ON
THE DIVINE LOVE
AND
THE DIVINE WISDOM.
VERSITY
FROM THE "APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED" OF
LIBRARY
VARD UNIVERS
FINITY
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.
DIVIN
HARVARD
[From the London edition, 1840.
[From the London edition, 1840.]
17o3.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY OTIS CLAPP, 10 SCHOOL STREET;
SAMUEL COLMAN, 14 JOHN ST., NEW YORK ;
WILLIAM NEWBERY, LONDON.
1841.


Press of MANNING & HalLWORTH,
8 Congress Street...... Boston.


. ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
spirit of the lungs to flow forwards and backwards, and to
accommodate itself to their singular and diverse modes of
acting, both in inspiration and expiration : 2, to examine
and correct the air imbibed into the lungs, lest any thing
hurtful should flow in, and to distend with vapors the air
issuing from the lungs, and thus to set it free from its
debilities, and to blow it out, and also in general by ex-
cretion to purge the lungs from viscous phlegm : 3, to
serve the larynx and the epiglottis as a pillar of security,
or to adapt itself altogether to its motions and tremulous
vibrations; to arrange the walls of its channel, that the
air may strike upon it, and to extend its coat (or mem-
brane) that when the air strikes upon it, it may give a
tremulous motion, and thus to excite the rudiment of sound,
which the larynx and glottis may form into singing or
speech, that is, may modify ; also to moisten the larynx
continually with a vaporous dew : 4, to supply aid, and to
assist the neighboring æsophagus in its office of swal-
lowing : 5, to infuse the alternate respiratory motions of
the lungs into the neighboring parts, and by or through
them into the parts remote or ultimate, namely, into the
esophagus, through this with the diaphragm into the
stomach, and thus into the viscera of the abdomen, also
into the ascending cacobilis, and the descending jugular
vein, also into the sympathetic nerves of the great inter-
costal and the nervus vagus, and thus to renew the moving
life of the body : 6, to insinuate into the neighboring parts,
and through these into the highest and lowest parts, its
own sonorous tremblings, and those of the larynx, and to
excite the arterious blood in its endeavor to reach the
head and the brain, and the venous blood in its reflux from
the head and the brain, and by a general modification to
exhilarate and animate, and thereby renew the sensual life of
the body. Moreover from the wind-pipe, and at the same
time from the larynx and the bones of the epiglottis, which
are not here mentioned, the mind endowed with under-
standing, and cultivated by sciences, with the advantages
of anatomical instruction and of ocular evidence, may be
taught and may learn in what manner nature modulates
sounds, and moderates their numbers articulately : there
is nothing lies concealed in the sciences of acoustics, of
music and of harmony, so profound and so mysterious, and
nothing in the vibrations and tremblings of a continuous
body, and in the modifications of a contiguous volume or


ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
atmosphere, so hidden and so penetrating, which a spiritual
principle from the inmost things of nature does not collect
into one, and confer upon these organs, and at the same
time upon the ear.
Similar arcana occur in all the rest of the viscera, both
of the head and of the body, and still more in those which
lie interiorly concealed, and cannot be examined by any
eye, for the more interior any thing is, so much the more
perfect. In a word, the eminent life, or excellency of
life, of every member, organ, and of all the viscera, con-
sists in this, that nothing is proper to any of them, unless
it be common, and thus that in singular things there is the
idea of a whole man : this arcanum, which is given as a
conclusion, is, that man is a complex of all uses whatsoever,
which are given both in the world merely spiritual, and in
the natural world, and that every use, from the idea of the
universe in itself, is as a man, but such a man as the use
is, that is, his function in general : this consequence is
derived to man from this circumstance, that he is a recipi-
ent of life from the Lord ; for the life which is from the
Lord is the complex of all uses in infinitum, for the Lord
alone in Himself is alive, and from Him is the all of life,
and unless that form of use be infinite in the Lord, it could
not be given finite in any man.
VI. That in such a form is man in the general. By men
in the most general sense is meant the whole human race,
in a general sense are meant the men of one kingdom
together, in a sense less general the men of one province
in a kingdom, in a sense still less general the men of one
city, and in a particular sense the men of one house, and in
a singular sense every man : in the Lord's view, the univer-
sal human race is as one man, and all of one kingdom
likewise are as one man, in like manner all of one province,
also all of one city, and likewise of one house, not that the
men themselves so appear together, but the uses apper-
taining to men ; as a perfect and beautiful man, if the uses
be good, viz, it men do them from the Lord ; these are
they who do uses for the sake of uses, that is, who love
uses because they are useful to their house, to their city,
province, kingdom, or to the whole world; but they who
do uses not for the sake of uses, but for the sake of them-
selves alone, or of the world alone, appear before the Lord
not as one beautiful man, but as an imperfect and deformed
man; from these considerations it may be manifest, that


ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
13
first end to the last, and from the last end to the first, and
by which they perform their works, offices, and exercises :
who cannot see, from these considerations, that affection
alone in itself is not any thing, and that it becomes some-
thing by being in use, and that neither is the affection of
use any thing but idea, unless it be in form, and that neither
is the affection of use in form any thing else but potency,
but that affection then first becomes something when it is
in act, which act is the use itself, which is meant, which in
its essence is affection : now since affections are the es-
sences of uses, and uses are their subjects, it follows that
there are as many affections as there are uses.
X. That there are genera and species of affections, and
differences of species, in infinitum, and in like manner of uses,
may be manifest from the human body, and from the human
race, and from the angelic heaven, also from the animal
kingdom and the vegetable kingdom: in each there are
genera of affections or of uses, together with species and
differences innumerable, for there is not given any thing
the same, but various, and this variety is every where dis-
tinguished into genera and species, and both the former
and the latter into differences, and the differences in them-
selves are infinite, because from what is infinite ; that this
is the case, may be obvious to every one from human faces,
no one of which has been given altogether like to another,
so as to be the same, from the day of creation, nor can be
given to eternity, thus neither is any the least thing given
in the human body, which is the same with another ; the
case is similar with affections and their uses. That the
case is similar with affections, and consequently with uses,
man is in such deep ignorance of, that he inquires, What
is affection and what is love ? wherefore this cannot be
illustrated from any other source than from heaven, where
all, by virtue of the divine love, which is life itself, are
affections: the divine love there, which is life itself, is dis-
tinguished into two kingdoms, one wherein love to the Lord
reigns, and the other wherein charity towards the neigh-
bor reigns ; love to the Lord involves uses in regard to
their source, and love towards the neighbor involyes uses
in regard to their subject : the divine love, which is life
itself, is also further distinguished into lesser kingdoms,
which may be called provinces, and these again into socie-
ties, and societies into families and into houses : such in
the heavens are the distinctions of the divine love into


ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
17
others, but every one must be active, skilful, attentive and
diligent in his own office and business, and must place hon-
or and reward not in the first but in the second or third
place: according to these circumstances, there is an influx
amongst them of necessaries, of the useful things of life,
and of the delightful things of life ; the reason why these
things flow-in from what is common (or general), is, be-
cause those things are not procured as in the world, but
exist in a moment, and are even given gratis of the Lord,
and because there is a communication and extension of all
thoughts and affections in the spiritual world, and a com-
munication and extension of the affections of uses according
to their quality in heaven, and because all who are in
the heavens are affected and delighted with uses, the ne-
cessaries, the useful, and delightful things of life, re-flow
and redound to its centre of uses, and as the fruit of use to
him who does the use. The necessaries of life, which are
given gratis from the Lord, and which exist in a moment,
are food, clothing, and habitation, which altogether cora
respond to the use in which the angel is ; the useful things
are those which are subservient to those three things, and
are a delectation to him, besides various things on the ta,
ble, for garments, and in the house, beautiful according to
the use, and shining according to its affections ; the de-
lightful things are those which are enjoyed with the conju-
gial partner, with friends, with companions, by all whorn he
is loved, and whom he himself loves ; from every affection
of use proceeds that love which is mutual and reciprocal.
The reason why such things are in heaven, is, because
such things are in man, for heaven corresponds to all things
of man ; man also, who is in the affection of use from use,
or for the sake of use, is a heaven in the least form : in
man there is not given any member, nor any part in a mem-
ber, which does not derive from what is common or gene-
ral, its necessaries, its nourishments and its delights ; for
in the body, what is common or general provides for things
singular according to use ; whatsoever one requires for its
work, this is borrowed there from its neighbors, and this
again from its neighbors, thus from the whole, and it in
like manner communicates from its own to the rest accord-
ing to want ; the case is similar in the spiritual man, which
is heaven, because it is similar in the Lord. From these
considerations it is evident that every use is representative
of all the uses in the whole body, and hence that in every
2*


ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
21
and for the sake of themselves, and not from the Lord and
for the sake of the neighbor; they say indeed, and wish it
to be believed, that they are for the sake of the neighbor
understood in a wide and strict sense, that is, for the sake
of the church, their country, the society in which they live,
and their fellow-citizens; some of them also are bold enough
to say, that they are for the sake of God, because ground-
ed in His commands in the Word, and also from God, be-
cause they are good, and every good is from God, when
yet the uses which they perform are for the sake of them-
selves, because from themselves, and for the sake of the
neighbor that they may return to themselves; they are
known and distinguished from those who perform uses from
the Lord for the sake of the neighbor, according to the ex-
tended and strict sense of the term neighbor, by the follow-
ing characters, that in singular things they have respect to
themselves and the world, that they love reputation for the
sake of various ends which are uses derived from them-
selves, that they are affected also with uses so far as they
see themselves and what appertains to themselves in them;
moreover their delights are all delights of the body, and
they seek them from the world: their quality may be illus-
trated by the following comparison; themselves are the
head, the world is the body, the church, their country,
their fellow-citizens, are the soles of the feet, and God is
the shoes; but with those who love uses from the love of
uses, the Lord is the head, the church, their country, their
fellow-citizens, which are their neighbor, are the body even
to the knees, and the world is the feet from the knees to the
soles of the feet, and themselves are the soles of the feet,
adorned with a handsome shoe; hence it is evident that they
are altogether inverted, and that there is nothing of man in
those who perform uses from themselves, or from the love
of themselves. There are two origins of all loves and af-
fections, one is from the sun of heaven which is pure love,
the other from the sun of the world, which is pure fire;
they who derive love from the sun of heaven, are spiritual
and alive, and are elevated by the Lord out of the proprium
(or self hood); but they, who derive love from the sun of
the world are natural and dead, and of themselves are im-
mersed in their own proprium, whence it comes to pass that
they see nature alone in all the objects of sight, and if they
acknowledge a God, it is with the mouth, and not with the
heart: these are they who, in the word, are meant by wor- -


22
ON THE DIVINE LOVE,
shipers of the sun, of the moon, and of all the host of the
heavens; in the spiritual world they appear indeed as men,
but in the light of heaven as monsters, and their life ap-
pears to them as life, but to the angels as death: amongst
these are many who in the world have been held in estima-
tion for their erudition, and, what has often surprised me,
they believe themselves wise, because they ascribe all
things to nature and prudence, but the rest of mankind
they call simple.
XV. That man is not of a sound mind, unless use be his
affection or occupation. Man has external thought, and he
has also internal thought; he is in external thought when
he is in company, whether in such case he hears, or speaks,
or teaches, or acts, and also when he writes; but the mind
is in internal thought when he is at home, and gives place
to his own interior affection: this latter thought is the prop-
er thought of his spirit in itself, but the former is the prop-
er thought of his spirit in the body: each remains with man
after death, and then it is not known what the quality of
the man is, until external thought is taken away from him,
for in this case the thought speaks and acts from its affec-
tion. The man who is of a sound mind, will then see and
hear wonderful things, for he will then hear and see that
many, who in the world have discoursed wisely, have
preached learnedly, have taught with erudition, have writ-
ten scientifically, and have also acted prudently, as soon as
the external principle of their mind is taken away, begin
instantly to think insanely, and to speak and act as wildly
as lunatics in the world, and, what is wonderful, in this case
they believe themselves to be wiser than others. But to
prevent the continuance of their insanity, they are remitted
by turns into things external, and thereby into the civil and
moral life which they lived in the world; when they are in
company there and in heaven, there is given a recollection
of their insanities, and then they see and confess that they
have discoursed insanely and acted foolishly; nevertheless
in the very instant of their being remitted into their interior
principles, or the principles proper to their spirits, they are
insane as before: their insanities are many in number,
amounting to this, that they are willing to have dominion,
to steal, to commit adultery, to do evil, to despise, reject,
or sneer at, whatsoever is upright, just, sincere, together
with every truth and good of the church and of heaven;
and, what is more, they love this state of their spirit; for


28
ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
ring, and thereby as not remaining: its recipient form itself
might also be described, but this is not the place for such
description: hence it is that the will is called the recepta-
cle of the love. That the will is the all of man, and in all
things appertaining to him, and thus that it is the man him-
self, as the love in its complex is the man, is evident from
the following observations; man, concerning every thing
which is of his love or affection, yea which is of his life,
says that he wills, and that he wills to act, wills to speak, .
wills to think, wills to perceive, in all which cases there is
will, and unless the will were in those things, the man !
would not act, nor speak, nor think, nor perceive, yea,
unless it were present in the singular and most singular
parts of those things, they would cease in a moment,
since the will is in them as the soul or life is in the body
and in singular the things appertaining to it: in the place
of willing it may also be called loving, as that he loves to
do, to speak, to think, to perceive: in like manner it is
said of the external senses of the body, that a man wills
to see, wills to hear, wills to eat, to drink, and to taste,
wills to smell, wills to walk, to converse, to play, and so
forth; in each of these cases also the will is the agent, for
if it was withdrawn, there would instantly be a pause, and
they also are withdrawn by the will. That the will is the
love of man in a form, is very evident from this consider-
ation, that all delight, pleasure, pleasantness, satisfaction,
and blessedness, which also are of the love, are thus made
sensible and perceived: that those things are also of the
will is evident, for whatsoever is delightful, pleasurable,
pleasant, satisfactory, and blessed, this also man wills, and
likewise says of them that he wills them: in like manner
man speaks of good and of truth, for what he loves that
he calls good, and this therefore he makes an object of his
will, and what he confirms to be the good of his love or of
his will, this is called truth, and this also he loves, and is
willing to think and talk about it. Man also, concerning
every thing which he wishes, courts, desires, appetites,
seeks, and intends, says that he wills those things, because
they are of the love, for he wills what he wishes because
he loves it, he wills what he courts and desires because
he loves it, he wills what he appetites and seeks because he
he loves it, and he wills what he intends, and intends be-
cause he loves. From these considerations it may be
seen, that the will and love, or the will and affection with


ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
29
man are one, and that the will, because the love, is alone
his life, and that it is the man himself; that the will also is
in the life of the understanding, and thence of the thought
of man, will be confirmed in what follows. The reason
why man is ignorant that the will is the man himself, is
the same which makes him ignorant that love or affection
is the man himself; every one also attends to those things
which he sees or feels, but not to the life, the soul or es-
sence, from which he sees and feels; this lies concealed
inwardly, in the things of sense, and the natural man does
not think so deeply as to discover it, but it is otherwise
with the spiritual man, because what is sensitive is not the
object of his wisdom, but the essential principle which is in
what is sensitive, and which in itself also is spiritual; it is
on this account that many say, that thought is the all of
man, and that it is the man himself, or that man is man
because he thinks, when yet the all of his thought is affec-
tion, for remove the latter from the former, and you will be
a log. The man, who from a spiritual principle is rational,
who knows what is good and true, and hence what is evil
and false, may discover from what has been said, what are
his affections, and what the ruling affection, for there are
as many indexes of them as there are delights of the
thought, of speech, of action, of sight, of hearing, and as
many as are his pursuits, desires and intentions; but let
him attend and reflect.
XIX. That in the Word, to love is to performn uses. The
reason is, because to love is to will, and to will is to do;
that to love is to will has been confirmed just above, but
that to will is to do, remains now to be confirmed: the will,
viewed in itself, is not love, but is the receptacle of love,
and such a receptacle that it not only receives love, but
also imbues its states, and puts on forms according to those
states, for the all of the life of man flows in, inasmuch as
man is not life, but a recipient of life, consequently a re-
cipient of love, since love is life; this may be illustrated by
the organs of man's senses, for the eye is a recipient of
light, and is not light, being formed to receive all the vari-
eties of light; the ear is a recipient of sound, and of its
modulation and articulation, but it is not sound; the same
is true of the other external senses of man; and simi-
lar is the case with the internal organs of sense, which are
modified and actuated by spiritual light and heat; conse-
quently the case is similar with the will, that it is a re-
3*


30
ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
ceptacle of spiritual heat, which in its essence is love,
which receptacle is in the man throughout, but in its first
principles is in the brain; these first principles, or begin-
nings, or heads, are those substances of the brain which
are called cortical ånd cineritious; from them by fibres, as
by rays, it descends in every direction, into all things of
the face, and into all things of the body, where it performs
its rotations and circulation according to its form, which is
the spiritual animal form elsewhere treated of; thus all and
singular things therein are actuated from first principles to
last, and in the last are presented effects. It is a known
thing that every thing is moved by virtue of an endeavor,
(ex conatu,) and that when the endeavor ceases, the motion
ceases; thus the will of man is a living endeavor in man,
and acts in ultimates by means of fibres and nerves, which
in themselves are nothing else but perpetual endeavors
continued from the beginning in the brains even to the
last things in the corporeal parts, where the endeavors be-
come acts. These observations are adduced in order that
it may be known what the will is, and that it is a receptacle
of the love, in a perpetual endeavor of acting, which en-
deavor is excited and determined to acts, by the love which
flows-in, and is received.
From these considerations it now follows, that to love,
since it is to will, is also to do, for whatsoever a man loves,
this he wills, and what he wills this he does if it be possi-
ble, and if he does not do it, because it is not possible, still
he is in the interior act, which is not manifest; for there
cannot be given with man any endeavor, or will, unless
also it be in ultimates, and when it is in ultimates, it is an
interior act, but this act is not perceived by any one, not
even by the man himself, because it exists in his spirit, and
hence it is that the will and the act are one, and that the
will is taken for the act; not so in the natural world, be-
cause in that world the interior act of the will does not ap-
pear, but in the spiritual world, where it appears, for in
that world all act according to their love. They who are
in celestial love act sanely, they who are in infernal love,
insanely; and if by reason of any fear they do not act, their
will is interiorly active, and is restrained by them from
bursting forth, nor does that action cease but together with
the will; since, therefore, the will and the act are one,
and the will is the endeavor of the love, it follows that in
the Word, by loving nothing else is meant but doing, thus.


32
ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
cording to the activities of the life's love. The case is sim-
ilar with the animals of the earth, and with the fowls of the
heavens, for both the one and the other are sometimes
warmer in mid-winter than in mid-summer, since at that
time their heart beats, the blood is heated, the fibre is
warm, and every least part with the greatest peforms its
vital functions, and has heat not from the sun, but from the
life of their soul, which is affection. The reason why love
produces heat, is, because it is the life of all energies in the
universe, which life cannot enter the recipient substances
which are created, except by means of the active principle, -
which is heat. The Lord, in the creation of the universe,
has prepared for himself all means (or mediums,) from first
even to last, by which, in every degree, He may produce
uses, and the universal mean (or medium,) and that which
is the proximate one of conjunction, is heat, in which the
essence of the activity of love can exist. Since heat ex-
ists from the love of the neighbor, therefore there is a
correspondence between love and heat, inasmuch as there
is correspondence between every cause and effect; it is
from correspondence that the sun of heaven, which is the
Lord, appears as fiery, also that the love thence proceed-
ing is perceived by the angels as heat; in like manner
that the divine wisdom of the Lord in the heavens appears
as light, and also that the face of the Lord, when he was
transfigured, shone as the sun, Matt. xvii. 2. It is from
the same correspondence that the holy principle of the
Lord's love was represented by the fire of the altar, and by
the fire in the lamps of the candlestick in the tabernacle, al-
so that the Lord appeared in fire on Mount Sinai, and
likewise in a flame of fire by night on the tabernacle, and
that hence several nations held fire to be sacred, and set
over it virgins who were called vestals. It is from the
same correspondence, that in the Word, by fire and by
flame in many passages is meant love; also that from the
interior perception of that correspondence we pray that sa-
cred fire may inflame our hearts, by which is meant holy
love. From the same correspondence it is that celestial
love appears afar off like fire in heaven, on which account
the Lord also said, that the just shall shine as the sun in
the kingdom of the Father, Matt. xiii. 43; in like manner
that infernal love afar off appears as fire in hell, on which
subject see the. Treatise on Heaven and Hell, n. 566, 575.
XXI. That the divine love, which is life itself, by means of


34
ON THE DIVINE LOVE.
of such productions, originates in a mind blinded by the
fallacies of the bodily senses, for the heat of that sun ope-
rates only to open the extreme parts of the body,'or the
cuticles, that internal heat may also flow-in into them; for
thus life comes into a full effect from first principles to last,
and hence it is that the animals of the earth, and the fowls of
heaven, every year, in the time of spring and summer, fulfil
the offices of their prolification, and enter into and renew
their joys; it is otherwise with man, who receives warmth
from interior love, excited by the allurements of the
thoughts, and whose clothing prevents the effect of cold
in the cuticles, which are the extreme parts of the body.


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
43
and singular things, but still distinguish themselves in those
things. 4. That the receptacles are distinguished into
three degrees with man, one within another, and that the
two higher are the habitations of the Lord, but not the low-
est. 5. That one receptacle is for the will of the future
man, and the other for his understanding, and yet that
nothing at all of his will and understanding is present in
the formation. 6. That in the embryo before the birth
there is life, but that the embryo is not conscious of it.
1. That the Lord conjoins himself to man in the womb of
the mother at first conception, and forms him. By the Lord,
in this and other places, is meant the Divine (principle)
which proceeds from Him as the sun of heaven, where the
angels are, from which and by which, all things in the uni-
versal world have been created. That that divine princi-
ple is life itself has been confirmed; that life itself is pres-
ent, and gives formation from first conception, follows from
these considerations, that man is to be formed by life itself to
be a form of life, which is a man; and to be an image and
likeness of God, which also is a man; and to be a recipient of
love and of wisdom, which are life from the Lord, thus a re-
cipient of the Lord Himself; that man is in the Lord and the
Lord in him, and that the Lord has His abode in man, if
man loves Him, He Himself teaches; this abode, the Lord
prepares for Himself in the womb, as will be seen from what
follows, on which account, Jehovah, or the Lord, in the
Word, is called Creator, Former, and Maker, from the
womb, Isaiah xliii. 1; chap. xliv. 2, 24; chap xlix. 5; and
in David, that upon him he was cast and set upon him from
the womb, Psalm xxi. 9, 10: Psalm lxxi. 6. Whilst man
is in the womb he is in innocence, whence his first state af-
ter birth is a state of innocence; and the Lord never dwells
with man except in his innocence, wherefore he then es-
pecially dwells with him when he is in innocence; in like
manner man is then in a state of peace: the reason why
man at that time is in a state of innocence and in a state of
peace, is, because the divine love and divine wisdom are
innocence itself and peace itself, as may be seen in the
Treatise concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 216–283, 284-
290. I foresee that whilst you read the above observa-
tions, some doubts will occur to your mind; but read to the
end, and afterwards recollect yourself, and you will see
them no longer.
2. That he conjoins himself in those two receptacles, in one


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
45
a state of peace and tranquility co-operates with wisdom,
and wisdom with love, causing productions and formations,
and this both in the embryo and in the man. That the co-
operation of love and of wisdom is as the co-operation of
heat and of light, is very manifest from appearances in the
spiritual world, for love in that world is heat, and wisdom
is light, and in that world all things in the angels are alive,
and bloom around them, altogether according to the union
of love and wisdom appertaining to them. The union of
love and of wisdom is reciprocal, love unites itself to wis-
dom, and wisdom reunites itself to love, hence love acts,
and wisdom reacts, and by this reciprocality every effect
exists. Such is the reciprocal union, and hence reciproca-
tion, of the will and understanding, also of good and of
truth, likewise of charity and faith, appertaining to the
man in whom the Lord is; yea, such is the reciprocal union
of the Lord Himself with the church, which is meant by
the Lord's words to the disciples in John, that they were
in Him, and He in them,” xiv. 20, and in other places. The
same union is also meant by the union of man and wife in
Mark: "they two shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no
longer two but one flesh,” x. 8: for the man was born to be
understanding, and thence wisdom, but the woman to be
will, and thence the affection which is of love, on which
subject see the Treatise on Heaven and Hell, n. 366-386.
Inasmuch as there are two things, love and wisdom, which
form the embryo in the womb, therefore there are two re-
ceptacles, one for love and the other for wisdom; on which
account also there are two things in the body throughout,
which in like manner are distinct, and are united: there
are two hemispheres of the brain, two eyes, two ears, two
nostrils, two chambers of the head, two hands, two feet,
two kidneys, two testicles; the rest of the viscera also are
twinned, and in every case what is on their right part has
reference to the good of love, and what is on the left, to
the true of wisdom: that those two things are so.conjoined
as to act in unity mutually and reciprocally, a diligent in-
vestigator may see if he desires it; the union itself is ex-
tant to the sight in the fibres stretched out in every direc-
tion and closed together in the midst: hence also it is that
these two principles are signified in the Word by the terms
right and left. From these considerations the truth is evi-
dent, that love and wisdom together and unanimously in the


56
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
tion will be seen; as, 1. that the spirit of man is equally a
man: 2. that it has equally a heart and pulse thence de-
rived, also lungs and respiration thence derived: 3. that
the pulse of its heart and the respiration of its lungs flow-
in into the pulse of the heart and into the respiration of
the lungs appertaining to man in the world: 4. that the life
of the body, which is natural, exists and subsists by that
influx, and that it ceases by its removal and separation: 5.
that man then from natural becomes spiritual.
1. That the spirit of man is equally a man, you may see
attested with much experience in the treatise concerning
Heaven and Hell, n. 73–77, 311-316, 452, 461-469;
and that every man is a spirit as to his interiors, n. 432—
444. To which may be added, that every thing spiritual
in its essence is a man, thus the all of love and wisdom
which proceeds from the Lord, for this is spiritual: the
reason why every thing spiritual, or which proceeds from
the Lord, is a man, is, because the Lord Himself, who is
the God of the universe, is a man, and from Him nothing
can proceed but what is similar, for the Proceeding Divine
(principle) is not changeable in itself and extended, and
what is not extended is every where such, hence is His
omnipresence. The reason why man has conceived an
idea of an angel, of a spirit, and of himself after death,
that they are like æther or air without a human body, is,
because the sensually-learned have conceived it from the
name of spirit, which is a breath of the mouth, also from
their being unseen and not appearing before the eyes, for
the sensual think only from the sensual principle of the
body, and from what is material, also from some passages
of the Word not spiritually understood; yet they know
from the Word, that the Lord, although he was a man as
to flesh and bones, still became invisible to the disciples,
and passed through the doors when shut; angels also have
been seen as men before many, according to the testimony
of the Word, who did not assume a human form, but man-
ifested themselves in their own form before the eyes of the
spirit of the men to whom they appeared, which were then
opened; lest therefore man should remain any longer in a .
fallacious idea concerning spirits and angels, and concern-
ing his own soul after death, it has pleased the Lord to
open the sight of my spirit, and to grant me to converse
face to face with angels and deceased men, and to contem-
plate them, to touch them, and to say many things concern-


62
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
natural man in all things of his thought and speech, and
in all things of his will and action, has for a subject matter,
space, time, and quantity, which things are fixed and stated
with him, neither without them is he in any idea of thought
and consequent speech, nor in any affection of will, and
consequent action: the spiritual man, or the spirit, has not
those things for subjects, but only for objects; the reason
is, because in the spiritual world there are objects alto-
gether similar to those which are in the natural world, as
lands, plains, fields, gardens and forests, houses and cham-
bers therein, and in them all things which are for use;
moreover there are garments, appropriate both to women
and men, such as are in the world; there are tables, meats,
and drinks, such as are in the world; there are likewise
animals, both tame and noxious; hence there are spaces
and times, also numbers and measures: all those things
bear such a resemblance to the things which are in the
world, that to the eye they are not distinguishable, never-
theless all those things are appearances, the things of
the understanding of angels being appearances of wisdom,
and the things of the will of angels being appearances of
the perception of their loves, for they are created in a mo-
ment by the Lord, and are also in a moment dissipated,
being permanent and non-permanent according to the con-
stancy and inconstancy of spirits or angels in those things
of which they are appearances: this is the reason why
those things are only objects of their thoughts and affec-
tion, and why the subjects are those things from which they
appear, which are, as was said, such things as relate to
wisdom and love, thus spiritual things; as for example,
· when they see spaces, they do not think of them from
space; and when they see gardens containing trees, fruits,
shrubs, flowers and seeds, they do not think of those things
from appearance, but from those things in which such ap-
(pearances originate; and so in all other cases; hence it is,
that the thoughts of the spiritual are altogether different
from the thoughts of the natural, in like manner the affec-
tions, and so different, that they transcend and do not fall
into natural ideas, except in some degree into the interior
rational sight, and this no otherwise than by the abstrac-
tion or removal of quantities from qualities; hence it is
evident that the angels have a wisdom, which to the natural
man is incomprehensible, and also ineffable; inasmuch as
their thoughts are of such a quality, therefore also they


70
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
piration, which is effected by the influx of air through the
larynx and trachæa into the bronchia of the lungs, corres-,
ponds to the life of the understanding. These things are
to be noted, that the truth by correspondences may be
openly and justly comprehended. Now therefore we pro-
ceed to the parallelism.
1. That the life of the will conjoins itself to the life of the
understanding. From the parallelism it is manifest, that
the life of the will, which is love, flows-in into the under-
standing, and constitutes its inmost life, and that the un-
derstanding spontaneously receives that life, and that the
will, by the influx of its love, in the understanding, first
produces affections, which are proper to the will or love,
and next perceptions, and finally thoughts with ideas, in
Co-operation. That this is the case, may be manifest from
the conjunction of the heart with the lungs; for the heart
discharges all its blood through its right auricle into the
lungs, and makes its blood vessels, by virtue of which the
lungs, from being white, appear red like blood; the heart
discharges its blood through a covering or outermost coat,
which is called the pericardium, and which coat encompass-
es the vessels even to the inmost of the lungs; thus the
heart constitutes the life of the lungs, and gives them the
capacity of respiration, which respiration is effected by an
influx of air into the bronchia, and by their reciprocal mo-
tions or heavings.
2. That the conjunction is reciprocal, and what is its quali-
ty. From the parallelism it may be manifest, that the un-
derstanding remits back the life of love received from the
will, but not by the same way by which it receives it, but
by another sideways; and that the will thence performs all
the functions of life in the universal body. But this recip-
rocal conjunction may be more fully comprehended from
the reciprocal conjunction of the heart and lungs, because
they are similar. The heart discharges blood through its
right auricle into the lungs, as was said above, and the
lungs remit it back, when received, into the left auricle of
the heart, thus by another way, and the heart from its left
ventricle, pours it forth with a strong force in all direc-
tions, through the aorta into the body, and through the ca-
rotids into the brain, by which arteries and their ramifica-
tions the heart performs its active vital functions in the
body throughout, for the active force of the heart is in the ar-
teries; the arterious blood next flows into the veins in every


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
71
direction, through which it reflows to the right ventricle of
the heart, and from this again, as before, into the lungs
reciprocally: this circulation of the blood is continual in
man, because the blood corresponds to the life of the love,
and respiration to the liſe of the understanding. From
what has been said it is evident, that there is reciprocal
conjunction of love and of wisdom, and that love is the life
of itself, and the only life, of man.
3. That the life of the understanding purifies the life of the
will, is not only evident from correspondence with the lungs
and the heart, but also from this consideration, that man,
by birth from his parents, is born into evils, and that hence
he loves corporeal and worldly things more than celestial
and spiritual things; consequently that his life, which is
love, is depraved and impure by nature; every one may
see from reason, that this life cannot be purified except by
the understanding, and that it is purified by spiritual, mo-
ral, and civil truths, which constitute the understanding.
Wherefore also it is given to man to be able to perceive,
and with affirmation to think, such things as are contrary
to the love of his will, and not only to see that they are so,
but also, if he looks up to God, to be able to resist and
thereby remove the depraved and filthy things of his will,
which is the same thing as being purified. This also may
be illustrated by the defæcation of the blood in the lungs:
that the blood let in thither from the heart is defæcated, is
a thing known to anatomists, from this consideration, that
the blood flows from the heart into the lungs in greater
abundance than it flows back from the lungs into the
heart; also that it flows in indigested and impure, but flows
back refined and pure; also that in the lungs there is a cel-
lular texture into which the blood of the heart presses out
by separation its useless particles, injecting them into the
little bronchial vessels and ramifications; also that the flux
in the nostrils and the mouth, and the vapor in breathing,
is from that source. From which considerations it is evi-
dent that the fæculent blood of the heart is purified in the
lungs. By these considerations, what was said just above
may be illustrated, inasmuch as the blood of the heart cor-
responds to the will's love, which is the life of man, and the
respiration of the lungs corresponds to the perception and
thought of the understanding, by which purification is ef-
fected. That the life of the understanding also perfects and
exalts the life of the will—the reason is, because the will's


72
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
love, which constitutes the life of man, is purged from evils
by means of the understanding, and man, from being cor-
poreal and worldly, becomes spiritual and celestial, in
which case the truths and goods of heaven and of the
church are grafted in his affection, and nourish his soul;
thus the life of his will is made new, and from it the life of
his understanding becomes new, so that each is perfected
and exalted; this is effected in the understanding, and by
it, but from the will, for the will is the man himself. This
likewise is confirmed by the correspondence of the lungs
and the heart; for the lungs, whieh correspond to the un-
derstanding, not only purge the blood from its fæculent
particles, as was before observed, but also nourish it from
The air; for the air is full of volatile elements and odors,
homogeneous with the matter of the blood; and there are
likewise innumerable sanguineous foldings in the little
lobes of the bronchia, which, according to their peculiar
faculty, imbue the substances which are admitted, in con-
sequence whereof the blood becomes fresh and bright, and
is rendered arterious, such as it is when conveyed from the
lungs into the left ventricle of the heart. That the atmos-
phere nourishes the pulmonary blood with new aliments, is
evident from much experience; for there are some gales
which are injurious to the lungs, and some which recreato
them, thus some which are hurtful, and some which are salu-
brious; there are also some animals which live a long time
without terrestrial food, thus upon atmospherical food
alone, as bears, vipers, cameleons, and others, which sup-
port life for a time without any other diet. From these
considerations it is evident that the pulmonary blood derives
nourishment also from the atmosphere; thus also the life
of the understanding perfects and exalts the life of the will,
according to correspondence..
4. That the life of the will co-operates with the life of the
understanding in every motion, and in return the life of the un-
derstanding co-operales with the life of the will in every sense.
That the will and the understanding co-operate in all and
singular things of the body, like the heart and lungs, was
shewn above: but that the will is the prime agent in pro-
ducing motions, and that the understanding is the prime
agent in the exercise of the senses, has not yet been shewn.
That the will is the prime agent in producing motions, fol-
lows from the ministration which it performs, for to do and
to act is from the will principle; and that the understanding


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
is the prime agent in the senses, follows also from its min-
istration, in that it perceives and is thence sensible; ney-
ertheless, neither motion nor sense can exist without the
co-operation of each. This likewise appears from the co-
operation of the heart and lungs: that in motions the heart
is the prime agent, and the lungs the secondary, is evident
from the muscles, that the arteries act therein, and the
little coats from the ligaments re-act; the arteries are con-
stricted by fibres put forth from the brain, and are stretch-
ed back by little coats from the super-induced ligaments;
the arteries are from the heart, and the ligaments, inas-
much as they are continued from the diaphragm or perito-
næum, or elsewhere, are in the alternate motion of the
lungs; hence it is evident that in motions the blood of the
heart is the prime agent, and the respiration of the lungs
the secondary. When respiration in the muscles of the
lungs is the secondary agent by the aforesaid ligaments,
which are in its motion, those ligaments constitute also an
involucrum common to the muscles, and likewise coats of
moving fibres, and hence they enter into the most minute
parts, thus hence they are re-actions both general and
singular, and the singular are capable of being variously
multiplied under the general, according to a law of nature
prevailing universally. The case is similar with the un-
derstanding and the will. But that the lungs are the prime
agent in the senses, and the heart the secondary, is evi-
dent from the examination of the organs of the senses,
which confirm it; but inasmuch as their textures are intri-
cate, and their various component parts cannot here be
described, it is sufficient to know that all the organs of the
senses correspond to such things as are of the understand-
ing, for the organ of sight corresponds to intelligence, the
organ of hearing to obedience grounded in hearkening,
the organ of smell to perception, the tongue to wisdom,
and the touch to perception in general.
5. In like manner in the tone of the voice and its speech.
It was said above, that the formations of love from the will
in the understanding are first affections, then perceptions,
and finally thoughts; and it is a known thing that all tones
of the voice are from the lungs, and that variations of tones
are given, some of which are in a small degree derived
from the understanding, while some are in a greater de-
gree, and some in a greater still; the tones, which in a
smaller degree are derived from the understanding, are


74 I
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
the tones of singing and music; those which are derived in
a greater degree from the understanding, are the interior
tones of speech; and those which are derived in a still
greater degree, are the exterior tones of speech; the
speech itself, by the articulations of tone, which are ex-
pressions of speech, makes them manifest. That there is
a correspondence of tones and of speech with the life of
the will which is love, and with the life of the understand-
ing, is manifest from this consideration, that it may be per-
ceived from the tone of a man's voice, what the quality of
the affection of his love is, and from his speech, what is
the quality of the wisdom of his understanding: this is
perceived manifestly by the angels, but obscurely by men:
the correspondence of the tone itself is with the general
affection of love in the understanding; the correspondence
of the variations of tone, such as are those of singing and
music, is with the variations of the affections which are
from the love of the will in the understanding; the corres-
pondence of the variations of tone, which are derived in
a small degree from the understanding, is with perception;
those which are derived in a greater degree, with the vari-
ation of perceptions; and those which are derived in a still
greater degree, with thought and its variations; this is a
summary view of the subject. There are two lungs, which
are called lobes, the fountains of their respiration are call-
ed bronchia; the channel into which they close is called
the windpipe; the top of this channel is called the larynx,
and the aperture for the tone of the voice therein is called
the glottis; the continuation thence is into the nostrils and
into the tongue, and the exit is through the opening of the
lips: such in one complex are the things appertaining to
the lungs, to their respiration and utterance of tones, and
these things taken together correspond to the understand-
ing derived from the will, their utterance of tones to the
understanding, and their motions to the will.
6. These effects have place with the good and with the evil,
with this difference, that with the evil the life of the will is not
purified, perfected, and exalted, by the life of the understand-
ing, but that it is defiled, depraved, and rendered brutal.
With every man there is a will and an understanding, and
here is also reciprocal conjunction of will and understand-
ing, thus alike with the evil and the good; but the love of
he will differs with every one, and hence also the wisdom
»f the understanding, and this to such a degree, that with


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
75
the good and with the evil they are opposites; for with the
good there is the love of good, and hence the understand-
ing of truth, but with the evil there is the love of evil, and
hence the understanding of what is false. Since therefore
the will's love with the good is not only purified by the
understanding, but is also perfected and exalted, as was
proved above; it follows that the will's love with the evil is
defiled by the understanding, is depraved, and rendered
brutal. In externals indeed there is an apparent simili-
tude, because externals simulate and deceive by pretences,
but in internals there is dissimilitude. But how this case
is, may be illustrated by the correspondence of the heart
and lungs; for every one has a heart and lungs, and with
every one there is conjunction of the heart with the lungs,
even reciprocal, and with every one the blood of the heart
in the lungs is deprived of its phlegm, and is nourished by
the volatile elements and odors supplied from the air, but
yet altogether in a different manner with the good from
what it is with the evil. What is the nature of the depriv-
ation of phlegm and of the nourishment of the blood in the
lungs with the good and with the evil, may be concluded
from the following documents of experience: in the spirit-
ual world, a good spirit attracts with his nostrils all fra-
grances and sweet smells with delight, and has a horror at
what is putrid and stinking; but an evil spirit attracts with
his nostrils what is putrid and stinking from a principle of
delight, and shuns what is fragrant and sweet-scented;
hence it is, that in the hells there are filthy, rancid smells,
as of a dunghill, or dead body, and others of a like nature,
and this because all odor corresponds to the perception
which is from the affection of every one's love; the reverse
has place in the heavens. From which considerations it is
evident, that the blood with men in the world is nourished
by the air with similar (substances) as being homogeneous,
and is purged by dissimilar as being heterogeneous: the
human blood in its inmost principles is spiritual, in its out-
ermost principles is corporeal, wherefore they who are
spiritual nourish it from such things in nature as corres-
pond to things spiritual, but they who are merely natural
nourish it from such things in nature as correspond to it;
hence the dissimilitude of the blood in men is as great and
of such a quality as is the dissimilitude of their loves,
for the blood corresponds to the love, as is evident from
what is said above.


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
own love and his own understanding from it according
to it.
XI. That love to the Lord from the Lord exists in chari-
ty, and that wisdom (exists) in faith. They who think
only naturally, and not at the same time spiritually, con-
cerning love to the Lord, and concerning charity towards
the neighbor, think no otherwise, because they cannot
think otherwise, than that the Lord is to be loved as to
person, and likewise the neighbor as to person; but they,
who think both naturally and spiritually, perceive and from
perception think, that both an evil man and a good man
can love the Lord as to person, in like manner the neigh-
bor, and that if an evil man loves, he cannot be loved
again, but that if a good man loves, he can be (loved
again;) hence the spiritual-natural man concludes, that to
love the Lord is to love that which is from Him, which in
itself is divine, in which is the Lord, and that this is to do
good to the neighbor, and that thus and no otherwise he
can be loved by the Lord, and can be conjoined to Him by
love; but the natural man cannot think spiritually on this
subject, unless it be distinctly laid down before him. It
shall therefore be distinctly treated of in the following ar-
ticles concerning Love and Charity: 1. That the love of
uses is charity. 2. That the Lord is the source from which
it proceeds, and that the neighbor is the object to which it
tends. 3. That love to the Lord exists in charity because
in use. 4. That use consists in a person's fulfilling his
duty, and discharging his employ, rightly, faithfully, sin-
cerely, and justly. 5. That there are general uses, which
also are the uses of charity. 6. That uses do not become
uses of charity with any one else, but him who fights
against evils which are from hell. 7. Since those evils
are contrary to love to the Lord, and contrary to charity
towards the neighbor. 8. That uses, which have for their
first and last end a man's own proper good, are not uses of
charity. Concerning wisdom and concerning faith. 1. That
faith is nothing else but truth, 2. That truth becomes
truth when it is perceived and loved, and that it is called
faith when it is known and thought. 3. That the truths of
faith on one part respect the Lord, on the other the neigh-
bor. 4. In general, how the Lord is to be approached,
that conjunction may be effected: and next, how the Lord
by man performs uses. 5. Each is taught by truths spirit-
ual, moral, and civil. 6. Faith consists in knowing and


.76
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
7. That the love, which is the life of the will, constitutes all
the life of man. It is believed that thought constitutes the
life of man, but it is love; the reason why it is so believed
is, because thought appears to man, and love not so. If
you take away love, or any stream of it, which is called
affection, you cease to think, you grow cold and die; but
not when you take away thought alone, as is the case when
the memory fails, also in sleep, in swoons, in suffocation, in
the womb, in which circumstances, although man does not
think, still he lives, so long as the heart beats, for the heart
corresponds to the love: the case is similar with the will
and the understanding, for love is of the will, and thought
is of the understanding. That love constitutes all the life
of man, has been illustrated in the foregoing pages by the
correspondence of the heart with the lungs, and by that
correspondence it was shewn, that as the heart in the womb
forms the lungs, that thereby it may perform respiration,
and thus by respiration produce speech, in like manner
love forms the understanding, that thereby it may think,
and from thought may speak; so likewise it was shewn,
that love from itself produces affections, of which are in-
tentions; by these perception, of which are lights; and by
perception thought, of which are ideas, and from these
memory; and that these things taken together are of the
love's understanding, to which things in a similar series
correspond all things of the lungs. As the love has formed
the understanding to the use of thought and of speech, so
likewise it has formed the other functions of life to their
uses, some to the uses of nourishment, some to the uses of
chylification and sanguification, some to the uses of pro-
creation, some to the uses of sensation, some to the uses
of action, and of ambulation, in which no other principle
can perform life, except the former itself, which is love:
the formation was effected by the heart and its blood, be-
cause the blood corresponds to the love, and the heart to
its receptacle; and the viscera, the organs and members of
the whole body are those parts in which the functions of
uses are formed of the love by the heart. Whosoever is
capable of examining the subject may see, that the pro-
gressions of uses from first to last in those things are sim-
ilar to those in the lungs. From these considerations, and
from what has been said above, it is evident that the will's
love constitutes all the life of man, and that the life of
the understanding is from it, consequently that man is his,


78
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
thinking those truths, charity consists in willing and doing
them. 7. Wherefore when the divine love of the Lord
exists in charity with man, which is to will and to do those
truths, the divine wisdom of the Lord exists with man in
faith, which is to know and to think truths. 8. That the
conjunction of charity and faith is reciprocal.
Concerning love and charity.-1. That the love of uses is
charily. In all and singular things there are these three
(constituents,) end, cause, and effect; the end is that from
which (any thing is produced, the cause is that by which
(it is produced,) and the effect is that in which (it is pro-
duced;) and when the end by (or through) the cause is in
the effect, it then exists: in all love and its affection there
is an end, and the end intends, or wills to do, what it loves,
and the deed is its effect. The Lord is the end from which
(any thing is produced,) man is the cause by which, and
use is the effect in which the end exists: the Lord is the
end from which (any thing is produced,) because from His
divine love He perpetually intends, or wills to do, uses,
that is, things good for the human race; man is the cause
by which (any thing is produced,) because he is in the love
of uses, or may be, and in that love intends, or wills to do,
uses, and uses are the effects in which the end exists: uses
are what are also called things good. Hence it is evident,
that the love of uses is the charity which man ought to
have towards his neighbor. That in all and singular things
there is an end, a cause, and an effect, may be discovered
from the examination of any thing whatsoever; as when a
man does any thing, in this case he says either with him-
self, or to another, or another to him, why doest thou this?
thus what is the end? by what doest thou this? thus by
what cause? and what doest thou? which is the effect.
The end, the cause, and the effect, are called also the final
cause, the middle cause, and the thing caused; and by the
law of causes is established, that the end is the all in the
cause, and hence the all in the effect, for the end is their
very essence itself: in like manner the Lord, since He is
the end, is the all in the love of uses, or in charity apper-
taining to man, and hence is the all in the uses derived
from Him, that is, in the uses performed by Him. It is
from this circumstance that it is believed in the church,
that all good is from God, and nothing from man, and good
from God is good itself. It follows therefore as a conse-
quence, that to do charity is to do uses, or the good things
which are uses, thus that the love of uses is charity.


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
2. That the Lord is the source from whom it proceeds, and
that the neighbor is the object to whom it tends. That the
Lord is the source from whom the love of uses or charity
is and exists, is evident from what was said above; that the
neighbor is the object to whom it tends, is, because the
neighbor is the object towards whom charity ought to be
cherished, and to whom charity ought to be performed.
Inasmuch as it is said that the neighbor is the object to-
wards whom the love of uses tends, it may be expedient to
say also what and who the neighbor is. The neighbor in
an extended sense is the community or the public, in a less
extended sense it means the church, a man's country, a
society greater or lesser; and in a limited sense it means a
fellow-citizen, a companion and brother; to the latter and
to the former to perform uses from a principle of love is to
do charity towards the neighbor, for he loves those uses:
the reason why he loves those uses is, because the love of
uses and the love of the neighbor cannot be separated;
man may indeed, from the love of uses or from charity, do
good to an enemy and to a wicked person, but to them he
performs the uses of repentance or reconciliation, which
uses are various, and are effected by various methods, see
Matt., v. 25, 43, 44, and following verses; Luke, vi. 27,
28, 35.
3. That love to the Lord exists in charity, because in use.
This the Lord Himself teaches in John: “He that hath My
commandments and doeth them, he it is who loveth Me; if any
one love Me, he keepeth My Word; he who loveth Me not,
keepeth not My Words,” xiv. 21, 23, 24: again in the same
evangelist: "If ye keep My cominandments, ye shall abide in
My love,” xv. 10: to keep My precepts, words, and com-
mandments, is to do the goods of charity, which are uses
to the neighbor. And in the same evangelist: "Jesus thrice
said to Peter, lovest thou Me? and Peter thrice replied, that
he loved Him; Jesus thrice said, feed My lambs and My
sheep,” xxi. 15, 16, 17; to feed lambs and sheep denotes
uses or goods of charity with those who preach the gospel,
and love the Lord; hence it is evident that love to the Lord
exists in charity, because in use, also that the conjunction
of love to the Lord with charity towards the neighbor, thus
the conjunction of the Lord with man, is in use, and that the
conjunction is of such a quality and of such a measure, as
is the quality and measure of the love of use, for the Lord
is in use, as in the good which is from Himself, and man


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CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
who is in the love of use, is in use as from himself, but
still acknowledges that it is not from him but from the
Lord: for man cannot love the Lord from himself, neither
can he do uses from himself, but the Lord loves him, and
reciprocates his love in him, and also makes it to appear as
if he loved the Lord from himself. This therefore is the
love of the Lord from the Lord. Hence also it is evident
how love to the Lord exists in charity or in the love of
uses.
4. That use consists in a person's fulfilling his duty, and
discharging his employ, rightly, faithfully, sincerely, and
justly. It is not known except obscurely, and only by
some, what is properly meant in the Word by the goods of
charity, which are also called good works, and likewise
fruits, and here uses: from the sense of the letter of the
Word it is believed, that they consist in giving to the poor,
in assisting the needy, in doing good to widows and or-
phans, with other like things; but these uses are not meant
in the Word by the fruits, works, and goods of charity,
but the meaning is that every person should discharge his
duty, his business, and employment, rightly, faithfully, sin-
cerely, and justly; when this is the case, the general or
public good is consulted, thus also a man's country, a so-
ciety greater and lesser, together with a fellow-citizen, a
companion and brother, who fall under the description of
neighbor in its extended and limited sense, as was said
above: for every one in such a case, whether he be a
priest, or a governor and officer, or a trader, or a laborer,
does uses daily; a priest by preaching, governors and
officers by administration, a merchant by trading, and a
laborer by his labor: as for example, a judge who judges
rightly, faithfully, sincerely, and justly, does uses to his
neighbor as often as he judges; in like manner a minister
as often as he teaches, so likewise in the other instances.
That such uses are meant by the goods of charity and by
works, is evident from the government of the Lord in the
heavens, for in the heavens, as in the world, all are em-
ployed in some function and ministration, or in some office,
or in some business; and every one enjoys magnificence,
opulence, and happiness, according to his fidelity, sinceri-
ty, and justice therein; an indolent and slothful person is
not admitted into heaven, but is cast out, either into hell,
or into a wilderness, where he lives in misery and the want
of every thing: such things, in the heavens, are called


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
81
goods of charity, good works, and uses. Every one also,
who has been faithful, sincere, and just, in his office and
employment in the world, is likewise faithful, sincere, and
just, after his departure out of the world, and is accepted
in heaven by the angels, and likewise has heavenly joy ac-
cording to the quality of his faithfulness, sincerity, and
justice; the reason is, because the mind, addicted to its
office and employment from the love of use, is held togeth-
er, and in such case is in spiritual delight, which is the
delight of fidelity, sincerity, and justice, and is withheld
from the delight of fraud and malice, also from the delight
of mere chit-chat and the gratification of appetite, which
also is the delight of idleness, and idleness is the devil's
pillow. Every one may see that the Lord cannot have His
abode in the love of these latter, but that He can in' the
love of the former.
5. That there are general uses, which also are uses of char-
ity. The proper and general uses of charity are the uses
of every one's functions and administration, as was said
above, which in such case become goods of charity, in
which exists love to the Lord, or in which this love is con-
joined when man does them from spiritual fidelity and sin-
cerity, which have place with those who love uses because
they are uses, and who believe that all good is from the
Lord. But besides the above uses, there are also given
other general ones, such as faithfully loving a conjugial
partner, giving children a proper education, the prudent
management of domestic concerns, just dealing with ser-
vants and dependants; these works become works of char-
ity, when they are done from the love of uses, and towards
a conjugial partner, when they are done from mutual and
chaste love; those uses are the domestic uses which are of
charity. There are also other general uses, as contribut-
ing the necessary and due support to the ministry of the
church, which goods becomes uses of charity, so far as the
church is loved in a superior degree. Amongst general
uses also may be reckoned the contributing towards the
building and establishment of orphan-houses, of edifices
for the reception of strangers, and colleges or places of
public exercise, with other things of a similar nature,
which uses in part are indifferent; to give aid to the needy,
to widows, to orphans, merely because they are needy,
widows, and orphans, and give to beggars, merely because
they are beggars, are uses of external charity, which char-


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CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
ity is called piety, but they are not uses of internal chari-
ty, only so far as they are derived from use itself and its
love; for external charity without internal is not charity,
the internal being necessary to constitute it so; for external
charity, derived from internal, acts prudently, but external
charity, without internal, acts imprudently, and often un-
justly.
6. That uses do not become uses of charity with any one
else but him who fights against evils which are from hell : for
the uses which man does, so long as he is in hell, that is,
so long as the love, which makes his life, is there and from
thence, are not uses of charity, for they have nothing in
common with heaven, and the Lord is not in them; the
love of the life of man is there and thence, so long as he
has not fought against the evils which are there and thence;
those evils are described and made manifest in the deca-
logue, and will be seen in its explication: those uses, which
are done either under a shew of charity, or under a shew
of piety, are described in the Word; those which are done
under a shew of charity are thus described in Matthew:
“Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in Thy name, and by Thy name cast out demons,
and in Thy name done many virtues ? but then will I confess to
them, I know you not, depart from Me ye workers of iniquily,"
vi. 22, 23; and they who have done them under a shew of
piety are thus described in Luke: “Then shall ye begin to
say, we have eaten before Thee, and have drunk, and Thou
hast taught in our streets; but He shall say, I say unto you, I
know ye not whence ye are, depart from Me all ye workers of
iniquity,” xiii. 26, 27; and they are also meant by the five
foolish virgins, who had no oil in their lamps, to whom the
bridegroom said at his coming, “I know you not,” Matt.
xxv. 1-12. For so long as infernal and diabolical evils
are not removed by combat, man may do uses, in which
there is yet nothing of charity, and consequently nothing
of piety, for they are interiorly defiled.
7. Inasmuch as they are contrary to love to the Lord, and
contrary to charity towards the neighbor: for all uses, which
in their essence are uses of charity, are from the Lord, and
are done from Him by men, and in such case the Lord con-
joins Himself in use with man, or love to the Lord with
charity towards the neighbor. That no one can do any use
except from the Lord, He Himself teaches in John: “He
who abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
83
fruit, because without Me ye cannot do any thing,” xv. 5:
fruit is use. That the uses which are done by man, who
has not fought, or does not fight, against the evils which
are from hell, are contrary to love to the Lord, and con-
trary to charity towards the neighbor, is, because the evils
which lie concealed inwardly in those uses are contrary to
the Lord, thus contrary to love to Him, and hence contrary
to the love of use, which is charity: for hell and heaven
cannot be together, inasmuch as they are opposites, or one
against the other, therefore they who do such uses, do not
love the neighbor, that is, the community and public, the
church, their country, the society in which they live, a
fellow-citizen, a companion and brother, who, in the ex-
tended and limited sense, are the neighbor. That this is
the case, has been made manifest to me from very much
experience. Such are those uses within the man who does
them, but out of the man they are still uses, also excited
by the Lord with man, for the sake of good, both general
and particular, but they are not done from the Lord,
wherefore those uses are not recompensed in heaven, but
are recompensed or to be recompensed in the world.
8. That the uses, which have for the first and last end a
man's own proper good, are not uses of charity. That the
end regarded is the all of the effect, or the all of use, and
that the Lord is that end, and that it is from the end that
use is the use of charity, was confirmed above in this arti-
cle; when therefore man is the end regarded, that is, his
own proper good, in this case he is the all of the effect, or
the all of use, whence his use becomes not use in essence,
but in appearance, in which there is life from the body, but
not any from the spirit.
Concerning wisdom and faith.-1. That faith is nothing
else than truth. The Christian world, when charity began
to decay, grew ignorant that charity and faith are one, con-
sequently that faith is not given where there is no charity,
and that charity is not given where there is no faith; from
this ignorance arose blindness of such a sort, that they
knew not what charity is, or what faith is. They then be
gan to separate those two principles, not only in thought,
but also in doctrine, and thereby to divide the Christian
church, which in itself is one, into several, and to distin-
guish them according to the tenets of faith separate.
When charity and faith are separated with man, it is then
unknown what charity is, for charity must give existence


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
of knowing, or in the affection of glory arising from it, with
this difference, that they who are in the love of truth are
actually in the light of heaven, and that on this account
they are in the illustration and perception of truth when
they read the Word, whereas all others are not in the il-
lustration and perception of truth, but only in the confirma-
tion of their own principles, without knowing whether they
be true or false; and also with this further difference, that
they who are in the love of truth, when they read the
Word, and think from that love, keep the sight of their un-
derstanding constantly in the principle itself, and thus in-
quire whether it be true before it is confirmed; but all oth-
ers assume a principle from the science of memory, not be-
ing willing to know whether it be true, and if they are de-
sirous of the reputation of learning, they confirm that
principle by the Word, and by reason; and such is the
genius of learning, which is self-conceit, that it can confirm
every thing that is false, even to make it appear to itself
and others to be true. Hence come heresies, disagree-
ments, and defences of disagreeing tenets in the church;
hence also comes this difference, that they who are in the
love of truth are wise, and become spiritual, but all others
remain natural, and in things spiritual are insane. The
reason why truth is called faith, when it is known and
thought, is, because truth perceived becomes afterwards a
thing of memory, which is believed; hence also it is evi-
dent that faith is nothing else than truth.
3. That the truths of faith on one part respect the Lord, on
the other the neighbor. All truths respect these three things,
as their universal objects, above them the Lord and heav-
en, near them the world and neighbor, and beneath them
the devil and hell; and truths are to teach man how he
may be separated from the devil and hell, and be conjoined
to the Lord and heaven, and this by a life in the world in
which he is, and by a life with the neighbor with whom he
is; by the latter and the former life all separation and con-
junction is effected. Man, in order to be separated from
the devil and hell, and to be conjoined to the Lord and
heaven, ought to know what things are evil and thence
what things are false, because these things are the devil
and hell, and he ought to know what things are good with
the truths derived from them, because these things are the
Lord and heaven; the reason why evils and falses are the
devil and hell, is, because they are thence derived, and the


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CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
reason why goods and truths are the Lord and heaven,
is, because they are thence derived. Unless man be ac-
quainted both with the latter and the former, he does not
see any way of departure from hell, nor any way of en-
trance into heaven; truths must teach those things, and
the truths which teach are given to man in the Word and
from the Word; and whereas the way both to heaven and
to hell is from the world, and in the world is the life of
man, and with his neighbor there, therefore that life is the
way which truths teach; if therefore the life of man be
according to the truths of the Word, the way to hell and
from hell is closed, and the way to the Lord and from the
Lord is opened, and the life of man becomes the life of the
Lord with him; this is what is meant by the Lord's words
in John, “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” xiv. 6. But
on the other hand, if the life of man be contrary to the
truths of the Word, then the way from heaven and to
heaven is closed, and the way to hell and from hell is
opened, and the life of man is not life but death. That the
life of the Lord with man is the life of charity towards the
neighbor, and that there is conjunction in the love of uses,
was said above in treating of charity; and whereas truths
teach this life, it is evident that on one part, they respect
the Lord, and on the other the neighbor.
4. That truths teach how the Lord is to be approached,
and afterwards how the Lord by man does uses. How the
Lord is approached has been said elsewhere, and will be
shewn at large in the explanation of the decalogue; but
how the Lord afterwards does uses with man, shall now be
shewn: it is a known thing that man cannot do any thing
good from himself, which in itself is good, but that he can
from the Lord, consequently he cannot do any use, which
in itself is use, for use is good; whence it follows, that
the Lord does every use which is good by man. That the
Lord wills that man should do good as from himself, has
been shewn elsewhere; but how man is to do good as from
himself, the truths of the Word also teach, and whereas
truths teach it, is evident that truths are of science and of
thought, and that goods are of will and of deed, and that
thus truths become goods by willing and doing, for what a
man wills and does, this he calls good, and what a man
knows and thinks, this he calls truth, and that in deed,
thus in good, there is both willing, and thinking, and
knowing; their complex therefore in what is ultimate is
good, this having in itself an external form from truths in


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
87
the thought, and an internal from the love in the will.
But how the Lord does uses, which are goods, with man,
has been also said and shewn in the explication of the laws
of His divine providence.
5. That each is taught by truths spiritual, moral, and civil.
It shall first be shewn what truths spiritual, truths moral,
and truths civil are; secondly, that the spiritual man is
also a moral and civil man; thirdly, that what is spiritual
is in what is moral and civil; fourthly, that if they be sep-
arated, there is no conjunction with the Lord. 1. What
truths spiritual, truths moral, and truths civil are:-Truths
spiritual are those which the Word teaches concerning
God, that He is One, the creator of the universe; that He
is infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent,
provident; that the Lord as to the Human (principle) is
His Son; that God the Creator and He are one; that He
is the Redeemer, the Reformer, the Regenerator and Sav-
ior; that He is the Lord of heaven and earth; that He is
divine love and divine wisdom; that He is good itself and
truth itself; that He is life itself; that all of love, of chara
ity and of good, likewise all of wisdom, of faith and of
truth, is from Him, and nothing from man; and hence that
no man has merit from any love, charity and good, nor
from any wisdom, faith and truth; that therefore He alone
is to be adored; so further, that the Holy Word is divine,
and that there is a life after death, that there is a heaven
and a hell, heaven for those who live well, and hell for
those who live ill; with several things besides, relating to
doctrine derived from the Word, as concerning baptism
and the holy supper: these and similar things are properly
spiritual truths. But moral truths are those which the
Word teaches concerning the life of man with his neigh-
bor, which life is called charity, the goods whereof, which
are uses, in general have reference to justice and equity,
to sincerity and rectitude, to chastity, to temperance, to
truth, to prudence and to benevolence; to truths of moral
life also appertain things opposite, which destroy charity,
and in general have reference to injustice, want of equity,
to insincerity and fraud, to lasciviousness, to intemperance,
to lying, to cunning, to enmity, hatred and revenge, and
to malevolence. The reason why these latter are also
called truths of moral life, is, because all things which a
man thinks, and confirms to be so, whether they be evil or
good, are to be referred amongst truths, for he says that it


88
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
is true, that this is evil, and this is good: these are moral
truths. But civil truths are the civil laws of kingdoms and
of states, which in general have reference to the several
causes of justice which are prescribed, and, in the oppo-
site, to the various acts of violence which exist. 2. That
the spiritual man is also a moral and civil man. Many be-
lieve, and it is believed by many, that they are spiritual
who are acquainted with the spiritual truths above enume-
rated, and especially they who discourse about them, and
still more so they who perceive them with some degree of
understanding; still however they are not spiritual, for this
is only to know, and from science to think and speak, and
from the faculty of understanding, which every man has,
to perceive, and these things alone do not make man spirit-
ual, for there is wanting a love for them from the Lord,
and love from the Lord is the love of uses, which is called
charity; in charity the Lord conjoins Himself to man, and
makes him spiritual, for then he does uses from the Lord,
and not from himself; this the Lord teaches in many pas-
sages in the Word, and thus in John: "Abide in Me and I
in you; as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide
in the vine, so neither can ye except ye abide in Me; I am the
vine, ye are the branches; he who abideth in Me and I in him,
the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye cannot
do any thing,” xv. 4, 5: fruits are uses or the goods of
charity, and the goods of charity are nothing else but mo-
ral goods; hence it is evident that a spiritual man is also a
moral man; the reason why a moral man is likewise a civil
man, is, because civil laws are uses themselves in act,
which are called exercises, works and deeds. As for exam-
ple, in regard to the eighth commandment of the decalogue,
thou shalt not steal; what is spiritual in this commandment
teaches, that man ought not to take any thing from the
Lord, and attribute it to himself, and say that it is his; also
that he ought not by false principles to take away from any
one the truths of his faith; what is moral in this command-
ment teaches that man ought not to deal insincerely, un-
justly, and fraudulently, with his neighbor, so as to cheat
him of his wealth; but what is civil in the commandment
teaches, that man ought not to steal. Who cannot see,
that the man who is led of the Lord, and who is thereby a
spiritual man, is also a moral and civil man? To take also
another example from the sixth commandment, Thou shalt
do no murder; what is spiritual in this commandment


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
89
teaches, that man ought not to deny a God, thus the Lord,
since to deny Him, is to kill and crucify Him in one's self;
also that he ought not to destroy spiritual life in another;
since in so doing he murders the soul; what is moral in
the commandment teaches, that man ought not to hate his
neighbor, nor to indulge revenge towards him, since hatred
and revenge have murder in them; and what is civil in the
commandment teaches, that murder ought not to be com-
mitted on the body of a neighbor. From this example also
it is seen that the spiritual man, who is one that is led of
the Lord, is also a moral and civil man; it is otherwise
with him who is led of himself, of whom we shall speak
presently. 3. That what is spiritual is in what is moral
and civil. This follows from what was said above, that the
Lord conjoins himself with man in the love of uses, or in
charity towards the neighbor; what is spiritual is from the
conjunction of the Lord, what is moral is from charity,
and what is civil is from its exercise. A spiritual principle
must be in man to the intent that he may be saved, and
this principle is from the Lord, not above or out of man,
but within him; the same principle may be in man's sci-
ence only, and thence in his thought and speech, but it
ought to be in his life; and his life consists in willing and
doing, wherefore when knowing and thinking is also willing
and doing, then there is a spiritual principle in what is
moral and civil: if any one shall say, how can I will and
do? the answer is, fight against the evils which are from
hell, and you will both will and do, not from yourself but
from the Lord, for when evils are removed, the Lord does
all things. 4. That if they be separated, there is no con-
junction with the Lord. This may be seen from reason
and from experience; from reason—for in case man has
such a memory and such an understanding, that he can
know and perceive all the truths of heaven and of the
church, and yet is not willing to do any of them, is it not
said of him that he is an intelligent man, but not an up-
right one; yea further that he the more deserves punish-
ment? Hence it follows, that he who separates what is
spiritual from what is moral and civil, is not a spiritual
man, neither is he moral nor civil. From experience:
there are persons of such a character in the world, and I
have discoursed with such after death, and have heard that
they were acquainted with all things of the Word, and
hence with many truths, and they believed that on this ac-
8*


90
CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
CONCERNT
count they should shine in heaven as the stars; but when
their life was explored, it was discovered to be merely cor-
poreal and worldly, and in consequence of the evils and
enormities, which they thought and willed within them-
selves, infernal; hence all the things which they had learnt
from the Word, were taken away from them, and they be-
came the forms of their own will, and were cast into hell
to their like, where they discoursed insanely according to
their thoughts in the world, and acted basely according to
their loves in the world.
6. That faith consists in knowing and thinking those truths,
and charily in willing and doing them. That truth is called
faith, when man knows and thinks it, was confirmed above;
but that truth becomes charity when man wills and does it,
shall now be confirmed. Truth is a seed, which, viewed
out of the earth, is merely seed, but when it comes into
the earth it becomes a plant or tree, and puts on its own
form, and hence takes another name. Truth also is a gar-
ment, which, out of man, is merely a piece of cloth ac-
commodated to the body, but when it is put on, it becomes
clothing in which there is a man. The case is similar with
truth and charity; truth, whilst it is only known and
thought, is merely truth, and is called faith, but when man
wills and does it, it becomes charity, just as seed becomes
a plant or a tree, or as a piece of cloth becomes clothing
containing a man. Science and the thought thence deriv-
ed are also two faculties distinct from will, and conse-
quently from deed, and likewise they are capable of being
separated; for man may know and think many things,
which he does not will, and consequently does not do; but
when separated they do not constitute the life of man,
whereas when conjoined, they do constitute it: the case is
similar with faith and charity. These observations may be
still further illustrated by comparisons: light and heat in
the world are two distinct things, which may be both sepa-
rated and conjoined; they are separated also in the time of
winter, and they are conjoined in the time of summer; but
when separated they do not give birth to vegetable life, that
is, they do not produce any thing, whereas when conjoined
they do give birth and produce. Again, the lungs and the
heart in man are two distinct things, whose motions may
be both separated and conjoined; they are separated in
swoons and suffocations, but when separated they do not
constitute the life of the body of man, whereas when con-


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
93
nothing common between them, but as what is prior and
what is posterior, and as cause and effect; hence the na-
ture of what is spiritual was unknown, and moreover that
in that world are angels and spirits, and that both the latter
and the former are men, in all similitude with men in the
world, with this only difference, that they are spiritual, and
men natural; likewise that all things in that world are from
a spiritual origin alone, and that all things in this world
are from an origin both spiritual and natural. And because
these things have been unknown, it was also unknown, that
angels and spirits have another light and another heat dif-
fering from those of men, and that light and heat in the
spiritual world derive their essence from the sun there, as
light and heat in the natural world derive their essence
from our sun; consequently that the essence of light and
heat from the former sun is spiritual, and that the essence
of light and heat from our sun is natural, to which howev-
er a spiritual principle from their sun is adjoined, which
with man illustrates his understanding when what is natu-
ral illustrates his eye. From the latter and the former
considerations it is evident, that the sun of the spiritual
world, in its essence, is that from which every thing spirit-
ual derives its birth, and that the sun of the natural world,
in its essence, is that from which everything natural de-
rives its birth. What is spiritual cannot derive essence
from any other source than from the divine love and from
the divine wisdom, for to love and to be wise is spiritual;
but what is natural cannot derive its essence from any oth-
er source than from pure fire and from pure light. Hence
now it follows, that the sun of the spiritual world in its esse
is God, who is the Lord from eternity, and that the heat
from that sun is love, and the light from that sun is wisdom.
The reason why heretofore there has not any thing been
revealed concerning that sun, although it is meant in many
passages in the Word where mention is made of the sun,
is, because it was not to be revealed until the last judgment
was executed, and a new church, which is the New Jeru-
salem, was to be established by the Lord; there are seve-
ral reasons why it has not been before revealed, which
reasons it is not expedient here to adduce. When once it
has been made known that angels and spirits are men, and
that they live one amongst another as men in the world,
and that they are altogether above nature, whilst men are
within nature, it may then be concluded from reason, that


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they have another sun, and that that sun is the source of
all love and of all wisdom, and hence of the all of life truly
human. That that sun has been seen by me, and also the
Lord in it, see the Treatise concerning Heaven and Hell,
n. 116-140; and the Treatise concerning The Planets and
Earths in the Universe, n. 40, 41, 42.
2. That from that sun is the origin of all things. It can-
not be conceived by any one that the universe is from eter-
nity, and that it is from nothing; hence it cannot be denied
but that it has been created, and by some one, and that
He is esse itself in itself infinite and eternal, 'love itself,
wisdom itself, and life itself; and that He is a common
centre, from which He views, rules, and provides all things
as present, with which centre conjunction is given, and ac-
cording to conjunction of the life of love and wisdom,
blessedness and happiness is given; and that that centre
appears before the angels as a sun, and that that appear-
ance, like fire and flame, is from the divine love and the
divine wisdom which proceed from God, from which every
thing spiritual exists, and by what is spiritual, through the
medium of the sun of the world, every thing natural; the
human mind from the understanding, which is capable of
being elevated into the light of truth, may see, if it be so
disposed, that the universe was created by God, who is of
such a quality, and who is one. Since therefore there are
two suns, one of the spiritual world, and the other of the
natural world, the sun of the spiritual world looking at ul-
timate things from what is first, and the sun of the natural
world looking at ultiinate things from what is middle, it is
evident that the sun of the spiritual world, in which God
is, and which is from God, who is life itself, is the source
of all things that have been made and created, and that the
sun of the world, in which is fire, and which is from fire,
which is not life, is that by means of which were created
those things only, which are below the middle, and which
in themselves are dead: wherefore to acknowledge nature,
which in itself is dead, is to adore the fire which is in the
sun of the world, and they who do this are dead; but to
acknowledge a creating life is to adore God, who is in the
sun of heaven, and they who do this are alive; they are
called dead men who are in hell, but they are called living
men who are in heaven.
3. That from that sun the presence of the Lord is every
where. That the Lord has omnipresence, is known in the


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
97
God and his neighbor, by wisdom, in the same proportion
he lives; but the life itself, which is the life of all things, is
the divine love and the divine wisdom: divine love is the
esse of life, and divine wisdom is its existere; the latter
reciprocally united to the former is the Lord: each, as well
the divine esse as the divine existere, is infinite and eter-
nal, because the divine love is infinite and eternal, and
the divine wisdom is infinite and eternal; yet the latter
and the former may have conjunction with angel and
with man, although there is no ratio given between what is
finite and what is infinite: but whereas the understanding
cannot easily conceive how any conjunction can be given,
when no ratio is given, therefore it may be expedient to
explain it: there is not any ratio given between what is
natural and what is spiritual, but conjunction is given by
correspondences; neither is any ratio given between the
spiritual principle, in which the angels of the ultimate heav-
en are, with the celestial principle in which the angels of
the supreme heaven are, but conjunction is given by cor-
respondences; in like manner there is no ratio given be-
tween the celestial principle, in which the angels of the
supreme heaven are, with the divine principle of the Lord,
but conjunction is given by correspondences. It has been
elsewhere said and shewn, that the Divine (Being or prin-
ciple) is infinite and eternal; and whereas He is all in all
of the life of love and wisdom appertaining to angels and
men, and the latter and the former are created recipients of
life from the Lord, thus finite, and the Lord is uncreated,
life in Himself, and hence life itself, therefore if men were
multiplied, and from them angels and spirits, to eternity,
still the Lord gives that life, and from Himself leads them
in things most singular, as may be seen above confirmed
where His divine providence was treated of; herein is what
is eternal, and where eternal is, there also is infinite. Since
there is no ratio given between infinite and finite, let every
one take heed to himself lest he should think of what is in-
finite as of nothing; for what is infinite and eternal cannot
be predicated of nothing, neither can conjunction of any
thing be predicated of nothing, neither is any thing made
from nothing; but the infinite and eternal Divine (Being or
principle) is the esse itself, from which what is finite is
created, with which conjunction is given. But this might
be illustrated abundantly by the comparison of natural
things with spiritual, between which there is no ratio given,


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CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
yet still conjunction by correspondence: such is the case
with all cause and effect between each other, such is the
case with what is prior and posterior between each other,
and such is the case with a superior degree and an infe-
rior one between each other, and such is the case with the
love and the wisdom of men and of angels between each
other; nevertheless the love and wisdom of angels, al-
though it is ineffable and incomprehensible to man, is still
finite, neither is it capable of apprehending what is infinite,
except by correspondences. That all things are created to
compliance with life, which is the Lord, follows in its or-
der from this consideration, that men and the angels form-
ed from them are created to receive life from the Lord,
and also are nothing but recipients, although from the free-
dom in which they are held by the Lord, they appear as if
they were not recipients, nevertheless they are so, wheth-
er they be good or evil; for the freedom, in which they
are held, is likewise from the Lord. The life of men and
of angels consists in understanding, and thence in thinking
and speaking, and it consists in willing and thence doing,
wherefore these things also are the results of life from
the Lord, because they are the effects of life. All things
which are created in the world, are created for the use, the
benefit, also for the delight of man, some things proximate-
ly, some remotely; now whereas these things are created
for the sake of man, it follows that they are at the Lord's
disposal, who is the life appertaining to them. It seems as
if there were compliance in the case of the good, because
these live from the Lord, but not in the case of the evil;
nevertheless the things which are created are alike for the
use, the benefit, and delight of the latter as the former, for
the Lord says, “ That He makes His sun to rise on the evil
and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the un-
just,” Matt. v. 45. That the evil have not any thing of
life from themselves, and that they are still led of the
Lord whilst they are ignorant of it, and unwilling to be led,
may be seen in the passages where the life of those who
are in hell is treated of.
5. That souls of life, and living souls, and vegetative souls,
from the life which is from the Lord, are animated by uses and
according to them. By souls of life are meant men and
angels, by living souls are meant animals, which in the
Word are also called living souls, and by vegetative souls
are meant trees and plants of every kind: that souls of


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CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
pheres in each heaven are the earths in which they dwell,
where they have their palaces and houses, also paradisiac-
al gardens, besides cultivated grounds, shrubberies and
green fields, which exist anew every morning, singular the
things thereof according to the reception of love and wis-
dom from the Lord with the angels. All these things are
from a spiritual origin, and none of them from a natural
one; a spiritual origin is life from the Lord. To corres-
pondence with these things are created whatsoever things
appear in the natural world, where on this account similar
things exist, with this difference, that these latter things in
like manner are from a spiritual origin, but at the same
time from a natural origin; a natural origin is added, that
they may be at the same time material and fixed, with a
view to the end of the procreation of the human race,
which cannot be given except in ultimates, where there is
fulness; and that from the human race as a seminary, the
inhabitants of the spiritual world, who are angels, may ex-
ist; this is the first and last end of the creation. But a
full idea of creation, or of the existence of all things in
their order from the life which is the Lord, cannot be giv-
en by reason of the arcana which are known in heaven,
and have indeed been communicated to me, but which, be-
ing deeply concealed, cannot on that account be described
except by a book, and scarce then to the understanding;
of which arcana nevertheless this is the sum, that the sun
of heaven, in which the Lord is, is the common centre of
the universe, and that all things of the universe are cir-
cumferences and circumferences even to the last, and that
He rules these circumferences from Himself alone as one
continuous thing, but the middle ones from the last, and
that He perpetually animates and actuates them, as easily
as man from understanding and will animates and actuates
his body, and that there is influx into uses, and from them
into their forms.
Here follows the angelic idea concerning the creation of
the universe from the Lord.
THE ANGELIC IDEA CONCERNING THE CREATION OF
THE UNIVERSE FROM THE LORD.
The angelic idea concerning the universe created from
the Lord is as follows: that God is the centre, and that He


CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
101
is a Man, and that unless God was a Man, creation would
not have been possible, and that the Lord from eternity is
that God. Concerning creation they said, that the Lord
from eternity, or God, by his Divine Proceeding [princi-
ple,] created the universe and all things therein, and since
the Divine Proceeding (principle,] is also life itself, that
all things were created from life and by life; and that the
proximate Divine Proceeding [principle] is what appears
before the angels as a sun; that this sun before their eyes
appears fiery and flaming; and that the Divine Proceeding
[principle] is divine love and divine wisdom, of which such
is the appearance afar off: they added, that the Divine
Proceeding (principle] is what the ancients effigied by
golden or lucid pure circles around the head of God, and
which modern painters still retain from the ancient idea.
They said that from that sun, as a great centre, proceed
circles, one after another, and one from another, even to
the last, where their end is, subsisting in rest; and that
those circles, of which one is from another, and one after
another, appearing as extended into what is broad and into
what is long, are spiritual atmospheres, which the light and
heat from their sun fill, and by which they propagate them-
selves to the ultimate circle; and that in the last, by means
of those atmospheres, and afterwards by means of the na-
tural atmospheres which are from the sun of the world,
was effected the creation of the earth, and on it of all
things which are for use, which creation is afterwards con-
tinued by generations from seeds, in wombs or in eggs.
Those angels, who knew that the universe so created was
a continuous work from the Creator even to ultimates, and
that, as being a continuous work, it, as one concatenated
whole, depended upon, was actuated and governed by, the
Lord, who is its common centre, said, that the first pro-
ceeding (principle] was continued even to ultimates by
discrete degrees, altogether as an end by causes into ef-
fects; or as something producing and its products in a con-
tinued series, and that the continuation was not only in,
but also around, from the first (principle,] and thence from
every prior (principle] into every posterior one, even to
the postreme, and that thus the first [principle,] and from
it the posterior (principles,] co-exist in their order in the
postreme or last. From this continuity, as a one, they
have an idea concerning the Lord, that He is all in all,
that He is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, that


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CONCERNING THE DIVINE WISDOM.
He is infinite and eternal; and also an idea what the order
is, according to which the Lord, by His divine love and
His divine wisdom, arranges, provides, and governs all
things.
It was asked, whence then is hell? They said, from the
freedom of man, without which man would not be man;
that man, from that freedom, broke continuity in himself,
which being broken separation was effected, and the con-
tinuity, which from creation was in him, became as a chain,
or a linked work, which falls to pieces through the break-
ing and plucking asunder of the links above, and after-
wards hangs from small threads. Separation or breach
was effected, and is effected, by the denial of God.