NEUOFFENBARUNG← Divine Providence · Contents
226. (2) If a man afterwards recedes from these spiritual things and passes over into the opposite he profanes holy things. There are several kinds of profanation of what is holy (which will be treated of under the following head), but this kind is the most grievous of all; for profaners of this kind after death come to be no longer men; they live, indeed, but are continually in fantastic hallucinations, seeming to themselves to be flying on high; and while they remain there they sport with fantasies, which are seen by them as real things; and being no longer men, they are not called “he” and “she,” but “it.” And when they are presented to view in the light of heaven they look like skeletons, some like skeletons of the color of bone, some as fiery skeletons, and others as charred. It is unknown in the world that profaners of this kind become such after death; and it is unknown because the cause is unknown. The essential cause is that when a man has first acknowledged Divine things and believed in them, and afterwards withdraws from and denies them, he mixes together what is holy and what is profane; and when these have been mixed together they cannot be separated without destroying the whole. But to make this more clear to the perception it shall be unfolded in order, as follows: (1) Whatever a man thinks, says, and does from his will, whether good or evil, is appropriated to him, and remains. (2) But the Lord, by His Divine providence, continually foresees and arranges, in order that evil may be by itself and good by itself, and thus the two may be separated. (3) But this cannot be done when at first man acknowledges the truths of faith and lives according to them, and afterwards withdraws from and denies them. (4) He then mixes together good and evil to such an extent that they cannot be separated. (5) And since the good and the evil must be separated in every human being, and cannot be separated in such a one, he is therefore destroyed in respect to every thing truly human.
227. Such are the causes from which this enormity springs; but as ignorance of them causes obscurity, they need to be so explained as to make them clear to the understanding. First: Whatever a man thinks, says, and does from his will, whether good or evil, is appropriated to him, and remains. This has been shown above (n. 78-81). For man has an external or natural memory, and an internal or spiritual memory. Upon his internal memory each and every thing that he has thought, spoken and done in the world has been inscribed, so completely and particularly that not a single thing is lacking. This memory is the book of man’s life, which is opened after death and in accordance with which he is judged. Many other things with regard to this memory, from actual experience, are set forth in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 461-465). [2] Secondly: But the Lord by means of His Divine providence continually foresees and arranges in order that evil may be by itself and good by itself, and thus the two may be separated. Every man is both in evil and in good, in evil from himself, and in good from the Lord; nor can he live unless he is in both; for if he were in self alone and thus in evil alone he would have nothing of life; and if he were in the Lord alone, and thus in good alone, he would have nothing of life, for in such a state of life he would continually gasp for breath like one suffocated, or like one in the agony of death; while in the former state of life he would become extinct; for evil apart from any good is in itself dead; consequently every man is in both; with the difference that in the one case man is interiorly in the Lord and exteriorly as it were in himself; and in the other case is interiorly in himself, but exteriorly as it were in the Lord; and such a man is in evil, while the former is in good; although each is in both. The evil man is in both for the reason that he is in the good of civil and moral life, and also outwardly in some good of spiritual life, besides being kept by the Lord in rationality and liberty, that he may be capable of being in good. It is by such good that every one, even a bad man, is led by the Lord. From all this it can be seen that the Lord keeps evil and good separate, so that one may be interior and the other exterior, thus providing against their being mixed together. [3] Thirdly: But this cannot be done if man acknowledges the truths of faith and lives according to them, and afterwards withdraws from and denies them. This is clear from what has already been said, first, that all things that a man thinks, says, and does from the will are appropriated to him and remain; and secondly, that the Lord by His Divine providence continually foresees and arranges that good may be by itself and evil by itself, and that the two may be separated. Moreover, they are separated by the Lord after death. From those who are interiorly evil and outwardly good the good is taken away, and thus they are left to their evil. The reverse takes place with those who are interiorly good, but outwardly, like other men, have sought to gain riches, have striven for dignities, have taken delight in various worldly interests, and have favored certain lusts; for with such good and evil have not been mixed together, but have been kept separate like internal and external; thus while in external form they have been in many respects like the evil, they have not been so internally. But with the evil who in external form have presented the same appearance as the good in piety, worship, words, and works, while in internal form they have been evil, the reverse is true; with such also evil is kept separate from good. But in those who have acknowledged the truths of faith and lived according to them, and have afterwards passed over into the opposite and have rejected these truths, and especially if they have denied them, goods and evils are no longer separate, but are mixed together. For such a man has appropriated good to himself, and has also appropriated evil to himself, and thus has joined and mixed them together.
[4] Fourthly: Man then mixes together good and evil to such an extent that they cannot be separated. This follows from what has just been said. If evil could not be separated from good and good from evil it would be impossible to be either in heaven or in hell. Every human being must be in either one or the other; he cannot be in both; for he would then be at one time in heaven, and at another time in hell; and when in heaven he would be acting in accord with hell, and when in hell he would be acting in accord with heaven; thus he would destroy the life of all about him, heavenly life among the angels, and infernal life among the devils; whereby the life of all would perish. For each one must have his own life; no one lives in another’s life, still less in an 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 the evil and the evil from the good; the good from the evil in those who are interiorly in evil; and the evil from the good in those who are interiorly in good; which is according to His words:-
To every one that hath shall be given, that he may have more abundantly; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath (Matt. xiii. 12; xxv. 29; Mark iv. 25; Luke viii. 18; xix. 26).
[5] Fifthly: Since good and evil must be separated in every human being, and cannot be separated in such a one, he is therefore destroyed in respect to everything truly human. Every one has what is truly human from rationality, in being able to see and to know, if he will, what is true and what is good; also in being able from liberty to will, think, say, and do it; as has been shown before. But this liberty with its rationality has been destroyed in those who have mixed good and evil together in themselves; for such from good are unable to see evil and from evil to recognize good, since the two make one; consequently they no longer possess rationality in its capability or power, nor therefore any liberty. For this reason they are like mere fantastic hallucinations, as has been said above; and they no longer appear like men, but like bones covered with some skin; and therefore when referred to they are not called “he” or “she,” but “it.” Such is the lot of those who in this manner mix together things holy and things profane. But there are other kinds of profanation that are not like this, and these will be considered in a following article.
228. A man who is ignorant of holy things does not thus profane them. For he who is ignorant of them cannot acknowledge them and afterwards deny them. Therefore those who are outside of the Christian world, and who know nothing about the Lord, and about redemption and salvation by Him, do not profane this holiness when they refuse to accept it, or even when they speak against it. Nor do the Jews themselves profane it because from infancy they are unwilling to accept and acknowledge it. It would be otherwise if they should accept and acknowledge it, and afterwards deny it; but this rarely occurs; although many of them outwardly acknowledge it and inwardly deny it, and are like hypocrites. But those who profane holy things by mixing them with things profane are such as first accept and acknowledge them, and afterwards backslide and deny. [2] This does not refer to the acceptance and acknowledgment of these things in early childhood and boyhood; this every Christian does; for the things belonging to faith and charity are not then accepted and acknowledged from any rationality and liberty, that is, in the understanding from the will, but are accepted only by memory and from confidence in the teacher; and if the life is according to them it is from a blind obedience. But when man comes into the exercise of his rationality and liberty, which he does gradually as he grows into youth and manhood, if he then acknowledges truths and lives according to them and afterwards denies them he mixes holy things with profane things, and from being a man he becomes such a monster as has been described above. If, however, man is in evil from the time that he reaches the age of rationality and liberty, that is, of self-control, and even in early manhood, but afterwards he acknowledges the truths of faith and lives according to them, provided he then remains in them until the end of his life, he does not mix the two; for the Lord then separates the evils of the former life from the goods of the latter life. This is done with all who repent. But of this more in what follows.
229. (3) There are many kinds of profanation of what is holy, but this is the worst kind of all. In the most general sense profanation means all impiety; and therefore profaners mean all the impious, who in heart deny God, the holiness of the Word, and the spiritual things of the church therefrom, which are essentially holy things, and who also speak impiously of these. But of such we are not now treating, but of those who profess to believe in God, who assert the holiness of the Word, and who acknowledge the spiritual things of the church; most of whom, however, only with the mouth. Such commit profanation for the reason that what is holy from the Word is in them and with them, and this which is in them and which makes some part of their understanding and will they profane; but in the impious, who deny the Divine and Divine things, there is nothing holy that can be profaned. Such are profaners, and yet they are not profane.
230. The profanation of what is holy is referred to in the second commandment of the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not profane the name of thy God.” And the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Hallowed be Thy name,” mean that this name must not be profaned. Scarcely any one in the Christian world knows what is meant by “the name of God,” and for the reason that no one knows that there are no names in the spiritual world like those in the natural world, but each one there has a name that is in accordance with the quality of his love and wisdom; for as soon as any one enters a society or into association with others, he immediately receives a name that is in accord with his character there. This naming is effected by spiritual language, which is such that it is capable of naming every thing; for each letter in its alphabet signifies a single thing, and the several letters joined into a single word and making a person’s name involve the entire state of the thing. This is one of the wonders of the spiritual world.
[2] From all this it is clear that in the Word “the name of God” signifies God with every thing that is in Him and that goes forth from Him And as the Word is the Divine going forth, which is the name of God, and as all the Divine things that are called the spiritual things of the church are from the Word, they, too, are “the name of God.” All this makes clear what is meant in the second commandment of the Decalogue:-
Thou shalt not profane the name of God (Exod. xx. 7);
and in the Lord’s Prayer by
Hallowed be Thy name (Matt. vi. 9).
The name of God and of the Lord has a like signification in many places in the Word of both Testaments, as in Matt. vii. 22; x. 22; xviii. 5, 20; xix. 29; xxi. 9; xxiv. 9, 10; John i. 12; ii. 23; iii. 17, 18; xii. 13, 28; xiv. 14-16; xvi. 23, 24, 26, 27; xvii. 6; xx. 31; besides other places; and very frequently in the Old Testament.
[3] He who knows that this is what is signified by “name” can understand what is signified by these words of the Lord:-
He that receiveth 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 name of a disciple shall not lose his reward (Matt. x. 41, 42).
One who thinks that “the name of a prophet,” “of a righteous man,” and “of a disciple,” here means simply a prophet, a righteous man, and a disciple, recognizes no meaning except that of the letter; nor does he know what “the reward of a prophet” is, or the reward of “a righteous man,” or the “reward” for a cup of cold water given to a disciple; nevertheless “the name” and “the reward of a prophet” mean the state and the happiness of those who are in Divine truths; “the name” and “the reward of a righteous man” mean the state and the happiness of those who are in Divine goods; a “disciple” means the state of those who are in some of the spiritual things of the church; and “a cup of cold water” means something of truth.
[4] That “name” signifies the nature of the state of love and wisdom, or of good and truth, is made evident also by these words of the Lord:-
He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the porter openeth, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out (John x. 2, 3).
“To call the sheep by name” means to teach and to lead every one who is in the good of charity according to the state of his love and wisdom. “The door” means the Lord, as is evident from the ninth verse:-
I am the door; through Me if any one enter in he shall be saved.
All this makes clear that for any one to be saved the Lord Himself must be approached, and that whoever goes to Him is “a shepherd of the sheep;” but whoever does not go to Him is “a thief and a robber,” as is said in the first verse of the same chapter.
231. As profanation of what is holy means profanation by those who know the truths of faith and the goods of charity from the Word, and who in some measure acknowledge them, and does not mean those who are ignorant of these, nor those who from impiety wholly reject them, so what now follows is said of the first class, and not of the others. Of the profanation of such there are 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 the Word, or from the Divine things of the church and about them. This is done by some from a bad habit, in taking names or expressions from the Word and mixing them with remarks that are hardly becoming, and sometimes foul. This cannot but be joined with some contempt for the Word; yet the Word in all things and in every particular is Divine and holy; for every expression therein conceals in its bosom something Divine, and thereby has communication with heaven. 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 talk into which it is introduced by those who jest about it.
[2] The second kind of profanation is committed by those who understand and acknowledge Divine truths, and still live contrary to them. Those who only understand profane more lightly, while those who also acknowledge profane more grievously, for the understanding merely teaches, almost like a preacher, and does not from itself conjoin itself with the will; but acknowledgment conjoins itself, for nothing can be acknowledged except by consent of the will. Nevertheless, this conjunction varies, and when one is living contrary to the truths that are acknowledged the profanation is measured by the conjunction. When, for instance, one acknowledges that revenge and hatred, adultery and whoredom, fraud and deceit, defamation and lying, are sins against God, and yet is committing them, he is in this more grievous kind of profanation, for the Lord says:-
The servant that knoweth his Lord’s will and doeth not His will, shall be beaten with many stripes (Luke xii. 47).
And elsewhere:-
If ye were blind ye would 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. Those who acknowledge genuine truths and yet do not live according to them appear in the spiritual world without the light and heat of life in voice and speech, as if they were pure idlers. [3] The third kind of profanation is committed by those who adapt the sense of the letter of the Word to the confirmation of evil loves and false principles. This is because the confirmation of falsity is a denial of truth, and the confirmation of evil is a rejection of good; and the Word in its bosom is nothing but Divine truth and Divine good; but in the outmost sense, which is the sense of the letter, this is not expressed in genuine truths (except where it teaches about the Lord and the way of salvation itself), but in truths clothed, which are called appearances of truth; and therefore that sense may be diverted to uphold many kinds of heresies. But he that upholds evil loves does violence to Divine goods; and he that upholds false principles does violence to Divine truths. This violence is called falsification of truth, the other is called adulteration of good. Both are meant in the word by “bloods.” For a spiritual holiness, which is also called the spirit of truth going forth from the Lord, is within each of the particulars of the sense of the letter of the Word. This holiness is injured when the Word is falsified and adulterated. Evidently, then, this is profanation. [4] A fourth kind of profanation is committed by those who say with the lips pious and holy things, and counterfeit the affections of love for these in tone and in gesture, and yet in heart do not believe and love them. Most of such are hypocrites and Pharisees, from whom after death all truth and good are taken away, and they are then sent into outer darkness. Those who have confirmed themselves by this kind of profanation against the Divine and against the Word, and consequently against the spiritual things of the Word, sit in that darkness dumb, powerless to speak, wishing to babble pious and holy things as they did in the world, but unable to do so. For in the spiritual world every one is compelled to speak as he thinks; while a hypocrite wishes to speak otherwise than as he thinks; from which there exists an opposition in the mouth, owing to which they can only mutter. But the hypocrisy is lighter or more grievous in the measure of the confirmations against God and the outward reasonings in favor of God. [5] The fifth kind of profanation is committed by those who attribute to themselves what is Divine. Such are meant by “Lucifer” in the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah. “Lucifer” there means Babylon, as is evident from the fourth and twenty-second verses of the same chapter, where, too, the lot of such is described. The same are meant and described also in the seventeenth chapter of the Apocalypse by “the harlot sitting on the scarlet-colored beast.” Babylon and Chaldea are mentioned in many places in the Word, “Babylon” meaning the profanation of good, and “Chaldea” the profanation of truth; both of these in such as attribute to themselves what is Divine. [6] The sixth kind of profanation is committed by those who acknowledge the Word and yet deny the Divinity of the Lord. In the world these are called Socinians, and some of them Arians. The final condition of all such is that they call, not upon the Lord, but upon the Father, and continually pray to the Father; some, indeed, for the sake of the Son, to be admitted into heaven, but without effect, until at last they lose all hope of salvation; and they are then let down into hell among those who deny God. Such are meant by those
Who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, for whom there will be no forgiveness in this age nor in the age to come (Matt. xii. 32).
This is because God is one in person and in essence, in whom is the trinity, and this God is the Lord; and since the Lord also is heaven, and consequently those who are in heaven are in the Lord, it follows that those who deny the Divinity of the Lord cannot be admitted into heaven and be in the Lord. That the Lord is heaven, and consequently those who are in heaven are in the Lord, has been shown above. [7] The seventh kind of profanation is committed by those who first acknowledge Divine truths and live according to them, but afterwards recede and deny them. This is the worst kind of profanation; for such mix together things holy and things profane, even to the extent that they cannot be separated; nevertheless they must be separated that men may be either in heaven or in hell; and since with such this cannot be done, all that is human, both intellectual and voluntary, is rooted out, and, as has been said before, they come to be no longer men. Nearly the same is true of those who in heart acknowledge the Divine things of the Word and of the church, but immerse them wholly in what is their own (proprium), which is the love of ruling over all things; of which much has been said already. For such, when after death they become spirits, 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 to rule not only over heaven but also over the Lord; and as they cannot do this they deny the Lord and become devils. It must be understood that the life’s love, which is the ruling love, continues with every one after death, and cannot be taken away.
[8] The profane of this sort are meant by the “lukewarm,” who are thus described in the Apocalypse:-
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot; would thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm, 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 goeth out of a man he walketh through dry places, seeking rest and finding it not. Then he saith, I will return to the house whence I went forth. When he cometh he findeth it empty and swept and adorned for him. Then he goeth away and taketh to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and entering in they dwell there; and the latter things of that man become worse than the first (xii. 43-45).
Man’s conversion is here described by “the unclean spirit’s going out of him;” and his turning back to former evils when goods and truths have been cast out is described by “the return of the unclean spirit with seven others worse than himself into the house adorned for him;” and the profanation of what is holy by a profane person is described by “the last things with that man becoming worse than the first.” The same is meant by this in John:-
Jesus said to the man who had been healed at the pool of Bethesda, Sin no more, lest a worse thing befall thee (v. 14).
[9] The Lord’s providing against man’s acknowledging truths interiorly and afterwards receding and becoming profane is meant by these words:-
He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them (John xii. 40).
“Lest they should turn and I should heal them” signifies lest they should acknowledge truths and then recede, and thus become profane. For the same reason the Lord spoke in parables, as He Himself declares (Matt. xiii. 13). The Jews being forbidden to eat fat or blood (Lev. iii. 17; vii. 23, 25), signified that they should not profane what is holy; since “fat” signified Divine good, and “blood” Divine truth. That he who is once converted must continue in good and truth to the end of his life, the Lord teaches in Matthew:-
Jesus said, He that endureth to the end shall be saved (x. 22; also Mark xiii. 13).
232. (4) Therefore the Lord admits man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and at the same time into the goods of love only so far as he can be kept in them even to the end of his life. The demonstration of this must proceed by distinct steps, for two reasons; first, because it concerns human salvation; and secondly, because a knowledge of the laws of permission depends upon a knowledge of this law, which will be considered in the next chapter. It concerns human salvation, since, as has just been said, he that acknowledges the Divine things of the Word, and thus of the church, and afterwards recedes from them, profanes holy things most grievously. Therefore to so unfold this arcanum of the Divine providence that the rational man may see it in its own light, it must be set forth in the following order: (1) Good and evil cannot be in man’s interiors together, neither, therefore, the falsity of evil and the truth of good together. (2) Good and the truth of good can be brought into man’s interiors by the Lord only so far as evil and the falsity of evil there have been removed. (3) If good with its truth were to be brought in before or to a greater extent than evil with its falsity is removed, man would recede 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 up in his memory, and yet not be profaned. (5) But the Lord by His Divine providence takes the greatest care that the will shall receive from the understanding only so fast as, and to the extent that, man as if of himself removes evils in the external man. (6) If it should receive faster or more, the will would adulterate good and the understanding would falsify truth by mixing them with evils and with falsities. (7) Therefore the Lord admits man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and into the goods of love only so far as he can be kept in them to the end of his life.
233. Therefore, to so unfold this arcanum of the Divine providence that a rational man may see it in its own 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, neither, therefore, the falsity of evil and the truth of good together. The interiors of man mean the internal of his thought, of which he knows nothing until he comes into the spiritual world and its light, which he does after death. In the natural world this can be known only from the delight of his love in the external of his thought, and from evils themselves while he is examining them in himself; for, as has been shown above, the internal of thought in man coheres with the external of thought in so close a connection that they cannot be separated. But of this more will be said. The terms good and truth of good, also evil and falsity of evil are used because good cannot exist apart from its truth, nor evil apart from its falsity; for they are bedfellows or consorts; for the life of good is from its truth, and the life of truth is from its good. The same is true of evil and its falsity.
[2] That evil with its falsity and good with its truth cannot be in man’s interiors together the rational man can see without explanation; for evil is the opposite of good, and good is the opposite of evil, and two opposites cannot exist together. Moreover, 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 separating it from itself; from which it follows that one cannot be together with the other; and if they were together there would arise first a 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 standeth not. He that is not with Me is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth (Matt. xii. 25, 30).
And again:-
No one can serve two masters at the same time; for either he will hate the one and love the other [or he will hold to the one and despise the other] (Matt. vi. 24).
Two opposites cannot exist together in one substance or form without its being torn asunder and destroyed. If one should approach and come near to the other they would surely separate like two enemies, one keeping himself within his camp or his fortifications, and the other keeping outside of them. This is true of the evil and of the good in a hypocrite; he is in both, but the evil is within and the good is without, and thus the two are separated and are not mixed together. From all this it is clear that evil with its falsity and good with its truth cannot exist together.
[3] Secondly: Good and truth of good can be brought into a man’s interiors by the Lord only so far as evil and the falsity of evil there have been removed. This is a necessary consequence of the foregoing; since, if evil and good cannot exist together good cannot be brought in until evil has been removed. The term man’s interiors is used, meaning the internal of thought, which is now under consideration. Either the Lord or the devil must be in these interiors. The Lord is there after reformation, but the devil is there before it; consequently, 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 it is impossible for the Lord to enter so long as the devil is there? And he is there so long as man keeps the door closed, which is where man and the Lord are together. That the Lord enters when that door is opened by man’s instrumentality He teaches in the Apocalypse:-
I stand at the door and knock; if any one hear My voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me (iii. 20).
The door is opened by man’s removing evil by shunning and turning away from it as infernal and diabolical; for whether you say evil or the devil it is the same; and on the other hand, whether you say good or the Lord it is the same; for the Lord is within all good, and the devil is within all evil. This makes clear the truth of this matter. [4] Thirdly: If good with its truth were to be brought in before or to a greater extent than evil with its falsity is removed, man would recede from good and return to his evil. And for this reason, that evil would be the stronger, and the stronger conquers, if not at the time then afterwards. So long as evil is the stronger, good cannot be brought into the inmost apartments but only into the entrance hall; because evil and good, as has been said, cannot exist together, and what is only in the entrance hall is removed by the enemy that is in the inner rooms; and in consequence there is a receding from good and a return to evil, which is the worst kind of profanation. [5] Furthermore, the essential delight of man’s life is to love himself and the world above all things. This delight cannot be removed instantly, but only gradually; and so much as there is of this delight remaining in man so far evil prevails in him. And there is no way in which this evil can be removed except that the love of self become a love of uses, or the love of rule come to have uses as its end and not self; for then uses constitute the head, and the love of self or love of ruling constitutes first the body beneath the head, and then the feet on which it walks. Who does not see that good must constitute the head, and that when it does the Lord is there? Good and use are one. Who does not see that if evil constitutes the head the devil is there? And as civil and moral good, and spiritual good also in external form, must be accepted, who does not see that this then constitutes the feet and the soles of the feet, to be walked upon? [6] Since, then, the state of man’s life must be reversed, so that what is above shall be below, and this reversal cannot be effected instantly, for the greatest delight of life, which is from love of self and consequent love of dominion, can only gradually be weakened and turned into a love of uses, therefore good can be brought in by the Lord no faster or to a greater extent than this evil is removed; and if it were man would recede from good and return to his evil. [7] Fourthly: When man is in evil many truths may be brought into his understanding, and these may be stored up in the memory, and yet not be profaned. This is because the understanding does not flow into the will, but the will flows into the understanding; and as the understanding does not flow into the will many truths may be received by the understanding and stored up in the memory, and not be mixed with the evil of the will, consequently holy things will not be profaned. Moreover, it is incumbent upon every one to learn truths from the Word or from preaching, to lay them up in the memory and to think about them. For from the truths that are in the memory, and that come from it into the thought the understanding must teach the will, that is, must teach the man what to do. Therefore this is the chief means of reformation. When truths are in the understanding only, and from it in the memory, they are not in the man, but outside of him. [8] Man’s memory may be compared to the ruminating stomach of certain animals, into which they first receive their food; and so long as it is there it is not within but without the body; but when they draw the food out of the stomach and eat it it becomes a part of their life, and the body is nourished. But man’s memory contains spiritual not material foods, that is, truths, which in themselves are knowledges. So far as a man by thinking, or as it were by ruminating, draws these from the memory, his spiritual mind is nourished. The will’s love is what longs for, and as it were has an appetite for these, and causes them to be imbibed and to furnish nourishment. If that love is evil it longs for and as it were has an appetite for things unclean; but if good it longs for and has an appetite for things clean; and what is not suitable it separates, dismisses, and casts forth, which is done in various ways. [9] Fifthly: But the Lord by His Divine providence takes the greatest care that the will shall receive from the understanding only so fast as, and to the extent that, man as if of himself removes evils in the external man. For what is received by the will comes into the man and is appropriated to him and comes to be of his life; and in the life itself, which man has from the will, evil and good cannot be together, if they were he would perish; but the two can be in the understanding, where they are called falsities of evil and truths of good, yet they are not together; if they were man would be unable from good to see evil or from evil to know good; but they are there distinguished and separated, like a house into inner and outer parts. When an evil man thinks and talks about good things he thinks and speaks exteriorly, but interiorly when he thinks and speaks about evil things; therefore when he says good things his speech comes as it were from the outer wall of the house. It may be likened to fruit fair on the surface, but wormy and rotten within; or to the shell of a dragon’s egg. [10] Sixthly: If it should receive faster or more, the will would adulterate good and the understanding would falsify truth by mixing them with evils and with falsities therefrom. When the will is in evil it adulterates good in the understanding; and good adulterated in the understanding is evil in the will, 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 falsity of evil; and this is done by the will in the understanding, and not by the understanding from itself. In the Word adulterations of good are depicted by adulteries and falsifications of truth by whoredoms. These adulterations and falsifications are effected by reasonings from the natural man, which is in evil, also by confirmations drawn from the appearances of the sense of the letter of the Word. [11] The love of self, which is the head of all evils, surpasses all other loves in its ability to adulterate goods and falsify truths; and it does this by a misuse of the rationality that every man, both the evil man and the good man, has from the Lord. By its proofs it can even make evil to appear wholly 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 plants of all kinds; 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 ability to prove whatever it will because its outer surface is a kind of splendor of light variegated in different colors. This splendor is the glory of being wise that pertains to that love, and also thereby of being eminent and dominant. [12] But when it has established these principles this love becomes so blind as not to see but that than is a beast, and that man and beast think in the same way, and even that if a beast could speak it would be a man in another form. If it can be led by any persuasion to believe that something of man lives after death, it is then so blind as to believe that the same is true of the beast; and that this something that lives after death is only a subtle 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 is blind, deaf, and dumb, flitting about and thinking; besides many other insanities, with which nature itself, which in itself is dead, inspires the fancy. This the love of self does, which viewed in itself is the love of one’s own (proprium); and man’s own in respect to its affections, which are all natural, is not unlike the life of a beast; while in respect to its perceptions, because they are from these affections, it is not unlike a bird of night. Consequently whoever continually immerses his thoughts in what is his own cannot be raised out of natural into spiritual light and see anything of God, of heaven, and of the eternal life. Because this love is such, and nevertheless excels in its ability to confirm whatever it pleases, it has also a like ability to adulterate the goods of the Word, and to falsify its truths, while from a kind of necessity it is kept in a confession of them. [13] Seventhly: Therefore the Lord admits man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and into the goods of love only so far as he can be kept in them to the end of his life. This the Lord does that man may not fall into that most grievous kind of profanation of what is holy which has been treated of in this chapter. It is because of this danger that the Lord permits evils of life and many heresies in worship. Of the permissions of these something will be seen in the sections following.
234. THE LAWS OF PERMISSION ARE ALSO LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
There are no laws of permission by themselves or apart from the laws of the Divine providence, but the two are the same; therefore God is said to permit, which does not mean that He wills, but that on account of the end, which is salvation, He cannot avert. Whatever is done for the sake of the end, which is salvation, is according to the laws of the Divine providence. For the Divine providence, as has been said before, is constantly moving in a way diverse from and contrary to man’s will, continually intent upon its end; and in consequence, at every movement of its operation or at every step of its progress, where it observes man to be swerving from that end, it guides, bends, and directs him according to its laws, by leading him away from evil and leading him to good. That this cannot be done without the permission of evil will be seen in what follows. Moreover, nothing can be permitted without a reason, and the reason can be found only in some law of the Divine providence, which law teaches why it is permitted.
235. One who does not acknowledge the Divine providence at all does not in his heart acknowledge God, but acknowledges nature in place of God, and human prudence in place of the Divine providence. This does not appear to be true, because man can think in one way or another, and can talk in one way or another. From his inner self he is able to think and talk in one way, and from his outer self in another way. He is like a hinge that can let the door turn either way, one way when one is entering, and the other when going out; or like a sail by which a vessel can be turned either way in its course, as the master sets it. Those that have confirmed themselves in favor of human prudence to such an extent as to deny the Divine providence, so long as they are in that thought of theirs, give heed to nothing else, whatever they may be seeing, hearing, or reading; nor are they able to do so, because they receive nothing from heaven, but only from themselves. And because they draw conclusions from appearances and fallacies only, and see nothing else, they can swear that it is so. Moreover, if they acknowledge nature alone they may be angry with the defenders of Divine providence; provided they are not priests, for they regard this as a matter belonging to the teaching or function of the priesthood.
236. We will now enumerate some things that belong to permission and yet are in accord with the laws of Divine providence, by which a merely natural man confirms himself in favor of nature against God, and in favor of human prudence against Divine providence. 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 withhold him at the time by speaking with him, but only after the deed, by cursing him; that the Israelitish nation worshiped a golden calf in the desert, and acknowledged it as the God who led them out of the land of Egypt, and yet Jehovah saw this from Mount Sinai near by and did not seek to prevent it; also that David numbered the people, and in consequence a plague was sent upon them, by which so many thousands of men perished, and that God, not before but after the deed, sent Gad the prophet to David and denounced punishment; that Solomon was permitted to establish idolatrous worship, 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 Divine providence; therefore he can use these things as arguments for rejecting it, if not in his outer thought which is nearest to speech, still in that inner thought which is remote from it.
237. Every worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against the Divine providence when he sees in the world so many impious persons, and so many of their impieties, and at the same time the glorying of some in these impieties, and yet no punishment of such by God on this account. And he confirms himself against the Divine providence still further when he sees that plots, devices, and frauds are successful even against the pious, just, and sincere; and that injustice triumphs over justice in the courts and in business. Especially does he confirm himself in this when he sees the impious exalted to honors and to high offices in church and state, also abounding in wealth, and living in luxury and magnificence; while on the other hand he sees the worshipers of God despised and poor. He also confirms himself against Divine providence when he reflects that wars are permitted, and the consequent slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of so many cities, nations, and families; also that victories are on the side of prudence, and sometimes not on the side 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 according to the laws of the Divine providence.
238. The same natural man confirms himself against Divine providence when he considers the religious conditions of various peoples; as that there are some who are wholly ignorant of God; some who worship the sun and moon; some also who worship monstrous idols, graven images, and even dead men; still further when he sees the Mohammedan religion accepted by so many empires and kingdoms, and the Christian religion only in Europe, the smallest division of the habitable globe, and there it is divided; and that there are some in it who claim for themselves Divine power, and wish to be worshiped as gods, and that the dead are invoked; also that there are some who place salvation in certain phrases which they should think and talk about, making no account of the good works they should do; also that there are few who live their religion; besides the heresies, of which there have been many; also some that exist at this day, as those of the Quakers, the Moravians, the Anabaptists, and others; also that Judaism still continues. From these things he who denies Divine providence concludes that religion in itself is nothing, but is necessary because it serves as a restraint.
239. To these arguments others can be added at this day by which those 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 this one God; 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; 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 to themselves and to one another, Why does the Divine providence, if there is any, now first reveal such things?
240. All the things that have been mentioned in sections 236, 237, 238, and 239, have been presented to the end that it may be seen that each and all things that take place in the world, both with the evil and with the good, belong to the Divine providence; consequently that the Divine providence is in the smallest particulars of man’s thoughts and actions, and therefore is universal. But as this cannot be seen from the things presented unless each one is explained by itself they shall be briefly explained in the order in which they were presented, beginning with section 236.
241. (1.) 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. This is so, inasmuch as by Adam and his wife the first of all mankind that were created on this earth are not meant, but the men of the Most Ancient Church; and their new creation or their regeneration is thus described. Their new creation itself, that is, their regeneration, is described 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 the Word in its bosom is spiritual, containing arcana of Divine wisdom; and that it may contain these it is written throughout wholly by correspondences and representatives. This makes clear that the men of that church, who were in the beginning the wisest of men, but in the end, from the conceit of their own intelligence, became the worst, were not seduced by any serpent, but by the love of self; and it is this that is meant by “the serpent’s head” that the Seed of the woman, that is, the Lord, should bruise. [2] Who is not able to see from reason that other things are meant than those that are there related historically in the letter? For who can comprehend how the world could have been created in the way there described? Therefore the learned strenuously try to explain the contents of that first chapter, and at length confess that they do not understand it. And the same is true of what follows, that two trees, a tree of life and a tree of knowledge, were placed in their garden or paradise, the latter as a cause of stumbling; also, that from the mere eating of this tree they so far transgressed that not only they but the whole human race, their posterity, became subject to damnation; furthermore, that they could have been seduced by a serpent; besides other things there stated; as that the wife was created from the rib of the husband; that after their fall they acknowledged their nakedness and covered it with fig-leaves, and that coats of skin were given them for bodily coverings; and that cherubim were placed with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. [3] All these things are representatives, depicting the establishment of the Most Ancient Church, its condition, its change, and finally its destruction. The arcana involved in all these things, which are contained in the spiritual sense that is in every particular of the story, may be found explained in the Arcana Coelestia on Genesis and Exodus, published at London; and it can there be seen that “the tree of life” means the Lord in respect to His Divine providence; and “the tree of knowledge” means man in respect to his own prudence.
242. (2) Their first son Cain killed his brother Abel, and God did not withhold him at the time by speaking with him, but only after the deed, by cursing him. As Adam and his wife, as has been said above, mean the Most Ancient Church, so Cain and Abel, their first sons, mean the two essentials of the church, which are love and wisdom, or charity and faith, “Abel” meaning love and charity, and “Cain” wisdom or faith; strictly, wisdom separated from love, or faith separated from charity; and wisdom as well as faith when so separated is such that it not only rejects love and charity, but even annihilates them; and thus it kills its brother. That faith separate from charity does this is well known in the Christian world, as may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, concerning Faith. [2] The cursing of Cain involves the spiritual state into which those come after death who separate faith from charity or wisdom from love. And yet, that wisdom or faith might not perish in consequence, a mark was put upon Cain to prevent his being slain; for love cannot exist apart from wisdom, or charity apart from faith. These things have nearly the same representation as the eating from the tree of knowledge; and this is why it properly follows the description of Adam and his wife. Moreover, those who are in faith separated from charity are in their own intelligence; while those who are in charity and in faith therefrom are in intelligence from the Lord, thus in the Divine providence.
243. (3) The Israelitish nation worshiped a golden calf in the wilderness and acknowledged it as the God who led them out of the land of Egypt; and yet Jehovah saw this from Mount Sinai near by, and did not seek to prevent it. This took place in the desert of Sinai near the mountain. Jehovah’s not withholding them from that abominable worship is in accordance with all the laws of the Divine providence heretofore set forth, as well as with those that follow. This evil was permitted them lest they should all perish. For the sons of Israel were led out of Egypt that they might represent the Lord’s church; and this they could not represent unless Egyptian idolatry had first been rooted out of their hearts; and this could not have been done without its having been left for them to act in accord with what was in their hearts, that this might thereby be removed by means of severe punishment. What is further signified by that worship, and by the threat that they should be wholly rejected and that a new nation should be raised up by Moses, may be seen in the Arcana Ccelestia on the thirty-second chapter of Exodus, where these things are treated of.
244. (4) David numbered the people, and in consequence 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 David, and denounced punishment upon him. Whoever confirms himself against the Divine providence may have various thoughts and reflections about this also, especially why David was not admonished in advance, and why the people were so severely punished for the king’s transgression. His not having been admonished in advance is in accordance with the laws of Divine providence already set forth, especially the two explained from n. 129 to 153, and from n. 154 to 174. This severe punishment of the people on account of the king’s transgression, and the smiting of seventy thousand with the plague, was not for the king’s sake but for the people’s sake. For it is said,
Again 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. (5) Solomon was permitted to establish idolatrous worship. This was done that he might represent the Lord’s kingdom or the church, with all the varieties of religion 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 represented the spiritual things of the church, which are its internals; that people itself representing the church, the king representing the Lord, David representing the Lord who was to come into the world, and Solomon the Lord after His coming. And because the Lord after the glorification of His Human had power over heaven and earth (as He Himself says Matt. xxviii. 18), so Solomon His representative appeared in glory and magnificence, and possessed wisdom above all the kings of the earth, and also built the temple. Furthermore, Solomon permitted and set up the worship of many nations, by which the various religions in the world were represented. His wives, seven hundred in number, and his concubines, who numbered three hundred (1 Kings xi. 3), had a like signification, for a “wife” in the Word signifies the church, and a “concubine” a religion. This makes clear why it was granted to Solomon to build the temple, which signified both the Lord’s Divine Human (John ii. 19, 21) and also the church; and why he was permitted to establish idolatrous worship, and to marry so many wives. That by “David,” in many places in the Word, the Lord who was to come into the world is meant, can be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 43, 44).
246. (6) Many kings after Solomon were permitted to profane the temple and the holy things of the church. This was because the people represented the church, and their 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 at heart, they gradually fell away from representative worship by perverting all things of the church, till at last it was devastated. This was represented by the profanations of the temple by the kings, and by their idolatries; and the essential devastation of the church was represented by the destruction 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. Such was the cause; and whatever is done from any cause is done from the Divine providence according to some law of it.
247. (7) That nation was permitted to crucify the Lord. This was because the church with that nation had been wholly devastated, and had become such that not only they did not know and acknowledge the Lord, but they even hated Him; and yet all things that they did to Him were done in accordance with 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 Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 12-14); and in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith (n. 34, 35).
248. This is an explanation of the things enumerated above (in n. 236), which are some of the things from the Word by which a natural man who is a reasoner can confirm himself against the Divine providence. For whatever such a man sees, hears, or reads, as has been said, he can employ as an argument against the Divine providence. There are few, however, who confirm themselves against the Divine providence from such things as are in the Word; but many do so from things that take place before their eyes, such as are mentioned in n. 237, which will now likewise be explained.
249. (1) Every worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against the Divine providence when he sees in the world so many impious persons, and so many of their impieties, and at the same time the glorying of some in these impieties, and yet no punishment of such by God. All impieties and also the glorying in them are permissions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine providence. Every man can freely, yea, most freely, think as he wishes, as well against God as for God; and he that thinks against God is rarely punished in the natural world, because there he is always in a state to be reformed; but he is punished in the spiritual world. This takes place after death, because he can then no longer be reformed. [2] That the laws of Divine providence are the causes of permissions is clear from its laws that have been set forth above, when they are recalled and examined; which are these: Man should act from freedom in accordance with reason (see above, n. 71-99); Man should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and thus to believe and love, the things of religion, but should guide himself and sometimes compel himself (see n. 129-153); Man’s own prudence is nothing, it merely appears to be something, and ought to appear as if it were; but the Divine providence, because of its minute particulars, is universal (n. 191-213); The Divine providence looks to eternal things, and to temporal things only so far as they make one with eternal things (n. 214-220); Man is admitted interiorly into truths of faith and into goods of charity only so far as he can be kept in them until the end of his life (n. 221-233). [3] That the causes of permissions are laws of the Divine providence will also be made clear 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 unceasing, both with the evil and 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 Divine love and to His Divine wisdom, thus contrary to Himself. When these laws are considered together they make clear the reasons why impieties are permitted by the Lord, and are not punished so long as they are in the thought, and rarely even while they are in the purpose and thus in the will, but not in the act. And yet its own punishment follows every evil; it is as if its punishment were inscribed upon the evil, and this punishment the wicked man endures after death. [4] By what has now been set forth that which was stated above (in n. 237) is also explained, namely, The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against the Divine providence still further when he sees that plots, devices, and frauds 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 permission of these things it is clear that if man is to live as a man, to be reformed and to be saved, these things can be taken away from him by the Lord only by means,-by the Word, and especially by the commandments 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 such things to be sins, by means of the civil laws and fear of their punishments, also by means of 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 away from doing these things, not from thinking and willing them; while by the former means He leads the good, not only away from doing these things, but also from thinking and willing them.
250. (2) The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against the Divine providence when he sees the impious exalted to honors and to high offices in church and state, also abounding in wealth and living in luxury and magnificence, while he sees the worshipers of God despised and poor. The worshiper of himself and of nature believes dignities and wealth to be the highest and the only happiness that can be granted, thus happiness itself; and if he has any thought of God from a sense of worship instilled in infancy he calls them Divine blessings; and so long as he is not puffed up by them he thinks that there is a God, and even worships God. But there lies hidden in the worship what he is himself then ignorant of, an aspiration to be raised up by God to still higher dignities, and to still greater wealth; and when he reaches these his worship tends more and more to outward things, even until it falls away, and at length he despises and denies God; and he does the same if he is 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? [2] But to the good they are not so, because they do not set their hearts on them, but on the uses or the goods in the performance of which dignities and wealth are of service as means. Therefore only he that is a worshiper of himself and nature can confirm himself against Divine providence because of the advancement of the impious to honors and wealth and to high offices in church and state. Moreover, what is dignity greater or less? And what is opulence greater or less? In itself is it anything but an imaginary something? Is one person more fortunate or happier than another? Does a great man, or even a king or emperor, after a single year, regard the dignity as anything more than something common, which no longer exalts his heart with joy, but may even become worthless to him? Are such by virtue of their dignities in any greater degree of happiness than those who are in less dignity, or even in the least, like farmers and even their servants? These, when all goes well with them, and they are content with their lot, may have a greater measure of happiness. What is more restless at heart, more frequently provoked, more violently enraged, than self-love; and this as often as it is not honored according to the pride of its heart, and as often as anything does not succeed according to its wish and whim? What, then, is dignity, if it does not pertain to some matter or use, but an idea? And can there be such an idea in any thought except thought about self and the world, which essentially in itself is that the world is everything and the eternal nothing: [3] Something shall now be said about the Divine providence, why it permits the impious in heart to be raised to dignities and enriched with possessions. The impious or wicked can perform uses equally with the pious or good, and even with greater zeal, for they have regard to themselves in the uses, and to the honors as the uses; therefore to whatever height the love of self climbs the lust of performing uses for the sake of its own glory burns in it. With the pious or good there is no such fire, unless unconsciously kindled by some feeling of honor. Thus the Lord governs the impious in heart who are in places of dignity, by the glory of their name, and incites them to the performance of uses to the community or country, to the society or city in which they dwell, and to their fellow-citizen or neighbor with whom they are associated. This is the Lord’s government, which is called the Divine providence with such; for the Lord’s kingdom is a kingdom of uses; and where there are but few who perform uses for the sake of uses He causes the worshipers of self to be raised to the higher offices, in which each one is incited to do good by means of his own love. [4] Suppose an infernal kingdom in the world (although there is none such) where none but the loves of self rule (and the love of self is itself the devil), would not every one perform uses from the fire of self-love and for the splendor of his own glory, to a greater extent than in any other kingdom? But there the public good would be in every mouth, but his own good in every heart. And as each one would look to his own chief for his advancement (for each one would aspire to become greatest), could such a man see that there is a God? A smoke like that of a conflagration would surround him, through which no spiritual truth in its own light could pass. I have seen that smoke about the hells of such. Light your lamp and search, and see 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, perhaps, who aspire to dignities Since, then, there are so few who are loves of God, and so many who are loves of self and the world, and since the latter loves from their fire perform uses more than the loves of God from theirs, how can anyone confirm himself [against the Divine providence] because the evil are in eminence and opulence more than the good?
[5] This is shown in these words of the Lord:-
The Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done wisely; for the sons of this age are in their own generation wiser than the sons of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends out of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail they may receive you into the eternal tabernacles (Luke xvi. 8, 9).
The meaning of this in the natural sense is clear; but in the spiritual sense “the mammon of unrighteousness” means the knowledges of truth and good possessed by the evil, which they employ solely in acquiring for themselves dignities and wealth; out of these knowledges the good, or “the sons of light,” must make to themselves friends; and these are what will receive them into the eternal tabernacles. 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 many be they that enter in thereby; but narrow and straitened is the way that leadeth unto life, and few be they that find it (Matt. vii. 13, 14).
That dignities and wealth are either curses or blessings, and with whom they are the one or the other, may be seen above (n. 217).
251. (3) The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against Divine providence when he reflects that wars are permitted, and the consequent slaughter of so many men, and the plundering of their wealth. It is not from the Divine providence that wars exist, for they are connected with murders, plunderings, violence, cruelties, and other terrible evils, which are directly opposed to Christian charity; and yet they must needs be permitted, because, since the time of the most ancient people, meant by Adam and his wife (of whom above, n. 241), the life’s love of man has become such that it wills to rule over others, and finally over all; also to possess the wealth of the world, and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept bound, for it is according to the Divine providence that every one be allowed to act from freedom in accordance with reason (see above, n. 71-99); furthermore, without permissions man cannot be led from evil by the Lord, and thus be reformed and saved. For unless evils were permitted to break out man would not see them, and therefore would not acknowledge them, and thus could not be led to resist them. For this reason evils cannot be prevented by any providence; for if they were they would remain shut in, and like the diseases called cancer and gangrene would spread about and consume all that is vital in man. [2] For man from birth is like a little hell, between which and heaven there is perpetual discordance. No man can be withdrawn from his hell by the Lord unless he sees that he is in hell and wishes to be led out; and this cannot be done without permissions, the causes of which are laws of the Divine providence. For this reason there are wars, lesser and greater, the lesser between the possessors of estates and their neighbors, and the greater between the rulers of kingdoms and their neighbors. Between the lesser and greater there is no difference, except that the lesser are kept within bounds by the laws of the nation, and the greater by the laws of nations; also that while both the lesser and greater wish to transgress their laws, the lesser cannot, and the greater can, although not beyond its abilities. [3] There are many other reasons stored up in the treasury of Divine wisdom why the Lord does not check the greater wars, with their kings and commanders, connected as they are with murders, depredations, violence, and cruelties, neither in their beginning nor in their progress, but only at the close, when the power of one or the other has become so reduced that he is in danger of destruction. Some of these reasons 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 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 that the children of Israel waged with various nations, as the Amorites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians; and when the children of Israel, who represented the church, departed from their commandments and statutes and fell into the evils signified by those nations, they were punished by some nation, because each nation with which the children of Israel waged war signified some particular kind of evil. For example, when they profaned the holy things of the church by foul idolatries they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans, because “Assyria” and “Chaldea” signify the profanation of what is holy. What was signified by their wars with the Philistines may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith (n. 50-54). [4] Like things are represented by the wars of the present day, wherever they occur; for all things that take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the spiritual world, and every thing spiritual has relation to the church. It is not known in this world what kingdoms in Christendom answer to the Moabites and Ammonites, what to the Syrians and Philistines, or what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and the others with whom the children of Israel waged war; and yet there are those that do answer to them. Moreover, what the quality of the church upon earth is and what the evils are into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be seen at all in the natural world; because in this world externals only are evident, and these do not constitute the church; but this is seen in the spiritual world, where internals are manifest, in which the church itself is; and there all are conjoined in accordance with their various states. The conflicts of these in the spiritual world correspond to wars; which are governed by the Lord on both sides correspondentially, in accordance with His Divine providence. [5] That in this world wars are governed by Divine providence the spiritual man acknowledges, but the natural man does not, except when a festival is appointed on account of a victory that he may return thanks on his knees to God that He has given the victory, also by a few words before going into battle. But when he returns into himself he ascribes the victory either to the prudence of the general or to some measure or occurrence in the midst of the battle, which they had not thought of, from which nevertheless came the victory. [6] That the Divine providence that is called fortune is in the least particulars of even trivial things may be seen above (n. 212); and if in these you acknowledge the Divine providence you must certainly acknowledge it in the affairs of war. Also the successes and favorable occurrences of war are called in common language the fortune of war; and this is Divine providence, especially in the plans and preparations of the general, even although he then and afterwards may ascribe it all to his own prudence. And let him do this if he will, for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine providence or against it, and even in favor of God and against Him; but let him know that no part whatever of the plan or preparation is from himself; it all flows in either from heaven or from hell,-from hell by permission, from heaven by providence.
252. (4) The worshiper of himself and of nature confirms himself against Divine providence when he reflects according to his perception that victories are on the side of prudence, and sometimes not on the side of justice; and that it makes no difference whether the commander is an upright man or not. Victories seem to be on the side of prudence, and sometimes not on the side of justice, because man judges from the appearance, and favors one side more than the other, and that which he favors he is able to confirm by reasonings; nor does he know that in heaven there is a spiritual justice to a cause and in the world a natural justice, as has just been said, and that these are conjoined by means of a connection between things past and things future that are known only to the Lord. [2] It makes no difference whether the commander is an upright man or not, for the same reason as was set forth above (n. 250), namely, that the wicked perform uses equally with the good, 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 devices; and from a love of glory he takes more delight than a good man in killing and plundering those whom he knows and declares to be his enemies; for a good man is prudent and zealous only in defending, and rarely is prudent and zealous in any degree in attacking. It is the same as with spirits of hell and angels of heaven; the spirits of hell attack, while the angels of heaven defend themselves. From this comes the conclusion that it is allowable for any one to defend his country and his fellow-citizens against invading enemies, even by means of wicked commanders, but that it is not allowable to become an enemy without cause. A cause that looks to glory alone is in itself diabolical, for it is of the love of self.
253. Thus far have been explained the things presented above (in n. 237), by which the merely natural man confirms himself against Divine providence. The things that follow (in n. 238), relating to the state of religion in various nations, that also may serve the merely natural man as arguments against Divine providence, shall now be explained. For the natural man says in his heart, How can so many discordant religions exist, instead of one true religion over all the earth, if the Divine providence has as 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 commandments in the Decalogue, which are not to kill, not to commit adultery, not to steal, and not to bear false witness, for the reason that doing such things is contrary to religion, and thus contrary to God. Such fear God and love the neighbor; they fear God in the thought that to do such things is contrary to God; and they love the neighbor in the thought that to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to bear false witness, and to covet the neighbor’s house or wife is against the neighbor. Because such in their life look to God, and do not do evil to the neighbor, they are led by the Lord; and those who are led are also taught in accordance with their religion, about God and about the neighbor; for those who so live love to be taught, while those who live otherwise do not; and because they love to be taught, when after death they become spirits they are instructed by the angels and gladly accept such truths as are in the Word. Something about these may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 91-97, and n. 104-113).
254. (1) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence when he considers the religious condition of various peoples-that there are some who are totally ignorant of God, and some who worship the sun and moon, and some who worship idols and graven images. Those who draw arguments from these things against the Divine providence are ignorant of the arcana of heaven, which are innumerable, and with scarcely one of which man is acquainted, among which is this, that man is not taught immediately from heaven but mediately (see above, n. 154-174). And because man is taught mediately, and the Gospel could not reach through missionaries all that dwell in the whole world, and yet religion could be communicated in various ways even to the nations that occupy the remote parts of the earth, therefore this has been accomplished by the Divine providence. For no man gets his religion from himself, but through another, who has either learned directly from the Word, or by transmission from others who have learned it, that there is a God, that there are a heaven and a hell, that there is a life after death, and that in order to become happy God must be worshiped. [2] That a religion was spread 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 if there had been no Word there could have been no knowledge of God, of heaven and of hell, of the life after death, still less of the Lord, see the same work (n. 114-118). When a religion has been once implanted in a nation the Lord leads that nation according to the precepts and dogmas of its own religion; and He has provided that there shall be in every religion precepts like those in the Decalogue; as, that God must be worshiped, His name must not be profaned, a sacred day must be observed, parents must be honored, and there must be no murder, adultery, theft, or false witness. The nation that regards these precepts as Divine and lives according to them from a religious motive is saved (as has been said just above, n. 253). Moreover, most nations remote from Christendom regard these not as civil but as Divine laws, and hold them sacred. That man is saved by a life according to these precepts may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem [concerning Life] from the Commandments of the Decalogue, from beginning to end. [3] Among the arcana of heaven is this also: 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 complete form, not only in respect to external members and organs, but also in respect to internal members and organs, which are many, and even with respect to the skins, membranes, cartilages, and bones; but in that Man all these are spiritual, not material. And it has been provided by the Lord that those also who could not be reached by the Gospel, but only by a religion, should also be able to have a place in that Divine Man, that is, in heaven, constituting those parts that are called skins, membranes, cartilages, and bones, and that they, like others, should be in heavenly joy. For it matters not whether they are in joy like that of the angels of the highest heaven or in joy like that of the angels of the lowest heaven; for every one who comes into heaven enters into the highest joy of his heart; he can bear no higher joy, for he would be suffocated thereby. [4] This may be compared to a peasant and a king. A peasant may be in a state of the highest joy when he goes about with a new suit of coarse wool, and sits down to a table on which is pork, a bit of beef, cheese, beer, and common wine, and would be oppressed 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 this it is clear that there is heavenly happiness for the last as well as for the first, for each in his degree; so also for those who are outside of the Christian world, provided they shun evils as sins against God because they are contrary to religion.
[5] There are a few who are wholly ignorant of God. That if such have lived a moral life they are taught by angels after death and receive in their moral life something spiritual, can be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 116). So with those who worship the sun and moon, believing God to be there; as they do not know otherwise this is not imputed to them as a sin; for the Lord says,
If ye were blind (that is, if ye did not know) ye would have no sin (John ix. 41).
But there are many, even in the Christian world, who worship idols and graven images. This indeed is idolatrous, and yet not with all; for there are some to whom graven images are serviceable as a means of awakening thought about God; for it is from an influx from heaven that those who acknowledge God wish to see Him; and as these are not able, like the interiorly spiritual, to lift their minds above sensual things, their thought of God is aroused by the graven thing or image. Those who do this and do not worship the graven image itself as God, if they live according to the precepts of the Decalogue from a religious motive, are saved. [6] From all this it is clear that as the Lord desires the welfare 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 thus heaven corresponds to each and all things in man, and also that there are those who answer to skins, membranes, cartilages, and bones, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758 (n. 59-102); and in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 5552-5569); also above (n. 201-204).
255. (2) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence when he sees the Mohammedan religion accepted by so many empires and kingdoms. That this religion is accepted by more kingdoms than the Christian religion may be a stumbling-block to those who think about the Divine providence and who at the same time believe that only those who are born Christians, that is, those where the Word is, and by it the Lord is known, can be saved. But the Mohammedan religion is not a stumbling-block to those who believe that all things belong to the Divine providence. Such inquire how this is, and they find out; it is in this, that the Mohammedan religion acknowledges the Lord as the Son of God, as the wisest of men, and as a very great prophet who came into the world to teach men; a great part of the Mohammedans make Him greater than Mohammed. [2] To make it fully clear that this religion was raised up by the Lord’s Divine providence to destroy the idolatries of many nations it shall be set forth in a certain order. First, then, respecting the origin of idolatry. Previous to that religion 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 was the Israelitish church. In that church the tabernacle, Aaron’s garments, the sacrifices, all things belonging to the temple at Jerusalem, and the statutes, were representative. Among the ancients there was a knowledge of correspondences (which includes a knowledge of representatives), the essential knowledge of the wise; and this was especially cultivated in Egypt, and from it their hieroglyphics were derived. From that knowledge they knew the signification of animals of every kind, also the signification 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 pure correspondences, they worshiped on mountains and hills, and also in groves and gardens, and they consecrated fountains, and in their adoration of God they turned their faces to the rising sun; moreover they made graven images of horses, oxen, calves, lambs, and even birds and fishes, and serpents; and at home and elsewhere they placed these in an order in conformity to the spiritual things of the church to which they corresponded, or which they represented. They also placed like things in their temples, to call to remembrance the holy things which they signified. [3] After a time, when the knowledge of correspondences had been lost, their posterity began to worship the graven images themselves, as holy in themselves, not knowing that their fathers of ancient time had seen no holiness in them, but that they merely represented and thus signified holy things, according to correspondences. From this the idolatries arose which filled the whole world, Asia with the neighboring islands, Africa, and Europe. To extirpate all these idolatries it came to pass, under the Lord’s Divine providence, that a new religion arose, adapted to the genius of Orientals, in which there was something from the Word of both Testaments, and which taught that the Lord came into the world, and that He was the greatest prophet, the wisest of men, and the Son of God. This was done through Mohammed, from whom that religion was called the Mohammedan religion. [4] Under the Lord’s Divine providence this religion was raised up and adapted to the genius of Orientals, as has been said, to the end that it might destroy the idolatries of so many nations, and give them some knowledge of the Lord before they entered the spiritual world. And this religion would not have been accepted by so many kingdoms, and would have been powerless to extirpate idolatries, if it had not been adapted and suited to the ideas of thought and to the life of them all. It did not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, because Orientals acknowledged God as the Creator of the universe, and were unable to comprehend how He could come into the world and assume the Human; even as Christians do not comprehend this, and consequently 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. [5] From all this it can be seen that the Mohammedan religion arose under 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 commandments of the Decalogue (which they also have), by shunning evils as sins, come into a heaven that is called the Mohammedan heaven. This heaven, too, is divided into three heavens, a highest, a middle, and a lowest. In the highest heaven are those who acknowledge the Lord to be one with the Father, and thus to be Himself the only God; in the second heaven are those who give up their many wives, and live with one wife; and in the lowest those who are being initiated. More about this religion may be seen in the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment and concerning the Spiritual World (n. 68-72), where the Mohammedans and Mohammed are treated of.
256. (3) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence when he sees that the Christian religion is accepted only in the smaller division of the habitable globe called Europe, and is there divided. The Christian religion is accepted only in the smaller division of the habitable globe called Europe because it was not adapted to the genius of the Orientals, like the Mohammedan religion, which is a mixed religion, as has been shown just above; and a religion that is not adapted is not accepted. For example, a religion that makes it unlawful to marry more than one wife is not accepted but is rejected by those who for ages back have been polygamists. The same is true of other ordinances of the Christian religion.
[2] Nor does it matter whether a smaller or a greater part of the world has accepted that religion, provided there are peoples that have the Word; for even those have light therefrom who are outside of the church and do not have the Word, as is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 104-113); and what is wonderful, where the Word is read reverently and the Lord is worshiped from the Word the Lord with heaven is present. This is because the Lord is the Word, and the Word is Divine truth which makes heaven; therefore 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 may take place with the Word in many parts of the habitable world with Europeans, because their commerce extends over the whole earth, and everywhere the Word is read by them, or there is teaching from the Word. This seems like a fabrication, and yet it is true. [3] The Christian religion is divided for the reason that it is from the Word, and the Word is written throughout wholly by correspondences, and the correspondences are in great part appearances of truth, enclosed within which, however, genuine truths lie hidden. And as the doctrine of the church must be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, and that sense is such, there must needs spring up in the church disputes, controversies, and dissensions, especially in regard to the understanding of the Word, but not in regard to the Word itself and in regard 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. Also for this reason those who deny the Lord’s Divinity, who are called Socinians, have been excommunicated by the church; and those who deny the holiness of the Word are not regarded as Christians. To this I will add a noteworthy fact in regard to the Word, from which it may be concluded that the Word interiorly is the Divine truth itself, and inmostly is the Lord. [4] Whenever any spirit opens the Word, and rubs his face or his clothing against it, 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 a proof that nothing exists in the world more holy than the Word. That the Word is written throughout wholly in 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 sense of the letter of the Word and established by it (see n. 50-61 of the same work). That heresies may be extorted from the sense of the letter of the Word, but that it is destructive to confirm them (n. 91-97). That the church is from the Word, and is such as its understanding of the Word is (76-79).
257. (4) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence by the fact that in many of the kingdoms where the Christian religion is accepted there are some who claim for themselves Divine power, and wish to be worshiped as gods, and that the dead are invoked. They say, indeed, that they have not arrogated to themselves Divine power, and do not wish to be worshiped as gods; and yet they declare that they can open and close heaven, remit and retain sins, and therefore save and condemn men; and this is Divinity itself. For the Divine providence has for its end nothing else than reformation and consequent salvation; this is its unceasing operation with everyone; and salvation can be accomplished only through an acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord, and a confidence that the Lord effects salvation when man lives according to His commandments.
[2] Who cannot see that this is the Babylon described in the Apocalypse; also that it is the Babylon spoken of here and there in the prophets? It is also the “Lucifer” spoken of in Isaiah xiv., as is evident from the verses of that chapter in which are these words:-
Thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon (verse 4);
And then I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant (verse 22);
from which it follows that Babylon there is Lucifer, of whom it is said:-
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens; I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will become like the Most High (verses 12-14).
That they invoke the dead and pray to the dead for help is known. They may be said to invoke the dead, inasmuch as invocation of the dead was established by a papal bull confirming the decree of the Council of Trent, in which it is plainly declared that the dead are to be invoked. Yet every one knows that God alone should be invoked, and not any dead person. [3] It shall now be told, however, why the Lord has permitted such things. It cannot be denied that He has permitted them for the sake of the end, which is salvation. For it is known that apart from the Lord there is no salvation; and it was for this reason necessary that the Lord should be preached from the Word, and that the Christian church should by that means be established. But this could be done only by an advance guard who would do this with zeal; and none would do this except those who were in an ardor resembling zeal that was from the fire of self-love. By such a fire they were at first stirred up to preach the Lord and to teach the Word; and it was because of this their primeval state that
Lucifer was called the son of the morning (verse 12).
But as they saw that they could gain dominion by means of the holy things of the Word and the church, the love of self, by which they were first stirred up to preach the Lord, broke forth from within, and finally exalted itself to such a height that they transferred to themselves the whole of the Lord’s Divine power, leaving nothing. [4] This could not have been prevented by the Lord’s Divine providence; for if it had been prevented they would have publicly taught that the Lord is not God, and that the Word is not holy, and would have made themselves Socinians or Arians, and thus would have destroyed the whole church, which, whatever may be the character of its rulers, continues to exist with the submissive people; for all those of this religion who approach the Lord and shun evils as sins are saved, consequently there are many heavenly societies of such in the spiritual world. It has also been provided that among them there should be a nation that has not passed under the yoke of such domination, and that holds the Word to be holy; this is the noble French nation. But what has been done? [5] When the love of self exalted its dominion even to the Lord’s throne, set Him aside, and placed itself thereon, that love, which is Lucifer, could not but profane all things of the Word and the church. That this might be prevented, the Lord by His Divine providence took care that they should withdraw from the worship of Himself, and should invoke the dead, should pray to images of the dead, should kiss their bones, and bow down at their tombs, should forbid the reading of the Word, should place holy worship in masses not understood by the common people, and sell salvation for money; because if they had not done these things they would have profaned the holy things of the Word and of the church. For only those who have a knowledge of holy things can profane them, as has been shown in a preceding paragraph. [6] So to prevent their profaning the most Holy Supper they were permitted, under the Lord’s Divine providence, to divide it, and to 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 these are separated the wine signifies profaned truth and the bread adulterated good; and still further, they were permitted to make it corporeal and material, and to adopt this as the primary principle of religion. Any one who turns his mind to these several things and considers them with some enlightenment of mind can see the wonderful activities of the Divine providence in guarding the holy things of the church, in saving all that can be saved, and in snatching from the fire, as it were, those who are willing to be rescued.
258. (5) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence by the fact that among those who profess the Christian religion there are some who place salvation in certain phrases which they should think and talk about, making no account of the good works they should do. That such are those who make faith alone saving, and not a life of charity, and therefore those who separate faith from charity, is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith; and there it is also shown that such are meant in the Word by “Philistines,” by the “dragon,” and by “goats.” [2] Such doctrine also has been permitted under the Divine providence in order that the Divine of the Lord and the holiness of the Word might not be profaned. The Divine 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 in this way the Divine of the Lord is not approached, but the Human, which is not acknowledged as Divine. Nor is the Word profaned, for they pay no attention to the passages where love, charity, doing, and works are mentioned. They claim that these are all included in a belief in the formula just quoted; and those who confirm this say to themselves, “The law does not condemn me, so neither does evil; and good does not save me, because the good from me is not good.” These, therefore, are like those who have no knowledge of truth from the Word, and thus cannot profane it. But belief in the above statement is confirmed by those only who from the love of self are in the pride of their own intelligence. Such are not Christians at heart, but only wish to seem so. It shall now be explained how the Lord’s Divine providence is, nevertheless, unceasingly working for the salvation of those in whom faith separate from charity has become a matter of religion. [3] It is of the Lord’s Divine providence that, although that faith has come to be a matter of religion, yet every one knows that it is not that faith that saves, but a life of charity with which faith acts as one; for in all churches where that religion is accepted it is taught that there is no salvation unless man examines himself, sees his sins, acknowledges them, repents, refrains from them, and enters on a new life. This is proclaimed with great zeal in the presence of all who are coming to the Lord’s Supper; and to this is added, that unless they do this they mix what is holy with what is profane, and hurl themselves into eternal damnation; and in England it is taught even that unless they do this the devil will enter into them as he entered into Judas, and will destroy them both soul and body. From all this it is clear that even in the churches where the doctrine of faith alone has been adopted every one is still taught that evils must be shunned as sins. [4] Furthermore, every one who is born a Christian knows also that evils must be shunned as sins, because the Decalogue is placed in the hands of every boy and every girl, and is taught them by parents and teachers; also all citizens of the kingdom, especially the common people, are examined by a priest from the Decalogue alone, recited from memory, as to their knowledge of the Christian religion; and are counseled to do the things there commanded. It is then never said by any leader that they are under the yoke of law, or that they cannot do the things commanded because they can do no good from themselves. Moreover, the Athanasian Creed has been accepted throughout the Christian world, and what is said in it at the end is acknowledged, namely, that the Lord shall come to judge the living and the dead, and then those that have done good shall enter into life eternal, and those that have done evil into everlasting fire. [5] In Sweden, where the religion of faith alone has been adopted, it is also plainly taught that a faith separate from charity or without good works is impossible. This is found in a certain appendix concerning things to be kept in remembrance, attached to all their psalm books,* called “Hindrances or Stumbling-blocks of the Impenitent (Obotfardigas forhinder).” In it are these words: “They that are rich in good works thereby show that they are rich in faith, since when faith is saving it operates these through charity; for justifying faith never exists alone and separate from good works, just as there can be no good tree without fruit, or a sun without light and heat, or water without moisture.” [6] These few statements are made to show that although a religion of faith alone has been adopted, goods of charity, which are good works, are nevertheless everywhere taught; and that this is of the Lord’s Divine providence, that the common people may not be led astray by it. I have heard Luther, with whom I have sometimes talked 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 his thought was that unless works were rejected no separation from the Catholic religion could be effected; and therefore, contrary to the warning, he established that faith.
* This appendix was omitted in the revision of the psalm book made in 1819.
259. (6) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence by the fact that there have been and still are so many heresies in the Christian world, such as Quakerism, Moravianism, Anabaptism, and others. For he may think to himself, If the Divine providence were universal in its least particulars, and had the salvation of all as its end, it would have caused one true religion to exist throughout the world, and that one not divided, still less torn into heresies. But make use of your reason, and think more deeply, if you can, whether a man can be saved unless he is previously reformed. For he is born into the love of self and love of the world; and as these loves do not carry in them anything of love to God or of love towards the neighbor except for the sake of self, he has been born also into evils of every kind. What is there of love or mercy in these loves? Does he [from these loves] think anything of defrauding another, defaming him, hating him even to the death, committing adultery with his wife, being cruel to him when moved by revenge, while cherishing in his mind a wish to be highest of all, and to possess the goods of all others, and while regarding others as insignificant and worthless compared with himself? If such a man is to be saved must he not first be led away from these evils, and thus reformed? This can be done only in accordance with many laws which are laws of the Divine providence, as has been shown above in many places. These laws are for the most part unknown; nevertheless, they are laws 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. [2] Let the laws that have been set forth be reviewed and compared, and you will see. And since, then, it is in accordance with these laws that there is no immediate influx from heaven, but only mediate influx through the Word, doctrines, and preaching; also, for the Word to be Divine it must needs be written wholly by correspondences; it follows that discussions and heresies are inevitable, and that permissions of these are also in accord with the laws of the Divine providence. Furthermore, when the church itself has taken as its essentials such things as belong to the understanding alone, that is, to doctrine, and not such as belong to the will, that is, to the life, and the things that belong to the life are not made the essentials of the church, man from his understanding is then in mere darkness, and wanders about like a blind man, everywhere running against something and falling 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 must lead the understanding to think, speak, and act, and not the reverse. If the reverse were true, the understanding, from an evil and even a diabolical love, might seize upon whatever presents itself through the senses, and enjoin the will to do it. From all this the source of dissensions and heresies can be seen. [3] And yet it has been provided that every one, in whatever heresies he may be in respect to the understanding, can be reformed and saved, if only 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 understanding, which then first emerges from darkness into light. There are three essentials of the church, an acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, an acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, and the life that is called charity. According to the life which is charity is every one’s faith; from the Word comes 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 it would not have been divided, but only varied, by intellectual dissensions, as light varies the color in beautiful objects, and as various circlets give beauty in the crown of a king.
260. (7) The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence by the fact that Judaism still continues. In other words, the Jews after so many centuries have not been converted, although they live among Christians, and do not, as the Word predicts, confess the Lord and acknowledge Him to be the Messiah, who, as they think, was to lead them back to the land of Canaan, but constantly persist in denying Him; and yet it is well with them. But those who so think, and who therefore call in question the Divine providence, do not know that by “Jews” in the Word all who are of the church and who acknowledge the Lord are meant; and by “the land of Canaan,” into which it is said that they are to be led, the Lord’s church is meant.
[2] But the Jews persist in denying the Lord, because they are such that they would profane the Divinity of the Lord and the holy things of His church if they were to accept and acknowledge them. Consequently the Lord says of them:-
He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should turn themselves, and 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 turn themselves and I should heal them,” because if they had been turned and healed they would have committed profanation; and it is according to the law of Divine providence (treated of above, n. 221-233) that no one is admitted by the Lord interiorly into truths of faith and goods of charity except so far as he can be kept in them until the end of his life, and if he were admitted he would profane what is holy. [3] That nation has been preserved and has been scattered over a great part of the world for the sake of the Word in its original language, which they, more than Christians, hold sacred; and the Lord’s Divinity is in every particular of the Word, for that which goes forth from the Lord is Divine truth united to Divine good, and by this the Word becomes a conjunction of the Lord with the church and the presence of heaven [with man], as has been shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 62-69); and there is a presence of the Lord and of heaven wherever the Word is read with reverence. Such is the end in the Divine providence, for the sake of which the Jews have been preserved and scattered 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 or may confirm himself against the Divine providence. There are yet other points mentioned above (in n. 239), that may serve the natural man as arguments against the Divine providence, and may occur to the minds of others, and excite some doubts. These will now follow.
262. (1) A doubt may arise in opposition to the Divine providence from the fact that the whole Christian world worships one God under three persons, which is to worship three Gods, not knowing hitherto that God is one in person and essence, in whom is a trinity, and that the Lord is that God. One who reasons about the Divine providence may ask, Are not three persons three Gods when each person by Himself is God? Who can think otherwise? Who, indeed, does think otherwise? Athanasius himself could not; therefore in the creed that has its name from him it is said: “Although from Christian verity we ought to acknowledge each person to be God and Lord, yet from the Christian faith it is not allowable to speak of or to name three Gods and three Lords.” Nothing else is meant by this than that we ought to acknowledge three Gods and Lords, but that it is not allowable to speak of or name three Gods and three Lords. [2] Who can have any perception of one God unless He is also one in person? If it is said that such a perception is possible if the thought is that the three have one essence, is there or can there be any other perception from this than that they are thus one in mind and feeling, but nevertheless 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 the Divine essence from eternity beget another, and still further bring forth another that proceeds from both? If it is said that this is to be believed but not thought about, who can help thinking about that which he is told must be believed? From what other source is that acknowledgment, which is faith in its essence? Have not Socinianism and Arianism, which reign in more hearts than you believe, arisen from the thought of God as three persons? Belief in one God, and that the Lord is the one God, constitutes the church; for the Divine trinity is in Him. That this is true may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, from beginning to end. [3] But what is the thought respecting the Lord at the present day? Is it not a thought that He is God and Man, God from Jehovah the Father from whom He was conceived, and Man from the Virgin Mary of whom He was born? 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; and yet it is so stated in the doctrine of the church accepted throughout the Christian world, which is as follows:-
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; and although He be God and Man yet there are not two, but one Christ; one because the Divine took to itself the Human; yea, wholly one, for He is one person; for as soul and body make one man so God and Man is one Christ.
This is from the Faith or Creed of Athanasius. They have not known this, for the reason that in reading it they have not thought of the Lord as God, but only as a man. [4] If such are asked whether they know from whom He was conceived, whether from God the Father or from His own Divine, they will answer that He was conceived from God the Father, for this is according to Scripture. Then are not the Father and Himself one, as the soul and the body are one? Who can think that He was conceived from two Divines, and if from His own that that was His Father? If they are asked further what their idea is of the Lord’s Divine and of His Human, they will say that His Divine is from the essence of the Father and the Human from the essence of the mother, and that His Divine is with the Father. If you then ask where His Human is they will make no reply; for they separate in their thought His Divine and His Human, and make the Divine equal to the Divine of the Father and the Human like the human of another man, and do not know that they thus separate soul and body; nor do they see the contradiction that He would thus have been born a rational man from a mother alone. [5] From the established idea respecting the Lord’s Human, that it was like the human of another man, it has come to pass that a Christian can scarcely be led to think of a Divine Human, even when it is said that the Lord’s soul or life from conception was and is Jehovah Himself. Gather up the reasons, then, and consider, whether there is any other God of the universe than the Lord alone, in whom the essential Divine, from which are all things, is that which is called the Father, the Divine Human is that which is called the Son, and the Divine going forth is called the Holy Spirit; thus that God is one in person and in essence, and that the Lord is that God.
[6] If you persist in saying that the Lord Himself mentions three in Matthew:-
Go ye 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 clear from the verse immediately preceding and from that immediately following, that He said this to make known that in Himself now glorified there is a Divine trinity. In the preceding verse He says that all power is given to Him in heaven and upon earth; and in the following verse He says that He would be with them until the end of the age; thus speaking of Himself alone, and not of three. [7] Now as regards Divine providence, why it has permitted 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 in essence, in whom is the trinity, and that the Lord is this God. Of this man himself, and not the Lord, is the cause. This truth the Lord has taught clearly in His Word, as can be seen from all the passages quoted in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord. 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, united like soul and body. [8] 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 that the church after its rise degenerated into a Babylon, which transferred to itself the Lord’s Divine power, but lest it be called Divine power, and not human power, they made the Lord’s Human like the human of another man. Afterwards, when the church was reformed, and faith alone was accepted 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 acknowledge Him to be the God of heaven and earth until he is living according to His precepts. In the spiritual world, where all are obliged to speak as they think, no one can even mention the name Jesus unless he has lived in the world as a Christian. This is of His Divine providence, lest His name be profaned.
263. But that all this that has been said may be still more clear, I will add what has been said at the end of the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 60, 61), which is as follows:-
That God and Man in the Lord, according to the doctrine [of the creed], are not two, but one person, and wholly one as the soul and the body are one, is clearly evident from many things that He said, as, That the Father and He are one; That all things of the Father are His, and all His are the Father’s; That He is in the Father, and the Father in Him; That all things have been given into His hand; That He has all power: That he is the God of heaven and earth; That whosoever believes in Him has eternal life; and that whosoever does not believe in Him, upon him the wrath of God abides; and further, that both the Divine and the Human were taken up into heaven, and that in respect to both He sits at the right hand of God, that is, that He is almighty; and many more things that have been cited above in great abundance from the Word respecting His Divine Human; all of which testify that God is one both in person and in essence, in whom is a trinity, and that the Lord is that God.
[2] These things respecting the Lord are now for the first time published because it has been foretold in the Apocalypse (chapters xxi. and xxii ) that a new church would be instituted at the end of the former church in which this doctrine would be primary. It is this church that is there meant by the New Jerusalem, into which none can enter except those that acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth; and this is why that church is there called the Lamb’s wife. And I am able to announce that the entire heaven acknowledges the Lord alone, and that whoever does not acknowledge Him is not admitted into heaven, for heaven is heaven from the Lord. This acknowledgment itself, from love and faith, causes men to be in the Lord and the Lord in them, as He 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):
again, in the same:-
Abide in Me and I in you. I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for apart from Me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in Me he is cast forth (xv. 46; xvii, 22, 23).
[3] This has not been seen from the Word before, because even if it had been it would not have been accepted, for the last judgment had not yet been accomplished; and before that the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven; and man is midway between heaven and hell. If, then, this had been seen before, the devil, that is, hell, would have plucked it out of the hearts of men and would also have profaned it. This state of the power of hell was wholly broken up by the last judgment, which has now been accomplished. Since that judgment, that is, now, every man who wishes to be enlightened and to be wise can be.
264. (2) A doubt may arise in opposition to Divine providence from the fact that hitherto men have not known that there is a spiritual sense in all the particulars of the Word, and that its holiness is therefrom. For a doubt may arise in opposition to Divine providence when it is asked why this has now been revealed for the first time, and why it has been revealed through this man or that, and not through some primate of the church. But it is of the Lord’s good pleasure whether this is done by a primate or by the servant of a primate; the Lord knows what the one is and what the other. But that sense of the Word has not been revealed before, (1) because if it had been, the church would have profaned it, and thereby have profaned the essential holiness of the Word; (2) because the genuine truths, in which the spiritual sense of the Word resides, were not revealed by the Lord until the last judgment had been accomplished, and the new church that is meant by the Holy Jerusalem was about to be established by the Lord. But let these be examined singly. [2] First: The spiritual sense of the Word has not been revealed before, because if it had been the church would have profaned it, and thereby have profaned the essential holiness of the Word. Not long after the establishment of the church it was turned into a Babylon, and afterwards into a Philistia; and while Babylon acknowledges the Word it nevertheless despises it, claiming that they are inspired by the Holy Spirit in their supreme judgment just as much as the prophets were. They acknowledge the Word for the sake of the vicarship established by the Lord’s words to Peter; and yet they despise the Word because it does not suit them. For the same reason it is taken away from the people and hidden in monasteries, where few read it. Consequently if the spiritual sense of the Word, in which the Lord and all angelic wisdom are present, had been unveiled, the Word would have been profaned, not alone as it now is in its outmosts, which are the things contained in the sense of the letter, but also in its inmosts.
[3] Philistia also, by which is meant faith separate from charity, would have profaned the spiritual sense of the Word, because it places salvation in certain words that they may think and talk about, and not in the good works they should do, as has been shown before; thus making that to be saving that is not saving, and also separating the understanding from the things that are to be believed. What have such to do with that light in which the spiritual sense of the Word is? Would it not be turned into darkness? When the natural sense is turned into darkness what would not be done with the spiritual sense? Does any one of such, who has confirmed himself in faith separate from charity and in justification by that alone, wish to know what good of life is, wish to know what love to the Lord and towards the neighbor is, what charity is, and what the goods of charity are, and what good works are, and doing them, or even what faith is in its essence, or any genuine truth that constitutes it? Such write volumes confirming only that which they call faith, and claiming that all the things just mentioned are included in that faith. From all this it is clear that if the spiritual sense of the Word had been unveiled before, it would have come to pass according to the Lord’s words in Matthew:-
If thine eye be evil thy whole body shall be darkened. If, therefore, the light that is in thee becomes darkness, how great is that darkness! (vi. 23);
“the eye,” in the spiritual sense of the Word, meaning the understanding.
[4] Secondly: The genuine truths in which the spiritual sense of the Word resides were not revealed by the Lord until the last judgment had been accomplished, and the new church that is meant by “the Holy Jerusalem” was about to be established by the Lord. It was foretold by the Lord in the Apocalypse that when the last judgment had been accomplished genuine truths would be unveiled, a new church established, and the spiritual sense of the Word disclosed. That the last judgment has been accomplished is shown in the treatise on the Last Judgment, and again in the Continuation of it. This, too, is what is meant by “the passing away of the heaven and earth” (Apoc. xxi. 1). That genuine truths will then be unveiled is foretold in these words in the Apocalypse:-
And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new (xxi. 5; also xix. 17, 18; xxi. 18-21; xxii. 1, 2).
That the spiritual sense of the Word is then to be unveiled (xix. 11-16), this being meant by “the white horse,” upon which He sat who was called the Word of God, and was Lord of lords and King of kings (see the treatise on The White Horse). That the Holy Jerusalem means the new church that would then 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. [5] From all this it is now clear that the spiritual sense of the Word was to be revealed for a new church that will acknowledge and worship the Lord alone, and will hold His Word to be holy, will love Divine truths, and will reject faith separate from charity. But in regard to 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 the following numbers); namely, what the spiritual sense is (n. 5-26); that the spiritual sense is in each thing and in all things of the Word (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 has not been revealed before (n. 20-25); that hereafter the spiritual sense will be given only to those who are in genuine truths from the Lord (n. 26). [6] From all this it can now be seen that it is of the Lord’s Divine providence that the spiritual sense has been hidden from the world until the present age, and in the mean while has been preserved in heaven among the angels, who derive their wisdom from it. That sense was known to the ancients who lived before Moses, and was carefully studied; but their posterity converted correspondences, of which alone their Word and their religion therefrom consisted, into idolatries of various kinds, and the Egyptians converted them into magic, and consequently in the Lord’s Divine providence, the Word was closed up, first with the children of Israel and afterwards with Christians, for the reasons given above; and now it is again opened for the Lord’s New Church.
265. (3) A doubt may arise in opposition to Divine 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 has been shown in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end; and because faith separate from charity is the only obstacle to its reception, that also is treated of. It is said that it is unknown that to shun evils as sins is the Christian religion itself. For it is unknown to almost every one, and yet is known to every one, as may be seen above (n. 258). It is unknown to almost every one because it has been blotted out by faith separated; for that faith 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. Those who have often heard such things no longer give any thought to any evil of life or to any good of life. Moreover, every man from his own nature inclines to embrace this faith, and when he has once embraced it he gives no further thought to the state of his life. This is why this truth is unknown. [2] That it is unknown has been disclosed to me in the spiritual world. I have asked more than a thousand newcomers from the world whether they know that to shun evils as sins is religion itself; and they said that they did not know, and that this was something new, not heard of before; although they had heard that they cannot do good of themselves, and that they are not under the yoke of the law. When I asked whether they did not know that a man must examine himself, see his sins, repent, and then begin a new life, and that otherwise sins are not remitted, and if sins are not remitted men are not saved, and reminded them that this had been read to them in a loud voice as often as they went to the Holy Supper, they replied that they gave no attention to these things, but only to this, that they have remission of sins by means of the sacrament of the Supper, and that faith does the rest without their knowledge. [3] Again I asked, Why have you taught your children the Decalogue? Is it not that they might know what evils are sins to be shunned; or is it only that they might know these things and believe, And not do? Why, then, do you say that this is new? To this they have only been able to reply that they know and yet do not know; and that they never thought about the sixth commandment when committing adultery, or about the seventh commandment when stealing or defrauding covertly, and so on; still less that such things are contrary to the Divine law, thus against God. [4] When I have mentioned many things from the doctrines of the churches and from the Word to prove that shunning and turning away from evils as sins is the Christian religion itself, and that every one has faith as he does this, they were silent. But they were convinced that this is true when they saw that all were examined in regard to their life, and were judged according to their deeds, and no one was judged according to faith separate from life, because every one has faith according to his life. [5] That this has been for the most part unknown to the Christian world is from the law of the Divine providence that every one is left to act from freedom in accordance with reason (see above, n. 71-99, and n. 100-128); also from the law that no one is taught immediately from heaven, but mediately through the Word and doctrine and preaching from it (n. 154-174); also from all the laws of permission, which are likewise laws of the Divine providence. (More on this above, n. 258).
Emanuel Swedenborg · English translation by John C. Ager (1899) · Source edition · German edition.