WEDENBORG. UCSB LIBRARY EXTRACTS FROM THE THEOLOGICAL WORKS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. BOSTON: T. H. CARTER — 1888. NOTICE. This little volume of Extracts from the Theological Works of Emanuel Swedeii- borg was first published in Philadelphia, in 1816. To us they seem to be made with so good judgment, and so fully to embody the vitality of Christian Life, as to lead us to reprint them for distribution. All who wish for a copy may receive one by calling at 169 Tremont Street, Boston, or 20 Cooper Union, New York. If any who should receive a copy should cease to value it, he is requested to give it to another. T. H. C. Januaky, 1888. Extracts from Swedenborg. i\Iax in another life becometh the perfect lage of his — ^rc. 1680. imaf^e of his inward thoughts and intentions. Man may know whether he is amongst the infernal or angelic spirits : if he intendeth evil to his neighbor, thinking nothing but evil concerning him, and actually doing evil when it is in his power, and finding delight therein, he is then amongst the infernals, and becometh also himself an infernal in another life ; but if he intendeth good to his neighbor, and thiuketh nothing but good concerning him, and actually doeth good when it is in his power, he is then amongst the angelic, and becometh himself also an angel in another life. This is the character- istic mark or test by which every one may discover his true state and quality, and according to which he ought to examine himself. There are several who by habit have learned in the world a fair and up- right method of speaking and acting ; but in another life it is perceived instantly whether 3 4 EXTRACTS FROM the mind or intention hath been agreeable tliereto; and if not, they are rejected amongst the infernals^f their own kind and species. — Arc. 1680. Kings are predicted of peoples, but not so of nations. The children of Israel, before they desired a king, were a nation, and rep- resented good, or the celestial principle ; but after that they desired and received a king, they became a j^eople, and no longer repre- sented good, or the celestial principle, but truth, or the spiritual princii)le ; which was the reason why it was imputed to them as a fault. 1 Sam. viii. 7, to the end. — Arc. 1672. Everything in another life that is sweet and harmonious, hath its ground in goodness and charity. — Arc. 1759. Persuasions of the false grounded in self- love, are opposite to the celestial things of love ; persuasions of the false grounded in the love of the world, are opposite to the spiritual things of love. Persuasions grounded in self-love have this tendency, that they would have dominion over all things ; and, in proportion as they are left unrestrained, they would have dominion over the universe, and even over Jehovah ; where- fore })ersuasions of that kind are never toler • ated in another life ; but persuasions grounded in a love of the world have not so unruly a SWEDENBORG. 5 tendency, giving birth only to the wild rav- ings of a discontented mind, attended with a fond and vain affectation of heavenly joy, and a desire to appropriate the wealth and pos- sessions of other people not so much with a view to self-pre-eminence ; but the differ- ences of those persuasions are innumerable. — Arc. 1675. The things spoken by spirits are heard as clearly, in respect to depth and tone of ex- pression, by those whose interior organs of hearing are open, and also by spirits them- selves, as the things spoken by men on earth ; but by those whose interior organs are not open, they are not heard in the least. — Arc. 1763. Spirits sometimes discourse by mere visual representatives ; such as flame of various col- ors, luminous appearances, clouds ascending and descending, etc. — Arc. 1764. It is an established truth that unless the Lord had come into the world, and subdued and overcome the hells, by suffering himself to be tempted, the whole race of mankind must have perished ; and there was no other possible means of salvation, even for those who have lived on this earth since the time of the most ancient church. But to unfold the arcana of this saving process, even in a most general view, would fill a whole volume, and would also give occasion to reasonings con- cerning divine mysteries, which, being above 6 EXTRACTS FROM the reach of common capacities, would be un- intelligible, howsoever clearly they might be unfolded, whilst many would have no desire to comprehend them ; wherefore it is better for mankind to be contented to know that such a process was necessary, and to believe it, because it is so. — Arc. 1676. In lusts and falsities is the life of evil spir- its, but in goodnesses and truths is the life of angels ; and hence arise infestation and com- bat. With those who have conscience, there ariseth hence a still or mute pain ; but with those who have perception, an acute or sharp pain ; and so much the more acute as the per- ception is more interior. — Arc. 1668. He who is in temptations is in the hells. Place is of no consequence, but all depends on state. — Arc. 1691. Very few are capable of knowing what is effected by temptations, and the combats of temptations : they are the means whereby evils and falses are loosened and shook off in man, and whereb}' horror is excited in respect thereto, and conscience is not onh^ formed but confirmed, and thus man is regenerated ; and this is the reason why such as are regenerated are let into combats, and undergo temptations ; which is effected in another life, if not in the life of the body, with all who are capable of being regenerated : wherefore the. Lord's church is called militant. — Arc. 1692. SWEDEXBOKG. 7 The interior or middle man is tlie real ra- tional man ; which is spiritual or celestial when he looketh upwards, but merely animal when he looketh downwards. — Arc. 1702. Everything that is according to true order is truth. — Influx, 2. Ends proposed, as they are first in intention, so are they first in order ; in the second degree of order are the causes or means used to ac- complish those ends ; and in the third degree of order are the effects, or the accomplishment itself. — Influx, 2. All perception arises from conjunction. In proportion as the things appertaining to the ex- ternal man are joined with the celestial things of the internal man, in the same proportion perception increaseth, and becometh more in- terior. — Arc. 1615. Man is continually in worship when he is in love and charity. — Arc. 1618. The sweet affections of love and wisdom en- large the faculties of the soul, and dispose them for the reception of more copious influxes, even as a merry heart opens and exhilarates the countenance. — Influx, 13. Odors correspond with spheres. — Arc. 1514. 8 EXTRACTS FKOM In another life, the temper and quality of every one is known the instant he conies in view, whether he opens his lips to speak or not. — Arc. 194. There are as many spheres as there are af- fections and compositions of affections, which are innumerable. The sphere of a spirit is^ as it were, his image extended without him, and indeed the image of all things apper- taining to him. What is exhibited visibly and perceptibly in the world of S]jirits, is only a sort of general image or resemblance, which nevertheless is discerned in heaven as to its particulars ; but as to its singulars (particu- lars of particulars), no one knoweth them but the Lord alone. — Arc. 1505. Many of those who have been most distin- guished for their skill and knowledge in points of doctrine, are amongst the infernals ; but such as have lived a life of charity are all in heaven. — Arc. 1515. Spheres and odors are not of a regular con- tinual existence ; they are diversely tempered by the Lord, to prevent spirits always appear- ing before others according to their true na- ture and quality. — Arc. 1520. In proportion as truths are more genuine and more multiplied, in the same proportion good is rendered more capable of receiving them as vessels, and of reducing them to SWEDENBORG. V order, and finally of manifesting itself; till at length truths no longer appear, only as good shines through them. Thus truth becomes celestial-spiritual; inasmuch as the Lord is present only in good, which is of charity alone. — Arc. 2063. The things of the body must in a measure die before man can be born anew, or be regen- erated : the body itself must die before man can be admitted into heaven, and see the things of heaven. Thus it is with the Word of the Lord : its bodily parts are the contents of the literal sense ; in which, whilst the at- tention of the mind is fixed, the internal con- tents do not appear; but when the former become as it were dead, then first the latter are presented to view. There is a difference between the vessels, and the essential things contained in the vessels. — Aix. 1408. The celestial principle of love is such, that it does not desire to live in propriety, or self- seeking, but to impart itself to all, so that it wisheth to give all its own to others. Herein consisteth the essence of celestial love : the Lord, as being essential love, or the essence and life of the love of all in heaven, is desir- ous to give to mankind all things that are his. Nothing is more contrary to celestial love than self-love. — Arc. 1419. To wish to be greater than others is not heaven, but hell. — A7r. 450. 10 EXTRACTS FROM In proportion as things natural, worldly, and corporeal, partake of things celestial and spiritual, so as to be influenced thereby, in the same proportion they are good, and so far are blessed. — Air. 1420. Things scientifical are compared to planta- tions of oaks, by reason of the interwoven branches which distinguish the oak. — Arc. 1443. During the process of regeneration, man is introduced by the knowledges of things spiritual and celestial ; but wdien he is regen- erated, he is then introduced to, and is in the celestial and spiritual things of knowledges. — Arc. 1453. In the time of the most ancient church, they performed holy w^orship in their tents. — AiT. 414. Scientifics are the vessels of things spirit- ual. — A7X. 1435. Supposing there were several on earth who had their internal sight open, they might be together, and converse together, even though the one was in India, and another in Europe. — Arc. 1277. The ambulations and progressions of spir- its, which are often beheld, are nothing else but chan.cres of state. — Arc. 1379. SWEDENBORG. 11 The men of the most ancient church had the most delightful dreams, and likewise vis- ions ; and it was at the same time insinuated to them what such dreams and visions signi- fied.— ^rc. 1122. They who subdue the evil of their nature, and regulate their lives by the laws of wisdom, appear in the spiritual world in beautiful hu- man forms, and are as the angels in heaven. — Influx, 15. Water signifies natural truth; so likewise does the word river. — Influx, 20. The essential property of heavenly love is to be communicative. — Heaven and Hell, 400. Heaven, considered in itself, is an aggre- gate of beatitudes and delectation. The pleas- ures of heaven are unutterable, as they are innumerable. Xo man that is absorbed in carnal and sensual gratifications can have the least notion of any one of them, because all his receptive faculties are turned back from heaven to this world; consequently, being immersed in the love of self and of the world, he is incapable of taking pleasure in anything but the honors and riches of this world, or in sensual gratifications : whereas these things do, as it were, extinguish or suffocate all sense of the refined pleasures of heaven, even so far as to render the reality of them incred- ible. — Heaven and Hell, 397, 398. 12 EXTRACTS FROM The man who is in the love of self and of the world is, during his bodily life, sensibly affected therewith, and the pleasures resulting from them ; whereas he who is in the love of God and of his neighbor, has seldom, during his life here, the same manifest sensations thereof, nor of the sweets of the good affec- tions resulting therefrom ; but in their room feels only a kind of secret satisfaction in the centre of his soul, darkened and covered, as it were, with this natural corporeal integu- ment, and deadened, in a manner, by the cares of this life. But these states are quite altered after death ; for then the pleasures resulting from the love of self and of the world are changed into horrors, signified by the name of hell-tire. But that which was no more than an inward, secret, and obscure satisfac- tion, in those who were in the love of God and of their neighbor, is then changed into clear perceptions and joyous sensations ; and what was before a hidden though spiritual root of blessedness, does in their manifested state of spiritual life bring forth the pleasant fruit of spiritual delights. — Air. 401. I found by experience, whenever I was prompted by a motive of benevolence to com- municate the joy I felt to any other, that, in the room of what was so communicated, a fresh and more copious stream of joy flowed in upon my soul, and that according to the degree of such benevolence. — Heaven and Hell, 413. SWEDEXBORG. 13 The ultimate end of creation was doubtless to provide and prepare for heaven an infinite number of human beings, to be blessed with the divine presence and communications ; whilst so many stars serve as so many suns, to enlighten, warm, and fructify so many earths for the support of men, that should in due time become angels in the kingdom of heaven. — Heaven and Hell, 411. To be under the Lord's leadings, from the beginning to the end of our lives, in this world, and so on in eternity, is what we are to understand by his mercy : therefore let all such know that every one is designedly born into this world for heaven, and that he is received into it who receives into himself the qualifying heavenly principles in this world, and that no other is excluded than he who rejects them. — Heaven and Hell, 420. Good and truths, of the same kind, love one another by sympathy, and tend to union. — Heaven and Hell, 319. Faith and charity are communicated by the Lord to those who shun evils as sin. — Coiv- tinuation of the Last Judgment, 49. Polygamy was permitted to the ^[ahometans because they were Orientals ; who, without such permission, would have burned with the lust of filthy adulteries more than Europeans, and so have perished. — Last Judgment, 72. 14 EXTRACTS FROM To will or desire truth for the sake of truth, is likewise to lov^e and acknowledsre what is divine. — Last Judgmeiit, 36. ■^o' All things in the universe have relation to truth and good, and to their conjunction. — Last Jtidg. 39. The church would be but one, and not di- vided into many, if charity was regarded as the essential of the church ; in such case, the differences which might exist as to doctrinal opinions, and matters relating to external worship, would be of no account. — Last Judg. 39. Cock-crowing, as well as twilight, signifies in the word the last time of the church. — Last Judgment, 39. To love our neighbor does not consist in the love of his person, but in loving that in him which makes him our neighbor, consequently good and truth. They who love the person, and not the quality within him which consti- tutes a neighbor, love what is evil as well as what is good. The judge who punishes the wicked, in order to their amendment, and that the good may not be corrupted by them, loves his neighbor. — Last Judg. 39. To love our neighbor, is to do what is good, just, and upright in all our dealings and con- cerns. — Last Judgment, 39. SWEDENBORG. 15 The term neighbor signifies that good which we ought to have in heart. — Last Judgment, 39. The Lord is our neighbor in the supreme sense, because he is to be loved above all things ; hence everything derived from him, in which he is present, is our neighbor ; con- sequently good and truth are our neighbor. The distinction of neighbor is according to the quality of good, and thus according to the presence of the Lord. Every man, every society, also our country, and the church, and in a universal sense the kingdom of the Lord, are our neighbor : to do kind and ser- viceable offices to them, according to their several states, from a love of goodness, is to love our neighbor. — Last Judgment, 39. A life of charity is a life in conformity to the commandments of the Lord ; consequently, to live according to divine truths, is to love the Lord. — Last Judgment, 39. Genuine charity does not claim merit, be- cause it proceeds from an internal affection, consequently from the delight of doing good. They who separate faith from charity in an- other life, hold faith and the good works which they did merely in an external form, as meritorious. — Last Judgment, 39. The ancients who belonged to the church reduced the goods of charity into order, and 16 EXTRACTS FROM distinguished them into classes, giving to each its proper name ; and herein consisted their wisdom. — Last Judgment, 39. All good is the offspring of love and charity, and all truth is the offspring of good. — Last Judg. 39. nationality and liberty are the mansions of the Lord in the human race, with the good and with the evil. — Angelic Wisdom, 140. The spiritual man loves spiritual truths ; he loves not only to know and understand them, but he also wills them. — Angelic Wis- dom, 251. When the things which are of heaven serve as means to the natural man for his own ends, then those means, although they appear celes- tial, nevertheless become natural, inasmuch as the end qualifies them ; for they become as scientifics of the natural man. — A7igelic Wisdom, 261. The natural mind is in its form or image a world; the spiritual mind is in its form or image a heaven. — Angelic Wisdom, 270. The natural mind, with all things apper- taining to it, is turned in spiral circumvolu- tions from right to left, but the spiritual mind from left to right. An evil spirit cannot turn his body in circumgyration from left to right, SWEDENBORG. 17 but from right to left ; whereas a good spirit has difficulty in turning his body in circum- gyration from right to left, but easily does it from left to right. The circumgyration fol- lows the flux of the interiors, which are of the mind. — Angelic Wisdom, 270. Man cannot do good from himself, but from the Lord, and it is good which is called use. The Lord is with those who do his command- ments, consequently who perform uses. — Angelic Wisdom, 335. All good things which exist in act are called uses. — Angelic Wisdom, 336. By uses from the Lord are meant all things which perfect the rational principle of man, and cause man to receive a spiritual principle from the Lord ; but by evil uses are meant all things which destroy the rational principle, and prevent man from becoming spiritual. — Angelic iVisdom, 336. An evil spirit, when viewed intently by the angels, presently falls as it were into a swoon, and loses the appearance of a human form, till the angel turns away his eyes ; the cause of which is, that the sight of the angels is from the light of heaven, which is the same with divine truth. All power belongs to truths from good. — Heaven and Hell, 232, ::33. 18 EXTRACTS FROM In the same proportion as man applies knowledge to the purposes of good life, in that degree, and no farther, his interior sight, which is the property of his intellect, and his interior affection, which is that of his will, are in their progress to perfection. — Heaven and Hell, 351. Every affection of good and truth is an ex- tension into heaven, and there is a communi- cation and conjunction with those therein who are in like affections. Every affection of evil and false is also an extension into hell, and there is a communication and con- junction with those therein who are in similar affections. — Last Judg. 9. Angels and spirits do not know what men they are with, any more than men know what angels and spirits they cohabit with. — Last Judg. 9. They only are capable of thinking spirit- ually, who, through the acknowledgment of the Lord's divinity, are conjoined with heaven. — Last Judgment, 10. The angelic heaven is the end for which all things in the universe were created, being the end for which mankind was created; and mankind is the end for which the visible heaven, and all the earths therein, were cre- ated. — Last Judg. 13. 8WEDENB0RG 19 The interiors of man are formed for the re- ception of heavenly things, and his exteriors for the reception of worldly things ; and they who receive the world, and not at the same time heaven, receive hell. — Last Judg. 16. Man's spiritual thought, which he is endued with as well as an angel, during his life in the body flows into natural ideas corresponding with spiritual, and so are perceived therein ; but it is otherwise when the mind of man is loosed from the fetters of the body; then it no longer thinks naturally, but spiritually. — Last Judgment, 18. When men reject the Divine Being from their thoughts, they also reject the idea of eternity. — Last Judgment, 25. In the natural world the good and bad are intermixed ; there no one knows the real quality of another, nor are they separated from each other according to the affection of their life. — Last Judgment, 33. The quality of charity is always determined by the truths which give it form and exist- ence. — Last Judgment, 38. Charity is an internal affection of acting according to truth : cliarity constitutes the spiritual life of man. — Last Judgment, 10. 20 EXTRACTS FROM To do what is good and true, for the sake of goodness and truth, is to love our neighbor : they who do this love the Lord, who is our neighbor in a supreme sense. — Last Judg- ment, 40. Man recedes from wisdom in proportion as he recedes from charity : they who are not in charity are in ignorance respecting divine truths. — Last Judgment, 40. The life of the understanding proceeds from the life of the will, comparatively as light proceeds from lire or flame. — Last Judg- ment, 40. How perverted a state they are in whose understanding and will do not act in unity. Such is the state of hypocrites, of the deceit- ful, of flatterers, and of dissemblers. — Last Judgment, 39. The understanding is enlightened in pro- portion as man receives truth with his will. The understanding consisteth in seeing, from matters of experience and science, truths, the causes of things, their connections and conse- quences, in regular order. The understanding consisteth in seeing and perceiving whether a thing be true or not, before it is confirmed ; but not in being able to confirm everything. — Last Judgment, 39. STVEDEXBORG. 21 From the love of good in the will proceeds the love of truth in the understanding ; from the love of truth proceeds the perception of truth; from the perception of truth the thought of truth : hence comes the acknowl- edgment of truth, Vv^hich is faith in its genu- ine sense. — Doctrine of Life, 36. Good procures to itself truths, and from thence hath its nourishment and formation. — Doctrine of Life, 36. So far as any one is principled in good, and by virtue of good loves truths, so far he loves the Lord ; inasmuch as the Lord is essential good, and essential truth. — Doctrine of Life, 38. The more a man shuns evils as sins, so much the more he loves and desires truths, because he is so much the more principled in good ; hereby he comes into the heavenly mar- riage. — Doctrine of Life, 41. When a man shuns evil as sin, then he is in the Lord, and the Lord operates all things. — Doctrine of Life, 48. '\Anien man ceaseth to do evils, then he doeth good, not from himself, but from the Lord ; therefore in the commandments is said not what good he should do, but what evil lie should not do. — Doctrine of Life, bS. 22 EXTRACTS FROM The angels, when they hear the sound of man's voice and speech, perceive in it all the affections of his love, and likewise discover of what kind and quality they are. — The- ology, 365. Charity joined with faith, and faith joined with charity, may be likened to the face of a fair virgin, made beautiful by a proper mix- ture of red and white ; which similitude also hath an exact coincidence, inasmuch as love, and consequently charity, are red in the spir- itual world, by virtue of the fire of the heav- enly sun ; and truth, and consequently faith, are white, by virtue of the light of the same sun. Faith separated from charity may be likened to a dance called St. Vitus' dance, occasioned by the bite of a tarantula : for the reason of man, where faith is in such a state of separation, doth, as it were, dance like a madman, and at such times fancieth itself alive, when yet it hath no more power to make any reasonable deductions, and form just con- ceptions of spiritual truths, than a man lying in bed, oppressed with the nightmare. — The- olorjij, 367. None can be in spiritual conjugal love but those who are so from the Lord, because heaven is in that love ; and the natural man, with whom that love derives its pleasure solely from the flesh, cannot approach heaven, nor any angel, nor even to any man in whom SWEDENBORG. 23 that love is, for that love is the foundation of all celestial and spiritual loves. — Conjw- gal Love, 71. None can be in true conjugal love but those Tvho receive it from the Lord, who go to him direct, and live the life of the church from him ; because that love, viewed in its origin, and in its correspondence, is celestial, spirit- ual, holy, pure, and clean, beyond all other love, which is with the angels of heaven, and with the men of the church. And these its attributes cannot be given, but with those who are in conjunction with the Lord, and from him in consociation with the angels of heaven ; for these fly extra-conjugal loves, which are conjunctions with others than the conjugal partner, as the loss of the soul, and the stagnations of hell. And inasmuch as the married pairs shun those conjunctions as to the lusts of the will, and thence as to intentions, in the same degree that love is purified with them, and is successively spir- itual; first, while they live on earth, and afterwards in heaven. — Conjugal Love, 71. Whosoever reflects, or is capable of reflect- ing, upon the affections of good and truth, appertaining to himself, and also on what is delightful and pleasant, will observe the pro- pensity of one more than of another; but these, and like things, do not appear without reflection. — Arc. 3980. 24 EXTRACTS FROM The variety of love and charity is heavenly harmony. — A)x. 3986. Juice is introduced in fruits by means of fibres, which wither away ; and the fruits ripen afterwards, by means of the fibres of genuine juice. Man, in infancy and child- hood, learns things useful, afterwards things more useful, at length such things as regard eternal life ; in which case the former things are almost obliterated. — Air. 3982. The Word, as being divine, contains in it only such things as regard salvation . and eternal life. — Arc, 3993. When any one doeth good, not from the good of truth, in such case he is always desir- ous to be recompensed, for he doeth it for the sake of himself. — Arc. 3993. Colors are modifications of light and shade, in black and white, as in planes. — Arc. 3993. Innocence makes good to be good. — Arc. 3994. Whereas faith is not faith unless it be grounded in charity towards our neighbor, and thereby in love to the Lord, neither is there any charity and love unless grounded in innocence. — Arc. 3994. SWEDEXBORG. 25 The paschal lamb is the Lord in a supreme sense ; the passover signified the Lord's glori- fication, that is, the putting on of the divine principle, as to the human; and, in a repre- sentative sense, it signifies the regeneration of man. No one can be regenerated except by charity, in which is innocence. — Arc. 3994. During the process of man's regeneration, the truth, which is of faith, apparently pre- cedes, and the good, which is of charity, apparently follows ; but when man is regen- erated, then the good, which is of charity, manifestly precedes, and the truth, which is of faith, manifestly follows : however, in the former case it is only an appearance, whereas in the latter it is essentially so. — Arc. 3995. The propriety of innocence (proprium) consists in knowing, acknowledging, and be- lieving, not with the mouth, but with the heart, that nothing but evil is from self, and that all good is from the Lord. When man is in this confession and faith from the heart, then the Lord flows in with good and truth, and insinuates into him a celestial propriety, Avhich is bright and shining. It is impossible for any one to be in true humiliation unless he be in this acknowledgment and faith from the heart, for in this case he is in self-annihi- lation. — Arc. 3993. 26 EXTRACTS FROM Good floweth in from the Lord by an inter- nal way, or by the way of the soul; and truth floweth in by an external way, or by the way of the senses, which is that of the body. The truth which entereth by this latter way is adopted by the good which is within, and is conjoined thereto; and this with a continuance, till man is regenerated. When this is the case, then is a change ; and truth is brought into act from a principle of good. — Arc. 3995. There are goods procured by truths, there are truths born thence, and by these again goods procured : there are truths born from goods, and this also in a series : there are goods mixed with evils, and truths mixed with falses ; and the mixtures and temper- atures of these are so various and manifold as to exceed myriads of myriads. They are also varied according to all states of the life ; and states of the life, in general, are accord- ing to ages, and in particular according to the affections, of whatsoever kind they be. — Arc. 4005. There are two things which are put off by all who enter into heaven, propriety and the confidence thence derived, and self- merit or proper justice ; and they put on heavenly propriety, which is from the Lord, and the Lord's merit or justice. — Aix. 4007. SWEDENBORG. 27 In ancient times every tree signified some species of good and truth : hence worship was performed in groves, according to the species of trees. — Arc. 4013. Nothing can do evil to the divine principle, but to hinder its influx may be done, and all evil hath tliis effect. — A?'c. 4078. Pouring oil upon the head of a statue, which was done by Jacob, denoted to make truth good ; statue denoting a holy boundary, thus the ultimate of order, consequently truth. — Arc. 4090. The first state is that the mind is kept in doubt ; the second state is that doubt is dis- pelled by reasons ; the third state is afiirma- tion ; the last is act. Thus good with truths insinuates itself from the intellectual part into the voluntary part, and is appropriated. — Arc. 4097. The societies of spirits, which serve for a middle good, are in worldly principles ; whereas the societies of angels, which serve for introducing the affections of truth, are not in worldly, but in heavenly principles : these two societies act with man who is regenerating. So far as man is initiated into heavenly principles by the angels, so far the spirits are removed who are in worldly prin- ciples ; and unless they are removed, truths 28 EXTRACTS FROM are dissipated : for -worldly and heavenly principle sare in concord with man when heavenly principles have dominion over worldly ; but they are in discord when worldly principles have dominion over heav- enly : when they are in concord, then truths are multiplied in man's natural principle ; but when they are in discord, then truths are diminished, yea are consumed, because worldly things overshadow heavenly, conse- quently place them in doubt ; whereas, when heavenly things have dominion, they illus- trate worldly things, and i)lace them in clear- ness, and take away doubts. Those things have dominion which are most loved. — Arc. 4099. Every affection of love hath its delight and pleasantness along with it, and the affection of the love of goodness and truth hath such a delight and pleasantness as the angels of heaven enjoy. Affection is of the love, and the love of man is his life. — Apoc. Rev. 526. By fearing the name of the Lord is signi- fied to love the things which are of the Lord. Every one who loveth another is also afraid to do harm to him whom he loveth : there is no such thing as genuine love with- out such fear. — Apoc. liev. 527. He who loves evils loves to do evil to the Lord, yea to crucify him : this lies deeply hid in all evil. That this is the case is not SWEDEXBORG. 29 known to men ; but it is very well known to the angels. — Apoc. Rev. 527. The Apocalypse, from beginning to end, treats solely of the state of the former heaven and church, and of their abolition ; and afterwards of the new heaven, and new church, in which one God will be acknowl- edged, in whom there is a trinity, and that that God is the Lord. — A^joc. Rev. 523. He who has known the influx of successive into simultaneous order can comprehend the cause that angels can see all the thoughts and intentions of a man's mind in his hand ; and likewise that wives, from the hands of their husbands upon their breasts, perceive their affections. The reason is because the hands are the ultimates of man, in which are determined the fluctuations and conclusions of his mind. — Conjugal Love, 314. The soul of man is man himself; a full and perfect human form ; not life, but a recipient of life from God ; and thus the habitation of God. — Conjugal Love, 315. Those who live according to the doctrines of the new church have communion with the angels in heaven. — Ajioc. Rev. 1. In heaven all are called servants of the Lord who are in his spiritual kingdom, but they who are in his celestial kingdom are 30 EXTRACTS FROM called ministers. The reason is because they who are in his spiritual kingdom are princi- pled in wisdom from divine truth, and they who are in his celestial kingdom are princi- pled in love from divine good; and good ministereth, and truth serveth. — A2:>oc. Rev. 1. Heaven, in the sight of the Lord, is as one man, whose soul is the Lord himself ; where- fore the Lord speaketh with man through heaven, as man doth from his soul through his body with another. But this arcanum cannot be unfolded in a few words. — Ajpoc. Rev. 5. All are, as it were, connected in consan- guinity by charity, but in affinity by faith. When faith is from charity, then charity conjoins, and faith consociates. — Aj^oc. Rev. 32. The Word was not revealed in a state of the spirit, or in vision, but was dictated by the Lord viva voce to the prophets. — Apoc. Rev. 37. By a voice, as of a trumpet, is signified manifest perception. — Apoc. Rev. 37. A voice from heaven denotes the divine truth of the Lord from his Word. — Apoc. Rev. 37. SWEDENBORG. 31 Every letter, in the spiritual world, signi- fies a thing: the letter H involves infinity, because it is only an aspirate. — A^mc. Rev. 38. A vowel, as it is used for sound, signifies somewhat of affection or love. Alpha and Omega have relation to love. — Apoc. Rev. 29. Forasmuch as every letter signifies a thing in the spiritual world, and consequently in the language of angels, therefore David wrote the 119th psalm in order, according to the letters of the alphabet, beginning with Aleph, and ending with Tau. — Apoc. Rev. 38. The Lord is the Word, inasmuch as it is from him, and of him. — Ai^oc. Rev. 42. The reason why the new church is meant by the seven candlesticks is because in it, and in the midst of it, the Lord is. — Apoc. Rev. 43. iSTothing is said of the lamps of those can- dlesticks ; for they who are to be of the Lord's new church are only candlesticks, which will have their light from the Lord. The candlesticks were of gold, which signifies good. Every church is a church from good, which is formed by truths. — Apoc. Rev. 43. Those candlesticks were not placed one close to another, or conti£?uou3 to each other. 32 EXTRACTS FROM but at certain distances, forming a kind of circle, as is evident from these words: " These things saith he who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." — Aj)oG. Rev. 43. The Lord called himself the Son of God, and also the Son of Man. By the Son of God he meant himself as to his divine hu- manity ; and by the Son of Man himself as to the Word. The Lord reiDresented himself to John as the Word; therefore as seen of him he is called the Son of [Man, because the new church is the subject treated of, which is a church from the AVord. — A^joc. Rev. 44. Forasmuch as the church is a church from the Lord through the Word, therefore the Son of Man was seen in the midst of the candlesticks. In the midst signifies in the in- most principle, from which the things which are round about, or which are without, derive their essence, in this instance their light and intelligence. — Ajyoc. Rev. 44. Garments signify truths in the Word, be- cause in heaven they are clothed according to the truths proceeding from their good. — Apoc. Rev. 43. A zone or girdle in the Word signifies a common band, whereby all things are kept in their order and connection. — Aj^^oc. Rev. 46. SWEDENBORG. 33 Bald signifies the Word without its literal sense, and bears signify that sense of the Word separated from its internal sense. They who separate them appear in the spir- itual world like bears, when seen from far. — Ajjoc. Rev. 47. Nazarite, in the Hebrew, signifies hair ; hence, the strength of Samson, who was a Nazarite, was in his hair. — Ai^oc. Rev. 47. Wool signifies good in ultimates, and snow truth in ultimates : for wool is from sheep, by which is signified the good of charity ; and snow is from water, by which are signi- fied truths of faith. — Apoc. Rev. 47. The natural, which is also the external man, is purified when he shuns evils which the spiritual or internal man sees to be evils, and that they ought to be shunned. — Apoc. Rev. 49. Man's natural property is understood by feet ; and this ])erverts all things if it be not washed or purified. — Apoc. Rev. 49. By waters, in the Word, are meant truths in the natural man : hence appears what is signified by baptism, and likewise by these words of the Lord in John, " Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." To be born of water signifies to be born by truths ; and 34 EXTRACTS FROM of the spirit signifies by a life according to them. Waters, in an opposite sense, signify falses. — Apoc. Rev. 50. Stars signify knowledges of things good and true from the AVord. The Son of Man's having them in his right hand signifies that they are from the Lord alone through the Word. About the angels, when they are beneath the heavens, there appear, as it were, little stars in great abundance, and in like manner about spirits ; fixed with those who are in genuine truths from the Word, but wandering with those who are in falsified truths. — A2)oc. Rev. 51. In proportion as a man is in goods of life, in the same proportion he is really in truths of doctrine. The reason is because goods of life open the interiors of the mind ; and these being opened, truths appear in their light, whereby they are not only understood, but also loved. Not so when doctrines are pri- marily, or in the first place, respected; in this case truths may indeed be known, but not seen interiorly, and loved out of spiritual affection. — Apocalypse Revealed j 82. There is no church in man till truth of doctrine conceived in the internal man is born in the external. — Apoc. Rev. 17. By eating of the tree of life is signified the appropriation of the good of love from the Lord. — Apoc. Rev. 89. SWEDEXBORG. 35 By Jews, in the Word, are meant they of the Lord's celestial church, who are such as are in love towards him; because in the Word, by Judah, in a supreme sense, is meant the Lord as to the divine good of divine love. — Apoc. Rev. 94 The celestial see truths from good alone. By hidden manna is meant hidden wisdom, written in the life more than in the memory. — Apoc. Rev. 120. Those who are in the third heaven do not talk of truths of doctrine, but do them. — Apoc. Rev. 120. Those who see truths from good have the law written in their hearts. — Ap)oc. Rev. 121. Good without truths is like bread and meat without wine and water, which do not nour- ish ; and also like fruit in which there is no juice ; like trees stripped of their leaves, on which there hang some dry apples, left since autumn. — Apoc. Rev. 122. He is called a priest who is in good : " Ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah, the min- isters of your Gocl.^^ Isa. Ixi. 6. Apoc. Rev. 128. Minister is predicated of good, servant of truth. The priests represented the Lord with respect to divine good. — Apoc. Rev. 128. 36 EXTRACTS FROM Good desires to be nourished, and is nour- ished by truths. — Apoc. Rev. 130. In the "Word there is a marriage of good- ness and truth. Whoredom signifies to adul- terate the good, and falsify the truths. — Apoc. Rev. 134. Truth serveth good, and good ministereth to truth. — Aiioc. Rev. 128. They who from their own reason have fal- sified the AVord, after death, when they come into the spiritual world, become addicted to whoredom. They who have confirmed them- selves in faith alone, to the exclusion of works of charity, are in the lust of committing adul- tery; sons with their mother. — Apoc. Rev. 134. "Worship receives its life from truths, and from a life conformable to them. — Apoc. Rev. 155. Every one's exteriors, after death, are re- duced to a state analogous to his interiors. — Apoc. Rev. 157. He who learneth truths, and liveth accord- ing to them, is like one who is waked out of sleep, and becometh watchful ; but he who is not in truths, but only in worship, is like one who sleepeth and dreameth. Natural life considered in itself, without spiritual SWEDENBORG. 37 life, is nothing else but sleep; but natural life in wliich there is spiritual life is watch- fulness ; and this is no other wise acquired than by truths, which are in their day, and in their light, when man is in a life conform- able to them. — Ajioc. Rev. 158. He who is tempted in the world is not tempted after death. — Ajpoc. Rev. 185. Wisdom perishes in man when he ceases to live according to truths ; for then he ceases to love wisdom, and consequently ceases to love the Lord. — Apoc. Rev. 189. Angels never understand anything else by Father, when it is read in the Word, but the divine good. — Apoc. Rev. 170. When cities are named in the Word, the angels understand nothing else but doctri- nals. — Apoc. Rev. 191. Man, with his quality, is in what he thinks, speaks, and writes ; in the Word the Lord alone is. — Aptoc. Rev. 200. No one feels and perceives the divine life from the Word but he who is in the spirit- ual affection of truth when he reads it, for he is in conjunction with the Lord through the Word. There is something intimately affect- ing the heart and spirit, which flows into the 38 EXTRACTS FROM understanding with light, and testifies. — Apoc. Rev. 200. The Word communicates with the univer- sal heaven, and severally with each society t\\QVQ. — Ajjoc. Rev. 200. They who are lukewarm are neither in heaven nor in hell, but in a place separate, deprived of human life, where there are nothing but mere fantasies. The whole of the rational life is extirpated, the ultimates of life alone remaining; which, when sepa- rated from the intexiors, are mere fantasies. — Apoc. Rev. 204. Temptations are spiritual combats against one's self ; without them negations and con- firmations against divine truths cannot be extirpated. — Apoc. Rev. 215. He who acts from the affection of the love of truth acts also from aversion to what is false. — Aptoc. Rev. 215. It appears as if the- Lord was angry when man's own evil punishes him ; which is per- mitted out of love, that his evil may be re- moved ; like the case of a parent and child. — Apoc. Rev. 216. There are two ways to the understanding ; one from the world, and the otlier from heaven. The Lord withdraws the under- SWEDEXBORG. 39 standing from the world when he inuminates it. — Aj)oc. Rev. 224. Charity consists in doing well by our neigh- bor, and faith in thinking well of God, and the essentials of the church. — Apoc. Rev. 224. A jasper, because it is white, signifies the things which appertain to the truth of wis- dom ; and a sardine stone, because it is red, the things which appertain to the good of love. Precious stones are in great abun- dance in heaven. — Apoo. Rev. 231. All precious stones in heaven derive their origin from the ultimates of the Word ; and their transparency from the spiritual sense contained in those ultimates. The ultimates of the Word are the truths and goods of its literal sense. — Aiwc. Rev. 231. Wisdom truly human consists in knowing that there is a God, what God is, and what is of God. This the divine truth of the Word teacheth. — Apoc. Rev. 243. A lion signifies the divine truth as to power, a calf as to the affection of knowing ; the face of a man signifies the divine truth as to wisdom, an eagle as to knowledge and understanding. — Apoc. Rev. 244. The first natural affection is the affection of knowing^ thimrs true and srood. This is 40 EXTRACTS FROM what is signified by sacrifices of calves. — Aj)oc. Rev. 242. V>y the cherubims covering their bodies with their wings is signified to preserve or defend the interior truths, which belong to the spiritual sense of the Word, from viola- tion. — Ajyoc. Rev. 245. By wings are signified powers, because by them birds lift themselves up ; and wings, in birds, are in the place of arms in men. The animals not resting day and night signifies that the Word continually and without inter- mission teaches. — A^wc. Rev. 247. When divine truth is treated of in the Word, it is called glory; and when divine good is treated of, it is called honor. — Apoc. Rev. 249. Casting their crowns before the throne signifies an acknowledgment that their wis- dom is from the Lord alone. — Aj^oc. Rev. 252. Altar signifies worshij) of the Lord from the good of love. — Apoc. Rev. 325. Blood signifies divine truth; in an oppo- site sense, divine truth falsified. — Jj^oc. Rev. 332. In the spiritual world, stars appear to fall from heaven to the earth there, when knowl- SWEDENBORG. 41 edges of good and truth, perish. — Apoc. Rev. 333. All comparisons in the Word are corre- spondences. — A2}oc. Rev. 334. Every tree signifies something of the church in man. — Ajjoc. Rev. 334. Armies, or hosts, are goods and truths of the church out of the Word. — A2JOG. Rev. 335. In an abstract sense, every island signifies every truth of faith. — Apoc. Rev. 336. They who are in the love of doing uses to the community, and to society, in heaven enjoy beatitude above all others. — Apoc. Rev. 353. They who have overcome in temptations have an interior perception of uses. By temptations the interiors of the mind are opened. They feel in themselves what is good, and see in themselves what is true. The perception which they have is described in Jerem. chap. xxxi. 33, 34. After temptation there is freedom of elocution from percep- tion. — Apoc. Rev. 354. Celestial conjugal love is the love of good- ness and truth. — Ap)oc. Rev. 358. 42 EXTRACTS FROM Palms signify divine truths in ultimates. — Ajjoc. Bev. 367. By the river Jordan is signified divine truth. — Ajjoc. Bev. oG7. Eeligious principles are cleansed by temp- tations, which are signified by great afflic- tion. — A2^oG. Bev. 378. When the will loves evil, the understand- ing loves what is false. — A^joc. Bev. 382. The Lord is present with man in his di- vine natural principle, but with the angels of his spiritual kingdom in his divine spiritual, and with the angels of his celestial kingdom in his divine celestial principle ; and yet he is not divided, but appears to every one according to his quality. — Apoc. Bev. 466. Man, when he is regenerated, from natural becomes spiritual. — Ajmc. Bev. 466. Jehovah sweareth, that is, testifieth by himself. — Aiioc. Bev. 474. After the representative rites of the church were abolished, oaths, as used in covenants, were also abolished by the Lord. — Apoc. Bev. 474. That there should no longer be time signi- fies tliat there cannot be any state of the SWEDENBORG. 43 church, or any church, except one God be acknowledged, and that that God is the Lord. — Aj^oc. Rev. 476. Time is not measured, in the spiritual world, by days, weeks, months, and years, but by states ; which are progressions of their life, from which they remember things past. — Apoc. Rev. 476. By kings, abstractedly, are signified truths originating in good, or falses originating in evil. — A2)oc. Rev. 483. By mill, and grinding in a mill, in the Word, is meant to collect from the Word what is serviceable or subservient to doc- trine. — Apoc. Rev. 484. By measuring is signified the quality or state of a thing. — Ajjoc. Rev. 486. An inundating rain denotes devastation of truth, and temptation. — Apoc. Rev. 496. Enter into whatever intricacy of thought j^ou will, yet you will never be able to extri- cate yourself, and make out that God is one, unless he is also one r)erson. — Aimc. Rev. 490. 44 EXTRACTS FROM The plagues of Egypt signified so many cupidities of the natural man separated from the spiritual, which acteth solely from his own intelligence, and the pride or conceit thereof. — Ajyoc. Rev. 503. Seven, as well as three, signifies what is full and complete ; but seven is said of holy things, and three of things not holy. — A]jog. Rev. 505. In the Word, by heart and soul are meant the will and understanding of man. — A2J0G, Rev. 507. They do good from the Lord who shun evils as sins. — Ai^oc. Rev. 517. The laws were promulgated from Mount Sinai, and written with the finger of Jeho- vah, to the end it might be known that those laws were not only civil and moral laws, but that they were also spiritual laws. — Ajjoc. Rev. 529. To taste of the pleasures of goodness is to taste of the pleasures of the angels of heaven. — Ajjoc. Rev. 531. The church, from its affection to good and truth, is represented by, and denominated woman, and also virgin ; as likewise all who are in the affection of good are styled virgins. — Heaven and Hell, 308. SW'EDEXBOEG. 45 Conjugal love derives its origin from the conjunction of two in unity of mind, and this is called in heaven cohabitation. — Heaven and Hell, 236. Camel signifies scientifical knoT^ledge in general, and the eye of a needle spiritual truth. — Heaven and Hell, 365. The conjunction of truth and good consti- tutes an angel, and also his understanding, wisdom, and happiness ; for according to such conjunction is the degree of angelical perfec- tion. — Heaven and Hell, 370. The whole of heaven is represented in con- jugal love, together with beatitudes and de- lights innumerable. — Heaven and Hell, 374. There is no stronger sympathy than be- tween truth and good. — Heaven and Hell, 375. All are in conjugal love who through di- vine truths attain to divine good. — Heaven and Hell, 376. Marriages in the heavens are formed only of those who belong to the same society. This was represented among the Israelites by their marrying within their own tribes. Heaven and Hell, 378. 46 EXTRACTS FROM Marriage with more than one wife is like an understanding divided into many wills. — Heaven and Hell, 379. Sensual gratification in a little time changes into disgust. — Heaven and Hell, 379. The beatitudes of truly spiritual conjugal love might be reckoned up to many thousands, of which not one is fully known by mortal man. — Heaven and Hell, 379. All corporeal or sensual pleasures issue from the love of self and the love of the world, from which proceed all kinds of con- cupiscence and voluptuousness ; but all true delights of the soul or spirit originate from love to God and love to our neighbor; and from these sources are derived our affections for good and truth, and our most satisfjdng interior pleasures. — Heaven and Hell, 306. These two loves, with their concomitant pleasures, proceed by influx from the Lord, and from heaven by internal emanation from above, and affect the inmost recesses of the soul; but the former spurious loves, with their pleasures, issue from the carnal part, and from the world outwardly, or from be- neath, and affect the exterior senses. As far, therefore, as the two heavenly loves before mentioned are received, and affect us, so far the inward gate of the soul or spirit stands open to the divine influences ; and as far as SWEDENBOKG. 47 the other two spurious loves are received, and affect us, so far the outward gate of the bod- ily senses stands open to the world and its evil influences. — Heaven and Hell, 396. As these different kinds of love gain admis- sion into our hearts, so also do their respec- tive pleasures ; those of heaven into the in- ward, and those of the world into the outward man : every pleasure is attendant on its par- ent love. — Heaven and Hell, 396. The essential property of heavenly love is to be communicative. — Heaven and Hell, 399. There is inherent in love a strong attrac- tive power, Avith the desire of appropriating to itself such truths as accord with its nature. — Heaven and Hell, 18. To love the Lord and our nei.£chbor is to V 16. love goodness and truth. — Heaven and Hell, Every will hath its proper intellect. — Heaven and Hell, 32. From the divine celestial principle, the Lord is in the Word called Jesus ; and from the divine spiritual, Christ. — Heaven and Hell, 24. They who are so affected with divine truths as to receive them into the life principle, or 48 EXTRACTS FEOM will, SO that they become operative, are in the inmost or third heaven, and there in rank according to the degree of their affec- tion for truth. — Heaven and Hell, 33, But they who give them not so immediate an admission into the will, but only into their memory and understanding, and after- wards frame their will according thereto, and then proceed to act, these are in the middle or second heaven ; but they who add to their faith good life, though without any extraor- dinary earnestness and sedulity alter divine knowledge, they are in the lowest or first heaven. Hence it is manifest that it is the interior or inward disposition that consti- tutes heaven. — Heaven and Hell, 33. Every human perfection (virtue and grace) increases towards the interior of man, as being nearer to the Deity, and purer in itself; but decreases towards the exterior, as this is more remote from the Deity, and more gross in itself. — Heaven and Hell, 34. Perfection, even in heaven, consists in va- riety. — Heaven and Hell, bQ. Works and deeds are man's outward life, manifesting the principle of life within him. — Heaven and Hell, 471. As are the thought and will, such is the quality of the act. A thousand men may do SWEDENBORG. 49 the same act, yet the act of every one of them may be different in quality, through the difference in the will or motive of the doer. — Heaven and Hell, 472. If a man loves what he believes, then he wills and does it according to his power. — Heaven and Hell, 473. Love and faith, without termination or fixedness in the works of the outward man, are but vague uncertain things, without resi- dence or body. — Heaven and Hell, 474. To think and will without acting, when power is not wanting, may be compared to seed sown in the sand; where it loses its prolific virtue, and perishes. — Heaven and Hell, 474. To love and not to do good, when opportu- nity serves, is not to love, but only to fancy that one loves ; and but as the phan- tom of a thought, which vanishes into noth- ing. — Heaven and Hell, 475. Every one whose prevailing love is spirit- ual and heavenly goes to heaven ; and every one whose prevailing love is sensual and mundane, and as such contrary to all that is heavenly, goes to hell. All faith which has not heavenly love for its root vanishes after death. — Heaven and HelL 478. 50 EXTRACTS FROM Every one's love constitutes his proper self after death. — Heaven and Hell, 479. Everything is then removed or taken from a man that does not accord Avith his ruling love. Thus all adventitious evil and false are removed from the good, as not agreeing with his governing principle ; and every ap- parent good and truth from the man of evil principle ; that so every one may be wholly and consistently in that love which is the ruling power of his life. — Heaven and Hell, 479. When men become spirits in the other world, they are not subject to the counterac- tion of any other passion, which may lay a restraint on their inclinations. — Heaven and Hell, 479. Every love is supported by that which is congruous to its nature ; an evil love by that which is false, and a good love by truths. — Heaven and Hell, 479. The angels immediately detect every stir- ring of imjoerfection in themselves (as some- times happens to them), and likewise all malignity in the unhappy spirits that are in the intermediate state or world of spirits; though such spirits see not their own evils. Man, from the things he most delights in, may come to the knowledge of his predomi- nant love, and thereby be able to form a SWEDENBORG. 51 judgment (according to his skill in the doc- trine of correspondences) concerning his fut- ure state. — Heaven and HeUy 478. In proportion to the degree of self-love in any one is his distance from heaven, and con- sequently from wisdom. — Heaven and Hell, 508. Magical arts are profane abuses of the di- vine order. — Heaven and Hell, 508. Sin carries its suffering with it by neces- sary conjunction ; consequently, he that is in evil is also in the pain of evil. — Heaven and Hell, 509. A genuine affection for truth is for the sake of spiritual use and improvement. — • Heav. and Hell, 578. Divine order is heaven in man, which he had perverted by disobedience to its laws, or to divine truths; and therefore he must be reduced by the pure mercy of the Lord, by divine truths, to the same order from which he had fallen ; and as far as he recovers this state, so much of heaven he receives here, and becomes meet to be a partaker of its joys hereafter. — Heaven and Hell, 523. The moral and civil life constitutes the activity of the spiritual life. As the will to do good is the property of the latter, so the 52 EXTRACTS FROM doing good is the property of the former ; and if this were separated from the other, then the spiritual life would consist only in thinking and speaking, and the will would remain solitary and inactive. — Heaven and Hell, 528. The justice and truth of the spiritual man, as to external manifestation and form, appear indeed like the same in natural men, even of the most infernal dispositions, but inwardly they are totally different. The spiritual man may act in all the relations of moral and civil life as the natural man does, provided that he adheres closely to that divine principle within, which is to be the regulator of his will and thoughts. The spiritual man acts not only in obedience to the laws of society, and of moral obligation, but in obedience to the authority of the divine laws : for as he sets God always before him, he has fellow- ship with the angels in heaven; he is under the Lord's leadings even when he knows it not. — Heaven and Hell, 530. In the first three of the ten commandments are the laws of the spiritual life, in the four following the laws of the civil life, in the three last the laws of the moral life. — Heaven and Hell, 531. All are received into heaven who have loved good and truth as such ; and they who have loved much are called wise, and they SWEDENBORG. 53 who have loved little are called simple : the former enjoy much light in heaven, the latter less, each according to the degree of his love. To love good and truth as such, or for their own sake, is to will and to do them from choice, for such only can be said to love them; and they are the people who love the Lord, and are loved by him. — Heaven and Hell, 350. A diligence to procure what may be for the good of them that lack preserves us from idleness, that pernicious kind of life which gives our innate evil the power to take pos- session of us. — Heaven and Hell, 361. All things in the universe have some rela- tion to good and truth, and also to their con- junction. — Heaven and Hell, 375. There is no stronger sympathy than be- tween truth and good. — Heaveni and Hell, 375. All the angels derive their beauty from conjugal love. — Heaven and Hell, 382, Angels, whilst they are present with men, reside, as it were, in their affections ; and are nearer to, or further from them, according to their degree of good life from true doctrines. — Heaven and Helly 391. 54 EXTRACTS FROM Those whose view is directed not to heaven, but to this world, not to the Lord, but to themselves, are not in the light of heaven, but in that of this world ; only these indeed to outward appearance, and before men, seem as knowing and wise as the chil- dren of light; nay, and sometimes wiser, as being more warmed, with the fire of self-love, and having learned to speak in like manner with them, and also to make a show of heavenly affections; but inwardly, and in the sight of angels, they appear very differ- ent. — Heaven and Hell, 347. They only are called truly wise in heaven wdio are in the good of life, or who apply divine truths immediately to practical use. Divine truth, when so applied, becomes good, as being animated with free-will and love, which constitute the very essence of wis- dom ; whereas they who are called intellect- ual or understanding men live not from truth as a principle, but commit it first to their memory, and from thence, as a store- house, draw occasionally the documents of truth, whereby to regulate their life. — Heaven and Hell, 348. Eighteousness, in heaven, signifies good proceeding from the Lord. — Heaven and Hell, 348. Love to God, and neighborly love, contain in them all intelligence and wisdom. — Earths in the Universe, 96. SWEDENBORG. 56 In proportion as man doth not love and worship the Lord, in the same proportion he loves and worships himself, and in the same proportion also he loves the world. — Earths in the Univ. 174. To love the Lord is to love the command- ments which are from him. — Earths iti the U7iiv. 169. Concerning regeneration : they who are re- generated by the Lord, and commit truths immediately to life, come into an interior perception concerning them. — Earths in the Univ. 169. Faith by miracles is compulsive faith, which would be hurtful to those in whom faith may be implanted by the Word in a state without compulsion. — Earths in the Univ. 160. The external memory is not opened after death, except at the Lord's good pleasure. Earths in the Universe, 160. In a state of temptation man is as it were without truths, because he is surrounded by evil spirits, who induce temptations, and then as it were take away his truths. — Ajjoc. Eev. 546. " And there was war in heaven " signifies falses of the former church ficrhtinsr asrainst 56 EXTRACTS FROM the truths of the new church. In heaven is the former heaven, which passed away. — Ajjoc. Rev. 548. By Michael, Gabriel, Kaphael, are under- stood ministries in heaven. — A2)oc. lieu. 548. The ministry signified by Michael is per- formed by those who prove from the Word that the Lord is the God of heaven" and earth, and that God the Father and he are one, as the soul and body are one ; also that men ought to live according to the command- ments of the decalogue, and that then they are gifted with charity and faith. V>y Ga- briel is understood the ministry of those who teach from the Word that Jehovah came into the world, and that the human nature which he there assumed is the Son of God, and is divine ; for which reason, the angel who an- nounced the same to Mary is called Gabriel. IMoreover, they who are engaged in those ministries are named Michaels and Gabriels in heaven. — A2)oc. Bev. 548. No one can have confidence in the Lord who doth not lead a good life. — Ajjoc. Ilea. 553. In neighborly love the Lord concealeth him- self with man, and man connecteth himself with the Lord. Love to our neighbor con- sists in shunning to do evil to him, according SWEDEXBORG. 57 to the commandments of the decalogue.^ Apoc. Rev. oil. By all the beasts that were sacrificed good affections were signified, and the same by the beasts used for food, and the contrary for the beasts that were not to be used for food. — Apoc. Rev. 567. The reason why good is only so far good as innocence is in it is because all good is from the Lord, and. innocence consists in a disposition to be led and governed by him. — Heaven and Hell, 281. As it is the property of innocence to choose the Lord only for our guide, therefore all in heaven are in innocence. To set up for our own directors is to abandon ourselves to self- love : as far, therefore, as any angel is in innocence, so far is he under the divine lead- ings and influence. — Heav. and Hell, 280. Innocence takes no merit to itself, but gives the praise of all good to the Lord only, and delights to depend upon him for all that goodness and truth which constitute genu- ine wisdom. — Heaven and Hell, 279. They who are in innocence are content with what they have, be it little or much, as knowing that to all is given what is needful for them, little to those that need little, and much to them that need much ; and that 58 EXTRACTS FROM they know not what that fit measure is, but the Lord only, who possesses all things, and provideth all things for all; and therefore the}^ are not solicitous about what shall befall them, calling this the taking thought for the morrow. — Heaven and Hell, 278. They are far removed from selfishness, and so far enriched with divine communications from the Lord. — Heaven and Hell, 278. They never deal deceitfully, but uprightly, and in sincerity ; calling every other way by the name of subtlety, which they avoid as poison. — Heaven and Hell, 278. Eest or tranquillity (commonly called peace) of mind is the common privilege of godly persons. — Heaven and Hell, 284. The perceptions of man, during his close connection with this mortal body, are in na- ture, and hinder the experience of that peace which the angels enjoy. Innocence is that from which springs every good in heaven, and peace is that which constitutes the de- lightful sense or relish of such good. The origin of peace has its source in the Lord, from the union of his divinity with his di- vine humanity ; and so giving birth to the divine peace in heaven, by his communica- tion with the angels, and more particularly by the conjunction of good with truth in every angel : it is nothing less than the joy SWEDEXBORG. 0\f of divine love, flowing from the Lord into every one of them. — Heaven and Hell, 286. Angelical peace, during the abode of men here, who are resigned to the will of God, lies concealed in their inner man, but is man- ifested when they quit the body, and enter into their heavenly rest. — Heav. and Hell, 288. When the conjunction of good and truth is formed in man during regeneration, which more especially is effected after temptations, he enters into the delightful state of heavenly peace. This peace may be compared to a lovely morning in the spring season, when nature appears revived, as well as beautified, by the warmth and splendor of the newly risen sun; whilst grateful odors, exhaling from the vegetable world, mix their rich sweets with the descending dew of heaven, and, at the same time that they add fertility to the earth, regale the senses, and exhila- rate the minds of men. — Heaven and Helly 199. Purple signifies celestial good, and scarlet celestial truth: silk mediate celestial good and truth : good from its softness, and truth from its shining. — Ajyoc. Rev. 773. The things of the body must in a measure die before man can be born anew, or be re- generated. The body itself must die before 60 EXTRACTS FROM man can be admitted into heaven, and see the things of heaven. — Ai'c. 1408. The internal man regardeth nothing but use. — Arc. 1472. The angels, who are principled in the sci- ence of all knowledges, and that in such a manner that scarce a thousandth part can be unfolded to man's apprehension, yet esteem knowledges as nothing in comparison of use. — Arc. 1472. Tent denotes the holy principle of love. — Arc. 1452. The ancient church was in Egypt, as in several other places ; and when the church was there, sciences particularly flourished therein: but after that by sciences they were desirous to enter into the mysteries of faith, and thus by self-i30wer to explore the nature of divine arcana, then it became magi- cal, and by Egypt were signihed scientitics which pervert. — A7X. 1462. The removal of Jacob and his sons into Egypt, in its inmost sense, represented noth- ing else but the Lord's first instruction in knowledges from the Word. — Arc. 1462. Sojourning and migration, or procession from place to place, in heaven, is nothing else but change of state. — Arc. 1463. STTEUEXBOKG. 61 The men of the most ancient church, as having communication with the angelic heaven, by sojourning had a perception only of instruction. — Ai'c. 1463. Wife, in the internal sense of the Tvord, signifies nothing else but truth conjoined with good. When mention is made in the Word of a husband, then husband signifies good, and wife truth; but when instead of husband the term man (I'i)') is applied, then man signifies truth, and wife good. — Arc. 1468. The Lord joined the divine essence to the human, that his human (properties or belong- ings) might also become divine. — A?'c. 1469. The deeper the subjects are which are pre- sented to view, so much the more ardently men desire to understand them; and when they are told of things celestial and divine, their desire increaseth: but this is a mere natural delight, and ariseth from a lust origi- nating in the external man. The science of knowledges is designed in itself for no other end than that man may become rational, and thereby spiritual, and at length celestial, and that by knowledges the external man may be joined to the internal ; and when this is the case, then man is prinei]:)led in use. In propor- tion as man placeth his delight in mere science, in the same proportion he removeth himself from what is celestial ; and the things of sci- 62 EXTKACTS FROM ence become closed towards the Lord, and are rendered material: but in proportion as the things of science are learned with a view to use, whether for the sake of human society, or for the Lord's church on earth, or for the sake of his kingdom in heaven, or more es- pecially for the Lord's sake, in the same pro- portion they are more opened towards the Lord, and become spiritual. — Arc. 1472. When celestial truth is a wife, a sister denotes intellectual truth. — Arc. 1475. When all the thoughts of man originate in use as their end, and he doeth all things with a view to use (if not by manifest reflection), yet by tacit reflection arising from acquired tempers and habits, then the scientifics which had served to promote the first use, in effect- ing rationality, are destroyed, because they no longer are subservient to that purpose. — Arc. 1487. When things celestial are joined with in- tellectual truths, and these truths become celestial, then all things which are vain and unprofitable are dissipated of themselves. This is a constant effect of the celestial principle. — Aix. 1449. Vain and unprofitable things leave things celestial, as things light and trifling are wont to leave wisdom. They are like crustaceous SWEDENBORG. 63 or scaly substances, which separate them- selves of their own accord. — A7x. 1500. They who know of a certainty, and believe that they shall live after death, are concerned about heavenly things, as being eternal and happy ; but not about worldly things, only so far as the necessities of life require. — Earths in the Universe, 12. Every change of state contains infinite things, as does also every smallest part of such change. — Earths in the Universe, 37. Every one in another life discourses spirit- ually, or by spiritual ideas, only so far as he had believed on God during his abode in the world, and materially so far as he had not believed on God. — Earths in the Universe, 38. Spirits appear near their respective plan- ets, but out of them. — Earths in the Uni- verse, 42. He who leads a moral life, as commanded by God, such a one is actuated by a divine principle ; but he who does the same only from human respects is actuated by a selfish principle. — Earths in the Universe, 319. They who are in the affection of good from love to God, they also love divine truth ; for good and truths of the same kind love one another by sympathy, and tend to 64 EXTRACTS FROM union : therefore the heathens, though they be not in genuine truths in this world, yet in the love principle receive them in the next. — Earths In the Universe, 319. Every one appears, upon his entrance into the other world, in the same state in which he departed this, whether infant, child, youth, adult, or aged ; but in some time after every one's state is changed. — Heaven and Hell, 330. The discourse of angels flows spontane- ously from their affections, modified by their ideas ; therefore they speak as they think. — Heaven and Hell, 331. The innocence of the angels in heaven con- sists in a resigned submission to the govern- ment of the Lord, and a renunciation of man's own will; who is only so far in innocence as he is remote from self. Genuine inno- cence is wisdom ; and so far only is any one to be reputed wise as he is resigned to the will of the Lord, or is content to be under his guidance. — Heaven and Hell, 341. Infants, when grown up to adults in heaven, are consigned for a time to their proper natural state of hereditary evil ; not merely for the sake of punishment, but in order to their conviction that of themselves they are only evil, and therefore delivered SWEDEXBORG. 65 from hell, which belongs to an evil nature, by the mere mercy of the Lord. — Heaveii and Hell, 343. They who are denominated wise are such who have not only their interior affections open to divine good, but also their intellect- ual faculties so cultivated and enlarged that they see divine truths by an internal evidence. — Heaven and Hell, 351. If man had preserved his original perfec- tion, consisting in loving God above all things, and his neighbor as himself, in that case he would have been born with innate understanding and wisdom, and to the belief of all truth, according to the enlargement of his faculties. — Heaven and Hell, 352. Though man carries his natural memory along with him, yet what he has laid up there falls not under his intuition, as before, as not being concordant with the light of a different world; therefore he cannot call them forth for use. — Heaven and Hell, 355. Man has no longer any perception of what he thought naturally in this world, but only of what he thought spiritually ; and this by change of state. — Heaven and Hell, 356. There is not the smallest portion of an expression in the AYord but what involveth heavenly arcana. — Arc. 1542. 66 EXTRACTS FROM There are two things appertaining to man which hinder him from becoming celestial ; one belongeth to his intellectual part, the other to his will part. What belongeth to his intellectual part consists of vain and empty scientifics, which he imbibes in child- hood and youth; what belongs to the will part consists of pleasures derived from evil lusts, which he favors and indulges. The latter ought first to be shaken and dispersed ; and when this is done, then first he is in a capacity of being admitted into the light of things celestial, and at length into celestial light.— ^rc. 1542. In proportion as man indulges in pleasures arising from evil lusts, in the same propor- tion he is withdrawn from things celestial, v>hich are the things of love and charity ; inasmuch as in such evil pleasures there is a love derived from self and from the world, w4th which celestial love cannot agree. — Arc. 1547. Gold, brass, and wood signify celestial, natural, and corporeal good ; silver, iron, and stone, spiritual, natural, and sensual truth. — Arc. 1551. The Lord, from his earliest infancy, ad- vanced according to all divine order towards things celestial ; all likewise are convej^ed ac- cording to such order who are created anew by the Lord. This order is nevertheless va- SWEDEXBORG. 67 rious with, men, according to the particular nature and temper of each; but the order in which man is led during regeneration is not known to any mortal, nor even to the angels, except very faintly, but to the Lord alone. — Arc. 1554. Intelligence is not wisdom, but leadeth to wisdom : for to understand what is true and good is not to be true and good ; but to be wise is to be true and good. Wisdom is pred- icated only of life, and hath relation to the quality thereof in man. — Arc. 1555. When the intellectual part is instructed in sciences and knowledges, especially in tha knowledges of truth and goodness, then first man is in a capacity to be regenerated. — A?r. 1555. AVhen man beginneth to act from charity, as a principle of conscience, he first receiv- eth new life. — Arc. 1555. To dwell in tents signifies the holy princi- ple of love. The true ground and reason why tent is used in the Word, to signify the celes- tial and holy things of love, is because in old time they performed holy worship in their tents ; but when tliey began to profane tents by profane worship, then the tabernacle was built, and afterwards the temple. Tent, tab- ernacle, and temple hav^e the same significa- tion. — Arc. 414. 68 EXTRACTS FROM A life of charity is a life of uses. — Ai'c. 957. All pleasures are allowed to man but for the sake of use. — Arc. 957. By flesh is signified the will principle of man; blood signifies charity; wherefore not to eat flesh in its soul, the blood, signifies not to mix together things profane with things holy. — Arc. 998. The new life which the regenerate man receiveth from the Lord is altogether sepa- rate from the will principle or propriety of man, or from man's own proper life, which is not life, but is death, inasmuch as it is infer- nal life. —^rc. 1000. Fat signifies celestial life ; blood consti- tutes the life of the body ; and whereas in representative churches internal things were represented by external, therefore soul, or celestial life, was represented by blood. — A7'c. 1001. Eating the flesh of animals, considered in itself, is somewhat profane ; for the people of the most ancient time never on any ac- count ate the flesh of any beast or fowl, but fed solely on grain, especially on bread made of wheat, also on the fruits of trees, on pulse, on milk, and what is produced from milk, as butter, etc. To kill animals, and to eat their S'^VEDEXBORG. 0^ flesh, was to them unlawful, and seemed as something bestial, and they were content with the uses and services which they yielded ; but in succeeding times, when men began to grow fierce as a beast, yea much fiercer, then first they began to kill animals, and to eat their flesh : and whereas man's nature and quality became of such a sort, therefore the killing and eating of animals was permitted, and at this day also is permitted. — Arc. 1002. The eating of flesh with the blood was for- bidden in the Jewish church, because, as was observed, at that time it represented profa- nation in heaven. All things that were done in that church were turned in heaven into representative correspondencies ; but after the coming of the Lord, when external rites were abolished, and thus representatives ceased, then such things were no longer changed in heaven into representative cor- respondencies. Since the Lord's coming, man is not considered in heaven with re- spect to things external, but to things inter- nal.— ^rc. 1003. A spirit is known by his ideas. What is wonderful, there is in each of his ideas his image or effigy. — Arc. 1008. There is not a single object existing in heaven or earth, which is beautiful and agreeable, but what in some degree is rep- 70 EXTRACTS FROM resentative of the Lord's kingdom. — Arc. 1807. The human body exists and subsists by its soul; wherefore in the human body all and singular things are representative of its soul. All effects whatsoever are representative of uses, which are causes ; and uses are repre- sentative of ends, which are principles. — Arc. 1807. Those who are in divine ideas never con- fine their sight to mere external objects, but continually by them, and in them, behold things internal. — Arc. 1807. The deeds of a man are imputed to him according to the state of the mind in them ; for deeds follow the body to the grave, but the mind resuscitates. — Conjugal Love, 530. Eeligion, because it is the marriage of the Lord with his church, is the initiation of con- jugal love : wherefore conjugal love is im- puted to every one after death, according to his spiritual rational life ; and he to whom that love is imputed, after death, is provided with the conjugal state by the Lord. — Con- jugal Love, 531. Imputations are made after death accord- ing to the quality of the will and of the in- SWEDEXBORG. 71 tellect. In heaven all are in the will of good, in hell all are in the will of evil. — Conjugal Love, 530. To become spiritual is to be elevated from the natural, that is, from the light and heat of the world, into the light and heat of heaven. Of this elevation no one knows but he who is elevated ; nevertheless, the natural man, not yet elevated, perceives no other wise than that he is elevated : the reason is be- cause his intellect, equally with the spiritual man, can be elevated into the light of heaven, and he can think and speak spiritually as well as naturally. But if his will be not elevated at the same time with his intellect, he is not elevated ; for he does not stay in that elevation, but shortly lapses to his will, and there confirms his station. The will is mentioned, but the love is at the same time understood; for that which a man loves he wills. — Conjugal Love, 347. Man is a recipient of God, and a recipient of God is an image of God ; and because God is love itself, and wisdom itself, man is a recipient of these, and a recipient becomes an image according to reception. Man is a likeness of God, from a perception that those things which are from God are in him as his own ; but in the degree that from that like- ness he becomes an image of God, he ac- knowledges that love and wisdom, or good- ness and truth, are not in him of himself, 72 EXTRACTS FROM and thence from himself, but only in God, and thence from God. — Conjugal Love, 132. So long as man is spiritual, his dominion or rule proceedeth from the external man to the internal : " They shall have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowls of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth on the face of the earth." But when he becometh celestial, and doeth good from a principle of love, then his dominion proceedeth from the internal man to the ex- ternal ; as the Lord describeth himself, and at the same time the celestial man, who is his likeness, in David : " Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands ; thou hast put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field ; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." Here, therefore, beasts are first mentioned, and then fowl, and afterwards fish of the sea, because the celestial man proceedeth from love, which belongeth to the will ; differing herein from the spiritual man, in describing whom fishes and fowl are first named, which belong to the understanding, as having relation to faith, ■and afterwards mention is made of beasts. — Conjugal Love, 52. The wisdom of love is signified by the gar- den of Eden. A tree signifies man, and its SWEDENBORG. 73 fruit tlie good of life ; thence by the tree of life is signified man living from God, or God living in man : and because love and wisdom, charity and faith, or good and truth, make the life of God in man, these things are sig- nified by the tree of life. By the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is signified man believing that he lives from himself, and not from God; so that love and wisdom, charity and faith, that is, goodness and truth, are in man of himself, and not of God. By the serpent is meant the devil as to self-love and self-intelligence. — Conjugal Love, 135. Instead of perception, which the most ancient church enjoyed, conscience succeeded, which, being procured by faith adjoined to charity, dictated not what is true, but that such and such things are true, because the Lord has declared them to be so in his Word. Such were the churches after the flood, for the most part ; such also was the primitive church, or the first church after the Lord's coming. Herein the spiritual angels are dis- tinguished from the celestial angels. — Arc. 393. Whilst man is made spiritual, he is contin- ually engaged in combat or warfare ; on which account the church of the Lord is called militant. — Arc. 59. 74 EXTRACTS FROM When man is regenerate, the angels have the dominion, and inspire him with whatever is good and true, infusing at the same time a dread and fear of what is evil and false. — Arc. 50. The order of life with the celestial man is such that the Lord floweth in by love, and by faith originating in love, into his intel- lectuals, rationals, and scientifics ; and inas- much as there is no strife between the inter- nal and external man, he perceiveth that this is the case. Thus order, which is as yet inverted with the spiritual man, is restored with the celestial. This order, or man, is called a garden in Eden eastward. — Arc. 99. The celestial man is such that he doeth nothing of his own pleasure, but of the good pleasure of the Lord, which is his pleasure. Thus he enjoyeth peace and internal felicity ; and he- enjoyeth, at the same time, tranquil- lity and external delight. — Arc. S5. During the time of being spiritual, the ex- ternal man is not yet reduced to such obedi- ence as to be willing to serve the internal, and this is the cause of combat ; but when he becometh celestial, then the external man beginneth to comply, and serve the internal, and hence ariseth tranquillity. — Arc. 91. The men of the most ancient church per- ceived states of love and of faith by states of SWEDEXBORG. 75 respiration. At this day, it is a subject alto- gether hidden and unknown. — Arc. 97. Man is placed in the kingdom of the Lord, or heaven, when he is made celestial. His state in this case is that he is with angels in heaven, and as it were one amongst them : for man was so created that he may be in heaven at the same time that he liveth on earth. In this state all his thoughts, and ideas of thoughts, yea his words and actions are open, containing in them a celestial and spiritual principle, whereby they have com- munication with the Lord; for there is in each the life of the Lord, which causeth it to have perception. — Arc. 99. What perception is, few at this day know : it is a certain internal sensation w^hich Com- eth only from the Lord, and was most famil- iar in the most ancient church, whereby truth and goodness are discerned. This per- ception is so clear with the angels that they know and thereby acknowledge what is true and good ; what is from the Lord, and what from themselves ; and also what is the qual- ity and disposition of a stranger, merely by his gait and address, and by a single glance of his person and behavior. The spiritual man hath no perception, but only conscience ; a dead man hath not so much as conscience ; and the generality of persons are ignorant what conscience is, and much more what per- ception is. — Arc. 104. 76 EXTRACTS FROM The most ancient people, when they com- pared man to a garden, compared also wis- dom, and the things relating to wisdom, to rivers. — Arc. 108. The celestial man acknowledgeth that all things, both in general and in particular, are the Lord's, because he perceiveth that it is so ; whereas the spiritual man acknowledgeth indeed that it is so, but only with his lips, having learned it from the Word. The worldly and corporeal man neither acknowl- edgeth nor alloweth that it is so, but what- ever appertaineth to him he calleth his own, and imagineth that if it was taken away from him he should be utterly ruined. — Arc. 123. By cattle are signified the celestial affec- tions, by fowls of the air the spiritual. — Ai^c. 142. Among the ancients, the origin and qual- ity of things were implied in their names. — Ai'c. 144. The understanding of truth never existeth except where the will is inclined to what is good: such as the will is, such also is the understanding. — A7x. 263. Every devil can understand truth when he hears it, but cannot retain it; because the affection of evil, when it returneth, casteth out the thought of truth. — Apoc. Rev. Qb6. SWEDEXBORG. 77 Charity is the affection of the love of doing good to a man's neighbor, for the sake of God, of salvation, and of life eternal; and faith is thought grounded in confidence re- specting God, salvation, and life eternal. — Ajjoc. Rev. Q)bo. If it be a received principle that nothing is to be believed before it is seen and under- stood, a person under the government of such a principle cannot possibly believe, inasmuch as spiritual and celestial things are incapa- ble of being seen with the eyes, or conceived in the imagination. But the true order is that man be wise with a wisdom derived from the Lord, that is, from his Word, in which case all things are in a right course, and then also he is enlightened in things rational and scientific : for man is never for- bid to learn the sciences, inasmuch as they contribute to the use and delight of life ; nor is he forbid, in case he be under the influ- ence of faith, to think and speak as the learned do in the world ; but then he must be guided by this principle to believe the Word of the Lord, and to confirm spiritual and celestial truths by natural truths, in terms familiar to the learned world, as far as lies in his power. — Arc. 129. The delight wherein there is good from the Lord is alone a living delight; for in such case it hath life from the essential life of good. — Arc. 995. 78 EXTRACTS FROM If a man hatli much knowledge, and much wisdom, and doth not shun evils as sins, he hath no wisdom. — Doctrine of Life, 23. So far as any one shuns evils as sins, so far he loves truths. — Doctrine of Dlfe, 32. Good loves truth, and truth loves good, and they desire to be one : evil loves the false, and the false loves evil, and they are desirous to be one. — Doctrine of Life, 33. A man who doth not shun evils as sins may indeed love truths, but then he doth not love them because they are truths, but be- cause they serve to extend his reputation, whence he derives honor or gain ; wherefore, when they no longer are subservient to this end, he ceaseth to love them. — Doctrine of Life, 35. Good is not good unless it be joined with truth ; consequently good doth not exist be- fore it be so joined, and yet it is continually desirous to exist ; wherefore, in order to its existence, it desires and procures to itself truths, and from them hath its nourishment and formation. — Doctrine of Life, 37. Truths are the means whereby the good of the love principle exists, and acquires real- ity ; consequently good loves truths, in order to its existence. — Doctrine of Life, 39. SWEDENBORG. 79 Every state containeth infinite arcana re- specting it, whereof not a single one is known to mankind. — Ai^c, 312. Hereditary evil is never dissipated so as to lose its baneful influence, except in those who are regenerated by the Lord. — Arc. 313. Celestial good is that which is not clothed, because it is inmost, and is innocent ; but celestial-spiritual good is that which is first clothed, and also natural good, they being of an exterior nature, on which account they are compared to garments ; wherefore also such as are endowed with the good things of charity appear in heaven clothed in shining garments, but in this world with a coat of skin, because they are as yet in the body. — Arc. 217. Infernal torments are not, as some sup- pose, stings of conscience ; for they who are in hell have no conscience, and consequently cannot be tormented as to conscience. Such as have had any conscience are among the blessed. — Arc. 965. Man after death, who hath any conscience, at first is in the heaven of spirits, afterwards he is raised by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits, and lastly into the angelic heaven. — Arc. 976. 80 EXTRACTS FROM That the material body, with its sensual and pleasurable principle, doth not constitute the external man, appears from this consid- eration, that spirits, who have no material bodies, have an external man in like manner as men on earth. The external man is formed of things sensual ; not such as belong to tlie body, but such as are derived from bodily things; and this is the case not only with men, but also with spirits. — A)'c. 976. Faith and life are distinct from each other, like thinking and doing : thinking has rela- tion to the understanding, and doing to the will.— Doct. of Life, 42. Good, which is of the will, forms itself in the understanding, and in a certain manner renders itself visible. — Doctrine of Life, 43. The faculties of the will and of the under- standing are so created that they may be one ; and when they are one, they are called mind. — Doctrine of Life, 43. Nothing is of more concern to know than how the will and understanding form one mind : they form one mind as good and truth make one ; for a similar marriage exists between the will and the understand- ing as between good and truth. — Doctrine of Life, 43. SWEDEXBORG. 81 Evil hatli an inward hatred against truth ; outwardly indeed it can put on a friendly ap- pearance, and endure, yea love that truth should be in the understanding ; but when the outward is put off, as is the case after death, then truth, which was thus for worldly reasons received in a friendly manner, is first cast off, afterwards is denied to be truth, and finally is held in aversion. — Doctrine of Life, 46. Whatsoever any one loves in the ground of the will, that he loves to do, he loves to think, he loves to understand, and he loves to speak. — Doctrine of Life, 48. There doth not appertain to man the small- est portion of truth, only so far as he is prin- cipled in good ; consequently not the smallest portion of faith, only so far as it is joined with life. There may be such a thing as thought respecting the truth of some partic- ular propositions in the understanding; but there cannot be acknowledgment amounting to faith, unless there be consent in the will. — Doctrine of Life, 51. God was from the beginning a man in the first principles of things, but not in the ulti- mates ; but after that he assumed a humanity in the world, he also became a man in the ultimates. — Concerning the Lord, 36. 82 EXTRACTS FROM The ancients accounted the knowledge of correspondences as the most exalted of all sciences, as the fountain from whence they drew their understanding and wisdom : and as to those who were of the church of God, it was by means hereof that they held com- munication with heaven ; for the knowledge of correspondences is the knowledge of an- gels. The most ancient formed their minds by the doctrine and laws of correspondence, and thought according thereto, like the angels, and conversed with them ; and hence it was that the Lord often vouchsafed to ap- pear to them, and give them divine instruc- tions : but this kind of knowledge is so far lost among us at this day that it is scarcely any longer known what is meant by the term correspondence. — Heaven and Hell, 87. What exists and subsists in the natural from the spiritual is called correspondence. The whole natural world exists and subsists from the spiritual as an effect from its effi- cient cause. — Heaven and Hell, 88. By the natural world is meant the whole expanse under the sun ; by the spiritual world is meant heaven, and all that is therein. — Heaven and Hell, 89. As man is an image both of heaven and of the world in the least form, therefore he stands here both in the natural and spiritual world. The things within, which respect his SWEDENBORG. 83 intellect and will, constitute his spiritual world ; but those of the body, which respect his external senses and actions, constitute his natural world. The things of the intel- lect are represented in the speech, and those of the will in the gestures and movements of the body. All that is thus expressed is called correspondence. — Heaven and Hell^ 90, 91. Divine good, proceeding from the Lord, is that which constitutes divide order. The form or distinction of a thing has relation to truth, forasmuch as truth is the form of good. — Heaven and Hell, 107. The higher excellence of the angels of the celestial kingdom is owing to their reception of the divine truth immediately into the principle of life, and not, as the spiritual angels, through the previous instrumentality of memory and reflection ; insomuch that di- vine verities are written in their hearts, and they see them by intuition within themselves, as in a kind of source, without having any occasion to reason concerning them, whether the matter be so or otherwise. — Heaven and Hell, 25. They only are called truly wise in heaven who are in the good of life, or who apply di- vine truths immediately to practical use ; for divine truth, when so applied, becomes good, as being animated with free-will and love, 84 EXTRACTS FROM which constitutes the very essence of wis- dom : whereas they who are called intellect- ual or understanding men live not from truth as a principle, but commit it first to their memory, and from thence, as a store- house, draw occasionally the documents of truth, whereby to regulate their life. — Heaven and Hell, 348. Wealth, in the heavenly kingdoms, is good- ness and truth ; and the favor of the sover- eign is the mercy of the Lord. — Arc. 450. An age, in the Word, is ten years. — Arc. 433. Heaven consisteth in this that every one should from his heart wish better things for others than for himself, and that he should serve others with a view to their happiness, that is, from a principle of love, without any regard to selfish ends. — Arc. 452. The angelic life consists in uses, and in doing good works of charity. Nothing is more delightful to the angels than to in- struct and teach spirits, at their first coming into the spiritual world ; also to serve man- kind, by inspiring them with what is good, and by restraining the evil spirits attendant on them from passing their proper bounds. '^ Arc. 454. SWEDENBORG. 85 It is likewise the happiness of angels to raise up the dead to the life of eternity ; and afterwards, if it be possible, and there be a capacity in the soul, to introduce it into heaven. From these offices they receive a delight which cannot be described : thus they are images of the Lord, thus they love their neighbor more than themselves, and thus heaven is heaven to them. — Arc. 454. Man signifies understanding ; Eve is a name signifying life, which hath relation solely to love. — Arc. 476. Every particular person, by his own actual sins, causeth hereditary evil, and maketh an addition to what he received from his par- ents, and thus accumulateth what remaineth in all his posterity ; nor doth this evil suifer any check or temperament, except in those who are regenerated by the Lord. This is the primary cause why every church degen- erateth ; and this was the case with the most ancient church. — Arc. 494. To know what is true, by virtue of what is good, is celestial. — Arc. 511. Heaven consisteth in mutual and chaste love, and heavenly joy is the happiness de- rived from such love. — Arc. 547. It is of the very nature and essence of true love to do kind offices to the object of it ; S6 EXTRACTS FROM not from selfish views, but from disinter- ested affection. They who are deeply in the love of self, and are greedy of filthy lucre in this world, cannot receive such doctrine, and the covetous least of all. — Arc. 548. The angelic state is such that each com- municateth his own blessedness and happi- ness to another ; for in another life there is given a communication and most exquisite perception of affections and thoughts, in con- sequence whereof every individual communi- cates his joy to all others, and all others to every individual ; so that each individual is as it were the centre of all, which is the celes- tial form. — Arc. 549. After temptation, things alive and things dead, or the things of the Lord and those of man's propriety, appear so confused that a man scarce knoweth at that time what is true and good; but the Lord then reduceth and disposeth all things to order. — Arc. 841. After the societies of spirits who had con- nected themselves for evil purposes are dis- solved; after the commotion, or turbulent state, there ariseth as it were a serenity or silence, which is the beginning of the dispo- sal of all things into order. Before anything is reduced to order, it is most commonly pro- vided that there should be a general reduc- tion thereof into a kind of confused mass, or as it were a chaos ; whereby the things that SWEDEXBORG. 87 do not well cohere together are disunited; and when they are disunited, then the Lord disposeth them into order. This may be compared with what is observable in nature ; where all things, both in general and in par- ticular, are first reduced to a kind of confused mass, before they are disposed or arranged into order; thus, for instance, unless there were storms in the atmosphere, to dissipate whatever is heterogeneous, the air would never become clear and serene, but there would be a fatal accumulation of unwhole- some and deadly substances therein. The case is the same with man, in the course of regeneration. — Ai^c. 842. Falsities, with the spiritual man, especially before he is regenerated, are like dense spots of a cloud : the reason is because he can know nothing of the truth of faith, except by what is revealed in the Word, where all things are said in the general. General things are but as spots of a cloud ; for every single general comprehendeth in it a thou- sand and a thousand particulars, and each particular a thousand and a thousand singu- lars. The singulars contained in particulars are what illustrate generals. These singu- lars are never so revealed to man as generals are, both because they cannot be described, nor can they be conceived; consequently they cannot be acknowledged and believed in, being contrary to the fallacies of the senses, in which man is born, and which he 88 EXTRACTS FROM does not easily permit to be destroyed. The case is altogether otherwise with the celes- tial man, who hath perception from the Lord; in him particulars, and the singulars of particulars, may be insinuated : as for ex- ample, in the case of this general truth, that a true marriage is that of one husband with one wdte, and that such a marriage is repre- sentative of the celestial marriage ; conse- quently that such a marriage is admissive of celestial happiness, which a marriage of one man with several wives is not. The spiritual man, in this case, who knoweth this to be true by the Word of the Lord, is perfectly satisfied with such knowledge, and hence re- ceiveth conscience, informing him that mar- riage with more wives than one is sin, and he knoweth no more ; but the celestial man perceiveth a thousand particulars which con- firm this general truth, so that marriage with more than one Avife exciteth his abhorrence. Since the spiritual man only knoweth gener- als, and by generals hath his conscience formed, and the generals of the Word are accommodated to the fallacies of the senses, it is evident that innumerable falsities join themselves to, and insinuate themselves into those generals, which cannot easily be dis- persed. These falsities are signified by the raven, which went forth from the ark- in going and returning. — A7X. 865. Fowls denote things intellectual, rational, and scientific, and in like manner their oppo- SWEDENBORG. 89 sites, which are reasonings and falses. Both the latter and the former are described in the Word by various species of fowls : intellect- ual truths by the gentle, beautiful, and clean fowls ; but falses by ravenous, ugly, and un- clean fowls: gross and dense falsities by owls and ravens ; by owls, because they live in the darkness of night ; by ravens, because they are of a black color. — Arc. 866. There is not any life in those things which are not connected with eternal life, or which do not regard eternal life. The life which is not eternal is not life, but in a little while per- isheth ; nor can to be be predicated of those things which cease to be, but of those things which never cease to be ; consequently to live and to be are only in those things which are of the Lord. By eternal life is meant eternal happiness. — Aix. 726. Man's propriety is, as it were, destroyed when he is regenerated. — Arc. 727. Propriety is wholly evil and false ; and so long as it remaineth, so long man is dead: but when he undergoeth temptations, then it is shook and dispersed, that is, is loosened and tempered by goodnesses and truths from the Lord ; and thus it is vivilied, and appears as if it was not present : its not appearing, and not being any longer hurtful, is signified by destroying, although it is never destroyed, but remaineth. In this respect it is with 90 EXTRACTS FROM propriety as with black and white; which, being variously tempered by the rays of light, are changed into beautiful colors, as into blue, yellow, purple, and the like ; by which, according to their arrangement, as in flowers, divers forms of beauty and agreeable- ness are exhibited, whilst the black and white in their root and ground still remain. — A7'c. 731. There is not a single expression in the Word which is superfluous and needless, because it is the Word of the Lord; conse- quently there is not auy repetition, but where the signification is different. — Arc. 734. By fowl, in general, are signified thoughts. — Arc. 745. Corporeal things resist what is good, and sensual things what is true ; the former ex- tinguishing the love of goodness, the latter the love of truth. — Arc. 913. Man, when he is regenerated, receiveth life from the Lord; for before regeneration he could not be said to live, inasmuch as the life of the world and of the body is not life, but celestial and spiritual life alone is life. Man by regeneration receiveth real essential life from the Lord; and whereas before re- generation he had no life, he is now subject alternately to a state of no life and a state of real essential life, that is, of no faith and SWEDENBORG. 91 charity and of some faith and charity. So often as man is under the influence of things corporeal and worldly, then there is no faith and charity, that is, there is cold, for then things corporeal and worldly operate, conse- quently the things which are of propriety ; and so long as he is thus influenced, he is absent or removed from faith and charity, so that he doth not even think of things celes- tial and spiritual : the reason is because things celestial and corporeal can by no means be together with man. — Arc. 933. By not cursing the ground any more for mans sake is signified that man would not any more avert himself like the man of the posterity of the most ancient church. — Arc. 927. That the regenerate man undergoeth changes, viz., from alternate states of no charity and of some charit}^, may appear manifest from this reason, that with every one, even the regenerate person, there is nothing but evil, and that all good is of the Lord alone ; in consequence hereof, he must needs undergo changes, and at one time be as it were in summer, that is, in charity, but at another time in winter, that is, in no charity. These changes are for tlie end that man may be more and more perfected, and thereby may be rendered more and more happy. Such changes take place in the regenerate man, not only during his life in the body, but 92 EXTRACTS FROM • also when lie cometh into the other life ; for without changes of summer and winter, as it were, as to things of the will, and as it were of day and night as to things of the under- standing, he is never perfected and rendered more happy. These changes, however, in another life, are like the changes of summer and winter in temperate zones, and like the changes of day and night in the spring sea- son. — A7'c. 9o5. Were they who are in the hellish kingdom to extend but a finger beyond the sphere of it, they would suffer pain thereby. — Heaven and Hell, 400. The natural man, in whom the spiritual degree is open, does not know that he thinks and acts from his spiritual man ; for it ap- pears as if it was from himself, when never- theless it is not from himself, but from the Lord. Iseither does the natural man, in whom the spiritual degree is open, know that by his spiritual man he is in heaven, when nevertheless his spiritual man is in the midst of the angels of heaven. Sometimes also he appears to the angels ; but because he retires into his natural man, after a short stay there, he disappears. Neither does the natural man, in whom the spiritual degree is open, know that his spiritual mind is filled with a thou- sand arcana of wisdom and a thousand de- lights of love by the Lord, and that he comes into them after death, when he becomes an SWEDEXBORG. 93 angel. The reason why the natural man does not know these things is because the communication between the natural and the spiritual man is effected by correspondences, and communication by correspondences is not perceived any other wise in the under- standing than that truths are seen in light, and in the will than that uses are performed from affection. — Angelic Wisdom, 252. Charity is every work of duty that man doeth from the Lord ; which he then doeth from the Lord when he shuns evils as sins. — Angelic Wisdom, 253. To explore the mysteries of faith by scien- tifics is as impossible as for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. Myriads of mysteries exist in the hidden things of spirit- ual and celestial life for one that is to be found in invisible nature. — Arc. 233. Goodness of disposition manifests itself by gentleness and sweetness ; by gentleness in that it is afraid to do hurt, and by sweet- ness in that it loves to do good. — Planet Jupiter, 50. It is a principle of divine justice that no man should suffer punishments on account of the evils of his parents, but on account of his own : wherefore it is provided by the Lord that his hereditary evils should not recur after death, but the evils which are properly 94 EXTRACTS FROM his own ; and on account of those evils, when they recur, the man is punished. — Jj^oc. Explicata. The delights of the love of adultery derive their quality from the delights of doing evil uses, thus of doing evil ; and the delights of the love of marriage from the delights of doing good uses, thus of doing good. — A2:)oc. Exp. So many and such are the delights and pleasantnesses in the love of marriage, which are manifested by turns, that they cannot be numbered or described ; they are also multi- plied with continued augmentations to eter- nity. — Apoc. Exp. The origin of those delights is from this circumstance, that conjugal partners desire to be united into one, as to their minds ; and that into such union heaven conspireth, from the marriage of the good and the true therein from the Lord. — Apoc. Exp. The angels, when separated from their con- jugal partners, are in intelligence, but not in wisdom. — Apoc. Exp. To shun evils as sins is to shun the infer- nal societies that are in them ; and a man can- not shun such societies unless he be averse from them, and thence turn himself from them ; and man cannot from aversion turn SWEDEXBORG. 95 himself from them unless he love good, and from that love do not will evil. — Apoc. Exp. Concupiscences are of the love of evil, and desires and affections are of the love of good. — Apoc. Exp. There are works more or less good, accord- ing to the excellence of their uses ; for works must be uses ; the best are those which are done on account of use to the church. To these succeed in goodness those which are of use to our country, and so on: the uses de- termine the goodness of the works. — Apoc. Exp. The goodness of works increaseth with man according to the plenitude of the truths from the affection of which he doeth them ; for a man who is averse from evils as sins willeth to know truths, inasmuch as truths teach uses, and the quality of their good : hence it is that good loveth truth, and truth loves good, and that they desire to be conjoined. In proportion, therefore, as such a man learneth truths from the affection of them, in the same proportion he doeth goods more wisely and more fully ; more wisely because he knoweth how to distinguish uses, and to do them with judgment and with jus- tice ; and more fully because all his truths are present in operating uses, and form a spiritual sphere, which the affection of them produceth. — Apoc. Exp. 96 EXTRACTS FROM To merchants who shun as sins thefts of every kind, especially the more interior and more hidden, which are done by acts of cun- ning and deceit, riches do no harm, because riches are to them the means to uses, which are their negotiations, whereby they serve their country and fellow-citizens ; they are also by riches in a state of doing the uses to which the affection of good leadeth them. — A2)oc. Exp. Whilst a man shunneth evils as sins, he then learneth daily what a good work is, and there increaseth with him the affection of doing good, and the affection of knowing truths for the sake of good. Cease, there- fore, to inquire in thyself what are the good works which I shall do, or what good shall I do that I may receive life eternal ; abstain only from evils as sins, and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead thee. — Apoc. Exp. Those who know that there are divine com- mandments, but think nothing of a life ac- cording to them, remain natural, nor care for anything but what is of the world, and of the body. These after death become drudges and servants, according to the uses which they can perform to those who are spiritual ; for the natural man is a drudge and a ser- vant, and the spiritual man is his master and lord. — Angelic Wisdom, 2A!d. SWEDENBORG. 97 The angels from the sound of a man's voice know his love, from the articulation of the sound his wisdom, and from the sense of the words his science : and moreover they say that these three are in every expression, be- cause an expression is as a conclusion; for there is in it sound, articulation, and sense. From every word of a person speaking in a series, the angels of the third heaven perceive the general state of his mind, and also some particular states. — A?if/. Wisdom, 280. The three degrees of altitude are named natural, spiritual, and celestial. Man, at his birth, first comes into the natural degree ; and this increases in him by continuity ac- cording to the sciences, and according to the understanding acquired by them, to the sum- mit of understanding, which is called rational : nevertheless the other degree, which is called spiritual, is not hereby opened; this degree is opened by the love of uses derived from things intellectual. Supposing this love of uses to be spiritual, which love is love tow- ards our neighbor, this degree in like manner may increase by degrees of continuity to its summit ; and it increases by knowledges of truth and good, or by spiritual truths. But still by these the third degree, which is called the celestial degree, is not opened, this degree being opened by the celestial love of use, which love is love towards the Lord, and love towards the Lord is nothing else but the application of the commandments of the Word EXTRACTS FKOM to life ; the sum of which is to fly from evils because they are infernal and diabolical, and to do good because it is celestial and divine. These three degrees are thus suc- cessively opene*d in man. — Angelic Wis- dom, 237. The communication of the three degrees with each other is effected only by corre- spondences ; therefore the differences of love, wisdom, and use are such that they have nothing in common by anything of conti- nuit}'. Man, so long as he lives in the world, does not know anything of the open- ing of these degrees in himself: the reason is because then he is in the natural degree, which is the ultimate ; and from this degree he then thinks, wills, speaks, and acts ; and the spiritual degree, which is interior, does not communicate with the natural degree by continuity, but by correspondences ; and com- munication by correspondences is not felt. — Angelic Wisdom, 238. Man hath a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind; and thereby may be elevated to angelic wisdom, and possess it, while he lives in the world : but nevertheless he does not come into it till after death, if he becomes an angel ; and then he speaks things ineffable and incomprehensible to the natural man. — Angelic JVisdom, 239. SWEDEXBORG. 99 The spiritual man is altogether distinct from the natural man, and no other commu- nication intervenes than such as there is be- tween cause and effect. — Angelic Wisdom, 251. The natural man is a full man when the spiritual degree is opened in him ; for he is then in association with angels in heaven, and at the same time in association with men in the world, and in his relation to both he lives under the guidance of the Lord ; for the spiritual man imbibes precepts through the Word from the Lord, and executes them by the natural man. — Angelic Wisdom, 252. They who are in the affection of truth think, inquire, and debate whether a thing be true or not true ; whether it be so or not so ; and when they are confirmed that it is true, they further inquire and debate what it is : thus they stick in the very threshold, and are incapable of being admitted into wis- dom until they are void of doubt. But they who are in the affection of good, by virtue of the good itself in which they are principled, know and perceive that it is so; and thus they do not abide in the threshold, but are in the inner chamber, being admitted into wis- dom. They who are in the affection of good, that is, the. celestial, set out where they who are in the affection of truth, that is, the 100 EXTRACTS FROM SWEDENBORG. spiritual, halt ; so that the last term or limit of the latter is the hrst of the former. — Aix. 2718. The wisdom of love is to have God contin- ually before our eyes. — Arc. 9936. ALL THE THEOLOGICAL WORKS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG for sale at 169 Tremont Street, Boston, AND AT 20 Cooper Union, New York. TO THE YOUi^a Young men and young women, not yet married, enter auspiciously or otherwise upon true spiritual life, according as they carefully avoid as sinful whatever is opposed to purity of mind and act in relation to marriage. Whether or not they become spiritual at all ; whether or not they will come into the church; whether or not they will have any real interest in spiritual things, — will ap- proach and worship the Lord, reverence the Scriptures, and understand and receive the goodness and truth brought down in them by the Lord to men, depends, above all else, upon this simple thing, whether or not, in intention and act, they avoid as sin what is contrary to chastity : for the love to which this relates enters deeper than any other, and has its seat even at the entrance gate of the Lord with spiritual and heavenly things into the mind. — Fattee. 101 UCSB LIBRARY. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY ^AC . '' IIMIiillllf B 000 007 869 i