Tuesday, December 19, 2023

AC 10409 - Worldly Blessings vs. Eternal Blessings

AC 10409 [3-4]

. . . the goods, the satisfactions, and the happiness
that are given and provided for a person by the Divine
are eternal and have no end;
and consequently these are true blessings.
What is temporary bears no ratio to what is eternal;
as what is finite in time
bears no ratio to the infinite of time.
What endures to eternity, this is;
but what has an end, this relatively is not.
That which is, the Divine provides;
but not that which is not,
except insofar as it conduces to that which is;
for Jehovah, which is the Divine Itself, is,
and that which is from Him also is.
From this it is evident what is the quality
of that which is given
and provided for a person by the Divine,
and what is the quality of that
which a person himself procures for himself.

Moreover, every person is led by the Divine
by means of his understanding;
if he were not led thereby,
no person could be saved;
and from this it is that the Divine
leaves this with a person in its freedom,
and does not check it.
From this cause it comes to pass
that the machinations and cunning devices of the evil
(which are from their understanding) succeed;
but the favorable results thus obtained
come to an end together with their life in the world,
and become unfavorable;
whereas those things
which are provided by the Divine for the good
have no end,
and become favorable and happy to eternity.


 

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