the same time of the Divine Love ; and the
Lord cannot act contrary to them, because to do so would
be to destroy man, not to save him. Let the laws which
have been set forth be reviewed and compared, and you
will see. Since, therefore, according to those laws there is
not any immediate influx from heaven, but mediate influx
through the Word, doctrines, and preaching (and the Word,
so as to be Divine, could not have been written except by
mere correspondences), it follows that dissensions and
heresies are inevitable, and that the permissions of them
are also according to the laws of the Divine Providence •
and still more, when the church itself had assumed for its
essentials such things as are of the understanding only,
thus of doctrine, and not such as are of the will, thus of
the life : and when the things which are of the life are not
the essentials of the church, then man is from the under-
standing in mere darkness, and wanders about like a blind
man, who everywhere is hitting something and who falls
into pits. For the will must see in the understanding, and
not the understanding in the will ; or, what is the same,
the life and its love will lead the understanding to think,
speak, and act, and not the reverse ; if the reverse, from an
evil, yes, a diabolical love, the understanding might se^e
upon whatever presents itself through the senses, and en-
join the will to do it. From these things it may be seen
26o
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 26a
whence come dissensions and heresies. But yet it haa
been provided that every one, in vvhatever heresy he may
be as to the understanding, can still be reformed and saved,
pro/ided he shuns evils as sins, and does not confirm
heretical falsities in himself ; for by shunning evils as sins,
the will is reformed, and through the will the understand-
ing, which then first comes out of darkness into light.
There are three essentials of the church, the acknowledg-
ment of the Divinity of the Lord, the acknowledgment of
the holiness of the Word, and the life which is called
charity. According to the life, which is charity, every one
has faith ; from the Word is the knowledge of what the life
must be ; and from the Lord are reformation and salvation.
If the church had held these three as essentials, intellect-
ual dissensions would not have divided but only varied it,
as light varies colors in beautiful objects, and as various
diadems give beauty in the crown of a king.
260. VII. The merely natural man confirms himself
against the Divine Providence from the fact that jfudaism
still continues ; — that the Jews are not converted after so
many centuries, although they live among Christians ; and
that they do not according to the predictions of the Word
confess the Lord and acknowledge Him as the Messiah,
who, as they think, was to lead them back to the land of
Canaan ; and that they constantly persist in the denial of
Him ; and nevertheless it still is well with them. But they
who think so, and therefore call in question the Divine
Providence, do not know that by Jews in the Word are
meant all who are of the church and acknowledge the
Lord ; and that by the land of Canaan, into which it is
said that they are to be introduced, is meant the Lord's
church. But they persist in the denial of the Lord, be
cause they are of such a character that if they were W
accept and acknowledge the Lord's Divinity, and the hoi}
things of His church, they would profane them ; wherefor*
the Lord says of them, He hath blinded their eyes, and hard
No. 162.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
26l
tned their heart ; that they should not see with their eyes, nor
understand with their heart, and be converted, arid I should
heal them (John xii. 40; Matt. xiii. 15 ; Mark iv. 12 ; Luke
viii. 10; Isa. vi. 9, 10). It is said, Lest they should be con-
verted, and I should heal them, because if they had been
converted and healed, they would have committed profana-
tion ; and it is according to the law of the Divine Provi-
dence (treated of above, n. 221-233), tnat no one should
be admitted by the Lord interiorly into the truths of faith
and the goods of charity, except so far as he can be kept
in them even to the end of life j and if he were admitted,
he would profane what is holy. The Jews have been pre-
served and have been scattered over a great part of the
world for the sake of the Word in its original language,
which is held sacred by them more than by Christians ; and
in every particular of the Word is the Lord's Divine, for it
is Divine Truth united to Divine Good which proceeds from
the Lord ; and, through this, the Word is the conjunction
of the Lord with the church, and the presence of heaven,
as shown in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concern-
ing the Sacred Scripture " (n. 62-69) > and there is the
presence of the Lord and of heaven wherever the Word is
read in holiness. This is the end of the Divine Providence,
for the sake of which they have been preserved and scat-
tered over a great part of the world. What their lot is
after death, may be seen in the " Continuation concerning
the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World " (n. 79-82).
261. These now are the points set forth above, n. 238,
by which the natural man confirms himself, or may do so,
against the Divine Providence. Others, mentioned above
in n. 239, yet follow, which may also serve the natural man
as arguments against the Divine Providence, and may also
occur to the minds \animus~] of others, and excite some
doubts. These will now follow.
262. I. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine Provi-
dence from the fact, that the whole Christian world worships
262
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 262.
one God under three Persons, which is to worship three Gods ;
and that hitherto it has not known that God is one in Person
and Essence, in Whom is a Trinity, and that the Lord is thai
God. The reasoner concerning the Divine Providence may
say, Are not three Persons three Gods, when each Person
by himself is God ? Who can think otherwise ? Yes, who
does think otherwise ? Athanasius himself could not ; there-
fore in the Creed which has its name from him he says :
" Although from Christian verity we ought to acknowledge
each Person to be God and Lord, still from the Christian
faith it is not allowable to say or name three Gods or three
Lords." This means nothing else than that we ought to
acknowledge three Gods and Lords, but that it is not
allowable to say or name three Gods and three Lords.
Who can in any way perceive one God, unless He is also
one in Person ? If it is said that one can have the percep-
tion, if his thought is that the Three have one Essence,
who perceives or can perceive any thing from this, but that
thus they are of one mind and of one sentiment, and still
are three Gods ? And if one thinks more deeply, he says
to himself, How can the Divine Essence, which is infinite,
be divided ? and how can it from eternity beget another,
and produce still another which proceeds from them both ?
If it is said that this is to be believed and not thought
about, who does not think about that which he is told
must be believed ? If he does not, whence comes acknowl-
edgment, which is faith in its essence? Have not So-
linianism and Arianism, which reign in more hearts than
you believe, sprung from the thought of God as of three
Persons ? The faith of one God, and that the Lord is the
one God, makes the church; for the Divine Trinity is in
Him. That it is so, may be seen in the " Doctrine of the
New Jerusalem concerning the Lord," from beginning to
end. But what is thought of the Lord at this day? Is
it not thought that He is God and Man, God from Jehovah
the Father from Whom He was conceived, and Man from
No. 262.1
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
263
the Virgin Mary of whom He was born ? But who thinks
that God and Man in Him, or His Divine and His Human,
are one Person, and are one as soul and body are one :
Does any one know this ? Ask the Doctors of the church,
and they will say that they have not known it ; when yet
it is from the doctrine of the church received throughoul
the Christian world, which is as follows : " Our Lord jfesm
Christ, the Son of God, is God a?id Man; and although
He is God and Man, still there are not two, but there is one
Christ ; He is one, because the Divine took to itself the Hu-
man ; yea, He is altogether one, for He is one Person ; sina
as soul and body make one man, so God and Man are one
Christ." This is from the Faith or Creed of Athanasius.
They have not known this, because when they have read
it they have not thought of the Lord as God, but only as
of Man. If the same persons are asked whether they know
from whom He was conceived, whether from God the
Father, or from His own Divine, they will also answer that
He was conceived from God the Father, for this is accord-
ing to the Scripture. Then are not the Father and Him-
self one, as the soul and the body are one ? Who can
possibly think that He was conceived from two Divines,
and if from His own that that was His Father ? If you ask
further, What is your idea of the Lord's Divine, and of His
Human ? they will say that His Divine is from the Father's
Essence, and the Human from the mother's essence, and
that His Divine is with the Father j and if you then ask,
Where is His Human ? they will make no reply ; for in
their idea they separate His Divine and His Human, and
make the Divine equal to the Father's Divine, and the
Human like the human of another man ; and they do not
know that so also they separate soul and body ; nor do
they see the contradiction, that so there would have been
born a rational man from a mother alone. From the idea
impressed upon him concerning the Lord's Human, that it
was like the human of another man, it has come to pass
264 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 26*
that a Christian can hardly be led to think of 11 Divink
Human, even if said that the Lord's soul or life from con-
ception was and is Jehovah Himself. Now gather the
reasons together, and consider whether there is any other
God of the universe than the Lord alone, in whom is the
Divine itself from which [are all things], and which is
called the Father, the Divine Human which is called
the Son, and the proceeding Divine which is called the
Holy Spirit ; and thus that God is one in Person and
Essence, and that the Lord is this God. If you persist, say-
ing that the Lord Himself named three in Matthew, Go
ye therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them
into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit (xxviii. 19), yet it is manifest from the verse immedi-
ately preceding and from that immediately following, that
He said this to make known that in Himself now glorified
was the Divine Humanity. In the verse immediately pre-
ceding, He says that all power is given Him in heaven and
upon earth ; and in that immediately following, He says
that He would be with them until the consummation of the
age ; thus speaking concerning Himself alone, and not of
three. Now as to the Divine Providence, why it has per-
mitted Christians to worship one God under three persons,
that is, to worship three Gods, and why they have hitherto not
known that God is one in Person and Essence, in Whom is
the Trinity, and that the Lord is this God : the Lord is not
the cause, but man himself is ; the Lord has taught that
truth manifestly in His Word, as may be evident from all
the passages quoted in the " Doctrine of the New Jerusalem
concerning the Lord;" and He has also taught it in the
doctrine of all the churches, in which it is stated that His
Divine and His Human are not two, but one Person, being
united like soul and body. But the first cause of their
dividing the Divine and the Human, and making the Divine
equal to the Divine of Jehovah the Father, and the Human
equal to the human of another man, was, fc at the church
No. 263.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
265
after its rise fell away into Babylonia, which transferred the
Lord's Divine power to itself ; but that it might not be
called Divine power, but human power, they made the
Lord's Human like the human of another man. And
afterwards, when the church was reformed, and faith alone
was received as the sole means of salvation (the faith that
God the Father has mercy for the sake of the Son), the
Lord's Human could not be regarded differently ; for the
reason, that no one can go to the Lord and in heart ac-
knowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth, except
one who lives according to Plis precepts. In the spiritual
world, where all are obliged to speak as they think, no one
can even name Jesus but one who has lived in the world
as a Christian ; and this is from His Divine Providence,
lest His Name should be profaned.
263. But to make these statements more clearly mani-
fest, I will add those presented at the end of the " Doc-
trine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord " (n. 60,
61), which are as follows: "That God and Man in the
Lord, according to the Doctrine, are not two, but one
Person, and altogether one, as the soul and the body
are one, is clearly manifest from many things which He
said : as, that the Father and He are one ; that all things
of the Father are His, and all His the Father's ; that
He is in the Father, and the Father in Him ; that all
things are given into His hand ; that He has all power ;
that He is the God of heaven and earth ; that he who be-
lieves in Him has eternal life ; and that the wrath of God
abideth on him who believeth not in Him ; and, further,
that both the Divine and the Human were taken up into
heaven ; and that, as to both, He sits at the right hand of
God, that is, that He is Almighty : and many more things
which were adduced above in great abundance from the
Word, concerning His Divine Human ; which all witness
that God is one as well in Person as Essence, in Whom
is a Trinity, and that the Lord is that God. The reason
12
266 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 264.
why these things concerning the Lord are now for the
first time published, is because it is foretold in the Apoca-
lypse (chapters xxi. and xxii.), that a new church should
be instituted at the end of the former, in which this will be
the primary thing. It is this church which is there meant
by the New Jerusalem, into which none can enter but those
who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven
and earth ; wherefore this church is there called the Lamb's
Wife. And this I can proclaim, that the universal heaven
acknowledges the Lord alone, and that he who does not
acknowledge Him is not admitted into heaven ; for heaven is
heaven from the Lord. This acknowledgment itself, from
love and faith, causes them to be in the Lord, and the Lord
in them, as the Lord Himself teaches in John : In that day
ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I
in you (xiv. 20). And again in the same : Abide in Me, and
I in you. I am the Vine, ye are the branches ; he that abidcth
in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for
without Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me, he
is cast forth (xv. 4-6 ; xvii. 22, 23). This was not seen
from the Word before, because, if it had been, it still
would not have been received ; for the last judgment was
not yet accomplished ; and before that, the power of hell
prevailed over the power of heaven ; and man is in the
midst between heaven and hell : wherefore, if this had been
seen before, the devil, that is, hell, would have snatched it
out of the hearts of men, and would, moreover, have pro-
faned it. This state of the power of hell was altogether
broken by the last judgment, which has now been accom-
plished. Since that judgment, and thus now, every man
who wishes to be enlightened and to be wise, can be."
264. II. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine
Providence from the fact, that hitherto men have not known
that in the particulars of the Word there is a spiritual sense,
and that the ho'.iness of the Word is therefrom. For a doubt
may be inferred against the Divine Providence, with the
No. 264.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
267
question, Why has this been now first revealed ? and why
revealed through this man or that, and not through some
primate of the church ? But whether by means of a primate
or a primate's servant, is of the Lord's good pleasure ; He
knows what the one is, and what the other. But the rea-
son why that sense of the Word was not revealed before,
is, — I. Because if it had been, the church would have
profaned it, and would thereby have profaned the very
holiness of the Word : II. Neither were genuine truths, in
which is the spiritual sense of the Word, revealed by the
Lord till after the last judgment was accomplished, and the
new church which is meant by the Holy Jerusalem was
about to be established by the Lord. But let these things
be examined singly. First : The spiritual sense of the Word
was not revealed before, because if it had been, the church
would have profaned it, and would thereby have profaned the
very holiness of the Word. The church, not long after its
establishment, was turned into Babylonia, and afterwards
into Philistia ; and Babylonia does indeed acknowledge
the Word, but yet despises it in saying that the Holy Spirit
inspires them in their supreme Judgment just as much as it
inspired the prophets. That they acknowledge the Word,
is for the sake of the vicarship, established by them out of
the Lord's words to Peter ; but still they despise the Word,
because it does not suit them. For this reason, too, it is
taken away from the people, and is laid up in monasteries,
where few read it. Wherefore if the spiritual sense of the
Word had been disclosed, in which is the Lord and at the
same time all angelic wisdom, the Word would be piofaned,
not only as now, in its ultimates which are the things con-
tained in the sense of the letter, but in its inmosts also.
Philistia, by which is meant faith separate from charity,
would also have profaned the spiritual sense of the Word,
because it places salvation in certain words that they think
of and speak, and not in goods which they do, as was be-
fore shown ; and thus it makes that to be saving whic1' is
268
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 264.
not saving, and moreover it removes the understanding
from what is to be believed. What have they to do with
rhe light in which the spiritual sense of the Word is ? Would
it not be turned into darkness ? When the natural sense
is so turned, what would not be done with the spiritual
sense ? Does any one of them who has confirmed himself
in faith separate from charity, and in justification by thaf
alone, wish to know what good of life is, what love to the
Lord and towards the neighbor is, what charity and what
the goods of charity are, what good works are, and the
doing of them, or even what faith in its essence is, and any
genuine truth which makes it ? They write volumes, and
confirm only that which they call faith ; and all the things
that have just been named, they say are in that faith.
From which it is manifest, that if the spiritual sense of the
Word had been disclosed before, it would come to pass
according to the Lord's words in Matthew, But if thine eye
be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness ; if therefore the
light which is in thee be darkness, ho7v great is that darkness
(vi. 23). By the eye, in the spiritual sense of the Word, is
meant the understanding. Second : Neither were genuine
truths, in which is the spiritual sense of the Word, revealed by
the Lord until after the last judgment was accomplished, and
the new church which is meant by the Holy Jerusalem was
about to be established by the Lord. It was foretold by the
Lord in the Apocalypse, that, after the accomplishment of
the last judgment, genuine truths were to be unfolded, a
new church established, and the spiritual sense of the
Word disclosed. That the last judgment has been accom-
plished, is shown in a little work concerning the " Last
Judgment," and again in a " Continuation " of it ; also that
this is meant by the heaven and earth which were to pass
away (Apoc. xxi. 1). That genuine truths are then to be
unfolded, is foretold by these words in the Apocalypse :
And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, Lmake all things
new (xxi. 5 ; again in chap. xix. 17, 18; xxi. 18-21 ; xxiL
No. 264.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
269
1, 2). Also that the spiritual sense of the Word is then to
be revealed (xix. 1.-16); this is meant by the White
Horse, He who sat upon which was called the Word of
God, and was Lord of lords and King of kings ; on which
subject see the little work concerning the " White Horse."
That the Holy Jerusalem means the New Church which is
then to be established by the Lord, may be seen in the
" Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord "
(n. 62-65), where this is shown. It is now manifest from
this, that the spiritual sense of the Word was to be revealed
for a new church which will acknowledge and worship the
Lord alone, and will hold His Word holy, will love Divine
truths, and will reject faith separate from charity. But of
this sense of the Word, many things may be seen in the
" Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred
Scripture " (n. 5-26, and subsequent numbers) : it may
there be seen what the spiritual sense is (n. 5-26) ; that the
spiritual sense is in all things of the Word, and in each
thing thereof (n. 9-17) ; that it is from the spiritual sense
that the Word is divinely inspired, and holy in every
word (n. 18, 19) ; that the spiritual sense has been hitherto
unknown, and why it was not revealed before (n. 20-
25) ; that the spiritual sense will not hereafter be given
to any one unless he is in genuine truths from the Lord
(n. 26). From this it may now be evident that it is from
the Lord's Divine Providence that the spiritual sense has
been hidden from the world until the present age, and has
been preserved meanwhile in heaven among the angels,
who derive their wisdom from it. That sense was known
to the ancients who lived before Moses, and was also
well regarded ; but because their posterity turned corre-
spondences, of which alone their Word and consequently
their religion consisted, into idolatry of various kinds, and
the Egyptians turned them into magic, in the Lord's Divine
Providence it was closed up, first with the children of Israel,
and afterwards with Christians, for the reasons given above;
and is now first opened for the Lord's New Church.
27 J ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 265.
265. III. A doubt may be inferred against the Divint
Providence from the fact, that hitherto men have not known
that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself. That
this is the Christian religion itself is shown in the " Doc-
trine of Life for the New Jerusalem," from beginning to
end ; and because faith separate from charity is the only
oDstacie to its reception, that also is treated of. It is said
that men have not known that to shun evils as sins is the
Christian religion itself, because almost all do not know it ;
and yet each one knows it, as may be seen above (n. 258).
That still almost all do not know it, is because faith separate
has erased that [truth] ; for it affirms that faith alone saves,
and not any good work or good of charity ; also, that they
are no longer under the yoke of the law, but free. They
who have heard such things quite often, no longer think
concerning any evil of life nor any good of life ; besides,
every man from his nature inclines to embrace this idea,
and when he has once embraced it, he thinks no more con-
cerning the state of his life. This is why it is not known
[that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself].
That it is unknown, has been disclosed to me in the spirit-
ual world. I have asked more than a thousand new-comers
from the world, whether they know that to shun evils as sins
is religion itself ; and they have said that they do not
know, and that this is something new, not heard of before ;
hut that they have heard that they cannot do good from
themselves, and that they are not under the yoke of the
law. When I have asked whether they do not know that
man must examine himself, see his sins, repent, and then
begin a new life, and that otherwise sins are not remitted,
and that if sins are not remitted men are not saved, and
have said that this has been read to them in a loud voice
as often as they have been to the Holy Supper ; they have
replied, that they have given no attention to those things,
but only to this, that they have remission of sins by means
Df the Sacrament of the Supper, and that faith does the
No. 274.]
THE DIVINE TROVIDENCE.
271
rest without their knowledge. Again I have said, Why
have you taught your little children the Decalogue ? Have
you not done this that they might know what evils are sins
which are to be shunned ? or only that they might know
these things and believe, and not that they might do ?
Why, therefore, is it said that this is new ? To this they
have only been able to reply, that they know and still do
not know ; and that they never think of the sixth com-
mandment [the seven/A in our division] when they are com-
mitting adultery, nor of the seventh commandment [our
eighth] when they are stealing or committing fraud, and so
on ; still less that such things are contrary to the Divine
Law, thus contrary to God. When from the doctrines of
the churches and from the Word, I have mentioned many
other things which prove that to shun and to become averse
to evils as sins is the Christian religion itself, and that
every one has faith as he does so, they have been silent.
But they have been convinced that this is true, since they
saw that all were examined in relation to the life, and were
judged according to the deeds, and no one according to faith
separate from life, because every one has faith according
to the life. That the Christian world for the most part has
not known this, is from the law of the Divine Providence
that every one is left to act from freedom according to
reason, of which above (n. 71 to 99, and n. 100-128) ; also
from the law that no one is taught immediately from heaven,
but mediately through the Word, and doctrine, and preach-
ing from it (of which from n. 154 to 174); and also from
all the laws of Permission, which are likewise laws of the
Divine Providence. More on these subjects may be seen
above (n. 258).
274.* IV. A doubt may be inferred against the Divine
Providence from the fact, that men have hitherto ?iof known
that man lives a man after death ; and that this has not been
* The numbering follows the original. It cannot be changed, on
account of the references.
272
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No 274
disclosed before. They have not known this, for the reason
that in those who do not shun evils as sins there is in-
teriorly hidden the belief that man does not live after death ;
and they therefore make it of no consequence whether it is
said that he lives a man after death, or that he is to rise
again at the day of the last judgment ; and if by chance a
belief in the resurrection comes in, the man says to him-
self, Nothing worse is coming to me than to others ; if I
am going to hell there are many others with me, and so
there are if I am going to heaven. But yet in all who have
any religion there is implanted a cognition that they live
men after death ; the idea that they live as souls and not
as men, exists with those only whom their own intelligence
has infatuated ; not with others. That in every one who
has any religion there is implanted a cognition that they
live men after death, may be evident from the following
considerations: 1. Who thinks otherwise when dying?
2. What eulogist, when lamenting the dead, does not ex-
alt them to heaven, and place them among angels, con-
versing with them, and in the enjoyment of happiness ?
Some, too, have been deified. 3. Who among the com-
mon people does not believe that when he dies, if he has
lived well, he will come into a heavenly paradise, be clothed
in white raiment, and enjoy eternal life ? 4. What church
leader is there who does not say the same or similar things
to one about to die ? And when he says them, he also be-
lieves them, provided he does not then think of the last
judgment. 5. Who does not believe that his little chil-
dren are in heaven, and that after death he shall see his
wife whom he has loved ? Who thinks that they are spec-
tres, still less that they are souls or minds flitting about the
universe ? 6. Who contradicts when any thing is said con-
cerning the lot or state of those who have passed from time
into the eternal life ? I have said to many that such is the
lot of these and of those, and I have not yet heard one say
that they have not yet obtained their lot, but will obtain it at
No. 27S-] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
273
the time of judgment. 7. Who, when he sees angels t linted
or sculptured, does not acknowledge that those who have
died are such ? Who thinks then that they are spirits
without bodies, or are air or clouds, as some of the learned
have thought ? 8. The papists believe that their saints are
human beings in heaven, and that the rest are somewhere
else ; the Mohammedans believe the same of their dead ;
the Africans believe this more than others, and many other
nations in like manner ; why not the reformed Christians,
who know it from the Word ? 9. It is also from this cog-
nition implanted in every one, that some aspire to an im-
mortality of fame ; for the cognition is turned to such
aspiration in some, and makes them heroes and brave in
war. 10. Inquiry was made in the spiritual world whether
this cognition is implanted in all, and it was found to be
implanted in all in the spiritual idea which is of the inter-
nal thought, but not in their natural idea which is of the
external thought. From these things it may be evident
that no doubt ought to be inferred against the Divine
Providence from the supposition that it has now been first
disclosed that man lives a man after death. It is only
man's sensual part that wishes to see and to touch what
shall be believed ; one who does not think above that, is
in the darkness of night regarding the state of his life.
EVILS ARE PERMITTED FOR THE SAKE OF THE END,
WHICH IS SALVATION.
275. If man were born into the love into which he was
created, he would not be in any evil ; yes, neither would
he know what evil is ; for one who has not been in evil,
and thus is not in evil, cannot know what evil is ; if he
were told that this or that is evil, he would not believe that
it could possibly be. This state is the state of innocence
in which were Adam and Eve his wife ; the nakedness of
which tiiey were not ashamed signified that state. The
12*
274 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 27^
cognition of evil after the fall is meant by the eating from
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The love into
which man was created is the love of the neighbor, so that
he may wish as well to him as to himself, and better ; and
is in the love's enjoyment, when he is doing good to the
neighbor : very nearly as it is with a parent in relation to
his children. This love is truly human ; for in it there is
what is spiritual, by which it is distinguished from natural
love, which brute animals have. If man were born into
that love, he would not be born into the thick darkness of
ignorance, as every man is now, but into a certain light of
knowledge and thence of intelligence ; and into these he
would also quickly come. He would, indeed, at first creep
like a quadruped, but with the endeavor implanted within
him to raise himself up upon his feet ; for however much
like a quadruped, still he would not turn his face down-
ward to the earth, but forward toward heaven, and he would
raise himself up, so as to be able also to turn the face
upward.
276. But when the love of the neighbor was turned into
the love of self, and this love increased, then human love
was turned into animal love ; and man from being man be-
came a beast, with the difference that he could think of
what he felt with the body, and could rationally distinguish
the one from the other, and could be instructed, and be-
come a civil and moral and at length a spiritual man. For,
as before said, a man has what is spiritual, by which he is
distinguished from a brute ; for by this he is able to know
what civil evil and good are, then what moral evil and good
are, and also, if he will, what spiritual evil and good are.
When the love of the neighbor was turned into the love of
self, man could no longer be born into the light of knowl-
edge and intelligence, but into the thick darkness of igno-
rance, because into the very ultimate of life, which is called
the corporeal-sensual ; and could be introduced from this
into the interiors of the natural mind by means of instruo
No. 277 ]
THE DIVINE PROVID1NCE.
275
tion, the spiritual always accompanying. The reason why
he is born into the ultimate of life, which is called the
corporeal sensual, and therefore into the thick darkness of
ignorance, will be seen in what follows. That the love of
the neighbor and the love of self are opposite loves, any
one can see ; for the love of the neighbor wishes well to
all from itself, but the love of self wishes well to itself alone
from all ; the love of the neighbor wishes to serve all, and
the love of self wishes all to serve it ; the love of the neighbor
regards all as its brothers and friends, but the love of self
regards all as its servants, and as enemies if they do not
serve ; in a word, it regards itself only, and others scarcely
as men, whom in heart it holds in less estimation than its
horses and dogs ; and because it regards them as of so
little value, it also makes nothing of doing evil to them ;
hence come hatred and revenge, adultery and whoredom,
theft and fraud, lying and defamation, harshness and
cruelty, and other such evils. These are the evils in
which man is from birth. That they are permitted foi the
sake of the end, which is salvation, is to be demonstrated
in this order : I. Every man is in evil, and must be led
away from evil in order to be reformed. II. Evils cannot
be removed unless they appear. III. So far as evils are
removed, they are remitted. IV. The permission of evil
is thus for the sake of the end, that there may be salva-
tion.
277. I. Every man is in evil, and must be led away from
evil in order to be reformed. That every man has hereditary
evil, and that from it man is in the lust of many other evils,
is known in the church ; and consequently man cannot do
good from himself ; for evil does not do good, except such
as has evil within it ; the evil which is within is that he
does good for the sake of self, and this only in order that
it may appear. This evil is known to be inherited from
parents. It is said to be from Adam and his wife, but this
is an error ; for every one is born into it from his parent,
276
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 277,
and the parent is born into it from his parent, and he too
from his ; and so it is transferred successively from one to
another ; thus it is increased, and it grows as it were to an
accumulated mass ; and is transmitted to offspring. It is
in consequence of this, that in man there is nothing sound,
but all there is of the man is evil. Who feels that it is
evil to love himself more than others ? Who consequently
knows that it is evil ? when yet it is the head of evils.
That there is what is hereditary from parents, grand-
fathers, and great-grandfathers, is manifest from many
things that are known in the world, as that households,
families, and even nations, can be distinguished from each
other merely by the face, and faces are types of minds [ani-
mus], and these are according to affections, which are of
the love. Sometimes, too, the face of a great-grandfather
returns in a grandson or a great-grandson. I know from
the face alone whether a man is a Jew or not, and also
from what stock some people are ; I do not doubt that
others know the same. If affections, which are of the love,
are thus derived and handed down from parents, it follows
that evils are too, for they are of the affections. But it
shall now be told whence comes the resemblance. Every
one's soul is from the father, and it is only clothed with a
body by the mother. That the soul is from the father, fol-
lows not only from what has just been mentioned, but also
from many other indications ; also from this, that a child
from a negro or Moor by a white or European woman, is
born black, and vice versa; and especially from this, that
the soul is in the seed, for from the seed impregnation
takes place, and the seed is what is clothed with a body by
the mother. The seed is the first form of the love in which
the father is ; it is the form of his reigning love, with its
nearest derivations, which are the inmost affections of that
love. These affections in every one are veiled over with
what is honorable in moral life, and with what is good, be*
'ouging partly to civil and partly to spiritual life ; these
No. 278.] THE DIVINE FRO\ IDENCE.
277
tilings make up life's external, even with the wicked. Into
this external of life, every infant is born ; hence it is love-
able ; but as the child grows to boyhood or to youth, he
comes from that external to interiors, and at length to what
was his father's reigning love j and if this has been evil,
and has not by various means been tempered and bent by
instructors, it becomes his love even as it was his father's.
But still the evil is not extirpated, but only removed ; of
which in what follows. Evidently, then, every man is in
evil.
That man must be led away from evil in order to be re-
formed, is manifest without explanation ; for he who is in
evil in the world is in evil after his departure from the
world ; wherefore if evil is not removed in the world, it
cannot be removed afterward. Where the tree falls, there
it lies. So, too, does man's life, when he dies, remain such
as it has been. Also, every one is judged according to his
deeds ; not that they are enumerated, but because he re-
turns to them, and acts in a similar manner, for death is a
continuation of life, with the difference that man cannot then
be reformed. All reformation takes place in completeness,
that is, in what is first in man and in ultimates at the same
time ; and his ultimates are reformed, to agree with what
is first, while he is in the world, and they cannot be after-
wards ; for the ultimates of life that man carries with him
after death, become quiescent, and breathe with his inte-
riors ; that is, they act as one.
278. II. Evils cannot be removed unless they appear. The
meaning is not that man is to do evils, having as his end for
.hem to appear ; but he is to examine himself ; not only
his deeds, but also his thoughts, and what he would do if
he did not fear the laws and disgr ice ; especially what evils
ne regards in his spirit as allowable, and does not account
as sins ; for he still does these. For the sake of man's
examining himself, an understanding has been given him,
and this separate from the will, to the end that he may
278
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 27*
know, understand, and acknowledge what is good and what
is evil, and also that he may see the quality of his will, or
what he loves and what he desires. In order that man may
see this, there has been given to his understanding higher
thought and lower, or interior thought and exterior, so that
from higher or interior thought he may see what the will is
doing in the lower and exterior thought ; he sees this as a
man sees his face in a mirror ; and when he sees it, and
knows what sin is, if he implores the Lord's aid, he is able
not to will it, he can shun it, and can afterwards act against
it ; if not freely, still he can by combat constrain it, and at
length hold it in aversion and abominate it ; and then, and
not before, he first perceives and he also feels that evil is
evil and that good is good. Now this is examining oneself,
seeing one's evils, and acknowledging them, confessing
them, and afterwards desisting from them. But as there
are few who know that this is the Christian religion itself,
for the reason that only those who do this work have
charity and faith and they alone are led by the Lord and
do good from Him, therefore something shall be said of
those who do not do this work, and still suppose that they
have religion in them; they are these: 1. Those who con-
fess themselves guilty of all sins, and do not search out any
one sin in themselves. 2. Those who from religion omit the
search. 3. Those who on account of worldly matters think
nothing about sins, and therefore do not know them.
4. Those who favor them, and therefore cannot know them.
5. With all these, sins do not appear, and therefore cannot
be removed. 6. Lastly, the cause, hitherto hidden, will be
made manifest, why evils cannot be removed without the
examination, appearance, acknowledgment, confession, and
resistance of them.
But these points must be examined one by one. because
they are the primaries of the Christian religion on man's
part. First : Of those who confess themselves guilty of all
tins, and do not search out any one sin in themselves ; saying,
No. 278.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
279
"lama sinner ; I was born in sin ; there is nothing sound
in me from head to foot ; I am nothing but evil ; good God,
be gracious unto me, pardon me, purify me, save me, make
me to walk in purity and the way of righteousness;" and
so on ; and yet he does not examine himself, and therefore
does not know any one evil ; and no one can shun that of
which he knows nothing, still less can he fight against it.
And he also believes himself to be clean and washed after the
confessions, when yet he is unclean and unwashed from the
head to the sole of the foot ; for the confession of all lulls
one to sleep and at length brings blindness as to all ; and
it is like a universal without any particular, which is not
any thing. Second : Of those who from religion omit the
search. They are especially those who separate charity
from faith ; for they say to themselves, " Why should I
search whether there is evil or good ? Why search for
evil, when it does not condemn me ? or why for good,
when it does not save me ? It is faith alone, thought of
and expressed with trust and confidence, which justifies and
purifies from all sin ; and when once I am justified, I am
whole before God. I am indeed in evil ; but God wipes
this away as soon as it is done, and so it no longer ap-
pears ; " and other things like these. But who, if he opens
his eyes, does not see that such things are empty words, in
which there is no reality, because no good is in them ?
Who cannot think and talk so, even with trust and con-
fidence, when he is at the same time thinking of hell and
of eternal damnation ? Does such a person desire to know
any thing further, either of truth or of good ? Of truth he
says, " What is truth, but that which confirms that faith ? "
And of good he says, " What is good, but that which is in
me from that faith ? But that it may be in me, I must not
do it as from myself, since this is meritorious ; and good
for which merit is claimed is not good." So he passes all
by, even till he does not kr.ow what eeil is. What then
will he examine in himself and see ? Does not his state
28o ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 278.
then become such that the pent-up fire of the lusts of evil
consumes the interiors of his mind, and lays them waste to
the very gate ? This gate only he guards, lest the burning
should appear ; but after death this is opened, and then it
shows itself to all. Third : Of those who on account of
worldly matters think nothing about sins, and therefore do
not know them. These are they who love the world above
all things, and do not admit any truth that leads away from
any falsity of their religion; saying to themselves, "What
is that to me ? It is not for me to think of." Thus they
reject the truth the moment it comes to the ear ; and if
they hear it, they choke it. These persons do nearly the
same when they hear preaching ; they retain none of it but
some few expressions, — nothing real. As they deal thus
with truths, they therefore do not know what good is ; for
good and truth act as one ; and from the good which is not
from truth, there is no cognition of evil, unless that it too
may be called good, which is done by means of reasonings
from falsities. These are they who are meant by the seed
which fell among thorns, of whom the Lord thus speaks :
And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprung up and
choked the?n. He also that received seed among the thorns, is
he that heareth the Word; and the care of this world, and
the dcceitfulness of riches, choke the Word, and it beco?neth
unfrtiitful (Matt. xiii. 7, 22; Mark iv. 7, 19; Luke viii.
7, 14). Fourth : Of those who favor sins, and therefore can-
not know them. These are they who acknowledge God, and
worship Him according to the usual forms, and prove to
themselves that some evil which is a sin is not a sin ; fo
they color it with fallacies and appearances, and so hide it.
enormity ; when they have done this they favor it, and
make it their friend and familiar. It is said that they who
acknowledge God do this ; because others do not regard
any evil as sin, for all sin is against God. But let ex-
amples illustrate : One greedy for wealth makes evil not to
be sin, when, from reasons that he devises, he makes some
No. 278.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
kinds of fraud allowable ; one does the same who confirms
himself in favor of revenge against enemies ; and one who
confirms himself in favor of plundering during war those
who are not enemies. Fifth : With these, sins do not appear,
and therefore cannot be removed. All evil which does not
appear, finds fuel for itself ; it is like fire in wood covered
with ashes, and like matter in a wound that is not opened ;
for all evil that is kept in, increases, and does not stop till
all has been brought to consummation. Therefore, lest
any evil should be kept in, every one is permitted to think
in favor of God and against God, also for the holy things
of the church and against them, and not be punished there-
for in the world. Of this the Lord thus says in Isaiah :
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no sound-
ness in it, but a wound and scar, and a fresh bruise ; they
have not been pressed, neither bound up, neither mollified with
ointment. Wash you, make you clean; remove the evil of
your doings from before Mine eyes ; cease to do evil; learn to
do well; then if your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be
white as snow; if they have' been red like crimson, they shall
be as wool. But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured
with the sword (i. 6, 16, 18, 20) ; to be devoured with the
sword, signifies to perish by the falsity of evil. Sixth :
The cause, hitherto hidden, why evils cannot be removed with-
out the examination, appearance, acknowledgment, confession,
and resistance of them. It has been remarked in the pre-
ceding pages that the universal heaven has been arranged
in order into societies according to [the affections of good,
and the universal hell into societies according to] the lusts
of evil opposite to the affections of good. Every man as
to his spirit is in some society j in a heavenly society if
he is in the affection of good, but in an infernal society if
he is in the lust of evil. Man does not know this while he
lives m the world ; but still, as to his spirit he is in some
society ; without being so he cannot live ; and he is gov-
erned by the Lord by being in a society. If he is in in-
282 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 279
fernal society, he cannot be led out of it by the Lord except
according to the laws of His Divine Providence, among
which also is this, that the man should see that he is there,
should wish to go out of it, and should try to do so from
himself. This man can do while he is in the world, but
not after death ; for then he remains for ever in the society
into which he inserted himself while in the world. This is
the reason why man is to examine himself, see and acknowl-
edge his sins, repent, and then persevere even to the end
of life. That it is so, I could prove even to full belief from
much experience ; but this is not the place to adduce the
evidence of experience.
279. III. So far as evils are removed, they are remitted.
It is an error of the age to believe that evils have been
separated from man, and even cast out, when they have
been remitted ; and that the state of man's life can be
changed in a moment, even to an opposite state, and so
that man from being evil can become good, consequently
can be led out of hell and transferred straightway into
heaven, and this from the Lord's immediate mercy. But
they who are of this belief and opinion, do not know at all
what evil is and what good is, and they know nothing
whatever concerning the state of man's life ; and they are
Wholly ignorant that affections, which belong to the will,
are mere changes and variations of the state of the purely
organic substances of the mind ; and that thoughts, which
belong to the understanding, are mere changes and varia-
tions of the form of those substances ; and that memory is
the permanent state of those changes. When all these
things are recognized, it can be clearly seen that no evil
can be removed except by successive steps ; and that the
remission of evil is not its removal. But these things have
been stated in the form of a summary ; and unless they are
demonstrated they may indeed be acknowledged, but still
not comprehended; and what is not comprehended, is
[seen indistinctly] like a wheel turned round by the hand
No. 279 ]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
283
therefore the statements made above must be demonstrated
one by one, in the order in which they were presented. Firi: :
// is an error of the age to believe that evils have been separated,
and even east out, when they have been remitted. It has been
given me to know from heaven that all the evil into which
man is born, and with which he actually imbues himself, is
not separated from man, but is removed even so as not to
appear. I was previously in the belief in which are most
in the world, that evils when remitted are rejected, and
washed and cleaned away, as dirt is washed from the face
by water. But it is not so with evils or sins; they all re-
main ; and when after repentance they are remitted, they
are moved out of the middle to the sides ; and then what
is in the midst, because directly under the view, appears as
in the light of day, and what is at the sides is in the shade,
and sometimes as it were in the darkness of night : and be-
cause evils are not separated, but only removed, that is, sent
away to the sides, and as the man may be transferred from
the midst to the parts round about, it may also come to
pass that he may return into his evils which he has believed
to be rejected. For man is such that he can pass from one
affection into another, and sometimes into an opposite one,
and so from one centre to another j man's affection, while
he is in it, makes the middle, for then he is in its enjoyment
and its light. There are some men who after death are
elevated by the Lord into heaven, because they have lived
well, but still they have carried with them the belief that
they are clean and pure from sins, and that therefore they
are not to be charged with any offence. They are at first
clothed in white, in accordance with then belief, for white
garments signify a state purified from evil But afterwards
they begin to think, as in the world, that they are as if
washed from all evil, and therefore to glory in the idea that
they are no longer sinners like others ; which can hardly
be separated from some elation of mind [animus] and from
some contempt of others compared with themselves. Then,
284 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 27^
therefore, in order to remove them from their imaginary
belief, they are sent out of heaven, and remitted into their
evils which they contracted in the world ; and at the same
time they are shown that they are also in hereditary evils,
of which they had no knowledge before. And after they
have thus been driven to the acknowledgment that their
evils have not been separated from them, but only removed,
and that thus they are from themselves impure, and indeed
nothing but evil, and that they are withheld from evils, and
kept in goods by the Lord, and that this appears to them
as if from themselves, they are again elevated by the Lord
into heaven. Second : It is an error of the age to believe
that the state of man's life can be changed in a moment, and so
that man from being evil can become good, consequently can be
led out of hell, and transferred straightway into heaven, and
this from the Lord's immediate mercy. They are in this
error who separate charity from faith, and place salvation
in faith alone ; for they imagine that the mere thought and
utterance of the words belonging to that faith, attended
with trust and confidence, justify and save ; this is also
supposed by many to be done instantaneously, and, if not
before, near the last hour of a man's life. These cannot
but believe that the state of man's life can be changed in
a moment, and man be saved by immediate mercy. But
that the Lord's mercy is not immediate, and that man can-
not from being evil become good in a moment, and cannot
be led out of hell and transferred into heaven except by
the continual operations of the Divine Providence from in-
fancy even to the end of his life, will be seen in the last
section of this treatise ; but now from this only, that all the
laws of the Divine Providence have for their end man's
reformation, and so his salvation ; thus the inversion of his
state, which from nativity is infernal, into the opposite
state which is heavenly ; and this cannot be done except
step by step, as man withdraws from evil and its enjoy
ment, and enters into good and its enjoyment. Third
No. 279.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
285
They who so believe do not know at all what evil is and what
pod is; for they do not know that evil is the enjoyment
trom the lust of acting and thinking contrary to Divine
order, and that good is the enjoyment from the affection of
acting and thinking according to Divine Order ; and that
there are myriads of lusts entering into and composing
every single evil, and myriads of affections in like manner
entering into and composing every single good, and that
these myriads are in such order and connection in man's
interiors that one cannot be changed unless at the same
time all are changed. They who do not know this may
have the belief or opinion that evil, which to them appears
to be a single thing, can easily be removed ; and good,
which also appears as a single thing, brought in, in its
place. These, because they do not know what evil is and
what good is, cannot but be of the opinion that instantane-
ous salvation and immediate mercy are given ; but that they
cannot be, will be seen in the last section of the present
treatise. Fourth : They who believe in instantaneous salva-
tion and immediate mercy do not know that affections, which
belong to the will, are mere changes of the state of the purely
organic substances of the mind; and that thoughts, which
belong to the understanding, are mere changes and varia-
tions of the form of those substances; and that memory is
the permanent state of these changes and variations. Who
does not acknowledge the truth of the statement, that affec-
tions and thoughts are not given except in substances and
their forms, which are subjects ? And because they are in
the brain, which is full of substances and forms, the forms
are called purely organic. No one who thinks rationally
can avoid laughing at the fancies of some, that affections
and thoughts are not in substantiate subjects, but are ex-
halations modified by heat and light, like images appealing
in the air and ether ; when yet thought can no more be
given apart from substantial form than sight separate from
its form which is the eye, hearing from its form which is
286 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING J[No. 279
the ear, and taste from its form which is the tongue. Ex-
amine the brain, and you will see innumerable substances,
and fibres likewise, and that there is nothing there which
is not organized. What need is there of any other than
this ocular proof? But it is asked, What is affection and
what is thought there ? This may be inferred from all and
each of the things in the body ; many viscera are therein,
each fixed in its place, and they perform their functions by
changes and variations of state and form ; that they are
engaged in their own operations is known ; the stomach in
its own, the intestines in theirs, the kidneys in theirs, the
liver, pancreas, and spleen in theirs, and the heart, and lungs
in theirs ; and they are all moved to their work intrinsically
only; and to be moved intrinsically is to be moved by
changes and variations of state and form. From this it
may be evident that the operations of the purely organic
substances of the mind are like these, with the difference
that the operations of the organic substances of the body are
natural, but of the mind, spiritual ; and that the two make
one by correspondences. The nature of the changes and
variations of state and form in the organic substances of the
mind, which are affections and thoughts, cannot be demon-
strated to the eye j but still they may be seen as in a mirror
from the changes and variations in the state of the lungs in
speaking and singing. There is also a correspondence ; for
the sound of the voice in speaking and in singing, and also
its articulations, which are the words of speech and the mod-
ulations of singing, are made by the lungs ; and the sound
corresponds to the affection, and the speech to the thought.
They are also produced from these ; and this is done by
changes and variations in the state and form of the organic
substances in the lungs, and from the lungs through the
trachea or windpipe in the larynx and glottis, and then in
the tongue, and finally in the lips. The first changes and
variations of the state and form of the sound take place in
the lungs ; the second, in the trachea and larynx ; the third.
No. 2S0.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
287
in the glottis by the various opening of its orifice ; the
fourth, in the tongue by its various applications to the pal-
ate and the teeth ; the fifth, in the lips by their varying
forms. From which it may be evident, that mere changes
and variations, successively continued, in the state of
organic forms, produce tones and their articulations, which
are speech and singing. Now because the sound and the
speech are produced from no other source than the mind's
affections and thoughts, for they exist from them and in no
wise without them, it is manifest that the affections of the
will are changes and variations in the state of the purely
organic substances of the mind, and that the thoughts of
the understanding are changes and variations in the form
of those substances ; like what have place in the pulmonary
substances. Since affections and thoughts are mere changes
in the state of the mind's forms, it follows that memory is
nothing else than the permanent state of these changes j
for all changes and variations of state in organic substances
are such that having once been made habitual they become
permanent ; thus the lungs are habituated to produce
various sounds in the trachea, also to vary them in the
glottis, to articulate them with the tongue, and to modify
them by the mouth ; and when these organic parts have
been once habituated to [the changes], these are in them
and can be reproduced. That those changes and variations
are infinitely more perfect in the organic structures of the
mind than in those of the body, is evident from the things
that have been said in the treatise concerning the " Divine
Love and Wisdom " (n. 199-204), where it has been shown
that all perfections increase and ascend with the degrees
and according to them. On these subjects more may be
seen below (n. 319).
280. That sins when they have been remitted have also
been removed, is also an error of the age. They are in
this error who believe that sins have been remitted to them
by the sacrament of the Supper, although they have not
288 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 2Zu
removed them from themselves by repentance ; they also
are in it who believe that they are saved by faith alone ;
also they who believe that they are saved by papal dispen-
sations. All these believe in immediate mercy and instan-
taneous salvation. But when this is reversed, it becomes
a truth, viz. : that when sins have been removed they have
also been remitted ; for repentance precedes remission, and
without repentance there is no remission. Therefore the
Lord commanded the disciples to preach repentance for
the remission of sins (Luke xxiv. 47) ; and John preached
the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke
iii. 3). The Lord remits their sins for all ; He does not
accuse and impute ; but yet He cannot take them away, ex-
cept according to the laws of His Divine Providence ; for
since He said to Peter (who asked how often he should
forgive a brother sinning against him, whether seven times)
that he should forgive not only seven times but until seventy
times seven (Matt, xviii. 21, 22), what will not the Lord
forgive, Who is Mercy itself ?
281. IV. The permission of evil is thus for the sake of
the end, that there may be salvation. It is known that man
is in full liberty to think and to will, but not in full liberty
to say and to do whatever he thinks and wills. For he
may think as an atheist, deny God, blaspheme the holy
things of the Word and the church ; yes, he may even wish
by word and deed to destroy them even to utter extermina-
tion ; but civil, moral, and ecclesiastical laws prevent this ;
wherefore he cherishes inwardly those impious and wicked
things, by thinking and willing, and also purposing, but
still not doing. A man who is not an atheist is also in full
liberty to think of other things that are of evil, as things
belonging to fraud, lust, revenge, and other insanities ; and
this he also does at times. Who can believe that unless man
had full liberty he not only could not be saved, but would
even perish utterly ? Now let the cause be heard : Every
man is from birth in evils oE many kinds ; these evils are
No. 281.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 289
in his wPl ; and the things which are in the will are loved ;
for what a man wills from the interior, that he loves ; and
what he loves, he wills ; and the will's love flows into the
understanding, and there causes its enjoyment to be felt ;
thence it comes into the thoughts, and also into intentions.
Therefore, unless man were permitted to think according
to his will's love, which is implanted in him by inheritance,
that love would remain shut in, and would in no wise come
to man's sight ; and the love of evil not apparent, is like
an enemy in ambush, matter in an ulcer, poison in the
blood, or corruption in the breast ; which, if kept shut in,
induce death. But, on the other hand, when man is allowed
to think the evils of his life's love even so far as to purpose
them, they are cured by spiritual means, as diseases by
natural means. What man would become if he were not
allowed to think according to the enjoyments of his life's
love, shall now be told : He would be no longer man ; he
would lose his two faculties called liberty and rationality,
in which humanity itself consists ; the enjoyments of those
evils would occupy the interiors of his mind, even so far as
to close the door, and then he would not be able to do
otherwise than say and do things like them ; and so he
would act insanely not only by himself but also before the
world, and at last he would not know enough to cover his
shame. But lest he should become such, he is indeed per-
mitted to think and to will the evils of his heritage, but
not to say and do them ; and meanwhile he learns civil,
moral, and spiritual things, which also enter into his
thoughts and remove the insanities ; and by means of the
things so learned, he is healed by the Lord ; but yet, no
further than to know how to guard the door, unless he also
acknowledges God, and implores His aid, that he may be
able to resist the insanities ; and as far as he then resists
them, so far he does not admit them into his intentions,
and at last not into his thoughts. Since, therefore, it is in
man's liberty to think as he pleases for the sake of the end
*3
29c ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 283
that his life's love may come forth from its lurking-places
into the light of his understanding, and as he would not
otherwise know any thing concerning his evil, and thus
would not know how to shun it, it follows that it would in-
crease in him even so that no place for restoration would
be left in him, and hardly in his children if he should beget
any ; for the parent's evil is transmitted to the offspring.
But the Lord provides that this shall not be so.
282. It would have been possible for the Lord to heal
the understanding in every man, and so cause him to think
not evil but good ; and this by fears of various kinds, by
miracles, by conversations with the dead, and by visions
and dreams. But to heal the understanding alone, is to
heal man only from without ; for the understanding with
its thought is the external of man's life, and the will with
its affection is the internal of his life ; wherefore the heal-
ing of the understanding only would be like palliative
healing, whereby the interior malignity, shut in and wholly
prevented from going out, would consume first the near
and then the remote parts, even till the whole would be
mortified. It is the will itself that must be healed, not
by an influx of the understanding into it, for that does not
take place, but by instruction and exhortation from the
understanding. If the understanding alone were healed,
man would become like a dead body embalmed or covered
over with fragrant aromatics and roses, which would soon
draw from the corpse so foul a stench that they could not
be brought near any one's nostrils. So would it be with
heavenly truths in the understanding, if the will's evil love
were closed in.
283. Man is permitted to think evils, even so far as to
purpose them, that, as has been said, they may be removed
by means of civil, of moral, and of spiritual things ; which
is done when man thinks that an evil is contrary to what is
just and equitable, contrary to what is honorable and be-
coming, and contrary to good and truth ; thus contrary to
No. 284.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
29I
the tranquillity, the joyousness, and the blessedness of life.
By means of those three [namely, civil and moral and
spiritual things], the Lord heals the love of man's will j and
indeed first by fears, and afterwards by loves. But still,
evils are not separated and cast out of man, but only re-
moved and sent away to the sides ; and when they are there,
and good is in the midst, then the evils do not appear ;
for whatever is in the midst is directly under the view,
and is seen and perceived. But it must be known, that
although good is in the midst, still man is not therefore in
good, unless the evils which are at the sides tend down-
ward or outward ; if they look upward or inward they have
not been removed, for they are still struggling to return to
the midst. They tend and look downward or outward
when man is shunning his evils as sins, and still more when
he is averse to them ; for then he condemns them, and de-
votes them to hell, and makes them look thither.
284. Man's understanding is a recipient of both good
and evil, and of both truth and falsity ; but man's very will
is not ; this must be either in evil or in good ; it cannot be
in both ; for the will is the man himself, and his life's love
is there. In the understanding, however, good and evil
are separate, like the internal and the external ; therefore
man can be interiorly in evil and exteriorly in good ; but
still, during man's reformation good and evil meet, and
then there exists conflict and combat, which if severe is
cal'ed temptation ; but if not severe it goes on as wine or
liquor ferments. If good then conquers, evil with its falsity
is removed to the sides, comparatively as dregs fall to the
bottom of a vessel ; and it is with good as with wine that
becomes generous after fermentation, and as with liquor
that becomes clear. But if evil conquers, then good with
its truth is removed to the sides, and becomes turbid and
offensive, like unfermented wine and liquor. A compari-
son with fermentation is given, because ferment [or leaven]
in the Word signifies the falsity of evil (as in Hosea vii. 4 ;
Luke xii. 1 ; and elsewhere).
292
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 285
THE DIVINE FROVIDENCE IS EQUALLY WITH THE
EVIL AND THE GOOD.
285. In every man, whether good or evil, there are two
faculties, one of which makes the understanding, and the
other the will. The faculty which makes the understand-
ing, is his being able to understand and think ; this faculty
is therefore called rationality. And the faculty which makes
the will, is his being able to do so freely ; that is, to think,
and consequently to speak and act also, provided this is
not contrary to reason or rationality ; for to act freely, is
to act whenever he will and as he wishes. Since these two
faculties are perpetual, and continuous from what is first to
what is ultimate, in all things and in every single thing which
man thinks and does, — and as they are not in man from
himself, but are with him from the Lord, — it follows that
the Lord's presence, when in them, is also in the single
particulars, even in the smallest particulars severally, of
man's understanding and thought, also of his will and affec-
tion, and thence in the smallest several particulars of his
speech and action. Remove these faculties from any par-
ticular, however small, and you will not be able to think
nor to speak it as a man. That man through these two
faculties is man, is able to think and speak, to perceive
goods and to understand truths, not only those that are
civil and moral but also those that are spiritual, also to be
reformed and regenerated, — in a word, that through them
he can be conjoined with the Lord, and thereby live for
ever, — has been abundantly shown before ; as also, that not
only good men but also the evil possess these two faculties.
Now because these faculties are in man from the Lord, and
are not appropriated to man as his (for the Divine cannot
be appropriated to man as his, but can be adjoined to him,
and thereby appear as his), and because this Divine with
man is in his most minute particulars severally, it follows
No. 2S6.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
293
that the Lord governs every smallest particular, in a wicked
man as well as in a good man ; and the Lord's government
is what is called the Divine Providence.
286. Now as it is a law of the Divine Providence, that
man may act from freedom according to reason, that is,
from the two faculties, liberty and rationality, — and as it is
also a law of the Divine Providence, that what a man docs
appears to him as from himself, and therefore as his, — and
also a law, that evils must be permitted in order that man
may be led out of them, — it follows, that man can abuse
those faculties, and from freedom according to reason con-
firm any thing he pleases ; for he can make whatever he
will to be of the reason, whether it is reasonable in itself
or not. Therefore some say, "What is truth? Am I not
able to make true whatever I wish?" Does not the world
also do so ? And whoever does this, does it by reasonings.
Assume the falsest proposition, and tell an ingenious per-
son to prove it, and he will do so. Tell him, for instance,
to prove that man is a beast ; or that the soul is like a
little spider in its web, and governs the body as the spider
governs by its threads ; or tell him to prove that religion is
nothing but a restraint ; and he will prove any one of the
things proposed, until it looks as if it were true. What is
easier? since he does not know what appearance is, nor
what is falsity assumed for truth from blind faith. From
this it is, that man cannot see this truth, that the Divine
Providence is in every one of the most minute particulars
of the understanding and will, or, what is the same, in
every one of the most minute particulars of the thoughts
and affections in every man, whether bad or good. He
confuses himself especially by the thought, that thus evils
also would be from the Lord : but yet, that not the least
fraction of evil is from the Lord, but that evil is from
man, through his confirming in himself the appearance ot
his thinking, willing, speaking, and acting from himself,
will be seen in what is now to follow ; which, that it may
294 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 288
be seen clearly, will be demonstrated in this order : I. Th*
Divine Providence, not only with the good but also with
the evil, is universal in the most minute particulars sever-
ally ; and still it is not in their evils. II. The evil are
continually leading themselves into evils, but the Lord is
continually leading them away from evils III. The evil
cannot be wholly led by the Lord away from evil and into
good, so long as they believe their own intelligence to be
all, and the Divine Providence nothing. IV. The Lord gov-
erns hell by opposites ; and the evil who are in the world He
governs in hell as to interiors, but not as to exteriors.
287. I. The Divine Providence, not only with the good
but also with the evil, is universal in the most minute particu-
lars severally ; and still it is not in their evils. It is shown
above that the Divine Providence is in every one of the
most minute particulars of man's thoughts and affections ;
and the meaning is, that man can think and will nothing
from himself ; but that all which he thinks and wills, and
thence says and does, is from influx ; if good, from influx
from heaven, and if evil, from influx from hell ; or, what is
the same, that good is from influx from the Lord, and evil
from what is man's own. But I know that these things can
with difficulty be comprehended, because a distinction is
made between that which flows-in from heaven or from the
Lord, and that which flows-in from hell or from what is
man's own ; and still it is said that the Divine Providence
is in every one of the most minute particulars of man's
thoughts and affections, even so far that man can think and
will nothing from himself: but because it is said that he
can also do so from hell, and again from his proprium [own*
hood\ there appears to be a contradiction, but yet there
is not ; that there is not, will be seen in what follows, after
Borne things have been premised which will illustrate the
matter.
288. That no one can think from himself, but from the
Lord, all the angels of heaven confess ; while all the spirits
No. 289.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
295
of hell say that no one can think from any other than him-
self. Yet it has often been shown these spirits that not
one of them thinks from himself, or can, but that there is
influx ; but in vain ; they were not willing to receive. Ex-
perience, however, will teach, first, that all of thought and
affection, even with the spirits of hell, flows in from heaven ;
but that the influent good is there turned into evil, and the
truth into falsity, thus every thing into the opposite. This
was shown thus : A truth from the Word was sent down
from heaven, and was received by those who were in the
upper part of hell, and by them it was sent down into the
lower parts, even to the lowest ; and on the way it was
successively turned into falsity and finally into the falsity
wholly opposite to the truth ; and they in whom it was chang-
ing were thinking the falsity as from themselves, not know-
ing otherwise; when yet it was the truth flowing down from
heaven, on the way to the lowest hell, thus falsified and per-
verted. I have heard this so done, three or four times. So
is it done with good ; this, flowing down from heaven, is
changed, as it goes, into the evil opposite to the good. It
has hence been made manifest, that truth and good proceed-
ing from the Lord, and taken up by those who are in falsity
and in evil, are wholly changed, and pass into another form,
even so that the first form does not appear. The like takes
place with every evil man ; for he as to his spirit is in hell.
289. This has been shown me more frequently, — that
neither does any one in hell think from himself, but from
others around him ; and that neither do these others think
from themselves, but they, too, from others ; and that
thoughts and affections pass in order from society to
society without any one's knowing that they are not from
himself. Some who believed that they thought and willed
from themselves, were sent into a society, and were de-
tained in it ; communication with the neighboring societies,
to which their thoughts were usually extended, being cut
off : and they were then told to think in a w»y differing
296 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 29a
from that in which the spirits of that society thought, and
to compel themselves to think contrary to it ; but they con-
fessed that it was impossible for them to do so. This was
done with many ; and with Leibnitz, too, who was also
convinced that no one thinks from himself, but from others ;
and that neither do these think from themselves ; and that
all think from influx from heaven, and heaven from influx
from the Lord. Some having meditated on this said that
it is astounding, and that scarcely any one could be brought
to believe it, because it is altogether contrary to the ap-
pearance j but that still they could not deny it, because it
was fully shown. Nevertheless, even while they were won-
dering, they said that so they are not to blame for think-
ing evil ; also that it thus seems as if evil were from the
Lord ; and also that they do not comprehend how the Lord
alone can cause all to think in such different ways. But
these three points are to be unfolded in what follows.
290. To the experiences already presented, this also is
to be added : When it was given me by the Lord to speak
with spirits and angels, this arcanum was at once disclosed
to me ; for it was told me from heaven that I believed like
others that I thought and that I willed from myself, when
yet nothing was from myself, but if good it was from the
Lord, and if evil, from hell. That such was the case, was
also demonstrated to the life, by various thoughts and
affections induced upon me ; and gradually it was given me
to perceive and to feel it ; afterwards, therefore, as soon as
any evil slipped into my will, or any falsity into my thought,
I made search as to whence it came ; and this was dis-
closed to me, and it was also granted me to speak with
those from whom it came, to confute them, and to corn-
Del them to withdraw, and so to take back their evil and
falsity and keep them to themselves, and no longer to
infuse any such thing into my thought. This has been
done a thousand times ; and in this state I have now re-
mained for many years, and remain in it still : and yet I
No. 292.| THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
297
seem to myself to think and to will from myself, like others,
with no difference ; for it is of the Lord's Providence that
the appearance should be so to every one, as shown above in
its proper article. Novitiate spirits wonder at this my state,
not seeing otherwise than that I do not think and will any
thing from myself, and am therefore like some empty thing ;
but I have opened the arcanum to them ; and have shown
that still I also think interiorly, and perceive whether what
flows into my exterior thought is from heaven or from hell,
rejecting what is from hell, and receiving what is from
heaven ; and that still I seem to myself, as they to them-
selves, to think and to will from myself.
291. That all good is from heaven, and all evil from hell,
is not among the things unknown in the world ; it is known
to every one in the church. Who, having been inaugurated
into the priesthood in the church, does not teach that all
good is from God, and that man cannot from himself take
any thing which has not been given him from heaven ?
and also that the devil infuses evils into the thoughts of
men, and seduces them, and excites them to do the evils ?
Wherefore the priest who believes that he preaches from a
sacred zeal, prays that the Holy Spirit may teach him,
direct his thoughts and his words ; and some say that they
have sensibly perceived that they have been so actuated ;
and when their preaching is praised, they piously reply,
that they have spoken not from themselves but from God.
Therefore, also, when they see any one speaking well and
doing well, they say that he has been led to it by God ; and
on the other hand, when they see any one talking wickedly
and acting wickedly, they say that he has been led to it by
the devil. That there is such a mode of speaking in the
church, is known ; but who believes it to be so ?
292. That all which a man thinks and wills, and hence
what he speaks and does, flows in from the one only Foun-
tain of life ; and still that the only Fountain of life, that is,
the Lord, is not the cause of man's thinking evil and falsity,
13*
298 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 29a
may be illustrated by these things in the natural world.
From its sun proceed heat and light, and the two flow into
all subjects and objects which appear before the eyes ; not
only into good subjects and beautiful objects, but also into
evil subjects and ugly objects, and produce in them various
things : for they not only flow into trees which bear good
fruits, but also into trees which bear bad fruits, and even
into the fruits themselves, and cause their growth; in like
manner they flow into the good seed and into tares also ;
then again into shrubs that have a good use or are whole-
some, and also into shrubs that have an evil use or are
poisonous ; and yet it is the same heat, and the same
light, in which there is no cause of evil ; but this is in
the recipient subjects and objects. Heat in hatching eggs
containing the screech-owl, the horned owl, and the viper,
does the same as when it hatches eggs in which lie hidden
the dove, the beautiful bird, and the swan. Put eggs of
the two classes under a hen, and they will be hatched by
her heat, which in itself is free from harm ; what then has
the heat in common with those evil and noxious things ?
The heat influent into marshy, stercoraceous, putrid, and
cadaverous substances does the same as it does when it
flows into things vinous, fragrant, active, and living. Who
does not see that the cause is not in the heat, but in the
recipient subject ? The same light also presents pleasing
colors in one object, and disagreeable colors in another; it
even illuminates itself in objects of shining whiteness, and
becomes effulgent ; and in those verging to black, it shades
and darkens itself. It is similar in the spiritual world ;
from its Sun, which is the Lord, heat and light are there
also ; and from that Sun these flow into their subjects and
objects. The subjects and objects there are angels and
spirits, particularly what is voluntary and intellectual be-
longing to them ; the Heat there is the proceeding Divine
Love, and the Light there is the proceeding Divine Wis-
dom; they are not the cause of the difference in theii
Vt-. 294.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
299
reception by one and by another ; for the Lord says, Ht
t-aketh His Sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendcth
t lin on the just and on the unjust (Matt. v. 45). In the high-
f ".t spiritual sense by the sun is meant the Divine Love, and
I y rain, the Divine Wisdom.
293. To what has now been said, I will add the angelic
\ iew of will and intelligence in man, which is, that there is not
in any man a grain of will and of prudence that is his own ;
they say that if there were, in a single one, heaven would
not stand, nor would hell, and all mankind would perish ;
because, they say, myriads of myriads of men, as many as
have been born since the creation of the world, constitute
heaven and hell ; which are arranged in such an order one
under the other, that on each side they make a one, heaven
(forming one beautiful Man, and hell one monstrous Man.
If any one had a grain of will and prudence of his own,
that oneness would not be possible, but would be rent
asunder; and with it would perish that Divine Form, which
cannot have consistence and permanence except when the
Lord is All in all, and they absolutely nothing. They say
further, that this is so, because it is the Divine itself to
think and to will from itself ; and it is the human itself to
think and to will from God ; and the Divine itself cannot
be appropriated to any man, for so man would be God.
Keep this in mind ; and, if you wish, you will have it con-
firmed by the angels, when after death you come into the
spiritual world.
294. It was stated above (n. 289), that some, when they
were convinced that no one thinks from himself, but from
others, and that the others all think not from themselves,
but from influx through heaven from the Lord, said in their
astonishment that so they are not to blame for doing evil,
also that so it seems that evil is from the Lord ; and also
that they do not comprehend that the Lord alone can
cause all to think in such different ways. Now as these
three things cannot but flow into the thoughts of those who
3oo
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 294.
think of effects only from effects, and not of effects from
causes, it is necessary to take them up and unfold them
from causes. First : They thus would not be to blame for
doing evil. For if every thing which a man thinks flows
into him from others, the fault seems to be in those from
whom it flows ; but still the fault itself is in him who re-
ceives, for he receives it as his, nor does he know, nor does
he wish to know any thing to the contrary ; for every one
wishes to be his own [suus], and to be led by himself,
and especially to think and to will from himself ; for this is
freedom itself, which appears as the proprium [ownhood ]
in which every man is ; wherefore if he knew that what he
thinks and wills flows in from another, he would seem to
himself like one bound and captive, no longer his own
master ; and thus would perish all the enjoyment of his
life, and at length humanity itself. That this is so, I have
often seen proved. Some were made to perceive and feei
that they were led by others ; they then became so enragea
as to lose all self-control ; and they said that they would
rather be kept bound in hell than not be allowed to think
as they will, and to will as they think. Not to be allowed
to do so they called being bound as to their very life, which
is harder and more intolerable than being bound in body.
Not to be allowed to say and do as they think and will,
they did not call being bound ; because the enjoyment in
civil and moral life, which consists in saying and doing,
restrains them in that, and at the time it soothes them.
Now, as man does not wish to know that he is led to think
by others, but wishes to think from himself, and also be-
lieves that he does so, he is consequently in fault ; nor can
he remove blame from himself as long as he loves to think
what he thinks ; but if he does not love to think it, he re-
leases himself from connection with those others. This
takes place when he knows that a thing is evil, and there-
fore wishes to shun it and desist from it. Then, too, he is
taken by the Lord from the society which is in that evil,
No. ^94.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
3d
and is transferred into a society where it is not found.
But if he knows the evil and does not shun it, then wrong
is imputed to him, and he becomes guilty of that evil.
Therefore whatever man believes that he does from him-
self, this is said to be done from man, and not from the
Lord. Second : It thus seems that evil is from the Lord, This
may be thought to be the conclusion from what is shown
above (n. 288), which is, that good influent from the Lord
is turned into evil, and truth into falsity in hell. But
who cannot see that the evil and falsity are not from the
good and truth, and so from the Lord, but from the re-
cipient subject and object, which is in evil and falsity and
perverts and inverts that which flows in ? as is also fully
shown above (n. 292). Trial was also made in the spiritual
world with those who believed that the Lord could remove
the evils in the wicked, and bring in goods in place of
them, and so transfer all hell into heaven, and save all ;
but that this is impossible will be seen near the close of
this treatise, where instantaneous salvation and immediate
mercy are to be treated of. Third : They do not comprehend
that the Lord alone can cause all to think in such different
ways. The Lord's Divine Love is infinite ; and His Divine
Wisdom is infinite ; and infinite things of love and of wis-
dom proceed from the Lord ; and they flow into all in
heaven, and thence into all in hell, and from both of these
into all in the world ; wherefore in no one can his think-
ing and willing fail ; for infinite things are all things with-
out limitation. Those infinite things which proceed from
the Lord, flow in not universally only, but also most sever-
ally ; for the Divine is universal from the most minute
particulars severally : and these Divine particulars are
what is called the Universal ; and every single Divine
particular is also infinite. From this it may be evident
that the Lord alone causes every one to think and to will
according to his quality, and according to the laws of His
Providence. That all things which are in the Lord, ai. i
302 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 296
proceed from the Lord, are infinite, is shown above (n. 46-
69) ; and also in the treatise concerning the " Divine Love
and Wisdom " (n. 17-22).
295. II. The evil are continually leading themselves into
evils, but the Lord is continually leading them away from
evils. The character of the Lord's Providence with the
good is more readily comprehended than its character with
the evil ; and as the latter is now treated of, it shall be
told in this series: 1. In every evil there are things innu
merable. 2. An evil man from himself continually leads
himself deeper into his evils. 3. The Divine Providence
with the evil is a continual permission of evil, to the end
that there may be a continual withdrawal from it. 4. The
withdrawal from evil is effected by the Lord in a thousand
ways, even the most secret.
296. In order, therefore, that the Divine Providence
with the evil may be distinctly perceived and so compre-
hended, the points that have been stated shall be explained
in the order of their presentation. First : In every evil there
are things innumerable. In man's sight every evil appears
as one simple thing ; so appear hatred and revenge, theft
and fraud, adultery and whoredom, pride and haughtiness,
and so on ; and it is not known that in every evil there are
things innumerable, more than there are fibres and ves-
sels in a man's body. For an evil man is hell in the
least form ; and hell consists of myriads of myriads, and
every one there is in form like a man, though monstrous ;
and all the fibres and vessels therein are inverted ; the
spirit is itself an evil, appearing to itself as one ; but as
many as are the innumerable things in the spirit, so many
are the lusts of that evil ; for every man is his own evil or
his own good [suus] from the head to the sole of the foot.
Since therefore an evil man is such, it is manifest that fa*;
is one evil composed of numberless various ones, each of
which is a distinct evil, and which are called lusts of evil.
From which it follows that all those things, in the order in
No. 296.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 303
which they ar.i, must be repaired and converted by the
Lord, that the man may be reformed ; and that this cannot
be done except by the Divine Providence, successively,
from the earliest period of man's life to the last. Every
lust of evil in hell, when it is represented, appears like
some noxious animal, as a dragon, or a basilisk, or a viper,
or a horned owl, or a screech-owl, and so on ; so likewise ap-
pear the lusts of evil in an evil man when he is looked at
by the angels. All these forms of lusts are to be changed, one
by one ; the man himself, who as to the spirit appears as a
monster-man or as a devil, is to be so changed as to be like
a beautiful angel ; and every lust of evil must be so changed
as to appear like a lamb, or a sheep, or like a pigeon and
a turtle-dove, just as the affections of good of the angels in
heaven appear when they are represented ; and to change
a dragon into a lamb, a basilisk into a sheep, and an owl
into a pigeon, cannot be done unless gradually by eradicat-
ing evil from its seed, and implanting good seed in place
of it. But this can only be done comparatively as in the
grafting of trees, the roots and some of the trunk of which
remain, but still the ingrafted branch turns the sap ex-
tracted through the old root into sap making good fruit.
The branch to be ingrafted can be taken from no other
source than the Lord who is the Tree of Life, which is
also according to the Lord's words (John xv. 1-7). Second :
An evil man from himself continually leads himself deeper
into his evils. It is said, from himself because all evil is
from man, for he turns the good which is from the Lord
into evil, as said above. The very cause of the wicked
man's leading himself deeper into evil, is that he introduces
himself more and more interiorly, and also moie and more
deeply, into infernal societies, as he wills and does evil ;
hence also the enjoyment of evil grows ; and this so occupies
his thoughts, that at length he feels nothing sweeter. And
he who has introduced himself more interiorly and deeply
into infernal societies, becomes as if he were bound around
3Q4
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [Ho. 296,
with cords ; but as long as he lives in the world, he doea
not feel the cords ; they are as of soft wool, or of smooth
threads of silk, which he loves because they titillate : but
after death, these cords from being soft become hard, and
instead of titillating they become galling. That the enjoy-
ment of evil receives additions, is known from thefts, rob-
beries, depredations, revenge, tyranny, money-getting, and
other things. Who does not feel the exaltation of enjoy-
ment in these things according to the success and according
to unrestrained indulgence ? It is known that a thief feels
such enjoyment in thefts that he cannot desist ; and, what
is wonderful, that he has more love for one stolen coin
than for ten that are given him. It would be the same
with adultery, if it had not been provided that that evil
should be attended with a loss of potency according to the
abuse ; but yet with many there remains enjoyment in
thinking and talking about it, and, if nothing more, there is
still the lust of contact. But it is not known that this
comes from one's introducing himself into infernal societies
more and more interiorly and more and more deeply, as
from will and at the same time from thought he commits
the evils : if they are in thought only, and not in the will,
he is not yet in an infernal society with the evil ; but he
enters it when the evils are also in the will. If he then
also thinks this evil to be contrary to the precepts of the
Decalogue, and regards these as Divine, he then commits
it from purpose, and thereby he sinks himself to a depth
from which he cannot be led forth but by actual repent-
ance. It is to be known that every man is as to his spirit
in the spiritual world, in some society there ; an evil man
in an infernal society, and a good man in a heavenly
society ; he also sometimes appears there, while in deep
meditation. It is also to be known, that as the sound of
the voice with the words that are spoken spreads itself
abroad in the air in the natural world, so affection together
with thought spreads itself into societies in the spiritual
No. 296 ] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 305
world ; there is also a correspondence, for affection corre-
sponds to sound, and thought to speech. Third : The Di-
vine Providence with the evil is a continual permission of evil,
to the end that there may be a continual ivithdraiaal from it.
The Divine Providence with evil men is a continual per-
mission, because nothing but evil can go forth from their
life ; for man, whether he is in good or in evil, cannot be
in both at the same time, nor alternately, unless he is luke-
warm ; and evil of life is not introduced into the will and
through it into the thought by the Lord, but by man ; and
this is called permission. Now as all things which an evil
man wills and thinks are of permission, the question is,
What then is the Divine Providence therein, which is said
to be in the most minute particulars severally, in every
man, evil as well as good ? But it consists in this, that it
continually permits on account of the end, and permits such
things as pertain to the end and no others ; and that the
evils which go forth by permission, it continually surveys,
separates, and purifies, sending away what are not in
agreement, and discharging them through unknown ways.
These things are done especially in man's interior will, and
from this in his interior thought. The Divine Providence is
also continual in watching lest what is to be sent away and
discharged should be received again by the will ; since all
things that are received by the will are appropriated to man ;
but what are received by the thought and not by the will
are separated and banished. This is the Lord's continual
Providence with the evil, which is, as said before, a con-
tinual permission, to the end that there may be a perpetual
withdrawal. Of these things man knows scarcely any
thing, because he does not perceive them. The primary
cause of his not perceiving them is, that the evils are the
evils of Lhe lusts of his life's love ; and these evils are not
felt as evils but as enjoyments, to which no one gives
attention. Who attends to his love's enjoyments ? His
thought floats on in them, like a boat borne by a river's
306 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 29G
current, and there is perceived as it were a fragrant atmos-
phere, which is inhaled with a full breath ; he can only
have a sense of something from them in his external
thought, but yet he does not attend to them there, unless
he knows well that they are evils. But of this, more in
what follows. Fourth : The withdrawal from evil is effected
b) the Lord in a thousand ways, even the 7?iost secret. Of
these some have been disclosed to me, but only the most
general ; which are these : The enjoyments of lusts con-
cerning which man has no knowledge are emitted in com-
panies or in bundles into the interior thoughts which are of
man's spirit, and thence into his exterior thoughts, in which
they appear under some sense of pleasure, delightsome or
exciting desire ; and they are there commingled with his
natural and sensual enjoyments. The means of separation
and purification, and also the ways of withdrawal and dis-
charge, are there. The means are chiefly the enjoyments
of meditation, cf thought, and of reflection for the sake of
certain ends which are uses ; and the ends which are uses
are just as many as are the particulars and the minutiae of
one's business and office ; and again, just as many as the
enjoyments of reflection for the end of appearing like a
civil, a moral, and also a spiritual man, with the addition
of the undelightful things which sometimes come in. These
enjoyments, because they are of his love in the external
man, are means for the separation, purification, excretion,
and withdrawal of the enjoyments of the lusts of evil be-
longing to the internal man. Take for example an unjust
judge, who regards gains or the ties of friendship as ends
or as the uses of his office ; interiorly he is continually in
those things j but exteriorly, he is striving to act like one
skilled in the law and a just man. He is constantly in the
enjoyment of meditation, thought, reflection, and purpose,
that he may so bend, turn, adapt, and adjust the right that
there may still appear to be a conformity with the laws and
a semblance of justice ; nor does he know that his internal
N^. 296.; THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 307
enjoyment consists of cunning, frauds, deceits, clandestine
thefts, and many other things ; and that this enjoyment,
made up of so many enjoyments of the lusts of evil, rules
in all things and in every single thing of the external
thought, in which are the enjoyments of appearing to be
just and sincere. The internal enjoyments are let down
into these external enjoyments, being commingled like
various kinds of food in the stomach ; and there they are
separated, purified, and conducted away ; but still this is
done with none of the enjoyments of the lusts of evil but
the more grievous : for with an evil man there take place
no other separation, purification, and withdrawal, than of
the more grievous evils from the less grievous ; while with
a good man there take place not only the separation, puri-
fication, and withdrawal of the more grievous evils, but also
of the less grievous ; and this is accomplished through the
enjoyments of affections for what is good and true and for
what is just and sincere ; into which affections man comes
so far as he regards evils as sins and therefore shuns
them and is averse to them, and still more if he fights
against them. These are the means by which the Lord
purifies all who are saved. He also purifies the same per-
sons by external means, which are those of fame and honor,
and sometimes of wealth ; but yet in these the Lord im-
plants the enjoyments of affections for good and truth, by
which they are regulated and fitted to become enjoyments
of the love of the neighbor. If one were to see the enjoy-
ments of the lusts of evil at once in any form, or if he were
to have a perception of them distinctly by any sense, he
would see and perceive them to be so numerous that they
could not be defined ; for all hell is nothing but a form of
all the lusts of evil, and there is there no lust of evil ex-
actly like another or the same as another, nor can there
be to eternity. And of these numberless lusts man knows
hardly any thing, still less of how they are connected.
And yet the Lord by His Divine Providence continually
308 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 296.
permits them to come out, to the end that they may be
withdrawn, which is done in every order and series. An
evil man is hell in the least form, as a good man is heaven
in the least form. That the withdrawal from evils is ac-
complished by the Lord in a thousand ways, even the most
secret, cannot be better seen, and so concluded upon, than
from the secret operations of the soul in the body. Those
of which man takes cognizance are as follows : that the
food which he is about to eat he looks at, perceives by its
odor, hungers for, tastes, grinds with the teeth, rolls to the
oesophagus with the tongue, and so into the stomach. But
the soul's secret workings, of which man knows nothing
because he has no sense of them, are these: that the
stomach rolls about the food received, opens and separates
it by means of solvents, that is, digests it, offers fitting
portions of it to the little mouths there opening, and to the
veins which drink them in ; that it sends some to the blood,
some to the lymphatic vessels, some to the lacteal vessels
of the mesentery, and some down to the intestines ; finally,
that the chyle conveyed through the thoracic duct from its
receptacle in the mesentery is carried into the vena cava,
and so into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs,
and thence through the heart's left ventricle into the
aorta, and from this by its branches to the viscera of the
whole body, and also to the kidneys ; in everyone of which
[organs] there is effected a separation of the blood, a
purification, and a withdrawal of heterogeneous substances ;
not to speak of how the heart presents its blood, when
defecated in the lungs, to the brain, which is done through
the arteries called the carotids ; and how the brain returns
the blood, vivified, to the vena cava (just above where the
thoracic duct brings in the chyle), and so back again to the
heart. These and innumerable others besides are the secret
workings of the soul in the body. Man is not sensible 0/
these operations, and he who is not versed in the science
of anatomy knows nothing of them. And yet similar
No. 297.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
309
things take place in the interiors of man's mind ; for noth-
ing can take place in the body except from the mind ; for
Mian's mind is his spirit, and his spirit is equally a man,
with the sole difference that the things which are done
in the body are done naturally, and the things done in
the mind are done spiritually ; the similitude is complete.
From these things it is manifest that the Divine Providence
works in every man in a thousand ways, even the most
secret, and that it is constant in its end to purify him, be-
cause it is in the end to save him ; and that nothing more
is incumbent on man than to remove the evils in the ex-
ternal man. The rest the Lord provides, if He is implored
297. III. The evil cannot be wholly led by the Lord away
from evil and into good, so long as they believe their own in-
telligence to be all, and the Divine Providence nothing. It
seems as if man could withdraw himself from evil, provided
he thinks this or that to be contrary to the common good,
contrary to what is useful, and contrary to the law of the
nation and of nations. This an evil man can do as well as
a good one, provided he is such by nativity or by practice
that inwardly in himself he can with clearness think ana-
lytically and rationally. Yet, nevertheless, he cannot with-
draw himself from evil. This is because the faculty of
understanding and perceiving things, even abstractly, is
given by the Lord to every man, evil and good alike, as
shown above throughout ; but still, man from that faculty
cannot deliver himself from evil ; for evil is of the will,
and the understanding does not flow into the will, except
with light only, enlightening and teaching; and if the heat
of the will, that is, man's life's love, is glowing from the
lust of evil, it is then cold as to the affection of good ; there-
fore he does not receive, but either rejects or extinguishes
it, or by some contrived falsity turns it into evil. It is in
this as with the light of winter (which is equally clear with
the summer's light), which operates in a similar manner
as it flows in upon the frozen trees. But this can be seen
310 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING INo. 298.
more fully in the following order : 1. One's own intelligence,
when the will is in evil, sees nothing bnt falsity, and does
not desire nor is it able to see any thing else. 2. If one's
own intelligence then sees truth, it either turns itself away,
or it falsifies the truth. 3. The Divine Providence continu-
ally causes man to see truth, and also gives an affection for
perceiving it, and also for receiving it. 4. Man is thereby
withdrawn from evil, not by himself but by the Lord.
298. But that these things may appear before the rational
man, whether he be evil or good, thus whether he be in the
light of winter or of summer (for colors appear alike in
both), they are to be explained in their order. First:
One's own intelligence, when the will is in evil, sees nothing
but falsity, and does not desire 7ior is it able to see any thing
else. This has quite often been shown in the spiritual
world. Every man, when he becomes a spirit, which takes
place after death (for he then puts off the material body and
puts on the spiritual), is intromitted by turns into the two
states of his life, the external and the internal. While he
is in the external state, he speaks and also acts rationally
and wisely, just as a rational and wise man does in tht
world ; he can also teach others many things which pertain
to moral and civil life ; and if he has been a preacher, he
can also teach things pertaining to spiritual life. But when
from this external state he is let into his internal, and the
external is put to sleep and the internal is awakened, then
if he is evil the scene is changed ; from being rational he
becomes sensual, and from being wise he becomes insane ;
for he then thinks from the evil of his will and its enjoy-
ment, thus from his own intelligence, and sees nothing but
falsity, and does nothing but evil, believing that wickedness
is wisdom and that cunning is prudence ; and from his own
intelligence he believes himself to be a deity, and with the
whole mind he drinks-in nefarious arts. Such insanities
I have often seen ; I have also seen spirits let into these
alternate states two 01 three times within an hour; and
No. 293.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
then it was given them to see their insanities, and also
to acknowledge them ; yet they did not wish to remain in
a rational and moral state, but turned themselves of their
own accord back to their internal state, which was sensual
and insane ; for they loved this more than the other, be-
cause enjoyment from their life's love was in it. Who can
believe that a wicked man is such within the outer face,
and that he undergoes such a transformation when he comes
into the internal state ? From this experience alone it may
be evident what is the quality of one's own intelligence, when
he thinks and acts from the evil of his will. The case is
different with the good ; when they are let from the exter-
nal into the internal state, they become still wiser and more
moral. Second : If one's own intelligence the?i sees truth, it
either turns itself away, or it falsifies the truth. Man has
a voluntary proprium [ownhood], and an intellectual pro-
prium ; the voluntary proprium is evil, and the intellectual
proprium is the falsity therefrom ; the latter is meant by
the will of man [vir], and the former, by the will of the
flesh, in John i. 13. The voluntary proprium is in its
essence self-love, and the intellectual proprium is pride
from that love ; these two are like two consorts, and their
marriage is called the marriage of evil and falsity. Every
evil spirit is brought into this marriage before he is let into
hell ; and when he is in it he does not know what good is ;
for he calls his evil good, because he feels it as delightsome ;
and then he also turns away from the truth ; nor does he
•vish to see it, because he sees the falsity agreeing with his
evil as the eye sees what is beautiful, and he hears it as
the ear hears what is harmonious. Third : The Divine
Providence continually causes man to see truth, and also gives an
affection for perceiving it and for receiving it. This is done, be-
cause the Divine Providence acts from the interior, and flows
through it into exteriors, or from the spiritual into the things
which are in the natural man ; and by the light of heaven
illuminates the understanding, and by the heat :\f heaven
312
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 298
quickens the will. The light of heaven is in its essence
Divine Wisdom, and the heat of heaven is in its essence Di
vine Love ; and from the Divine Wisdom there can be an
influx of nothing but truth, and from the Divine Love there
can be an influx of nothing but good ; and from the latter the
Lord gives in the understanding the affection for seeing truth
and also for perceiving and receiving it ; thus man becomes
man not only as to the external face but as to the internal.
Who does not wish to appear as a rational and spiritual
man ? And who does not know that he wishes to seem so,
that he may be believed by others to be a true man ? If
therefore he is rational and spiritual in the external form
only, and not at the same time in the internal, is he a man ?
Is he any thing but as a player upon the stage, or as an
ape with a face almost human ? May it not hence be known
that he alone is a man who is interiorly what he wishes to
seem to others? He who acknowledges the one, must
acknowledge the other. One's own intelligence can induce
the human form on the externals only ; but the Divine Provi-
dence induces that form on the internals, and through them
on the externals ; and when it has been so induced, man does
not merely appear to be man, but he is man. Fourth : Man
is thereby withdrawn from evil, not by himself but by the Lord.
When the Divine Providence enables man to see truth, and
at the same time gives him the affection for it, he can be
withdrawn from evil, because truth shows and dictates ; and
when the will does what is thus shown and dictated, it con-
joins itself with the truth, and in itself it turns this into
good ; for the truth becomes of its love, and what is of the
love is good. All reformation is effected by means of
truth, and not without it ; for without truth the will is con-
tinually in its evil, and if it consults the understanding it is
not instructed, but the evil is confirmed by falsities. As
regards intelligence, it appears as his and proper to him,
as well with a good man as an evil man ; and besides, a
good man is bound to act from intelligence as if it were his
No. 300] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
313
own, just as much as an evil man ; but he who believes in
the Divine Providence is withdrawn from evil, while he
who does not believe is not withdrawn ; and he believes
who acknowledges evil to be sin, and wishes to be with-
drawn from it ; and he does not believe who does not so
acknowledge and wish. The difference between these two
kinds of intelligence is like the difference between what is
believed to be in itself, and what is believed not to be in
itself but yet as in itself; and it is like the difference be-
tween an external without such an internal as is similar to
'.tself, and an external with a similar internal ; thus like
that between the words and gestures of mimics and actors
who personate kings, princes, and generals, and the kings,
princes, and generals themselves ; the latter are such both
interiorly and exteriorly, but the others exteriorly only ;
and when this exterior is put off, they are called comedians,
dramatic performers, and players.
299. IV. The Lord governs liell by opposites ; and the evil
who are in the world He governs in hell as to interiors, and
not as to exteriors. One who does not know the quality of
heaven and of hell, is wholly unable to know the quality of
man's mind ; the mind of man being his spirit which lives
after death. This is because the mind or spirit of man in
every part is in the form in which heaven is or in which
hell is ; there is not the slightest difference, except that one
is the greatest and the other the least; or that one is the
effigy and the other the type. Therefore a man as to the
mind or spirit is either a heaven or a hell in the least form :
he is a heaven who is led by the Lord, and he is a hell
who is led by his proprium \ownhood\ Now as it has
been given me to know of what quality heaven is and of
what quality hell is, and as it is important to know what is
man's quality as to his mind or spirit, I wish to describe
both briefly.
300. All who are in heaven are simply affections of good,
and thence thoughts of truth ; and all who are in hell are
314 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 30a,
simply lusts of evil, and thence imaginations of falsity ;
which are so arranged on both sides that the lusts of evil
and the imaginations of falsity in hell are directly opposed
to the affections of good and the thoughts of truth in
heaven ; wherefore hell is under heaven, diametrically op-
posite to it ; that is, diametrically opposite like two men
lying in opposite ways, or standing as antipodes, thus in-
verse to each other, and meeting at the soles of the feet,
and striking with the heel. Sometimes, also, hell appears
so situated or reversed in respect to heaven ; this is be-
cause those who are in hell make lusts of evil the head,
and affections of good the feet ; while those who are in
heaven make affections of good the head, and lusts of evil
the soles of the feet ; hence the mutual opposition. It is
said that there are affections of good and thence thoughts
of truth in heaven, and that in hell there are lusts of evil
and thence imaginations of falsity ; and this means that
there are spirits and angels there who are such ; for every
one is his affection, or his lust ; an angel of heaven is his
affection, and a spirit of hell is his lust.
301. The angels of heaven are affections of good, and
thence thoughts of truth, because they are recipients of
Divine Love and Wisdom from the Lord ; and all affections
of good are from the Divine Love, and all thoughts of truih
are from the Divine Wisdom. But the spirits of hell are
lusts of evil, and thence imaginations of falsity, because
they are in the love of self and in their own intelligence ;
and all lusts of evil are from the love of self, and the
imaginations of falsity are from one's own intelligence.
302. The arrangement of affections in heaven, and of
lusts in hell, is wonderful, and known to the Lord alone ;
in each they are distinguished into genera and species,
and are so joined together as to act as one ; and because
they are distinguished into genera and species, they are
distinguished into societies greater and less ; and because
they are so joined together as to act as one, they are con*
No. 304.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
joined like all the things that are in man. Hence heaven
in its form is like a beautiful man, whose soul is the Divine
l ove and Wisdom, thus the Lord : and hell in its form is
like a monstrous man, whose soul is the love of self and
his own intelligence, thus the devil ; for there is no devil
who is sole lord there, but the love of self is so called.
303. But that the quality of heaven and of hell may be
better known, let the enjoyments of good be substituted for
the affections of good, and the enjoyments of evil instead
of the lusts of evil ; for there is no affection and no lust
without enjoyments, as these make the life of every one.
These enjoyments are what are distinguished and conjoined
in the manner above stated concerning affections of good
and lusts of evil. The enjoyment of his affection fills and
surrounds every angel of heaven, and a general enjoyment
fills and surrounds every society of heaven, and the enjoy-
ment of all together or a most general enjoyment fills and
surrounds the universal heaven. In like manner the en-
joyment of his lust fills and surrounds every spirit of hell,
and a general enjoyment every society of hell, and the
enjoyment of all or a most general enjoyment fills and
surrounds all hell. Since the affections of heaven and the
lusts of hell, as stated above, are diametrically opposed to
each other, it is manifest that the enjoyment of heaven is
so opposite to enjoyment in hell that it cannot be endured ;
and, on the other hand, that the enjoyment of hell is so
opposite to enjoyment in heaven that it cannot be borne.
Hence come antipathy, aversion, and separation.
304. These enjoyments, because they make the life of
every one in particular, and of all in general, are not
sensibly perceived by those who are in them, but their
opposites are so perceived when they come near, especially
when they are turned into odors ; for every particular en-
joyment corresponds to an odor, and in the spiritual world
can be converted into it ; and then the general enjoyment
in heaven is sensibly perceived as the odor of a garden,
316 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 306
with variety according to the fragrances there from the
flowers and fruits ; and the general enjoyment in hell is
sensibly perceived as stagnant water, into which different
kinds of filth have been thrown, with variety according to
the bad odors from the putrid and offensive things therein.
But how the enjoyment of any affection of good in heaven,
and the enjoyment of the lust of evil in hell, is felt, it has
ilso been given me to know ; but it would be prolix to
oresent it here.
305. I have heard many new-comers from the world com-
plaining that they had not known that their life's lot would
oe according to the affections of their love ; saying that in
the world they had not thought of these affections, still
less of their enjoyments, because they loved what was de-
lightsome to them ; and that they had merely believed that
every one's lot would be according to thoughts from intelli-
gence, especially according to thoughts from piety and also
from faith. But they were answered, that they could have
known, if they had wished, that evil of life is not agreeable
to heaven and is displeasing to God, but is agreeable to
hell and pleasing to the devil ; and on the other hand,
that good of life is agreeable to heaven and pleasing to
God, but disagreeable to hell and displeasing to the devil ;
consequently, also, that evil in itself smells most foully,
and good is in itself fragrant : and since they might have
known this if they would, why had they not shunned evils
as infernal and diabolical, and why had they favored evils
merely because they were pleasant? And as they knew
now that the enjoyments of evil have so foul a smell, they
might also know that they who are full of them cannot
come into heaven. After this reply they betook themselves
to those who were in similar enjoyments, because there and
not elsewhere they could draw the breath.
306. From the idea now given of heaven and hell, it may
be seen of what quality man's mind is ; for, as before
stated, man's mind or spirit is either a heaven or a hell it
No. 307.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
317
the least form ; that is, its interiors are mere affections and
thoughts from them, distinguished into genera and species,
as into greater and less societies, and so conjoined as tc
act as one; the Lord governing them as He governs
heaven or hell. That man is either a heaven or a hell in the
least form, may be seen in the work concerning " Heaven
and Hell," published at London in the year 1758 (n. 51-
87)-
307. Now to the subject proposed : That the Lord gov-
erns hell by opposites ; and that the evil who are in the
world He governs in hell, as to interiors and not as to ex-
teriors. Concerning the first, That the Lord governs hell by
opposites. It was shown above (n. 288, 289), that the
angels of heaven are not in love and wisdom, or in the
affection of good and thence the thought of truth, from
themselves, but from the Lord ; also that good and truth
flow from heaven into hell, and that good is there turned
into evil, and truth into falsity, because the interiors of the
minds of those therein are turned in opposite directions.
Now as all things in hell are opposite to all things in
heaven, it follows that the Lord governs hell by opposites.
Second : The evil who are in the world, the Lord governs in
hell, because man as to his spirit is in the spiritual world,
and in some society there; in an infernal society if he is
evil, and in a heavenly society if he is good ; for man's
mind, which in itself is spiritual, cannot be elsewhere than
among the spiritual, among whom he also comes after
death ; that it is so, has also been stated and shown above.
But a man is not there just as a spirit is who is enrolled in
the society ; for man is continually in the state for refor-
mation ; wherefore, if he is evil, he is transferred by the
Lord from one society of hell to another according to his
life and its changes; but if he suffers himself to be re-
formed, he is led out of hell, and is drawn up into heaven,
and there also he is transferred from one society to another
and this even until death. After death he is no iongei
318 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 308
carried from society to society there, because he is then no
longer in any state for reformation, but remains in the state
in which he is according to the life. Wherefore, when man
dies he has been enrolled in his own place. Third : The
Lord thus governs the evil in the world as to interiors, but
otherwise as to exteriors. The Lord governs the interiors
of man's mind as has now been told ; but the exteriors He
governs in the world of spirits, which is intermediate be-
tween heaven and hell. He does this because man is, for
the most part, different in externals from what he is in
internals ; for in externals he can feign himself an angel of
light, and yet be in internals a spirit of darkness ; therefore
his external is governed in one way, and his internal in
another. As long as he is in the world his external is gov-
erned in the world of spirits, but the internal is governed
in heaven or in hell ; also, when he dies he therefore comes
first into the world of spirits, and there into his external ;
and this is there put off ; and being freed from this, he is
borne into his own place, in which he has been enrolled.
What the world of spirits is, and what its quality, may be
seen in the work concerning " Heaven and Hell," pub-
lished at London in the year 1758 (n. 421-535).
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE APPROPRIATES NEITHER
EVIL NOR GOOD TO ANY ONE, BUT MAN'S OWN
PRUDENCE APPROPRIATES BOTH.
308. It is believed by almost every one that man thinks
and wills from himself, and thence speaks and acts from
himself. Who can believe otherwise, while he believes
from himself ? since the appearance of its being so is so
strong that it does not differ at all from actually thinking,
willing, speaking, and acting from himself, which never-
theless are not possible. In "Angelic Wisdom concerning
the Divine Love and Wisdom," it is demonstrated that
there is one only Life, and that men are recipients of life ;
No. 308.1
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
319
also that man's will is the receptacle of love, and his un-
derstanding the receptacle of wisdom, which two are that
only Life. It is also there demonstrated that it is from
creation, and thence from the Divine Providence continu-
ally, that this life should appear in man in a likeness such
as if it were his, therefore as if it were his own life ; but
that this is an appearance, to the end that man may be a
receptacle. It was also demonstrated above (n. 288-294),
that no man thinks from himself, but from others ; nor
these others from themselves, but all from the Lord, and
that this is so with both the evil man and the good man ;
also that this is known in the Christian world, especially
with those who not only say but also believe that all good
and truth are from the Lord, also all wisdom, and thus
faith and charity ; and moreover that all evil and falsity
are from the devil or from hell. From all this can follow
no other conclusion than that all Mows in, which a man
thinks and wills ; and since all speech flows from thought,
as an effect from its cause, and as in like manner all action
flows from will, it follows that all which a man says and
does also flows in, although derivatively or mediately.
Thai all flows in which a man sees, hears, smells, tastes,
and feels, cannot be denied ; why not all that a man
things and wills ? Can there be any other difference than
that into the organs of the external senses or those of
the body, there is an influx of such things as are in the
nat iral world ; while into the organic substances of the
internal senses or those of the mind, there is an influx
of such things as are in the spiritual world ? consequently,
that as the organs of the external senses or those of the
body are receptacles of natural objects, so the organic sub-
stances of the internal senses or those of the mind are
receptacles of spiritual objects. Such being the state of
man, what then is his proprium [ow/i/ioorf]? That he is
a receptacle of this kind or that, is not his proprium ; foi
such a proprium is simply his quality as to reception ; this
320
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 309.
is not a proprium of life ; and by proprium, nothing ia
meant by any one but that one lives from himself, and
therefore thinks and wills from himself ; but that this pro-
prium is not in man, yes, that it cannot be given with any
man, follows from the things stated above.
309. But I will relate what I have heard from some in
the spiritual world ; they were of those who believed their
own prudence to be all, and the Divine Providence nothing.
I said that man has no proprium, unless you choose to call
his being a subject of this kind or that, or his being an
organ of this kind or that, or a form of this kind or that,
his proprium ; but this is not the proprium that is meant,
for it is only his quality ; moreover no man has any pro-
prium, according to the common understanding of pro-
prium. They who ascribed all things to their own prudence,
who may also be called proprietaries in their image, blazed
up so that a flame appeared from the nostrils, saying, " You
are uttering things that are paradoxical and insane ; would
not a man thus be nothing and emptiness ? or an idea and
a fantasy ? or a graven image or a statue ? " But 1 could
only reply, that it is paradoxical and insane to believe that
man is life from himself, and that wisdom and prudence
do not flow in from God, but are in man, thus also good
which is of charity and truth which is of faith. To attribute
these latter to oneself is called insane by every wise man,
and consequently it is also paradoxical ; and, moreover,
they who do so are like those who occupy the house and
property of another, and while there persuade themselves
that they are theirs ; or like overseers and stewards who
believe all things belonging to their lord to be theirs ; and
like servants, doing business, to whom their lord has given
talents and pounds to trade with, if they should not render
an account, but should keep them as theirs, and so should
act as thieves. It can be said of all these that they are in-
sane, yes, that they are nothing and vanity, also that they
are idealists, because they do not hold in themselves fiora
No. 310.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
321
the Lord good which is the very esse of life, thus neither
truth. Therefore such are also called dead, and likewise
nothing and vanity, in Isaiah xl. 17, 23 ; and elsewhere,
formers of an image ; and again, graven images and statues.
But of these things, more in what follows, which will be
considered in this order : I. What one's own prudence is,
and what prudence not one's own is. II. Man from his own
prudence persuades himself and confirms in himself that all
good and truth are from himself and in himself; in like
manner all evil and falsity. III. Every thing of which man
has persuaded himself and which he has confirmed in him-
self, remains in him as his own. IV. If man believed, as is
the truth, that all good and truth are from the Lord, and
all evil and falsity from hell, he would not appropriate good
to himself and make it meritorious, nor appropriate evil to
himself and make himself guilty of it.
310. I. What one's own prudence is, and what prudence
not one's own is. They are in their own prudence who con-
firm appearances in themselves, and make them truths ;
especially the appearance that one's own prudence is all, and
the Divine Providence nothing, unless something universal ;
which yet there cannot be, without particulars from which
it is, as was shown above. They are also in fallacies ; for
every appearance confirmed as a truth is a fallacy ; and as
far as they confirm themselves from fallacies they become
naturalists ; and so far they believe nothing but what they
are able at the same time to perceive by some sense of the
body, chiefly by that of sight, because this sense especially
acts as one with thought ; finally they become sensual.
And if they confirm themselves in favor of nature against
God, they close the interiors of their minds, and interpose as
it were a veil, and afterwards they think below the veil, but
they think nothing that is above it. These sensual ones were
called by the ancients serpents of the tree of knowledge ; and
in the spiritual world it is said of them that, as they confirm
themselves, so they close up the interiors of their minds,
14*
322
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 310,
even to the nose at last ; for the nose signifies the percep-
tion of truth, and thus is signified that they have none. Of
what quality they are, shall now be told. More than others
they are shrewd and cunning, and ingenious reasoners ;
and they call shrewdness and cunning intelligence and wis-
dom ; nor do they know otherwise. Those who are not of
th is character they regard as simple and stupid, especially
those who worship God and acknowledge the Divine Provi-
dence. As to the interior principles of their minds, of
which they have little knowledge, they are like those called
Machiavelians, who regard murder, adultery, theft, and
false-witness, viewed in themselves, as of no account ;
and if they reason against them, it is merely from prudence,
lest they should appear of such a character. Of man's life
in the world they think only that it is like the life of a beast ;
and of man's life after death, that it is like vapor having
vitality, which rising out of the corpse or the grave settles
back again, and so dies. From this madness comes the
idea that spirits and angels are kinds of air, and, with those
who have been instructed to believe in eternal life, that the
souls of men are so too ; and thus do not see, hear, and
talk, are therefore blind, deaf, and dumb, and in the
particle of their air they merely think. They say, How
can the soul be any thing else ? Have not the external
senses died with the body ? adding that they cannot take
them again before the soul is reunited with the body. And
because they have been able to comprehend the state of the
soul after death sensually only, and not spiritually, they
have established this state ; otherwise belief is eternal life
would have perished. They especially confirm in them-
selves the love of self, calling it the fire of life and the in-
centive to the various uses in a kingdom. And because
they are of such a character, they are also idols of self ;
and their thoughts, as being fallacies and from fallacies, are
images of falsity ; and because they favor the enjoyments
of lusts, they are satans and devils ; those being called
No. 310.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
323
satans who confirm in themselves the lusts of evil, and
devils who live them. It has also been given me to know
of what quality are the most cunning sensual men. Their
hell is deep down, behind, and they wish to be unseen ;
wherefore they appear there as flying things like spectres,
which are their fantasies. They are called genii. Some
of them were once let out of that hell, that I might know
their character. They at once applied themselves to my
neck, beneath the occiput, and thence entered into my
affections, not wishing to enter my thoughts ; these they
dexterously avoided ; and they varied my affections one
after another, with a mind [animus] to bend them insensibly
into their opposites, that is, the lusts of evil ; and as they
did not touch the thoughts, they would have bent and in-
verted the affections without my knowledge, if the Lord
had not averted this. Such do they become, who in the
world do not believe that there is any such thing as Divine
Providence, and who examine nothing in others but their
cupidities and desires ; and so they lead them on until they
have the mastery of them. And because they do this so
clandestinely and cunningly that another does not know,
and because after death they become like themselves, there-
fore as soon as they come into the spiritual world they are
cast down into that hell. Seen in the light of heaven,
they appear without a nose ; and it is remarkable that al-
though they are so crafty still they are sensual more than
others. As the ancients called a sensual man a serpent,
and as such a man is shrewd, crafty, and an ingenious
reasoner above others, therefore it is said : Now the serpent
was more subtle than any beast of the field (Gen. iii. 1) ; and
the Lord says : Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless
as doves (Matt. x. 16) ; and also, the dragon, which is like-
wise called the old serpent, the devil, and satan, is de-
scribed as having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns
upon his heads (Apoc. xii. 3, 9). By the seven heads is
signified craftiness ; by the ten horns, the power of per
324 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 311.
suading by fallacies ; and by the seven crowns, the holy
things of the Word and the church profaned.
311. From the description of one's own prudence, and
of those who are in it, it may be seen of what quality pru-
dence not one's own is, and of what quality they are who are
in it ; namely, that prudence not one's own is the prudence
in those who do not confirm in themselves that intelligence
and wisdom are from man ; for they say, How can one be
wise from himself, and how can one do good from himself ?
And when they say this, they see in themselves that it is
so, for they think interiorly; and they also believe that
others think so too, especially the learned, not knowing
that any one can think exteriorly only. They are not in
fallacies from the confirmation of appearances ; thus they
know and perceive that murder, adultery, theft, and false-
witness are sins, and they therefore shun them ; also
that wickedness is not wisdom, and that craftiness is not
intelligence ; when they hear ingenious reasonings from
fallacies, they wonder, and laugh to themselves. This is
because with them there is no veil between interiors and
exteriors, or between the spiritual and the natural things
of the mind, as there is with the sensual ; therefore they
receive influx from heaven, by which they interiorly see
such things. They speak more simply and sincerely than
others, and place wisdom in the life, not in talking. They
are comparatively like lambs and sheep, while those who
are in their own prudence are like wolves and foxes : and
they are like those who live in a house, and see heaven
through the windows ; while they who are in their own pru-
dence are like those who live in the basement of a house,
and through their windows see only what is below the level
of the ground ; and they are like those who stand on a
mountain, and see those who are in their own prudence
like persons wandering in valleys and forests. From these
things it may be evident that the prudence that is not one's
own is prudence from the Lord, of a similar appearance in
No. 312-1 THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
325
externals to one's own prudt-ce, but wholly unlike it in
internals. Prudence not one's own appears in internals
in the spiritual world as a man, but one's own prudence
appears as a figure apparently vital only from this, that
those who are in that prudence still have rationality and
liberty, or the faculty of understanding and of willing, and
thence of speaking and acting, and that by those faculties
they can feign themselves men also. They are such
images, because evils and falsities do not live, but goods
and truths only ; and as they know this from their ration-
ality (for if they did not know it they would not counterfeit
them), they possess a human vitality in their semblances.
Who cannot know that a man is such as he is interiorly ?
consequently, that he is a man who is interiorly what he
wishes to seem to be exteriorly ? and that he is an image
who is a man exteriorly only, and not interiorly ? Think
as you talk, for God, for religion, for justice and sincerity,
and you will be a man ; and then the Divine Providence
will be your prudence, and you will see in others that one's
own prudence is insanity.
312. II. Man from his own prudence persuades himself
and corifirms in himself that all good and truth are from him-
self and in himself; in like manner all e7>il and falsity. Let
an argument be drawn from the analogy between natural
good and truth and spiritual good and truth. It is asked,
What are truth and good in the sight of the eye ? Is not
that the truth there which is called beautiful and good
there which is called enjoyable ? for enjoyment is felt in
seeing what is beautiful. What are truth and good in the
hearing ? Is not that the truth there which is called har-
monious, and good there which is called charming ? for the
charm is felt in hearing harmonious sounds. So also o*
the other senses. From this it is manifest what natural
truth and good are. Now let it be considered what spirit-
ual truth and good are. Is spiritual truth any thing but
the beautiful and harmonious in spiritual things and ob-
326
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 312.
jects ? And is spiritual good any thing but the enjoyment
and the charm from their beauty or their harmony when
perceived ? Let it now be seen whether any thing can be
said of the one different from what is said of the other ;
or of the spiritual, different from what is said of the nat-
ural. Of the natural it is said, that beauty and enjoyment
flow from objects into the eye ; and that the harmonious
and the charming flow from musical instruments into the
ear. What is there different in the organic substances of
the mind ? It is said of the organic substances of the mind,
that these things are in them, and of the natural things,
or the senses of the body, that these things flow into them.
But if it is asked why it is said that they flow in, there can
be no other reply than that it is so said because [in this
case] the distance is manifest. But why [in the other case]
is it said that they are in them ? There can be no other
reply than that it is because no distance is apparent. It
follows, then, that it is the appearance of distance which
causes a belief concerning what man thinks and perceives,
different from that concerning what he sees and hears.
But this falls, when it is known that the spiritual is not in
distance as the natural is. Think of the sun and the moon,
or of Rome and Constantinople : are they not in the thought
without distance, provided this thought is not joined with
experience acquired through sight or hearing ? Why then
persuade yourself, because no distance is apparent in the
thought, that good and truth and also evil and falsity are
there, and do not flow in ? To this I will add this experi-
ence, which is common in the spiritual world : One spirit
can infuse his thoughts and affections into another spirit,
and the latter not know but that what is infused is of his
own thought and affection ; this is there called thinking
from another, and thinking in another. I have seen this a
thousand times, and I have also done it a hundred ; and
yet the appearance of distance was notable. But as soon
as they knew that it was another who introduced these
No. 313 ] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
327
thoughts and affections, they were indignant md turned
themselves away ; acknowledging, however, that ru the in-
ternal sight or the thought the distance does not appear
unless detected as in the external * sight or the eye, and
that hence [or from the appearance of distance] is the be-
lief that there is influx. To this I will add my every-day
experience. Evil spirits have very often infused into my
thought evils and falsities, which have with me appeared as
if in me and from me, or as if I thought them myself ; but
as I knew them to be evils and falsities, I inquired who in-
fused them ; and they who did so were discovered and driven
away ; and they had been at a very great distance from me.
From which it may be evident that all evil with its falsity
Hows in from hell, and all good with its truth flows in from
the Lord ; and that both seem as if they were in man.
313. Of what quality they are who are in their own pru-
dence, and of what quality they are who are in prudence
not their own, and who are thus in the Divine Providence,
is described in the Word by Adam and his wife Eve in the
garden of Eden, where there were two trees, one of life,
and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, and by
their eating of this latter tree. That by Adam and his wife
Eve, in the internal or spiritual sense is meant and de-
scribed the Most Ancient Church of the Lord on this earth,
which was more noble and heavenly than the succeeding
churches, may be seen above (n. 241); the signification of
the other things is as follows : By the garden of Eden is
signified the wisdom of the men of that church ; by the tree
of life, the Lord as to the Divine Providence ; and by the
tree of knowledge, man as to his own prudence ; the ser-
pent signifies the sensual and the proprium of man, which
in itself is the love of self and the pride of his own in-
telligence, thus the devil and satan ; by eating from the
tree of knowledge is signified appropriating good and
truth, as being not from the Lord and hence the Lord's,
* The Latin here reads " intcmo.'''
328
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 314.
but as being from man and hence man's. And as good
and truth are the Divine things themselves with man (for
by good is meant all of love, and by truth all of wisdom),
therefore if man claims these to himself as his, he cannot
but believe that he is as God; therefore the serpent said,
In the day ye eat thereof then your eyes shall be opened and ye
shall be as God, knoiving good and evil (Gen. iii. 5). So also
do they who are in the love of self and thence in the pride
of their own intelligence, in hell. The condemnation of
the serpent signifies the condemnation of one's own love
and one's own intelligence ; by the condemnation of Eve is
signified the condemnation of the voluntary proprium \own-
hood\ and by Adam's condemnation is signified the con-
demnation of the intellectual proprium ; by the thorn and
the thistle which the earth would bring forth to him, are
signified mere falsity and evil ; the expulsion from the
garden signifies the deprivation of wisdom ; the guarding
of the way to the tree of life, the Lord's care lest the holy
things of the Word and the church should be violated ; by
the fig-leaves with which they covered their nakedness are
signified moral truths by which were veiled the things of
their love and pride ; and by the coats of skin with which
they were afterwards clothed, are signified the appearances
of truth in which alone they were. This is the spiritual
meaning of those things. But let him who chooses remain
in the sense of the letter ; only let him know that this is so
understood in heaven.
314. Of what quality they are who are infatuated from
their own intelligence, may be evident from their fancies in
matters of interior judgment ; for example, concerning in-
flux, concerning thought, and concerning life. Of Influx
they think inversely, as that the sight of the eye flows
into the internal sight of the mind, which is the under-
standing; and that the hearing of the ear flows into the
internal hearing, which also is the understanding ; and they
do not perceive that the understanding from the will flows
No. 314-]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
329
into the eye and the ear, and not only makes those senses,
but also uses them as its instruments in the natural world.
But as this is not in accordance with the appearance, they
do not perceive it, if it is merely said that the natural does
not flow into the spiritual but that the spiritual flows into
the natural ; but they then still think, What is the spiritual
but a purer natural ? also, Is it not apparent that if the eye
sees any thing beautiful, and the ear hears any thing har-
monious, the mind, which is the understanding and will, is
delighted ? Not knowing that the eye does not see from
itself, nor the tongue taste from itself, nor the nostrils
smell from themselves, nor the skin feel from itself ; but
that it is man's mind or spirit which there perceives things
by the sense, and from it is affected according to its
quality ; but that still man's mind or spirit does not feel
them from itself, but from the Lord ; and that to think
otherwise is to think from appearances, and if these are
confirmed, from fallacies. Of Thought they say, that it is
something modified in the air, varied according to its ob-
jects, and enlarged according to culture ; thus that the ideas
of the thoughts are images, like meteors, appearing in the
air ; and that the memory is the tablet on which they have
been impressed ; not knowing that thoughts are in sub-
stances purely organic as much as the sight and the hearing
are in theirs. Only let them examine the brain, and they
will see that it is full of such substances ; injure them and
you will become delirious ; destroy them and you will die.
But what thought is, and what memory, may be seen above
(near the end of n. 279). Of Life they know no other than
that it is a certain activity of nature, which makes itself felt
in various ways, as a living body moves itself organically.
If it is said that so nature is alive, they deny this, but
say that to live is given by nature. If it is said, Is not life
then dissipated when the body dies ? they answer that life
remains in a particle of air that is called the soul. If it is
said, What is God then ? Is He Life itself, or not ? at this
330
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 317
they are silent, and do not wish to say what they think. If
it is said, Would you allow that Divine Love and Wisdom are
Life itself ? they answer, What are love and wisdom ? For in
their fallacies they do not see what they are, nor what God is.
These things are adduced that it may be seen how man is in-
atuated by his own prudence, for the reason that he draws
all conclusions from appearances and hence from fallacies.
316. * His own prudence persuades him and confirms him
in the belief that all good and truth are from man and in
him, because man's own prudence is his intellectual pro-
prium, flowing in from the love of self which is his volun-
tary proprium ; and proprium cannot do otherwise than
make all things its own ; for he cannot be elevated from
it. All who are led by the Lord's Divine Providence are
elevated from the proprium ; and then they see that all
good and truth are from the Lord ; yes, they see also that
what is in man from the Lord is ever the Lord's, and never
man's. He who believes otherwise is like one who has his
master's goods under his care, and claims them for himself
or appropriates them as his ; he is not a steward, but a
thief ; and because man's proprium is nothing but evil, he
therefore also sinks them in his evil, whereby they would
be consumed as pearls cast into dung or into acid.
317. III. Every thing of which man has persuaded him-
self and which he has confirmed in himself remains in him
as his own. It is believed by many that no truth can be
seen by man except from things proved ; but this is a
falsity. In the civil and economical affairs of a kingdom
and a republic, what is useful and good cannot be seen
without a knowledge of many statutes and ordinances there ;
nor in judicial matters, unless the laws are known j nor in
the things of nature, as in physics, chemistry, anatomy,
mechanics, and so on, unless a man has been instructed in
the sciences. But in things purely rational, moral, and
spiritual, truths appear from their very light ; provided
* The numbering here follows the original.
No. 318.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
331
man, from a right education has become somewhat rational,
moral, and spiritual. This is because every man as to his
spirit (and it is the spirit which thinks) is in the spiritual
world, and is one among those who are there ; and is con-
sequently in spiritual light, which enlightens the interiors
of his understanding, and, as it were, dictates. For spirit-
ual light is in its essence the Divine Truth of the Lord's
Divine Wisdom. Hence man can think analytically, can
conclude concerning the just and the right in judicial
affairs, can see what is honorable in moral life and good
in spiritual life ; and also many truths, which do not fall
into darkness except from confirmed falsities. Man sees
these, comparatively, almost as he sees another's mind
[animus'] from his face, and has a perception of his affec-
tions from the sound of his speech, without any other
knowledge than what is implanted in every one. Why
should not man in some measure see from influx his life's
interiors, which are spiritual and moral, when there is no
animal that does not from influx know its own necessities,
which are natural ? A bird knows how to build its nest,
lay its eggs, hatch its young, and recognizes its food ; be-
sides other wonderful things, which are called instincts.
318. But how man's state is changed from confirmations
and thence persuasions, shall now be told, and in the fol-
lowing order: 1. Every thing whatever can be confirmed,
and falsity more than the truth. 2. When falsity has been
confirmed, truth does not appear; but from confirmed
truth, falsity becomes apparent. 3. Ability to confirm
whatever one pleases is not intelligence, but only ingenuity,
which may be even in the worst of men. 4. There is con-
firmation that is intellectual and not at the same time
voluntary ; but all voluntary confirmation is also intellect-
ual. 5. The confirmation of evil that is voluntary and at
the same time intellectual, causes man to believe that his
own prudence is all, and the Divine Providence nothing ;
not so, intellectual confirmation alone. 6. Every thing
332
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING |No. 318
confirmed from the will and the understanding at the same
time, remains for ever ; but not that which has been con-
firmed by the understanding only. As regards the First:
Every thing whatever can be confirmed, and falsity more than
the truth. What cannot be confirmed, when it is confirmed
by atheists that God is not the Creator of the universe, but
that nature is the creator of itself ; that religion is only a
restraint, and this for the simple and the common people ;
that man is like a beast, and dies like one ; and when it is
confirmed that adulteries are allowable, likewise clandestine
theft, frauds, and cunning contrivances ; that craftiness is
intelligence, and wickedness wisdom ? Who does not con-
firm his own heresy ? Are there not volumes filled with
confirmations for the two heresies that reign in the Chris-
tian world ? Make up ten heresies, however abstruse, tell
an ingenious man to confirm them, and he will confirm
them all. If you afterwards see them from the confirma-
tions only, will you not see falsities as truths ? Inasmuch
as all falsity shines in the natural man from its appearances
and fallacies, and truth in the spiritual man only, it is plain
that falsity may be confirmed more than truth. That it
may be known that every falsity and every evil can be
confirmed until the falsity appears like truth, and the evil
like good, let it be proved, for example, that light is dark-
ness, and darkness light. May it not be said, What is
light in itself ? Is it not merely something appearing in
the eye according to its state ? What is light to the closed
eye ? Have not bats and birds of night eyes like this, —
do they not see light as darkness and darkness as light ?
I have heard of some men who saw in this same manner ;
and of the infernals, that although they are in darkness,
they still see each other. Has not man light in his dreams
at midnight ? So is not darkness light, and light darkness ?
But it may be answered : What of this ? Light is light as
truth is truth ; and darkness is darkness as falsity is falsity.
Take another example : Let it be proved that a raven is
No. 318.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
333
white. May it not be said that its blackness is only a
shade which is not its real self ? Its feathers are inwardly
white ; so is its body ; and these are the substances of
which the raven consists. Because its blackness is a shade,
therefore the raven grows white when it becomes old ; such
have been seen. What is black in itself but white ? Pul-
verize black glass, and you will see that the powder is
white ; therefore when you say the raven is black, you
speak from the shadow and not from the reality. But the
reply may be, What of this ? In this way all birds would
be called white. These things, although contrary to sound
reason, have been adduced that it may be seen that falsity
directly opposite to the truth, and evil wholly opposite
to good, can be confirmed. Second: When falsity has
been confirmed, truth does not appear ; but from confirmed
truth, falsity becomes apparent. All falsity is in darkness,
and all truth in light ; and in darkness nothing appears,
nor indeed is it known what any thing is except by handling
it ; in light it is otherwise. Therefore, also, in the Word
falsities are called darkness, and hence they who are in
falsities are said to walk in darkness and in the shadow of
death ; and on the other hand truths are there called light,
and therefore they who are in truths are said to walk in
the light, and are called children of light. That when
falsity has been confirmed truth does not appear, and that
from confirmed truth falsity becomes apparent, is manifest
from many things. For example, who would see any
spiritual truth unless the Word taught it? Would there
not be merely thick darkness that could not be dispelled
except by the light in which the Word is, and except in
him who is willing to be enlightened ? What heretic can
see his falsities unless he admits the genuine truth of the
church ? He does not see it before. I have spoken with
those who have confirmed themselves in faith separate
from charity : and when they were asked whether they saw
the many things in the Word concerning love and charity,.
334 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING |No. 31S
works and deeds, and keeping the commandments, and
that he is called blessed and wise who does them, and fool-
ish who does them not, — they said, that while they were
reading those things they did not see but that they were
faith, and so they passed them by, as it were with their
eyes shut. They who have confirmed themselves in falsi
ties are like those who see where the wall has cracked in
shrinking ; and in the shades of evening they see that
streaked part in their fancy like one on horse-back, or in
human form ; which visionary image is dispelled by the
light of day. Who can have a sense of the spiritual un-
cleanness of adultery but one who is in the spiritual
cleanness of chastity ? Who can have a sense of the
cruelty of revenge, but one who is in good from love of the
neighbor ? Who that is an adulterer, or that is desirous of
revenge, does not sneer at those who call the enjoyments
of those things infernal, and who on the other hand call
the enjoyments of conjugial love and of love for the neigh-
bor heavenly ? And so on. Third : Ability to confirm
whatever one pleases is not intelligence, but only ingenuity,
which may be even in the worst of men. There are some
who are exceedingly skilful in confirming, who do not know
any truth, and still can confirm both truth and falsity ; and
some of them say, What is truth ? Is there any ? Is not
that true which I make true ? And still in the world these
are believed to be intelligent ; yet nevertheless they are
but plasterers of the wall. None are intelligent but those
who perceive truth to be truth, and confirm this by truths
continually perceived. But little difference may be seen
between those of the two classes, because the difference
cannot be seen between the light of confirmation and the
light of the perception of truth ; nor does it appear but
that those who are in the light of confirmation are also in
the light of the perception of truth ; when nevertheless the
difference between them is like that between illusive light
and genuine light ; and illusive light in the spiritual world
No. 318.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
335
is such that it is turned into darkness when genuine light
flows in. There is such an illusive light with many in hell,
who when sent forth into genuine light see nothing at all.
From these things it is manifest that the ability to confirm
whatever one pleases is merely ingenuity, and may exist
even with the worst of men. Fourth : There is confirmation
that is intellectual and not at the same time voluntary ; but all
voluntary confirmation is also intellectual. Let this be illus-
trated by examples. They who confirm faith separate
from charity and still live a life of charity, in general
they who confirm falsity of doctrine and nevertheless do
not live according to it, are they who are in intellectual
confirmation and not at the same time in voluntary. But
they who confirm falsity of doctrine and live according to
it, are they who are in voluntary and at the same time in
intellectual confirmation. This is because the understand-
ing does not flow into the will, but the will into the under-
standing. It is also manifest from this what the falsity of
evil is, and what falsity not of evil is. The falsity which
is not of evil can be conjoined with good, while the falsity
of evil cannot, because falsity not of evil is falsity in the
understanding and not in the will, and the falsity of evil is
falsity in the understanding from evil in the will. Fifth :
The confirmation of evil that is voluntary and at the same
time intellectual, causes man to believe that his ozun prudence
is all, and the Divine Providence nothing; not so, intellectual
confirmation alone. There are many who confirm in them-
selves their own prudence from appearances in the world,
but still do not deny the Divine Providence ; with them
there is only intellectual confirmation ; while with those
who at the same time deny the Divine Providence, there
is also voluntary confirmation ; but this, together with
persuasion, is chiefly with those who are worshippers of
nature and also worshippers of self. Sixth : Every thing
confirmed by the will and at the same time from the under*
itanding, remains for ever ; but not that which has been con-
336 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 319.
firmed by the understanding o?ily. For that which is of the
understanding alone is not in the man, but is without him ;
it is only in the thought ; and nothing enters man and is
appropriated to him but what is accepted by the will ; for
this becomes of his life's love. That this remains to
eternity, will be told in the number now following.
319. Every thing confirmed by the will and at the same
time from the understanding remains for ever, because
every one is his love, and the love is of his will ; also be-
cause every man is his good or his evil ; for all that is
called good which is of the love, and in like manner evil.
Since man is his love, he is also the form of his love, and
may be called the organ of his life's love. It was said
above (n. 279), that love's affections and the thoughts
of man therefrom are changes and variations of the state
and the form of the organic substances of his mind. What
these changes and variations are, and of what quality, shall
now be told. Some idea of them may be gathered from
the heart and lungs, where there are alternate expansions
and compressions, or dilatations and contractions ; which in
the heart are called systole and diastole ; and in the lungs,
acts of respiration, which are the reciprocal distension and
retraction or the stretching and the closing together of
their lobules. These are the changes and variations of the
state of the heart and lungs. There are those like them
in the other viscera of the body, and those having a com-
mon resemblance in the parts of the viscera, by which the
blood and the animal juice are received and carried onward.
There are also those like them in the organic forms of
the mind, which are the subjects of man's affections and
thoughts, as shown above ; with the difference, that their
expansions and compressions, or reciprocations, aie rela-
tively in such higher perfection as cannot be expressed
in words of natural language, but only in those of spirit-
ual language, which can sound only likr calling them
vortex- like circlings inward and outward, after the man
No. 320.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
337
ner of perpetual and in-bending spirals wonderfully com-
bined into forms receptive of life. But of what quality
these purely organic substances and forms are, in the evil
and in the good, shall now be told : In the good the spirals
turn forward, but in the evil backward ; and the substances
and forms which have the spirals running forward, are
turned towards the Lord, and receive influx from Him ;
but those which have the spirals running backward, are
turned towards hell, and receive influx therefrom. It is to
be known that as far as they are turned backward, so far
they are open behind and closed in front ; and on the
other hand, that so far as they are turned forward, they are
opened in front and closed behind. From this it may be
evident what kind of a form or organ an evil man is, and
what kind of a form or organ a good man is, namely,
that they turn in contrary directions ; and as the turning
when once fixed cannot be reversed, it is manifest that
such as man is when he dies, such he remains for ever. It
is the love of man's will which makes the turning, or which
converts and inverts ; for, as said above, every man is his
love. It is from this that every man after death goes the
way of his love ; he who is in good love to heaven, and he
who is in evil love to hell ; nor does he rest but in that
society where his reigning love is ; and what is wonderful,
every one knows the way ; it is as if he went by scent.
320. IV. If man believed, as is the truth, that all good
and truth are from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from
hell, he would not appropriate good to himself and make it
meritorious, nor appropriate evil to himself and ?nake himself
guilty of it. But as these things are contrary to the belief
of those who have confirmed in themselves the appearance
that wisdom and prudence are from man, and do not flow
in according to the state of the organization of men's minds
(of which just above, n. 319), therefore they are to be de-
monstrated ; and for the sake of distinctness, this shall be
done in the following order : 1. He who confirms in him-
338
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 32:
self the appearance that wisdom and prudence are from
man, and hence are in him as his, cannot see but that
otherwise he would not be a man, but a beast, or a statue ;
when yet the contrary is the truth. 2. To believe and
think, as is the truth, that all good and truth are from the
Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, appears like an
impossibility ; when yet it is truly human, and thus angelic.
3. So to believe and think, is impossible to those who do
not acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and who do not
acknowledge that evils are sins ; but is possible to those
who are in these two acknowledgments. 4. They who are
in these two acknowledgments only reflect upon the evils
within them, and cast them back from themselves to hell,
from whence they are, as far as they shun them and are
averse to them as sins. 5. Thus the Divine Providence
does not appropriate evil to any one, nor good to any one,
but his own prudence appropriates both.
321. But these things shall be explained in the order of
their presentation. First : He who confirms in himself the
appearance that wisdom and prudence are from man and in
man as his, cannot see but that otherwise he would not be
a man, but a beast, or a statue ; when yet the contrary is the
truth. It is from a law of the Divine Providence that man
should think as from himself, and should act prudently as
from himself, but still should acknowledge that this is
from the Lord. It thence follows that he who thinks and
acts prudently as from himself, and at the same time ac-
knowledges that this is from the Lord, is a man ; but not
he who confirms in himself that all which he thinks and
does is from himself ; nor yet he who, because he knowr
that wisdom and prudence are from God, still waits for in-
flux; for this one becomes like a statue, and the other like a
beast. That he who waits for influx becomes like a statue,
is evident ; for he must stand or sit motionless, with hands
hanging down, and eyes either shut or open without winking,
with neither thought nor animation. What life has he then ?
No. 321.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
339
That he who believes that all things which he thinks and
does are from himself is not unlike a beast, is also evident ;
for he thinks only from the natural mind, which is common
to man and beast, and not from the spiritual rational mind
which is the truly human mind ; for this mind acknowledges
that God alone thinks from Himself, and that man thinks
from God : wherefore, also, such a person knows no differ-
ence between a man and a beast, except that a man talks
and a beast makes sounds ; and he believes that both die,
alike. Of those who await influx there is still something
to be said. They do not receive any, except that a few,
who from the heart desire it, occasionally receive some
response through a vivid perception in thought, or by tacit
and rarely by manifest speech in the response ; which is
then to the effect, that they should think and act as they
wish and as they can, and that he who acts wisely is wise,
and he who acts foolishly is foolish : and in no wise are
they instructed what to believe and to do ; and this, lest
human rationality and liberty should perish ; which are for
the sake of every one's acting from freedom according to
reason, to all appearance as from himself. They who are
instructed by influx what to believe or what to do, are not
instructed by the Lord, nor by any angel of heaven, but by
some enthusiastic spirit, Quaker or Moravian, and are
seduced. All influx from the Lord takes place by an en-
lightenment of the understanding, and by an affection for
truth, and through the latter into the former. Second :
To believe and think, as is the truth, that all good and truth
are Jrom the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, appears
like an impossibility ; when yet it is truly human, and thus
angelic. To believe and think that all good and truth are
from God seems possible, provided nothing further is said j
this is because it is according to theological faith, contrary
to which it is not allowable to think. But to believe and
think that all evil and falsity are from hell, appears im-
possible ; because so it would also be believed that man
340
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 321
can think nothing. But still man thinks as from himself,
even though from hell ; because the Lord grants to every
one that thought appears in him as his, from whatever
source it may be ; otherwise he would not live as a man, nor
could he be led out of hell and introduced into heaven,
that is, reformed, as has been frequently shown above.
Therefore the Lord gives man to know and thence to
think that he is in hell if in evil, and that he thinks from
hell if from evil ; and He also gives him to think of means
whereby he may go forth from hell and not think from it,
but may come into heaven and think there from the Lord ;
and He also gives man freedom of choice. From which it
may be seen that man may think evil and falsity as from
himself, and may also think that this and that are evil and
false ; consequently that it is only in appearance that it is
from himself, without which appearance man would not be
man. To think from the truth is the truly human and thus
the angelic ; and this is the truth, that man does not think
from himself, but that it is given him by the Lord to think,
to all appearance as from himself. Third : So to believe and
think, is impossible to those who do not acknowledge the Divine
of the Lord, and who do not acknowledge that evils are sins ;
but is possible to those who are in these two acknowledgments.
It is impossible to those who do not acknowledge the Lord's
Divine, because the Lord alone enables man to think and
to will ; and those who do not acknowledge the Lord's
Divine, being disjoined from Him, believe that they think
from themselves. It is also impossible to those who do
not acknowledge that evils are sins, because they think
from hell ; and every one there, imagines that he thinks
from himself. But that it is possible to those who are in
these two acknowledgments, may be evident from the
things that were adduced abundantly above (n. 288-294).
Fourth : They who are in these two acknowledgments only re'
fleet upon the evils within them, and cast them back from them-
ulves to hell, from whence they are, as far as they shun them
No. 321. j
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
341
and are averse to them as sins. Who does not know, or
cannot know, that evil is from hell and good from heaven ?
And who may not therefore know that so far as man shuns
and is averse to evil, so far he shuns and is averse to hell ?
And who may not therefore know that as far as any one
shuns and is averse to evil, so far he wills and loves good ;
consequently, so far he is taken out of hell by the Lord,
and led to heaven ? These things may be seen by every
rational man, provided he knows that there are a heaven
and a hell, and that evil is from its own origin, and good
from its own. Now if a man reflects upon the evils in
himself (which is the same as examining himself), and
shuns them, he then extricates himself from hell, and casts
it behind him ; and introduces himself into heaven, and
there looks at the Lord before him. Man is said to do
this, but he does it as from himself, yet then from the Lord.
When man from a good heart and from pious faith ac-
knowledges this truth, then it lies inwardly hidden in all
that he afterwards thinks and does as from himself ; like
the prolific principle in a seed, which inwardly accom-
panies its growth even to new seed ; and like pleasure in
the appetite for food that a man has once acknowledged
to be wholesome for him ; in a word, it is like heart and
soul in all that he thinks and does. Fifth : Thus the Di-
vine Providence does not appropriate evil to any one, nor good
to any one, but his own prudence appropriates both. This
follows from all that has now been said. Good is the end
of the Divine Providence ; this it therefore purposes in all
its working. Wherefore it does not appropriate good to
any one, for this would then become meritorious ; nor
does it appropriate evil to any one, for so it would make
him guilty of the evil. Nevertheless man does both from
his proprium [ownhood], because this is nothing but evil ;
the proprium of his will is the love of self, and the pro-
prium of his understanding is the pride of his own intelli
gence ; and from this is his own prudence.
342 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 322.
EVERY MAN CAN BE REFORMED, AND THERE IS NO
PREDESTINATION.
322. Sound reason dictates that all were predestined
to heaven, and no one to hell ; for all are born men, and
from this the image of God is in them. The image of God
is in them in their being able to understand truth and to
do good. Their being able to understand truth is from
the Divine Wisdom, and their being able to do good is
from the Divine Love ; this power is the image of God,
which remains in the sane man, and is not eradicated. It
is from this that he is able to become a civil and moral
man ; and he who is civil and moral can also become
spiritual, for the civil and moral is the receptacle of the
spiritual. He is called a civil man who knows the laws
of the kingdom wherein he is a citizen, and lives according
to them ; and he is called a moral man who makes these
laws his morals and his virtues, and from reason lives
them. I will now tell how a civil and moral life is the re-
ceptacle of spiritual life : Live these laws, not only as civil
and moral laws, but also as Divine Laws, and you will be
a spiritual man. There is hardly a people so barbarous as
not to have ordained by laws that murder must not be
committed, that there must not be criminal intercourse
with the wife of another, that there must not be theft, nor
false-witness, nor violence to any thing belonging to another.
The civil and moral man keeps these laws, that he may be,
or may seem to be, a good citizen ; but if he does not at
the same time regard these laws as Divine, he is only a
civil and moral natural man ; while if he also regards them
as Divine, he becomes a civil and moral spiritual man. The
difference is, that the latter is not only a good citizen of the
earthly kingdom, but also a good citizen of the heavenly
kingdom ; while the former is only a good citizen of the
earthly and not of the heavenly kingdom. The goods which
they do, distinguish them ; the goods which civil and moral
No. 322.I
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
343
natural men do, are not in themselves good, for the man and
the world are in them j the goods which are done by civil and
moral spiritual men, are good in themselves, because the
Lord and heaven are in them. From these things it may
be evident that every man, because he was born that he
may become a civil and moral natural man, was also born
that he may become a civil and moral spiritual man ; which
is simply for him to acknowledge God, and not do evils
because they are against God, but do goods because they
are with God j by this means spirit comes into his civil and
moral things, and they live ; but otherwise there is no
spirit in them, and they therefore are not alive. Wherefore
the natural man, however civilly and morally he may act,
is called dead ; but the spiritual man is called alive. It is
from the Lord's Divine Providence that every nation has
some religion ; and the primary thing in every religion is to
acknowledge that there is a God, for otherwise it is not
called a religion ; and every nation that lives according to
its religion, that is, which does not do evil because it is
against its God, receives something spiritual in its natural.
Who, when he hears some Gentile say that he does not
wish to do this or that evil because it is against his God,
does not say to himself, " Is not this man saved ? It seems
as if it could not be otherwise ? " Sound reason dictates
this to him. And on the other hand, when he hears a
Christian say, " I make no account of this evil and that ;
what is meant by saying that it is against God ?" who does
not say to himself, "Is this man saved ? It seems impossi-
ble." Sound reason dictates this, also. If he says, "I was
born a Christian, I have been baptized, I know about the
Lord, I have read the Word, I have attended the sacrament
of the Supper ; " is all this any thing when he does not re-
gard as sins murders, or the revenge that breathes them,
adulteries, clandestine thefts, false testimony or lies, and
various kinds of violence ? Does such a man think of
God, or of any eternal life ? Does he think that there is
344
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 324
any God, or any eternal life ? Does not sound reason
dictate that such a person cannot be saved ? These things
have been said of the Christian ; for the Gentile more than
the Christian thinks concerning God from religion in his
life. But on these points more shall be said in what fol-
lows, and in this order : I. The end of creation is a heaven
from the human race. II. Hence it is from the Divine
Providence that every man can be saved ; and they are saved
who acknowledge God and live well. III. Man himself is
in fault if he is not saved. IV. Thus all have been pre-
destined to heaven, and no one to hell.
323. I. The end of creation is a heaven from the human
race. That heaven consists of none but those who have
been born men, is shown in the work concerning " Heaven
and Hell" (published at London in the year 1758), and
also above ; and because heaven consists of no others, it
follows that the end of creation is a heaven from the human
race. That this was the end of creation was indeed de-
monstrated above (n. 27-45) ; but it will be seen still more
clearly from an explanation of these points : 1. Every man
has been created that he may live for ever. 2. Every
man has been created that he may live for ever in a blessed
state. 3. Thus every man has been created that he may
come into heaven. 4. The Divine Love cannot but will
this ; and the Divine Wisdom cannot but provide it.
324. Inasmuch as it can also be seen from these things
that the Divine Providence is no other predestination than
to heaven, and that it cannot be changed into any other, it
is here to be demonstrated, in the order set forth, that the
end of creation is a heaven from the human race. First:
Every man has been created that he may live for ever. In the
treatise concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom," Parts
Third and Fifth, it is shown that there are in every man
three degrees of life, which are called the natural, the
spiritual, and the heavenly [ce/estia/] ; and that these de-
grees aie actually in every man ; but that in beasts there
No. 324 ] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
345
is but one degree of life, which is similar to the ultimate
degree in man, called the natural. From which it follows,
that man by the elevation of his life to the Lord, is in such
a state above the beasts that he is able to understand such
things as are of the Divine Wisdom, and to will such things
as are of the Divine Love, thus to receive the Divine ; and
he who is able to receive the Divine, so as to see and per-
ceive it in himself, cannot but be conjoined with the Lord,
and by this conjunction live for ever. What would the
Lord have to do with all the creation of the universe, unless
He had also created images and likenesses of Himself, to
whom He could communicate His Divine ? Otherwise,
what else would there be but making something to be and
not to be, or to exist and not to exist, and this for no other
purpose than that He might be able from afar to contem-
plate mere vicissitudes and continual changes as upon some
stage ? What would there be Divine in these things, unless
they were for the sake of service to subjects which should
receive the Divine more nearly, and see and feel it ? And
as the Divine is of glory inexhaustible, would He keep it
to Himself alone, and could He do so ? For love wishes
to communicate its own to another, yes, to give from its
own as much as possible. Why not the Divine Love,
which is infinite ? Can it give, and take away again ?
Would not this be giving what is about to perish ? which
inwardly in itself is nothing, because when it perishes it
becomes nothing ; that which Is is not in it. But it gives
what Is, or which does not cease to be; and this is
eternal. In order that every man may live for ever, what
is mortal in him is taken away. The mortal in him is his
material body, which is taken away by its death. Thus
what is immortal in him, which is his mind, is unveiled,
and he then becomes a spirit in human form ; his mind is
that spirit. That man's mind cannot die, was seen by the
sages or wise men of old ; for they said, How can the
mind [the animus or the mens] die, when it is able to be
15*
346 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 324
wise ? Few at this day know their interior idea in this ; but
it was that which descended from heaven into their general
perception, namely, that God is Wisdom itself, of which
mm is the partaker, and God is immortal or eternal. As
it has been given me to converse with angels, I will also
say something from experience. I have conversed with
those who lived many ages ago, with those who lived be-
fore the flood, and with some who lived after it, with those
who lived in the time of the Lord, and with one of His
Apostles, and with many who lived in later ages : they all
have seemed like men of middle age, and they have said
that they know not what death is, only that it is damnation.
Moreover, all who have lived well, when they come into
heaven come into the age that in the world is the age of their
early manhood, and they remain in it for ever ; those too
who in the world were old men and decrepit ; and women
although they have been old and wrinkled, return into the
flower of their age and beauty. That man after death lives
for ever, is manifest from the Word, where life in heaven is
called eternal life (as in Matt. xix. 29 ; xxv. 46 ; Mark x. 17 j
Luke x. 25 ; xviii. 30; John iii. 15, 16, 36; v. 24, 25, 39;
vi. 27, 40, 68; xii. 50): as also life, simply (in Matt, xviii.
8, 9 ; John v. 40; xx. 31). The Lord also said to the dis-
ciples : Because I live, ye shall live also (John xiv. 19) ; and,
concerning the resurrection, that God is not a God of the
dead but of the living, and that they cannot die any more
(Luke xx. 36, 38). Second : .Every man has been created
that he may live for ever in a blessed state. This follows
as a consequence ; for He who wills that man should live
for ever, also wills that he should live in a state of blessed-
ness. What would eternal life be without this ? All
love desires the good of the other ; the love of parents de-
sires the good of their children ; the love of the betrothed
and husband desires the good of his betrothed and wife ;
and friendship's love desires the good of friends : then
what does the Divine Love not desire? And what is a
No. 324.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
347
good but enjoyment ? And what is Divine Good but
eternal blessedness ? Every good is called good from its
enjoyment or its blessedness ; that which is given and
possessed is indeed called good, but unless it is also en-
joyable it is a barren good which in itself is not good.
From this it is manifest that eternal life is also eternal
blessedness. This state of man is creation's end ; and that
only those who come into heaven are in that state, is not
the Lord's fault but man's ; that man is in fault, will be
seen in what follows. Third : Thus every man has been
created that he may come into heaven. This is creation's
end ; but that all do not come into heaven, is because they
become imbued with enjoyments of hell that are opposite
to the blessedness of heaven ; and they who are not in the
blessedness of heaven cannot enter heaven, for they do not
bear it. To no one who comes into the spiritual world is
permission to ascend into heaven refused ; but one who
is in the enjoyment of hell, while he is coming thither,
is seized with palpitation of the heart and labored breath-
ing, his life begins to fail, he is in anguish, he is in tor-
ment, and he writhes like a serpent put near the fire ; this
is so because opposite acts against opposite. But yet as
they were born men, and thereby are in the faculty of
thinking and willing, and consequently in the faculty of
speaking and doing, they cannot die ; and as they cannot
live with any but those who are in similar enjoyment of
life with themselves, they are sent away to them ; therefore,
they who are in the enjoyments of evil are sent to their
own, and they who are in the enjoyments of good, to theirs.
It is even granted every one to be in the enjoyment of his
evil provided he does not infest those who are in the en-
ioyment of good ; but as evil cannot do otherwise than
infest good, for there is in evil a hatred against good,
therefore, lest they should do hurt, they are removed and
cast into their own places in hell, where their enjoyment is
turned into what is undelightful. But this does not gair>
348 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 324
say the truth that man is from creation and hence is born
such that he can come into heaven j for every one comes
into heaven who dies in infancy, is there brought up and
instructed, as a man is in the world, and by means of
affection for good and truth is imbued with wisdom and
becomes an angel. So, too, might it have been with the
man who is brought up and instructed in the world ; for
there is the same in him that there is in the infant. Con-
cerning infants in the spiritual world, see the work con-
cerning " Heaven and Hell " (published at London in the
year 1758, n. 329-345). But that the like does not take
place with many in the world, is because they love the
first degree of their life, which is called the natural ; and
they are not willing to recede from it and become spiritual ;
and the natural degree of life viewed in itself loves nothing
but self and the world, for it coheres with the senses of
the body, which also reach out to the world ; while the
spiritual degree of life viewed in itself loves the Lord and
heaven, and also self and the world, but God and heaven
as higher, principal and predominant, and self and the
world as lower, instrumental and subservient. Fourth :
The Divine Love cannot but will this, and the Divine Wisdom
cannot but provide it. That the Divine Essence is Divine
Love and Wisdom, has been fully shown in the treatise
concerning the " Divine Love and Wisdom ; " and it is also
there demonstrated (n. 358-370) that in every human embryo
the Lord forms two receptacles, one of Divine Love and
the other of Divine Wisdom, the receptacle of Divine Love
for the future will of the man, and the receptacle of Divine
Wisdom for his future understanding; and that so He has
endued every man with the faculty of willing good and the
faculty of understanding truth. Now because man is en-
dued with these his two faculties by the Lord, and con-
sequently the Lord is in them as in His own with man, it
is manifest that His Divine Love cannot but will that man
should come into heaven, and there enjoy eternal blissfui-
No. 326.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
349
ncss ; and also that the Divine Wisdom cannot but provida
for it. But because it is from His Divine Love that man
should feel heavenly blessedness in himself as his own,
and as this cannot take place unless man is kept in all the
appearance of thinking, willing, speaking, and acting from
himself, therefore He cannot lead man except according
to the laws of His Divine Providence.
325. II. Hence it is from the Divine Providence that
every man can be saved; and they are saved who acknowh dge
God and live well. That every man can be saved, is
manifest from what has been demonstrated above. Some
are of the opinion that the Lord's church is only in the
Christian world, because the Lord is known there only,
and the Word is only there. But still there are many who
believe that the church of God is general, or extended and
scattered throughout the whole world, therefore among
those also who are ignorant of the Lord and have not the
Word ; saying that this is not their fault, and that they
have not ability to overcome their ignorance, and that it is
contrary to God's Love and Mercy that some should be
born for hell, when yet they are men equally with others.
Now as Christians (if not all of them, still many) have the
belief that the church is general, which is also called a
Communion, it follows that there are most general prin-
ciples of the church which enter into all religions, and
make the Communion. That these most general principles
are the acknowledgment of God and the good of life, will
be seen in the following order: 1. The acknowledgment of
God makes a conjunction of God with man and of man
with God ; and the denial of God makes disjunction.
2. Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him
according to the good of his life. 3. Good of life, or to
live well, is to shun evils because they are against religion,
thus against God. 4. These are the general principles of
all religions, by which every one can be saved.
326. But these things must be examined and demon-
350 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 326
strated one by one. First : The acknowledgment of God
makes a conjunction of God with man, and of man with God;
and the denial of God makes separation. Some may think
that those who do not acknowledge God can be saved just
as well as those who do acknowledge Him, provided they
lead a moral life. They say, What does acknowledgment
effect ? Is it not thought, merely ? Can I not easily ac-
knowledge God when I know with certainty that He is ? I
have heard of Him, but I have not seen Him. Make me
see Him, and I will believe. Such is the language of many
who deny God, when they are allowed to reason freely with
one who acknowledges God. But that the acknowledg-
ment of God conjoins, and the denial of Him separates,
will be illustrated by certain things in the spiritual world
that are known to me. When any one there is thinking of
another, and is wishing to speak with him, the other is
forthwith presented before him ; this is common there, and
never fails. This is because in the spiritual world there is
not distance as in the natural world, but there is only ap-
pearance of distance. Again : as thought from some cog-
nition of another causes presence, so love from any affection
for another causes conjunction ; from which it results that
they come together and converse in a friendly way, dwell
in one house or in one society, meet often, and render ser-
vices to each other. The contrary also takes place; as
that one who does not love another, and still more, one
who hates another, does not see or meet him, and they are
distant according to the degree in which he does not love,
or in which he hates ; yes, if he is present, and then is
mindful of the hatred, he becomes invisible. From these
few things it may be evident whence comes presence, and
whence conjunction in the spiritual world ; namely, that
presence comes from the remembrance of another with a
desire to see him, and that conjunction is from affection
which is of love. So it is with all things that are in the
human mind ; in it are things without number, and the
No. 326.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
351
several particulars are there consociated and conjoined
according to affections, or as one thing loves another.
This conjunction is spiritual conjunction, which is like
itself in things general and particular. This spiritual con-
junction has its origin from the conjunction of the Lord
with the spiritual world and with the natural world, in
general and in particular. From which it is manifest that
as far as any one recognizes the Lord, and from cognitions
thinks of Him, so far the Lord is present ; and as far as
any one acknowledges Him from an affection of love, so
far the Lord is conjoined with him : and, on the other
hand, that as far as one does not recognize the Lord, the
Lord is absent ; and so far as one denies Him, He is
separated. The effect of conjunction is, that the Lord
turns man's face to Himself and then leads him ; and the
effect of separation is, that hell turns man's face to itself
and leads him. Therefore all the angels of heaven turn
their faces to the Lord as the Sun ; and all the spirits of
hell turn their faces away from Him. From this it is mani-
fest what is wrought by the acknowledgment of God, and
what by the denial of Him. And they who deny God in
the world deny Him after death j and they become organ-
ized according to the description given above (n. 319) ; and
the organization induced in the world remains for ever.
Second : Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with
Him according to the good of his life. All may recognize
God who know any thing from religion ; they may also
from knowledge or memory talk of God ; and some may
also think of Him from the understanding ; but this, if the
man does not live well, makes nothing but presence ; for
he can none the less turn himself away from God, and
toward hell, which is done if he lives wickedly. But none
can in heart acknowledge God but those who live well ;
according to the good of their lives the Lord turns these
away from hell and toward Himself. This is because they
alone love God ; for they love the Divine things which are
353
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 326
from Him, in doing them. The Divine things which are
from God, are the precepts of His law; these are God, for
He is Himself His own proceeding Divine ; and this [lov-
ing the Divine things which are from Him, in doing them]
is to love God. Wherefore the Lord says : He that hath
My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me ;
he that loveth Me not, keepeth tiot My commandments (John
xiv. 21, 24). For this reason the tables of the Decalogue
are two, one for God and the other for man. God works
continually, that man may receive what is in man's table ;
but if a man does not do the things which are in his table,
he does not receive with acknowledgment of heart the
things which are in God's table ; and if he does not rr •
ceive, he is not conjoined. Wherefore the two tables wer
so conjoined as to be one, and were called the tables al
the covenant ; and a covenant signifies conjunction. TIm
reason that every one acknowledges God and is conjoined
with Him according to the good of his life, is, that good of
life is similar to the good which is in the Lord, and which
therefore is from the Lord ; wherefore, when man is in the
good of life, conjunction takes place. With evil of life the
contrary is the case ; this rejects the Lord. Third : Good
of life, or to live well, is to shun evils because they are against
religion, thus against God. That this is good of life, or
living well, is fully shown in the " Doctrine of Life for the
New Jerusalem," from beginning to end. To which I wil'
merely add, that if you do good in all abundance, — as, if
you build temples, decorate them and fill them with offer-
ings, support hospitals and asylums for the stranger, give
alms every day, succor widows and orphans, if you are per-
severingly attentive to the holy things of worship, yes, if
you think and talk and preach about them as if from the
heart, and yet do not shun evils as sins against God, al!
those goods are not good ; they are either hypocritical or
meritorious, for evil is still inwardly in them : for every
one's life is in all and in each of the things which he does;
No. 326.I
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
353
and goods become good only by the removal of evil from
them. From this it is manifest, that to shun evils because
they are against religion, thus against God, is to live well.
Fourth : These are the general principles of all religions, by
which every one can be saved. To acknowledge God, and
not to do evil because it is against God, are the two things
which make a religion to be a religion ; if one of these is
wanting, it cannot be called a religion ; for to acknowledge
God and do evil, is contradictory ; also to do good and not
acknowledge God ; for the one is not without the other.
It has been provided by the Lord that almost everywhere
there should be some religion, and that in every religion
there are these two principles ; and it has also been pro-
vided by the Lord that every one who acknowledges God
and does not do evil because it is against God, should
have a place in heaven. For heaven in the complex re-
sembles one Man, whose life or soul is the Lord ; in that
heavenly Man are all things which are in a natural man,
with a difference such as there is between heavenly and
natural things. It is known that in man there are not
only forms organized of blood-vessels and nervous fibres,
which are called viscera, but also skins, membranes, ten-
dons, cartilages, bones, nails, and teeth. These latter are
alive in a less degree than the organized forms themselves
to which they are subservient as ligaments, coverings, and
supports. The heavenly Man that is heaven, in order to
comprise all these things, cannot be composed of men of a
single religion, but of men of many religions ; therefore all
who make those two universal principles of the church to
be of their life, have a place in that heavenly Man, that is,
in heaven, and enjoy happiness in their degree. But of
these things more may be seen above (n. 254). That these
two are primary in every religion, may be evident from the
fact that they are what the Decalogue teaches ; and that
was the first of the Word, was promulgated by Jehovah by
a living voice from Mount Sinai, and written by the finger
354 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 3261
of God on two tables of stone ; and then being placed in
the ark, it was called Jehovah, and it made the holy of
holies in the tabernacle, and the shrine in the temple at
Jerusalem ; and all things there were holy from it alone ;
besides other things from the Word concerning the Deca-
logue in the ark, which are adduced in the " Doctrine of
Life for the New Jerusalem " (n. 53-61); to which I will
add the following : It is known from the Word that the ark
in which were the two tables on which the Decalogue was
written, was taken by the Philistines and placed in the
house of Dagon in Ashdod, and that Dagon fell to the
earth before it, and that afterward his head torn from
the body, together with the palms of the hands, lay upon
the threshold of the house ; and that the people of Ashdod
and Ekron, to the number of many thousands, were smitten
with emerods on account of the ark, and their land laid
waste by mice ; also that the Philistines, by the advice of
the lords of their nation, made five golden emerods and
five golden mice, and a new cart, and placed the ark upon
it, and near the ark the golden emerods and mice ; and by
means of two cows which lowed in the way before the cart,
they sent back the ark to the children of Israel, by whom
the cows and the cart were offered in sacrifice (1 Sam. v.,
and vi.). It shall now be told what all these things signified.
The Philistines signified those who are in faith separate
from charity ; Dagon represented that religious system ;
the emerods with which they were smitten signified natural
loves, which when separate from spiritual love are unclean ;
and the mice signified the devastation of the church by the
falsifications of truth ; the new cart upon which they sent
back the ark, signified new doctrine, but natural, for in the
Word the chariot signifies doctrine from spiritual truths ;
the cows signified good natural affections ; the emerods of
gold signified natural loves purified and made good ; the
golden mice signified the vastation of the church removed
by good, for in the Word gold signifies good ; the lowing
No. 327.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
355
of the cows on the way, signified the difficult conversion of
the lusts of the evil of the natural man into good affec-
tions ; that the cows, together with the cart, were offered
as a whole burnt-offering, signified that so the Lord was
propitiated. These are the things which are meant spirit-
ually by those historical statements. Join them together
in a single sentence, and make the application. That by
the Philistines were represented those who are in faith
separate from charity, may be seen in the " Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem concerning Faith" (n. 49-54); and
that the ark, from the Decalogue enclosed therein, was the
holiest thing of the church, may be seen in the "Doctrine
of Life for the New Jerusalem " (n. 53-61).
327. III. Man himself is in fault if he is not saved.
Every rational man, as soon as he hears it, acknowledges
the truth, that evil cannot flow forth from good, nor good
from evil, because they are opposites ; consequently, that
from good there flows forth nothing but good, and from
evil nothing but evil. When this truth is acknowledged,
this also is acknowledged, that good can be turned into
evil, not by a good but by an evil recipient ; for every form
turns into its own quality that which flows into it, as
may be seen above (n. 292). Now as the Lord is Good in
its very essence, or Good itself, it is manifest that evil
cannot flow forth from Him, nor be produced by Him ,
but that the good can be turned into evil by the recipient
subject whose form is a form of evil. Such a subject is
man as to his proprium \ownhood\ This continually re-
ceives good from the Lord, and continually turns it to the
quality of its own form, which is a form of evil. It follows
from this, that man is in fault if he is not saved. Evil
is indeed from hell ; but as a man receives it therefrom as
his, and thereby appropriates it to himself, it is therefore the
same whether evil is said to be from the man or from hell.
But whence comes the appropriation of evil, even till at
last a religion perishes, shall be told in this order : 1. Id
356
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 328k
process of time every religion decreases and is consummated,
2. Every religion decreases and is consummated by the in-
version of God's image in man. 3. This comes to pass from
the continual increase of hereditary evil in successive gen-
erations. 4. Still it is provided by the Lord that every one
can be saved. 5. It is provided also that a new church
should succeed in place of the former devastated church.
328. But these points are to be demonstrated in their
series. First : In process of time every religion decreases
and is consummated. On this earth there have been many
churches, one after another ; for wherever the human race
is, there is a church ; for heaven, which is the end of
creation, is from the human race, as demonstrated above •
and no one can come into heaven unless he is in the two,
universal principles of the church, which are to acknowl-
edge God and to live well, as shown just above (n. 326).
It thence follows that on this earth there have been
churches from the most ancient time even to the present.
These churches are described in the Word, but not his-
torically, excepting the church of Israel and Judah ; before
which, nevertheless, there were others, and these are there
described only by names of nations and persons, and by
a few particulars concerning them. The Most Ancient
Church, which was the first, is described by Adam and his
wife Eve. The church that followed, which is to be called
the Ancient Church, is described by Noah and his three
sons, and by their posterity. This was large, and ex-
tended through many kingdoms of Asia, — the land of
Canaan on both sides of the Jordan, Syria, Assyria, and
Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia, Tyre, and Sidon.
Among these was the old Word, of which in the " Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture "
(n. 101-103). That this church was in those kingdoms, is
evident from various things which are said of them in the
prophetical parts of the Word. But this church was
changed in a notable manner by Heber, from whom arose
No. 328.] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
357
the Hebrew Church. In this church worship by sacrifices
was first instituted. From the Hebrew church was born
the church of Israel and Judah ; but this was solemnly
instituted for the sake of the Word, which was there to be
written out. These four churches are meant by the statue
seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, the head of which
was of pure gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly
and thighs of brass, and the legs and feet of iron and clay
(Dan. ii. 32, 33). Nor is any thing else meant by the
golden, the silver, the brazen, and the iron ages, mentioned
by ancient writers. The Christian church, as is well known,
succeeded the Jewish. It may also be seen from the Word
that all these churches in process of time decreased even
to the end, which is called the consummation. The con-
summation of the Most Ancient Church, which took place
through their eating from the tree of knowledge (by which
is signified the pride of their own intelligence), is described
by the flood. The consummation of the Ancient Church
is described by the various devastations of the nations,
treated of both in the historical and in the prophetic parts
of the Word, especially by the expulsion of the nations
from the land of Canaan by the children of Israel. The
consummation of the Church of Israel and Judah is meant
by the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, and by the
carrying away of the people of Israel into perpetual cap-
tivity, and of the Jewish nation into Babylonia ; and again
by the second destruction of the temple and at the same
time of Jerusalem, and the dispersion of that nation ; which
consummation is foretold in the prophets in many places
(as in Daniel ix. 24-27). But the gradual devastation of
the Christian Church until its end, is described by the Lord
in Matthew xxiv., in Mark xiii., and in Luke xxi. ; but its very
consummation, in the Apocalypse. From this it may be
manifest that a church in process of time decreases, and is
consummated; thus, also, a religion. Second: Every religion
decreases and is consummated by the inversion of God 's imagt
353 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNS G [No. 32%
in man. It is known that man was created into the image
of God, after the likeness of God (Gen. i. 26) ; but it shall
be told what the image of God is, and what the likeness
of God is. God alone is Love and Wisdom ; man was
created that he may be a receptacle of both ; that his will
may be a receptacle of the Divine Love, and that his un-
derstanding may be a receptacle of the Divine Wisdom.
That these two receptacles are from creation in man, and
that they make the man, and that they also are formed in
every one in the womb, is shown above. Therefore man's
being an image of God means that he is a recipient of the
Divine Wisdom ; his being a likeness of God means that
he is a recipient of the Divine Love ; wherefore, the re-
ceptacle which is called the understanding is an image of
God, and the receptacle which is called the will is a like-
ness of God. Therefore as man has been created and
formed that he may be a receptacle, it follows that he has
been created and formed that his will may receive love
from God, and that his understanding may receive wisdom
from God ; man also receives these while he acknowledges
God and lives according to His commandments, but in a
greater or less degree as from religion he has knowledge
of God and of the commandments, and thus as he knows
truths ; for truths teach what God is and how He is to be
acknowledged, also what the commandments are, and how
man is to live according to them. The image of God and
the likeness of God have not been destroyed in man, but
they are as if destroyed : for they remain implanted in his
two faculties which are called liberty and rationality, which
have been frequently treated of above ; they became as if
destroyed, when man made the receptacle of Divine Love,
which is his will, the receptacle of the love of self, and the
receptacle of Divine Wisdom, which is his understanding
the receptacle of his own intelligence. By this means he
inverted the image and likeness of God, for he turned
these receptacles away from God, and turned them round
No 328.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
355
to himself ; thus they have been closed above and opened
below, or have been closed in front and opened behind ;
when yet by creation they were opened before and closed
behind. And when they have been thus opened and
closed inversely, the receptacle of love or the will re-
ceives influx from hell, or from its proprium ; and likewise
the receptacle of wisdom, or the understanding. From
this there has sprung up in the churches a worship of men
in place of the worship of God, and worship from doctrines
of falsity in place of worship from doctrines of truth ; the
latter from their own intelligence, the other from the love
of self. It is therefore manifest that in process of time a
religion decreases and is consummated by the inversion of
the image of God in man. Third : This comes to pass from
the continual increase of hereditary evil in successive genera-
tions. It was stated and shown above that hereditary
evil is not from Adam and his wife Eve by their eating
from the tree of knowledge, but that it is successively de-
rived and is transplanted by parents into their offspring,
and so by continual increase grows worse in successive
generations. When evil thereby grows worse among many,
from itself it spreads evil to more ; for there is in all evil a
lust of seducing, which burns from rage against good in
some j hence the contagiousness of evil. When in the
church this has taken possession of the rulers, the direc-
tors, and the defenders of the standard, the religion becomes
perverted, and the means of cure which are truths become
corrupted by falsification. From these there is now a
gradual vastation of good and desolation of truth in the
church, even to the consummation of it. Fourth : Still it
is provided by the Lord that every one can be saved. It is
provided by the Lord that everywhere there should be a
religion ; and that in every religion there should be the two
essentials of salvation, which are, to acknowlege God, and
not to do evil because it is against God. All other things
which are of the understanding and thus of thought, which
30o
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 328
are called matters of faith, are provided for every one ac-
cording to his life, for they are accessories of the life ; and
if they precede, still they do not receive life at an earlier
period. It is also provided that all who have lived well
and have acknowledged God are instructed after death by
angels ; and then they who in the world were in these two
essentials of religion, accept the truths of the church such
as they are in the Word, and acknowledge the Lord as
the God of heaven and the church j and this they receive
more easily than Christians who have brought with them
from the world an idea of the Lord's Human separated
from His Divine. It has also been provided by the Lord
that all who die in infancy should be saved, wherever born.
There is also given to all men after death ample means of
amending the life, if possible ; they are instructed and led
by the Lord through angels ; and as they then know that
they are living after death, and that there is a heaven and
a hell, they at first receive truths ; but they who in the
world have not acknowledged God and shunned evils as
eins, soon weary of truths and recede ; and they who have
acknowledged them with the lips but not with the heart
are like the foolish virgins who had lamp6 but no oil, and
who begged for oil of others, and also went away and bought,
and yet were not admitted to the wedding. Lamps signify
truths of faith, and oil signifies the good of charity. From
this it may be evident that the Divine Providence is that
it may be possible for every one to te saved, and that man
is himself in fault if he is not saved. Fifth : 77 is provided
also that a new church should succeed in place of the former
devastated church. It has been the case from the earliest
times, that a new church has followed when a former church
has been devastated. The Ancient Church succeeded the
Most Ancient; after the Ancient Church followed the
Israelitish or Jewish ; after it, the Christian. It is foretold
in the Apocalypse that after this, too, is to follow a new
church, which is there meant by the New Jerusalem de
No. 329.J THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
361
scending out of heaven. The reason why the Lord is
providing a new church to follow in place of the former de-
vastated church, may be seen in the " Doctrine of the New
Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture " (n. 104-113).
329. IV. Thus all have been predestined to heaven, and
no one to hell. That the Lord casts no one to hell, but that
the spirit casts himself thither, is shown in the work on
" Heaven and Hell " (published at London in 1758, n. 545-
550). This takes place with every evil and impious person
after death, and in like manner with the evil and impious
man in the world, with the difference that in the world he
can be reformed, and may embrace and be imbued with
the means of salvation, but not after his departure from
the world. The means of salvation have relation to these
two points, that evils must be shunned because they are
contrary to the Divine laws in the Decalogue, and in order
that it may be acknowledged that God is. This can be
done by every one, provided he does not love evils ; for the
Lord is continually flowing into his will with power that he
may be able to shun evils, and into his understanding with
power that he may be able to think that God is ; but still
no one can do the one unless at the same time he does the
other; the two are conjoined like the two tables of the
Decalogue, one of which is for the Lord, and the other for
man. The Lord from His table enlightens every man, and
gives him power ; but man receives the power and enlighten-
ment so far as he does the things commanded in his table ;
before this, the two appear as if lying one upon the other,
and sealed together ; but as man does the things com-
manded in his table, they are unsealed and opened. What
at this day is the Decalogue but as a little book or writing
sealed up, and opened only in the hands of infants and
children ? Say to any one somewhat advanced in age, Do
not do this, because it is contrary to the Decalogue, —
and who listens ? But if you say, Do not do this, because
it is contrary to the Divine laws, — he may listen to this;
16
362
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 33a
when, nevertheless, the commandments of the Decalogue
are the Divine laws themselves. The trial was made with
many in the spiritual world, and when the Decalogue or
catechism was mentioned they rejected it with contempt ;
this was because the Decalogue in its second table, which
is man's, teaches that evils are to be shunned ; and he who
does not shun them (whether from impiety or from the re-
ligious tenet that works profit nothing, but only faith),
hears the Decalogue or catechism mentioned with some
degree of contempt, as if he heard some book for little
children named, which is no longer of any use to him.
These things have been said that it may be known that a
knowledge of the means whereby he may be saved is not
wanting to any one, nor the power, if he wishes to be
saved. From which it follows that all were predestined to
heaven and no one to hell. But since with some there has
prevailed a belief concerning predestination to non-salva-
tion, which is damnation, and as this belief is hurtful, and
cannot be dispelled unless reason also sees the madness
and cruelty in it, it must therefore be treated of, and in
this order: 1. Any predestination except to heaven, is con-
trary to the Divine Love and its infinity. 2. Any pre-
destination except to heaven, is contrary to the Divine
Wisdom and its infinity. 3. That only those who were
born within the church are saved, is an insane heresy.
4. That any of the human race have been damned from
predestination, is a cruel heresy.
330. But that it may be apparent how hurtful is the be-
lief in predestination as generally understood, these four
propositions must be taken up and proved. First : Any
predesthiatioti except to heaven is contrary to the Divine Love,
which is infinite. That Jehovah or the Lord is Divine Love,
and that He is infinite and the Esse of all life, — also that
man was created into the image of God after the likeness
of God, — has been demonstrated in the treatise concerning
the " Divine Love and Wisdom ; " and as every man is
No. 330 ] THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
303
farmed by the Lord in the womb into that image after that
likeness, as has also been demonstrated, it follows that the
Lord is the Heavenly Father of all men, and that men are
His spiritual children ; Jehovah or the Lord is also called
Father in the Word, and men are there called His chil-
dren ; wherefore he says : Call no man your father upon the
earth, for One is yoicr Father, Who is in the heavens (Matt,
xxiiu 9) ; which means that He alone is the Father as to
life and that the earthly father is the father only as to
life's covering, which is the body ; wherefore in heaven no
other father is named than the Lord. That men who do not
pervert that life are said to be His sons and born of Him,
is also manifest from many passages in the Word. It may
hence be evident that the Divine Love is in every man,
evil as well as good ; consequently, that the Lord Who is
Divine Love cannot do with them otherwise than as a
father on the earth does with his children ; and infinitely
more, because the Divine Love is infinite ; and again, that
He cannot withdraw from any one, because every one's life
is from Him. He seems to withdraw from the evil ; but
the evil withdraw from Him, while He from love still leads
them. Wherefore the Lord says : Ask and it shall be given
you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened
unto you. Or what man is there of you, who if his son ask
bread will he give him a stone ? If ye, then, being evil, know
how to give good gifts wito your children, how much more
shall your Father Who is in the heavens give good things to
them that ask Him ? (Matt. vii. 7-1 1). And elsewhere, that
He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and send-
eth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. v. 45). It is
also known in the church that the Lord wills the salvation
of all, and the death of no one. From these things it may
be seen that any predestination except to heaven is con-
trary to the Divine Love. Second : Any predestination ex-
cept to heaven is contrary to the Divine Wisdom, which is
infinite. The Divine Love by its own Divine Wisdom
364
ANGELIC WISDoM CONCERNING [No. 33a
provides the means whereby every man may be saved;
wherefore to say that there is any predestination except to
heaven, is to say that it cannot prov ide the means by which
there is salvation ; when yet all have the means, as shown
above, and they are from the Divine Providence which is
infinite. But that there are those who are not saved, is
because the Divine Love wills that man should feel the
happiness and blessedness of heaven in himself ; for other-
wise it would not be heaven to him ; and this cannot be
unless [the Divine Love wills] that it should appear to man
that he thinks and wills from himself ; for without this
appearance nothing would be appropriated to him, nor
would he be man. For the sake of this is the Divine
Providence, which is of the Divine Wisdom from the Divine
Love. But this does not gainsay the truth that all are pre-
destined to heaven and none to hell ; but if the means
were wanting, it would. But that the means of salvation
have been provided for every one, and that heaven is such
that all who live well, of whatever religion they may be,
have a place there, was demonstrated above. Man is like
the earth which produces fruits of every kind ; from which
faculty earth is earth ; that it also produces bad fruits, does
not preclude the ability to produce good fruits too ; but if it
had never had ability to produce any thing but bad fruits,
this would preclude it. Man is also like an object which
variegates in itself the rays of light ; if it presents only un-
pleasing colors, the light is not the cause of this ; the rays
of light may also be variegated in pleasing colors. Third :
That only those who were born within the church are saved,
is an insane heresy. Those born out of the church are
men equally with those born within it, are from a like
heavenly origin, and are equally living and immortal souls.
They also have a religion from which they acknowledge
that God is, and that they must live well ; and he who ac-
knowledges God and lives well, becomes spiritual in his
degree, and is saved, as shown above. It is said that they
No. 330.I THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
365
have not been baptized ; but baptizing saves nor e but
those who are being spiritually washed, that is, who are
being regenerated ; for baptism is for a sign and a memo-
rial of this. It is said that the Lord is not known to them,
and without the Lord there is no safety. No one is safe
because the Lord is known to him, but because he lives
according to His commandments ; and the Lord is known
to every one who acknowledges God, for He is the God of
heaven and earth, as He teaches (Matt, xxviii. 18, and
elsewhere). And furthermore, they who are without the
church have the idea of God as a Man, more than Chris-
tians ; and they who have the idea of God as a Man and
live well are accepted by the Lord ; they also acknowledge
God, one in Person and Essence, as Christians do not.
They also think of God in their life, for they make evils to
be sins against God ; and they who do this, think of God
in their life. Christians have precepts of religion from the
Word ; but there are few who draw from it any precepts of
life. The Papists do not read it ; and the Reformed who
are in faith separate from charity pay no attention to what
relates to life in it, but only to what relates to faith ; and
yet the whole Word is nothing but Doctrine of Life.
Christianity is only in Europe ; Mohammedanism and Gen-
tilism are in Asia, in the Indies, in Africa, and America ;
and the human race in these parts of the globe is ten
times more numerous than in the Christian portion ; and
in the latter there are few who place religion in the life.
What more insane belief can there be, therefore, than to
hold that only these latter are saved, and the former con-
demned, and that man has heaven from birth and not
from the life? Wherefore the Lord says: I say unto you
that many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit
down with Abraham and Isaac and jfacob in the kingdom of
the heavens ; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out
(Matt. viii. 11, 12). Fourth: That any of the human race
have been damned from predestination, is a cruel heresy. For
366 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 331.
it is cruel to believe that the Lord, who is Love itself and
Mercy itself, suffers such a vast multitude of men to be
born for hell, or that so many myriads of myriads are born
damned and doomed, that is, are born devils and satans ;
and that He does not from His Divine Wisdom provide
that they who live well and acknowledge God should not
be cast into eternal fire and torment. He is still the Lord,
the Creator and Saviour of all ; and He alone leads all, and
wills not the death of any; it is therefore cruel to believe
and think that so great a multitude of nations and peoples,
under His auspices and oversight, was from predestination
handed over as a prey to the devil.
THE LORD CANNOT ACT CONTRARY TO THE LAWS
OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, BECAUSE TO ACT
CONTRARY TO THEM WOULD BE TO ACT CON-
TRARY TO HIS DIVINE LOVE AND CONTRARY TO
HIS DIVINE WISDOM, THUS CONTRARY TO HIM-
SELF.
331. In the "Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine
Love and Wisdom " it is shown that the Lord is Divine
Love and Wisdom, and that these two are Esse itself and
Life itself, from which every thing is and lives ; and it is
also shown that what is similar proceeds from Him, as
also that the proceeding Divine is Himself. Among the
things which proceed, the Divine Providence is primary;
for this is continually in the end for the sake of which the
universe was created ; the operation and progress of the
end through means is what is called the Divine Providence.
Now because the proceeding Divine is Himself, and the
Divine Providence is the primary which proceeds, it follows
that to act contrary to the laws of His Divine Providence
is to act contrary to Himself. It may also be said thnt the
Lord is Providence, as it is said that God is Order; for the
Divine Providence is Divine Order primarily compassing
the salvation of men ; and as there is no order without
No. 332.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
367
laws, for laws make it, and every law derives from order
that it is order also, it thence follows that as God is Order
He is also the Law of His Order ; so, too, it must be said
of the Divine Providence, that as the Lord is His own
Providence, He is also the Law of His Providence. It is
manifest from this that the Lord cannot act contrary to
the laws of His Providence, for to act against them would
be to act contrary to Himself. Furthermore, there is no
operation but upon a subject, and this through means ;
operation except upon a subject, and upon it through means,
is not possible. The subject of the Divine Providence is
man ; the means are the Divine truths by which man has
wisdom, and the Divine goods by which he has love. The
Divine Providence through these means works for its end,
which is man's salvation ; for he who wills an end, wills
the means also ; wherefore, when he who wills is working
for the end, he works for it by means. But these things
will become more evident, when examined in the following
order : I. The operation of the Divine Providence to save
man begins at his birth, and continues even to the end of
his life, and afterward for ever. II. The operation of the
Divine Providence continually goes on by means, from
pure mercy. III. Instantaneous salvation from immediate
mercy is not possible. IV. Instantaneous salvation from
immediate mercy is the fiery flying serpent in the church.
332. I. The operation of the Divine Providence to save
man begins at his birth, and continues even to the end of his
life, and aftenuard for ever. It was shown above that a
heaven from the human race is the very end of the creation
of the universe, and that this end in its working and its
course is the Divine Providence for the salvation of men ;
and that all things exterior to man, and which are service-
able for his use, are secondary ends of creation, — in short,
those which refer themselves to what are of the three king-
doms, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. When
the things which are in these proceed constantly according
368 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 333.
to the laws of Divine Order established in the first creation,
how then is it impossible for the primary end, which is the
salvation of the human race, to proceed constantly accord-
ing to the laws of its order, which are the laws of the
Divine Providence ? Only examine a fruit tree ; does it
not first have birth as a slender shoot from a little seed,
and does it not afterward gradually grow to a stalk, and
spread forth branches, which are covered with leaves, and
then put forth blossoms, and bring forth fruit, depositing
therein new seeds by which it provides for its perpetuity ?
A similar process takes place with every shrub, and with
every herb of the field. Do not all things and every single
thing in them proceed constantly and wonderfully from
end to end according to the laws of their order ? Why not
the primary end likewise, which is a heaven from the
human race ? Can there be any thing in its progress which
does not go on most constantly according to the laws of
the Divine Providence ? As there is a correspondence
between man's life and the growth of a tree, let an analogy
or comparison be drawn between them : Man's infancy is
comparatively like a tree's tender shoot sprouting from the
seed, out of the ground ; his childhood and youth are like
that shoot growing into a stalk with its little branches ; the
natural truths with which every one is first imbued, are
like the leaves with which the branches are covered (leaves
in the Word signify nothing else) ; the things connected
with man's initiation into the marriage of good and truth, or
the spiritual marriage, are like the blossoms which the tree
produces in the spring time ; spiritual truths are the petals
of those flowers 3 the earliest [productions] of the spiritual
marriage are like the rudimentary forms of fruit ; spiritual
goods which are the goods of charity, are like fruit ; they
are also signified by fruit in the Word ; the procreations of
wisdom from love are like seeds, by which procreations
man becomes like a garden and a paradise. Man is also de-
scribed in the Word by a tree ; and his wisdom from love,
No. 333-1
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
369
by a garden ; the garden of Eden signifies nothing else.
Man is indeed a bad tree from the seed ; but still there
may be a grafting or budding with twigs taken from the
tree of life, whereby the sap drawn from the old root is
turned into sap making good fruit. This comparison has
been drawn that it may be known that when there is so
constant a progression of the Divine Providence in the
growth and regeneration of trees, it must by all means be
constant in the reformation and regeneration of men, who
are of much more value than trees, according to these
words of the Lord : Are not five sparrows sold for two
farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God 1 But
even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not
therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. And
which of you with taking thought can add to his stature one
cubit ? If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least,
why take ye thought for the rest ? Consider the lilies how they
grow ; if then God so clothe the grass, which is to-day in the
field and to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more will
He clothe you, O ye of little faith (Luke xii. 6, 7, 25-28).
333. The operation of the Divine Providence to save
man is said to begin at his birth and to Continue even to
the end of his life. In order to understand this, it must
be known that the Lord sees of what quality the man is,
and foresees what he wishes to be, thus what he is to be ;
and that he may be a man and therefore immortal, the
freedom of his will cannot be taken away, as frequently
shown before. Wherefore the Lord foresees his state after
death, and provides for it, from his birth even to the end
of life. With the evil, He provides by permitting and by
continually withdrawing them from evils ; but with the
good, He provides by leading to good. Thus the Divine
Providence is continually in the work of saving men ; but
no more can be saved than are willing to be saved, and
they wish to be saved who acknowledge God and are led
by Him ; and they do not wish it, who do not acknowledge
i6»
370 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 334.
God and who lead themselves ; for these do not think
about eternal life and salvation, but the others do. The
Lord sees this, and still He leads them, and leads accord-
ing to the laws of His Divine Providence, contrary to
which laws He cannot act, since to act contrary to them
would be to act contrary to His Divine Love and contrary
to His Divine Wisdom, which is to act against Himself.
Now as the Lord foresees the states of all after death, and
also foresees the places in hell of those who are not willing
to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who wish to
be saved, it follows, as was said, that for the evil He pro-
vides their places by permitting and by withdrawing, and
for the good by leading ; and unless this were done con-
tinually, from every one's birth until the end of his life,
heaven would not continue to exist, nor hell ; for without
that Foresight and at the same time Providence, neither
heaven nor hell would be any thing but confusion. That
his place has been provided for every one by the Lord from
foresight, may be seen above (n. 202, 203). This may be
illustrated by a comparison : If the hurler of the javelin or
the marksman should aim at a target back of which a
straight line stretches a mile, and if he should in the
slightest degree err in his aim, the javelin or the ball keep-
ing on to the end of the mile would depart very far from
the line. So would it be if the Lord did not every least
moment of time regard the eternal in foreseeing and pro-
viding every one's place after death. But this is done by
the Lord, because all the future is present to Him, and all
the present is to Him eternal. That the Divine Providence
in all which it does regards the infinite and eternal, may be
seen above (n. 46-69, 214, and subsequent numbers).
334. The operation of the Divine Providence is also
said to continue for ever, since every angel is perfecting in
wisdom for ever ; but each according to the degree of the
affection of good and truth in which he was when he left
the world. It is this degree which is becoming perfect foi
No. 335.I
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
371
ever ; whatever is beyond that degree is without the angel,
and not within him ; and that which is without him cannot
be perfected within him. This is meant by the good meas-
ure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over,
which shall be given into the bosom of those who forgive
and give to others (Luke vi. 37, 38), that is, who are in the
good of charity.
335. II. The operation of the Divine Providence con-
tinually goes on by means, from pure mercy. There are
means and modes of the Divine Providence. Its means
are the means from which man becomes man and is per-
fected as to understanding and will ; its modes are the
modes by which these things are done. The means from
which man becomes man and is perfected as to the under-
standing, are called by the common term truths ; which in
the thought become ideas, and in the memory are called
realities ; in themselves they are cognitions, from which
are sciences. All these means viewed in themselves are
spiritual ; but as they are in natural things, from their cov-
ering or clothing they appear as natural, and some of them
as material. These means are infinite in number and in-
finite in variety ; they are more and less simple and com-
pound, also more and less imperfect and perfect. There
are means for forming and perfecting natural civil life, for
forming and perfecting rational moral life, and also for
forming and perfecting heavenly spiritual life. These
means follow in succession, one kind after another, from
infancy even to the last period of man's life, and after this
to eternity; and as they follow in their growth, so the prior
become the means of those that come after, since they
enter into every formation as mediate causes ; for from
these, every effect or every conclusion is efficient and
therefore becomes a cause. Thus the posterior succes-
sively become means ; and as this process goes on for
ever, there is no postreme or ultimate which is the close.
For as the eternal is without end, so the wisdom which in-
372 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 33d
creases to eternity is without end. If there were an end
to wisdom in a wise person, the enjoyment of his wisdom
would perish, which consists in the perpetual multiplication
and fructification of wisdom ; thus would perish his life's
enjoyment; and in its place would succeed the enjoyment
of glory, in which enjoyment alone there is not heavenly
life ; the wise man then becomes like a youth no more, but
like an old man, and finally like one decrepit. Although
the wisdom of a wise man increases for ever in heaven,
there is still no such approximation of angelic wisdom to
the Divine Wisdom that it can touch it ; comparatively as
a straight line drawn about the hyperbola is said to ap-
proximate continually and never touch; and as is said
concerning squaring the circle. From this it may be evi-
dent what is meant by the means whereby the Divine
Providence operates in order that man may be man, and
that he may be perfected as to the understanding; and
that these means are called by the common term truths.
The means whereby man is formed and perfected as to the
will, are of equal number ; but these are called by the
common term goods ; from these the man has love, but
from the others he has wisdom. Their conjunction makes
the man, for such as the conjunction is, such is the man.
This conjunction is what is called the marriage of good
and truth.
336. But the modes by which the Divine Providence
operates upon the means and by the means, to form man
and to perfect him, are also infinite in number and infinite
in variety; as numerous as the operations of the Divine
Wisdom from the Divine Love to save man; thus as
numerous as the operations of the Divine Providence ac-
cording to its laws, which have been treated of above.
That these modes are most secret, was illustrated above
by the operations of the soul upon the body, concerning
which man knows so little that his knowledge is scarcely
any thing; as how the eye, ear, nose, tongue, and skia
No. 338.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
373
feel ; and how the stomach digests, the mesentery elabo-
rates the chyle, and the liver the blood ; how the pancreas
and spleen purify the blood, the kidneys separate it from
impure humors, the heart collects and distributes it, the
lungs clarify it ; and how the brain sublimates the blood
and vivifies it anew ; besides innumerable other things, all
of which are secrets into which scarcely any knowledge
can enter. It is manifest from this that still less can there
be entrance into the secret operations of the Divine Provi-
dence ; it is enough that its laws are known.
337. The Divine Providence does all things from pure
mercy, because the Divine Essence is pure Love, and it is
this which operates by the Divine Wisdom ; and it is this
operation that is called the Divine Providence. This pure
love is pure mercy, for these reasons : 1. It operates with
all men throughout the whole world, who are such that
they can do nothing from themselves. 2. It operates
equally with the evil and unjust, and with the good and
just. 3. It leads the former in hell, and rescues them from
it. 4. It there perpetually strives with them, and fights
for them against the devil, that is, against the evils of hell.
5. It came into the world on this account, and underwent
temptations even to the last of them, which was the passion
of the cross. 6. It continually acts with the unclean to
make them clean, and with the insane to make them sane ;
thus it labors continually from pure mercy.
338. III. Instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy
is not possible. It is shown in the foregoing numbers that
the operation of the Divine Providence to save man, begins
at his birth and continues until the end of his life, and
afterwards for ever; also that this operation continually
goes on by means, from pure mercy. From these things it
follows that neither is there instantaneous salvation nor
immediate mercy. But because many who think nothing
from the understanding concerning the things of the church
or of religion believe that they are saved from immediate
374
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 33S.
mercy, and therefore that salvation is instantaneous, and as
this is nevertheless contrary to the truth, and is moreover
a hurtful belief, it is important that it should be considered
in its order: 1. The belief concerning instantaneous sal-
vation from immediate mercy has been taken from man's
natural state. 2. This belief is from ignorance of the
spiritual state, which is altogether different from the nat-
ural. 3. The doctrines of all the churches in the Christian
world, viewed interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous sal-
vation from immediate mercy ; but still the external men
of the church establish it. First : The belief concerning in-
stantaneous salvation from immediate mercy has been taken
from man's natural state. The natural man from his state
knows not but that heavenly joy is like worldly joy, and
that it flows in and is received in a similar manner ; for
example, that it is like the state of a poor man who be-
comes rich, and so passes from the sad state of want into
a happy state of opulence ; or like that of one who is of
low standing, and who becomes honored, and so passes
from contempt to glory ; or like that of one who goes from
a house of mourning to the joy of a wedding. Because
these states may be changed in a day, and there is no dif-
ferent idea of man's state after death, it is manifest whence
comes the belief in instantaneous salvation from immediate
mercy. In the world, also, many may be together in one
company and in one civil society, and may be joyful
together, and yet all differ in minds [animus'] • this takes
place in the natural state. The reason is, that the external
of one man can be accommodated to another's external,
however unlike their internals may be. From this natural
state also the conclusion is drawn that salvation is merely
admission among the angels and into heaven, and that the
admission takes place from immediate mercy. Wherefore
it is also believed that heaven can be given to the evil as
well as to the good, and that then their consociation is like
that in the world, with the difference that it is full of joy.
No. 338.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
375
Second : This belief is from ignorance of the spiritual state,
which is altogether different from the natural. The spiritual
state, which is that of man after death, has been treated of
above in many places ; and it has been shown that every
one is his own love, and that no one can live with any but
those who are in similar love ; and that if he comes among
others he cannot breathe his own life. It is from this that
every one after death comes into the society of his own, or
of those who are in similar love, and that he recognizes
these as relatives and as friends ; and what is wonderful,
when he meets them and sees them, it is as if he had been
acquainted with them from infancy ; it is spiritual relation-
ship and friendship which causes this. Yes, more : no one
in a society can dwell in any home but his own ; every
one in the society has his home, which he finds made ready
for him when he first enters the society. He may be in
company with others outside of his home, but still he can-
not stay anywhere but in his home. And still more : no
one can sit anywhere but in his own place, in the apart-
ment of another ; if he sits elsewhere, he becomes like one
who has no command of his mind and is dumb ; and what is
wonderful, every one when he enters a room knows his own
place. The same takes place in temples, and also when
they are gathered in public assemblies. It is manifest from
these things, that the spiritual state is wholly different from
the natural, and is such that no one can be anywhere but
where his reigning love is ; for his life's enjoyment is there ;
and every one wishes to be in his life's enjoyment ; and a
man's spirit cannot be elsewhere, because this enjoyment
makes his life, yes, his very breathing, as also the motion
of his heart. In the natural world it is different. In this
world a man's external has from infancy been thoroughly
taught to simulate in face, word, and gesture, enjoyments
other than those which are of his internal. Wherefore
from man's state in the natural world a conclusion cann >t
be formed as to his state after death j for every one's state
376
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 338.
after death is the spiritual, which is, that he cannot be
anywhere but in the enjoyment of his love, which enjoy-
ment he prepared for himself in the natural world by his
life. It may be clearly evident from this, that no one can
be admitted into the enjoyment of heaven (which is called
by the common term heavenly joy), who is in the enjoy-
ment of hell ; or, what is the same, no one who is in the
enjoyment of evil can be introduced into the enjoyment of
good : which conclusion may be still more clearly drawn
from this, that after death no one is forbidden to ascend
into heaven ; the way is shown him, opportunity is given
him, and he is admitted ; but when he comes into heaven,
and draws-in its enjoyment with his breath, he begins to
suffer pain in the breast, to be tortured at the heart, to
feel as if consciousness would leave him, while he writhes
like a serpent brought near the fire; and, with the face
turned away from heaven and toward hell, he flees pre-
cipitately, nor does he rest till in the society of his love.
Evidently, therefore, no one comes into heaven from imme-
diate mercy; consequently, to come into heaven is not
merely to be admitted, as many in the world suppose ; nor
is there instantaneous salvation, for this supposes immedi-
ate mercy. There were some who in the world believed in
instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy ; and when
they became spirits, they wished that their infernal enjoy-
ment, or the enjoyment of evil, should be transmuted, by
Divine omnipotence and at the same time Divine mercy,
into heavenly enjoyment or the enjoyment of good ; and
because they were so desirous, it was permitted that it
ihould be done by angels, who then removed their infernal
•njoyment But then, because this was the enjoyment of
their life's love, consequently their life, they lay as if dead,
deprived of all sense and all motion ; nor was it possible
to breathe into them any other life than their own ; because
all things of their mind and body, which had been turned
backward, could not be reversed. They were therefore re«
No. 333.)
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
377
suscitated by the admission of the enjoyment of their life's
love. After this they said that in that state they interiorly
felt something dreadful and horrible, which they did not
wish to divulge. Wherefore it is said in heaven that it is
easier to change an owl into a turtle-dove, or a serpent
into a lamb, than any infernal spirit into an angel of heaven.
Third : The doctrines of the churches in the Christian world,
viciued interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation from
immediate mercy; but still the external men of the church
establish it. The doctrines of all churches, viewed in-
teriorly, teach life. What church is there, the doctrine
of which does not teach that man ought to examine him-
self, see and acknowledge his sins, confess them, repent,
and then live a new life ? Who is admitted to the Holy
Communion without this admonition and instruction ?
Make inquiry, and you will be convinced. What church
is there, the doctrine of which is not founded on the pre-
cepts of the Decalogue ? and the precepts of the Decalogue
are precepts of life. What man of the church is there,
in whom there is any thing of the church, who does not ac-
knowledge, as soon as he hears it, that he who lives well is
saved, and he who lives wickedly is condemned ? There-
fore in the Athanasian Creed (which is also the doctiine
received in the whole Christian world), it is stated, " That
the Lord will come to judge the living and the dead ; and
then they who have done good will enter into life eternal,
and they who have done evil into eternal fire." From
which it is manifest that the doctrines of all churches,
viewed interiorly, teach life ; and because they teach life,
they teach that salvation is according to the life ; and the
life of a man is not breathed into him in a moment, but is
formed successively, and is reformed as man shuns evils as
sins ; consequently, as he gains a knowledge of what sin
is, recognizes and acknowledges it, and as he does not wil!
it, and therefore desists from it ; also as he gains a knowl-
edge of those means which have relation to a cognition of
378
ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 339
God. By these and by the others man's life is formed and
reformed ; and they cannot in a moment be poured in ; for
hereditary evil must be removed, which is in itself infernal ;
ard in its place good must be implanted, which in itself
K heavenly. From his hereditary evil man may be com-
pared as to the understanding to an owl, and as to the will
lo a serpent ; and when reformed he may be compared as
to the understanding to a dove, and as to the will to a
sheep. Therefore instantaneous reformation and salvation
thereby would be comparatively like the instantaneous
conversion of an owl into a dove, and of a serpent into a
sheep. Who that has any knowledge of man's life does
not see that this is not possible, unless the nature of the
owl and the serpent is removed, and the nature of the dove
and the sheep implanted ? It is also known that every in-
telligent man can become more intelligent, and every wise
man wiser, and that intelligence and wisdom may grow in
man, and with some do grow from infancy until the end of
life, and that man is thus continually perfecting. Why not
spiritual intelligence and wisdom still more ? This ascends
above natural intelligence and wisdom by two degrees ;
and when it ascends it becomes angelic, which is ineffable.
That this increases for ever with the angels, was stated
above. Who cannot comprehend, if he will, that it is im-
possible for that which is for ever perfecting, to be made in
an instant perfect ?
339. It is now manifest from these things, that all who
from the life think concerning salvation, do not think of
any instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy; but
they think concerning the means of salvation, into which
and through which the Lord operates according to the laws
of His Divine Providence, thus by which man is led by the
Lord from pure mercy. But they who do not think from
the life concerning salvation, suppose an instantaneousness
in salvation and an immediateness in mercy; as they do
who separate faith from charity (and charity is life) ; they
No. 340.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
379
also suppose an instantaneousness in faith, and if not be-
fore, at the closing hour of death. And they also do this
who believe the remission of sins without repentance to be
an absolution from sins and thus salvation, and go to the
Holy Supper ; also they who trust in the indulgences of
the monks, and in their prayers for the dead, and in the
dispensations they grant from the power they claim over
the souls of men.
340. IV. Instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy
is the fiery flying serpent in the church. By the fiery flying
serpent is meant evil glowing from infernal fire ; the same
as by the fiery flying serpent spoken of in Isaiah : Rejoice
not thou, whole Philistia, because the rod that smote thee is
broken ; for out of the serpent 's root shall go forth a basilisk,
whose fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent (xiv. 29). Such
evil is flying in the church when there is belief in instantane-
ous salvation from immediate mercy, as may be seen from
this: 1. Religion is abolished thereby. 2. A security is
induced. 3. Damnation is attributed to the Lord. As to
the First : Religion is abolished thereby. There are two
things which are at once the essentials and the universals of
religion ; namely, the acknowledgment of God, and repent-
ance. They both are void of meaning to those who believe
that men are saved from mercy alone, howsoever they live;
for what need is there more than to say, " Have mercy on
me, O God " ? Concerning all other things belonging to
religion, they are in thick darkness, yes, they love dark-
ness. Of the first essential of the church, which is the
acknowledgment of God, they merely think, What is God?
Who has seen Him ? If it is said that He is, and that He
is One, they say that He is One ; if it is said that there are
three, they also say that there are, but that the three are
to be named as one ; this is their acknowledgment of God.
Concerning the other essential of the church, which is re-
pentance, they have no thought, consequently none con-
cerning any sin ; and at last they do not know that ihe<*
380 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING [No. 34a
's any sin. And then they hear, and drink it in with
pleasure, that " the law does not damn, because the Chris-
tian is not under its yoke; only say, God have mercy
upon me for the sake of the Son, and you will be saved."
This with them is the repentance of life. But take
away repentance, or, what is the same thing, separate lhe
from religion, and what is left but the mere words, Have
mercy on me ? From this it is, that they could not say
otherwise than that salvation is instantaneous through
those words ; and, if not sooner, even near the hour of
death. Then what is the Word to them, but an obscure
and enigmatical voice that has issued from a tripod in a
cave, or like a response not understood, from the oracle of
an idol ? In a word, if you take away repentance, that is,
separate life from religion, what then is man but evil
glowing from infernal fire, or a fiery flying serpent in the
church? for without repentance man is in evil, and evil is
hell. Second : By a belief in instantaneous salvation from
pure mercy and it alone, a security of life is induced. Security
of life arises either from the impious man's belief that
there is no life after death, or from the belief of him who
separates the life from salvation. The latter, although he
believes in eternal life, still thinks, Whether I live well or
live ill, I can be saved, since salvation is pure mercy, and
God"s mercy is universal because He does not will the
death of any one. And if perchance the thought occurs,
that mercy ought to be implored in the words of the ac-
cepted faith, he may think that this can be done just before
death, if not done sooner. Every man who is in such a
state of security makes nothing of adulteries, frauds, in-
justice, violence, blasphemy, and revenge ; but lets his flesh
and his spirit loose to them all ; nor does he know what
spiritual evil and its lust are : if he hears any thing con-
cerning this from the Word, it is comparatively like some-
thing falling on ebony and rebounding, or like what falls
into a ditch and is swallowed up. Third : By that belief
No. 340.]
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
381
damnation is attributed to the Lord. Who can avoid the
conclusion thct not man but the Lord is in fault if one is
not saved, when He can from pure mercy save every one ?
It may be said that the means of salvation is faith ; but
what man is there to whom that faith cannot be given ?
for it is thought only, which may be infused in any state of
the spirit withdrawn from worldly things, even with con-
fidence. And he may also say that he cannot have that
faith from himself j if therefore it is not given, and the man
is damned, what can he think but that the Lord Who had
the power to save and would not, is in fault ? Would not
this be to call Him unmerciful ? And moreover in the glow
of his faith he may say, How can He see so many damned
in hell, when yet He is able from pure mercy to save them
all in a moment ? And he may say other things like these,
which can only be called abominable accusations against
the Divine. From these things it may now be evident,
that the belief in instantaneous salvation from pure mercy
is the fiery flying serpent in the church.
Excuse the addition of what follows, that the paper
which is left may be filled. Some spirits by permission
ascended from hell, and said to me : You have written
many things from the Lord ; write something from us also.
I replied, What shall I write ? And they said, Write that
every spirit, whether good or evil, is in his enjoyment ; a
good spirit in the enjoyment of his good, and an evil spirit
in the enjoyment of his evil. I asked, What is your en-
joyment ? They said, It is the enjoyment of committing
adultery, of stealing, cheating, and lying. And again I
asked, Of what sort are those enjoyments? They said,
They are perceived by others as like the fetid smell from
excrement, the putrid smell from dead bodies, and the
pungent odor from stagnant urine. I said, Are those
things pleasant to you ? They answered, They are ex-
ceedingly pleasant. Then, said I, you are like the unclean
382
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
[No. 340
beasts that live in such things. They replied, If we are,
we are ; but such things are delights to our nostrils. I
asked, What more shall I write from you ? They said,
Write this : that every one is allowed to be in his own en-
joyment, even the most unclean, provided he does not
infest good spirits and angels; but as we could not do other-
wise than infest them, we were driven away and cast into
hell, where we suffer dreadful things. I said, Why did you
infest the good ? They replied, We could not do other-
wise. It is as if fury comes upon them when they see any
angel, and feel the Divine sphere around him. Then I
said, Thus you are like wild beasts also. When they heard
this, the fury came over them, which seemed like the fire
of hatred ; and lest they should do harm, they were drawn
back into hell. Concerning enjoyments sensibly perceived
as odors and as foul smells in the spiritual world, see
above (n. 303-305).
ALPHABETICAL AND ANALYTICAL
INDEX,
On the basis of the Index of M. Le Boys des Guays
The numbers refer to the pages.
Aubi. means love and charity, 232. See
Cain.
Abominate (To). As far as man shuns
evils as diabolical and as obstacles to
the Lord's entrance, he is more and
more c.osely conjoined with the Lord,
and he the most closely who abom-
inates them as so many dusky and fiery
devils, 20.
Abstract Ideas concerning the Infinite,
37. There are abstract ideas by which
things are seen to be, though what
they are in quality be not seen, 37.
Abuse of the faculties of man called lib-
erty and rationality. 14. By the abuse
of these tvvo faculties man may confirm
whatever he will, 203.
Accidental and fortuitous are vain
words, 52.
Acknowledge. Nothing can be ac-
knowledged except with the will's con-
sent, 215. Every one acknowledges
God and is conjoined with Him accord-
ing to the good of his life, 349, 351.
They who have acknowledged nature
he""* ami thi'v who' luV^icknowledged
God and His' Divine Providence, make
heaven, 179.
Acknowledgment of God makes a con-
junction of God with nun, and of man
with God, 340, 350. The acknowledg-
ment of the Lord, and that all good and
truth are from Him, makes a man to be
reformed and regenerated, 71. There is
an acknowledgment of the Lord from
wisdom, and an acknowledgment of the
Lord from love, 71. The acknowledg-
ment of the Lord from wisdom comes
from doctrine, and the acknowledgment
of the Lord from love comes from the
life according to doctrine. 71. The lat-
ter gives conjunction ; but the former,
no longer any willing, and so there is na
acting, 3.
Adam. By Adam and his wife are not
meant the first of all mankind that were
created in this world, but the men of
the Most Ancient Church, whose new
creation or regeneration is thus de-
scribed, 231, 273, 327, 356. Hereditary
evil is not from Adam, as is supposed,
for every one is born into it from his
propnum, 328.
Admission into heaviin from immediate
mercy, to remain there, is not possible,
37f>-
Adult The adult who does not come
into liberty itself and rationality itself in
the Horld, can in no wise come into
them after death ; for then his state of
life remains for ever such as it had been
in the world, 81.
Adui.tkrv. Its horrible nature The
love of adultery communicates with the
lowe-t hell, 122.
Affection. Kvery affection in its es-
sence is a subordinate love derived from
the life's love, as a stream from its
fountain, 170. The affections are deriva-
tions from the life's love of every one
24, 86. The affections of a man's lite's
love are known to the Lord alone, 171.
They are led by the Lord by means of
His Divine Providence, 175. The Lord
bv His Divine Providence gathers the
affections of the whole human race into
one form, which is the human, 175.
Every affection of good and at the same
time of truth, is in its form a man, 51
No one can perceive and think any
thing without affection, and every one
perceives and ihinks according to affec-
tion, 24. External affections of thought
manifest themselves in the sensation of
the body, but rarely in the thought of
3^4
INDEX.
the mind, 174. The internal affections
of thought, from which the external
have their existence, in no wise manl-
iest themselves before man, 174. Affec-
tions are interior and exterior. Interior
affections join to them selves mates called
perceptions, and exterior affections join
to themselves mates called thoughts,
169. Every affection has its mate as a
partner; an affection of natural love
lias knowledge, an affection of spiritual
love has intelligence, and an affection
of heavenly love has wisdom, 58. In
beasts there is a marriage of affection
and knowledge, the atttjLtion being that
of natural good, and the knowledge that
of natural truth, 58. Man has not only
the affection of natural love, but also
the affection of spiritual and of heavenly
love, 59. The affection which is of the
love of good makes heaven with a man,
49 The derivations of the love of evil,
which are its affections, are as many as
the evils are to which it has determined
itself, 28.
Affection and Thought. All affec-
tion is in heat, and thought is in light,
174. Every affection has its enjoyment,
and every thought its pleasantness, 170.
There is no affection without its
thought, nor thought without its affec-
tion, 169. There cannot be any thought
without affection, 171. Affection cor-
responds to sound, and thought to
speech, 305. As the sound of the voice
with the words that are spoken spreads
itself abroad in the air in the natural
world, so affection together with thought
spreads itself into societies in the spirit-
ual world, 304. Affections together
with perceptions make a man's internal,
and the enjoyments of the affections
together with the thoughts make his
external, 86. The Lord by His Divine
Providence leads the affections of a
man's life's love, and at the same time
also the thoughts from which is human
prudence, 175. Affections and thoughts
are in substantiate subjects, 285. Affec-
tions, which are of the will, are mere
changes and variations of the state of
the purely organic substances of the
mind; and thoughts, which are of the
understanding, are mere changes and
variations of their form, 282, 336. The
organic forms of the mind are the sub-
jects of a man's affections and thoughts,
336._ Affection and thought from it are
not in space and time, 41.
Africans (Tub) believe that their dead
are human beings in the other life,
Age. All who have lived well, when they
come into heaven come into the age
that in theworlu is the age of their early
manhood, and they remain in it for
ever. Those, too, who in the world
were old men and decrepit, and women
although they have b?en old and wrin»
kled, return into the flower of their aga
and beauty, 346.
Ages. By the golden, silver, copper, and
iron ages, mentioned by ancient writers,
are meant the four successive churches,
357-
Agknt. The agent of the life's love, 88,
89-
Alive. The spiritual man is called alive,
while the natural man is called dead,
however civilly and morally he may
act, 343.
Allowable. To be allowable in the
thought comes from the will, as there is
consent, 64. What man regards as al-
lowable, he does continually in the
spirit, (14, 277. Mail ought to examine
himself, to discover the evils which in
his spirit he deems allowable, 277. The
evils which a man believes to be allow-
able, although he does them not, are
appropriated to him, 64.
Alpha met. In the spiritual world each
letter in the alphabet signifies one thing,
and the several letters joined into one
word making a person's name, involve
the whole state, 213.
Ambassador disputing about human pru-
dence, 172.
Ammonites (The), in the Word, signify
a kind of evil, 242.
Amokites (The), in the Word, signify a
kind of evil, 242.
Anabaptism, 258.
Analytically. Whence man has power
to think analytically, 331.
Anatomical details, 139, 149, 155-158.
174, 286, 287, 308, 336, 373.
Angel. Love and wisdom make the life
of the angels, 23. Angels and spirits
are affections that are of love, and
thoughts from affection, 40, 313, 314.
Every angel turns his face toward the
Lord, 25. They do not from themselves
turn their faces to the Lord, but the
Lord turns them to Himself, 25. Th«
angels of the third heaven perceive the
influx of Divine love and Divine wis-
dom from the Lord, 135. Sometimes
the Lord so fills an angel with His
Divine, that the angel does not know
that he is not the Lord, 77. No one
becomes an angel, or conies into heaven,
unless he carries with him from the
world what is angelic, 48.
Answer by influx, to what effect, 339.
Antipathy of heaven and hell, 315.
Antipodes. Heaven and hell are as an.
tipodes, 314.
Aorta, 308.
Appear (To). Whatever a man doe»
from freedom appears to him as his, 57,
60. When man is in deep meditation,
he sometimes appears in the society in
the spiritual world in which he is, 304.
The Lord appears to the angels at *
distance as a Sun ; the reason, 137.
INDEX.
385
Appearances. Every appearance con-
firmed as a truth is a fallacy, 201, 321.
To confirm appearances is like proving
that one's clothes are the man, 201.
They who confirm appearances in them-
selves become natural, 163. Every man
is permitted to speak from appearance ;
the angels also speak from the appear-
ance, but the angels of the higher heav-
ens think from truth, 137, 138. The
appearance of space and lime is to the
angeis according to the states of the
affections, and thence of the thoughts,
41. 1'he reason why man is kept in
the appearance that he thinks, wills,
speaks, and acts, from himself, 349.
In the spiritual world spaces are only
appearances, 25. Appearances and fal-
lacies, 1S3.
Appropriate (To). The Divine Provi-
dence appropriates neither ev.l nor good
to any one, but man's own prudence
appropriates both. 31S. Whatever man
thinks, says, and does from the will,
whether good or evil, is appropriated
to him and remains, 20S. Whatever a
man does Iroin freedom according to
his thought, is appropriated to him as
his and remains, 61. Nothing is appro-
priated to man which he merely thinks,
nor is even that which he thinks of
willing, unless he at the same time
wills it so far as to do it also when o;--
portui.ity offers, 64. The evils which
a man believes to be allowable are ap-
propiiaied 10 him, even though lie does
not do them, 64. Nothing that a man
has appropriated to himself can be erad-
icated ; for it has bec"me of his love
and at the same time of his reason, and
thence of his life, 62. If man believed,
are from the 'Lord, and all evil and
falsity from hell, he would not appro-
priate good to himself and make it
meritorious, nor appropriate evil to
himself and make himself guilty of it,
3J7-
Api'kopriation of good and evil, 61-64,
337'34«-
Ar aP.ia was one of those countries where
the Ancient Church existed, and in
which the ancient Word was known,
356.
Ari.asa. The arcana of heaven are in-
numerable, and of these man is hardly
acquainted with one, 246. Man pos-
sesses the faculty of understanding ar-
cana of wisdom like the angels them-
selves, 205. Devils and satuns can
aiso understand lheiii while they hear
them, 80. Arcana of angelic wisdom
can be comprehended only by the
man whose spiritual mind is opened,
130- Angelic arcana, 6, 100, 101, 138,
139, 246. Arcanum of the areata of
ang»lic wisdom, 148.
Arguments. Ordinary arguments against
the Divine Providence, 228-230; ro>
futed, 231-273-
Ariakism- Its origin, 264. It reigns in
the hearts of more people than is im
agined, 264.
Arians. Their lot in the other life, 217.
See also, 254.
Ark (The), among the Israelites, irom
the Decalogue enclosed therein, was
the holiest thing of the church, 355.
Arrangement (The) of affections in
heaven and of lusts in hell, is wonder-
ful, 3i4-
Arrogate. It is arrogating Divine power
for one to say that he can open and close
heaven, remit and retain sins, and there-
fore save and condemn men, 253.
Arteries, 308.
Ascent. See Elevation.
AS IF FROM ONESELF, 60, 70, 73, 75, 76,
83, 139, 182, 33S. 339. 34o.
Aspect. As to aspect the Lord is above
the angels in the Sun in heaven, 26.
Assyria signifies the profanation of what
is holy, 242. Assyria was one of the
countries where the Ancient Church
existed, and in which the ancient Word
was known, 356.
Ath-nasius could not think otherwise
than that three Persons are three Gods
when each Person is God, 262. The
Faith which takes its name from Aiha-
nasius, 103.
Atheists. Thevwho attribute all things
to nature and nothing to the Divine,
and have made this of their faith by
reasonings from things that can be seen,
are atheists, 80. Atheists who have
become devils and satan s can under-
stand the arcana of wisdom as well as
angels, but only while hearing them
from others, 80.
Avarice is the root of all evils, 203.
Babel or Barylon, in the Word, signi-
fies the profanation of good in those
who attribute to themselves what is
Divine, 217, 253.
Babylonia. The church not long after
its establishment was turned into Baby-
lonia, 2f>5 ; and afterwards into Philistia,
267. \\ hat Babylonia is, 267.
Back. What it is to see the Divine Prov-
idence in the back, 162.
Baptism is a sign and memorial of regen-
eration. It saves none but those who
are being spiritually washed, that is, r»
generated, 365. See To Regenerate-
Basilisk, 303.
Basement They who are in their own
prudence are like those who live in the
basement of a house, 324.
Bats see liuht as darkness, and darkness
as light, 33*-
Beasts, i acuities of beasts j difference
386
INDEX.
between their faculties and those of
men. 57, 76. How man is distinguished
from beasts, ift. He that believes all
he thinks and does to be from himself,
is not uniike a beast, 339. He knows
no difference between a man and a
b«ast, except that a man talks and a
beast makes sounds; and he believes
that both die, alike, 339. Difference
between a beast and a man who has
become a beast, 274. Men from the
abuse of the faculties rationality and
liberty, are worse than beasts, 59.
Beatitudes. The beatitudes or blessings
of heaven cannot be described in words,
though perceptible to the sense in
heaven, 33.
Bb\utiful. Truth in the sight of the
eye is what is called beautiful, 325.
Bird. Its instincts, 331. Birds of night
see light as darkness and darkness as
light, 332-
Blessings. What are true blessings and
what are not, 192, 193, 194, 241.
Blindness. Whv they who are in a state
of blindness of the understanding can-
not be reformed, 121. Blindness from
a misunderstanding of Kom. iii. 28,
page 94.
Blood signifies the Divine Truth, 219.
Bloods," in the Word, signify the vio-
lence called the falsification 11I truth, and
that called the adulteration of good,
216.
Body (The) of marl consists of the
he puts off by death, and retains the
purer substances of nature which are
nearest to spiritual things, and these
are then his containants, 199. When
the body is sick, the mind also is sick,
120. In the whole body and in every
part, there are externals and internals ;
the externals are called skins, mem-
branes, and sheaths; the internals are
forms of nerve-fibres and blood-vessels,
155. The body is obedience, 101.
Bones (Thr) of the Grand Man, or of
heaven, are constituted by those whom
the Oospel cannot reach, but only some
religion, 247, 353-
Bokn (To be) Man is born into the
ultimate of life, which is called the cor-
poreal-sensual, and therefore into the
thick darkness of ignorance, 275. Man,
by inheritance from his parents, is born
into the love of self and the love of the
world, and from these as fountains
into evils of every kind, 65. If man
were born into the love into which he
was created, he would not be in any
evil, nor would he know what evil is,
373-
Brain. Its organization, 2S5, 2S6. The
brain sublimates the blood and vivifies
it anew, 373.
Bkide. Why heaven and the church are
called the Bride, in the Word, 9.
Bridegroom Why the Lord is called
the Bridegroom, in the Word, 9.
Cain signifies wisdom or faith, particu-
larly wisdom separated from love, or
faith separated from charity. Cain who
slew Abel is this faith which annihi-
lates love and charity, 232. See Abil.
What is meant by the mark set upcn
Cain, 233-
Calf of Gold. Why the worship of .t
was permitted, 233.
Calvin, 41.
Canaan. By the land of Canaan is
meant the Lord's Church, 109, 260.
Cancer. The evils that remain shut in,
and which do not appear, are compared
Capt'vity of the Jewish people in Baby-
Ionia represents the devastation of the
church, 235
Carotid Arteries, 30S.
Cart (The new), i Sam. vi., signified
new doctrine, but natural, 354.
Cartilages (The) of the Grand Man, or
of heaven, are constituted of those to
whom the Gospel cannot reach, but only
some religion, 247, 353.
Catechism or Decalogue, regarded as
a child's book, no longer of any use,
Catholicism (Roman). Its dominion,
210. Whv it has been permitted, 254.
Why it is'of the Lord's Divine Provi-
dence that they should divide the Holy
Supper, giving only the bread to the
people; also that they should make it
corporeal and material, and assume this
as the primary of religion, 2sq.
Catholics (Roman). Many suffer them-
selves to be forced to religion ; but this
is the case with those in whose worship
there is nothing internal, but all is ex-
Cause. Whatever takes place from any
cause, takes place from the Divine Prov-
idence of the Lord, according to some
law of it, 235. Nothing can be and ex-
ist without a cause, 184. The causes of
permissions are laws of the Divine
Providence, 236. If the cause is taken
away from the effect, the effect perishes,
4. The cause is called the mediate end,
10S. The Lord is not the cause of a
man's thinking what is evil and false,
297. They who are not saved are them-
selves the cause of it, 362.
Centre From the centre to the cir-
cumference, 62 The things which are
of the centre diffuse themselves towards
the circumference, 68. Evils with fal
sities are, with the wicked, as in the
centre; and goods with truths in the
circumference : but goods with truths
are in the centre with the good, and evils
with falsities in the circumference, 68,
Thus with the evil, goods in the circuit*
INDEX.
387
ferenees are defiled by the evils of the
centre; and evils in the circumferences
with the good grow mild from the goods
of the centre, 68 Whatever is in the
midst is directly under view, and is seen
and perceived, 291.
Chaldea signifies the profanation of truth
in those who attribute to themselves
what is Divine, 217. Also the profana-
tion of what is holy, 242. Chaldea was
one of the countries in which the An-
cient Church existed, and where the
ancient Word was known, 356.
Changes. Goods and truths are changes
and variations of state in the forms 01
the mind, 171. Affections are changes
and variations of the state of the purely
organic substances of the mind ; thoughts
are changes and variations of the form
of those substances ; memory is the per-
manent state of those changes, 2S2, 2S7.
What is the nature and quality of these
changes, 337. Changes and variations
of state in organic substances are such
that having once been made habitual,
they become permanent, 287.
Chariot, in the Word, signifies doctrine
from spiritual truths, 354.
Christ. No one can even name the
Lord, or utter His names Jesus and
Christ, unless from Him, 43-
Christians do not comprehend that God,
the Creator of the universe, came into
the world and assumed the Human ;
they therefore in their thought separate
the Divine of the Lord from His Hu-
man, 251 They who deny the holiness
of the Word are not regarded as Chris-
tians, 252.
Christian Religion (The). Why it is
only in the smaller division of the habi-
table globe, and is divided there, 251,
252. Why, in many kingdoms where it
is received, there are some who claim
for themselves Divine power, and wish
to be worshipped as gods ; and so forth,
253, 254. Why, among those who pro-
fess the Christian religion there are
some who place salvation in certain
worrs which they may think of and say,
and none in the goods that they may do,
256. Why men have hitherto not known
that to shun evils as sins is the Chris-
tian religion itself, 270.
Christian World. Why the whole
Christian world worships one God un-
der three Persons, which is to worship
three Gods ; and whv it has not hitherto
been known that God is one in Person
and Essence, in Whom is a Trinity, and
that the Lord is that God, 262. Why
there have been and still are so many
heresies in the Christiau world, 25S.
See Heresies.
Church. There are most general prin-
ciples of the church which enter into all
religions, and make a communion, 349.
The Lord's church is uot in the Chris-
tian world onlv, but is extended through-
out the world, and among those who
are ignorant of the Law and have no*
the Word, 349. The most general prin-
ciples which enter into all religions are
the acknowledgment of God and the
good of life, 349. On this earth there
have been many churches, one after
another ; first the Most Ancient chuich,
then the Ancient church ; next the He-
brew church, from which was bon. the
church of Israel and Judah ; and this
was succeeded by the Christian, 356,
357. The Christian church not long
after its establishment, fell away into
babylonia, which transferred the Lord's
Divine power to itself, 265, 267; yet
that it might not be called Divine power,
but human, they made the Lord's Hu-
man like the human of another man,
265. It is provided that a new church
should succeed in place of a tormer de-
vasted church, 360. A new church is
to follow the Christian, which is meant
in the Apocalypse by the New Jerusalem
descending out of heaven, 360, 361.
Chvi.k. Conveyance of the chyle to its
Circle. A circle of love to the thoughts
and from the thoughts to the love from
love, is in all things of the human mind ;
which circle may be called the circie of
life, 25.
Civil.. The civil and moral is the recep-
tacle of the spiritual, 342. He is called
a civil man who knows the laws of the
kingdom wherein he is a citizen, and
lives according to them, 342-
Coats of Skins ( I'hiO with which Adam
and Eve were clothed, signified the ap-
pearances of truth in which they were,
3:8.
Cognitions are like tools to the wcrlt-
Coloks. There could not be variety in
color unless the light were constant. 16^.
See Constant. Colors appear alike in
the light of winter and of summer, 310.
Combat. Whence arises the combat o{
the internal man with the external, 124.
It takes place when man thinks that
evils are sins and therefore wishes to
desist from them, 123, 125 If it be-
comes grievous it is called temptation,
123, 125. 291. The combat is against
things which are in ihe man himself and
which he feels as his own, 125. The
hardest struggle of all is with the love
of rule from the love of self, 124.
Commandments See Precepts-
Commerce. See Mercantile business.
Mercantile business has in view the
good of one's country, of society, and 01
the fellow-citizen, when it is the final
love and money is a mediate and sub-
servient love, provided the merchant
shuns and is averse to frauds auj
wrongful acts as sins, 203
3«8
INDEX.
Communication. In the spiritual world
there is a communication of affections
and thence of thoughts, 206.
Comparisons regarding —
Heavenly love, its affections, percep-
tions, and thoughts. S6.
Infernal love, its lusts and thoughts,
87.
Those who attribute to themselves the
good which is of charity and the truth
which is of faith, 320.
The comb.it when good and evil meet
during man's reformation, 291.
Lusts with their enjoyments, 91.
Joy in the highest and the lowest heav-
en, 247.
The evil which does not appear, 2S1.
Piety without repentance, 98.
'I he delights of the lusts of evil, 34.
'J he delights of the affections of good,
34.
The natural rational and the spiritual
rational, 131.
The conjunction of the will with the
understanding, 140
Wisdom conjoined with love, 31.
Wisdom not conjoined with love, 31.
Wisdom in its progression, 372.
The life of the wicked ; its origin, 136.
Comparisons and Illustrations: —
Actor, 98, 195; Apes, 9S, 312; Arrow, 17S;
Ashes, 330; Atmosphere, 170; Base-
ment, 324 ; Basilisk, 303 ; Beast, 338,
339 ; Besieged city, 92 ; Birds of night,
96; Blood, 170; Bow, 178; Camp, 222 ;
Chyle, 139; Clothing (borrowed), 179;
Clouds, 115; Consorts, 311; Cords,
304, 305; Current, 162; Dead body,
290; Diseases, 289; Disease of heart,
161; Door, 54; Dove, 378; Dragon,
303; Dross, 191; Dung, 330; Eagles,
18; Enemy, 222 ; Faces, 144; Faeces,
139; Falling star, 31 ; Fire, 91, 115, 281 ;
Fishes, 45 ; Fixed star, 31 ; Floods, 91 ;
Flower-bed, 34; Flowerets (perishable),
179: Food in the stomach, 307; Forti-
fications, 222; Fruit, 191; Cold, 191;
Goodness. 34, 131, 164; Grafting, 303 ;
Harlot, 98, 173; Horned owl, 303 ; Hu-
man body, 6; Javelin, 370; Lamb,
303; Leaven, 21, 291; Light, 143, 309;
Marksman, 370 ; Meteor, 31; Mimics,
98; Mind, 175; Mirror, 42, 107; Near-
sighted person, 164; Owl, 378; Palace,
179; Pearls, 330; Pigeon, 303; Piles
(scattered), 179; Pirate, 173; Plaver,
312; Poison, 161 ; River, 55; Robber,
173; Screech owl, 303; Screws, 184;
Seeds, 3, 45, 80 ; Serpents, 34, 347. 37S ;
Sheep, 303 ; Ship, 175; Sores, 91,281;
Spider, 87, 293; Sponge, 17; Statue,
152,338; Stream, j62 ; Sun, 31, 136,
138; Surface, 195; Talent, 183; Tree,
3, 87 ; Tools, 76 ; Turtle-dove, 303 ;
Ulcers, 91,92; Urim, 139; Vermilion,
130; Viper, 303 ; Virgin, 107, 10S ; Wall
(cracked), 334 ; Water, 170 ; Water fr m
ao impure fountain, 67 ; Water, stag-
nant, 95 ; Wave, 173, 175 ; Wheel, s8t
Wine, 291 ; Young man, 107, 108.
Compel. The external cannot compel
the internal, but the internal can compel
the external. The internal is so avers*
to compulsion by the external that it
turns itself away, 106, 113, 114. It it
not from freedom according to reascn
for one to be compelled, and it is not
from oneself ; but it is from what is not
freedom, and is from another, 105, 106.
The Lord in no wise compels any one,
36. One cannot be compelled to be-
lieve what he does not believe, and still
less what he is not willing 10 believe;
nor to love what he does not love, and
still less what he is not willing to love,
106, 114. The animal internal maybe
compelled, and in what manner, 114.
To be compedcd by love and by the fear
of its loss, is compelling oneself, 117.
What it is to compel oneself, 125. To
compel oneself is not contrary to liberty
and rationality, 107, 117, 123. 125. Mao
is in liberty by influx from the spiritual
world w hich does not compel, 106. There
is a forced internal and a free internal,
113. The quality of forced worship, and
of worship not forced, 117.
Concubine in the Word signifies some re-
ligious system, 234. The three hundred
concubines of Solomon signified various
religious systems, 234.
Concupiscences. See Lusts.
Confession. What it is to confess sins,
278. Of those who confess themselves
guilty of all sins, and do not search out
any one sin in themselves, 278. The
confession of all, lulls one to sleep and
at length brings blindness as to all, 279.
It is like a universal without any par-
ticular, which is not any thing, 279.
Confirm. Every thing of which man haj
persuaded h.mself and which he has
confirmed in himself, remains in him as
his own, 330. Every thing whatevercan
be confirmed, and falsity more than the
truth, 331. It may be so confirmed that
it appears as truth, 293, 332. When
falsity has been confirmed, truth does
not appear ; but from confirmed truth,
falsity becomes apparent, 333. Ability
to confirm whatever one pleases is not
intelligence, but only ingenuity, which
may be even in the worst of men, 331.
Every thing confirmed from the will and
the understanding at the same time, re-
mains for ever ; but not that which has
been confirmed by the understanding
only, 332. The man who confirms evfl
loves, does violence to the Divine Goods;
and he who confirms false principles,
does violence to the Divine Truths, 216.
The confirmation of what is false is a
denial of the truth, and the confirmation
of evil is a rejection of what is good,
216. There is confirmation that is in-
tellectual and not at the same time vol-
INDEX.
389
antary ; but all voluntary confirmation is
also intellectual, 331. The confirmation
of evil that is voluntary and at the same
time intellectual, causes man to believe
that his own prudence is all, and the
Divine Providence nothing ; not so, in-
tellectual confirmation alone, 331. There
are some who are exceedingly skilful in
confirming, who do not know any truth,
and still can confirm both truth and
falsity, 334.
Conflict and Combat, when during
man's reformation good and evil meet,
aoi.
Confused. What is not distinct is con-
fused, giving rise to every imperfection
of form. 6
Conjoin (To). How a man can be more
and more closelv conjoined with the
Lord, 28. Kvery one acknowledges God
and is conjoined with Hun according to
the good of his life. 352. The Lord is
so conjoined with man, spirit, and angel,
that all which has relation to the Divine
is from the Lord, and not from them,
43. The more closely a man is con-
joined with the Lord, the wiser he be-
comes, 34. The more closely a man is
conjoined with the Lord, the happier he
becomes, 37; and the more distinctly
he seems to himself as if he were his
own, and the more clearly he recognizes
that he is the Lord's, 35, 36. The Lord
conjoins man with Himself by appear-
ances ; also by correspondences, 19S.
The Lord by His Divine Providence con-
joins Himself w ith natural things by spir-
itual,and with temporal by eternal things,
according to uses 200. The Lord con-
joins Himself with uses by correspond-
ences, and thus by appearances according
to the confirmations of them by man,
aoi. The understanding does not con-
join itself with the will, or the thought
of the understanding does not conjoin
itself with the affection of the will, but
the will and its affection conjoin them-
selves with the understanding and its
thought, 64- See Conjunction.
Conjugial love is spiritual, heavenly
love itself, wh.ch is the image of the
love of the Lord and the church, from
which also it is derived, 122. It com-
municates with the inmost heaven, 122.
Conjunction with the Lord, by the re-
ception of love and wisdom from Him,
139. Conjunction with the Lord and
regeneration are one, 72. The conjunc-
tion is closer and closer, or is more and
more remote. 23, 27. How a man can
be more closely conjoined with the Lord,
18. How this conjunction is effected,
13, 14. The conjunction of the Lord
with man, and the reciprocal conjunction
of man with the Lord is effected by
means of the two faculties rationality
and liberty, 72 ; by loving the neighbor
41 oneself and loving the Lord above
all things, 74, 351. The reciprocal con-
junction of the angels with the Lord, is
not from the angels but as from them,
24. By means of the two faculties ra-
tionality and liberty, there is conjunction
of the Lord with every man, evil and
good alike ; therefore every man has
immortality ; but the man has eternal
life, that is, the life of heaven, in whom
there is reciprocal conjunction from
iumosts to ultimates, 7S. The acknowl-
edgment of God makes a conjunction ot
God with man, 350. Upon the conjunc-
tion of the Crertor with man, the con-
nection ot all things is dependent, 4.
In the spiritual world, conjunction is
from affection which is of love, 350.
is effected by means of looking to
[another), 25 ; examples. 350. The
particulars in the human mind are con-
sociated and conjoined according to
affections. The conjunction is spiritual ;
and spiritual conjunction is life itself in
things general and particular. It has
its origin from the conjunction of the
Lord with the spiritual world and with
the natural world, in general and in par-
ticular, 351. The conjunction of the
will with the understanding compared
with the influx of the blood from the
heart into the lungs, 140. The con-
junction of all things of the will and
understanding, or man's mind, with his
life's love, S7. If one loves another and
is not loved in return, then as one ad-
vances the other retires ; but if he is
loved in return, then as the one ad-
vances the other advances also, and
conjunction takes place, 70.
Connection ( The) of all things is de-
pendent on the conjunction of the Cre-
ator with man, 4.
Consent is a deed, 90.
Constant There are many things created
to be constant, that things not constant
may hare existence, 164. Many con-
stant th ngs named and described, 164,
165.
Consummation. The end of a church is
called its consummation, 3S7. The con-
summation of the Most Ancient Church,
of the Ancient Church, of the Church
of Israel and Judah, and of the Christiao
Church, as described in the Word, 357.
Contagiousness of evil, whence it
arises, 359.
Contiguity. What is living in man or
angel is from the proceeding Divine
conjoined with him by contiguity, and
appearing to him as his, 46.
Containants. Outermosts and ulti-
mates are ontainants. and these are in
the natural world, 199. After deatb
man retains the purer things of naturt
which are nearest to spiritual things:
and these then are his containants, 199
Continuity The natural does not com-
39Q
INDEX.
municate with the spiritual by con-
tinuity, but by correspondences ; how
felt, 34-
Correspondences. All the things of the
mind correspond to all of the bodv, 158.
The Lord conjoins Himself with uses
by correspondences, 201. All things of
the Word are mere correspondences of
spiritual and heavenly things ; and be-
cause they are correspondences they are
also appearances, 201. Among the
ancients there was a knowledge of cor-
/espondences, which is also a knowledge
of representations, the very knowledge
of the wise, which was especially culti-
vated in Egypt, 249.
Council of Trent, 254.
Covenant. Why the two tables of the
law ate called the covenant, 352.
Coverings. A man after death is as
much a man as when in the world, only
with this difference, that he has cast
off the coverings which make up his
body in the world, 100
Cows (that carried back the ark) signi-
fied good natural affections, 354.
Create. All things of the universe
have been created from the Divine
Love bv the Divine Wisdom, 2, 3.
The Divine Love and Wisdom, as one,
are in a certain image in every created
thing, 7. In every created thing there
is something which may be referred to
the marriage of pjood and truth, 58.
No angel or spirit was immediately
created, but they were all born men,
199. Everyman has been created that
he may live for ever in a blessed state,
346. Man was created that he may be
a receptacle of the Divine Love and
Wisdom, 358. The difference between
being created and proceeding from, 197.
Creation. The end of creation is a
heaven from the human race, 344. All
things exterior to man, and which are
serviceable for his use, are secondary
f nds of creation, 367. The Lord created
the universe, that in it there may exist
infinite and eternal creation by Himself,
177, 179. The new creation or regener-
ation of the men of the Most Ancient
Church is described in Genesis by the
creation of heaven and earth, 231.
The creation of the universe called the
first creation, 36S.
Crowns. The seven crowns upon the
heads of the dragon (Apoc. xii. 3),
signify the holy things of the Word and
the church, profaned, 324-
Crucify. Why the Jewish nation was
permitted to crucify the Lord, 235.
Cruelty. Its origin, 275.
Cunning. Their lot iu the other life,
323. See Divices.
Cup of cold water (Matt. x. 42), means
some truth, 214.
Cuke (To). The evils of a man's life's
love are cured by spiritual means, as
diseases are by natural means, 28a.
See/W
Curse. The cursing of Ciin involve!
the spiritual state into which they come
after death who separate faith from
charity, or wisdom from love, 232.
What are real curses, 192-195, 241.
Dagon represented the religious system
of those who are in faith separate from
charity, 354-
Damnation is non-salvation, 362. Man's
first state is a state of damnation, 65.
By a belief in instantaneous salvation
through immediate mercv, damnation
is attributed to the Lord, 381. That
any of ihe human race have been
damned from predestination, is a cruel
heresy, 365.
Danes. What they teach in the exhorta-
tion to the Holy Communion, 92.
Darkness {tenebra). In the Word
falsities are called darkness, and henca
they who are in falsities are said to
walk in darkness, 333. Outer dark-
Daricne^ss^* Thick (Cnligo). When an
angel of heaven looks into hell, he sees
nothing but mere thick darkness there;
and when a spirit of hell looks into
heaven, he sees nothing but thick dark-
ness there, 142.
David represented the Lord who was to
come into the world, 234.
Death is a continuation of life, 277. By
death a man puts off the grosser things
of nature, and retains the purer things
of nature which are nearest to spiritual
things; and these then are his conlain-
ants, 199. The death of the body is
tile rejection of temporal and natural
ultimates, 200. In the spiritual world,
into which every one comes afier death,
inquiry is not made as to what your
faith has been, nor what your doctrine,
but what your life, 83. Why the natu-
ral man, however civilly and morally he
may act, is called dead, 343. After
death man is no longer carried from
society to society, because he is then
no loDger in any state for reformation,
318.
Decalogue, (The) was the first of the
Word ; being placed in the ark, it was
called Jehovah, and it made the holy
of holies in the tabernacle, and tho
shrine in the temple at Jerusalem, 354.
The tables of the Decalogue are two,
one for God and the other for man,
352. The Decalogue taught to chil-
dren, 257, 271. At this day the Deca-
logue is but as a little book or writing
sr.i ed up, ami opened only in the hands
of infants and children, 361.
Deeds. By the deeds of the law, spoken
of by Paul (Romans iii. 28). are meant
the rituals described by Muses in hi*
INDEX.
bonks, and the precepts of the Deca-
1 >gue arc not meant. 94.
DwiXKBS are of a twofold kind, discrete
or degrees of heieht, and continuous or
degrees of breadth, 27. Every man
from creation, and thence from birih
has the three discrete decrees, or the
decrees of height ; the first is the
natural degree, the second the spiritual,
and the third the heavenly [cclestuil J,
27, 344. These degrees are actually in
every man ; but in beasts there is but
one degree of life, which is similar to
the ultimate degree in man, called the
natural, .144, 345. These degrees are
opened by the Lord in man according
to his life, actually in the world, but
not perceptibly and sensibly till after
he le.ives the world, 27. There are in
man three degrees of wisdom ; these are
opened according to conjunction with
the Lord; thus they are opened ac-
cording to love, 30. These degrees are
not connected continuously; thev are
conjoined by correspondence, 30. Wis-
dom can be elevated in a triplicate
ratio; in each degree it may be per-
fected to the highest point in a simple
ratio, 31. The natural degree of life
viewed in itself loves nothing but se:f
and the world ; the spiritual loves the
Lord and heaven as higher, principal,
aui predominant, and self and the
world as lower, instrumental and sub-
servient, 348. The Lord alone opens
the spiritual and the heavenly de-
crees, and in those only who are wise
from Him, 31. Every angel is perfect-
ing in wisdom for ever. The degree is
for ever becoming perfect in which he
was when he left the world, 370.
Delugb. liy the flood is described the
consummation of the Most Ancient
Church, 357.
Deny (To), They who deny God in the
world deny Him after death, 351. They
who deny the Divinity of the Lord can-
not be admitted into heaven and be in
the Lord, 218. So far as one denies
the Lord, he is separated, 351.
Derivations of the love of evil, 28. The
derivations of infernal love are the af-
fechons of evil and falsity, — properly
lusts; and the derivations of heavenly
love are the affections of good and
truth. — properly, loving preferences, S6.
Description (A shout), of heaven and
hell, 3'3-3'7-
Desolation. A gradual vastation of
good and desolation of truth iu the
church, even to the consummation of
. 359-
Devastation. The devastation of the
church was represented by the destruc-
tion of the tempie, and by the carrying
away of the people of Israel, and bv the
captivity of the people of Judah in
Bab>louia, 235.
Drtbrmination. For every power there
must be supply, which is to be given it ;
and thus, determination from what is
more internal or higher than itself, 69.
The mind has not the power to think
and to will one thing or another from
itself, without something more internal
or higher to determine the mind to it.
69. Man cannot pass from the natural
to the spi»tual but by determination,
54 Compared to a door, 54.
Devices. The perceptions belonging to
lusts are devices, 180.
Devil. By the devil is meant hell in the
whole complex, 179. There is no devil
who is sole lord in hell, but the love of
self is so called, 315. Hell in its fntm
is like a monstrous man, whose soul \a
the love of self and his own intelligence,
thus the devil, 31s. Whethe. it is said
evil or the devil, it is the same; the
devil is within all evil, 222. Evil is the
devil, 191. Evil and the Devil are one,
and the falsity of evil and Satan are one,
29. They are called satans who con-
firm in themselves the lusts of evil, and
devils who live in them, 323. Devils
mav understand the arcana of wisdom
while they hear them, and may also
speak them from their rationality, but
as soon as they return to thek diabolical
love, they do not understand them, 205.
See Hell and Satan.
Diastole. What it is, 336.
Difference between those who believe
all good to be from the Lord, and those
who believe good to be from themselves,
73 ; between man and beasts. 57, 76,
274; between enlightenment from the
Lord and enlightenment from man, 142-
145; between the love of dignities and
riches for their own sake, and the love
of them for the sake of uses, 188.
Digestion, process of, 30S.
Dignities. What dignities and riches
arc, and whence they are, 186. Natu.
ral and temporal in the external form ;
spiritual and eternal in the internal,
201, 202. Stumbling-blocks to the
wicked, but not to the good, 238. Sea
Honors.
Disciple. By a disciple (a cup of cold
water in the name of a disciple, Matt,
x. 42) is meant the state of those who
are in some of the spiritual things of
the church, 214.
Dissensions and heresies are inevitable,
252, -!59- Their permission is accord-
ing to the laws of the Divine Provi-
dence, 250. If the church had remained
111 its three essentials, intellectual dis-
sensions would not have divided, but
only varied it, 260.
Distance. The reason why the Lord
appears to the angels at a distance, as a
Sun, 137. The distance is an appear-
ance according to the conjunction with
Hun, 137. Distances in the spiritual
392
INDEX.
world are according to dissimilitude,
13X. The spiritual is unt in distance as
tlie natural is, 326. It is the appear-
ance of distance which causes a belief
concerning what man thinks and per-
ceives, different from that concerning
what he sees and hears (as to its being
within him rather than from without),
326, 327.
Divided. The Lord does not suffer any
thing to be divided, 15. See Division.
Divine. The Divine is in every created
thing, because the Sun of the spiritual
world is in every created thing, but with
variety according to uses, 7. The Di-
vine in itself is in the Lord ; but the
Divine from itself is the Divine from the
Lord in created things, 42. The Divine
cannot be appropriated to man as his,
but can be adjoined to him, and thereby
Divine Essenc'kV'i'he) is Love and Wis-
dom, 3S. See Essence.
Divine Human iThk) is what is called
the Son, ;'.4. A ( hnstian can hardly
be led 10 think of a Divine Human, 264.
Divine Itself (The), from which are
all things is called the Father, 264.
The Divine Itself is meant by the In-
finite and Eternal in itself, 42.
Divine Love and Wisdom (the), pro-
ceed from the Lord as one, 4. The
Divine Love and Wisdom are substance
and are form. 6, 38. The Divine Love
is of the Divine Wisdom, and the Divine
Wisdom is of the Divine Love, 4. The
Divine Love created all things, but
nothing without the Divine Wisdom, 4.
The Divine Love has for its end a
heaven consisting of men who have be-
come and are becoming angels, 22.
Divine (The proceeding), is called the
Holy Spirit, 264.
Division. A man while living in the
woild can be in good and at the same
time in falsity, and this division de-
stroys the man, therefore the Lord's
Divine Providence has in view that this
division shall not be, 16. See Divided.
Dogma. Where there is discourse with
those who have died, spirits sometimes
bring in some dogma of religion ; re-
sults, 112, 113.
Dominion (Love of), when it gradually
made its invasion, 187. See Rule.
Door. The Door (John x. 2, 9) means
the Lord, 214. When the door is
opened and when shut, 54. The love
of oneself guards the door, that it may
not be cast out by the Lord, 183. Evils
obstruct and close the door, 96. It can-
not be opened by the Lord but by means
of the man. 94, 96. It is opened by
man by his shunning evils as sins as
from himself, with the acknowledgment
that he does it from the Lord, 123, 183,
222. When man thus as from himself
opens the door, the Lord then at the
same time extirpates the lusts, 96. Th«
Lord continually urges and presses man
to open the door to Him, 97.
Dragon (The), signifies those whc sepa-
rate faitli from charity, 25ft.
Dwelling- PL ach. The Lord cannot
have a dwelling-place in man and angel,
and abide with them, except in His
Own ; the reason, 43.
Eagles signify men given to rapine, who
have intellectual sight, 19.
Ear (The). There cannot be hearing
separate from its form, which is the ear,
285, 286. Very little known as to how
the ear hears, 372. The understanding
from the will flows into the eye and the
ear, and not only makes those senses, but
also uses them as its instruments in the
natural world ; but this is not according
to the appearance, 328, 329. In the eye
the understanding sees, and it hears in
the ear, and not the reverse, 127
Eat. By eating from the tree of knowl-
edge is signified appropriating good and
truth, as being not from the Lord and
hence the Lord's, but as being from man
and hence man's, 231, 233, 327, 328. It
thus signifies the pride of their own in-
telligence, 357. Also the cognition of
evil, after the fall, 274.
Erer. The Ancient Church was changed
in a notable manner by Eber (or Heber),
from whom arose the Hebrew Church,
Edem (The garden of). The wisdom
and intelligence of the men of the Most
Ancient Church are described by the
garden of Eden, 231, 327.
Effect. If from an effect you take away
the cause, the effect perishes, 4. The
effect is called the ultimate end, 88.
See End.
Effort. If from motion you take away
effort, motion stops, 4.
Egypt was one of the countries in which
the Ancient Church existed, and where
the ancient Word was known, 356.
[Here, and in other places where the
same statement is made, Egypt is named
as in Asia, in which it had extensive
Egyptians. A particular kind of evil is
signified in the Word by the Egyptians,
242.
Elevation and Ascent. Of the ascent
of love according to degrees, man has
only an obscure perception ; the ascent
of wisdom, however, is clearly perceived
with those who know and see what wis-
dom is, 30. As to the affection there
would not be this elevation unless man
tad from rationality ability to elevate
the understanding, and from liberty,
ability to wish to do so, 76.
Embryo. In every human embryo the
Lord forms two receptacles, one of
INDEX.
393
Divine Love and the other of Divine
Wisdom, the receptacle of Divine Love
for the future trill of the man, and the
receptacle of Divine Wisdom for his
future understanding, 348.
Embrods. The enierods with which the
Philistines were smitlen signified nat-
ural loves, which when separate from
spiritual love are unclean, 354. The
emerods of gold signified natural loves
purified and made good, 354.
Eno, mediate end, and ultimate end; or
end, cause, and effect, 38. The end is
the very essential which enters into the
cause and the effect, 88. The end gives
all belonging to it to the cause, and
through the cause to the effect, 88.
It conjoins itself with the cause, and
through the cause with the effect, 88.
He who wills an end, wills the means
also, 88. The operation and progress
of the end for the sake of which the
universe was created, through means,
is what is called the Divine Providence,
366. The Lord is not only willing that
a man should think and talk of Divine
things, but also that he should reason
about them for the end that he may see
a thing to be so or not so, 107 The
end of the Divine Providence, 15, 22,
36, 37. Ends of creation, 22, 45. 344,
367. Secondary ends of creation, 367.
See Cause, Effect.
nglish. Among those who do not
suffer themselves to be forced to relig-
ion, are many of the English nation,
115. In their exhortation to the holy
Communion, the English openly teach
examination, acknowledgment, confes-
sion of sins, repentance, and renewal of
life, 92.
nlightbn ; Enlightenment. En-
lightenment is an expression properly
used concerning wisdom and the under-
standing, 139, 140. Man is taught by
enlightenment, 139. There is enlight-
terior; and there is also enlightenment
from man. interior and exterior, 142.
There is interior enlightenment from
the Lord for man to perceive at the
first hearing whether what is said is
true or is not true ; exterior enlighten-
ment is from this in the thought, 142.
Interior enlightenment frorn man is
from confirmation alone ; and exterior
enlightenment from man is from knowl-
edge alone, 142. Another kind, 144.
The enlightenment of Swedenborg, 113.
Since the last Judgment, and thus now,
every man who wishes to be enlightened
and tf> be wise, can he, 2'>6. See Light.
njovment (f'ueundum). The enjoy-
ment of his love makes man's very life,
162. Enjoyments make the life of
every one, 3 1 5- All the enjoyment that
a man has is from his love, no enjoy-
ment coming from any other source, 55.
'7
All enjoyment and pleasure, tins all
that belongs to will, is from affection
that is of love, 60. The enjoyments
of good are what art called the goods of
charity, 123. To act from love's en-
joyment is acting from freedom, 55 ;
and as the reason favors the love, it is
also to act according to reason, 68.
What enjovment is. 32$, 326. The en-
joyment of his affection fills and sur-
rounds every angel of heaven, and a
general enjoyment fills and surrounds
every society of heaven, and the enjoy-
ment of all together or a most general
enjoyment fills and surrounds the uni-
versal heaven. In like manner the en.
joyment of his lust fills and surrounds
every spirit of hell, and a general en.
joyment every society of he.l, and the
enjoyment of all or a most general en-
jovment fills and surrounds all hell, 315.
There is no affection and no lust with-
out enjoyments, 315. The enjoyments
of heaven and of hell are oppnsites, 315.
Enjoyments are 01 two kinds, the en-
joyments of the understanding and the
enjoyments of the will, or the enjoyments
of wisdom and the enjoyments of love,
115. Enjoyments captivate the thoughts
and banish reflection, 91. External en-
joyments allure the internal to consent
and to love, 113. The enjoyments be-
longing to lusts are evils, and the
thoughts belonging to the enjoyments
are falsities. 180. The enjoyment of
evil grows with the wicked man, as he
wills and does evil, 303. After death,
the enjoyment of infernal love is turned
into the undelightful, the painful, and
the terrible, 66. The enjoyments of in-
fernal spirits, 3S1. How great is the
enjoyment of the love of ruling from the
love of self. 189. Lusts with their en-
joyments close the doors before the
Lord. 28.
Enmity. The enmity put between the
serpent and the woman, and between
the seed of the serpent and the Seed of
the woman (Gen. iii. 15), is between the
love belonging to man's proprium and
the Lord, thus between man's own
prudence and the Lord's Divine Provi-
dence, 183. Man's proprium has an
inborn enmity against the Divine
Providence, 183.
England, 257.
Enthusiastic Spirits have called them-
selves the Holy Spirit, 112. They who
are instructed by influx wha; to believe
or what to do, are not instructed by the
Lord, nor by any angel ot heaven, but
by some enthusiastic spirit, 339.
Equilibrium between heaven and hell,
20. In this equilibrium every man is
kept as long as he lives in the world;
and by means of it he is kept in that
liberty of thinking, of wil ing, of speak-
ing, aud of doing, in which he cm be
394
INDEX.
reformed, ao. Evil and falsity that are
together, made to serve for equilibrium,
and thus in the conjunction of good and
truth in others 19, 20.
Error of thh agh as to the remission of
sins, 2X2, 287. It is an error of the age
that the state of a man's life can be
changed in a moment even to an oppo-
site state, 282, 284.
Essb without existere is not any thing,
11. Love is the esse of a thing, 11.
See Existere.
Essence. There is an only Essence from
which are all the essences that have
been created, 133. The Divine Es-
sence is pure Love, 373.
Essentials. There are three essentials
of the church ; what they are, 360.
Thi;re are two things which are at once
the essentials and the universals of re-
ligion, 379.
Eternal, 46-69. The Eternal is the
Divine Existere, 39. See Infinite,
Ether (in relation to sight), 165.
Eve. By the condemnation of Eve is
signified the condemnation of the volun-
tary proprium, 328. See Adam.
Evil ( Hereditary). See Hereditary.
Evil is the enjoyment from the lust of
acting and thinking contrary to Divine
order, 28J. There are myriads of lusts
entering into and composing every single
evil, 285, 30a. The love of self and the
love of the world are as fountains from
which are evils of every kind, 65. Evil
and the devil are one, 29. Its own pun-
ishment follows every evil, 237. It is
to man's advantage to be in evil and at
the same time in falsity rather than to
be in good and at the same time in evil,
therefore the Lord permits it to be so,
16. Evils are permitted for the sake of
the end, which is salvation, 237, 288.
In all evil is inwardly hidden the ac-
knowledgment of nature and human
prudence alone, 179- There is inherent
in all evil a hatred of good, 221. Evil
cannot be taken away from any one un-
less it appears, is seen, and acknowl-
edged, 160, 277. As long as evils remain
in the lusts of their love, and conse-
quently in the enjoyments, there is no
faith, charity, piety, nor worship except
in externals only, 67. The evils of the
lusts of his life's love are not felt by
mar. as evils, but as enjoyments, 305.
So far as evils are removed they are
remitted, 2*3. The evil are continually
leading themselves into evils, but the
Lord is continually leading them away
from evils, 302 An evil man is hell in
the least form, 302. The evil who are
in the world the Lord governs in hell, as
to interiors and not as to exteriors, 317.
The Divine Providence with the evil is
• continual permission of evil, to the
end that there may be a continual with-
drawal from it. 305. See KtU smA
Falsity, Hereditary.
Evil and Falsity. All evil and falsity
are from hell, 339. There cannot bo
evil without its falsity, 221. Evil from
its enjoyment and falsity from its pleas-
antness, may be called and may be be-
lieved to be good and truth, 171. Evil
is confirmed by fallacies and appear-
ances, which become falsities while
confirmed, 69. That is evil to a man
which destroys the enjoyment of his
affection, and that is falsity which de-
stroys the pleasantne*s of his thought
that is from it, 171. Evil and fal.-ity
that are together serve for equilibrium,
for relation^ for purification, and thua
for the conjunction of good and truth
in others, 19
Examination (Self). What it is, 277,
278. Not only must the external be
examined, but the internal also, 129.
What is seen if the external alone is
examined, 129. How the spirit is ex-
amined, 129. By the examination of the
internal man, the external man is essen-
tially examined, 129.
Existere without esse is not any thing,
11. See Esse.
Expulsion from the garden of Eden sig-
nifies the deprivation of wisdom, 328.
External [The] has its essence from
the internal, 206. It may have an ap-
pearance not in accordance with it!
essence from the internal, as with hypo-
crites, flatterers, and pretenders, 206.
The appearance is that the external
flows into the internal, when the con-
trary is the case, 127. The external of
man's thought is in itself of the same
quality as its internal, 85. Externals
are so connected with internals that
they make one in every operation, 154.
Eye. By the eye, in the spiritual sense
of the Word, is meant the understand-
ing, 268. _ There cannot be sight sepa-
rate from its form which is the eye, 285.
The eyesight of all is forme J for the
reception of the light in which it is, 142.
The eye does not see from itself; but
it is plan's mind or spirit which there
perceives things by the sense, and from
it is affected according to its quality,
329. Very little known as to how the
eye sees, 372. The understanding from
the will flows into the eye and the ear,
and not only makes those senses, but
also uses them as its instruments in the
natural world, 328, 329. The eyes cor-
respond to wisdom and its perceptions.
25. In the eye the understanding sees,
and it hears in the ear, and not the
reverse, 127.
Face. Faces are types of minds [animus\
276. Distinction between tlie externa/
and the internal face, 200, 206. Thn in
INDEX.
395
tenial is hidden interiorly in the face of
the external, 207. In the spiritual
world every one chances the face, and
becomes like his own affection ; so that
what he is in character is apparent from
the face, 207. To see the Divine
Providence in the back and not in the
face, is to see after the Providence and
not before it, 162. Angels constantly
turn the face to the Lord as a Sun, 25.
Faculty. The faculty of willing which
is caled liberty, and the faculty of
understanding which is called ration-
ality, are as if inborn in man, for his
humanity itself is in them, 79. These
two faculties are from the Lord in man,
55. Without them, man would not have
a will and an understanding, and so
would not be man. 76 ; without them
he would not have been able to be con-
joined with the Lord, and so would not
have been able to be reformed and re-
generated, 67, 75, 77; he would not
have immortality and eternal life, 7S.
As these two faculties are in the good,
so they are in the evil, 15, 77, 80,
292. The Lord keeps these two facul-
ties in man, unimpaired and as sacred,
in all the course of His Divine Provi-
dence, 75. In them He has His resi-
dence with every man, 77. See Freedom,
Reason, Liberty, Rationality.
Faith separate from charity, 267, 268,
270: the only obstacle to the reception
of the Christian religion, 270. Paul's
sayings as to faith, 94. What blindness
has been induced by a passage wrongly
understood. 94. Faith induced by mir-
acles is not faith but pers asion ; its
nature, 108.
Fallacies from appearances blind the
understanding, 150. Every appearance
confirmed as a truth is a fallacy, 201, 32 1 .
They who confirm themselves in falla-
cies become naturalists. 321. Evil is
confirmed by fallacies and appearances,
which become falsities while confirmed,
69. Appearances and fallacies, 185.
Falsification. Falsification of truth is
the violence done to Divine Truths by
the confirmation of false principles,
a 16. In the Word, falsifications of
truth are described by whoredoms, 225.
How produced, 225. See Whoredoms.
Fai-sity. The falsity of evil is falsity in
the understanding from evil in the will ;
falsity not of evil is falsity in the under-
standing and not in the will, 335 The
falsity which is not of evil can be con-
joined with good, while the falsity of
evil cannot, 335. The falsity of evil and
Satan are one, 29. Every thing can be
confirmed, and falsity more than the
truth, 331. Evil is confirmed by fallacies
and appearances, which become falsi-
ties while confirmed, 69. That is falsity
to a man which destroys the pleasant-
ness of bis thought that is from his
affection, 171. The thoughts belonging
to the enjovments from the lusts 01
evil, are falsities, 180.
Families maybe distinguished from each
other merely by the face. 276.
Fancy. The fancy of self-love inspired
by nature itself with crazy ideas, 226.
Fat signifies Divine Good, 219.
Father. The Lord is the Heavenly
Father of all men, 363. He alone is
the Father as to life, and an earthly
father is the father only as to life's
covering, which is the body, 363.
Fault. If man knows the evil and
does not shun it, he is in fault, 301.
The fault seems to bt in those from
whom there is influx; but it is in him
who receives, for he receives it as his,
300. Man himself is in fault if he is
not saved, 35s.
Favor. To favor evils and falsities and
Fear (To). By fearing God is meant the
fear of offending Him; and to offend
Him is to sin ; and this is not of fear,
but of love, 120.
Fear. The fear of God is the fear ol
the loss of His love, 117. Who they
are that have the fear of God, 245.
Various kinds of fear : the fear of the
loss of honor or wealth ; the fear of
civil punishments and of external eccle-
siastical punishments ; of infernal pun.
ishments; of the loss of dignity and
opulence, 118, 119. Fear closes the
interiors of the mind, 118. It prevents
man's reformation, 119.
Feel. All that a man feels flows in, 319.
Hut little known as to how the eye, ear,
nose, tongue, and skin feel, 372, 373.
Why man does not perceive and feel
any thing of the operation of the Divine
Providence, 150, 151, 152.
Felicities. The felicities of heaven can-
not be described by words, though per-
ceptible to the sense in heaven, 33.
Though inexpressible, they rise in a
like degree with wisdom, 33. They
enter as man removes the lusts of the
love of evil and falsity as if from him-
self, 33-
Fermentation. Ferment or leaven in the
Word signifies the falsity of evil, 291.
Spiritual fermentations, 21. Fermenta-
tion by which heterogeneous things aro
separated and homogeneous things con-
Fibres. All the fibres and vessels of those
who are in hell are inverted, 302. The
workings of the brains into the fitres,
»57-
Fig-tree. See Leaves.
Finite. The Infinite cannot be compre-
hended by the finite, and also it can be,
37, 43. How one who is finite is capable
of holding what is infinite, 44. The
conjunction of the infinite and the finite,
44. By the finite are meant all thingf
39<5
INDEX.
created by the Divine, and especially
men, spirits, and angels, 42. A man or
an angel is finite, and only a receptacle,
in itself dead. What is living, in him, is
from the proceeding Divine conjoined
with him by contiguity, and appearing
to him as his, 46. See Infinite.
Fire. In the love of self and the world
there is more of the fire and ardor of
doing uses than they possess who are
not in the love of self and the world ; the
reason, 191, 239, 244.
Firsts. The Lord in His Humanity
rules the world from firsts through ulti-
tnates, km. See Ultimates, Inmost.
Flatterers, 13, 70,85, 206.
Flesh. By the will of the flesh (John i.
13) is meant the voluntary proprium,
Flood. By the flood is described the
consummation of the Most Ancient
Church, 357.
Flow in (To). All flows in, either from
heaven or from hell, — from hell by per-
mission, from heaven by Providence,
244- All of thought and affection, even
with the spirits of hell, flows in from
heaven ; but the influent good is there
turned into evil, and the truth into fal-
sity, thus every thing into the opposite,
295, 301, 317. The spiritual flows into
the natural, not the natural into the
spiritual, 329.
Flowers. The things connected with
man's initiation into the marriage of
good and truth, or the spiritual marriage,
are like the blossoms which the tree
puts forth in the spring time ; spiritual
truths are the petals of those flowers,
368.
Forced. There is a forced internal and
a free internal, 113. The quality of
forced worship, and of worship not
forced, 117. See Compel.
Forehead. The Lord looks at the angels
in the forehead The forehead corre-
sponds to love and its affections, 25.
Foreknowledge. As a knowledge of
future events takes away the human
itself, which is, to act from freedom ac-
cording to reason, it is therefore not
given, 153.
Form. There is an only form from
which are all the forms that have been
created, n2. Every form turns into its
own quality that which flows into it,
355. In every form the general and the
particular, or the universal and the spe-
cial, by wonderful conjunction act as
one, 156. Every thing existing derives
from its foi m that which is called quality,
and whatever is called predicate, also
that which is called change of state, that
too which is called relation, and the
like, 5. The form makes a one the
more perfectly, as the things entering
into the form are individually distinct
and yet united, 5, 6. Form of heaven,
49. This form is for ever perfecting
according to the increase of members,
for the more they are who enter th«
form of the Divine Love, which is the
Form of forms, the more perfect
the union becomes, 49. Organic forms
of the mind, 28^, 336. Form of gov-
ernment of the life's love, 86. See Sul
Form (To). Every thing of the under
standing and of the will must be formed
by the external before it is formed by
the internal ; for every thing of the un-
derstanding and of the will is formed
first by means of what enters through
the senses of the body, especially through
sight and hearing, 116.
Foresight. The Lord's Foresight, 51,
370. Without the Lord's Foresight and
at the same time Providence, neither
heaven nor hell would be any thing but
confusion, 370. See Future.
Fortune. Can a cause of fortune be
S'yen from any other source than the
ivine Providence in ultimates? where
by constancy and by change it deals
wonderfully wiih human prudence, and
still conceals itself, 184. The Divine
Providence which is called fortune, is
in the smallest several particulars of
even trivial things, 185, 243. That which
is called the fortune of war is the Divine
Providence, especially in the plans and
preparations of the general, even though
he then and afterwards were to ascribe
the whole to his prudence, 243, 244.
The Gentiles formerly acknowledged
Fortune and built her a temple, as did
the Italians in Kome, 185. See Ac-
cidental.
Fountain. The Lord is the only Foun-
tain of Life, 297. Why the ancients
consecrated fountains, 249, 250.
Foxes. They who are in their own pro.
dence are like wolves and foxes, 324.
Fragrant. Good is in itself fragrant.
Frauds- Their origin, 275.
Freedom {liberum). All freedom is of
love, even so that love and freedom are
one, 55. Like love, it cannot be separ-
ated from willing, 70. There is infernal
freedom and there is heavenly freedom ;
what one thinks and wills from each,
35. From infernal freedom tc see heav-
enly freedom is like seeing day in thick
darkness, 126. There are many kinds
of freedom; but in general there are
three, natural, rational, and spiritual,
55. Every one has naivxl /neaom
by inheritance ; from it he loves nothing
but himself and the world ; his first
life is nothing else ; it is a freedom to
think and to will evils ; when he has
confirmed these by reasonings, man does
them from freedom according to hU
reason ; it is from the Lord's Prov*
dence that man is allowed to do to
INDEX.
397
man is in this freedom hereditarily, and
they are in it who have confirmed' it by
reasonings from the enjovment in the
love of self and the woild,' 55. 56. Ra-
tional freedom is from the love of
reputation for the sake of honor or of
gain ; one loves to appear externally as
a moral man ; he therefore does not de-
fraud, commit adultery, take revenge
or blaspheme ; from freedom according
to his reason, he acts sincerely, justly,
chastely, and in a friendly way ; he can
from reason speak well in favor of so
living ; the good deeds which he does
are not in themselves good, — why ; his
freedom draws nothing from the love of
the public good, nor does his reason.
This rational freedom is inwardly nat-
ural freedom. It also is left to every
one from the Lo'd's Providence, 56, 57.
Spiritual freedom is from the love of
eternal life. He comes into it who re-
gards evils as sins and therefore does
not will them, and who at the same
time looks to the Lord ; at first this
freedom does not seem to be freedom ; it
grows as natural freedom decreases and
becomes subservient ; it conjoins itself
with rational freedom and purifies it.
How man can come into spiritual free-
dom, 57. A man perceives as his what-
ever he thinks, wilis. speiks, and does
from freedom ; they who are in the love
of evil do not perceive^ that infernal
freedom is not freedom itself; but in-
fernal freedom and heavenly freedom,
in themselves opposite, cannot each be
freedom itself; to be led by good is
freedom, to be led by evil is slavery, 35,
All wish to be free ; when they compel
themselves they act from freedom ac-
cording to reason, but from an interior
freedom, from which exterior freedom
is looked upon as a servant, 125. It is
a law of the Divine Providence that man
should act from freedom according to
reason ; the freedom here meant is
spiritual freedom, 53, 151. One cannot
be reformed, regenerated, and saved,
unless allowed to act from freedom ac-
cording 10 reason, 78, 100. To act from
freedom according to reason, to act
from liberty and rationality, and to act
from the will and the understanding,
ars the same thing; but it is one thing
to act from freedom according to rea-
son, and another to act from freedom
itself according to reason itself ; even
the man who does evil from the love
of evil and confirms it in himself, acts
from freedom according to reason, but
his freedom is infernal, and his rea-
son is spurious or false, 7S. Man has
freedom of reason from this, that he
is in the midst between heaven and
the world, and that he can think from
heaven and from the world, 120, m.
None act from freedom itself according
to reason it *A but they who have suf«
fered thems-.ves to be regenerated by
the Lord ; all others act from freedom
according to thought to which they give
the semblance of reason ; but every
man, unless born foolish or excessively
stupid, is able to attain to reason itself,
and by it to freedom itself, 79. Man is
led by the Lord in Ireedom, and is re-
formed and regenerated in freedom, 56.
Why it is not known what heavenly
freedom is, and that the difference be-
tween it and infernal freedom is like the
difference between what is alive and
what is dead, 126. See Liberty.
Freely. To will freely as from himself
is from the faculty continually given to
man by the Lord, called liberty, 76.
As long as enjoyment from the love of
evil reigns, man cannot freely will good
and truth and make them of his reason,
07, 68. Every man can freely, ves, most
freely, think what he will, against God
or for Him alike ; and one who thinks
against God is rarely punished in the
natural world, because there he is always
in the state for reformation ; but he is
punished in the spiritual world, after
death, for then he can no longer be re-
formed, 216, 2S1.
French. Called a noble nation, 255.
Friendship (Spiritual), 375-
Fructifications. Fructification and
multiplication have not failed from the
beginning of creation, and will never
cease, 45. Affections can be fructified
and their perceptions multinlied, with-
out end, 4;, 46. This faculty of fructi-
fication and multiplication without limit,
men have in natural things ; but it is in
spiritual things with the spiritual angels
and in heavenly things with the heavenly
angels, 46.
Fruits. Spiritual goods which are the
goods of charity are like fru t, and are
also signified by fruit iu the Word. 368.
The earliest productions of the spiritual
marriage are like the rudimentary forms
of fruit, 368.
Future. All the future is present to the
Lord, and all the present is to Him
eternal, 370. A knowledge of the future
is given to no one; but it is allowable
for every one to form conclusions about
the future from re isons, 153 The desir*
to know the futi ;e is born with most
people ; but this desire has its origin
from a love of evil ; it is therefore taken
away from those who believe in th«
Divine Providence, 154. See Fore*
sight.
Gangrene. The evils that remain shut
in are like the diseases called cancel
and gangrent 241.
Garden, 231, 317. See Eden.
39»
INDEX.
Garments (White) signify a state puri-
fied from evil, 283.
General A geueral thing exists from
particulars, 176.
Gkneration (The organs of) in either
sex. correspond to societies of the in-
Gknems. The learned toil in vain in the
explanation of the contents of the first
chapter, 231. It describes the new
creaiion or the regeneration of the men
of the Most Ancient Church, 231.
Genii. The most cunning sensual men
are called genii ; their hell described,
323. The human race in Mohammedan
and Gentile lands is ten times more
numerous than in the Christian portion
of the world ; and in the latter there
are few who place religion in the life.
What more insane belief can there be
than to hoid that the former are con-
demned, and that man has heaven from
birth and not from the life ? 305. All who
have lived well and have acknowledged
God are instructed after death by
angels ; and then they who in the
world were in the two essentials of
religion, accept the truths of the church
such as they are in the Word, and ac-
knowledge the Lord as the God of
heaven and the church. 360, 364. The
Gentile more than the Christian thinks
concerning God from religion in his
life, 344. It is to man's advantage to
be in evil and at the same time in fal-
sity rather than to be in good and at
the same time in evil, 16.
Germans. What they teach in the ex-
hortation to the hoiy Communion, 92.
Glottis. Its functions, 2S6.
Goats. They who separate faith from
charity are in the Word meant by goats,
25ft. The goat- spoken of by the Lord
in Matthew (xxv. 41-1''). are they who
neglect to think concerning evil, and
God is one in Person and Essence, in
whom is a Trinity, and the Lord is this
Cud, --64, 265. If man clearly saw the
Divine Providence, he would either
deny God or make himself to be God,
15S, 159. There are those who have
arrogated to themselves Divine power
and wish to be worshipped as gods, 253.
See Lord.
Gooi> is the enjoyment from the affection
of acting and thinking according to
Divine order, 285. Myriads of affec-
tions enter into and compose every
single good, 2X5. In all good there is
inheient a love of protecting itseif
against evil and of removing it from
itself, 221. Hv good is understood that
which unive. sally comprehends and
involves ail things of love, 11. All
things of love are called goods, 11.
What is good without relation to some-
thing? Can it be called good, as il
does not affect, and causes no percep-
tion ? 11. Every good is called good
from its enjovment or its blessedness,
347. Good of life, or to live well, is to
shun evils because they are against
religion, thus against God, 349, 352.
Good and Truth. Good is of love, and
truth is of wisdom, 7, 9. Love calls all
belonging to it good, and wisdom calls
all belonging to it truth, 7. Ever) one
calls that good which, from the love in
his will, he feels as enjoyment ; and he
calls that truth which, from the wisdom
in his understanding, he perceives to
be pleasantness therefrom, 170. All
things in the universe have relation to
good and truth, yea, to their conjunction,
7, 9, 11. Good without truth is not any
thing, and truth w ithout good is not any
thing, 12. Good in the angels of heaven
and in men of an earth is not good in
itse'f, except so far as it is united to
truth ; and truth is not truth in itself,
except so far as it is united to good, 1 1,
13. By good is understood that which
universally comprehends and involves
all things of love, and by truth is under-
stood that which universally compre-
hends and involves all things of wisdom,
11. All good and truih are from the
Lord, 339. Good cannot be given with-
out its truth, 221. To every one, good
is that which is the enjoyment of his
affection, and truth is that which is the
pleasantness of his thought from the
affection, 170. Goods and truths are in-
deed changes and variations of state in
the forms of the mind ; but these are
perceived and they live solely by the
enjoyments and the pleasantness of
good and truth, 171. What natural
truth and good are, and what spiritual
truth and good are, 325. See Mar-
Gospel not reaching all, 246, 247.
Govern. The Lord governs hell by
opposites ; and the evil who are in the
world He governs in hell as to interiors,
and not as to exteriors, 313, 317. See
Rule.
Government. The government of the
Lord's Divine Love and Wisdom is
what is called the Divine Providence, a,
293.
Governments in heaven, 194. See
Heaven.
Grafting. Man is indeed a bad tree from
the seed; but still there may be a graft-
ing or budding with twigs taken from
the tree of life, whereby the sap drawn
from the old root is turned into sap
making good fruit, 303, 369. See /«-
grafted.
Gr uk. There is not in any man a grain
of will and of prudence that is his own,
Grandfather. Sometimes the face of a
INDEX.
399
great-grandfather returns in a grandson
or a great-grandson, 276.
Guarding. By the guarding of the way
to the tree of life (Gen. iii. 24) is signi-
fied the Lord's care lest the holy tilings
of the Word and the church should be
violated, 328.
Guilty. What renders a man guilty of
evil, 301.
Hair. By hair in the Word is signified
the least of all things, 136.
Happy. The more closely a man is con-
join id with the Lord, the happier he
becomes, 32.
Harmony is of endless variety; but it
could not be unless the atmospheres
were constant in their laws, and the ear
in its form 165.
Hatreds, their origin, 274, 275.
He^ds. By the seven heads of the dragon
(Apoc. xi!. 3, 9,) is signified craftiness,
323. The serpent's head (Geu. iii. 15)
is self-love, 183, 231.
Heau How the Lord heals man, 280,
290. The heaiing of the understanding
only would be like palliative healing.
The will itself must be healed, 290.
How the Lord heals the love of man's
will, 291. See Cure.
Hear. All flows in, which a man hears,
319. Hearing cannot be given apart
from its form, which is the ear, 285.
Heart. The heart signifies affection
which is of love or of the will, 64. By
the heart is meant man's love, 148.
What is not in the heart perishes in the
understanding, 148. The heart and
lungs correspond to the will and under-
standing, :6S. The natural principle of
life is the heart's motion and the spirit-
ual principle of life is the mind's will,
16S. The heart joins with itself the
lungs, and the will joins with itself the
understanding, 168. Functions of the
heart, 2S6, 308. The heart collects and
distributes the blood, 373.
Hbat. The heat in the spiritual world
the proceeding of Divine love, 298.
Analogy be'ween the effects produced
by spiritual heat and those produced by
natural heat, 136, 298. Vital heat is
from the enjoyments of the affections,
and from the pleasantness of the per-
ceptions and thoughts, 170.
Hf.aven is from the human race, 22. The
end of creation is a heaven from the
human race, 22, 344- Heaven is not
heaven from the angels, but from the
Lord, 23. Heaven is abiding with the
Lord for ever, 22. It is conjunction
with the Lord, 23. It is in the human
form, 179. The universal heaven is as
one man before the Lord, 50, 52, 101,
J47- A description of it, 48. 49. The
angelic heaven is an image of the Infi-
nite and Eternal, 49- What heaven it
in general or with many persons, and
what it is in particular or with any one,
also what it is in the spiritual world and
what in the natural world, 23. Heaven
is distinguished into as many general
societies as there are organs, viscera,
and members in a man ; and every
general society, into as many less general
or particular societies as there are largei
divisions in each of the viscera and 01-
gans, 50. The Lord's heaven ^in the
an angel of this heaven is a man of the
church who is conjoined with the Lord,
26. Man from creation is a heaven in
the least form, 51. They who have ac-
knowledged God and His Divine Prov-
idence make heaven, 179. No one
comes into heaven unless he carries
with him from the world what is angelic,
48. Mohammedan heaven, 251. See
Mohammedans.
Heber. The Ancient Church was
changed in a notable manner by Heber
(or Eber), from whom arose the Hebrew
Church, 356.
Hebrew Church. In this church (found-
ed bv Heber) worship by sacrifices was
first instituted, 357.
H«ll consists of myriads of myriads, and
everv one there is in form like a man,
though monstrous ; and all the fibres
and vessels therein are inverted. 302.
Hell is in human form, but it is in a
monstrous human form, 179. An evil
man is hell in the least form, 302. The
universal hell has been arranged into
societies according to the lusts of evil
opposite to the affections of good, 281.
They who have acknowledged nature
alone and human prudence alone, make
hell, 179- Many do not know that they
are in hell when in evils, 82. The hells
abound in unclean things, 33. See
Devil, Satan.
Hereditary Evil. It is known in the
church that every man has hereditary
evil, and from it is in the lust of many
other evils. It is said to be from Adam
and his wife ; but every one is born into
it from his parent; and so it is trans-
ferred successively from one to another ;
thus it is increased, and it grows, and is
transmitted to offspring, 275, 276, 359.
Man from his hereditary evil is always
panting for the lowest hell; but the Lord
by His Providence is continually leading
him away and withdrawing him from it,
Heresies in the Christian world, 230,
258. The confirmation of heresies, 33?.
That only those who were born within
the church are saved, is an insane hei-
esy, 362, 364. That any of the humaa
race have been damned from predesti-
nation, is a cruel heresy. 362, 365.
4oo
INDEX.
ties unless he admits the genuine truth
of the church ? 333.
Hieroglyphics. Their origin, 249.
Holiness. A spiritual Holiness, which
is also called the Spirit of Truth, pro-
ceeding from the Lord, is within the
several particulars of the literal sense
of the Word. This Holiness is hurt
when the Word is falsified and adulter-
ated, 216, 217.
Home. After death, every one in a so-
ciety has his home, which he finds made
ready for him when he first enters the
society. He may be in company with
others outside of his home, but still he
cannot stay anywhere but in his home,
Honors and wealth may be blessings, and
may be curses, 192. Why the Lord
permits the impious to be advanced to
honors, 238, 239. The Lord never leads
man away from seeking honors, but He
leads him from the longing desire to seek
them for the sake of eminence alone, or
for the sake of himself, 161. See Dig-
Hope. Whence a man has what is called
hope, 153.
Horns. The ten horns of the dragon
(Apoc. xii. 3) signify the power of per-
suading by fallacies, 323, 324.
HtiMriN. Every one has the truly human
from rationality, 211. To think from
the truth is the truly human, and thus
the angelic, 340. It is the human itself
to think and to will from God, 299.
Christians in their thought separate the
Lord's Divine from His Human, and
place the Divine near the Father in
heaven, and His Human thf-y know not
where, 251. They make the Human
like the human of another man, 263.
Humanity itseif consists in man's two
faculties called liberty and rationality,
289.
Humble. The Lord continually humbles
the proud, and exalts the humble, 161.
Husband. Why the Lord is called the
Husband in the Word, 9.
Hyperbola. There is no such approxi-
mation of angelic wisdom to the Divine
Wisdom that it can touch it; as a
straight line drawn about the hyperbola
is said to approximate continually and
Hypocrisy. Lighter and more grievous
according to confirmations against God,
and reas-inings in favor ot him out-
wardly, 217.
Hypocrites, 13, y. a;, 20s. 206, 217.
Idea. The spiritual idea is ot the inter-
nal thought, the natural idea is of the
external thought, 273. There are ab-
stract ideas bv which things are seen to
be, though what they are in quality be
not teen, 37.
Idealists are visionaries, 38, 320.
Idols. Why there are those v,ho wor
ship idols, 24S. The worship of idolt
in the Christian world. 243.
Idolaters. They who confirm in them,
selves the appearance, and not the truth
at the same lime, cannot remove eviis Of
sins from themselves, and are all 'nte-
rior idolaters ; for they are worshippers
of self and the wond. If they have no
religion they become worshippers of
nature, and so atheisls; but if they have
a religion they become worshippers :f
men, and at the same time of images,
130.
Idolatry. The origin, 249.
Ignorance. Why no one is reformed in
a state of ignorance, 121.
Imac;b and likisness of God. Terms
explained, 22, 35S. Man's being an
image of God means that he is a recipi-
ent of the Divine wisdom ; his being a
likeness of God means that he is a re-
cipient of the Divine love. Wherefore
the receptacle which is called the under-
standing is an image of God, and tl e
receptacle which is called the will is a
likeness of God, 358. The image of
God and the likeness of God have not
been destroyed in man, but they are as
if destroyed ; for they remain implanted
in his two faculties called liberty and
rationality, 35S. The angelic heaven is
the very image and likeness of the Lord,
138. In the created universe there is an
image of man, and an image of the
infinite and the eternal, thus an image
of God the Creator, that is, of the Lord
from e'ernity, 42. The Divine Love and
Wisdom of the Lord are in a certain
imaie in every thing created by Him, 9.
There is an image of the infinite and
eternal in the variety, the fructification,
and the multiplication of all things, 45.
The image of the infinite and eternal is
nowhere in man but in the marriage of
good and truth, 46. As far as a man is
in the marriage of good and truth so far
he is an image and Hi enessof the Lord,
9. That men are able to understand
truth is from ihe Divine Wisdom, and
that they are able to do good is from the
Divine Love ; this power is the image
of God, which remains in the sane man,
and is not eradicated, 342.
Imai.b. Why there are those who wor-
ship graven images, 248. See Statue.
Immediate, Immediately, 204, 246, 282.
Immediateness. To be taught from the
Word is to be taught by the Lord. Its
being done mediately through preaching
does' not take away the immediateness.
Immortal When the mortal is taken
away by the death of the body, what is
immortal which is the mind, is unveiled,
and the man then becomes a spirit ia
human form, 345.
INDEX
Immortality. Why every man has im-
mortality, 75. Difference between im-
mortality and eternal life. 78. The idea
of the ancients concerning immortality,
345. Why some aspire to an immor-
tality of fame, 273.
Impieties. All the impieties and also the
glorying in them are permissions, 236.
Impious. Why the Divine Providence
permits the impious in heart to be raised
to dignities and enriched with wealth,
239.
Infancy, Infants. All infants in the
spiritual world are introduced by the
Lord into angelic wisdom, and thereby
into heavenly love, by means of enjoy-
ments and pleasing things, 115. Every
one comes into heaven who dies in in-
fancy, and is there brought up and in.
stmcted as a man is in the world, and
by means of affection for good and trutn
is imbued with wisdom and becomes an
angel, 348.
Infinite, 37-40. Ry the Infinite the
angels understand nothing else than the
Divine Esse, 39. An infinity of space
cannot be, neither an infinity of time,
because infinity has no end, either first
or last, or is without limits, 39. The
Infinite and Eternal is to be thought of
without space and time, 42. The Di-
vine Providence in all that it does, re-
gards what is infinite and eternal from
Uself, 44-52. 177. Infinite things of love
and of wisdom proceed from the Lord,
and they flow into all in henven, and
thence into all in hell, and from both of
these into all in the world, 301. See
Influx'' AlHhat a man thinks ard wills,
and thence savs and does, is f -om in-
flux; if good, from influx from heaven,
and if evil, from influx from hell, 294,
?95, 297. 299. 3-/, 319- Good is from
influx from the Lord, and evil from
what is man's own, 394- The Lord's
influx is into the love of good and into
its affections, and through these affec-
tions into the perceptions and thoughts :
the influx of the devil, that is, of helL is
into the love of evil and into its affec-
tions which are lusts, and through these
into the percepiions and thoughts, 29.
They who are instructed by influx what
to believe or what to do, are not in-
structed by the Lord, nor by any ancel
of heavt-n, but by some enthusiastic
spirit, 339. All influx from the Lord
takes place by an enlightenment of the
understanding, and by an affection for
truth, 339 Liy influx from the spiritual
world, which does not compel, man's
spirit or Ins mind is in the full liberty of
thinking, wiring, believing, and lovine,
106. Man must not let the hand hang
down and wait for influx, 175, 1S2,
338. The angels receive the influx in
the perception of truth and in the
thought, for in these the influx become*
apparent to them, 24
Ingrafted. The ingrafted branch tumi
the sap extracted through the old root
into sap making good fruit. The branch
to be ingrafted ran be taken from no
other source than the Lord Who is the
Tree of Life, 303- See Grafting.
Inmost. Man's inmost is his life's love,
102. The Lord acts from inmosts and
102, 200. The Lord acts from man's
inmosts and in what succeeds them even
to ultiniates, 102. The things that are
in man's inmosts and in what succeeds
them even to the ultimates are wholly
unknown to man, and therefore he it
wholly ignorant of how the Lord works
there, and what He does, 102. Inter-
mediates follow in a dependent scries
from inmosts even to ultimates, and in
the ultimates they are together, 101.
There is a perpetual connection between
the outermost and the inmosts, 155.
Innocence. The state of innocence ia
which Adam and Eve werej 273.
Insanitv. The devils call insauity wiv
Inspection. See Look.
Instinct, 331-
Instruct. All who have lived well and
have acknowledged God are instructed
after death by angels, 360.
Intelligi-nce. The angelic view of will
and intelligence in man, 299 A good
man is bound to act from intelligence as
if it were his own just as much as as
evil man. The difference between the
intelligence of the one and of the other
;s like the difference between what is
relieved to be in it>e f and what is be-
lieved not to be in itself, but yet as in
itself, 312, 313- One's own inteliigenca
can induce the human form on the ex-
ternals onl>, but the Divine Providence
induces that form on the internals, and
through them on the externals, 312.
See Pride.
Intelligent. None are intelligent but
those who perceive truth to be truth,
and confirm this by truths continually
perceived, 334.
Intf.ntion. I mentions are thoughts from
the will, ,29. Man knows his thoughts
and intentions, 171. How ihe lovi
comes into intentions, 289. See Pur-
pose.
Interiors. Bv man's interiors is meant
the internal of his thought, of which he
knrws noth ng before he comes into the
spiritual wond and its light, which ha
does after death, 221, 222. Evil with
its falsity and good with iis truth cannot
the interiors of man's mind there are
infinite things beyond number, 174.
The few externals which come within
the view of the thought are producec
402
INDEX.
from the interiors, 174. The interiors
are governed by the Lord alone by His
Divine Providence, 174.
Intkrmediates. The intermediates are
the things that are in the internal of
man's thought, 102. Intermediates fol-
low in a dependent series from inmosts
even to ultimates, and in the ultimates
they are together, 101.
Internal. By the internal man is meant
nothing else than the internal of the
will and understanding, 84. There is a
forced internal, and a free internal, 116.
The appearance is that the external
flows into the internal, when the con-
trary is the case, 127. The internal
may be compelled from fear, or com-
pelled from love, 1 16. But the internal
that can be compelled is an external,
117. Man has this in common with the
beasts. The human internal has its
Beat higher than this animal internal,
and cannot be compelled, 114. The ex-
ternal cannot compel the internal, but
the internal can compel the external,
114- The internal is so averse to com-
pulsion that it turns itself away. 113.
Man is with the Lord only in certain
externals; if he were at the same time
in internals, he would pervert and de-
stroy all the order and tenor of the
Divine Providence, 155, 156. As man
disposes the external*, the Lord dis-
poses the internals, 158. Internals of
worship, 109 See Body, Exitrnah.
Intestines, their functions, 156, 286,
308
Invoke. Some invoke the dead, 253,
*55-
Israf.l. The men of Judah and of Israel
were introduced into the Land of Ca-
naan merely that they might represent
the church and its internals by means
of the externals of worship, 109. See
Church.
Tavei.in, 370.
Jehovah the Father is the Lord from
eternity, 133,. "35-
Jests. One kind of profanation is com-
mitted bv those who make jests from
the Word or about it, or from the Di-
vine things of the church and about
them, 215.
Jesuits, 205.
Jbsiis. In the ^pirituai world, where all
are obliged to speak as they think, no
one can even name Jesus but one who
has lived in the world as a Christian,
265. One cannot speak the names
Jesus and Christ unless from the Lord,
4<
edge the Lord, 260. The captivity in
Babylonia, 235. The Jews have been
preserved and have been scattered over
a great part of the wotld for the sake ol
the Word in its original language, which
is held sacred by them more than by
Christians, 261. They persist in the
denial of the Lord, becarse they are of
such a character that if they were to ac-
cept and acknowledge the Lord's Di
vinity and the holy things of His church
they would profane them, 260. Why
they were permitted to crucify the Lord,
235. A Jew known from the face, 27ft.
Joy Every one who comes into heaver,
comes into the highest joy of his heart
he does not bear a higher joy, for ht
would be suffocated in it, 247.
Judaism. Why it still continues, 260.
Judas, 92, 257.
Judge. Unjust judges, 88, 144, 306.
The judge is for the sake of justice, the
magistrate for the sake of the common
welfare, and the king for the sake of the
kingdom, and not the reverse, 193.
Judgment (The last) has been accom-
plished, 266.
Judgmknts. All the judgments and stat-
utes of the church instituted with the
nation of Israel and Judah represented
spiritual things of the church, which
are its internals, 234.
Kidneys. Their organization, 156, 286.
In the kidneys is effected a separation
of the blood, a purification, and a with-
drawal of heterogeneous substances,
308.
King. Tn the nation of Israel and Judah
the king represented the Lord. 234.
Why many kings were permitted to pro-
fane the temple and the holy things of
the church, 235. The judge is for the
sake ol justice, the magistrate for the
sake of the common welfare, and
the king for the sake of the kingdom,
and not the reverse, 193.
Kingdom. The Lord's kingdom is a
kingdom of uses, 21, 239. The king-
doms of the present day as loves of self
and the world, 240. There are at the
present day kingdoms which answer to
those with which the children of Israel
carried on war, 243.
Larynx, its functions, 155, 281S.
Laws of Divine Providence, 52-166.
The Lord cannot act contrary to the
laws of the Divine Providence, because
to act contrary to them would be to act
contrary to His Divine Love and con-
trary to His Divine Wisdom, thus con-
salvation, is according to the laws ol
the Divine Providence, 227. All the
laws of Divine Providence are necessi-
ties, 237. The laws of Permission an
INDEX.
403
also laws of the Divine Providence, 227.
See Providence.
Lbavbn or PBKMBMT in the Word signi-
fies the falsity of evil, 291. See also
p. 2 1.
Lb wks in the Wort! signify natural truths,
36S. By the fig-leaves with which Adam
and Eve covered their nakedness are
signified moral truths, by which were
veiled the things of their love and pride,
328. See Tree.
Led (To be) How man is led by the
Lord, 130-141. A token that men are
led by the Lord is that they love the
neighbor, 1S1. They who in their life
look to God and do not do evil to the
neighbor, are led by the Lord, 245.
A.l who are led by the Lord's Divine
Providence are elevated from the pro-
prium, 330. Those who acknowledge
nature and their own prudence are as
the spirits of hell, who are averse to
being led by the Loid and love to be
led by themselves, 181.
Leibnitz, 2^)6.
Libkkty is the faculty of thinking, will-
ing, speaking, and doing what one
understands, 14, 55, 76, 79, 211, 292.
Liberty is from the Lord, 55, 198. Man
is iu full liberty to think and to will, but
not in full liberty to say and to do what-
ever he thinks and wills, 28S Unless
man had full liberty he not only could
not be saved, but would even perish
utterly, 28S. Who they are 10 whom
freedom itself or liberty itself, together
with reason itself or rationality itself,
cannot be given, and to whom they can
hardly be given, 79, 80.
Liberty and Rationality. These two
faculties are as it inborn in man, for his
humanity itself is in them, 79. Man is
reformed and regenerated by their
means, and he cannot be reformed and
regenerated without them, 67. Every
mau has liberty and rationality, and he
can come into liberty itseif and ration-
al ty itself, if he shuns ev.ls as sins, 81.
Infants and children cannot come into
liberty itself and rationality itself before
they reach the age of adolescence, 80.
The adult who has not come into them
in the world can in no wise come into
them after death, 81. To whom they
cannot be given, 79, So.
Life. The Lord is the one only Foun-
tain of Life, 297. Men are recipients
of life, 318. The Divine Love and
W-sdom are the Lif>- from which are
the life of all things and all things of life,
132. It is from creation and from the
Divine Providence continually that the
life should appear in man in a likeness as
if it were his, therefore as if it were his
own life, 319. Man's life is his love,
a8 The Lord flows into the life's love
of every one, and through its affections
into the perceptions and thoughts, and
not the reverse, 28. Every one must
have his life ; no one lives in another's
life, 210, 2:1. The life makes doctrine
for itself, and a faith for itself, 83. In
the Word, life in heaven is called eter-
nal life, as also life simply; this is eter-
nal blessedness, 346, 347. Without lib-
erty and rationality man would not have
immortality and eternal life, 78. The
life 01 the wicked is from the same ori-
gin, 136. The hfe of animals is the life
01 merely natural affection, with its
knowledge that is its mate ; it is a me-
diate life corresponding to the life of
those who are in the spiritual world,
57, 70> '37- Memory is the book of
man's life, which is opened after de itll.
and according to \\ liich he is judged, 2 ^9.
Light. There is spiritual light, and there
is natural, a ike in outward appearance,
but unlike as to the internal, 140. -Spir-
itual light is in its essence the Divine
Truth of the Lord's Divine Wisdom,
331. It enlightens the interiors of man's
understanding, and, as it were, dictates,
140, 331. Natural light is from the sun
of the natural world, and therefore in
itself is dead; but spiritual light is from
the Sun of the spiritual world, and is
therefore in itself alive, 140. In the
spiritual world there are three degrees
of light, heavenly (celestial) light, spir-
itual light, and spiritual-natural light.
Heavenly light is a flaming ruddy light ;
they have it who are in the third heaven.
Spiritual light is a white shining light ;
they have it who are in the midd e
heaven. And spiritua'-natural light is
like the light of day in our world; thty
who are in the ultimate heaven have
this light; also they who are in the
world of spirits, 141. Light in hell is
also of three degrees. The light in the
lowest hell is like that from burning
charcoal ; that in the middle hell is like
light from the flame of a fire on the
hearth ; and light in the uppermost hell
is like the light from candles, and to
some like t\ie light of the moon by
night, 141. All the light of the spiritual
world has ncthing in common with the
light of the 1 atural world; they differ
as what is alive and what is dead, 141-
The difference may not be seen between
the light of confirmation and the light of
the perception of truth ; nevertheless
the difference between them is like that
bet ween illusive light and genuine light.
Illusive light in the spiritual world is
such that it is turned into darkness
when genuine light flows in, 334. In
the Word they who are in truths are
said to walk iu the light, and are called
children of light, 333 Who they are
who are meant by the devils who make
themselves angels of light, 206. Natu-
ral and rational light {lumen\ [is not from
natural light but from spiritual ; it if
404
TXDEX.
called natural and rational light (h/men),
because it is spiritual-natural, 140, 141.
Likeness. See Image.
t.ips. Their functions, 286.
Live. Man lives from the Lord alone,
and not from himself, 131, r32. With-
out the appearance that he lives from
himself, a man is not man, 131, 132.
Man lives a man after death, 271. Good
of life, or to live well, is to shun evils
because they are against religion, thus
against Goi, 340, ^2-
Liver. Its organization, 156, 286. It
elaborates the blood, 373.
Lobules of thr lungs, 3^6.
Look (To). The Lord looks at the an-
gels in the forehead, and the angels
look to the Lord with the eyes, 25. The
more deeply any object is examined, the
more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful
are the things seen in it, S._ All con-
junction in the spiritual world is effected
by means of looking to another, 25 ; see
also p. 350.
Lord. The Lord is the God of heaven
and earth, 365. The Lord is The Man,
50. How the Lord is the Divine Truth
of the Divine Good, 147. The Lord is
the Word because it is from Him and
concerning Him, 145. The Lord alone
is Heaven, 26. The Lord is not in
heaven among the angels, or with them
as a king in his kingdom : as to aspect
He is above them, in ihe Sun there ; but
as to the life of their love and wisdom,
He is in them, 26. It is the Lord's
will, for the sake of reception and con-
junction, that whatever a man does
freely according to reason should appear
to him as his, 61. The Lord alone
causes every one to think and to will
according to his quality, and according
to the laws of Mis Providence, .tor.
Man is led by the Lord by influx, and
taught by enlightenmenti 139, 140. To
be taught from the Word is to be taught
by the" Lord Himself, 145, 147.
Lot. Why a man does not know his lot
after death. 154. To those who believe
in the Divine Providence there is given
a trust that the Lord is disposing their
lot ; and consequently they do not wi-.h
for a foreknowledge of it, lest in some
w»y they should interfere with the Di-
vine Providence, 154. Every one's life
awaits him. and hence his lot, for the
lot is the life's, 154.
Love makes man s life, 13. Love is like
the fire of i if e, from which is the light
of life, 142. The life's love of any one
cannot be without derivations, which
are called affections, 86. It produces
from itself subordinate loves, which
are called affections, 169. The life's
love, which is also the reigning love,
remains in every one after death, and
cannot be taken away, 218. The life's
love makes the understanding for itself,
and so also the light, 142. Love is ol
the will, ii t- The will's love flows into
the understanding, and there causef
its enjoyment to be felt ; thence it cornel
into the thoughts, and also into inten-
tions, 28(j. The will's love inspires the
understanding with whatever it desires,
and not the reverse, 182. The will's
love makes a faith for itself, 116. Love
dwells in its affections as a lord in his
manor, or as a king in his kingdom, S6.
Love wishes to communicate its own to
another, 345. Love wills to be loved;
this is implanted in it; and as far as it
is loved in return, it is in itself and in
its enjoyment, 7}. The Divine Essence
is pure Love; this operates bv the Di-
vine Wisdom. 373. Loves are manifold ;
but two of them, namely, heavenly love
and infernal love, are like lords and
kings, 86. Heavenly love is love to the
Lord and towards the neighbor, and in-
fernal love is love of self and the world,
86, 87, 175. What the love of -elf is,
180, 1S7, 188. 1S0. Self-love surpasses
other loves in its ingenuity in adulterat-
ing goods and falsifying truths. 225. He
who subdues this, easily subdues the
other evil loves, for this is their head,
124. Spiritual love wishes to give its
own to another; and so far as it can do
this, it is in its esse, in its peace, and its
blessedness. Spiritual love has this
from the Lord's Divine I^ove, which is
such infinitely, 22. The love into which
man was created is the love of the
neighbor, so that he may wish as well
Jo jiim as to himself, and better; and
is in the love's enjovment when he is
doing good to the neighbor, 274. This
love is truly human. 274. When the
love of the neighbor was turned into the
love of self, and this love increased, then
human love was turned into animal
love, 274. The love of means as the
agent of the life's love, 88, So. The
quality of the love of dignities and
riches for their own sake ; and the qual-
itv of the love of dignities and riches ior
the sake of uses, 188. These two loves
are distinct from each other like hell
and heaven, too. Conjugial love is
spiritual, heavenly love itself, the im-
age of the love of the Lord and
the church from which i; is derived,
122. It communicates with the inmost
heaven, 122. Love and freedom are
one, 55. To do from one's love is to
do from freedom, 35. See Freedom,
Lo\ e (To). They love God who love
th; Divine things which are from Him,
in doing them, 351, 352. What it is to
love the Lord above a'l things and the
neighbor as oneself, 74.
Love and Wisdom. Love is the esse of
wisdom, and wisdom is the quality ol
love, 13. Love in its form is wisdom
INDEX.
405
IJ. Love without wisjom cannot do
any thing, nor can wisdom do any thin?
without love. 3, 4, 5. Love calls all
belonging to it pood, and wisdom calls
all belonging to it truth, 7. Wisdom is
of the understanding, and love is of the
will, 115. When man turns his face to
the Lord, love and wisdom are given
him ; these enter man by the face, and
not by the back of the neck, 75 Love
and wisdom are not in space and time,
40. How love conjoins itself with wis-
dom, 24.
LOWING. The lowing of the cows on the
way(i Sam. vi. 12), signified the diffi-
cult conversion of the lusts of the evil
of the natural man into good affections,
Lucifkr.5 By Lucifer in the fourteenth
chapter of Isai-h, is meant Babel ; and
by Babel is there meant the profana-
tion of good with those who attribute
to themselves what is Divine, 217, 253,
*54. 255
Lukkwakm. The profane, of a certain
class, are meant by the lukewarm
(Apoc. iii. 15, 16), 218, 219; see also
pp. 207, 20S, 305.
Luminous. In the spiritual world they
who are in enlightenment from the Lord
are sometimes seen with a luminous ai-
pearauce around the head ; they who
are in enlightenment trom themselves
have the luminous appearance about the
mouth and above the chin, 144.
Luncs. The lungs correspond to the un-
derstanding, 168. The lungs clarify the
blood, 308, 373. The changes and va-
riations in the state and form of the
organic substances in the lungs, in
speaking and in singing, 2S6. Disease
of the lungs, 155. See Heart,
Lusts are "the affections of the love of
evil, 28. They reside in the natural
man, 28. The lusts of evil are innu-
merable, 302. They beset the interiors
of the mind, from them they flow down
into the body, and there excite the
unclean things that titillate the fibres,
33. Evils are in the external man, and
the lusts of evil are in the internal man,
and they are joined like roots and trunk,
96. The pent-up fire of the lusts of
evil consumes the interiors of the man's
mind, and lays them waste to the very
gate, 2S0. Every lust of evil in hell,
when it is represented, appears like some
noxious animal, 303. Through the ex-
ternal of thought lusts enter the body,
90. Man cannot have a perception of
the lusts of his evil ; if he did not know
from some other source that they are
evils, he would call them goods, 91. The
perceptions belonging to the lusts are
devices; the enjoyments belonging to
the lusts are evils ; the thoughts belong-
ing to the enjoyments are falsities, 180.
Lusts with their enjoyments block the
wav and close the doors before the
Lord, 28.
Luther, in the spiritual woild, execrated
faith alone, and said that when he es-
tablished it he was warned by an An-
gel of the Lord not to do it ; the reason
w hy he did not obey, 25S ; see p. 41.
Lying ; origin : why permitted, 275.
Machiavelians, 322.
Magistrate. The judge is for the sake
of justice, the magistrate for the sake
of the common welfare, and the king for
the sake of the kingdom, and not the
reverse, 193.
Mahometan See Mohammedan.
Mammon. The mammon of unright-
eousness (Luke xvi. S, 9) means the
cognitions of truth and pood possessed
by the evil, and which they use only in
procuring for themselves dignities and
wealth, 240.
M \N is his love, and he is the form of his
love, 336. Man from creation is a
heaven in the least form, and is thence
an imaee of the Lo:d, 51. Man is from
birth like a little hell, 241, 302. If
man were born into the love into which
he was created, he would not be in any
evil, nor would he know what evil is;
he would not be born into the thick
darkness of ignorance, but with a cer-
tain light of knowledge and thence of
intelligence, 273, 274. He alone is a
man who is interiorly what he wishes
to seem to others, 312. An evi: man is
hell in the least form, as a good man is
heaven in the lea>t form, 30S, 313, 316.
Every man is as to his spirit in the
spiritual world, in some society there,
an evil man in an infernal society, and
a good man in a heavenly society, he
also sometimes appears there, while in
deep meditation, 304. He. wen in the
complex resembles one Man, whose
life or soul is the Lord; in that heav.
enly Man are all things which arc in a
natural man, with a difference such as
there is between heavenly and natural
things, 3S3- Every nian is both in evil
and in good ; for he is in evil from him-
self, and in good from the Lord ; and
man cannot live unless he is in both;
the reason, 209. Man lives a man after
death, 271. Everyman so long as he
lives in the world is kept in equilib-
rium between heaven and hell ; and by
means of it he is kept in that liberty of
thinking, of willing, ot speaking, and of
doing, in which he can be reformed, 20.
Man must do good and think truth as
from himself, but still acknowledge
that he does it from the Lord, 95.
Man knows his own thoughts and thence
his intentions, because he sees them in
himself, 171. If man believed, as is the
truth, that all good and truth are from
406
INDEX.
the Lord, and all evil and falsity from
hell, he would not appropriate good to
himself and make it meritorious, nor
appropriate evil to himself and make
himself guilty of it, 337. If man
clearly saw the Divine Providence, he
would oppose the order and tenor of its
course, and would pervert and destroy
it, 154. Man is not admitted interiorly
into the truths of faith and into the
goods of charity, except so far as he can
be kept in them even to the end of life,
203. That it has not been hitherto
known that man lives a man after
death, and why this has not been dis-
closed before, 271, 272, 273. Corre-
spondence between man's life and the
growth of a tree ; an analogy or com-
parison drawn between them, 368. By
the will of man [vir] in John i. 13, is
meant the intellectual proprium, which
is the falsity from evil, 311.
Marriage. The expression "marriage
of good and truth'' used in this work
instead of " the union of love and wis-
dom,''. 9- The marriage of good and
truth is from the Lord's marriage with
the church; and this is from the mar-
riage of Love and Wisdom in the Lord,
19 ; see also pp. 9, 10. As there was
from creation the marriage of good and
truth in every created thing, and as it
was afterwards severed, the Lord is
continually working to restore it, 10.
Many have broken and are breaking
this marriage, especially by the separa-
tion of faith from charity, 19. In the
word, and in each and all of the things
in it, there is a marriage of good and
truth, 19. The conjunction of the Lord
wilh the church, and of the church with
the Lord, is called the heavenly and
spiritual marriage, 25, 67. There is a
marriage of good and truth in the cause,
and there is a marriage of good and
truth from the cause in the effect, 12.
Marriage of evil and falsity, 311.
Masses. Why the Lord has permitted
that holy worship should be placed in
masses not understood by the common
people, 255.
Means. The means of the Divine Provi-
dence are the means from which man
derstanding and will, 371. These means
are infinite in number and variety, 371.
The means by which man is led by the
Lord, 204, 236. Means for the separa-
tion, purification, excretion, and with-
drawal of the enjoyments of the lusts of
evil, 306. The means of salvation have
relation to two points, 361 . A knowledge
of the means whereby he may be saved
is not wanting to any one, 362. The love
of means as the agent of the life's love,
88, 89.
Mediately. To be taught from the Word
mediately through preaching does not I
take away the immediateness, 147. S««
Immediate, Immediateness,
Meditation. While man is in deep
meditation he sometimes appears as to
his spirit in the society of the spiritual
world in which he is, 304.
Melancthon, 41.
Membranes. Who constitute the mem-
branes of the one Man that is heaven,
247, 248.
Memorv is the permanent state of the
changes and variations in state and
form of the purely organic substances
of the mind, 282. While truths are
only in the understanding, and from it
in the memory, they are not in the man,
but without, 224. Man's memory may
be compared to the stomach connected
with the rumination of certain animals,
into which they first admit their food.
While the food is there it is not in their
body, but without ; when they draw the
food out of this stomach and eat it, it
becomes of their life, and the body is
nourished. In man's memory there are
not articles of material but of spiritual
food, which are meant by truths, and
which in themselves are cognitions ; so
far as man takes these out of it, by
thinking or as it were by ruminating,
his spiritual mind is nourished, 224.
Man has an external or natural mem-
ory, and an internal or spiritual mem-
ory. What is inscribed 111 this latter
memory, 208, 209. This memory is the
book of man's life, which is opened
after death, and according to which he
is judged, 209.
Mercantile business has in view the
good of one's country, of society, and
of the fellow-citizen, when it is the final
love and money is a mediate and sub-
servient love, provided the merchant
shuns and is averse to frauds and wrong,
ful arts as sins, 203. See Commerce.
Mercy. Pure love is pure mercy ; why,
373. Immediate mercy is not possible,
because the salvation of man is effected
by means, 204. It is an error of the
age to believe that man from being evil
can become good, consequently can be
led out of hell and transferred straight-
way into heaven, and this from the
Lord's immediate mercy, 282, 376- See
Safety and Salvation.
Meritorious. The good in which man
is, if it is for the sake of salvation, is
meritorious good ; but good in whxh
the Lord is, is not meritorious, 71. Ap-
propriating good to oneself, and thus
making it meritorious, 337-
Mesentery, 139, 156, 308, 373.
Mesopotamia was one o( those countries
in which was the Ancient Church, and
where the ancient Word was known,
35&-
Mice. Mice, by which the land of Ash
dod and Ekron was laid waste, signified
INDEX.
407
the falsifications of truth devastating the
church ; and the golden mice made by
the Philistines (1 Sain, vi.) signified the
vastaiion of the church removed by
good, 354.
Midst. Whatever is in the midst, is
directly under the view, and is seen and
perceived, 291. See Centre-
Mind (animus). The face is the type of
the mind (animus). This mind is
from the affections, perceptions, and
thoughts, 45. Elation of mind (ani-
mus), 2S3. In a slate of disordered
mind (animur). rationality is taken away,
and consequently freedom of acting ac-
cording to reason ; in it no one is re-
formed. 120. Quiet and peace of mind
(animus) following combats against
evils, 34. See Mind (mens).
Mind (mens). The mind or spirit of man
in every part is in the form in which
heaven is, or in which hell is ; there is
not the slightest difference except that
one is the greatest and the other the
least, 313. The human mind is of three
degrees, 59. Man has a natural, a spir-
itual, and a heavenly (celestial) mind,
124. A man is in the natural mind
alone, as long as he is in the lusts of
evil and in their enjoyments, and so long
the spiritual mind is dosed, 124, 125.
The natural mind is common to man
and beast ; the spiritual rational mind
is the truly human mind, 339. Man's
mind, which in itself is spiritual, cannot
be elsewhere than among the spiritual,
among whom he comes after death, 317.
As is the mind such is the body, thus the
whole man, 90. Man's mind is continu-
ally in the end. the cause, and the effect,
— the three ; it one of these is wanting,
the human mind is not in its life, 153.
How the Lord governs the interiors and
the exteriors of man's mind, 317, 318-
See Mind (animus).
Miracles. No one is reformed by mira-
cles and signs, because they compel,
106, 107. See Compel- A faith in-
duced by miracles is not faith but per-
suasion ; it is only an external without
an internal, 10S. The effect of mira-
cles upon the good is different from
their effect on the wicked, 109. The
good do not wish for miracles, but they
believe in the miracles recorded in the
Word If they hear any thing con-
cerning a miracle, they give their atten-
tion only as to an argument of no great
weight which confirms their faith, 109.
By miracles the wicked may be driven
and forced to faith, 109. Why there
were so many miracles among the de-
scendants of Jacob, 108, 109. Why
there are no miracles at the present day,
108, 110.
Misfortune No one is reformed in a
state of misfortune, 1 19. What is meant
by states of misfortune, 120.
Moabites. Each nation with which tb«
children of Israel carried on war signi-
fied some particular kind of evil, 242.
Modes. The modes of the Divine Provi-
dence are the modes by which man
becomes man, and is perfected as to
understanding and will, 371. The mode*
by which the Divine Providence oper-
ates upon the means and by the mean*
to form man and to perfect him, are in
finite in number and in variety, 372.
They are most secret, 372.
Mohammedan Religion (Thf.) arose
from the Lord's Divine Providence, 251.
Why that religious system has been re-
ceived by so many empires and king-
doms, 249. All of that religion who
acknowledge the Lord as the Son of
God, and at the same time live acccid-
ing to the precepts of the Decalogue
which they also have, by shunning evils
as sins, come into a heaven which is
called the Mohammedan heaven, 251.
Moor (Child of a), 276.
Moral. The civil and moral is the re-
ceptacle of the spiritual, ^42. He is
called a moral man who makes the laws
of the kingdom his morals and his vir-
tues, and from reason lives them, 34J.
See Ci-.nl.
Moralists. The state after death of
natural moralists who believe that civil
and moral life with its prudence pro-
duces all things, and the Divine Provi-
dence not any thing, 95, 96.
Moravians, 258, 339.
Morning. Why Lucifer is called the son
of the morning, 254.
Mortal. In order that every man may
live for ever, what is mortal in him is
taken away, 345. The mortal in man
is his material body w hich is taken away
by its death, 345.
Motion- Take away effort, motion stops,
Mouth. In the spiritual sense, by the
mouth is meant thought,lecause thought
speaks by the mouth, 64. In Luke vi.
45, mouth signifies thought which is of
the understanding, 64.
Multiplications. See Fructifications.
Muscles. The workings of both brains
into the fibres, of the fibres into the
muscles, and of the muscles into the
actions, 157.
Myriads. There are myriads of myriad*
composing the Form 01 Heaven. Myr-
iads enter it every year, and will for
ever, 50.
Nails. Who constitute the nails of th*
one Man that is heaven, 353.
Nakedness. The nakedness of which
Adam and Eve were not ashamed sig-
nified the state of innocence, 273.
Name signifies the quality of the state,
214. In the Word, God's Name signi,
4o8
INDEX.
fies God with all the Divine that is in
Him and that proceeds from Him ; and
as the Word is the proceeding Divine,
it is the name of God; so too the Di-
vine things which are called the spirit-
ual things of the church, because they
are from the Word, 213 In the spirit-
ual world names are not as in the nat-
ural world, but every one is named
according to the quality of his love and
wisdom ; when any one comes into so-
ciety or common lot with others, he is
immediately named according to his
quality there, 213. The naming is done
by spiritual language, which is such
that it can give a name to every thing,
213. The name there involves the whole
state, 213.
Nations can be distinguished merely by
the face, 276. Most nations remote
from Christendom regard precepts like
those of the Decalogue not as civil but
as Divine laws, 247. In the earliest
times, tribes (nations), families, and
households dwelt apart, and not under
general governments as at this day, 187.
Nations or Gentiles, see Gentiles.
Natural. The natural does not com-
.nunicate with the spiritual by con-
tinuity, but by correspondences, 34.
The natural things that are proper to
nature have relation in general to times
and spaces, and specially to the things
that are seen on the earth, 200.
Naturalists. They who confirm them-
selves in appearances from fallacies
become naturalists, believing nothing
but what they are able to perceive by
some sense of the body, 321.
Nature. Things proper to nature are
especially spaces and times, both of
them having limit and termination, 196.
The outermosts and ultimates of nature
cannot receive spiritual and eternal
things as they are in themselves, 200.
Also see p. 2j6.
Nebuchadnezzar. What is meant by
the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in
a dream, 357-
Nec.ro (Chii d of a), 276.
Noah. The Ancient Church is described
in the Word by Noah and his three sons,
and by their posterity, 356.
Nose. The nose signifies the perception
of truth. The nose being closed means
that there is no perception of truth, 322.
The nostrils do not smell from them-
selves, but it is man's mind or spirit
which there perceives things by the
sense, and from it is affected according
to its quality, 329. Man knows little as
to how the nose smells, 372.
Obotfardiga? forhinder, 2$8._
Offspring. 1 it parent's evil is trans-
mitted to the offspring, 290.
Oil signifies th; good of charity, 360.
Old. All who have lived well, wh*«
they come into heaven come into th«
age that in the world is the age of thei!
early manhood, and they remain in ii
for ever. Those, too, who in the world
were old men and decrepit, and women
although they have been old and wrin-
kled, return into the flower of their age
and beauty, 346.
One. The Divine Love and Wisdom
proceed from the Lord as one, 4. There
cannot be a one without a form, but
the form itself makes the one, 5. The
form makes a one the more perfectly, as
the things entering into the form are in-
dividually distinct and yet united, 6.
How things perfectly distinct are united
and so make one, 6.
Operation. The operation and progress
of the end through means is what is
called the Divine Providence, 366.
There is no operation but upon a sub-
ject, and this through means. 367. The
Divine Providence has for its end noth-
ing else than reformation, and from this,
salvation ; this is its continual opera-
nd have a perception and sense of any
thing of the operation of the Divine
Providence, 150. If man had a per-
ception and sense of the working {opera-
tion) of the Divine Providence, he would
not act from freedom according to rea-
son ; nor would any thing appear to him
as his, 151. All the Lord's working
(operation) is from firsts and lasts to-
gether, thus in fulness, 200. The Lord's
operations in the interior substances
and forms of the mind are not apparent
to man, 149 The operations of the
organic substances of the body are nat-
ural, but of the mind, spiritual ; the two
make one by correspondences, 286.
Secret operations of the soul in the
body, of which man is not sensible, 308,
372-
Opposites fight each other until one de-
stroys the other, 17. Two opposites
cannot be together in one substance or
form without its being torn asunder
and perishing, 222. Every thing is cog-
nized from its opposite, 33. An op-
posite may take away or may exalt the
perceptions and sensations ; when an
opposite commingles itself with its op-
posite, it takes them away, 20, 21.
Opposition. The mutual opposition of
heaven and hell, 314. There is cognition
of the quality of good only by its relation
to what is less good, and by its con-
trariety (opposition) to evil, 20. Oppo-
sition destroys, 12.
Opulence, something imaginary, 238.
Who, after death, for riches have pov-
erty, and for possessions, miserv, 203.
Order. God is Order, 306. He is a)*
the Law of His Order, 367 ; for there is
no order without laws, 366, 367.
INDEX.
409
Organize, Organization. The organ-
bflUion induced in the world remains for
ever, 351. Every thing in the brain is
ORGAN'S Okganic. The operations, the
changes, and the variations of organic
substances, 2K6. Into the organs of
the external senses or those of the body,
there is an intlux of such things as are
in the natural world ; while into the
organic substances of the internal senses
of the mind, there is an influx of such
things as are in the spiritual world, 319.
As the organs of the external senses or
those of the body ate receptacles of
Datural objects, so the organic sub-
stances of the internal senses or those
of the mind are receptacles of spiritual
objects, 3'9-
Origin of evil (The) is from the abuse
of the faculties proper to man, which
are called rationality and liberty, 15.
See also p. 65.
Outermost. There is a perpetual con-
nection between the outermost and the
inmosts, 155. As the outermost acts or
is acted upon, so also do interiors from
the inmosts act cr are acted upon, 155.
Owls. Why owls see objects at night as
clearly as other birds see them in the
day, 143.
Palace of Wisdom. The twelve steps
to the palace of wisdom signify goods
conjoined with truths, and truths con-
joined with goods, 32.
Pancreas. Its organization, 156, 286.
It purifies the blood, 373.
Parables. Why the Lord spake in para-
bles, 219.
Particular, Particulars. In every
form the general and the particular, by
wonderful conjunction, act as one, 156.
A general thing exists from particulars,
176. The Divine Providence is in the
smallest particulars severally, and in the
smallest particulars of human prudence
severally, and it is universal from them,
177. The Lord's Divine Providence is
universal because it is in the particulars
severally, and it is in the particulars
severally because it is universal, 101.
Paul. Saying of Paul (Rom. iii. 28) ex-
plained, 94.
People. The Israelitish and Jewish
people represented the church, 234.
Perceive, Perception. If man had a
perception and sense of the working of
the Divine Providence, he would not
act from freedom according to reason ;
nor would any thing appear to him as
his, 151. There is cognition of the
qu.ihty of good only by its relation to
what is less good, and by its con-
trariety to evil. Hence comes all that
gives perception and sensation, because
from this is their quality, 24. Percep-
tions and thoughts are derivatives from
spiritual light, 148. The Divine Good
of the Divine Love and the Divine
Truth of the Divine Wisdom are given
to the evil and the good, if they were
not, no one would have perception and
thought, 14S Perception and thought
are ot Hie, therefore from the same foun-
tain from which life is, 148. See Life-
Perfect (To be). It is impossible for
that which is for ever perfecting, to be
made in an instant perfect. 378. Each
degree of wisdom may be perfected tc
its highest point, and still it cannot
enter into a superior degree, 30.
Perfections. Perfections increase and
ascend with the degrees and according
to them, 287.
Periphery See Centre.
Perish. Man would utterly perish un-
less he had full liberty to think and to
will, 288.
Peritoneum. Its organization, 156.
Permission. The laws of permission aro
laws of the Divine Providence, 227 The
Divine Providence with the evil is a
continual permission of evil, to the end
that there maybe a continual withdrawal
from itj 305. Evil of life is not intro-
duced into the will and through it into
the thought by the Lord, but by man ;
this is called permission, 305. All
things that an evil man wills and thinks
are of permission, 305. Evils are per-
mitted for the sake of the end, which
is salvation, 237, 273, 274, 275. The
causes of permissions are laws of the
Divine Providence, 236. Nothing can
be permitted without a cause, and the
cause is found only in some law of the
Divine Providence, which law teaches
why it is permitted, 227. God permits
a thing; which does not mean that He
wills it, but that He cannot avert it, on
account of the end, which is salvation,
227. The Lord permits evils of life,
and many heresies in worship, that man
may not fall into the most grievous kind
of profanation, 227. See Profanation.
Pharisees. Those who with the mouth
say pious and holy things, and also
simulate the affections of the love of
them in tone and in gesture, and yet in
heart do not believe and love them,
called Pharisees, 217.
Philistia The church, not long after
its establishment, was turned into Baby-
lonia, and afterwards into Philistia, 267.
By PI ilistia is meant faith separate from
charity, 267.
Philistines. They who make faith alone
saving, and not the life of charity, are
meant by the Philistines, 256, 354.
Places, l'he Lord foresees the places in
hell of those who are not willing tc be
saved, and the places in heaven of thost
who wish to be saved, 370. He pro*
vides the places for the evil by permit
INDEX
tine and withdrawing, and for the good
by lending, 370. In the spiritual world
no one can sit anywhere but in his own
place in the apartment of another ; if he
sits elsewhere, he becomes like one who
has no command of his mind and is
dumb, 375. Every one when he enters
a room knows his own place, 375.
Pleasantness, predicated of wisdom and
thought, 170. Thought from affection
has its pleasantness, 170. See De-
licto.
Pleura. Its organization, 155.
Pleurisy, 156.
Power. The power (passe) to will and
understand is not from man, but from
Him Who has Power itself, or Who has
Power in its essence, 69. Kvery created
thing is gifted with power (vis), but
power acts not from itself, but from Him
Who gave the power, 4 Before the last
judgment the power (potentia) of hell
prevailed over the power of heaven,
266.
Prayer (The Lord's). What is meant
by " Hallowed be Thy name," 213.
Preachers. The Word is not taught by
preachers, but by the Lord through
them, 147. A preacher, while in the
external state, can teach things per-
taining to spiritual life. But when he
comes into his internal state, if he is
evil, he sees nothing but falsity and
does nothing but evil, 310.
Precepts. The Lord has provided that
in every religion there are precepts such
as are in the Decalogue, 246. To have
the commandments is to know, and to
keep them is to love, 30.
Predestination. Any predestination ex-
cept to heaven is contrary to the Divine
Love and the Divine Wisdom which
are infinite, 363. That any of the hu-
man race have been damned from pre-
destination, is a cruel heresy, 365.
Prbobstined. All were predestined to
heaven and no one to hell, 342, 361.
Predicate. Every thing existing de-
rives from its form that which is called
quality, and whatever is called predi-
Presbnce. In the spiritual world, when
any one is thinking of another from an
affection for speaking with him, the
other becomes present forthwith, and
they see each other face to face, 25, 41,
350. The reason, 350. There are spir-
its present with every man who are in
like affection witli himself; and they
are as really present as if the man were
included in their society, 41. Space
and time do nothing towards presence;
because affection and the thought from
it are not in space and time ; and spirits
and angels are affections, and thoughts
from affection, 41.
Present. Who they are that think from
the present in the world and not from
the present in heaven, 47. How an?
one in the spiritual world shows himself
present, 25, 41. See Presence.
Preservation (The) of all things is de-
pendent upon the conjunction of the
Creator with man, 4.
Pride in one's intelligence, 172, 180,
34»>
Prince of the world. Why the devil
is so called, 192.
Principles. There are two principles ol
life in every man, the one natural and
the other spiritual ; the natural prin-
ciple of life being the heart's motion,
and the spiritual principle of life being
the mind's will, 168.
Proceed (To). Difference between pro-
ceeding and creating, 197. Nothing
but what is in any one c*n proceed from
him, 197. From man can proceed noth-
ing but what is temporal, and from the
Lord nothing but what is eternal, 177.
Among the things which proceed from
the Lord, the Divine Providence is
primary, 366.
Proceeding (The Divine). The Infinite
and eternal from itself is the proceeding
Divine, or the Lord in others created
from Himself, thus in men and in
angels, 44. This Divine is the same as
the Divine Providence, 44.
Produce (To). What is produced doei
not proceed, but is created, 197. See
To Proceed.
Profanation. In a most general sense,
by profanation is meant all impiety,
212. There are many kinds of profana-
tion of what is holy, 207, 212, and fol-
lowing. May be referred to seven kinds,
215. The worst kind of profanation,
212. The man who confirms evil loves,
does violence to the Divine Goods ;
this violence (which is a kind of prof
anation) is called the adulteration ol
good, 216. Adulterations of good are
described in the Word by adulteries;
and falsifications of truth by whoredoms,
225. These adulterations and falsifica-
tions are produced by reasonings from
the natural man that is in evil, 225.
See To Profane.
Pkofane (To). Those profane holy thing*
by commingling them with profane,
who first receive and acknowledge and
afterwards go away and deny, 211, 211,
257. The seventh kind of profanation
is committed by those who first ac-
knowledge Divine truths and live ac-
cording to them, and afterwards fall
back and deny them. This is the worst
kind of profanation, 218. What is meant
by profaning the Name of God, 213.
Profane (The) are they who profess to
believe in God, hold the sanctity cf the
Word,_ and who acknowledge the spirit-
ual things of the church only with the
mouth, 213. They profane what is
holy from the Word' in them, and winch
INDEX.
4"
makes some pan of their understanding
aod will; while in ihe impious, who
deny the Divine and Divine tilings,
there is nothinc holy which they can
profane, 213 See ProJ 'aners.
Profanbrs (By) are meant all the im-
pious, who in heart deny God, the holi-
ness of the Word, and consequently
the spiritual th ngs of the church, these
aie the holy things: and concerning
these they speak imv'!'>,-'sly, 212. Dn-
ference between profaners and the pro-
fane, 213. See Profane.
Progression. All things and every single
thing in the growth of the shrub ami the
herb proceed constantly and wonderfully
from end to end according to the laws of
their order. There is nothing which in
its progress does not go on most con-
stantly according to the laws of the Di-
vine Providence, 36S. The progression
of the Divine Providence is constant,
369. Everv created thing proceeds from
the First, Who is the Infinite and Eter-
nal, to ultimales. Most interiorly in
all pngressiou is the First from which
it is, 44.
Prophet. The name and reward of a
prophet (Matt. x. 41) mean the state
and the happiness of those who are in
Divine truths, 214.
Proprietaries. Who they are, 320.
Proprium (The) is the love of self and
the love of the w orld from it, or is the
love of the world and the love of self
from it, 380. Man has a voluntary
proprium and an intellectual proprium,
3ji. The voluntary proprium is in its
essence self-love, and the intellectual
proprium is pride from that love, 311.
Man's proprium, as to its affections
which are all natural, is not unlike the
life of a beast, 226. There is not in
any man a grain of will and of prudence
that is his own, 299. No man has
any proprium according to the common
understanding of the term, 320. The
things proper to nature are especially
spaces and times, both of them hav-
ing limit and termination; the things
proper to man are those which beiong
to his own will and understanding, 196.
Things proper to the Lord are all in-
finite and eternal thus without time,
consequently without limit and without
end. Things which are thence as if
proper to man, are likewise infinite and
eternal ; yet no part of them is man's,
but they are of the Lord alone in man,
196.
Provide (To). It is provided by the
Lord that every one can be saved, 359.
It was provided also that a new church
should succeed in place of the former
devastated church, 360.
Providbnck (Tub Divine) is the govern-
ment of the Lord's Divine Love and
Wisdom, 1, 2, 366, 373. Restoration
of the marriage of good and truth, and
thence the conjunction of the created
universe with ihe Lord through man. is
of the Divine Providence, 10. The
Lord's Divine Providence has for its
end a heaven from the human race, 22,
177. In ail that it does, it regards the
infinite and the eternal, 37. It regards
what is infinite and eternal from itself in
the finite, 42, 46 The Divine Provi-
dence in all the progression in man re-
gards his eternal state, 47. The laws
of the Divine Prov. deuce, hitherto hid-
den within the wisdom that the angels
have, are now revealed 53. It is a law
of the Divine Providence that mail
should act from freedom according to
reason. 53. 78. It is a law of the Di-
vine Providence that man should, as
from himself, remove evils as sins in
the external man, 81. It is a law of the
Divine Providence that man should not
be compelled by external means to think
and will, thus to believe and love, the
things of religion, but that man should
pel himself, 105. It is a law of ihe Di-
vine Providence that man should be
led and taught bv the Lord from heaven,
through the Word, and doctrine and
preaching from it, and this in all ap-
pearance as by himself, 130. It is a law
of the Divine Providence, that man
should not have a perception and sense
of any thing of the operation of the
Divine Providence, but yet should
know and acknowledge it, 150. If man
had a perception and sense of the work-
ing of the Divine Providence, he w ould
not act from freedom according to rea-
son, nor would any thing appear to h>m
as his, 151. If man clearly saw the Di-
vine Providence, he w jiihl intrude self
in the order and tenor of its course, and
pervert and destroy it, 154. If man
clearly saw the Divine Providence, he
would either deny God, or make him-
self to be God, 158. The Divine Provi-
dence never acts in unity with the love
in man's will, but constantly against it,
160, 227. The Lord leads man by H'S
Divm* Providence as silently as a hid-
den st.eani or an onward current bears
a vessel, 162. It is granted man to
see the Divine Providence in the back
and not in the face ; also, in a spiritual
state, and not in his natural state. To
see the Divine Providence in the back
and not in the face, is to see after the
Providence and not before it, 162. The
Divine Providence works by means,
and the means cume by man or by the
world, 163. The man who has become
spiritual by the acknowledgment of God,
and wise by a rejection of proprium,
sees the Divine Providence in the w hole
world, and in all and each of the things
belonging te it, 163. The Divine Prov»
412
INDEX.
idenci is universal from being in things
most particular, severally, 166, 177. It
is in the smallest particulars of nature
severally, and in the smallest particulars
of human prudence severally, and it is
universal from them, 177. The reason
why it works so secretly that scarcely
any one knows of its existence, 183. In
ultimates it deals wonderfully with hu-
man prudence and still conceals itself,
184. The Divine Providence regards
eternal things, and temporal things so
far only as they make one with eternal,
186. The conjunction of things tem-
poral and eternal in man is the Lord's
Divine Providence, 199. All the laws
of the Divine Providence have for their
end man's reformation, and so his sal-
vation, 284. The Divine Providence
is equally with the evil and the good,
292. The Divine Providence, not only
with the good but also with the evil, is
universal in the most minute particulars
severally ; and still it is not in their evils,
294. The Divine Providence appropri-
ates neither evil nor good to any one,
but man's own prudence appropriates
both, 318. The Lord cannot act con-
trary to the laws of the Divine Provi-
dence, because to act contrary to them
would be to act contrary to Himself, 366.
The subject of the Divine Providence
is man ; the means are the Divine truths
by which man has wisdom, and the Di-
vine goods by which he has love, 367.
The operation of the Divine Providence
to save man begins at his birth, and
continues even to the end of his life,
and afterward for ever, 367, 368, 369,
370. The Divine Providence does all
things from pure mercy, 373 The in-
most of the Divine Providence respect-
in" heaven, 50, 51, 52. Concerning
hell, 52. Who and of what quality are
those who acknowledge God and His
Divine Providence, 181. Man's pro-
prium has an inborn enmity against the
Divine Providence, 183. Arguments of
those who confirm themselves against
the Divine Providence, 228 to 230; con-
sidered, 231 to 271. See Table of
Contents.
Frudbnce is from God and not from man,
167. Man's own prudence is from the
love of self, and from the pride of his
own inte ligence, 341. There is no such
thing as one's own prudence; there
only appears to be ; and it also ought
to appear as if there were, 166. Hu-
man prudence is nothing, 52. Man
from his own prudence persuades him-
self and confirms in himself that all good
and truth are from himself and in himself;
in like manner all evil and falsity, 325.
V/hence ai d what man's own prudence
is, 172, 180, 330, 341. What one's own
prudence is, and what prudence not
one's own is, 321 to 330. Who and of
what quality those are, who ackncwl
edge their own prudence, 181.
Prudently. He who thinks and acts
prudently as from himselt, ai d at the
same time acknowledges thai this is
from the Lord, is a man ; but not he
who confirms in himself that all that
which he thinks and does is from him-
self, 338-
Punishment follows every evil; it is
as if upon evil were inscribed its pun-
ishment, which the impious man suffers
after death, 237. No one is reformed
by threats and punishments, because
they compel, 113. See To Force.
Purification is effected in two ways,
one by temptations, the other by fer-
mentations, 21. All purification from
evils is from the Lord, 128. As long as
the ultimates are kept closed by the man
himself, there cannot be any purifica-
tion, 97. Washing represented among
the Jews purification fiom evils, 128.
The Lord's Divine Providence causes
evil and falsity that are together to serve
for purification, and thus for the con-
junction of good and truth in others, 19,
21. False opinions in regard to purifi-
cation, 98. Means of purification, 307.
Purpose. To think from purpose is to
will and to do, 129. See Intention.
uakers, 258, 339.
ualitv. Every thing existing derives
from its form that which is called quality,
5. See Form.
Rain (Matt. v. 45) signifies the Divine
Truth of the Divine Wisdom, 148, 299.
Rational (The) of those who are in the
appearance and at the same time in the
truth, is the spiritual rational; while the
rational of those who are in the appear-
ance and not at the same time in the
truth, is the natural rational, 1J1.
Blind reasoners, 144.
Rationality is the faculty of understand-
ing. S4i 55! 76> 79. >4>, 296- Rational-
ity is from the Lord in man, 55. Ra-
tionality is from spiritual light and not
from natural light, 141. It is in the light
of heaven which enlightens, 143. By
rationality a man may be elevated into
wisdom almost angelic, 204. Those in
hell have the faculty of understanding
that is called rationality, 141. See Fac~
ulty. Liberty and Rationality.
Raven, 333-
Reason (To). The Lord is not only will-
ing that a man should think and talk
of Divine things, but that he should
also reason about them, for the end that
he may see a thing to be so or not so,
197.
Reasoners. Sensual men who confirm
themselves in favor of nature against
413
God, are more than others ingenious
reasoners, and they call shrewdness and
cunning intelligence and wisdom, 322.
Receptacle. Man was created that he
may be a receptacle of Love and Wis-
dom, 358. In what manner the civil
and moral man is the receptacle of the
spiritual, 342
Recipient. Good to be good in itself,
and truth to be truth in itself, must make
one in the recipient, 11.
Reciprocal. How the reciprocal con-
junction of man with the Lord is effected,
72. The reciprocal conjunction of the
angels with the Lord, is not from the
angels, but as from them, 24.
Reciprocation conjoins, 72. What the
reciprocal in man is, 73.
Reform (.To). The external man must
be reformed by means of the internal,
and not the reverse, 107, 126. The ex-
ternal is reformed by means of the in-
ternal, when the external ceases to do
the evils which the internal does not
will because they are infernal, and still
more when it therefore shuns them and
fights against them, 128. By means of
the two faculties called liberty and ra-
tionality man is reformed and legener-
ated and he cannot be reformed and re-
generated without them, 64. 67, 77. No
one is reformed by miracles and signs,
nor by visions and by conversations with
those who have died, nor by threats and
punishments, nor in states that are not
of rationality and liberty, 106-122. Alter
death man can no longer be reformed
and regeneiated, 17. Without man's
knowledge and acknowledgment of the
evils and falsities, and also the goods
and truths of his life and doctrine, he
cannot be reformed, 16.
Reformation. All reformation takes
place in completeness, that is, in what
is first in man and in ulumates at the
same time, 277. Why u.timates are re-
formed in this world to agree with what
is first, and cannot be afterwards, 277.
What the state of reformation is with
man, 66. Steps in reformation, 127.
Principal means of reformation, 222.
See Regeneration.
Pbgeneratb (To) a man is to unite in
him good and With, or love and wisdom,
as they are united in the Divine which
proceeds from the Lord, 46. While
man is regenerating, from being natural
he becomes spiritual, 67. After death
man can no longer be reformed and re-
generated, 17. See To Reform, Ac-
knowledgment.
Regeneration. The conjunction of man
with the Lord and of the Lord with man
is what is called reformation and re-
generation, 99 What is the state of re-
generation in man, 67.
B »lation. How relation is effected, 20.
There is cognition of the quality of
good only by its relation to what is les»
good and bv its contrariety to evil, 20.
Religion To shun evils a* sins is the
Christian religion itself, 270. Hitherto
men have not known that to shun evils
as sins is the Christian religion itself,
270, 278. The Christian religim is
only in the smaller division of the habit-
able globe called Euroje, and it is di-
vided there, 238, 251. It has been
provided by the Lord that almost every-
where there should be some religion,
353. There are two things which are at
once the essentials and the universals of
religion ; namely, the acknowledgment
of God and repentance, 379. All the
human beings that are born, in whatever
religion, can be saved, provided they
acknowledge God and live according to
the precepts that are in the Decalogue,
245, 247, 343. The Lord has provided
that in every religion there are precepts
such as are in the Decalogue, 246.
When a religion has been once im-
planted in a nation, the nation is led by
the Lord according to the precepts and
dogmas of its own religion. 246. Every
nation that lives according to its religion,
that is, which does not do evil because
it is against its God, receives something
spiritual in its natural. 343. In proces?
of time every religion decreases and is
consummated, 356, The religion tha
teaches blind faith darkens the under-
standing, 121.
Religions. The eeneral principles of all
relig'ons by which every one can be
saved, are to acknowledge God and not
to do evil because it is against God, 353.
Religious Systems (Religiosum). The
religious systems of various nations, 241,,
246,247; a so 119. The seven hundred
wives of Solomon signify the various
religious systems in the world, 234. The
Mohammedan religious system is re-
ceived by more kingdoms than the
Christian religion, 249. A concubine
signifies some religious system, 234.
See A/o/iammedan.
Remission (The) of evil is not its re-
moval ; so far as evils are removed they
are remitted, 282, 287. Man must ex-
amine himself, see his sins, acknowledge
them, confess them before God, and
desist from them ; this is remission of
sins, 103. Repentance precedes remis-
sion, and without repentance there is no
Remit. The Lord remits their sins fci
all ; He does not accuse and impute;
but yet He cannot take them away, ex-
cept according to the laws of His Divine
Providence, 288. Sins when they have
been remitted have not also been re-
moved, but when sins have been re-
moved they have also been remitted,
287, 288. See Sins.
Repentance precedes remission, and
414
INDEX.
without repentance there is no remis-
sion, 28S. Repentance is void of mean-
ing to those who believe that men are
saved from mercy alone, howsoever they
live, 379 Without repentance man is
in evil, and evil is hell, 380. Man be-
ginning to repent ought to look to the
Lord alone ; if he looks to God the
Father only, he cannot be purified ;
nor if he look3 to the Father for the
sake of the Son ; nor if to the Son as
only a man, 98. Repentance from sins is
the way to heaven, and faith apart from
repentance is not faith, 94, 103.
Represent. A bad man as well as a
good man can represent the internals of
the church by means of the externals
of worship, 109.
Residence. The Lord has a residence in
the two faculties, liberty and rationality,
both with evil men and with good ; and
by means of them He conjoins Himself
with every man, 77.
Restoration (The) of the marriage of
good and truth, and thence the con-
junction of the created universe with the
Lord through man is of the Divine
Providence, 10.
Resurrection. In all who have any re-
ligion there is implanted a cognition that
they live men after death, 272
Revenge. Its origin, 275.
Reward (Matt. x. 41) The reward of a
prophet means the happiness of those
who are in Divine truths, the reward of
a just man means the happiness of those
who are in Divine goods, 214.
Riches. Honors and wealth are bless-
ings, and they are curses, 191, 192.
They are blessings to those who do not
set the heart in them, and curses to
those who do set the heart in them, 193.
Riches are natural and temporal with
tnose who regard only these and them-
selves in them; but the same things are
spiritual and eternal with those who re-
gard good uses, 202. Of what quality is
the love of dignities and riches for their
own sake ; and of what quality is the
love of dignities and riches for the sake
of uses, 188. How the love of riches
arose, 187. The Lord never leads man
away from gathering wealth, but He
leads him from gathering wealth for the
sake of opulence alone, 161. See Dig-
Rule (Love of). When it made its in-
vasion, 187.
Rule (To). The Lord rules the univer-
sal angelic heaven as one man ; the
Lord rules it as the soul rules the body,
138. See Governs.
Rumination. Man's memory may be
compared to the stomach connected
with the rumination of certain animals,
"4-
Sabbath. In the Israelitish church th*
Sabbath was a most holy thing of wor«
ship; for it signified the union of truth
with good, and of good with truth in
Sacrifices. Worship by sacrifices was
first instituted in the Hebrew church,
which arose from Hcber, 357.
Sages or wise men of old. What their
idea was in regard to the immortality of
the soul, 345.
Salvation. The Lord wills the safety of
all, 203, 204. Without the Lord there
is no safety. No one is safe because
the Lord is known to him, but because
he lives according to His command-
ments, 365. The Divine Providence
has for its end nothing else than refor-
mation, and from this salvation, 253.
The work of salvation cannot be done
except by the acknowledgment of the
Divine of the Lord, and a confidence
that He does it while man lives accord-
ing to His precepts, 253. _ Instantane-
ous salvation from immediate mercy is
not possible, 373-381. This salvation
is the fiery flying serpent in the church,
379. See To Save.
Satan and the falsity of evil are one, 29.
They are called satans who confirm in
themselves the lusts cf evil, 323. See
Devil and Hell.
Save. It is from Divine Providence
that every man can be saved ; and they
are saved who acknowledge God and
live well, 349. The operation of Divine
Providence to save man begins at his
birth, and continues even to the end of
his life, and afterward for ever, 367-
371. No more can be saved than are
willing to be saved, 369. Who those
are who dasire to be saved, and who dc
not desire to be saved, 369. No morta]
could have been saved unless the Lord
had come into the world, 101 Kvery
one, in whatever heresy he may be as
to the understanding, can stili be re-
formed and saved, provided he shuns
evils as sins, 260. That only those who
were born within the church are saved
is an insane heresy, 364.
Security of life arises either from the
impious man's belief that there is no life
after death, or from the belief of him
who separates the life from salvation,
380.
See. The seeing in himself, is in his
internal man ; and the understanding
by reasons, is in the external man,
Seed (The) is the first form of the love
in which the father is ; it is the form of
his reigning love, with its nearest deri-
vations, which are the inmost affections
of that love, 276. From the seed im-
pregnation takes place ; and the seed
is what is c'othed with a body by th«
mother, 376.
INDEX.
415
Sensation. Thtre 13 cognition of the
quality of good only by its relation to
what i's less Rood, and by its contrariety
to evil. Hence comes all that gives
perception and sensation, because from
this is their quality, 20.
Sense. Why the spiritual sense of the
Word hitherto unknown was not re-
vealed before, 267. The natural senses
of the body, and the spiritual senses of
the mind, 329.
Ebnsuai. ones were called by the ancients
serpents of the tree of knowledge, 321,
Separation (Seju-dio). So far as one
denies the Lord, He is separated, and
the effjet of separation is, that hell
turns man's face to itself and leads him,
Sbkpent (The) signifies the sensual and
the proprium of man, which in itself is
the love of self and the pride of his own
intelligence, 183, 327. The head of the
serpent (Gen. iii. 15) is self-love, 183,
231. By the fiery flying serpent spoken
of in Isaiah (xiv. 29), is meant evil
glowing from infernal fire, 379. Sen-
sual ones were called by the ancients
serpents of the tree of knowledge, 321,
323-
Servitude. Heavenly freedom is free-
dom itself, and the opposite is slavery,
35. Every man wishes to be free, and
to remove from himself what is not free
or what is servile, 125 Man does not
know what spiritual servitude is, and
what spiritual liberty is : he has not the
truths that teach this, arid without truths
it is believed that spiritual servitude is
freedom, and spiritual freedom servi-
tude, 126. To be led by good is free-
dom, and to be led by evil is slavery,
3 5. Why man does not desire to come
out of spiritual servitude into spiritual
liberty, 126
Several, Severally. See Particulars.
Shkath. See A natomical Details
Shbep. To call His sheep by name (John
r. j), is to teach and to lead every one
who is in the g'>od of charity, according
to the state of his love and wisdom,
214.
Shepherd (The) is he who goes to the
Lord, 215.
Shun. As far as man shuns evils as
diabolical and as obstacles to the Lord"s
entrance, he is more and more closely
conjoined with the Lord, and he the
more closely who abominates them as
so many dusky and fiery devils, 29.
Sickness. When man is in a state of dis-
ease and is thinking about death and
the state of his soul after death, he is
Lot then in the world ; in spirit he is
withdrawn ; and in this state alone no
one can be reformed, 121. No one is
reformed in a state of disordered mind,
or in a state of bodily disease : for a
I «ick mind is not rational ; and when the
body is sick, the mind is also sick, 120,
121. What are the disorders of the
mind, 120 It is vain to think that any
can do the work of repentance or re-
ceive any faith during sickness ; for in
such repentance there is no action, and
in such faith there is nocharitv, 12:. If
men were not reformed before their
sickness, after it, if they die, they be-
come such as they were before their
sickness, 121.
Sidon was one of those countries in which
the ancient church existed, and where
the ancient Word was known, 356.
terual sight, 140. The understanding,
which is man's internal sight, is enlight-
ened by spiritual light, as the eye or
man's external sight is enlightened bv
natural light, 140. The eyesight of all
is formed for the reception of the light
in which it is, 142.
Signs. No one is reformed by miracles
and signs, because they compel, 106, 107.
Simple. The simpler and purer any
thing is, the more and the fuller it is, 8.
The view that there is something so
simple that nothing is more so, 8. _
Simultaneous. In the ultimate is the
simultaneous [presence] of all things
from the first, 101. How the simul-
taneous makes the successive, 12.
Single, Singly. See Universal ; also
Particulars.
Sins. When sins have been removed
they have also been remitted, but not
the reverse, 28S. Those who confess
themselves guilty of all sins, and do not
search out any one sin in themselves,
278.
Skeletons. Profaners that appear like
skeletons, 208.
Skin (The) does not feel from itself, but
it is man's mind or spirit which there
perceives things by the sense, and from
it is affected according to its quality,
329. Man knows little as to how the
skin feels, 372. It has been provided
by the Lord, that those whom the Gos-
pel has not been able to reach, but a
religion only, should also be able to
have a place in the Divine man, that
is, in heaven, by constituting the parta
that are called skins, membranes, carti-
lages, and bones, 247, 353.
Slavery. See Servitude.
Smell (To). All that a man smells flowi
in, 319. Evil in itself smells most foully,
Smoke. They who are in the love of sell
are surrounded by smoke like that of a
conflagration, through which no spirit-
ual truth in its own light can pass, 240.
Society- The universal heaven has been
arranged in order into soeeties accord-
ing to (the affections of good, and the
universal hell into societies according
4i6
INDEX.
to] the lusts of evil opposite to the
affections of good, 28 1. Every man as
to his spirit is in some society ; in a
heavenly society if he is in the affection
of good, but in an infernal society if he
is in the lust of evil, 2S1, 304, 317. He
also sometimes appears there, while in
deep meditation, 304. Kvery society in
heaven is before the Lord as one man,
5°-
Socinianism. Its origin, 262. It reigns
in more hearts than you believe, 262.
Socinians. Their fate in another life,
2t8. See also, 254.
Solomon represented the Lord after His
coming, and after His glorification ;
therefore Solomon appeared in glory
and magnificence, 234. Why he was
permitted to establish idolatrous wor-
ship, and to marry so many wives, 234.
Something. Every thing which perishes,
and does not become any thing, in-
wardly in itself is not anv thing ; out-
wardly^ indeed, it is something, 195.
Good is not anything unless united to
truth, and truth is not any thing unless
united to good, 11. That which is in
good and at the same time in truth, is
something ; and that which is in evil
and at the same time in falsity, is not
any thing, 18. Unless the Infinite God
were the All, man would not be any
thing, 38.
Soothsayers, 205.
Soul. Every one's soul is from the fa-
ther, and it is only clothed with a body
by the mother, 276. The soul is in the
seed, 276. Man's soul is no other than
his will's love, and consequently the
love belonging to his understanding,
174. If man attributes all things to
himself and to nature, the love of self
becomes the soul ; but if he attributes
all things to the Lord, the love of the
Lord becomes the soul, 175. Naturalists
have been able to comprehend the stale
of the soul after death sensually only,
and not spiritually, 322. Secret opera-
tions of the soul in the bodv, 308, 372.
Sound corresponds to affection, and
speech to thought, 169, 286. From the
tone of one who is speaking, the affec-
tion of his love is recognized ; and from
the variation of it, which is speech, his
thought is recognized, 169. How the
articulations of sound, which are the
words of speech and the modulations of
singing, are made by the lungs, 286.
How hypocrites are discovered in the
spiritual world by the sound of the voice,
Space and time are properties of nature,
42. Time is only an appearance accord-
ing to the state of affection from which
thought comes. So it is with distance
in space while in thought, 40. Angels
and spirits are not in space and time,
but only in the appearance of them,
40. There is not space in the spiritual
world, but distances and presence there
are appearances in accordance with sim-
ilarities and dissimilarities of affections,
29.
Speak. The simple and the wise speak,
alike but do not think alike, 138. In
the spiritual world no one can speak
otherwise than as he thinks, 207. What-
ever a man speaks flmvs-in derivatively
or mediately, 319. Unless man had an
internal and an external of thought from
liberty and rationality he would have
been unable to speak, 85.
Speaking and Singing. In what way
are produced the sound of the voice in
speaking, and singing, and also the ar-
ticulations of sound, 286. See Sound
Speech corresponds to the thought, and
the sound to the affection, 2S6. All
speech flows from thought, as an effect
from its cause, 319. How speech is
produced, 2S6. See Sound.
Spheres. In the spiritual world all are
conjoined according to the spheres ex-
haled from their affections through their
thoughts, 171. The quality of e.ich on»
also is recognized from the sphere of his
life, 171.
Spider (The) Infernal love with its
affections of evil and falsity, compared
to a spider and the web about it. 87.
Spir-iLS In-bending spirals wonderfully
combined into forms receptive of life,
337-
Spirit (The). Every man's spirit is af-
fection and the thought from it, 48, 171.
Spirit (The Holy). What is meant by
the sin against the Holy Spirit, 79.
Spirits. In the spiritual world spirits
are conjoined according to the spheres
exhaled from their affections through
the thoughts, 171. All there think from
the affections of their life's love, 171.
Discourse with the dead deprives a nun
of rationality, and at the same lime
shuts in his evils ; but when the internal
bond is loosed, the evils that have been
shut in break out, with blasj hemy and
profanation. Hut this Likes place only
when spirits bring in smne dogma of re-
ligion ; which is 111 no wise done by any
good spirit, still less by any angel ol
heaven, 112. 113. More concerning
conversation with spirits, 113. Sweden-
borg's own experience, 1 13.
Spiritual Man (The> is called alive, but
the natural man is call d dead, 343.
Man becomes spiritual by the acknowl-
edgment of God, 163 ; and not doing
evils because they are against God, 344.
The spiritual state, 162.
Splken. Its organization, 156, a86. It
purifies the biood, 373.
Spongb. As a sponge takes up water, so
man drinks-in falsity agreeing with his
evil, 17.
Squaring op the Circle. Comparison
INDEX.
417
between angelic and Divine wisdom,
draw 11 from what is said of squaring the
circle, 372.
States. There is with man an external
and an interna] state, 310. Every man,
when he becomes a spirit, which takes
place after death, is intromitted by turns
into the two slates of his life, the ex-
ternal and the internal, 310. The spir-
itual state of man is altogether different
from the natural state, 374. There are
with man three states; the first state is
a state of damnation ; the second state
is the state of reformation ; and the
third state is a state of regeneration, 65.
A spirit is commonly let into alternate
states of wisdom and insanity, that he
may see the latter from the former,
205. States in which there is no refor-
Statuh (The) seen by Nebuchadnezzar
in a dream means the four churches,
357. He who waits for influx becomes
like a statue, 338.
Stvtutbs (All the) of the Israelitish
church represented the spiritual things
of the church, which are its internals,
M4.
Stomach. Its functions, 2S6, 308, 373.
Man's memory may be compared to the
stomach connected with the rumination
of certain animals, 224.
Stumbling - blocks. "Hindrances or
Stumbling-blocks of the Impenitent,"
258.
Successive. How the simultaneous makes
the successive, 12. See Simultane~
oris.
Subdue. He who subdues the love of
rule from the love of self, easily sub-
dues the other evil loves. 124.
Subjects. Affections and thoughts are
not given except in svibstances and their
forms, which are subjects, 285 ; also
336. Form makes the subject, 5.
Subsistence is perpetual existence, 4.
Substance There is an only substance,
from which all substances have been
formed, 8, 132. The Sun of the spirit-
ual world, which is from the Lord, and
in which the Lord is, is not only the
first substance, but is the only substance,
from which all things are, 7. The
affections of the will are changes and
variations in the state of the purely
organic substances of the mind, and
the thoughts of the understanding are
changes and variations in the form of
those substances, 287, 336.
Substantiated. The spiritual Sun is
the first and only substance from which
all things are; there are in that sub-
stance infinitely more things than can
appear in the substances originating
from it, which are called substantiated,
and at length matter, 8.
Sun. The Lord produced from Himself
the Sun of the spiritual world, and by
that Sun all things of the universe, 7.
This Sun is not only ilie first substance,
but it is the only substance, from which
all things are, 7 The spiritual Sun is
from the Lord, and the Lord is in it ; it
is not in space, is the all in all, and is
in the greatest and least things of the
created universe, 8. The Lord apptars
above the angelic heaven as a Sim, 137.
By the sun in the Word in the spiritual
sense is meant the Divine Good of the
Divine Love, 148, 299. As to aspect,
the Lord is above the angels in the Sun
Supper* (The Holy) instituted by the
Lord, confirms the remission of sins to
those who repent, 98. See Remission^
Repintance.
Supply. For every power there must be
supply, which is to be given it, 69.
Sweden boko conversed with many after
their death, some in Europe and its
various kingdoms, and some in Asia and
Africa, —and they were all near him,
41. He conversed with those who lived
many ages ago, with those who lived
before the flood, and with some who
lived after it, with those who lived in
the time of the Lord, and with one of
His apostles, and with many who lived
in later ages ; they all seemed like men
of middle age, and they said that they
know not what death is, only that dam-
nation is death, 346. The Lord was
revealed to him and appeared constantly
before his eyes as a Sun in which He
is. He savs that for the several years
during which lie had discoursed with
spirits and angels, no spirit dared nor
did any angel wish to teil him any thing,
still less instruct him, concerning any
things in the Word, or any doctrine
from the Word; but the Lord alone
taught him, 113. That when it was
granted him by the Lord to speak with
spirits and angels, it was revealed to
him that man does not think or will
from himself, but from the Lord if he is
good, and from hell if he is evil ; that thi9
was demonstrated to him by his own ex-
perience; that he opened afterward this
arcanum to some novitiate spirits, tell-
ing them that he thought more interiorly,
and perceived what flowed into his ex-
terior thought whether it was from
heaven or from hell ; that he rejected
the latter and received the former, but
st j it appeared to himself, as to them,
that he tho jght and willed from himself,
296, 297.
Swedes. Instruction which is given thert
before the Holy Communion, 92, 257.
Sword (To be devoured by the) signi-
fies to perish by the falsity of evil,
281.
Syria was one of the countries in which
the ancient church existed, and where
the old Word was known, 358.
4i8
INDEX.
Syrians (The) in the Word, signify a
particular kind of evil, 242.
Systole. What it is, 336.
Tables of the Law. There are two
tables, one for the Lord, and the other
for man, 75, 352. As far as a man as
from himself does the laws of man's
table, so far the Lord enables him to do
the laws of His table, 75. The laws of
man's table have reference to the love
of the neighoor, and those of the Lord's
table to the love of the Lord, 75. See
Decalogue.
Talent (The) given to the servants to
trade with (Luke xix., Matt xxv ), sig-
nifies the prudence which we are to use,
183.
Taste. There cannot be taste without
its form which is the tongue, 286.
Taste (To). All that man tastes flows
in, 319.
Teach. The Lord alone teaches man,
but mediately through the Word in a
state of enlightenment, 113. To be
taught from the Word is to be taught
from the Lord, 145. How man is taught
by the Lord, 130-149. Every one is
taught according to his own love's un-
derstanding ; what is above this is not
permanent, 147.
Teeth (The) of the Heavenly Man, or of
heaven, are constituted by those whom
the Gospel cannot reach, but only some
religion, 353 ; see also 247.
Temple (The) built by Solomon signified
the Lord's Divine Human, and also the
church, 234. The destruction of the
temple represented the very devastation
< f the church, 235.
Temporal things which are proper to
men in the natural world, in general have
relation to dignities and wealth, and
specia.ly to the necessities of every
man, which are food, clothing, and a
place to live in, 186, 200. These a man
puts off by death, and puts on spirit-
ual and eternal things corresponding to
them, 200. From man can proceed
nothing but what is temporal, and from
the Lord nothing but what is eternal,
197. By man things temporal and eter-
nal are separated, but they are conjoined
by the Lord, 195.
Temptations (Spiritual) are nothing
else than combats against evils and fal-
sities, 21. Genuine temptations, 120.
Temptations are infestations by the evil,
Tendons (The) of the Heavenly Man or of
heaven, are constituted by those whom
the Gospel cannot reach, but only some
religion, 353 ; see also 247.
Theft. Its origin, 275.
Thief and Robber (The) (John x. 1) is
he who does not go to the Lord, 215.
Think. No one thinks from himself, but
thought flows in, 295; no one thinks frotl
himse.f.but Irom others; neitherdo theM
think from themselves, but they, too,
from others, 295. 299. All think Irom the
Lord, both the evil man and the good
man, 319. One who does not think
above the sensual, is in the darkness of
night regarding the state of his life, 273.
What it is, while one is thinking from
the present, to think at the same time
from the eternal, 47. It is from a law
of the Divine Providence that man
should think as from himself, bnt still
should acknowledge that this is from
the Lord, 338. One does not think
from space and time while he is think-
ing of those who are in the spiritual
world, 41. See Thought.
Think and Will (To) It is the Divine
itself to think and to will from itself,
and it is the human itself to think and
to will from God, 299. Thinking and
willing are spiritual, but speaking and
doing are natural, 53.
Thistle (The) signifies evil, 328.
Thorn (Thr) signifies falsity, 328.
Thought is nothing but affection's form,
173. Man has no thought except from
some affection of his life's love, 173.
All man's thoughts are from the affec-
tions of his life's love, and there are no
thoughts whatever, nor can there be,
apart from them, 168. Thoughts which
belong to the understanding are mere
changes and variations of the form of
the purely organic substances of the
mind, 285. Everv man has an external
and an internal of thought, 83, 85-80,
97, 11S, 123, 126 The affections to.
gether with the perceptions make man's
internal, and the enjoyments of the af-
fections together with the thoughts make
his external, 86. The external and in-
ternal of thought have a like meaning
with the external and internal man, 83.
The internal and external of thought
are distinct as prior and posterior, or as
higher and lower, 123. Man knows
nothing of the internal of his thought
before he comes into the spiritual world
and its light, which he does after death,
221. The internal of thought coheres
with the external of thought in such a
connection that they cannot be sepa-
rated, 221. Exterior thought and in-
terior thought are given to man, and
from the interior thought he is able to
6ee the exterior, and also to reflect
^whether "it is °evl" 0* not° evi™ 85^
Thought from exterior enlightenment
sees a tiling on both sides, on the one it
sees the reasons that confirm, on the
other the appearances that weaken ,
these it disperses, the others it gathers
together, 143. From thought abstracted
from tim< ind space, there is a compre-
hension i the Divine Omnipresence
INDEX.
»nd the Divine Omnipotence, a.so of
the Divine from eiernitv, 42 If from
speech you take away thought, speech
stops. 4. See Affection and rhought,
Think, Perception, I llumiwition.
Threat*;. No one is reformed by threats,
because thev compel, 107, 113. See To
Compel.
Time is only an appearance according
to the state of affection from which
thought comes, 40 See Sprue and
Time.
Tongue, 157, 287, 372 The tongue is
the form of taste, 28ft. The tongue does
not taste from itself, but it is man's
mind or spirit which perceives things by
the sense, and from it is aff.cted accord-
ing to its quality, 329. Man knows
little as to how the tongue feels, 372
Spirits speak with a man in his mother-
tongue, but only a few words. 113.
Torment ( The) of one who is in the en-
joyment of hell when coming near
heaven, 347; see also 376
Trachea or windpipe, its functions, 155,
286.
Transferred. Man is transferred from
one society to another and this even
until death, 317-
Tree. Correspondence between man's
life and the growth of a tree, 368. Man
is described in the Word by a tree, 36S.
Where the tree falis the e it lies. So
does man's life, when he dies, remain
such as it has been, 277. Heavenly
love with the affections of good and
truth and the perceptions therefrom,
together with the en jnvments from these
affections and the thoughts therefrom,
may be compared to a tree noted for its
branches, its leaves, and its fruits, 86.
87. By the tree of life i* signified the
Lord as to the Divine Providence ; and
by the tree of knowledge, man as to his
own prudence, 231, 327.
Trtms. In the earliest times, tribes,
families, and households dwe,t apart,
and not under general governments as
at this day, 181.
Trine (The) in One is in the Lord ouly,
9s).
Trinity. God is one in Person and
Essence, in Whom is the Trinity, and
the Lord is this God, 264, 265.
Truth. By truth is understood that
which univer-ally comprehends and in-
volves all things of wisdom, 11. Every
thing of the understanding has relation
to truth, 11, 12 Genuine truths, of
which the spiritual sense of the Word
consists, were not revealed by the Lord
till after the last judgment was accom-
plished, and the New Church, which is
meant by the Holy Jerusalem, was about
to be established bv the Lord. 268. A
truth from the Word was sent down
from heaven, 205.
TyKB was one of those countries in which
Ultimates (The) in man are the things
that are in the external of the thought,
102. The Lord acts from inmosts and
from ultimates at the same time, too,
199. Intermediates follow in a depend-
ent series from inmosts even to ulti-
mates, and in the ultimates thev are
together, toi. The ultimates of life
that man carries with him after death,
become quiescent, and breathe with his
interiors ; that is, they act as one, 277.
Ultimates are reformed, to agree witn
what is first, in the world, 277.
Understand. Difference between man's
understanding by reasons, and seeing
in himse1^ 127. Understanding is the
consort or mate of willing; and as far
as you will, you have power to under-
stand, 76.
Understanding (The) is man's internal
sight, 140. The understanding, which
is man's internal sight, is enlightened
by spiritual light, as the eye or man's
external sight is enlightened by natural
light, 140. There is an internal under-
standing and an external understanding,
90.
Understanding and Will In every
man there are two faculties, one of
which makes the understanding and the
other the will. 292. The faculty which
makes the understanding is his being
able to understand and think ; the
faculty which makes the will is his being
able freely to think, and consequent y
to speak and act, provided this is not
contrary to reason, 202. Man wiih-
ont 1 berty and rationality would have
neither will nor understanding, and
therefore would not be man, 75. An
understanding separate from the will,
has been given to man, that he may
see the quality of his will, 277, 278.
The will's love inspires the understand-
ing with whatever it desires, and not the
reverse ; it destroys in the understand-
ing everv thing that is not from itself,
182. Will, without understanding, can-
not do anything, 3. The will of man's
life is led, and the understanding of his
life is taught, 131.
Union. The union of truth with good,
and of good with truth in man, is the
church and heaven, 19. The unton
which is called the marriage of rood and
truth, 9. The more they are who enter
the Korm of Divine Love, which is the
Korm of Forms, the more perfect the
ur.ion becomes, 49. Union of charity
and faith, of the will and understanding,
6S.
Unite. To unite all the affections of the
love of good into the Form of Heaven,
no other is able than He whe is Love
420
INDEX.
itself and Wisdom itself together, and
Who at once is Infinite and Eternal,
49. The Lord's Divine Providence con-
tinually works for truth to be united to
pood, and good to truth in man, 19.
Universe (The) with the things, each
and all belonging to it, has been created
from the Divine Love by the Divine
Wisdom, 2. The Lord did not create
the universe for the sake of Himself,
but for the sake of those with whom He
will be in heaven, 22. God created the
universe and all things thereof from
Himself and not from nothing, 38.
Universal. The general and the par-
ticular, or the universal and the special,
by wonderful conjunction, act as one,
156- That is called universal which is
made up by all single things together,
176. A universal without any particular
is not any thing, 279. The Divine is
universal from the most minute par-
ticulars severally; and these Divine
particulars are what is called the Uni-
versal, 301. The Lord's Divine Provi-
dence is universal from being in the
smallest particulars severally, 177. The
two universal principles of the church
are to acknowledge God and to live well,
3 S3» 356 Sec Particular, Particulars ;
also Single, Singly.
Use is a good, and derives its quality from
truth, 12. Uses are the goods which
are called goods of charity, 190. 200.
liy uses are meant not only the neces-
saries of life, which have relation to
food, clothing, and a place to live in,
lor a man and those dependent on him ;
but the good of one's country, of society,
and of the fellow-citizen ts also meant,
203. By doing uses or goods is meant
serving others and ministering to them,
*9o. They who do uses for the sake of
fame or profit, do them for the sake of
themselves ; but they who do uses for
the sake of the uses, do them not from
themselves but from the Lord, 191.
One who is led by the devil does uses
for the sake of himself and the world ;
but tine who is led by the Lord does
uses for the sake of the Lord and heaven,
191, 193, 195. They who shun evils as
sins all do uses from the Lord, but they
who do not shun evils as sins all do uses
from the devil, 191. The Lord's king-
dom is a kingdom of uses, 21, 239. The
Lord bv His Divine Providence con-
joins Himself with natural things by
spiritual, and with temporal by eternal
things, according to uses. 199. The Lord
conjoins Himself unh u-es by corre-
spondences, and thus by appearances
according to the confirmations by man,
199. How the lust of duing uses for
the sake of self-glory is set on fire, 239.
The Lord leadsm.in to regard eminence
and opulence, not for the sake of him-
self but for the sake of use, 161.
Variations of state in the forms of miud,
171, 282, 336.
Variety. An image of infinite and eter-
nal in the variety of all things, is appar-
ent in this, — that there is not one thing
which is the same as another, nor can
there be to eternity, 45. Variety is in-
finite and eternal, 45. There must be
variety in every real thing, from the
greatest to the least of it, 20. The vary-
ing cannot exist unless in the constant,
the steadfast, and the certain : examples,
163. The varieties run on to the in-
finite, and have no end: enumeration ol
some of them, 165.
Vastation. There is now a gradual vas-
tation of good and desolation of truth
in the church, even to the consummation
of it, 359-
Veil between interiors and exteriors, or
between the spiritual and the natural
tilings of the mind, 324 To think be.
low the veil, 321.
Vena Cava, 308.
Ventricle (Left), 308.
Vessels (Lymphatic and Lacteal),
Victories. Why victories seem to be on
the side of prudence, and sometimes not
on that of justice, 244; see also 243.
Virgins (The foolish) who had lamps
but no oil, and were not admitted to the
wedding, are like those who have ac-
knowledged truths with the lips but not
with the heart, 360.
Viscera, 156, 286, 3o8._
Visionary and enthusiastic spirits, who,
from the delirium in which they are,
called themselves the Holy Spirit, 112.
See Visions.
Visions are of two kinds, Divine and
diabolical. Divine visions take place
by means of representatives in heaven;
and diabolical visions, by means of
maL'ic in hell, no. There are also fan-
tastic visions, but these are mere il u-
sions of an abstracted mind, 112. Divine
visions are such as the prophets had;
who, when they were in vision, were
not in the body, but in the spirit, 1 10.
Such visions do not take place at the
present day, for if they did they would
not be understood; because they are
made by representatives, in which every
thing is significative of the internal
things of the church and the arcana of
heaven, 112. Diabolical visions have
sometimes been shown, induced by
enthusiastic and visionary spirits, 112.
No one is reformed by visions and by
conversations with those who have died,
because they compel, 107, no. See
Visionary.
Wars. All wars, however much they
may belong to civil affairs, represent in
heaven "he states of the church, and
INDEX.
421
they are correspondences, 24?. Such
were all the wars described in the Word,
and such also are all wan at this day.
242. It is not known in this world what
kingdoms in the Christian world answer
to the Moabites and Ammonites, what
to tue Syrians and Philistines, and
what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians,
and the others with whom the children
of Israel carried on wars ; but still there
are those which answer to them, 243.
Why wars are permitted, 242.
Washing. By washiug the head and the
hands (John xiii. 8, 9, 10) is meant to
purify the internal man ; and by wash-
ing the feet, to purify the external man,
12S.
Way. The Lord does not enter by any
other way with man than the internal
way, which is by the Word and by doc-
trine and preaching from the Word,
108. In the spiritual world there are
actually ways, running to every society
r.f heaven and to every society of hell,
48. The ways there are one for every
love, and no one sees other ways than
the way of his love, 48. Every man
after death goes the way of his love ; he
who is in good love to heaven, and he
who is in evil love to hell, 337. In what
is angelic, there is a cognition of the
way from walking in it, and a walking
in the way by cognition of it, 48.
Whoredoms. Their origin, 275. In the
Word whoredoms signify falsifications
of truth, 225.
Wicked. See Evil.
Wife in the Word signifies the church,
234. Heaven and the church are called
the wife, 9. The seven hundred wives
of Solomon signified the various religious
systems in the world, 234. See Alar-
riagt.
Will and Love. The will and the jovc
act as one, 76. The internal am.
external will, 90. If you take away
will from action the work then stops, 4.
Man's will runs counter to the Lord's
will, 198. The will of the Lord, and in-
flux of this will into man, 77. The in-
ternal of the will conjoins itself with the
internal of the understanding, 116. See
Understanding and Will.
Will (To). Willing is not given without
anderstanding ; understanding is its con-
sort or mate, without which it cannot
be, 76. In man there is an interior
willing and an exterior ; and he can
act according to the exterior while not
acting at the same time according to the
interior, 70. To will, without knowing,
perceiving, and thinking what one wills,
is not any thing; but together with
these, it becomes something, 12. See
To Think and to Will.
Wings signify spiritual truths, 19.
Wisdom is conjunction with the Lord, 32.
Wisdom is nothing unless conjoined with
love, 31. There are tn man three de-
grees of wisdom, natural, spiritual, and
heavenly ; they are opened according to
love, 30. Wisdom can be elevated in a
triplicate ratio; and in each degree it
may be peifected to the highest point,
in a simple ratio, 31. These three de-
grees are not united to one another by
continuity, but are joined by correspond-
ences, 31. Wisdom is without end.
If there were an end to wisdom in a
wise person, the enjoyment of his wis-
dom would perish, which consists in tha
perpetual multiplication and fructifica-
tion of wisdom, 372. Angelic wisdom
is ineffable, 31. There is no such ap-
proximation of angelic wisdom to the
Divine Wisdom that it can touch it,
372. See Love and Wisdom.
Wise. The more closely a man is con-
joined with the Lord, the wiser he be-
comes, 30. No one is wise from himself,
but from the Lord, 32. They are wise
from the Lord who reject the devil, that
is, evil, from themselves, 31.
Withdrawal from Evil (The) is ef-
fected by the Lord in a thousand ways,
even the most secret, 306.
Wolves. Those who are in their own
prudence are like wolves, 324.
Womb. Every man is formed by the Lord
in the womb into the image of God,
after the likeness of God, 363. See
Embryo.
Word (The). The Lord is the Word,
because the Word is from Him and
concerning Him. And because it is the
Divine Truth of the Divine Good, 145.
All doctrine of the church must be drawn
from the Word. The man who is taught
from the Word is taught by the Lord
alone, 145. All things of the Word
i e communication with heaven and
consequently with the Lord, 146. The
»>.lole Word is nothing but Doctrine of
Life, 365 The Papists do not mad the
Word; and the Reformed who are in
faith separate from charity pay no at-
tention to what relates to life in it, but
only to what relates to faith, 365. Why
heretofore it was not known that in
every particular of the Word there is a
spiritual sense, and that therein its
holiness consists, 266.
Working. See Operation.
World. All things which take place n
the natural world correspond to spirit-
ual things in the spiritual world, 243.
In the spiritual world all are spiritual
even as to the body, 142.
World of Spirits. The world of spirits
is intermediate between heaven and hell,
318. When man dies he comes first
into the world of spirits, and there into
his external; this is there put off;
being freed from this, he is borne into
his own place, in which he has beea
enrolled, 318.
422
INDEX.
World (Christian). Why in the Chris-
tian world they worship one God under
three Persons, which is to worship three
Gods, and why hitherto it has not known
tfeat God is one in Person and Essence,
it: Whom is a Trinity, and that the
Lord is that God, 262. Why there have
been and still are in the Christian world
so many heresies, 258. See Heresies.
Worship. It is hurtful to compel men to
Divine worship, 114. Forced worship
shuts in evils, which lie hidden like fire
in wood under ashes, which is continu-
ally kindling and spreading, till it breaks
out in flames, 115. Worship not forced
Dut spontaneous does not shut in evils,
which therefore are like fires that blaze
up at once and are gone, 115. With
those who are in the internal of wor-
ship, there is an internal that is com-
pelled, — compelled from fear, or com-
pelled from love, 1 16. Forced worship
15 corporeal, lifeless, obscure, and sad,
117. Worship not forced, when genuine,
is spiritual, living, lucid, and joyful, 117
Worship before the coming of the Lord
was representative, 249
Wokship. Of those who worship the run
and moon, and those who worship idols
and graven images, 246.
Worshipper. Every worshipper of him-
self and of nature confirms himself
against the Divine Providence, 236;
under what circumstances, 236, 244.
Worshippers of self and the worid,
worshippers of men and of images, wor-
shippers of the Lord, 130.
Yoke. Concerning those who frcm re-
ligion believe they are not under toe
yoke of the law, 35, 82.
Zhal. There are those who are in a blaxe.
of zeal for the salvation of souls, whea
yet this is from infernal fire, 119.
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