AE 232 - charity

AE 232 [3]
. . . charity itself, which is spiritual affection,
is formed by truths from the Word,
and so far so as it is formed by these, so far it is spiritual.

AE 229 - spiritual delight

AE 229 [2]
But the reason why faith is called the first principle of the church is,
that it is the first to appear;
for what a person believes, that he thinks, and sees in thought;
whereas that with which a person is spiritually affected,
he does not think, nor, therefore, does he see it in thought,
but he perceives it in a certain sense which has no reference to sight,
but to another sensitive, which is called that of delight.
And because this delight is spiritual,
and above the feeling of natural delight,
a person does not perceive it, until he becomes spiritual,
that is, when he is regenerated by the Lord.

AE 223b- boys and girls playing in the streets

AE 223b [9]
Thus said Jehovah; I will return to Zion,
and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem;
then Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth.
And the streets of the city
shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets.
(Zechariah 8:3-5)

Here "Zion" does not mean Zion, nor "Jerusalem" Jerusalem;
but "Zion" means the celestial church,
and "Jerusalem" that church in respect to the doctrine of truth;
therefore it is called "a city of truth;"
"the streets of the city" signify the truths of doctrine;
"boys and girls playing in the streets"
signify the affections of truth and good.
. . . "to play" means what pertains to interior festivity,
which is the affection of truth and good.

AE 222a - "to write"

AE 222a [2]
"To write upon one" means to implant in the life,
because to write is to commit to paper anything
from the memory, thought, or mind,
that is to be preserved;
in the spiritual sense, therefore,
it signifies that which is to endure in a person's life,
inscribed on it and implanted in it.
Thus the natural sense of this expression is turned into a spiritual sense;
for it is natural to write upon paper and in a book,
but it is spiritual to inscribe on the life,
which is done when anything is implanted in the faith and love,
since love and faith make a person's spiritual life.
Because "to write" signifies to implant in the life,
it is said of Jehovah or the Lord that "He writes,"
and that "He has written in a book,"
meaning that which is inscribed by the Lord on a person's spirit,
that is, on his heart and soul,
or what is the same, on his love and faith.

AE 219 - heaven is heaven

AE 219 [5]
. . . heaven is heaven
from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord . . .

AE 209 - the Lord has the power

AE 209 [4]
. . . all the power that angels and people have
from the Lord
is from the good of love;
and since the good of love does not act from itself but through truths,
therefore all power is from the good of love through truths,
and with those who are spiritual,
from the good of charity through the truths of faith.
For good takes on a quality through truths,
good without truths having no quality
and where there is no quality
there is neither force nor power.
From this it is clear,
that good has all power through truths,
or charity through faith,
and neither charity apart from faith
nor faith apart from charity has any power.

AE 208 - "doorway", "door", "gate"

AE 208 [2]
. . . because all things that signify heaven and the church
signify also the things of heaven and the church,
and here the things that introduce,
which are truths out of good from the Lord,
and because these truths are from the Lord,
and are therefore His, yea, are Himself in them,
therefore "doorway," "door," and "gate" to heaven and the church,
mean in the highest sense the Lord.
From this is clear the signification of what the Lord says in John:

Jesus said, Verily I say unto you,
he that enters not through the door into the sheepfold,
but climbs up another way, the same is a thief and a robber.
But he that enters in through the door is the shepherd of the sheep;
to him the porter opens.
I am the door of the sheep,
through Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved,
and shall go in and go out,
and find pasture.
(John 10:1-3, 7, 9)

Here "to enter in through the door"
is evidently to enter in through the Lord,
for it is said, "I am the door of the sheep."
To enter in through the Lord is to
approach Him,
acknowledge Him,
believe in Him,
and love Him,
as He teaches in many passages;
thus is a person admitted into heaven,
and in no other way . . .

AE 204 - Why He is called "holy" and "true"

AE 204
He is called "holy" because charity is from Him,
and "true" because faith is from Him.
That the Lord is called "holy" because charity is from Him,
and consequently that "holy" in the Word
is predicated of charity and of faith therefrom . . ..
But the Lord is called "true" because faith is from Him,
and consequently "true" in the Word is predicated of faith,
for the reason that all truth is of faith;
for that is called "true" which is believed;
other things are not of faith because they are not believed.
But because the faith of charity is here treated of,
something shall first be said about faith and what it is.

[2] There is spiritual faith, and there is faith merely natural.
Spiritual faith is wholly from charity, and in its essence is charity.
Charity, or love towards the neighbor,
is to love truth, sincerity, and what is just,
and to do them from willing them.
For the neighbor in the spiritual sense is not every person,
but it is that which is with a person;
if this be truth, sincerity, and what is just,
and the person is loved on account of these,
then the neighbor is loved.
That this is what charity means, in the spiritual sense,
anyone may know if he will but reflect.

AE 198 - perception & reception

AE 198
. . . all intelligence and wisdom are from Divine truths
according to the perception of them
and their reception in the life.
To see truths, and to see what they are, is of perception;
and to live according to them is of reception;
and according to perception and reception
there is intelligence and wisdom.

AE 195 - to live a moral life from a spiritual origin

AE 195 [2]
A person lives a moral life from a spiritual origin
when he lives it from religion;
that is, when he thinks,
when anything evil, insincere, or unjust presents itself:
that this must not be done because it is contrary to the Divine laws.
When one abstains from doing such things
in deference to Divine laws
he acquires for himself spiritual life,
and his moral life is then from the spiritual;
for by such thoughts and faith
a person communicates with the angels of heaven,
and by communication with heaven
his internal spiritual person is opened,
the mind of which is a higher mind,
such as the angels of heaven have,
and he is thereby imbued with heavenly intelligence and wisdom.
From this it can be seen
that to live a moral life from a spiritual origin is to live from religion,
and within the church, to live from the Word;
for those who live a moral life from religion and from the Word
are elevated above their natural person,
thus above what is their own [proprium],
and are led by the Lord through heaven;
consequently they have faith, the fear of God, and conscience,
and also the spiritual affection of truth,
which is the affection of the knowledges of truth and good from the Word,
for to such people these are Divine laws,
according to which they live.
Many of the heathen live such a moral life,
for they think that evil must not be done
because it is contrary to their religion;
this is why so many of them are saved.

AE 194 - laboring in the vineyard

AE 194 [2]
. . . all times in the Word, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age,
signify states of life . . .

A householder hired laborers into his vineyard,
who labored from the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh,
and received equal reward.
(Matthew 20:1-16)

. . . "laboring in the vineyard"
is acquiring for oneself spiritual life
by the knowledges of truth and good from the Word
applied to the uses of life. . .
"vineyard" in the Word signifies the spiritual church,
and with a person spiritual life . ..
"three" signifies a full state,
or what is complete even to the end, likewise "six" and "nine."
But "eleven" signifies a state not yet full, and yet a receptive state
such as there is with well-disposed children and infants.
The "twelfth hour," to which all labored,
signifies truths and goods in their fullness . . ..

AE 186 - a moral life

AE 186a
. . . moral life apart from spiritual life
is the life of the love of self and the love of the world,
while moral life that is from spiritual life
is a life of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor;
this life is the life of heaven,
but the other life is what is called spiritual death.

AE 185 - "works"

AE 185
I know thy works, (Revelation 3:1)
"Works" signify the things that are of life
because they are the effects of life,
for they proceed from the life of everyone.
If the life is good the works are good,
but if the life is evil the works are evil.
The life that is in works is the intention,
which is of the will,
and of the thought therefrom;
and this life is the life of a person's spirit;
for it is the spirit in a person that intends and thinks.
Without this life in works
they would be only motions like those of automatons.
For this reason the wise do not look at the works,
but at the life that is in the works, namely, at the intention.
This is especially true of the angels who are with a person;
they do not see his works, but only the intentions of his mind,
and conclude therefrom what the person's state is.
From this it can be seen that "works" in the spiritual sense mean the life;
and as the life of a person is diverse,
depending mainly upon his love,
it is his love that is especially signified by "works" .
This is why it is said to the angel of each church in the beginning,
"I know thy works;" which therefore means
that the Lord knows the whole life of a person,
and its quality in respect to love.

AE 183 - heart & spirit

AE 183 [2]
Create for me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit in the midst of me.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart God doth not despise.
(Psalms 51:10, 17).

In these passages "heart" signifies the good of love,
and "spirit" the truth of faith,
from which a person has spiritual life;
for there are two things that make all of a person's life,
namely, good and truth;
these two when united in a person make his spiritual life.

AE 179 - the star of the morning

AE 179
And I will give him the morning star,
(Revelation 2:28)
signifies intelligence and wisdom from the Lord's Divine Human.
This is evident from the signification of "stars,"
as being the knowledges of good and truth;
and as they signify the knowledges of good and truth,
they also signify intelligence and wisdom,
for all intelligence and wisdom come
by means of the knowledges of good and truth.
It is evident also from the signification of "morning"
as being the Lord in respect to His Divine Human,
therefore "the morning star"
means intelligence and wisdom from Him.
"Morning" is often mentioned in the Word,
and its signification varies
according to the connection in the internal sense;
in the highest sense it signifies the Lord, and also His coming;
in the internal sense it signifies His kingdom and church,
and their state of peace.
Moreover, it signifies the first state of a new church,
and also a state of love, and a state of illustration,
consequently a state of intelligence and wisdom,
and also a state of the conjunction of good and truth,
the state in which the internal man is conjoined to the external.
"Morning" has such various significations,
because in the highest sense it signifies the Lord's Divine Human;
it therefore also signifies all things that proceed from the Divine Human,
for the Lord is in those things that proceed from Him,
even so that it is He there.

AE 176 & 177 - natural truths & the Word in the letter

AE 176
Natural truth is truth in the memory, not in life;
truth of life is good.

Truths in the natural person are knowledges and cognitions,
from which a person can think, reason, and conclude naturally
respecting the truths and goods of the church,
and the falsities and evils which are opposed to these,
and can consequently be in some natural illustration when he reads the Word.
For the Word in the letter is not understood without illustration;
and illustration is either spiritual or natural.
Spiritual illustration is only with those who are spiritual;
and the spiritual are those that are of the good of love
and charity and in truths therefrom;
while mere natural illustration is with those who are natural.

AE 177 [2-3]
... to read the Word solely for the repute of erudition or for fame,
that they may be exalted to honors and gain wealth,
is to read it for the sake of self and the world as ends,
thus from the loves of self and the world.
And as these loves are of a person's proprium [a person's self]
so the things that a person sees and perceives from them
are from self-intelligence.

But those who read the Word from the spiritual affection of truth,
which affection is a love of knowing truth because it is truth,
see truths in the Word,
and rejoice in heart when they see them;
and this because they are in illustration from the Lord.

AE 175a - the Lord alone

AE 175a
... the Lord scatters evils by means of truths.
He first reveals them to a person by means of truths,
and when a person acknowledges the evils,
the Lord scatters them.

AE 166, 167 - Truth

AE 166
. . . the Lord called Himself "the Son of man,"
because He was Divine truth,
and because every truth of heaven and the church
proceeds from Him . . .

AE 167
Truth in the will
and from that in the act
is willing and doing
what a person knows and thinks to be true . . .

AE 163 - what the Lord spoke

AE 163 [7]
Those who know nothing of the internal sense of the Word
may believe that the words that the Lord spoke
involve nothing more than what is obvious in the sense of the letter,
when yet every particular of what the Lord spoke has a spiritual meaning,
for He spoke from the Divine,
and thus in the presence both of heaven and of the world.

AE 154 - celestial love, spiritual love

AE 154
. . . celestial love
is to do the commandments of the Lord from the affection of the will,
and spiritual love
is to do them from the affection of the understanding.

AE 150 - our external and internal

AE 150
When a person is born,
the external or natural person is first opened;
and afterwards,
as he grows up and is perfected in intelligence and wisdom,
the internal or spiritual person is opened.
The external or natural person is opened
by such things as a person derives from the world,
while the internal or spiritual person
is opened by such things as he derives from heaven . . ..
The things in the world . . .have reference, in general,
to all things of civil and moral life;
while the things in heaven . . . have reference, in general,
to all things of love and faith.

AE 146 - the Lord is Divine Love Itself

AE 146 [6]
. . . it is the same whether you say
the Lord's Divine Human, or the Divine Love,
for the Lord is Divine Love itself,
and what proceeds from Him
is Divine good united to Divine truth;
both are of love,
and are also the Lord in heaven . . .

AE 143 - repenting

AE 143
. . . no one repents
unless he actually separates himself
from the things of which he has repented;
and he separates himself from them
only when he shuns them and turns away from them.

AE 142 - separating good from truth, or charity from faith, is against Divine order

AE 142
. . . those who separate truth from good, or faith from charity,
turn away from themselves all influx of heaven into the goods they do,
in consequence of which their goods are not good;
for heaven flows in,
that is, the Lord through heaven,
into the good of a person's love;
he, therefore, that rejects the good of charity from the doctrine of the church,
and receives instead only those things that are called matters of faith,
is shut out of heaven . . .

AE 140 - an enlightened understanding

AE 140 [7]
The possibility of having his understanding enlightened
has been granted to a person for the sake of reformation.
For in a person's will dwells every kind of evil,
both that into which he is born,
and that into which he comes of himself;
and the will cannot be amended unless a person knows,
and by the understanding acknowledges,
truths and goods,
and also evils and falsities,
otherwise he cannot turn away from the latter and love the former.

And two phrases from AE 140 that struck me this morning:

. . . there exhales an abominable sphere of whoredom.

. . . with evils that gush out of the love of self.

AE 131, 135 - He came.

AE 131 [2]
. . . "sword" in the Word signifies truth combating against falsity,
and falsity against truth,
and therefore the dispersion of falsities,
and also spiritual temptation. . .

Jesus said that He came not to send peace on earth,
but a sword.
(Matthew 10:34)

Here by "sword" is meant the combat of temptation.
It was so said, because people at that time were in falsities,
and the Lord uncovered interior truths,
and only by combats from such truths
can falsities be cast out.

AE 135
By the Lord's "name" in the Word
is meant primarily the acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human,
because all things of love and faith are from that;
for Divine goods which are of love,
and Divine truths which are of faith,
proceed from no other source than from the Lord alone;
and these cannot flow in with a person
unless he thinks of the Lord's Divine
at the same time that he thinks of His Human . . .

AE 130 - by "angels" in the Word Divine truths are signified

AE 130 [8,10]
Because by "angels" in the Word Divine truths are signified,
therefore the people through whom Divine truths are made known
are sometimes called "angels" in the Word, as in Malachi:

The priest's lips ought to guard knowledge,
and they shall seek the law at his mouth,
because he is the angel of Jehovah.
(Malachi 2:7).

He is said to be the "angel of Jehovah,"
because he teaches Divine truth;
not that he is the angel of Jehovah,
but the Divine truth that he teaches is.
Moreover, it is known in the church that no one has Divine truth from himself.

It is said that by "angels" in the Word, in its spiritual sense,
Divine truths proceeding from the Lord are meant,
because these constitute the angels;
when angels utter these truths,
they speak not from themselves, but from the Lord.
The angels not only know that this is so,
but they also perceive it.
The person who believes that nothing of faith is from himself,
but that all faith is from God,
also knows this, indeed, but he does not perceive it.

AE 122 - to deny oneself

AE 122 [4]
Jesus said unto His disciples,
If any one will come after Me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross,
and follow Me.
(Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34)

"to deny oneself" is to put away evils that are from proprium [the self-life].

AE 116 - will & works

AE 116
. . . will is the cause and works are the effects,
and it is well known that
when will ceases work ceases.

AC 112 - knowledges & life lead to the spiritual affection of truth

AC 112 [3]
. . . without the knowledges of truth and good from the Word
no one can know anything of the Lord,
of the angelic heaven,
or of charity and faith;
and that which a person does not know,
he cannot think,
thus cannot will,
and accordingly cannot believe and love.

[4] . . . those who are in the spiritual affection of truth
are also in the life of charity,
for from that they have have spiritual affection.

[5] A person who is in the affection of truth from a spiritual origin
knows many more things than he knew before;
for the general knowledges that he has are like vessels
that can be filled with many things,
and they are also actually filled when he comes into heaven.

AE 109 - trees; AE 110 - paradise

AE 109
. . . trees signify those things that are internally in a person,
which pertain to his interior mind, or his external mind,
the boughs and leaves
those things which pertain to the knowledges of truth and good,
and the fruits the goods of life themselves.
This signification of trees originates in the spiritual world;
for in that world trees of all kinds are seen;
and these trees correspond to the interiors of the minds of angels and spirits;
beautiful and fruitful trees to the interiors of those
who are in the good of love, and thence in wisdom;
trees less beautiful and fruitful to those who are in the good of faith;
but trees bearing leaves only, and without fruit,
to those who are only in the knowledges of truth;
and trees of a dismal hue, with malignant fruits,
to those who are in knowledges and in evil of life;
but by those who are not in knowledges, and are in evil of life,
trees are not seen, but instead stones and sand.

AE 110
. . . it is believed that,
by the paradise treated of in the second chapter of Genesis,
is meant a paradisaical garden,
whereas no terrestrial paradise is there meant,
but a heavenly paradise,
which those possess
who have intelligence and wisdom
from the knowledges of good and truth.