AC 2116 - in the Word 'faith' is love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor

AC 2116 [2-3]
The truth is
that with those who have meditated and practiced
acts of hatred, of revenge, of cruelty, and of adultery,
and who thereby have lived in no charity,
the life they have acquired in so doing awaits them after death,
. . . and from this comes their torment in hell.

But with those who have lived in love to the Lord
and in charity toward the neighbor,
their evils of life also all remain,
but they are tempered by the goods
which during their life in the world they have received from the Lord
by means of a life of charity;
and thereby they are uplifted into heaven.
Indeed they are withheld from the evils which they have with them
so that these do not show themselves.
People in the next life who doubt that they have evils with them
because they do not show themselves
are brought back into those evils until they know that it really is so.
After that they are raised once more into heaven.

As to its being said that those are saved who have faith, this is true;
but in the Word by "faith"
nothing else is meant than love to the Lord
and charity toward the neighbor,
and thus a life from these loves.
The doctrinal things and dogmas of faith are not faith,
but belong to faith;
for they are one and all for the sake of the end
that a person may become such as they teach him to be,
as may be clearly seen from the Lord's words
that in love to God and love toward the neighbor
consist all the law and the prophets,
that is, the universal doctrine of faith . . ..

AC 2072 - laughter; AC 2083 - uniting the Human to the Divine

AC 2072
'And laughed' means the affection for truth.
This becomes clear from the origin and essential nature of laughter.
In origin it is nothing other than the affection for truth
or the affection for falsity,
which produces the mirth and pleasure
exhibited in the face by means of laughter.
This shows that the essential nature of laughter is nothing else.
Actually laughter is something external belonging to the body
since it belongs to the face;
but in the Word interior things are expressed and are meant by exterior.
Just as all interior affections of both areas of mind
are expressed and meant by the face;
interior hearing and obedience by the ear;
internal sight, which is understanding, by the eye;
power and strength by the hand and arm; and so on;
so is the affection for truth expressed and meant by laughter.

AC 2083 [2]
From His own power
the Lord made Divine everything that was human with Him.
Thus He made not only the rational Divine
but also the sensory part, interior and exterior,
and so the body itself.
In this way He united the Human to the Divine.

SD 2713-2714 - the government of the universe

About the government of the universe:
the universe is not ruled by the Lord
in agreement with human fallacies and fantasies,
in which there are countless things that oppose.

SD 2713-2714
In perverse and inverted human minds
there is this most powerful and almost exclusive tendency
to draw conclusions from the way outer things are governed,
thus especially from fallacies of the senses and fantasies:
why does the Lord not guard against and turn people away from evils,
indeed, from cruelties and other such dreadful and abominable things,
when yet the hearts of all are in His hand?

. . . But the truth is this,
that the Lord rules the universe by a providence,
an infinite one,
than which to rule more infinitely and more wisely is inconceivable.
And because this is the truth,
it follows that thoughts which oppose are false,
for there is one truth.
Moreover, that there is no moment of a person's thought and action,
which has not along with itself, and is wont to have,
a successive series of consequences to eternity;
Every single moment of life
is the starting point of consequences in life,
and like a single seed from which countless results ensue to eternity.
This also is true.
Since these are truths,
it follows that all things in lowest nature
that appear to oppose them (the truths)
are fallacies of the senses and fantasies.

AC 2063 - being regenerated is to be conjoined with the Lord

AC 2063 [3]
When a person is being regenerated,
that is, when he is to be conjoined with the Lord,
he proceeds to the conjunction by means of truth,
that is, by means of the truths of faith;
for no one can be regenerated
except by means of the knowledges of faith,
which are the truths by means of which he proceeds to conjunction.
The Lord goes to meet these by means of good,
that is, by means of charity,
and adjusts and fits this in to the knowledges of faith, that is, to its truths;
for all truths are recipient vessels of good,
and therefore the more genuine the truths are,
and the more they are multiplied,
the more abundantly can good accept them as vessels,
reduce them to order, and finally reveal itself;
so that at last the truths do not appear,
except insofar as good shines through them.
In this way truth becomes the celestial spiritual.

As the Lord is present solely in the good which is of charity,
the person is in this way conjoined with the Lord,
and by means of good, that is, by means of charity,
is gifted with conscience,
from which he afterwards thinks what is true
and does what is right;
but this conscience is in accordance
with the truths and right things
into which the good or charity is adjusted and fitted.

AC 2049, 2051 - "sons that are strangers"; AC 2053 - the forming of conscience

AC 2049
. . . "sons that are strangers"
signify those who are not born within the church,
as is the case with the Gentiles.
Gentiles, who are outside the church,
may be in truths, but not in the truths of faith.
Their truths, like the precepts of the Decalogue,
are that parents are to be honored,
that men are not to kill, steal, commit adultery,
or covet things that belong to others;
also that the Deity is to be worshiped.
But the truths of faith
are all doctrinal things concerning eternal life,
the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord Himself,
which cannot be known to the Gentiles
because they have not the Word.

They are purified when they reject filthy loves,
and live with one another in charity;
for then they live in truths,
since all truths are of charity . . ..

AC 2051
. . . purification from those filthy loves
is necessary most of all within the church,
and this for the reason
that they who are within the church
are able to render holy things themselves impure,
which they who are outside the church - that is, the Gentiles - cannot do . . . .
Moreover those who are within the church
are able to form principles of falsity contrary to the very truths of faith . . ..
whereas those who are outside the church cannot do this,
because they are ignorant of these truths.
Thus the former can profane holy truths, but not the latter . . ..

AC 2053 [2]
The truths of conscience are various,
that is, they are according to each person's religion;
and these truths, provided they are not contrary to the goods of faith,
the Lord will not do violence to,
because the person has taken them to himself,
and has regarded them as holy.
The Lord breaks no one, but bends him,
as may be seen from the fact
that in every teaching within the church
there are some who are being gifted with conscience,
which conscience is a better one
in proportion as its truths approach more closely
to the genuine truths of faith.
As conscience is formed from truths of faith of this kind,
it is evident that it has been formed in the intellectual part of a person,
for it is the intellectual part that receives these truths;
and therefore the Lord
has miraculously separated this part from the will part
- an arcanum not previously known . . ..

SD 2671 - it was replied from heaven

SD 2671
. . . it was replied from heaven,
that never is any one predestined to hell,
but that all are predestined from eternity
to eternal life.
(July 23, 1748)

AC 2039 - loves of three kinds

AC 2039
There are loves of three kinds
that constitute the celestial things of the Lord's kingdom,
namely, conjugial love,
love for infants,
and the love for society, or mutual love.
Conjugial love is the principal love of all,
because it has within it the end of greatest use,
namely, the propagation of the human race,
and thereby of the Lord's kingdom,
of which it is the seminary.
Love toward infants follows next,
being derived from conjugial love;
and then comes the love for society, or mutual love.

SD 2648 - the life that is good; SD 2652-3 - meriting heaven

SD 2648
This is the case with those things in life that are good,
both on the part of people on earth and of spirits.
The Lord provides such minds,
and inspires them to think
that they do good on their own power,
when yet nothing whatever,
not the least bit,
is from them.
But then He instructs them
that they do not do good from themselves,
but from the Lord.
(July 18, 1748)

SD 2652-2653
. . . those who wish to merit heavenly joy, or heaven,
through piety, that is through prayers, gifts to the poor,
self-imposed humiliation and renunciation of the world, and the like,
by which people think, sometimes in simplicity,
that they merit heaven
- as also, for example,
by having during their bodily life
contributed something to the increase of the Lord's Church,
ascribing merit to themselves for it.
Of such people there are many, many kinds and species.
. . . the more people suppose that they merit heaven by such means
and thus come nearer to heaven,
the more they distance themselves from heaven,
because they ascribe merit to themselves
and take it away from the Lord
and the goodness of their works to themselves,
denying them to the Lord.
Thus the more one does this,
the farther one distances oneself from heaven.
(July 19, 1948)

AC 2027 - true charity

AC 2027 [4]
. . . true charity loves all truth.

SD 2601 - no one is obliged by force or compulsion to serve the Lord

SD 2601
There are very many means of compelling people and spirits
to acknowledge and worship the Lord,
nor is anything easier;
there are restraints and kinds and species of restraints;
there are fears, there are joys, there are honors;
there are all kinds of desires that could compel a person or a spirit
to acknowledge the Lord.
What fears accomplish in them is obvious enough,
and also what honors achieve,
and when they are brought into a state of joy,
then all want to acknowledge the Lord and adore Him.

AC 2021 - Union and conjunction

AC 2021
Between the Lord's Divine Essence and His Human Essence
there was a Union;
but between the Lord and the human race
there is a Conjunction, through the faith of charity,
as is evident from the fact that Jehovah or the Lord is Life,
and that His Human Essence also was made Life . . .
and between Life and Life there is Union.
. . . A person does not live from himself,
but the Lord in mercy adjoins a person to Himself
and thereby causes him to live to eternity;
and because the Lord and a person are thus distinct,
it is called conjunction.

AC 1999 - adoration, humiliation; AC 2004 - conjunction

AC 1999
Abram fell upon his faces.*
. . . this signifies adoration . . ..
To fall upon the face was a rite of adoration in the Most Ancient Church,
and also in that of the Ancients,
for the reason that the face signified the interiors,
and the state of their humiliation
was represented by falling upon the face;
so in the Jewish representative church
it became a customary ceremonial.
True adoration, or humiliation of heart,
carries with it prostration to the earth upon the face before the Lord . . ..
For in humiliation of heart
there is the acknowledgment of self as being nothing but filthiness,
and at the same time the acknowledgment of the Lord's infinite mercy . . ..

[2] That the Lord adored and prayed to Jehovah His Father,
is known from the Word of the Gospels;
and also that He did so as if to one different from Himself,
although Jehovah was in Him.
But the state in which the Lord was at these times
was His state of humiliation . . .
that He was then in the infirm human that was from the mother;
but insofar as He put this off,
and put on the Divine,
He was in another state,
which is called His state of glorification.
In the former state
He adored Jehovah as one different from Himself,
although in Himself;
for, as has been said, His internal was Jehovah;
but in the latter, that is, in His state of glorification,
He spoke with Jehovah as with Himself,
or He was Jehovah Himself.

[3] A person's internal is that from which he is a person,
and by which he is distinguished from brute animals.
By means of this internal he lives after death,
and to eternity a person,
and by means of it
he can be uplifted by the Lord among the angels.
This internal is the very first form
from which a person becomes and is a person,
and by means of it
the Lord is united to a person.

[5] . . . the Lord's internal was Jehovah Himself,
because He was conceived from Jehovah,
who cannot be divided and become another's,
as is the case with a son who is conceived from a human father;
for the Divine is not divisible,
like the human,
but is and remains one and the same.
To this internal the Lord united the Human Essence;
and because the Lord's internal was Jehovah,
it was not a form recipient of life,
like the internal of a person,
but was life itself.
. . . Insofar therefore as the Lord was in the human
which He received by inheritance from the mother,
so far did He appear distinct from Jehovah
and adore Jehovah as one different from Himself.
But insofar as the Lord put off this human,
He was not distinct from Jehovah,
but was one with Him.
The former state, as before said, was the Lord's state of humiliation;
but the latter was His state of glorification.

AC 2004 [3]
Between the Lord and Jehovah there was union,
but between a person and the Lord
there is not union,
but conjunction.
The Lord united Himself to Jehovah by His own power,
and He therefore also became Righteousness;
whereas a person by no means conjoins himself by his own power,
but by the power of the Lord;
so that the Lord conjoins a person with Himself.

* "Faces" is in the plural in both the Hebrew and the Latin
because a person has really as many faces as affection
and it is the same with the Lord . . .. [Reviser.]

AC 1992 - God Shaddai

AC 1992 [1-5]
I am God Shaddai.
(Genesis 17:1)
. . . In Syria, where Abram came from,
there still existed remains of the Ancient Church,
and many families there retained its worship . . ..

But this was not the case with the house of Terah,
the father of Abram and Nahor,
for this was one of the families of the nations there
that had not only lost the name "Jehovah"
but had also served other gods,
and instead of Jehovah had worshiped Shaddai,
whom they called their god . . ..

In his early manhood, Abram, like other Gentiles, was an idolater,
and that up to this time, while living in the land of Canaan,
he had not rejected from his mind the god Shaddai
- by which is meant in the sense of the letter the name of Abram's god -
and that by this name the Lord was first represented before them
(that is, before Abram, Isaac, and Jacob) . . ..

The reason why the Lord was willing
to be first represented before them by the name "Shaddai"
is that the Lord by no means desires to destroy suddenly
(still less in a single moment)
the worship that has been instilled in anyone from his infancy;
for this would be to tear up the root,
and thereby destroy the holy state of adoration and of worship
that has been deeply implanted,
and which the Lord never breaks, but bends.
The holy state of worship
that has been rooted in from infancy
is of such a nature that it cannot endure violence,
but only a gentle and kindly bending.
The case is the same with those Gentiles
who in their bodily life had worshiped idols,
and yet had lived in mutual charity.
As the holy state of their worship has been inrooted from their infancy,
in the other life it is not taken away in a moment, but successively;
for in those who have lived in mutual charity,
the goods and truths of faith can be easily implanted,
and they receive them afterwards with joy; for charity is the very soil.
And such also was the case with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
in that the Lord suffered them to retain the name "God Shaddai,"
insomuch that He said He was God Shaddai;
and this from the meaning of the name.

Some translators render Shaddai "the Almighty;"
others, "the Thunderer;"
but it properly signifies "the Tempter" or "Tester,"
and "the Benefactor," after the temptations" or "trials,"
as is evident from the book of Job,
which mentions "Shaddai" so frequently
because Job was in trials or temptations . . ..

AC 1988, 1989 - names and numbers

AC 1988
The nature of the internal sense of the Word
may be seen in an especial manner
from the numbers, as well as from the names, that occur in the Word;
for within the numbers, whatever they may be,
signify actual things,
as do the names also;
for there is absolutely nothing in the Word
that has not what is Divine within it,
or that does not possess an internal sense;
and how remote this is from the sense of the letter
is especially clear from the numbers and the names;
for in heaven no attention is given to these,
but to the things that are signified by them.
For example, whenever the number "seven" occurs,
instead of seven there at once comes to the angels what is holy . . ..
Whenever "twelve" occurs,
there comes to the angels the idea of all things that belong to faith . . ..
The case is the same with the number "ninety-nine;"
and that this number signifies
the time before the Lord had fully conjoined the internal man with the rational,
is evident from the signification of a "hundred years,"
which was Abram's age when Isaac was born to him;
for by Isaac is represented and signified the Lord's rational man
that is conjoined with His internal man, that is, with the Divine.
In the Word, a "hundred" signifies the same as "ten,"
for it is formed by the multiplication of ten into ten
and "ten" signifies remains
. . . in the Lord's case remains mean the Divine goods
that He procured for Himself by His own power,
and by means of which
He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.

AC 1989
. . . by "Abram" in the Word there is meant no other than the Lord.
But the angels, who are in heavenly ideas
and do not fix them on any person,
know nothing about Abram;
and therefore when the Word is being read by a person
and Abram is mentioned
they perceive no other than the Lord . . ..

SD 2545-2546 - the appearance and the reality

SD 2545-2546
There are very many like cases in nature
proved by experience
and being true [contrary to the appearance],
must nevertheless be believed.

It is similar with matters in the spiritual world,
especially those pertaining to faith.
These must not be doubted, much less rejected,
because we do not understand the causes
and because they are not according to the way things appear,
when yet they are truths
because the Lord, Who is Himself the Truth, has said them
- such as that it is the Lord Alone Who lives,
that other lives on earth and in heaven are nothing,
and very many statements of this kind.
These too are contrary to the appearance . . .
yet they are still true
and should therefore not be denied
just because we do not understand,
and because we seem to ourselves to live from ourselves.
(July 6, 1748)

AC 1984 - the Soul of the Word

AC 1984
Few persons can bring themselves to believe
that the Word has within it an internal sense
that is not apparent from the letter,
because it is so remote from the sense of the letter
that it is as it were distant from it as heaven is from earth.
. . . The sense of the letter bears a relation to the internal sense
like that of the human body to the soul.
While a person is in the body, and thinks from bodily things,
he knows almost nothing about the soul;
for the functions of the body are different from those of the soul,
so different that if the functions of the soul were disclosed,
they would not be acknowledged as such.
The case is the same with the internals of the Word:
its soul, that is, its life, is in its internals,
and these have regard solely to the Lord, His kingdom, the church,
and to those things in a person that belong to His kingdom and church;
and when these are regarded,
it is the Word of the Lord,
for in this case there is life itself within.

SD 2495, 2502 - the deceit that leads to listlessness and destruction

SD 2495
it was a certain kind of deceit not before observed so much in others,
namely that they were able to slip into any company whatever . . ..
. . . there was nothing whatever of what was being thought and happening
that they did not pick up on and then want to make use of for their own sake.
It was therefore an active deceit
. . . concerned only for themselves, not for others.

2502.
There was such poison in them
that it blunted all my power to engage in truths and goodness,
taking away all zeal.
They have been with me for several days
and have so troubled me in thinking and doing serious things,
things true and good,
and in seeing them, that I hardly knew what to do.
Such is the influence of their poisons.
When they are in the company of good spirits,
they bring on them a sluggishness
in doing good and the duties of their function.

. . . when that kind of spirit comes among those
who are inclined to performing useful tasks in the commonwealth,
or into their societies, then all their ardor is dampened.
So the human race is being led astray mainly by them,
for which reason kings reject such people from their courts,
for they inflict great harm on societies,
leading them away from truths and goodness . . ..
They are destroyers of the human race.
For it is generally known
that people who begin to indulge in idleness
take the greatest pleasure in it,
like beggars who once they become accustomed to that laziness
then hold back and remove themselves
from every effort to be members of civil society, or to be citizens.
They cannot be called citizens, but destroyers of citizens.
(July 3, 1748)

AC 1964 - knowledges, the rational, uses

AC 1964
. . . it known
that the rational cannot possibly be conceived and born,
that is, formed,
apart from knowledges
but these knowledges must have use as their end . . ..

From these knowledges alone,
without a life of use,
the rational becomes as here described,
resembling a wild-ass, morose, pugnacious,
and characterized by a parched and dry life,
from a kind of love of truth
that is defiled with the love of self.
But when these knowledges have use as their end,
they receive life from uses,
yet life of such a quality
as is that of the uses.
They who learn knowledges
in order that they may be perfected in the faith of love
- for true and real faith is love to the Lord and toward the neighbor -
are in the use of all uses,
and receive spiritual and celestial life from the Lord;
and when they are in this life,
they have a capacity to perceive all things of the Lord's kingdom.
In this life are all angels;
and because they are in this life
they are in intelligence itself and wisdom itself.

AC 1949 - the Ishmael rational; AC 1950 - the genuine rational

AC 1949
The person whose rational is of such a character that he is solely in truth -
even though it is the truth of faith -
and who is not at the same time in the good of charity,
is altogether of such a character.
He is a morose person, will bear nothing, is against all,
regards everybody as being in falsity,
is ready to rebuke, to chastise, and to punish; has no pity,
and does not apply or adapt himself to others and study to bend their minds;
So it is that Ishmael was driven out, and afterwards dwelt in the wilderness,
and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt (Gen. 21:9-21) . . .

AC 1950 [2-3]
All the genuine rational consists of good and truth,
that is, of the celestial and the spiritual.
Good, or the celestial, is its very soul or life;
truth, or the spiritual, is what receives its life from this.
Without life from celestial good,
the rational is such as is here described,
that is, it fights against all, and all fight against it.
Rational good never fights, however it is assailed;
because it is mild and gentle, patient and yielding;
for its character is that of love and mercy.
Yet although it does not fight, it conquers all,
nor does it ever think about combat,
or glory on account of victory;
and this because it is Divine, and is safe of itself.
For no evil can attack good;
it cannot even continue to exist in the sphere where good is,
for when this merely approaches,
evil withdraws and falls back of itself;
for evil is infernal,
and good is heavenly.
Very similar is the case with the celestial spiritual,
that is, with truth from a celestial origin,
or with truth which is from good,
for this truth is truth that is formed by good,
so that it may be called the form of good.

But truth separated from good,
which is here represented by Ishmael and is described in this verse,
is altogether different, being like a wild-ass,
and fighting against all, and all against it;
in fact it thinks of and breathes scarcely anything but combats;
its general delectation, or reigning affection, is to conquer,
and when it conquers it glories in the victory . . ..
Such a life is a life of truth without good,
yea, a life of faith without charity,
and therefore when a person is being regenerated,
this is indeed effected by means of the truth of faith,
but still at the same time by means of a life of charity,
which the Lord insinuates
in accordance with the increments of the truth of faith.

SD 2473 - 2474 - the circle of faith and charity

SD 2473 - 2474
Certain have a persuasion
that faith alone saves without works,
and, indeed, is enhanced in value,
when yet it is most clearly apparent from the Lord's Word
that the tree is known from its fruit,
[Matt. 7:20, Luke 6:44]
as well as that love towards the neighbor is the principal thing in the law,
[Lev. 19:18, Matt. 19:19, 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27]
besides other things,
which evidently prove that faith is not to be separated from works,
and that there is no life in faith,
if there are no works of charity,
which live from charity; so from faith.

. . . works without faith are like a body without a soul,
. . . and faith without works is like a soul endowed with no body.
Faith is given with much variety;
[there is] a faith merely oral; a scientific faith; intellectual faith;
faith with persuasion;
faith with persuasion from love towards the neighbor.
So it may appear what quality of life can be in oral faith,
and scientific faith, and intellectual faith,
for love is what forms the disposition of a person,
and gives him the faculty to be able to be an applied vessel.
Consequently it may appear
how the disposition is formed by faith, without persuasion;
and by faith, with persuasion;
and by persuasion, without love towards the neighbor;
and by persuasion, where there is love towards the neighbor;
and so faith with the works of charity.
(July 1, 1748)
[Marginal note] -
These things in general were confirmed this day from heaven.
The Lord, as it were, being seen.
(October 19 or 20, 1748)

AC 1937 - self-compulsion and a new will or heavenly proprium

AC 1937 [6]
Whatever a person does from love appears to him as freedom.
But within that freedom,
when the person practices self-compulsion,
setting himself against evil and falsity
and doing what is good,
heavenly love is present
which the Lord instills at that time
and by means of which
He creates that person's proprium.
It is the Lord's will therefore
that this proprium should appear to the person to be his own,
though in fact it is not.
This proprium
which a person receives in this manner during his lifetime
by means, as it seems, of compulsion,
the Lord replenishes in the next life
with limitless forms of delight and happiness.
Such people are also by degrees enlightened,
or rather are confirmed,
in the truth
that their self-compulsion has not commenced at all in themselves
but that even the smallest of all the impulses of their will
has been received from the Lord.
They are also led to see that the reason
why their compulsion had appeared to commence in themselves
was that the Lord might give them a new will as their own,
and in this way the life belonging to heavenly love
might be imparted to them as their own.
Indeed the Lord's will is to share with everyone that which is His,
thus that which is heavenly,
so that it may appear to be that person's and to be within him,
though in fact it is not his.
A proprium such as this exists with angels,
and insofar as they accept the truth
that everything good and true comes from the Lord
the delight and happiness belonging to such a proprium exists with them.

SD 2423, 2432 - It is the truth. The Lord said so.

SD 2423
By a spiritual idea made clear to me,
it was shown that the Lord rules all . . .
from interiors, by order.

SD 2432
But because it is so in truth,
it must be believed even more than the senses
because the Lord has said it.
(June 28, 1748)

AC 1914 - intellectual truth, conscience, perception

AC 1914
. . . the Lord thought from intellectual truth . . .
and because this truth is above the rational,
it could perceive and see the quality of this rational,
namely, that it held that truth in low esteem (contempt).

That the Lord could perceive and see from the interior man
what the quality of the new rational in Himself was,
may be seen from the fact
that the interior can perceive what takes place in the exterior,
or what is the same, that the higher can see what is in the lower;
but not the reverse.
Moreover they who have conscience can do this
and are accustomed to do it,
for when anything contrary to the truth of conscience
flows into the thought,
or into the endeavor of the will,
they not only perceive it,
but also find fault with it;
and it even grieves them to be of such a character.
Those who have perception can do this even more,
as perception is more interior in the rational.
What then could not the Lord do,
who had Divine celestial perception,
and thought from the affection of intellectual truth,
which is above the rational!
Therefore He could not but be indignant,
knowing that nothing of evil and falsity was from Himself,
and that from the affection of truth
He took the greatest pains that His rational should be pure.
This shows that the Lord did not lightly esteem intellectual truth,
but that He perceived the first rational in Himself to be thinking lightly of it.

The fathers of the Most Ancient Church who had perception,
thought from the interior rational.
The fathers of the Ancient Church,
who had not perception but conscience,
thought from the exterior or natural rational.
But all who are without conscience
do not think at all from the rational,
since they do not have the rational,
although they appear to have it;
but they think from the sensuous and corporeal natural.

AC 1909 - what is our end? or love?; AC 1911 - intellectual truth vs. 'the rational first conceived'

Quotation marks were added to clarify the phrase
'the rational first conceived'.

AC 1909 [2]
There are many affections belonging to the exterior person,
all dedicated to their uses;
but the affection of knowledges stands preeminent above them all,
when it has for its end that we may become truly rational,
for thus it has good and truth for its end.

Everyone may see what kind of life he has,
if he will only search out what his end is;
not what all his ends are -
for he has numberless ones, as many as intentions,
and almost as many as judgments and conclusions of thoughts,
which are only intermediate ends,
variously derived from the principal one, or tending to it -
but let him search out the end he prefers to all the rest,
and in respect to which all others are as nothing.
If he has for his end himself and the world,
let him know that his life is infernal;
but if he has for his end the good of his neighbor, the common good,
the Lord's kingdom, and especially the Lord Himself,
let him know that his life is heavenly.

AC 1911[2-7]
. . . it is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord;
but 'the rational first conceived' does not apprehend this,
and supposes that if it did not live from itself it would have no life;
(and) it is indignant if the contrary is said,
as has been many times perceived from the spirits
who still cling to the fallacies of the senses.

It is an intellectual truth that all good and truth are from the Lord;
but 'the rational first conceived' does not apprehend this,
because it has the feeling that they (all good and truth) are as from itself;
and it also supposes that if good and truth were not from itself,
it could have no thought of good and truth,
and still less do anything good and true;
and that if they are from another
it should let itself go,
and wait all the time for influx.

It is an intellectual truth that nothing but good is from the Lord,
and not even the least of evil;
and this too 'the rational first conceived' does not believe,
but supposes that because the Lord governs everything,
evil also is from Him;
and that because He is omnipotent and omnipresent, and is good itself,
and does not take away the punishments of the evil in hell,
He wills the evil of punishment;
when yet He does evil to no one,
nor does He will that anyone should be punished.

It is an intellectual truth that the celestial person
has from the Lord a perception of good and truth;
but 'the first rational' either denies the existence of perception altogether,
or supposes that if a person were to perceive from another,
and not from himself, he would be as if inanimate, or devoid of life.
In fact the more the rational thinks from memory-knowledges
that originate from sensuous things and from philosophical reasonings,
the less does it apprehend the foregoing and all other intellectual truths,
for the fallacies therefrom are involved in so much the darker shades.
So it is that the learned believe less than others.

Since 'the rational first conceived' is such,
it is evident that ' it despises its mistress' (Hagar regarding Sarai),
that is, it lightly esteems intellectual truth.
Intellectual truth does not become manifest (open to view),
that is, is not acknowledged,
except as far as fallacies and appearances are dispersed,
and these are not dispersed
so long as a person reasons about truths themselves
from things of sense and from memory-knowledges,
but it for the first time becomes manifest
when he believes from a simple heart
that it is truth because so said by the Lord.
Then the shades of fallacies are dispersed,
and then nothing in him prevents him from understanding it.

In the Lord however there were no fallacies,
but when His 'rational was first conceived'
there were appearances of truth that in themselves were not truths . . ..
So also His 'rational at its first conception' lightly esteemed intellectual truth;
but gradually, as His rational was made Divine,
the clouds of the appearances were dispersed,
and intellectual truths lay open to Him in their light;
and this is represented and signified
by Ishmael being expelled from the house when Isaac grew up.

AC 1902, 1904 - the use of the rational & influx

AC 1902
If people were not imbued (steeped in) with hereditary evil,
the rational would then be born immediately from the marriage
of the celestial things of the internal person with its spiritual things,
and the faculty of knowing would be born through the rational,
so that on coming into the world
a person would at once have in himself
all the faculty of reason and of knowing,
for this would be in accordance with the order of influx . . ..

That which causes him to be born without any knowledge
is hereditary evil received from his father and from his mother.
Because of that evil
all his faculties are turned in a contrary direction
insofar as goods and truths are concerned,
so that the latter are not able
through an immediate influx of celestial and spiritual things from the Lord
to be translated into correspondent forms.
This is the reason why a person's rational
has to be formed in an entirely different manner or way,
that is to say, by means of facts and knowledges
entering in through the senses, and so by the external route,
thus by what is a reversal of order.
So a person is made rational by the Lord in a miraculous manner.

AC 1904
There are two affections distinct from each other -
affection of good, and affection of truth.
When a person is being regenerated
the affection of truth has the lead,
for he is affected with truth for the sake of good;
but when he has been regenerated
the affection of good has the lead,
and from good he is affected with truth.

[3] Intellectual truth is internal,
rational truth is intermediate,
truth of memory-knowledge is external.
These are most distinct from each other,
because one is more internal than another.
With any person whatever,
intellectual truth, which is internal, or in his inmost,
is not the person's,
but is the Lord's with the person.
From this the Lord flows into the rational,
where truth first appears as belonging to the person;
and through the rational into the memory-knowledge;
from which it is evident
that a person cannot possibly think as of himself from intellectual truth,
but only from rational truth and truth of memory-knowledge,
because these appear as if they were his.

AC 1902
If people were not imbued (steeped in) with hereditary evil,
the rational would then be born immediately,
from the marriage of the celestial things of the internal person with its spiritual things,
and the faculty of knowing would be born through the rational,
so that on coming into the world
a person would at once have in himself all the faculty of reason and of knowing,
for this would be in accordance with the order of influx . . ..

AC 1989-1900 - Ishmael, Isaac: the developement of the rational

AC 1898
. . . there is something of truth adjoined to good which dictates;
afterwards there is good from which or through which the truth is perceived.

AC 1899
. . . that the Lord's Divine rational man is represented by Isaac,
but His first rational man, which was to become Divine, by Ishmael.

AC 1900 [2-3
The influx of the internal person
goes into the knowledges of the exterior person;
affection being the means.
Meanwhile, before there are these knowledges,
there is indeed a communication,
but through affections alone, by which the external person is governed;
but from this there exist only the most general motions, and certain appetites,
also certain blind inclinations, such as show themselves in infants.
But this life becomes by degrees more distinct
in proportion as the vessels of the memory
are formed by means of knowledges,
and the vessels of the interior memory by means of rational things.

But still there is a want of congruity (harmony)
unless the knowledges by which the vessels are formed are truths;
for the celestial and spiritual things of the internal person
find no correspondence for themselves except in truths.
These are the genuine vessels in the organic forms of each memory,
and to which the celestial things of love
and the spiritual things of faith can be fitted in;
for they are there arranged by the Lord
according to the idea and image of the societies of heaven,
or of His kingdom,
insomuch that the person becomes, in least form,
a heaven, or a kingdom of the Lord,
as also the minds of those who are in the celestial things of love
and the spiritual things of faith are called in the Word.
But these things have been said for those who love to think more deeply.

SD 2386 - body and spirit

SD 2386
. . . a person during life
has the sense of touch and the rest the senses
not from the body,
but from the spirit that is in the body,
from which the body has its life.
Without the life of the spirit,
there cannot be a life of touch in the body,
as there cannot be eyesight without the sight of the spirit.
Whatever is vital in the body,
is not of the body,
but of its spirit . . .

AC 1886, 1889 - Hagar & Ishmael, Abram & Sarai

AC 1886, 1889
Genesis Chapter 16
This chapter treats of Hagar and Ishmael.
But what is represented and signified in the internal sense
by Hagar and Ishmael
has not been known before now to anyone, nor could be,
because the world, even the learned world,
before now has supposed the histories of the Word
to be nothing but histories,
. . . Regarded in themselves, however,
historical matters effect but little toward a person's amendment,
and nothing at all for his eternal life,
since in the other life they are forgotten.
For what benefit would it be to those in that life
respecting the maid Hagar
that she was given by Sarai to Abram?
Or to know about Ishmael, or even about Abram?
Nothing but what belongs to the Lord
and is from the Lord that is necessary to souls
in order that they may enter into heaven and enjoy its happiness,
that is, eternal life.
It is for the sake of these things that the Word exists,
and these are the things that are contained in its interiors.

. . .as the subject here treated of in the internal sense
is the Lord's Rational Man,
and how it was conceived and born
by the influx of the internal man into the external,
and as it is these very matters that are involved
in the historical facts stated concerning Abram, Hagar, and Ishmael,
therefore in order to prevent what we have to say in the following explanation
from being utterly unintelligible,
be it known that in every person there is an internal person,
a rational person which is intermediate,
and an external person,
and that these are most distinct from one another.

SD 2365 - liberty

SD 2365
One law of order
in the government of the universe by the Lord
is that to everyone is left liberty;
for without liberty there is no life,
nor any worship,
and without liberty there is no reformation.