Saturday, October 12, 2024

DLW 213, 214, 215, 216 - Succession of Degrees, and They All Matter

DLW 213

As regards love and wisdom,
love is the end,
wisdom the cause or means,
and useful endeavor the effect,
and useful endeavor
embraces, contains, and is the foundation
of love and wisdom.
Moreover, useful endeavor
so embraces and so contains them
that all the qualities of the love
and all the qualities of the wisdom
are actually present in it,
useful endeavor being the concurrence of these.

DLW 214

Affection, thought and action
also exist in a succession of like degrees,
because every affection has some relation to love,
every thought some relation to wisdom,
and every action some relation to useful endeavor.

Charity, faith and good work
exist in a succession of like degrees;
for charity is a matter of affection,
faith a matter of thought,
and good work a matter of action.

Will, understanding and practice
similarly exist in a succession of like degrees;
for will is a matter of love and so of affection,
understanding a matter of wisdom and so of faith,
and practice a matter of useful endeavor
and so of work.

As all the qualities of wisdom and love
are present in useful endeavor,
therefore, so all the qualities of thought and affection
are present in action,
all the qualities of faith and charity in good work,
and so on.
But all of these must be homogeneous,
that is to say, accordant.

DLW 215

A fact made known to me is
that from simply seeing a person's deed or work,
angels perceive and see
every quality of the will and thought of the doer -
angels of the third heaven
perceiving and seeing from his will
the end prompting the action,
and angels of the second heaven
perceiving and seeing the cause
through which the end thus acts.

It is because of this
that works and deeds
are so often commanded in the Word,
and that it says a person is known by them.
(Matthew 7:16, 20, 12:33; Luke 6:44)

 

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