AC 8717 - The Lord Directs All Things; AC 8722 - The State of Peace

AC 8717 [2-3] - The Lord Directs All Things

. . . by means of the truth proceeding from Himself
the Lord directs all things down to the veriest singulars;
not as a king in the world,
but as God in heaven and in the universe.
A king in the world exercises only a care over the whole,
and his princes and officers a particular care.
It is otherwise with God,
for God sees all things,
and knows all things from eternity,
and provides all things to eternity,
and from Himself holds all things in their order.
From this it is evident
that the Lord has not only a care over the whole,
but also a particular and individual care of all things,
otherwise than as a king in the world.
His disposing is immediate
through the truth Divine from Himself,
and is also mediate through heaven.
But the mediate disposing through heaven
is also as it were immediate from Himself,
for what comes out of heaven
comes through heaven from Him.
That this is so the angels in heaven not only know,
but also perceive in themselves.

But this subject falls with difficulty
into the idea of any person,
and least of all into the idea of those
who trust in their own prudence;
for they attribute to themselves
all things that happen prosperously for them,
and the rest they ascribe to fortune, or chance;
and few to the Divine Providence.
Thus they attribute the things that happen to dead causes,
and not to the living cause.
When things turn out happily
they indeed say that it is of God,
and even that there is nothing that is not from Him;
but few, and scarcely any, at heart believe it.
In like manner do those
who place all prosperity in worldly and bodily things,
namely, in honors and riches,
and believe that these alone are Divine blessings;
and therefore when they see
many of the evil abound in such things,
and not so much the good,
they reject from their heart and deny
the Divine Providence in individual things,
not considering that
Divine Blessing is to be happy to eternity,
and that the Lord regards
such things as are of brief duration,
as relatively, are the things of this world,
no otherwise than as means to eternal things.
Wherefore also the Lord provides for the good,
who receive His mercy in time,
such things as contribute to
the happiness of their eternal life;
riches and honors for those to whom they are not hurtful;
and no riches and honors
for those to whom they would be hurtful.
Nevertheless to these latter He gives in time,
in the place of honors and riches,
to be glad with a few things,
and to be more content than the rich and honored.

AC 8722 - The State of Peace

. . . in the supreme sense "peace" denotes the Lord,
and it is from this that it inmostly affects good,
and is the very being
of the happiness of those who are in good.
So long as a personn is in truth,
and not yet in good,
he is in an untranquil state;
but when he is in good,
then he is in a tranquil state,
thus in peace.
The reason is that evil spirits cannot attack good,
but flee away at the first perception of it;
whereas they can attack truth.
Hence it is that when people are in good,
they are in peace.
This is what is meant by
"all this people shall come upon its place in peace." 
(Exodus 18:23)