Divine Providence · §§ 316–340

316. One’s own prudence persuades and corroborates that every good and truth is from man and in man, because man’s own prudence is his intellectual self (proprium) flowing in from the love of self which is his voluntary self (proprium); and self cannot do otherwise than make all things its own, for it cannot be raised above that. All who are led by the Lord’s Divine providence are raised above the self, and they then see that all good and truth are from the Lord; they even see that what is in man from the Lord is ever the Lord’s and never man’s. He who believes otherwise is like one who has his master’s goods under his care, and claims them for himself or appropriates them as his-he is not a steward, but a thief. And as man’s self (proprium) is nothing but evil, he also immerses them in his evil, whereby they are destroyed like pearls cast into dung or into acid.

317. (3) Every thing that a man has adopted by persuasion and confirmation remains in him as his own. Many believe that no truth can be seen by man except when it has been confirmed; but this is a falsity. In the civil and economical affairs of a kingdom or republic what is useful and good can be seen only by a knowledge of many statutes and ordinances there; or in judicial matters only by a knowledge of the laws; or in the things of nature, like physics, chemistry, anatomy, mechanics, and so on, only when man has been well instructed in the sciences. But in things purely rational, moral, and spiritual, truths are seen from the light of truth itself, provided man has from a right education become somewhat rational, moral, and spiritual. This is because every man, in respect to his spirit, which is that which thinks, is in the spiritual world, and is one among those who are there; and consequently is in spiritual light, which enlightens the interiors of his understanding, and as it were dictates. For spiritual light in its essence is the Divine truth of the Lord’s Divine wisdom. From this it is that man can think analytically, can form conclusions about what is just and right in judicial affairs, can see what is honorable in moral life and good in spiritual life, and many other truths, which are sunk in darkness only by confirmed falsities. These are seen by man comparatively almost as he sees another’s disposition from his face, and perceives his affections from the tone of his voice, with no other knowledge than what is inherent in every one. Why should not man see in some measure from influx the interiors of his life, which are spiritual and moral, when there is no animal that does not know from influx its own necessities, which are natural? A bird knows how to build its nest, lay its eggs, hatch its young, and distinguish its food, besides other wonderful things which are called instincts.

318. But how man’s state is changed by confirmations and consequent persuasions shall now be told, and in the following order: (1) There is nothing that cannot be confirmed; and falsity is confirmed more readily than the truth. (2) When falsity has been confirmed the truth is not seen; but from confirmed truth falsity is seen. (3) An ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not intelligence, but only ingenuity, which may exist even in the worst of men. (4) There is confirmation that is intellectual and not at the same time voluntary; but all voluntary confirmation is also intellectual. (5) The confirmation of evil that is voluntary and also intellectual causes man to believe that his own prudence is everything and the Divine providence nothing; but this is not true of intellectual confirmation alone. (6) Every thing confirmed by the will and also by the understanding remains to eternity; but not what has been confirmed by the understanding only. [2] As regards the first: There is nothing that cannot be confirmed, and falsity is confirmed more readily than the truth. What is there that cannot be confirmed, when it is confirmed by atheists that God is not the Creator of the universe, but that nature is the creator of itself; that religion is merely a restraint, and for the simple and the common people; that man is like a beast, and dies like one; also when it is confirmed that adulteries are allowable, likewise clandestine thefts, frauds, and deceitful contrivances; that cunning is intelligence and shrewdness is wisdom? Does not every one confirm his own heresy? Are there not volumes filled with the confirmations of the two heresies that reign in the Christian world? Make up ten heresies, however abstruse, ask an ingenious man to confirm them, and he will confirm them all. If afterwards you look at them solely from the confirmations will you not see the falsities as truths? As all falsity is visible in the natural man from its appearances and fallacies, and truth is visible in the spiritual man only, it is clear that falsity can be confirmed more readily than truth. [3] To make clear that every falsity and every evil can be so confirmed as to make the falsity appear like truth and the evil like good, let it be proved, for example, that light is darkness and darkness light. May it not be asked, What is light in itself? Is it anything more than a something that appears to the eye according to its state? What is light to the closed eye? Have not bats and birds of night such eyes that they see light as darkness and darkness as light? I have been told that some men see in this way; and that the infernals, although they are in darkness, still see each other. Does not man have light in his dreams in the middle of the night? Thus is not darkness light, and light darkness? But it may be answered: What of this? Light is light as truth is truth; and darkness is darkness as falsity is falsity. [4] Take another example: It is to be proved that a raven is white. May it not be said that its blackness is only a shade that is not its real self? Its feathers are white within, so is its body; and these are the substances of which the bird is formed. As its blackness is a shade, so the raven grows white when it gets old-such have been seen. What is black in itself but white? Pulverize black glass, and you will see that the powder is white; therefore when you call the raven black you speak from the shadow and not from the reality. But the reply may be, What of this? In this way all birds might be called white. Although all this is contrary to sound reason it has been presented to show how confirmations can be found for falsity that is directly opposite to the truth, and for evil that is wholly opposite to the good. [5] Secondly: When falsity has been confirmed the truth is not seen, but from confirmed truth falsity is seen. All falsity is in darkness, and all truth is in light; and in darkness nothing is seen, and what any thing is is known only by handling it; in light it is otherwise. For this reason, in the Word falsities are called darkness, and thus those that are in falsities are said to walk in darkness and in the shadow of death. On the other hand, truths are there called light, and therefore those who are in truths are said to walk in the light, and are called children of light. [6] There are many things to show that when falsity has been confirmed truth is not seen, and that from confirmed truth falsity is seen. For example, who could see any spiritual truth if it were not taught in the Word? Would there not be merely thick darkness that could be dispelled only by means of the light in which the Word is, and only in him who is willing to be enlightened? What heretic can see his falsities unless he admits the genuine truths of the church? He does not see them before. I have spoken with those who have confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity; and when asked whether they saw how much is said in the Word about love and charity, about works and deeds, and keeping the commandments, and that he is called blessed and wise who does them, and foolish who does them not, they said, that while reading all this they saw it only as a matter of faith, and thus they passed it by with their eyes shut, as it were. [7] Those that have confirmed themselves in falsities are like those who see cracks in a wall; and in the shades of evening they see them in their fancies as a horseman or a man, but this fanciful image is dispelled by the inflowing light of day. Who can have a sense of the spiritual uncleanness of adultery except one who is in the spiritual cleanness of chastity? Who can have a sense of the cruelty of revenge except one who is in good from love of the neighbor? Who that is an adulterer, or that is eager for revenge, does not sneer at those who call the delights of such things infernal, and on the other hand, call the delights of conjugial love and of love for the neighbor heavenly? And so on. [8] Thirdly: An ability to confirm whatever one pleases is not intelligence, but only ingenuity, which may exist even in the worst of men. There are some who are very skilful in confirming, who have no knowledge of any truth and yet are able to confirm both truth and falsity; and some of them ask, What is truth? Is there any? Is not that true that I make true? And yet such are believed in the world to be intelligent; although they are but wall plasterers. Only those who perceive truth to be truth are intelligent, and they confirm truth by verities continually perceived. There is little discernible difference between these two classes, because there is little discernible difference between the light of confirmation and the light of the perception of truth; and those who are in the light of confirmation seem to be also in the light of the perception of truth; and yet the difference between them is like that between illusive light and genuine light; and illusive light is such that in the spiritual world it is turned into darkness when genuine light flows in Such illusive light prevails with many in hell, and when these are brought into genuine light they see nothing at all. From all this it is clear that the ability to confirm whatever one pleases is mere ingenuity, and may exist even in the worst of men. [9] Fourthly: There is confirmation that is intellectual and not at the same time voluntary; but all voluntary confirmation is also intellectual. This may be illustrated by examples. Those who confirm the doctrine of faith separate from charity and yet live a life of charity, or in general those who confirm falsity of doctrine and yet do not live according to it, are those that are in intellectual confirmation and not at the same time in voluntary, while those that confirm falsity of doctrine and live according to it are those that are in both voluntary and intellectual confirmation. The reason of this is that the understanding does not flow into the will, but the will flows into the understanding. This also shows what falsity of evil is, and what falsity not of evil is. Falsity not of evil can be conjoined with good, but falsity of evil cannot, for the reason that falsity not of evil is falsity in the understanding and not in the will; while falsity of evil is falsity in the understanding from evil in the will; [10] Fifthly: The confirmation of evil that is voluntary and also intellectual causes man to believe that his own prudence is everything and the Divine providence nothing; but this is not true of intellectual confirmation alone. There are many who by worldly appearances confirm in themselves, their own prudence and yet do not deny the Divine providence; with such there exists only intellectual confirmation; while with those who at the same time deny the Divine providence there exists also voluntary confirmation; but this, together with persuasion, exists chiefly with those who are worshipers of nature and also worshipers of self. [11] Sixthly: Every thing confirmed by the will and also by the understanding remains to eternity, but not what has been confirmed by the understanding only. For that which pertains to the understanding alone is not within the man but is outside of him; it is merely in the thought; and nothing enters into man and is appropriated to him except what is accepted by the will, for it then comes to be of his life’s love. That this remains to eternity will be considered in the following number.

319. Every thing confirmed by the will and also by the understanding remains to eternity, because every one is his own love, and his love belongs to his will; also because every man is his own good or his own evil, for every thing that is called good, and likewise evil, belongs to the love. As man is his own love he is also a form of his love, and may be called the organ of his life’s love. It has been said above (n. 279), that the affections of the love and consequent thoughts of man are changes and variations of the state and form of the organic substances of his mind. What these changes and variations are and their nature shall now be explained Some idea of them may be gathered from the heart and lungs, where there are alternate expansions and compressions or dilations and contractions, which in the heart are called systole and diastole and in the lungs respirations; these are a reciprocal distension and retraction or reciprocal stretching apart and closing together of their lobes. Such are the changes and variations of the state of the heart and lungs. There are like changes in the other viscera of the body, and changes more similar in their parts, by which the blood and the animal juice are received and carried onward. [2] Like things are to be found in the organic forms of the mind, which are the subjects of man’s affections and thoughts, as has been shown above; with the difference that their expansions and compressions, or reciprocations, are relatively in such higher perfection as cannot be expressed in the words of natural language, but only in those of spiritual language, and these can be defined in no other way than that they are vortex-like circlings inward and outward, after the manner of perpetual and incurving spirals wonderfully bundled together into forms receptive of life. [3] The nature of these purely organic substances and forms in the evil and in the good shall now be stated. In the good these spiral forms are turned forward, but in the evil backward; and the spiral forms turning forward are turned towards the Lord and receive influx from Him, while those turning backward are turned towards hell and receive influx therefrom. It is to be known that so far as they are turned backward they are open behind and closed in front; and on the other hand, so far as they are turned forward they are opened in front and closed behind. [4] From all this it is evident what kind of a form or organ an evil man is, and what kind of a form or organ a good man is, namely, that they are turned in contrary directions; and as the turning when once fixed cannot be reversed it is clear that such as man is when he dies such he remains to eternity. It is the love of man’s will that makes the turning, that is, that converts and inverts, for, as has been said above, every man is his own love. It is from this that every man after death goes the way of his own love-he that is in a good love to heaven, and he that is in an evil love to hell, and he finds rest only in that society where his reigning love is; and what is wonderful, every one knows the way; it is like following a scent with the nose.

320. (4) If man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth are from the Lord and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not appropriate good to himself and make it meritorious, nor appropriate evil to himself and make himself guilty of it. But as this is contrary to the belief of those who have confirmed in themselves the appearance that wisdom and prudence are from man, and do not flow in according to the state of the organization of men’s minds (of which just above, n. 319), it must now be made clear; and for the sake of distinctness this shall be done in the following order: (1) To one who confirms in himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence are from man, and are therefore in him as his, it must needs seem that otherwise he would not be a man, but a beast or a statue; and yet the contrary is the truth. (2) To believe and think, as is the truth, that every good and truth is from the Lord and every evil and falsity from hell, appears like an impossibility; and yet it is the truly human principle, and therefore the angelic. (3) To believe and think thus is impossible to those who do not acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord, and who do not acknowledge that evils are sins; but it is possible to those who do acknowledge these two things. (4) Those that are in these two acknowledgments, so far as they shun and turn away from evils as sins need only to reflect upon the evils in themselves and cast them away from themselves to the hell from whence they are. (5) Thus the Divine providence does not appropriate evil to any one, nor good to any one, but his own prudence appropriates both.

321. These things shall now be explained in the proposed order. First: To one who confirms in himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence are from man and are in man as his, it must needs seem that otherwise he would not be a man, but a beast or a statue; and yet the contrary is the truth. It is from a law of the Divine providence that man should think as if from himself, and should act prudently as if from himself, but should nevertheless acknowledge that he does it from the Lord. From this it follows that he who thinks and acts prudently as if from himself and at the same time acknowledges that he does it from the Lord is a man; while he who confirms in himself that every thing he thinks and does is from himself is not a man; neither is he a man who, because he knows that wisdom and prudence are from God, still waits for influx; for the latter becomes like a statue, and the former like a beast. It is evident that one who simply waits for influx will become like a statue, for he must needs stand or sit motionless, with hands hanging down, and eyes either shut or open without winking, with neither thought nor animation. What is there, then, of life in him? [2] It is also evident that he who believes that every thing that he thinks and does is from himself is not unlike a beast, for he thinks only from the natural mind which is common to man and beast, and not from the spiritual rational mind which is the truly human mind; for this mind recognizes that God alone thinks from Himself, and that man thinks from God. Consequently such a man knows no difference between a man and a beast except that a man talks and a beast makes sounds; and he believes that they both die in like manner. [3] Of those who await influx there is something more to be said. They receive no such influx [as they expect] with the exception that a few, who from the heart desire it, occasionally receive a kind of response through a vivid perception in thought, or by a tacit speech therein, and rarely by clear speech, to the effect that they should think and act as they wish and thus as they can, and that he who acts wisely is wise and he who acts foolishly is foolish; but they are never thus instructed what to believe or to do; and this in order that human rationality and liberty may not perish; which are given that every one may act from freedom in accordance with reason, to all appearance as if from himself. Those who are taught by influx what to believe or what to do are not taught by the Lord or by any angel of heaven, but by some enthusiastic spirit, Quaker or Moravian, and are led astray. All influx from the Lord takes place by enlightenment of the understanding, and by an affection for truth, and through this affection into the understanding. [4] Secondly: To believe and think, as is the truth, that every good and truth is from the Lord and every evil and falsity from hell appears like an impossibility; and yet it is the truly human principle, and therefore the angelic. To believe and think that every good and truth is from God seems possible, provided nothing further is said, for the reason that this is in accordance with theological faith, contrary to which it is not allowable to think. But to believe and think that every evil and falsity is from hell appears impossible, since man must then believe also that he cannot think at all. Yet man does think as if from himself even though from hell, because the Lord gives to every one the appearance that his thought is in him as his own, from whatever source it may be. Otherwise man would not live as a man, nor could he be led out of hell and led into heaven, that is, reformed, as has been frequently shown above. [5] So, too, the Lord enables man to know, and from that to have the thought, that he is in hell when he is in evil, and that he thinks from hell when he thinks from evil; He also enables him to think about the means by which he may come out of hell and not think from it, and may come into heaven and think there from the Lord; and He also gives man freedom of choice. From all this it can be seen that man is able to think evil and falsity as if from himself, also to think that this or that is evil or false; consequently that it is only an appearance that he does this from himself, without which appearance man would not be a man. To think from the truth is the truly human principle and therefore the angelic; and this truth is that man does not think from himself, but that it is granted him by the Lord to think to all appearance as if from himself. [6] Thirdly: To believe and think thus is impossible to those who do not acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord and who do not acknowledge that evils are sins; but it is possible to those who do acknowledge these two things. It is impossible to those who do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity because it is the Lord alone that enables man to think and to will; and those who do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity, being disjoined from Him, believe that they think from themselves. It is also impossible to those who do not acknowledge evils as sins, because such think from hell; and in hell every one imagines that he thinks from himself. But that it is possible to those who do acknowledge these two things can be seen from what has been fully set forth above (n. 288-294). [7] Fourthly: Those that are in these two acknowledgments, so far as they shun and turn away from evils as sins need only to reflect upon the evils in themselves, and to cast them away to the hell from whence they are. Every one knows or is capable of knowing that evil is from hell and good from heaven; therefore every one can know that so far as a man shuns and turns away from evil so far he shuns and turns away from hell. So, too, every one can know that so far as any one shuns and turns away from evil so far he wills and loves good; consequently so far he is delivered from hell by the Lord and led to heaven. All this every rational man can see, provided he knows that there is a heaven and a hell, and that evil is from its own origin, and good from its own origin. If, then, a man reflects upon the evils in himself (which is the same thing as examining himself) and shuns them, he then frees himself from hell and casts it behind him; and introduces himself into heaven, and there beholds the Lord face to face. It is said that man does this, but he does it as if from himself, but in fact from the Lord. When from a good heart and from a pious faith man acknowledges this truth it lies inwardly hidden in all that he afterwards thinks and does as if from himself, like the prolific principle in a seed, which inwardly accompanies its growth even to new seed; or like the pleasure in the appetite for food that a man has once recognized to be wholesome for him; in a word, it is like heart and soul in all that he thinks and does. [8] Fifthly: Thus the Divine providence does not appropriate evil to any one nor good to any one, but his own prudence appropriates both. This follows from all that has now been said. Good is the end of the Divine providence; this it therefore purposes in all its workings. Consequently it does not appropriate good to any one, for good would thus be made meritorious; nor does it appropriate evil to any one, for thus man would be made guilty of the evil. Nevertheless, man does both of these from what is his own (proprium) because this is nothing but evil, that of his will that is his own being the love of self, and that of his understanding that is his own being the conceit in his own intelligence; and from this is his own prudence.

322. EVERY MAN MAY BE REFORMED, AND THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS PREDESTINATION.

Sound reason declares that all men were predestined to heaven, and no one to hell; for all are born men, and in consequence the image of God is in them. The image of God in them is the ability to understand truth and to do good. The ability to understand truth is from the Divine wisdom, and the ability to do good is from the Divine love. This ability is the image of God, which remains in every sane man, and is not eradicated. From this comes his ability to become a civil and moral man; and the civil and moral man can also become spiritual, for the civil and moral is a receptacle of the spiritual. He is called a civil man who knows the laws of the kingdom wherein he is a citizen and lives according to them; and he is called a moral man who makes these laws his morals and his virtues, and from reason lives them. [2] It shall now be told how a civil and moral life is a receptacle of spiritual life: Live these laws, not only as civil and moral laws, but also as Divine laws, and you will be a spiritual man. Scarcely a nation exists so barbarous as not to have prohibited by laws murder, adultery with the wife of another, theft, false-witness, and injury to what is another’s. The civil and moral man observes these laws, that he may be, or may seem to be, a good citizen; but if he does not also regard these laws as Divine he is merely a civil and moral natural man; while if he does also regard them as Divine he becomes a civil and moral spiritual man. The difference is that the latter is both a good citizen of the earthly kingdom and a good citizen of the heavenly kingdom; while the former is a good citizen of the earthly kingdom only, and not of the heavenly kingdom. The difference is seen in the goods they do; the goods done by civil and moral natural men are not in themselves good, for the man and the world are in them; the goods done by civil and moral spiritual men are good in themselves, because the Lord and heaven are in them. [3] From all this it can be seen that as every man was born that he might become a civil and moral natural man, so, too, he was born that he might become a civil and moral spiritual man; and this is done simply by his acknowledging God and not doing evil because it is against God, but doing good because it is accordant with God, whereby a spirit enters into his civil and moral activities, and they live; otherwise there is no spirit in them, and therefore they are not living. And this is why the natural man, however civilly and morally he may act, is called dead; but the spiritual man is called living. [4] It is of the Lord’s Divine providence that every nation has some religion; and the primary thing in every religion is to acknowledge that there is a God, otherwise it is not called a religion; and every nation that lives according to its religion, that is, that refrains from doing evil because it is contrary to its god, receives something of the spiritual in its natural. When one hears some Gentile say that he is unwilling to do this or that evil because it is contrary to his god, does he not say to himself, Is not this man saved? it seems as if it could not be otherwise. Sound reason declares this to him. On the other hand, when he hears a Christian say, I make no account of this or that evil; why is it said to be contrary to God? does he not say to himself, Is this man saved? it seems impossible. Sound reason declares this also. [5] If such an one says, I was born a Christian, I have been baptized, I have known about the Lord, I have read the Word, I have attended the sacrament of the Supper-does this amount to anything if he does not regard murders, or the revenge that breathes them, adulteries, secret thefts, false testimony or lies, and various kinds of violence, as sins? Does such a man think about God or any eternal life? Does he believe that there is any God or any eternal life? Does not sound reason declare that such a person cannot be saved? All this has been said respecting a Christian, because a Gentile thinks about God from religion in his life more than a Christian does. But on this more shall be said in what follows, and in this order:-

(1) The end of creation is a heaven from the human race.

(2) Therefore it is of the Divine providence that every man can be saved; and that those are saved who acknowledge God and live well.

(3) Man himself is to blame if he is not saved.

(4) Thus all men were predestined to heaven, and no one to hell.

323. (1) The end of creation is a heaven from the human race. That heaven consists of none but those that were born men is shown in the work on Heaven and Hell (published at London in the year 1758), and also above; and as heaven consists of no others it follows that the end of creation is a heaven from the human race. That this was the end of creation has been shown previously (n. 27-45); but it will be made still clearer by an explanation of these points: (1) Every man was created to live to eternity. (2) Every man was created to live to eternity in a state of blessedness. (3) Thus every man was created to come into heaven. (4) The Divine love must needs will this; and the Divine wisdom must needs provide for it.

324. Since from all this it can be seen that the Divine providence is a predestination to heaven only, and cannot be changed into any other, it shall now be shown, in the proposed order, that the end of creation is a heaven from the human race. First: Every man was created to live forever. In the treatise on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, Parts Third and Fifth, it has been shown that there are three degrees of life in man, called the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial, and that these degrees are actually in every man; while in beasts there is only one degree of life, which is like the lowest degree in man, which is called the natural. From this it follows that by the elevation of his life to the Lord man is above the beasts, in such a state as to be able to understand what pertains to the Divine wisdom, and to will what pertains to the Divine love, thus to receive the Divine; and a being that is capable of so receiving the Divine as to see and perceive it in himself cannot but be conjoined with the Lord, and by that conjunction live forever. [2] What would the Lord be in relation to the entire creation of the universe, if He had not also created images and likenesses of Himself, to whom He could communicate His Divine? Otherwise, what would He be but a causing something to be or not to be, or to exist or not to exist, and this for no other purpose than that He might be able from afar to contemplate mere vicissitudes and continual changes as upon a stage? What of the Divine would there be in these things, unless they had as their end to be serviceable to subjects that could receive the Divine more nearly, and see and feel it? And as the Divine is of glory inexhaustible, would He keep this to Himself alone, or would it be possible for Him to do so? For love desires to communicate its own to another, and even to give from its own as much as it can. Must not the Divine love, then, which is infinite, do this? Can that give and take away again? Would not that be to give what must perish? and inwardly in itself this is nothing, because when it perishes it comes to naught. That which is is not in it. But the Divine love gives what is, or what does not cease to be; and that is eternal. [3] In order that every man may live to eternity that which is mortal in him is taken away. The mortal in him is his material body, and this is taken away by its death. Thus what is immortal in man, which is his mind, is unveiled, and he then becomes a spirit in human form; his mind is that spirit. That man’s mind cannot die the sages or wise men of old saw; for they said, How can the mind (animus seu mens) die, when it has the capacity to be wise? What their interior idea of this was few at this day know; but it was an idea that descended from heaven into their general perception, namely, that God is wisdom itself, and of this man is a partaker, and God is immortal or eternal. [4] As it has been granted me to talk with angels I will also say something from experience. I have talked with those who lived many ages ago, with those who lived before the flood, and with some who lived after it, with those who lived in the time of the Lord, and with one of His apostles, and with many who lived in later ages, and they all appeared like men of middle age, and they said that they knew nothing about death except that it is damnation. All that have lived well, when they enter heaven come into an age like that of their early manhood in the world and continue in it to eternity, even those that had been old and decrepit in the world. Women also, although they had been old and wrinkled, return into the flower of their age and beauty.

[5] That man after death lives to eternity is clear from the Word, where life in heaven is called “eternal life” (as in Matt. xix. 29; xxv. 46; Mark x. 17; Luke x. 25; xviii. 30; John iii. 15, 16, 36; v. 24, 25, 39; vi. 27, 40, 68; xii. 50); also simply “life” (in Matt. xviii. 8, 9; John v. 40; xx. 31); also the Lord said to the disciples:-

Because I live ye shall live also (John xiv. 19);

and of the resurrection, that:

God is not a God of the dead but of the living; and that they cannot die any more (Luke xx. 36, 38).

[6] Secondly: Every man was created to live to eternity in a state of blessedness. This follows as a consequence; for He who wills that man should live to eternity also wills that he should live in a state of blessedness. What would eternal life be without that? All love desires the good of another-the love of parents desires the good of their children; the love of bridegroom and husband desires the good of his bride and wife; and friendship’s love desires the good of friends;-why not, then, the Divine love? And what else is this good but delight? And what is Divine good but eternal blessedness? Every good is called good from its delight or its blessedness. What is given or possessed is indeed called goods; but unless these are delightful they are barren goods that in themselves are not good. From all this it is clear that eternal life is also eternal blessedness. This state of man is the end of creation; and that only those who come into heaven are in that state is not the Lord’s fault, but man’s That it is man’s fault will be seen in what follows. [7] Thirdly: Thus every man was created to come into heaven. This is the end of creation. But the reason why all do not come into heaven is that they imbibe the delights of hell, which are opposite to the blessedness of heaven; and those that are not in the blessedness of heaven cannot enter heaven, for they cannot endure it. It is denied to no one who comes into the spiritual world to ascend into heaven; but when one who is in the delight of hell enters it he is seized with palpitation of the heart and labored breathing, his life begins to fail, he is in anguish, he is in torment, and he writhes like a serpent put near a fire; and this is so because opposite acts against opposite. [8] And yet such cannot die, because they were born men and thereby have the capacity to think and will, and consequently to speak and do; but as they can live only with those who are in a like delight of life to such they are sent; consequently those who are in the delights of evil are sent to their own, and those who are in the delights of good to their own. Every one, in fact, is permitted to be in the delight of his evil provided he refrains from infesting those who are in the delight of good; but as evil cannot do otherwise than infest good-for there is in evil a hatred against good-to prevent their doing harm they are taken away and cast into their own places in hell, where their delight is turned into what is undelightful. [9] But this does not gainsay the truth that man from creation is such, and therefore is born such, that he can enter heaven; for every one who dies in infancy enters heaven, is there brought up and instructed as a man is in the world, and through an affection for good and truth imbibes wisdom and becomes an angel. And the same might be true of the man who is brought up and instructed in the world; for there is the same in him as in the infant. Respecting infants in the spiritual world see the work on Heaven and Hell (published at London in the year 1758, n. 329-345). [10] But the reason why many in the world are not prepared for heaven is that they love the first degree of their life, which is called the natural, and are unwilling to withdraw from it and become spiritual; and the natural degree of life viewed in itself loves nothing but self and the world, for it clings to the senses of the body, and these reach out towards the world; while the spiritual degree of life viewed in itself loves the Lord and heaven, and also self and the world, but God and heaven as higher, chief and dominant, and sell and the world as lower, instrumental, and subservient. [11] Fourthly: The Divine love must needs will this, and the Divine wisdom must needs provide for it. That the Divine essence is Divine love and Divine wisdom has been fully shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. It is also shown there (n. 358-370) that in every human embryo the Lord forms two receptacles, one for the Divine love and the other for the Divine wisdom, the receptacle of the Divine love for the future will of the man, and the receptacle of the Divine wisdom for his future understanding; and that thus the Lord has endowed every man with a capacity to will good and a capacity to understand truth. [12] Since, then, man from his birth is endowed with these two capacities by the Lord, and consequently the Lord is in these capacities as in His own with man, it is clear that His Divine love must needs will that man should come into heaven, and there enjoy eternal blessedness; also that the Divine wisdom must needs provide for it. But since it is from the Lord’s Divine love that man should feel heavenly blessedness in himself as his own, and this is impossible unless man is kept fully in the appearance that he thinks, wills, speaks and acts from himself, therefore the Lord can lead man only in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence.

325. (2) Therefore it is of the Divine providence that every man can be saved, and that those are saved who acknowledge God and live well. It is clear from what has been shown above that every man can be saved. Some hold the opinion that the Lord’s church is only in the Christian world, because there alone is the Lord known, and there alone is the Word. Nevertheless there are many who believe that the church of God is general, that is, is spread and dispersed throughout the world, and thus exists with such as are ignorant of the Lord and do not have the Word; and they claim that this is not the fault of such, and that they have no means of overcoming their ignorance, and that it is contrary to God’s love and mercy that any should be born for hell who equally with others are men. [2] Since, then, many, if not all, Christians believe that the church, which is also called a communion, is general, it follows that there are most general principles of the church which enter into all religions and constitute that communion. That these most general principles are the acknowledgment of God and good of life will be seen in the following order: (1) The acknowledgment of God causes a conjunction of God with man and of man with God; and the denial of God causes disjunction. (2) Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him according to his good of life. (3) Good of life, or living rightly, is shunning evils because they are against religion, thus against God. (4) These are the general principles of all religions, whereby every one can be saved.

326. But these must be examined and shown one by one. First: The acknowledgment of God causes a conjunction of God with man and of man with God; and the denial of God causes severance. Some may think that those who do not acknowledge God can be saved just as well as those who do acknowledge Him, provided they lead a moral life. They say, What does acknowledgment accomplish? Is it not mere thought? Can I not easily acknowledge God when I come to know with certainty that there is a God? I have heard of Him, but I have not seen Him. Make me see and I will believe. Such is the language of many who deny God when they are allowed to reason freely with one who acknowledges God. But that the acknowledgment of God conjoins and the denial of Him separates will be made clear by certain things made known to me in the spiritual world. When any one there thinks about another and wishes to speak with him, the other immediately appears present. This is a common occurrence there, and never fails. And the reason is that in the spiritual world there is no distance as in the natural world, but only an appearance of distance. [2] Again, As thought from any knowledge of another causes presence, so love from any affection for another causes conjunction; and from this it results that such come together and converse in a friendly way, dwell in the same house or in the same society, meet frequently, and render mutual services. The opposite also occurs, as that he who does not love another, or still more, he who hates another, does not see or meet him, but they are distant in the degree of their hatred or absence of their love; and even if he is present and recalls the hatred he becomes invisible. [3] From these few examples the ground of presence and of conjunction in the spiritual world can be seen, namely, that presence comes from the remembrance of another with a desire to see him, and conjunction from an affection that springs from love. The same is true of all things in the human mind; in it are things without number, and the particulars are there associated and conjoined according to affections, or as one thing loves another. [4] This conjunction is spiritual conjunction, which is like itself in things general and particular. This spiritual conjunction has its origin from the conjunction of the Lord with the spiritual world and with the natural world, in general and in particular. From all this it is evident that so far as any one knows the Lord, and from his knowledge thinks about Him, so far the Lord is present; and so far as any one acknowledges the Lord from an affection of love so far the Lord is conjoined with him; and on the other hand, so far as one does not know the Lord the Lord is absent; and so far as one denies the Lord he is separated from Him. [5] Conjunction causes the Lord to turn the man’s face to Himself, and then He leads him. Severance causes hell to turn the man’s face to itself, and he is then led by hell. Therefore all the angels of heaven turn their faces to the Lord as a sun; and all the spirits of hell turn their faces away from Him. This makes clear what acknowledgment of God accomplishes, and what the denial of God accomplishes. And those who deny God in the world deny Him after death; and they acquire an organization such as is described above (n. 319), and the organization taken on in the world remains to eternity.

[6] Secondly: Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him according to his good of life. All who know anything from religion can know God, and from knowledge or memory they can talk about God and some from the understanding can also think about Him; but if they do not live well this effects nothing but presence; for with all this they can turn themselves away from God and turn towards hell, and this they do if they live wickedly. But only those who live well can acknowledge God in heart; and these, according to their good of life, the Lord turns away from hell and towards Himself. This is because these alone love God, for they love the Divine things that are from Him in that they do them. The Divine things that are from God are the commandments of His law; these are God because He is Himself His own proceeding Divine; and this is loving God, for the Lord says:-

He that keepeth My commandments, he it is that loveth Me; but he that keepeth not My commandments loveth Me not (John xiv. 21-24).

[7] For this reason there are two tables of the Decalogue, one relating to God and the other relating to man. God works unceasingly to the end that man may receive what is in man’s table; but if man fails to do the things that are in his table he does not accept with acknowledgment of heart the things that are in God’s table; and if he does not accept he is not conjoined. This is why the two tables were so conjoined as to be one, and were called the tables of the covenant, “covenant” signifying conjunction. Every one acknowledges God and is conjoined with Him according to the good of his life, for the reason that good of life is like the good that is in the Lord, and that thus comes from the Lord; consequently when man is in good of life a conjunction is effected. With evil of life the opposite is true. This rejects the Lord. [8] Thirdly: Good of life, or living rightly, is shunning evils because they are against religion, thus against God. That this is good of life, or living rightly, is fully shown in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from beginning to end. To which I will merely add, that if you do good to the fullest extent-for example, building temples, decorating them and filling them with offerings, sustaining hospitals and asylums, giving alms every day, succoring widows and orphans, observing diligently the holy things of worship, and even thinking and talking and preaching about them as if from the heart, and yet do not shun evils as sins against God, none of these goods are good; they are either hypocritical or meritorious, for evil is still inwardly in them. For one’s life is in all things and in each one of the things that he does; and goods can become goods only by the removal of evil from them. All this makes clear that living rightly is shunning evils because they are against religion, and thus against God. [9] Fourthly: These are the general principles of all religions, whereby every one can be saved. To acknowledge God and to refrain from doing evil because it is against God are the two things that make a religion to be a religion; and if one of these is lacking it cannot be called a religion, for to acknowledge God and to do evil is a contradiction; also to do good and not acknowledge God; for one is not possible without the other. The Lord provides that there shall be some religion nearly everywhere, and that there shall be these two things in every religion. The Lord also provides that every one who acknowledges God and refrains from doing evil because it is against God should have a place in heaven. For heaven in the complex resembles a single man, whose life or soul is the Lord. In that heavenly Man are all things that are in a natural man, with a difference like that between heavenly and natural things. [10] It is known that in man, in addition to forms organized of blood-vessels and nervous fibers, which are called viscera, there are also skins, membranes, tendons, cartilages, bones, nails, and teeth; these are living in a less degree than the organized forms themselves to which they are subservient as ligaments, coverings, and supports. So the heavenly Man, which is heaven, if all these things are to be in it, must be composed not of men of a single religion but of men of many religions; therefore all who make these two universals of the church to enter into their have a place in that heavenly Man, that is, in heaven, and enjoy happiness in their degree. But more on this subject may be seen above (n. 254). [11] That these two are the primary principles in every religion is shown by the fact that they are what the Decalogue teaches; and the Decalogue was the first thing of the Word, was promulgated by Jehovah by a living voice from Mount Sinai, was written by the finger of God on two tables of stone, and when placed in the ark was called “Jehovah,” and constituted the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle, and the sanctuary in the temple at Jerusalem, and from its presence alone all things there were holy; besides other things in the Word respecting the Decalogue in the ark, cited in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem (n. 53-61); to which the following may here be added: It is known from the Word that the ark containing the two tables on which the Decalogue was written was taken by the Philistines and placed in the temple of Dagon in Ashdod, and that Dagon fell to the earth before it, and afterward his head and the palms of the hands torn from the body lay upon the threshold of the house; and that the people of Ashdod and Ekron, to the number of many thousands, were smitten with emerods on account of the ark, and their land was laid waste by mice; also that the Philistines, by the advice of the lords of their nation, made five golden emerods and five golden mice and a new cart, and placed the ark upon it, and near the ark the golden emerods and mice, and by two cows that lowed in the way before the cart they sent back the ark to the children of Israel, who offered the cows and the cart in sacrifice (1 Sam. v., and vi.). [12] It shall now be told what all these things signified. “The Philistines” signified those who are in faith separated from charity; “Dagon” represented that religion; the “emerods” with which they were smitten signified natural loves, which are unclean when separated from spiritual love; the “mice” signified the devastation of the church by means of falsifications of truth; the “new cart” upon which they sent back the ark signified new but natural doctrine (a “chariot” signifying in the Word doctrine from spiritual truths); the “cows” signified good natural affections; the “golden emerods” signified natural loves purified and made good; the “golden mice” signified the vastation of the church removed by good (“gold” in the Word signifying good), “the lowing of the cows on the way” signified the difficult conversion of the lusts of evil of the natural man into good affections; “the offering of the cows and the cart as a burnt offering” signified that the Lord was thus propitiated. [13] Such is the spiritual meaning of these historical statements. Join them together into one idea, and make the application. That the “Philistines” represented those who are in faith separated from charity may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith (n. 49-54); and that the ark, because of its containing the Decalogue, was the holiest thing of the church, may be seen in the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem (n. 53-61).

327. (3) Man himself is to blame if he is not saved. Every rational man, as soon as he hears it, acknowledges the truth that evil cannot flow from good or good flow from evil, because they are opposites; consequently that from good nothing but good can flow, and from evil nothing but evil. When this truth is acknowledged it is also acknowledged that good can be turned into evil, but by an evil recipient not by a good recipient; for every form turns into its own quality that which flows into it (as may be seen above, n. 292). Since, then, the Lord is good in its very essence, or good itself, it is evident that evil cannot flow from Him or be produced by Him, but that the good may be turned into evil by a recipient subject whose form is a form of evil. Such a subject is man in respect to what is his own (proprium). This continually receives good from the Lord and continually turns it to the quality of its own form, which is a form of evil. From this it follows that man is to blame if he is not saved. It is true that evil is from hell; but as man accepts it therefrom as his own, and thereby appropriates it to himself, it is the same thing whether evil is said to be from man or from hell. But how evil comes to be appropriated, even to the extent that religion is destroyed, shall be told in this order: (1) In process of time every religion declines and is consummated. (2) Every religion declines and is consummated by the inversion of God’s image in man. (3) This comes from the continual increase of hereditary evil from generation to generation. (4) Nevertheless the Lord provides that every one may be saved. (5) It is provided also that a new church should follow the previous devastated church.

328. But these points are to be made clear in their series. First: In process of time every religion declines and is consummated. On this earth there have been several churches, one after another; for wherever the human race exists there a church exists, because heaven, which is the end of creation, is from the human race (as has been shown above), and no one can come into heaven unless he is in the two universals of the church, acknowledgment of God and a good life (as has been shown just above, n. 326). It follows that on this earth there have been churches from the most ancient times down to the present. These churches are described in the Word, but not historically, except the church of Israel and Judah; but there were several previous to that, and these are described only by the names of nations and persons, and by a few things respecting them. [2] The Most Ancient Church, which was the first, is depicted by “Adam and his wife Eve.” The church that followed, which shall be called the Ancient Church, is depicted by “Noah and his three sons,” and by their posterity. This was a wide-spread church extending through many kingdoms of Asia,-the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan, Syria, Assyria, and Chaldea, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Arabia, and Tyre and Sidon. These had the ancient Word treated of in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 101-103). That this church existed in those kingdoms is evident from various things said of them in the prophetical parts of the Word. But this church was notably changed by Heber, from whom arose the Hebraic Church, in which worship by sacrifices was first instituted. From the Hebrew Church sprang the Church of Israel and Judah; and this was solemnly established for the sake of the Word, which was there to be compiled. [3] These four churches are meant by

The statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, the head of which was of pure gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, and the legs and feet of iron and clay (Dan. ii. 32, 33).

Nor is any thing else meant by the golden, the silver, the brazen, and the iron ages, mentioned by ancient writers. It is well known that the Christian Church followed the Jewish. From the Word it may also be seen that all these churches in process of time declined until they reached their end, which is called their consummation. [4] The consummation of the Most Ancient Church, which came from their “eating of the tree of knowledge” (which signifies the conceit of self-intelligence), is depicted by the flood. The consummation of the Ancient Church is depicted in the various devastations of the nations, treated of both in the historical and in the prophetical parts of the Word, especially in the expulsion of the nations from the land of Canaan by the children of Israel. The consummation of the Church of Israel and Judah is meant by the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, and by the carrying away of the people of Israel into perpetual captivity, and of the Jewish nation to Babylon, and again by the second destruction of the temple together with Jerusalem, and the dispersion of that nation. This consummation is foretold in the prophets in many places and in Daniel (ix. 24-27). The gradual devastation of the Christian Church until its end is depicted by the Lord in Matthew xxiv., in Mark xiii., and in Luke xxi., but the consummation itself in the Apocalypse. From all this it can be seen that a church in process of time-and religion also-declines and is consummated.

[5] Secondly: Every religion declines and is consummated by the inversion of God’s image in man. It is known that man was created into God’s image, after God’s likeness (Gen. i. 26). It shall now be told what the “image” and what the “likeness” of God is. God alone is love and wisdom. Man was created to be a receptacle of both, that his will might be a receptacle of the Divine love and his understanding a receptacle of the Divine wisdom. It has already been shown that these two receptacles are in man from creation, and that they constitute man, and are formed in every one in the womb. Therefore man’s being an “image” of God means that he is a recipient of the Divine wisdom, his being a “likeness” of God means that he is a recipient of the Divine love; thus the receptacle called the understanding is an image of God, and the receptacle called the will is a likeness of God. As man, then, was created and formed to be a receptacle, it follows that he was so created and formed that his will might receive love from God, and his understanding might receive wisdom from God; and these man does receive when he acknowledges God and lives according to His commandments, but in a less or greater degree as from religion he has knowledge of God and of His commandments, consequently according to his knowledge of truths; since it is truths that teach what God is and how He must be acknowledged, also what His commandments are and how to live according to them. [6] God’s image and God’s likeness are not destroyed in man, but are seemingly destroyed; for they remain implanted in his two capacities called liberty and rationality (which have been frequently treated of above). They became seemingly destroyed when man made the receptacle of Divine love, which is his will, a receptacle of love of self, and the receptacle of Divine wisdom, which is his understanding, a receptacle of self-intelligence. In this way he inverted the image and likeness of God, for he turned these receptacles away from God and turned them towards self. Thus they were closed above and opened below, or closed in front and opened behind, although by creation they had been opened in front and closed behind. When these have been thus opened inversely and closed inversely the receptacle of love, or the will, receives influx from hell, or from what is its own (proprium); and the receptacle of wisdom, or the understanding, likewise. From this there has sprung up in the churches a worship of men in place of the worship of God, and a worship from doctrines of falsity in place of a worship from doctrines of truth; the latter from self-intelligence, the former from love of self. This makes clear how in process of time religion declines and is consummated by the inversion of God’s image in man. [7] Thirdly: This comes from the continual increase of hereditary evil from generation to generation. It was stated and explained above that hereditary evil did not come from Adam and his wife Eve by their eating of the tree of knowledge, but is gradually derived and is transplanted from parents into offspring, and thus by continual increase grows worse from generation to generation. When evil thus grows worse among many it scatters evil from itself among others still; for there is a lust of seducing in all evil, and in some this burns with rage against good; hence the contagiousness of evil. When in the church this has taken possession of the leaders, the rulers, and the champions, religion becomes perverted, and the means of cure, which are truths, become corrupted by falsification. From these there is then a gradual vastation of good and desolation of truth in the church, until its consummation is reached. [8] Fourthly: Nevertheless the Lord provides that every one may be saved. The Lord provides that there shall be everywhere a religion; and that in every religion there shall be the two essentials of salvation, which are, to acknowledge God and to refrain from doing evil because it is against God. All other things, which belong to the understanding and to thought therefrom, and which are called matters of faith, are provided for every one according to his life, for they are accessories of the life; and yet if they are put before [the essentials] they receive no life. It is also provided that all that have lived well and have acknowledged God shall be instructed after death by angels; and then those that had been while they lived in the world in these two essentials of religion, accept the truths of the church such as they are in the Word and acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and of the church. And this they accept more readily than Christians, who have brought with them from the world an idea of the Lord’s Human as separated from His Divine. The Lord also provides that all who die in infancy shall be saved, wherever born. [9] Moreover, there is granted to every man after death ample means of amending his life, if that be possible. All are taught and led by the Lord by means of angels; and as they then know that they are living after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, they at first receive truths; but those that in the world did not acknowledge God and shun evils as sins soon weary of truths and withdraw; while those that acknowledged truths with the lips but not with the heart are like the foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil, and who begged oil of others, and who went away and bought, and yet were not admitted to the wedding. “Lamps” signify truths of faith, and “oil” signifies the good of charity. From this it can be seen that the Divine providence makes it possible for every one to be saved, and that man himself is to blame if he is not saved. [10] Fifthly: It is provided also that anew church should follow the previous devastated church. This has been done from the earliest times, that when a former church has been devastated a new church has followed. The Ancient Church followed the Most Ancient; after the Ancient Church the Israelitish or Jewish Church followed; and after this the Christian. It is foretold in the Apocalypse that this also will be followed by a new church, which is there meant by “the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven.” Why the Lord is providing a new church to follow the former devastated church is explained in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 104-113).

329. (4) Thus all men were predestined to heaven, and no one to hell. That the Lord casts no one into hell, but that the spirit does this of his own accord, is shown in the work on Heaven and Hell (published at London in 1758, n. 545-550). This every evil and impious person does after death, and the evil and impious man in the world does the same, with the difference that so long as he is in the world he is capable of being reformed and of accepting and being instructed in the means of salvation, but not after his departure from the world. The means of salvation relate to these two points, that evils must be shunned because they are contrary to the Divine laws in the Decalogue, and there must be an acknowledgment that there is a God. This every one can do provided he does not love evils; for the Lord is continually flowing into his will with a power that enables him to shun evils, and into his understanding with a power that enables him to think that there is a God. Nevertheless, no one can do the one apart from the other; the two are joined together like the two tables of the Decalogue, one of which relates to the Lord, and the other to man. The Lord from His table enlightens every man and gives him power, but man receives the power and enlightenment only so far as he does the things commanded in his table; before this these two appear to be lying one upon the other, and closed up with seals; but as man does the things commanded in his table they are unsealed and opened. [2] What is the Decalogue at the present day but like a little sealed book or writing, opened only in the hands of children and youth? Say to any one of mature age that a thing should not be done because it is contrary to the Decalogue, and who listens? But if you say that it should not be done because it is contrary to the Divine laws, he might listen. And yet the commandments of the Decalogue are the Divine laws themselves. An experiment was made with several in the spiritual world, and when the Decalogue or catechism was mentioned they rejected it with contempt. This was because the Decalogue in its second table, which is man’s, teaches that evils must be shunned; and he who does not shun them (whether from impiety or from the religious tenet that works effect nothing, but faith only) can hear the Decalogue or catechism mentioned only with some degree of contempt, as he might some book for little children which is no longer of any use to him. [3] All this has been said to make clear that no one who wishes to be saved is left without a knowledge of the means, or without the power by which he may be saved. And from this it follows that all men were predestined to heaven and no one to hell. But as a belief about predestination to non- salvation, which is damnation, has been held by some, and as this belief is pernicious, and can be dispelled only when the madness and cruelty in it are recognized by the reason, it shall be considered in the following order: (1) Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine love and its infinitude. (2) Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine wisdom and its infinitude. (3) That only those born within the church are saved is an insane heresy. (4) That any of the human race are damned by predestination is a cruel heresy.

330. To make clear how pernicious the belief in predestination is as generally understood these four propositions must be taken up and established. First: Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine love, which is infinite. That Jehovah or the Lord is Divine love, and that He is infinite and the Being (Esse) of all life, and that man was created into the image of God after the likeness of God, has been shown in the work on The Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. And as every man is formed by the Lord in the womb into that image after that likeness (as has also been shown), it follows that the Lord is the heavenly Father of all men, and that men are His spiritual children. Thus is Jehovah or the Lord called in the Word, and men likewise; for He says:-

Call no man your father upon the earth, for One is your Father, who is in the heavens (Matt. xxiii 9);

which means that He alone is the Father in respect to the life; and that the earthly father is the father only in respect to the life’s covering, which is the body; therefore in heaven no father is mentioned except the Lord. That men who do not pervert that life are said to be His sons and to be born of Him is also evident from many passages in the Word.

[2] Thus it can be seen that the Divine love is in every man, both the evil and the good; consequently that the Lord who is Divine love can not act towards them otherwise than as a father on the earth acts towards his children, and infinitely more so, because the Divine love is infinite; and again, that He cannot withdraw from any one because every one’s life is from Him. He appears to withdraw from the evil; but the evil withdraw from Him, while He from love still leads them. So the Lord says:-

Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you. What man is there of you who if his son ask for a loaf will give him a stone? If ye, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in the heavens give good things to them that ask Him? (Matt. vii. 7-11).

And elsewhere that

He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matt. v. 46).

Moreover, it is admitted in the church that the Lord wills the salvation of all, and the death of no one. All this shows that any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine love. [3] Secondly: Any predestination except to heaven is contrary to the Divine wisdom, which is infinite. The Divine love through its Divine wisdom provides the means whereby every man can be saved; consequently to say that there is any predestination except to heaven is to say that the Divine love is unable to provide the means by which there is salvation. Nevertheless, as has been shown above, all have the means, and they are from the Divine providence, which is infinite But the reason why there are some that are not saved is that the Divine love wills that man should feel in himself the happiness and blessedness of heaven, since otherwise it would not be heaven to him; and this is impossible unless man’s thinking and willing is made to appear to him to be from himself. For without this appearance nothing could be appropriated to him, nor would he be a man. This is the purpose of the Divine providence, which is of the Divine wisdom from the Divine love. [4] But this does not invalidate the truth that all are predestined to heaven and none to hell; and yet it would if the means of salvation were lacking. But that means of salvation have been provided for every one, and that heaven is such that all who live well, of whatever religion they may be, have a place there, has been shown above Man is like the earth, which produces fruits of every kind, and it is because of this power that the earth is the earth; and that it produces bad fruits also does not preclude its ability to produce good fruits also, but this would be precluded if the earth had never had the ability to produce any thing except bad fruits. Again, man is like an object that variegates in itself the rays of light; if the object presents nothing but disagreeable colors the light is not the cause, for rays of light are also capable of being variegated in pleasing colors. [5] Thirdly: That only those born within the church are saved is an insane heresy. Those born out of the church are men equally with those born within it, they are from the same heavenly origin, and are equally living and immortal souls. They also have a religion from which they acknowledge that there is a God, and that they must live rightly; and he who acknowledges God and lives rightly becomes spiritual in his degree and is saved, as has been shown above. It may be said that such have not been baptized; but baptizing saves none except those that are spiritually washed, that is, regenerated; for baptism is for a sign and a memorial of this. [6] Such, it may be said, have no knowledge of the Lord, and without the Lord there is no salvation. But no one is saved for the reason that the Lord is known to him, but because he lives in accordance with the Lord’s commandments; and the Lord is known to every one who acknowledges God, for He is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches (Matt. xxviii. 18, and elsewhere). Furthermore, those outside of the church have the idea of God as a man more than Christians have; and those that have the idea of God as a man and live well are accepted by the Lord. Such also acknowledge God as one in person and essence, as Christians do not. They also think of God in their life, for they make evils to be sins against God; and those who do this think of God in their life. Christians have the precepts of religion from the Word, but there are few who draw from it any precepts of life. [7] The Papists do not read it; and the Reformed, who are in faith separated from charity, pay no attention to what relates to life in it, but only to what relates to faith; and yet the whole Word is nothing but a doctrine of life. Christianity exists only in Europe; Mohammedanism and Gentilism exist in Asia, in the Indies, in Africa and America, and the human race in those parts of the globe is ten times more numerous than in the Christian portion; and in the latter there are few who place religion in life. What more insane belief, then, can there be than to hold that only these latter are saved and the former are damned, and that man gains heaven by his birth and not by his life? Therefore the Lord says:-

I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west, and shall recline with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens; but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out (Matt. viii. 11, 12).

[8] Fourthly: That any of the human race are damned by predestination is a cruel heresy. For it is cruel to believe that the Lord, who is love itself and mercy itself, suffers so immense a multitude of men to be born for hell, or so many myriads of myriads to be born condemned and doomed, that is, born devils and satans, and that He does not from His Divine wisdom provide that those who live well and acknowledge God shall not be cast into eternal fire and torment And yet He is the Lord, the Creator and Saviour of all, and He alone leads all and wills not the death of any. It is therefore cruel to believe and think that so great a multitude of nations and peoples under His auspices and oversight have been handed over by predestination as a prey to the devil.

331. THE LORD CANNOT ACT CONTRARY TO THE LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, BECAUSE ACTING CONTRARY TO THEM WOULD BE ACTING CONTRARY TO HIS DIVINE LOVE AND CONTRARY TO HIS DIVINE WISDOM, THUS CONTRARY TO HIMSELF.

It has been shown in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom that the Lord is Divine love and Divine Wisdom, and that these two are Being (Esse) itself and life itself, from which every thing has being and life. It is also there shown that this same goes forth from Him, also that the Divine that goes forth is Himself. Of all that goes forth the Divine providence is primary, for this is continually in the end for the sake of which the universe was created. The operation and progress of the end through means is what is called the Divine providence. Since, then, the Divine that goes forth is Himself, and the Divine providence is the primary thing that goes forth, it follows that to act contrary to the laws of His Divine providence is to act contrary to Himself. [2] It may be said furthermore, that the Lord is Providence, as it is said that God is Order, for the Divine providence is Divine order with primary regard to the salvation of men; and as there is no order possible without laws, for laws are what constitute order, and every law derives from order that it is order, it follows that as God is order so is He the Law of His order. The same is to be said of the Divine providence, that as the Lord is His providence He is also the law of His providence. From this it is evident that the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His providence, for to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to Himself. [3] Again, there can be no operation except upon a subject and upon it through means; operation except upon a subject and upon it through means is impossible. The subject of the Divine providence is man; the means are the Divine truths whereby man gains wisdom and the Divine good whereby he gains love. The Divine providence through these means works out its end, which is man’s salvation; for he that wills an end wills the means also, consequently in willing to accomplish an end he accomplishes it through means. But all this will become more evident when examined in the following order:-

(1) The operation of the Divine providence for the salvation of man begins at his birth and continues until the end of his life and afterwards to eternity.

(2) The operation of the Divine providence goes on unceasingly through means, out of pure mercy.

(3) Instantaneous salvation from mercy apart from means is impossible.

(4) Instantaneous salvation from mercy apart from means is “the fiery flying serpent” in the church.

332. (1) The operation of the Divine providence for the salvation of man begins at his birth and continues until the end of his life and afterwards to eternity. It has been shown above that a heaven from the human race is the essential end of the creation of the universe, and that this end in its operation and progress is the Divine providence for the salvation of men; also that all things exterior to man, and that are serviceable to him in the way of use, are secondary ends of creation, which in brief have relation to all things in the three kingdoms, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral. When these things go forth regularly in accordance with the laws of Divine order established in their first creation, how is it possible for the primary end, which is the salvation of the human race, not to go forth regularly in accordance with the laws of its order, which are the laws of the Divine providence? [2] Watch a fruit tree. Does it not first have birth as a slender shoot from a small seed, and does it not afterwards gradually grow to a trunk and spread forth branches, which are covered with leaves, and then put forth blossoms, and bring forth fruit, depositing therein new seeds by which it provides for its perpetuity? The same thing occurs with every shrub, and with every herb of the field. In these do not each thing and all things go forth regularly and wonderfully from end to end in accordance with the laws of its order? Why not likewise the primary end, which is a heaven from the human race? Can there be any thing in its progress that does not go on most regularly in accordance with the laws of the Divine providence? [3] As there is a correspondence between man’s life and the growth of a tree, let a parallel or comparison be drawn between them. Man’s infancy is comparatively like the tender shoot of a tree sprouting up out of the ground from the seed; his childhood and youth are like that shoot growing into a trunk with its little branches; the natural truths that every one first imbibes are like the leaves with which the branches are covered (“leaves” in the Word signifying nothing else); the man’s initiation into the marriage of good and truth, that is, the spiritual marriage, is like the blossoms that the tree brings forth in the spring time; spiritual truths are the petals of these flowers; the primary activities of the spiritual marriage are like the beginnings of the fruit; spiritual goods, which are the goods of charity, are like the fruit (and these are signified by “fruit” in the Word); the procreations of wisdom from love are like the seeds, and by these procreations man becomes like a garden or a paradise. Moreover, man is depicted in the Word by a “tree;” and his wisdom originating in love by a “garden” (“the garden of Eden” signifies nothing else).

[4] In fact, man is a corrupt tree from the seed; nevertheless, a grafting or budding with shoots taken from the tree of life is possible, whereby the sap drawn from the old root is turned into sap forming good fruit. This comparison has been made to show that when there is so regular a progression of the Divine providence in the growth and regeneration of trees, there must needs be a regular progression in the reformation and regeneration of men, who are of much more value than trees, according to these words of the Lord:-

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten in the sight of God? But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; ye are of more value than many sparrows. And which of you by being anxious can add to his stature one cubit? If ye, then, be not able to do that which is least, why are ye anxious concerning the rest? Consider the lilies how they grow. If, then, God so clothe the grass, which is today in the field and tomorrow is cast into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O ye men of little faith? (Luke xii. 6, 7, 25-28).

333. The operation of the Divine providence for the salvation of man is said to begin at his birth and to continue unto the end of his life. To understand this it must be known that the Lord sees what man is, and foresees what he wills to be, thus what he will be; and that he may be a man and therefore immortal the freedom of his will must not be taken away, as has been frequently shown before. Consequently the Lord foresees man’s state after death, and provides for it from his birth until the end of his life. With the evil the Lord provides by permitting evils and continually withdrawing them from evils; while with the good He provides by leading to good. Thus the Divine providence is unceasingly in the work of saving men. But no more can be saved than are willing to be saved, and those are willing to be saved who acknowledge God and are led by Him; and those are unwilling who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves; for such do not think about eternal life or about salvation, while the others do. This the Lord sees and still He leads them, and leads them in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, contrary to which laws He cannot act, since to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His Divine love and contrary to His Divine wisdom, which is to act contrary to Himself. [2] Since, then, the Lord foresees the states of all after death, and also foresees the places in hell of those who are not willing to be saved, and the places in heaven of those who are willing to be saved, it follows that for the evil, as has been said, the Lord provides their places by permitting and by withdrawing, and for the good by leading; and unless this were done unceasingly from every one’s birth until the end of his life neither heaven nor hell would continue to exist, for without that foresight and providence together neither heaven nor hell would be anything but confusion. That the Lord from foresight has provided for every one his place may be seen above (n. 202, 203). [3] This may be illustrated by this comparison. If an archer or a marksman should aim at a mark, and behind the mark a straight line were drawn for a mile, and if he should err only by a finger’s breadth in his aim, his missile or ball keeping on to the end of the mile would depart very far from the line. So would it be if the Lord did not every moment, and even every least fraction of a moment, regard the eternal in His foreseeing and providing every one’s place after death. But this the Lord does because the entire future is present to Him and the entire present is to Him the eternal. That the Divine providence in every thing it does has regard to the infinite and eternal may be seen above (n. 46-69, 214, seq.).

334. It is also said that the operation of the Divine providence will continue to eternity, since every angel is perfecting in wisdom to eternity, but each according to the degree of that affection for good and truth in which he was when he left the world. It is this degree that is being perfected to eternity. Anything beyond this degree is outside of the angel and not within him, and that which is outside of him cannot be perfected within him. This is meant by the

Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over, that shall be given into the bosom of those who forgive and give to others (Luke vi. 37, 38),

that is, who are in good of charity.

335. (2) The operation of the Divine providence goes on unceasingly, through means, out of pure mercy. There are means and modes of the Divine providence. Its means are the things whereby man becomes a man and is perfected in respect to his understanding and his will; its modes are the ways whereby these things are accomplished. The means whereby man becomes a man and is perfected in respect to his understanding in general are called truths, which in the thought become ideas, and in the memory are called things. In themselves they are knowledges, of which sciences consist. All these means, viewed in themselves, are spiritual; but as they are in natural things, from their covering or clothing they appear as if natural, and some of them as if material. These means are infinite in number and infinite in variety; they are more or less simple or compound, also more or less imperfect or perfect. There are means for forming and perfecting natural civil life, for forming and perfecting rational moral life, and for forming and perfecting heavenly spiritual life. [2] These means follow in succession, one kind after another, from infancy to the last period of man’s life, and after that to eternity; and as they follow in their growth, so the prior become the means of those that come after, for they enter into every thing that is formed as mediate causes, since from these causes every effect or every conclusion becomes effective, and thus becomes a cause. Thus in succession the posterior [or last] become means; and as this process goes on to eternity no last or outmost which brings to an end is possible. For as the eternal is without end so the wisdom that increases to eternity is without end. If wisdom with a wise man were to come to an end, the delight of his wisdom, which consists in the perpetual multiplication and fructification of wisdom, would perish, and thus the delight of his life would perish; and the delight of glory, in which alone there is no heavenly life, would take its place, and the wise man is then no longer like a youth, but like an old man, and finally like one decrepit. [3] Although the wisdom of a wise man increases to eternity in heaven there is still no such approximation of angelic wisdom to the Divine wisdom as to touch it. It may be compared to a straight line drawn near a hyperbola which is said to approach it continually but never to touch it; also to what is said about squaring the circle. All this makes clear what is meant by the means whereby the Divine providence operates in order that man may be a man, and may be perfected in respect to his understanding, and that these means are what are commonly called truths. Equally numerous are the means whereby man is formed and perfected in respect to his will; but these are what are commonly called goodnesses. From these man has love, while from the former he has wisdom. Their conjunction makes the man, for such as the conjunction is such is the man. This conjunction is what is called the marriage of good and truth.

336. The modes, however, by which the Divine providence operates upon the means and by the means to form man and to perfect him are also infinite in number and infinite in variety; they are as numerous as the operations of the Divine wisdom from the Divine love to save man, thus as numerous as the operations of the Divine providence in accordance with its laws, which have been treated of above. How secret these modes are has been illustrated above by the operations of the soul upon the body, of which man knows so little as to amount to scarcely anything; as how the eye sees, the ear hears, the nose smells, the tongue tastes, and the skin feels, how the stomach digests, the mesentery elaborates the chyle, and the liver the blood; how the pancreas and spleen purify the blood, the kidneys separate it from impure humors, the heart collects and distributes it, the lungs clarify it; and how the brain refines the blood and vivifies it anew; besides innumerable other things, all of which are secrets into which scarcely any science can penetrate. Evidently then it can penetrate still less into the secret operations of the Divine providence; it is enough to know its laws.

337. The Divine providence does all things out of pure mercy, because the Divine essence itself is pure love, and it is this that works by means of the Divine wisdom; and it is this operation that is called the Divine providence. This pure love is pure mercy, for these reasons: (1) It is operative with all men throughout the whole world, who are such that they have no ability of their own. (2) It is equally operative with the evil and unjust, and with the good and just. (3) It leads the former in hell and rescues them from it. (4) It there perpetually strives with them and fights for them against the devil, that is, against the evils of hell. (5) To this end it came into the world, and endured temptations even to the last of them, which was the passion of the cross. (6) It unceasingly acts with the unclean to make them clean and with the insane to make them sane; thus it labors unceasingly out of pure mercy.

338. (3) Instantaneous salvation from mercy apart from means is impossible. It has been shown in what precedes that the operation of the Divine providence to save man begins at his birth and continues until the end of his life, and afterwards to eternity; also that this operation goes on unceasingly, through means, out of pure mercy. From this it follows that neither instantaneous salvation nor mercy apart from means is possible. But as many who do not think about matters pertaining to the church or to religion from the understanding believe that they are saved by mercy apart from means, and therefore that salvation is instantaneous; and as this is contrary to the truth, and is a pernicious belief, it is important that it should be considered in its proper order: (1) The belief in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means has been adopted from the natural state of man (2) This belief comes from an ignorance of the spiritual state, which is wholly different from the natural state. (3) The doctrines of all the churches in the Christian world, viewed interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means, but it is upheld, nevertheless, by the external men of the church. [2] First: The belief in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means has been adopted from the natural state of man. The natural man from his state does not know otherwise than that heavenly joy is like worldly joy, and that it flows in and is received in the same way; for example, that it is like the experience of a poor man becoming rich, who thus passes from the sad state of poverty into a happy state of opulence; or like one of low standing who becomes honored, and who thus passes from disdain to glory; or like one who goes from a house of mourning to the joy of a wedding. As these states may be changed in a day, and there is no other idea of man’s condition after death, the source of the belief in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means is evident. [3] Moreover, in the world, many may be together in one company or in one civil community, and may enjoy themselves together, and yet all differ in mind; this occurs in man’s natural state, and the reason is that the external of one man can be accommodated to the external of another, however unlike their internals may be. From this natural state another conclusion is drawn, that salvation is merely admission into heaven among the angels, and that this admission is from mercy apart from means. Consequently it is believed also that heaven can be granted to the evil as well as to the good, and that their association is then like that in the world, with the difference that it is full of joy. [4] Secondly: This belief comes from an ignorance of the spiritual state, which is wholly different from the natural state. The spiritual state, that is, the state of man after death, has been treated of above in many places; and it has been shown that every one is his own love, and that no one can live with any except those who are in a like love, and if he comes among others he cannot breathe his own life. It is from this that every one after death comes into the society of his own, that is, of those who are in a like love, and that he recognizes these as relatives and as friends; and what is wonderful, when he meets them and sees them it is as if he had been acquainted with them from infancy Spiritual relationship and friendship are the cause of this And what is more, no one in a society can occupy any house but his own, each one in a society has his own house, and this he finds ready for him as soon as he enters the society. Outside of his house he may be in close companionship with others, and yet he can stay nowhere except in his own house. And still further, in another’s apartment no one can sit any where except in his own place; if he sits elsewhere he becomes like one who has no command of his mind and is dumb; and what is wonderful, whenever one enters a room he knows his own place. The same is true in places of worship, and of those who come together in public assemblies. [5] All this makes clear that the spiritual state is wholly different from the natural, and is such that no one can be any where but where his ruling love is, for there the delight of his life is, and every one wishes to be in the delight of his life, and a man’s spirit cannot be elsewhere because that delight is what constitutes his life, even his very breathing and the motion of his heart. In the natural world it is different. In this world man’s external is thoroughly taught from infancy to simulate in countenance, word, and gesture, other delights than those that belong to his internal. Consequently from a man’s state in the natural world no conclusion can be formed about what his state will be after death; for every one’s state after death is a spiritual state, which is, that he can be nowhere except in the delight of his own love, which delight he acquired by his life in the natural world. [6] All this makes clear that no one can be admitted into the delight of heaven, which is commonly called heavenly joy, who is in the delight of hell; or what is the same, no one who is in the delight of evil can be admitted into the delight of good; and this may be still more clearly concluded from this, that after death no one is forbidden to ascend into heaven; the way is shown him, opportunity is given him, and he is admitted; but as soon as he enters heaven and breathes in its delight he begins to suffer pain in his chest, to be tortured in his heart, to feel as if swooning, under which he writhes like a serpent brought near the fire; and with his face turned away from heaven and turned towards hell he flees precipitately, and does not rest until he has entered the society belonging to his own love. Evidently, therefore, no one enters heaven out of mercy apart from means; consequently mere admittance does not, as many in the world suppose, amount to anything, neither is there any such thing as instantaneous salvation, for this supposes mercy apart from means. [7] There were some who had believed in the world in instantaneous salvation by mercy apart from means, and when they became spirits they desired to have their infernal delight, or their delight in evil, changed by Divine omnipotence and also by Divine mercy into heavenly delight or delight in good. And because they greatly desired this the angels were permitted to do it; but as soon as the angels had taken away their infernal delight, since it was the delight of their life’s love, consequently their life, they lay as if dead, deprived of all sense and all motion; and it was impossible to breathe into them any other life than their own, because all things of their mind and body had been turned backward and could not be reversed. They were therefore resuscitated by admitting again the delight of their life’s love. After this they said that in that state they interiorly had felt something awful and horrible which they were unwilling to divulge. For this reason it is said in heaven that it is easier to change an owl into a turtle-dove, or a serpent into a lamb, than any infernal spirit into an angel of heaven. [8] Thirdly: The doctrines of the churches in the Christian world, viewed interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means; but it is upheld, nevertheless, by the external men of the church. The doctrines of all churches, viewed interiorly, teach life. What church is there the doctrine of which does not teach that man ought to examine himself, to see and acknowledge his sins, confess them, repent, and finally live a new life? Who is admitted to the Holy Communion without this admonition and instruction? Inquire and you will be convinced. What church is there the doctrine of which is not founded on the commandments of the Decalogue? and the commandments of the Decalogue are the commandments of life. What man of the church is there in whom there is anything of the church who does not acknowledge, as soon as he hears it, that he who lives well is saved and he who lives wickedly is condemned? Therefore in the Athanasian Creed (which is also the doctrine accepted in the whole Christian world) it is stated:-

That the Lord will come to judge the living and the dead; and then those that have done good will enter into life eternal, and those that have done evil into eternal fire.

[9] This shows clearly that the doctrines of all churches, viewed interiorly, teach life; and because they teach life they teach that salvation is in accordance with the life; and the life of a m an is not breathed into him in a moment, but is gradually formed, and is reformed by his shunning evils as sins; consequently, by his learning what sin is, recognizing and acknowledging it, and not willing it, and thus refraining from it, also by gaining a knowledge of those means that have reference to a knowledge of God. By all these is man’s life formed and reformed; and these cannot be poured into him in a moment, for hereditary evil, which in itself is infernal, must be removed, and in its place good, which in itself is heavenly, must be implanted. From his hereditary evil man may be likened in understanding to an owl and in will to a serpent; but when he has been reformed he may be likened in understanding to a dove and in will to a sheep. Therefore instantaneous reformation and salvation thereby would be comparatively like the instantaneous conversion of an owl into a dove, and of a serpent into a sheep. Who that has any knowledge of human life does not see that this is impossible, except by the removal of the owl and serpent nature and the implantation in its place of the dove and sheep nature? [10] It is also admitted that every one who is intelligent can become more intelligent, and every one who is a wise man can become wiser, and that intelligence and wisdom may grow in man, and with some do grow, from infancy until the end of life, and that man is thus perfected continually. Is this not still more true of spiritual intelligence and wisdom? These ascend above natural intelligence and wisdom by two degrees, and as they ascend they become angelic intelligence and wisdom, which are ineffable. That these increase to eternity with the angels has been stated above. Cannot any one who is willing understand that it is impossible for that which is perfecting to eternity to be made perfect in an instant?

339. From all this it is clear that no one who from life thinks about salvation thinks of any instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means; but he thinks about the means of salvation into which and through which the Lord operates in accordance with the laws of His Divine providence, and by which, therefore, man is led by the Lord out of pure mercy. But those who do not think of salvation from life ascribe instantaneousness to salvation and absence of means to mercy, as those do who separate faith from charity (for charity is life); they also ascribe instantaneousness to faith at the closing hour of death, if not before. Those also do this who believe remission of sins without repentance to be an absolution from sins and thus salvation, and who go to the Holy Supper; also those that have faith in the indulgences of the monks and in their prayers for the dead and in the dispensations they grant because of the power they claim over the souls of men.

340. (4) Instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means is the “fiery flying serpent” in the church. By the “fiery flying serpent” evil glowing from infernal fire is meant, the same as by the “fiery flying serpent” spoken of in Isaiah:-

Rejoice not thou, Philistia, all of thee, because the rod that smote thee is broken; for out of the serpent’s root shall go forth a basilisk; whose fruit shall be a fiery flying serpent (xiv. 29).

Such evil is flying abroad in the church when there is belief in instantaneous salvation out of mercy apart from means; for thereby: (1) Religion is abolished. (2) Security is induced. (3) Damnation is attributed to the Lord. [2] As to the first: Religion is abolished thereby. There are two things that are at once the essentials and the universals of religion, namely, acknowledgment of God and repentance. These two are void of meaning to those who believe that men are saved out of mere mercy, howsoever they live; for what need is there more than to say, “Have mercy on me, O God?” About all other things belonging to religion they are in thick darkness, and they even love this darkness. Of the first essential of the church, which is acknowledgment of God, they merely think, “What is God? Who has seen Him?” If it is said that there is a God and that He is one, they admit that He is one; if it is said that there are three, they admit that there are, but claim that the three must be called one. This is their acknowledgment of God. [3] To the other essential of the church, which is repentance, they give no thought, consequently they give no thought to any sin, and at last they do not know that there is any such thing as sin. And then they hear, and drink in with pleasure, that “The law does not condemn, because the Christian is not under its yoke; you have merely to say, ‘God have mercy upon me for the sake of the Son,’ and you will be saved.” This with them is repentance of life. But take away repentance, or what is the same thing, separate life from religion, and what is left but the mere words, “Have mercy upon me?” For this reason they could not do otherwise than claim that salvation is instantaneous by means of these words, even near the hour of death if not before. What, then, is the Word to them but an obscure and enigmatical voice uttered from a tripod in a cave, or an unintelligible response from the oracle of an idol? In a word, when you take away repentance, that is, separate life from religion, what is man but evil glowing with infernal fire, or a “fiery flying serpent” in the church? For without repentance man is in evil, and evil is hell. [4] Secondly: A belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy alone induces security of life. Security of life arises either from the impious man’s belief that there is no life after death, or from the belief of him who separates life from salvation. The latter, although believing in eternal life, still thinks, “Whether I live well or ill I can be saved, since salvation is pure mercy, and God’s mercy is universal because He desires not the death of any one.” And if perchance the thought occurs that mercy ought to be implored in the words of the accepted faith, he may think that this, if not done previously, can be done just before death. Any man in such a state of security makes nothing of adultery, frauds, injustice, violence, defamation, and revenge, but lets his flesh and his spirit run riot in them all; nor does he know what spiritual evil and its lust are. If he listens to anything about this from the Word it is comparatively like something striking against ebony and rebounding, or like what falls into a ditch and is swallowed up. [5] Thirdly: By that belief damnation is attributed to the Lord. Who can help concluding that not man but the Lord is to blame if man is not saved, when the Lord is able to save every one out of pure mercy? If it be said that faith is the means of salvation, what man is there to whom that faith cannot be given? For it is nothing but a thought that may be imparted, even with confidence, in any state of the spirit withdrawn from worldly things. It may also be claimed that man cannot of himself acquire that faith; if, therefore, it is not given and the man is damned, must not he that is damned think that the Lord, who had the power to give it and would not, is to blame? And would not this be to call Him unmerciful? Moreover, in the glow of his faith he would say, “How can He see so many damned in hell when He is able out of pure mercy to save them all in a moment?” Other like things he may say that must be called abominable accusations against the Divine. From all this it can now be seen that a belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy is the “fiery flying serpent” in the church.

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Excuse the addition of what follows to fill out the rest of the sheet.

Certain spirits by permission ascended from hell, and said to me, “You have written many things from the Lord; write something from us, too.”

I replied, “What shall I write?”

They said, “Write that every spirit, whether good or evil, is in his own delight; a good spirit in the delight of his good, and an evil spirit in the delight of his evil.”

I asked, “What is your delight?”

They said, “It is a delight in committing adultery, stealing, cheating, and lying.”

Again I asked, “What sort of delights are these?”

They said, “To the senses of others they are like the fetid smell from excrement, the putrid smell from dead bodies, and the odor from stagnant urine.”

I said, “Are these things delightful to you?”

They answered, “Most delightful.”

I said, “Then you are like the unclean beasts that live in such things.”

They replied, “If we are we are; but such things are delicious to our nostrils.”

I asked, “What more shall I write from you?”

They said, “Write this: that every one is permitted to be in his own delight, even that which is most unclean, as they call it, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels; but as we could not do otherwise than infest them we were driven away and cast into hell, where we suffer dreadful things.”

I said, “Why did you infest the good?”

They replied that they could not do otherwise, that a sort of fury came upon them when they saw any angel and felt the Divine sphere around him.

Then I said, “Thus you are even like wild beasts.”

When they heard this a fury came upon them that appeared like the fire of hatred; and to prevent their doing harm they were drawn back into hell.

Of delights perceived as odors and as foul smells in the spiritual world see above (n. 303-305).