Divine Providence · §§ 136–180

136. (3) No one is reformed by threats and punishments, because they compel. It is admitted that the external cannot compel the internal, but that the internal can compel the,. external; also that the internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it turns itself away. It is also admitted that external enjoyments allure the internal to consent and love; and it may be known that a compelled internal and a free internal are possible. But although all these things are admitted they nevertheless need illustration; for many things when they are heard, being true, are at once perceived to be so, and are therefore assented to; but unless they are also corroborated by reasons they may be disproved by arguments from fallacies, and at last denied. Therefore the things just stated as admitted must be taken up and rationally confirmed. [2] First: The external cannot compel the internal, but the internal can compel the external. Who can be compelled to believe and to love? One can no more be compelled to believe than to think that a thing is so when he thinks that it is not so; and one can no more be compelled to love than to will what he does not will; for belief belongs to thought, and love belongs to the will. But the internal may be compelled by the external not to speak ill of the laws of the kingdom, the moralities of life, and the sanctities of the church; thus far the internal may be compelled by threats and punishments; and it is so compelled and ought to be. This internal, however, is not the strictly human internal, but is an internal that man has in common with beasts; and beasts can be compelled. The human internal has its seat above this animal internal. It is this human internal that is here meant, and that cannot be compelled. [3] Secondly: The internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it turns itself away. This is because the internal wishes to be in freedom, and loves freedom, for freedom belongs to man’s love or life, as has been shown above; consequently when freedom feels itself to be compelled it withdraws as it were within itself and turns itself away, and looks upon compulsion as its enemy; for the love that constitutes man’s life is irritated, and causes the man to think that in this respect he is not his own, and therefore does not live for himself. Man’s internal is such from the law of the Lord’s Divine providence that man should act from freedom in accordance with reason. [4] From this it is clear that to compel men to Divine worship by threats and punishments is pernicious. But there are some who suffer themselves to be compelled in respect to religion, and some who do not. Of those who suffer themselves to be so compelled there are many within the papal jurisdiction; but this takes place with those in whose worship there is nothing internal, but all is external. Of those who do not suffer themselves to be compelled there are many of the English nation; and as a consequence of this there is in their worship an internal, and what there is in the external is from their internal. In regard to their religion their interiors appear in spiritual light like bright clouds; while the interiors of the former, in respect to religion, appear in the light of heaven like dark clouds. These appearances are presented to sight in the spiritual world, and will be seen by any one who wishes to see them when he comes into that world after death. Furthermore, compelled worship shuts in evils, which evils then lie hidden like fire in wood under ashes, which is continually kindling and spreading till it breaks out in flames; while worship not compelled, but spontaneous, does not shut evils in, and in consequence they are like fires that blaze up quickly and are gone. All this makes clear that the internal is so averse to compulsion that it turns itself away. The internal can compel the external, because the internal is like a master, and the external like a servant. [5] Thirdly: External enjoyments allure the internal to consent, and also to love. There are two kinds of enjoyments, enjoyments of the understanding and enjoyments of the will; those of the understanding are also enjoyments of wisdom, and those of the will are also enjoyments of love; for wisdom belongs to the understanding, and love to the will. And inasmuch as the enjoyments of the body and its senses, which are external enjoyments, act as one with the internal enjoyments which belong to the understanding and the will, it follows that while the internal is so averse to compulsion by the external as to turn itself away from it, it also looks with such favor on enjoyments in the external as even to turn itself to it; thus on the part of the understanding there is consent, and on the part of the will there is love. [6] In the spiritual world all children are led by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and through that into heavenly love, by means of things enjoyable and pleasing; first by means of beautiful things in their homes, and by means of pleasing things in gardens; then by means of representatives of spiritual things, which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure; and finally by means of truths of wisdom, and so by means of goods of love. Thus this is done continuously by means of enjoyments in their order; first by means of the enjoyments of the love of the understanding and of its wisdom; and finally by the enjoyments of the will’s love, which becomes their life’s love; and to this all other things that have entered by means of enjoyments are held subordinate. [7] This takes place because everything of the understanding and will must be formed by means of what is external before it is formed by the means of what is internal; since everything of the understanding and will is first formed by means of what enters through the senses of the body, especially through the sight and hearing; and when the first understanding and first will have been formed, the internal of thought looks upon these as the externals of its thought, and either conjoins itself with them or separates itself from them. It conjoins itself with them if they are delightful to it, and it separates itself from them if they are not. [8] But it must be clearly understood that the internal of the understanding does not conjoin itself with the internal of the will, but that the internal of the will conjoins itself with the internal of the understanding, and makes the conjunction to be reciprocal; but this is done by the internal of the will, and not in the least by the internal of the understanding. This is the reason why man cannot be reformed by means of faith alone, but only by means of the will’s love, which makes a faith for itself. [9] Fourthly: A compelled internal and a free internal are possible. A compelled internal is possible in such as are in external worship only and in no internal worship; for their internal consists in thinking and willing that to which the external is compelled. Such is the state of those who worship men living and dead, and thus worship idols, and whose faith is based on miracles. In such no internal is possible except what is at the same time external. A compelled internal is also possible in such as are in the internal of worship. It may be an internal compelled by fear or an internal compelled by love. Those have an internal compelled by fear who are in worship from a fear of the torment of hell and its fire. Such an internal, however, is not the internal of thought before treated of, but is the external of thought, and is here called an internal because it belongs to thought. The internal of thought before treated of cannot be compelled by any fear; but it can be compelled by love and by a fear of losing love. In its true sense the fear of God is nothing else. To be compelled by love and a fear of losing it is to compel oneself. That compelling oneself is not contrary to liberty and rationality will be seen below.

137. All this makes clear what compelled worship is and what worship not compelled is. Compelled worship is corporeal, lifeless, darkened, and sad; corporeal because it is of the body and not of the mind, lifeless because there is no life in it, darkened because there is no understanding in it, and sad because there is no enjoyment of heaven in it. But worship not compelled, when it is genuine, is spiritual, living, clear, and joyful; spiritual because there is spirit from the Lord in it, living because there is life from the Lord in it, clear because there is wisdom from the Lord in it, and joyful because there is heaven from the Lord in it.

138. (4) No one is reformed in states that do not spring from rationality and liberty. It has been shown above that nothing is appropriated to man except what he does from freedom in accordance with reason. This is because freedom belongs to the will and reason to the understanding; and when man acts from freedom in accordance with reason he acts from the will by means of his understanding; and whatever is done in a conjunction of these two is appropriated. Since, then, it is the Lord’s will that man should be reformed and regenerated, that he may have eternal life or the life of heaven, and no one can be reformed and regenerated unless good is so appropriated to his will as to be as if it were his, and truth is so appropriated to his understanding as to be as if it were his, and since nothing can be appropriated to any one except what is done from freedom of the will in accordance with the reason of the understanding, it follows that no one is reformed in states that do not spring from liberty and rationality. These states are many, but in general they may be referred to the following, namely states of fear, of misfortune, of disordered mind, of bodily disease, of ignorance, and of blindness of the understanding. Something shall be said of each state in particular.

139. No one is reformed in a state of fear, because fear takes away freedom and reason, or liberty and rationality; for while love opens the interiors of the mind fear closes them; and when they are closed man thinks but little, and only of what then presents itself to the mind or the senses. Such is the effect of all fears that take possession of the mind. [2] It has been shown above that man has an internal and an external of thought; fear can in no wise take possession of the internal of thought; this is always in freedom because in its life’s love; but it can take possession of the external of thought, and when it does this the internal of thought is closed; and when that is closed man can no longer act from freedom in accordance with his reason, and therefore cannot be reformed. [3] The fear that takes possession of the external of thought and closes the internal is chiefly a fear of the loss of honor or gain. The internal of thought is not closed by a fear of civil punishments or of external ecclesiastical punishments, because such laws only prescribe penalties for those who speak and act contrary to the civil interests of the kingdom and the spiritual interests of the church, and not for those who merely think in opposition to them. [4] A fear of infernal punishments may take possession of the external of thought, but only for a few moments or hours or days; it is soon brought back to its freedom from the internal of thought, which belongs strictly to its spirit and its life’s love, and is called the thought of the heart. [5] But a fear of the loss of honor and gain takes possession of the external of man’s thought; and when it does this it closes the internal of thought from above against influx from heaven, and makes it impossible for man to be reformed. This is because every man’s life’s love from his birth is a love of self and the world; and the love of self makes one with the love of honor, and the love of the world makes one with the love of gain. When, therefore, a man has gained honor or wealth, from a fear of losing them he strengthens with himself the means that are serviceable to him for honor and gain, whether civil or ecclesiastical, both of which are means of power. One who has not yet gained honor and wealth does the like if he desires them; but he does it from a fear of the loss of reputation on their account. [6] It is said that that fear takes possession of the external of thought, and closes the internal from above against the influx from heaven. The internal is said to be closed when it completely makes one with the external, for it is not then in itself but in the external. [7] But inasmuch as the loves of self and the world are infernal loves, and are the fountain heads of all evils, it is clear what the internal of thought is in itself in those in whom these loves are the loves of the life, or in whom these loves rule, namely, that it is full of the lusts of evils of every kind. This is not known to those who from a fear of the loss of dignity and wealth are strongly persuaded respecting the religion they accept, especially if the religion involves their worship as deities, and also as having supreme power over hell. Such may seem to be in a blaze of zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet this may be from an infernal fire. As such a fear especially takes away rationality itself and liberty itself, which are heavenly in their origin, it is evidently a hindrance to man’s ability to be reformed.

140. No one is reformed in a state of misfortune, if he thinks of God and implores His aid only in that state, because that is a compelled state; consequently as soon as he comes into a free state he goes back to his former state, in which he had thought little or nothing about God. It is otherwise with those who in their former free state had feared God. By “fearing God” is meant fearing to offend Him, “offending God” meaning to sin. This fear is not a matter of fear but of love, for when one loves another does he not fear to do him wrong? And does he not fear this the more, the more he loves? Without such a fear love is insipid and superficial, a mere matter of the thought and not at all of the will. By “states of misfortune” are meant states of despair from danger, as in battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, threatened or unexpected loss of wealth or of office and thus of honors, and other like things To think of God only when in such dangers is not from God but from self. For the mind is then as it were imprisoned in the body; thus not at liberty, and therefore not in rationality; and apart from these no reformation is possible.

141. No one is reformed in unhealthy mental states, because these take away rationality, and consequently the freedom to act in accordance with reason. For the mind may be sick and unsound; and while a sound mind is rational a sick mind is not. Such unhealthy mental states are melancholy, a spurious or false conscience, hallucinations of various kinds, grief of mind from misfortunes, and anxieties and mental suffering from a vitiated condition of the body. These are sometimes regarded as temptations, but they are not. For genuine temptations have as their objects things spiritual, and in these the mind is wise; but these states have as their objects natural things, and in these the mind is unhealthy.

142. No one is reformed in a state of bodily disease, because the reason is not then in a free state; for the state of the mind depends upon the state of the body. When the body is sick the mind is also sick, because of its separation from the world if for no other reason. For when the mind is removed from the world it may think about God, but not from God, for it does not possess freedom of reason. Man has freedom of reason by his being midway between heaven and the world, and by his ability to think from heaven or from the world, also from heaven about the world, or from the world about heaven. So when a man is sick, and is thinking about death and the state of his soul after death, he is not in the world; but in spirit he is withdrawn; and in this state alone no one can be reformed; but if before he fell sick he had been reformed this can then be strengthened. [2] It is the same with those who give up the world and all business there, and give themselves solely to thoughts about God, heaven, and salvation; but of this more elsewhere. As a consequence, if these persons had not been reformed before their sickness, if they die they afterwards become such as they were before the sickness. It is therefore vain to think that any can repent or receive any faith during sickness, for in such repentance there is nothing of action, and in such faith nothing of charity; thus both belong wholly to the lips and not at all to the heart.

143. No one is reformed in a state of ignorance, because all reformation is effected by means of truths and a life according to them; consequently those who are ignorant of truths cannot be reformed; but if they desire truths from an affection for truths, after death in the spiritual world they are reformed.

144. Neither can any one be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding. These, too, are ignorant of truths, and consequently of life; for the understanding must teach truths, and the will must do them; and when the will does what the understanding teaches its life comes into harmony with the truths. But when the understanding is blinded the will also is closed up; and from a freedom that is in accord with its reason it does only the evil that has been confirmed in the understanding, which is falsity. The understanding is blinded not only by ignorance but also by a religion that teaches a blind faith, also by false doctrine. For as truths open the understanding so falsities close it; they close it above but open it below; and an understanding that is opened only below cannot see truths, but can merely confirm whatever it wills, especially falsity. The understanding is also blinded by the lusts of evil. As long as the will is in these it moves the understanding to confirm them; and so far as the lusts of evil are confirmed the will cannot be in affections for good and to see truths from them, and thus be reformed. [2] When one, for example, is in the lust of adultery, his will, which is in the enjoyment of his love, moves his understanding to confirm it, saying, “What is adultery? Is there anything wicked in it? Is there not a like thing between husband and wife? Cannot offspring be born from adultery as well as from marriage? Cannot a woman admit more than one without harm? What has the spiritual to do with this?” So thinks the understanding that is then the will’s harlot, and that has become so stupid from debauchery with the will as to be unable to see that conjugial love is the spiritual heavenly love itself, an image of love of the Lord and of the church, and derived from that love, and thus is in itself holy, is chastity itself, purity, and innocence; also that it makes men to be loves in form, since consorts can love each other mutually from inmosts, and thus form themselves into loves; while adultery destroys this form, and with it the image of the Lord, and, what is horrible, the adulterer mingles his life with the husband’s life in his wife, since a man’s life is in his seed. [3] Because this is profane hell is called adultery, and heaven on the other hand is called marriage. Moreover, the love of adultery communicates with the lowest hell, while love truly conjugial communicates with the inmost heaven; and the organs of generation in either sex correspond to societies of the inmost heaven. All this has been presented to make known how blinded the understanding is when the will is in the lust of evil; and that no man can be reformed in a state of blindness of the understanding.

145. (5) To compel oneself is not contrary to rationality and liberty. It has been shown already that man has an internal of thought and an external of thought, and that these are distinct like what is prior and what is posterior, or like what is higher and what is lower; and because they are so distinct they can act separately and can act conjointly. These act separately when from the external of his thought a man speaks and acts in one way while interiorly he thinks and wills in another way; and these act conjointly when a man speaks and acts as he interiorly thinks and wills. The latter is generally true of the sincere, the former of the insincere. [2] Inasmuch as the internal and the external of the mind are so distinct, the internal can even fight with the external, and can force it by combat into compliance. Combat arises when a man thinks that evils are sins and therefore resolves to refrain from them; for when he refrains a door is opened, and when it is opened the Lord casts out the lusts of evil that have occupied the internal of thought, and implants affections for good in their place. This is done in the internal of thought. But as the enjoyments of the lusts of evil that occupy the external of thought cannot be cast out at the same time, a combat arises between the internal and the external of thought, the internal wishing to cast out these enjoyments because they are enjoyments of evil and not in accord with the affections for good in which the internal now is, and to bring in, in place of these enjoyments of evil, enjoyments of good that are in accord. The enjoyments of good are what are called goods of charity. From this contrariety a combat arises; and when this becomes severe it is called temptation. [3] Since, then, a man is a man from the internal of his thought, for this is a man’s very spirit, it is clear that when a man compels the external of his thought to acquiescence or to an acceptance of the enjoyments of his affections, which are goods of charity, he is compelling himself. This evidently is not contrary to rationality and liberty, but is in accord with them, for rationality excites the combat and liberty carries it on. Moreover, liberty itself with rationality has its seat in the internal man, and from that in the external. [4] When, therefore, the internal conquers, as it does when the internal has reduced the external to acquiescence and compliance, the Lord gives man liberty itself and rationality itself; for the Lord then withdraws man from infernal freedom, which in itself is slavery, and brings him into heavenly freedom, which is in itself real freedom, and bestows upon him fellowship with the angels. That those who are in sins are servants, and that the Lord makes free those who accept truths from Him through the Word He teaches in John (viii. 31-36).

146. This may be illustrated by the example of a man who has had a sense of enjoyment in fraud and secret theft, and who now sees and internally acknowledges that these are sins, and therefore wishes to refrain from them. When he refrains a combat of the internal man with the external arises. The internal man has an affection for sincerity, while the external still finds an enjoyment in defrauding; and as this enjoyment is the direct opposite of the enjoyment of sincerity it only gives way when it is compelled; and it can be compelled only by combat. But when the victory has been gained the external man comes into the enjoyment of the love of what is sincere, which is charity; afterwards the enjoyment of defrauding gradually becomes unenjoyable to him. It is the same with other sins, as with adultery and whoredom, revenge and hatred, blasphemy, and lying. But the hardest struggle of all is with the love of rule from the love of self. He who subdues this easily subdues all other evil loves, for this is their head.

147. It shall also be stated briefly how the Lord casts out the lusts of evil which occupy the internal man from birth, and how He imparts in their stead affections for good whenever a man as if from himself puts away evils as sins. It has been shown before that man has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind; and that so long as a man is in the lusts of evil and in their enjoyments he is in the natural mind alone, and the spiritual mind is closed. But as soon as a man after examination acknowledges evils to be sins against God, because they are contrary to Divine laws, and resolves in consequence to refrain from them, the Lord opens his spiritual mind and enters into his natural mind through affections for truth and good, and He also enters into the rational, and from it arranges in order the things that are contrary to order below it in the natural. This is what appears to man as combat; and in those that have indulged much in the enjoyments of evil it appears as temptation, for there is grief of mind when the order of his thoughts is being reversed. And as there is a combat against the things that are in the man himself and that he feels to be his own, and as one can fight against himself only from an interior self and from freedom there, it follows that the internal man then fights against the external, and fights from freedom, and compels the external to obedience. This, therefore, is compelling one’s self; and this, evidently, is not contrary to liberty and rationality, but in accordance with them.

148. Furthermore, every man wishes to be free, and to put away from himself non-freedom or servitude. Every boy subject to a teacher wishes to be his own master, and thus free; the same is true of every servant under his master, and every maidservant under her mistress. Every maiden wishes to leave her father’s house and to marry, that she may act freely in her own house; every youth who desires employment or to be in business or to perform the duties of some office, while he is subject to others longs to be released, so as to be at his own disposal. All such who willingly serve for the sake of liberty compel themselves; and when they compel themselves they act from freedom in accordance with reason, but from an interior freedom, from which exterior freedom is looked upon as a servant. This has been presented to show that it is not contrary to rationality and liberty to compel oneself.

149. Man does not wish in like manner to come out of spiritual servitude into spiritual liberty, for the reason, first, that he does not know what spiritual servitude is and what spiritual liberty is; he does not possess the truths that teach this; and without truths, spiritual servitude is believed to be freedom, and spiritual freedom to be servitude. Another reason is that the religion of the Christian world has closed up the understanding, and faith alone has sealed it; for both of these have placed around themselves, like a wall of iron, the dogma that theological matters transcend the comprehension, and cannot therefore be reached by any exercise of the reason, and are for the blind, not for those that see. In this way have the truths been hidden that teach what spiritual liberty is. A third reason is, that few examine themselves and see their sins; and he who does not see his sins and refrain from them is in the freedom of sin, which is infernal freedom, in itself bondage; and from this to see heavenly freedom, which is freedom itself, is like seeing day when immersed in thick darkness, or like seeing what is from the sun above when under a dark cloud. For these reasons it is not known what heavenly freedom is, and that the difference between it and infernal freedom is like the difference between what is alive and what is dead.

150. (6) The external man must be reformed by means of the internal, and not the reverse. By the internal and external man the same is meant as by the internal and external of thought, which have been frequently defined above. The reformation of the external by means of the internal means that the internal flows into the external, and not the reverse. It is admitted in the learned world that there is an influx of the spiritual into the natural, and not the reverse; and it is admitted in the church that the internal man must be first cleansed and renewed and thereby the external. This is admitted because it is taught by the Lord and declared by the reason. It is taught by the Lord in these words:-

Woe unto you, hypocrites; for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside of them may become clean also (Matt. xxiii 25, 26).

[2] That reason declares this has been abundantly shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. For what the Lord teaches He gives man ability to perceive rationally, and this in two ways; in one, man sees in himself that a thing is so as soon as he hears it; in the other, he understands it by means of reasons. His seeing it in himself is in his internal man; his understanding it by means of reasons is in the external man. Does not every one see it in himself when he hears that the internal man must be cleansed first, and the external by means of it? But one who does not receive a general idea of this subject by influx from heaven may be misled when he consults the external of his thought; from that alone no one sees otherwise than that the external works of charity and piety, apart from internal works, are what save. So in other things; as that sight and hearing flow into thought, and that smell and taste flow into perception, thus the external into the internal, when, nevertheless, the contrary is true. The appearance that things seen and heard flow into the thought is a fallacy; for it is the understanding that sees in the eye and hears in the ear, and not the reverse. So in everything else.

151. But it shall now be told briefly how the internal man is reformed, and the external by means of it. The internal man is not reformed merely by knowing, understanding, and being wise, consequently not by thought alone; but by willing that which knowledge, understanding, and wisdom teach. When a man from his knowledge, understanding, and wisdom sees that there is a heaven and a hell, and that all evil is from hell, and all good is from heaven, if he ceases to will evil because it is from hell, and wills good because it is from heaven, he is in the first stage of reformation, and is at the threshold from hell into heaven. When he goes further and wills to refrain from evils he is in the second stage of reformation, and is outside of hell, but not yet in heaven; he sees heaven above him. Man must have such an internal in order to be reformed; and yet he is not reformed unless the external is reformed as well as the internal. The external is reformed by means of the internal when the external refrains from the evils that the internal does not will because they are infernal, and still more when the external for this reason shuns evils and fights against them Thus willing is the internal and doing is the external; for unless one does that which he wills there is within a failure to will, and finally the willing ceases.

[2] From these few statements it can be seen how the external man is reformed by means of the internal. This is what is meant by the Lord’s words to Peter:-

Jesus said, If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me. Peter said unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said unto him, He that hath bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit (John xiii. 8-10).

“To wash” means spiritual washing, which is to cleanse from evils; “washing the head and the hands” means to cleanse the internal man; and “washing the feet” means to cleanse the external man. That when the internal man has been cleansed the external must be cleansed is meant by this, “He that hath bathed needeth not save to wash his feet.” That all cleansing from evils is from the Lord is meant by this, “If I wash thee not thou hast no part with Me.” That among the Jews washing represented cleansing from evils, and this is what “washing” signifies in the Word, and “washing the feet” signifies the cleansing of the natural or external man, has been shown in the Arcana Coelestia, in many places.

152. Since man has an internal and an external, and both must be reformed that the man may be reformed, and since no one can be reformed unless he examines himself, sees and acknowledges his evils, and afterwards refrains from them, it follows that not only the external but also the internal must be examined. If the external alone is examined, a man sees only what he has actually done, as that he has not committed murder, adultery, or theft, has not borne false witness; and so on. Thus he examines the evils of his body, and not the evils of his spirit. Nevertheless, one cannot be reformed unless the evils of the spirit are examined, for after death man lives as a spirit, and all the evils that are in the spirit remain. The spirit is examined only by man’s attending to his thoughts, especially his purposes, for purposes are thoughts from the will; that is where evils are in their origin and in their root, that is, in their lusts and in their enjoyments; and unless these are seen and acknowledged the man is still in evils, although in externals he has not committed them. That to think from purpose is to will and to do is clear from the Lord’s words:-

Everyone that looketh on another’s woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Matt. v. 28).

Such is the examination of the internal man, whereby the external man is essentially examined

153. I have often wondered, that although it is known by the whole Christian world that evils must be shunned as sins, and that otherwise they are not remitted, and unless they are remitted there is no salvation, yet this is known by scarcely one among thousands. Inquiry was made about this in the spiritual world, and it was found to be so. This is known by everyone in the Christian world from the exhortations read before those who come to the Holy Supper, for it is openly declared in these; nevertheless when they are asked whether they know this, they answer that they do not, and that they have never known it. This is because they have not thought about it, and because most of them have thought only of faith, and of salvation by it alone. I have also wondered that faith alone so closes the eyes that when those who have confirmed themselves in it are reading the Word they see nothing that is there said about love, charity, and works. It is as if they had daubed faith over all things of the Word, as one might so smear a manuscript with red lead that nothing underneath it would appear. Or if anything does appear, it is absorbed by faith and is said to be faith.

154. IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHOULD BE LED AND TAUGHT BY THE LORD FROM HEAVEN BY MEANS OF THE WORD AND BY MEANS OF DOCTRINE AND PREACHINGS FROM THE WORD, AND THIS TO ALL APPEARANCE AS IF BY HIMSELF.

The appearance is that man is led and taught by himself; but the truth is that he is led and taught by the Lord alone. Those who confirm in themselves the appearance and not also the truth are unable to put away from themselves evils as sins; but those who confirm in themselves both the appearance and the truth are able to do so, for in appearance it is man who puts away evils as sins, but in truth it is the Lord. This latter class can be reformed, the former cannot. [2] Those who confirm in themselves the appearance and not also the truth are all interior idolaters, since they are worshipers of self and the world. If they have no religion they become worshipers of nature and thus atheists; while if they have a religion they become worshipers of men and also of images. Such at the present day are meant by those described in the first commandment of the Decalogue, who worship other gods. But those who confirm in themselves both the appearance and the truth become worshipers of the Lord; for they are raised up by the Lord out of what is their own (proprium), which is in the appearance, and are brought into the light in which is truth and which is truth; and the Lord enables them to perceive interiorly that they are led and taught by Him, and not by themselves. [3] To many the rational of both classes seems to be the same, but it is different. The rational of those who are both in the appearance and in the truth is a spiritual rational, while the rational of those who are in the appearance apart from the truth is a natural rational. This natural rational may be likened to a garden as it is in the light of winter, while the spiritual rational may be likened to a garden as it is in the light of spring. But more about this in what follows, and in this order:-

(1) Man is led and taught by the Lord alone.

(2) Man is led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic heaven and from it.

(3) Man is led by the Lord by means of influx, and taught by means of enlightenment.

(4) Man is taught by the Lord by means of the Word, and by means of doctrine and preachings from the Word, thus immediately by the Lord alone.

(5) In externals man is led and taught by the Lord in all appearance as if by himself.

155. (1) Man is led and taught by the Lord alone. This flows, as a universal consequent, from all that has been set forth in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; from what is there shown respecting the Lord’s Divine love and His Divine wisdom in Part First, also respecting the sun of the spiritual world and the sun of the natural world in Part Second; also respecting degrees in Part Third, and also respecting the creation of the universe in Part Fourth; and respecting the creation of man in Part Fifth.

156. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone means that he lives from the Lord alone; for what is led is his life’s will, and what is taught is his life’s understanding. But this is contrary to the appearance; for man seems to himself to live from himself, while the truth is that he lives from the Lord and not from himself. Since, then, so long as man remains in this world no perception by sensation can be given him that he lives from the Lord alone (because the appearance that he lives from himself is never taken away from him, for without it a man is not a man), therefore this truth must be established by reasons, and these must be confirmed by experience, and finally by the Word.

157. That man lives from the Lord alone, and not from himself, is established by these reasons: There is an only essence, an only substance, and an only form, from which are all the essences, substances, and forms that have been created. That only essence, substance, and form is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, from which all things that have relation to love and wisdom in man are derived. It is also the Good itself and the Truth itself to which all things have relation. These are the life, which is the source of the life of all things and of all things of life. The Only and the Itself is the omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. This Only and Itself is the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah. [2] First: There is an only essence, an only substance, and an only form, from which have come all the essences, substances, and forms, that have been created. This is shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom (n. 44-46); and in Part Second of that work it has been shown that the sun of the angelic heaven, which is from the Lord and in which the Lord is, is that only substance and form from which are all things that have been created, and that there is nothing and can be nothing that is not from that sun. And in Part Third it has been shown that all things are from that sun by derivations according to degrees. [3] Who does not perceive and acknowledge from his reason that there is an only essence from which is all essence, or an only Being (Esse) from which is all being (esse)? Can any thing have existence apart from being? And what is the being from which is all being, unless it is Being itself? And that which is Being itself is also the only Being and Being in itself. This being true (and every one perceives and acknowledges, or can perceive and acknowledge from his reason that it is true), what else follows than that this Being, which is the Divine Itself, and is Jehovah, is the all of all things that have being and existence? [4] The same is true when it is said that there is an only substance from which are all things. And as substance without form is not anything, it follows also that there is an only form from which are all things That the sun of the angelic heaven is this only substance and form, and how this essence, substance and form is varied in created things, has been shown in the work mentioned above. [5] Secondly: That only essence, substance and form is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, from which are all things that have relation to love and wisdom in man. This, too, has been fully shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. Whatever things in man appear to live have relation to the will and the understanding in him; and that these two are what constitute man’s life is perceived and acknowledged by every one from his reason. What more is there in life than, This I will, or this I understand, that is, This I love, or this I think And as that which is loved is willed, and that which is understood is thought, so all things of the will have relation to love, and all things of the understanding to wisdom. And since love and wisdom cannot exist in any one from himself, but only from Him who is Love itself and Wisdom itself, it follows that all this is from the Lord from eternity, that is, Jehovah; if it were not so, man would be Love itself and Wisdom itself, thus God from eternity; and at this human reason itself shudders. Can any thing exist except from what is prior to itself? And can this prior exist except from what is prior to it, and thus finally, except from the First which is in itself? [6] Thirdly: It is likewise the Good itself and the Truth itself to which all things have relation. It is accepted and acknowledged by every rational being that God is Good itself and Truth itself, and that every good and truth is from Him; and therefore, that no good or truth can come from any other source than Good itself and Truth itself. This is acknowledged by every rational man as soon as he hears it. When after this it is said that everything of the will and the understanding, or everything of love and wisdom, or everything of affection and thought in a man who is led by the Lord, has relation to good and truth, it follows that every thing that such a man wills and understands, or everything of his love and wisdom, or of his affection and thought, is from the Lord. And from this every one in the church knows that any good or any truth that is from man is not truth and good in itself, but only that which is from the Lord. As this is the truth, it follows that everything that such a man wills and thinks is from the Lord. That no evil man is able to will and to think from any other source will be shown hereafter. [7] Fourthly: These are the life, which is the source of the life of all things and of all things of life. This has been fully shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. Moreover, human reason accepts and acknowledges, as soon as it is heard, that the whole life of man belongs to his will and understanding, for if these were to be taken away he would cease to live; or, what is the same, that the whole life of man belongs to his love and thought, for if these were to be taken away he would cease to live. Since, then, everything of the will and understanding, or everything of love and thought in man, is from the Lord, as has just been said, it follows that every thing of his life is from the Lord. [8] Fifthly: This Only and Itself is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. This, too, every Christian acknowledges from his doctrine, and every Gentile from his religion. And for this reason also every one, wherever he may be, thinks that God is where he is, and prays to God as present. And as every one so thinks and so prays, it follows that there can be no other thought than that God is everywhere, thus omnipresent. The same is true of His omniscience and omnipotence. Consequently, whoever prays in his heart to God implores Him to lead him, because He is able. Thus at such a time every one acknowledges the Divine omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence; this he does because he turns his face to the Lord, and this truth then flows in from the Lord. [9] Sixthly: This Only and Itself is the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah. It has been shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, that God is one in essence and in person, and that this God is the Lord; also that the Divine Itself, which is called Jehovah the Father, is the Lord from eternity; that the Divine Human is the Son conceived from His Divine from eternity and born in the world, and that the Divine going forth is the Holy Spirit. The expressions, the Itself and the Only are used, because it has been said above that the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, is Life itself, since He is Love itself and Wisdom itself, or Good itself and Truth itself, from which all things are. That the Lord created all things from Himself, and not from nothing, may be seen in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom (n. 282-284, 349-357). From all this the truth that man is led and taught by the Lord alone is established by reasons.

158. With the angels, especially the angels of the third heaven, this truth is established, not by reasons alone but also by living perceptions. They perceive the influx of Divine love and Divine wisdom from the Lord. And because they perceive that influx, and from their wisdom know that this inflowing love and wisdom is life, they say that they live from the Lord and not from themselves; and not only do they say this, they love and wish to have it so. Nevertheless, to all appearance, they are as if they lived from themselves; and the appearance is even stronger with them, than with other angels; for as has been shown above (n. 42-45), The more nearly any one is conjoined with the Lord, the more distinctly does he appear to himself to be his own, and the more clearly does he recognize that he is the Lord’s. It has been granted me now for several years to be in a like perception and appearance, and I have been fully convinced by it that nothing of my will or thought is from myself, but only appears to be from myself; and it has also been granted me to will and to love this. This truth might be established by many other things from the spiritual world; but these two are enough for the present.

159. That the Lord alone has life is made clear by the following passages in the Word:-

I am the Resurrection and the Life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, yet shall he live (John xi. 25).

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John xiv. 6).

God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men (John i. 1, 4).

Here “the Word” means the Lord.

As the Father hath life in Himself, so gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John v. 26).

That man is led and taught by the Lord alone is clear from the following passages:-

Without Me ye can do nothing (John xv. 5).

A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven (John iii. 27).

A man cannot make one hair white or black (Matt. v. 36).

“A hair” signifies in the Word the least of all things.

160. That the life of the evil is from the same source will be shown in its proper place further on. Here it will merely be illustrated by a comparison. From the sun of the world heat and light flow in, flowing alike into trees that bear evil fruit and into trees that bear good fruit, and they are alike quickened and grow. It is not the heat in itself, but the forms into which the heat flows, that cause this diversity. It is the same with light, which is turned into various colors according to the forms into which it flows. Some colors are beautiful and pleasing, and some are ugly and dull; and yet the light is the same. The same is true of the influx of spiritual heat, which in itself is love, and of spiritual light, which in itself is wisdom, from the sun of the spiritual world. The forms into which they flow are what cause the diversity, and not that heat which is love, and that light which is wisdom, in themselves. The forms into which they flow are human minds. From all this it is clear that man is led and taught by the Lord alone.

161. But what the life of animals is has been shown above, namely, that it is a life of merely natural affection with the knowledge that is its mate; and that it is a mediate life, corresponding to the life of those who are in the spiritual world.

162. (2) Man is led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic heaven and from it. It is said that man is led by the Lord through and from the angelic heaven; that he is led through the angelic heaven is an appearance; that he is led from that heaven is the truth. That he is led through the angelic heaven is an appearance from the Lord’s appearing above that heaven as a sun; that he is led from that heaven is the truth, because the Lord is in that heaven as the soul is in man. For the Lord is omnipresent, and is not in space, as has been shown above; consequently distance is an appearance according to conjunction with the Lord; and conjunction is according to the reception of love and wisdom from the Lord. And as no one can be conjoined with the Lord as He is in Himself, He appears to angels at a distance like a sun; nevertheless He is in the whole angelic heaven, like the soul in man. He is in like manner in every society of heaven, and in every angel therein; for a man’s soul is both the soul of the whole and also the soul of every part. [2] But because of the appearance that the Lord rules the whole heaven, and through it the world, from the sun that is from Him and in which He is (respecting which sun see Part Second of the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom), and because every man is permitted to speak from appearance, nor can he do otherwise, so any one who is not in wisdom itself is permitted to think that the Lord rules each thing and all things from His sun; and also that He rules the world through the angelic heaven. From that appearance, moreover, the angels of the lower heavens think; but the angels of the higher heavens, while they speak from appearance, think from the truth, which is that the Lord rules the universe from the angelic heaven, which is from Himself. [3] That the simple and the wise speak alike but do not think alike, may be illustrated by the sun of the world, about which all speak according to appearance, saying that it rises and sets; but while those who are wise use the same language they think of the sun as standing unmoved, which is the truth, while the other is the appearance. Illustrations of this may also be found in the appearances in the spiritual world; for spaces and distances appear there as in the natural world; nevertheless they are appearances that are in accord with the dissimilarity of affections and of thoughts therefrom. The same is true of the Lord’s appearance in His sun.

163. How the Lord leads and teaches every man from the angelic heaven shall be told in a few words. In the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, and above in this work on the Divine Providence, and also in the work on Heaven and Hell, published in London in 1758, it has been made known from things seen and heard that the whole angelic heaven appears before the Lord as one man, and likewise every society of heaven; and that it is from this that every angel and spirit is in complete form a man. In the above mentioned works it has also been shown that heaven is not heaven from any thing that is the angels’ own, but from the reception by angels of the Divine love and wisdom from the Lord. From this it can be seen that the Lord rules the whole angelic heaven as one man, and inasmuch as that heaven in itself is a man, it is the very image and likeness of the Lord, and the Lord rules heaven as the soul rules its body; and as the whole human race is ruled by the Lord, it is ruled not through heaven but from heaven by the Lord, consequently from Himself, because He is heaven, as has been said before.

164. But this is an arcanum of angelic wisdom, and therefore cannot be comprehended by man unless his spiritual mind has been opened,-such a man, by virtue of his conjunction with the Lord, being an angel. Such a man, from what has already been said, is able to comprehend what here follows: (1) All, both men and angels, are in the Lord and the Lord in them in the measure of their conjunction with Him, or, what is the same, in the measure of their reception of love and wisdom from Him. [2] (2) Each one of these is allotted a place in the Lord, that is, in heaven, according to the quality of his conjunction with or reception of the Lord. [3] (3) Each one in his place has his state distinct from the state of others; and draws his portion from the common body according to his location, his function, and his need, precisely as each part does in the human body. [4] (4) Every man is initiated into his place by the Lord according to his life. [5] (5) Every one from infancy is introduced into this Divine Man, whose soul and life is the Lord; and in the Lord, not out of Him, is led and taught from the Lord’s Divine love according to His Divine wisdom. But as man is not deprived of freedom he can be led and taught only in the measure of his recipiency as if by himself. [6] (6) Those who receive are borne to their places through infinite turnings, as if by winding ways, much as the chyle is carried through the mesentery and its lacteals into the receptacle, and from this through the thoracic duct into the blood, and thus to its destination. [7] (7) Those who do not receive are separated from those that are within the Divine Man, as excrement and urine are separated from man. These are arcana of angelic wisdom which man can in some measure comprehend; but there are many others that he cannot.

165. (3) Man is led by the Lord by means of influx, and taught by means of enlightenment. Man is led by the Lord by means of influx, for leading and inflowing are predicated of the love and the will; and man is taught by the Lord by means of enlightenment, because teaching and enlightening are predicated only of wisdom and the understanding. It is admitted that every man is led by himself from his love, and by others according to his love, and not by his understanding. He is led by his understanding and in accordance with it only when his love or will forms his understanding; and when this is done the understanding may also be said to be led; yet even then it is not the understanding that is led, but the will from which it is. The term influx is used, because it is a common saying that the soul flows into the body; also, as has been shown above, that influx is spiritual and not physical, and a man’s soul or life is his love or will; also, because influx is relatively like the inflow of the blood into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs. That there is a correspondence of the heart with the will, and of the lungs with the understanding, and that the conjunction of the will with the understanding is like the inflow of the blood from the heart into the lungs, has been shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom (n. 371-432).

166. But man is taught by means of enlightenment, since teaching and enlightenment are predicated of the understanding; for the understanding, which is man’s internal sight, is illumined by spiritual light, just as the eye or man’s external sight is illumined by natural light. Moreover, the two are similarly taught; the internal sight, which is that of the understanding, by spiritual objects; and the external sight, which is that of the eye, by natural objects. There is spiritual light and natural light; these are alike in outward appearance, but internally unlike; for natural light is from the sun of the natural world, and is therefore in itself dead, while spiritual light is from the sun of the spiritual world, and is therefore in itself living. It is spiritual light and not natural light that illumines the human understanding. Natural and rational lumen is from the former, not from the latter. This is called natural and rational lumen because it is spiritual-natural. [2] For in the spiritual world there are three degrees of light, celestial light, spiritual light, and spiritual-natural light. Celestial light is a flaming ruddy light. This is the light of those who are in the third heaven. Spiritual light is a shining white light. This is the light of those who are in the intermediate heaven. Spiritual-natural light is like the light of day in our world. This is the light of those that are in the lowest heaven, also of those that are in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell; but in the world of spirits this light with the good is like summer light on the earth, and with the evil like winter light. [3] It must be understood, however, that none of the light of the spiritual world has any thing in common with the light of the natural world; they differ as what is living and what is dead. From all this it is clear that it is not natural light like that before our eyes that enlightens the understanding, but spiritual light. Of this man is ignorant, because hitherto he has known nothing about spiritual light. That the origin of spiritual light is the Divine wisdom or the Divine truth has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 126-140).

167. As the light of heaven has now been spoken of, something must also be said about the light of hell. In hell also there are three degrees of light. In the lowest hell the light is like that from burning charcoal; in the middle hell it is like the light from the flame of a hearth fire, while in the uppermost hell it is like the light from candles, and to some like the nocturnal light of the moon. These lights are not natural, they are spiritual, for all natural light is dead, and extinguishes the understanding; but those that are in hell have the ability to understand that is called rationality, as has been shown above; and rationality itself is from spiritual light, and not at all from natural light. But the spiritual light which these have from rationality is changed into infernal light, as the light of day is changed into the darkness of night. [2] Nevertheless, all in the spiritual world, both those in the heavens and those in the hells, see in their light as clearly as man sees by day in his light; and for the reason that every one’s eyesight is formed for the reception of the light in which it is. Thus the eyesight of the angels of heaven is formed for the reception of their light; and the eyesight of the spirits of hell for the reception of their light; and this is comparatively like the sight of owls and bats, which see objects at night or in twilight as clearly as other birds see them by day; for their eyes are formed to receive such light. [3] But the difference between these lights is very obvious to those who look from one light into the other; as when an angel of heaven looks into hell he sees nothing there but mere thick darkness; and when a spirit of hell looks into heaven he sees nothing there but thick darkness. This is because heavenly wisdom is like thick darkness to those that are in hell; and on the other hand, the insanity of hell is like thick darkness to those in heaven. From all this it can be seen that the light a man has is such as his understanding is; and that after death every one comes into his own light, not being able to see in any other; and in the spiritual world, where all are spiritual even in respect to their bodies, each one’s eyes are formed to see from their light. Each one’s life’s love makes an understanding for itself, and thus a light; for love is like the fire of life, from which is the light of life.

168. As few know anything about the enlightenment that the understanding of a man who is taught by the Lord is in, something shall be said about it. There is an interior and an exterior enlightenment from the Lord; and there is an interior and an exterior enlightenment from man. By interior enlightenment from the Lord a man perceives at the first hearing whether what is said is true or is not true. Exterior enlightenment is from this in the thought. Interior enlightenment from man is from mere confirmation; and exterior enlightenment from man is from mere knowledge. About each one of these something shall be said. [2] A man who is rational from interior enlightenment from the Lord immediately perceives, when he hears them, whether many things are true or not true; for example, that love is the life of faith, that is, that faith lives from love. Also by interior enlightenment man perceives that whatever one loves he wills, and what he wills he does, consequently that to love is to do; and again, that whatever man believes from love, this too he wills and does, consequently to have faith is to do; also that a wicked man cannot have love of God, thus neither faith in God. By interior enlightenment a rational man perceives as soon as he hears it that God is One; that He is omnipresent; that all good is from Him; also that all things have relation to good and truth; and that all good is from Good itself, and all truth from Truth itself. Man perceives these things and other like things interiorly in himself when he hears them; and he has this perception because he has rationality that is in the light of heaven, which gives enlightenment. [3] Exterior enlightenment is an enlightenment of the thought that is from the interior enlightenment; and the thought is in such enlightenment so far as it continues in the perception that it has from interior enlightenment, and also so far as it has knowledges of truth and good; for from these it draws the reasons by means of which it confirms. Thought from this exterior enlightenment sees a thing from both sides; on the one it sees the reasons that confirm, on the other the appearances that invalidate; the latter it disperses, the former it collects. [4] Interior enlightenment from man is wholly different. By it man sees a subject on one side and not on the other; and when he has confirmed it he sees it in a light apparently like the light spoken of above, but it is a winter light. For example, a judge who judges unjustly because of gifts or for the sake of gain, when he has confirmed his decision by the laws and by reasons, sees nothing but justice in it. To some the injustice may be evident, but as they do not wish to see it they mystify and blind themselves, and thus do not see. The same is true of a judge who is influenced in his decisions by friendship, or by a desire to gain favor, or by the ties of relationship. [5] Such men regard in the same way every thing that they hear from the lips of a man in authority, or a man of celebrity, or that they have hatched out from their own intelligence. They are rationally blind; for they have their vision from falsities, which they confirm; and falsity closes the sight, while truth opens it. Such see no truth from the light of truth, and no justice from a love of justice, but only from the light of confirmation, which is a delusive light. In the spiritual world they appear like faces without heads, or like faces that resemble human faces behind which there are wooden heads; and they are called rational animals, because they have rationality potentially. Those have exterior enlightenment from man, who think and talk from mere knowledge impressed on the memory. Such are scarcely able to confirm any thing from themselves.

169. Such are the differences of enlightenment, and consequently of perception and thought. From spiritual light there is an actual enlightenment; but the enlightenment itself from that light is not manifest to any one in the natural world, because natural light has nothing in common with spiritual light; but this enlightenment has sometimes been manifest to me in the spiritual world, being visible in the case of those who were in enlightenment from the Lord as a luminous appearance around the head glowing with the color of the human face. But in the case of those that were in enlightenment from themselves, this luminous appearance was not about the head, but about the mouth and over the chin.

170. Besides these kinds of enlightenment there is another, by which it is revealed to man in what faith and in what intelligence and wisdom he is; and the revelation is such as to enable him to perceive this in himself. He is admitted into a society where there is genuine faith, also true intelligence and wisdom; and there his interior rationality is opened, and from it he sees the quality of his faith and his intelligence and wisdom, even to an acknowledgment of it. I have seen some of these on their return, and have heard them confessing that they had no faith, although in the world they had supposed their faith to be abundant, surpassing that of others, and their intelligence and wisdom to be the same. These were in faith alone, and in no charity, and were in their own intelligence.

171. (4) Man is taught by the Lord by means of the Word, and by means of doctrine and preaching from the Word, and thus immediately by the Lord alone. It has been said and shown above that man is led and taught by the Lord alone and this from heaven, and not through heaven or through any angel there; and as he is led by the Lord alone, it follows that he is led immediately and not mediately. How this is done will now be told.

172. In the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture it has been shown that the Lord is the Word, and that all doctrine of the church must be drawn from the Word. Since, then, the Lord is the Word, it follows that the man who is taught from the Word is taught by the Lord alone. But as this is not easily comprehended, it shall be illustrated in the following order: (1) The Lord is the Word because the Word is from Him and treats of Him. (2) Also because it is the Divine truth of the Divine good. (3) Thus to be taught from the Word is to be taught from the Lord. (4) That this is done mediately through preaching does not take away the immediateness.

[2] First: The Lord is the Word because the Word is from Him and treats of Him. That the Word is from the Lord is denied by no one in the church. That the Word treats of the Lord alone is not denied, indeed, but neither is it known. This has been set forth in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 1-7, 37-44); also in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 62-69, 80-90, 98-100). Since, then, the Word is both from the Lord alone and treats of the Lord alone, it follows that when man is taught from the Word he is taught from the Lord, since the Word is the Divine; and who except the essential Divine, from whom the Word is and of whom it treats, can communicate the Divine, and plant it in the heart? When, therefore, the Lord speaks of His conjunction with the disciples He says:-

That they should abide in Him, and His words in them (John xv. 7). That His words are spirit and life (John vi. 63).

And that He makes His abode with those who keep His words (John xiv. 20-24).

To think from the Lord, therefore, is to think from the Word, seemingly through the Word. That all things of the Word have communication with heaven has been shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, from beginning to end. And since the Lord is heaven, this means that all things of the Word have communication with the Lord Himself. It is true that the angels of heaven have communication; but this, too, is from the Lord.

[3] Secondly: The Lord is the Word, because it is the Divine truth of the Divine good. That the Lord is the Word He teaches in John in these words:-

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; and the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (John i. 1, 14).

As heretofore this has been understood to mean only that God taught men through the Word, it has been explained as a hyperbolical expression, not meaning that the Lord is the Word itself; and for the reason that it was unknown that by “the Word” the Divine truth of the Divine good is meant, or, what is the same, the Divine wisdom of the Divine love. That these are the Lord Himself is shown in Part First of the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; and that these are the Word is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 1-86). [4] How the Lord is the Divine truth of the Divine good shall also be briefly told. Every man is a man not from his face and body but from the good of his love and from the truths of his wisdom; and because it is from these that a man is a man, every man is also his own truth and his own good, or his own love and his own wisdom. Apart from these he is not a man. But the Lord is good itself and truth itself, or, what is the same, He is love itself and wisdom itself; and these are the Word which was in the beginning with God and which was God, and which became flesh. [5] Thirdly: Thus to be taught from the Word is to be taught by the Lord Himself, because it is to be taught from good itself and truth itself, or from love itself and from wisdom itself, which are the Word, as has been said. But every one is taught according to the understanding that belongs to his own love; what is beyond this is not permanent. All those who are taught by the Lord in the Word are taught a few truths in the world, but many when they become angels; for the interiors of the Word, which are Divine spiritual and Divine celestial things, although implanted at the same time, are not opened in man until after his death, thus in heaven, where he is in angelic wisdom, which in comparison with human wisdom, that is, man’s former wisdom, is ineffable. That Divine spiritual and Divine celestial things, which constitute angelic wisdom, are present in all things, and in each thing of the Word, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 5-26). [6] Fourthly: That this is done mediately through preaching does not take away the immediateness. The Word must needs be taught mediately through parents, teachers, books, and especially the reading of it. Nevertheless it is not taught by these, but by the Lord through them. And this the preachers know, and they say that they do not speak from themselves but from the spirit of God, and that all truth, like all good, is from God. They are able, indeed, to declare the Word, and bring it to the understanding of many, but not to the heart of any one; and what is not in the heart perishes in the understanding; “the heart” meaning man’s love. From all this it can be seen that man is led and taught by the Lord alone, and is led and taught immediately by Him when this is done from the Word. This is the arcanum of arcana of angelic wisdom.

173. That by means of the Word they also have light who are not in the church and do not have the Word is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 104-113). And since man has light through the Word, and from that light has understanding, and as both the evil and the good have understanding, it follows that from the light in its origin there is light in its derivatives, which are perceptions and thoughts respecting all subjects. The Lord says:-

That without Him man can do nothing (John xv. 5).

That a man can receive nothing except it has been given him from heaven (John iii. 27).

And that the Father in the heavens maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. v. 45).

By “the sun,” here as elsewhere in the Word, is meant in its spiritual sense the Divine good of the Divine love; and by “rain,” the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom. These are given to the evil and the good, to the just and the unjust; for unless they were given no one would have perception and thought. That there is only one life, from which all have life, has been shown above; and perception and thought belong to life, consequently perception and thought are from the same fountain from which life is. That all the light that constitutes the understanding is from the sun of the spiritual world, which is the Lord, has already been fully shown.

174. (5) In externals man is led and taught by the Lord in all appearance as if by himself. This takes place in man’s externals, but not in internals. How the Lord leads and teaches man in his internals no one knows, as no one knows how the soul operates to cause the eye to see, the ear to hear, the tongue and mouth to speak, the heart to move the blood, the lungs to breathe, the stomach to digest, the liver and pancreas to assort, the kidneys to secrete, and countless other things. These things do not come to man’s perception and sensation. The same is true of what is done by the Lord in the interior substances and forms of the mind, which are infinitely more numerous; the Lord’s operations in these are not manifest to man But the effects, which are numerous, are manifest, as well as some of the causes producing the effects. These are the externals wherein man and the Lord are together. And because externals make one with internals (for they cohere in one series), the Lord can arrange things in internals only in accordance with the disposition that is effected by means of man in the externals. [2] Every one knows that man thinks, wills, speaks, and acts to all appearance as if from himself; and every one can see that without this appearance man would have no will or understanding, thus no affection or thought, also no reception of any good and truth from the Lord. This being so, it follows that without this appearance there would be no knowledge of God, no charity or faith, and consequently no reformation or regeneration, and therefore no salvation. From all this it is clear that this appearance is given to man by the Lord for the sake of all these uses, and chiefly that man may have the ability to receive and to reciprocate, whereby the Lord may be conjoined with him and he with the Lord, and that through this conjunction man may live forever. This is the appearance here meant.

175. IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT NOTHING OF THE OPERATION OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE SHOULD BE EVIDENT TO MAN’S PERCEPTIONS OR SENSES, BUT THAT HE SHOULD, NEVERTHELESS, KNOW ABOUT IT AND ACKNOWLEDGE IT.

The natural man who does not believe in Divine providence thinks to himself, “What is Divine providence, when the wicked are advanced to honors and acquire riches more than the good, and when those who do not believe in a Divine providence are more successful in many like respects than those who do? And still further, the unbelieving and impious can inflict injuries, wrongs, and misfortunes, and sometimes death, upon the believing and pious, and this by means of deceptions and tricks.” Therefore he thinks, “Do I not see from actual observation as in clear daylight that crafty devices, when by ingenious shrewdness they can be made to seem trustworthy and just, prevail over fidelity and justice? What else is there, then, except necessities, consequences, and things of chance, in which nothing from a Divine providence is manifest? Do not necessities belong to nature? Are not consequences the causes that flow from natural or civil order? And are not things of chance either from unknown causes or from no cause?” Thus the natural man thinks to himself, ascribing nothing to God, but all things to nature; for he that attributes nothing to God attributes nothing to Divine providence; since God and Divine providence make one. [2] But the spiritual man speaks or thinks to himself differently. Although he has in his thought no perception of the Divine providence in its progress, nor is made sensible of it by the sight of the eye, still he knows about it and acknowledges it. Since, then, the appearances and consequent fallacies above mentioned have blinded the understanding, and this can receive no sight until the fallacies that have blinded it and the falsities that have darkened it are dispelled, and since this cannot be done except by truths, which have in them the power to dispel falsities, therefore these truths shall be disclosed, and for the sake of distinctness, in the following order:-

(1) If the operation of the Divine providence were made evident to man’s perceptions and senses he would not act from freedom in accordance with reason; nor would anything appear to him to be from himself. It would be the same if he foreknew events.

(2) If man clearly saw the Divine providence he would intrude himself into the order and tenor of its course and would pervert and destroy it.

(3) If man clearly saw the Divine providence either he would deny God or he would make himself to be God.

(4) It is granted man to see the Divine providence in the back and not in the face; also to see it in a spiritual state and not in a natural state.

176. (1) If the operation of the Divine providence were made evident to man’s perceptions and senses he would not act from freedom in accordance with reason; nor would any thing appear to him to be his. It would be the same if he foreknew events. It has been made evident to the understanding in its proper chapters above that it is a law of the Divine providence that man should act from freedom in accordance with reason, also that every thing a man wills, thinks, speaks, and does should appear to him to be from himself; also that without this appearance there would be nothing his (suus) to any man, nor would he be his own man (homo suus); thus he would have no ownhood (proprium); and therefore nothing could be imputed to him; and without such imputation it would be a matter of indifference whether he did evil or good, whether he had the faith of God or the persuasion of hell; in a word, he would not be man. [2] It shall now be shown that man would have no liberty to act in accordance with reason, and nothing would appear to him to be from himself, if the operation of the Divine providence were made evident to his perceptions and senses; since, if it were thus made evident he would be led by it; for the Lord leads all by means of His Divine providence, and man leads himself only in appearance, as has also been shown above. Consequently if man were led in accord with a living perception and sensation he would not be conscious of life, but he would be moved to utter sounds and to act much like a carved image. If he were still conscious of life he would be led like one bound hand and foot, or like a beast before a cart. Who does not see that a man would then have no freedom? And if he had no freedom he would have no reason; for every one thinks from freedom and in freedom; and whatever he does not think from freedom and in freedom does not appear to him to be from himself but from another; in fact, if you consider it interiorly you will perceive that he would then have no thought, still less any reason, and therefore would not be a man.

177. The operation of the Lord’s Divine providence to withdraw man from evils is continuous. If this continuous operation were evident to man’s perceptions and senses, and he were not led as one bound, would he not continually struggle against it, and then either strive with God or mix himself in with Divine providence? If the latter he would also make himself God; if the former he would release himself from restraint and deny God. It is clearly evident that there would then be two powers continually acting against each other, the power of evil from man and the power of good from the Lord; and when two opposites act against each other either one of them conquers or both perish; but in this case if one conquers they both perish, for the evil that belongs to man does not instantly receive good from the Lord, nor does good from the Lord instantly cast out evil from man; if either were done instantly there would be no life left to man. These and many other harmful results would ensue if the operation of the Divine providence were clearly evident to man’s perceptions and senses. But this will be shown fully in what follows.

178. A knowledge of future events is not granted to man for the same reason, namely, that he may have the ability to act from freedom in accordance with reason; for it is known that any thing that a man loves he wills to possess in effect, and he leads himself thereto by means of his reason; also that every thing that a man contemplates in his reason is from a love for it to come into effect by means of his thought. If, therefore, he knew the effect or event by Divine prediction his reason would cease to act, and with it his love; for the love rests with the reason in the effect, and from the effect then begins anew. It is reason’s essential delight to see from love the effect in the thought, not after but before the effect is reached, that is, not in the present but in the future. This is the source of what is called Hope, which increases and decreases in the reason as man sees or anticipates the event. The delight is made complete in the event, and thereafter fades away with the thought belonging to it. [2] Thus would it be if the event were foreknown. The mind of man is continually in these three things, called end, cause, and effect. If one of these is lacking, the human mind is not in its life. The affection of the will is the end from which; the thought of the understanding is the cause by which; and the action of the body or the speech of the lips, or the external sensation, is the effect of the end by means of the thought. That the human mind is not in its life when it is in the affection of the will alone, and nothing follows, or when it is likewise merely in the effect, must be clear to any one. Thus the mind has no life from one of these separately, but from the three conjointly. This life of the mind would be diminished and pass away if the event were foretold.

179. As a knowledge of future events takes away the human itself, which is to act from freedom in accordance with reason, a knowledge of the future is granted to no one; nevertheless, every one is permitted to form conclusions about the future from the reason; and in this the reason with all that pertains to it is in its proper life. This is why a man is not permitted to know what his lot will be after death, or to know about any event until he is in it; for if he knew this he would cease to think from his interior self how he must act or must live in order to come into it; but he would simply think from his exterior self that he was coming into it; and such a state closes the interiors of his mind, in which the two faculties of his life, liberty and rationality, have their chief seat. A longing to know things future is innate with most people; but this longing has its origin in a love of evil, and is therefore taken away from those who believe in the Divine providence; and there is given them a trust that the Lord is directing their lot, and consequently they have no wish to know beforehand what it will be, lest they should in some way interfere with the Divine providence. This is taught by the Lord in a variety of ways in Luke (xii. 14-48). [2] That this is a law of the Divine providence can be shown by many things in the spiritual world. Most persons when they enter that world after death wish to know their lot; but they are told that if they have lived well their lot is in heaven, if they have lived wickedly it is in hell. But as every one fears hell, even the evil, they ask what they must do and what they must believe to gain entrance to heaven; and the answer is that while they can do and believe as they will, they may be sure that in hell good is not done or truth believed, but only in heaven. “If you are able, seek to know what is good and what is true, and think the truth, and do the good.” Thus in the spiritual world as in the natural world all are left to act from freedom in accordance with reason; but as they have acted in this world so do they in that; for every one’s life awaits him, and from this is his lot; for the lot is in accordance with the life.

180. (2) If man clearly saw the Divine providence he would intrude himself into the order and tenor of its course, and would pervert and destroy it. To bring this clearly to the perception of the rational man and of the natural man it must be illustrated by examples in this order: (1) Externals are so connected with internals as to make one in every operation. (2) Only in certain externals is man associated with the Lord; and if he were at the same time in the internals he would pervert and destroy the whole order and tenor of the course of the Divine providence. But, as has been said, this shall be illustrated by examples. [2] First: Externals are so connected with internals as to make one in every operation. In illustration of this by examples take certain parts of the human body. In the whole body and in every part there are both externals and internals; the externals are called skins, membranes, and sheaths, the internals are forms variously composed and interwoven of nerve fibers and blood vessels. The surrounding sheath, by continuations from itself, enters into all the interiors even to the inmosts; thus the external, which is a sheath, conjoins itself with all the internals, which are the organic forms, made of fibers and vessels. From this it follows that as the external acts or is acted upon so the internal acts or is acted upon; for there is a perpetual bundling together of them all. [3] Take some general sheath in the body, the pleura, for example, which is the general sheath of the chest, or of the heart and lungs, and examine it with an anatomical eye; or if you have not made anatomy a study, consult anatomists; and you will learn that this general sheath, by various circumvolutions and then by continuations from itself, becoming finer and finer, enters into the inmosts of the lungs, even into the smallest bronchial branches, and into the follicles that are the beginnings of the lungs; not to mention its subsequent progress through the trachea to the larynx towards the tongue. From all this it is evident that there is a constant connection between the outermosts and the inmosts; consequently as the outermost acts or is acted upon so the interiors from the inmosts act or are acted upon. For this reason, when this outermost sheath, the pleura, is congested or inflamed or ulcerated, the lungs labor from their inmosts; and if the disease grows worse all action of the lungs may cease and the man die. [4] It is the same everywhere else in the whole body; as with the peritoneum, which is the general sheath of all the abdominal viscera; also the sheaths surrounding the several organs, as the stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen, intestines, mesentery, kidneys, and the organs of generation in either sex. Take any one of these abdominal viscera, and either examine it yourself and you will see, or ask those skilled in anatomy and you will learn. Take, for instance, the liver, and you will find that there is a connection between the sheath of that organ and the peritoneum, and through the sheath with its inmosts; for there are perpetual extensions from the sheath, with insertions towards the interior parts, and in this way continuations to the inmosts; and by these means all the parts are so bundled together that when the sheath acts or is acted upon the whole form acts or is acted upon in like manner. It is the same with the other organs; and this is because in every form the general and the particular, or the universal and the special, by wonderful conjunction, act as one. [5] It will be shown below that in spiritual forms and in the changes and variations of their state, which have relation to the operations of the will and the understanding, the same order prevails as in natural forms and their operations, which have relation to motion and action. Since, then, man is associated with the Lord in certain external operations, and since no one is ever deprived of the liberty of acting in accordance with reason, it follows that the Lord cannot act otherwise in internals than as He acts with man in externals. If man, therefore, does not shun and turn away from evils as sins, not only does the external of the thought and will become vitiated and destroyed, but the internals of them at the same time; comparatively as the pleura is attacked by its disease called pleurisy, which causes the death of the body. [6] Secondly: If man should be at the same time in the internals he would pervert and destroy the whole order and tenor of the Divine providence. This, too, may be illustrated by examples from the human body. If man knew all the workings of both brains into fibers, of fibers into muscles, and of muscles into actions, and from this knowledge were to direct all things as he does his actions, would he not pervert and destroy them all? [7] If a man knew how the stomach digests, how the surrounding viscera absorb each its portion, elaborate the blood, and distribute it for every operation of life, and if he had the ordering of these things as he has of external things, such as eating and drinking, would he not pervert and destroy them all? When he is unable to order the external, that appears like a single thing, without destroying it by luxury and intemperance, what would he do if he had also the ordering of the internals, which are infinite? This is why the internals, lest man’s will should in some way enter into them and get control of them, are wholly exempt from his volition, except the muscles, which constitute the covering; and he does not know even how these act, he only knows that they act. [8] It is the same with the other organs; as, for example, if man were to have the ordering of the interiors of the eye for seeing, of the interiors of the ear for hearing, of the interiors of the tongue for tasting, of the interiors of the skin for feeling, of the interiors of the heart in its beating, of the interiors of the lungs in breathing, of the interiors of the mesentery in distributing the chyle, of the interiors of the kidneys in their work of secretion, of the interiors of the organs of generation in propagating, of the interiors of the womb in perfecting the embryo, and so on, would he not in numberless ways pervert and destroy in them the order of the course of the Divine providence? Every one knows that man is in the externals; that is, he sees with the eye, hears with the ear, tastes with the tongue, feels with the skin, breathes with the lungs, contributes to propagation, and so on. Is it not sufficient for him to know about the externals, and to order them for the health of body and mind? If he cannot do this, what would happen if he had also the ordering of the internals? From all this it is evident that if a man clearly saw the Divine providence he would intrude himself into the order and tenor of its course, and would pervert and destroy it.