AE 911c - the Lord's gift of freedom - the as if from self

AE 911c [17]
. . . although the Lord works all things,
and a person nothing from self,
yet He wills that a person should work
as if from self
in all that comes to his perception.
For without a person's cooperation
as if from self
there can be no reception of truth and good,
thus no implantation and regeneration.
For to will is the Lord's gift to a person;
and because the appearance to a person is
that this is from self,
He gives him to will
as if from self.

AE 910 - the Lord knows

AE 910
. . . the Lord knows all things, because He is omniscient.

AE 902 - religion

AE 902 [2,3,5]
Spiritual life is acquired solely
by a life according to the commandments in the Word.

. . . a person must do these commandments from religion,
because they are commanded by the Lord . . .

For religion does not consist in merely thinking this or that,
but in willing and doing that which is thought;
and there is no religion
when willing and doing are separated from thinking.

AE 897 - the uses of and consolations after temptations

AE 897 [2]
All who are being regenerated by the Lord undergo temptations,
and after temptations experience joys.
But the source of the temptations and of the joys that follow,
which are here meant by consolations,
is not yet known in the world,
because there are few who experience spiritual temptations,
for the reason that there are few who are in the knowledges of good and truth,
and fewer yet who are in the marriage of good and truth,
that is, in truths as to doctrine and at the same time in goods as to life;
and no others are let into spiritual temptations;
for if others were let into temptations they would yield,
and if they yielded their latter state would be worse than their former state.
The true reason why only those who are in the marriage of good and truth
can be let into spiritual temptations
is that the spiritual mind, which is, properly, the internal person,
can be opened only with these (spiritual temptations);
for when that mind is opened temptations exist,
and for the reason that heaven, that is the Lord through heaven,
flows in through a person's spiritual mind into his natural mind;
there is no other way of heaven,
that is of the Lord through heaven,
into a person;
and when heaven flows in it removes the hindrances,
which are evils and falsities therefrom,
which have their seat in the natural mind,
that is, in the natural person;
and these can be removed only
by a living acknowledgment of them by a person,
and grief of soul on account of them.
This is why a person is distressed in temptations
by the evils and falsities that rise up into the thought;
and so far as he then acknowledges his sins,
regards himself as guilty, and prays for deliverance,
so far the temptations are useful to him.
From this it is clear that a person has spiritual temptation,
when his internal, which is called the spiritual mind,
is opened, thus when a person is being regenerated.
When, therefore, a person's evils and falsities are removed
temptations are brought to an end;
and when they are ended
joy flows in through heaven from the Lord and fills his natural mind.
This joy is what is here meant by consolations.
All receive these consolations who undergo spiritual temptations . . .
for through temptations a person is conjoined to heaven and is admitted into it,
and consequently has joy like that of the angels there.

AE 898 - "having no rest"

AE 898 [2]
For every one is in the joy of his heart
when he is in his ruling love;
and thus conversely,
is in grief of heart when he is withheld from it.

AE 887 - evil, anger and wrath

AE 887
. . . evil is angry against good and wishes to destroy it.

. . . "anger" means the love and desire for evil in a person;
and "wrath" the love and desire for falsity in him,
for "anger" is predicated of evil,
and "wrath" of falsity.

AE 879 - Babylon and the dragon

AE 879 [2, 3]
Every church in its beginning is in the love of doing goods,
and in the love of knowing truths;
but in process of time it is so devastated in respect to goods and truths
that there is no longer any good or any truth in the church.
In the first place, by degrees,
it is devastated by the love of ruling over the souls of people,
by means of holy things,
and finally over heaven and over the Lord Himself.
This is described in Revelation by "Babylon,"
and by "the harlot sitting upon the scarlet beast."
Secondly, it is devastated by faith separated from charity
and thus from the goods of life,
and finally by faith alone in which there is nothing of truth.
This is described in Revelation by "the dragon" and "his two beasts."
In these two, the primitive loves of the church, which were,
as has been said, the love of doing goods
and the love of knowing truths,
came to an end;
and when they had come to an end in these the church was devastated.
The love of doing goods is changed by degrees
into the love of doing evils that are called goods;
and the love of knowing truths is changed
into the love of knowing falsities that are called truths.

With those who are described by "Babylon"
every good of the church is adulterated,
and thus every truth of it,
for the one is a consequence of the other;
while with those who are described by "the dragon"
every truth of the church is falsified,
and thus every good of it,
for the one is a consequence of the other.

AE 876 - the heaven within

AE 876
So long, however, as a person lives in the world
the church in him is in his natural, which is his external.
Yet the church is in a person's natural or external
only when the internal has been opened;
for the church cannot exist with anyone
unless he has heaven within,
from which enlightenment and influx from the Lord
may pass into the natural or external which is beneath.

AE 874 - "Fear God and give glory to Him" (Rev. 14:7)

AE 874
. . . "to give glory to Him,"
signifies to live according to Divine truth.

AE 866 - deceit

AE 866 [9]
It is to be known that all evil persons have a disposition and desire,
consequently a will,
to destroy the truths of heaven and the church by falsities,
for the reason that they are conjoined to hell,
and infernal spirits from the delight of their love
burn with a lust of destroying all things of heaven and the church,
and this by crafty devices,
which they artfully contrive and wonderfully execute,
which, if described from experience, would fill many pages.
This makes clear that "deceit" signifies in general
all evil of intention to destroy truths by falsities.

AE 864 - denying self

AE 864 [5]
Whosoever wills to come after Me
let him deny himself and follow Me.
(Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23)

Evidently "to go after the Lord and to follow Him"
is to deny self;
and to deny self
is to be led not by self
but by the Lord;
and he denies self
who shuns and turns away from evils
because they are sins;
and when a person turns away from evils
he is led by the Lord;
for he does the Lord's commandments,
not from self
but from the Lord.

AE 862, 863a - receiving the Lord

AE 862, 863a
. . . those who are in truths from good . . .
are continually enlightened by the Lord;
for the Lord flows into good,
and through good into truths with a person;
but not into truths without good,
thus not into faith without charity.

For there are natural affections of truth which exist in almost everyone,
especially during childhood and youth.
But natural affections of truth have reward as an end,
at first reputation, and afterwards honor and gain.
These are not the affections here meant by "virgins,"
but spiritual affections of truth are meant,
which are such as have for their end eternal life and the uses of that life.
Those who are in such affections love truths because they are truths,
thus apart from the world's glory, honors, and gains;
and those who love truths apart from such considerations love the Lord;
for the Lord is with a person in the truths that are from good.
For that which proceeds from the Lord as a Sun is the Divine truth,
and that which proceeds from the Lord is the Lord;
consequently he that receives truth from spiritual love
because it is truth
receives the Lord.

AE 857 - as it were, a new song

AE 857
And they were singing as it were a new song,
(Revelation 14:3)
signifies respecting acknowledgment and confession of the Lord.
This is evident from the signification of a "song,"
as being confession from joy of heart;
and of "a new song,"
as being acknowledgment and confession of the Lord, thus glorification of Him.
Songs are mentioned in many passages of the Word, especially in David,
and they signify confession and glorification of God by singing;
and where it is said "a new song"
confession and glorification of the Lord is signified,
for this song is called new for the reason
that in the churches before the Lord's coming
Jehovah was praised in songs;
and after the Lord had come into the world and had manifested Himself
He too was praised in songs;
while now in the church that is hereafter to be established,
which is meant by "the New Jerusalem,"
the Lord alone will be praised;
but as it was the same Lord in the ancient churches,
although praised under the name "Jehovah"
who is now called the Lord,
and as thus the song respecting Him,
regarded in itself, is not new,
so it is said to be "as it were a new song."
Here, therefore, it is called new,
because it is for the New Church
which is hereafter to be established by the Lord.

AE 852s - use of names in the Old Testament and the New

AE 852a [2]
One who does not know what the Word is in the sense of the letter
might think that when "God and the Lamb" are mentioned,
and here "the Lamb and the Father,"
two are meant,
and yet the Lord alone is meant by the two.
It is the same in the Word of the Old Testament,
where mention is made of "Jehovah," "the Lord Jehovih," "Jehovah of Hosts,"
"Lord," "Jehovah God," "God" in the plural and in the singular,
"the God of Israel," "the Holy one of Israel," "the King of Israel,"
"Creator," "Savior," "Redeemer," "Shaddai," "Rock," and so on;
and yet by all these names only one is meant, and not many;
for the Lord is named variously according to His Divine attributes.
So again, in the Word of the New Testament,
where "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit," are mentioned as three;
and yet by these three names one only is meant;
for "Father" means the Lord as to the Divine Itself
which He had as the soul from the Father;
"the Son" means the Divine Human;
and "the Holy Spirit" the Divine proceeding;
thus the three are one . . .

AE 850a - Zion and riding into Jerusalem

AE 850a [2,4]
"Mount Zion" signifies heaven and the church
where the Lord reigns by His Divine truth,
for the reason that Zion was a city built by David,
and in which he afterwards dwelt,
and was therefore called "the city of David,"
and as "David" represented the Lord in respect to His royalty,
which is the Divine truth,
"Zion" signifies in the Word heaven and the church,
where the Lord reigns by His Divine truth.
For the same reason the ark of Jehovah,
in which the law was deposited,
was carried into that city by David;
for that law also signifies in a broad sense
Divine truth going forth from the Lord.
And for the same reason Jerusalem,
which lay below that mountain,
signifies the church in respect to doctrine;
for every doctrine of the church
is from the Divine truth that goes forth from the Lord,
consequently is from the Word.
That city was built upon a mountain
for the reason that at that time mountains,
because of their height, represented the heavens,
and thence also in the Word signify the heavens.

Jesus sent two disciples that they might bring to Him an ass and her colt.
This was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
Behold thy King cometh to thee, meek, sitting upon an ass,
and upon a colt, the son of a beast of burden.
(Matthew 21:1, 2, 4, 5; John 12:14, 15)

That "riding upon an ass and upon a foal of an ass" was a sign of royalty,
and therefore the Lord so rode when He entered Jerusalem,
and He was therefore called King by the multitude crying aloud,
and branches of palm trees and garments
were strewn upon the way before Him,
. . . and as the Lord thus entered Jerusalem as a King
it is evident that "Zion" means heaven and the church,
in which the Lord reigns by means of His Divine truth.
That the kings of Judah and Israel
represented the Lord as to the Divine truth,
and that consequently "kings"
mean those who are in truths from good from the Lord
. . . especially David represented in the Word the Lord as to royalty,
which is the Divine truth.

AE 850a - the Lord's presence is perpetual

AE 850a
The presence of the Lord is perpetual
in the whole heaven and in the whole church;
for heaven is not heaven from what is the angels' own [proprium] in it,
nor is the church a church from what is a person's own [proprium] in it,
but from the Divine of the Lord with them.
For an angel's own [proprium] cannot make heaven,
nor a person's own [proprium] the church,
since the own [proprium], both of angels and of people, is not good.
Consequently it is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord,
as received by them,
that makes heaven and the church in particular with each one,
and thus makes heaven and the church in general
in all in whom heaven and the church exist.
Consequently it is evident
that the presence of the Lord is perpetual
with all who are in heaven and in the church;
but it is a presence that is peaceful, tranquil, preserving, and sustaining,
by which all things in the heavens and on the earth
are held constantly in their order and connection,
or are reduced to that order; so, too, in the hells.

AE 846 - enlightened perception of the Word's truth

AE 846 [2,4]
. . . in order that a person
may see and perceive from enlightenment
the genuine truths of the Word,
these three degrees of understanding,
the natural, the rational, and the spiritual,
must be together;
for the natural understanding,
which is the lowest,
cannot be enlightened by its own lumen,
but must be enlightened by the light of the rational person,
which is intermediate,
and this by spiritual light;
for the spiritual understanding is in the light of heaven and sees by it,
and the rational is intermediate between the spiritual and the natural,
and receives spiritual light and transmits it to the natural and enlightens it.

From this it can be concluded
that the understanding of the truths of the church
means the understanding of them that is enlightened by the light of heaven,
thus by the Lord.
The person who is in that enlightenment
is able to see the truths of the church rationally in this world,
and spiritually after death.
But to enter into church matters,
which are interiorly spiritual and celestial,
from natural lumen separated from spiritual light,
which is the light of heaven from the Lord,
is to proceed by an inverse order,
since what is natural cannot enter into what is spiritual,
but what is spiritual can enter into what is natural.

AE 842 - the sphere of our life, our love - just do it!

AE 842
. . . love constitutes the life of a person,
and his life is such as his love is,
not only the life of the mind,
but at the same time the life of the body.
And since that which a person loves
he also wills with the mind
and does with the body,
it follows that love and deeds or works make one.
There are many things to show that works proceed
from both the internal and the external life of a person,
and that they are the activities
of the sphere
of the affections and of the thoughts therefrom
by which he is encompassed,
and that no communication of a person's life and love is possible
unless the encompassing sphere,
which is of his life,
becomes active by doing;
consequently such as the life is,
or such as the love is,
or such as the works are, with a person,
such are all the things of which that sphere is composed,
and in consequence such also is the faith.

AE 840 - "To buy and to sell"

AE 840
"To buy and to sell"
signifies to acquire for oneself
the knowledges of truth and good from the Word
and to communicate them,
or what is the same,
to learn and teach,
because "wealth and riches"
signify in the Word the knowledges of truth and good . . ..

AE 837 - the how of reformation

AE 837 [4-7]
There are two chief faculties of a person's life,
namely, the will and the understanding.
The will is the receptacle of all things of good,
and the understanding is the receptacle of all things of truth from that good.
A person cannot be reformed except by means of these two faculties of life,
and only by their being filled by goods and truths.
Reformation is effected in this order:
first, a person must fill the memory
with knowledges and cognitions of truth and good,
and by means of these he must acquire for himself the light of reason;
especially be must learn that God is one,
that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth,
that there is a heaven and a hell,
that there is a life after death,
and that the Word is holy.

Next he must learn what evils are sins,
first from the Decalogue,
and afterwards from the Word everywhere,
and must think that they are sins against God,
and that they therefore withhold and separate a person from heaven,
and condemn and sentence him to hell.
Consequently, the first thing of reformation
is to refrain from sins,
to shun them,
and finally to be averse to them;
but that he may refrain from them, shun them, and be averse to them
he must pray to the Lord for help.
But he must shun them and turn away from them
because they are opposed to the Word,
thus opposed to the Lord,
and consequently opposed to heaven,
and because they are in themselves infernal.

So far as a person shuns evils,
and turns away from them because they are sins,
and thinks about heaven,
his salvation and eternal life,
so far he is adopted by the Lord,
and conjoined to heaven,
and so far he is endowed with spiritual affection,
which is such that he not only wishes to know truths,
but also to understand them,
and to will and do them.

Thus is a person reformed by the Lord;
and so far as he then knows and understands truths
and wills and does them,
so far he becomes a new person, that is, a regenerate person,
and consequently becomes an angel of heaven,
and has a heavenly love and life.

AE 834 - Again, who is the neighbor?

AE 834
. . . while every person is a neighbor,
every person is a neighbor from his quality,
and consequently that it is the quality of a person
from which he is a person
that is meant in the spiritual sense by "neighbor;"
for otherwise a bad person
would be as much a neighbor as a good person;
and yet to do good to the evil
is sometimes doing evil to the good.

AE 831 - spiritual angels

AE 831 [2-6, portions of]
Spiritual love is the love of truth,
and in the highest sense
the love of the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord;
thus it is also love to the Lord,
but in a lower degree than that in which the celestial angels are.
The celestial angels are in love to the Lord
from the reception of Divine good from Him,
while the spiritual angels are in love to the Lord
from the reception of Divine truth from Him.
. . . As spiritual love is love of truth,
and spiritual angels in respect to their life are affections of truth,
they speak about the holy things of heaven and the church,
unlike the angels of the third heaven . . ..

. . . spiritual angels admit truths first into the memory,
and from that into the understanding,
which is thus formed by these truths;
and then they are perfected so far
as they are spiritually affected by Divine truths . . ..

. . . with spiritual angels intellectual sight is spiritual sight.
These angels are perfected in understanding
so far as they are in the love of truth for the sake of life and its genuine uses;
and in the same measure
truths are implanted in their life and they become affections of truth.
For as truths derive all their essence and all their life from good,
so the understanding derives
all its essence and life from the will and its activity;
for the understanding is the receptacle of truth,
and the will the receptacle of good,
and their activity fills and establishes them.
. . . For the will has no existence unless it becomes active;
and when there is no will the understanding perishes,
and there remains merely the faculty to understand.

. . . all in the spiritual heaven love uses,
and are intent on works,
by which their thoughts are kept as it were at home,
and withheld from idleness, which is,
as it is also called the devil's pillow.

In the spiritual heaven there are magnificent palaces,
in which all things within shine with precious stones
and decorations in such forms as cannot be equaled
by any painting in the world, nor expressed in words.
For art there, especially that of architecture, is in its own art.
From that heaven many arts in the world derive their laws and harmonies,
from which come their forms of beauty.
. . . The spiritual angels are clothed in garments of fine linen and silk,
generally in shining garments.
And as the spiritual heavens correspond to the eyes,
there are paradisiacal scenes,
as also in many places rainbow colored appearances
and these also are of ineffable beauty.
They know nothing there about the sense of the letter of the Word,
but only about its spiritual sense,
for they have the Word in that sense,
which is read by everyone.
In that heaven, justice, integrity, verity, chastity,
and the other praiseworthy virtues of moral life reign.
These heavens constitute the royalty of the Lord,
while the higher heavens, where the celestial angels are,
constitute the priesthood of the Lord;
for His royalty is Divine truth,
and His priesthood is Divine good.

AE 828 - more on celestial angels

AE 828
Love to the Lord,
in which love are the angels that are in the third heaven,
has been treated of above;
it now remains to say something
about the love towards the neighbor with those angels.
By the "neighbor" they mean uses, which indeed are works;
but with those angels
uses are all things that are done with them from the Lord,
and these have relation especially to the worship of the Lord,
to His church, to the implantation of its holy things,
especially with little children, with whom they have conjunction,
and whom they inspire with innocence and its affections;
also to the good of society in general and also in particular.
These are the things that chiefly belong to their love,
because they belong to the Lord's love.

. . . they have more wisdom than other angels,
and it is wisdom to regard others
from such things as are with them and which constitute them.

. . . they are continually in the love of good and truth
because their life is the affection of good,
in which and from which is the perception of truth.
When, therefore, charity from which is faith,
or faith which is from charity, is mentioned,
they do not know what is meant.

They appear simple because
they cannot talk about the holy things of heaven and the church;
for with them these things are not in the memory,
from which all speech comes,
but in the life;
and from that in the understanding,
not as thought but as the affection of good in its form,
which does not descend into speech;
and if it were to descend it would not be spoken, but only sounded;
and those who cannot speak about such things
appear to themselves and others as if simple.
A further reason is that they are in humility of heart,
knowing that wisdom consists in perceiving
that the things in which they are wise
are scarcely anything
in comparison with the things in which they are not wise.

AE 826 - the angels of the third heaven and the doctrine of the Lord

AE 826 [2]
All who are in love to the Lord
from the Lord
are in the third or inmost heaven;
and they are such as have truths written in the life,
and not, like the angels of the lower heavens, in the memory;
and this is why those who are in the third heaven never talk about truths,
but only listen to others speaking about them,
and reply either that it is so, or that it is somewhat so, or that it is not so.
For they see in themselves whether what they hear is true or not;
and this they see not from any sight in the thought, as others do,
but from the affection of truth in the understanding.
For with them all truths are written on their affections,
and these derive their essence from celestial love,
which is love to the Lord.
Thus with them truths make one with their affections.
And as these angels are in love to the Lord from the Lord,
their interior life consists of mere affections of good and truth from that love.
For this reason they do not speak about truths,
but do truths, that is, good works.
For the affections of good and truth that are from that love
must needs come forth in act,
and when they come forth they are called uses,
and are what are meant by good works.
Moreover, they perceive in themselves
the quality of the uses or works from the affection from which they are;
and also the differences between them
from the conjunction of many affections;
thus they do all things with interior wisdom.
And because they do not think about truths
and consequently speak about them,
but only do them,
and because this comes from their love to the Lord,
and consequently from the affections alone,
of which their life consists,
it is evident that love to the Lord
consists in doing truths from the affection of them,
and that their deeds are good works;
consequently that to love the Lord is to do . . .

He that has My commandments and does them,
he it is that loves Me.
But he that loves Me not
keeps not My words.
(John 14:21, 24)

. . . how ample is the doctrine of love to the Lord,
for it is the doctrine of all affections which belong to love;
and every affection has truths written upon it
according to the quality of its perfection,
and brings them forth in act with infinite variety;
and these affections do not come into the understanding in the form of ideas,
but come to the inner sensitive perception in the form of delights of the will,
wherefore they cannot be described by words.
Those who imbibe (absorb or assimilate) the laws of life from the Word
and live according to them,
and who worship the Lord,
become angels of the third heaven.

AE 825 - whatever a person does

AE 825 [4]
. . . whatever a person does,
be it small or great,
is an evil work
when it is not done from religion,
and with us,
from the Word.

AE 820a - truth from good, the first of the church

AE 820a [2]
. . . truth is the first thing through which a person has the church.
But it must be truth from good,
for truth without good is mere knowledge that a thing is so;
and mere knowledge does nothing
except to make a person capable of becoming a church;
but this is not effected until he lives according to knowledges.
Then truth is conjoined to good,
and a person is introduced into the church.
Moreover, truths teach how a person ought to live;
and when a person is affected by truths for the sake of truths,
which is done when he loves to live according to them,
he is led by the Lord,
and conjunction with heaven is granted him,
and he becomes spiritual,
and after death an angel of heaven.

AE 819 - reasoning from the natural

AE 819 [2, 3]
. . . nothing false can ever be confirmed
by the sense of the letter of the Word
except by means of reasonings from the natural person.

It is a reasoning from the natural person
that faith separate from goods of life is also spiritual,
and yet the goods that are of love are what give life to faith,
and make it spiritual.

. . . when the intellectual sight is excluded
a person is blind,
and before a blind person
falsities can be confirmed as well as truths,
and even better than truths,
because with one who is blind
fallacies which are darkness
avail more than truths themselves
which are in light.
Shut up the understanding,
bring forth reasonings,
and cite confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word,
and you will persuade yourself of anything you wish,
especially in theological matters
that ascend into the interior of the rational mind.

AE 817c - marriage and adultery

AE 817c [4,5]
. . . all heresies, so far as they are adulterations and falsifications of the Word,
correspond to adulteries and whoredoms of various kinds. . ..
The reason of this is
that marriages as they exist in the heavens
derive their spiritual origin from the conjunction of good and truth;
and conversely,
adulteries derive their origin from the conjunction of evil and falsity;
and this is why heaven is compared in the Word to a marriage,
and hell to adultery.

For every kind of faith must necessarily conjoin itself with some love;
therefore when spiritual love, which is charity, is separated,
faith then conjoins itself with the love of self or with the love of the world,
which are the loves that are dominant in the natural person;
and this is why so heinous an adultery results
from faith separated from charity.

AE 815b - "the faith of God"

AE 815b [10]
. . . he who is in faith from the Lord
asks for nothing but what contributes to the Lord's kingdom
and to himself for salvation;
other things he does not wish,
saying in his heart,
Why should I ask for what does not contribute to this use?
Therefore if he were to ask for any thing
except for what is granted him from the Lord to ask
he would have no faith of God,
that is, no faith from the Lord.

AE 812, 813 - truth & faith

AE 812
. . . truths are what teach a person how he must live,
and these truths are many and varied.

AE 813
"Faith" signifies the implantation of truth
because faith with a person is truth acknowledged in the heart;
for unless it is acknowledged in the heart
it cannot be one's own faith;
and this is why "faith" is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament,
but "truth" instead; and indeed
the ancient people with whom was the church
were wholly ignorant that faith was anything else than truth;
and when they said that they believed in God
they meant by it knowing and understanding truths,
and willing and doing them,
and this from the Lord.

AE 811a - a lament

AE 811a
That "captivity" signifies in the Word spiritual captivity,
which is a shutting out from Divine truths,
that is, from the understanding of them in the Word,
also destruction by the falsities of evil and by the evils of falsity,

[3]
Hear, all ye people, and behold my grief;
my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
(Lamentations 1:18)

This is a lamentation over the devastation of all truth in the church;
this lamentation is described by
"Hear, all ye people, and behold my grief;"
that all the affection of truth has been destroyed
is signified by "my virgins have gone into captivity,"
a "virgin" signifying the affection of truth;
and that all understanding of truth has been destroyed
is signified by "my young men have gone into captivity,"
"young men" signifying the understanding of truth and intelligence.


Interesting possible cause / effect when thinking about pre-marital sex
(How many virgins are there anymore? How much affection for truth
a life based on truth?) and alternative elements in the Holy Supper
(wine - blood - truth; unleavened bread - body - good).

AE 808 - the faith that is saving faith

AE 808 [2]
Saving faith is to believe that the Lord is the Savior of the world,
and that He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth,
and that by His coming into the world
He entered into the power to save all
who receive truths from Him through the Word,
and who live according to them.
Who those are that are able to receive truths from Him
and to live according to them
[are] those who shun sins because they are sins against the Word
and thus against God,
since by so doing a person's internal is purified,
and when this is purified
a person is led by the Lord and not by self;
and so far as a person is led by the Lord
he loves truths,
and receives them
and wills them and does them.
This faith is saving faith.