SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE WORD OF GOD

by

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)

Extracted from the Apocalypse Explained

Contents

Part First--THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

 I. How Spiritual Life is Acquired II. Goods of Charity III. Shunning Evils IV. Cleansing the Inside V. What Religion Consists In

Part Second--THE COMMANDMENTS

 I. The First Commandment II. The Second Commandment III. The Third Commandment IV. The Fourth Commandment V. The Fifth Commandment VI. The Sixth Commandment VII. The Seventh CommandmentVIII. The Eighth Commandment IX. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments X. The Commandments in General

Part Third--PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH

 I. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites II. The First Kind of Profanation III. The Second Kind of Profanation IV. The Third Kind of Profanation V. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation

Part Fourth--THE DIVINE WORD

 I. The Holiness of the Word II. The Lord is the Word III. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life IV. Influx and Correspondence V. The Three Senses of the Word VI. Conjunction by the Word VII. The Sense of the Letter

Part First--THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

I. How Spiritual Life is Acquired

Spiritual life is acquired solely by a life according to thecommandments in the Word. These commandments are given in summary inthe Decalogue, namely, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt notsteal, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thoushalt not covet the goods of others. These commandments are thecommandments that are to be done, for when a man does these his worksare good and his life is spiritual, and for the reason that so far as aman shuns evils and hates them so far he wills and loves goods. 

For there are two opposite spheres that surround man, one from hell, theother from heaven; from hell a sphere of evil and falsity therefrom, from heaven a sphere of good and of truth therefrom; and these spheresdo [not immediately] affect the body, but they affect the minds of men, for they are spiritual spheres, and thus are affections that belong tothe love. In the midst of these man is set; therefore so far as heapproaches the one, so far he withdraws from the other. This is why sofar as a man shuns evils and hates them, so far he wills and loves goodsand the truths therefrom; for no one can at the same time serve twomasters, for he will hate the one and will love the other. (Matt. Vi. 24). 

But let it be noted, that man must do these commandments from religion, because they are commanded by the Lord; and if he does this from anyother consideration whatever, for instance, from regard merely to thecivil law or the moral law, he remains natural, and does not becomespiritual. For when a man acts from religion, he acknowledges in heartthat there is a God, a heaven and a hell, and a life after death. Butwhen he acts from regard merely to the civil and moral law, he may actin the same way, and yet in heart may deny that there is a God, a heavenand a hell, and a life after death. And if he shuns evils and doesgoods, it is merely in the external form, and not in the internal; thuswhile he is outwardly in respect to the life of the body like aChristian, inwardly in respect to the life of his spirit he is like adevil. All this makes clear that a man can become spiritual, or receivespiritual life, in no other way than by a life according to religionfrom the Lord. 

I have had proof that this is true from angels of the third or inmostheaven, who are in the greatest wisdom and happiness. When asked howthey had become such angels, they said it was because during their lifein the world they had regarded filthy thoughts as abominable, and thesehad been to them adulteries; and had regarded in like manner frauds andunlawful gains, which had been to them thefts; also hatreds andrevenges, which had been to them murder; also lies and blasphemies, which had been to them false testimonies; and so with other things. When asked again whether they had done good works, they said they lovedchastity, in which they were because they had regarded adulteries asabominable; that they loved sincerity and justice, in which they werebecause they had regarded frauds and unlawful gains as abominable; thatthey loved the neighbor because they had regarded hatreds and revengesas abominable; that they loved truth because they had regarded lies andblasphemies as abominable, and so on; and that they perceived that whenthese evils have been put away, and they acted from chastity, sincerity, justice, charity and truth, it was not done from themselves, but fromthe Lord, and thus that all things whatsoever that they had done fromthese were good works, although they had done them as if fromthemselves; and that it was on this account that they had been raised upby the Lord after death into the third heaven. Thus it was made clearhow spiritual life, which is the life of the angels of heaven, isacquired. 

It shall now be told how that life is destroyed by the faith of thepresent day. The faith of this day is that it must be believed that Godthe Father sent His Son, who suffered the cross for our sins, and tookaway the curse of the law by fulfilling it; and that this faith apartfrom good works will save everyone, even in the last hour of death. Bythis faith instilled from childhood and afterward confirmed bypreachings, it has come to pass that no one shuns evils from religion, but only from civil and moral law; thus not because they are sins butbecause they are damaging. 

Consider, when a man thinks that the Lord suffered for our sins, that Hetook away the curse of the law, and that merely to believe these things, or to have faith in them without good works saves, whether this is notto regard as of little worth the commandments of the Decalogue, all thelife of religion as prescribed in the Word, and furthermore all thetruths that inculcate charity. Separate these, therefore, and take themaway from man, and is there any religion left in him? For religion doesnot consist in merely thinking this or that, but in willing and doingthat which is thought; and there is no religion when willing and doingare separated from thinking. From this it follows that the faith ofthis day destroys spiritual life, which is the life of the angels ofheaven, and is the Christian life itself. 

Consider further, why the ten commandments of the Decalogue werepromulgated from Mount Sinai in so miraculous a way; why they wereengraved on two tables of stone, and why these were placed in the ark, over which was placed the mercy-seat with cherubs, and the place wherethose commandments were was called the Holy of holies, within whichAaron was permitted to enter only once a year, and this with sacrificesand incense; and if he had entered without these, he would have fallendead; also why so many miracles were afterward performed by means ofthat ark. Have not all throughout the whole globe a knowledge of likecommandments? Do not their civil laws prescribe the same? Who does notknow from merely natural lumen, that for the sake of order in everykingdom, adultery, theft, murder, false witness, and other things in theDecalogue are forbidden? Why then must those same precepts have beenpromulgated by so many miracles, and regarded as so holy? Can there beany other reason than that everyone might do them from religion, andthus from God, and not merely from civil and moral law, and thus fromself and for the sake of the world? Such was the reason for theirpromulgation from Mount Sinai and their holiness; for to do thesecommandments from religion purifies the internal man, opens heaven, admits the Lord, and makes man as to his spirit an angel of heaven. Andthis is why the nations outside the church who do these commandmentsfrom religion are all saved, but not anyone who does them merely fromcivil and moral law. 

Inquire now whether the faith of this day, which is, that the Lordsuffered for our sins, that he took away the curse of the law byfulfilling it, and that man is justified and saved by this faith apartfrom good works, does not cancel all these commandments. Look about anddiscover how many there are at this day in the Christian world who donot live according to this faith. I know that they will answer thatthey are weak and imperfect men, born in sins, and the like. But who isnot able to think from religion? This the Lord gives to everyone; andin him who thinks these things from religion the Lord works all thingsso far as he thinks. And be it known that he who thinks of these thingsfrom religion believes that there is a God, a heaven, a hell, and a lifeafter death; but he who does not think of these things from religiondoes not, I affirm, believe them. (A. E. , n. 902. )

II. Goods of Charity

What is meant by goods of charity or good works is at this day unknownto most in the Christian world, because of the prevalence of thereligion of faith alone, which is a faith separated from goods ofcharity. For if only faith contributes to salvation, and goods ofcharity contribute nothing, the idea that these goods may be left undonehas place in the mind. But some who believe that good works should bedone do not know what is meant by good works, thinking that good worksare merely giving to the poor and doing good to the needy and to widowsand orphans, since such things are mentioned and seemingly commanded inthe Word. Some think that if good works must be done for the sake ofeternal life they must give to the poor all they possess, as was done inthe primitive church, and as the Lord commanded the rich man to sell allthat he had and give to the poor, and take up the cross and follow Him(Matt. Xix. 21). (A. E. , n. 932. )

It has just been said that at this day it is scarcely known what ismeant by charity, and thus by good works, unless it be giving to thepoor, enriching the needy, doing good to widows and orphans, andcontributing to the building of churches and hospitals and lodginghouses; and yet whether such works are done by man and for the sake ofreward is not known; for if they are done by man they are not good, andif for the sake of reward they are not meritorious; and such works donot open heaven, and thus are not acknowledged as goods in heaven. Inheaven no works are regarded as good except such as are done by the Lordin man, and yet the works that are done by the Lord in man appear inoutward form like those done by the man himself and cannot bedistinguished even by the man who does them. For the works done by theLord in man are done by man as if by himself; and unless they are doneas if by himself they do not conjoin man to the Lord, thus they do notreform him. (A. E. , n. 933. )

But for works to be done by the Lord, and not by man, two things arenecessary: first, there must be an acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine, also that He is the God of heaven and earth even in respect to theHuman, also that every good that is good is from Him; and secondly, itis necessary that man live according to the commandments of theDecalogue, by abstaining from those evils that are there forbidden, thatis, from worshipping other gods, from profaning the name of God, fromthefts, from adulteries, from murders, from false witness, from covetingthe possessions and property of others. These two things are requisitethat the works done by man may be good. The reason is that every goodcomes from the Lord alone, and the Lord cannot enter into man and leadhim so long as these evils are not set aside as sins; for they areinfernal, and in fact are hell with man, and unless hell is set asidethe Lord cannot enter and open heaven. This is what is meant by theLord's words to the rich man:

Who asked Him about eternal life, and said that he had kept thecommandments of the Decalogue from his youth; whom the Lord is said tohave loved, and to have taught that one thing was lacking to him, thathe should sell all that he had and take up the cross (Matt. Xix. 16-22;Mark x. 17-22; Luke xviii. 18-23). 

"To sell all that he had" signifies that he should relinquish the thingsof his religion, which were traditions, for he was a Jew, and alsoshould relinquish the things that were his own, which were loving selfand the world more than God, and thus leading himself; and "to followthe Lord" signifies to acknowledge Him only and to be led by Him;therefore the Lord also said, "Why callest thou Me good? There is nonegood but God only. " "To take up his cross" signifies to fight againstevils and falsities, which are from what is one's own (proprium). (A. E. , n. 934. )

III. Shunning Evils

In the previous chapter two things are said to be necessary that worksmay be good, namely, that the Divine of the Lord be acknowledged, andthat the evils forbidden in the Decalogue be shunned as sins. The evilsenumerated in the Decalogue include all the evils that can ever exist;therefore the Decalogue is called the ten commandments, because "ten"signifies all. 

The first commandment, "Thou shalt not worship other gods, " includes notloving self and the world; for he that loves self and the world aboveall things worships other gods; for everyone's god is that which heloves above all things. 

The second commandment, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God, "includes not to despise the Word and doctrine from the Word, and thusthe church, and not to reject these from the heart, for these are God's"name. "

The fifth commandment, "Thou shalt not steal, " included the shunning offrauds and unlawful gains, for these also are thefts. 

The sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery, " includes havingdelight in adulteries and having no delight in marriages, and inparticular cherishing filthy thoughts respecting such things as pertainto marriage, for these are adulteries. 

The seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not kill, " includes not hating theneighbor nor loving revenge; for hatred and revenge breathe murder. 

The eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness, " includesnot to lie and blaspheme; for lies and blasphemies are falsetestimonies. 

The ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, "includes not wishing to possess or to divert to oneself the goods ofothers against their will. 

The tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, hisman-servants, " and so on, includes not wishing to rule over others andto subject them to oneself, for the things here enumerated mean thethings that are man's own. Anyone can see that these eight commandmentsrelate to evils that must be shunned, and not to goods that must bedone. (A. E. , n. 935. )

But many, I know, think in their heart that no one can of himself shunthese evils enumerated in the Decalogue, because man is born in sins andhas therefore no power of himself to shun them. But let such know thatanyone who thinks in his heart that there is a God, that the Lord is theGod of heaven and earth, that the Word is from Him, and is thereforeholy, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life afterdeath, has the ability to shun these evils. But he who despises thesetruths and casts them out of his mind, and still more he who deniesthem, is not able. For how can one who never thinks about God thinkthat anything is a sin against God? And how can one who never thinksabout heaven, hell, and the life after death, shun evils as sins? Sucha man does not know what sin is. 

Man is placed in the middle between heaven and hell. Out of heavengoods unceasingly flow in, and out of hell evils unceasingly flow in;and as man is between he has freedom to think what is good or to thinkwhat is evil. This freedom the Lord never takes away from anyone, forit belongs to his life, and is the means of his reformation. So far, therefore, as man from this freedom has the thought and desire to shunevils because they are sins, and prays to the Lord for help, so far doesthe Lord take them away and give man the ability to refrain from them asif of himself, and then to shun them. 

Everyone is able from natural freedom to shun these same evils becauseof their being contrary to human laws. This every citizen of a kingdomdoes who fears the penalties of the civil law, or the loss of life, reputation, honor, wealth, and thus of office, gain, and pleasures; evenan evil man does this. And the life of such a man appears exactly thesame in external form as the life of one who shuns these evils becausethey are contrary to the Divine laws; but in internal form it is whollyunlike it. The one acts from natural freedom only, which is from man;the other acts from spiritual freedom, which is from the Lord; bothacting from freedom. When a man is able to shun these same evils fromnatural freedom, why is he not able to shun them from spiritual freedom, in which he is constantly held by the Lord, provided he thinks to willthis because there is a heaven, a hell, a life after death, punishmentand reward, and prays to the Lord for help?

Let it be noted, that every man when he is beginning the spiritual lifebecause he wishes to be saved, fears sins on account of the punishmentsof hell, but afterward on account of the sin itself, because it is initself abominable, and finally on account of the truth and good that heloves, thus for the Lord's sake. For so far as anyone loves truth andgood, thus the Lord, he so far turns away from what is contrary tothese, which is evil. All this makes clear that he that believes in theLord shuns evils as sins; and conversely, he that shuns evils as sinsbelieves; consequently to shun evils as sins is the sign of faith. (A. E. , n. 936. )

But as all the evils into which man is born derive their roots from alove of ruling over others and from a love of possessing the goods ofothers, and all the delights of man's own life flow forth from these twoloves, and all evils are from them, so the loves and delights of theseevils belong to man's own life. And since evils belong to the life ofman, it follows that man from himself can be no means refrain from them, for this would be from his own life to refrain from his own life. Anability to refrain from them of the Lord is therefore provided, and thathe may have this ability the freedom to think that which he wills and topray to the Lord for help is granted him. He has this freedom becausehe is in the middle between heaven and hell, consequently between goodand evil. And being in the middle he is in equilibrium; and he who isin equilibrium is able easily and as of his own accord to turn himselfthe one way or the other; and the more so because the Lord continuallyresists evils and repels them, and raises man up and draws him toHimself. And yet there is combat, because the evils which belong toman's life are stirred up by the evils that unceasingly rise up fromhell; and then man must fight against them, and, indeed, as if ofhimself. If he does not fight as if of himself the evils are not setaside. (A. E. , n. 938. )

IV. Cleansing the Inside

It is acknowledged that man's interior must be purified before the goodthat he does is good; for the Lord says, "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of theplatter, that the outside may be clean also" (Matt. Xxiii. 26). 

Man's interior is purified only as he refrains from evils, in accordancewith the commandments of the Decalogue. So long as man does not refrainfrom these evils and does not shun and turn away from them as sins, theyconstitute his interior, and are like an interposed veil or covering, and in heaven this appears like an eclipse by which the sun is obscuredand light is intercepted; also like a fountain of pitch or of blackwater, from which nothing emanates but what is impure. That whichemanates therefrom and that appears before the world as good is notgood, because it is defiled by evils from within, for it is Pharisaicand hypocritical good. This good is good from man and is meritoriousgood. It is otherwise when evils have been removed by a life accordingto the commandments of the Decalogue. 

Now since evils must be removed before goods can become good the TenCommandments were the first of the Word, being promulgated from MountSinai before the Word was written by Moses and the prophets. And thesedo not set forth goods that must be done, but evils that must beshunned. For the same reason these commandments are the first things tobe taught in the churches; for they are taught to boys and girls inorder that man may begin his Christian life with them, and by no meansforget them as he grows up; although he does so. The same is meant bythese words in Isaiah:

"What is the multitude of sacrifices" to Me? Your meat offering, yourincense, "your new moons, and your appointed feasts, My soul hateth. . . And when you multiply prayer I will not hear. . . Wash you, make youclean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease todo evil . . . . Then though your sins were as scarlet they shall bewhite as snow; though they were red as purple they shall be as wool"(i. 11-19). 

"Sacrifices, " "meat offerings, " "incense, " "new moons, " and "feasts, "also "prayer, " mean all things of worship. That these are wholly eviland even abominable unless the interior is purified from evils is meantby "Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings, andcease to do evil. " That afterward they are all goods is meant by wordsthat follow. (A. E. , n. 939. )

When man's interior is purified from evils by his refraining from themand shunning them because they are sins, the internal which is above it, and which is called the spiritual internal, is opened. Thiscommunicates with heaven; consequently man is then admitted into heavenand is conjoined to the Lord. 

There are two internals in man, one beneath and the other above. Whileman lives in the world he is in the internal which is beneath and fromwhich he thinks, for it is natural. This may be called for the sake ofdistinction the interior. But the internal that is above is that intowhich man comes after death when he enters heaven. All angels of heavenare in this internal, for it is spiritual. This internal is opened tothe man who shuns evils as sins; but it is kept closed to the man whodoes not shun evils as sins. 

This internal is kept closed to the man who does not shun evils as sins, because the interior, that is, the natural internal, until man has beenpurified from sins, is hell; and so long as there is hell there heavencannot be opened; but as soon as hell has been set aside it is opened. But let it be noted that in the measure in which the spiritual internaland heaven are opened to man, the natural internal is purified from thehell that is there. This is not done at once, but successively bydegrees. All this makes clear that man from himself is hell, and thatman is made a heaven by the Lord, consequently that he is snatched outof hell by the Lord, and raised up into heaven to the Lord, not withoutmeans but through means; and these means are the commandments justmentioned, by which the Lord leads him who wishes to be led. (A. E. , n. 940. )

When the spiritual internal is opened, and through it communication withheaven and conjunction with the Lord are granted, enlightenment takesplace with man. He is enlightened especially when he reads the Word, because the Lord is in the Word, and the Word is Divine truth, andDivine truth is light to angels. Man is enlightened in the rational, for this directly underlies the spiritual internal, and receives lightfrom heaven and transfers it into the natural when it is purified fromevils, filling it with the knowledges of truth and good, and adapting tothem the knowledges (scientiae) that are from world, for the sake ofproof and agreement. Thus man has a rational, and thus he has anunderstanding. He who believes that man has a rational and anunderstanding before his natural has been purified from evils isdeceived, for the understanding is seeing truths of the church from thelight of heaven; and the light of heaven does not flow into those notpurified. And as the understanding is perfected, the falsities ofreligion and of ignorance and all fallacies are dispersed. (A. E. , n. 941. )

When a man has been admitted by the opening of his internal into heaven, and receives light therefrom, the same affections that angels of heavenhave, with their pleasures and delights, are communicated to him. Thefirst affection then granted is an affection for truth; the second is anaffection for good; and the third is an affection for bringing forthfruits. For when a man has been admitted into heaven and into its lightand heat he is like a tree growing from its seed. His first buddingforth is from enlightenment; his blossoming before the fruit is from anaffection for truth; the putting forth of fruit that follows is from anaffection for good; the multiplication of itself again into trees isfrom an affection for producing fruit. The heat of heaven, which islove, and the light of heaven, which is the understanding of truth fromthat love, bring forth in subjects of life things like those that theheat of the world and its light bring forth in subjects not of life. That like things are brought forth is from correspondence. But in bothcases the production is effected in springtime; and springtime in man iswhen he enters heaven, which is effected when his spiritual internal isopened; before that it is the time of winter to him. (A. E. , n. 942. )

Man has affection for truth when he loves truth and turns away fromfalsity. He has an affection for good when he loves good uses and turnsaway from evil uses. He has an affection for bringing forth fruit whenhe loves to do goods and to be serviceable. All heavenly joy is inthese affections and from them, and this joy cannot be described bycomparisons, for it is supereminent and eternal. (A. E. , n. 943. )

Into this state the man comes who shuns evils because they are sins, andlooks to the Lord; and so far as he comes into this state he turns awayfrom and hates evils as sins, and acknowledges in heart and worships theLord only, and His Divine in the Human. This is a summary. (A. E. , n. 944. )

When a man is in that state he is raised up from what is his own(proprium); for a man is in what is his own (proprium) when he is onlyin the natural external, but he is raised up from what is his own(proprium) when he is in the spiritual internal. This raising up fromwhat is his own man perceives only by this, that he does not thinkevils, and that he turns away from thinking them, and takes delight intruths and in good uses. And yet if such a man advances further intothat state he perceives influx by a kind of thought; but he is notwithheld from thinking and willing as if from himself, for this the Lordwills for the sake of reformation. Nevertheless, man should acknowledgethat nothing of good or of truth therefrom is from himself, but all isfrom the Lord. (A. E. , n. 945. )

It follows from this that when man shuns and turns away from evils assins and is raised up into heaven by the Lord, he is not longer in whatis his own (proprium), but in the Lord, and thus he thinks and willsgoods. Again, since man acts as he thinks and wills, for every act ofman goes forth from the thought of his will, it follows that when heshuns and turns away from evils he does goods from the Lord and not fromself; and this is why shunning evils is doing goods. The goods that aman does in this way are what are meant by good works; and good works intheir whole complex are what are meant by charity. Man cannot bereformed unless he thinks, wills, and does as if from himself, sincethat which is done as if by the man himself is conjoined to him andremains with him, while that which is not done as if by the man himself, not being received in any life of sense, flows through like ether; andthis is why the Lord wills that man should not only shun and turn awayfrom evils as if of himself, but should also think, will, and do as ifof himself, and yet acknowledge in heart that all these things are fromthe Lord. This he must acknowledge because it is the truth. (A. E. , n. 946. )

V. What Religion Consists In

Religion with man consists in a life according to the Divinecommandments, which are contained in a summary in the Decalogue. Hethat does not live according to these can have no religion, since hedoes not fear God, still less does he love God; nor does he fear man, still less does he love him. Can one who steals, commits adultery, kills, bears false witness fear God or man? Nevertheless everyone isable to live according to these commandments; and he who is wise does solive as a civil man, as a moral man, and as a natural man. And yet hewho does not live according to them as a spiritual man cannot be saved;since to live according to them as a spiritual man means to live so forthe sake of the Divine that is in them, while to live according to themas a civil man means for the sake of justice and to escape punishmentsin the world; and to live according to them as a moral man means for thesake of honesty, and to escape the loss of reputation and honor; whileto live according to them as a natural man means for the sake of what ishuman, and to escape the repute of having an unsound mind. 

All laws, civil, moral, and natural, prescribe that one must not steal, must not commit adultery, must not kill, must not bear false witness;and yet a man is saved not by shunning these evils from these lawsalone, but by shunning them also from spiritual law, thus shunning themas sins. For with such a man there is religion, and a belief that thereis a God, a heaven and a hell, and a life after death; with such a manthere is a civil life, a moral life, and a natural life; a civil lifebecause there is justice, a moral life because there is honesty, and anatural life because there is manhood. 

But he who does not live according to these commandments as a spiritualman is neither a civil man, nor a moral man, nor a natural man; for heis destitute of justice, of honesty, and even of manhood, since theDivine is not in these. For there can be nothing good in and fromitself, but only from God; so there can be nothing just, nothing trulyhonest or truly human in itself and from itself, but only from God, andonly when the Divine is in it. Consider whether anyone who has hell inhim, or who is a devil, can do what is just from justice or for the sakeof justice; in like manner what is honest, or what is truly human. Thetruly human is what is from order and according to order, and what isfrom sound reason; and God is order, and sound reason is from God. In aword, he who does not shun evils as sins is not a man. Everyone whomakes these commandments to belong to his religion becomes a citizen andan inhabitant of heaven; but he who does not make them to belong to hisreligion, although in externals he may live according to them fromnatural, moral, and civil law, becomes a citizen and an inhabitant ofthe world, but not of heaven. 

Most nations possess a knowledge of these commandments, and make themthe commandments of their religion, and live according to them becauseGod so wills and has commanded; and through this they have communicationwith heaven and conjunction with God, consequently they are saved. Butmost in the Christian world at this day do not make them thecommandments of their religion, but only of their civil and moral life;and they do this that they may not appear in external form to actfraudulently and make unlawful gains, commit adulteries, manifestlypursue others from deadly hatred and revenge, and bear false witness, and do not refrain from these things because they are sins and againstGod, but because they have fears for their life, their reputation, theiroffice, their business, their possessions, their honor and gain, andtheir pleasure; consequently if they were not restrained by these bondsthey would do these things. Because, therefore, such form forthemselves no communication with heaven or conjunction with the Lord, but only with the world and with self, they cannot be saved. 

Consider is respect to yourself, when these external bonds have beentaken away, as is done with every man after death, if there are nointernal bonds, which are from fear and love of God, thus from religion, to restrain and hold you back, whether you would not rush like a devilinto thefts, adulteries, murders, false witnesses, and lusts of everykind, from a love of these and a delight in them. That this is the caseI have both seen and heard. (A. E. , n. 948. )

So far as evils are set aside as sins so far goods flow in, and so fardoes man afterward do goods, not from self, but from the Lord. 

As, first, so far as one does not worship other gods, and thus does notlove self and the world above all things, so far acknowledgment of Godflows in from the Lord, and then he worships God, not from self but fromthe Lord. 

Secondly, so far as one does not profane the name of God, that is, sofar as he shuns the lusts arising from the loves of self and of theworld, so far he loves the holy things of the Word and of the church;for these are the name of God, and are profaned by the lusts arisingfrom the loves of self and of the world. 

Thirdly, so far as one shuns thefts, and thus shuns frauds and unlawfulgains, so far sincerity and justice enter, and he loves what is sincereand just from sincerity and justice, and thus does what is sincere andjust not from self but from the Lord. 

Fourthly, so far as one shuns adulteries and thus shuns unchaste andfilthy thoughts, so far marriage love enters, which is the inmost loveof heaven, and in which chastity itself has its seat. 

Fifthly, so far as one shuns murders, and thus shuns deadly hatreds andrevenges that breathe murder, so far the Lord enters with mercy andlove. 

Sixthly, so far as one shuns false testimonies, and thus shuns lies andblasphemies, so far truth from the Lord enters. 

Seventhly, so far as one shuns a covetousness for the house of others, and thus shuns the love and consequent lusts for possessing the goods ofothers, so far charity toward the neighbor enters from the Lord. 

Eighthly, so far as one shuns a covetousness for the wives of others, their servants, etc. , and thus shuns the love and consequent lusts ofruling over others (for the things enumerated in this commandment arewhat belong to man), so far love to the Lord enters. 

These eight commandments include the evils that must be shunned, but thetwo others, namely, the third and fourth, include certain things thatmust be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and thatparents must be honored. But how these two commandments should beunderstood, not by men of the Jewish church but by men of the Christianchurch, will be told elsewhere. (A. E. , n. 949). 

Part Second--THE COMMANDMENTS

I. The First Commandment

"Thou shalt not make to thee other gods" includes not loving self andthe world above all things; for that which one loves above all things ishis god. There are two directly opposite loves, love of self and loveto God, also love of the world and love of heaven. He who loves himselfloves his own (proprium); and as a man's own (proprium) is nothing butevil he also loves evil in its whole complex; and he who loves evilhates good, and thus hates God. He who loves himself above all thingssinks his affections and thoughts in the body, and thus in his own(proprium), and from this he cannot be raised up by the Lord; and whenone is sunk in the body and in his own (proprium) he is in corporealideas and in pleasures that pertain solely to the body, and thus inthick darkness in respect to higher things; while he who is raised up bythe Lord is in light. He who is not in the light of heaven but in thickdarkness, since he sees nothing of God, denies God and acknowledges asgod either nature or some man, or some idol, and even aspires to behimself worshipped as a god. From this it follows that he who lovesself above all things worships other gods. 

The same is true, but in a less degree, of one who loves the world; forthere cannot be so great a love of the world as of one's own (proprium);therefore the world is loved because of one's own and for the sake ofone's own, because it is serviceable to it. Love of self meansespecially the love of ruling over others from a mere delight in rulingand for the sake of eminence, and not from a delight in uses and for thesake of public good; while love of the world means especially a love ofpossessing goods in the world from a mere delight in possession and forthe sake of riches, and not from a delight in uses from these and forthe sake of the consequent good. These loves are both of them withoutlimit, and rush on, so far as scope is given, to infinity. (A. E. , n. 950. )

It is not believed in the world that the love of ruling from a meredelight in ruling, and the love of possessing goods from a mere delightin possession, and not from delight in uses, conceal in themselves allevils, and also a contempt for and rejection of all things pertaining toheaven and the church; and for the reason that man is stirred up by thelove of self and love of the world to right doing in respect to thechurch, to the country, to society, and to the neighbor, by making gooddeeds honorable and looking for reward. Therefore this love is calledby many the fire of life, and the incitement to great things. 

But it is to be noted that so far as these two loves give uses the firstplace and self the second they are good, while so far as they give selfthe first place and uses the second they are evil, since man then doesall things for the sake of self and consequently from self, and thus inevery least thing he does there is self and what is his own (proprium), which regarded in itself is nothing but evil. But to give uses the firstplace and self the second is to do good for the sake of the church, thecountry, society, and the neighbor; and the goods that man does to thesefor the sake of these are not from man but from the Lord. Thedifference between these two is like the difference between heaven andhell. Man does not know that there is such a difference, because frombirth and thus from nature he is in these loves, and because the delightof these loves continually flatters and pleases him. 

But let him consider that a love of ruling from delight in ruling, andnot from a delight in uses, is wholly devilish; and such a man may becalled an atheist; for so far as he is in that love he does not in hisheart believe in the existence of God, and to the same extent he deridesin his heart all things of the church, and he even hates and pursueswith hatred all who acknowledge God, and especially those whoacknowledge the Lord. The very delight of the life of such is to doevil and to commit wicked and infamous deeds of every kind. In a word, they are very devils. 

This a man does not know so long as he lives in the world: but he willknow that it is so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he doesimmediately after death. Hell is full of such, where instead of havingdominion they are in servitude. 

Moreover, when they are looked at in the light of heaven they appearinverted, with the head downward and the feet upward, since they gaverule the first place and uses the second; and that which is in the firstplace is the head, and that which is in the second is the feet; and thatwhich is the head is loved, but that which is the feet is despised. (A. E. , n. 951. )

He who supposes that he acknowledges and believes that there is a Godbefore he abstains from the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, especiallyfrom the love of ruling from a delight in ruling, and from the love ofpossessing the goods of the world from a delight in possession, and notfrom delight in uses, is mistaken. Let a man confirm himself as fullyas he can, from the Word, from preachings, from books, and from thelight of reason, that there is a God, and thus be persuaded that hebelieves, yet he does not believe unless the evils that spring from loveof self and of the world have been removed. The reason is that evilsand their delights block up the way, and shut out and repel goods andtheir delights from heaven, and prevent their establishment. And untilheaven is established there is only a faith of the lips, which in itselfis no faith, and there is no faith of the heart, which is real faith. Afaith of the lips is faith in externals, a faith of the heart is faithin internals; and if the internals are crowded with evils of every kind, when the externals are taken away (as they are with every man afterdeath), man rejects from them even the faith that there is a God. (A. E. , n. 952. )

So far as a man resists his own two loves, which are the love of rulingfrom the mere delight in rule and the love of possessing the goods ofthe world from the mere delight in possession, thus so far as he shunsas sins the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, so far there flows inthrough heaven from the Lord, that there is a God, who is the Creatorand Preserver of the universe, and even that God is one. This thenflows in for the reason that when evils have been removed heaven isopened, and when heaven is opened man no longer thinks from self butfrom the Lord through heaven; and that there is a God and that God isone is the universal principle in heaven which comprises all things. That from influx alone man knows and as it were sees that God is one, isevident from the common confession of all nations, and from a repugnanceto think that there are many gods. 

Man's interior thought, which is the thought of his spirit, is eitherfrom hell or from heaven; it is from hell before evils have beenremoved, but from heaven when they have been removed. When this thoughtis from hell man sees no otherwise than that nature is god, and that theinmost of nature is what is called the Divine. When such a man afterdeath becomes a spirit he calls anyone a god who is especially powerful;and also himself strives for power that he may be called a god. All theevil have such madness lurking inwardly in their spirit. But when a manthinks from heaven, as he does when evils have been removed, he seesfrom the light in heaven that there is a God and that He is one. Seeingfrom light out of heaven is what is meant by influx. (A. E. , n. 954. )

When a man shuns and turns away from evils because they are sins he notonly sees from the light of heaven that there is a God and the God isone, but also that God is a Man. For he wishes to see his God, and heis incapable of seeing Him otherwise than as a Man. Thus did theancients before Abraham and after him see God; thus do the nations inlands outside the church see God from an interior perception, especiallythose who are interiorly wise although not from knowledges; thus do alllittle children and youths and simple well-disposed adults see God; andthus do the inhabitants of all earths see God; for they declare thatwhat is invisible, since it does not come into the thought, does notcome into faith. The reason of this is that the man who shuns and turnsaway from evils as sins thinks from heaven; and the whole heaven, andeveryone there, has no other idea of God than that He is a Man; nor canhe have any other idea, since the whole heaven is a man in the largestform, and the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is what makes heaven;consequently to think otherwise of God than according to that Divineform, which is the human form, is impossible to angles, since angelicthoughts pervade heaven. 

(That the whole heaven in the complex answers to a single man may beseen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 51-86; and that the angels thinkaccording to the form of heaven, n. 200-212. )

This idea of God flows in from heaven into all in the world, and has itsseat in their spirit; but it seems to be rooted out in those in thechurch who are in intelligence from what is their own (proprium), indeedso rooted out as to be no longer a possible idea; and this for thereason that they think of God from space. But when these become spiritsthey think otherwise, as has been made evident to me by much experience. For in the spiritual world an indeterminate idea of God is no idea ofHim; consequently the idea there is determined to someone who has hisseat either on high or elsewhere, and who gives answers. 

From a general influx which is from the spiritual world men havereceived ideas of God as a Man variously according to the state ofperception; and for this reason the triune God is with us calledPersons; and in paintings in churches God the Father is represented as aman, the Ancient of Days. It is also from a general influx that men, both living and dead, who are called saints, are adored as gods by thecommon people in Christian Gentilism, and their sculptured images areesteemed. The same is true of many nations elsewhere, of the ancientpeoples in Greece, in Rome, and in Asia, who had many gods, all of whomwere regarded by them as men. This has been said to make known thatthere is an intuition, namely, in man's spirit, to see God as a man. That is called an intuition which is from general influx. (A. E. , n. 955. )

As man from a general influx out of heaven sees in his spirit that Godis a Man, it follows that those who are of the church where the Word is, if they shun and turn away from evils as sins, see, from the light ofheaven in which they then are, the Divine in the Lord's Human, and thetrine in Him, and Himself to be the God of heaven and earth. But thosewho by intelligence from what is their own (proprium) have destroyed inthemselves the idea of God as a Man are unable to see this; neither dothey see from the trinity that is in their thought that God is one; theycall Him one with the lips only. But those who have not been purifiedfrom evils, and therefore are not in the light of heaven, do not intheir spirit see the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth; but inplace of the Lord some other being is acknowledged; by some of thesesomeone whom they believe to be God the Father; by others someone whomthey call God because he is especially powerful; by others some devilwhom they fear because he can bring evil upon them; by others Nature, asin the world; and by others no God at all. It is said in their spirit, because they are such after death when they become spirits; thereforewhat lay concealed in their spirit in the world then becomes manifest. But all who are in heaven acknowledge the Lord only, since the wholeheaven is from the Divine that goes forth from Him, and answers to Himas a Man; and for this reason no one can enter heaven unless he is inthe Lord, for he enters into the Lord when he enters into heaven. Ifothers enter they lose their mind and fall backward. (A. E. , n. 956. )

The idea of God is the chief of all ideas; for such as this idea is suchis man's communication with heaven and his conjunction with the Lord, and such is his enlightenment, his affection for truth and good, hisperception, intelligence, and wisdom; for these are not from man butfrom the Lord according to conjunction with Him. The idea of God is theidea of the Lord and His Divine, for no other is God of heaven and Godof earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew:

"Authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth" (xxviii. 18). 

But the idea of the Lord is more or less full and more or less clear; itis full in the inmost heaven, less full in the middle, and still lessfull in the outmost heaven; therefore those who are in the inmost heavenare in wisdom, those who are in the middle in intelligence, and thosewho are in the outmost in knowledge. The idea is clear in the angelswho are at the center of the societies of heaven; and less clear inthose who are round about, according to the degrees of distance from thecenter. 

All in the heavens have places allotted them according to the fullnessand clearness of their idea of the Lord, and they are in correspondentwisdom and in correspondent felicity. All those who have no idea of theLord as Divine, like the Socinians and Arians, are under the heavens, and are unhappy. Those who have a twofold idea, namely, of an invisibleGod and of a visible God in a human form, also have their place underthe heavens, and are not received until they acknowledge one God, andHim visible. Some in the place of a visible God see as it weresomething aerial, and this because God is called a spirit. If this ideais not changed in them into the idea of a Man, thus of the Lord, theyare not accepted. But those who have an idea of God as the inmost ofnature are rejected, because they cannot help falling into the idea ofnature as being God. All nations that have believed in one God, and havehad an idea of Him as a Man, are received by the Lord. From all this itcan be seen who those are that worship God Himself and who those arethat worship other gods, thus who live according to the firstcommandment of the Decalogue and who do not. (A. E. , n. 957. )

II. The Second Commandment

The second commandment is, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God. "

In the first place, what is meant by "the name of God" shall be told, and afterward what is meant by "profaning" it. "The name of God" meansevery quality by which God is worshipped. For God is in His ownquality, and is His own quality. His essence is Divine love, and Hisquality is Divine truth therefrom united with Divine good; thus with uson earth it is the Word; consequently it is said in John:

"The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (i. 1). 

So, too, it is the doctrine of genuine truth and good from the Word; forworship is according to that. 

Now as His quality is manifold, for it comprises all things that arefrom Him, so He has many names; and each name involves and expresses Hisquality in general and in particular. He is called "Jehovah, " "Jehovahof Hosts, " "Lord, " "Lord Jehovah, " "God, " "Messiah (or Christ), ""Jesus, " "Saviour, " "Redeemer, " "Creator, " "Former, " "Maker, " "King, "and "the Holy One of Israel, " "the Rock" and "the Stone of Israel, ""Shiloh, " "Almighty, " "David, " "Prophet, " "Son of God, " and "Son ofMan, " and so on. All these names are names of the one God, who is theLord; and yet where they occur in the Word they signify some universalDivine attribute or quality distinct from other Divine attributes orqualities. So, too, where He is called "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, "three are not meant, but one God; that is, there are not three Divines, but one; and this trine which is one is the Lord. 

Since each name signifies some distinct attribute or quality, "toprofane the name of God" does not mean to profane His name itself butHis quality. "Name" signifies quality for the reason that in heaveneveryone is named according to his quality; and the quality of God orthe Lord is everything that is from Him by which He is worshipped. Forthis reason, since no Divine quality of the Lord is acknowledged in hellthe Lord cannot be named there; and in the spiritual world His namescannot be uttered by anyone except so far as His Divine is acknowledged;for there all speak from the heart, thus from love and consequentacknowledgment. (A. E. , n. 959. )

Since "the name of God" means that which is from God and which is God, and this is called Divine truth, and with us the Word, this must not beprofaned, because it is in itself Divine and most holy; and it isprofaned when its holiness is denied, which is done when it is despised, rejected, and treated contemptuously. When this is done heaven isclosed and man is left to hell. For as the Word is the only medium ofconjunction of heaven with the church, so when the Word is cast out ofthe heart that conjunction is dissolved; and because man is then left tohell he no longer acknowledges any truth of the church. 

There are two things by which heaven is closed to the men of the church. One is a denial of the Lord's Divine, and the other is a denial of theholiness of the Word; and for this reason, that the Lord's Divine is theall of heaven; and Divine truth, which is the Word in the spiritualsense, is what makes heaven; which makes clear that he who denies theone or the other denies that which is the all of heaven and from whichheaven is and exists, and thus deprives himself of communication andconsequent conjunction with heaven. To profane the Word is the same as"blaspheming the Holy Spirit, " which is not forgiven to anyone, consequently it is said in this commandment that he who profanes thename of God shall not be left unpunished. (A. E. , n. 960. )

As Divine truth or the Word is meant by "the name of God, " and theprofanation of it means a denial of its holiness, and thus contempt, rejection, and blasphemy, it follows that the name of God is interiorlyprofaned by a life contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue. Forthere can be a profanation that is inner and not outer, and there can bea profanation that is inner and at the same time outer, and there can bealso a kind of profanation that is outer and not at the same time inner. Inner profanation is wrought by the life, outer by the speech. Innerprofanation, which is wrought by the life, becomes outer also, or of thespeech, after death. For then everyone thinks and wills, and so far asit can be permitted, speaks and acts, according to his life; thus not ashe did in the world. In the world man is wont [accustomed], for theworld's sake and to gain reputation, to speak and act otherwise than ashe thinks and wills from his life. This is why it has been said thatthere can be a profanation that is inner and not at the same time outer. That there can be also a kind of profanation that is outer and not atthe same time inner is possible from the style of the Word, which is notat all the style of the world, and for this reason it may be to someextent despised from an ignorance of its interior sanctity. (A. E. , n. 962. )

He who abstains from profaning the name of God, that is, the holiness ofthe Word, by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy, has religion; andsuch as his abstinence is such is his religion. For no one has religionexcept from revelation, and with us revelation is the Word. Abstinencefrom profaning the holiness of the Word must be from the heart, and notmerely from the mouth. Those who abstain from the heart live fromreligion; but those who abstain merely from the mouth do not live fromreligion, for they abstain either for the sake of self or for the sakeof the world, in that the Word can be made to serve them as a means ofacquiring honor and gain; or they abstain from some fear. But of thesemany are hypocrites who have no religion. (A. E. , n. 963. )

III. The Third Commandment

The third commandment is, to keep the Sabbath holy. 

The third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue contain things thatmust be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and thatparents must be honored. The other commandments contain things that arenot to be done, namely, that other gods must not be worshipped; that thename of God must not be profaned; that one must not steal, must notcommit adultery, must not bear false witness, must not covet the goodsof others. These two commandments are commandments to be done becausethe sanctification of the rest of the commandments depends upon these, for the "Sabbath" signifies the union in the Lord of the Divine itselfand the Divine Human, also His conjunction with heaven and the church, and thus the marriage of good and truth in the man who is beingregenerated. This being the signification of the Sabbath, it was thechief representative of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church, as is evident in Jeremiah (xvii. 20-27), and elsewhere. It was thechief representative of all things of worship, because the first thingin all things of worship is the acknowledgment of the Divine in theLord's Human, for without that acknowledgment man can believe and doonly from self, and to believe from self is to believe falsities, and todo from self is to do evils, as is also evident from the Lord's words inJohn:

To those asking, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?"Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom Godhath sent" (vi. 28, 29). 

And in the same, "He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; forapart from Me ye can do nothing" (xv. 5). 

That the Sabbath represented that union and the holy acknowledgment ofit, has been fully shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that the"Sabbath" signified in the highest sense the union of the Divine itselfand the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the conjunctionof the Lord's Human with heaven and with the church, in general theconjunction of good and truth, thus the heavenly marriage (n. 8495, 10356, 10730). Therefore the rest on the Sabbath day signified thestate of that union, because the Lord then has rest; also through thatunion there is peace and salvation in the heavens and on the earth. Ina relative sense it signified the conjunction of man with the Lord, because man then has peace and salvation (n. 8494, 8510, 10360, 10367, 10370, 10374, 10668, 10730). The six days preceding the Sabbathsignified the labors and combats that precede union and conjunction (n. 8510, 8888, 9431, 10360, 10667). The man who is being regenerated is intwo states, the first when he is in truths and by means of truths isbeing led to good and into good, the other when he is in good. When manis in the first state he is in combats or temptations; but when he is inthe second state he is in the tranquillity of peace. The former stateis signified by the six days of labor that precede the Sabbath; and thelatter state is signified by the rest on the Sabbath day (n. 9274, 9431, 10360). The Lord also was in two states: the first when He was Divinetruth and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them, theother when He was made Divine good by union with the very Divine inHimself. The former state was signified in the highest sense by the sixdays of labor, and the latter by the Sabbath (n. 10360). Because suchthings were represented by the Sabbath, it was the chief representativeof worship, and the holiest of all (n. 10357, 10372). "To do work onthe Sabbath day" signified to be led not by the Lord but by self, thusto be disjoined (n. 7893, 8495, 10360, 10362, 10365). The Sabbath dayis not now representative, but is a day of instruction (n. 10360 at theend). (A. E. , n. 965. )

IV. The Fourth Commandment

The fourth commandment of the Decalogue is that parents must be honored. 

This commandment was given because honor to parents represented and thussignified love to the Lord and love toward the church, for "father" inthe heavenly sense, that is, the Heavenly Father, is the Lord; and"mother" in the heavenly sense, that is, the heavenly mother, is thechurch; "honor" signifies good of love; and "length of days, " which suchwill have, signifies the happiness of eternal life. So is thiscommandment understood in heaven, where no father but the Lord is known, and no mother but the kingdom of the Lord, which is also the church. For the Lord gives life from Himself, and through the church He givesnourishment. That in the heavenly sense no father in the world can bemeant, and indeed, when man is in a heavenly idea, can be mentioned, theLord teaches in Matthew:

"Call no man your father on earth; for one is your Father who is in theheavens" (xxiii. 9). 

That "Father" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine good may be seenin the Apocalypse Explained (n. 32, 200, 254, 297). That "mother"signifies the Lord's kingdom, the church, and Divine truth, may be seenin the Arcana Coelestia (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897); that"length of days" signifies the happiness of eternal life (n. 8898); andthe "honor" signifies good of love (n. 8897), and Apocalypse Explained(n. 228, 345). All this makes clear that the third and fourthcommandments involve arcana relating to the Lord, namely, acknowledgmentand confession of His Divine, and worship of Him from good of love. (A. E. , n. 966. )

V. The Fifth Commandment

The fifth commandment is, "Thou shalt not steal. " By "thefts" both openthefts and those not open are meant, such as unlawful usury and gains, which are effected by fraud and craft under various pretenses to makethem appear lawful, or so done clandestinely as not to appear at all. Such gains are commonly made by higher and lower managers of the goodsof others, by merchants, also by judges who sell judgments and thus makejustice purchasable. These and many other things are thefts that mustbe abstained from and shunned, and finally renounced as sins againstGod, because they are against the Divine laws that are in the Word andagainst this law, which is one among the fundamental laws of allreligions in the whole globe. For these ten commandments areuniversals, given to the end that in living from these a man may livefrom religion, since by a life from religion man is conjoined withheaven, while a life according to these from obedience to civil andmoral law conjoins man with the world and not with heaven, and to beconjoined with the world and not with heaven is to conjoined with hell. (A. E. , n. 967. )

Man is so created as to be an image of heaven and an image of the world, for he is a microcosm. He is born of his parents an image of the world, and he is born again to be an image of heaven. To be born again is tobe regenerated; and man is regenerated by the Lord by means of truthsfrom the Word and a life according to them. Man is an image of theworld in respect to his natural mind, and he is an image of heaven inrespect to his spiritual mind. The natural mind, which is the world, isbeneath; and the spiritual mind, which is heaven, is above. The naturalmind is full of all kinds of evil, such as thefts, adulteries, murders, false witnesses, covetousnesses, and even blasphemies and profanationsrespecting God. These evils and many others have their seat in thatmind, for the loves of them are there, and thus the delights ofthinking, willing, and doing them. 

These things are inborn in that mind from parents, for man is born andgrows up into the things that are in that mind, and is restrained onlyby the bonds of civil law and by the bonds of moral life from doingthem, and from thus manifesting the tendencies of his depraved will. Who cannot see that the Lord cannot flow in out of heaven into man andteach him and lead him until these evils have been removed? For theyobstruct, repel, pervert, and suffocate the truths and goods of heaven, which present themselves from above, press down, and strive to flow in. For evils are infernal and goods are heavenly, and everything infernalburns with hatred against everything heavenly. 

This makes clear that before the Lord can flow in with heaven out ofheaven and form man to the image of heaven, those evils that lie heapedup in the natural mind must needs be removed. Moreover, as the removalof evils must come first before man can be taught and led by the Lord, the reason is evident why in eight commandments of the Decalogue theevil works that must not be done are recounted, but not the good worksthat must be done. Good does not exist together with evil, nor does itexist until evils have been removed; for until then there is no waypossible from heaven into man. Man is like a dark sea, the waters ofwhich must be removed on either side before the Lord in a cloud and infire can give a passage to the sons of Israel. The "dark sea" signifieshell, "Pharaoh with the Egyptians" the natural man, and "the sons ofIsrael" the spiritual man. (A. E. , n. 969. )

Communication with heaven is not possible until the evils and thefalsities therefrom with which the natural mind is stopped up have beenremoved; for these are like black clouds between the sun and the eye, orlike a wall between the light of heaven and the lumen of a candle in achamber. For so long as a man is in the lumen of the natural man only heis like one shut up in a chamber where he sees by a candle. But as soonas the natural man has been purified from evils and falsities therefromhe is as if he saw through windows in the wall the things of heaven fromthe light of heaven. For as soon as evils have been removed, the highermind, which is called the spiritual mind, is opened, and this, viewed initself, is a type or image of heaven. Through this mind the Lord flowsin and enables man to see from the light of heaven, and through this Healso reforms and at length regenerates the natural man, and implants init truths in the place of falsities and goods in the place of evils. This the Lord does through spiritual love, which is a love for truth andgood. Man is then placed in the midst between two loves, between thelove of evil and the love of good; and when the love of evil recedes thelove of good takes its place. The love of evil recedes solely through alife according to the commandments of the Decalogue, that is, throughrefraining from evils there enumerated because they are sins, andfinally shunning them as infernal. 

In a word, so long as man does not refrain from evils because they aresins the spiritual mind is shut; but as soon as he refrains from evilsbecause they are sins the spiritual mind is opened, and with that mindheaven also. And when heaven is opened man comes into another light inrespect to all things of the church, heaven, and eternal life; althoughso long as man lives in this world the difference between this and theformer light is scarcely noticeable, and for the reason that in theworld man thinks naturally even about spiritual things, and until hepasses from the natural into the spiritual world spiritual things areenclosed in natural ideas; but in the spiritual world spiritual thingsare disclosed, perceived, and made evident. (A. E. , n. 970. )

So far as man refrains from evils and shuns and turns away from them assins, good flows in from the Lord. The good that flows in is anaffection for knowing and understanding truths, and an affection forwilling and doing goods. But man cannot refrain from evils by shunningand turning away from them of himself, for he himself is in evils fromhis birth, and thus from nature; and evils cannot of themselves shunevils, for this would be like a man's shunning his own nature, which isimpossible; consequently it must be the Lord, who is Divine good andDivine truth, who causes man to shun them. 

Nevertheless, man ought to shun evils as if of himself, for what a mandoes as if of himself becomes his and is appropriated to him as his own;while what he does not as if of himself in no wise becomes his or isappropriated to him. What comes from the Lord to man must be received byman; and it cannot be received unless he is conscious of it that is, asif of himself. This reciprocation is a necessity to reformation. 

This is why the ten commandments were given, and why it is commanded inthem that man shall not worship other gods, shall not profane the nameof God, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery, shall not kill, shall not covet the house, wife, or servants of another, thus that manshall refrain from doing these things by thinking, when the love of evilallures and incites, that they must not be done because they are sinsagainst God, and in themselves are infernal. So far, therefore, as aman shuns these evils so far the love of truth and good enters from theLord; and this love causes man to shun these evils, and at length toturn away from them as sins. And as the love of truth and good putsthese evils to flight it follows that man shuns them not from himselfbut from the Lord, since the love of truth and good is from the Lord. If a man shuns evils merely from a fear of hell they are withdrawn; butgoods do not take their place; for as soon as the fear departs the evilsreturn. 

To man alone is it granted to think as if of himself about good andevil, that is, that good must be loved and done because it is Divine andremains to eternity, and that evil must be hated and not done because itis devilish and remains to eternity. To think thus is not granted toany beast. A beast can do good and shun evil, yet not of itself, buteither from instinct or habit or fear, and never from the thought thatsuch a thing is a good or an evil, thus not of itself. Consequently, one who would have it believed that man shuns evils or does goods not asif of himself but from an imperceptible influx, or from the imputationof the Lord's merit, would also have it believed that man lives like abeast, without thought of, or perception of, or affection for, truth andgood. 

That this is so has been made clear to me from manifold experience inthe spiritual world. Every man after death is there prepared either forheaven or for hell. From the man who is prepared for heaven evils areremoved, and from the man who is prepared for hell goods are removed;and all such removals are effected as if by them. Likewise those who doevils are driven by punishments to reject them as if of themselves; butif they do not reject them as if of themselves the punishments are of noavail. By this it was made clear that those who hang down their hands, waiting for influx or for the imputation of the Lord's merit, continuein the state of their evil and hang down their hands forever. 

To shun evils as sins is to shun the infernal societies that are inthem, and man cannot shun these unless he repels them and turns awayfrom them; and a man cannot turn away from them with repulsion unless heloves good and from that love does not will evil. For a man must eitherwill evil or will good; and so far as he wills good he does not willevil; and it is granted him to will good when he makes the commandmentsof the Decalogue to be of his religion, and lives according to them. 

Since man must refrain from evils as sins as if of himself, these tencommandments were inscribed by the Lord on two tables, and these werecalled a covenant; and this covenant was entered into in the same way asit is usual to enter into covenants between two, that is, one proposesand the other accepts, and the one who accepts consents. If he does notconsent the covenant is not established. To consent to this covenant isto think, will, and do as if of oneself. Man's thinking to shun eviland to do good as if of himself is done not by man, but by the Lord. 

This is done by the Lord for the sake of reciprocation and consequentconjunction; for the Lord's Divine love is such that it wills that whatis its own shall be man's, and as these things cannot be man's, becausethey are Divine, it makes them to be as if they were man's. In this wayreciprocal conjunction is effected, that is, that man is in the Lord andthe Lord in man, according to the words of the Lord Himself in John(xiv. 20); for this would not be possible if there were not in theconjunction something belonging as it were to man. What man does as ifof himself he does as if of his will, of his affection, of his freedom, consequently of his life. Unless these were present on man's part as ifthey were his there could be no receptivity, because nothing reactive, thus no covenant and no conjunction; in fact, no ground whatever for theimputation that man had done evil or good or had believed truth orfalsity, thus that there is from merit a hell for anyone because of evilworks, or from grace a heaven for anyone because of good works. (A. E. , n. 971. )

He who refrains from thefts, understood in a broad sense, and even shunsthem from any other cause than religion and for the sake of eternallife, is not cleansed of them; for only by such refraining is heavenopened. For it is through heaven that the Lord removes evils in man, asthrough heaven He removes the hells. For example, there are higher andlower managers of property, merchants, judges, officers of every kind, and workmen, who refrain from thefts, that is, from unlawful modes ofgain and usury, and who shun these, but only to secure reputation andthus honor and gain, and because of civil and moral laws, in a word, from some natural love or natural fear, thus from merely externalconstraints, and not from religion; but the interiors of such are fullof thefts and robberies, and these burst forth when external constraintsare removed from them, as takes place with everyone after death. Theirsincerity and rectitude is nothing but a mask, a disguise, and a deceit. (A. E. , n. 972. )

So far then as the various kinds and species of theft are removed, andthe more they are removed, the kinds and species of goods to which theyby opposition correspond enter and occupy their place; and these havereference in general to what is sincere, right and just. For when a manshuns and turns away from unlawful gains through fraud and craft he sofar wills what is sincere, right, and just, and at length begins to lovewhat is sincere because it is sincere, what is right because it isright, and what is just because it is just. He begins to love thesethings because they are from the Lord, and the love of the Lord is inthem. For to love the Lord is not to love the person, but to love thethings that go forth from the Lord, for these are the Lord in man; thusit is to love sincerity itself, right itself, and justice itself. Andas these are the Lord, so far as a man loves these, and thus acts fromthem, so far he acts from the Lord and so far the Lord removesinsincerity and injustice in respect to the very intentions andvolitions in which they have their roots, and always with lessresistance and struggle, and therefore with less effort than in thefirst attempts. Thus it is that man thinks from conscience and actsfrom integrity, --not the man of himself but as if of himself; for hethen acknowledges from faith and also from perception that it seems asif he thought and did these things from himself, and yet he does themnot from himself but from the Lord. (A. E. , n. 973. )

When a man begins to shun and turn away from evils because they are sinsall things that he does are good, and may be called good works; with adifference according to the excellence of the use. For what a man doesbefore he shuns and turns away from evils as sins are works done by theman himself; and as the man's own (proprium), which is nothing but evil, is in these, and they are done for the sake of the world, so they areevil works. But the works that a man does after he shuns and turns awayfrom evils as sins are works from the Lord, and because the Lord is inthese and heaven with Him they are good works. 

The difference between works done by man and works done by the Lord inman is not apparent to man's vision, but is clearly evident to thevision of angels. Works done by man are like sepulchers outwardlywhitened, which within are full of dead men's bones. They are likeplatters and cups outwardly clean, but containing unclean things ofevery kind. They are like fruits inwardly rotten, but with the outerskin still shining; or like nuts and almonds eaten by worms within, while the shell remains untouched; or like a foul harlot with a fairface. Such are the good works done by man himself, since however goodthey appear on the outside, within they are full of impurities of everykind; for their interiors are infernal, while their exteriors appearheavenly. 

But as soon as man shuns and turns away from evils as sins his worksare good not only outwardly but inwardly also; and the more interiorthey are the more they are good, for the more interior they are thenearer they are to the Lord. Then they are like fruits that have afine-flavored pulp, in the center of which are depositories with manyseeds, from which new trees, even to whole gardens, may be produced;but everything and all things in his natural man are like eggs fromwhich swarms of flying creatures may be produced, and gradually fill agreat part of heaven. In a word, when man shuns and turns away fromevils as sins the works that he does are living works, while those thathe did before were dead works; for what is from the Lord is living butwhat is from man is dead. (A. E. , n. 974. )

It has been said that so far as a man shuns and turns away from evils assins he does goods, and that the goods that he does are such good worksas are described in the Word, for the reason that they are done in theLord; also that these works are good so far as man turns away from theevils opposed to them, because so far they are done by the Lord and notby man. Nevertheless, works are more or less good according to theexcellence of the use; for works must be uses. The best are those thatare done for the sake of uses to the church. Next in point of goodnesscome those that are done as uses to one's country; and so on, the usesdetermining the goodness of the works. 

The goodness of works increases in man according to the fullness oftruths from affection for which they are done; since the man who turnsaway from evils as sins wishes to know truths because truths teach usesand the quality of their good. This is why good loves truth and truthloves good, and they wish to be conjoined. So far, therefore, as such aman learns truths from an affection for them so far he does goods morewisely and more fully, more wisely because he knows how to distinguishuses and to do them with judgment and justice, and more fully becauseall truths are present in the performance of uses, and form thespiritual sphere that the affection for them produces. (A. E. , n. 975. )

Take judges for an example: All who make justice venal [purchasable] byloving the office of judging for the sake of gain from judgments, andnot for the sake of uses to their country, are thieves, and theirjudgments are thefts. It is the same if judgments are given according tofriendship or favor, for friendships and favors are also profits andgains. When these are the end and judgments are the means, all thingsthat are done are evil, and are what are meant in the Word by "evilworks" and "not doing judgment and justice, perverting the right of thepoor, of the needy, of the fatherless, of the widow, and of theinnocent. " And when such do justice, and yet regard profit as the endwhile they do a good work, to them it is not good; for justice, which isDivine, is to them a means, and such gain is the end; and that which ismade the end is everything, while that which is made the means isnothing except so far as it is serviceable to the end. Consequently, after death such judges continued to love what is unjust as well as whatis just, and are condemned to hell as thieves. I say this from what Ihave seen. These are such as do not abstain from evils because they aresins, but only because they fear punishments of the civil law and theloss of reputation, honor, and office, and thus of gain. 

It is otherwise with judges who abstain from evils as sins and shun thembecause they are contrary to the Divine laws, and thus contrary to God. Such make justice their end, and they venerate, cherish, and love it asDivine. In justice they see God, as it were, because everything just, like everything good and true, is from God. They always join justicewith equity and equity with justice, knowing that justice must be ofequity in order to be justice, and that equity must be of justice inorder to be equity, the same as truth is of good and good is of truth. 

As such make justice their end, their giving judgments is doing goodworks; yet these works, which are judgments, are to them more or lessgood as there is in their judgments more or less of regard forfriendship, favor, or gain; also as there is more or less in them of alove of what is just for the sake of the public good, which is thatjustice may prevail among their fellow citizens, and that those who liveaccording to the laws may have security. Such judges have eternal lifein a degree that accords with their works; for they are judged as theythemselves have judged. (A. E. , n. 976. )

Take as an example managers of the goods of others, higher or lower. Ifthese secretly by arts or under some pretext by fraud deprive theirkings, their country, or their masters of their goods, they have noreligion and thus no conscience, for they hold the Divine law respectingtheft in contempt and make it of no account. And although they frequentchurches, devoutly listen to preachings, observe the sacrament of theSupper, pray morning and evening, and talk piously from the Word, yetnothing from heaven flows in and is present in their worship, piety, ordiscourse, since their interiors are full of theft, plundering, robbery, and injustice; and so long as these are within, the way into them fromheaven is closed; consequently all the works they do are evil works. 

But the managers of property who shun unlawful gains and fraudulentprofits because they are contrary to the Divine law respecting theft, have religion, and thus also conscience; and all the works they do aregood, for they act from sincerity for the sake of sincerity, and fromjustice for the sake of justice, and furthermore are content with theirown, and are cheerful in mind and glad in heart whenever it happens thatthey have refrained from fraud; and after death they are welcomed by theangels and received by them as brothers, and are presented with goodthings even to abundance. But the opposite is true of evil managers;these after death are cast out of societies, and afterward seek wagesand finally are sent into the caverns of robbers to labor there. (A. E. , n. 977. )

Take merchants as an example: All their works are evil works so long asthey do not regard as sins, and thus shun as sins, unlawful gains andwrongful usury, also fraud and craft; for such works cannot be done fromthe Lord, but must be done from man himself. And the more expert theyare in skillfully and artfully contriving devices from within foroverreaching their companions the more evil are their works. And themore expert they are in bringing such devices into effect under thepretense of sincerity, justice, and piety, the more evil still are theirworks. The more delight a merchant feels in such things the more do hisworks have their origin in hell. 

But if he acts sincerely and justly in order to acquire reputation, andwealth through reputation, even so as to seem to act from a love ofsincerity and justice, and yet does not act sincerely and justly fromaffection for the Divine law or from obedience to it, he is stillinwardly insincere and unjust, and his works are thefts, for through apretense of sincerity and justice he seeks to steal. 

That this is so becomes evident after death, when man acts from hisinner will and love, and not from the outer; for then he thinks aboutand devises nothing but sharp practices and robberies, and withdrawshimself from those who are sincere, and betakes himself either toforests or deserts, where he devotes himself to stratagems. In a word, all such become robbers. 

But it is otherwise with merchants who shun as sins thefts of everykind, especially the more interior and hidden, which are effected bycraft and deceit. All the works of such are good, because they are fromthe Lord; for the influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from theLord, for accomplishing such works is not intercepted by the evils justmentioned. To such riches do no harm, because to them riches are meansfor uses. Their tradings are the uses by which they serve their countryand their fellow citizens; and through their riches they are in acondition to perform those uses to which affection for good leads them. (A. E. , n. 978. )

From what has been said above, what is meant in the Word by good workscan now be seen, namely, that they are all works done by man when evilshave been set aside as sins. For the works done after this are done byman only as if by him; for they are done by the Lord; and all works doneby the Lord are good, and are called goods of life, goods of charity, and good works; as for instance, all judgments of a judge who hasjustice as his end, all who venerates and loves it as Divine, and whodetests as infamous decisions made for the sake of rewards orfriendship, or from favor. Thus he consults the good of his country bycausing justice and judgment to reign therein as in heaven; and thus heconsults the peace of every innocent citizen and protects him from theviolence of evildoers. All these are good works. So all services ofmanagers and dealings of merchants are good works when they shununlawful gains as sins against the Divine laws. When a man shuns evilsas sins he daily learns what a good work is, and an affection for doinggood grows in him, and an affection for knowing truths for the sake ofgood; for so far as he knows truths he can perform works more fully andmore wisely, and thus his works become more truly good. Refrain, therefore, from asking in thyself, "What are the good works that I mustdo, or what good must I do to receive eternal life?" Only refrain fromevils as sins and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and leadyou. (A. E. , n. 979. )

VI. The Sixth Commandment

Thus far five commandments of the Decalogue have been explained. Nowfollows the explanation of the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commitadultery. "

Who at this day can believe that the delight of adultery is hell in man, and that the delight of marriage is heaven in him, consequently so faras he is in the one delight he is not in the other, since so far as manis in hell he is not in heaven? Who at this day can believe that thelove of adultery is the fundamental love of all hellish and devilishloves, and that the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love ofall heavenly and Divine loves; consequently so far as a man is in thelove of adultery he is in every evil love, if not in act yet inendeavor; and on the other hand, so far as he is in the chaste love ofmarriage he is in every good love, if not in act yet in endeavor? Whoat this day can believe that he who is in the love of adultery believesnothing of the Word, thus nothing of the church, and even in his heartdenies God; and on the other hand, that he who is in the chaste love ofmarriage is in charity and in faith, and in love to God; also that thechastity of marriage makes one with religion, and the lasciviousness ofadultery makes one with naturalism?

All this is at this day unknown because the church is at its end, and isdevastated in respect to truth and in respect to good; and when thechurch is such, the man of the church, by influx from hell, comes intothe persuasion that adulteries are not detestable things andabominations, and thus comes into the belief that marriages andadulteries do not differ in their essence, but only as a matter oforder, and yet the difference between them is like the differencebetween heaven and hell. That such is the difference between them willbe seen in what follows. This, then, is why in the Word in itsspiritual sense heaven and the church are meant by nuptials andmarriages, and hell and rejection of all things of the church are meantin the Word in its spiritual sense by adulteries and whoredoms. (A. E. , n. 981. )

Since adultery is hell in man and marriage is heaven in him, it followsthat so far as a man loves adultery he removes himself from heaven;consequently adulteries close heaven and open hell, and this they do sofar as they are believed to be allowable and are perceived to be moredelightful than marriages. The man, therefore, who confirms himself inadulteries and commits them from the favor and consent of his will, andturns away from marriage, closes heaven to himself, until finally heceases to believe anything of the church or of the Word, and becomes awholly sensual man, and after death an infernal spirit; for, as has beensaid above, adultery is hell, and thus an adulterer is a form of hell. And since adultery is hell it follows that unless a man abstains fromadulteries and shuns them and turns away from them as infernal he shutsup heaven to himself, and does not receive the least influx therefrom. Afterward he reasons that marriages and adulteries are alike, but thatmarriages must be maintained in kingdoms for the sake of order and thetraining of offspring; also that adulteries are not criminal, sincechildren are equally born from them; and they are not harmful to women, since they can endure them, and by them the procreation of the humanrace is promoted. He does not know that these and other like reasoningsin favor of adulteries ascend from the Stygian [extremely dark] watersof hell, and that the lustful and bestial nature of man which inheres inhim from birth attracts them and sucks them in with delight, as a swinedoes excrement. That such reasonings, which at this day possess theminds of most men in the Christian world, are diabolical, will be seen. (A. E. , n. 982. )

That marriage is heaven and that adultery is hell cannot be better seenthan from considering their origin. The origin of true marriage love isthe Lord's love for the church; and this is why the Lord is called inthe Word a "Bridegroom" and a "Husband, " and the church a "bride" and a"wife. " It is from this marriage that the church is a church in generaland in particular. The church in particular is a man in whom the churchis. From this it is clear that the Lord's conjunction with a man of thechurch is the very origin of true marriage love; and how thatconjunction can be the origin shall be told. 

The Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is a conjunction of goodand truth; good is from the Lord, and truth is a man, and from this isthe conjunction that is called the heavenly marriage, and from thatmarriage true marriage love exists between the married pair that are insuch conjunction with the Lord. 

From this it is now evident that true marriage love is from the Lordalone, and exists in those who are in the conjunction of good and truthfrom the Lord. As this conjunction is reciprocal it is said by the Lordthat

 They are in Him, and He in them (John xiv. 20). 

This conjunction or this marriage was thus established from creation. The man was created to be an understanding of truth, and the woman to bean affection for good; and thus the man to be a truth, and the woman tobe a good. When understanding of truth which is in the man makes onewith the affection for good which is in the woman, there is aconjunction of the two minds into one. This conjunction is thespiritual marriage from which marriage love descends. For when two mindsare so conjoined as to be one mind there is love between them; and whenthis love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, descends into thebody it becomes the love of natural marriage. That this is so anyonecan clearly perceive if he will. A married pair who interiorly or inrespect to their minds love each other mutually and reciprocally alsolove each other mutually and reciprocally in respect to their bodies. It is well known that all love descends into the body from an affectionof the mind, and that apart from such an origin no love exists. 

Since then the origin of marriage love is the marriage of good andtruth, which marriage in its essence is heaven, it is clear that theorigin of the love of adultery is a marriage of evil and falsity, whichin its essence is hell. Heaven is a marriage because all who are in theheavens are in a marriage of good and truth; and hell is adulterybecause all who are in the hells are in a marriage of evil and falsity. From this it follows that marriage and adultery are as opposite asheaven and hell are. (A. E. , n. 983. )

Man was so created as to be spiritual and celestial love, and thus animage and likeness of God. Spiritual love, which is a love for truth, is an image of God; and celestial love, which is a love for good, is alikeness of God. All angels in the third heaven are likenesses of God;and all angels in the second heaven are images of God. Man can becomethe love which is an image or likeness of God only by a marriage of goodand truth; for good and truth inmostly love one another, and ardentlylong to be united that they may be one; and for the reason that Divinegood and Divine truth go forth from the Lord united, therefore they mustbe united in an angel of heaven and in a man of the church. 

This union is by no means possible except by a marriage of two mindsinto one, since, as has been said before, man was created to be anunderstanding of truth, and thus a truth, and woman was created to be anaffection for good, and thus a good; therefore in them a conjunction ofgood and truth is possible. For marriage love which descends from thatconjunction is the veriest medium by which man (homo) becomes the lovethat is an image or likeness of God. For the married pair who are inconjugal love from the Lord love one another mutually and reciprocallyfrom the heart, thus from inmosts; and therefore although apparently twothey are actually one, two in respect to their bodies, but one inrespect to life. 

This may be compared to the eyes, which are two as organs but one inrespect to the sight; also to the ears, which are two as organs but onein respect to hearing; so, too, the arms and the feet are two as membersbut one in respect to use, the arms one in respect to action, and thefeet one in respect to walking. So with the other pairs with man. Allthese have reference to good and truth, the organ or member on the rightto good, and that on the left to truth. It is the same with a husbandand wife between whom there is a true marriage love; they are two inrespect to their bodies but one in respect to life; consequently inheaven the married pair are not called two angels but one. All thismakes clear that through marriage man becomes a form of love, and thus aform of heaven, which is an image and likeness of God. 

Man is born into a love of evil and falsity, which love is the love ofadultery; and this love cannot be turned about and changed intospiritual love, which is an image of God, and still less into celestiallove, which is a likeness of God, except by a marriage of good and truthfrom the Lord, and not fully except by a marriage of two minds and twobodies. From this it is clear why marriages are heavenly and adulteriesinfernal; for marriage is an image of heaven, and true marriage love isan image of the Lord, while adultery is an image of hell, and love ofadultery is an image of the devil. Moreover, marriage love appears inthe spiritual world in form like an angel, and love of adultery in formlike a devil. Reader, treasure this up within you, and after death, when you are living as a spirit-man, inquire whether this is true, andyou will see. (A. E. , n. 984. )

How profane and thus how much to be detested adulteries are can be seenfrom the holiness of marriages. All things in the human body, from thehead to the sole of the feet, both interior and exterior, correspond tothe heavens, and in consequence man is a heaven in its least form, andalso angels and spirits are in form perfectly human, for they are formsof heaven. All the members devoted to generation in both sexes, especially the womb, correspond to societies of the third or inmostheaven, and for the reason that true marriage love is derived from theLord's love for the church, and from the love of good and truth which isthe love of the angels of the third heaven; therefore marriage love, which descends therefrom as the love of that heaven, is innocence, whichis the very being (esse) of every good in the heavens. And for thisreason embryos in the womb are in a state of peace, and when they havebeen born as infants are in a state of innocence; so, too, is the motherin relation to them. 

As this is the correspondence of the genital organs in the two sexes, itis evident that by creation they are holy, and therefore they aredevoted solely to chaste and pure marriage love, and are not to beprofaned by the unchaste and impure love of adultery, by which manconverts the heaven in himself into hell; for as the love of marriagecorresponds to the love of the highest heaven, which is love to the Lordfrom the Lord, so the love of adultery corresponds to the love of thelowest hell. 

The love of marriage is so holy and heavenly because it has itsbeginning in the inmosts of man from the Lord Himself, and it descendsaccording to order to the outmosts of the body, and thus fills the wholeman with heavenly love and brings him into a form of the Divine love, which is the form of heaven, and is an image of the Lord. But the loveof adultery has its beginning in the outmosts of man from an impurelascivious fire there, and thus, contrary to order, penetrates towardthe interiors, always into the things that are man's own, which arenothing but evil, and brings these into a form of hell, which is animage of the devil. Therefore a man who loves adultery and turns awayfrom marriage is in form a devil. 

As the organs of generation in the two sexes correspond to the societiesof the third heaven, and the love of a married pair corresponds to thelove of good and truth, so those organs and that love correspond to theWord. The reason is that the Word is Divine truth united to Divine goodgoing forth from the Lord; and this is why the Lord is called "theWord, " also why in every particular of the Word there is a marriage ofgood and truth, or a heavenly marriage. That there is such acorrespondence is a mystery not yet known in the world, but it has beenmade evident and proved to me by much experience. 

From this also it is clear how holy and heavenly marriages are inthemselves, and how profane and diabolical adulteries are. And for thisreason adulterers make no account of Divine truths and thus of the Word, and if they were to speak from the heart they would even blaspheme theholy things that are in the Word. This they do when they have becomespirits after death, for every spirit is compelled to speak from theheart, that his interior thoughts may be revealed. (A. E. , n. 985. )

As all the delights that man has in the natural world are turned intocorrespondent delights in the spiritual world, so are the delights ofthe love of marriage and the delights of the love of adultery. The loveof marriage is represented in the spiritual world as a virgin, whosebeauty is such as to inspire the beholder with the charms of life; whilethe love of adultery is represented in the spiritual world by an oldwoman, whose deformity is such as to inspire in the beholder a coldnessand death to every charm of life. Therefore in the heavens the angelsare beautiful according to the quality of marriage love in them, and inthe hells the spirits are deformed according to the quality of the loveof adultery in them. In a word, the angels of heaven have life in theirfaces, in the movements of the body, and in their speech, in the measureof their marriage love, while the spirits of hell have death in theirfaces in the measure of their love of adultery. 

In the spiritual world the delights of marriage love are represented tothe sense by odors from fruits and flowers of various kinds, while thedelights of the love of adultery are there represented to the sense bythe stenches from excrements and putridities of various kinds. Moreover, the delights of the love of adultery are actually turned intosuch things, since all things pertaining to adultery are spiritualfilth. Therefore from the brothels in the hells stenches pour forththat excite vomiting. (A. E. , n. 986. )

How holy in themselves, that is, from creation, marriages are can beseen from the fact that they are the nurseries of the human race; and asthe angelic heaven is from the human race they are also the nurseries ofheaven; consequently by marriages not only the earths but also theheavens are filled with inhabitants; and as the end of the entirecreation is the human race, and thus heaven, where the Divine itself maydwell as in its own and as it were in itself, and as the procreation ofmankind according to Divine order is accomplished through marriages, itis clear how holy marriages are in themselves, that is, from creation, and thus how holy they should be esteemed. It is true that the earthmight be filled with inhabitants by fornications and adulteries as wellas by marriages, but not heaven; and for the reason that hell is fromadulteries but heaven from marriages. 

Hell is from adulteries because adultery is from the marriage of eviland falsity, from which hell in the whole complex is called adultery;while heaven is from marriages because marriage is from the marriage ofgood and truth, from which heaven in its whole complex is called amarriage. That is called adultery where its love, which is called a loveof adultery, reigns, whether it be within wedlock or apart from it, andthat is called marriage where its love, which is called marriage love, reigns. 

When procreations of the human race are effected by marriages in whichthe holy love of good and truth from the Lord reigns, then it is onearth as it is in the heavens, and the Lord's kingdom on earthcorresponds to the Lord's kingdom in the heavens. For the heavensconsist of societies arranged according to all the varieties ofcelestial and spiritual affections, from which arrangement the form ofheaven springs, and this pre-eminently surpasses all other forms in theuniverse. There would be a like form on the earth if the procreationsthere were effected by marriages in which a true marriage love reigned;for then, however many families might descend in succession from onehead of a family, there would spring forth as many images of thesocieties of heaven in a like variety. 

Families would then be like fruit-bearing trees of various kinds, forming as many different gardens, each containing its own kind offruit, and these gardens taken together would present the form of aheavenly paradise. This is said in the way of comparison, because"trees" signify men of the church, "gardens" intelligence, "fruits"goods of life, and "paradise" heaven. I have been told from heaven thatwith the most ancient people, from whom the first church on this globewas established, which was called by ancient writers the golden age, there was such a correspondence between families on the earth andsocieties in the heavens, because love to the Lord, mutual love, innocence, peace, wisdom, and chastity in marriages then prevailed; andit was also told me from heaven that they were then inwardly horrifiedat adulteries, as at the abominable things in hell. (A. E. , n. 987. )

That heaven is from marriages and hell from adulteries has been shownabove. What this means shall now be told. The hereditary evils intowhich man is born are not from Adam's having eaten of the tree ofknowledge, but from the adulteration of good and the falsification oftruth by parents, thus from the marriage of evil and falsity, from whicha love of adultery springs. The ruling love of parents by means of agerm from it passes over into the offspring and is transcribed upon itand becomes its nature. If the love of the parents is a love of adulteryit is also a love of evil for falsity and of falsity for evil. Fromthis source man has all evil, and from evil he has hell. All this makesclear that it is from adulteries that man has hell, until he is reformedby the Lord by means of truths and a life according to them. And no onecan be reformed unless he shuns adulteries as infernal and lovesmarriages as heavenly. In this and in no other way is hereditary evilbroken and rendered milder in the offspring. 

It is to be noted, however, that while from adulterous parents man isborn a hell, he is not born for hell but for heaven. For the Lordprovides that no one shall be condemned to hell on account of hereditaryevils, but only on account of the evils that the man has actually madehis own by his life, as can be seen from the lot of infants after death, all of whom are adopted by the Lord, educated under His auspices inheaven, and saved. This makes clear that every man, although from theevils with which he is born he is a hell, is born not for hell but forheaven. 

It is the same with every man born from adultery if he does not himselfbecome an adulterer. Becoming an adulterer means living in the marriageof evil and falsity by thinking evils and falsities from a delight inthem and by doing them from a love for them. Every man who does thisbecomes an adulterer. Moreover, it is from Divine justice that no onesuffers punishments on account of the evils of his parents, but only onaccount of his own; therefore the Lord provides that hereditary evilsshall not return after death, but only one's own evils, and it is onlyfor those that return that a man is then punished. (A. E. , n. 989. )

It has been said that the difference between a love of marriage and alove of adultery is like that between heaven and hell. There is a likedifference between the delights of these loves; for delights derivetheir all from the loves from which they spring. The delights of thelove of adultery derive what they are from the delights of doing eviluses, thus of evil-doing; and the delights of the love of marriage fromthe delights of doing good uses, thus of well-doing. Therefore such asthe delight of the evil is in doing evil such is the delight of theirlove of adultery; because a love of adultery descends therefrom. Thatit descends from that scarcely anyone can believe; and yet such is itsorigin. From this it is evident that the delight of adultery ascendsfrom the lowest hell. But the delight of the love of marriage, since itis from the love of the conjunction of good and truth and from the loveof doing good, is a heavenly delight; and it comes down from the inmostor third heaven, where love to the Lord from the Lord reigns. 

From this it can be seen that the difference between these two delightsis like that between heaven and hell. And yet, for a wonder, it isbelieved that the delight of marriage and the delight of adultery aresimilar; nevertheless the difference between them is such as has nowbeen described. But the difference can be discerned and felt only by onewho is in the delight of marriage love. One who is in that delightplainly feels that in the delight of marriage there is nothing impure orunchaste, thus nothing lascivious; and that in the delight of adulterythere is nothing but what is impure, unchaste, and lascivious. He feelsthat unchastity comes up from beneath, and that chastity comes down fromabove. But one who is in the delight of adultery is incapable offeeling this, because he feels what is infernal as his heavenly. 

From all this it follows that the love of marriage, even in its outmostact, is purity itself and chastity itself; and that the love of adulteryin its acts is impurity itself and unchastity itself. Since thedelights of these two loves are alike in outward appearance, althoughinwardly they are wholly unlike, because opposites, the Lord providesthat the delights of adultery shall not ascend into heaven and that thedelight of marriage shall not descend into hell; and yet that thereshall be some correspondence of heaven with prolification in adulteries, though none with the delight itself in them. (A. E. , n. 990. )

It has been said that marriage love, which is natural, descends from thelove of good and truth, which is spiritual; this spiritual therefore isin the natural love of marriage as a cause is in its effect. So fromthe marriage of good and truth there comes forth a love of bearingfruit, that is, good through truth and truth from the good; and fromthat love a love of producing offspring descends, and in that love thereis every delight and pleasure. 

On the contrary, love of adultery, which is natural, springs from a loveof evil and falsity, which is spiritual; consequently this spiritual isin the natural love of adultery as a cause is in its effect. So fromthe marriage of evil and falsity by love there comes forth a love ofbearing fruit, namely, evil through falsity and falsity from evil; andfrom that love a love of producing offspring in adulteries descends, andin that love there is every delight and pleasure. 

There is every delight and pleasure in the love of producing offspring, because all that is delightful, pleasurable, blessed, and happy, in thewhole heaven and in the whole world, has been from creation broughttogether into the effort and thus into the act of bringing forth uses;and these joys increase in an ascending degree to eternity, according tothe goodness and excellence of the uses. This make evident why thepleasure of producing offspring, which surpasses every other pleasure, is so great. It surpasses every other because its use, which is theprocreation of the human race, and thus of heaven, surpasses all otheruses. 

From this, too, comes the pleasure and delight of adultery; but asprolification by adulteries corresponds to the bringing forth of evilthrough falsity and of falsity from evil, that pleasure or delightdecreases and becomes vile by degrees until it is changed at last intoaversion and disgust. Because, as has been said above, the delight ofthe love of marriage is a heavenly delight, so the delight of adulteryis an infernal delight, so the delight of adultery is from a certainimpure fire, which as long as it lasts, counterfeits the delight of thelove of good, but in itself it is the delight of the love of evil, whichis in its essence the delight of hatred against good and truth. Andbecause this is its origin there is not love between an adulterer and anadulteress except such as the love of hatred is, which is such that theycan be in conjunction in externals but not in internals. For in theexternals there is something fiery, but in the internals there iscoldness; therefore after a short time the fire is extinguished andcoldness succeeds, either with impotence or a turning away as fromsomething filthy. 

It has been granted me to see that love in its essence, and it was suchthat within it was deadly hatred, while without it appeared like a firefrom burning dung and putrid and stinking matters. And as that firewith its delight burnt out, so by degrees the life of mutual discourseand intercourse expired, and hatred came forth, manifested first ascontempt, afterward as aversion, then as rejection, and finally as abuseand contention. And what was wonderful, although they hated each otherthey could from time to time come together and for the time feel thedelight of hatred as the delight of love; but this came from a hankeringof the flesh. 

What the delight of hatred and thus of doing evil is with those who arein hell can neither be described nor believed. To do evil is the joy oftheir heart, and this they call their heaven. Their delight in doingevil derives its all from hatred and vengeance against good and truth;when, therefore, they are moved by a deadly and devilish hatred theyrage against heaven, especially against those who are from heaven andwho worship the Lord; for they violently burn to slaughter them, andbecause they cannot destroy their bodies they desire to destroy theirsouls. It is, therefore, the delight of hatred which, becoming a firein the extremes and being injected into the lusting flesh, becomes forthe moment the delight of adultery, --the soul in which the hatred liesconcealed then withdrawing itself. It is for this reason that hell iscalled adultery, and also that adulterers are desperately unmerciful, savage, and cruel. This, then, is the infernal marriage. (A. E. , n. 991. )

It has been said that the love of adultery is a fire enkindled fromimpurities that soon burns out and is turned into cold, and into anaversion corresponding to hatred. But the reverse is true of the love ofmarriage. This is a fire enkindled from a love of good and truth andfrom a delight in well-doing, thus from love to the Lord and from lovetoward the neighbor. This fire, which from its origin is heavenly, isfull of innumerable delights, as many, in fact, as are the delights andblessednesses of heaven. It has been told me that the charms andpleasantnesses of that love, which are manifested from time to time, areso many and such that they cannot be numbered or described. Moreover, they are multiplied with continued increase to eternity. These delightshave their origin in the fact that the married pair wish to be unitedinto one in respect to their minds, and into such a union heavenbreathes from the marriage of good and truth from the Lord in heaven. (A. E. , n. 992. )

That true marriage love contains in itself ineffable delights that canneither be numbered nor described can be seen from the fact that this isthe fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, since throughthat love man becomes love; for from it each of the married pair lovesthe other as good loves truth and truth loves good, thusrepresentatively as the Lord loves heaven and the church. Such a lovecan come forth only through a marriage in which the man is truth and thewife is good. When a man through marriage has become such a love he isalso in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, and thus in alove for all good and in a love for all truth. For from man as a loveloves of every kind must proceed; therefore marriage love is thefundamental love of all the loves of heaven. And as it is thefundamental love of all the loves of heaven it is also the foundation ofall the delights and joys of heaven, since every delight and joy is oflove. From this it follows that heavenly joys, in their order and intheir degrees, have their origins and their causes in marriage love. 

From the felicities of marriages a conclusion may be drawn respectingthe infelicities of adulteries, namely, that the love of adultery is thefundamental love of all infernal loves, which are in themselves notloves, but hatreds, consequently from the love of adultery hatreds ofevery kind gush forth, both against God and against the neighbor, and ingeneral against every good and truth of heaven and the church; thereforeto it all infelicities belong, for, as has been said before, fromadulteries man becomes a form of hell, and from the love of adulterieshe becomes an image of the devil. That from the marriages in whichthere is true marriage love all delights and felicities increase eventill they become the delights and felicities of the inmost heaven, andthat all that is undelightful and unhappy in the marriages in which loveof adultery reigns increases in direfulness even to the lowest hell, canbe seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 386). (A. E. , n. 993. )

True marriage love is from the Lord alone. It is from the Lord alonebecause it descends from the Lord's love for heaven and the church, andthus from the love of good and truth; for good is from the Lord, andtruth is in heaven and the church; and from this it follows that truemarriage love in its first essence is love to the Lord. And from thisit is that no one can be in true marriage love and in itspleasantnesses, delights, blessings, and joys, unless he acknowledgesthe Lord alone, that is, that the trinity is in Him. One who approachesthe Father as a person by Himself, or the Holy Spirit as a person byHimself, and not these as in the Lord, can have no marriage love. 

The genuine conjugal principle is given especially in the third heaven, because the angels there are in love to the Lord and acknowledge Himalone as God, and do His commandments. To them doing the commandmentsis loving the Lord. To them the Lord's commandments are the truths inwhich they receive Him. There is conjunction of the Lord with them, andof them with the Lord; for they are in the Lord because they are ingood, and the Lord is in them because they are in truths. This is theheavenly marriage, from which true marriage love descends. (A. E. , n. 995. )

As true marriage love in its first essence is love to the Lord from theLord it is also innocence. Innocence is loving the Lord as one's Fatherby doing His commandments and wishing to be led by Him and not byoneself, thus like a little child. As that love is innocence, it is thevery being (esse) of all good; and therefore man has so much of heavenin himself, or he is so much in heaven, as he is in marriage love, because he is so far in innocence. It is because true marriage love isinnocence that the playfulness between a married pair is like the playof little children; and this is so in the measure in which they loveeach other, as is evident in the case of all in the first days after thenuptials, when their love emulates true marriage love. The innocence ofmarriage love is meant in the Word by the "nakedness" at which Adam andhis wife blushed not; and for the reason that there is nothing oflasciviousness, and thus nothing of shame, between a married pair, anymore than between little children when they are naked together. (A. E. , n. 996. )

Since marriage love in its first essence is love to the Lord from theLord, and thus is innocence, marriage love is also peace, such as angelsin the heavens have. For as innocence is the very being (esse) of allgood, so peace is the very being (esse) of all delight from good, consequently is the very being (esse) of all joy between the marriedpair. As, then, all joy is of love, and marriage love is thefundamental love of all the loves of heaven, so peace itself has itsseat chiefly in marriage love. Peace is bliss of heart and soul arisingfrom the conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the church, as well asfrom conjunction of good and truth, when all conflict and combat of eviland falsity with good and truth has ceased. And as marriage lovedescends from such conjunction so all the delight of that love descendsand derives its essence from heavenly peace. Moreover, this peaceshines forth in the heavens as heavenly bliss from the faces of amarried pair who are in that love, and who mutually regard each otherfrom that love. But such heavenly bliss, which inmostly affects thedelights of loves, and is called peace, can be granted only to those whocan be joined together inmostly, that is, as to their very hearts. (A. E. , n. 997. )

Man has such and so much of intelligence and wisdom as he has ofmarriage love. The reason is that marriage love descends from the loveof good and truth as an effect does from its cause, or as the naturalfrom its spiritual; and from the marriage of good and truth the angelsof the three heavens have all their intelligence and wisdom; forintelligence and wisdom are nothing else than the reception of light andheat from the Lord as a sun, that is, the reception of Divine truthjoined to Divine good, and of Divine good joined to Divine truth; thusit is a marriage of good and truth from the Lord. 

That it is such has been made clearly evident by angels in the heavens. When these are separated from their consorts they are indeed inintelligence, but not in wisdom; but when they are with their consortsthey are also in wisdom; and what seemed wonderful, as they turn theface to their consort they are to the same extent in a state of wisdom;for the conjunction of truth and good is effected in the spiritual worldby looking; and the wife there is good and the husband truth; thereforeas truth turns itself to good so truth becomes living. By intelligenceand wisdom ingenuity in reasoning about truths and goods is not meant, but a capacity to see and understand truths and goods, and this capacityman has from the Lord. (A. E. , n. 998. )

True marriage love is a source of power and protection against thehells, as it is against the evils and falsities that ascend from thehells, and for the reason that through marriage love man has conjunctionwith the Lord, and the Lord alone has power over all the hells; alsobecause through marriage love man has heaven and the church;consequently as the Lord unceasingly protects heaven and the church fromthe evils and falsities that rise up from the hells, so He protects allwho are in true marriage love, because such and no others have heavenand the church. For heaven and the church are a marriage of good andtruth, from which is marriage love, as has been said above. And this iswhy through marriage love man has peace, which is inmost joy of heartfrom a complete safety from the hells and a protection from infestationsof the evil and falsity therefrom. (A. E. , n. 999. )

Those who are in true marriage love, when after death they becomeangels, return to their early manhood and to youth, the males, howeverspent with age, becoming young men, and the wives, however spent withage, becoming maidens. Each of the married pair returns to the flowerand joy of the age when marriage love begins to exalt the life with newdelights, and to inspire playfulness for the sake of prolification. Theman who while he lived in the world had shunned adulteries as sins, andwho has been inaugurated by the Lord into marriage love, comes into thisstate first outwardly and afterward more and more interiorly toeternity. 

As such continue to grow young more interiorly it follows that truemarriage love continually increases and enters into its charms andsatisfactions, which have been provided for it from the creation of theworld, and which are the charms and satisfactions of the inmost heaven, arising from the love of the Lord for heaven and the church, and thusfrom the love of good for truth and truth for good, which loves are thesource of every joy in the heavens. Man thus grows young in heavenbecause he then enters into the marriage of good and truth; and in goodthere is the conatus [instinct] to love truth continually, and in truththere is the conatus [instinct] to love good continually; and then thewife is good in form and the husband is truth in form. From that conatus[instinct] man puts off all the austerity, sadness, and dryness of oldage, and puts on the liveliness, gladness, and freshness of youth, fromwhich the conatus [instinct] becomes living and a joy. 

I have been told from heaven that such then have the life of love, whichcannot otherwise be described than as the life of joy itself. That theman who lives in true marriage love in the world comes after death intothe heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth springingfrom the marriage of the Lord with the church, is clearly evident fromthis, that from the marriages in the heavens, although the married pairhave consociations there like those on the earth, children are notborn, but instead of children goods and truths, and thus wisdom, as hasbeen said above. And this is why births, nativities, and generationsmean in the Word, in its spiritual sense, spiritual births, nativities, and generations, and sons and daughters mean the truths and goodsof the church, and other like things are meant by daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law, and fathers-in-law. This also makes clear thatmarriages on the earth correspond to marriages in the heavens; and thatafter death man comes into the correspondence, that is, comes fromnatural bodily marriage into spiritual heavenly marriage, which isheaven itself and the joy of heaven. (A. E. , n. 1000. )

From marriage love angels have all their beauty; thus each angel hasbeauty in the measure of that love. For all angels are forms of theiraffections, for the reason that it is not permitted in heaven tocounterfeit with the face things that do not belong to one's affection;consequently their faces are types of their minds. When, therefore, they have marriage love, and love of wisdom, these loves in them giveform to their faces, and show themselves like vital fires in their eyes;to which innocence and peace add themselves, which complete theirbeauty. Such are the forms of the inmost angelic heaven; and they aretruly human forms. (A. E. , n. 1001. )

From what has been thus far presented what the good is that results fromchastity in marriage can be inferred, consequently what the good worksof chastity are that a man does who shuns adulteries as sins againstGod. The good works of chastity concern either the married pairthemselves, or their offspring and posterity, or the heavenly societies. 

The good works of chastity that concern the married pair themselves arespiritual and celestial loves, intelligence and wisdom, innocence andpeace, power and protection against the hells and against the evils andthe falsities therefrom, and manifold joys and felicities to eternity. Those who live in chaste marriages, as before described, have all these. 

The good works of chastity that concern the offspring and posterity arethat so many and so great evils do not become innate in families. Forthe ruling love of parents is transmitted to the offspring and sometimesto remote posterity, and becomes their hereditary nature. This isbroken and softened in parents who shun adulteries as infernal and lovemarriages as heavenly. The good works of chastity that concern theheavenly societies are that chaste marriages are the charms of heaven, that they are its nurseries, and that they are its supports. Theysupply charms to heaven by communications; they are nurseries to heavenby producing offspring; and they are supports to heaven by their poweragainst the hells; for at the presence of conjugal love devilish spiritsbecome furious, insane, and mentally impotent, and cast themselves intothe deep. (A. E. , n. 1002. )

From the goods enumerated and described that result from chastemarriages it may be concluded what the evils are that result fromadulteries; for such evils are the opposites of such goods; that is, inplace of the spiritual and celestial loves that those have who live inchaste marriages, there are the infernal and devilish loves that thosehave who are in adulteries. So in place of the intelligence and wisdomthat those have who live chastely in marriages there are the insanitiesand follies that those have who are in adulteries; in place of theinnocence and peace that those have who live in chaste marriages thereare the deceit and no peace that those have who are in adulteries; inplace of the power and protection against the hells that those have wholive chastely in marriages there are the very Asmodean demons and thehells that those have who live in adulteries; in place of the beautythat those have who live chastely in marriages there is the deformitythat those have who live in adulteries, which is monstrous according towhat they are. Their final lot is that from the extreme impotence towhich they are at length reduced they become emptied of all the fire andlight of life, and dwell alone in deserts as images of the slothfulnessand weariness of their own life. (A. E. , n. 1003. )

True marriage love is impossible except between two, like the Lord'slove toward heaven, which is one from Him and in Him, or toward thechurch, which like heaven is one from Him and in Him. All who are inthe heavens and who are in the church must be one through mutual lovefrom love to the Lord. An angel in heaven or a man in the church whodoes not thus make one with the rest is not of heaven or of the church. Moreover, in the whole heaven and in the whole world there are twothings to which all things have reference; these two are called good andtruth, from which, when joined into one, all things in heaven and in theworld have had existence and subsistence. When these are one, good isin truth and truth is in good, and truth is of good and good is oftruth; thus one recognizes the other as its mutual and reciprocal, or asan agent recognizes its reagent, each in its turn. 

This universal marriage is the source of marriage love between husbandand wife. The husband has been so created as to be the understanding oftruth, and the wife so created as to be the will of good, and thus thehusband to be a truth and the wife a good, as well as that both may betruth and good in form, which form is man, and an image of God. 

Since, then, for truth to come to be of good and good to be of truthmutually and reciprocally has its origin in creation, so it isimpossible for one truth to be united to two diverse goods, or thereverse; neither is it possible for one understanding to be united totwo diverse wills or the reverse; neither for one person who isspiritual to be united to two diverse churches; neither in like mannerfor one man (vir) to be inmostly united to two women. Inmost union islike that of soul and heart; the soul of the wife is the husband, andthe heart of the husband is the wife. The husband communicates andconjoins his soul to the wife by actual love; it is in his seed; and thewife receives it in her heart, and from this the two become one, andthen each and all things in the body of the one look to their mutual inthe body of the other. This is genuine marriage, which is possible onlybetween two. For it is by creation that all things of the husband, bothof his mind and of his body, have their mutual in the mind and in thebody of the wife; and thus the most particular things look mutually toeach other and will to be united. From this looking and conatus[instinct] marriage love springs. 

All things in the body, which are called members, viscera, and organs, are nothing but natural corporeal forms corresponding to the spiritualform of the mind; from this each and all things of the body socorrespond to each and all things of the mind that whatever the mindwills and thinks the body at its command instantly brings forth intoact. When, therefore, two minds act as one their two bodies arepotentially so united that they are no more two but one flesh. To willto become one flesh is marriage love; and such as the willing is, suchis that love. 

It is allowed to confirm this by a wonderful thing in the heavens. There are married pairs there in such marriage love that the two can beone flesh, and are one whenever they wish, and they then appear as oneman. I have seen and talked with such; and they said that they have onelife, and are like the life of good in truth and the life of truth ingood, and are like the pairs in man, that is, like the two hemispheresof the brain enclosed in one membrane, the two ventricles of the heartwithin a common covering, likewise the two lobes of the lungs; these, although they are two, yet are one in regard to life and the activitiesof life, which are uses. They said that their life so conjoined is fullof heaven, and is the very life of heaven with its infinite beatitudes, for the reason that heaven that heaven also is such from the marriage ofthe Lord with it, for all the angels of heaven are in the Lord and theLord in them. 

Furthermore, they said that it is impossible for them to think from anyintention about an additional wife or woman, because this would beturning heaven into hell, consequently if an angel merely thinks of sucha thing he falls from heaven. They added that natural spirits do notbelieve such conjunctions as theirs to be possible, for the reason thatwith those who are merely natural there is no marriage from a spiritualorigin, which is of good and truth, but only a marriage from a naturalorigin; therefore there is no union of minds, but only a union of bodiesfrom a lascivious disposition in the flesh; and this lust is from auniversal law impressed upon and thus implanted in everything animateand inanimate from creation. The law is that everything in which thereis force wills to produce its like and to multiply its kind to infinityand to eternity. As the posterity of Jacob, who were called the sons ofIsrael, were merely natural men, and thus their marriages were notspiritual but carnal, so they were permitted on account of the hardnessof their hearts to take more wives than one. (A. E. , n. 1004. )

But it is to be noted that adulteries are more and less infernal andabominable. The adulteries that spring from more grievous evils andtheir falsities are more grievous, and those from the milder evils andtheir falsities are milder; for adulteries correspond to adulterationsof good and consequent falsifications of truth; adulterations of goodare in themselves evils, and falsifications of truth are in themselvesfalsities. According to correspondences with these the hells arearranged into genera and species. (A. E. , n. 1006. )

In brief, from every conjunction of evil and falsity in the spiritualworld a sphere of adultery flows forth, but only from those who are infalsities in regard to doctrine and in evils in regard to life; not fromthose who are in falsities in regard to doctrine but are in goods inregard to life, for in such there is no conjunction of evil and falsity, but only in the former. That sphere flows forth particularly frompriests who have taught falsely and lived wickedly; for these haveadulterated and falsified the Word. Although such were not adulterers inthe world, adultery is excited by them; but it is an adultery calledsacerdotal [priestly] adultery, which is distinguishable from otheradulteries. All this makes clear that the origin of adulteries is thelove and consequent conjunction of evil and falsity. (A. E. , n. 1007. )

Adulteries are less abhorrent to Christians than to the heathen, andeven to some barbarous nations, for the reason that at present in theChristian world there is no marriage of good and truth, but a marriageor evil and falsity. For the religion and doctrine of faith separatedfrom good works is a religion and doctrine of truth separated from good;and truth separated from good is not truth, but inwardly regarded isfalsity; and good separated from truth is not good, but inwardlyregarded is evil. Consequently in the Christian religion there isdoctrine of falsity and evil, from which origin a desire and inclinationfor adultery from hell flow in; and this is why adulteries are believedin the Christian world to be allowable, and are practiced without shame. For, as has been said above, the conjunction of evil and falsity isspiritual adultery, from which according to correspondence naturaladultery springs. For this reason "adulteries" and "whoredoms" signifyin the Word adulterations of good and falsifications of truth; and forthis reason Babylon is called in the Apocalypse a "harlot, " andJerusalem is so called in the Word of the Old Testament; and the Jewishnation was called by the Lord "an adulterous nation, " and "from theirfather the devil. " (A. E. , n. 1008. )

He that abstains from adulteries from any other motive than because theyare sins and are against God is still an adulterer; as for instance whenanyone abstains from them from fear of the civil law and its penalties, from fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honor, from fear ofresulting diseases, from fear of upbraidings at home from his wife andconsequent intranquility of life, from fear of chastisement by theservants of the injured husband, from poverty, or from avarice; frominfirmity arising from abuse or from age or impotence or disease; infact, when one abstains because of any natural or moral law, and doesnot at the same time abstain because of the Divine law, he is interiorlyunchaste and an adulterer, since he none the less believes thatadulteries are not sins, and therefore declares them lawful in hisspirit, and thus commits them in spirit, although not in the body;consequently after death when he becomes a spirit he speaks openly infavor of them, and commits them without shame. 

It has been granted me in the spiritual world to see maidens whoregarded whoredoms as wicked because they are contrary to the Divinelaw, and also maidens who did not regard them as wicked and yetabstained from them because the resulting bad name would turn awaysuitors. These latter I saw encompassed with a dusky cloud in theirdescent to those below, while the former I saw encompassed with ashining light in their ascent to those above. (A. E. , n. 1009. )

VII. The Seventh Commandment

In what now follows something shall be said about the seventhcommandment, which is, "Thou shalt not kill. " In all the commandmentsof the Decalogue, as in all things of the Word, two internal senses areinvolved (besides the highest which is a third), one that is next to theletter and is called the spiritual moral sense, another that is moreremote and is called the spiritual celestial sense. 

The nearest sense of this commandment, "Thou shalt not kill, " which isthe spiritual moral sense, is that one must not hate his brother orneighbor, and thus not defame or slander him; for thus he would injureor kill his reputation and honor, which is the source of his life amonghis brethren, which is called his civil life, and afterward he wouldlive in society as one dead, for he would be numbered among the vile andwicked, with whom no one would associate. When this is done from enmity, from hatred, or from revenge, it is murder. 

Morever, by many in the world this life is counted and esteemed in equalmeasure with the life of the body. And before the angels in the heavenshe that destroys this life is held to be as guilty as if he haddestroyed the bodily life of his brother. For enmity, hatred, andrevenge breathe murder and will it; but they are restrained and curbedby fear of the law, of resistance and of loss of reputation. And yetthese three are endeavors toward murder; and every endeavor is an act, for it goes forth into act when fear is removed. This is what the Lordteaches in Matthew:

"Ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not kill; andwhosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment. But I say untoyou, that whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall beliable to the judgment; whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shallbe liable to the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall beliable to the hell of fire. " (v. 21-26)

But the more remote sense of this commandment, Thou shalt not kill, which is called the celestial spiritual sense, is that one shall nottake away from man the faith and love of God, and thus his spirituallife. This is murder itself, because from this life man is a man, thelife of the body serving this life as the instrumental cause serves itsprincipal cause. Moreover, from this spiritual murder moral murder isderived; consequently he who is in the one is also in the other; for hewho wills to take away a man's spiritual life is in hatred against himif he cannot take it away, for he hates the faith and love in him, andthus the man himself. These three, namely, spiritual murder, whichpertains to faith and love, moral murder, which pertains to reputationand honor, and natural murder, which pertains to the body, follow in aseries one from the other, like cause and effect. (A. E. , n. 1012. )

As all who are in hell are in hatred against the Lord, and thus inhatred against heaven, for they are against goods and truths, so hell isthe essential murderer or the source of essential murder. It is thesource of essential murder because man is man from the Lord through thereception of good and truth; consequently destruction of good and truthis destruction of the human itself, thus the killing of man. 

That those who are in hell are such has not yet been known in the world, because in those who belong to hell and therefore after death come intohell no hatred against good and truth, or against heaven, or still lessagainst the Lord, is evident. For everyone while he lives in the worldis in externals; and these externals are taught and trained from infancyto counterfeit such things as are honest and decorous, right andequitable, and good and true. Nevertheless, hatred lies concealed intheir spirit, and this in equal degree with the evil of their life. Andas hatred is in the spirit it breaks forth when the externals are laidaside, as is the case after death. 

This infernal hatred against all who are in good is deadly hatredbecause it is hatred against the Lord. This can be seen particularly intheir delight in doing evil, which is such as to exceed in degree everyother delight, for it is a fire that burns with a lust for destroyingsouls. Moreover, it has been ascertained that this delight is not fromhatred against those whom they attempt to destroy, but from hatredagainst the Lord Himself. And since man is a man from the Lord, and thehuman which is from the Lord is good and truth, and since those who arein hell are, from hatred against the Lord, eager to kill the human, which is good and truth, it follows that hell is the source of murderitself. (A. E. , n. 1013. )

From what has been said above it can be seen that all who are in evilsin respect to life, and in the falsities therefrom, are murderers; forthey are enemies and haters of good and truth, since evil hates good andfalsity hates truth. The evil man does not know he is in such hatreduntil he becomes a spirit; then hatred is the very delight of his life. Consequently from hell, where all the evil are, there constantlybreathes forth a delight in doing evil from hatred; while from heaven, where all the good are, there constantly breathes forth a delight indoing good from love. Therefore two opposite spheres meet each other inthe middle region between heaven and hell, and engage in reciprocalcombat. While man lives in the world he is in this middle region. Ifhe is then in evil and in falsities therefrom he passes over to the sideof hell, and thus comes into a delight in doing evil from hatred. Butif he is in good and in truths therefrom, he passes over to the side ofheaven, and thus comes into a delight in doing good from love. 

The delight in doing evil from hatred, which breathes forth from hell, is a delight in killing. But as they cannot kill the body they wish tokill the spirit; and to kill the spirit is to take away spiritual life, which is the life of heaven. This makes clear that the commandment, "Thou shalt not kill, " involves also thou shalt not hate thy neighbor, also thou shalt not hate the good of the church and its truth; for ifone hates good and truth he hates the neighbor; and to hate is to wishto kill. This is why the devil, by whom hell in the whole complex ismeant, is called by the Lord, "A murderer from the beginning" (John viii, 44). 

Since hatred, which is a desire to kill, is the opposite of love to theLord and also of love toward the neighbor, and since these loves arewhat make heaven in man, it is evident that hatred, being thus opposite, is what makes hell in him. Nor is infernal fire anything else thanhatred; and in consequence the hells appear to be in a fire with a duskyglow according to the quality and quantity of the hatred, and in a firewith a dusky flame according to the quantity and quality of the revengefrom hatred. 

Since hatred and love are direct opposites, and since hatred inconsequence constitutes hell in man, just as love constitutes heaven inhim, so the Lord teaches, "If thou shalt offer thy gift upon the altar, and shalt there rememberthat thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift beforethe altar, and go; first be reconciled to they brother, and then comingoffer thy gift. Be well disposed toward thine adversary whiles thou artin the way with him; lest haply the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily, I say unto thee, Thou shalt not come out thence till thou hastpaid the uttermost farthing" (Matt. V. 23-26). 

To be delivered to the judge, and by the judge to the officer, and byhim to be cast into prison, depicts the state of the man who is inhatred after death from his having been in hatred against his brother inthe world, "prison" meaning hell, and "paying the uttermost farthing"signifying the punishment that is called the fire everlasting. (A. E. , n. 1015. )

Since hatred is infernal fire it is clear that it must be put awaybefore love, which is heavenly fire, can flow in, and by light fromitself give life to man; and this infernal fire can in no wise be putaway unless man knows whence hatred is and what it is, and afterwardturns away from it and shuns it. There is in every man by inheritance ahatred against the neighbor; for every man is born into a love of selfand of the world, and in consequence conceives hatred, and from it isinflamed against all who do not make one with him and favor his love, especially against those who oppose his lusts. For no one can lovehimself above all things and love the Lord at the same time; neither cananyone love the world above all things and love the neighbor at the sametime; since no one can serve two masters at the same time withoutdespising and hating the one while he honors and loves the other. Hatred is especially in those who are in a love of ruling over all; withothers it is unfriendliness. 

It shall be told what hatred is. Hatred has in itself a fire which isan endeavor to kill man. That fire is manifested in anger. There is aseeming hatred and consequent anger in the good against evil; but thisis not hatred, but an aversion to evil; neither is it anger, but a zealfor good in which heavenly fire inwardly lies concealed. For the goodturn away from what is evil, and are seemingly angry at the neighbor, inorder that they may remove the evil; and thus they have regard to theneighbor's good. (A. E. , n. 1016. )

When a man abstains from hatred and turns away from it and shuns it asdevilish, love, charity, mercy, clemency flow in through heaven from theLord, and then for the first time the works that he does are works oflove and charity; while the works he had done before, however good mightbe their appearance in the external form, were all works of love of selfand of the world, in which hatred lurked whenever they were notrewarded. So long as hatred is not put away so long man is merelynatural; and the merely natural man remains in all his inherited evil, nor can he become spiritual until hatred, with its root, which is loveof ruling over all, is put away; for the fire of heaven, which isspiritual love, cannot flow in so long as the fire of hell, which ishatred, stands in the way and shuts it out. (A. E. , n. 1017. )

VIII. The Eighth Commandment

The eighth commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not bear falsewitness, " shall now be explained. "To bear false witness" signifies inthe sense nearest to the letter to lie about the neighbor by accusinghim falsely. But in the internal sense it signifies to call what is justunjust, and what is unjust just, and to confirm this by means offalsities; while in the inmost sense it signifies to falsity the truthand good of the Word, and on the other hand to prove a falsity ofdoctrine to be true by confirming it by means of fallacies, appearances, fabrications, knowledges falsely applied, sophistries, and the like. The confirmations themselves and the consequent persuasions are falsewitnesses, for they are false attestations. 

From this it can be seen that what is here meant is not only falsewitness before a judge, but even a judge himself who in perverting rightmakes what is just unjust, and what is unjust just, for he as well asthe witness himself acts the part of a false witness. The same is trueof every man who makes what is straight to appear crooked, and what iscrooked to appear straight; likewise any ecclesiastical leader whofalsifies the truth of the Word and perverts its good. In a word, everyfalsification of truth, spiritual, moral, and civil, which is done froman evil heart, is false witness. (A. E. , n. 1019. )

When a man abstains from false testimonies understood in a moral andspiritual sense, and shuns and turns away from them as sins, a love oftruth and a love of justice flow in from the Lord through heaven. Andwhen, in consequence, the man loves truth and loves justice he loves theLord, for the Lord is truth itself and justice itself. And when a manloves truth and justice it may be said that truth and justice love him, because the Lord loves him; and as a consequence his utterances becomeutterances of truth, and his works become works of justice. (A. E. , n. 1020. )

IX: The Ninth and Tenth Commandments

The ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, " isnow to be treated of. There are two loves from which all lusts springand flow forth perpetually like streams from their fountains. Theseloves are called love of the world and love of self. Lust is a lovecontinually desiring, for what a man loves, that he continually longsfor. But lusts belong to the love of evil, while desires and affectionsbelong to the love of good. Now because love of the world and love ofself are the fountains of all lusts, and all evil lusts are forbidden inthese last two commandments, it follows that the ninth commandmentforbids the lusts that flow from love of the world, and the tenthcommandment the lusts that flow from love of self. "Not to covet aneighbor's house" means not to covet his goods, which in general arepossessions of wealth, and not to appropriate them to oneself by evilarts. This lust belongs to love of the world. (A. E. , n. 1021. )

The tenth commandment is "Thou shalt not covet (or try to get possessionof) thy neighbor's wife, his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass. " These are lusts after what is man's own, because the wife, man-servant, maid-servant, ox, and ass, are within his home, and thethings within a man's home mean in the spiritual internal sense thethings that are his own, that is, the wife means affection for spiritualtruth and good, "man-servant and maid-servant, " affection for rationaltruth and good serving the spiritual, and "ox and ass" affection fornatural good and truth. These signify in the Word such affections; butbecause coveting and trying to get possession of these affections meansto wish and eagerly desire to subject a man to one's own authority orbidding, it follows that lusting after these affections means the lustsof the love of self, that is, of the love of ruling, for thus does onemake the things belonging to a companion to be his own. 

From this it can now be seen that the lust of the ninth commandment is alust of the love of the world, and that the lusts of the tenthcommandment are lusts of the love of self. For, as has been saidbefore, all lusts are of love, for it is love that covets; and as thereare two evil loves to which all lusts have reference, namely, love ofthe world and love of self, it follows that the lust of the ninthcommandments has reference to love of the world, and the lust of thiscommandment to love of self, especially to the love of ruling. (A. E. , n. 1022. )

X. The Commandments in General

The commandments of the Decalogue are called the ten words or tencommandments, because "ten" signifies all; consequently the ten wordsmean all things of the Word, and thus all things of the church in brief. All things of the Word and all things of the church in brief are meant, because there are in each commandment three interior senses, each sensefor its own heaven, for there are three heavens. The first sense is thespiritual moral sense; this is for the first or outmost heaven; thesecond sense is the celestial spiritual sense, which is for the secondor middle heaven; and the third sense is the Divine celestial, which isfor the third or inmost heaven. There are thus three internal senses inevery least particular of the Word. For from the Lord, who is in thingshighest, the Word has been sent down in succession through the threeheavens even to the earth, and thus has been accommodated to eachheaven; and therefore the Word is in each heaven and I may say in eachangel in its own sense, and is read by them daily; and there arepreachings from it, as on the earth. 

For the Word is Divine truth itself, thus Divine wisdom, going forthfrom the Lord as a sun, and appearing in the heavens as light. Divinetruth is the Divine that is called the Holy Spirit, for it not only goesforth from the Lord but it also enlightens man and teaches him, as issaid of the Holy Spirit. As the Word in its descent from the Lord hasbeen adapted to the three heavens, and the three heavens are joinedtogether as inmosts are with outmosts through intermediates, so, too, are the three senses of the Word; which shows that the Word is giventhat by it there may be a conjunction of the heavens with each other, and a conjunction of the heavens with the human race, for whom the senseof the letter is given, which is merely natural and thus the basis ofthe other three senses. That the ten commandments of the Decalogue areall things of the Word in brief can be seen only from the three sensesof those commandments, which are as above stated. (A. E. , n. 1024). 

What these three senses in the commandments of the Decalogue are can beseen from the following summary explanation. The first commandment, "Thou shalt not worship other gods beside Me, " involves in the spiritualmoral sense that nothing else nor anyone else is to be worshipped asDivine; nothing else, that is, Nature, by attributing to it somethingDivine of itself; nor anyone else, that is, any vicar of the Lord or anysaint. In the celestial spiritual sense it involves that one God onlyis to be acknowledged, and not several according to their qualities, asthe ancients did, and as some heathens do at this day, or according totheir works, as Christians do at this day, who make out one God becauseof creation, another because of redemption, and another because ofenlightenment. 

This commandment in the Divine celestial sense involves that the Lordalone is to be acknowledged and whorshipped, and a trinity in Him, namely, the Divine itself from eternity, which is meant by the Father, the Divine Human born in time, which is meant by the Son of God, and theDivine that goes forth from both, which is meant by the Holy Spirit. These are the three senses of the first commandment in their order. From this commandment viewed in its threefold sense it is clear that itcontains and includes in brief all things that concern the essence ofthe Divine. 

The second commandment, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God, "contains and includes in its three senses all things that concern thequality of the Divine, since "the name of God" signifies His quality, which in its first sense is the Word, doctrine from the Word, andworship of the lips and of the life from doctrine; in its second senseit means the Lord's kingdom on the earth and the Lord's kingdom in theheavens; and in its third sense it means the Lord's Divine Human, forthis is the quality of the Divine itself. 

In the other commandments there are likewise three internal senses forthe three heavens; but these, the Lord willing, will be consideredelsewhere. (A. E. , n. 1025. )

As the Divine truth united to Divine good goes forth from the Lord as asun, and by this heaven and the world were made (John i. 1, 3, 10), itfollows that it is from this that all things in heaven and in the worldhave reference to good and to truth and to their conjunction in bringingforth something. These ten commandments contain all things of Divinegood and all things of Divine truth, and there is also in them aconjunction of these. But this conjunction is hidden; for it is likethe conjunction of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, Divinegood belonging to love to the Lord, and Divine truth to love toward theneighbor; for when a man lives according to Divine truth, that is, loveshis neighbor, the Lord flows in with Divine good and conjoins Himself. For this reason there were two tables on which these ten commandmentswere written, and they were called a covenant, which signifiesconjunction; and afterward they were placed in the ark, not one besidethe other, but one above the other, for a testimony of the conjunctionbetween the Lord and man. Upon one table the commandments of love tothe Lord were written, and upon the other table the commandments of lovetoward the neighbor. The commandments of love to the Lord are the firstthree, and the commandments of love toward the neighbor are the lastsix; and the fourth commandment, which is "Honor thy father and thymother, " is the mediating commandment, for in it "father" means theFather in the heavens, and "mother" means the church, which is theneighbor. (A. E. , n. 1026. )

Something shall now be said about how conjunction is effected by meansof the commandments of the Decalogue. Man does not conjoin himself tothe Lord, but the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and this He doesby man's knowing, understanding, willing, and doing these commandments;and when man does them there is conjunction, but if he does not do themhe ceases to will them, and when he ceases to will them he ceases alsoto understand and know them. For what does willing amount to if manwhen he is able does not do? Is it not a figment of reason? From thisit follows that conjunction is effected when a man does the commandmentsof the Decalogue. 

But it has been said that man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, butthat the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and that conjunction iseffected by doing; and from this it follows that it is the Lord in manthat does these commandments. But anyone can see that a covenant cannotbe entered into and conjunction be effected by it unless there is somereturn on man's part, not only in consent but also in acceptance. Tothis end the Lord has imparted to man a freedom to will and act as if ofhimself, and such a freedom that man does not know otherwise, when he isthinking about truth and doing good, than that the freedom is in himselfand thus from himself. There is this return on man's part in order thatconjunction may be effected. But as this freedom is from the Lord, andcontinually from Him, man must by all means acknowledge that thinkingabout and understanding truth and willing and doing good are not fromhimself, but are from the Lord. 

Consequently when man through the last six commandments conjoins himselfto the Lord as if of himself, the Lord then conjoins Himself to manthrough the first three commandments, which are that man mustacknowledge God, must believe in the Lord, and must keep His name holy. These man does not believe, however much he may think that he does, unless the evils forbidden in the other table, that is, in the last sixcommandments, he abstains from as sins. These are the things pertainingto the covenant on the part of the Lord and on the part of man, throughwhich there is reciprocal conjunction, which is that man may be in theLord and the Lord in man (John xiv. 20). (A. E. , n. 1027. )

It is said by some that he who sins against one commandment of theDecalogue sins also against the rest, thus that he who is guilty of oneis guilty of all. It shall be told how far this is in harmony with thetruth. When a man transgresses one commandment, assuring himself that itis not a sin, thus offending without fear of God, because he has thusrejected the fear of God he does not fear to transgress the rest of thecommandments, although he may not do this in act. 

For example, when one does not regard as sins frauds and illicit gains, which in themselves are thefts, neither does he regard as a sin adulterywith the wife of another, hating a man even to murder, lying about him, coveting his house and other things belonging to him; for when herejects from his heart in any one commandment the fear of God he deniesthat anything is a sin; consequently he is in communion with those whoin like manner transgress the other commandments. He is like an infernalspirit who is in a hell of thieves; and although he is not an adulterer, nor a murderer, nor a false witness, yet he is in communion with such, and can be persuaded by them to believe that such things are not evils, and can be led to do them. For he who becomes an infernal spiritthrough the transgression of one commandment, no longer believes it tobe a sin to do anything against God or anything against the neighbor. 

But the opposite is true of those who abstain from the evil forbidden inone commandment, and who shun and afterward turn away from it as a sinagainst God. Because such fear of God, they come into communion withangels of heaven, and are led by the Lord to abstain from the evilsforbidden in the other commandments and to shun them, and finally toturn away from them as sins; and if perchance they have sinned againstthem, yet they repent and thus by degrees are withdrawn from them. (A. E. , n. 1028. )

Part Third--PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH

I. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites

The Divine good that goes forth from the Lord is united with His Divinetruth, as heat from the sun is with light in the time of spring. Butangels, who are recipients of the Divine good and Divine truth goingforth from the Lord, are distinguished as celestial and spiritual. Those who receive more of the Lord's Divine good than of His Divinetruth are called celestial angels; because these constitute the kingdomof the Lord that is called the celestial kingdom. But the angels whoreceive more of the Lord's Divine truth than of his Divine good arecalled spiritual angels, because of these the Lord's spiritual kingdomconsists. This makes clear that goods and truths have a twofold origin, namely, a celestial origin and a spiritual origin. Those goods andtruths that are from a celestial origin are the goods and truths of loveto the Lord; while those goods and truths that are from a spiritualorigin are the goods and truths of love toward the neighbor. Thedifference is like that between higher and lower, or between inner andouter; thus like that between things that are in a higher or innerdegree, and those that are in a lower or outer degree; and what thisdifference is can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heavenand Hell about the three degrees of the heavens, and thus of the angelsand their intelligence and wisdom (H. H. , n. 33, 34, 38, 39, 208, 209, 211, 435). (A. E. , n. 1042. )

As the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, namely, into a celestialkingdom and a spiritual kingdom, so are the hells divided into twodomains opposite to those kingdoms. The domain opposite to the celestialkingdom is called devilish, and the domain opposite to the spiritualkingdom is called infernal. These domains are distinguished in the Wordby the names Devil and Satan. There are two domains in the hells, because the heavens and the hells are opposite to each other; andopposite must fully correspond to opposite that there may beequilibrium. For the springing forth and permanence of all things, bothin the natural world and in the spiritual world, depend upon an exactequilibrium between two activities that are opposite; and when these actagainst each other manifestly, they act by forces, but when notmanifestly they act by endeavors (canatus). By means of equilibriumsall things in both worlds are preserved; without this all things wouldperish. In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good fromheaven and evil from hell; and thus between truth from heaven andfalsity from hell. For the Lord arranges unceasingly that all kinds andspecies of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them inthe hells evils and falsities of kinds that correspond by opposition;thus goods and truths from a celestial origin have for their oppositesevils and falsities that are called devilish; and in like manner goodsand truths from a spiritual origin have for their opposites evils andfalsities that are called infernal. The cause of these equilibriums isto be found in the fact that the same Divine goods and Divine truthsthat the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in thehells turn into evils and falsities. All angels, spirits, and men arekept by the Lord in equilibrium between good and evil, and thus betweentruth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may beled from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if bythemselves, although in fact they are led by the Lord. For the samereason they are led in freedom from good to evil, and from truth tofalsity, and this, too, as if by themselves, although the leading isfrom hell. (A. E. , n. 1043. )

II. The First Kind of Profanation

Profanations are of many kinds. The most grievous kind is when oneacknowledges and lives according to the truths and goods of the Word, ofthe church, and of worship, and afterward denies them and lives contraryto them, or even lives contrary to them and does not deny them. Suchprofanation effects a conjunction and coherence of good with falsity, and of truth with evil, and from this it comes to pass that man is atthe same time in heaven and in hell; consequently, when heaven wills tohave its own, and hell wills to have its own, and yet they cohere, theyare both swept away, and thus the proper human life perishes, and theman becomes like a brute animal, continually delirious, and carriedhither and thither by fantasy like a dragon in the air, and in hisfantasy shreds and specks appear like giants and crowds, and a littleplatter like the universe; and so on. 

As such have no longer any human life they are not called spirits, butsomething profane, nor are they called he or she, but it; and when theyare seen in the light of heaven they appear like dried skeletons. Butthis kind of profanation is rare, since the Lord provides against aman's entering into a belief in truth and a life of good unless he canbe kept in them continually even to the end of his life. (A. E. , n. 1047. )

It has been said that the most grievous kind of profanation is when thetruths of the Word are acknowledged in faith and confirmed in the life, and man afterward recedes from faith and lives wickedly, or if he doesnot recede from faith he nevertheless lives wickedly. But one who is infaith and in a life according to it from childhood to youth, andafterward in adult age recedes from faith and from a life of faith, doesnot profane, for the reason that the faith of childhood is a faith ofthe memory, and is the master's faith in the child; while the faith ofadult age is a faith of the understanding, and thus a man's own faith. This faith a man can profane if he recedes from it and lives contrary toit, but not the former. For nothing enters the life of a man andaffects it except what comes into the understanding and from that intothe will; and a man does not think from his own understanding and actfrom his own will until he arrives at adult age. Before that he hasthought merely from knowledge and acted merely from obedience; and thisdoes not make a part of his life, and therefore cannot be profaned. 

In a word, whatever a man thinks, speaks, and does, from theunderstanding with the will favoring it, this belongs to his life orcomes to be of his life; and if this is holy it is profaned by hisreceding. But the profanations of this kind are more or less grievousaccording to the quality of the truth and the consequent faith, andaccording to the quality of the good and the consequent life, andaccording to the quality of the withdrawal from these; and thereforethere are many specific differences in this profanation. (A. E. , n. 1049. )

Why the state of profaners after death is so horrible shall bedisclosed. Man has two minds, a natural and a spiritual. The naturalmind is opened to him by knowledges (scientiae et cognitiones) of truthand good, and the spiritual mind is opened by a life according to these;and this is effected in those who know, acknowledge, and believe thetruths of the Word and live according to them. In others that mind isnot opened. When the spiritual mind has been opened, the light ofheaven, which is Divine truth, flows through it into the natural mind, and there arranges truths in a corresponding order. Therefore when aman passes over into a contrary state, and either in faith or lifedenies the truths of the Word that he has previously acknowledged, thethings that are in the natural mind no longer correspond with those thatare in the spiritual mind; consequently heaven with its light flows inthrough the spiritual mind into non-corresponding things, or into thingsopposite to those that correspond in the natural man; and from this afantasy arises that is so direful that they seem to themselves to fly inthe air like dragons, while shreds and specks appear to them like giantsand crowds, and a little ball like the whole globe, and other likethings. The reason of this is that they have heaven in the spiritualmind and hell in the natural mind, and when heaven, which is in thespiritual mind, acts into hell, which is in the natural mind, suchthings appear. And as this destroys all things pertaining to theunderstanding, and the will with the understanding, the man comes to beno longer a man. And this is why a profaner is no longer called a man, nor he or she, but it, for he is a brute. (A. E. , n. 1050. )

This kind of profanation exists especially in those who acknowledge theLord and His Divine, and the Word and its holiness; and for the reasonthat the Lord alone by means of truths from the Word opens heaven to theman who lives according to those truths; and unless heaven is openedsuch profanation is not possible. And this shows why the Gentiles, whoare ignorant of the Lord and know nothing about the Word, cannot bringupon themselves such profanation; neither can the Jews, for they denythe Lord from their infancy, and heaven is not opened to them by meansof the Word; neither can the impious who have been such from childhood;for, as has been said, those only profane who believe rightly and liverightly, and afterward believe wrongly and live wrongly. Besides thiskind of profanation there are other kinds that shall be treated of. (A. E. , n. 1051. )

III. The Second Kind of Profanation

There is another kind of profanation of holy things that those come intowho have supremacy as their end, and regard the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, as means. The Divine order is thatheaven and the church, and consequently the holy things of these, be theend, and supremacy the means for promoting that end. For when holythings are the end and supremacy the means, the Lord is worshipped andadored; but when supremacy is the end and holy things the means, maninstead of the Lord is worshipped and adored. For the means look to theend as servants look to their master, and the end looks to the means asa master looks to his servants; consequently as a master esteems andloves his servants according to the compliance they render to his will, so a man who has supremacy as his end esteems and loves the holy thingsof the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliancethey render to his end, which is supremacy. And on the other hand, as alord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their placewhen they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has supremacy ashis end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takesother things in their place when they are not subservient to his end, which is supremacy. 

From this it is clear that in those who have supremacy as their end, holy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient tothe end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they aresubservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it issupremacy, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is theman's own (proprium); and man's own when viewed in itself is nothing butevil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means thatthey may be as one. In this kind of profanation are all those who arein sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things ofthe church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is thesalvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart. (A. E. , n. 1053. )

Those who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise thanadulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thuspervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord withthe end, which is the supremacy of man over them, for they are Divinethings that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that themeans may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truthsinto falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in anincreasing degree as the supremacy, which is the end, is increased. 

That this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day, to which the holy things of the Word, of the church and of worship, aremeans, and supremacy is the end. So far as they have magnifiedsupremacy they have minimized the holiness of the Word, and haveactually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope's decrees; they haveclaimed to themselves power over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself, and they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living anddead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divinetruth. 

That the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, havebeen so changed is of the Lord's Divine providence; not of Hisprovidence that this should be done, but of His providence that when menwish to rule and do rule by means of the holy Divine things, they shouldchoose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, forotherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominablebefore angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done. Take as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted bythe Lord: they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the breadto the people and drinking the wine themselves. For "bread" signifiesgood of love to the Lord, and "wine" the truth of faith in Him; and goodseparated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from goodtruth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth. And soin other things. (A. E. , n. 1054. )

Those who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of ruling, and who covet, acquire, and afterward exercise supremacy by means of theholy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those whoprofane. For the delight of the love of ruling for self's sake, thatis, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage and a kind ofworship of self, is an infernal delight. Moreover, this prevails inhell, for in hell everyone wills to be the greatest, while in heaveneveryone wills to be the least; and to rule over holy things from aninfernal delight is to profane them. 

But this second kind of profanation of the holy things of the church isnot like the former kind of the profanation of them. Those fall intothe former kind in whom a communication with heaven has been effected bythe opening of their spiritual mind; while this second kind ofprofanation those fall into in whom the spiritual mind has not beenopened, or communication with heaven effected through it. For so longas the delight of the love of ruling resides in man, that mind cannot beopened, and communication with heaven is not possible to him. 

Moreover, the lot of these profaners after death differs from the lot ofthe former. The former, as has been said, are in an unceasing deliriumof fantasy; but these hate the Lord, hate heaven, hate the Word, hatethe church, and hate all its holy things; and they come into such hatredbecause their dominion is taken away from them, and thus their state ischanged into its opposite. They appear like something fiery, and theirhell appears like a conflagration; for infernal fire is nothing elsethan a lust for ruling from love of self. These are among the worst, and are called devils, while the others are called satans. (A. E. , n. 1055. )

The love of ruling by the holy things of the church as means whollyshuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts toward theoutmosts, according to the kind and strength of that love. But to makeclear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about theinteriors belonging to the human mind. Man has a spiritual mind, arational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind. By means of thespiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form. Bymeans of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its leastform. Heaven in man communicates with the world in him by means of therational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind. Thesensual mind is the first to be opened in man after his birth; afterthat the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent therational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind. Andat length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as thehead, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves asa neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes likethe sole of the foot. 

In little children the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of theinflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened. But with thosewho begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of ruling throughthe holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is whollyshut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, evento the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose. Andthus men become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in thingsspiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all inworldly and thus in civil matters. That they are so stupid in spiritualthings they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believethese things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and cunningto be wisdom. And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind andstrength of their lust for ruling and for exercising rule, alsoaccording to the kind and strength of the persuasion that they are holy, and according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that theyprofane. (A. E. , n. 1056. )

Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, butare crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with thedevils in hell, and because, as has been said above, they are merelysensual, and are therefore in what is their own (proprium), which drawsits delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from wastematters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and thesecause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and thetitillation of these cause delight. That such is the source of theirdelight is made evident by their delights after death when they areliving as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they lovethe rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and fromouthouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme. Theapproach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, andopen the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which come theirquickness in worldly things and their dullness in spiritual things. 

In a word, the love of ruling by means of the holy things of the churchcorresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable bywords, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from theirhells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of theoppression and occasional swooning which they produce. (A. E. , n. 1057. )

IV. The Third Kind of Profanation

In the third kind of profanation are those who with devout gestures andpious utterance worship Divine things, and yet in heart and spirit denythem; thus who venerate the holy things of the Word and of the churchand of worship outwardly or before the world, and yet at home or insecret deride them. When those of this class are in a holy external, and are teaching in a church or conversing with the common people, theydo not know otherwise than that what they are saying is so; but as soonas they return into themselves their thought is reversed. Because theseare such they can counterfeit angels of light, although they are angelsof darkness. 

From this it is clear that this kind of profanation is a hypocriticalkind. They are not unlike images made of filth and gilded, or likefruits rotten within but with a beautiful skin, or like nuts eaten byworms within but with a whole shell. From all this it is evident thattheir internal is diabolical, and therefore that their holy external isprofane. 

Such are some of the rulers in the Babylon of the present day, and manyof a certain society in Babylon, as those of them know who claim tothemselves dominion over the souls of men and over heaven. For tobelieve as they do, that power has been given them to save and to admitinto heaven, is the very opposite of acknowledging in heart that thereis a God, and for the reason that man, in order to be saved and admittedinto heaven, must look to the Lord and pray to Him. But a man whobelieves that such power has been given him looks to himself, andbelieves the things that are the Lord's to be in himself; and to believethis, and at the same time to believe that there is a God or that God isin him, is impossible. For a man to believe that God is in him when hethinks himself to be above the holy things of the church, and heaven tobe in his power, is like ascribing that belief to Lucifer, who burnswith the fire of ruling over all things. If such a man thinks that Godis in him he cannot think this otherwise than from himself; and thinkingfrom himself that God is in him is thinking not that God is in him, butthat he himself is God, as is said of Lucifer in Isaiah (xiv. 13, 14), by whom is there meant Babylon, as is evident from the fourth andtwenty-second verses of the same chapter. 

Moreover, such a man of himself, when power is given him, shows forthwhat he is of himself, and this by degrees according to his elevation. From this it is clear that such are atheists, some avowedly, someclandestinely, and some ignorantly. And as they regard dominion as anend, and the holy things of heaven and the church as means, theycounterfeit angels of light in face, gesture, and speech, and thusprofane holy things. (A. E. , n. 1058. )

Those who are in this kind of profanation, which is hypocritical, differin this respect, that there are those who have less ability and thosewho have more ability to conceal the interiors of their mind, that theymay not be disclosed, and to shape the exteriors, which pertain to faceand mouth, into an expression of sanctity. When such after death becomespirits they appear encompassed with a cloud, in the midst of which issomething black, like an Egyptian mummy. But as they are raised up asit were into the light of heaven, that bright cloud changes to adiabolical duskiness, not from any shining through it, but from abreathing through it, and the consequent disclosing. In hell, therefore, these are black devils. The differences in this kind ofprofanation are known from the blackness, as being more or lesshorrifying. (A. E. , n. 1059. )

V. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation

A fourth kind of profanation is to live a life of piety, by frequentingchurches, listening devoutly to preachings, observing the sacrament ofthe Supper, and the other appointed forms of worship, reading the Wordat home, and sometimes books of devotion, and habitually praying morningand evening, and yet making the precepts of life that are in the Word, particularly in the Decalogue, of no account, by acting dishonestly andunjustly in business and in judgments for the sake of gain or influencedby friendship; committing whoredom and adultery when lust inflames andurges; burning with hate and revenge against those who do not favortheir gain or honor; lying, and speaking evil of the good, and good ofthe evil, and so on. When a man is in these evils, and has not beenpurified from them by turning away from them and hating them, and stillworships God devoutly, as has been said above, then he profanes; for hemingles his internals which are impure with externals that are pious, and these he defiles. 

For there can be nothing external that does not proceed and haveexistence from internals. The actions and speech of man are hisexternals, and thoughts and volitions are his internals. Man can speakonly from thought, and can act only from volition. When the life of thethoughts and of the will is infected with craft, cunning, and violence, it must needs be that these, as interior evils of the life, will flowinto the speech and actions pertaining to worship and piety, and defilethem as filth defiles waters. 

This worship is what is meant by "Gog and Magog" (Apoc. Xx. 8), and isthus described in Isaiah:

"What is the multitude of sacrifices unto Me, meat offerings, incense, sabbaths, new moons, appointed feasts, and prayers, when your hands arefull of bloods? Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickedness ofyour doings . . . ; cease to do evil" (i. 11-19). 

This kind of profanation is not hypocritical like the former, becausethe man who is in it believes that he will be saved by external worshipseparate from internal, and does not know that the worship by which hecan be saved is external worship from internal. (A. E. , n. 1061. )

Those who give themselves up wholly to a life of piety, who walkcontinually in pious meditations, who pray frequently upon their knees, and talk about salvation, faith, and love at all times and in allplaces, and yet do not shun frauds, adulteries, hatreds, blasphemies, and the like, as sins against God, nor fight against them, such are thekind that are more fully profaners; for by the impurities of their mindsthey defile the piety of their lips, especially when they renounce theworld and lead solitary lives. Of this kind there are some who arestill more profaners; these are like those just described, but byreasonings and by the Word falsely interpreted they defend their vicesas adulteries and lusts that belong to their nature, and thus to theirenjoyment. Such first regard themselves as free from danger, afterwardas blameless, and at length as holy; and thus under the veil of sanctitythey cast themselves into uncleannesses with which both themselves andtheir garments are polluted. (A. E. , n. 1062. )

To this class of profaners those especially belong who read the Word andknow about the Lord; because from the Lord through the Word are allthings holy that can be profaned; things not from that source cannot beprofaned. That is said to be profane that is the opposite of what isholy, and that offers violence to what is holy and destroys it. Fromthis it follows that those who do not read the Word and do not approachthe Lord, as is the case with the Papists, still less those who knownothing about the Lord and the Word, like the Gentiles, do not belong tothis class of profaners. 

Those who belong to this class of profaners appear after death at firstwith a face of human color, around which float many wandering stars; andthose of them that had been leaders sometimes appear shining about thelips. But as they are brought into the light of heaven, the stars andthe shining of the lips vanish, and the color of the face is changed toblack, and likewise their garments. But the blackness of theseprofaners tends to blue, as the blackness of the other kind of profanerstends to red, for the reason that the latter profane the goods of theWord and of the church, while the others profane the truths of the Wordand of the church. For red derives from the sun its signification ofgood, while blue derives from the sky its signification of truth. (A. E. , n. 1063. )

The fifth kind of profanation is not like the others that have beentreated of, for it consists in jesting from the Word and about the Word. For those who make jokes from the Word do not regard it as holy, andthose who joke about it hold it in no esteem. And yet the Word is thevery Divine truth of the Lord with men, and the Lord is present in theWord, and heaven also; for every particular of the Word communicateswith heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; therefore to jest fromthe Word or about the Word is to bespatter the holy things of heavenwith the dust of the earth. (A. E. , n. 1064. )

Part Fourth--THE DIVINE WORD

I. The Holiness of the Word

It was said of old that the Word is from God, Divinely inspired, andthus holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Wordthe Divine is. For the Word appears in the letter like a common writingin a foreign style, and a style not so sublime or so lucid as appears inthe writings of the present ages. For this reason a man who worshipsnature more than God, or in place of God, and thus thinks from himselfand what is his own (proprium), and not from the Lord out of heaven, caneasily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, saying in his heart when he reads it, What is this, or what is that? Isthis Divine? Can God who has infinite wisdom speak in this manner?Where is its holiness, and from what source, unless from the religionwhose ministers it serves? and other like things. But that it may beknown that the Word is Divine, not only in every meaning but also inevery expression, its internal sense, which is spiritual, and which isin its external sense, which is natural, as a soul in its body, has nowbeen revealed. This sense can bear witness to the Divinity andconsequent holiness of the Word; and can convince even the natural manthat the Word is Divine if he is willing to be convinced. (A. E. , n. 1065. )

In brief, the Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angelsand enlightens men. As Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, and aswhat goes forth is Himself out of Himself, the same as light and heat goforth from the sun and are the sun, that is, are of the sun out of it, and as the Word is Divine truth, it is therefore the Lord, as it iscalled in John (i. 1-3, 14). In as much as Divine truth, which is theWord, in its descent into the world from the Lord, has passed throughthe three heavens, it has become accommodated to each heaven, and lastlyto men also in the world. This is why there are in the Word foursenses, one outside of the other from the highest heaven down to theworld, or one within the other from the world up to the highest heaven. These four senses are called the celestial, the spiritual, the naturalfrom the celestial and spiritual, and the merely natural. This last isfor the world, the next for the lowest heaven, the spiritual for thesecond heaven, and the celestial for the third. These four sensesdiffer so greatly from one another that when one is exhibited beside theother no connection can be recognized; and yet they make one when onefollows the other; for one follows from the other as an effect from acause, or as what is posterior from what is prior; consequently as aneffect represents its cause and corresponds to its cause, so theposterior sense corresponds to the prior; and thus it is that all foursenses make one through correspondences. 

From all this these truths follow. The outmost sense of the Word, whichis the sense of the letter, and the fourth in order, contains in itselfthe three interior senses, which are for the three heavens. These threesenses are unfolded and exhibited in the heavens when a man on the earthis reverently reading the Word. Therefore the sense of the letter ofthe Word is that from which and through which there is communicationwith the heavens, also from which and through which man has conjunctionwith the heavens. The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis ofDivine truth in the heavens, and without such a basis Divine truth wouldbe like a house without a foundation; and without such a basis thewisdom of the angels would be like a house in the air. It is the senseof the letter of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists. It is the sense of the letter of the Word through which man isenlightened by the Lord, and through which he receives answers when hewishes to be enlightened. It is the sense of the letter of the Word bywhich everything of doctrine on the earth must be established. In thesense of the letter of the Word is Divine truth in its fullness. In thesense of the letter of the Word Divine truth is in its holiness. (A. E. , n. 1066. )

That the Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels andenlightens men, can be perceived or seen only by a man enlightened. Forto a worldly man, whose mind has not been raised above the sensualsphere, the Word in the sense of the letter appears so simple thatscarcely anything could be more simple; and yet Divine truth, such as itis in the heavens and from which angels have their wisdom, liesconcealed in it as in its sanctuary. For the Word in the letter is likethe adytum [sanctum] in the midst of a temple covered with a veil, within which lie deposited mysteries of heavenly wisdom such as no earhath heard. For in the Word and in every particular of it there is aspiritual sense, and in that sense a Divine celestial sense, whichregarded in itself is Divine truth itself, which is in the heavens andwhich gives wisdom to angels and enlightenment to men. 

The Divine truth that is in the heavens is light going forth from theLord as a Sun, which is Divine love. And as the Divine truth that goesforth from the Lord is the light of heaven, so it is the Divine wisdom. It is this that illuminates both the minds and the eyes of angels, andit is this also that enlightens the minds of men, but not their eyes, and that enables them to understand truth and also to perceive good whenman reads the Word from the Lord and not from self; for he is then aparticipator with angels, and has an inward perception like thespiritual perception of angels; and that spiritual perception which theangel-man has flows into his natural perception which is his own whilein the world and enlightens it. Consequently the man who reads the Wordfrom an affection for truth has enlightenment through heaven from theLord. (A. E. , n. 1067. )

II. The Lord is the Word

Since the Word is Divine truth, and this goes forth from the Lord'sDivine Esse (being), as light from the sun, it follows that the Lord isthe Word because He is Divine truth. The Lord is the Word, because Heis Divine truth, and this goes forth His Divine Esse (being), which isDivine love, because the Divine love was in Him when in the world as asoul is in its body; and as Divine truth goes forth from Divine love aslight goes forth from the sun, as has been said, so the Lord's Human inthe world was Divine truth going forth from the Divine love that was inHim. That the Divine itself, which is called "Jehovah" and the"Father, " and which is the Divine love, was in the Lord from conception, is evident in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matthew from thesewords:

When Mary the mother of Jesus had been betrothed to Joseph, "before theycame together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. " And theangle said to Joseph in a dream, "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thywife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit" . . . This came to pass that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of theLord by the prophet: . . . "Behold a virgin shall be with child, andshall bring forth a son. " And Joseph "knew her not until she hadbrought forth her firstborn son; and he called His name Jesus" (i. 18-25). 

And in Luke from these words:

The angel said to Mary, "Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, andbring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus; He shall be great, andshall be called the Son of the Most High. " . . . Then Mary said unto theangel, "How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" The angel answeredher, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the MostHigh shall overshadow thee; wherefore also the Holy Thing that shall beborn of thee shall be called the Son of God" (i. 30-35). 

It was because He was conceived of Jehovah that He is so frequentlycalled in the Word "the Son of God, " and Jehovah is called His "Father. "Jehovah in respect to His Esse (being) is Divine love, and in respect toHis Existere (outgo) He is Divine good united to Divine truth. 

From this it can be seen what is meant by:

The Word that was with God and that was God, and also was the light thatenlighteneth every man (John i. 1-10), namely, that it was Divine truthgoing forth from the Lord, thus the Lord in respect to His Existere(outgo). That the Lord in respect to His Existere was Divine truth, andthat this was His Divine Human, because this came forth from His DivineEsse as a body from its soul, these words in John clearly certify:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, gloryas of the only begotten of the Father (i. 14). 

"The Word" is the Divine truth, which also is "glory"; "flesh" means theDivine Human; "the only begotten of the Father" means the springingforth or going forth from the Divine Esse in Him. (A. E. , n. 1069. )

But as the world does not know how the words in John (i. 1, 2, 14) thatthe Lord is the Word, are to be understood, this shall be furtherexplained. It is known in the church that God is good itself and truthitself, and thus that all the good that an angel has and that a man hasis from God, and likewise all truth. Now since the Lord is God He isalso Divine good and Divine truth; and this is what is meant by "theWord, that was with God, and was God, " and also was "the light thatenlighteneth every man, " and that also "became flesh, " that is, Man inthe world. 

That when the Lord was in the world He was the Divine truth, which isthe Word, He Himself teaches in many passages where He calls Himself"the Light, " also where He calls Himself "the Way, the Truth, and theLife"; and where He says that "the Spirit of truth" goes forth from Him. "The Spirit of truth" is the Divine truth. When the Lord wastransfigured He represented the Word, "His face that shone as the sun"represented its Divine good; and His garments, which were "bright as thelight" and "white as snow, " represented its Divine truth. "Moses andElijah, " who then talked with the Lord, also signified the Word, "Moses"the historical Word and "Elijah" the prophetic Word. Moreover, allthings of the Lord's passion represented the kind of violence that theJewish nation offered to the Word. Again, the Lord from Divine truth, which He is, is called "God, " "King, " and "Angel, " and is meant by "therock in Horeb, " and "the rock" where Peter is spoken of. All this makesclear that the Lord is the Word, because He is Divine truth. The Wordin the letter, which is with us, is the Divine truths in outmosts. (A. E. , n. 1070. )

As it cannot but transcend the comprehension that the Lord in relationto His Human in the world was the Word, that is, Divine truth; accordingto these words in John, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father" (i. 14), it shall beexplained, as far as possible, to the comprehension. It can be said ofevery regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, sincethe thought which belongs to his understanding is from truths, and theaffection which belongs to his will is from goods. Whether you say, therefore, that a man is his own understanding and his own will, or thata man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts to the same thing. The body is mere obedience; for it speaks that which man thinks from theunderstanding, and does that which he wills from affection. Thus thesethings and the body mutually correspond and make one, like an effect andits effecting cause; and these taken together constitute the human. 

As it can be said of the regenerate man that he is his own truth and hisown good, so it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is truth itselfor Divine truth, and good itself or Divine good. All this makes evidentthe truth that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was Divinetruth, that is the Word; and that everything that He then said wasDivine truth, which is the Word; and that since the time when he went tothe Father, that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth goingforth from Him is the Spirit of truth, which goes out and goes forthfrom Him, and at the same time from the Father in Him. (A. E. , n. 1071. )

III. The Lord's Words Spirit and Life

That the Word is holy and Divine from inmosts to outermosts is notevident to the man who leads himself, but is evident to the man whom theLord leads. For the man who leads himself sees only the external of theWord, and forms his opinion of it from its style; but the man whom theLord leads forms his opinion of the external of the Word from theholiness that is in it. 

The Word is like a garden, that may be called a heavenly paradise, inwhich are delicacies and charms of every kind, delicacies from thefruits, and charms from the flowers; and in the middle of it trees oflife, and near them fountains of living water, and round about trees ofthe forest, and near them rivers. The man who leads himself forms hisopinion of that paradise, which is the Word, from its circumference, where the trees of the forest are; but the man whom the Lord leads formshis opinion of it from the middle of it, where the trees of life are. The man whom the Lord leads is actually in the middle of it, and looksto the Lord; but the man who leads himself actually sits down at thecircumference, and looks away from it to the world. 

Again, the Word is like fruit within which there is a nutritious pulp, and in the middle of it seed vessels, in which inmostly is a living germthat germinates in good soil. Again, the Word is also like a mostbeautiful infant, about which, except the face, there are wrappings uponwrappings; the infant itself is in the inmost heaven, the wrappings arein the lower heavens, and the general covering of the wrappings is onthe earth. As the Word is such it is holy and Divine from inmosts tooutermosts. (A. E. , n. 1072. )

The Word is such because in its origin it is the Divine itself that goesforth from the Lord, and is called Divine truth; and when this descendedto men in the world it passed through the heavens in their orderaccording to their degrees, which are three; and in each heaven it wasrecorded in accommodation to the wisdom and intelligence of the angelsthere. Finally it was brought down from the Lord through the heavens tomen, and there it was recorded and made known in adaptation to man'sunderstanding and apprehension. This, therefore, is the sense of itsletter, and in this lies Divine truth such as it is in the threeheavens, stored up in distinct order. 

From this it is clear that the entire wisdom of the angels in the threeheavens has been imparted by the Lord to our Word, and in its inmostthere is the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven, which isincomprehensible and ineffable to man, because full of mysteries andtreasures of Divine verities. These lie stored up in each particularand in all the particulars of our Word. And as Divine truth is the Lordin the heavens, so the Lord Himself is present, and may be said to dwellin all the particulars and each particular of His Word, as He does inHis heavens; and in the same way as He has said of the ark of thecovenant, in which were deposited only the Ten Commandments written onthe two tables, the first-fruits of the Word, for He said that He wouldspeak there with Moses and Aaron, that He would be present there, thatHe would dwell there, and that it was His holy of holies, and Hisdwelling place as in heaven. (A. E. , n. , 1073. )

As the Divine truth, in passing from the Lord Himself through the threeheavens down to men in the world, is recorded and becomes the Word ineach heaven, so the Word is a bond of union of the heavens with eachother, and a bond of union of the heavens with the church in the world. For the Word is the same everywhere, differing only in perfection ofglory and wisdom according to the degrees in which the heavens are;consequently the holy Divine from the Lord flows in through the heavensinto the man in the world who acknowledges the Lord's Divine and theholiness of the Word whenever he reads the Word; and so far as such aman loves wisdom he can be instructed and can imbibe wisdom from theWord as from the Lord Himself, or from heaven itself, and can thus benourished with the food with which the angels themselves are nourished, and in which there is life; according to these words of the Lord:

"The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life" (John vi. 63). "The water that I will give you shall become . . . A fountain of waterspringing up unto eternal life" (John iv. 14). "Man doth not live bybread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God"(Matt. Iv. 4). "Work . . . For the meat that abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you" (John vi. 27). 

Such is the Word. (A. E. , n. 1074. )

It has been said that the Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, andthat the Word is from that, and that through the Word angels and menhave wisdom. But so long as it is unknown how Divine truth goes forthfrom the Lord, this may be said but it cannot be understood. Divinetruth, which is the same as Divine wisdom, goes forth from the Lord aslight and heat do from the sun. The Lord is Divine love itself, andlove appears in the heavens from correspondence as fire, and the Lord'sDivine love as a sun, glowing and resplendent like the sun of the world. From that sun, which is high above the heavens where the angels are, andwhich is Divine love, heat and light go forth; the heat therefrom isDivine good, and the light therefrom is Divine truth. The heat isDivine good, because all heat of life going forth from love is felt asgood, for it is spiritual heat; and the light is Divine truth becauseall light going forth from love is felt as truth, for it is spirituallight; consequently it is from that light that the understanding seestruths, and it is from that heat that the will is sensible of goods; andthis is why in the Word love is meant by heavenly fire and wisdom byheavenly light. 

It is the same with a man and with an angel. Every angel and man is hisown love, and a sphere flowing out from his love encompasses every manand angel. That sphere consists of the good of his love and of thetruth of his love, for love gives forth both, as fire gives forth bothheat and light; from the will of a man or angel it gives forth good, andfrom his understanding it gives forth truth. This sphere, when the manor angel is good, has an extension into the heavens in every directionaccording to the character and amount of the love, and into the hells inevery direction when the man or angel is evil. But the sphere of thelove of a man or an angel has a finite extension into a few societiesonly of heaven or hell, while the sphere of the Lord's love, beingDivine, has an infinite extension, and creates the heavens themselves. (A. E. , n. 1076. )

The Word of the Lord is wonderful in this respect, that in everyparticular of it there is a reciprocal union of good and truth, whichtestifies that the Word is the Divine that goes forth from the Lord, which is Divine good and Divine truth reciprocally united; and alsotestifies that in the Word there is a marriage of the Lord with heavenand the church, which also is reciprocal. There is a marriage of goodand truth, also of truth and good, in every particular of the Word, inorder that it may be a source of wisdom to angels and of intelligence tomen, for from good alone no wisdom or intelligence is born, neither fromtruth alone, but from their marriage when the love is reciprocal. Thisreciprocal love the Lord sets forth in John:

"He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I inhim" (vi. 56). 

In the same, "In that day ye shall know, that . . . Ye are in Me and I in you. Hethat hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; . . . And I will love him" (xiv. 20, 21). 

The reciprocality is that such are in the Lord and the Lord is in them, also that whoever loves the Lord, the Lord also will love him. "To haveHis commandments" is to be in truths, and "to do them" is to be in good. 

Reciprocality is also described by the Lord in His union with theFather, in these words, "Philip, . . . How sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou notthat I am in the Father and the Father in Me? . . . Believe Me, that Iam in the Father and the Father in Me" (John xiv. 9-11). 

From this reciprocal union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord thereciprocal union of Divine good and Divine truth goes forth; and thisgoes forth from the Lord's Divine love; and the same is true of theLord's reciprocal union with heaven and the church, and in general thereciprocal union of good and truth in an angel of heaven and in a man ofthe church. And as good is of charity and truth is of faith, and ascharity and faith make the church, it follows that the church is in aman when there is a reciprocal union of charity and faith in him. Again, as good is of the will and truth is of the understanding, and asthe will and understanding make man, it follows that a man is a manaccording to the union of the will and all things belonging to it withthe understanding and all things belonging to it, and this reciprocally. This union is what is called marriage, which from creation is in everyparticular of heaven and in every particular of the world; and from thisis the production and the generation of all things. That in everyparticular of the Word there is such a marriage that good loves truthand truth loves good, thus mutually and in turn, is disclosed in thespiritual sense of the Word; and it is from this marriage that good andtruth are one and not two, and are one when good is of truth and truthis of good. (A. E. , n. 1077). 

The Word in the sense of the letter appears very simple, and yet thereis stored up in it the wisdom of the three heavens, for each leastparticular of it contains interior and more interior senses; an interiorsense such as exists in the first heaven, a still more interior sensesuch as exists in the second heaven, and an inmost sense such as existsin the third heaven. These senses are in the sense of the letter, onewithin the other, and are evolved therefrom one after the other, eachfrom its own heaven, when the Word is read by a man who is led by theLord. These interior senses differ in a degree of light and wisdomaccording to the heavens, and yet they make one by influx, and thus bycorrespondences. How they thus make one shall be told in what follows. All this makes clear how the Word was inspired by the Divine, and thatit was written from an inspiration to which nothing else in the worldcan in anywise be compared. The mysteries of wisdom of the threeheavens contained in it are the mystical things of which many havespoken. (A. E. , n. 1079. )

IV. Influx and Correspondence

It has been said that there is a Word in each heaven and that theseWords are in our Word in their order, and that they thus make one byinflux and consequent correspondences. Here, therefore, it shall be toldwhat correspondence is and what influx is; otherwise what the Word isinwardly in its bosom, thus in respect to its life from the Lord, whichis its soul, cannot be understood. 

But what correspondence is and what influx is shall be illustrated byexamples. The changes of the face that are called expressionscorrespond to the affections of the mind; consequently the face changesin respect to its expressions just as the affections of the mind changein respect to their states. These changes in the face arecorrespondences, as consequently the face itself is; and the action ofthe mind into it, that the correspondences may be exhibited, is calledinflux. The sight of man's thought, which is called the understanding, corresponds to the sight of his eyes; and consequently the quality ofthe thought from the understanding is made evident by the light andflame of the eyes. The sight of the eye is a correspondence, asconsequently the eye itself is; the action of the understanding into theeye, by which the correspondence is exhibited, is influx. Activethought, which belongs to the understanding, corresponding to speech, which belongs to the mouth. The speech is a correspondence, likewisethe mouth and everything belonging to it, and the action of thought intospeech and into the organs of speech is influx. The perception of themind corresponds to the smell of the nostrils. The smell and thenostrils are correspondences, and the action is influx. For this reasona man who has interior perception is said to have a keen nose, andperceiving a thing is called scenting it out. Hearkening, which meansobedience, corresponds to the hearing of the ears; consequently both thehearing and the ears are correspondences, and the action of obedienceinto the hearing, that a man may raise his ears and attend, is influx;therefore hearkening and hearing are both significative, hearkening andgiving ear to anyone meaning to obey, and hearkening and hearing anyonemeaning to hear with the ears. The action of the body corresponds tothe will, the action of the heart corresponds to the life of the love, the action of the lungs, which is called respiration, corresponds to thelife of the faith, and the whole body in respect to all its members, viscera, and organs, corresponds to the soul in respect to all thefunctions and powers of its life. 

From these few examples it can be seen what correspondence is and whatinflux is; and that when the spiritual, which belongs to the life ofman's understanding and will, flows into the acts which belong to hisbody, it exhibits itself in a natural effigy, and there iscorrespondence; also that thus the spiritual and the natural act as oneby correspondences, like interior and exterior, or like prior andposterior, or like the effecting cause and the effect, or like theprincipal cause which belongs to man's thought and will, and theinstrumental cause which belongs to his speech and action. There issuch a correspondence of natural things and spiritual not only in eachand every thing of man, but also in each every thing of the world; andthe correspondences are produced by an influx of the spiritual world andall things of it into the natural world and all things of it. From allthis it can be seen in some measure how our Word, as to the sense of theletter, which is natural, makes one by influx and correspondences withthe Words in the heavens, the senses of which are spiritual. (A. E. , n. 1080. )

What the Word is in respect to influx and correspondences can now beshown. It is said in John:

"He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they shouldsee with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should turnthemselves and I should heal them" (xii. 40). 

The "eyes" that are blinded signify the understanding of truth andbelief in it; the "heart" that is hardened signifies the will and loveof good; and "to be healed" signifies to be reformed. They were notpermitted "to turn themselves and be healed" lest they should commitprofanation; for a wicked man who is healed and who returns to his eviland falsity commits profanation; and so it would have been with theJewish nation. In Matthew:

"Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear"(xiii. 16). 

Here, too, the "eyes" signify the understanding of truth and belief init; so "to see" signifies to understand and believe, and the "ears"signify obedience, thus a life according to the truths of faith, and "tohear" signifies to obey and live. For one is blessed not because hesees and hears, but because he understands, believes, obeys, and lives. In the same, "The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be sound the whole body islight, if the eye be evil the whole body is darkened. If, therefore, the light . . . Be darkness, how great is the darkness" (vi. 22, 23). 

Here, again, the "eye" signifies the understanding of truth and beliefin it, which is called a lamp from the light of truth that man has fromunderstanding and belief. And because a man becomes wise fromunderstanding and believing in truth, it is said "if the eye be soundthe whole body is light. " The "body" means the man, and "to be light"means to be wise. But it is the reverse with the "evil eye, " that is, understanding and believing in falsity. "Darkness" means falsities, "ifthe light be darkness" signifies if the truth be false or falsified, andbecause truth falsified is worse than any other falsity, it is said, "Ifthe light be darkness, how great is the darkness. "

These few examples make clear what correspondence is and what influx is, namely, that the eye is a correspondence of the understanding and faith, the heart a correspondence of the will and love, the ears acorrespondence of obedience, the lamp and light correspondences oftruth, and darkness a correspondence of falsity, and so on; and as theone is spiritual and the other is natural, and the spiritual acts intothe natural and forms it to a likeness of itself that it may appearbefore the eyes or before the world, so that action is influx. Such isthe Word in each and every particular. (A. E. , n. 1081. )

The spiritual by influx presents what is correspondent to itself in thenatural, in order that the end may become a cause, and the cause becomean effect, and thus the end through the cause may present itself in theeffect as visible and sensible. This trine, namely, end, cause, andeffect, exists from creation in every heaven. The end is good of love, the cause is truth from that good, and the effect is use. The producingforce is love, and the product therefrom is of love from good by meansof truth. The final products, which are in our world, are various, asnumerous as the objects are in its three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral. All products are correspondences. As thistrine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists in each heaven, there mustbe in each heaven products that are correspondences, and that are likein form and aspect the objects in the three kingdoms of our earth; fromwhich it is clear that each heaven is like our earth in outwardappearance, differing only in excellence and beauty according todegrees. Now in order that the Word may be full, that is, may consistof effects in which are a cause and an end, or may consist of uses inwhich truth is the cause and good is the end and love is the producingforce, it must needs consist of correspondences; and from this itfollows that the Word in each heaven is like the Word in our world, differing only in excellence and beauty according to degrees. What thisdifference is shall be told elsewhere. (A. E. , n. 1082. )

V. The Three Senses in the Word

As there is a trine, one within another, in every last particular of theWord, and this trine is like that of effect, cause, and end, it followsthat there are three senses in the Word, one within another, namely, anatural, a spiritual, and a celestial; a natural for the world, aspiritual for the heavens of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and acelestial for the heavens of His celestial kingdom. (That the entireheavens are divided into two kingdoms, the spiritual and the celestial, may be seen in Heaven and Hell, n. 20-28. ) Now as there is one sensewithin another, a first which is the sense of the letter for the naturalworld, a second which is the internal sense for the spiritual kingdom, and a third which is the inmost for the celestial kingdom, it followsthat a natural man draws from it his sense, a spiritual angel his sense, and a celestial angel his sense, thus everyone what is analogous to andin agreement with his own essence and nature. This takes place whenevera man who is led by the Lord is reading the Word. 

But let this be illustrated by examples. When this commandment of theDecalogue is read, "Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother, " a manin the world understands by "father and mother" a father and mother onthe earth, and also all who are or may be in the place of father ormother; and by "honoring" he understands to hold such in honor. But anangel of the spiritual kingdom understands by "father" the Divine good, and by "mother" the Divine truth, and by "honoring" loving; while anangel of the celestial kingdom understands by "father" the Lord, and by"mother" heaven and the church, and by "honoring" doing. 

When the fifth commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal, " isread, by "stealing" a man understands stealing, defrauding, and takingaway under any pretense his neighbor's goods. But an angel of thespiritual kingdom by "stealing" understands depriving another of histruths and goods by means of falsities and evils, while an angel of thecelestial kingdom by "not to steal" understands not to attribute tohimself the things that are the Lord's, as the good of love and thetruth of faith; for thereby good becomes not good, and truth not truth, because they are from men. 

When the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery, " is read, aman by "committing adultery" understands committing adultery andwhoredom, also thinking filthy thoughts, speaking lasciviously, anddoing obscene things. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by"committing adultery" understands falsifying the truths of the Word andadulterating its goods; while an angel of the celestial kingdom by"committing adultery" understands blaspheming against the Lord, heaven, and the church. 

When the seventh commandment, "Thou shalt not kill, " is read, by"killing" a man understands hating and desiring revenge, even to murder. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by "killing" understands thekilling of a man's soul by stumbling blocks to the life and byreasonings, whereby a man is led into spiritual death, while an angel ofthe celestial kingdom by "killing" understands seducing a man intobelieving that there is no God and no heaven and no hell, for thus man'seternal life is destroyed. 

When the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness, " isread, a man by "false witness" understands lying and defamation. But anangel of the spiritual kingdom by "false witness" understands asserting, proving, and persuading that falsity is truth and evil is good, or onthe other hand that truth is falsity and good is evil, while an angel ofthe celestial kingdom by "false witness" understands every falsityagainst the Lord, and against heaven in favor of hell. 

All this makes clear how a man draws and calls forth from the Word inthe letter a natural sense, a spiritual angel a spiritual sense, and acelestial angel a celestial sense, much as the wood of a tree draws itssap, the leaf its sap, and the fruit its sap, from the same soil. Andwhat is wonderful, this is done instantly, without the angel's knowingwhat the man thinks, or the man what the angel thinks, and yet theirthoughts are one by correspondences, as end, cause, and effect are one. Moreover, ends are actually in the celestial kingdom, causes in thespiritual kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and effects in thenatural world. (A. E. , n. 1083. )

VI. Conjunction by the Word

Since it is from creation that end, cause, and effect shall togethermake one, so it is from creation that the heavens shall make one withthe church on the earth, but by means of the Word, when it is read byman from a love of truth and good. For the Word was given by the Lordto this end, that there might be a perpetual conjunction of the angelsof heaven with men on the earth, and a perpetual communication accordingto conjunction. Without this medium there would be no conjunction orcommunication with heaven on this earth. The conjunction andcommunication are instantaneous, and for the reason that all things ofthe Word in the sense of the letter are as effects, in which the causeand the end exist together, and the effects, which are in the Word, arecalled uses, their cause truths, and their ends goods; and the Divinelove, which is the Lord, unites these three together in the man who isin an affection for uses from the Word. 

How a man draws and calls forth from the Word in the letter the naturalsense, a spiritual angel the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel thecelestial sense, and this instantly, from which there is a communicationand a conjunction, shall be illustrated by comparisons; first bysomething in the animal kingdom, afterward by something in the vegetablekingdom, and finally by something in the mineral kingdom. 

From the Animal Kingdom:--From the food, when it has been changed intochyle, the vessels draw and call forth their blood, the fibers of thenerves their fluid, and the substances that are the origins of fiberstheir spirit, which is called the animal spirit; and this is donethrough the vital heat, which in its essence is love. The vessels, thefibers, and the substances which are their origins, are distinct fromeach other, and yet they act as one throughout the body, and they acttogether and on the instant. 

From the Vegetable Kingdom:--The tree, with its trunk and branches, leaves and fruits, stands upon its root, and from the soil where itsroot is draws and calls forth its sap, a coarser sap for the trunk andbranches, a purer for the leaves, and a still purer and also nobler forthe fruits and for the seeds in them; and this is done by means of heatfrom the sun. Here the branches, leaves, and fruit are distinct, andyet they extract together and instantly and from the same soil foods ofsuch different purity and nobleness. 

From the Mineral Kingdom:--In the bosom of the earth in certain placesthere are minerals impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and iron. From vapors stored up in the earth the gold attracts its element, silverits element, copper and iron theirs, distinctly, together, and on theinstant, and this by means of some power of unknown heat. 

As it is allowable to illustrate spiritual things by means ofcomparisons drawn from natural things, these will serve to illustratehow interior things, which are spiritual and celestial, and by which aman of the church has communication and conjunction with the heavens, can be drawn and called forth and extracted and eliminated from the Wordin its outmosts, that is, the sense of the letter. Comparisons can bemade with these, because all things in the three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral, correspond to the spiritual things thatare in the three heavens, as the food of the body with which acomparison has been made, corresponds to the food of the soul, which isknowledge, intelligence, and wisdom; a tree, with which also acomparison has been made, corresponds to man, the tree to man himself, the wood to his good, the leaves to his truths, and the fruits to hisuses; so, too, gold, silver, copper, and iron, correspond to goods andtruths, gold to celestial good, silver to spiritual truth, copper tonatural good, and iron to natural truth. Moreover, these things havethese significations in the Word. And what is wonderful, the purer arecontained in the grosser and are drawn from them, as the animal spiritand the nerve fluid are contained in blood from which the originalsubstances and nerve fibers draw and extract their distinct portions. So, again, fruits and leaves draw theirs from the gross fluid that isbrought up from the soil by the wood and its bark, and so on. Thuscomparatively, as has been said, the purer senses of the Word are drawnand called forth from the sense of the letter. (A. E. , n. 1084. )

VII. The Sense of the Letter

As there are three senses in the Word, a natural, a spiritual, and acelestial, and as its natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, is a containment of the two senses, the spiritual and celestial, itfollows that the sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of thosesenses. And as the angels of the three heavens receive their wisdomfrom the Lord through the Word that they have, and as their Words makeone with our Word by correspondences, it also follows that the sense ofthe letter of our Word is the basis, support, and foundation of thewisdom of the angels of heaven. For the heavens rest upon the humanrace as a house rests upon its foundation; so the wisdom of the angelsof heaven rests in like manner upon the knowledge, intelligence, andwisdom of men from the sense of the letter of the Word; for, as has beensaid above, communication and conjunction with the heavens are effectedthrough the sense of the letter of the Word. For this reason, as aresult of the Lord's Divine providence, there has been no mutilation ofthe sense of the letter of the Word from its first revelation, not evenin a word or letter in the original text; for each word, and in somemeasure each letter, is a support. 

From all this it is clear what a profanation it is to falsify the truthsand adulterate the goods of the Word, and how infernal it is to deny orto weaken its holiness. As soon as that is done, for that man of thechurch heaven is closed. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, whichcannot be forgiven, is the blasphemy of the Word by those who deny itsholiness. Since the Word is the basis of the heavens, and since theWord was wholly falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation bytraditions and adaptation of the sense of the letter to favor their evilloves, lest the heavens should be endangered and the wisdom of theangels there should become foolishness it pleased the Lord to come downfrom heaven and to put on the Human and to become the Word (as isevident from John i. 14), and thus to restore the state of heaven. (A. E. , n. 1085. )

There is a successive order and there is a simultaneous order. Insuccessive order things pure and perfect appear above, and those lesspure and perfect appear below. The three heavens are in successiveorder, one above another; and in the higher heavens all things are pureand perfect, while in the lower they are less pure and perfect. Simultaneous order exists in lower things, and fully in the lowest; forhigher things let themselves down and place themselves in the order thatis called simultaneous, in which the pure and perfect things, which werethe higher, are in the middle or center, and the less pure and perfect, which were the lower, are in the circumferences. Therefore all thingsthat have come forth in successive order are together in outmosts intheir order. 

As all higher things place themselves in what is lowest in simultaneousorder, it follows that in the outmosts of the Word, which constitute thesense of its letter, are all things of Divine truth and of Divine good, even from their firsts. And as all things of Divine truth and Divinegood are together in their outmost, which is the sense of the letter ofthe Word, there evidently is the power of Divine truth, yea, theomnipotence of the Lord in saving man. For when the Lord operates Heoperates not from first things through mediates into outmosts, but fromfirst things through outmosts and thus into mediates. This is why theLord is called in the Word the First and the Last; and this is why theLord assumed the Human, which in the world was Divine truth or the Word, and glorified it even to outmosts, which are the bones and flesh, inorder that He might operate from first things through outmosts, and notas before from man, but from Himself. 

This power in outmosts was represented by the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for thehair corresponds to the outmosts of Divine truth. And for this reason, to produce baldness was regarded in ancient times as disgraceful. 

The boys who called Elisha "bald head" were torn in pieces by bears, because Elisha and Elijah represented the Word; and the Word without thesense of the letter, which is like a head without hair, is destitute ofall power, and thus is no longer the Word. "Bears" signify those thathave strength from the outmost of truth. 

The power of the Word in the sense of the letter is the power to openheaven, whereby communication and conjunction are effected, and also thepower to fight against falsities and evils, thus against the hells. Aman who is in genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Wordcan disperse and scatter the whole diabolical crew and their devices inwhich they place their power, which are innumerable, and this in amoment, merely by careful thought and an effort of the will. In brief, in the spiritual world nothing can resist genuine truths confirmed bythe sense of the letter of the Word (A. E. , n. 1086. )

Now since all interior things, that is, the spiritual and celestialthings that are in the Words of the three heavens, are together in theoutmost sense of the Word, which is called the sense of the letter (forin its inmosts there are the things that are in the Word that the angelsof the third heaven have, and in its middle parts the things that are inthe Words belonging to the angels of the lower heavens, and these areencompassed by such things as exist in the nature of our world and areincluded in these), so the sense of the letter of our Word is from allthese. From this it can be seen that Divine truth is in its fullness inthe sense of the letter of our Word. That is said to be full whichcontains in itself all things prior, even from the first, or all thingshigher even from the highest; the last is what includes these. Thefullness of the Word is like a general vessel of marble, in which arecountless lesser vessels of crystal, and in these still more numerousvessels of precious stones, in and about which are the most delightfulthings of heaven which are for those who perform noble uses according tothe Word. 

That the Word is such is not evident to man while he is in the world;but it is evident to him when he becomes an angel. Because the Word issuch in outmosts it follows that it is not the Word until it is in thatoutmost, that is, until it is in the sense of the letter. The Word notin that outmost would be like a temple in the air and not on the earth, or like a man having flesh but without bones. 

As Divine truth is in its fullness and also in its power in its outmost, for when it is in that it is in all things at once, so the Lord neverworks except from first things through outmosts, and thus in fullness. For He reforms and regenerates man only through truths in outmosts, which are natural. And this is why a man remains after his departureout of the world to eternity such as he has been in the world. For thesame reason heaven and hell are from the human race, and angels are notcreated immediately such; for in the world a man is in his fullness, consequently he can there be conceived and born, and afterward be imbuedwith knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and become an angel. To createangels in any other way is impossible. 

Because the Lord works all things from things first through outmosts, and is in His power and in His fullness in outmosts, so it pleased theLord to take upon Him the Human and to become Divine truth, that is, theWord, and thus from Himself to reduce to order all things of heaven andall things of hell, that is, to execute a last judgment. This the Lordcould accomplish from the Divine in Himself, which was in things first, through His Human which was in outmosts, and not, as before, from Hispresence or abode in the men of the church; for these had whollyforsaken the truths and goods of the Word, in which the Lord hadpreviously had His dwelling-place with men. This was the chief reasonfor the Lord's coming into the world, also for making His Human Divine;for He thus put Himself into possession of a power to hold all things ofheaven and all things of hell in order for ever. This is meant by

 "Sitting at the right hand of God" (Mark xvi. 19). 

"The right hand of God" means Divine omnipotence, and "to sit at theright hand of God" means to be in that omnipotence through the Human. That the Lord ascended into heaven with His Human glorified even tooutmosts He testifies in Luke:

Jesus said to the disciples, "See My hands and My feet, that it is IMyself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as yebehold Me having" (xxiv. 39). 

This the Lord said just after His resurrection. "Flesh and bones" arethe outmosts of the human body, on which its strength depends. (A. E. , n. 1087. )

Divine truth is what is called holy, but only when it is in its outmost, and its outmost is the Word in the sense of the letter; therefore theDivine truth there is holy, and may be called a holy place, and for thereason that that sense contains and encloses all the holy things ofheaven and the church. The appearance is that Divine truths in theheavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, are more holy thanthe Divine truths in the sense of the letter of the Word, which arenatural; but the Divine truths in the heavens, which are calledspiritual and celestial, are comparatively like the lungs and heart inman, which form the chest only when they are encompassed by ribs, andenclosed in the pleura and diaphragm; for without these integuments, andeven unless connected with them by bonds, they could not perform theirvital functions. The spiritual things of the Word are like thebreathing of the lungs, its celestial things are like the systole anddiastole of the heart, and its natural things are like the pleura, thediaphragm, and the ribs, with the moving fibers attached, by which themotions are made reciprocal. 

Again, the spiritual and celestial things of the Word are comparativelylike the holy things of the tabernacle, which consisted of the tableupon which was the shew bread, the golden altar upon which was theincense, the perfumes and the censor, also the lampstand with the lamps, and still further within, the cherubim, the mercy seat, and the ark. Allthese were the holy things of the Jewish and Israelitish church;nevertheless they could not be called holy and a sanctuary until theyhad been covered by curtains and veils, for without those coverings theywould have stood under the naked sky, exposed to showers and storms, tothe birds of heaven and the wild beasts of the earth, and also torobbers that would violate, plunder, and scatter them. So would it bewith the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual andcelestial, unless they were enclosed in natural truths, like the truthsof the sense of the letter of the Word. 

Natural truths, which are the truths of the sense of the letter of theWord, are not the very truths of heaven, but are appearances of them;and appearances of truth encompass, enclose and contain the truths ofheaven, which are genuine truths, and cause them to be in connection andorder and to act together, like the cardiac and pulmonary organs withtheir coverings and ribs, as has been said above; and when these truthsare held in connection and in order they are holy, and not till then. This the sense of the letter of our Word does by means of theappearances of truth of which its outmost consists; and this is why thatsense is the holy Divine itself and a sanctuary. 

But he is greatly mistaken who separates appearances of truth fromgenuine truths and calls these appearances holy by themselves and ofthemselves, and not the sense of the letter holy by these and fromthese, and together with these. He separates these who sees only thesense of the letter and does not explore its meaning, as those do who donot read the Word from doctrine. The "cherubim" mean in the Word guardand protection that the holy things of heaven be not violated, and thatthe Lord be approached only through love; consequently these signify thesense of the letter of the Word, because that is what guards andprotects. It guards and protects in this manner that man can think andspeak according to appearances of truth so long as he is well-disposed, simple, and as it were a child; but he must take heed not to so confirmappearances as to destroy the genuine truths in the heavens. (A. E. , n. 1088. )

It is an invariable truth that no one can understand the Word withoutdoctrine; for he may be led away into any errors to which he may beinclined from some love, or to which he may be drawn from someprinciple, whereby his mind becomes unsettled and uncertain, and atlength as it were destitute of truth. But he who reads the Word fromdoctrine sees all things that confirm it, and many things that arehidden from the eyes of others, and does not permit himself to be drawnaway into strange things; and thus his mind becomes so settled as to seewith certainty. 

Again, unless the Word is read from doctrine it may be drawn away toconfirm heresies, for the reason that the sense of its letter consistsof mere correspondences, and these are in great part appearances oftruth, and in part genuine truths, and unless there be doctrine for alamp these cannot be seen and cannot be distinguished from each other. 

And yet only from the Word can doctrine be acquired, and it can beacquired only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Thoseare in enlightenment who love truths because they are truths and makethem to be of their life. Moreover, all things of doctrine must beconfirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word, because Divine truthis in its fullness and in its power in that sense, and through it man isin conjunction with the Lord and in consociation with the angels. Inbrief, he who loves truth because it is truth can inquire of the Lord, as it were, in doubtful matters of faith, and can receive answers fromHim, but nowhere except in the Word for the reason that the Lord is theWord. (A. E. , n. 1089. )