CL 532-533 - What news from earth? The Lord has revealed secrets!

CL 532-533
. . . the Lord has revealed secrets
which surpass in excellence
all the secrets previously revealed . . .:

(1) That in the Word
and in each and every particular of it,
there is a spiritual meaning corresponding to the natural meaning;
that through that spiritual meaning
people of the church are conjoined with the Lord and affiliated with angels;
and that in it lies the holiness of the Word.

(2) That the corresponding elements
of which the spiritual meaning of the Word consists
have been disclosed.

(3) that the Lord has now revealed
the circumstances of people's life after death.

(4) that the Lord has now disclosed
the nature of the world in which angels and spirits live,
thus the nature of heaven and the nature of hell;
as also that angels and spirits live in affiliation with men;
in addition to many other wonders connected with them.

(5) The Lord has now revealed
that there is in your world a different sun from the one in our world;
that the sun of your world is pure love,
while the sun of our world is nothing but fire;
that because your sun is pure love,
everything that emanates from it brings with it something of life,
while because our sun is nothing but fire,
everything that emanates from it brings with it nothing of life;
also that this is the origin of the difference
between what is spiritual and what is natural,
a difference hitherto unknown which has also been disclosed."
It has been made known in consequence of this . . .
from what source the light comes
which enlightens the human intellect with wisdom,
and from what source the warmth comes
which kindles the human will with love.

(6) that there are three degrees of life,
and consequently three heavens;
that the human mind is divided into these degrees,
and that the human being thus corresponds to the three heavens.

(7) concerning the Last Judgment;
concerning the Lord,
that He is God of heaven and earth,
that God is one both in person and in essence,
in whom is the Divine trinity,
and that He is the Lord;
also concerning the New Church about to be established by Him,
and the doctrine of that church;
concerning the sacredness of the Holy Scripture;
as also that the Apocalypse has been revealed,
nothing of which could have been revealed,
not even in one little verse,
except by the Lord.

The angels rejoiced greatly at hearing these reports; but when they perceived in me a sadness and began to inquire what reason I had to be sad, I said that although these secrets revealed at the present time by the Lord surpass in excellence and importance any concepts hitherto imparted, still on earth they are regarded as worthless.
The angels were surprised at this, and they petitioned the Lord to permit them to look down into the world; and on looking down, behold, they saw only darkness there.
They were then told to write these secrets on a piece of paper, and to let the paper descend to the earth, at which time they would see a portent. So they did so. And lo, the piece of paper with these secrets written upon it was let go from heaven, and as it descended, while still in the spiritual world, it shone like a star. But as it floated down into the natural world, the light disappeared, and the further it fell, the darker it became.
Then, when the angels directed it into gatherings of people containing certain educated and learned representatives from the clergy and laity, a murmur arose from many of them, in which were heard the following words: "What is this? Is it of any consequence? What does it matter if we know these things or not? Are they not creations of the brain?"
Moreover, some of them appeared as though to take the piece of paper and to fold it, roll it up, and unroll it with their fingers, in order to obliterate the writing; while others appeared as though to tear it up, and some to try to trample it with their feet. But they were kept by the Lord from such a wickedness, and the angels were commanded to withdraw the paper and protect it.
After that, because the angels were saddened and thought to themselves how long this would be the case, they were told, "For a time and times and half a time." (Revelation 12:14)

CL 515 & 516 - the spiritual marriage

CL 515 & 516
. . . the Word has a natural meaning and a spiritual meaning,
and that there is a correspondence between them . . .

By the spiritual marriage
we mean the marriage of the Lord and the church . . .
and so also the marriage between goodness and truth . . .
. . . this marriage of the Lord and the church
and consequently a marriage of good and truth
exists in each and every particular of the Word. . ..
For the church is founded on the Word,
and the Word is the Lord.
The Word is the Lord
because He is the Divine good and Divine truth in it.

CL 490, 491,493 - the will and the intellect, character, purpose and intention

CL 490 [3]
1. The will by itself accomplishes nothing on its own,
but whatever it does it does through the intellect.

2. Conversely, too, the intellect by itself accomplishes nothing on its own,
but whatever it does it does from the will.

3. The will flows into the intellect, and not the intellect into the will;
but the intellect makes known what is good and what is evil
and advises the will, in order that it may choose
between the two and do that which it prefers.

4. After that a twofold conjunction of the two takes place,
one in which the will operates inwardly and the intellect outwardly,
the other in which the intellect operates inwardly and the will outwardly.

CL 491
Now, because evils and falsities can be defended
just as easily as goods and truths,
and because the intellect in defending them
draws the will over to its side,
and the will together with the intellect forms the mind,
it follows that the form of the human mind
has its character in accordance with its persuasions . . ..

Whatever character the form of a person's mind has,
moreover, such also is the character of his spirit;
consequently, such is the character of the person.

CL 493
That which springs from the very essence of a person's life,
thus which springs from his will or love,
is in the main called purpose;
while that which springs from the outward expression of his life,
thus from the intellect and its thought,
is called intention.

CL 478 - breadth and height

CL 478
. . . all evils, like all goods,
are allotted a breadth and a height,
and because according to that breadth
they have their kinds
and according to that height
their degrees . . .

CL 477 - character of the mind

CL 477 [3]
Every person has an inner mind and an outer mind,
thus an internal sight and an external sight.
In evil people the inner mind is insane and the outer one wise,
while in good people the inner mind is wise
and in consequence of it the outer one too;
and the character of the mind
determines how a person in the spiritual world sees objects.

CL 452 - character and intention

CL 452
. . . a person is a person of such a character
as he is in his purpose, intention or end,
and so he also appears to the Lord and to angels;
indeed, so he is also regarded by wise men in the world.
For the intention is the soul in all actions . . .

CL 436, 437, 444 - equilibrium

CL 436
. . . human rationality can turn itself in either direction and receive an influx.
If it turns in the direction of good, it receives an influx from above,
and then the person's rationality is formed more and more
for the reception of heaven.
But if it turns in the direction of evil, it receives an influx from below,
and then his rationality is formed more and more
for the reception of hell.

CL 437
The equilibrium between them is a spiritual equilibrium,
because it exists between good and evil.
Because of this equilibrium a person has free will.
In it and through it a person thinks and wills
and so speaks and acts as though of himself. . .
If he turns himself to the Lord,
his rationality and freedom are led by the Lord;
but if he turns away from the Lord,
his rationality and freedom are led by hell.

CL 444 [6]
"But let me explain this matter a little more clearly.
The Lord views every person by looking at his forehead,
and this sight passes to the back of his head.
Behind the forehead is the cerebrum,
and in the back of the head the cerebellum.
The cerebrum is devoted to wisdom and its truths,
while the cerebellum is devoted to love and its goods.
Therefore a person who looks with his face to the Lord
receives wisdom from Him,
and through that wisdom, love.
But a person who looks away from the Lord
receives love and not wisdom;
and love without wisdom
is love that originates with man
and not from the Lord.
Moreover, because this love allies itself with falsities,
it does not acknowledge God,
but embraces itself as a god . . . .

CL 425, 426, 461 - opposites

CL 425
No one knows good from the experience of evil,
but evil from the experience of good.
For evil dwells in darkness,
while good abides in light.

CL 426
The natural self is the character into which everyone is first led as he matures,
which is accomplished through various kinds of knowledge and concepts,
and by rational matters having to do with the intellect.
But the spiritual self is the character into which he led by a love of being useful,
a love which is also called charity.
Accordingly, in the measure that anyone is in a state of charity,
in the same measure he is spiritual;
but in the measure that he is not in that state,
in the same measure he is natural,
even if he should be discerning in acumen and wise in his judgment.

CL 431
. . . uncleanness in the church springs from licentious love,
and that cleanness in it springs from married love.

CL 413-414 - innocence of wisdom

CL 413
. . . it is intelligence and wisdom that make an angel.

CL 414
. . . innocence is the essence of all good,
and that good is good
to the extent that it has innocence in it.
Moreover, because wisdom has to do with life,
and thus with good,
wisdom is wisdom in the measure
of the character it derives from innocence.
The same is true of love, charity, and faith . . .
and for that reason no one can enter heaven
unless he possesses innocence.

CL 394 - innocence and peace

CL 394
Innocence and peace are the two innermost elements of heaven.
We call them innermost, because they emanate directly from the Lord.
For the Lord is the essence of innocence and the essence of peace.
Because of His innocence the Lord is called a Lamb,
and because of His peace He says,
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you" (John 14:27).

Innocence and peace are the innermost elements of heaven
for the further reason
that innocence is the very essence of every good,
and peace is the serenity of every delight that is connected with good.

CL 386 - What is an atmosphere?

CL 386
We call the Divinity emanating from the Lord an atmosphere,
because it goes out from Him, surrounds Him,
fills both worlds - the spiritual and the natural -
and brings about the effects of the ends
which the Lord ordained at creation
and which He subsequently provides.

Everything that flows out from an object,
surrounds it and envelops it, is called an atmosphere.
As, for example, the atmosphere of light and heat from the sun around it;
the atmosphere of life from a person around him;
the atmosphere of aroma from a shrub around it;
the atmosphere of attraction from a magnet around it; and so on.

But the universal atmospheres which we are discussing here
are from the Lord around Him;
and they emanate from the sun of the spiritual world,
at whose center He is.
From the Lord through that sun
emanates an atmosphere of warmth and light,
or to say the same thing,
an atmosphere of love and wisdom,
to bring about ends which are of use.

CL 281-284 - sapphire-colored gowns inwoven with threads of gold

CL 281-284
. . . everyone is lovable and beautiful in accordance with his love.

. . . wisdom is the origin of beauty . . .
By wisdom I mean genuine morality,
because this is wisdom in life.

Love alone is not the origin of beauty,
neither is wisdom alone,
but the origin is a union of love and wisdom . . .

CL 372 - protection

CL 372
. . . good protects itself through truth.

CL 349 - only by the Lord

CL 349
. . . a person is made spiritual only by the Lord.

CL 334 - friendship & trust

CL 334
Since truly conjugial love joins the souls and hearts of two together,
it is coupled therefore also with friendship
and through this with trust,
and causes them both to be of a conjugial nature.
Such friendship and trust so rise above other types of friendship and trust
that, as that love is the greatest of loves,
so that friendship is the greatest of friendships,
and likewise that trust.

CL 331 - love & esteem

CL 331
. . . love esteems what it loves.
Esteem always accompanies love,
although love may not always accompany esteem.

CL 313 - progression

CL 313
The concluding state in any progression
has the character of the sequential development
by which it is formed and brought into existence.
This is a principle which ought to be acknowledged
in the educated world on account of its truth;
for it enables us to discover what influx is and how it operates.
By influx we mean everything that goes before in a series
and which forms the next element and then the next
and through a succession of these the concluding one.
We may cite as an example
everything that goes before in a person and forms his wisdom.
Or everything that goes before in a statesman and forms his prudence.
Or everything that goes before in a theologian and forms his learning.
Likewise everything that progressively develops
from infancy and forms the adult.
Also everything that progressively develops in succession
from the seed and sapling and makes the tree,
and which afterwards progressively develops
from the flower and makes its fruit.
In similar manner,
everything which goes before and progressively develops
in the case of a bride and groom and makes their marriage.
This is what we mean by influx.

[3] It follows that one state is formed from one progression
in the case of spiritual people,
and another in the case of people who are natural . . ..
For spiritual people look to the Lord,
and the Lord oversees and guides an orderly progression.
But natural people look to themselves,
and so proceed in an inverted progression.

CL 305 - there are three regions in the human mind

CL 305
. . . there are in human minds three regions,
the highest of which is called celestial,
the intermediate one spiritual,
and the lowest one natural.
A person dwells by birth in the lowest region,
but he ascends into the next higher one, called spiritual,
by living according to truths of religion,
and into the highest one
by achieving a marriage of love and wisdom. . ..

[The spiritual region] is the region into which
a person is led by the Lord when he is born anew.. . .

A person is raised into this last region [the celestial region]
by a love of serving useful ends . . ..

CL 293 - spiritual wisdom and conjunction by love

CL 293
Spiritual wisdom is
to acknowledge the Lord our Savior
as God of heaven and earth,
and through the Word and discourses from it
to acquire from Him truths connected with the Church,
from which comes a spiritual rationality;
and in addition to live from Him according to those truths,
from which comes a spiritual morality.

All conjunction by love requires action, reception, and reaction.

CL 280 - a spiritual person

CL 280
. . . a spiritual person does what he does
in accordance with justice and judgment . .
because a spiritual person behaves spiritually,
even with one who is natural.

CL 267 - the Lord wants to keep us safe

CL 267 [2]
For everyone . . . is withheld from the lust of evil
and kept in a state of intelligence
according as he looks to the Lord
and at the same time is conjoined with Him.


(Conjunction happens when we live by the Ten Commandments
because He told us to, and when we shun evils because they are
sins against Him.)

CL 266 - What is useful service but love of the neighbor in act?

CL 266 [3, 5]
So they continued, saying,
"The positions we hold are positions we admittedly sought,
but for no other purpose than to be able to perform useful services
more fully and to extend them more widely.
We are also surrounded with honor, and we accept it,
yet not for our own sake, but for the good of the society.
. . . the services we render
come from a love of them within us from the Lord.
This love, moreover, gains its bliss
from its communication through useful service with others.
We know, too, from experience,
that the more we perform useful services from a love of them,
the more this love increases,
and with it the wisdom on which the communication depends.
But the more we keep these services to ourselves
and do not communicate them,
the more the bliss dies away . . ..
The whole of heaven, in short,
is nothing but a world of useful service,
from the firsts to the lasts of it.
What is useful service but love of the neighbor in act?
And what holds the heavens together except this love?"

Everyone who believes in the Lord
and refrains from evils as sins
performs useful services from the Lord.
But everyone who does not believe in the Lord
and does not refrain from evils as sins
performs the services he does from himself
and for the sake of himself.

CL 249 - human beings were created

CL 249
Human beings were created to be useful,
because useful service
is the containing vessel of goodness and truth . . ..

CL 238 - marriage and the church

CL 238
. . . the origin of the church and the origin of conjugial love
have the same seat in a person,
and that they are locked in a continual embrace.

. . . conjugial love depends on the state of the church in a person,
consequently that it stems from religion,
because it is religion which forms that state.

CL 233 - Do you not know . . .

CL 233 [2]
"Do you not know that to live rightly is charity,
and to believe rightly is faith?"

CL 220 - thinking

CL 220
. . . the intellect can think that something is good,
thus thinking as true that this something is good.
It is different with the will.
This does not think about goodness and truth
but loves them and does them.

CL 211 - becoming wise

CL 211
For a person becomes wise
as the inner perceptions of his mind are opened,
because by their opening
the thoughts of his understanding are raised into a higher light
and the affections of his will into a higher warmth
- the higher light being wisdom,
and the higher warmth a love for wisdom.


Note: This is not gender specific here. The whole book is talking about marriage, but right here, the Latin is not gender specific.

CL 194, 200 - putting aside inherent natures and becoming truly human

CL 194
. . . it was enjoined on man that he leave father and mother
and cling to his wife(Genesis 2:24, Matthew 19:4,5).
[2] The father and mother a man is to leave mean,
in a spiritual sense,
the inherent nature of his will
and the inherent nature of his intellect
(the inherent nature of a person's will
being to love itself,
and the inherent nature of a person's intellect
being to love its own wisdom).
And to cling means to commit himself to love of his wife.
These two inherent natures are evil and deadly to a man
if they remain in him,
but the love arising from the two is turned into conjugial love
as a man clings to his wife, that is, as he acquires a love for her.

CL 200
. . . in a marriage of truly conjugial love,
each partner becomes more and more deeply human,
for that love opens the deeper aspects of their minds,
and as these are opened,
a person becomes more and more human.

CL 184, 185 - character, changes, time

CL 184
The state of a person's life is its character.
Further,
because every person has in him two faculties which form his life,
faculties which are called intellect and will,
the state of a person's life is its character
in relation to his intellect and will.
It is apparent from this that
changes in one's state of life
mean changes in its character in respect to
elements having to do with the intellect
and elements having to do with the will.

CL 185 [3]
Changes in the state
of these two life forces or faculties in a person are unceasing,
continuing from infancy to the end of his life,
and afterwards to eternity;
and the reason is that there is no limit to knowledge,
even less to intelligence, and still less to wisdom.
For there is an infinity and eternity in the range of these,
arising from the Infinite and Eternal who is their source.
Hence the ancient philosophical tenet,
that everything is capable of being divided to infinity;
to which should be added
that everything is similarly capable of being multiplied.
The angels assert
that they are perfected in wisdom by the Lord to eternity,
which means also to infinity,
since eternity is an infinity of time.

CL 183 - useful service

CL 183 [3-4]
Love cannot rest unless it acts, for love is the active force in life;
nor can wisdom exist and endure
unless it does so from love
and together with love
whenever love acts,
and to act is application to useful purpose.
Therefore we define application to useful purpose
as the doing of good from love through wisdom.
Application to useful purpose is what good is.

Since these three elements - love, wisdom, and application to useful purpose -
flow into people's souls, we can see why it is said that all good is from God.
For all action from love through wisdom is called good,
and action includes also application to useful purpose.

CL 170 - the delightful states resulting from a marriage of good and truth

CL 170
. . . conjugial love originates from the marriage between goodness and truth,
and this marriage comes from the Lord.
Moreover, it is the nature of love to will to share with another,
indeed, to confer joys upon another whom it loves from the heart,
and to seek its own joys in return from doing so;
and this being the case, infinitely more, therefore,
does the Divine love in the Lord will to confer joys upon mankind,
whom He created to be recipients
of both the love and the wisdom emanating from Him . . ..

We list these states as
innocence, peace, tranquillity, inmost friendship, complete trust,
and a mutual desire of the mind and heart to do the other every good,
since innocence and peace have to do with the soul,
tranquillity has to do with the mind,
inmost friendship has to do with the breast,
complete trust has to do with the heart,
and a mutual desire of the mind and heart to do the other every good
has to do with the body as a result of these.

CL 162, 177 - the growing and uniting of married love

CL 162
When friendship and mutual trust join together
with the first love in marriage,
conjugial love results,
which opens the partners' hearts and inspires in them
the sweet enjoyments of love,
and this more and more deeply
as friendship and trust are added to the original love,
and as that original love enters into this friendship and trust
and they into it.

CL 177
Married partners become proportionately one person
in the measure that their conjugial love grows.
And because, in heaven, this love is genuine,
owing to the celestial and spiritual life of the angels,
therefore two married partners there are called two
when they are referred to as husband and wife,
but one when they are referred to as angels.

CL 158 - the union of the will & understanding

CL 158
. . . there is a very close union between understanding and will,
and that the union is such
that the one faculty can enter into the other
and find delight from and in that union.

CL 145 - spiritual wisdom

CL 145
A person from being natural only gradually becomes spiritual.
For a person becomes spiritual as his rationality -
which stands in between heaven and the world -
begins to draw its life or soul from what flows in from heaven.
This occurs as he becomes affected by and is delighted with wisdom
(the wisdom spoken of in no. 130 - see *). . ..

Spiritual wisdom in itself is such
that it grows warmer and warmer with the love of becoming wise,
and because of this, it increases to eternity.
This takes place as it is perfected as though by processes . . .
which are accomplished by
purifications and separations of the intellect
from the misconceptions of the senses,
and of the will from the temptations of the body.

*CL 130
Regarded in its fullness, wisdom has to do with
concepts, reason and life at the same time.
Concepts come first;
reason is formed by means of them,
and wisdom by both concepts and reason together -
and this when a person lives reasonably or rationally
according to truths formed as concepts.

CL 121 - What is the wisdom of life?

CL 121 [1, 4]
Regarded in its fullness,
wisdom has to do with concepts, reasons and life at the same time.
Concepts come first;
reason is formed by means of them,
and wisdom by both concepts and reason together -
and this when a person lives reasonably or rationally
according to truth formed as concepts. . . .

Since wisdom is . . . a matter of life first and consequently of reason,
the question arises, what wisdom of life is.
In brief summary, it is this:
to refrain from evils because they are harmful to the soul,
harmful to the civil state, and harmful to the body,
and to do good things because they are of benefit to the soul,
to the civil state, and to the body.

CL 125, 127 - correspondences

CL125 (6)
A husband does not represent the Lord and his wife the church,
because husbands and their wives both together form the church.
It is a common saying in the [Christian] church
that as the Lord is the head of the church,
so the husband is the head of the wife. *
If this were true, it would follow
that the husband represents the Lord and the wife the church.
But the truth is that, whereas the Lord is the head of the church,
people - both men and women - are the church,
and still more so husbands and wives together.
(Quoting Ephesians 5:23. Cf. 1 Corinthians 11:3.)

CL 127
. . . conjugial love corresponds to an affection
for genuine truth and its chasteness, purity and holiness;
that insemination corresponds to the power of truth;
that procreation corresponds to the propagation of truth;
and that love for little children
corresponds to the protection of truth and good.

Now because truth in a person appears as if it were his,
and good is joined to it by the Lord,
it is evident that these correspondences are correspondences
of the natural or outer self with the spiritual or inner self.

CL 120 - the Lord and the church

CL 120
. . . the Lord is the source from which all good and truth flow,
and it is the church which receives this good and truth
and puts them into effect.

CL 115 - there is no such thing as good alone or truth alone

CL 115 [3]
. . . everything which exists in the whole of heaven
and everything which exists in the whole world
is nothing but a form of the marriage between good and truth,
since each and every thing
was created out of
and into
a marriage of good and truth . . ..

Good alone or truth alone has no reality,
but they take form and become real
through a marriage of the two,
the character of the resulting form
being determined by the character of the marriage.

Divine good and Divine truth in the Lord the Creator
are good and truth in their very essence.
The being of His essence is Divine good,
and the expression of His essence is Divine truth.
In Him, moreover, good and truth exist in their very union,
for in Him they are infinitely united.
Since these two are united in Him, the Creator,
therefore they are also united in each and every thing created by Him.
By this the Creator is also conjoined with all things created by Him
in an eternal covenant like that of a marriage.

CL 94 - from knowledge, to intelligence, and finally, to wisdom

CL 94
. . . as a person advances from knowledge to intelligence,
and from this to wisdom,
his mind also changes its form accordingly,
for it opens up more and more
and becomes more closely connected with heaven
and through heaven with the Lord.
Consequently the person becomes a greater lover of truth
and more devoted to goodness of life.

CL 83 - union

CL 83
. . . good does not exist apart from truth,
nor truth apart from good,
consequently
there is an eternal marriage between them . . .

CL 35 - the Golden Age of marriage

CL 75 [5, 8]
[5] Then because I had in my thought the desire
to learn about the marriages of the most ancient peoples,
I looked by turns at the husband and wife,
and I observed a seeming unity of their souls in their faces.

So I said, "You two are one."

The man replied, "We are.
Her life is in me, and my life is in her.
We have two bodies, but one soul.
The union between us is like the union
of the two tabernacles in the breast
which are called the heart and the lungs.
She is my heart and I am her lungs.
But since when we say heart here we mean love,
and when we say lungs we mean wisdom,
therefore she is the love of my wisdom,
and I am the wisdom of her love.
Therefore her love outwardly clothes my wisdom,
and my wisdom is inwardly within her love.
Consequently, as you have said,
the unity of our souls appears in our faces."

[8] "We here have seen, for thousands of years,
that those delights [of marriage or conjugial love]
become more excellent and exalted
in abundance, degree and strength,
according to the worship of the Lord Jehovih among us.
That heavenly union or that heavenly marriage
which exists between love and wisdom
infuses itself as a result of that worship."

CL - light and warmth; presence and conjunction

CL 72
There are two things which form the church and so heaven in a person:
truth of faith and goodness of life.
Truth of faith brings the Lord's presence,
and goodness of life in accordance with truths of faith
brings conjunction with Him
and thus forms the church and heaven.
Truth of faith brings presence because it has to do with light,
that being what spiritual light is.
Goodness of life brings conjunction
because it has to do with warmth,
that being what spiritual warmth is;
for spiritual warmth is love,
and goodness of life has to do with love.
We also know that all light - even wintry light - brings presence,
and that warmth united with light brings conjunction;
for gardens and flower-beds become visible in every kind of light,
but they do not produce flowers and fruit
until warmth is combined with the light.

The evident conclusion from this is
that people are blessed with truly conjugial love
not if they only know the truths of the church,
but if they know them and do the good things it teaches.

CL 60 - two things from the Lord, the Creator

CL 60
The two things that emanate from the Lord are love and wisdom,
because these are what He is
and so are what come from Him.
And everything that has to do with love is called good,
and everything that has to do with wisdom is called truth.
Now because these two emanate from the Lord as the Creator,
it follows that these two are present in the things He created.

CL 56 - another visit to the Temple of Wisdom

CL 56
One time, while speaking with angels in the spiritual world, I was filled with a pleasant wish to see the Temple of Wisdom, which I had seen once before.* So I asked the angels about the way to it.
They said, "Follow the light, and you will find it."
And I said, "What do you mean, follow the light?"
They said, "Our light grows brighter the closer we get to that temple. Follow the light, therefore, in the direction it grows brighter. For our light emanates from the Lord as the sun of this world, and so, regarded in itself, that light is wisdom."
In the company of two angels I then went in the direction that the light grew brighter, and I ascended by a steep path to the top of a certain hill which was in the southern zone, where I found a magnificent gate. When the guard saw the angels with me, he opened it, and behold, I saw an avenue of palm trees and laurels, which we followed. The avenue curved around and ended up at a garden, in the middle of which stood the Temple of Wisdom.
As I looked around in the garden, I saw some smaller buildings, replicas of the temple, with wise men in them. We went over to one of the buildings, and we spoke at the entrance with the receptionist there, telling him the reason for our coming and the way we had arrived. And the receptionist said, "Welcome! Come in, have a seat, and let us spend some time together in conversations of wisdom."
[2] I saw inside that the building was divided into two sections, and yet the two were still one. It was divided into two sections by a transparent partition, but it looked like one room because of the partition's transparency, which was like the transparency of the purest crystal. I asked why it was arranged like that.
The receptionist said, "I am not alone. My wife is with me, and though we are two, yet we are not two but one flesh."
To which I replied, "I know you are wise, but what does a wise man or wisdom have to do with a woman?"
At this, with some feeling of annoyance, the receptionist's expression changed, and he stretched out his hand, and suddenly, then, other wise men were present from the neighboring buildings. To them he said with amusement, "Our visitor here says he wants to know what a wise man or wisdom has to do with a woman!"
They all laughed at this and said, "What is a wise man or wisdom apart from a woman or apart from love? A wife is the love of a wise man's wisdom."
[3] But the receptionist said, "Let us join together now in some conversation of wisdom. Let the conversation be about causes, today the reason for the beauty in the female sex."
So they then spoke in turn. And the first speaker gave this reason, that women were created by the Lord to be forms of affection for the wisdom in men, and affection for wisdom is beauty itself.
The second speaker gave this reason, that woman was created by the Lord through the wisdom in man, because she was created from man, and that she is therefore a form of wisdom inspired by the affection of love. And because the affection of love is life itself, a woman is a form of the life in wisdom, while the male is a form of wisdom, and the life in wisdom is beauty itself.
The third speaker presented this reason, that women have been given a perception of the delights in conjugial love. And because their whole body is an instrument of that perception, the abode where the delights of conjugial love dwell with their perception cannot help but be a form of beauty.
[4] The fourth speaker gave this reason, that the Lord took beauty and grace of life from man and transferred them into woman, and that is why a man not reunited with his beauty and grace in woman is stern, severe, dry and unattractive, and also not wise except for his own sake alone, in which case he is a dunce. On the other hand, when a man is united with his beauty and grace of life in a wife, he becomes agreeable, pleasant, full of life and lovable, and therefore wise.
The fifth speaker gave this reason, that women were created to be beauties, not for their own sake, but for the sake of men, so that men's natural hardness might become softer, the natural solemnness of their dispositions more amiable, and the natural coldness of their hearts warmer. And this is what happens to them when they become one flesh with their wives.
[5] The sixth speaker offered this reason, that the universe created by the Lord is a most perfect work, but nothing is created in it more perfect than a woman attractive in appearance and becoming in behavior, in order that a man may thank the Lord for such a gift and repay it by receiving wisdom from Him.
After these and several other similar views were expressed, one of the wives appeared through the crystal-like partition, and she said to her husband, "Speak, if you wish."
And when he spoke, the life in his wisdom from his wife was perceived in his speech, for her love was in the tone of his voice. Thus did experience bear witness to the truth expressed.
After this we looked at the Temple of Wisdom, and also at the things in the paradise surrounding it. And being filled with feelings of joy on account of them, we departed and went along the avenue to the gate, and so descended by the way we had come.

CL 42 - the appearance of some celestial angels

CL 42 [3-4]

. . . all angels are affections of love in human form.

The essential, dominant affection shines out from their faces,
and they are given clothing on the basis of their affection
and in accordance with it.
Consequently, in heaven they say
that everyone is clothed in his own affection . . .

He was dressed in a full-length robe,
and under the robe he wore a blue-colored garment,
which was tied about the waist with a golden girdle
bearing three precious stones, two of them sapphires,
one on each side, and a garnet in the middle.
His stockings were of shining linen,
into which had been woven threads of silver;
and his shoes were made entirely of silk.

Her hair was attractively arranged in a style to match her beauty,
with jewels in the form of flowers inserted into it.
She had a necklace of garnets, from which hung a rosette of peridots.
And she had bracelets of pearls.
She was dressed in a scarlet gown,
and under it a purple bodice fastened in front with rubies.
But what surprised me,
the colors kept changing
depending on which way she was facing in relation to her husband,
and their sparkle also kept changing accordingly,
being now more, now less -
more when they faced each other,
and less when she faced away at an angle.

CL 36, 38, 41 - conjunction & marriage

CL 36
Everyone's own love remains in him after death
for the reason that love is a person's life,
and consequently it is the real person.
A person is also what he thinks,
thus what his intelligence and wisdom are,
but these are united with his love.
For a person thinks because of his love and according to it;
in fact, if he is free to do so, he speaks and acts from it.
From this it can be seen that love is the being or essence of a person's life,
and that thought is the resulting expression or manifestation of his life.
Speech and action that spring from thought,
therefore, do not spring from thought,
but from love acting through thought.

CL 38
We use the terms, love for the opposite sex and conjugial love,
because a love for the opposite sex is not the same as conjugial love.
A love for the opposite sex is found in a natural person,
but conjugial love in a spiritual person.

CL 41
By spiritual marriage,
conjunction with the Lord is meant,
and this is achieved on earth.
And when it has been achieved on earth,
it has also been achieved in heaven.

To marry means to be conjoined with the Lord,
and to go to a wedding means to be received into heaven by the Lord.

CL 21 - love

CL 21 [2]
. . . love has power through wisdom.

CL 16, 18 - useful service

CL 16 [3]
"There are three things which flow as one from the Lord into our souls.
These three things together, or this trinity, are love, wisdom, and usefulness.
Love and wisdom, however,
do not occur by themselves except in imagination,
because by themselves they exist only
in the affection and thought of the mind.
In useful service, on the other hand, they exist in actuality,
because they exist at the same time in the action and activity of the body.
And where they exist actually, there they also remain.

"Now because love and wisdom exist and endure in useful service,
it is useful service that affects us,
and useful service is to carry out the duties of one's occupation
faithfully, honestly and diligently.

CL 18
. . . the abode of wisdom . . . lies in useful service.

CL 1 - witness

CL 1
I anticipate that many who read the following descriptions and the accounts at the ends of the succeeding chapters will believe they are figments of my imagination. I swear in truth, however, that they are not inventions, but actual occurrences to which I was witness. Nor were they witnessed in any condition of unconsciousness but in a state of full wakefulness. For it has pleased the Lord to manifest Himself to me and send me to teach the doctrines that will be doctrines of the New Church, the church meant by the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation. To this end He has opened the inner faculties of my mind and spirit. As a result, it has been made possible for me to be in the spiritual world with angels and at the same time in the natural world with men, and this now for twenty-five years.*

* This work was originally published in the year 1768.

AR 961 - the Same

AR 961
. . . the Divine Esse,
which in Itself is God,
is the Same;
not the Same simply,
but Infinite;
that is, the same from eternity to eternity;
it is the Same everywhere,
and the Same with everyone and in everyone;
but that all the variety and variableness is in the recipient;
the state of the recipient does this.

AR 954 - the Root and Offspring of David; and AR 956-959 - Revelation 22: 17-19 - don't mess with the Lord's Word

AR 954
I am the Root and Offspring of David,
the bright and morning Star,
(Revelation 22:16)
signifies that it is the Lord Himself who was born in the world,
and was then the Light, and who will come with new light,
which will arise before His New Church,
which is the holy Jerusalem.

AR 956
And let him that hears say, Come;
and let him that thirsts come,
and let him that wills take the water of life freely,
(Revelation 17)

signifies that he who knows anything of the Lord's coming,
and of the New Heaven and New Church, thus of the Lord's kingdom,
should pray that it may come,
and that he who desires truths,
should pray that the Lord may come with light,
and that he who loves truths,
will then receive them from the Lord
without his own work.

AR 957 [2]
For I testify
unto everyone that hears the words of the prophecy of this book,
if anyone shall add unto these things,
God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book,
(Revelation 22:18)

There are two things in this prophetic book,
to which all its contents refer;
the first is, that no other God is to be acknowledged but the Lord,
and the other,
that no other faith is to be acknowledged but faith in the Lord;
he who knows these,
and yet adds anything with intent to destroy them,
cannot be otherwise than in falsities and evils,
and must perish from them,
because from no other God but the Lord,
and by no other faith but faith in the Lord,
is given the good which is of love,
and the truth which is of faith,
and consequently the felicity of eternal life,
as the Lord Himself teaches in many places in the Evangelists . . ..

AR 958
And if anyone shall take away
from the words of the book of this prophecy,
God shall take away his part out of the book of life,
and out of the holy city,
and the things which are written in this book,
(Revelation 22:19)

signifies that they who read and know the truths of doctrine in this book,
now opened by the Lord,
and yet acknowledge any other God than the Lord,
and any other faith than a faith in Him,
by taking away anything whereby they may destroy these two things,
cannot acquire any wisdom,
nor appropriate to themselves anything from the Word,
nor be received into the New Jerusalem,
nor have their lot with those who are in the Lord's kingdom.
These words signify the same as the foregoing,
only that here it is said of those who take away,
and there of those who add,
consequently of those who either by adding or taking away . . .
for all the things which are written in this book
regard the New Heaven and the New Church,
which make the Lord's kingdom as the end,
and the end is that to which
all the things which are written in the book have reference.

AR 949 - confidence & peace

AR 949 [2]
By faith in Him is meant confidence that He will save,
and they have this confidence who immediately approach Him,
and shun evils as sins;
with others it is not given.

It was said that "My reward is with Me"
signifies that He Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life,
for "reward" is intrinsic beatitude,
which is called peace, and consequently external joy.

These are solely from the Lord,
and the things which are from the Lord,
not only are from Him,
but also are Himself,
for the Lord cannot send forth anything from Himself except it be Himself,
for He is omnipresent with every person according to conjunction,
and conjunction is according to reception,
and reception is according to love and wisdom,
or if you will, according to charity and faith,
and charity and faith are according to life,
and life is according to the aversion to evil and falsity,
and aversion to evil and falsity
is according to the knowledge of what is evil and false,
and then according to repentance,
and at the same time looking to the Lord.

AR 937 - the process of conjunction

AR 937 [2-3]
. . . the Lord is present with everyone according to faith,
and is conjoined according to love.
Faith, and consequently the Lord's presence
are given through the knowledges of truths from the Word;
especially concerning the Lord Himself there;
but love and consequently conjunction
are given through a life according to His commandments,
for the Lord says:

He that has My commandments,
and does them,
he it is that loves Me;
and I will love him;
and will make an abode with him.
(John 14:21-24)

But how this is done shall also be told.
The Lord loves everyone, and wills to be conjoined to him,
but He cannot be conjoined as long as the person is in the delight of evil,
as in the delight of hating and revenging,
in the delight of committing adultery and whoredom,
in the delight of robbing or stealing under any form,
in the delight of blaspheming and lying,
and in the lusts of the love of self and the world;
for everyone who is in these
is in companionship with the devils who are in hell.
The Lord indeed loves them even there;
but He cannot be conjoined with them,
unless the delights of those evils are removed;
and these cannot be removed by the Lord,
unless the person examines himself that he may know his evils,
acknowledges and confesses them before the Lord,
and wills to desist from them, and thus perform repentance.
This the person must do as of himself,
because he does not feel that he does anything from the Lord;
and this is given to a person,
because conjunction, that it may be conjunction,
must be reciprocal,
of a person with the Lord, and of the Lord with a person.
As far therefore as evils with their delights are thus removed,
so far the Lord's love enters,
which, as was said, is universal towards all;
and person is then led away from hell, and is led into heaven.
This a person must do in the world;
for such as a person is in the world as to his spirit,
such he remains to eternity,
with the difference only,
that his state becomes more perfect, if he has lived well;
because he is not then clothed with a material body,
but the spiritual lives in a spiritual body.

AR 933 - Who will be in the Lord's New Church?

AR 933
. . . in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and of life in the New Church
is the Lord in His Divine love,
from Whom all the goods which a person does
- apparently as of himself - flow forth.

[2] This takes place with those who go to the Lord immediately,
and shun evils because they are sins;
thus who will be in the Lord's New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.
For they who do not go immediately to the Lord
cannot be conjoined to Him, and thus neither to the Father,
and consequently cannot be in the love which is from the Divine;
for the looking to Him conjoins,
not a mere intellectual looking,
but an intellectual looking from the affection of the will;
and affection of the will is not given,
unless a person keeps His commandments;
wherefore the Lord says:

He that does My commandments,
he it is that loves me;
and I will come unto him,
and make an abode with him.
(John 14:21-24)

AR 923 - the Lord, the truth of the church & the good of religion

AR 923
. . . the Lord is the God of heaven and earth,
and that all the truth of the church,
and all the good of religion is with Him.

It is said the truth of the church and the good of religion,
because the church is one thing and religion is another.
The church is called a church from doctrine,
and religion is called religion from a life according to doctrine. . .

But yet where there is doctrine and not life,
there it cannot be said that there is either the church or religion,
because doctrine regards life as one with itself,
just like truth and good, faith and charity,
wisdom and love, understanding and will;
wherefore where there is doctrine and not life, there is no church.

AR 911, 914 - reception, enlightenment, rationality - all from the Lord

AR 911
. . . in general, and by "precious stone," in reference to the Word,
is signified Divine truth in the sense of the letter of the Word
translucent from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense;
the same is signified by "jasper," . . ..
The reason why it is translucent, is,
because the Divine truth, in the sense of the letter is in natural light,
and the Divine truth, in the spiritual sense is in spiritual light,
wherefore when spiritual light flows into natural light
with a person who is reading the Word,
he is enlightened, and sees truths there,
for the objects of spiritual light are truths.
The Word also in the sense of the letter is of such a nature
that the more a person is enlightened by the influx of the light of heaven,
so much the more does he see truths in their connection
and consequently in their form;
and the more he so sees them,
so much the more interiorly is his rational mind opened,
for the rational is the very receptacle of the light of heaven.


AR 914
. . . all things of doctrine from the Word with them,
will appear in light according to reception.
All who do not think sanely,
cannot believe that all things of the New Church can appear in light,
but let them know that they can,
for every person has exterior and interior thought.
Interior thought is in the light of heaven, and is called perception,
and exterior thought is in the light of the world;
and the understanding of every person is such
that it can be elevated even into the light of heaven,
and also is elevated, if from any delight he wishes to see truth.

For the delight of love and wisdom elevates the thought,
enabling one to see as in the light that a thing is so,
although he had never heard it before.
This light, which enlightens the mind,
flows in from no other source than out of heaven from the Lord;
and as they who will be of the New Jerusalem,
will directly approach the Lord,
that light will flow in, by the way of order,
which is through the love of the will into the perception of the understanding.

AR 917 - the twelve gates of pearls

AR 917
. . . the knowledge of the Lord
is the universal of all things of doctrine
and consequently of all things of the church;
from it all worship derives its life and soul,
for the Lord is the all in all of heaven and the church,
and consequently in all things of worship.

[2] The reason why the acknowledgment and knowledge of the Lord
conjoins into one all the knowledges of truth and good from the Word,
is because there is a connection of all spiritual truths,
and if you will believe it,
their connection is like the connection
of all the members, viscera, and organs of the body;
wherefore as the soul contains all these in their order and connection,
so that they are felt no otherwise than as one,
so, in like manner,
the Lord holds together all spiritual truths with a person.

That the Lord is the very gate,
by which people are to enter into the church and then into heaven,
He Himself teaches in John:

I am the door; by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved.
(John 10:9)

And that the acknowledgment and knowledge of Him is the pearl itself,
is meant by these words of the Lord in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant seeking beautiful pearls,
who when he had found one precious pearl,
went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
(Matthew 13:45-46)

"One precious pearl" is the acknowledgment and knowledge of the Lord.

AR 905 - square

AR 905
"The city lies foursquare"
that the length and breadth thereof might be equal,
and by "length" is signified the good of that church,
and by "breadth" its truth,
and when good and truth are equal,
then there is what is just.

AR 889 - to thirst

AR 889
I will give unto him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely,
(Revelation 21:6)
signifies that to those who desire truths from any spiritual use,
the Lord will give from Himself through the Word
all things that are conducive to that use.

The reason why by "thirsting"
is signified to desire for the sake of some spiritual use
is because there is given a thirst or desire
for the knowledges of truth from the Word,
from natural use,
and also from spiritual use,
from natural use with those who have learning for their end,
and by learning, fame, honor, and gain, thus self and the world;
but from spiritual use with those whose end
is to serve the neighbor from love to him,
to consult the good of their souls, and that of their own,
thus on account of the Lord, the neighbor, and salvation;
truth is given to these so far as it conduces to that use,
"from the fountain of the water of life,"
that is, from the Lord through the Word;
to the rest truth is not given from thence;
they read the Word,
and every doctrinal truth therein they either do not see,
or if they do see it they turn it into falsity,
not so much in speech when it is uttered from the Word,
but in the idea of their thought concerning it.
That "to hunger" signifies to desire good,
and "to thirst" to desire truth . . ..

AR 880, 883 - Blessed Christmas

AR 880
The reason why by "Jerusalem" in the Word is meant the church
is because there, in the land of Canaan, and in no other place,
was the temple and the altar, and sacrifices were offered,
thus Divine worship itself,
wherefore also three feasts were celebrated there yearly,
and every male throughout the whole land was commanded to come to them.
So it is that "Jerusalem" signifies the church as to worship,
and therefore also the church as to doctrine,
for worship is prescribed in doctrine,
and performed according to it;
likewise because the Lord was in Jerusalem, and taught in His temple,
and afterwards glorified His Human there.

For Zion's sake will I not be silent,
and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest,
until the justice thereof go forth as brightness,
and the salvation thereof as a lamp burneth.
Then the Gentiles shall see thy justice, and all kings thy glory;
and thou shalt be called by a new name,
which the mouth of Jehovah shall name;
thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of thy God;
for Jehovah is well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married.
Behold, thy salvation cometh;
Behold, His reward is with Him.
And they shall call them,
The people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah;
and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not deserted.
(Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12)

[2] The whole of this chapter treats of the Lord's advent,
and of the New Church to be established by Him.
This New Church is meant by "Jerusalem"
which shall be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter,
and which shall be a crown of glory in the hands of Jehovah,
and a royal tiara in the hand of God,
in which Jehovah shall be well pleased,
and which shall be called a city sought out and not deserted.
These words cannot apply to that Jerusalem which,
when the Lord came into the world, was inhabited by the Jews,
for it was directly opposite in every respect . . ..

[3] So in another part of Isaiah:

For, behold, I create a New Heaven and a New Earth;
the former shall not be remembered;
be glad and exult to eternity in that which I create;
behold I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a joy.
And I will exult over Jerusalem, and rejoice over My people.
Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together;
they shall not do evil in all the mountain of My holiness.
(Isaiah 65:17-19, 25)

This chapter also treats of the Lord's advent,
and of the church to be established by Him,
which was not established with those who were in Jerusalem,
but with those who were out of it;
wherefore this church is meant by "Jerusalem"
which shall be unto the Lord "an exultation"
and whose people shall be unto Him "a joy";
also where "the wolf and the lamb shall feed together"
and where "they shall not do evil."
It is likewise said in this place, as in Revelation,
that the Lord "will create a New Heaven and a New Earth"
and also that "He will create Jerusalem"
which things have a like signification.

AR 883 [2-4]
That the assumption of the Human,
and the uniting it with the Divine which was in Him by birth,
and is called the Father,
had for its end conjunction with men, appears also in John:

For I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth;
that they may be one;
as We are one, I in them and Thou in Me.
(John 17:19, 21-22, 26)

From which it is plain,
that there is a conjunction with the Lord's Divine Human,
and that it is reciprocal,
and that thus and not otherwise
there is a conjunction with the Divine
which is called the Father.

The Lord also teaches that conjunction is effected by the truths of the Word,
and a life according to them (John 14:20-24; 15:7).
This therefore is what is meant by
"He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people,
and He Himself will be with them their God."

It is known that conjunction with the Lord is one thing,
and His presence another;
conjunction with the Lord is not given
except to those who approach Him immediately,
and His presence to the rest.

AR 876 - the church coming down

AR 876
. . . the church on earth
comes down from the Lord out of the angelic heaven,
because the angels of heaven
and the people on earth
in all things of the church
make one.

AR 857 - The Temple of Wisdom

The TEMPLE OF WISDOM comes up several times,
but I think this is the first visit recorded.
Sorry so long, even after chopping up, but it is a beautiful event.

AR 857
Awaking one morning from sleep,
I saw two angels descending out of heaven,
one from the southern quarter of heaven
and the other from the eastern quarter of heaven,
both in chariots to which white horses were harnessed.
The chariot in which the angel from the southern quarter of heaven
was conveyed, shone like silver,
and the chariot in which the angel from the eastern quarter of heaven
was conveyed, shone like gold;
and the reins which they held in their hands were refulgent
as from the flamy light of the dawn.
Thus these two angels were seen by me at a distance;
but when they came nearer, they did not appear in a chariot,
but in their angelic form which is human.
He who came from the eastern quarter of heaven,
was clad in a bright purple garment,
and he who came from the southern quarter of heaven
in a garment of hyacinthine blue.
When they were below under the heavens,
they ran to meet each other, as if they strove which should be first,
and mutually embraced and kissed each other.
I heard that these two angels, when they lived on earth,
had been conjoined in interior friendship;
but now one was in the eastern heaven and the other in the southern heaven.
In the eastern heaven are they who are in love from the Lord;
but in the southern heaven are they who are in wisdom from the Lord.

[2] When they had spoken some time about the magnificence of their heavens,
this came up in their discourse,
whether heaven in its essence is love, or whether it is wisdom.
They immediately agreed that one is of the other,
but discussed which was the original. . . .

[4] After these two angels were gone out of my sight,
I saw a certain garden on my right hand,
in which were olive trees, vines, fig trees, laurels, and palm trees,
planted in order, according to correspondence.
I looked into the garden, and saw angels and spirits
walking and conversing together among the trees;
and then a certain angelic spirit observed me.
They are called angelic spirits,
who in the world of spirits are prepared for heaven,
and afterwards become angels.
That spirit came out of the garden towards me, and said,
"Will you come with me into our paradise,
and you shall hear and see wonderful things."
And I went with him, and then he said to me,
"Those whom you see (for there were many)
are all in the affection of truth, and thence in the light of wisdom.
Here also is a building which we call the TEMPLE OF WISDOM;
but no one sees it who believes himself very wise,
much less he who believes himself wise enough,
and still less he who believes himself wise from himself;
the reason is, because such persons are not
in the reception of the light of heaven from the affection of genuine wisdom.
Genuine wisdom consists in a person's seeing from the light of heaven,
that the things which he knows, understands, and is wise in,
are so little respectively to what he does not know, understand,
and is wise in, as a drop to the ocean, consequently scarcely anything.
Everyone who is in this paradisal garden,
and acknowledges in himself from perception and sight
that his own wisdom is so little comparatively, sees that temple of wisdom,
for interior light enables him to see it, but not exterior light without it."

[6] The angelic spirit entered with me, to whom I related
what I heard from the two angels concerning love and wisdom,
as also concerning charity and faith.
And he then said, "Did they not speak of a third also?"
I said, "What third?"
He replied, "It is Use: love and wisdom without use are not anything:
they are only ideal entities;
nor do they become real before they are in use:
for love, wisdom, and use, are three things which cannot be separated.
If they are separated, neither is anything.
Love is not anything without wisdom,
but in wisdom it is formed for something.
This something for which it is formed, is use.
Therefore, when love through wisdom is in use,
it is then something; yea, it then first exists.
They are altogether as the end, the cause, and the effect.
The end is not anything, unless through the cause it is in the effect.
If one of the three is loosed, the whole is loosed,
and becomes as nothing.
It is similar with charity, faith, and works.

[7] As it is in this, so it is in each and every created thing;
they are terminated in their third.
Hence now it is, that three in the Word,
spiritually understood, signifies complete and altogether.

[11] There are two things which make life, love and wisdom;
or what is the same, the good of love and the truth of wisdom.
These flow in from God, and are received by a person,
and are felt in the person as in him;
and because they are felt by him as in him,
they also proceed as from him.
It is given by the Lord,
that they should be thus felt by the person,
in order that what flows in may affect him,
and so be received and remain.
But because all evil also flows in, not from God, but from hell,
and this is received with enjoyment,
because a person was born such an organ,
therefore no more of good is received from God,
than there is of evil removed by the person as of himself;
which is done by repentance,
and at the same time by faith in the Lord.

AR 868 - works

AR 868
The works of the mind are intentions and endeavors,
and the works of the body are words and actions;
each of these proceed from the internal life of a person,
which is of his will or love.

AR 860 - Gog & Magog are those who are in external worship and not internal worship

AR 860
. . . that the New Church to be established by the Lord
will be informed in truths and goods of every kind,
and be imbued with goods of every kind . . .
(see Ezekiel 39:17-22, below)

"Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says:
Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals:
'Assemble and come together from all around
to the sacrifice I am preparing for you,
the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel.
There you will eat flesh and drink blood.
You will eat the flesh of mighty men
and drink the blood of the princes of the earth
as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls
—all of them fattened animals from Bashan.
At the sacrifice I am preparing for you,
you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk.
At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders,
mighty men and soldiers of every kind,' declares the Sovereign LORD.
"I will display my glory among the nations,
and all the nations will see
the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them.
From that day forward
the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God."

AR 849 - "to reign with the Lord"

AR 849
That "to reign with the Lord" does not mean to reign with Him,
but to be in His kingdom by conjunction with Him . . ..
For the Lord alone reigns,
and everyone in heaven, who is in any function,
performs his office in his society, as in the world,
but under the auspices of the Lord;
they act indeed as of themselves,
but because they regard uses in the first place,
they act from the Lord, from whom is all use.

AR 840 - "And I saw an angel" (Revelation 20:1)

AR 840
And I saw an angel coming down from heaven,
having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand,
(Revelation 20:1)
. . . there was not any key nor a chain in the Lord's hand;
but it was so seen by John
that it might be a representative of the Lord's Divine power;
the opening and shutting of hell
is also treated of two or three times in this chapter.

AR 839 - the visible Divine Human which is Christ the Lord, our Ruler and Savior

AR 839 [5-11]
Our Father who art in the heavens,
hallowed be Thy name;
Thy kingdom come;
Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth.

'We in heaven read that prayer daily, like people on earth;
and we do not then think of God the Father, because He is invisible;
but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in this He is visible;
and in this He is called by you Christ, but by us the Lord;
and thus to us the Lord is the Father in heaven.
The Lord also taught that He and the Father are one;
that the Father is in Him and He in the Father;
and that he who sees Him sees the Father;
also that no one comes to the Father but by Him;

"Moreover we instructed them from the Word,
that the Lord came into the world, that He might glorify His Human,
for the end that the angels of heaven and the men of the church
might be united to God the Father through Him and in Him;
for He taught that they who believe in Him are in Him, and He in them;
which is as the church teaches, that they are in the body of Christ.
Finally we informed them,
that at this day a New Church is being established by the Lord,
which is meant by 'the New Jerusalem' in Revelation;
in which will be the worship of the Lord alone, as it is in heaven;
and that thus everything which is contained in the Lord's Prayer
from beginning to end will be fulfilled.
All the things which we have said above
we confirmed from the Word in the Evangelists,
and from the Word in the Prophets,
in such abundance that they were tired of hearing.

First. We confirmed that 'our Father in the heavens'
is the Lord Jesus Christ, from these passages:

Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given;
and His name shall be called
Wonderful, Counselor, God, Father of eternity, Prince of peace.
(Isaiah 9:6)
Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father,
the Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name.
(Isaiah 63:16)
Jesus said, He that sees Me, sees Him that sent Me.
(John 12:45)
Philip said, Lord, show us the Father;
Jesus said unto him, He that sees Me, sees the Father;
how say you then, show us the Father?
(John 14:8, 9)
Jesus said, the Father and I are one.
(John 10:30)

Second. That 'hallowed be Thy name,'
is to approach the Lord and worship Him,
we confirmed by these passages:

Who shall not glorify Your name, for You alone are holy.
(Revelation 15:4).

This is concerning the Lord:
Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy Name;
and there came forth a voice from heaven,
I have both glorified it and will glorify it.
(John 12:28)
The name of the Father which was glorified is the Divine Human.
Jesus said, I am come in My Father's name.
(John 5:43)
Jesus said, He that receives this boy in My name, receives Me;
and he that receives Me, receives Him that sent Me.
(Luke 9:48)
These things were written,
that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that believing you may have life in His name.
(John 20:31)
Where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
(Matthew 18:19-20)

Third. That 'Thy kingdom come' means that the Lord reigns,
we confirmed by these passages:

The Law and the Prophets were until John;
since that time the kingdom of God is evangelized.
(Luke 16:16)
Jesus Himself preached the gospel of the kingdom,
and that the kingdom of God has approached.
(Matthew 4:17, 23; 9:35)
The Father has given all things into the hand of the Son.
(John 3:35)
All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth.
(Matt 28:18)
Jehovah of Hosts is His name,
and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel,
the God of the whole earth shall He be called.
(Isaiah 54:5)
I saw, and behold, one like the Son of man,
to whom was given dominion, and glory, and the kingdom;
and all peoples and nations shall worship Him;
His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away,
and His kingdom that which shall not perish.
(Dan. 7:13-14).
When the seventh angel sounded,
there were voices in heaven, saying,
The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord's and His Christ's,
and He shall reign for ages of ages.
(Revelation 11:15; 12:10)
Which kingdom of the Lord is treated of in Revelation from beginning to end;
into which all will come who will be of the New Church,
which is the New Jerusalem.

Fourth. 'Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth,'
we confirmed by these passages:

Jesus said, This is the will of the Father,
that everyone that sees the Son,
and believes on Him, may have everlasting life.
(John 6:40).
God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son,
that everyone who believes in Him may not perish,
but have eternal life.
(John 3:15-16)

To believe in Him is to go to Him, and to have confidence that He saves,
because He is the Savior of the world.
Besides, it is known in the church,
that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns in heaven.
He says also that His kingdom is there.
When, therefore, the Lord reigns in like manner in the church,
'then the Father's will is done as in heaven so also upon the earth.'

AR 820 - the coming of the one God of heaven and earth

AR 820
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse . . ..
"heaven was seen open" is signified a revelation from the Lord . . ..
By "a horse" is signified the understanding of the Word,
and by "a white horse" the interior understanding of the Word . . ..

Everyone who does not think beyond the sense of the letter,
believes that when the Last Judgment shall come,
the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven
with the angels and sounds of trumpets.
But that this is not meant,
but that He will appear . . . in the spiritual sense of the Word.
It appears not only that He is the Word, that is, the Divine truth itself,
and that He is the inmost of the Word, and consequently the all of it;
but also that He Himself is the one God, in whom is the Trinity,
and thus the only God of heaven and earth;
and moreover that He came into the world,
that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine.
The Human which He glorified, that is, made Divine,
was the natural human, which He could not glorify or make Divine
but by taking on the human in a virgin in the natural world;
to which He then united His Divine, which He had from eternity.
That unition was effected by temptations
admitted into the human that He had taken,
the last of which was the passion of the cross,
and at the same time by the fulfilling of all things of the Word;
not only by the fulfilling of all things of the Word in its natural sense,
but also by the fulfilling of all things of the Word in its spiritual sense
and in its celestial sense . . .

AR 818 - "adore God"

AR 818
. . . no angel of heaven is to be adored and invoked,
but the Lord alone.
By "having the testimony of Jesus"
is signified that he is in like manner in conjunction with the Lord,
through the acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human,
and through a life according to His commandments. . ..
That the angels of heaven are not superior to people,
but that they are their equals,
and that they are therefore equally the Lord's servants, as people are,
is because all the angels have been people,
born in the world, and not any of them were created immediately . . ..
They indeed excel people in wisdom;
but this is for the reason that they are in a spiritual state,
and so in the light of heaven,
and not in a natural state,
and so in the light of the world, as people are upon earth.
But as far as any angel excels in wisdom,
so far he acknowledges that he is not above people, but like them;
on which account there is not any conjunction of people with the angels,
but there is consociation with them.
Conjunction is given with the Lord alone.

AR 816 - hmmmmm

AR 816 [2]
. . . the whole heaven acknowledges the Lord alone as the God of heaven,
and that He alone is to be adored;
also that the New Church is to be established by the Lord on the earth,
as it has been established in the heavens;
for a church is first established in the heavens by the Lord,
and then through the heavens on the earth.

AR 812 - Rejoice, exult, and give glory to the One God, the Lord

AR 812
Let us rejoice and exult, and give the glory to Him;
for the marriage of the Lamb is come,
(Revelation 19:7)
signifies joy of soul and heart, and consequently the glorification of the Lord,
that in the future there may be a full marriage of Him with the church.
By "rejoice and exult" is signified joy of soul and heart.
Joy of soul is joy of the understanding, or from the truth of faith;
and joy of heart is joy of the will, or from the goods of love.
The two are mentioned on account of the marriage of truth and good
in each thing of the Word.
By "giving glory to Him"
is signified to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from the Lord;
also to acknowledge that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth;
here therefore is signified to glorify,
because this involves both.
By "for the marriage of the Lamb is come,"
is signified because from now on there is the full marriage
of the Lord and the church.
That this may be signified, it is therefore said "the Lamb;"
and by "the Lamb" is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human.

[2] It may be evident almost without explanation,
that when the Lord's Human is acknowledged to be Divine,
there is effected a full marriage of the Lord and the church . . ..
That there is then the full marriage of the Lord and the church,
when His Human is acknowledged to be Divine, is manifest;
for then God the Father and He are acknowledged to be one,
as the soul and the body.
When this is acknowledged,
the Father is not approached for the sake of the Son;
but then the Lord Himself is approached,
and God the Father through Him;
because the Father is in Him, as the soul is in the body, as was said.
Before the Lord's Human is acknowledged to be Divine,
there is indeed a marriage of the Lord with the church;
but only with those who approach the Lord, and think of His Divine,
and not at all whether His Human is Divine or not.
The simple in faith and in heart do this; but rarely the learned and erudite.
Moreover also there cannot be given three husbands to one wife,
nor three souls to one body;
and therefore, unless one God is acknowledged, in whom is the Trinity,
and that that God is the Lord, there is no marriage.

AR 809 - "Praise our God"

AR 809
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God . . .
(Revelation 19:5)
signifies influx from the Lord into heaven . . .
that all who are in the truths of faith and in the goods of love
should worship the Lord as the only God of heaven.

[2] That "to praise God" signifies to worship Him,
and the praise of Him is the worship of Him,
is evident from many passages in the Word. . .:

Suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of them that praise God.
(Luke 2:13, 20)

The whole multitude of the disciples
began to praise God with a great voice.
(Luke 19:37)

They were in the temple praising and blessing God.
(Luke 24:53)

Cause to be heard, praise you, and say,
O Jehovah, save Thy people.
(Jeremiah 31:7)

AR 802 - to save is purely Divine

AR 802 [3]
. . . to remit sins,
which is the same as to reform and regenerate,
and so to redeem and save a person,
is purely Divine,
and that a person cannot ascribe to himself anything Divine
without profanation . . ..

AR 796 - the Light

AR 796
. . . the origin of spiritual light is from the Lord . . .
and no others can accept that light, nor receive it,
but they who are conjoined with the Lord;
and conjunction with the Lord is effected solely
by the acknowledgment and worship of Him,
and at the same time
by a life according to His commandments from the Word.

He was the true Light,
which enlightens every man that cometh into the world.
(John 1:4-12)

This is the judgment,
that the Light is come into the world;
he that does the truth comes to the Light.
(John 3:19, 21)

Jesus said, Yet a little while is the Light with you;
walk while you have the Light, lest darkness seize upon you;
while you have the Light, believe in the Light,
that you may be sons of the Light.
(John 12:35, 36)

Jesus said, I am come a Light into the world,
that everyone who believes in Me,
may not abide in darkness.
(John 12:46)

Jesus said, I am the Light of the world.
(John 9:5)

Simeon said, My eyes have seen Your salvation,
a Light for the revelation of the nations.
(Luke 2:30-32)

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great Light;
and to them that sit in the region and shadow of death,
Light has arisen.
(Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:2)

I have given thee for a Light of the nations,
that you may be My salvation
even unto the extremity of the earth.
(Isaiah 49:6)

The city New Jerusalem has no need of the sun and moon to shine in it,
for the glory of God enlightens it,
and the lamp of it is the Lamb.
(Revelation 21:23; 22:5)

A quote in AR 789

A quote in AR 789

Blessed of Jehovah is the land of Joseph,
for the precious things of heaven,
for the precious things of the products of the sun,
and for the precious things of the produce of the months,
and for the precious things of the hills of eternity,
and for the precious things of the earth.
(Deuteronomy 33:13-16)

AR 777 - worship

AR 777
. . . the quality of the worship is from the goods and truths of doctrine;
for worship is nothing but an external act,
in which there should be the internals,
which are of doctrine.
Without these the worship is without its essence, life and soul.
Now because all the things which are of doctrine
have relation to the goods which are of love and charity,
and to the truths which are of wisdom and faith,
and these goods and truths,
according to the degrees of their order,
are celestial, spiritual, and natural,
so also are all the things of worship.

AR 774 - thyine wood and ivory

AR 774 [3]
By "thyine wood" is signified natural good,
because "wood" in the Word signifies good . . ..
That it is natural good, is because wood is not a costly material,
like gold, silver, precious stone, pearl, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet . . ..
It is the same with ivory,
by which natural truth is signified.
"Ivory" signifies natural truth, because it is white, and can be polished,
and because it protrudes from the mouth of an elephant,
and likewise makes his strength.
That "ivory" may be the natural truth
of that good which is signified by "thyine wood,"
it is said "a vessel of ivory;"
for by "a vessel" that which contains is signified;
here truth the containant of good. (Rev. 18:12)

AR 762 - the law of retaliation

AR 762 [2]
. . . every evil brings its own punishment with itself.
This is similar to what is said frequently in the Word,
that God will bring retribution and vengeance
for injustices and injuries done to Himself,
and from anger and wrath will destroy them;
when yet the evils themselves
which they have committed against God do this;
thus they do it to themselves;
for this is the law of retaliation,
which draws its very origin from this Divine law:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you,
do ye even so to them;
for this is the Law and the Prophets.
(Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).

This law in heaven is the law of mutual love or charity,
from which it becomes the opposite in hell . . ..

AR 756 - affections not in the stream of Providence

AR 756 [2]
It is not known in the world,
that all after death become affections of the ruling love in themselves.
Those become good affections,
who have looked to the Lord and to heaven,
and at the same time have shunned evils as sins;
but those become evil affections, which are lusts,
who have looked only to themselves and the world,
and have shunned evils not as sins,
but only as hurtful to one's reputation and honor.
Those affections appear to the life and are perceived in the spiritual world,
but in the natural world, only the thoughts from the affections.
Hence it is, that a person does not know
that hell is in the affections of the love of evil,
and heaven in the affections of the love of good.

That a person does not know and that he does not perceive it,
is because the lusts of the love of evil derive from heredity
that they are delightful in the will,
and thence are pleasant in the understanding;
and a person does not reflect upon that which is delightful and pleasant,
because it leads his mind [animus] along,
as the current of a swift river carries a vessel.
Wherefore they who have immersed themselves
in those delights and pleasures
cannot come to the delights and pleasures
of the affections of the love of good and truth
any otherwise than as those
who urge the oars against the current of the swift river
with the strong power of the arms.
But it is otherwise with those who have not immersed themselves deeply.

AR 752 - Pope Sextus Quintus

AR 752
It was granted me to speak with Pope Sextus Quintus. He came out of a certain society in the west to the left. He said to me that he was appointed as chief governor of a society collected from Catholics who excel the rest in judgment and industry; and that he was made their chief governor for the reason that he had believed for half a year before his death that the vicarship was an invention for the sake of dominion; and that the Lord the Savior, because He is God, is He who is alone to be adored and worshiped; also that the Sacred Scripture is Divine, and thus more holy than the edicts of popes. He said that he remained firm in the belief of these two heads of religion until the end of his life. He also said that their saints are not anything. He wondered when I related that it was decreed in a synod, and confirmed by a bull, that they should be invoked. He said that he led an active life as he had done in the world; and that he proposed to himself every morning nine or ten things, which he wished should be accomplished before evening.

AR 750 - "Until the words of God shall be consummated" (Revelation 17:17)

AR 750
"Until the words of God shall be consummated"
(Revelation 17:17)
By "being consummated" is signified to be fulfilled;
and by "the words of God" are signified the things
which are foretold in the Word.

Because it is here said, "until the words of God are consummated,"
it shall also be told
what is signified by the Lord's last words to the disciples,
which are these:

Go ye and make disciples of all nations,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you;
and behold, I am with you all the days,
even until the consummation of the age. Amen.
(Matt. 28:19-20)

"Until the consummation of the age" is until the end of the church;
and then, if they do not go to the Lord Himself,
and live according to His commandments,
they are left by the Lord;
and being left by the Lord they become like pagans,
who have no religion;
and then the Lord is with those only, who will be of His New Church.

AR 729 - Love of dominion - from self? or from the love of use?

AR 729
It is called the love of dominating from the love of self,
because there is also a love of dominion from the love of uses,
which two loves are diametrically opposite to one another,
for the love of dominating from the love of self is diabolical,
for it regards itself only, and the world for the sake of self;
but the love of dominion from the love of uses is celestial,
for it regards the Lord, from whom all things which proceed are uses,
and uses to Him
consist in doing good to the church for the sake of the salvation of souls;
wherefore this love abominates the love of dominating from the love of self.

AR 725 - "purple and scarlet" and "gold, precious stones, and pearls,"

AR 725 [2-4]
. . . "purple and scarlet" are mentioned,
and then "gold, precious stones, and pearls,"
and by "purple and scarlet" is signified celestial Divine good and truth,
and by "gold and precious stones" spiritual Divine good and truth,
both from the Word . . .
the celestial kingdom consists of angels who are in love from the Lord,
and the spiritual kingdom of angels who are in wisdom from the Lord.
In both kingdoms there is good and truth;
the good and truth with the angels of the celestial kingdom
is signified by "purple and scarlet,"
and the good and truth with the angels of the spiritual kingdom
is signified by "gold and precious stones."
Both these goods and truths
the angels have from the Lord through the Word;
wherefore there are two interior senses of the Word,
the celestial and the spiritual.

Fine linen of needlework was that which you spread forth,
hyacinth and purple were your covering. (Ezekial 27:7)
This is said of Tyre,
by which the knowledges of truth and good from the Word are signified.

Since celestial good and truth are signified by "purple and scarlet,"
therefore the garments of Aaron,
as also the veils and curtains of the tabernacle,
were woven of hyacinth, purple, scarlet and fine linen
(Exodus 26:4, 31, 36; 27:16; 28:6, 15);
the curtains also (Exodus 26:1);
and the veil before the ark (Exodus 26:31);
the covering for the door of the tent (Exodus 26:36);
and the covering of the gate of the court (Exodus 27:16);
the ephod (Exodus 28:6);
the belt (Exodus 28:8);
the breastplate of judgment (Exodus 28:15);
the skirts of the cloak of the ephod (Exodus 28:33);
the cloth of scarlet over the bread of faces (Numbers 4:8).

AR 718 - and again . . .

AR 718
. . . a church is a church
from the Lord,
and from the Word,
and its perfection
is according to its acknowledgment of the Lord,
and according to its understanding of the Word.

AR 715 - to blaspheme God

AR 715
"To blaspheme" God
signifies to deny and not to acknowledge
the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth
and in like manner the truth of the Word . . .
The reason why they cannot acknowledge truths
on account of those falsities,
is because the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth.

AR 689 - words of good and words of truth

AR 689
Now, since the Divine good of the Word
and the Divine truth of the Word make one,
therefore the signification of what was spoken by the angel of the waters
is similar to that which was spoken by the angel out of the altar;
for the angel of the waters said,
"Thou art just, O Lord, Who art, and Who wast, and art holy,
because Thou hast judged these things;"
but the angel out of the altar said,
"Yea, Lord God Almighty; true and just are Thy judgments."
Both these expressions have a similar signification,
but with this difference,
that one spoke from truth, and the other from good,
and one confirmed what the other spoke, but by different words;
one by words which belong to the class of truth,
and the other by words which belong to the class of good;
for there is a marriage of truth and good in every particular of the Word,
and there are words which relate to good,
and words which relate to truth,
which seem different,
but nevertheless involve things which are similar.

AR 629 - "giving glory to Him"

AR 629
. . . every truth, from which the church is a church, is from the Word . . .
. . . and that the church is from the Word,
and its quality is according to its understanding of the Word . . .

. . . because the angels of heaven perceive by "glory"
nothing else than the Divine truth,
and because all Divine truth is from the Lord,
by "giving glory to Him,"
they perceive to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from Him.
For all glory in the heavens is from no other source,
and so far as a society of heaven is in the Divine truth,
so far all things there are resplendent,
and so far the angels are in the splendor of glory.

AR 678 - evil and noxious sores (Revelation 16:2)

AR 678
By "a sore," here nothing else is signified
but evil originating in a life according to this head of doctrine,
that faith alone
without the works of the Law
justifies and saves . . .
by "an evil and noxious sore" are signified interior evils and falsities,
destructive of all good and truth in the church.
By "noxious" is signified what is destructive,
for evil cannot but destroy good, and falsity truth.

[2] . . . when a person rejects evil from himself,
he at the same time rejects its lusts;
but still not from himself, but from the Lord.
A person can indeed of himself reject evil, but not its lusts;
wherefore, when he wills to reject evil, by fighting against it,
he will look up to the Lord;
for the Lord operates from inmosts to ultimates,
for He enters through the soul of a person, and purifies him.