AC 1603 - "glorification"

AC 1603 [2]
. . . with the Lord,
after He had expelled the hereditary evil,
and so had purified the organic things of His Human Essence,
these (the external things) too received life,
so that the Lord,
being already life in regard to His internal man,
became life as to His external man also.
This is what is signified by "glorification,":

Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified,
and God is glorified in Him.
If God is glorified in Him,
God shall also glorify Him in Himself,
and shall straightway glorify Him.
(John 13:31-32)

Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name.
There came therefore a voice from heaven,
I have both glorified, and will glorify it again.
(John 12:2)

AC 1590 - the Lord and heaven

AC 1590
The indefinite (unlimitedness) of heaven
is an image of the infinite of the Lord.

AC 1577, 1587 - the internal and external

AC 1577
With no person
have the internal person and the external ever been united;
nor could they be united,
nor can they be,
but with the Lord only,
for which cause also He came into the world.

[4] The internal person and the external are altogether distinct,
because celestial and spiritual things
are what affect the internal person,
but natural things are what affect the external.
But though distinct,
they are still united,
namely, when the celestial spiritual of the internal person
flows into the natural of the external,
and disposes it as its own.
In the Lord alone the internal person was united to the external;
this is not the case in any other person,
except so far as the Lord has united and does unite them.
Love and charity only, or good, is what unites;
and there is never any love and charity,
that is, any good,
except from the Lord.

AC 1587 [2]
There are three faculties which constitute the external person,
namely, the rational,
that of memory-knowledge (facts),
and the external sensuous.
The rational is interior,
the faculty of memory-knowledge is exterior,
and this sensuous is outermost.
It is the rational
by means of which the internal person is conjoined with the external;
and such as is the rational, such is the conjunction.
The external sensuous, here, is the sight and the hearing.
But in itself the rational is nothing,
unless affection flows into it
and makes it active,
and causes it to live.
It follows from this that the rational is such as is the affection.
When the affection of good flows in,
it becomes in the rational the affection of truth.
The contrary is the case when the affection of evil flows in.
As the faculty of memory-knowledge applies itself to the rational,
and is an agent (instrumentality) for it,
it follows that the affection inflows into this also, and disposes it;
for nothing but affection ever lives in the external person.
The reason of this is
that the affection of good comes down from the celestial,
that is, from celestial love,
which enlivens (vivifies) everything into which it flows . . .

AC 1571 - "there was strife between the herdmen;" (Genesis 13:7)

AC 1571
As worship is here treated of, namely,
that of the internal person and of the external,
and as these did not yet agree,
it is here said that "there was strife between the herdmen;"
for Abram represents the internal man,
and Lot the external.

In worship
the nature and quality of the disagreement
between the internal person and the external
are especially discernible,
and this even in every single thing of worship;
for when in worship
the internal person desires
to regard the ends that belong to the kingdom of God,
and the external person desires
to regard the ends that belong to the world,
there thus arises a disagreement
which manifests itself in the worship,
and that so plainly
that the smallest bit of such disagreement
is noticed in heaven.

AC 1554 - the order of being created anew; AC 1568 - the internal & external person

AC 1554
From His earliest infancy
the Lord advanced according to all Divine order
to celestial things, and into celestial things;
and in the internal sense,
the nature of this order
is described by what is said concerning Abram.
According to such order also
are all led who are being created anew by the Lord;
but this order is various with people,
according to the nature and genius of each one.
But the order by which a person is led while being regenerated
is not known to any person,
and not even to the angels, except obscurely,
but to the Lord alone.

AC 1568
In the external person there are many things
with which the internal person is able to dwell together,
such as affections for good
and the delights and pleasures arising from them,
for those delights and pleasures
are the effects of the goods of the internal person
and of his joys and happiness.
When these are the effects they correspond perfectly,
for in that case they belong to the internal person
and not to the external person.
For an effect, as is well known,
is not the product of an effect but of an efficient cause.
Take, for example, charity:
when this shines out of the face,
it is produced not by the face but by the charity within
that so controls the face and produces the effect.

[2] From this it is evident
that there are many things in the external person
that can dwell together and agree with the internal person.
But there are also very many which do not agree,
or together with which the internal person cannot dwell;
this is the case with all things that spring from the love of self,
and from the love of the world,
for all such things regard self as the end,
and the world as the end.
With these the celestial things which are of love to the Lord
and love toward the neighbor cannot agree;
for these look to the Lord as the end,
and to His kingdom
and all things that are of Him and His kingdom as the ends.
The ends of the love of self and the love of the world
look outward or downward;
but the ends of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor
look inward or upward;
from all which it is evident
that they disagree so much
that they cannot possibly be together.

AC 1542 - two things which prevent us from becoming celestial

AC 1542
There are two things with a person which prevent his becoming celestial,
one belongs to the understanding part of his mind,
the other to the will part.
Belonging to the understanding part
are the useless facts which he absorbs in childhood and adolescence;
belonging to the will part
are the pleasures arising out of the evil desires which he inclines to.
Both the former and the latter are what stand in the way
of him possibly attaining to celestial things.
These must first be dispersed,
and when they have been dispersed
he is able for the first time to be introduced
into the light reflected by celestial things,
and finally into celestial light itself.

[2] Because the Lord was born as any other is born
and needed to be taught as any other has to be,
He had also to learn facts;
this was represented and meant by Abram's sojourning in Egypt.
And the consideration that empty facts ultimately went away from Him
was also represented by Pharaoh's giving his men orders
to send him (Abram) away, and his wife, and everything he had.
The fact that the pleasures which belong to the will parts of the mind
and which constitute the sensory or most external person
also went away from Him is represented in this chapter
by Lot separating himself from Abram,
for Lot represents the sensory man.

AC 1525 - a heavenly light

AC 1525
It (the heavenly light) was a brightness
shot through with beautiful rays of golden flame
for those whose affections are for good,
and with rays of silvery light for those whose affections are for truth.
Sometimes too they see a sky,
though not the sky visible to our eyes.
Before their eyes appears a representation of the sky,
studded very beautifully with little stars.

AC 1502 - the arcana (secrets) hidden in the Word

AC 1502 [2-3]
These things would not have been related in the Word . . .
unless these arcana had been concealed within them.
Moreover this is the Word of the Lord,
which can in no wise have any life,
unless there is an internal sense that has regard to Him.

The arcana which lie stored up in these things,
as also in those said concerning Abram and Isaac in Philistia,
are-how the Lord's Human Essence was conjoined with His Divine Essence,
or what is the same,
how the Lord became Jehovah as to His Human Essence also;
and that His inauguration went on from childhood,
which inauguration is here treated of.
Moreover these things also involve more arcana than anyone can ever believe;
but those which can be told are so few as to be almost nothing.
Besides the most profound arcana concerning the Lord,
they also involve arcana
concerning the instruction and regeneration of a person,
that he may become celestial;
as also concerning his instruction and regeneration,
that he may become spiritual;
and not only concerning the instruction of the individual person,
but also concerning that of the church in general.
And, further, they involve arcana
concerning the instruction of little children in heaven;
in a word,
concerning the instruction of all
who become images and likenesses of the Lord.
These things do not at all appear in the sense of the letter,
for the reason that the historical narrative veils them over and obscures them;
but they appear in the internal sense.

AC 1472 - the internal person regards nothing but the use

AC 1472
The internal person regards nothing but the use.
For the sake of this end also,
the Lord insinuates the delight
that childhood and youth perceives in memory-knowledges.
But when a person begins to make his delight
consist in memory-knowledge alone,
it is a bodily lust (cupidity) which carries him away,
and in proportion as he is carried away
(that is, makes his delight consist in mere memory-knowledge),
in the same proportion he removes himself from what is celestial,
and in the same proportion
do the memory-knowledges close themselves
toward the Lord, and become material.
But in proportion as the memory-knowledges are learned
with the end of use, - as for the sake of human society,
for the sake of the Lord's church on earth,
for the sake of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens,
and still more for the Lord's own sake,
- the more are they opened toward Him.
On this account also the angels,
who are in the memory-knowledge of all knowledges,
and indeed to such a degree that scarcely one part in ten thousand
can be presented to the full understanding of a person,
yet esteem such knowledge as nothing in comparison with use.

AC 1475 - "wfe", "sister"; AC 1489 - the Lord's the first knowledges

AC 1475
. . . the signification of a "sister," as being intellectual truth
when celestial truth is a "wife," . . .

AC 1489
. . . unless the knowledges
which in childhood have performed the use of making the person rational,
are destroyed, so that they are as nothing,
truth can never be conjoined with what is celestial.
These first memory-knowledges
are for the most part earthly, corporeal, and worldly.
However Divine may be the precepts that a child learns,
he still has no other idea concerning them
than that which is obtainable from such knowledges;
and therefore, so long as those lowest knowledges cling to him,
from which are his ideas, his mind cannot be elevated.
With the Lord it was the same, because He was born as are other men,
and was to be instructed as are others, but according to Divine order,
which is such as has been stated.
In these things which are said concerning Abram in Egypt,
there is described the Divine order
- how in the Lord the external man was conjoined with the internal,
so that the external also might become Divine.

AC 1468-1469 - "He said to Sarai his wife" (Genesis 12:11)

AC 1468
"He said to Sarai his wife"
(Genesis 12:11)
A "wife," in the internal sense of the Word,
signifies nothing else than truth conjoined with good;
for the conjunction of truth with good
is altogether precisely as is a marriage.
In the Word, when a "husband" is mentioned,
the husband signifies good,
and the wife signifies truth;
but when he is not called the husband, but the "man,"
then he signifies truth,
and the wife signifies good:
this is the constant usage in the Word . . ..
It is historically true that Abram so said to his wife,
when journeying into Egypt;
but as before said,
all the historicals of the Word are representative,
and all the words are significative.
No other historicals are recorded in the Word, and in no other order,
and no other words are used to express them,
than such as in the internal sense may express these arcana.

AC 1469
. . . "Sarai," as a wife,
is the truth that was adjoined to the celestial things
which were in the Lord . . ..
. . . the Lord possessed all truth previous to His instruction.
What is celestial has truth with it,
the one being inseparable from the other, as light is from flame;
but this truth was stored up in the Lord's internal man, which was Divine.
The knowledges that He learned are not truths,
but are only recipient vessels;
just as whatever is in a person's memory is by no means truth,
although it is so called;
but the truth is therein, as in vessels.
These vessels were to be formed, or rather to be opened,
by the Lord, through instruction in knowledges from the Word;
not only that celestial things might be insinuated into them,
but also that the celestial things might in this way be made Divine;
for the Lord conjoined the Divine Essence with the Human Essence
in order that His Human things might likewise be made Divine.

AC 1461, 1462 - 'Egypt' and 'sojourn'

AC 1461
'And Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn'
(Genesis 12:10)
means instruction in knowledges from the Word.
. . . 'Egypt' means knowledge comprised of memory-knowledges,
and 'sojourning' receiving instruction . . ..
. . . the Lord received instruction in childhood
as anybody else does . . ..
The external person is corporeal and sensuous;
nor does it receive anything celestial and spiritual
unless knowledges are implanted in it, as in ground;
for in these (knowledges)
celestial things can have their recipient vessels.
But the knowledges must be from the Word.
Knowledges from the Word are such
that they are open from the Lord Himself;
for the Word itself is from the Lord through heaven,
and the Lord's life is in all things of the Word,
both in general and in particular,
although it does not so appear in the external form.
So it may be seen
that in His childhood
the Lord did not will to imbue (permeate, fill) Himself
with any other knowledges than those of the Word,
which was open to Him . . . from Jehovah Himself, His Father,
with whom He was to be united and become One;
and this the more,
because nothing is said in the Word
that does not in its inmosts have regard to Him,
and that has not first come from Him;
for the Human Essence was only a something
that was added to His Divine Essence
that was from eternity.

AC 1462 [6]
The Lord's being taken into Egypt when He was an infant
had no other meaning than that which here is meant by Abram,
though He was also taken there
so that He might fulfill all things that had taken place
and were representative of Himself.
The passage of Jacob and his sons down into Egypt
represented in the inmost sense
nothing other
than the Lord's initial instruction in knowledges from the Word.

AC 1450 - the Lord's fourth state; AC 1451 - celestial things

AC 1450
The Lord had first of all to be endowed from infancy
with the celestial things of love -
the celestial things of love consisting in love towards Jehovah
and love towards the neighbor,
and in innocence itself present in those loves.
From these, as from the very sources of life,
flows every single thing,
for all other things are simply derivatives.
These celestial things are implanted in a person
chiefly in the state of infancy through to childhood,
and in fact independently of knowledges;
for they flow in from the Lord
and stir that person with affection
before he knows what love is or what affection is,
as the infant state shows,
and after that the state of early childhood.
Those things with a person are the 'remains' . . . .
Since the Lord was born as any other is born,
He too was introduced according to order into celestial things,
step by step from infancy on into childhood,
and after that into knowledges.

AC 1451
Celestial things are insinuated into a person
both without knowledges, and with knowledges;
celestial things without knowledges
from infancy up to childhood . . .
but celestial things with knowledges
from childhood onward to adult age.
And as the Lord was to advance into the knowledges of celestial things,
which are signified by "Bethel,"
it is here said that Abram passed over there
to a mountain on the east of Bethel.

AC 1440-1441 - Shechem; AC 1442-1443 - the oak-grove Morah

Because this story of Abram is so powerfully of the Lord's development,
at this point, these quotes will be from the 'Arcana' for awhile.

AC 1440-1441
Abram passed through the land, even unto the place Shechem.
(Genesis 12:6)
That this signifies the Lord's second state,
when the celestial things of love became apparent to Him . . ..
In celestial things there is the very light of the soul;
because the Divine itself, that is, Jehovah Himself, is in them;
and as the Lord was to conjoin the Human Essence to the Divine Essence,
when He attained to celestial things
it could not be otherwise than that Jehovah appeared to Him.

Shechem is as it were the first station in the land of Canaan,
in journeying from Syria, or from Haran;
and as the celestial things of love are signified by "the land of Canaan,"
it is evident that their first appearing is signified by Shechem.
When Jacob returned from Haran into the land of Canaan,
he in like manner came to Shechem . . ..

AC 1442-1443
As soon as Jehovah appeared to the Lord in His celestial things
it is evident that He attained perception;
all perception is from celestial things.
. . . Everyone receives perception from the Lord
when he comes to celestial things.
They who have become celestial people,
such as those of the Most Ancient Church,
have all received perception.
They who become spiritual people,
that is, who receive charity from the Lord,
have something analogous to perception,
or rather they have a dictate of conscience, more or less clear,
in proportion as they are in the celestial things of charity.
The celestial things of charity are attended with this;
for in them alone the Lord is present,
and in them He appears to a person.
How much more must this have been the case with the Lord,
who from infancy advanced to Jehovah,
and was conjoined and united to Him,
so that they were One.

The intellectual things of the celestial person
are compared to a garden of trees of every kind;
his rational things,
to a forest of cedars and similar trees,
such as there were in Lebanon;
but his memory-knowledges are compared to oak-groves,
and this from their intertwined branches
such as are those of the oak.
By trees themselves are signified perceptions;
as by the trees of the garden of Eden eastward, inmost perceptions,
or those of intellectual things by the trees of the forest of Lebanon,
interior perceptions, or those of rational things;
but by the trees of an oak-grove,
exterior perceptions, or those of memory-knowledges,
which belong to the external person.
So it is that "the oak-grove Moreh"
signifies the Lord's first perception;
for He was as yet a child,
and His spiritual things were not more interior than this.
Besides, the oak-grove Moreh was where the sons of Israel also first came
when they passed over the Jordan
and saw the land of Canaan . . .
for the entrance of the sons of Israel
represents the entrance of the faithful into the Lord's kingdom.

AC 1434 - sensuous truth; AC 1435 - memory-knowledges; AC 1436 - the soul

sensuous truth = truth learned through the senses
memory knowledges = facts learned through the senses

AC 1434
Sensuous truth consists in seeing
all earthly and worldly things as being created by God,
and each and every thing for a purpose,
and in seeing in every single one
some likeness of the kingdom of God.
This sensuous truth is insinuated solely with the celestial person;
and as the Lord alone was a celestial man,
these and similar sensuous truths
were insinuated into Him in earliest childhood:
so He was prepared for the reception of celestial things.

memory knowledges = facts learned through the senses

AC 1435
Without the acquisition of memory-knowledges,
a person cannot as a human have any idea of thought.
The ideas of thought are founded upon those things
which have been impressed on the memory from the things of sense;
and therefore memory-knowledges
are vessels of spiritual things;
and affections that are from good pleasures of the body
are vessels of celestial things.

AC 1436
The soul in the proper sense
signifies that which lives in a person,
and thus his very life.
That in person which lives is not the body,
but the soul,
and the body lives by means of the soul.
The life itself of person,
or the living part of him,
is from celestial love;
there cannot possibly be anything living
which does not derive its origin from this;
and therefore by "soul" is here signified
the good which lives from celestial love,
which good is the living essential itself.

AC 1426, 1428 - the Lord's Human Essence

AC 1426
That 'Abram' represents the Lord as regards His Human Essence
is clear from all that has been said concerning Abram.
Later on He represents Him
both as regards the Human Essence
and as regards the Divine Essence,
though by then he is called Abraham.
The things stated in verse 1 and down to the present verse 4
represent and mean a first awareness
that He was taking to Himself
celestial and thus Divine things.
Advances of His Human Essence
closer to His Divine Essence
begin here.


AC 1428
It is clear that the Lord was born like any other,
though from a woman who was a virgin,
and that He had sensory perception and bodily desires like any other,
but that He differed from any other
in that sensory perception and bodily desires
were eventually united to celestial things and made Divine.
The Lord's actual sensory perception and bodily desires
are represented by Lot,
. . . as it was during His state of childhood
and not as it became
once it had been united to the Divine
by means of celestial things.

AC 1408 - the Word of the Lord is like a body that contains within it a living soul

And Jehovah said unto Abram,
Get thee out of thy land,
and from thy birth,
and from thy father's house,
to the land that I will cause thee to see.
(Genesis 12:1)

AC 1408
These and the things which follow occurred historically as they are written;
but the historical details are representatives
and all the words are significative.
The case is the same with all the historical books of the Word,
not only with those in the books of Moses,
but also with those in the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings.
In all these, nothing is apparent but mere history;
but although it is history in the sense of the letter,
still in the internal sense there are arcana of heaven,
which lie stored up and hidden there,
and which can never be seen so long as the mind, together with the eye,
is kept in the historical details;
nor are they revealed until the mind is removed from the sense of the letter.
The Word of the Lord is like a body that contains within it a living soul;
the things belonging to the soul do not appear
while the mind is so fixed in corporeal things
that it scarcely believes that there is a soul,
still less that it will live after death;
but as soon as the mind withdraws from corporeal things,
those which are of the soul and life become clear.
And this also is the reason,
not only why corporeal things must die
before a person can be born anew, or be regenerated,
but also why the body itself must die
so that he may come into heaven and see heavenly things.

SD 1923,1924 - angels and people; SD 1946 - the Lord never wills

SD 1923, 1924
A fact that may seem wonderful to others is,
that the angels receive a much better understanding of things from infants -
their thoughts, prayers, and words -
than from adults,
who deem themselves possessed of a fuller sense of words and things.
. . . and the reason is,
that in the ideas of infants there is nothing as yet closed by falsities,
nothing defiled and filthy by means of cupidities and hatreds,
nothing corporeal, as there is in adults;
but all is innocence,
and thus their ideas are open,
though not to themselves, yet to the angels . . ..

In proportion as a person advances in age
and becomes immersed in worldly and corporeal things,
all his ideas are more closed towards heaven:
nor are they opened except in those in whom the Lord deems it fitting.
From this it is to be understood
what is meant by Adam's being expelled from Paradise,
and guards being placed at the entrance and at the tree of life.

SD 1946
. . . the Lord never by any means
wills that a person should be infected by evil spirits.

AC 1401, 1402 - Abram; AC 1405 - the Word's internal sense

AC 1401, 1402 - Genesis 12
True historical things begin here,
all of which are representative,
and each word significative (carrying a spiritual meaning).
The things related in this chapter concerning Abram
represent the Lord's state from earliest childhood up to youth.
As the Lord was born in the same way as other men,
He also advanced from an obscure state to one more lucid.
. . . The progress from memory-knowledges [facts]
even to celestial truths is described;
this was according to Divine order,
that the Lord's Human Essence
might be conjoined with His Divine Essence,
and at the same time become Jehovah.

AC 1405
. . . the internal sense is such
that every single thing has to be understood apart from the letter,
abstractedly - as though the letter did not exist;
for within the internal sense reside the soul and life of the Word,
which are not open to view
unless the sense of the letter so to speak vanishes.
This is how angels are led by the Lord to perceive the Word
when it is being read by a person.

SD 1894-1896 - levels of the Lord's prayer; SD 1908 - peace and quiet

SD 1894 - 1896
. . . in one simple mental image of the human mind,
there are countless elements,
perceived by the person as a certain very general unit.
The inward aspects of that mental image are seen by inward angels,
the very inward and innermost aspects by very inward and innermost angels.
What appears to inward angels as a general unit,
or what appears as a least element of their mental image,
unfolds into countless elements,
understandable by very inward angels,
and then by innermost angels.

Spiritual mental images relate to heavenly ones
in the same way as mere mental images of things relate to feelings;
for they are distinct levels.

Another instance is when the Lord's Prayer is being prayed.
In each single idea understood simply by the person,
and sometimes according to the words
and thus the human picture they convey,
angels understand what is said inwardly, very inwardly, and inmostly.
(April 10, 1748)

SD 1908
A state of peace is in a higher level,
a state of mental quiet (calm) is on a lower.
. . . the states of joy in the heavens
are unlimited in respect to pleasantness and delights of all kinds,
completely inconceivable to a person on earth,
but nonetheless, these joys, even the very least of them,
are such that when one feels them,
one does not want ever to be in the body again,
and engrossed in bodily and worldly cares.
(May 9, 1748)

AC 1392 - happiness in loving the neighbor; AC 1398 - the sphere of mutual love

AC 1392
. . . those who love the neighbor more than themselves,
and who desire nothing more than to transfer their happiness to others;
a condition that originates in the Lord,
who in this manner communicates forms of happiness to the angels.

AC 1398
. . . one angel is able to drive away tens of thousands of evil spirits,
for they cannot withstand the sphere of mutual love.

SD 1878 - the Lord is never the cause of evil

SD 1878
The Lord is never the cause of evil,
consequently He never expels evil by evil,
but does away evil by good.
This law, which is acknowledged in heaven,
is difficult of comprehension to those who are not heavenly.
This was given to me
while engaged this day in praying the Lord's Prayer.
(April 8, 1748)

AC 1357 - idolatry

AC 1357
There are three universal kinds of idolatry.
The first comes of the love of self;
the second, of the love of the world;
the third, of the love of pleasures.
All idolatrous worship has one or other of these for its end.
The worship of idolaters can have no other ends;
for they know not and care not for eternal life;
they even deny it.

AC 1330, 1336 - births, lived, begat

AC 1330
Here, and elsewhere in the Word,
the "births" are no other than those of the church,
that is, of doctrinal things and of worships.
The internal sense of the Word enfolds nothing else;
and therefore when any church is born,
it is said that "these are its births" . . .

AC 1336
. . . lived . . . years signifies the duration and state . . .
. . . and begat sons and daughters," signifies the doctrinal things.

SD 1826 - thinking thoughts

SD 1826
It is wonderful that ideas are more enriched by the Lord
while a person does not particularly pay attention to them
or does not try himself to fill them in,
and so does not advert to them.
. . . the ideas of little children are much more filled
than those of adults while praying the Lord's Prayer;
for the adult is liable to be disturbed in his ideas,
so that they are less easily filled . . .

AC 1316 - the Lord's presence

AC 1316
. . . the Lord cannot possibly be present with a person
whose end is his own good . . .
He (the person) thus takes away from the Lord what is His,
and put himself in His place.

SD 1790 - Concerning the Lord's Prayer

SD 1790
When the Lord's prayer is being said,
(another translation says 'read')
which embraces all heavenly and spiritual things within it,
so much can be poured into every least detail
that heaven itself is not great enough to contain it all,
and this of course depending on the capacity and use of each individual.
As one penetrates more and more inwardly,
the more plentiful and abundant is the content,
and things that are understood in the heavens,
are not grasped in the regions below,
but are like secrets to them,
some only comprehensible by a kind of mental faith,
and some ineffable.
(April 1, 1748)

(ineffable - too great or extreme
to be expressed or described in words, or too sacred to be uttered)

AC 1296 - Come, let us make bricks. (Genesis 6:3)

AC 1296
In the Word, "stone" signifies truth,
and therefore "brick,"
because it is made by man, signifies falsity;
for brick is stone artificially made.

SD 1731 - the Lord's Prayer is said

SD 1731
. . . for all spirits and angels,
how ever many and of what ever quality they may be,
may be known from the ideas they have
when the Lord's Prayer is pronounced . . .

AC 1285 - variety and the influx of the Lord

AC 1285 [2]
Heaven consists of countless communities.
They all vary, and yet all are one,
for all are led as one by the Lord . . ..
A parallel exists in a person,
in that although internally his body has so many parts,
which, like his other organs and limbs,
have so many inner parts,
each functioning differently from any other,
yet all of them, every single one,
are nevertheless controlled as one by one soul.
A parallel also exists with the human body,
which has different ways of exerting its strength and of moving.
Nevertheless all are controlled
by one motion of the heart and one of the lungs,
and together make one.
The reason they are able to function as one in this way
is that in heaven there is one single influx
which is received by everyone according to his own disposition.
This influx is an influx of affections from the Lord,
from His mercy and life.
And although there is one influx only,
everything nevertheless conforms and follows as one.
And this comes about through the mutual love shared by those in heaven.

AC 1276, 1277 - how spirits and angels are positioned, and even our souls

AC 1276
Spirits in the world of spirits, and angels in heaven,
are positioned as follows:
Angels are on the Lord's right and evil spirits on His left.
At the front are those of an intermediate kind,
while the wicked are at the back.
. . . In this way the positions of all are fixed in relation to the Lord,
as to every direction and degree of height,
horizontally and vertically, and in every oblique direction.
Their positions remain constant, eternally the same.
The heavens constitute so to speak one human being,
who is therefore called the Grand Man,
to which everything in the human being also corresponds.
. . . Consequently the positioning of everything around each angel is similar,
and around each person to whom heaven is opened by the Lord.
This is an effect of the Lord's presence,
and could not happen if the Lord were not omnipresent in heaven.

AC 1277
The same applies to people as regards their souls,
which are constantly bound to some community of spirits or angels.
People too have a position in the Lord's kingdom
that is determined by the nature of their life and by their states.
The fact that on earth people are distant from one another
makes no difference at all.
Even though many thousands of miles should separate them,
they can still be present together in one community -
those who live in charity in one angelic community,
those who live in hatred and the like in one community in hell.
Nor in like manner does the fact
that many people on earth exist together in the same place
make any difference -
they are still all distinct and separate
according to the nature of their life and of their states,
each one possibly in a different community from the rest.
When people who are several hundreds or thousands of miles
distant from one another
are seen with the eyes of internal sense
they are so close that some are in a position to touch one another.
Thus if a number of people existed on earth
whose internal sight was open
they would be able to be together and talk together
even though one was in India and another in Europe . . ..
So every single person on earth is very present with the Lord,
under His view and Providence.

SD 1705 - with those in whom good reigns

SD 1705
With those in whom good reigns,
there is nothing which they do not turn into good, and excuse.
Thus whatever is from the Lord,
and whoever is led by the Lord,
with such everything is converted into good.
(March 26, 1748)

AC 1247, 1259, 1264 - names and nations

AC 1247
. . . in its internal sense
the Word relates only to the Lord,
to His Kingdom in the heavens and on earth,
and consequently to the church
and the things of the church.

AC 1259
The quality or character of a person,
from which he is regarded in heaven,
is his charity and faith.
This anyone may clearly apprehend if he considers
that when he looks at any person, or any family, or nation,
he thinks for the most part of what quality they are . . ..
The idea of their quality comes instantly to mind,
and in himself he estimates them from that.
Still more is this the case with the Lord;
and, from Him, with the angels,
who cannot but regard a person, a family, and a nation,
from their quality in respect to charity and faith.
And so it is that in the internal sense
by "nations" nothing else is signified than the worship of the church,
and this in respect to its quality,
which is the good of charity and the derivative truth of faith.
When the term "nations" occurs in the Word,
the angels do not abide at all in the idea of a nation,
in accordance with the historical sense of the letter,
but in the idea of the good and truth in the nation that is named.

AC 1264
From all this it may now be seen
that although in this chapter mere names of nations and families occur,
yet it contains, in general,
not only all the differences of worship
as regards the goods of charity and truths of faith
that were in the Ancient Church,
but also all that are in any church;
in fact it contains more than any person could ever believe.
Such is the Word of the Lord.

Reading through the epistles

I have never before read the various books in the Bible that aren't named in the Arcana as having a continuous spiritual sense. In the NIV I am using, there is an introduction to every book, which has been interesting to read. The intro for I Corinthians reads:

This letter was written by Paul to the church in Corinth, probably in the winter of AD 55. It was while he was in Ephesus that he sent this letter in response to a letter from the Corinthian church.

Located on the Mediterranean, the city of Corinth was a wealthy trading center. It was also a wicked city and was known for that throughout the Roman world. Because the church in Corinth was new, it was hard for the Christians there not to act like their neighbor, so the church had some problems.

The Christians in Corinth were not getting along with one another - they were taking sides. Some of them were living very sinful lives. Paul wrote this letter to scold them and teach them about the Christian life so that people in Corinth would know right from wrong.

Sound familiar?

SD 1683 - About marriage love (conjugial love) and that of parents toward their children

SD 1683
The source of true marital love (conjugial love)
and the love of parents toward their children,
and even greater love toward grandchildren, no one knows.
Yet because something heavenly is [felt] in those loves,
there must be something universal coming out of heaven
and flowing into the minds of all people.
Such a phenomenon cannot be without a cause in the innermost regions,
and in the most high.
Without a cause in the innermost regions, and in the most high,
it would never exist;
for what is there that is without a cause and origin of itself?

Its origin is obvious, namely,
that the Lord loves as a whole all angels, spirits and men as His own,
and because of this that Love itself is compared to marriage love
and is ascribed to the Lord as bridegroom and husband,
and to the Church as bride and wife.
Without the love of the Lord toward all and each
and its obvious inflow into the innermost,
and then the very inward human minds,
no marriage love would ever exist,
consequently no love of goodness,
which branches out in various ways from the principle of marriage.
Moreover, if the Lord did not love all and each
as a Father loves his children,
and the innermost heaven from the Lord
as a mother loves her children,
a love of children would never exist. It cannot produce itself.
It is also because of this descent of love
that parental love is even greater toward grandchildren.
(March 25, 1748)

AC 1223 , 1226 - the sons of Shem: Elam, Asshur, Arpachshad, Lud, and Aram

AC 1223
The sons of Shem:
Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.
(Genesis 10:22)

By "Shem" is signified here as before, an internal church;
by "the sons of Shem," the things that are of wisdom;
"Elam, and Asshur, and Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram"
were so many nations,
by which are signified things that are of wisdom -
by "Elam" faith from charity,
by "Asshur" the derivative reason,
by "Arpachshad" the derivative memory-knowledge,
by "Lud" the knowledges of truth,
by "Aram" the knowledges of good.

AC 1226
Everything is called wisdom that springs from charity,
because it comes by means of charity from the Lord,
from whom is all wisdom, for He is wisdom itself.
. . . And because they are sons of the Lord through charity,
wisdom is predicated of each of them,
for wisdom is in each of them,
and they draw their life from it,
and this in such a manner that neither intelligence,
nor memory-knowledge, nor knowledge,
has life except from the wisdom which is of charity,
which is of the Lord.

SD 1628 - to live from the Lord

SD 1628
. . . to live from the Lord,
is something which neither a person nor spirit [duly] perceives,
and for this reason he is prone to imagine
that such a life is no life at all,
whereas it is the veriest (truest) life itself,
although one ought neither to make efforts from himself,
nor yet relapse into apathy without attempting anything.
These things are of a more interior nature,
and therefore difficult to believe,
because they are neither understood nor perceived.

AC 1194, AC 1203 - the connections in the Lord's Word

AC 1194
For the Word of the Lord . . . in its internal sense,
never treats of other things
than those which belong to His Kingdom,
and thus to the church . . .

AC 1203
It is customary in the Prophets
for spiritual and celestial things to be joined together,
that is, where spiritual things are treated of,
celestial things are also treated of;
for the reason that the one is from the other,
and there is a certain want of perfection if they are not conjoined;
so that there is an image of the heavenly marriage
in each and all things of the Word.
. . . Knowledges of spiritual things
are those which have regard to faith, consequently to doctrine;
and knowledges of celestial things
are those which have regard to love, and thus to life.

AC 1182 - the quality of worship

AC 1182
For the quality of external worship
is precisely in accordance with the interiors;
the more innocent the interiors are,
the more innocent is the external worship;
but the more foul the interiors are,
the more foul is the external worship;
and the more profane the interiors are,
the more profane is the external worship.
In a word,
the more of the love of the world and of self
there is in a person
who is in this external worship,
the less there is that is living and holy in his worship . . ..

SD 1622 - Evil spirits tell very tall tales, and they lie.

SD 1622
When spirits begin to speak with a person,
one must take care not to believe them at all,
for almost everything they say, they have made up, and they are lying.
If for example they are allowed to tell what heaven is like,
and how matters stand in the heavens,
they would tell so many lies, with great assurance,
that the person would be astounded.
Therefore, I was not allowed to give credence to the spirits
who were speaking in regard to anything they told.
(March 20, 1748)
For they are very fond of fabricating,
and whenever any topic of conversation is raised,
they think they know all about it,
and express their opinions about it one after the other,
as if they knew exactly;
and if anyone then listens to them and believes them,
then they press on, and in various ways trick and mislead the person.
. . . So such persons must take care not to believe them,
this being the reason why the condition
of speaking with spirits on this planet is most dangerous,
unless one has true belief.
They bring on such a strong persuasion
that it is the Lord Himself speaking and commanding,
that the person cannot help but believe, and obey.

AC 1176 - faith and love

AC 1176
. . . love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are faith itself;
and that the knowledges which they call faith
exist for no other end than that by means of them
people may receive from the Lord
love to Him and love toward the neighbor;
and that this is the faith which saves.

SD 1568 - craving, etc.

SD 1568
For the sake of distinctions,
to crave, or have an appetite for, applies to the body;
to want, or have a passion for, pertains to the lower mind;
to desire, or have a longing for, pertains to the inward, reasoning mind;
but to will pertains to the very inward mind,
while to be moved [or have an affection for],
although this is used in several connections,
can nevertheless strictly be applied to the innermost qualities.
(March 20, 1748)

AC 1159 - families

AC 1159 [2]
That "families" in the internal sense signify uprightness,
and also charity and love,
comes from the fact that in the heavens
all things which are of mutual love
are circumstanced as are relationships by blood and by marriage,
thus as families.
In the Word therefore the things which pertain to love or charity
are expressed by "houses," and also by "families" . . ..

SD 1561 - the good given by the Lord

SD 1561
So whenever upon self-reflection
we consider we are thinking good, or doing good,
this comes from our ego, from some love, desire, craving.
And whenever one attributes this to oneself,
it is sin in every particular.
So the good that is given by the Lord
is done when we are not reflecting from our own effort,
that is, when we are unaware of it,
according to the Lord's Word,
that a person is reborn while he is unaware of it [see John 3:8].
(March 20, 1748)

The wind blows wherever it pleases.
You hear its sound,
but you cannot tell
where it comes from
or where it is going.
So it is with everyone
born of the Spirit.
(John 3:8)

AC 1153 - true worship is adoration of the Lord in humbleness

AC 1153
In general, all the diversities of external,
as also of internal worship,
are according to the adoration of the Lord in the worship;
and the adoration is according to the love to the Lord
and the love toward the neighbor.
For the Lord is present in love,
and thereby in worship . . ..

[2] . . . all true worship consists in adoration of the Lord,
adoration of the Lord in being humble,
and humbleness in one's acknowledgment
that in himself there is nothing living, and nothing good,
but that all within him is dead, yea, cadaverous;
and in the acknowledgment
that everything living and everything good is from the Lord.
The more a person acknowledges these things,
not with the mouth, but with the heart,
the more he is humble;
and consequently the more he is in adoration, that is, in true worship,
and the more he is in love and charity, and the more in happiness.
The one is in the other, so conjoined as to be inseparable.

AC 1151 - the Word of the Lord

AC 1151 [2]
. . . the Word of the Lord
does not treat of worldly things,
but enfolds with in it
Divine things.

AC 1119 - respiration and love

AC 1119
Angels have a respiration to which internal respiration corresponds;
and it likewise varies with them.
For when anything befalls them
which is contrary to love and faith in the Lord,
their respiration is restrained;
but when they are in the happiness of love and faith,
their respiration is free and full.
There is something like this also with every person,
but in accordance with his corporeal and worldly loves
and also with his principles.
When anything opposes these,
there is a restriction of the respiration;
and when they are favored,
the respiration is free and full.

SD 1509 - the Lord is Order; SD 1531 - the use of our world in order

SD 1509
. . . the Lord wills that each and all things should happen according to order,
so that they should proceed, as it were, spontaneously.
For the Lord is Order
and thus establishes it,
such as order in the body,
wherein each and all things flow as of themselves.

SD 1531
. . . the inhabitants and spirits of our earth are the external sense,
and that they are corporeal
and thus approach the nature of brutes rather than the human nature.
. . . But although those on this earth are such,
yet they possess the knowledges of the truths of faith
which are serviceable for a ground, as it were,
in which spiritual and celestial truths of faith can be sown.
Without such a ground
the truths of faith are not easily implanted so that they may grow.
For this reason also the spirits of our earth
more easily enter the interior and more interior heaven
after the exteriors have been devastated;
and because they take with them something from the life of the body,
they also may serve as ministering means for instructing others
who do not possess such knowledges from Revelation.
For this reason the Lord loved our earth above others,
since for perfect order to exist,
celestial and spiritual truths must be take root in natural truths.
It is also to be observed
that while the knowledges and ideas of the angels
are indefinitely more profound than the ideas of people,
still they are rooted in natural truths.
So do truths mutually succeed and correspond to each other.
(March 18,1748)

SD 1464, 1469 - interpretation and confirmation

SD 1464
For it is also well known
that anyone is able to take something from the Word
and interpret it according to his own opinions,
as long as he adheres to the letter only;
and he explains it as he chooses in the interior sense,
as can be evident from many things.

SD 1469
For those who take up truths from the Word of the Lord as premises,
and then confirm them by philosophical material
or arguments derived from nature,
do not suffer any hardship provided they do not do so out of self-love.
On the other hand, those who do so from their own ingenuity,
assuming certain premises
and from them trying to hatch out or support spiritual and heavenly truths,
do suffer hardship.
(March 17, 1748)

AC 1102 - when one dwells in the tents of Shem

AC 1102
When a person feels or perceives in himself
that he has good thoughts concerning the Lord,
and that he has good thoughts concerning the neighbor,
and desires to perform kind offices for him,
not for the sake of any gain or honor for himself;
and when he feels that he has pity for anyone who is in trouble,
and still more for one who is in error in respect to the doctrine of faith,
then he may know that he dwells in the tents of Shem, that is,
that he has internal things in him through which the Lord is working.

SD 1436-1437,1439-1440 - seeds of faith taking root

SD 1436
Seeds of faith that have taken root
in a person on earth, a soul, a spirit, and also in an angel,
by means of enlightened knowledge [implanted]
and then branching and sprouting in different directions,
are of this nature:
when a religious truth has been implanted,
then gradually it grows out into many truths,
as if taking over the whole space,
and falsities are gradually consumed.

First, evils are wiped away in the person,
otherwise [religious truth] cannot be implanted.
Evils are the "tares" that put forth roots widely,
obstructing the roots of the good seed.
After that comes conviction of the truth of religion,
which gives birth to derivative convictions
joined with other enlightened knowledge.
Next comes the love of truth.
Thus that seed reproduces and bears fruit beyond measure.

But it should be pointed out
that the Lord Alone implants truths and goodness,
and causes them to sprout.
Therefore, unless they are truths of faith,
they cannot take root, much less come forth,
but there are the roots of weeds choking them,
although not uprooting them.
They are preserved,
so that when the tares have been weeded out,
they may come forth, and sprout.

Nor should one attempt to acquire
a love of the truths of faith on one's own power;
nor by the promptings of a different love,
namely, the love of self or of the world.
For then [truth] does not take root;
but the Lord Alone inspires love.

The seeds are numberless,
because they are the seeds of religious faith,
consequently of all spiritual and heavenly realities.
But the universal and only seed
in which all the rest are disposed by rows and ranks,
is that the Lord Alone rules the universe,
and that He is the all in everything true and good,
and that person, spirit, and angel
regarded in themselves are nothing.
(March 16, 1748)

AC 1098 - the person of the internal church and the person of the external

AC 1098
The person of the internal church
attributes to the Lord all the good that he does,
and all the truth that he thinks;
but the person of the external church
does not know how to do this,
and yet does what is good.
The person of the internal church
makes the worship of the Lord from charity,
thus internal worship, essential,
and external worship not so essential;
but the person of the external church makes external worship essential,
and does not know what internal worship is, although he has it.
And therefore the person of the internal church
believes that he is acting against his conscience
if he does not worship the Lord from what is internal;
while the person of the external church
believes that he is acting against his conscience
if he does not sacredly observe external rites.
There are many things
in the conscience of the person of the internal church,
because he knows many things from the internal sense of the Word;
but there are fewer things
in the conscience of the person of the external church,
because he knows few things from the internal sense of the Word.

AC 1073, 1076, 1077 - the truths of faith, charity, & conscience

AC 1073, 1076, 1077
The truths of faith themselves are compared to garments
which cover the goods of charity, or charity itself;
for charity is the body itself,
and therefore truths are its garments;
or what amounts to the same thing,
charity is the soul itself
and the truths of faith are as the body,
which is the clothing of the soul.
The truths of faith are also called in the Word "garments" and a "covering"
and therefore it is said in the twenty-third verse
that Shem and Japheth took a garment
and covered the nakedness of their father.
Spiritual things relatively to celestial
are as a body that clothes the soul,
or as garments that clothe the body;
and in heaven they are represented by garments.

. . . conscience that is really conscience
cannot possibly exist except from charity.
Charity is what makes conscience,
that is, the Lord through charity.
What else is conscience than not to do evil to anyone in anyway;
that is, to do well to all in every way?
Thus conscience belongs to charity,
and never to faith separated from charity.

Conscience is formed by means of the truths of faith,
for that which a person has heard, acknowledged, and believed
makes the conscience in him;
and afterwards to act contrary to this
is to him to act contrary to conscience,
as may be sufficiently evident to everyone;
so that unless it is the truths of faith
that a person hears, acknowledges, and believes,
he cannot possibly have a true conscience.
For it is through the truths of faith
(the Lord working in charity)
that a person is regenerated,
and therefore it is through the truths of faith
that he receives conscience,
conscience being the new person himself.
From this it is evident
that the truths of faith are the means by which this may take place,
that is, that the person may live according to what faith teaches,
the principal of which is to love the Lord above all things,
and the neighbor as himself.

SD 1358-1359 - the tongue

SD 1358 - 1359
The tongue affords entrance both to the lungs and to the stomach,
and so provides for both.
Thus it signifies a court-yard, as it were,
to spiritual and celestial things.
For the lungs signify spiritual things,
and the stomach,
because it pertains to the heart to which it ministers
[by providing] the blood with its nourishment, and for other reasons,
serves as a court-yard to celestial things.
It is by aid of the lungs that a person is able to speak.

The tongue, therefore, signifies the affection of truth,
for affection is celestial,
and truth spiritual.
Thus those who enjoy the affection of truth
constitute the province of the tongue.

AC 1069 - a garden and a vineyard

AC 1069
. . . the celestial church was described by the Paradisal Garden,
in which were trees of every kind;
and by the "trees" of that garden
were signified the perceptions of that church,
and by the "fruits" the goods of love of every kind.
But the Ancient Church, being spiritual,
is described by a "vineyard" from its fruits, which are grapes,
and which represent and signify the works of charity.

SD 1339 - body and soul

SD 1339
. . . the body
regarded in itself
relatively to the soul
is nothing
except something obedient and subservient . . .

AC 1055 - the eternal or everlasting covenant

AC 1055
That I may remember the eternal covenant.
(Genesis 9:16)
. . . there is no other "eternal covenant"
than love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor.
This is eternal, because from eternity to eternity.
The universal heaven is founded in love, and so is universal nature;
for in nature nothing whatever is possible -
in which there is any union and conjunction,
whether it be animate or inanimate -
that does not derive its origin from love.
. . . Consequently love, or a semblance of love,
has been implanted in all things in general and in particular;
with a person alone there is not love, but the contrary,
because a person has destroyed in himself the order of nature.
When however he can be regenerated,
or restored again to order, and can receive mutual love,
then there is "the covenant" or conjunction by charity . . ..

SD 1313 - The Lord God Alone Lives

SD 1313
Spirits were very indignant
when I said that the Lord God alone lives,
and that no person, spirit, or angel lives from himself
or has life from himself, but is only an organ of life.
Because the spirits cannot comprehend this
I have demonstrated it in various ways:

(1) That the senses of the body or the body
does not live from itself but from the spirit,
neither does the spirit live from itself but from its soul,
so neither does the soul live from itself but from the Lord.

(2) Further, that a person supposes no otherwise than that his body lives,
and yet the souls after death, or spirits . . . are still living
even though their body is lacking,
a fact they had not believed in their lifetime.
Also, that a soul supposes
that he lives from the corporeal things in which alone he places life,
when yet souls know that the corporeal life of the soul can be removed
and they can still live in an interior life in a similar manner.
This was shown before their very eyes so that it is not denied.

(3) In what way did they want to conceive of the life of a person or spirit?
In any other manner than as a form or organ?
As a vital flame dwelling within and kindling life?
Since no one can conceive of these things in spiritual sight
they could not but agree.
Whatever people may say to the contrary
as that life is from life,
thus something separate is nothing but words.

(4) Thus, also, the better spirits
live a more interior life than recently arrived souls;
the angels of the interior heaven a life still more interior,
having laid to the side their former life;
the angels of the more interior heaven,
having laid to the side the interior life,
lead a more interior life
of which the lower angels can have no conception,
but which all the higher angels well understand.

None of them can now say a word; they are silent.

The angels of the interior heaven,
following those of the more interior heaven
and also those of the inmost heaven,
now affirm that this is the very truth.
A voice from the heavens by means of spirits
came to me in successive order affirming this.
(March 12, 1748)

AC 1038 - "And God said, This is the sign of the covenant" (Genesis 9:12)

AC 1038
That a "covenant" is the presence of the Lord in love and charity,
is evident from the nature of a covenant.
Every covenant is for the sake of conjunction,
that is, for the sake of living in mutual friendship, or love.
Marriage also is for this reason called a covenant.
There is no conjunction of the Lord with person
except in love and charity;
for the Lord is love and mercy itself.
He wills to save everyone
and to draw him with mighty power to heaven, that is, to Himself.
From this everyone may know and conclude
that no one can ever be conjoined with the Lord
except through that which He Himself is,
that is, except by becoming like or making one with Him -
in other words, by loving the Lord in return
and loving the neighbor as himself.
By this alone is the conjunction effected.
This is the very essence of a covenant.

[2] Because the "covenant"
is the conjunction of the Lord with a person by love,
or what is the same,
the presence of the Lord with a person in love and charity,
it is called in the Word the "covenant of peace;"
for "peace" signifies the kingdom of the Lord,
and the kingdom of the Lord consists in mutual love,
in which alone is peace.

[5] Since a "covenant" is the conjunction of the Lord with a person by love,
it follows that it is also by all things that pertain to love,
which are the truths of faith, and are called precepts;
for all precepts, indeed the Law and the Prophets,
are founded on the one Law,
to love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as oneself . . ..
And therefore the tables on which were written the ten commandments,
are called the "Tables of the Covenant."
Since a covenant, or conjunction,
is effected through the laws or precepts of love,
it was effected also through the laws of society
given by the Lord in the Jewish Church, which are called "testimonies;"
and also through the rites of the church
ordered by the Lord, called "statutes."
All these things are said to be of the "covenant" . . ..

[6] From these things it is now evident what a "covenant" is,
and that the covenant is internal;
for the conjunction of the Lord with a person takes place by what is internal,
and never by what is external separate from what is internal.
External things are only types and representatives of internal,
as the action of a person
is a type representative of his thought and will;
and as the work of charity
is a type representative of the charity which is within, in the heart and mind.
So all the rites of the Jewish Church were types representative of the Lord,
consequently of love and charity, and of all things therefrom.
Wherefore it is through the internals of a person
that a covenant and conjunction is made,
and externals are only signs of the covenant,
as indeed they are called.

AC 1032 - The Lord has mercy towards the whole human

AC 1032
The Lord has mercy toward the whole human race,
and wills to save and draw to Himself all who are in the universe.

[2] The mercy of the Lord is infinite,
and does not suffer itself to be limited
to those few who are within the church,
but extends itself to all in the whole world.
Their being born out of the church
and being thus in ignorance of faith, is not their fault;
and no one is ever condemned
for not having faith in the Lord
when he is ignorant of Him.
Who that thinks aright will ever say
that the greatest part of the human race must perish in eternal death
because they were not born in Europe, where there are comparatively few?
And who that thinks aright will say
that the Lord suffered so great a multitude to be born
to perish in eternal death?
This would be contrary to the Divine,
and contrary to mercy.
And besides, those who are out of the church, and are called Gentiles,
live a much more moral life than those who are within the church,
and embrace much more easily the doctrine of true faith,
as is still more evident from souls in the other life.
The worst of all come from the so-called Christian world,
holding the neighbor in deadly hatred, and even the Lord.
Above all others in the whole world they are adulterers.

[3] It is not so with those from other parts of the world.
Very many of those who have worshiped idols
are of such a disposition as to abhor hatred and adultery,
and to fear Christians because of their being of this character
and desirous of tormenting everyone.
Indeed Gentiles are so disposed as to listen readily,
when taught by angels about the truths of faith,
and that the Lord rules the universe,
and to be easily imbued with faith and thus to reject their idols.
For this reason Gentiles
who have lived a moral life and in mutual charity and innocence,
are regenerated in the other life.
While they live in the world
the Lord is present with them in charity and innocence,
for there is nothing of charity and innocence except from the Lord.
The Lord also gives them a conscience
of what is right and good according to their religion,
and insinuates innocence and charity into that conscience;
and when there is innocence and charity in the conscience,
they easily suffer themselves to be imbued with the truth of faith from good.

SD 1235 - whatever a person loves

SD 1235
Whatever a person loves,
that he fears to lose . . .

AC 1013 - an image vs. a likeness of the Lord

AC 1013
What the image of God is, hardly anyone knows at the present day.
People say that the image of God was lost in the first man
whom they call Adam;
and that in him it was an image of God
which, they assert, possessed a certain perfection
with which they are not acquainted.
And indeed there was perfection,
for by "Adam" or "Man" is meant the "Most Ancient Church"
which was a celestial person,
and had perception, such as had no church after it;
by reason of which it was also a likeness of the Lord.
A likeness of the Lord signifies love to Him.

[2] After this church perished in the course of time,
the Lord created a new church,
which was not a celestial but a spiritual church.
This was not a likeness, but an image of the Lord.
An "image" signifies spiritual love,
that is, love to the neighbor, or charity . . ..
That charity is the "image of God"
is most clearly evident from the very essence of love, or charity.
Nothing else than love and charity
can make an image and likeness of anyone.
It is the essence of love and charity to make of two as it were one.
When one person loves another as himself, and more than himself,
he then sees the other in himself, and himself in the other.
This may be known to everyone if he only directs his attention to love,
or to those who love each other -
the will of the one is the will of the other,
they are interiorly as it were joined together,
and only in body distinct the one from the other.

[4] This union, which makes a likeness and image,
cannot be so well seen among people,
but is seen in heaven,
where from mutual love all the angels are as a one.
Each society, which consists of many,
constitutes as it were one person.
And all the societies together - or the universal heaven -
constitute one person,
which is also called the Grand Man.
The universal heaven is a likeness of the Lord,
for the Lord is the all in all who are therein.
So also is each society a likeness, and so is each angel.
The celestial angels are likenesses,
the spiritual angels are images.
Thus heaven consists of
as many likenesses of the Lord as there are angels,
and this solely through mutual love -
one loving another more than himself.

SD 1214-1215 - the natural and the spiritual

SD 1214-1215
. . . when the natural things prevail,
they are as it were withdrawn from faith in more interior things;
but when their natural is as a servant,
then it is the spiritual that shines forth
and confirms that a thing is true.
Therefore, when, and so long as, the natural predominates,
a person can never believe the more interior things of faith.

AC 1006 - a person or a beast?

AC 1006
A person is a person
from love and charity,
but he is a wild beast
from hatred, revenge, and cruelty.

SD 1176 - a soft sound

SD 1176
. . . I perceived and heard a soft sound,
namely, something angelic and sweet,
in which there was nothing but what was orderly.
. . . This angelic stream continued for some time,
being often repeated,
and I was told that in this way the Lord governs
disconnected and disorderly things which flow round about.
For He works from inner peacefulness, and in a peaceful way,
so that everything outside or peripheral
must necessarily be brought back into order,
each one from the error of his own acquired nature.
So He governs the human race,
as well as its outer elements,
which are the fantasies
that determine people's actions and conversation at this day.
(March 5 & 6, 1748)

AC 997 - the kingdom of the Lord

AC 997
. . . it is in its practice or use that charity consists.
He who loves the neighbor as himself
perceives no delight in charity except in its exercise, or in use;
and therefore a life of charity is a life of uses.
Such is the life of the whole heaven;
for the kingdom of the Lord,
because it is a kingdom of mutual love,
is a kingdom of uses.
Therefore every pleasure which is from charity,
has its delight from use.
The more noble the use,
the greater the delight.
Consequently the angels have happiness from the Lord
according to the essence and quality of their use.

AC 981 - "God blessed" - the presence & grace of the Lord

AC 981
That "God blessed" signifies the presence and grace of the Lord . . ..
"To bless" in the Word, in the external sense signifies
to enrich with every earthly and corporeal (bodily) good.
This is also how all people
who keep to the external sense
explain the Word . . ..
Consequently they have focused the Divine blessing, and still do,
on wealth, on having plenty of everything, and on personal glory.
But in the internal sense
'blessing' means being enriched with all spiritual and celestial good,
a blessing which neither does nor can possibly exist
unless it comes from the Lord.
This is why 'blessing' means the Lord's presence and grace.

[2] The reason the expression grace and not mercy is used . . .
is that celestial people do not talk of grace but of mercy,
while spiritual people talk not of mercy but of grace.
This difference has its origins in the fact
that celestial people acknowledge that the human race is wholly unclean . . ..

[3] Spiritual people however,
though they are aware that the human condition is such,
do not acknowledge it,
for they still remain in, and love, their proprium;
and therefore they find it difficult to make mention of mercy
but easy to do so of grace.
It is the different kind of humility existing with each
that produces this verbal difference.
The more anyone loves himself
and imagines that he is able to do good of himself and so merit salvation,
the less he is able to plead for the Lord's mercy.

SD 1139, 1140 - those who are not willing to hear the interior things of the Word

SD 1139, 1140
There are spirits who, although they are good,
cannot as yet be admitted into heaven
because they are not willing to hear and to admit
the interior and more interior things of the Word . . ..
For they who do not agree to interior things
cannot learn the things
which are of the interior and more interior person,
since they do not know that there are interior,
still less more interior things,
such as those that concern the works of faith
done from obedience to the Word.

. . . Moreover, those who do not want at all to hear
and open their minds to inward and more inward things,
remain outside of heaven,
and they cannot help entertaining a kind of hatred of them,
because they are inward and very inward things,
and also of those who teach them.
I expect there will be many on earth in the future
who hate the inward things of the Word,
and the very inward things even more,
because these touch the life of their loves too closely,
confronting them with what they see as insurmountable difficulties.
So they much prefer that the way toward inward things be closed off
than that they should favor them with assent.
Besides, they do not want to be bothered by such things
as they are not capable of understanding.

AC 977 - the characteristics of the regenerate person vs. the unregenerate person

AC 977
With the regenerate person
there is a conscience of what is good and true,
and he does good and thinks truth from conscience;
the good which he does being the good of charity,
the truth which he thinks being the truth of faith.
The unregenerate person has no conscience,
or if any, it is not a conscience of doing good from charity,
and of thinking truth from faith,
but is based on some love that regards himself or the world,
wherefore it is a spurious or false conscience.

With the regenerate person
there is joy when he acts according to conscience,
and anxiety when he is forced to do or think contrary to it;
but it is not so with the unregenerate,
for very many such people do not know what conscience is,
much less what it is to do anything either according or contrary to it,
but only what it is to do the things that favor their loves.
This is what gives them joy,
and when they do what is contrary to their loves,
this is what gives them anxiety.

With the regenerate person there is a new will and a new understanding,
and this new will and new understanding are his conscience,
that is, they are in his conscience,
and through this the Lord works the good of charity and the truth of faith.
With an unregenerate person there is not will,
but instead of will there is cupidity,
(cupidity - greed, avarice, greediness)
and a consequent proneness to every evil;
neither is there understanding,
but mere reasoning and a consequent falling away to every falsity.

With the regenerate person there is celestial and spiritual life;
but with the unregenerate person there is only corporeal and worldly life,
and his ability to think and understand what is good and true
is from the Lord's life through the remains before spoken of,
and it is from this that he has the faculty of reflecting.

With the regenerate, the internal person has the dominion,
the external being obedient and submissive;
but with the unregenerate the external person rules,
the internal being quiescent, as if it had no existence.

The regenerate person knows, or has a capacity of knowing on reflection,
what the internal person is, and what the external;
but of these the unregenerate person is altogether ignorant,
nor can he know them even if he reflects,
since he is unacquainted with the good and truth of faith originating in charity.

So it may be seen what is the quality of the regenerate,
and what of the unregenerate person,
and that they differ from each other like summer and winter,
and light and darkness;
wherefore the regenerate is a living, but the unregenerate a dead person.

SD 1094, 1096, 1099 - when a person dies

SD 1094, 1096, 1099
The heart was first occupied,
and . . . seemed to be conjoined to the celestial . . .

Moreover, there were also certain good or celestial genii
who were seated by (the) head.
Thus it is the general rule that the celestial are then seated at the head,
as we read concerning the angels of the Lord in the sepulchre.
This happens to every one who dies.

Therefore when a person dies the celestial are immediately present,
seated at his head, and they are indeed continually present;
thus they protect him, lest any evil genii draw near.
This is the case with every person.
The celestial remain with him quite a considerable time,
even some time after his soul has been released from corporeal things.
It matters not whether the person dies in his bed, or in any other way;
for whatever is vital in a person,
even if the parts of the body were to be scattered a thousand miles,
is nevertheless gathered in a moment,
and it is together, and becomes his likeness.

SD 1076 - the Lord's universal government

SD 1076
. . . a universal cannot be given unless it is in the most single things,
and that from the most single things the universal exists,
as the general exists from the particulars;
and that without the most single things there could be no universal,
for thus a universal sense would be nothing.

So, unless individuals are reading the Lord's Word,
shunning evils as sins against Him,
living according to the Ten Commandments,
and charity to the neighbor,
we won't have the Lord and His church in us as individuals.
Consequently, if individuals aren't reading and doing,
it won't matter how the organized church group is governed,
or advertizes or builds buildings. It will not be a church.
But the more who read and do,
the more the Lord can grow and govern His church.

AC 959 - sleep

AC 959
I was surprised that they should be so grievously punished,
but perceived that the crime is enormous
from the necessity of a person's being able to sleep in safety,
without which the human race would perish;
so that it is of necessity that there should be so great a penalty.

The Lord guards a person with most especial care during his sleep.

SD 1050, 1051 - communication

SD 1050, 1051
Those who represent things to others only by means of words,
and by . . . speech as most people do - can never understand
how spirits communicate their thoughts among themselves;
and the more they adhere to the words and the particular ideas,
the less can they understand.
. . . those who have more universal ideas,
thus ideas abstracted from particulars,
can understand somewhat better.

. . . let this be mentioned merely as an example:
When someone asserts that shame is not possible
unless it is accompanied with reverence,
it is then usual to spend many hours discussing these things by words,
or by the writing of many pages,
in regard to what both shame and reverence are;
wrangling about what shame is,
and the classifications which are predicated (asserted) of it
in general and in particular . . .
consequently innumerable conclusions can be drawn
according to the idea of the subject
each one has acquired and the state he has formed.
All these things are perceived by a spirit by spiritual intuition alone,
without any description or an idea of particulars being known,
and they are communicated to others in a moment . . .
so that they at once know the conclusions.
. . . Those who have not blinded their rational sight by fantasies
understand better.

AC 945 - rating pleasures

AC 945
If while living in luxury, grandeur, and splendor,
they have at the same time lived in faith in the Lord
and in charity towards the neighbor,
they are among the happy in the next life.
For the idea that heaven is merited
by renouncing the enjoyments of life
and by renouncing power and wealth,
and so by suffering hardship is untrue.
What the Word means by such renunciation
is rating pleasures as well as power and wealth as nothing
in comparison with the Lord,
and the life of the world as nothing
in comparison with heavenly life.

AC 933, 935 - alternating states; AC 925 - the Lord's kingdom

AC 933 [4]
. . . when he (a person) is in corporeal and worldly things,
he is absent and remote from internal things,
so that he not only takes no thought about them,
but feels in himself cold at the thought of them;
but that when corporeal and worldly things are quiescent,
he is in faith and charity.
He may also know from experience that these states alternate,
and that therefore
when corporeal and worldly things begin to be in excess
and to want to rule,
he comes into straits and temptations,
until he is reduced into such a state
that the external person becomes compliant to the internal,
a compliance it can never render
until it is quiescent and as it were nothing.

AC 935 [2]
That there are alternations with the regenerate person -
now no charity, and now some charity -
is clearly evident for the reason that in everyone,
even when regenerated,
there is nothing but evil,
and everything good is the Lord's alone.
And since there is nothing but evil in him,
he cannot but undergo alternations
and now be as it were in summer, that is, in charity,
and now in winter, that is, in no charity.
Such alternations exist in order
that a person may be perfected more and more,
and thus be rendered more and more happy,
and they take place with the regenerate person
not only while he lives in the body,
but also when he comes into the other life,
for without alternations as of summer and winter as to what is of his will,
and as of day and night as to what is of his understanding,
he cannot possibly be perfected and rendered more happy;
but in the other life
these alternations are like those
of summer and winter in the temperate zones,
and those of day and night in springtime.

AC 925 [3]
. . . the state of the Lord's kingdom is a state of peace,
and in a state of peace
there come forth all the happy states
that result from love and faith in the Lord.

SD 1026 - falsities and truths

SD 1026
. . . falsities induce hardness,
but truths dissolve,
and induce what is soft and fluid.

AC 916 - What is a commandment for?

AC 916
. . . what is a commandment for?
not that a person may know,
but that he may live
according to the commandment.
For then he has in himself the kingdom of the Lord,
since the kingdom of the Lord consists solely
in mutual love and its happiness.

SD 935 - revenge

SD 935
. . . within revenge are the most disgusting filthy things . . .

AC 904, 905 - the presence of the Lord

AC 904
The Lord speaks with every person,
for whatever a person wills and thinks that is good and true,
is from the Lord.
There are with every person at least two evil spirits and two angels.
The evil spirits excite his evils,
and the angels inspire things that are good and true.
Every good and true thing inspired by the angels is of the Lord;
thus the Lord is continually speaking with a person,
but quite differently with one person than with another.
With those who suffer themselves to be led away by evil spirits,
the Lord speaks as if absent, or from afar,
so that it can scarcely be said that He is speaking;
but with those who are being led by the Lord,
He speaks as more nearly present;
which may be sufficiently evident from the fact
that no one can ever think anything good and true
except from the Lord.

[3] The presence of the Lord is first possible with a person
when he loves the neighbor.
The Lord is in love;
and so far as a person is in love,
so far the Lord is present;
and so far as the Lord is present,
so far He speaks with a person.
. . . His speaking to Noah denotes being present,
because the subject is now the regenerated person,
who is gifted with charity.

AC 905
So long as Noah was in the ark
and surrounded with the waters of the flood,
the signification was that he was in captivity,
that is, he was tossed about by evils and falsities,
or what is the same thing, by evil spirits,
from whom is the combat of temptation.
So it follows that to "go forth from the ark" signifies freedom.
The presence of the Lord involves freedom,
the one following the other.
The more present the Lord,
the more free the person;
that is, the more a person is in the love of good and truth,
the more freely he acts.
Such is the influx of the Lord through the angels.
But on the other hand,
the influx of hell through evil spirits is forcible,
and impetuous, striving to dominate;
for such spirits breathe nothing but the utter subjugation of a person,
so that he may be nothing,
and that they may be everything;
and when they are everything
a person is one of them, and scarcely even that,
for in their eyes he is a mere nobody.
Therefore when the Lord is liberating a person
from their dominion and from their yoke
there arises a combat;
but when a person has been liberated, that is, regenerated,
he, through the ministry of angels,
is led by the Lord so gently
that there is nothing whatever of yoke or of dominion,
for he is led by means of what is delightful and pleasing,
and is loved and esteemed.
This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

My yoke is easy, and My burden is light,
(Matthew 11:30)

and is the reverse of a person's state
when under the yoke of evil spirits, who, as just said,
account a person as nothing,
and, if they were able,
would torment him every moment.

SD 895 - reading when no attention is being paid

SD 895
Some may be surprised at the fact
that when writings are being read
and no attention is being paid by the reader,
or there is no perception of the things written,
the sense and perception of those things
are then elevated to the angels more distinctly
than when the natural human mind is in them at the same time.
When the sense of things is to be more clearly perceived,
it is as though the states of the body
must be withdrawn from the interior mind,
so the idea always becomes clearer . . ..
The fact that the angels understand the sense of a writing
even if the person does not,
may seem surprising and thus paradoxical,
yet it is most true,
for today's experience testifies to it.
From this it can be concluded
that when little children read the Holy Bible,
angels understand or perceive the sense of the Word
more clearly than when adults read it,
as was also told me before.
(February 20, 1748)

SD 891a - Is it a good pleasure, leave or permission?

SD 891a
With those who are led by the Lord
there is a certain interior perception or observance
as to those things which are to be done,
especially in the doing of them.
This is so evident to those led by the Lord
that in the single things they do
there is nothing but what is either from the Lord's good pleasure,
or from leave, or from permission.
These are distinct in themselves,
and can also be distinctly perceived.
But this cannot be understood by a person unless he is such;
others . . . still do not believe them
because they do not understand . . ..
Those who know,
and who have no desire to think from themselves,
and so are in the way of truth,
acquire such a perception.
(February 20, 1748)

AC 896 - In the Word "to see" signifies to understand and to have faith.

AC 896
It is one thing to know truths,
and quite another to acknowledge them,
and still another to have faith in them.
To know is the first thing of regeneration,
to acknowledge is the second,
to have faith is the third.
What difference there is
between knowing, acknowledging, and having faith
is evident from the fact that the worst people may know,
and yet not acknowledge,
like . . . those who attempt to destroy doctrinal things by specious reasoning;
and that unbelievers may acknowledge,
and in certain states preach, confirm, and persuade with zeal;
but none can have faith who are not believers.

[2] Those who have faith,
know, acknowledge, and believe,
they have charity, and they have conscience . . ..
This then it is to be regenerate.
Merely to know what is of faith is of a person's memory,
without the concurrence of his reason.
To acknowledge what is of faith is a rational consent
induced by certain causes and for the sake of certain ends.
But to have faith is of conscience,
that is, of the Lord working through conscience.

AC 896 - In the Word "to see" signifies to understand and to have faith.

AC 896
It is one thing to know truths,
and quite another to acknowledge them,
and still another to have faith in them.
To know is the first thing of regeneration,
to acknowledge is the second,
to have faith is the third.
What difference there is
between knowing, acknowledging, and having faith
is evident from the fact that the worst people may know,
and yet not acknowledge,
like . . . those who attempt to destroy doctrinal things by specious reasoning;
and that unbelievers may acknowledge,
and in certain states preach, confirm, and persuade with zeal;
but none can have faith who are not believers.

[2] Those who have faith, know, acknowledge, and believe,
they have charity,
and they have conscience . . ..
This then it is to be regenerate.
Merely to know what is of faith is of a person's memory,
without the concurrence of his reason.
To acknowledge what is of faith is a rational consent
induced by certain causes and for the sake of certain ends.
But to have faith is of conscience,
that is, of the Lord working through conscience.