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DLW 198
. . . the Divine is substance in itself
or the one and only substance,
so it is the substance from which each and all things have been created,
thus that God is the all in all things of the universe. . .:
- That Divine love and wisdom are substance and form.
- That Divine love and wisdom are substance and form in themselves,
- thus the one and only absolute.
- That everything in the universe has been created
by Divine love and wisdom. - That the created universe is consequently an image of Him.
- That the Lord alone is heaven, in which angels dwell.
DLW 179
. . . it is an angel's love and wisdom that cause him to be seen as a person.
DLW 171, 172
For the Lord the Creator
continually raises up from the earth
forms of useful endeavor and activity in succession,
culminating in the human being,
who in respect to his body is from the same origin.
The human being is then raised up
by his reception of love and wisdom from the Lord.
Moreover, in order that he may receive love and wisdom,
all the means have been provided.
He has also been formed
such that he is capable of receiving them if only he is willing.
. . . there is nothing so inert and lifeless
that it has in it no capability of producing an effect.
Even sand emits an exhalation
such that it assists in producing something further,
thus in producing an effect.
DLW 142
Since these two loves -
love toward the Lord
and a love of ruling stemming from a love of self -
are altogether opposed to each other,
and because people who are prompted by love toward the Lord
all turn to the Lord as the sun,
it can be seen that people
who are prompted by a love of ruling stemming from a love of self
all turn their back to the Lord.
They turn thus in opposite directions
for the reason that people who are prompted by love toward the Lord
love nothing more than to be led by the Lord,
and they want the Lord alone to rule,
whereas people who are prompted by a love of ruling
stemming from a love of self
love nothing more than to lead themselves,
and they want only themselves to rule.
We say a love of ruling stemming from a love of self,
because a love of ruling is possible
that stems from a love of performing useful services,
a love which,
because it goes hand in hand with love for the neighbor,
is a spiritual love.
But this love cannot be called a love of ruling,
but a love of performing useful services.
DLW 129
Angels turn their faces continually to the Lord as the sun,
and thus have the south to their right,
the north to their left,
and the west to their rear.
Everything we say here about angels
and their turning to the Lord as the sun
must be interpreted as applying to people, too, in respect to their spirit.
For in respect to his mind a person is a spirit,
and if he lives in a state of love and wisdom, he is an angel.
Consequently after death,
when he puts off his outer coverings which he took from the natural world,
he also becomes a spirit or angel.
Furthermore,
because angels continually turn their faces to the sun in the east,
thus to the Lord,
people also say of a person
who is in a state of love and wisdom from the Lord
that he sees God, that he looks to God, that he has God before his eyes,
meaning that in his life he is like an angel.
People say things like this in the world
both because they actually occur in heaven
and because they actually occur in a person's spirit.
Who does not see God before him when he prays,
in whatever direction his face is turned?
DLW 134
One does not find anything natural
that does not have its cause from something spiritual.
DLW 84, 90[2], 92
Everything spiritual has some relation to good and truth,
and as such it can spring from no other origin than Divine love and wisdom,
for all good is connected with love,
and all truth with wisdom.
Every person in the interiors of his mind is a spirit.
When a person dies,
he departs altogether from the world of nature,
leaving all of its properties behind,
and enters into a world which has not a speck of nature in it.
. . . every person in the interiors of his mind is in that world,
in the midst of spirits and angels there,
and he thinks because of its light,
and loves because of its warmth.
DLW 78, 80
It appears as though the Divine were not the same
in one individual as in another . . ..
But this is, owing to the appearance, a fallacy.
The person may be of a different character,
but the Divine is not of a different character in him.
The person is a recipient,
and a recipient or receiving vessel is variable.
The Divine is also the same
in the greatest and least of all created things that are without life;
for it is present in every good of the use they serve.
They are, however, without life,
because they are not forms of life but forms of useful endeavors;
and the form varies in accordance with the goodness of the use.
DLW 57
. . . angels are not angels of themselves,
but are angels in consequence of their conjunction with the human God;
and that conjunction depends on their reception of
Divine good and Divine truth,
which are God,
and which appear to emanate from Him,
even though they are in Him.
Moreover, their reception depends on their application of the laws of order
- which Divine truths are - to themselves,
because of their freedom to think and will in accordance with reason,
faculties that they have from the Lord as though they were theirs.
The same is the case with people on earth.
DLW 25
. . . the very ability to think rationally
regarded in itself is not a person's own,
but is God's gift to him.
DLW 39
. . . to the extent that a person does do from love what wisdom teaches,
to the same extent he is an image of God.
Divine Love and Wisdom
DLW 11
. . . it is the Divine existing in angels which forms heaven.
DF 69
Faith separated from charity is no faith,
because charity is the life, the soul and the essence of faith;
and where there is no faith because there is no charity,
there is no Church.
DF 49 There are two evil religious concepts into which every church in course of time degenerates, one that adulterates its goods, and the other that falsifies its truths. The one which adulterates the goods of the church springs from the love of rule; and the one which falsifies the truths of the church springs from the conceit of self-intelligence.
DF 35-37 It is a universal of Faith- that God is One in Person and in essence.
- . . . that no mortal could have been saved
unless the Lord had come into the world. - . . . that He came into the world in order to remove hell from man,
and He removed it by combats against it and victories over it;
thus He subdued it,
and reduced it into order
and under obedience to Himself. - . . . that He came into the world in order to glorify the Human
which He took upon Him in the world,
that is, in order to unite it to the all-originating Divine;
thus hell was disposed into order by Him,
and He holds it under subjection to eternity. - And inasmuch as neither of these mighty works
could have been accomplished except by means of temptations
even to the uttermost of them,
which was the passion of the cross,
He therefore underwent this uttermost temptation.
These are the universals of the Christian Faith concerning the Lord. The universal of the Christian Faith on the part of man- is that he believe in the Lord,
for through believing in Him
there is effected conjunction with Him,
by which comes salvation. - To believe in Him is to have confidence that He will save,
and as no one can have this confidence except one who lives aright,
therefore this also is meant by believing in Him.
These two universals of the Christian Faith
have already been treated of specifically; the first, which regards the Lord, in Doctrine of the Lord; and second, which regards man, in Doctrine of Life.
KNOWLEDGES OF TRUTH AND OF GOOD ARE NOT MATTERS OF REAL BELIEF UNTIL A PERSON IS IN CHARITY, BUT ARE THE STOREHOUSE OF MATERIAL OUT OF WHICH THE FAITH OF CHARITY CAN BE FORMED. DF 26-27, 30, 33 As every person regards uses not only for the sake of life in this world, but also should regard uses for the sake of his life in heaven (for into this life he will come after his life here, and will live in it to eternity) therefore from childhood every one acquires knowledges of truth and good from the Word . . .. If he shuns evils as sins, then these knowledges become those of a faith that has spiritual life within it. But if he does not shun evils as sins, then these knowledges are nothing but knowledges, and so not become those of a faith that has any spiritual life within it. In the first state, before charity is felt, faith appears to them as though it were in the first place, and charity in the second; but in the second state, when charity is felt, faith betakes itself to the second place,
and charity to the first. The first state is called reformation, and the second regeneration.
In this latter state a person grows in wisdom every day, and every day good multiplies truths and causes them to bear fruit. From these few words it may be considered settled that the knowledges of truth and good are not really things of faith until the person is in charity, but that they are the storehouse of material out of which the faith of charity can be formed. With a regenerate person the knowledges of truth become truths, and so do the knowledges of good, for the knowledge of good in in the understanding, and the affection of good in the will, and what is in the understanding is called truth, and what is in the will is called good.
DF 14, 15
Good is nothing but Use,
so that in its very origin
charity is the affection of use;
and as use loves the means,
the affection of use produces the affection of the means,
and from this the knowledge of them,
and through this progression
the affection of use comes forth into manifest being,
and becomes charity.
Affection, which belongs to the will,
brings forth nothing from itself except by means of thought,
which is of the understanding (the converse also being true),
for in order that anything may come forth into manifest being
the two must act in conjunction.
For consider:
If you take away from thought all affection belonging to some love,
can you exercise thought?
Or if from the affection you take away all thought,
are you then able to be affected by anything?
Or, what is much the same,
if you take away affection from thought, can you speak anything?
Or if you take away thought or understanding from affection,
can you do anything?
It is the same with charity and faith.
Doctrine of Faith for the New Jerusalem
DF 3-4, 6, 12
The reason spiritual things can be comprehended is
that in respect to the understanding
a person may be uplifted into the light of heaven,
in which light
none but spiritual things appear,
and these are the truths of faith.
For the light of heaven is spiritual light.
This then is the reason
why those who are in the spiritual affection of truth
possess an internal acknowledgment of truth.
. . . faith and truth are a one.
For this reason the ancients
(who from their affection for truths thought more about them
than the men of our time)
instead of saying Faith, were accustomed to say Truth.
For the same reason also truth and faith
are one word in the Hebrew language, namely Amuna or Amen.
If any one should think within himself, or say to some one else,
"Who is able to have the internal acknowledgment of truth which is faith? not I;"
let me tell him how he may have it:
Shun evils as sins,
and come to the Lord,
and you will have as much of it as you desire.
IF ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS
FOR ANY OTHER REASON
THAN BECAUSE THEY ARE SINS,
HE DOES NOT SHUN THEM,
BUT MERELY PREVENTS THEM
FROM APPEARING BEFORE THE WORLD.
DLIFE 108
There are moral people
who keep the commandments of the second table of the Decalogue,
not committing fraud, blasphemy, revenge, or adultery;
and such of them as confirm themselves in the belief
that such things are evils because they are injurious to the public weal,
and are therefore contrary to the laws of humane conduct,
practice charity, sincerity, justice, chastity.
But if they do these goods and shun those evils merely because they are evils,
and not at the same time because they are sins,
they are still merely natural people,
and with the merely natural the root of evil
remains imbedded and is not dislodged;
for which reason the goods they do are not goods,
because they are from themselves.
A PERSON OUGHT TO SHUN EVILS AS SINS
AND FIGHT AGAINST THEM AS OF HIMSELF.
DLIFE 102 & 106
The Lord loves a person and wills to dwell with him,
yet He cannot love him and dwell with him
unless He is received and loved in return.
From this alone comes conjunction.
For this reason the Lord has given a person freedom and reason,
freedom to think and will as of himself,
and reason in accordance with which he may do so.
To love and to be conjoined with one
in whom there is nothing reciprocal is not possible,
nor is it possible to enter in and abide with one in whom there is no reception.
As in a person there are reception and reciprocality,
the church teaches that a person must examine himself,
confess his sins before God,
desist from them,
and lead a new life.
NO ONE CAN SHUN EVILS AS SINS,
SO AS TO HOLD THEM INWARDLY IN AVERSION,
EXCEPT BY COMBATS AGAINST THEM.
DLIFE 96-97
The person who fights against evils cannot but fight as of himself;
for he who does not fight as of himself does not fight . . ..
But still it should be clearly understood
that the Lord alone fights against evils in a person,
and that it only appears to the person as if he fought from himself;
and that the Lord wills that it should so appear to a person,
since without this appearance
there could be no combat and consequently no reformation.
This combat is not grievous,
except for those who have relaxed all restraints upon their lusts,
and who have deliberately indulged them;
and also for those who have confirmed themselves in rejecting
the holy things of the Word and the Church.
For others, however, it is not grievous;
let them resist evils in intention only once a week,
or twice in a month,
and they will perceive a change.
IN PROPORTION
AS ANY ONE SHUNS FALSE WITNESS OF EVERY KIND AS SIN,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE LOVES THE TRUTH.
DLIFE 89
In proportion as anyone loves the truth,
in the same proportion he desires to know it,
and in the same proportion is affected at heart when he finds it.
No one else comes into wisdom.
And in proportion as anyone loves to do the truth,
in the same proportion
he is sensible of the pleasantness of the light in which the truth is.
It is the same with all the other things spoken of above;
with sincerity and justice
in the case of one who shuns thefts of every kind;
with chastity and purity
in the case of one who shuns adulteries of every kind;
and with love and charity
in the case of one who shuns murders of every kind; and so forth.
IN PROPORTION
AS ANY ONE SHUNS THEFTS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE LOVES SINCERITY.
DLIFE 80-81
To "steal," in the natural sense,
means not only to commit theft and robbery,
but also to defraud,
and under some pretext take from another his goods.
But in the spiritual sense to "steal"
means to deprive another of his truths of faith and his goods of charity.
And in the highest sense to "steal"
means to take away from the Lord that which is His,
and attribute it to one's self,
and thus to claim righteousness and merit for one's self.
These are the "thefts of every kind."
And they also make a one,
as do adulteries of every kind, and murders of every kind . . ..
The reason why they make a one is that they are one within another.
The evil of theft enters more deeply into a person than any other evil,
because it is conjoined with cunning and deceit;
and cunning and deceit insinuate themselves
even into the spiritual mind of a person
in which is his thought with understanding.
IN PROPORTION
AS ANY ONE SHUNS ADULTERIES OF EVERY KIND AS SINS,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE LOVES CHASTITY.
DLIFE 74
To "commit adultery," . . .means, in the natural sense,
not only to commit whoredom,
but also to do obscene things,
to speak lascivious things,
and to think about filthy things.
But in the spiritual sense to "commit adultery" means
to adulterate the goods of the Word,
and to falsify its truths.
In the highest sense to "commit adultery" means
to deny the divinity of the Lord,
and to profane the Word.
These are the "adulteries of every kind."
The natural person is able to know from rational light
that to "commit adultery" includes in its meaning
the doing of things obscene,
the speaking of things lascivious,
and the thinking of things that are filthy;
but he does not know that to commit adultery
means also to adulterate the goods of the Word
and to falsify its truths,
and still less that it means
to deny the divinity of the Lord
and to profane the Word.
Consequently neither does he know
that adultery is so great an evil
that it may be called diabolism itself,
for he who is in natural adultery
is also in spiritual adultery, and the converse.
DLIFE 76
. . . the lasciviousness of adultery and the chastity of marriage
stand toward each other exactly as do hell and heaven,
and that the lasciviousness of adultery makes hell in a person,
and the chastity of marriage makes heaven.
IN PROPORTION
AS ANYONE SHUNS MURDERS OF EVERY KIND AS SINS,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION
HE HAS LOVE TOWARD THE NEIGHBOR.
DLIFE 67
"Murders of every kind"
include enmity, hatred, and revenge of every kind, which breathe murder,
for murder lies hidden in them, like fire in wood underneath the ashes.
Infernal fire is nothing else,
and this is the origin of the expressions to "kindle with hatred,"
and to "burn with revenge."
All these are "murders" in the natural sense.
But in the spiritual sense "murders"
mean all methods of killing and destroying the souls of men,
which methods are varied and many.
And in the highest sense "murder" means to hate the Lord.
These three kinds of "murder" form a one, and cleave together,
for he who wills the murder of a person's body in this world,
after death wills the murder of his soul,
and wills the murder of the Lord,
for he burns with anger against Him,
and desires to blot out His name.
DLIFE 66
. . . no one is able to shun evils as sins
unless he acknowledges the Lord
and goes to Him,
and unless he fights
against evils
and so removes his lusts.
DLIFE 56 & 57
So great a power and so great a holiness existed in that Law
for the further reason that it was a complex of all things of religion
for it consisted of two tables
of which the one contains all things that are on the part of God,
and the other in a complex all things that are on the part of man.
The commandments of this Law are therefore called the "Ten Words,"
and are so called because "ten" signifies all.
As by means of this Law there is a conjunction
of the Lord with man
and of man with the Lord,
it is called the "Covenant," and the "Testimony,"
the "Covenant" because it conjoins,
and the "Testimony" because it bears witness,
for a "covenant" signifies conjunction,
and a "testimony" the attestation of it.
For this reason there were two tables,
one for the Lord and the other for man.
The conjunction is effected by the Lord,
but only when the man does the things that have been written in his table.
For the Lord is constantly present and working,
and wills to enter in,
but man must open to the Lord in the freedom which he has from Him;
for the Lord says:
Behold, I stand at the door, and knock;
if any man hear My voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him,
and will sup with him, and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)
SO FAR AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS,
SO FAR HE HAS FAITH, AND IS SPIRITUAL
DLIFE 42, 48
Faith and life are distinct from each other,
like thinking and doing;
and as thinking has relation to the understanding
and doing to the will,
it follows that faith and life are distinct from each other,
like the understanding and the will.
For whatever any one wills from love,
that he wills to do,
wills to think,
wills to understand
and wills to speak;
or what is the same thing,
what any one loves from the will,
this he loves to do,
loves to think,
loves to understand
and loves to speak.
Moreover, when a person shuns evil as sin,
he is then in the Lord . . .
and the Lord works all things.
SO FAR AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS AS SINS,
SO FAR HE LOVES TRUTHS
DLIFE 32, 37
There are two universals that proceed from the Lord,
Divine Good and Divine Truth:
Divine Good is of His Divine Love,
and Divine Truth is of His Divine Wisdom.
These two in the Lord are one,
and consequently proceed from Him as one;
but they are not received as one
by angels in the heavens and by people on earth.
. . . the angels of all the heavens
are so far in wisdom and intelligence
as the good with them
unites with truth.
The good which does not unite with truth
is to them not good;
and on the other hand,
the truth which does not unite with good
is to them not truth.
From this it is evident
that good conjoined with truth
constitutes love and wisdom
with angel and people;
and since an angel is an angel
from the love and wisdom with him,
and similarly a person is a person,
it is evident that good conjoined with truth
makes an angel to be an angel of heaven,
and a person to be a person of the Church.
DLIFE 20-21
It is plainly evident from all this that in proportion as a person shuns evils,
in the same proportion is he with the Lord and in the Lord;
and that in proportion as he is in the Lord,
in the same proportion he does goods,
not from self but from Him.
From this results the general law:
IN PROPORTION AS ANY ONE SHUNS EVILS,
IN THE SAME PROPORTION HE DOES GOODS.
Two things however are requisite:
first, the person must shun evils because they are sins,
that is, because they are infernal and diabolical,
and therefore contrary to the Lord and the Divine laws,
and secondly, he must do this as of himself,
while knowing and believing that it is of the Lord.
From himself no one can do good that is really good.
DLIFE 10, 14
Goods from God,
and goods from self,
may be compared to gold.
Gold that is gold from the inmost,
called pure gold, is good gold.
Gold alloyed with silver is also gold,
but is good according to the amount of the alloy.
Less good still is gold that is alloyed with copper.
But a gold made by art, and resembling gold only from its color,
is not good at all, for there is no substance of gold in it.
There is also what is gilded,
such as gilded silver, copper, iron, tin, lead,
and also gilded wood and gilded stone,
which on the surface may appear like gold;
but not being such,
they are valued either according to the workmanship,
the value of the gilded material,
or that of the gold which can be scraped off.
In goodness these differ from real gold
as a garment differs from a man.
Moreover rotten wood, dross, or even ordure, may be overlaid with gold;
and such is the gold to which pharisaic good may be likened.
. . . a person who possesses spiritual good
is also a moral person and a civic person;
and that a person who does not possess spiritual good
is neither a moral person nor a civic person,
although he may appear to be so both to himself and to others.
The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem
DLIFE 1
All religion is of life, and the life of religion is to do what is good.
The life of a person is his love,
and that which he loves
he not only likes to be doing,
but also likes to be thinking.
. . . doing what is good
acts as a one
with thinking what is good,
for if in a person these two things do not act as a one,
they are not of his life.
DLIFE 8
The reason why all religion is of the life,
is that after death everyone is his own life,
for the life stays the same as it had been in this world,
and undergoes no change.
For an evil life cannot be converted into a good one,
nor a good life into an evil one,
because they are opposites,
and conversion into what is opposite is extinction.
