AE 77 - all affections have corresponding gestures in the body

AE 77
And I fell at His feet,
signifies adoration from humiliation of heart in presence of the Divine. . ..
Humiliation of heart is meant,
because humiliation that springs from the heart
in presence of the Divine
produces that prostration.
All affections, whatsoever they are,
have corresponding gestures in the body. . ..
Humiliation before a person produces a bowing down,
according to the estimation of him;
but in presence of the Divine
it produces total prostration,
especially when a person thinks that the Divine
in respect to power and wisdom is everything,
and a person in comparison is nothing,
or that from the Divine is all good
and from a person nothing but evil.
When a person is in this acknowledgment from the heart
he comes as it were out of himself,
and so falls upon his face,
and when he is thus out of himself
he also is removed from the proprium [what is his own],
which in itself is wholly evil;
when this is removed, the Divine fills him and raises him up;
not that the Divine desires such humiliation on its account,
but because evil is then removed,
and so far as evil is removed with a person so far the Divine flows in;
for evil alone stands in the way.

I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold a Man clothed in linen,
His face as the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as lamps of fire,
and His feet like the splendor of burnished brass.
I alone saw the vision; but the men that were with me saw it not;
but great fear fell upon them, and they fled.
And there remained no strength in me;
and I came into a deep sleep, and my face upon the ground.
But lo, a hand touched me,
and set me upon my knees and upon the palms of my hands,
and He said, Fear not.
(Daniel 10:5-12)

This state is also described in Ezekiel, when he saw the cherubs,
by which is signified the Lord in respect to Providence:

When I saw the glory of Jehovah, I fell upon my face,
and I heard a voice of One that spoke.
And He said unto me,
son of man, stand upon thy feet, that I may speak to thee.
And the spirit entered into me when He spoke unto me,
and set me upon my feet, and I heard Him that spake unto me.
(Ezekiel 1:28; 2:1-2; 3:24)

Likewise also, when Jesus was transfigured before Peter, James, and John,
of which it is thus written in Matthew:

While Peter was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them;
and behold, a voice out of the cloud saying,
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
And when the disciples heard these things they fell on their face,
and were sore afraid.
And Jesus came and touched them, and said,
Arise, be not afraid.
And when they had lifted up their eyes they saw no one save Jesus only.
(Matthew 17:5-8)

From this it is apparent
of what nature is the presence of the Divine Human of the Lord with a person,
when person is in a state of humiliation of heart,
namely, that he falls upon his face,
and by the touch of the Lord's hand is raised upon his feet.
It was plainly the presence of the Lord in respect to the Divine Human;
since it was the "Son of man" who was in the midst of the lampstands
that appeared in this way before John;
and the "Son of man" is the Lord as to the Divine Human . . ..

AE 71 - And His voice as the voice of many waters (Revelation 1:15)

AE 71
And His voice as the voice of many waters (Revelation 1:15),
signifies Divine truth in ultimates.
This is evident from the signification of a "voice"
when it is from the Lord, as being Divine truth;
and from the signification of "waters,"
as being the truths of faith, and also the knowledges of truth;
and since the knowledges of truths are in ultimates,
"the voice as the voice of many waters,"
because it is said of the Lord,
signifies Divine truth in ultimates.

I will pour waters upon him that is thirsty,
and streams upon the dry ground;
I will pour My spirit upon your seed,
and My blessing upon your offspring.
(Isaiah 44:3)

They have forsaken Jehovah,
the fountain of living waters.
(Jeremiah 17:13)

O God, early will I seek You;
my soul is thirsty,
I am weary without waters.
(Psalm 63:1).

AE 67 - As white wool, as snow (Revelation 1:14)

AE 67
As white wool, as snow,
signifies in respect to good and truth therein.
This is evident from the signification of "white wool"
as being good in ultimates;
and from the signification of "snow,"
as being truth in ultimates.
"Snow" means truth in ultimates
by reason of the water of which it is composed,
and its whiteness and brightness.
"White wool," signifies good in ultimates,
because wool upon lambs and sheep
has a signification like that of hair upon man;
and "lambs," and "sheep" signify good,
"lambs" celestial good, and "sheep" spiritual good.
From this it is that the "hairs,"
by which Divine truth in ultimates is signified,
are said to be "white as white wool, and as snow."

So also of the Lord, when He was transfigured:

His garments became glistening, exceeding white as snow,
so as no fuller on earth can whiten them.
(Mark 9:3)

And concerning the Ancient of Days, in Daniel:

I saw until the thrones were cast down,
and the Ancient of Days did sit,
whose garment was white as snow,
and the hair of his head as white wool.
(Daniel 7:9).

Garment also signifies the Divine in ultimates;
and the Ancient of Days, the Lord from eternity.

AE 63 - Blessed are you . . .

AE 63
Blessed are you when men shall hate you for the Son of man's sake.
(Luke 6:2)
"For the Son of man's sake"
is for the sake of Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord.
Divine truth is the All of faith in and of love to the Lord.
Because the evil deny these things,
and those who deny also hate them,
while the good acknowledge them,
therefore it is said that the good are blessed.

AE 54, 55 - portions of Revelation 1:10

AE 54
On the Lord's day.
That this signifies, Divine influx at the time,
is evident from the signification of the Lord's day,
as being when the Lord instructs a person,
thus when He enters by influx.
The Lord's day is the day of the sabbath,
and the sabbath in the Ancient Churches,
which were representative churches,
was the most holy thing of worship,
because it signified the union of the Divine and Human in the Lord,
and so also the conjunction of His Divine Human with heaven.
But after the Lord united His Divine with His Human,
then that holy representative ceased,
and that day became a day of instruction.
For this reason revelation was made to John on the Lord's day;
revelation, in this case, is instruction concerning the state of the church.

AE 55
And I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet.
The reason why "behind me" signifies clearly (or manifestly), is
because those things that flow from heaven into the affection of a person,
flow into the back part of the head,
and thus enter clearly into his perception;
for the things which enter into the affection are perceived clearly,
all the life of perception being from that source;
but the things that flow from heaven immediately into the thought,
flow into the part above the forehead.
It is therefore evident what is signified by John's hearing behind him,
and by his afterwards turning to see the voice which spake with him.
The reason why a trumpet, or horn,
signifies Divine truth to be revealed from heaven, is,
because Divine truth is sometimes so heard when it flows down from the Lord
through the heavens to a person;
for it becomes louder in its descent and thus flows in.
But it is heard in this way only in the beginning,
by those to whom Divine truth is to be revealed in the ultimate sense,
which is representative of interior things;
afterwards it is heard as a human voice.

AE 41, 52 - the Alpha & Omega, the Divine Human

AE 41 - Revelation 1:8
I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End,
signifies that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates,
and thus all things of heaven to eternity. . ..
These things are said of the Lord's Divine Human,
for they are said of Jesus Christ,
by which name His Divine Human is meant.
By means of this the Lord is in firsts and in ultimates.

AE 52 - Revelation 1:9
And for the testimony of Jesus Christ,
signifies that the Lord's Divine Human may be acknowledged.
This is evident from the signification of "testimony,"
as being acknowledgment in heart;
and from the signification of the names "Jesus" and "Christ,"
as being the Lord in respect to His Divine Human.
These things are said concerning the church of the Gentiles,
which is about to receive Divine truth
and acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human.
The Christian church indeed, acknowledges the Lord's Divine,
but not His Divine Human;
when, therefore, they think and speak about the Lord from doctrine,
they separate His Human from the Divine,
and make His Human like the human of another man;
when yet the Divine is in His Human as the soul is in the body.

AE 32 - Unto God and His Father (Revelation 1:6)

AE 32
Unto God and His Father,
signifies by Divine truth and Divine Good.
This is evident from this,
that "God" is the Divine truth,
and "Jehovah" is the Divine good;
therefore in the Word
the Lord is called "God" when Divine truth is treated of,
and "Jehovah" when Divine good is treated of . . .
here it is said "Father" instead of Jehovah,
because the Father of the Lord was Jehovah,
and by "Father" the like is meant as by "Jehovah."
By both "God" and "the Father" the Lord alone is meant;
for the Father was in Him as the soul is in its body . . ..
This was why He said:

But if I do it, even though you do not believe me,
believe the miracles,
that you may know and understand
that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.
(John 10:38; 14:10, 11)

Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?
The words I say to you are not just my own.
Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work.
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. . .
(John 14:10, 11)

I and the Father are one.
(John 10:30)

But a time is coming, and has come,
when you will be scattered, each to his own home.
You will leave me all alone.
Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.
(John 16:32)

portions Revelation 1 & 22

Revelation 1:4-8

John to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace be unto you, and peace,
from him which is, and which was, and which is to come;
and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the first begotten of the dead,
and the prince of the kings of the earth.
Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father;
to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Behold, he comes with clouds;
and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him:
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.
Even so, Amen.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, says the Lord,
which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

Revelation 22:6-7,12-14,21

And he said unto me,
These sayings are faithful and true:
and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel
to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Behold, I come quickly:
blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me,
to give every man according as his work shall be.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Blessed are they that do his commandments,
that they may have right to the tree of life,
and may enter in through the gates into the city.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Revelation 21:22-27

I did not see a temple in the city,
because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives it light,
and the Lamb is its lamp.
The nations will walk by its light,
and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there.
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it,
nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
(Revelation 21:22-27)

From AR 876:
"But they that are written in the Lamb's book of life"
signifies that no others will be received into the New Church,
which is the New Jerusalem,
but they who believe in the Lord,
and live according to His commandments in the Word.

AE 28 - Firstborn

AE 28 [2]
. . . the Lord in respect to the Divine Human is called "the Firstborn,"
for the reason that all good proceeds from Him . . .

AE 22 - grace is the affection of truth from good

AE 22
Grace to you and peace,
signifies the delight of truth and good.
This is evident from the signification of
"grace" as being the delight of truth. . .
and from the signification of
"peace," as being the delight of the good of innocence and love . . ..

[2] In general, Divine grace is all that is given from the Lord;
and as all that is so given has relation to faith and love,
and faith is the affection of truth from good,
this is meant in particular by Divine grace:
for to be gifted with faith and love,
or with the affection of truth from good,
is to be gifted with heaven, thus with eternal blessedness.

AE 15 - to will & to do

AE 15
To do is to will,
and to will is to do;
because in deeds the will is everything.

AE 8 - spiritual perception

AE 8
. . . that which an angel speaks is out of heaven;
for when an angel communicates to a person
such things as pertain to heaven and the church,
he does not speak as a person speaks with a person,
who brings forth out of his memory what another has told him;
but that which an angel speaks flows in continuously,
not into his memory,
but immediately into his understanding,
and from that into words.

Only those who are in the good of love have spiritual perception.
This is because they receive heavenly things not only with the hearing,
but also with the love;
and to receive with the love is to receive fully,
since the things so received are loved;
moreover, those who thus receive,
see these things in their understanding,
where the sensation of their internal sight is.

ISB 20 - a spiritual fisherman

ISB 20
I was once asked how from a philosopher I became a theologian;
and I answered,
In the same manner that fishermen were made disciples
and apostles by the Lord;
and that I also from early youth had been a spiritual fisherman.
On hearing this the inquirer asked,
What is a spiritual fisherman?
I replied that a fisherman in the spiritual sense of the Word,
signifies a man who investigates and teaches natural truths,
and afterwards spiritual truths rationally.

[2] To the question, How is this demonstrated? I said,
From these passages in the Word:

Then the waters shall fail from the sea,
and the river shall be dried up and become dry,
therefore the fishers shall mourn,
and all that cast a hook into the sea shall be sad.
(Isaiah 19:5, 8)

In another place:

Upon the river whose waters were healed,
the fishers stood from Engedi;
they were there in the spreading forth of nets;
according, to its kind was their fish,
as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.
(Ezekial 47:9-10)

And in another place:

The saying of Jehovah,
Behold, I will send to many fishers,
who shall fish the sons of Israel.
(Jeremiah 16:16)

So it is evident, why the Lord chose fishermen for disciples, and said:

Come ye after Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
(Matthew 4:18-19; Mark 1:16-17).

And to Peter after he had caught a multitude of fishes:

From henceforth thou shalt catch men.
(Luke 5:9-10)

. . . "water" signifies natural truths (AR n. 50, 932);
likewise "a river" (AR n. 409, 932);
"fish," those who are in natural truths (n. 405);
and so "fishermen" signify those who investigate and teach truths.

[4] On hearing this my interrogator raised his voice and said,
Now I can understand why
the Lord called and chose fishermen to be His disciples,
and therefore I do not wonder that He has also called and chosen you,
since, as you have said,
you were from early youth a fisherman in a spiritual sense,
that is, an investigator of natural truths;
that you are now an investigator of spiritual truths,
is because these are founded on the former.
To this he added, because he was a man of reason,
that the Lord alone knows who is adapted to receive
and to teach those things which are of His New Church,
whether someone among the primates,
or someone among their servants.
Moreover, what theologian among Christians
does not first study philosophy at college,
before he is inaugurated as a theologian;
and from what other source has he intelligence?

ISB 12 & 14 - spiritual, natural; the light of heaven

ISB 12 [4]
That a person is rational from the union of spiritual things with natural,
is evident from the analytical processes of his thought;
and that he is moral from the honorableness of his conduct
and the graces of his bearing.
These he has from the faculty of receiving influx from the Lord
through the angelic heaven, where is the very abode of wisdom and love,
thus of rationality and morality.
From these things it is perceived,
that what is spiritual and what is natural, being united in a person,
cause him to live a spiritually natural man.
The reason that he lives in a similar and yet dissimilar manner after death,
is because his soul is then clothed with a substantial body,
as in the natural world it was clothed with a material body.

ISB 14
The understanding in a person can be elevated into the light, that is,
into the wisdom in which the angels of heaven are,
according to the cultivation of his reason;
and in like manner his will can be elevated into the heat of heaven,
that is, into love, according to the deeds of his life;
but the love of the will is not elevated
except so far as the person wills and does
those things which the wisdom of the understanding teaches.

ISB 9 - the body serves the soul

ISB 9 [5]
. . . those who distinguish between spiritual things and natural things,
and deduce the latter from the former;
these also perceive that the influx of the soul into the body is spiritual,
and that natural things, which are of the body,
serve the soul for vehicles and means,
that it may produce its effects in the natural world.

ISB 4 - influx & reasoning

ISB 4 [3-4]
. . . all influx proceeds from a sun;
spiritual influx from its sun, and natural influx from its sun.
The internal sight of a person, which is the sight of his mind,
receives influx from the spiritual sun;
but the external sight, which is that of the body,
receives influx from the natural sun;
and in operation they unite,
just as the soul does with the body.

From these things it is evident
into what blindness, thick darkness, and foolishness they may fall
who know nothing about the spiritual world and its sun:
into blindness, because the mind
that depends on the sight of the eye alone
becomes in its reasonings like a bat,
which flies by night here and there to a suspended cloth;
into thick darkness, because the sight of the mind,
when the sight of the eye flows into it from within,
is deprived of all spiritual light, and becomes like an owl;
into foolishness, because the person still thinks,
but from natural things concerning spiritual things,
and not the reverse; thus insanely, stupidly, and foolishly.

BE 120 - the holy truth

BE 120
There appeared a magnificent palace,
and in its inmost a temple.
In the midst of the latter was a table of gold,
upon which was the Word,
beside which two angels were standing.
Around it were seats in three rows:
the seats of the first row were covered with silken cloth of a purple color;
the seats of the second row, with silken cloth, of a blue color;
and the seats of the third row, with white cloth.
Under the roof, high above the table,
there appeared a widespread canopy, shining with precious stones,
from the splendor of which there shone forth as it were a rainbow,
as when heaven clears up after a shower.

. . . we have clearly seen, and so acknowledge as the holy truth,
that in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ there is a Divine Trinity,
which is the Divine from which, that is called the Father;
the Divine Human, which is the Son;
and the proceeding Divine, which is the Holy Spirit, crying out,
That in Jesus Christ dwells all the fullness of the Divinity bodily (Col. 2:9).
Thus there is one God in the church.

BE 119 - the Divine Esse which is the Divine Essence is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible

BE 119
. . . the Divine Esse is the Divine Esse in Itself, not from Itself;
because from Itself supposes an Esse in Itself from another,
and thus supposes a God from God, which is not given.
That which is from God is not called God, but is called the Divine . . .

. . . He is our Lord Jesus Christ
both as to the Divine
from which, and as to
the Divine Human:
since the Itself, which is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself,
was His soul from the Father,
and thus the Divine Life, which is Life in itself.
It is otherwise in every person:
in him the soul is not life, but a recipient of life.
The Lord also teaches this, saying:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life;

and again:

As the Father has life in Himself,
so has He given to the Son to have life in Himself.

. . . that instead of a Trinity of Persons
there be there understood a Trinity of Person,
which is given only in the Lord Jesus Christ;
and instead of the birth of a Son of God
there be understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time;
because as to the Human, which He took to Himself in time,
He is called openly the Son of God.

BE 118 - an east wind blew

BE 118 [3-4]
Then immediately an east wind blew . . .
and there appeared a tabernacle, as to its outward form simple.
And the angels who were with me said,
"Behold, the tabernacle of Abraham,
such as it was when the three angels came to him
and announced the future birth of Isaac.
It appears indeed simple to the eye,
but nevertheless according to the influx of light from heaven
it becomes more and more magnificent."
And they were permitted to open the heaven,
in which were the spiritual angels who excel in wisdom,
and then from the influx of light from heaven there,
the Tabernacle appeared as a temple resembling that of Jerusalem;
and on looking into it, I saw that the stone in the floor,
under which the Word was deposited,
was set with precious stones,
from which there issued forth bright rays as of lightning
that shone upon the walls,
and caused beautiful variegations of color on certain cherubic forms
that were sculptured on them.
As I was admiring these things, the angels said,
"You shall see something yet still more wonderful."
And it was permitted them to open the third heaven,
in which were the celestial angels who are in love,
and then from the light there inflowing that whole temple disappeared,
and in its stead was seen the Lord alone,
standing on the foundation stone, which was the Word,
in the same form that He appeared to John (Rev. 1).
But because holiness then filled the interiors of the minds of the angels,
occasioning in them an inclination to fall on their faces,
suddenly the way of light from the third heaven was closed by the Lord,
and the way from the second heaven opened;
in consequence of which the former appearance of the temple returned,
and also of the tabernacle, but this was in the temple.
Hereby was illustrated the meaning of these words:

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and He will dwell with them.
(Revelation 21:3).

And by these:

And I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem,
for the Lord God Omnipotent and the Lamb are the temple of it.
(Revelation 21:22)

BE 114 - actual repentance

BE 114 [5]
Actual repentance consists in a person examining himself,
in knowing and acknowledging his sins,
in making himself guilty,
in confessing them before the Lord,
in imploring help and power to resist them,
and thus in desisting from them,
and leading a new life,
and doing all these things as of himself.
Do this once or twice in a year, when you come to the Holy Communion;
and afterwards when the sins, whereof you made yourselves guilty, recur,
then say to yourselves,
we will not consent to them,
because they are sins against God;
this is actual repentance.

BE 113 - those who are in good from the Lord

BE 113
. . . if anyone from purpose or confirmation
acts against any other commandment of the Decalogue;
he then also offends against the rest,
because he does not account anything a sin.
It is very similar with those who are in good from the Lord.
These, if from the will and understanding,
or from purpose and confirmation,
they abstain from one evil because it is a sin, abstain from all,
and still more if they abstain from many;
for whenever anyone abstains,
from purpose and confirmation,
from any evil, because it is a sin,
he is kept by the Lord in the purpose of abstaining from the rest;
wherefore if through ignorance,
or any predominant lust of the body, he does an evil,
it nevertheless is not imputed to him,
because he did not purpose it to himself, nor confirm it with himself.
A person comes into this kind of purpose,
if he examines himself once or twice a year,
and repents of the evil he discovers in himself.

BE 111 - shunning evils, doing goods

BE 111 [2-3]
That a person is led into good through regeneration by the Lord.
That there is regeneration,
and that unless one is regenerated,
he cannot enter into heaven . . ..
That regeneration is purification from evils,
and thus renovation of life . . ..
That this is effected by faith in the Lord,
and by a life according to His commandments . . ..
That evils ought to be shunned,
because they are of the devil and from the devil;
that goods ought to be done,
because they are of God and from God;
and that the Lord is to be approached,
that He may lead us so to do.

BE 92 - two things which form heaven in a person

BE 92
There are two things which form heaven in a person, namely,
the truths of faith and the goods of charity;
the truths of faith effect the presence of the Lord,
and show the way to heaven,
and the goods of charity effect conjunction with the Lord,
and introduce into heaven.
And everyone is there introduced into light according to his affection of truth,
and into heat according to his affection of good.
. . . the affection of truth is faith in its essence,
and the affection of good charity in its essence,
and the marriage of them both constitutes the church . . ..
The church and heaven make one.

BE 83 - the sheep and the he-goats

BE 83
It is a general rule of religion,
that as far as anyone does not will goods,
and consequently does not do them,
so far he wills evils,
and consequently does them;
and on the contrary,
that as far as anyone does not will evils,
and consequently does not do them,
so far he wills goods,
and consequently does them.
These latter are the "sheep,"
but the former are the "he-goats."

BE 78 - the sun, moon, and stars

BE 78
The day of Jehovah comes,
a day of darkness,
the sun and moon shall not cause their light to shine,
and the stars shall withdraw their shining.
(Joel 2:1, 2, 10)

After the affliction of those days,
the sun shall be darkened,
and the moon shall not give her light,
and the stars shall fall from heaven,
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken.
And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:
and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
{Matthew 24:29,30)

By "the sun" in the above passages is meant love;
by "the moon" faith;
and by "the stars" the knowledges of good and truth;
and by "the powers of the heavens"
those three as the supports and firmaments
of the heavens where the angels are,
and of the churches where people are . . .

BE 69 - as of self

BE 69 [3]
. . . a person is capable of reforming and regenerating himself
as of himself,
provided he only acknowledge in his heart
that his ability is from the Lord.
Every person who does the work of repentance,
is reformed and regenerated.
Both must be done by a person
as of himself,
but this as of himself
is also from the Lord,
because the Lord gives both the power to will and perform,
and never takes it away from anyone.

BE 57 - salvation

BE 57
. . . without the Advent of the Lord into the world,
no mortal could have been saved,
and that they are saved who believe on Him and live well.

BE 44 - shunning evil, doing good, believing in the Lord

BE 44 (end)
The three remaining propositions, namely,
That evils ought to be shunned,
because they are of the devil and from the devil;
and that goods ought to be done,
because they are of God and from God;
but that it is to be believed that they are from the Lord,
with him and through him.
There is no need to illustrate and demonstrate these;
for the whole Sacred Scripture, from beginning to end, proves them,
and, in short, teaches nothing else
but to shun evils, and do goods, and to believe in the Lord God.
Besides, without these three there is not any religion,
for religion is of the life;
and life is to shun evils and do goods,
and a person cannot do goods and shun evils except as of himself.
Wherefore if these three are removed from the church,
the Sacred Scripture, together with religion,
is likewise removed at the same time:
which being removed the church is not a church.

BE 43 - the faith of the New Church

BE 43
And this faith is in God the Savior Jesus Christ
which in its simple form is as follows:

1. That there is One God in Whom is the Divine Trinity,
   and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.
   
2. Saving Faith is to believe in Him.
3. Evils ought to be shunned, because they are of the devil,
   and from the devil.
   
4. Goods ought to be done, because they are of God, and from God.
5. And they ought to be done by a person as of himself,
   but it is to be believed that they are from the Lord,
   with Him and through Him.

TCR 846 - the Word's spiritual sense

TCR 846
In every detail the Word contains a spiritual sense
corresponding to the natural sense,
and by means of that sense
the Word forms a conjunction between people in the church and the Lord;
it also creates an association with angels,
and the holiness of the Word resides in that sense.

TCR 829 - levels in a person

TCR 829
. . . religion occupies the highest levels in a person,
and the highest levels give life and light to the levels below . . .

TCR 814 - freedom

TCR 814
When the freedom to speak and write is restricted,
so is freedom of thought,
that is to say,
freedom to take the widest view of things is kept under restriction.

TCR 805 - the love of married couples

TCR 805
. . . the true love of married couples is a heavenly love,
and it is untouched by a desire to dominate.

TCR 787 - one visible God

TCR 787
This new church is the crown of all the churches
which have up to now existed upon earth,
because it will worship one visible God,
in whom is the invisible God,
as the soul is in the body.
In this way
and no other
is God's conjunction with a person possible,
because a person is natural and so thinks in a natural fashion;
and conjunction must take place in his thinking
and so in the affection of his love,
and this happens when a person thinks of God as Man.

TCR 782 - Why New Jerusalem?

TCR 782
The reason why the new church is meant
by the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21),
is that Jerusalem was the capital city in the land of Canaan.
It was there that the temple was and the altar where sacrifices were made,
and so the Divine worship to which three times a year
every male in the whole land was commanded to come.
It was also because Jerusalem is where the Lord was, and taught in its temple;
and He afterwards there glorified His Human.
These are the reasons why Jerusalem means the church.

TCR 774 - the Lord's perpetual presence

TCR 774
The Lord is perpetually present with every person,
wicked as well as good,
for no one could live without His presence.
But His coming is restricted to those who receive Him,
and these are those who believe in Him
and keep His commandments.
It is the Lord's perpetual presence
which gives a person the faculty of reason
and the ability to become spiritual.


Create for me, God, a clean heart,
and make new a steadfast spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10

TCR 754 - the results of self-love and love of the world

TCR 754
There are various ways in which a church comes to an end.
It happens principally through circumstances
which cause falsity to look like truth;
and when this happens, the good which is inherently good,
what is called spiritual good, can no longer exist.
What is then believed to be good
is only natural good, the product of a moral life.
The reason for truth coming to an end,
and good with it,
is principally the two natural loves
which are diametrically opposed to the two spiritual loves;
these are called self-love and love of the world.
When self-love is dominant,
it is the opposite of love to God;
and when the love of the world is dominant,
it is the opposite of love towards the neighbor.
Self-love is wishing well to no one but oneself,
except for selfish reasons;
and likewise the love of the world.
Once those loves have got a grip,
they spread like mortification through the body,
and stage by stage destroy every part of it.

TCR 746 - the love of service, or uses, holds society together

TCR 746
At a person's first creation . . .
he was endowed with wisdom and the love of wisdom,
not for his own sake, but so that he might share it with others.
So there is a warning attached to the wisdom of the wise,
that no one is to keep his wisdom to himself alone,
or live for himself alone,
but is to share it at the same time with others.
That is the origin of society, which could not otherwise exist.
To live for others is to perform services.
Services are what hold society together,
and there are as many ways of doing this
as there are ways of doing good,
and services are beyond counting.
There are spiritual services,
which have to do with love to God and love towards the neighbor.
There are moral and political services,
which have to do with the love of the community and country
in which a person lives, and with his colleagues and fellow-citizens.
There are natural services,
which have to do with the love of the world and its demands.
And there are bodily services,
which have to do with looking after oneself,
so as to be able to perform higher services.

All these services are imprinted on a person,
and they follow in their proper order, one after the other;
when they are present together,
then one is contained within another.

Moreover, every love has its own pleasure,
for this is what gives it life;
and the pleasure of the love of service is a heavenly pleasure
which enters into the pleasures that follow in turn,
and in accordance with the order in which one follows the other
it uplifts them and makes them everlasting.

TCR 739 - the joys & everlasting happiness of heaven

TCR 739 [7]
. . . the joys of heaven and everlasting happiness are not places,
but are the conditions of a person's life.
The conditions of life in heaven arise from love and wisdom;
and because it is service which holds together love and wisdom,
the conditions of life in heaven are due to their combination in service.

TCR 734 - What is heavenly joy?

TCR 734
The pleasure of service
arising from love
by means of wisdom
is the soul
and life
of all heavenly joys.

TCR 726 - How does reciprocal conjunction work?

TCR 726 [2]
Real love towards the neighbor
and real faith
come only from the Lord;
and both are conferred upon a person
when he of his own free will
does good on the natural level to the neighbor,
and believes truths with his reason,
and looks to the Lord,
doing all these three things because of the commandments in the Word.
Then the Lord plants charity and faith in his midst,
and makes both of these spiritual.
So the Lord conjoins a person to Himself,
and the person conjoins himself to the Lord;
for conjunction is impossible if it is not reciprocal.

TCR 719 - the Lord is present

TCR 719
The Lord is present both with the worthy and the unworthy,
because He is omnipresent in heaven and in hell, and also in the world,
and so with the wicked as well as with the good.
But in the case of the good, that is the regenerate,
He is present both at the universal and particular level,
for the Lord is in them and they are in the Lord,
where the the Lord is, there is heaven.

TCR 714 - particulars and universals

TCR 714
For particulars to be kept in their proper order and relationship
there must be universals from which they come into being
and in which they continue in being.
The particulars must also in some way
be an image of the universals to which they refer;
otherwise the whole world would cease to exist along with its parts.
It is this relationship which ensures
that everything in the universe has been preserved intact
from the first day of creation down to the present,
and will continue into the future.
It is well known
that everything in the universe has reference to good and truth.
The reason is that all things were created by God
from the Divine good of love
by means of the Divine truth of wisdom.

TCR 700-701 - the holy treasure that is Holy Supper

TCR 700-701
But because real Christianity is now for the first time arising,
the new church meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation
is now being established by the Lord;
in this God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are acknowledged as one,
because they are in one person.
It has therefore pleased the Lord to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word,
so that this church may reap
the real benefit of the sacraments of baptism and the Holy Supper.
This comes about when people see with the eyes of their spirit,
that is, with the understanding,
the holiness hidden within them,
and grasp this holiness for themselves
by the means which the Lord taught us to use in His Word.

Without the disclosure of the spiritual sense of the Word,
or what is the same thing,
without the revelation of how natural things correspond to spiritual ones,
the holiness of the sacrament which is the subject of the chapter
could not more be inwardly acknowledged than a treasure hidden in a field.

TCR 694 - everlasting rest is the pleasure of service

TCR 694 [7]
'Everlasting rest,' he said, 'is not leisure,
since that reduces the mind and so the whole body
to a state of feebleness, torpidity, stupidness and somnolence . . .
So everlasting rest is a rest that banishes all those ills
and makes people alive.
This can only be something that uplifts the mind.
So it is some interest or task which excites, enlivens and delights the mind.
This depends upon the purpose for which, in which and towards which it aims.
This is why the whole of heaven is seen by the Lord as a coherent purpose,
and it is the purpose he serves
that makes every angel an angel.
The pleasure of service carries him along,
as a favorable current does a ship,
and confers upon him everlasting peace and the rest peace gives.
This is what is meant by everlasting rest from labors.
The extent to which an angel is alive
depends upon his mental commitment arising from service.

TCR 684 - the purpose behind baptism

TCR 684
The third purpose of baptism, which is its end in view,
is a person's regeneration.

This is the real purpose behind baptism,
and so the end with a view to which it was instituted.
The reason is that one who is truly a Christian
gets to know and acknowledge the Lord the Redeemer, Jesus Christ;
and since He is the Redeemer, He is also the Regenerator.
Redemption and regeneration are one . . ..
Another reason is that a Christian possesses the Word,
in which is available a description of the means of regeneration,
and these are faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbor.
This is the same as when it is said of the Lord
that He will baptise with the Holy Spirit and with fire
(Matt. 3:11; Mark 1:8-11; Luke 3:16; John 1:33).
The Holy Spirit means the Divine truth of faith,
fire the Divine good of love or charity,
both of these proceeding from the Lord . . .
These two are the means
by which all regeneration is accomplished by the Lord.

The reason why the Lord Himself was baptised by John
(Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9; Luke 3:21, 22)
was not only to introduce the practice of baptism for the future
and to lead the way by His example,
but also because He glorified His Human and made this Divine,
just as He regenerates a person and makes him spiritual.

TCR 676 - washing your heart

Matthew 18: 16-20
"Are you still so dull?" Jesus asked them.
"Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth
goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart,
and these make a man 'unclean.'
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery,
sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
These are what make a man 'unclean'.

TCR 676
The external person is not a person,
but only the figure of a person;
for it is the internal,
the power to be wise which comes from God,
which makes the person.
It is much the same with the circumcised and the baptized,
unless each circumcises or washes his heart.

TCR 666 - What is conscience?

TCR 666 [1, 3]
. . . conscience regarded in itself is not any distress,
but is a spiritual willingness to do what religion and faith dictate.
Thus it is that those who enjoy a conscience
live in tranquil peace and inward blessedness
when they act according to conscience,
and in some unease when they act against it.

All who have a conscience speak from the heart when they speak,
and act from the heart when they act;
for they have their minds undivided,
speaking and doing according to what
they understand and believe truth and good to be.

Psalm 103

Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The LORD executes righteousness
And justice for all who are oppressed.
He made known His ways to Moses,
His acts to the children of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.
He will not always strive with us,
Nor will He keep His anger forever.
He has not dealt with us according to our sins,
Nor punished us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So great is His mercy toward those who fear Him;
As far as the east is from the west,
So far has He removed our transgressions from us.
As a father pities his children,
So the LORD pities those who fear Him.
For He knows our frame;
He remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like grass;
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.
For the wind passes over it, and it is gone,
And its place remembers it no more.
But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting
On those who fear Him,
And His righteousness to children’s children,
To such as keep His covenant,
And to those who remember His commandments to do them.

The LORD has established His throne in heaven,
And His kingdom rules over all.

Bless the LORD, you His angels,
Who excel in strength, who do His word,
Heeding the voice of His word.
Bless the LORD, all you His hosts,
You ministers of His, who do His pleasure.
Bless the LORD, all His works,
In all places of His dominion.
Bless the LORD, O my soul!

(New King James Version)

TCR 659 - imputed or attributed

TCR 659
No evil that a person thinks is imputed to him,
because he was so created as to be able to understand
and thus think either good or evil
- good from the Lord and evil from hell -
for he is between these two,
and from his freedom of choice in spiritual things
has the ability to choose either one or the other.
. . . If the person then adopts the evils,
they are received by the old will and added to those in it;
but if he adopts goods with truths,
the Lord forms a new will and a new understanding above the old,
and there
by means of truths
He gradually implants new goods,
and by means of these
subjugates the evils that are below and removes them,
and arranges all things in order.
. . . if the evils that a person thinks were to be imputed to him,
reformation and regeneration would be impossible.

TCR 661 - performing uses or services

TCR 661 [15]
All who believe in the Lord
and shun evils as sins,
perform uses from the Lord;
but all who do not believe in the Lord
and do not shun evils as sins,
perform uses from themselves and for their own sake.

TCR 652 - the sphere radiated by the Lord

TCR 652 [3]
There is in fact a sphere continuously radiated by the Lord,
which raises all to heaven;
this fills the whole of both the spiritual and natural worlds.
It is like a strong current in the ocean,
which invisibly draws a ship along.
All who believe in the Lord
and live in accordance with His commandments
come within that sphere or current, and are raised up.
But those who do not believe
are unwilling to come within it,
but take themselves off to one side or the other,
and are there swept away by the stream bound for hell.

TCR 639 - persuasion & proof

TCR 639
. . . every idea which has been fixed in the mind by persuasion and proof;
. . . eventually they look like tapestries
fixed by many nails to a wall
stuck together out of crumbling stones.

TCR 630 - the Word teaches

TCR 630
. . . the Word teaches from beginning to end
that one should shun evils
because they are the devil's work and come from the devil,
and one should do good deeds
because they are God's work and come from God;
and one should do these things of oneself,
under the Lord's working.

TCR 623 - the Divine Essence

TCR 623 [4]
The Divine Essence has many attributes,
such as
omnipotence, omniscience,
omnipresence, eternity,
love, wisdom,
mercy, grace and others too.
There are also attributes which proceed from the Divine Essence;
creation and preservation,
redemption and salvation,
enlightenment and instruction.

. . . everyone who thinks of God in terms of Essence makes God one;
God created us. . .
and He too redeems and saves us,
and also enlightens and instructs us.

TCR 619 - truths

TCR 619
. . . there is no knowing the Lord without truths;
and without truths there is no faith and so no charity.

TCR 614 - a gift from the Lord

TCR 614
. . . a person is held back from evil
and kept in good by the Lord.
This is the gift he receives by regeneration.

TCR 596, 599 - struggles or temptations and then peace from the Lord

TCR 596
. . . the internal person is reformed by means of truths,
which enable him to see what is evil and false;
and these truths are still in his external or natural man.
. . . there is dissension between the new will, which is above,
and the old will, which is below.
Since it is dissension between wills,
it is between the pleasures of either,
for it is well known that the flesh opposes the spirit, and the spirit the flesh,
and the flesh with its lusts must be tamed,
before the spirit can act and the person can become a new person.
Following this dissension of the wills,
a struggle, known as spiritual temptation, takes place.
But this temptation or struggle is not between good and evil,
but between the truths that accompany good
and the falsities that accompany evil.
For good is unable to struggle of itself, but does so by means of truths.
Nor can evil struggle of itself, but does so by means of its falsities.
This is like the will being unable to struggle of itself,
but doing so by means of the understanding, which is where its truths are.

A person does not feel this struggle to be anywhere but in himself . . ..
The devil, or hell, attacks the person and calls forth the evil in him,
while the Lord protects him and calls forth the good in him.
But although that struggle takes place in the spiritual world,
at the same time it takes place in the person
between the truths that accompany good
and the falsities that accompany evil present within him.
A person ought therefore to struggle exactly as if of himself,
since he has the free will to act on the Lord's side or on the devil's.
He is on the Lord's side if he holds to truths from good,
on the devil's if he holds to falsities from evil.

TCR 599
By struggles and temptations in the world
the Lord glorified His Human, that is, He made it Divine.
It is likewise now with people individually;
when someone is subject to temptations,
the Lord struggles for him,
overcoming the spirits of hell who assail him;
and after his temptation He glorifies him,
that is, renders him spiritual.
After His universal redemption
the Lord brought everything in heaven and in hell into a state of order.
He does much the same with a person after temptation,
for He brings into a state of order
everything in him relating to heaven and the world.
After the act of redemption the Lord established a new church;
likewise too He establishes in a person what is to do with the church,
and makes him a church at the level of the individual.
After redemption
the Lord granted peace to those who believed in Him; for He said:

I leave peace with you,
my peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give it to you.
John 14:27

Likewise He grants to a person after temptation to feel peace,
that is, gladness of mind and consolation.
These facts show that the Lord is the Redeemer for ever.

TCR 583, 587 - beginnings

TCR 583
The natural births mentioned in the Word refer to spiritual births . . .
and these are the Lord's work . . .

TCR 587
. . . reformation takes place through the understanding
or through the truths the understanding receives.
For truths teach the person in whom and what he should believe,
and what he should do, so what he should will.
For anything a person does
is the result of the will acting in accordance with the understanding.
Since then a person's will is of itself evil from birth,
and because it is the understanding which teaches us
what is evil and what is good,
and it is possible to will the one and not will the other,
it follows that a person must be reformed through the understanding.
So long as anyone sees and mentally acknowledges
that evil is evil, and good is good,
thinking that good ought to be chosen,
for so long is his state called reformation.
But when his will is to shun evil and do good,
that is when his state of regeneration begins.

TCR 571, 580 - reformation, regeneration, and co-operation

TCR 571
There are two states which a person must enter upon and undergo
to pass from being natural to being spiritual.
The first state is called reformation, the second regeneration.
In his first state a person looks from his natural to his spiritual person
and desires to be spiritual;
in the second state he becomes spiritual-natural.
The first state is formed by means of the truths
which must become part of faith,
and these enable him to look towards charity.
The second state is formed by the kinds of good which make up charity,
and from them he enters into the truths of faith.
To put this in other terms,
the first state is one of thought on the part of the understanding,
but the second is one of love on the part of the will.
When this state begins and develops, a mental change takes place;
for there is a turning-point,
following which the love of the will flows into the understanding,
and drives and guides it to think in harmony and in keeping with its love.
In so far therefore as the good of love then plays the leading role,
and the truths of faith take second place,
to that extent he is a spiritual person and a new creature.
Then charity inspires his actions, faith his speech;
he feels the good of charity and perceives the truth of faith.
Then he is in the Lord and in a state of peace,
and so he is regenerated.

TCR 580 [3]
The reason why all can be regenerated and so saved
is that the Lord is present with His Divine good and truth with every person.
This is the source of his life, and of his ability to understand and will,
and of the free will he has in spiritual matters;
no one is without these.
Moreover the means are given.
Christians have the means in the Word,
non-Christians in any religion at all,
if it teaches the existence of God and commandments about good and evil.
From this it follows that everyone can be saved.
Consequently, if a person is not saved,
it is not the Lord who is to blame but the person;
and he is to blame for failing to co-operate.

TCR 567 - What is your pleasure?

TCR 567 [6,8]
For from birth we find every evil pleasant.
It is pleasant to take revenge, commit fornication, cheat,
blaspheme, and particularly to control others out of self-love.
Does not the pleasure cause them not to be seen as sins?
And if perhaps someone says that they are sins,
would not the pleasure they give make you excuse them,
or even use false arguments to prove that they are not sins?
Thus you continue in them and do them afterwards more than before;
and this goes on until you do not know what a sin is,
or rather, whether there is such a thing as sin.
The case is different with anyone who has really repented,
He calls his evils, which he has recognized and acknowledged, sins,
and therefore begins to shun them and turn away from them;
and he ends by feeling the pleasure they give as distasteful.
In so far as this happens, he sees and loves what is good,
and ends by feeling the pleasure that gives,
and this is the pleasure experienced by the angels in heaven.
In short, in so far as anyone casts the devil behind his back,
he is adopted by the Lord, who teaches and guides him,
restrains him from evils and keeps him in good deeds.
This and no other is the way from hell to heaven.'

. . . in so far as anyone abjures and turns away from evil,
so far does he strive after and love good;
and that before this he does not know what good is,
nor even what evil is.

TCR 565 - the sensual

TCR 565
The sensual is the lowest level of life in the human mind,
firmly attached to and bound up with the five bodily senses.
The term 'sensual man' is applied to a person
whose every judgment relies upon the bodily senses,
and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes
and touch with his hands,
regarding these things as real and rejecting all else.

The spirits in the hells are sensual,
and the deeper their hell, the more sensual they are.

If thought is not raised above the level of sense impressions,
a person's wisdom is very restricted.
When a person's thought is raised above this level,
he comes into brighter illumination, and eventually into the light of heaven,
so that then he can perceive such ideas as flow down from heaven.
The lowest level of the understanding is natural factual knowledge,
the lowest level of the will the pleasure of the senses.

TCR 533 - two loves

TCR 533
There are two loves which from long time past
have become deeply rooted in the human race,
the love of controlling everyone,
and the love of possessing everyone's goods.
The first of these, if given its head,
actually plunges headlong into an ambition to be the God of heaven;
the other, if given its head,
plunges headlong into an ambition to be the God of the world.
All the other evil loves - and they are legion - are subordinate to these two.
But it is extremely difficult to examine these two loves,
because they lodge so deep within and hide themselves away.

[2] It ought, however, to be appreciated
that those two loves can be more dominant
in the case of humble than exalted people,
more in the case of the needy than the rich,
more in the case of subjects than kings.

TCR 530 - How is one to repent?

TCR 530
The question then is asked: how is one to repent?
The answer is, in deed;
that is, by examining oneself,
recognizing and acknowledging one's sins,
praying to the Lord,
and starting a new life. . .
This is real repentance.

TCR 509, 510 - repentance

TCR 509, 510
The chapters on faith, charity and free will
naturally lead on to the subject of repentance,
since true faith and genuine charity cannot exist without repentance,
and no one can repent without free will.
Another reason why repentance must come here is
that the next chapter deals with regeneration;
and no one can be regenerated until the more serious evils,
which render a person loathsome before God, have been removed.

The communion known as a church
is composed of as many people as have the church in them;
and the church enters into a person when he is being regenerated.
. . . it is acts of repentance which really bring this about in him.
By acts of repentance are meant all that prevent him
from willing and so from doing
the evil actions which are sins against God.
For until this happens,
he stands outside the process of regeneration.

TCR 507 - what determines a person's character

TCR 507 [5, 6]
. . . it is the will
and not the understanding
which determines a person's character,
since the will has no difficulty in bringing the understanding over to its side
and making it subservient.

Everyone's understanding is capable of being raised
in proportion to his knowledge;
but the will can only be raised
by living in accordance with the truths taught by the church and by reason.

TCR 498 - spiritual freedom

TCR 498
. . . nothing which a person does without freedom in spiritual matters lasts.

TCR 486 - predestination

TCR 486
Predestination . . . is the product of a belief in a person's utter impotence
and lack of choice in spiritual matters.
It results from that belief and also from a person's, so to speak,
lifeless conversion, that he is like a block of wood,
and that he has therefore no way of telling
whether the block is brought to life by grace or not . . ..
Being chosen takes place where and when God wills,
that is, at His good pleasure.

[3] But what more hurtful idea could be thought up,
or what more cruel belief could anyone hold about God,
than that some of the human race are predestined to damnation?
It would be cruel to believe that the Lord,
who is love itself and mercy itself,
could wish a large number of people to be born destined for hell,
or that hundreds of millions are born lost souls, that is, born devils and satans;
and that the Lord did not of His Divine wisdom, which is infinite,
and does not take care that those who live a good life and acknowledge God
are not cast into the fire and everlasting torment.
In fact, the Lord is the creator and savior of all;
He alone guides all and wishes no one's death.
Could therefore anything more horrifying be believed or thought
than that a group of nations and peoples under His control and gaze
should be predestined to be handed over as prey to the devil, to fill his maw?
. . . The faith of the new church recoils from this as a monstrosity.

TCR 481, 484 - free will

TCR 481
. . . the Lord flows in from a higher or more inward level
filling everyone with Divine good and Divine truth . . .
and to enable him to receive these gifts and act upon them
He confers the ability and will,
which are never taken away.
It follows from this
that the Lord perpetually wills a person to receive truth and do good,
thus becoming spiritual, the destiny for which he was born.

TCR 484 [2]
Ah, my friend, shun evil and do good,
and believe in the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul,
and the Lord will love you,
and give you love so that you can act,
and faith so that you can believe.
Then you will be impelled by love to do good,
and by faith, which is trust, to believe.
And if you persevere in this,
you will be conjoined with Him and He with you, and this for ever;
and this is the essence of salvation and everlasting life.

TCR 471 - born of God

TCR 471
. . . all the good of love and all the truth of wisdom are from God alone,
and that in so far as a person receives these from God,
so far does he have life from God
and is called born of God, that is, regenerated.

TCR 461 - the power to refrain from evil comes from the Lord

TCR 461 [5]
In a word, a person is an organ receptive of life from God;
consequently, so far as he refrains from evil, he is a recipient of good.
The power to refrain from evil the Lord gives to every person,
because He gives him the power to will and to understand;
and whatever a person does from his will in accord with his understanding,
or, what is the same,
from freedom of will in accord with reason of the understanding,
is permanent. It is by means of this
that the Lord brings a person into a state of conjunction with Himself,
and in that state reforms, regenerates, and saves him.

TCR 459 [17] - What is true charity?

TCR 459 [17]
True charity consists in believing in the Lord,
and acting fairly and righteously
in every deed and employment.
Anyone therefore
who at the Lord's bidding
loves justice and executes it with judgment
is an image and likeness of charity.

TCR 456 - coveting

TCR 456 [2]
. . . when a person does not covet what is his neighbor's,
then he wishes him well.

TCR 444 - Jehovah's finger

TCR 444 [2]
. . . the fact that they (the Ten Commandments) were delivered by Jehovah,
and written by His finger on two stone tables,
caused them to be not only the commandments of the civil community,
and so of natural moral life,
but also the commandments of the heavenly community,
and so of spiritual moral life.
Thus to break them would not only be acting against one's fellow men,
but also against God.

TCR 439 - merit

TCR 439
In the exercise of charity
a person avoids attributing merit to deeds,
so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord.

TCR 437 - The first thing in charity is to banish evils, the second is to do good deeds which may be of use to the neighbor.

TCR 437
The current belief is that charity is no more than doing good,
and that then a person does no evil;
consequently it is the first thing in charity to do good
and the second not to do evil.
But the exact opposite is the case.
The first thing in charity is to banish evil,
and the second is to do good. . . .
So in as far as he turns away from hell, from where all evil comes up,
so far does he turn towards heaven, from where all good comes down.
And in the same way, to the extent that anyone rejects the devil,
so far does the Lord accept him.

TCR 419 - loving good, loving the neighbor, loving the Lord

TCR 419
A person who loves good because it is good,
and truth because it is true,
is the one who above all loves the neighbor,
because he loves the Lord,
who is good itself and truth itself.
There is no other source of the love of good and of truth from good,
and so of the neighbor.
This is how love towards the neighbor is formed from its heavenly origin.
It makes no difference whether we say service or good;
performing services is doing good,
and good deeds are good
depending to what extent and in what way they are of use.

TCR 406, 410 - the neighbor

TCR 406
A person is not born for his own sake,
but for the sake of others;
that is, so that he should not live for himself alone,
but for others.

TCR 410 [2]
Since, then, every person is the neighbor,
and the variety of people is infinite,
and everyone is to be loved as a neighbor according to his good,
it is plain that there are genera and species
and also degrees of love to the neighbor.
And because the Lord is to be loved above all things,
it follows that the degrees of love towards the neighbor
are to be measured by love to the Lord,
that is, by how much of the Lord or of what is from the Lord
the other possesses in himself;
for thus far he possesses good,
since all good is from the Lord.

TCR 400 - there are two types of power

TCR 400 [8]
There are two types of power,
one based on love towards the neighbor,
the other on self-love.
These two types of power are opposites.
A person who wields power as a result of love to the neighbor,
wishes the good of all,
and likes nothing better than performing uses,
or being of service to others.
(Being of service to others is doing good to others
because one wishes them well, and performing uses.)
This is his love, and this is the pleasure of his heart.
Also, in so far as he is advanced to high rank, he is pleased,
not because of his rank,
but because of the uses he is then better able to perform . . ..
Such is power in the heavens.
On the other hand,
the person who wields power as a result of self-love,
wishes no one well, only himself and his own people.
The services he performs are for his own honor and glory,
for these are the only uses he recognizes.
He is of service to others only for the sake of having services done to him,
of being honored and given power.
He seeks high rank not so as to be able to do good,
but so as to hold a leading position and be highly honored,
and so fulfill his heart's pleasure.

TCR 394-395 - There are three universal loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love.

TCR 394-395

There are three universal loves,
the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love.

These three loves make the starting point,
because they are universal and the foundation of all others,
and because charity has something in common with each of them.
The love of heaven means love to the Lord,
and also love towards the neighbor,
and since either of these has some service as its end in view,
it may be called the love of service.
The love of the world is not only the love of wealth and possessions,
but also the love of everything the world supplies
for the delight of the bodily senses;
for instance the beauty that charms the eyes,
the harmony that charms the ears,
the fragrance that charms the nose,
the delicacies that charm the tongue,
the soothing touches that charm the skin,
not to mention fine clothes, comfortable homes, parties,
and all the pleasures given by these and many other objects.
Self-love is not only the love of honors, glory, fame and eminence,
but also the love of winning and angling for offices,
and thus dominating others.
The reason charity has something in common
with each of these three loves
is that charity regarded in essence is the love of being of service.
Charity wants to do good to the neighbor
(and good is the same as being of service);
and each of these loves has services as its end in view,
the love of heaven spiritual services,
the love of the world natural services, which can be termed civic,
and self-love bodily services,
which can also be termed domestic ones for oneself and one's own people.

. . . these three loves . . . when they are properly ordered
they increase a person's perfection,
and when they are not, they corrupt him.
. . . these three loves are properly ordered
when the love of heaven makes up the head,
the love of the world the chest and belly,
and self-love the feet and soles of the feet.
The human mind is divided into three levels . . .
on the highest level a person looks towards God,
on the second or middle level the world,
and on the third or lowest level himself.
Since the mind is like this,
it can be raised or it can lift itself up, by looking to God and heaven;
it can be spread or spread itself laterally in every direction,
by looking to the world and nature in it;
and it can sink or let itself down, by looking to the ground and to hell.
In these respects the body's sight copies the mind's,
for it too can look up, look around and look down.

(Note: In the Ager translation, "the love of being of service"
is translated "love of uses", or another way of putting it,
service is use.)

TCR 388 - a definition of charity & faith

TCR 388 [5]
Charity is the affection of the love of doing good to the neighbor
for the sake of God, salvation and everlasting life;
and faith is thinking
from a trust in God, salvation and everlasting life.

TCR 387 - a third visit to the Temple of Wisdom

TCR 387
I went with him and he said to me, "These whom you see," for there were many others, "are all in the love of truth, and from that in the light of wisdom. And there is a palace here, which we call the Temple of Wisdom; but no one can see it who believes himself to be very wise, still less one who believes that he is wise enough, and less yet one who believes himself to be wise from himself. This is because such are not in a state to receive the light of heaven from a love of genuine wisdom. It is genuine wisdom for a man to see from the light of heaven that what he knows, understands, and is wise in, is so little in comparison with what he does not know and understand, and in which he is not wise, as to be like a drop to the ocean, consequently as almost nothing. Everyone who is in this paradisal garden, and who acknowledges both from perception and from seeing it in himself that his wisdom is relatively so slight, sees that Temple of Wisdom; for it is the inner light in man's mind that enables him to see it, and not the outer light apart from the inner."

[2] So because I had often thought, and had cause to acknowledge, first from knowledge, then from perception, and finally from inner light, that man has so little wisdom, behold, it was granted me to see that temple. In form it was wonderful. It was elevated high above the ground; it was four-square, with walls of crystal, a gracefully-arched roof of transparent jasper; and a substructure of various precious stones. The steps for ascent into it were of polished alabaster. At the sides of the steps there appeared figures of lions and their whelps.

I then asked if it was allowable to enter, and was told that it was. I therefore ascended the steps, and as I entered I saw cherub-like forms flying under the roof, but soon vanishing. The floor on which we walked was of cedar, and the whole temple, from the transparency of the roof and walls, was built to be a form of light.

[3] The angelic spirit entered with me, and I told him what I had heard from the two angels about love and wisdom, and about charity and faith The angel said, "Did they not also speak of a third?"

"What third?" I asked.

He replied, "The good of use. Love and wisdom apart from good of use are not anything; they are merely ideal entities, and they only become real when they exist in use; for love, wisdom, and use are three things that cannot be separated; if separated, neither of them is anything. Apart from wisdom love is nothing; but in wisdom it takes form for something; and that something for which it takes form is use; thus when love, by means of wisdom, is in use, it really is, because it actually exists. These are precisely like end, cause and effect; the end is nothing unless it is in effect through the cause; if either of these three passes away, the whole passes away and becomes as nothing.

[4] Also it is the same with charity, faith, and works. Apart from faith charity is nothing, neither is faith anything apart from charity, nor charity and faith anything apart from works; but in works they are something, and such a something as is the use of the works. It is the same with affection, thought, and operation; and the same with will, understanding, and action; for will apart from understanding is like an eye apart from sight, and both apart from action are like the mind apart from the body. That this is so can be clearly seen in this temple, because the light in which we are here is a light that enlightens the mind's interiors.

[5] That there is nothing complete and perfect unless it is a trine, geometry also teaches; for a line is nothing unless it becomes a surface, nor is a surface anything unless it becomes a solid; therefore one must pass into the other in order that they may have existence; and they have coexistence in the third. As it is in this, so it is also in each and all created things; they are terminated in a third. And it is from this that the number three signifies in the Word what is complete and whole. This being so, I could not but wonder that some professed to believe in faith alone, some in charity alone, and some in works alone, when yet one apart from the second, or both together apart from the third, are nothing."

[6] But I then asked, "Cannot a man have charity and faith, and yet not works? Cannot a man have a love for something, and give thought to it, and yet not be in the performance of it?" The angel answered me, "He cannot really, but only ideally; he must be in the endeavor or will to do; and the will or endeavor is the act in essence, because it is a continual effort to act; and when its termination is reached it becomes act in externals. Therefore endeavor and will, as the internal act, are accepted by every wise man, because they are accepted by God, precisely as the external act, provided there is no failure when opportunity offers."

TCR 379 - faith in the Lord is faith itself

TCR 379
There is only one true faith,
and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ,
and is possessed by those who believe
Him to be the Son of God,
the God of heaven and earth,
and one with the Father.

In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead.
Colossians 2:9

He is the God of heaven and earth.
Matthew 28:18

All things of the Father's are His.
John 3:35; 16:15

. . . faith in the Lord is faith itself . . ..
that the Lord is the Son of the living God,
is like the morning star to all who come into His church.

TCR 379 - faith in the Lord is faith itself

TCR 379
There is only one true faith,
and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ,
and is possessed by those who believe
Him to be the Son of God,
the God of heaven and earth,
and one with the Father.

In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead.
Colossiana. 2:9

He is the God of heaven and earth.
Matthew 28:18

All things of the Father's are His.
John 3:35; 16:15

. . . faith in the Lord is faith itself . . ..
that the Lord is the Son of the living God,
is like the morning star to all who come into His church.

TCR 374, 377 - the workings of charity with faith

TCR 374.
Charity is having good will,
and good deeds are doing good from a good will.

Charity and deeds are distinct from each other,
just as are the will and the action,
and as are the affection on the part of the mind
and the functioning of the body.
This is the same distinction as between the internal and the external person;
these are respectively like cause and effect,
since the causes of everything take form in the internal person,
and all the effects arise from this source in the external.
Therefore charity, being a quality of the internal person,
is having a good will;
and deeds, which belong to the external person,
are doing good from a good will.

. . . deeds in essence belong to the will,
in form to the understanding,
and in performance to the body.
That is how charity comes down to become good deeds.

TCR 377
Charity alone does not produce good deeds,
much less does faith alone,
but charity and faith together do.

This is because charity without faith is not charity,
neither is faith without charity faith . . ..
This is similar to the case of the will and the understanding.
The will does not exist by itself, so neither does it produce anything;
nor does the understanding exist by itself, or produce anything.
Everything that is produced comes from both acting together,
and is the product of the understanding activated by the will.
The reason why this is similar is
that the will is the dwellingplace of charity,
and the understanding is that of faith.
Faith alone is said to be much less productive,
because faith is truth, and its function is to create truths,
and these enlighten charity and its exercise.
The Lord teaches about this enlightenment when He said:

He who does the truth comes to the light,
so that his deeds may be made apparent,
since they are done in God.
John 3:21

When therefore a person does good deeds in accordance with truths,
he does them in light, that is to say, intelligently and wisely.

TCR 372 - charity and faith conjoin

TCR 372 [2]
. . . in so far as a person is in possession
of the kinds of good which make up charity
and the truths which make up faith,
so far is he in the Lord
and the Lord is in him.
For conjunction with the Lord is spiritual conjunction,
and this takes place solely through charity and faith.

TCR 363, 364, 366 - the omnipresence of the Lord

TCR 363
. . . the Lord, charity and faith make one,
just as in a person's life, will and understanding do . . .

TCR 364 [3]
Also, the Lord is omnipresent,
and where He is present,
there He is with His whole essence.
It is impossible for Him to take anything away from that essence,
so as to give a part to one and another part to another,
but He gives it in its entirety,
enabling a person to take a little or much.
He says too that He has His dwelling
with those who keep His commandments,
and that the faithful are in Him and He is in them.
In short, everything is full of God,
and from that fulness each takes his own share.

TCR 366
How the influences flowing in from the Lord
are received by the person depends upon his form.
Form here means the person's state
as regards his love together with his wisdom, in other words,
as regards his affections for the various kinds of good of charity,
and at the same time his perceptions of the truths of his faith.
. . . God is one, indivisible, and the same from eternity and for ever,
but not the same as a simple object but infinitely the same,
all the variation being due to the subject in whom God is.
The form or state of the receiver brings about the variations . . ..

[2] God's life is present in all its fullness
not only with good and religious people,
but also with wicked and irreligious people;
and in no way differently with the angels of heaven and the spirits of hell.
The difference is that the wicked block the path and close the door,
to prevent God entering the lower levels of their minds;
whereas the good smooth the path and open the door,
also inviting God to enter the lower levels of their minds,
even as He dwells in the highest levels.
. . . Every person has this ability,
and this could by no means be the case,
if life coming from God were not in his soul.

TCR 359 - a dwelling for the Lord

TCR 359
. . . a person can only acquire by his own efforts natural faith,
which is a firm belief that a thing is so
because an authoritative person so declared it.
He can also acquire only natural charity,
which is working in someone's favor for the sake of some reward.
These two contain a person's self,
and there is no life as yet from the Lord.
Still a person by either of these prepares himself to receive the Lord.
In so far as he prepares himself,
so far does the Lord come in and make his natural faith spiritual,
and likewise his charity, and so make both living.
These results follow
when a person approaches the Lord as the God of heaven and earth.

Since man was created an image of God,
he was created to be a dwelling for God. Therefore the Lord says:

He who has my commandments and does them,
he it is who loves me; and I shall love him,
and come to him and make my dwelling with him.
John 14:21, 23

TCR 348 - truth, the essence of faith

Truth is the essence of faith,
and therefore the nature of truth determines the nature of faith;
without truths it is errant,
with them it is stable.
Faith based on truths also shines in heaven like a star.

TCR 344-345 - a summary of the different spiritual and natural states of faith

TCR 344-345
The being of the faith of the new church is:
(1) Complete faith in the Lord God, the Saviour Jesus Christ;
(2) Trust, that a person who lives a good life
and holds a proper belief
is saved by Him.

The essence of the faith of the new church is: Truth from the Word.

The coming into being of the faith of the new church is:
(1) Spiritual sight.
(2) A harmony of truths.
(3) Conviction.
(4) Acknowledgment imprinted on the mind.

The states of the faith of the new church are:
(1) Infant faith, youthful faith and adult faith.
(2) Faith from genuine truth and faith from the appearances of truth.
(3) Faith from memory, faith from reason, faith from enlightenment.
(4) Natural faith, spiritual faith, celestial faith.
(5) Living faith and miraculous faith.
(6) Free faith and faith under compulsion.

Having given a summary of the things which go to make up spiritual faith,
I shall now give too a summary of the things
which go to make up purely natural faith.
This is essentially a firm conviction which pretends to be faith,
but is a conviction of falsity, known as heretical faith. Its various types are:
(1) Spurious faith, in which falsities are mixed with truths.
(2) Meretricious faith coming from falsified truths,
and adulterous faith coming from different kinds of adulterated good.
(3) Concealed or blind faith,
which is faith in mysteries which are believed in,
despite ignorance whether they are true or false,
or whether they are above the level of reason or contrary to it.
(4) Erratic faith, which is in a plurality of gods.
(5) One-eyed faith, which is in some god other than the true one,
and in the case of Christians in a god other than the Lord God the Saviour.
(6) Hypocritical or Pharisaical faith,
faith which is a faith of the lips, but not the heart.
(7) Imaginary or upside-down faith,
which is falsity made by clever arguments to seem like truth.

TCR 339 - faith in the Lord God the Saviour

TCR 339 [3]
Since He is God and man,
and can be approached and seen in the mind's eye,
this faith is not without a goal,
but has a goal from which it proceeds and to which it is directed;
and once accepted, it remains. . . .
The vision that faith gives is like looking at a shining cloud,
with an angel in its midst,
calling the person to himself so that he can be raised to heaven.
That is how the Lord appears to those who have faith in Him,
and He comes near to each individual,
to the extent that he knows and acknowledges Him.
This happens in so far as he knows and does His commandments,
that is, to shun evils and do good deeds;
and finally He comes to his house
and makes His dwelling with him together with the Father,
who is in Him, as this passage of John promises:

Jesus said, He who has my commandments and does them,
he it is who loves me;
and he who loves me will be loved by my Father,
and I shall love him and show myself to him.
And we shall come to him and make our dwelling with him.
John 14:21, 23

Blessed Easter!

TCR 335 - knowledge, intelligence & wisdom

TCR 335 [6]
. . .knowledge, intelligence and wisdom,
the means by which love develops successively in human beings.

TCR 329 - first, shun evils as sins

TCR 329 [2]
For no one can be adopted by the Lord,
until he has parted with the devil.

TCR 326 - the Lord taught

TCR 326 [2]
It is well known that while He was in the world
the Lord taught the interior doctrines of the church;
and these forbid one to long for evil actions.
This He taught,
so that the internal and external of a person
should make one.