AE 866 - deceit

AE 866 [9]
It is to be known that all evil persons have a disposition and desire,
consequently a will,
to destroy the truths of heaven and the church by falsities,
for the reason that they are conjoined to hell,
and infernal spirits from the delight of their love
burn with a lust of destroying all things of heaven and the church,
and this by crafty devices,
which they artfully contrive and wonderfully execute,
which, if described from experience, would fill many pages.
This makes clear that "deceit" signifies in general
all evil of intention to destroy truths by falsities.

AE 864 - denying self

AE 864 [5]
Whosoever wills to come after Me
let him deny himself and follow Me.
(Matthew 16:24; Mark 8:34; Luke 9:23)

Evidently "to go after the Lord and to follow Him"
is to deny self;
and to deny self
is to be led not by self
but by the Lord;
and he denies self
who shuns and turns away from evils
because they are sins;
and when a person turns away from evils
he is led by the Lord;
for he does the Lord's commandments,
not from self
but from the Lord.

AE 862, 863a - receiving the Lord

AE 862, 863a
. . . those who are in truths from good . . .
are continually enlightened by the Lord;
for the Lord flows into good,
and through good into truths with a person;
but not into truths without good,
thus not into faith without charity.

For there are natural affections of truth which exist in almost everyone,
especially during childhood and youth.
But natural affections of truth have reward as an end,
at first reputation, and afterwards honor and gain.
These are not the affections here meant by "virgins,"
but spiritual affections of truth are meant,
which are such as have for their end eternal life and the uses of that life.
Those who are in such affections love truths because they are truths,
thus apart from the world's glory, honors, and gains;
and those who love truths apart from such considerations love the Lord;
for the Lord is with a person in the truths that are from good.
For that which proceeds from the Lord as a Sun is the Divine truth,
and that which proceeds from the Lord is the Lord;
consequently he that receives truth from spiritual love
because it is truth
receives the Lord.

AE 857 - as it were, a new song

AE 857
And they were singing as it were a new song,
(Revelation 14:3)
signifies respecting acknowledgment and confession of the Lord.
This is evident from the signification of a "song,"
as being confession from joy of heart;
and of "a new song,"
as being acknowledgment and confession of the Lord, thus glorification of Him.
Songs are mentioned in many passages of the Word, especially in David,
and they signify confession and glorification of God by singing;
and where it is said "a new song"
confession and glorification of the Lord is signified,
for this song is called new for the reason
that in the churches before the Lord's coming
Jehovah was praised in songs;
and after the Lord had come into the world and had manifested Himself
He too was praised in songs;
while now in the church that is hereafter to be established,
which is meant by "the New Jerusalem,"
the Lord alone will be praised;
but as it was the same Lord in the ancient churches,
although praised under the name "Jehovah"
who is now called the Lord,
and as thus the song respecting Him,
regarded in itself, is not new,
so it is said to be "as it were a new song."
Here, therefore, it is called new,
because it is for the New Church
which is hereafter to be established by the Lord.

AE 852s - use of names in the Old Testament and the New

AE 852a [2]
One who does not know what the Word is in the sense of the letter
might think that when "God and the Lamb" are mentioned,
and here "the Lamb and the Father,"
two are meant,
and yet the Lord alone is meant by the two.
It is the same in the Word of the Old Testament,
where mention is made of "Jehovah," "the Lord Jehovih," "Jehovah of Hosts,"
"Lord," "Jehovah God," "God" in the plural and in the singular,
"the God of Israel," "the Holy one of Israel," "the King of Israel,"
"Creator," "Savior," "Redeemer," "Shaddai," "Rock," and so on;
and yet by all these names only one is meant, and not many;
for the Lord is named variously according to His Divine attributes.
So again, in the Word of the New Testament,
where "Father," "Son," and "Holy Spirit," are mentioned as three;
and yet by these three names one only is meant;
for "Father" means the Lord as to the Divine Itself
which He had as the soul from the Father;
"the Son" means the Divine Human;
and "the Holy Spirit" the Divine proceeding;
thus the three are one . . .

AE 850a - Zion and riding into Jerusalem

AE 850a [2,4]
"Mount Zion" signifies heaven and the church
where the Lord reigns by His Divine truth,
for the reason that Zion was a city built by David,
and in which he afterwards dwelt,
and was therefore called "the city of David,"
and as "David" represented the Lord in respect to His royalty,
which is the Divine truth,
"Zion" signifies in the Word heaven and the church,
where the Lord reigns by His Divine truth.
For the same reason the ark of Jehovah,
in which the law was deposited,
was carried into that city by David;
for that law also signifies in a broad sense
Divine truth going forth from the Lord.
And for the same reason Jerusalem,
which lay below that mountain,
signifies the church in respect to doctrine;
for every doctrine of the church
is from the Divine truth that goes forth from the Lord,
consequently is from the Word.
That city was built upon a mountain
for the reason that at that time mountains,
because of their height, represented the heavens,
and thence also in the Word signify the heavens.

Jesus sent two disciples that they might bring to Him an ass and her colt.
This was done that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
Tell ye the daughter of Zion,
Behold thy King cometh to thee, meek, sitting upon an ass,
and upon a colt, the son of a beast of burden.
(Matthew 21:1, 2, 4, 5; John 12:14, 15)

That "riding upon an ass and upon a foal of an ass" was a sign of royalty,
and therefore the Lord so rode when He entered Jerusalem,
and He was therefore called King by the multitude crying aloud,
and branches of palm trees and garments
were strewn upon the way before Him,
. . . and as the Lord thus entered Jerusalem as a King
it is evident that "Zion" means heaven and the church,
in which the Lord reigns by means of His Divine truth.
That the kings of Judah and Israel
represented the Lord as to the Divine truth,
and that consequently "kings"
mean those who are in truths from good from the Lord
. . . especially David represented in the Word the Lord as to royalty,
which is the Divine truth.

AE 850a - the Lord's presence is perpetual

AE 850a
The presence of the Lord is perpetual
in the whole heaven and in the whole church;
for heaven is not heaven from what is the angels' own [proprium] in it,
nor is the church a church from what is a person's own [proprium] in it,
but from the Divine of the Lord with them.
For an angel's own [proprium] cannot make heaven,
nor a person's own [proprium] the church,
since the own [proprium], both of angels and of people, is not good.
Consequently it is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord,
as received by them,
that makes heaven and the church in particular with each one,
and thus makes heaven and the church in general
in all in whom heaven and the church exist.
Consequently it is evident
that the presence of the Lord is perpetual
with all who are in heaven and in the church;
but it is a presence that is peaceful, tranquil, preserving, and sustaining,
by which all things in the heavens and on the earth
are held constantly in their order and connection,
or are reduced to that order; so, too, in the hells.

AE 846 - enlightened perception of the Word's truth

AE 846 [2,4]
. . . in order that a person
may see and perceive from enlightenment
the genuine truths of the Word,
these three degrees of understanding,
the natural, the rational, and the spiritual,
must be together;
for the natural understanding,
which is the lowest,
cannot be enlightened by its own lumen,
but must be enlightened by the light of the rational person,
which is intermediate,
and this by spiritual light;
for the spiritual understanding is in the light of heaven and sees by it,
and the rational is intermediate between the spiritual and the natural,
and receives spiritual light and transmits it to the natural and enlightens it.

From this it can be concluded
that the understanding of the truths of the church
means the understanding of them that is enlightened by the light of heaven,
thus by the Lord.
The person who is in that enlightenment
is able to see the truths of the church rationally in this world,
and spiritually after death.
But to enter into church matters,
which are interiorly spiritual and celestial,
from natural lumen separated from spiritual light,
which is the light of heaven from the Lord,
is to proceed by an inverse order,
since what is natural cannot enter into what is spiritual,
but what is spiritual can enter into what is natural.

AE 842 - the sphere of our life, our love - just do it!

AE 842
. . . love constitutes the life of a person,
and his life is such as his love is,
not only the life of the mind,
but at the same time the life of the body.
And since that which a person loves
he also wills with the mind
and does with the body,
it follows that love and deeds or works make one.
There are many things to show that works proceed
from both the internal and the external life of a person,
and that they are the activities
of the sphere
of the affections and of the thoughts therefrom
by which he is encompassed,
and that no communication of a person's life and love is possible
unless the encompassing sphere,
which is of his life,
becomes active by doing;
consequently such as the life is,
or such as the love is,
or such as the works are, with a person,
such are all the things of which that sphere is composed,
and in consequence such also is the faith.

AE 840 - "To buy and to sell"

AE 840
"To buy and to sell"
signifies to acquire for oneself
the knowledges of truth and good from the Word
and to communicate them,
or what is the same,
to learn and teach,
because "wealth and riches"
signify in the Word the knowledges of truth and good . . ..

AE 837 - the how of reformation

AE 837 [4-7]
There are two chief faculties of a person's life,
namely, the will and the understanding.
The will is the receptacle of all things of good,
and the understanding is the receptacle of all things of truth from that good.
A person cannot be reformed except by means of these two faculties of life,
and only by their being filled by goods and truths.
Reformation is effected in this order:
first, a person must fill the memory
with knowledges and cognitions of truth and good,
and by means of these he must acquire for himself the light of reason;
especially be must learn that God is one,
that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth,
that there is a heaven and a hell,
that there is a life after death,
and that the Word is holy.

Next he must learn what evils are sins,
first from the Decalogue,
and afterwards from the Word everywhere,
and must think that they are sins against God,
and that they therefore withhold and separate a person from heaven,
and condemn and sentence him to hell.
Consequently, the first thing of reformation
is to refrain from sins,
to shun them,
and finally to be averse to them;
but that he may refrain from them, shun them, and be averse to them
he must pray to the Lord for help.
But he must shun them and turn away from them
because they are opposed to the Word,
thus opposed to the Lord,
and consequently opposed to heaven,
and because they are in themselves infernal.

So far as a person shuns evils,
and turns away from them because they are sins,
and thinks about heaven,
his salvation and eternal life,
so far he is adopted by the Lord,
and conjoined to heaven,
and so far he is endowed with spiritual affection,
which is such that he not only wishes to know truths,
but also to understand them,
and to will and do them.

Thus is a person reformed by the Lord;
and so far as he then knows and understands truths
and wills and does them,
so far he becomes a new person, that is, a regenerate person,
and consequently becomes an angel of heaven,
and has a heavenly love and life.

AE 834 - Again, who is the neighbor?

AE 834
. . . while every person is a neighbor,
every person is a neighbor from his quality,
and consequently that it is the quality of a person
from which he is a person
that is meant in the spiritual sense by "neighbor;"
for otherwise a bad person
would be as much a neighbor as a good person;
and yet to do good to the evil
is sometimes doing evil to the good.

AE 831 - spiritual angels

AE 831 [2-6, portions of]
Spiritual love is the love of truth,
and in the highest sense
the love of the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord;
thus it is also love to the Lord,
but in a lower degree than that in which the celestial angels are.
The celestial angels are in love to the Lord
from the reception of Divine good from Him,
while the spiritual angels are in love to the Lord
from the reception of Divine truth from Him.
. . . As spiritual love is love of truth,
and spiritual angels in respect to their life are affections of truth,
they speak about the holy things of heaven and the church,
unlike the angels of the third heaven . . ..

. . . spiritual angels admit truths first into the memory,
and from that into the understanding,
which is thus formed by these truths;
and then they are perfected so far
as they are spiritually affected by Divine truths . . ..

. . . with spiritual angels intellectual sight is spiritual sight.
These angels are perfected in understanding
so far as they are in the love of truth for the sake of life and its genuine uses;
and in the same measure
truths are implanted in their life and they become affections of truth.
For as truths derive all their essence and all their life from good,
so the understanding derives
all its essence and life from the will and its activity;
for the understanding is the receptacle of truth,
and the will the receptacle of good,
and their activity fills and establishes them.
. . . For the will has no existence unless it becomes active;
and when there is no will the understanding perishes,
and there remains merely the faculty to understand.

. . . all in the spiritual heaven love uses,
and are intent on works,
by which their thoughts are kept as it were at home,
and withheld from idleness, which is,
as it is also called the devil's pillow.

In the spiritual heaven there are magnificent palaces,
in which all things within shine with precious stones
and decorations in such forms as cannot be equaled
by any painting in the world, nor expressed in words.
For art there, especially that of architecture, is in its own art.
From that heaven many arts in the world derive their laws and harmonies,
from which come their forms of beauty.
. . . The spiritual angels are clothed in garments of fine linen and silk,
generally in shining garments.
And as the spiritual heavens correspond to the eyes,
there are paradisiacal scenes,
as also in many places rainbow colored appearances
and these also are of ineffable beauty.
They know nothing there about the sense of the letter of the Word,
but only about its spiritual sense,
for they have the Word in that sense,
which is read by everyone.
In that heaven, justice, integrity, verity, chastity,
and the other praiseworthy virtues of moral life reign.
These heavens constitute the royalty of the Lord,
while the higher heavens, where the celestial angels are,
constitute the priesthood of the Lord;
for His royalty is Divine truth,
and His priesthood is Divine good.

AE 828 - more on celestial angels

AE 828
Love to the Lord,
in which love are the angels that are in the third heaven,
has been treated of above;
it now remains to say something
about the love towards the neighbor with those angels.
By the "neighbor" they mean uses, which indeed are works;
but with those angels
uses are all things that are done with them from the Lord,
and these have relation especially to the worship of the Lord,
to His church, to the implantation of its holy things,
especially with little children, with whom they have conjunction,
and whom they inspire with innocence and its affections;
also to the good of society in general and also in particular.
These are the things that chiefly belong to their love,
because they belong to the Lord's love.

. . . they have more wisdom than other angels,
and it is wisdom to regard others
from such things as are with them and which constitute them.

. . . they are continually in the love of good and truth
because their life is the affection of good,
in which and from which is the perception of truth.
When, therefore, charity from which is faith,
or faith which is from charity, is mentioned,
they do not know what is meant.

They appear simple because
they cannot talk about the holy things of heaven and the church;
for with them these things are not in the memory,
from which all speech comes,
but in the life;
and from that in the understanding,
not as thought but as the affection of good in its form,
which does not descend into speech;
and if it were to descend it would not be spoken, but only sounded;
and those who cannot speak about such things
appear to themselves and others as if simple.
A further reason is that they are in humility of heart,
knowing that wisdom consists in perceiving
that the things in which they are wise
are scarcely anything
in comparison with the things in which they are not wise.

AE 826 - the angels of the third heaven and the doctrine of the Lord

AE 826 [2]
All who are in love to the Lord
from the Lord
are in the third or inmost heaven;
and they are such as have truths written in the life,
and not, like the angels of the lower heavens, in the memory;
and this is why those who are in the third heaven never talk about truths,
but only listen to others speaking about them,
and reply either that it is so, or that it is somewhat so, or that it is not so.
For they see in themselves whether what they hear is true or not;
and this they see not from any sight in the thought, as others do,
but from the affection of truth in the understanding.
For with them all truths are written on their affections,
and these derive their essence from celestial love,
which is love to the Lord.
Thus with them truths make one with their affections.
And as these angels are in love to the Lord from the Lord,
their interior life consists of mere affections of good and truth from that love.
For this reason they do not speak about truths,
but do truths, that is, good works.
For the affections of good and truth that are from that love
must needs come forth in act,
and when they come forth they are called uses,
and are what are meant by good works.
Moreover, they perceive in themselves
the quality of the uses or works from the affection from which they are;
and also the differences between them
from the conjunction of many affections;
thus they do all things with interior wisdom.
And because they do not think about truths
and consequently speak about them,
but only do them,
and because this comes from their love to the Lord,
and consequently from the affections alone,
of which their life consists,
it is evident that love to the Lord
consists in doing truths from the affection of them,
and that their deeds are good works;
consequently that to love the Lord is to do . . .

He that has My commandments and does them,
he it is that loves Me.
But he that loves Me not
keeps not My words.
(John 14:21, 24)

. . . how ample is the doctrine of love to the Lord,
for it is the doctrine of all affections which belong to love;
and every affection has truths written upon it
according to the quality of its perfection,
and brings them forth in act with infinite variety;
and these affections do not come into the understanding in the form of ideas,
but come to the inner sensitive perception in the form of delights of the will,
wherefore they cannot be described by words.
Those who imbibe (absorb or assimilate) the laws of life from the Word
and live according to them,
and who worship the Lord,
become angels of the third heaven.

AE 825 - whatever a person does

AE 825 [4]
. . . whatever a person does,
be it small or great,
is an evil work
when it is not done from religion,
and with us,
from the Word.

AE 820a - truth from good, the first of the church

AE 820a [2]
. . . truth is the first thing through which a person has the church.
But it must be truth from good,
for truth without good is mere knowledge that a thing is so;
and mere knowledge does nothing
except to make a person capable of becoming a church;
but this is not effected until he lives according to knowledges.
Then truth is conjoined to good,
and a person is introduced into the church.
Moreover, truths teach how a person ought to live;
and when a person is affected by truths for the sake of truths,
which is done when he loves to live according to them,
he is led by the Lord,
and conjunction with heaven is granted him,
and he becomes spiritual,
and after death an angel of heaven.

AE 819 - reasoning from the natural

AE 819 [2, 3]
. . . nothing false can ever be confirmed
by the sense of the letter of the Word
except by means of reasonings from the natural person.

It is a reasoning from the natural person
that faith separate from goods of life is also spiritual,
and yet the goods that are of love are what give life to faith,
and make it spiritual.

. . . when the intellectual sight is excluded
a person is blind,
and before a blind person
falsities can be confirmed as well as truths,
and even better than truths,
because with one who is blind
fallacies which are darkness
avail more than truths themselves
which are in light.
Shut up the understanding,
bring forth reasonings,
and cite confirmations from the sense of the letter of the Word,
and you will persuade yourself of anything you wish,
especially in theological matters
that ascend into the interior of the rational mind.

AE 817c - marriage and adultery

AE 817c [4,5]
. . . all heresies, so far as they are adulterations and falsifications of the Word,
correspond to adulteries and whoredoms of various kinds. . ..
The reason of this is
that marriages as they exist in the heavens
derive their spiritual origin from the conjunction of good and truth;
and conversely,
adulteries derive their origin from the conjunction of evil and falsity;
and this is why heaven is compared in the Word to a marriage,
and hell to adultery.

For every kind of faith must necessarily conjoin itself with some love;
therefore when spiritual love, which is charity, is separated,
faith then conjoins itself with the love of self or with the love of the world,
which are the loves that are dominant in the natural person;
and this is why so heinous an adultery results
from faith separated from charity.

AE 815b - "the faith of God"

AE 815b [10]
. . . he who is in faith from the Lord
asks for nothing but what contributes to the Lord's kingdom
and to himself for salvation;
other things he does not wish,
saying in his heart,
Why should I ask for what does not contribute to this use?
Therefore if he were to ask for any thing
except for what is granted him from the Lord to ask
he would have no faith of God,
that is, no faith from the Lord.

AE 812, 813 - truth & faith

AE 812
. . . truths are what teach a person how he must live,
and these truths are many and varied.

AE 813
"Faith" signifies the implantation of truth
because faith with a person is truth acknowledged in the heart;
for unless it is acknowledged in the heart
it cannot be one's own faith;
and this is why "faith" is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament,
but "truth" instead; and indeed
the ancient people with whom was the church
were wholly ignorant that faith was anything else than truth;
and when they said that they believed in God
they meant by it knowing and understanding truths,
and willing and doing them,
and this from the Lord.

AE 811a - a lament

AE 811a
That "captivity" signifies in the Word spiritual captivity,
which is a shutting out from Divine truths,
that is, from the understanding of them in the Word,
also destruction by the falsities of evil and by the evils of falsity,

[3]
Hear, all ye people, and behold my grief;
my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity.
(Lamentations 1:18)

This is a lamentation over the devastation of all truth in the church;
this lamentation is described by
"Hear, all ye people, and behold my grief;"
that all the affection of truth has been destroyed
is signified by "my virgins have gone into captivity,"
a "virgin" signifying the affection of truth;
and that all understanding of truth has been destroyed
is signified by "my young men have gone into captivity,"
"young men" signifying the understanding of truth and intelligence.


Interesting possible cause / effect when thinking about pre-marital sex
(How many virgins are there anymore? How much affection for truth
a life based on truth?) and alternative elements in the Holy Supper
(wine - blood - truth; unleavened bread - body - good).

AE 808 - the faith that is saving faith

AE 808 [2]
Saving faith is to believe that the Lord is the Savior of the world,
and that He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth,
and that by His coming into the world
He entered into the power to save all
who receive truths from Him through the Word,
and who live according to them.
Who those are that are able to receive truths from Him
and to live according to them
[are] those who shun sins because they are sins against the Word
and thus against God,
since by so doing a person's internal is purified,
and when this is purified
a person is led by the Lord and not by self;
and so far as a person is led by the Lord
he loves truths,
and receives them
and wills them and does them.
This faith is saving faith.

AE 805b - religion, doctrine; AE 806 - without the Lord

AE 805b [9]
What is religion
except that a person may so live that he may come into heaven,
and that he may know how he should live?
To know this is called doctrine;
and to believe it and live according to it is called religion.

AE 806 [6]
. . . without the Lord there is no salvation.

AE 805b [4] - One

AE 805b [4]
No one has seen the Father save He who is with the Father,
He has seen the Father.
(John 6:46)

I am the Way, the Truth and the Life;
no one comes unto the Father but through Me.
(John 14:6)

No one comes to the Father except in the Lord,
is because the Father and He are one . . . :

If you know Me
you know My Father also;
he that sees Me sees the Father.
Philip, do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?
Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me.
(John 14:7, 10, 11).

. . . and that thus He must be approached.
It is also to be known, that unless the Lord is approached
a person is unable to think with the angels,
because all angelic thought about God is about God-Man.
Angels are unable to think otherwise about God,
and consequently about things Divine,
because their thoughts go forth into every part of heaven;
and heaven is heaven in the form of a man.
But on this more elsewhere.

AE 803 - after we have grown up

AE 803 [2]
(3) When a person begins to think for himself,
which is the case after he has grown up,
it must be to him the first and chief thing
to refrain from doing evils
for the reason that they are sins against the Word,
thus against God,
and for the reason that if he does them he will gain,
not life eternal, but hell;
and afterwards as he grows up and becomes old
he must shun them as damned,
and must turn away from them in thought and intention.
But in order to so refrain from them and shun and turn away from them,
he must pray to the Lord for help.
The sins he must refrain from and must shun and turn away from
are chiefly adulteries, frauds, illicit gains, hatreds, revenges,
lies, blasphemies, and elation of mind.
(4) So far as a person detests these evils
because they are opposed to the Word,
and so opposed to God,
so far there is granted him communication with the Lord,
and conjunction is effected with heaven.
For the Lord enters,
and with the Lord heaven enters, as sins are removed;
since these and their falsities are the sole hindrances.
The reason is because a person has been placed in the midst
between heaven and hell,
wherefore hell acts from the one side,
and heaven from the other;
therefore so far as evils that are from hell are removed,
so far goods from heaven enter . . .

AE 800 - the heavenly marriage

AE 800
. . . good and truth mutually love each other,
and for that reason they must needs be conjoined . . .
from which is the heavenly marriage.
. . . an angel cannot be an angel of heaven
unless he is in that marriage,
or unless that marriage is with him;
and the like is true of the person of the church.

AE 799b tabernacles & tents

AE 799b [3]
How good are thy tabernacles O Jacob, thy tents O Israel.
(Numbers 24:5).
Here and elsewhere in the Word both tabernacles and tents are mentioned;
and a "tabernacle" signifies
the church consisting of those who are in the good of love to the Lord;
and the "tent" signifies
the church consisting of those who are in truths from that good;
and as doctrine and worship therefrom constitute the church,
a "tabernacle" signifies the doctrine of the good of love,
and a "tent" the doctrine of truth from that good.
So, too, "tabernacles," in the plural,
signify the goods of the church and of doctrine,
and "tents" the truths of the church and of doctrine.

AE 798b - to open or close heaven

AE 798b [6]
. . . since a person can of himself close heaven to himself
he can also as if of himself open heaven,
provided he thinks and wills to refrain from evils,
looks to the Lord,
and when he refrains
acknowledges that it is from the Lord.
When, therefore, evils have been removed,
whatever a person does is good,
since it is from the Lord . . .

AE 795 - conjunction of the Lord with a person

AE 795
. . . the conjunction of the Lord with a person
is like the conjunction of good with truth.
Good is from the Lord,
and truths are with a person,
but they are truths that are not yet living.
But as person receives good in truths
so he receives the Lord into himself and lives;
and he receives in the measure
in which he abstains from evils,
and from the Word
shuns and turns away from them,
for thus he shuns and turns away from them
from the Lord
and not from self.

AE 794 - Can we judge whether motive is from the Lord or from self?

AE 794 [3]
. . . whatever a person does from the external alone is unclean,
but whatever he does
from a cleansed internal through the external is clean,
for this is from the Lord;
but the other from a person.
But examples will illustrate this point also.
The internal is doing good for the sake of good,
speaking truth for the sake of truth,
acting sincerely for the sake of sincerity,
and doing what is just for the sake of justice.
He who does good for the sake of good
does good from good,
thus from the Lord,
who is Good itself,
and from whom is all good;
and he who speaks truth for the sake of truth
speaks truth from truth,
thus from the Lord,
who is Truth itself
and from whom is all truth.
The like is true of him who acts sincerely for the sake of sincerity,
and does what is just for the sake of justice;
for sincerity is moral good and truth,
and justice is civil good and truth;
and all good and truth are from the Lord
and not from the person,
because they are done from the internal through the external.
But when a person does and speaks
what is good, true, sincere, and just,
for the sake of self and the world
he does and speaks them from self,
because from the external person without the internal;
and such deeds or works are all evil,
and if heaven is regarded in them they are meritorious,
and all such are iniquitous.
In this world no one can determine
whether works are from the Lord or from a person,
since in external form the two kinds appear alike,
but they can be distinguished by the Lord alone,
and after a person's life in the world their origin is disclosed.

AE 790b - the natural mind wills and thinks like a person in the world, and the spiritual mind wills and thinks like an angel in heaven

AE 790b [4, 12, 14]
As every person has two minds, a natural and a spiritual,
and the natural mind is opened and formed by such things as are in the world,
while the spiritual mind is opened and formed by such things as are in heaven,
and as the things that are in heaven are all spiritual,
so a person's spiritual mind
must needs be opened and formed by such things as are in the Word,
in which all things are spiritual because they are Divine.
In the Word there are truths that are to be known and thought,
and goods that must be willed and done;
therefore it is by these goods and these truths
that a person's spiritual mind is opened and formed.

. . . charity and faith act as one,
like will and understanding;
and that such as the charity is such is the faith.
But these are in the natural mind;
but in the spiritual mind
there is the love of good in place of charity,
and the perception of truth in place of faith.

Besides these arcana respecting the formation of faith
by the Lord by means of charity
there are innumerable others;
but still it is the Lord who works all these arcana,
while a person knows nothing about it;
all that a person needs to do
is to learn truths from the Word
and to live according to them.

AE 785a - deeds and works

AE 785a [2]
. . . loving and doing are mentioned in the Word in a thousand passages,
and it is declared that a person is to be judged
according to his deeds and works . . .

AE 783 - power

AE 783 [2]
. . . falsities from evil have no power whatever,
since all power is in truths from good.

AE 781b - "the feet as of a bear" - it is a fallacy

AE 781b [4-10]
. . . some examples what is meant by the fallacies
that are here signified by "the feet as of a bear."

It is a fallacy that cogitative faith saves,
since a person is such as his life is.
It is a fallacy that cogitative faith is spiritual,
since to love the Lord above all things
and the neighbor as oneself is the spiritual itself,
and to love is to will and do.
It is a fallacy that faith can also be given in a moment,
since a person must be purified from evils and from falsities therefrom
and be regenerated by the Lord,
and this is a long-continued process,
and only so far as a person is purified and regenerated
does he receive spiritual faith.
It is a fallacy that a person can receive faith
and be saved at the hour of death whatever his life may have been,
since a person's life remains
and he is judged according to his deeds and works.

It is a fallacy that little children also have faith through baptism,
since faith must be acquired through the knowledges of truth and good,
and by a life in accordance with them.
It is a fallacy that through faith alone the church exists with a person,
since it is through the faith of charity
that the church exists with him;
and charity is of the life,
and not of faith separated from the life.
It is a fallacy that a person is justified by faith alone,
and that the merit of the Lord is thereby imputed to him when he is justified,
and that afterwards nothing condemns him,
since faith without the life of faith, which is charity,
is like something that is said to be living but has no soul,
which in itself is dead;
for charity is the soul of faith,
because it is its life;
consequently a person is not justified by a dead faith,
much less is the merit of the Lord imputed and salvation effected by it;
and where there is no salvation there is condemnation.

It is a fallacy that in faith alone, there is love and charity,
since love and charity are willing and doing,
for what a person loves he not only thinks
but also wills and does.
It is a fallacy that
where "doing" and "deeds" and "works" are mentioned in the Word
to have faith is meant,
because these are present in faith,
since these are as distinct as thought and will are;
for a person an can think many things that he does not will,
while what he wills he thinks when left alone to himself;
and to will is to do.
Moreover, the will and the thought therefrom are the person himself,
and not the thought separate;
and deeds and works are of the will and of the thought therefrom;
while faith alone is of the thought separate from deeds and works,
which are of the will.

It is a fallacy that faith is to be separated from good works
because a person is unable to do good of himself,
and if he does good he places merit in it,
since a person when he does good from the Word
does not do it from himself
but from the Lord,
because the Lord is in the Word and is the Word;
and person then does not do good of himself,
when he does it as of himself
and yet believes that he does it from the Lord,
because from the Word; moreover,
when a person believes that the good that he does is from the Lord
he cannot place merit in the deeds.
It is a fallacy
that the understanding must be held bound under obedience to faith,
and that faith seen by the understanding is not spiritual faith;
when yet it is the understanding
that is enlightened in the things of faith when the Word is read;
and when enlightenment is excluded
the understanding does not know whether a thing is true or false;
and in that case faith does not become a person's own faith
but the faith of another in him, and this is a historical faith,
and when it is confirmed it becomes a persuasive faith,
which can see falsities as truths and truths as falsities.
This is the source of all heretical beliefs.

It is a fallacy that the confidence that is called saving faith,
accepted without understanding, is spiritual confidence,
since confidence apart from understanding is a persuasion from another,
or from confirmation by passages gathered up here and there from the Word,
and applied by reasonings from the natural person to a false principle.
Such confidence is a blind faith,
which is merely natural
because it does not see whether a thing is true or false.
Moreover, all truth wishes to be seen
because it belongs to the light of heaven;
but truth that is not seen may be falsified in many ways;
and falsified truth is falsity.

Such are the fallacies
that pertain merely to such faith as is separated from good works.
There are yet many others
that pertain not only to faith but also to good works,
to charity, and to the neighbor,
and especially to such conjunctions of these with faith
as are skillfully adjusted by the learned.
Such fallacies are signified by "the feet of a bear,"
because a "bear" signifies those,
both the well-disposed and the evil,
who have power from the natural sense of the Word.
And as "feet" signify things natural,
"the feet of the bear" signify the fallacies
from which the sense of the letter of the Word is falsified by reasonings,
and into which the appearances of truth of that sense are changed.

AE 780a - every truth is a form

AE 780a [3]
For every truth from the Lord is in its form a person;
therefore the angels,
as they are recipients of Divine truth from the Lord,
are human forms . . .

AE 778a - blasphemy

AE 778a [2]
. . . what is contrary to the Divine is blasphemy . . .

AE 776 - when falsities fight against truths

AE 776 [2]
. . . falsities have power over those who are in falsities;
for it was observed that those who were conquered
and thus drawn over
were equally in falsities;
and conversely,
that falsities have no power over those who are in truths.
It was further seen that those who were in falsities
fought also with those who were in truths, and conquered them also;
but still it was perceived
that these were not in truths from good,
but in truths without good.
But when those who are in falsities
fight against those who are in truths from good
they have no effect whatever . . ..

AE 774 - Christian dogma

AE 774 [3]
. . . as the dogmas they confirm
by the ultimate sense of the Word,
which is the sense of the letter of the Word,
are falsities,
they must needs take their reasonings from the natural person,
for without these it would not be possible to make falsities appear as truths.
But this shall be illustrated by an example.
That life or charity may be separated from faith, they contend
(1) That by Adam's fall a person lost all freedom to do good from himself; and
(2) for this reason a person is in no wise able to fulfill the law; and
(3) without the fulfilling of the law there is no salvation; and
(4) that the Lord came into the world that He might fulfill the law,
and thus His righteousness and merit might be imputed to a person,
and by that imputation a person might be loosed from the yoke of the law
even to the extent that nothing condemns him; and
(5) that a person accepts the imputation of the Lord's merit by faith alone,
and not at all by works.

Tenet (4) is especially dangerous.

AE 769 - different types of faith

AE 769
Who keep the commandments of God,
(Revelation 12:17)
signifies with those who live the life of faith, which is charity.

[2] From this it can be seen
that all those who separate faith from charity
know not what faith is or what charity is,
for they have no other idea of faith
than as being everything of the memory
that is believed because they have heard it from learned men;
and yet such faith is historical faith,
for they do not see whether a thing is so,
except because someone else has said it;
and what is seen from another can be confirmed
both by the sense of the letter of the Word misunderstood
and by reasonings from appearances and knowledges [scientifica],
although it may be a falsity directly opposed to the truth.
When this is confirmed it becomes a persuasive faith;
but neither this faith nor historical faith is a spiritual faith,
thus not a saving faith,
for such faith has as yet no life from the Lord in it.
That a person may receive that life
he must live according to the Lord's commandments in the Word,
for living according to these commandments
is the same as living from the Lord,
because the Lord is the Word and is in the Word.
Such a life is the life of faith, which is charity;
and then its affection becomes charity,
and thought from that affection becomes faith . . ..

AE 768a - loving one's neighbor

AE 768a [2]
. . . in the Word [it says] that the neighbor must be loved as one loves himself,
but in the spiritual sense this does not mean
that the neighbor is thus to be loved in respect to person,
but those things are to be loved
which are from the Lord with the person;
for a person is not actually loved because of his being a person or a man,
but because of his being such as he is;
thus the person is loved because of his quality . . ..

AE 763, 765 - dragons

AE 763 [2]
But let it be known that only he who is in enlightenment from the Lord,
and consequently in the spiritual affection of truth,
thinks and reasons spiritually,
for these are in the light of truth,
and the light of truth is the light of heaven
from which the angels have intelligence and wisdom;
that light is what is called spiritual light,
and consequently those who are in that light are spiritual.
But those who are in falsities,
however keenly they may think and reason,
are not spiritual, but natural, yea, sensual,
for their thoughts and reasonings therefrom
are for the most part from the fallacies of the senses,
which some adorn with eloquence
and embellish with the flowers of rhetoric,
and confirm by appearances from nature alone,
while others add knowledges and adapt them to their reasonings,
and these they proclaim from the fire of self-love
and the pride of self-intelligence therefrom
that sounds like the affection of truth.
In such things their craftiness consists . . ..

AE 765
. . . the church that is called the New Jerusalem
is to tarry among those who are in the doctrine of faith separate
while it grows to fullness,
until provision is made for it among many.
But in that church there are dragons
who separate faith from good works not only in doctrine but also in life;
but the others in the same church who live the life of faith,
which is charity,
are not dragons, although they are among them,
for they do not know otherwise
than that it is according to doctrine
that faith produces fruits,
which are good works,
and that the faith that justifies and saves
is believing what is in the Word, and doing it.

AE 759 - two wings of an eagle

AE 759 [Verse 14.]
And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle,
(Revelation 12:14)
. . . the signification of "the woman,"
as being the church that is called the New Jerusalem,
consequently the people of that church;
also from the signification of "wings,"
as being things spiritual;
also from the signification of an "eagle,"
as being intelligence and circumspection.
From this it follows that
"there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle"
signifies the spiritual intelligence and circumspection
that the Lord gives to those who are of that church.

[2] What this means shall now be told.
. . . it is granted to the people of the New Church
that is called the Holy Jerusalem
to behold the Divine truths that are in the Word,
not sensually, that is, according to appearances,
but spiritually, that is, according to their essences;
for this reason the internal sense of the Word,
which is spiritual and is solely for those who will be of that church,
has been disclosed.
From that sense Divine truth is seen such as it is in its own spiritual light,
and from that light such as it is in its own natural light.
Divine truth is the Word,
and those who are of that church
are enlightened by the spiritual light of the Word
by influx from the Lord out of heaven,
for the reason that they acknowledge the Divine in the Lord's Human,
and are in the spiritual affection of truth from Him.
They and no others receive spiritual light,
which is continually flowing in from the Lord through heaven
with all who read the Word.
From this they have enlightenment.

[3] How enlightenment is effected shall also be told.
Every person in respect to his thoughts and affections is in the spiritual world,
consequently he is there in respect to his spirit,
for it is the spirit of a person that thinks and that is affected.
The person who becomes spiritual by being regenerated by the Lord
is in respect to his spirit in a heavenly society,
the natural person, that is, one who is not regenerated,
is in respect to his spirit in an infernal society;
with the latter evils flow in continually from hell,
and are also received with delight;
but with the former goods flow in continually from heaven,
and are also received;
and as goods flow into his affection,
and through the affection into his thought,
from that he has enlightenment.
This enlightenment is what is meant by
the spiritual intelligence and circumspection that are signified by
"the wings of an eagle" given to the woman,
with which she flew into the wilderness.
The spiritual also are comparatively like eagles flying on high;
while those who are merely natural
are comparatively like serpents who creep on the ground,
and see the eagles above them.
For this reason the dragon is called a "serpent" in the next verse.

[4] Furthermore, "the wings of an eagle" that were given to the woman
signify the understanding of truth;
for all who are of that church have the understanding enlightened
and from this they are able to see truth from the light of truth,
that is, whether a thing be true or not true.
Because they see truth in this way they acknowledge it,
and receive it with the affection which is of the will.
By this the truths they have are made spiritual;
and in consequence the spiritual mind,
which is above the natural mind,
is opened with them;
and when this is opened it receives angelic sight,
which is the sight of truth itself from its own light.
On the other hand, those who are not of that church,
who are they who do not acknowledge the Divine in the Lord's Human,
and who do not love truth because it is truth, that is, spiritually,
cannot have the understanding so enlightened
as to be able to see whether a thing be true or not;
but they see appearances of truth as genuine truths,
and confirm them as genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word;
and yet most things in that sense of the Word are appearances of truth;
and if these are confirmed as genuine truths
they are falsified, and falsified truths are falsities.
Because they are unable to see truths from the light of truth,
and thus apprehend them in the understanding,
they are in an obscure, yea, in a blind faith about what is to be believed;
and a blind faith is like an eye that sees little or nothing.
Yea a blind faith is not faith, but only a persuasion . . ..

AE 751, 753 - communication with the Lord and the heavens

AE 751
For every person with whom the interior mind,
which is called the spiritual mind,
has been opened,
is in the heavens,
yea, sometimes he even appears among the angels in the heavens.
That this is so has not been known heretofore in the world;
let it be known, therefore,
that a person in respect to his spirit is among spirits and angels,
and even in that society of them into which he is to come after death.
This is because the spiritual mind of a person
is formed wholly to the image of heaven,
even so that it is a heaven in least form;
consequently that mind, although it is still in the body,
must nevertheless be where its form is.

AE 753
. . . for when a person becomes spiritual
he has communion with the heavens,
and receives goods therefrom,
and goods
received from the Lord through heaven
remove evils,
which is effected solely by means of a life
according to the commandments from the Word.

AE 750 - our soul

AE 750a
. . . those who are in the combats of temptation
regard the life of the world as of no account
in comparison with the life of heaven,
and consequently regard the death of their body
as of no account in comparison with the life of the soul . . ..
The reason is, that they know that life in the world,
which is only for some years,
is as nothing compared with the life in heaven, which is eternal life;
yea, there is no ratio between the time of a person's life in the world
and the life in heaven that will continue to eternity.

AE 750e[6 & 16]
Thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart,
with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
(Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16).

Jesus said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart and with all thy soul
and with all thy might.
(Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27).

"To love Jehovah God with all the heart and all the soul"
means with all the will and all the understanding,
also with all the love and all the faith,
for "heart" signifies the love and the will,
and "soul" signifies the faith and the understanding . . .
"With all the might and with all the mind"
signifies above all things.

Be ye not anxious for your soul what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink,
nor for your body what ye shall put on;
is not the soul more than nourishment,
and the body more than the raiment?
(Matthew 6:25; Luke 12:22, 23)
Although this is said of the life of the body,
still it signifies such things as pertain to the life of the spirit,
for all things of the sense of the letter of the Word, which is natural,
contain within them an internal sense which is spiritual;
in this sense "to eat," "to drink," and "food" signify spiritual nourishment,
which is the nourishment of faith together
with the nourishment of the understanding,
from which comes intelligence in spiritual things;
therefore it is said,
"Be not ye anxious for your soul what ye shall eat and what ye shall drink;
is not the soul more than nourishment?"
"To eat" means to perceive good intellectually and thus spiritually;
"to drink" means to perceive truth intellectually and thus spiritually;
and "nourishment" means good and truth from which is nutrition.
"To clothe the body" and "raiment"
signify truth investing the good of love and of the will;
"raiment" signifies such truth,
and the "body" the good of love which is the good of the will.

AE 746e - Teacher and Father

AE 746e [13]
And call no man your father upon earth,
for one is your Father who is in the heavens.
(Matthew 23:9)
In the natural sense men may be called teachers and fathers,
but representatively; that is to say,
teachers in the world teach truths indeed,
but from the Lord, not from themselves,
and fathers in the world are good,
and lead their children to good,
but from the Lord, not from themselves.
From this it follows that although they are called teachers and fathers
still they are not teachers and fathers,
but the Lord alone is Teacher and Father.

AE 745 = "but born of God"

AE 745 [4]
. . . "but born of God"
signifies those who have been regenerated by truths from the Word
and by a life according to them.
From this it can be seen
that those who are not willing to be reformed and regenerated by the Lord,
which is effected by the reception of Divine truth in faith and life,
cannot be saved.

AE 741d - good is the essential of the church, but not by itself

AE 741d [27]
. . . for good is the essential of the church;
therefore where there is good there is also truth,
for every good desires truth and wishes to be conjoined to truth
and to be spiritually nourished by it,
thus also reciprocally.

AE 741b - night and morning

AE 741b [6]
"Night" signifies a state in which there is no light of truth,
and "morning" a state in which there is the light of truth;
the latter state is from love,
but the former is when there is as yet no love.

AE 741a - doing good

AE 741a [2-4]
He that keeps My word,
I will come unto him and will make My abode with him.
(John 14:23)

This is why the Lord so often commands
that His words and commandments must be done;
and that those who do them shall have eternal life;
so also that everyone will be judged according to his works.
From this it then follows
that those who do good from the Word do good from the Lord,
and good from the Lord is truly good,
and so far as it is from the Lord
there is no merit in it.

That good from the Word, thus from the Lord, is truly good,

I stand at the door and knock;
if anyone hear My voice and open the door,
I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with Me.
(Revelation 3:20)

This shows that the Lord is always and continually present
and bestows the effort to do good,
but that a person must open the door, that is, must receive the Lord;
and he receives Him when he does good from His Word.
Although this appears to a person to be done as of himself,
yet it is not of the person but of the Lord in him.
It so appears to a person
because he has no other feeling
than that he thinks from himself and acts from himself;
and yet when he thinks and acts from the Word
he does it as if of himself,
therefore he then also believes that he does it of the Lord.

From this it can be seen that the good that a person does from the Word
is spiritual good,
and that this conjoins a person to the Lord and to heaven.
But the good that a person does
for the world's sake and for the sake of the communities in the world,
which is called civil and moral good,
conjoins him to the world and not to heaven.

AE 739b - the knowledges of good and evil

AE 739b [8,10]
The knowledges of good and evil from the Lord from which is wisdom,
and the knowledges of good and evil from the world from which is science,
were represented by "the tree of lives"
and by "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil"
in the midst of the garden.
That they were permitted to appropriate to themselves
knowledges from every source,
not only from heaven but also from the world,
provided they did not proceed in the inverted order,
by reasoning about heavenly things from worldly knowledges,
instead of thinking about worldly things from heavenly things . . .

. . . the sensual person believes that he knows all things,
and that nothing is concealed from him;
but not so the celestial person,
who knows that he knows nothing from himself but only from the Lord,
and that what he does know is so little
as to be scarcely anything as compared with what he does not know.

AE 737 - spiritual life

AE 737
. . . spiritual faith is acquired by a life according to the truths of the Word,
which life is called charity.

Too Many Bookmarks or Reading in Circles (AE 716 & Deuteronomy 29:18-19)

I have not been able to figure out why the Lord has been repeating Himself even more than usual as I read. Really? I know I need to get this drilled into my being, but really? I was feeling utterly bogged down. And this morning, I opened AE to a marked spot, one that had that a "pay attention!" feel to it. I thought, "Hasn't this been sent out?" So I looked over what has gone out this week and realized that I've been reading in circles. No wonder! I also remember that there was a similar verse in Deuteronomy, read about the same time, and I had been checking that to pair the two. So, since that wasn't done before, it seems to be necessary that it is done today - keeping in mind that whatever in the Lord's Word was said to folks long ago, it is just as important to us - as individuals - today:

AE 716 [2]
. . . at the end of the church
every one wishes to live for himself,
for the world,
and according to his own bent,
and few wish to live for the Lord,
for heaven and eternal life . . .

Deuteronomy 29:18-19
Make sure there is no man or woman,
clan or tribe among you today
whose heart turns away from the Lord our God
to go and worship the gods of those nations;
make sure there is no root among you
that produces such bitter poison.
When such a person hears the words of this oath,
he invokes a blessing on himself
and therefore thinks,
"I will be safe,
even though I persist in going my own way."
This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.

AE 721b - those who will be of the New Church

AE 721b [10]
... "the woman with child"
those who receive truths,
and "she who is bringing forth"
those who do them.
(from Jeremiah 31:8)

[11]
That those who will be of that church will acknowledge the Lord,
and will receive love to Him and consequently wisdom,
is signified by
"her wilderness shall be made like Eden,
and her solitude like the garden of Jehovah",
"Eden" signifying love to the Lord,
and "the garden of Jehovah" wisdom therefrom.

The Lord's Commands to Joshua (Joshua 1:5-9)

Joshua 1:5-9
"As I was with Moses, so I will be with you;
I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Be strong and courageous,
because you will lead these people to inherit the land
I swore to their ancestors to give them.
“Be strong and very courageous.
Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you;
do not turn from it to the right or to the left,
that you may be successful wherever you go.
Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips;
meditate on it day and night,
so that you may be careful to do everything written in it.
Then you will be prosperous and successful.
Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid;
do not be discouraged,
for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

AE 717 - "the dragon"

AE 717
. . ."the dragon" means in general
all who acknowledge the Word
and read it
and yet do not live according to it,
and this because they separate life,
which is charity,
from faith,
and believe that it is sufficient
merely to think those things that are in the Word,
and to persuade themselves
that they are saved
by thinking and talking about certain things from the Word
with trust and confidence,
and that faith alone justifies and saves,
and not anything of life or work.

AE 717d - intelligence

AE 717d [17]
. . . "light" signifies intelligence,
and those who are in charity,
which is the life of faith,
have the light of intelligence from the Word.

AE 717c - "Eden the Garden of God" (Ezekiel 28:12-14)

AE 717c [9]
"Eden the garden of God"
signifying intelligence from the Lord through the Word,
for "Eden" as the "east," means the Lord,
and "the garden of God" is intelligence from Him;
and . . . true intelligence is acquired, that is, given,
solely through the knowledges of truth and good from the Word
understood according to its genuine sense . . .

. . . all beauty in the heavens is according to intelligence.

AE 714c - "Because he has set his love upon Me" (Psalm 91:14)

AE 714c [24]
Because he has set his love upon Me I will rescue him,
I will set him on high because he has known My name.
(Psalm 91:14)

. . . to lead away from falsities
and to lead to interior truths and goods
one who is in doctrine from the Word is signified by
"I will rescue him, I will set him on high, who hath known My name,"
"to rescue" meaning to lead away from falsities,
"to set on high" to lead to interior truths,
and "to know My name," to be in doctrine from the Word.

AE 734b - trees

AE 734b [3]
. . . trees in gardens signify the perceptions and knowledges of truths.

AE 730d - natural, rational, spiritual, a church; AE 732 - the growth of the New Church

AE 730d [31]
Every person is born natural,
and lives naturally until he becomes rational;
and when he has become rational
he can be led by the Lord and become spiritual;
and this is effected by the implanting of the knowledges of truth from the Word,
and at the same time by the opening of the spiritual mind
which receives the things of heaven,
and by calling forth these knowledges
and elevating them out of the natural person
and conjoining them with the spiritual affection of truth.
This opening and conjunction is possible only through temptations,
because in temptations a person fights interiorly
against the falsities and evils that are in the natural person.
In a word, a person is introduced into the church
and becomes a church through temptations.

This was represented by the wandering
and leading about of the sons of Israel in the wilderness.
The state of the natural person before he is regenerated
was represented by their sojourning in the land of Egypt,
for "the land of Egypt" signified the natural person . . ..
But the spiritual state, which is the state of the church with a person,
was represented by the introduction of the sons of Israel
into the land of Canaan,
for "the land of Canaan" signified the church with its truths and goods,
together with its affections, and delights,
which reside in such a person;
while the reformation and regeneration of a person
before from being natural he becomes spiritual and thus a church,
was represented by their wanderings and journeyings
in the wilderness forty years.

AE 732 [2-3]
There are several reasons why this New Church
that is called the Holy Jerusalem
will first begin with a few,
afterwards to be with more,
and finally to reach fullness.

First, its doctrine,
which is the doctrine of love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbor,
cannot be acknowledged and thus received
except by those who are interiorly affected by truths,
and those only can be interiorly affected by truths
who have the ability to see them,
and those only see truths
who have cultivated their intellectual faculty,
and have not destroyed it in themselves by the loves of self and of the world.

A second reason is
that the doctrine of that church cannot be acknowledged
and consequently received
but by those who have not confirmed themselves by doctrine
and at the same time by life
in faith alone;
confirmation by doctrine alone does not prevent reception,
but confirmation by life also does prevent,
for such do not know what love to the Lord is,
nor what charity towards the neighbor is,
nor are they willing to know.

A third reason is
that the New Church on the earth grows
according to its increase in the world of spirits,
for spirits from that world are with people,
and they are from such as while they lived on earth
were in the faith of their church,
and none of these receive the doctrine
but those who have been in the spiritual affection of truth;
these only are conjoined to heaven where that doctrine is,
and they conjoin heaven to a person.

AE 730a - with every person the Lord can . . .

AE 730a [2]
. . . the Lord does not flow immediately into a person's understanding
except so far as the will is in good.
With every person the Lord can enlighten the understanding,
and thus flow in with Divine truths,
since there is given to every person the ability to understand truth,
and this for the sake of his reformation;
nevertheless the Lord does not flow in,
because truths do not remain except so far as the will has been reformed.
Moreover, it is dangerous
to so enlighten the understanding in truths as to produce belief
except so far as the will acts as one with it;
since a person can then pervert, adulterate, and profane truths,
which is most hurtful.

AE 727b - "rod & staff"

AE 727b [14]
As "rod and staff" signify the power of Divine truth,
and thus Divine truth in respect to power,
so in the contrary sense "rod and staff"
also signify the power of infernal falsity,
and thence infernal falsity in respect to power.

Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked,
the rod of them that rule.
(Isaiah 14:5)

"To break the staff of the wicked"
signifies to destroy the power of falsity from evil; and
"to break the rod of them that rule"
signifies to destroy the rule of falsity.

AE 726 - the Lord's infinite power through Divine truth

AE 726 [4]
. . . spiritual auras and atmospheres
that are nearest to the Lord as a sun are the most pure;
but according to the degrees in which they are removed from Him
they are less and less pure.
Therefore there are three heavens,
the inmost heaven in a purer aura,
the middle heaven in an aura less pure,
and the lowest heaven in an aura still less pure.
These auras or atmospheres, which are spiritual,
because they have sprung from the Lord as a sun,
when made active in common exhibit heat,
but when modified in their least parts exhibit light.
That heat, which in its essence is love,
and that light, which in its essence is wisdom,
are called specifically Divine truth;
but together with the auras, which are also spiritual,
they are called the Divine proceeding.
Now from these the heavens were created, and also the worlds;
for all things that exist in the natural world
are produced from the spiritual world,
as effects from their effecting causes.
From this the creation of heaven and earth
by means of Divine truth proceed from the Lord as a sun,
which is above the angelic heavens,
can be seen as in a natural mirror.
It can also in some degree be comprehended
that the Lord has infinite power by means of the Divine proceeding,
which in general is called Divine truth.
This also is meant by these words in John:

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and God was the Word;
all things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made.
And the world was made by Him.
(John 1:1, 3, 10)

And in David:

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made.
(Psalm 33:6)

"The Word" signifies Divine truth.

The Lord Is God (Deuteronomy 4:32-40)

Deuteronomy 4:32-40

Ask now about the former days, long before your time,
from the day God created human beings on the earth;
ask from one end of the heavens to the other.
Has anything so great as this ever happened,
or has anything like it ever been heard of?
Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire,
as you have, and lived?
Has any god ever tried to take for himself
one nation out of another nation,
by testings, by signs and wonders, by war,
by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm,
or by great and awesome deeds,
like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt
before your very eyes?

You were shown these things so that you might know
that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other.
From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you.
On earth he showed you his great fire,
and you heard his words from out of the fire.
Because he loved your ancestors
and chose their descendants after them,
he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,
to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you
and to bring you into their land
to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.

Acknowledge and take to heart this day
that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below.
There is no other.
Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today,
so that it may go well with you and your children after you
and that you may live long in the land
the LORD your God gives you for all time.

AE 724 - doctrine, life & regeneration

AE 724a
. . . every doctrine of he church is a doctrine of truth,
and that truth of doctrine becomes good
and comes to be of love and charity
when from doctrine it passes into life.

AE 724b [8]
... regeneration is the conjunction of goods with truths
and of truths with goods,
and it is the Lord who regenerates,
and the Word that teaches.

AE 721c - "and she shall bring forth sons in pain"

AE 721c [26]
Jehovah God said to the woman,
In multiplying I will multiply your pain and your conception;
in pain you will bring forth sons;
and your obedience shall be to your man,
and he shall rule over you.
(Genesis 3:16)

This does not mean that women are to bring forth sons in pain,
but "the woman" means the church that from celestial has become natural;
"eating of the tree of knowledge" signifies this.
That the person of the church cannot easily be regenerated
by means of truths and a life according to them,
and that he must endure temptations
that truths may be implanted and conjoined to good,
is signified by "pain and conception shall be multiplied,"
and by "she shall bring forth sons in pain,"
"conception" signifying the reception of truth that is from good,
and "to bring forth sons" signifying to bring forth truths
from the marriage of truth and good.
Because the natural person is full of lusts
from the love of self and of the world,
and these can be removed only by means of truths,
therefore it is said
"your obedience shall be to your man, and he shall rule over you,"
"man" signifying here as elsewhere in the Word the truth of the church.

AE 721c - "and she shall bring forth sons in pain"

AE 721c [26]
Jehovah God said to the woman,
In multiplying I will multiply thy pain and thy conception;
in pain you will bring forth sons;
and your obedience shall be to your man,
and he shall rule over you.
(Genesis 3:16)

This does not mean that women are to bring forth sons in pain,
but "the woman" means the church that from celestial has become natural;
"eating of the tree of knowledge" signifies this.
That the people of the church cannot easily be regenerated
by means of truths and a life according to them,
and that he must endure temptations
that truths may be implanted and conjoined to good,
is signified by "pain and conception shall be multiplied,"
and by "she shall bring forth sons in pain,"
"conception" signifying the reception of truth that is from good,
and "to bring forth sons" signifying to bring forth truths
from the marriage of truth and good.
Because the natural person is full of lusts
from the love of self and of the world,
and these can be removed only by means of truths,
therefore it is said
"your obedience shall be to your man, and he shall rule over you,"
"man" signifying here as elsewhere in the Word the truth of the church.

AE 717a - "precious stones" signify divine truths; AE 717d - the truths of the Word

AE 717a [2]
. . . "precious stones" signify Divine truths.
They mean Divine truths in the ultimate of order,
which are the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word,
because these are transparent, having in them a spiritual sense,
and in that sense there is the light of heaven,
which makes all things of the sense of the letter of the Word
to be translucently clear, and to be variegated also
according to the series of things in the spiritual sense
from which arise modifications of heavenly light,
that present such colors as appear in the heavens,
and so in precious stones of various kinds.

AE 717d [15,18]
. . . with the evil, the same as with the good,
the Word is still the Word
and its truths are truths in themselves;
and when the evil pervert and falsity the truths of the Word
it yet does not change their essence.

. . . the truths of the Word do not change their essence
when they are with the evil.

AE 715 - contrary sense

AE 715
. . . in the Word every word has also a contrary sense,
and what is contrary to what is holy is profane.

AE 714b - those in the spiritual affection of truth

AE 714b [10]
. . . all who are in the spiritual affection of truth,
that is, who love truth because it is truth
and because it is serviceable to eternal life
and to the life of the souls of people,
have intelligence from the Lord.

AE 714a - spiritual or sensual?

AE 714a
And behold a great red dragon,
signifies all who are merely natural and sensual from the love of self,
and yet have more or less knowledge from the Word
from doctrine therefrom or from preaching,
and think to be saved by knowledge alone apart from life.

. . . all who live for the body and the world,
and not for God and heaven,
become merely natural and sensual . . .

. . . truths from the Word with a life according to them
are what make a person spiritual,
for life is willing truths
and doing them
from a love of them . . .

. . . to love truths
and from love to will them
and from that will
to do them
is from heaven,
that is, through heaven from the Lord,
and is in its nature celestial and Divine . . .

AE 711 - the woman clothed with the Sun

AE 711
She cried out travailing and pained to bring forth,
signifies non-reception by those in the church
who are natural and sensual, and their resistance.

AE 710c - "the babe leaped in the womb"

AE 710c [31]
It is said of John the Baptist:

That he was filled with the Holy Spirit in his mother's womb;
and that the babe leaped in the womb at the salutation of Mary.
(Luke 1:15, 41, 44).

This signified that he was to represent the Lord in relation to the Word,
as Elijah did;
for in the Word, which is Divine truth,
there is everywhere the marriage of Divine good and Divine truth,
and Divine good united with Divine truth
is the Divine proceeding from the Lord,
which is called the Holy Spirit.
The leaping in the womb at the salutation of Mary
represented the joy arising from the love of the conjunction of good and truth,
thus the joy of celestial conjugial love,
which is in every particular of the Word.

AE 710c - the circle of marriage

AE 710c [25, 26]
. . . there are marriages in the heavens even as on earth,
but in the heavens the marriages are of like with like;
for man is born to act from the understanding,
but woman from affection,
and the understanding with men is the understanding of truth and good,
and the affection with women is the affection of truth and good;
and as all understanding derives its life from affection,
therefore the two there are joined together,
as the affection which belongs to the will
is joined with the correspondent thought which belongs to the understanding.
. . . yet, in order that the understanding and affection may act as one,
they are so joined together in heaven that the correspondent affection,
which belongs to the woman,
is conjoined with the correspondent understanding
which belongs to the man;
and as a result, both by correspondence have a life that is full of love.
Now because two different affections
cannot correspond to one understanding,
therefore in heaven one man never has and never can have several wives.

"Therefore they are no more twain but one flesh"
signifies that thus the understanding of good and truth
and the affection of good and truth are not two but one,
in like manner as while will and understanding are two
they are nevertheless one;
and the like is true of truth and good and of faith and charity,
which indeed are two but yet one, that is,
when truth is of good and good is of truth,
so also when faith is of charity and charity is of faith;
and this also is the source of conjugial (marriage) love.

AE 710a - "Blessed are they . . ."

AE 710a [9]
Jesus said, Yea, rather blessed are they
that hear the Word of God and keep it.
(Luke 11:28)

"Blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it,"
which describes the regeneration
that is effected by truths from the Word and a life according to them;
"to hear the Word of God" signifies to learn truths from the Word,
and "to keep it" signifies to live according to those truths.

AE 707 - the effects in loving the Lord

AE 707
. . . for love to the Lord
is to love and to will those things that are of the Lord,
consequently those things that the Lord has commanded in the Word,
and love towards the neighbor is to act from that will,
thus it consists in the performance of uses,
which are effects.

AE 706 - signs and wonders

AE 706a
"Sign" and "wonder" are mentioned in many passages in the Word,
"sign" meaning that which indicates, witnesses,
and persuades respecting the subject of inquiry,
and "wonder" meaning that which stirs up, strikes dumb,
and fills with amazement;
thus a sign moves the understanding and faith,
but a wonder the will and its affection,
for the will and its affection are what are stirred up,
stricken dumb, and filled with amazement,
while the understanding and its faith
are what are persuaded and moved by indications and proofs.

[2] That there is a difference between a sign and a wonder
is evident from the fact that the Jews,
although they had seen so many wonders performed by the Lord,
still sought signs from Him;
and also from the fact
that the prodigies wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness
are sometimes called "signs" and sometimes "wonders,"
and sometimes both.
It is further evident from this,
that in every particular of the Word there is a marriage of truth and good,
and thus also of the understanding and will,
for truth is of the understanding and good of the will,
consequently "signs" there have reference to things
pertaining to truth, and to faith and the understanding,
and "wonders" to the things pertaining to good,
and to affection and the will.

AE 701e - conjunction through Divine truth

AE 701e [32]
. . . "covenant", where the Lord is treated of,
signifies conjunction through Divine truth.
There is indeed, a conjunction with Him through the good of love;
but because the Lord flows in with a person through good into truths,
whereby a person has the affection of truth,
and receives the Lord's good in truths,
from which he acknowledges, confesses, and worships the Lord . . .

AE 701c - covenants, old & new

AE 701c [12]
. . . the covenants that the Lord makes with men
must be on the part of the Lord and on the part of men;
they must be on the part of both that there may be conjunction . . .

[15-16]
. . . "the old covenant," . . . was a conjunction through such Divine truth
as is contained in the books of Moses
and is called "commandments, judgments, and statutes,"
in which . . . there lay inwardly hidden
such Divine truth as is in heaven, which is internal and spiritual.

This Divine truth was disclosed by the Lord when He was in the world;
and as through this alone there is conjunction of the Lord with men,
therefore this is what is meant by "the new covenant,"
also by "His blood," which is therefore called "the blood of the new covenant."
"Wine" has a similar meaning.

AE 701a - conjunction, covenant, Divine light, & freedom

AE 701
. . . it was called "the ark of the covenant" because the law was in it,
and the "law," which in a broad sense means the Word,
signifies the Lord in relation to Divine truth, which is the Word,
. . . for all Divine truth proceeds from Him,
and when this is received by a person
conjunction with the Lord is effected,
and this conjunction is what is signified by "covenant."

. . . The Lord continually flows into all people with light that enlightens,
and with the affection of knowing and understanding truths,
also for willing and doing them;
and as that light and that affection continually flow in from the Lord,
it follows that a person becomes rational to the extent
that he receives of that light,
and he becomes wise and is led by the Lord
so far as he receives of that affection.
That affection with its light draws to itself and conjoins to itself
the truths that person from infancy has learned from the Word,
from doctrine out of the Word, and from preaching;
for every affection desires
to be nourished by the knowledges that are in harmony with it.
From this conjunction a person's spiritual love or affection is formed,
through which he is conjoined to the Lord,
that is, through which the Lord conjoins a person to Himself.

[2] But in order that that light and that affection may be received,
freedom of choice has been given to a person,
and as that freedom is from the Lord,
it is also a gift of the Lord with a person
and is never taken away from him;
for that freedom belongs to a person's affection or love,
and consequently also to his life.
From freedom a person can think and will what is evil,
and can also think and will what is good.
So far, therefore, as from that freedom,
which belongs to his love and so to his life,
a person thinks falsities and wills evils,
which are the opposites of the truths and goods of the Word,
so far he is not conjoined to the Lord;
but so far as he thinks truths and wills goods, which are from the Word,
so far he is conjoined to the Lord,
and the Lord makes those truths and goods to be of his love,
and consequently of his life.
From this it is evident that this conjunction is reciprocal,
namely, of the Lord with a person and of a person with the Lord;
such is the conjunction that is meant in the Word by "covenant."

[3] . . . If one lets his hands hang down and waits for influx
he receives nothing,
and can have no reciprocal conjunction with the Lord,
thus he is not in the covenant.
That this is so is clearly evident from this,
that the Lord in a thousand passages in the Word has taught
that a person must do good and must not do evil,
and this the Lord would by no means have said,
unless something had been given to a person by which he has ability to do,
and unless that which has been given to a person
might seem to him to be as if his own, although it is not his.

AE 700e - "Philistines", and to serve

AE 700e [20]
. . . he who makes no account of the good of charity and of life
becomes merely natural, and even sensual, loving only worldly things,
and is unable to understand any truths spiritually,
and the truths he apprehends naturally he either falsifies or defiles.
Such are they who are meant in the Word by the "Philistines."
So it is evident why the Philistines so frequently fought with the sons of Israel,
and that sometimes the Philistines conquered,
and sometimes the sons of Israel.
The Philistines conquered
when the sons of Israel departed
from the statutes and precepts in not doing them;
but when the sons of Israel lived according to these
they conquered.
To live according to the precepts and statutes
was their good of love and good of life.

[23]
. . . to bear a yoke signifies to serve . . .

AE 700a - "the law" and the third heaven

AE 700a [2]
. . . the "law" means the Lord in relation to Divine truth or the Word,
. . . and it is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord that forms the heavens.
This is received in the greatest purity by the angels of the third heaven,
because they are in conjunction with the Lord through love to Him,
since all angels in that heaven are in love to the Lord;
consequently they see Divine truth in themselves,
like something implanted,
although it flows in continually from the Lord.
For this reason that heaven more than the other heavens which are below it,
is said to be in the Lord,
because it is in the Divine that proceeds from Him.

AE 696d - spiritual fear vs. natural fear

AE 696d [23]
. . . spiritual fear is a holy fear
that abides within every spiritual love variously
according to the quality and the quantity of the love.
In such fear is the spiritual person,
and he knows that the Lord does not do evil to anyone,
much less does He destroy any one as to body and soul in Gehenna,
but that He does good to all
and desires to raise up every one as to body and soul into heaven to Himself.
This is why the the fear of the spiritual person is a holy fear
lest by the evil of life and the falsity of doctrine a person should turn away,
and thus do harm to that Divine love in himself.

But natural fear is a fearfulness, dread,
and terror of dangers and punishments, and thus of hell;
this fear abides within every corporeal love,
also variously according to the quality and quantity of the love.
The natural person who has such fear
does not know otherwise than that the Lord does evil to the evil,
condemns them, casts them into hell, and punishes them,
and on this account such persons are in fear and dread of the Lord.

AE 696b - to fear, serve, walk, & love

AE 696b [7]:
What does Jehovah your God ask of you
but to fear Jehovah your God,
to walk in all His ways and to love Him,
and to serve Jehovah your God
with your whole heart and with your whole soul?
(Deuteronomy 10:12, 20)

The expressions "to fear Jehovah God,"
"to walk in His ways,"
"to love Him,"
and "to serve Him," are here used,
and by all these worship by truths from good is described;
worship by truths
is meant by "fearing Jehovah God" and by "serving Him,"
and worship from good
by "walking in His ways" and by "loving Him;"
therefore it is also said "with the whole heart and with the whole soul,"
"heart" signifying the good of love and charity that belongs to the will,
and "soul" the truth of doctrine and faith that belongs to the understanding;
for "heart" corresponds to the good of love,
and in a person to his will,
and "soul" corresponds to the truth of faith,
and in a person to his understanding . . ..

AE 695d - the loves of evil & falsity

AE 695d [22]
. . . the love of evil is nourished by falsities,
and the love of falsity is nourished by evils . . ..

AE 695a - "reward"

AE 695a [2]
And to give reward to His servants, the prophets and the saints.
(Revelation 11:18)

"Reward" means properly that delight, blessedness, and happiness
that is in the love or affection of good and truth.

. . . the Lord is in that love or affection, and with the Lord is heaven;

. . . those will receive who do good and speak truth
from the love or affection of good and truth,
thus from the Lord,
and in no wise from themselves;
and as they do this from the Lord
and not from themselves
it is not a reward of merit but a reward of grace.

AE 689 - all being, living, and ability are from the Lord

AE 689
Saying, we give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty,
(Revelation 11:17)
signifies the acknowledgment
that all being, living, and ability are from the Lord.

[2] In respect to Divine omnipotence:
it does not involve any power to act contrary to order,
but it involves all power to act according to order,
for all order is from the Lord . . ..

Because it is of the Divine omnipotence
to lead one who wishes to be led according to order,
and thus to lead no one contrary to order,
therefore it is not of the Divine omnipotence to lead anyone to heaven
who wishes to lead himself,
since it is a law of order that what a person does
he shall do from reason and from freedom,
because that which is received by the reason
and done from freedom remains with a person,
and is appropriated to him as his own,
but not that which is not received by the reason and done from freedom.
Consequently it is clear
that it is not of the Divine omnipotence to save those
who are not willing to be led according to order,
for to be led according to order is to be led according to the laws of order,
and the laws of order are the precepts of doctrine and life from the Word;
it is therefore of the Divine omnipotence to lead a person
who is willing to be led according to these
every moment and continually to eternity.

. . . It is also of the Divine omnipotence to protect people from the hells,
so far as this can be done without injury to freedom and reason;
for all the hells are as nothing against the Lord's Divine power;
without this power of the Lord it is impossible for any person to be saved.