TCR 735 - Happiness & Service; TCR 736 - A Love of Service

TCR 735 [5]

It is the happiness in joys 
that makes them joys, 
enriches them, 
and keeps them from becoming 
worthless and boring. 
Everyone gets this happiness 
by being of service in his occupation.

TCR 736 [3]

Since the Lord does good or performs services 
indirectly through angels, 
and in the world through people, 
He gives those who faithfully perform services 
a love of service and its reward, 
which is inward blessedness, 
and this is everlasting happiness.

 

TCR 734 - What Is Heavenly Joy?

TCR 734 [3]

'It is the pleasure of doing something 
which is of service to oneself or others. 
This pleasure derives its essence from love, 
and its coming-into-being from wisdom. 
The pleasure of service 
arising from love by means of wisdom 
is the soul and life of all heavenly joys. 
There are in the heavens 
most entertaining meetings, 
which cheer the angels' minds, 
delight their spirits, 
gladden their hearts 
and refresh their bodies. 
But these take place after 
they have performed services 
in their occupations and tasks. 
This is what gives the soul and life 
to all their pleasures and amusements. 
But if you deprive them of that soul or life, 
the subsidiary joys 
one after another cease to be joys, 
first becoming matters of indifference, 
and then worthless, 
and finally the source of sadness and worry.'

 

TCR 726, 727 - Real Love and Real Faith

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 727 [3]

. . . conjoining with the Lord, 
who is the Father of all the faithful and blessed. 
Conjoining with Him takes place 
by means of love and faith, 
which together are called one flesh. 
This is why He said 
that 'if someone eats My flesh and drinks My blood, 
he remains in Me and I in him'
(John 6:56).
Anyone can see 
that it is not bread and wine that do this,
but the good of love, 
which is meant by bread, 
and the truth of faith, 
which is meant by wine. 
These are peculiar to the Lord, 
proceed from and are conferred by Him alone. 
Every link is forged by love, 
and love is not love if there is no trust.

 

TCR 722 - The Three Universal of the Church and Salvation

TCR 722 [1-2, 4]

God, charity and faith 
are the three universals of the church, 
because they are the universal means to salvation. 
This is known, acknowledged and grasped 
by any Christian who studies the Word. 
Reason itself, at least if it contains any spirituality, 
insists that God must be acknowledged, 
if a person is to have any religion 
and any part of the church in him. 
If therefore anyone approaches the Holy Supper 
without acknowledging God, 
he profanes it.

After the acknowledgment of God 
the second means which makes one 
worthy to approach is charity. 
This fact is established both from the Word 
and from the exhortations read 
before people approach 
throughout the Christian world. 
We learn from the Word 
that the leading injunction and commandment 
is to love God before all else 
and one's neighbor as oneself.
(Matthew 22:35-40; Luke 10:25-28)

The third means 
to the worthy enjoyment of the Holy Supper 
is faith in the Lord. 
This is because charity and faith make one, 
as heat and light do in springtime, 
so that their combination 
makes every tree to be reborn. 
Likewise it is spiritual heat, which is charity, 
and spiritual light, which is the truth of faith, 
which make everyone alive. 

TCR 721 - Two Universal Gates: Learning and Living

TCR 721

The chapter on baptism showed 
that it was an introduction to the church; 
and what has been said so far, if grasped, 
proves that the Holy Supper 
is an introduction to heaven. 
The two sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper, 
are as it were two gates leading to everlasting life. 
Every Christian is by baptism, the first gate, 
admitted and introduced to the church's teachings 
drawn from the Word about the other life. 
All of these are the means by which 
a person is prepared and can be guided to heaven. 
The second gate is the Holy Supper. 
By it everyone, who has allowed himself 
to be prepared and guided by the Lord, 
is admitted and introduced into heaven. 
There are no other universal gates.

 

TCR 718 - Receiving From the Lord

TCR 718

Every sane person has the capability 
of receiving wisdom from the Lord, 
that is, of increasing for ever the number of truths 
of which wisdom is composed. 
He has also the capability of receiving love, 
that is, of making the various kinds of good, 
of which love is composed, bear fruit, 
likewise for ever. 
This perpetual fruiting of good and so of love, 
and this perpetual increase of truth 
and so of wisdom 
is granted to the angels, 
and also to people who become angels. 

 

** Hannah's Prayer of Praise and Thanksgiving**

Then Hannah prayed and said:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;
    in the Lord my horn* is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
    for I delight in your deliverance.

“There is no one holy like the Lord;
    there is no one besides You;
    there is no Rock like our God.

“Do not keep talking so proudly
    or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the Lord is a God who knows,
    and by Him deeds are weighed.

“The bows of the warriors are broken,
    but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
    but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
    but she who has had many sons pines away.

“The Lord brings death and makes alive;
    He brings down to the grave and raises up.
The Lord sends poverty and wealth;
    He humbles and He exalts.
He raises the poor from the dust
    and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
He seats them with princes
    and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;
    on them He has set the world.
He will guard the feet of His faithful servants,
    but the wicked will be silenced 
in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;
   those who oppose the Lord will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
   the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to His king
    and exalt the horn* of his anointed.”
(I Samuel 2:1-10)
__________
* horn means power

 

TCR 711, 713 - Holy Supper and the Opposite

TCR 711

. . . the Lord Himself is present in the Holy Supper, 
and that flesh and bread are the Lord 
in respect of the Divine good of love, 
and blood and wine are the Lord 
in respect of the Divine truth of wisdom. 
There are therefore three items 
involved in the Holy Supper, 
the Lord, His Divine good and His Divine truth. 
So since the Holy Supper 
includes and contains these three, 
it follows that it also includes and contains 
the universals of heaven and the church.

TCR 713

Contrariwise 
there are three opposites to these universals: 
the devil, evil and falsity. 
The devil (by which we mean hell) 
is in opposition to the Lord, 
evil is in opposition to good and falsity to truth. 
These three make one, 
for where the devil is, there are evil too 
and the falsity which comes from it. 
These three also contain 
at the universal and the particular level 
everything to do with hell and also the world, 
which are in opposition to heaven and the church.

  

TCR 702 - Flesh and Blood; TCR 706 - Michael and His Angels

TCR 702 

A knowledge of correspondences allows us to know 
what is meant by the Lord's flesh and blood, 
much the same as by bread and wine. 
This is that the Lord's flesh and the bread 
mean the Divine good of His love 
and also all the good of charity; 
and the Lord's blood and the wine 
mean the Divine truth of His wisdom 
and also all the truth of faith. 
Eating means making one's own.

TCR 706 [3-4]

War broke out in heaven, 
Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; 
and they defeated him by the blood of the Lamb 
and by the word of their witness.
(Revelation 12:7, 11)

It is impossible to think 
that Michael and his angels defeated the dragon 
by anything but the Lord's Divine truth in the Word. 
For angels in heaven cannot think about any blood, 
nor do they think about the Lord's passion; 
but they think of Divine truth and His resurrection. 
When therefore a person thinks 
about the Lord's blood, 
the angels perceive the Divine truth of His Word. 
When he thinks about the Lord's passion, 
they perceive His glorification, 
and then only His resurrection.

TCR 701 - Holiness Proclaimed & Seen; Outward & Inward

TCR 701 [4]

The difference between holiness 
that is only proclaimed 
and holiness that is seen to be such 
may be illustrated by this example, 
which I saw and heard in the spiritual world. 
A letter was read out which was written by Paul 
at the time of his travels in the world, 
but not published 
so that any knew that it was Paul's. 
To begin with the audience thought poorly of it. 
But when it was disclosed 
that it was one of the Pauline Epistles, 
it was received with joy, 
and every detail in it was revered. 
This made it plain 
that merely proclaiming the holiness 
of the Word and the sacraments, 
so long as performed by leading churchmen, 
imprints the mark of holiness. 
But it is quite different when its holiness 
is disclosed and displayed to view 
before one's eyes;
and this is what the revelation 
of the spiritual sense does. 
This turns its outward holiness into inward holiness, 
and when it is proclaimed it is acknowledged. 
It is much the same with the holiness 
of the sacrament of the Lord's supper.

 

TCR 697 - The Form of the Soul

TCR 697 [9=10]

'The soul then is a form, 
but what sort of form I will tell you. 
It is the form of all the parts of love 
and all the parts of wisdom. 
All the parts of love are called affections, 
and all the parts of wisdom are called perceptions. 
The perceptions as a result of 
and so together with 
the affections 
make up a single form containing countless parts 
but arranged in such order and so cohering 
that they can be called a unity; 
and they can be called a unity, 
because nothing 
can be taken away from it or added to it, 
if it is to be a unity. 
What is the human soul but such a form? 
All the parts of love 
and all the parts of wisdom 
are the essentials of such a form, 
and in the case of a person 
these essentials are in his soul, 
and from his soul in his head and body.'

TCR 694 [2-3] - The Dangers of Complete Leisure TCR 694 [7] - Everlasting Rest and Peace Is Service

TCR 694 [2-3]

'What is the news from earth,' . . .
'about our world and about heaven?'

They replied that 
when recently they had arrived in this world 
they had heard 
that there and in heaven 
there are administrative duties, 
ministries, public offices, businesses, 
studies of all sciences and wonderful work. 
Yet they had believed 
that after their migration or transfer 
from the natural world to this spiritual one, 
they would come into everlasting rest from labors, 
and what were duties but labors?

To this the elder said: 
'Did you understand everlasting rest from labors 
to mean everlasting leisure, 
in which you would continually sit or lie,
plying your hearts with delights 
and filling your mouths with joys?' 
The three newcomers smiled gently at this, 
and said they had supposed something of the sort.

'What have joy, and delights and so happiness 
got in common with leisure? 
they were asked in reply. 
'The result of leisure 
is that the mind collapses instead of expanding, 
or one becomes as dead instead of lively. 
Imagine someone sitting completely at leisure, 
with his hands folded, 
his eyes cast down or withdrawn, 
and imagine him being at the same time 
surrounded with an aura of cheerfulness; 
would not his head and body 
be gripped by lassitude, 
the lively expression of his face would collapse, 
and eventually his every fiber 
would become so relaxed 
that he would sway to and fro 
until he fell to the ground? 
What is it that keeps the whole system of the body
stretched and under tension 
but the stretching of the mind?
And what is it that stretches the mind 
but administrative duties and tasks, 
so long as they are enjoyable? 
So I will tell you some news from heaven: 
there are there administrative duties, ministries, 
higher and lower law-courts, 
as well as crafts and work.'

TCR 694 [7]

When they had seen this, 
the elder talked with them again 
about the everlasting rest from labors 
the blessed and happy obtain after death. 
'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. 
These are not life, but death, 
much less the everlasting life 
of the angels in heaven. 
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 693 - good affections

TCR 693

. . . good affections go along with wisdom . . .

 

TCR 692 - In the Octagonal Palace called Palladium

TCR 692 [3, 7]

We joined them and went up together, 
and found on the hill an octagonal palace, 
which they called the Palladium. 
When we went in 
we found eight hexagonal recesses, 
in each of which was a bookcase, 
as well as a table 
at which those who wore laurels sat down. 
In the Palladium itself 
we saw seats carved out of stone, 
on which the remainder seated themselves.

But then someone 
standing in the middle of the Palladium 
and holding a palm-frond in his hand said: 
'Please unravel this mystery. 
How could a person 
having been created a form of God 
be changed into the form of a devil? 
I am well aware that the angels of heaven 
are forms of God, 
and the angels of hell are forms of the devil, 
and that these two are completely opposite forms, 
one of madness, 
the other of wisdom. 
Tell me, then, how could a person
created as a form of God 
pass from daylight into such a night 
as to be able to deny 
the existence of God and everlasting life?'

'. . . in the earliest ages people 
acknowledged with heart and soul 
that all the good of love, 
and so all the truth of wisdom, 
came to them from God, 
and also that this good and truth were God's in them, 
so that they were purely receivers of life from God; 
which is why they were called images of God, 
sons of God and born of God. 
But in the following ages 
people no longer acknowledged this 
with their heart and soul, 
but by some incorrect belief, 
later by historical faith 
and finally merely professing it with the lips. 
Acknowledging anything of this kind 
merely by professing it with the lips 
is not acknowledging it, 
and is in fact denying it at heart.

 

TCR 691 - Why We Can't See the Lord, a History

TCR 691

Moses said to Jehovah:

Show me your glory. 
Jehovah said to him, 
You cannot see My face, 
because no one can see Me and live. 
And He said, 
Here is a place, where you can stand on the rock, 
and I will put you in a crevice of the rock 
and put My hand as a covering upon you, 
until I have passed by; 
and when I take My hand away, 
you will see My back parts,
but my face will not be seen.
(Exodus 33:18-23}

The reason why a person cannot see God and live 
is that God is love itself, 
and love itself 
or the Divine love in the spiritual world 
appears to the sight of angels like the sun, 
as far distant from them 
as the sun of our world is from people. 
If therefore God, 
who is in the midst of that sun, 
were to come close to angels, 
they would perish just as people would 
if the sun of the world came close to them, 
for it is equally burning.

For this reason there are constant controls 
which modify and moderate 
the burning heat of that love, 
so that its radiation 
should not reach heaven undiluted, 
since this would consume the angels. 
When therefore the Lord makes His presence 
more immediately felt in heaven, 
the irreligious beneath heaven begin to complain, 
suffering torture and fainting, 
so that they take refuge in caves and fissures 
in the mountains, crying:

Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him 
that sits upon the throne.
(Revelation 6:16; Isaiah 2:19. 21)

It is not the Lord Himself who comes down, 
but an angel with the sphere of love 
from the Lord around him. 
I have on several occasions seen 
irreligious people terrified by this coming down, 
as if they had seen death itself before their eyes;
some of them hurled themselves 
deeper and deeper into hell, 
and some were driven frenzied.

This was the reason why the Children of Israel 
prepared themselves for three days before 
Jehovah the Lord came down on Mount Sinai; 
and why the mountain was fenced about 
to prevent anyone approaching and being killed 
(Exodus chapter 19). 
It was much the same 
with the holiness of Jehovah the Lord 
in the Ten Commandments 
which were then made public, 
and written by the finger of God on two tables, 
and then laid up in the Ark. 
On top of this in the Tabernacle 
was placed the Mercy-seat,
and cherubs on top of this, 
to prevent anyone directly coming 
into contact with it by hand or eye, 
Not even Aaron was able to approach 
except once a year, 
after making expiation for himself 
by sacrifices and censing.

It was for this reason 
that the men of Ekron and Bethshemesh 
were killed to the number of several thousand, 
solely because they had seen the Ark 
with their own eyes (1 Samuel 5:11-12; 6:19); 
and the same happened to Uzzah, 
because he touched it (2 Samuel 6:6-7). 
These few examples illustrate 
what a curse and slaughter 
would have struck down the Jews,
if they had not been prepared by John's baptism 
for the reception of the Messiah, 
who was Jehovah God in human form; 
and if He had not assumed the Human 
and revealed Himself in that form. 
They were prepared by being enrolled in heaven 
and counted among those 
who at heart waited and longed for the Messiah, 
as the result of which 
angels were sent to become their protectors.

 

TCR 690 - Baptisms Performed by John and The Lord

TCR 690

The baptism performed by John 
represented the cleansing of the external person; 
but baptism as practiced 
among Christians at the present time 
represents the cleansing of the internal person, 
which is his regeneration. 
That is why we read that John baptized with water, 
but the Lord baptists with the Holy Spirit and with fire. 
So too John's baptism is called 
a baptism of repentance.
The Jews who were baptized 
were nothing but external people, 
and the external person cannot become internal 
without faith in Christ. 
. . . those who received John's baptism 
became internal men, 
when they accepted faith in Christ 
and were then baptized in the name of Jesus.

 

TCR 685 - The Third Purpose of Baptism - Regeneration

TCR 685

. . . the three purposes of baptism 
combine into one, 
just as do the first cause, 
the intermediate or efficient cause, 
and the last cause or the effect, 
which is the real end in view 
for the sake of which the others exist. 
The first purpose 
is for a person to be named a Christian; 
the second is what follows from this,
so that he may get to know and acknowledge 
the Lord, the Redeemer, Regenerator and Savior; 
the third is so that he may be 
regenerated by the Lord, 
and when this happens, 
he is redeemed and saved. 
Since these three purposes follow 
one succeeding the other and combine in the last, 
so that angels think of them together as one, 
then when baptism is performed, 
read about in the Word or mentioned, 
the angels present 
understand not baptism, but regeneration.

 

TCR 681 - The First Two Purposes of Baptism; TCR 682 - The Lord's Name in the Word

TCR 681

This second purpose of baptism is
getting to know the Lord,
the Redeemer and Savior Jesus Christ,
comes as the inseparable companion of the first, 
which is being brought into the Christian church 
and being associated with 
Christians in the spiritual world.

TCR 682

The name of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Word
means nothing other than His acknowledgment
and living in accordance with His commandments.
. . . His name is woven into baptism 
with golden threads . . . 

TCR 679 - Order Holds Everything Together

TCR 679 [1-2]

Anyone who traces effects back to their causes 
may know that what holds everything together
depends on order; 
and there are many kinds of order, 
both general and particular. 
There is one order 
which is the most universal of all 
on which the general and particular 
depend in a continuous chain, 
and this most universal order enters into all others, 
like essence into forms, 
and they could not otherwise 
make up a single whole. 
It is this unity which holds the whole together, 
which would otherwise fall apart and slip back 
not merely into primeval chaos, but into annihilation. 

Without a clearly defined order 
what would go on in a person's mind or spirit 
but confusion and muddle, 
unless his partnership 
depended upon the will and the understanding?

 

TCR 676 - What Makes the Chosen People, the Chosen People?

TCR 676

There were many among the Children of Israel, 
and there are many among 
the Jews at the present time, 
who believe that they are specially chosen, 
because they are circumcised. 
There are also many Christians 
who think the same because they are baptized. 
Yet both these rites, circumcision and baptism, 
were only given as a sign and memorial 
that they should be purified from evils, 
and so become the chosen people. 
. . . 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.