,f*r'^ -v i: ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. BY EMANUEL SWEDENBORG. ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LATIN AT AMSTERDAM IN 1764. SECOND AMERICAN EDITION. A NEW TRANSLATION. BOSTON: PUBLISHED FOR THE NEW CHURCH PRINTING SOCIETY, BY OTIS CLAPP, 121 WASHINGTON STREET. 1840. 'X STEREOTYPED BY GEO. A. & J. CURTIS, NEW-ENGLAND TYPE AND STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY, 66 Congress St., Boston. CONTENTS. Page. That the Divine Providence is the government of the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of the Lord, 13 I. That the universe, with each and every thing of it, was created from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom 15 n. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom proceed as one from the Lord, 16 1. That a one without a form is not given, but that form itself makes a one, 17 2. That a form makes so much the more perfect a one, as those things which enter into the form are distinctly other, and yet united, ... 18 in. That this one is in a certain image in every created thing, ... 19 IV. That it is of the Divine Providence, that every created thing, in general and in particular, is such a one ; and if it is not, that it should become so, 21 V. That the good of love is not good any farther tlian as it is united to the truth of wisdom, and that the truth of wisdom is not true any farther than as it is united to the good of love, . 23 VI. That the good of love not united to the truth of wisdom is not good in itself but that it is apparent good ; and that the truth of wisdom not united to the good of love is not truth in itself, but that it is apparent truth, 25 VII. That the Lord does not suffer that anything should be divided, wherefore it must either he in good and at the same time in truth, or it must be in evil and at the same time in falsity, . . 27 VIII. That that which is in good, and at the same time in truth, is something; and that that which is in evil, and at the same time in falsity, is not anything. 29 IX. That the Divine Providence of the Lord causes that evil and at the same time falsity may serve for equilibrium, for relation, and for purification, and thus for the conjunction of good and truth in others, 31 That the Divine Providence of the Lord has for end a heaven from the human race, 33 I. That heaven is conjunction with the Lord, 35 II. That man from creation is such, that he can be more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord, 38 1. How man is more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord, 39 2. How this conjunction appears nearer and nearer, 41 III. That the more nearly man is conjoined to the Lord, the wiser he becomes, 41 IV. That the nearer man is conjoined to the Lord, the happier he becomes, 44 V. That the more nearly man is conjoined to the Lord, the more distinctly he appears to himself as if he was his own, and the more evidently he takes notice that he is the Lord's, .... 46 That the Divine Providence of the Lord, in all that it does, regards the infinite and the eternal, 48 I. That the infinite in itself and the eternal in itself is the same as the Divine, 50 4 CONTENTS. Page. II. That the infinite and eternal in itself cannot do otherwise than look at the infinite and eternal from itself in finites, 53 III. That the Divine Providence, in all that it does, looks at the in- finite and eternal from itself, especially in saving the human race, 55 1. An image of the hifiniteand eternal in the variety of all things, ... 56 2. An image of the intiiiite and eternal in the fructification of all things, 56 IV. That an image of the infinite and eternal is extant in the angelic heaven, • 59 V. That to look at the infinite and eternal in forming the angelic heaven, that it may he before the Lord as one man, which is his image, is the inmost of the Divine Providence, 61 That there are laws of the Divine Providence, which are un- known to men, 63 That il is a law of the Divine Providence, that man should act from freedom according to reason, 64 I. That man has reason and freedom, or rationality and liberty; and that these two faculties are from the Lord with man, . . 66 II. That whatever man does from freedom, whether it be of reason or not of reason, provided il is according to his reason, appears to him as his, 68 III. That whatever man does from freedom according to reason is appropriated to him as his, and remains, 72 IV. That by these two faculties man is reformed and regenerated by the Lord, and that without them he could not be reformed and regenerated, 75 1. Man's first state, which is a state of damnation, 76 2. Man's second state, which is a state of reformation, 77 3. Man's third state, which is a slate of regeneration, 78 V. That man by means of these two faculties can be so far re- formed and regenerated, as he can be led by them to acknow- ledge that all the truth and good which he thinks and does, is from the Lord, and not from himself, 79 VI. That the conjunction of the Lord with man, and the reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord, takes place by these two faculties 83 VII. That the Lord guards these two faculties with man inviolate and as sacred, in all the course of His Divine Providence, . . 86 1. That without these two faculties man would not have will and under- standing 86 2. That man without these two faculties could not be conjoined to the Lord, and thus not be reformed and regenerated, 87 3. That man, without these two faculties, would not have immortality and eternal life, ..._.. _. 88 VIII. That therefore it is of the Divine Providence, that man should act from freedom according to reason, 88 That it is a law of the Divine Providence, that man should as of himself remove evils as sins in the external man, and that thus and not otherwise the Lord can remove evils in the internal man, and then at the same time in the external, 91 I. That every man has an external and an internal of thought, . . 94 II. That the external of man's thought is in itself such as its inter- nal is, 96 III. That the internal cannot be purified from the concupiscences of evil, as long as evils in the external man are not removed, be- cause they obstruct, 99 CONTENTS. 5 IV. That evils in the external man cannot be removed by the Lord, except by means of man, 102 V. That therefore man ought to remove evils in the external man as of himself, n. 118, lOC VI. That the Lord then purifies man from the concupiscences of evil in the internal man, and from evils themselves in the external man, 106 VII. That it is the continual of the Divine Providence of the Lord, that He may conjoin man to Himself and Himself to him, that He may be able to give him the happy things of eternal life ; which cannot be done, except as far as evils with their concupiscences are removed, 109 1. That the Lord never acts into any particular thing with man singly, unless into all things of him at the same time, 110 2. That the Lord acts from inmost things and from ultimates at the same time, Ill That it is a law of the Divine Providence, that man should not be compelled by external means to thinking and willing, thus to believing and loving, the things which are of religion ; but that man should lead, and sometimes compel, himself, 115 I. That no one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel, 117 II. That no one is reformed by visions and by discourses with the deceased, because they compel, 120 III. That no one is reformed by threats and punishments, because they compel, 123 1. That the external cannot compel the internal, but that the internal can compel the external, 123 2. That the internal is so averse to compulsion from the external, that it turns itself away, 124 3. That external delights allure the internal to consent, and also to love, 125 4. That there is given internal compulsion and internal freedom, 126 IV. That no one is reformed in states of non-rationality and non- liberty, 127 1. Li a slate of fear 128 2. In a state of misfortune, 129 3. In a state of disorder of mind, 130 4. In a state of disease of the body, 130 5. In a state of isnorance, 131 6. In a state of blindness of the understanding, 131 V. That it is not contrary to rationality and liberty to compel one's self, 132 That the external man is to be reformed by the internal, and not the reverse, 136 That it is a law of the Divine Providence, that man is led and taught by the Lord from heaven, through the Word, doctrine and preachings from it, and this in all appearance as of him- self, 139 I. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone, 141 1. That there is an only essence, an only substance, and an only form, from which are all essences, substances and forms, which were cre.ated, 142 2. That that only essence, substance and form is the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, from which are all things which have relation to love and wisdtm with man, 142 3. In like manner, that there is good itself and truth itself, to which all things have relation, 143 4. That they are life, from which the life of all, and all thinis of life, are, 143 5. That this Only and Very is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent, 144 6. That this Only and Very is the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, .... 144 1* 6 CONTENTS. Page. II. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone, through the an- gelic heaven and from it, ... • 146 III. That man is led of the Lord liy influx, and taught by illustration, 149 IV. That man is taught of the Lord hy the Word, doctrine and ■preachings from it, and thus immediately from Himself alone, 154 1 That the Lord is the Word, because it is from Him aud couceruing Him, 155 2. Tliat the Lord is tlie Word, because it is the divine truth of the divine good, 156 3. Thai thus to be taughi from the Word is to be tauglit by the Lord Himself, 156 4. That this is done mediately through preachings, does not take away the immediate, 157 V. That man is led aud taught of the Lord in externals in all ap- pearance as of himself, 153 That it is a law of the Divine Providence that man should not perceive and feel anything concerning the operation of the Divine Providence, but that he should still know and acknow- ledge it, 159 I. That if man perceived and felt the operation of the Divine Providence, he would not act from freedom according to rea- son, nor would anything appear to him as his. In like man- ner if man foreknew events, 160 II. That if man manifestly saw the Divine Providence, he would interfere with the order and tenor of its course, and pervert and destroy it, 163 1. That externals have such a connection with internals, that in all operation they make one, 164 2. That if man were at the same time in internals, he would pervert and destroy all the order and tenor of the Divine Providence 166 III. That if man manifestly saw the Divine Providence, he would either deny God, or make himself God, 167 IV. That it is given to man to see the Divine Providence on the back and not on the face, also in a spiritual state, and not in "his natural state, 171 That one's own prudence is nothing, and only appears to be, and also ought to appear as if it was ; but that the Divine Provi- dence from things most particular is universal, 175 I. That all the thoughts of man are from the affections of his life's love, and that there are no thoughts, nor can they be given, without them, 176 II. That the affections of the life's love of man are known to the Lord alone, 180 III. That the affections of the life's love of man are led of the Lord by His Divirie Providence, and then at the same time the thoughts, from which is human prudence, — end of n. 200, . . 184 IV. That llie Lord hy His Divine Providence composes the affec- tions iiUo one form, which is the human, 184 V. That heaven and hell are in snch a form, 187 VI. That they who have acknowledged nature alone, and human prudence alone, make hell ; and they who have acknowledged God and His Divine Providence, make heaven, . 188 1. Whence and what one's own prudence is, 188 2. Whence and what the Divine Providence is, 189 3. Who anil of what quality the former and the latter are 190 VII. That all these things could not he done, unless it appeared to man that he thinks from himself and disposes from himself, . 191 CONTENTS, 7 Page. That the Divine Providence looks to eternal things, and no other- wise to things temporal than as far as they agree with the eternal, 194 I. That temporal things have reference to dignities and riches, thus to honors and gains, in the world, 194 1. What and whence dignities and riches are, 195 2. Of what quality is tlie love of dignities and riches for the sake of them ; and of what quality is the love of dignities and riches for the sake of uses, 196 3. That these two loves are distinct from each other as hell and heaven, . 198 4. That the difference between these is with difficulty known by man, . . 199 II. That eternal things have reference to spiritual honors and wealth, which are of love and wisdom, in heaven, 200 1. That honors and wealth are blessings, and that they are curses, .... 201 2. That dignities and wealth, when they are blessings, are spiritual and eternal, and that when they are curses, they are temporal and per- ishable 202 3. That dignities and wealth which are curses, in comparison of dignities and wealth which are blessings, are as nothing to everything, and as what in itself is not, to that which in itself is, 204 III. That temporal and eternal things are separated by man, but that they are conjoined by the Lord, 204 1. What temporal things are, and what eternal things are, 204 2. That man is temporal in himself and that the Lord is eternal in Him- self; and that hence nothing can proceed from man but what is temporal, and nothing from the Lord but what is eternal, .... 205 3. That temporal things separate eternal things from themselves, and that eternal things conjoin things temporal to themselves, 206 4. That the Lord conjoins man to Himself by appearances, 207 5. That the Lord conjoins man to Himself by correspondences, 207 IV. That the conjunction of temporal and eternal things with man is the Divine Providence of the Lord, 207 1. That it is of the Divine Providence, that man after death puts off natural and temporal thinss, and puts on spiritual and eternal things, " 208 2. That the Lord by His Divine Providence conjoins Himself to natural things by spiritual, and to temporal things by eternal, according to uses, " 208 3. That the Lord conjoins Himself to uses by correspondences, and thus by appearances according to the confirmations of them by man, . . 209 4. That such conjunction of temporal and eternal things is the Divine Providence, 210 That man is not let interiorly into the truths of faith, and into the goods of charity, except so far as he can be kept in them until the end of life, 212 I. That man can be let into the wisdom of spiritual things, and also into the love of them, and still not he reformed, .... 213 II. That if man afterwards recedes from and runs counler to them, he profanes holy things, 216 1. That whatever man thinks, speaks or does from the will, is appropri- ated to him and remains, as well good .as evil, 217 2. But that the Lord by His Divine Providence continually takes care and disposes, that evil should be by itself and good by itself, and thus that they should be separated 217 3. But that this cannot be done, if man first acknowledges the truths of faith, and lives according to them, and afterwards recedes from and denies them, 218 4. That he then mixes good and evil, so far that they cannot be sepa- rated 219 5. Because trood and evil must be separated with every man, and cannot be separated with such an one. that therefore as to everything truly human he is destroyed, 219 8 CONTENTS. Page. III. That there are very many kinds of the profanation of what is holy, and that this kind is the worst of all, 221 1. The first kind of profanation is by those, who jest from the Word and concerning the Word, or from the divine things of the church and concerning them 223 2. The second kind of profanation is by those, who understand and ac- knowledge divine truths, and yet live contrary to them, 224 3. The third kind of profanation is by those, who-apply the literal sense of the Word to confirming evil loves and false principles, 224 4. The fourth kind of profanation is by those, wlio speak pious things with the mouth, and also counterfeit by sound and gesture the af- fection of the love of them, and yet in heart do not believe and love them, 225 5. The fifth kind of profanation is by those, who attribute divine things to themselves, 225 6. The sixth kind of profanation is by those, who acknowledge the Word, and still deny the Divine of the Lord, 226 7. The seventh kind of profanation is by those who first acknowledge di- vine truths and live according to them, and afterwards recede from and deny them, 226 IV. That the Lord therefore does not let man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and at the same time into the goods of love, except so far as man can be kept in them until the end of life, . . . 228 1. That in the interiors with men there cannot be evil and at the same time good, and hence neither the falsity of evil and at the same time the truth of good, 229 2. That good and the truth of good cannot be introduced by the Lord into the interiors of man, except so far as evil and the falsity of evil is removed there, ' 230 3. If good with its truth were introduced sooner or more than evil with its falsity is removed, man would recede from good, and turn back to his evil, 231 4. That when man is in evil, many truths maybe introduced into his un- derstanding, and these stored tip in the memory, and yet not be profaned, 232 5. But that the Lord by His Divine Providence takes the greatest possible care, that it should not be received thence by the will sooner and more than as far as man as of himself removes evil in the external man 232 6. That if it were sooner and more, then the will would adulterate the good, and the understanding would falsify the truth, by mixing them with evils and thence falsities, 233 7. That the Lord therefore does not let man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and into the goods of love, except as far as man can be kept in them until the end of life, 235 That the laws of permission are also laws of the Divine Provi- dence, 235 Some thin£fs enumerated, which are things of permission, and still according to the laws of the Divine Providence, by which the merely natural man confirms himself in favor of nature against God, and in favor of human prudence against the Divine Providence : I. That the wisest of men, Adam and his wife, suffered themselves to he seduced hy the serpent, and that God did not by His Divine Providence avert this, 239 II. That their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not then withhold him liy speaking with him, but only after the deed liy cursing him, 240 III. That the Israelitish nation worshiped a golden calf in the de- sert, and acknowledged it instead of God, who led them out of the land of Egj^pt ; when yet Jehovah saw this from Motmt Sinai near by, and did not prevent it, 241 CONTENTS. 9 Page. IV. That David numbered the people, and therefor a plague was sent, of which so many thousand men perished ; and tiiat God sent the prophet Gad to him and denounced punishment on him, not before but after the deed 241 V. That it was permitted Solomon to institute idolatrous worship, 242 VI. That it was permitted manj- kings after Solomon, to profane the temple and the holy things of the church, 243 VII. That it was permitted that nation to crucify the Lord, 243 That the worshiper of self and worshiper of nature confirms himself against the Divine Providence : I. When he sees so many impious in the world, and so many of their impieties, and at the same time the gloryings of some in them, and still not any punishment of them by God, .... 241 II. When he sees the impious raised to honors, and become the great and first men; and also abound in riches, and live in delicacies and magnificence, and the worshipers of God in contempt and poverty, 246 III. When he thinks that wars are permitted, and then the slaugh- ter of so many men, and the plunder of their wealth, .... 249 IV. When he thinks, according to his perception, that victories take the side of prudence, and sometimes not the side of justice: also that it makes no difference, whether the commander is upright, or whether he is unprincipled, 252 That the merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine Providence : I. When he looks at the religions of the various nations ; that there are given those who are altogether ignorant of God ; and that there are given those who adore the sun and moon ; also who adore idols and sculptures, 254 II. When he looks at the Mahometan religion, that it is received by so many empires and kingdoms, 256 III. When he sees ihat the christian religion is only in the smallest part of the habitable world, which is called Europe, and that It is divided there, 259 IV. From this, that in very many kingdoms, where the christian re- ligion is received, there are those who claim to themselves divine power, and wish to be worshiped as gods ; and that . they invoke deal men, 261 V. From this, that among those who profess the christian religion, there are tho*;e who place salvation in certam words which they think and speak, and not at all in the goods which they do, 263 VI. From this, that there have been so many heresies in the chris- • tian world, and still are, as Quakerism. Moravianism, Ana- baptism, and more, 265 VII. From this, that Judaism still continues, 267 That a doufit may he inferred against the Divine Providence : I. From this, that the whole christian world worships one God un- der three persons, which is, three Gods; and that hitherto it has not known, that God is one in person and in essence, in whom is a trinity, and that that God is the Lord, ...... 269 II. From this, that hitherto they have not known, that in each thing of the Word there is a spiritual sense, and that its sanctity is thence, 274 1. Tliat the spiritual sense of the Word has not been revealed before, be- cause, if it had Ijeen. the church would have profaned it, and there- by the sanctity itself of the Word, 274 10 CONTENTS. Page. 2. That neither the genuine truths, in which the spiritual sense of the Word is, were revealed by the Lord, until after the last judgment was accomplished, and a new (Church, which is vinderstood by the Holy Jerusalem, was to Ije established by the Lord, 275 III. From this, tlial hitherto they have not known, that to shun evils as sins is the christian religion itself, 277 IV. From this, that hitherto they have not known, that man lives a man after death ; and this has not been before disclosed, . . . 278 That evils are permitted for the sake of the end, which is salva- tion, 280 I. That every man is in evil, and that he must be withdrawn from evil, that he may be reformed, 282 II. That evils cannot be removed, unless they appear, 284 1. Concerning those who confess that they are guilty of aU sins, and do not search out any one in themselves, 285 2. Concerning tliose who from religion omit to search, 286 3. Concerning those who on account of worldly things do not think con- cerning sins, and hence do not know them, 286 4. Concerning those who favor sins, and therefore cannot know them, . . 287 5. That sins do not appear with those, and that therefore they cannot be removed, ' 287 6. The cause, hitherto hidden, why evils cannot be removed without the exploration, appearance, acknowledgment, confession, and resist- ance of tViem 288 III. That as far as evils are removed, so far they are remitted, . . . 289 L That it is an error of the age, that it Is believed tliat evils are sepa- rated, yea, cast out, when they are remitted 289 2. That it is an error of the age, that it is believed that the state of man's life can be changed in a moment, and thus man from evil be made good, consequently be led out of hell, and instantly transferred into heaven, and this from the immediate mercy of the Lord, 290 3. That they who believe thus, know nothing at all as to what evil is, and what good, 291 4. That they who believe in instantaneous salvation and immediate mer- cy, do not know that the alTections, which are of the will, are mere changes of the stale of the purely organic substances of the mind ; and that the thoughts, which are of the understanding, are mere changes and variations of their form; and that the memory is the permanent state of those changes and variations, 292 IV. That thus there is permission of evil for the sake of the end that there may be salvation, 295 That the Divine Providence is equally with the evil as with the good, 298 I. That the Divine Providence, not only with the good, but also with the evil, is universal in the most particular things ; and that still it is not in their evils, 300 Certain ones, convinced that no one thinks from himself, but from influx through heaven from the Lord, said — L That thus they would not be in fault that they do evil, 306 2. That thus it seems, that evil is from the Lord, 307 3. That they do not comprehend, that the Lord alone can cause that all should think in so different a manner 307 II. That the evil continually lead themselves into evils, but that the Lord continually withdraws them from evils, 308 L That there are innumerable things in every evil, 308 2. That the evil of himself continually leads himself deeper into his evils, 309 3. That the Divine Providence with the evil is the continual permission of evil, to the end that there may he a continual withdrawment, . . 311 4. That the withdrawment from evil is done by the Lord in a thousand ways, even the most secret, 312 CONTENTS. 11 Page. III. That the evil cannot at all be withdrawn from their evils by the Lord, and be led in goods, as long as ihey believe that their own intelligence is all, and that the Divine Providence is nothing, 315 1. That one's own intelligence, when the will is in evil, sees nothing but falsity ; and that it neither wishes nor can see anything else, . . . 316 2. That if one's own intelligence then sees the truth, it either turns itself away, or falsifies it, 317 3. That the Divine Providence continually causes man to see truth, and that it also gives the affection of perceiving it and of receiving it, . 317 4. That man is thereby withdrawn from evil, not by himself, but by the Lord, 318 IV. That the Lord governs hell by opposites, and that the evil who are in the world he governs in hell as to interiors and not as to exteriors, 319 That the Divine Providence does not appropriate evil to any one nor good to any one, but that his own prudence appropriates both, . 324 I. What one's own prudence is, and what prudence not one's own is, 327 II. That man from his own prudence persuades himself, and con- firms with himself, that all good and truth is from himself and in himself, in like manner all evil and falsity, 331 III. That every persuasion and confirmation remains as his own with man, 335 1. That there is nothing which cannot be confirmed, and that falsity can more than the truth, 337 2. That the truth does not appear from the confirmation of falsity, but that from the confirmation of the truth falsity does appear, 339 3. That to be able to confirm whatever one pleases, is not intelligence, but only ingenuity, given even with the worst, 340 4. That there is given intellectual confirmation and not at the same time voluntary, and that all voluntary coufirniation is also intellectual, . 340 5. That voluntary and at the same time intellectual confirmation of evil causes man to believe his own prudence to be all, and the Divine Providence nothing ; bnt not intellectual confirmation alone, . . . 341 6. That everything confirmed by the will and at the same time by the un- derstanding remains to eternity, but not that which is only con- firmed by the understanding, 341 IV. That if man believed, as is the truth, that all good and truth are from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not appropriate good to liimself. and make it meritorious, nor would he appropriate evil to himself, and make himself guilty of it, . 343 1. Tliat he who confirms with himself the appearance that wisdom and prudence are from man and in man as his. cannot see anything else but that he otherwise would not be man, but either a beast, or a sculpture ; when yet it is the contrary, .344 2. That to believe and think, as is the truth, that all good and truth are from the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, appears as impos- sible ; when yet it is truly human and thence angelic, 345 3. That to believe and think so is impossible to those who do not acknow- ledge the Divine of the Lord, and who do not acknowledge evils to be sins : and that it is possible to those who acknowledge these two things, " 346 4. That they who are in these two acknowledgments, only reflect upon the evils with themselves, and reject thorn to hell, whence they are, as far as they shun and loathe them as sins, 346 5. That thus the Divine Providence does not appropriate evil to anyone, nor good to any one, but that his own prudence appropriates both, 347 That every man may be reformed, and that predestination is not given, 347 12 CONTENTS. Page. I. That the end of creation is a heaven from the human race, . . . 349 1. Thai every man was creatfid thai he mi^hl live lo eternily, 350 2. Thai every man was created that he might live lo eternity in a blessed state, 352 3. That thns every man was created that hemi^'ht come Into heaven, . . 352 4. Tlial the Divine Love cannot do otlierwise than will this, and thai the Divine Wisdom cannot do otiierwise than provide for it 353 II. That hence it is from the Divine Providence, that every man can be saved, and that they are saved who acknowledge God and live well, 354 1. That the acknowledsrment of God makes conjunction of God with man, and of man with God ; and that the denial of God makes disjunction, 355 2. That every one acknowledges God, and is conjoined to Him, according to the good of his life, 357 3. That good of life, or living well, is to shun evils because they are against religion, thus against God, 357 4. That these are the generals of all religions, by which every one can be saved, 358 III. That man himself is in fault if he is not saved, 360 1. That every religion in process of lime decreases and is consummated, . 361 2. That every reli^iion decreases and is consummated by the inversion of the image of God with man, 363 3. That this exists from the continual increase of hereditary evil in gen- erations, 364 4. That still it is provided by the Lord that every one can be saved, . . . 365 5. That it is also provided, that a new church should succeed in place of the former devastated one, 365 IV. That thus all are predestinated to heaven, and no one to hell, . 366 1. That any other predestination than to heaven is contrary to the Divine Love, which is infinite, 367 2. That any other predestination than to heaven is contrary to the Divine Wisdom, which is infinite, 369 3. That they alone are aaved who are born within the church, is an insane heresy, 369 4. That any of the human race are damned from predestination, is a cruel heresy, 371 That the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of the Divine Provi- dence, because to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His Diwne Love and contrary to His Divine Wisdom, thus contrary to Himself, 371 I. That the operation of the Divine Providence for saving man commences from his birth, and lasts until the end of his life, and afterwards to eternity, 372 II. That the operation of the Divine Providence continually takes place through means from p\ire mercy, 376 HI. That instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is not pos- sible, -378 1. That the belief concerning instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is taken from the slate of the natural man, 379 2. But that this belief is fnm ignorance of the spiritual state, which is alto- gether different from the natural slate, 380 3. That the doctrines of the churches in the christian world, viewed inte- riorly, are against instantaneous salvalion from immediate mercy; but still that the external men of ihe church establish it, 332 IV. That instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is the flying serpent in the church, 334 L That thereby religion is abolished, 384 2. That by the belief in instantaneous salvation from pure and mere mercy security of life is induced, 385 3. That by that belief damnation is imputed to the Lord, 335 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS THE GOVERNMENT OF THE DIVINE LOVE AND DIVINE WISDOM OF THE LORD. 1. That it may be understood what the Divine Providence is, and that it is the government of the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of the Lord, it is important that the things should be known which have been before said and shown concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the treatise upon them, which are the following: That in the Lord, the Divine Love is of the Divine Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love, n. 34 to 39. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom cannot but be and exist in other things created from themselves, n. 47 to 51. That all things of the universe were created by the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 52, 53, 151 to 156. That all things of the universe are re- cipients of the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 54 to 60. That the Lord appears before the angels as a sun, and that the heat thence proceeding is love, and the light thence proceeding is wisdom, n. 83 to 88, 89 to 92, 93 to 98, 296 to 301. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, which proceed from the Lord, make one, n. 99 to 102. That the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, created the universe and all 2 14 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING things of it from Himself, and not from nothing, n. 282 to 284, 290 to 295. These are in the treatise which is called Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. 2. From these things, compared with those which were described concerning creation in that treatise, it may indeed be evident, that the government of the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom of the Lord is what is called the Divine Providence; but, because creation was there treated of, and not the preservation of the state of things after creation, and this is the govern- ment of the Lord, tliorefore this is now to he here treated of: but in this chapter, concerning the pre- servation of the union of the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, or of the Divine Good and Divine Truth, in the things which were created; which is to be spoken of in this order. L That the universe, with each and every thing of it, was created from the Divine Love by the Divine Wisdom. II. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom proceed as one from the Lord. III. That this one is in a certain image in every created thing. IV. That it is of the Divine Providence, that every created thing, in general and in particular, is such a one ; and if it is not, that it should become so. V. That the good of love is not good any farther than as it is united to the truth of wisdom; and that the truth of wisdom is not truth any farther than as it is united to the good of love. VI. That the good of love not united to the truth of wisdom is not good in itself, but that it is apparent good; and that the truth of wisdom not united to the good of love is not truth in itself, bat that it is apparent trnth. VII. That the Lord does not suffer that anything should be divided ; wherefore it must eitlier be in good, and at the same time in truth, or it must he in evil, and at the same time in falsity. VIII. That that which is in good, and at the same time in truth, is something; and that that which is in evil, and at the same time in falsity, is not any- thing. IX. That the Divine Providence of the Lord THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 15 causes that evil, and at the same time falsity, may- serve for equilibrium, for relation, for purification, and thus for the conjunction of good and truth in others. 3. I. That the universe, with each and every tiling of it, was created from the Divi?ie Love by the Divine Wisdom. That the Lord from eternity, who is .Teho- vah, is as to essence Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and that He created the universe, and all things of it, from Himself, was demonstrated in the treatise con- cerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom : thence this follows, that the universe, with each and every thing of it, was created from the Divine liove by the Divine Wisdom. In the forementioned treatise it was also demonstrated, that love without wisdom cannot do anything, nor wisdom anything without love; for love without wisdom, or will without understanding, cannot think anything ; yea, cannot see and feel any- thing, nor speak anything; wherefore, neither can love without wisdom, or will without understandings do anything : just so, wisdom without love, or under- standing without will, cannot think anything, nor can it see and feel anything; yea, neither can it speak anything; Avherefore, wisdom without love, or under- standing without will, cannot do anything; for if love is taken away from them, there is no longer any will- ing, thus there is not any acting. Since the case is such with man when he is doing anything, much more was it the case with God, who is love itself, and wisdom itself, when he created and made the imi verse and all things of it. That the universe, with each and every thing of it, was created from the Divine Love by tlie Divine Wisdom, may be confirmed from all things presented to the sight in the world : take only some object in particular, and survey it from some wisdom, and you wnll be confirmed : take a tree, or its seed, or its fruit, or its flower, or its leaf, and collect wisdom with yourself, and inspect it with a fine microscope, and you will see wonders; and the interiors, which you do not see, are more wonderful 16 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Still. Observe the order in its progression ; how the tree grows from the seed even to new seed ; and weigh whether in the whole progression there is not the continual effort of propagating itself farther ; for the last thing to which it tends is seed, in which is its prolific principle anew : if then you wish also to think spiritually, and this you can do if you wish, will you not see wisdom in it? and still, if you wish so far to think spiritually, that this is not from the seed, nor from the sun of the world, which is pure fire, but that it is in the seed from God the creator, who has infinite wisdom ; and that it was so, not only then when it was created, but also that it is so continually afterwards; for sustentation is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence : this is like as if you take away will from act, work ceases ; or if from speech you take away thought, speech ceases ; or if from motion you take away endeavor, motion ceases ; in a word, if from the effect you take away tiie cause, the effect perishes, and so on. On every such created thing indeed is bestowed power, but power does not do any- thing of itself, but from him who bestowed the power. Inspect also some other subject upon earth ; as a silk- worm, a bee, or other animalcule, and survey it first naturally, and afterwards rationally, and at length spiritually ; and then, if you can think deeply, you will be astonished at everything; and if you admit wisdom to speak in you, you will say in astonishment, who does not see the Divine in these things 1 all things are of the Divine Wisdom. Still more, if you look at the uses of all things which were created, how they succeed in their order even to man, and from man to the Creator from whom they are ; and that upon the conjunction of the Creator with man hangs the con- nexion of all things, and if you are willing to acknow- ledge it, the preservation of all things. That the Divine Love created all things, but nothing without the Divine Wisdom, will be seen in what follows. 4. II. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom proceed as one from the Lord. This is manifest alsQ THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 17 from those things which were demonstrated in the treatise concerning the Divine IjOve and Divine Wis- dom, especially from these things there : That to be and to exist in the Lord are distinctly one, n. 14 to 17. That in the Lord, infinite things are distinctly one, n. 17 to 22. That the Divine Love is of the Divine Wisdom, and the Divine Wisdom of the Divine Love, n. 34 to 39. * That love without a marriage with wisdom cannot do anything, n. 401 to 403. That love does nothing except in conjnnction with wisdom, n. 409, 410. That spiritual heat and spiritual light, in proceeding from the Lord as a snn, make one, as the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the Lord are one, n. 99 to 132 : from the things which were demon- strated in these places, the truth of this thing is manifest. But because it is not known how two things distinct in themselves can act as one, I choose here to show, that a one without a form is not given, but that form itself makes a one ; next, that a form makes so much the more perfect a one, as those things which enter into the form are distinctly other, and yet united. That a one vnthout a form is not given, but that form itself makes a one : Every one who thinks with intentness of. mind, may clearly see that a one without a form is not given; and if it is given, that it is a form : for whatever exists, derives from form that which is called quality, and that too which is called predicate, also that which is called change of state, and also that which is called relative, and other like things; wherefore, that which is not in a form is not of any affection, and what is not of any affection is also of no reality : form itself gives all these things ; and because all things which are in a form, if the form is perfect, mutually regard each other, as link does link in a chain, therefore it follows that form itself makes a one, and thus a subject, concerning which can be predicated quality, state, affection, thus any- thing, according to the perfection of the form. Such a one is everything which is viewed with the eyes in the world, and such a one also is everything which 2* 18 ANGELIC WISDOM CONX'ERNING is not viewed with the eyes, whether it is in interior nature or in the spiritual world : such a one is man, and such a one is human society ; and such a one is the church, also the universal angelic heaven before the Lord ; in a word, such a one is the created universe, not only in general, but also in every par- ticular. As things all and each are forms, it must be that He who created all things is form itself, and that from form itself are all things which were created in forms : this is therefore what was demonstrated in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, as. That the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom is substance, and that it is form, n. 40 to 43. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom is form in itself, thus the very and the only, n. 44 to 46. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in the Lord are one, n. 14 to 17, n. 18 to 22. And that they proceed as one from the Lord, n. 99 to 102, and elsewhere. That a form makes so much the more perfect a one^ as those things which enter into the form are distinctly other ^ and yet united: This falls with difficulty into the understanding, unless elevated, since the appear- ance is, that a form cannot otherwise make a one, than by semblances of the equality of those things which constitute the form : concerning this thing I have very often spoken with the angels, who said that this is an arcanum which the wise of them per- ceive clearly, but the less wise obscurely ; but that it is truth, that a form is so much the more perfect as the things that make it are distinctly other, but still united in a onefold manner : they confirmed it by the societies in the heavens, which, taken together, con- stitute the form of heaven ; and by the angels of each society, that the more distinctly any one is his own, thus free, and so loves his consociates as from himself and his own affection, the more perfect is the form of the society : they also illustrated it by the marriage of good and truth, that the more distinctly they are two, the more perfectly they can make a one : in like manner love and wisdom ; and that what is not dis- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 19 tinct is confused, from which all imperfection of form results. But how things perfectly distinct are united, and thus make a one, they also confirmed by many things ; especially by the things which are in man, where innumerable things are thus distinct, and yet united ; distinct by coverings, and united by liga- ments : and that it is the like with love and all things of it, and with wisdom and all things of it ; which are not otherwise perceived than as a one. More concern- ing these things may be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 14 to 22, and in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 56 and 489. This is adduced, because it is of angelic wis- dom. 5. ni. Tliat this one is in a certain image in every created thing. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, which in the Lord are one, and proceed as one from Him, are in a certain image in every created thing, may be evident from the things which were demon- strated in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom throughout, and especially from those which are therein, n. 47 to 51, 54 to 60, 282 to 284, 290 to 295, 316 to 318, 319 to 326, 349 to 457; in which places it was shown, that the Divine is in every created thing, because God the creator, who is the Lord from eternity, produced from Himself the sun of the spiritual world, and by that sun all things of the universe ; consequently that that sun, which is from the Lord and wherein the Lord is, is not only the first substance, but also the only one from which all things are: and because it is the only substance, it follows that it is in every created thing, but in infinite variety according to uses. Now because in the Lord is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, and in the sun from Him divine fire and divine splendor, and from the sun spiritual heat and spiritual light, and these two make one, it follows that this one is in a certain image in every created thing. Hence it is, that all things which are in the universe have relation to good and truth, yea, to their conjunction ; or, what is the same, that 20 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING all things in the universe have relation to love and wisdom, and to their conjunction ; for good is of love and truth is of wisdom : for love calls all its own, good ; and wisdom calls all its own, truth. That there is a conjunction of these in every created thing, will be seen in what follows. 6. It is acknowledged by many, that there is an only substance, which is also the first, from which all things are; but of what quality that substance is, is not known : it is believed that it is so simple that nothing is more simple ; and that it may be likened to a point, which is of no dimension; and that from infinity of such the forms of dimension existed : but this is a fallacy, arising from the idea of space; for from this idea there appears such a least thing : but still the truth is, that the more simple and pure any- thing is, so much the more and the fuller it is ; which is the cause that the more interiorly any object is viewed, so much the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful things are beheld therein ; and thus that in the first substance are the most wonderful, perfect, and beautiful of all things. That it is so, is because the first substance is from the spiritual sun, which, as was said, is from the Lord, and in which the Lord is ; thus that sun itself is the only substance, which, because it is not in space, is the all in all, and in the greatest and least things of the created universe. Since that sun is the first and only substance, from which all things are, it follows that in it are infinitely more things than what can appear in the substances thence originating, which are called substantiates and at length matters : that the former cannot appear in the latter, is because they descend from that sun by degrees of a double kind, according to which all per- fections decrease : hence it is, that, as was said above, the more interiorly anything is viewed, so much the more wonderful, perfect, and beautiful things are be- held. These things are said, that it may be confirmed that the Divine is in a certain image in every created thing ; but that it is less and less apparent in descend- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 21 ing through the degrees ; and still less when the lower degree, separated from the higher degree by a closing, is blocked up with terrestrial matters. But these things cannot but seem obscure, unless the things are read and understood, which, in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, were demon- strated concerning the spiritual sun, n. 53 to 172; concerning degrees, n. 173 to 281 ; and concerning the creation of the universe, n. 282 to 357. 7. IV. That it is of the Divine Providence, thai every created thifig, in general and in particnlar^ is such a one ; and if it is not, that it shotdd become so ; that is, that in every created thing there is something from the Divine Love and at the same time from the Divine Wisdom ; or, what is the same, that in every created thing there is good and truth, or the conjunc- tion of good and truth : since good is of love and truth is of wisdom, as was said above, n. 5; therefore in tlie following pages throughout, instead of love and wis- dom will be said good and truth ; and instead of the union of love and wisdom, the marriage of good and truth. 8. From the preceding article it is manifest, that the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, which are one in the Lord, and proceed as one from the Lord, are in a certain image in everything created by Him : now too something shall be said in particular concerning that one, or union, which is called the marriage of good and truth. That marriage is, L In the Lord Himself; for, as was said, the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are one in Him. II. It is from the Lord, for, in everything which proceeds from Him, love and wisdom are entirely united ; these two proceed from the Lord as a sun, the Divine Love as heat, and the Divine Wisdom as light. III. They are indeed re- ceived by the angels as two, but are united in them by the Lord: the like happens with the men of the church, IV. It is from the influx of love and wisdom as one from the Lord with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church, and from the reception of them 22 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING by angels and men, that the Lord is called in the Word bridegroom and husband, and heaven and the church, bride and wife. V. As far therefore as heaven and the church in general, and an angel of heaven and a man of the church in particular, is in that union, or in the marriage of good and truth, so far they are an image and likeness of the Lord ; since these two in the Lord are one, yea, are the Lord. VI. Love and wisdom in heaven and the church in general, and in an angel of heaven and a man of the church, are one, when the will and the understanding, thus when good and truth, make one ; or, what is the same, when charity and faith make one ; or, what is still the same, when doctrine from the Word and a life according to it make one. VII. But how these two make one in man and in all things of him, was shown in the trea- tise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in part fifth, where it treats concerning the creation of man, and especially concerning the correspondence of the will and the understanding with the heart and lungs, from n. 385 to 432. 9. But how they make one in those things which are below or out of man, as well in those which are in the animal kingdom as in the vegetable kingdom, will be said in what follows throughout; to which these three things are to be premised: First, That in the universe, and in each and every thing of it, which were created by the Lord, was the marriage of good and truth: S^;condl'¥, That that marriage after crea- tion was separated with man : Thirdly, That it is of the Divine Providence that what was separated should be made one, and thus that the marriage of good and truth should be restored. These three were confirmed by many things in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, wherefore there is no need to confirm them farther : every one may also see from reason, that while the marriage of good and truth had been from creation in every created tiling, and while this was afterwards separated, the Lord operates con- tinually that it should be restored ; consequently, that THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 23 its restoration, and thence the conjunction of the cre- ated universe with the Lord through man, is of the Divine Providence, 10. V. That the good of love is not good any far- ther than as it is imited to the truth of wisdom^ and that the truth of wisdom is 7iot true any farther than as it is tmited to the good of love. Good and truth draw this from their origin : good in its origin is in the Lord ; in hke manner, truth ; because the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and these two in Him are one : hence it is, that the good with the angels of heaven and the men of the earth is not good in itself, except as it is united to truth ; and that the truth is not truth in itself, except as it is united to good. That every good and every truth is from the Lord, is known : hence, because good makes one with truth, and truth with good, it follows that, in order that good may be good in itself, and truth be truth in itself, they should make one in a recipient, who is an angel of heaven and a man of the earth. 11. It is indeed known, that all things in the uni- verse have relation to good and truth, because by good is understood that which universally compre- hends and involves all things of love, and by truth is understood that which universally comprehends and involves all things of wisdom; but it is not as yet known, that good is not anything unless united to truth, and that truth is not anything unless united to good : it appears indeed as if good was something without truth, and that truth is something without good ; but still they are not : for love, all things of which are called good, is the being of a thing; and wisdom, all things of which are called truths, is the existing of a thing from that being, as was shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 14 to 16: wherefore, as being without existing is not anything, nor existing without being; so good without truth, and truth without good, is not anything. In like manner, what is good without rela- tion to something 7 can it be called good? for it is of 24 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING no affection and of no perception : it, together with the good which affects, and which gives itself to be per- ceived and to be felt, has relation to truth, because to that which is in the understanding : say to any one nakedly good, and not, this or that is good ; is good anything? but from this or that, which is perceived as one with good, it is something : this is nowhere else united to good but in the understanding, and every- thing of the understanding has relation to truth. It is the like with willing; willing, without knowing, perceiving and thinking what man wills, is not any- thing ; but together with these, it is something : all willing is of love, and has relation to good ; and all knowing, perceiving and thinking is of the understand- mg, and has relation to truth : hence it is manifest, that willing is not anything, but that willing this or that is something. It is the like with every use, because use is good : use, unless it be determined to something, with which it may be one, is not use, thus is not anything : use derives its something from the understanding, and that which is thence conjoined or adjoined to use has relation to truth: from it use derives its quality. From these few things it may be evident that good without truth is not anything, thus that neither is truth without good anything. It is said that good with truth and truth with good are something; hence it follows, that evil with falsity and falsity with evil are not anything, for the latter are opposite to the former ; and opposite destroys, here destroys the something : but this subject will be treated of in what follows. 12. But there is given the marriage of good and truth in the cause, and there is given the marriage of good and truth from the cause in the effect : the mar- riage of good and truth in the cause, is the marriage of the will and the understanding, or of love and wis- dom : in everything which man wills and thinks, and which he thence concludes and intends, is this mar- riage : this marriage enters the effect and makes it; but in effecting they appear two distinct things, because THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 25 the simultaneous then makes the successive ; as when man wills and thinks to be fed, clothed, housed, to do business or work, to enjoy society, he then first wills and thinks or concludes and intends it at the same time; but when he has determined them into effects, then one succeeds after the other ; but still, in will and thought, they continually make one : uses in those effects are of love or good; mediums to uses are of the understanding or truth. These generals each one may confirm by particulars, provided he distinctly perceives what has relation to the good of love and what to the truth of wisdom ; and distinctly how it has relation in the cause, and how in the effect. 13. It has many times been said, that love makes the life of man; but it is not meant love separate from wisdom, or good from truth in the cause; because love separate or good separate is not anything; wherefore the love which makes the inmost life of man, which is from the Ijord, is love and wisdom together : also the love which makes the life of man as far as he is a recipient, is not love separate in the cause, but in the effect ; for love cannot be understood without its quality, and its quality is wisdom : quality or wis- dom cannot be given but from its being, which is love ; hence it is, that they are one : in like manner good and truth. Now because truth is from good, as wis- dom is from love, therefore both taken together are called love or good; for love in its form is wisdom, and good in its form is truth : from form, and from nothing else, is all quality. From these things it may now be evident, that good is not good a whit farther than as it is united to its truth, and that truth is not truth a whit farther than as it is united to its good. 14. VI. That the good of love not united to the truth of wisdom, is not good in itself, hnt that it is apparent good; and that the truth of tinsdom. not tinited to the good of love is not truth in itself, but that it is apparent truth. The truth is, that not any good is given which is good in itself, unless it is united to its truth; nor any truth which is truth in itself, unless it is united 3 26 ANGELIO WISDOM CONCERNING to its good : but yet there is given good separate from truth, and truth separate from good : this is given with hypocrites and flatterers, with whatever ones are evil, and with those who are in natural good and in no spiritual good : the former and the latter can do good to the church, to the country, to society, to a fellow- citizen, to the needy, to the poor, to widows and to orphans ; and they can also understand truths, from understanding think them, and from thought speak and teach them ; but yet these goods and truths are not interiorly, thus not in themselves, goods and truths with them; but are exteriorly goods and truths, thus only appearances ; for they are only for the sake of themselves and the world, and not for the sake of good itself and truth itself, consequently not from good and truth ; wherefore they are of the mouth and body only, and not of the heart; and may be compared to gold and silver overlaid upon drosses, or upon rotten wood, or upon dung; and the truths when uttered may be compared to a puff of breath which is dissipated, or to a fatuous light which vanishes; which still appear outwardly as genuine : but they appear such with them, yet may still appear otherwise with those hearing and receiving, who do not know this; for the external affects every one according to his internal ; for truth, from whatever mouth it is uttered, enters into the hearing of another, and is received by the mind according to his state and quality. With those who are in natural good hereditarily, and in no spiritual good, the thing is nearly the same ; for the internal of every good and every truth is spiritual, and this dispels evils and falsities, but the natural alone favors them ; and to favor evils and falsities, and to do good, does not agree. 15. That good can be separated from truth and truth from good, and when it is separated, still appears as good and truth, is because man has ihe faculty of acting, which is called liberty, and the faculty of un- derstanding, which is called rationality : from the abuse of these faculties it is, that a man can appear THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 27 in externals other than as he is in internals; and on this account that an evil one can do good and speak truth, or that a devil can counterfeit an angel of light. But on this subject, the following may be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom : That the origin of evil is from the abuse of the faculties which are proper to man, and are called rationality and liberty, n. 264 to 270. That these two faculties are with the evil as well as with the good, n. 425. That love without a marriage with wisdom, or good without a marriage with truth, cannot do anything, n. 401. That love does nothing, except in conjunction with wisdom or the understanding, n. 409. That love conjoins itself to wisdom or to the under- standing, and causes that wisdom or the understand- ing should be reciprocally conjoined, n. 410, 411, 412. That wisdom or the understanding, from the power given to it by love, can be elevated, and perceive the things which are of light from heaven, and receive them, n. 413. That love can be similarly elevated, and receive the things which are of heat from heaven, if it loves its spouse wisdom in that degree, n. 414, 415. That otherwise love draws back wisdom or the under- standing from its elevation, that it may act as one with itself, n. 416 to 418. That love is purified in the understanding, if they are elevated together, n. 419 to 421. That love purified by wisdom in the un- derstanding becomes spiritual and celestial, but that love defiled in the understanding becomes sensual and corporeal, n. 422 to 424. That it is the like with charity and faith and their conjunction, as it is with love and wisdom and their conjunction, n. 427 to 430. What charity in the heavens is, n. 431. 16. VII. That the Lord does not suffer that any- thing should be divided^ icherefore it must either be in good and at the same time in truth^ or it must be in evil arid at the same time in falsity. The Divine Pro- vidence of the Lord especially has for end and operates, that man should be in good and at the same time in truth ; for thus he is his own good or his own love, 28 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING and also his own truth and his own wisdom; for thereby man is man, for he is then an image of the Lord: but because man, while he lives in the world, can be in good and at the same time in the false, also in evil and at the same time in truth, yea, be in evil and at the same time in good, thus as it were double, and this division destroys that image, and thus man ; therefore the Divine Providence of the Lord has in view, in each and all things of it, that this division may not be : and because it is more conducive to man that he should be in evil and at the same time in fal- sity than that he should be in good and at the same time in evil, therefore the Lord permits it, not as wil- ling, but as not being able to resist, for the sake of the end, which is salvation. The reason that man can be in evil and at the same time in truth, and that the Lord cannot resist for the sake of the end which is salvation, is because man's understanding can be elevated into the light of wisdom, and see truths, or acknowledge them when he hears them, his love remaining below; for thus man can in understanding be in heaven, but in love in hell ; and to be such, cannot be denied to man, because from him cannot be taken away the two faculties by which he is man, and is distinguished from the beasts, and by which alone he can be re- generated and thus saved, which are rationality and liberty; for by them man can act according to wis- dom, and also act according to a love not of wisdom, and can from wisdom above see love beneath ; so too the thoughts, intentions, affections, thus the evils and falsities, also the goods and truths of his life and doc- trine, without the knowledge and acknowledgment of which in himself, he cannot be reformed. Con- cerning these two faculties it was spoken above, and in the following, more will be said. This is the cause that man can be in good and at the same time in truth, also in evil and at the same time in falsity, and also in them alternately. 17. Into the one or the other conjunction or union, that is, of good and truth, or of evil and falsity, man THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 29 can hardly come in the world ; for as long as he lives there, he is held in a state of reformation or regenera- tion; but into one or the other every man comes after death, because he then can no longer be reformed and regenerated : he then remains as his life in the world, that is, as his reigning love had been ; wherefore, if a life of the love of evil had been his, every truth which he had procured to himself in the world from a master, from preaching, or from the Word, is taken away; which being taken away, he imbibes the falsity agreeing with his evil, as a sponge does water ; and the reverse : but if a life of the love of good had been his, every falsity which he iiad got in the world by hearing or reading, and had not confirmed with him- self, is removed, and in its place is given the truth which agrees with his good. This is understood by these words of the Lord : " Take from him the taleiU, and give to him, that hath ten talents ; for to every one that hath it shall be given, that he may abound; but from, him who hath not, even what he hath shall be taken away.'' Matt. xxv. 28, 29; xiii. 12; Mark iv. 25 ; Luke viii. 18 ; xix. 24 to 26. 18. That every one after death must either be in good, and at the same time in truth, or in evil, and at the same time in falsity, is because good and evil cannot be conjoined, nor good and at the same time the falsity of evil, nor evil and at the same time the truth of good ; for they are opposites, and opposites fight between themselves, until one destroys the other. They who are in evil and at the same time in good, are understood by these words of the Lord to the church of the Laodiceans in the Apocalypse : '■'■ I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot ; O that thou wert cold or hot : but because thou art lukeuarm,, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth," iii. 15, 16: also by these words of the Lord: " No one can serve two lords, for either he unll have the one in hatred and love the other, or urill adhere to the one and neglect the other.'" Matt. vi. 24. 19. VIll. That that which is in good, and at the 3# 30 ANGELIC WISDOIVI CONCERNING same time in truth^ is somethings and that that which is in evil, and at the same time in falsity, is Jiot any- thing. That that which is in good, and at the same time in truth, is something, may be seen above, n. 11 ; hence it follows, that evil, and at the same time falsity, is not anything. By not being anything, is understood that it has nothing of power and nothing of spiritual life : they who are in evil, and at the same time in falsity, who are all in hell, have power indeed among themselves; for an evil one can do evil, and also does evil in a thousand ways; but yet he cannot from evil do evil, except to the evil, but cannot do a whit of evil to the good ; and if he does evil to the good, which is sometimes done, it is by conjunction with their evil : from this are temptations, which are infestations by the evil with them, and thence combats, by means of which the good can be liberated from their evils. Since the evil have nothing of power, therefore the universal hell before the Lord is not only in a manner as nothing, but is altogether nothing as to power : that it is so, I ha\^e seen con- firmed by much experience. But this is wonderful, that all the evil believe themselves powerful, and that all the good believe themselves not powerful : the reason is, because the evil attribute all things to one's own power, and thus to craft and malice, and nothing to the Lord ; but the good attribute nothing to one's own prudence, but all things to the Lord, who is omnipotent. That evil, and at the same time falsity, are not anything, is also because they have nothing of spiritual life ; which is the cause that the life of the infernals is not called life, but death; wherefore, since every something is of life, there cannot be any something to death. 20. They who are in evil and at the same time in truths, may be compared to eagles that fly high; which, when their wings are taken aAvay, fall down : for in like manner do men after death, when they have become spirits, who have understood truths, spoken them, and taught them, and yet have in no- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 31 thing looked to God in their life : by their intellectuals they elevate themselves on high, and sometimes enter heaven, and counterfeit angels of light ; but when the truths are taken away from them, and they are sent out, they fall down into hell. Eagles also signify men of rapine, who have intellectual sight; and wings sig- nify spiritual truths. It was said that they are such who have in nothing looked to God in their life : by looking to God in the life, nothing else is understood, but thinking this or that evil to be sin against God, and therefore not doing it. 21. IX. That the Divine Providence of the Lord causes that evil and at the same time falsity may serve for equilibrium., for relation, a7id for purification, and thus for the conjunction of good and truth in others. From the foregoing it may be evident, that the Divine Providence of the Lord operates continually that with man good may be united to truth and truth to good, for the reason that that union is the church and is hea- ven ; for that union is in the Lord, and is in all things which proceed from the Lord : from that union it is that heaven is called a marriage, and also the church ; wherefore the kingdom of God in the Word is likened to a marriage : from that union it is that the Sabbath in the Israelitish church was the holiest thing of worship ; for it signified that union : hence also it is, that in the Word, and in each and every thing of it, there is a marriage of good and truth ; concerning which may be seen the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 80 to 90 : the marriage of good and truth is from the marriage of the Lord with the church, and this from the marriage of love and wisdom in the Lord ; for good is of love and truth is of wisdom. From these things it may be seen, that it is the perpetual object of the Divine Provi- dence to unite good to truth and truth to good with man, for thus man is united to the Lord. 22. But because many have broken and do break this marriage, especially by the separation of faith from charity ; for faith is of truth and truth is of faith. 32 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING and charity is of good and good is of charity ; and thereby conjoin evil and falsity in themselves, and thus have become and do become opposed ; yet it is provided by the Lord, that these may still serve for the conjunction of good and truth in others, by means of equilibrium, relation, and purification. 23. The conjunction of good and truth in others is provided by the Lord by means of Equilibrium between heaven and hell; for from hell is continually exhaled evil and at the same time falsity ; but from heaven is continually exhaled good and at the same time truth : in this equilibrium every man is held, as long as he lives in the world; and thereby in the liberty of thinking, willing, speaking and doing, in which he can be reformed. Concerning this spiritual equili- brium, from which man has freedom, it may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 589 to 596, and 597 to 603. 24. The conjunction of good and truth is provided by the Lord by means of Relation; for good is not known, what it is, except by relation to a less good, and by opposition to evil : all the perceptive and sen- sitive is from thence, because the quality of them is from thence ; for thus all delight is perceived and felt from the less delightful and by means of the undelight- ful; all the beautiful from the less beautiful and by means of the unbeautiful ; in like manner all good which is of love from the less good and by means of evil, and all truth which is of wisdom from the less true and by means of falsity : there must be variety in everything, from its greatest to its least; and since the variety is also in its opposite from the least to the greatest, and equilibrium intervenes, then there arises a relative according to degrees on both sides, and the perception and sensation of the thing either increases or is diminished. But it is to be known, that the opposite takes away and also exalts perceptions and sensations : it takes away when it commingles itself, and it exalts when it does not commingle itself; on which account the Lord exquisitely separates good THE DITINE PROVIDENCE. 33 and evil with man, lest they should be commingled, as He separates heaven and hell. 25. The conjunction of good and truth with others is provided by the Lord by means of Purification, which is done in two ways, one by means of tempta- tions and the other by means of fermentations. iSpir- itual temptations are nothing else but combats against evils and falsities, which are exhaled from hell, and affect : by means of tliem man is purified from evils and falsities, and good is conjoined to truth and truth to good with him. Spiritual fermentations take place in many ways, as well in the heavens as in the earths ; but they are not known in the world, what they are, and how they take place ; for there are evils and at the same time falsities, which being let into societies do the like as ferments put into meal and new wine, by means of which heterogeneous things are separated, and the homogeneous things are conjoined, and it becomes pure and clear : these things are what are understood by these words of the Lord: " The king- dom of the heavens is like leaven [fenjient,] which a woman taking' hid in three measures of meal, until the u-hole ivas leavened \fermented.'\'' Matt. xiii. 33, Luke xiii. 21. 26. These uses are provided by the Lord from the conjunction of evil and the false, which is with those who are in hell ; for the kingdom of the Lord, which is not only over heaven, but also over hell, is a king- dom of uses ; and the Providence of the Lord is, that there should not be any one or anything there, by which and through which use is not done. THAT THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE OF THE LORD HAS FOR END A HEAVEN FROM THE HUMAN RACE. 27. That heaven is not from any angels created from the beginning, and that hell is not from any devil who was created an angel of light and cast down from heaven, but that both heaven and hell are from 34 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING the human race, heaven from those who are in the love of good and thence in the understanding of truth, and hell from those who are in the love of evil and thence in the understanding of falsity, has been made known and attested to me by long-continued intercourse with angels and spirits; concerning which thing also may be seen the things which are shown in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 311 to 316; also those in the small work concerning the Last Judgment, n. 14 to 27; and in the Continuation con- cerning THE Last Judgment and concerning the Spir- itual World, from beginning to end. Now because heaven is from the human race, and heaven is dwell- ing with the Lord to eternity, it follows that the Lord had this as the end of creation ; and because it was the end of creation, it is the end of His Divine Provi- dence : the Lord did not create the universe for His own sake, but for the sake of those with whom He will be in heaven ; for spiritual love is such, that it wishes to give its own to another; and as far as it can do this, it is in its being, in its peace, and in its blessed- ness : spiritual love derives this from the Divine Love of the Lord, which is infinitely such; from hence it follows that the Divine Love, and hence the Divine Providence, has for its end a heaven, which may con- sist of men made angels, and who are becoming angels; to whom He can give all the blessed and happy things which are of love and wisdom, and give them from Himself in them : nor can He do otherwise, because the image and likeness of Him is in them from crea- tion ; the image in them is wisdom, and the likeness in them is love, and the Lord in them is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love ; or, what is the same, is good united to truth and truth united to good ; which union is treated of in the preceding article. But because it is not known what heaven is in general or with many, and what heaven is in par- ticular or with any one, also what heaven is in the spiritual world and what heaven is in the natural world, and yet it is important to know this, because THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 35 it is the end of the Divine Providence, I wish to set it in some light, in this order. I. That heaven is con- junction with the Lord. II. That man from creation is such, that he can be more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord. III. That the more nearly man is con- joined to the Lord, the wiser he becomes. IV. That the more nearly man is conjoined to the Lord, the happier he becomes. V. That the more nearly man is conjoined to the Lord, the more distinctly he appears to himself that he is his own, and the more evidently he takes notice that he is the Lord's. 28. I. That heaven is cotynnction with the Lor^d. Heaven is not heaven from the angels, but from the Lord ; for the love and wisdom in which the angels are, and which make heaven, are not from them, but from the Lord ; yea, are the Lord in them : and because love and wisdom are the Lord's, and are the Lord therein, and love and wisdom make their life, it is also manifest that their life is the Lord's, yea, the Lord : that they live from the Lord, the angels them- selves confess; hence it may be evident, that heaven is conjunction with the Lord. Yet because there is given various conjunction with the Lord, and hence one has not the like heaven as another, it also follows, that heaven is according to conjunction with the Lord : that conjunction is more and more near, also more and more remote, will be seen in the following article. Something shall here be said concerning that conjunc- tion, how it takes place, and what it is : there is con- junction of the Lord with the angels, and of the angels with the Lord, thus reciprocal : the Lord flows into the life's love of the angels, and the angels receive the Lord in wisdom, and by this in turn conjoin them- selves to the Lord. But it is to be well known, that it appears to the angels as if they conjoin themselves to the Lord by wisdom, but still the Lord conjoins them to Himself by wisdom ; for their wisdom is also from the Lord : it is the like, if it is said that the Lord conjoins Himself to the angels by good, and that the angels in turn conjoin themselves to the Lord by truth j 36 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING for all good is of love, and all truth is of Avisdom. But because this reciprocal conjunction is an arcanum which few can understand unless it is explained, I will unfold it, as far as it can be done, by such things as are adequate to comprehension : In the treatise con- cerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 404, 405, it was shown how love conjoins itself to wisdom ; namely, by the affection of knowing from which is the affection of truth, and by the affection of under- standing from which is the perception of truth, and by the affection of seeing that which is known and understood from which is thought : the Lord flows into all these affections, for they are derivations from the life's love of every one, and the angels receive that influx in the perception of truth, and in thought ; for in these the influx appears to them, but not in the affections : now because perceptions and thoughts appear to the angels as if they were theirs, when yet they are from affections, which are from the Lord, therefore that appearance is, that the angels conjoin themselves reciprocally to the Lord, when yet the Lord conjoins them to Himself; for affection itself produces those [perceptions and thoughts,] for affection which is of love is the soul of them ; for no one can perceive and think anything without affection, and every one perceives and thinks according to affection : from these things it is manifest that the reciprocal conjunction of the angels with the Lord is not from them, but as from them. Such too is the conjunction of the I^ord with the church and of the church with the Lord, which is called the celestial and spiritual marriage. 29. All conjunction in the spiritual world is done by looking : when any one there thinks concerning another from an affection of speaking with him, the other becomes present on the spot; and one sees the other face to face: the like is done when any one thinks concerning another from an affection of love; but by this affection, conjanction takes place, but only presence takes place by the other : this is peculiar to the spiritual world : the reason is, because THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 37 all there are spiritual ; it is otherwise in the natural world, in which all are material : in the natural world the like takes place with men in the affections and thoughts of their spirit; but because in the natural world there are spaces, but in the spiritual world spaces are only appearances, therefore in the latter world that takes place actually which takes place in the thought of any spirit. These things are said, that it may be known how the conjunction of the Lord with the angels takes place, and the apparent recip- rocal [conjunction] of the angels with the Lord ; for all the angels turn the face to the Lord, and the Lord looks at them in the forehead, and the angels look at the Lord with the eyes ; the reason is, because the forehead corresponds to love and its affections, and the eyes correspond to wisdom and its perceptions : yet still the angels do not of themselves turn the face to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Himself, and turns them by influx into their life's love, and by it enters into the perceptions and thoughts, and thus turns them round. There is such a circle of love to the thoughts, and from the thoughts to love from love, in all things of the human mind ; Avhich circle may be called the circle of life. Concerning these, some things may also be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, as. That the angels constantly turn their face to the Lord, as a sun, n. 129 to 134. That all the interiors, as well of the mind as of the body of the angels, are in like manner turned to the Lord as a sun, n. 135 to 139. That every spirit, whatever he may be, in like manner turns himself to his reigning love, n. 140 to 14-5. That love conjoins itself to wisdom, and causes that wisdom should be reciprocally conjoined, n. 410 to 412. That the angels are in the Lord, and that the Lord is in them; and that, because the angels are recipients, the Lord alone is heaven, n. 113 to 118. 30. The Lord's heaven in the natural world is called the church, and an angel of this heaven is a man of the church who is conjoined to the Lord ; he 4 38 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING also, after his departure from tlie world, becomes an angel of the spiritual heaven : from which it is mani- fest, that the like to wliat is said concerning the angelic heaven is to be nnderstood concerning the human heaven, which is called the church. The reciprocal conjunction with the Lord, which makes heaven with man, is revealed by the Lord in these words in John : ^^ Remain in me, also I in you; he ivho I'emaineth in me, and I in him, beareth much fruit ; because without me ye cannot do anything^'' xv. 4, 5, 7. 3L From these things it may be evident, that the Lord is heaven, not only with all there in general, but also with every one there in particular; for every angel is a heaven in the least form : from so many heavens as there are angels, is heaven in general : that it is so, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 51 to 58. Since it is so, let not any one cherish this error, which falls into the first thought Math many, that the Lord is in heaven among the angels, or that he is with them as a king is in his kingdom : he is above them as to aspect, in the sun there ; but in them as to the life of their love and wisdom. 32. II. That man from^ creation is such, that he can be m,ore and m^ore nearly conjoined to the Lord, may be evident from the things which were shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in part third, concerning degrees ; in par- ticular from these things there : That there are three discrete degrees, or degrees of altitude, in man from creation, n. 230 to 235. That these three degrees are in every man by birth ; and that as they are opened, man is in the Lord, and the Lord in him, n. 236 to 241. And that all perfections increase and ascend with degrees, and according to them, n. 199 to 204: from which it is manifest, that man is such from creation, that by means of degrees he can be more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord. But it is by all means to be known, what degrees are, and that they are of a double kind, degrees discrete or of altitude, THE DIVIN'K PKOViDKN'CE. 39 and degrees continuous or of latitude, and what their difference is ; also that every man from creation, and thence from birth, has the three discrete degrees, or those of ahitude ; and that man comes into the first degree, which is called natural, when he is born, and that he may increase this degree with himself by con- tinuity, even till it becomes rational; and that he comes into the second degree, which is called spirit- ual, if he lives according to the spiritual laws of order, which are divine truths; and that he may also come into the third degree, which is called celestial, if he lives according to the celestial laws of order, which are divine goods. These degrees are actually opened with man by the Lord according to his life in the world, but not perceptibly and sensibly till after his departure out of the world ; and as they are opened and afterwards perfected, so man is more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord. This conjunction may be increased to eternity by approach, and also is in- creased to eternity with the angels ; but still, an angel cannot arrive at the first degree of the love and wis- dom of the Lord, or touch it ; because the Lord is infinite, and an angel is finite, and no ratio of infinite and finite is given. Since no one can understand the state of man, and the state of his elevation and ap- proximation to the Lord, unless he knows these degrees, therefore these degrees were particularly treated of in the treatise concerning the Divine Love AND Divine Wisdom, from n. 173 to 281. which may be seen. 33. It shall be said in few words how man can be more nearly conjoined to the Lord, and then how that conjunction appears nearer and nearer. Hoic man is tnore and more nearly conjoined to the Lord: this is not done by science alone, nor by intelligence alone, yea, neither by wisdom alone, but by life conjoined to them: man's life is his love, and love is manifold; in general it is the love of evil and the love of good : the love of evil is the love of committing adultery, of revenging, of defrauding, of blaspheming, of depriving 40 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Others of their goods : the love of evil in thinking and doing these things feels pleasure and delight: the derivations which are the affections of this love, are just as many as are the evils towards which it has determined itself; and the perceptions and thoughts of this love are just as many as are the falsities which favor those evils and confirm them: these falsities make one with the evils, as the understanding makes one with the will ; they are not separated from each other, because one is of the other. Now because the Lord flows into the life's love of every one, and through his affections into the perceptions and thoughts, and not the reverse, as was said above, it follows that he can- not conjoin himself nearer, than as the love of evil with its affections, which are concupiscences, is re- moved ; and because these reside in the natural man, and whatever man does from the natural man he feels to do as of himself, therefore man ought as of himself to remove the evils of that love ; and then, as far as he removes them, so far the Lord approaches nearer, and conjoins Himself to him : every one can see from reason, that concupiscences with their delights block up and shut the doors before the Lord, and that they cannot be cast out by the Lord, as long as man him- self holds the doors shut, and from without presses and pushes lest they be opened : that man himself ought to open, is manifest from the words of the Lord in the Apocalypse : " Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any one hear tny voice, and open the door, I will enter to him, and will sup with him, and he with «ie," iii. 20. Hence it is manifest, that as far as any one shuns evils as diabolical, and as opposing the entrance of the Lord, so far he is more and more nearly conjoined to the Lord ; and he the most nearly, who abominates them as so many dark and fiery devils ; for evil and the devil are one, and the falsity of evil and Satan are one : since as the influx of the Lord is into the love of good, and into its affections, and through these into the perceptions and thoughts, which all derive from the good in which man is, that THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 41 they are truths; so the influx of the devil, that is, of hell, is into the love of evil and its affections which are concupiscences, and through them into the percep- tions and thoughts, which all derive from the evil in which man is, that they are falsities. Hoio that con- junction appears nearer and nearer. The more evils are removed in the natural man by the shunning and loathing of them, the more nearly man is con- joined to the Lord; and because love and wisdom, which are the Lord Himself, are not in space, for affection which is of love and thought which is of wisdom have nothing in common with space, there- fore the Lord appears nearer, according to conjunc- tion by love and wisdom ; and in turn more remote, according to the rejection of love and wisdom: space is not given in the spiritual world, but there distances and presences are appearances according to similarities and dissimilarities of affections; for, as was said, af- fections which are of love, and thoughts which are of wisdom, and in themselves spiritual, are not in space ; concerning which subject may be seen the things Avhich were shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 7 to 10, and n. 69 to 72, and elsewhere. The conjunction of the Lord with man, with whom evils are removed, is under- stood by these words of the Lord, " The pure in heart shall see God,'^ Matt. v. 8, and by these, " ii/e who hath my precepts, and doeth them, loith him I will make an abode,''^ John xiv. 21, 23 : to have precepts is to know, and to do precepts is to love; for it is also said, he who doeth my precepts, he it is who loveth me. 34. III. TJiat the more nearly man is conjoined to the Lord, the wiser he becomes. Since there are three degrees of life with man from creation, and thence from nativity, concerning which just above, n. 32, there are especially three degrees of wisdom with him : these are the degrees which are opened with man according to conjunction ; they are opened ac- cording to love, for love is conjunction itself: but the ascent of love according to degrees is not perceived by 4# 42 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING man, except obscurely; but the ascent of wisdom is clearly, with those who know and see what wisdom is. The cause that the degrees of wisdom are per- ceived, is because love enters through the affections into the perceptions and thoughts, and these set them- selves in the internal sight of the mind, which corres- ponds to the external sight of the body ; hence it is, that the wisdom appears, but not so the affection of love which produces it : this is the like as with all things which are actually done by man; it is per- ceived how the body operates them, but not how the mind does; so too it is perceived how man meditates, perceives, and thinks, but not how their soul, which is the affection of good and truth, produces them. But there are three degrees of wisdom, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial : in the natural degree of wisdom is man while he lives in the world; this degree with him can then be perfected to its highest, but still cannot enter the spiritual degree, because this degree is not continued to the natural degree by continuity, but is conjoined to it by correspondences : in the spiritual degree of wisdom man is after death, and this degree is also such, that it can be perfected to its highest, but still cannot enter the celestial degree of wisdom ; because neither is this degree continued to the spirit- ual by continuity, but is conjonied to it by corres- pondences : from these things it may be evident, that wisdom can be elevated in a triplicate ratio, and that in either degree it can be perfected in a simple ratio to its highest. He who comprehends the elevations and perfections of these degrees, can in some measure perceive that which is said concerning angelic wisdom, that it is ineffable; it is also so ineffable, that a thou- sand ideas of the thought of the angels from their wisdom cannot fix above one idea of the thought of men from their wisdom ; those nine hundred and ninety-nine ideas of the thought of the angels cannot enter, for they are things supernatural: that it is so, has many times been given to know by living experi- ence. But, as was said before, no one can come into THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 43 that ineffable wisdom of the angels, except by con- junction with the Lord, and according to it; for the Lord above opens the spiritual degree and the celestial degree, yet only with those who are wise from Him ; and those are wise from the Lord who reject the devil, that is, evil, from themselves. 35. But let no one believe that any one has wisdom, because he knows many things, and perceives them in a certain light, and because he can speak them intelligently, unless it is conjoined to love ; for love, by its affections, produces it : if it is not conjoined to love, it is as a meteor which vanishes in the air, and as a falling star ; but wisdom conjoined to love is as the permanent light of the sun, and as a fixed star: man has the love of wisdom, so far as he loathes the diabolical crew, which are the concupiscences of evil and falsity. 36. The wisdom which comes to perception, is the perception of truth from the affection of it, especially the perception of spiritual truth; for there is civil truth, moral truth, and spiritual truth : those who are in the perception of spiritual truth from the affection, of it, are also in the perception of moral and civil truth; for the affection of spiritual truth is the soul of the latter. I have sometimes spoken with the angels concerning wisdom, who said that wisdom is conjunc- tion with the Lord, because the Lord is wisdom itself; and that he comes into that conjunction who rejects hell from himself, and so far into it as he rejects : they said that they represent wisdom to themselv^es as a magnificent and most highly furnished palace, into which one ascends by twelve steps; and that no one comes to the first step, except from the Lord by con- junction with Him ; and that any one asce;ids accord- ing to conjunction; and that as he ascends he perceives that no one is wise from himself, but from the Lord; also that the things upon which he is wise, compared with the things upon which he is not wise, are as a few drops to a great lake. By the twelve steps to the 44 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING palace of wisdom are signified goods conjoined to truths and truths conjoined to goods. 37. IV. That the nearer man is conjoined to the Lord, the happier he becom,es. Like things as were said above, n. 32 to 34, concerning the degrees of Hfe and wisdom according to conjunction with the Lord, may also be said concerning the degrees of happiness ; for happinesses, or blessednesses and pleasantnesses, ascend, as the higher degrees of the mind, which are called the spiritual and celestial, are opened with man; and these degrees, after his life in the world, increase to eternity. 38. No man who is in the delights of the concupis- cences of evil can know anything concerning the delights of the affections of good, in which the angelic heaven is ; for those delights are altogether opposite to each other in internals, and hence interiorly in ex- ternals, but yet they differ little on the very surface ; for all love has its delights, even the love of evil with those who are in concupiscences; as the love of committing adultery, of revenging, of defrauding, of stealing, of being cruel ; yea, with the worst, of blaspheming the holy things of the church, and of prating out venom against God : the fountain-head of these delights is the love of ruling from the love of self: these delights are from the concupiscences which beset the interiors of the mind ; from them they flow down into the body, and there excite unclean things, which titillate the fibres : thence from the delight of the mind according to concupiscences arises the delight of the body : what and of what quality are the unclean things which titillate the fibres of their body, is given to any one to know after death in the spiritual world ; they are in general cadaverous, excrementitious, stercora- ceous, nidorous and urinous ; for their hells are full of such unclean things : that these are correspondences, some things may be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 422 to 424 : but after they have entered into hell, those foul delights are turned into direfulnesses. These things THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 45 are said, that it may be understood what and of what quaHty the happiness of heaven is, concerning which it now follows; for every thing is known from its opposite. 39. The blessednesses, felicities, delightsomenesses and pleasantnesses, in a word, the happinesses of heaven, cannot be described with words; but in heaven they can be perceived by sense ; for that which is perceived by sense alone cannot be described, because it does not fall into the ideas of thonght, and hence neither into words; for the understanding alone sees, and sees those things which are of wisdom or truth, but not those things which are of love or good ; where- fore those happinesses are inexpressible, but still they ascend in a like degree with wisdom : their varieties are infinite, and each one ineffable: I have heard this and have perceived this. But those happinesses enter as man removes the concupiscences of the love of evil and falsity, as if of himself, but still of the Lord; for those happinesses are the happinesses of the affec- tions of good and truth, and these are opposite to the concupiscences of the love of evil and falsity : the happinesses of the affections of the love of good and truth begin from the Lord, thus from the inmost, and thence diffuse themselves into the lower things, even to the ultimates, and thus fill an angel, and cause that as a whole he should be as it were a delight. Such happinesses, with infinite varieties, are in every affec- tion of good and truth, especially in the affection of wisdom. 40. The delights of the concupiscences of evil and the delights of the affections of good cannot be com- pared, because interiorly in the delights of the concu- piscences of evil is the devil, and interiorly in the delights of the affections of good is the Lord : if they are to be compared, the delights of the concupiscences of evil cannot be otherwise compared than with the lascivious delights of frogs in ponds, as also of ser- pents in stenches; but the delights of the affections 46 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING of good may be compared to the delights of minds in gardens and flower-beds ; for hke things as affect frogs and serpents, affect also those in the hells who are in the concupiscences of evil ; and like things as affect the minds in gardens and flower-beds, affect also those in the heavens who are in the affections of good ; for, as was said above, unclean correspondences affect the evil, and clean correspondences affect ihe good. 41. From these things it may be evident, that the nearer any one is conjoined to the I^ord, the happier he becomes ; but this happiness rarely manifests itself in the world, because man is then in the natural state, and the natural does not communicate with the spir- itual by continuity, but by correspondences; and this communication is not felt but by a certain rest and peace of mind, which especially takes place after com- bats against evils : but when man puts off" the natural state, and enters the spiritual state, which is done after departure out of the world, then the happiness above described successively manifests itself. 42. V. That the more nearly man is conjoined to the Lord, the more distinctly he appears to himself as if he vms his own, and the more evidently he takes notice that he is the Lord's. It is according to appear- ance, that the nearer any one is conjoined to the Lord, the less he is his own ; such is the appearance with all the evil, and also with those who believe from reli- gion that they are not under the yoke of the law, and that no one can do good of himself; for the former and the latter cannot see otherwise than that not to be permitted to think and will evil, but only good, is not to be one's own ; and because they who are conjoined to the Lord neither will nor can think and will evil, they conclude from appearance with themselves, that this is not to be one's own ; when yet it is altogether the contrary. 43. There is infernal freedom, and there is heavenly freedom: to think and will evil, and, as far as the civil and moral laws do not restrain, to speak and do it, is from infernal freedom; but to think and do THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 47 good, and, as far as opportunity is given, to speak and do it, is from heavenly freedom : whatever man thinks, wills, speaks and does from freedom, lie perceives as his own ; for all freedom every one has from his love ; wherefore they who are in the love of evil, do not perceive otherwise than that infernal freedom is freedom itself; but they who are in the love of good, perceive that heavenly freedom is freedom itself; con- sequently, that the opposite is slavery to both : but still, it cannot be denied by any one, but that the one or the other is not freedom ; for two freedoms, oppo- site in themselves, cannot in themselves be freedoms ; moreover, it cannot be denied, but that to be led by good is freedom, and to be led by evil is slavish ; for, to be led by good is to be led by the Lord, and to be led by evil is to be led by the devil : now because all that which he does from freedom appears to man as his own, for this is of his love, and to do from his love is to do from freedom, as was said above, it follows that conjunction with the Lord causes that man appears to himself free, and thence his own ; and the nearer the conjunction with the Lord is, the more free, and thence the more his own. That he appears to himself the more distinctly as his own, is because the Divine Love is such, that what is its own it wills should be another's, thus man's and angel's : all spir- itual love is such, and most so the Divine Love : and moreover, the Lord never compels any one, because all that to which any one is compelled does not appear as his own ; and what does not appear as his own, cannot become of his love, and thus be appro- priated to him as his own ; wherefore man is contin- ually led in freedom by the Lord, and also is reformed and regenerated in freedom. But concerning this thing more will be said in the following pages: some things may also be seen above, n. 4. 44. But that man, the more distinctly he appears to himself as his own, the more evidently takes notice that he is the Lord's, is because the nearer he is con- joined to the Lord, the wiser he becomes, as was 48 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING shown above, n. 34 to 36; and wisdom teaches it, and also takes notice of it; the angels of the third heaven too, because they are the wisest of the angels, perceive it, and also call it freedom itself; but to be led by one's self they call slavery : the cause they also say is, that the Lord does not flow in immediately into the things which are of their perception and thought from wisdom, bTit into the affections of the love of good, and through the latter into the former ; and that they perceive the influx in the affection, from which they have wisdom; and that then all that they think from wisdom appears as from themselves, thus as their own ; and that hereby reciprocal conjunction takes place. 45. Since the Divine Providence of the Lord has for its end a heaven from the human race, it follows that it has for its end the conjunction of the human race with Himself, concerning which, n. 28 to 31 : also, that it has for its end that man should be more and more nearly conjoined to Him, concerning which, n. 32, 33 ; for thus he has heaven interiorly : as also, that it has for its end that man may by that conjunction become wiser, concerning which, n. 34 to 36 ; and that he may become happier, concerning which, n. 37 to 41 ; because man has heaven from wisdom and according to it; and through it also happiness: and at length, that it has for its end that man may more distinctly appear to himself as his own, and still the more evi- dently take notice that he is the Lord's; concerning which, n. 42 to 44. All these things are of the Divine Providence of the Lord, because all these are heaven, which is for its end. THAT THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE OF THE LORD, IN ALL THAT IT DOES, REGARDS THE INFINITE AND THE ETERNAL. 46. It is known in the christian world, that God is infinite and eternal ; for in the doctrine of the trinity, which has its name from Athanasius, it is said that God the Father is infinite, eternal, and omnipotent j THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 49 in like manner God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit ; and yet that there are not three infinites, eternals, and omnipotents, but one : from these things it follows, that because God is infinite and eternal, nothing else can be predicated concerning God but the infinite and the eternal. But what the infinite and the eternal are, cannot be comprehended by the finite, and also can : it cannot be comprehended, because the finite is not capable of the infinite; and it can be comprehended, because abstract ideas are given, by which it may be seen what things are, although not of what quality they are : such ideas are given concerning the infinite ; as that God, because he is infinite, or the Divine, because it is infinite, is being itself; that it is essence and substance itself; that it is love itself and wisdom itself, or that it is good itself and truth itself; thus that it is the Very, yea, that it is very man : so too if it is said that the infinite is the all [omne], as that infinite wisdom is omniscience, and infinite power is omnipotence. But still, these things fall into the obscure of thought, and from incomprehensibleness perhaps into the negative, unless there be abstracted from the idea those things which the thought draws from nature, especially those from the two things proper to nature, which are space and time ; for these cannot but limit ideas, and cause that abstract ideas should be as if not anything : but if they can be abstracted with man, as is done with an angel, then can the infinite, by means of those things which were now named above, be comprehended ; and hence also, that man is something, because he was created by the infinite God, who is the all ; also that man is finite substance, because he was created by the infinite God, who is substance itself; as also, that man is wisdom, because he was created by the infinite God, who is wisdom itself, and so on ; for, unless the infinite God was the all, the substance itself, and wisdom itself, man would not be anything; thus either nothing, or only an idea that he is ; according to the visionaries who are called idealists. From the things which 5 50 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING were shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love AND Divine Wisdom, it is manifest, That the Divine Essence is love and wisdom, n. 28 to 39. That the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom are substance itself and form itself; and that it is the Very and the Only, n. 40 to 46 : and that God created the universe and all things of it from Himself, and not from nothing, n. 282 to 284 : hence it follows that every created thing, and especially man, and love and wisdom in him, are something, and not only the idea that they are; for, unless God was infinite, there would not be a finite; also, unless the infinite was the all, there would not be anything: and unless God created all things from Himself, there would be a none or nothing; in a word, We ake because God Is. 47. Now because the Divine Providence is treated of, and here that in everything which it does it regards the infinite and the eternal, and this cannot be dis- tinctly set forth unless in some order, therefore the order shall be this. L That the infinite in itself and the eternal in itself is the same as the Divine. H. That the infinite and eternal in itself cannot do other- wise than regard the infinite from itself in finites. HI. That the Divine Providence, in all that it does, regards the infinite and eternal from itself, especially in saving the human race. IV. That an image of the infinite and the eternal is extant in the angelic heaven from the human race saved. V. That to regard the infinite and the eternal in forming an angelic heaven, that it may be before the Lord as one man, who is His image, is the inmost of the Divine Providence. 48. I. That the infinite in itself and the eternal in itself is the same as the Divine, may be evident from the things which were shown in many places in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom. That the infinite in itself and the eternal in itself is the Divine, is according to the angelic idea : the angels by the infinite understand nothing else but the Divine Being, and by the eternal the Divine Exist- ing. But that the infinite in itself and the eternal in THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 51 itself is the Divine, can both be seen by men, and cannot be seen ; it can be seen by those who think concerning the infinite not from space, and concerning the eternal not from time; but it cannot be seen by those who think concerning the infinite and the eter- nal from space and time : thus it can be seen by those who think more elevatedly, that is, more interiorly in the rational : but it cannot be seen by those who think lower, that is, more exteriorly. Those by whom it can be seen, think that an infinite of space cannot be given; just so neither an infinite of time, which is an eternity from which things are ; because the infinite is without a first and last end, or without limits : they think also that neither can an infinite from itself be given, because from itself puts limit and beginning, or a prior from which it is; consequently that it is unmeaning to say the infinite and eternal from itself, because that would be as if it were said, being from itself, which is contradictory; for an infinite from itself would be an infinite from an infinite, and being from itself would be being from being; and this infi- nite and being would either be the same as the infinite, or would be finite. From these and the like things, which may be seen interiorly in the rational, it is manifest, that there is an infinite in itself and an eter- nal in itself; and that the former and the latter is the Divine from which all things are. 49. I know that many will say with themselves, How can any one comprehend anything interiorly in his rational without space and without time? and that this not only is, but also that it is the all, and that it is the Very, from which all things are : but think interiorly, whether love or any affection of it, or wisdom or any perception of it, yea, whether thought, is in space and in time ; and you v/ill dis- cover that they are not ; and since the Divine is love itself and wisdom itself, it follows that the Divine cannot be conceived in space and time ; so neither the infinite : that this may be more clearly perceived, consider whether thought is in time and space ; sup^ 52 ANGELIC "WISDOM CONCERNING pose a lapse of it of ten or twelve hours ; may not this space of time appear as one or two hours 1 and may it not appear as one or two days? it appears according to the state of the affection from which the thought is : if it is an afiection of gladness, in which time is not thought of, the thought of ten or twelve hours is scarcely of one or two ; but the contrary, if it is an affection of pain, in which time is attended to : from which it is manifest that time is only an appearance according to the state of the affection from which thought IS : it is the like with distance of space in thought, whether you are walking or journeying. 50. Since angels and spirits are affections which are of love, and thoughts thence, therefore neither are they in space and time, but only in the appearance of them : the appearance of space and time is to them according to the states of the affections and thence of the thoughts : wherefore, when any one thinks about another from affection, with the intention that he wishes to see him, or to speak with him, he is set forthwith present. Hence it is, that spirits are pre- sent with every man, who are in like affection with him ; evil spirits with him who is in the affection of like evil, and good spirits with him who is in the affection of like good : and they are so present, as when one is included in society : space and time make nothing towards presence, for the reason that affection and thence thought are not in space and time; and spirits and angels are affections and thence thoughts. That it is so, has been given to know from a living experience of many years; and also from this, that I have spoken with many after death, as well with those who were in Europe and its various king- doms, as with those who were in Asia and Africa and their various kingdoms ; and they were all near me ; wherefore, if there had been space and time to them, journeying and the time of journeying would have intervened. Yea, every man knows this from what is implanted in himself or in his mind; which became evidenced to me by this, that no one thought THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 53 of any distance of space, when I related what I have spoken with any one deceased in Asia, Africa, or Europe; as, for example, with Calvin, Luther, Me- lanchthon, or with any king, officer, or priest, in a distant country; and it did not at all fall into their thoughts, how one could speak with those who lived there, and how they could come to and be present with him, when yet lands and seas intervene : from this it has also been manifest to me, that no one thinks from space and time, when he thinks con- cerning those who are in the spiritual world. That they yet have the appearance of space and time, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 162 to 169, n. 191 to 199. 51. From these things it may now be evident, that one must think concerning the infinite and eternal, thus concerning the Divine, without time and space • and that one can so think ; and also that those do so think who think interiorly in the rational ; and that then the infinite and eternal is the same as the Divine : thus think angels and spirits : from thought abstracted from time and space is comprehended the divine omnipresence and the divine omnipotence, also the Divine from eternity; but not at all from thought to which clings an idea from space and time. From these things it is manifest that it is possible to think concerning God from eternity, but never concerning natnre from eternity; consequently that it is possible to think concerning the creation of the universe by God, but not at all concerning creation from nature ; for space and time are proper to nature, but the Divine is without them. That the Divine is without space and time, may be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 7 to 10, 69 to 72, 73 to 76, and elsewhere. 52. H. That the infinite and eternal iti itself can- not do otherwise than look at the infinite and eternal from itself in finites. By the infinite and eternal in itself is understood the Divine itself, as was shown in the article just preceding; by finites arc understood 5# 54 ANGELIC WISDOM COIVCEENING all things created from it, and especially men, spirits, and angels; and by looking at the infinite and eternal from itself, is to look at the Divine, that is, to itself in them, as man looks at the image of himself in a mir- ror : that it is so, was shown in many places in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom, chiefly where it was demonstrated, that in the created universe there is an image of man, and that there is an image of the infinite and the eternal, n. 317, 318, thus an image of God the creator, that is, of the Lord from eternity. Yet it is to be known, that the Divine in itself is in the Lord, but the Divine from itself is the Divine from the Lord in created things. 53. But that this may be more fully understood, it is to be illustrated. The Divine cannot look at any- thing else than the Divine, and cannot look at that elsewhere than in things created from itself: that it is so, is evident from this, that no one can look at another, but from his own in himself; he who loves another, looks at him from his own love in himself; he who is wise looks at another from his own wisdom in himself: he can indeed see that the other either loves him, or does not love him ; also that he either is Avise, or is not wise ; but he sees this from love and from wisdom in himself; wherefore he so far conjoins himself to him as the other loves himself as he loves him, or as the other is wise like himself, for thus they make a one. It is the like with the Divine in itself, for the Divine in itself camiot look at itself from another, as from man, spirit and angel ; for they have nothing of the Divine in itself, from which they are, and to look at the Divine from another in which is nothing of the Divine, would be to look at the Divine from no Divine, which is not given ; hence it is, that the Lord is so conjoined to man, spirit and angel, that everything which has relation to the Divine, is not from them but from the Lord; for it is known, that every good and every truth which any one has, is not from him, but from the Lord ; yea, that no one can THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 55 even name the Lord, or His names Jesus and Christ, except from Himself. Hence now it follows, that the infinite and eternal, which is the same as the Divine, looks at all things infinitely in finite ones, and that it conjoins itself to them according to the degree of the reception of wisdom and love with them. In a word, the Lord cannot have an abode, and dwell with man and angel, except in His own, and not in their pro- prium, for this is evil ; and if it were good, still it is finite, which in itself and from itself is not able to receive the infinite. From these things it is manifest, that it can never be given, that a finite one should look at the infinite, but that it is given that an infi- nite one should look at the infinite from itself in finites. 54. It appears as if the infinite could not be con- joined to the finite, because there is not given a ratio between the infinite and the finite, and because the finite is not able to receive the infinite ; but still, con- junction is given, as well because the infinite one from himself created all things, according to the things which were demonstrated in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 282 to 284, as because the infinite one cannot look at anything else in finites but the infinite from itself, and that this may appear with finite ones as in them ; thus there is given a ratio between the finite and the infinite, not from the finite, but from the infinite in the finite: and also the finite one is thus able to receive the infinite, not the finite one in himself, but as in himself, from the infi- nite from itself in him. Bat more concerning these things in what now follows. 55. III. That the Divine Providence, in all that it does^ looks at the infinite and eternal from itself^ espe- cially ill saving the human race. The infinite and eternal in itself is the Divine itself or the Lord in Himself; but the infinite and eternal from itself is the proceeding Divine or the Lord in others created from Himself, thus in men and in angels; and this Divine is the same as the Divine Providence ; for the Lord 56 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING through the Divine from Himself provides that all things should be kept together in the order in which and into which they were created: and because the proceeding Divine operates this, it follows that all this is the Divine Providence. 56. That the Divine Providence, in all that it does, looks at the infinite and eternal from itself, may be evident from this, that every created thing proceeds from the first, which is the infinite and eternal one, to ultimates, and from ultimates to the first from which it is, as was shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in the part where the creation of the universe is treated of; and because in all progression there is inmostly a first from which it is, it follows that the proceeding Divine or the Divine Providence, in all that it does, looks at a cer- tain image of the infinite and eternal ; this it looks at in all things, but in some to the evidentness of percep- tion, and in some not to it : it presents that image to the evidentness of perception in the variety of all things, and in the fructification and multiplication of all things. An image of the infinite and eternal in the variety of all things appears in this, that there is not given anything the same as another, and that it neither can be given to eternity : this is manifest to the eye in the faces of men from the first creation ; just so too from their minds {aninms^^ of which the faces are types ; and also from the affections, perceptions, and thoughts, for the minds {animus] are from these. Hence it is, that neither are there given in the univer- sal heaven two angels or two spirits the same; yea, that neither can they be given to eternity : it is the like in every object of sight in both worlds, as well the natural as the spiritual : from these things it may be evident, that variety is infinite and eternal. A71 im^age of the infinite and eternal in the fructification and multiplication of all things, is evident from the faculty implanted in seeds in the vegetable kingdom, and in prolification in the animal kingdom, especially in the race of fishes, which, if fructified and multiplied THE DIVINE PROAHDENCE. 57 according to faculty, would within an age fill the space of the whole world, yea, of the universe; from which it is manifest, that in that faculty lies hid the etibrt of the propagation of itself to infinity : and because fruc- tifications and multiplications have not been wanting from the beginning of creation, neither will be wanting to eternity, it follows that in that faculty is also the effort of the propagation of itself to eternity. 57. It is the like in men, as to their affections which are of love, and perceptions which are of wis- dom ; of the former and the latter, the variety is infi- nite and eternal ; in like manner their fructifications and midtiplications, which are spiritual: no man takes pleasure in affection and perception so like another's that they are the same, nor can they be given to eternity : and affections can also be fructified and perceptions multiplied without end : that sciences can never be exhausted, is known. This faculty of fruc- tification and multiplication without end, or to infinity and eternity, is in natural things with men, in spiritual things with the spiritual angels, and in celestial things with the celestial angels. Not only are affections, perceptions, and sciences such in general, but also everything of them, even the least, in particular. They are such, because they exist from the infinite and eternal in itself by the infinite and eternal from itself But because the finite has not anything of the Divine in itself, therefore there is not anything such, not even the least, in man or angel as his ; for man and angel is finite, and only a receptacle, in itself dead : his living principle is from the proceeding Divine conjoined to him by contiguity, which appears to him as his. That it is so, will be seen in what fol- lows. 58. That the Divine Providence especially looks at the infinite and eternal from itself in saving the human race, is because the end of the Divine Providence is a heaven from the human race, as was shown above, n. 37 to 45 ; and because that is the end, it follows that it is the reformation and regeneration of man, thus 58 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING his salvation, which the Divine Providence especially looks at ; for, from the saved or regenerated, heaven exists. Since to regenerate man is to unite good and truth in him, or love and wisdom, as they are united in the Divine which proceeds from the Lord, therefore the Divine Providence especially looks at this in saving the human race : the image of the infinite and eternal is nowhere else with man but in the marriage of good and truth. That the proceeding Divine does this in the human race, is known from those who, filled with the proceeding Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit, have prophesied, who are mentioned in the Word; and from those who, being illustrated, see divine truths in the light of heaven ; especially among the angels, who perceive presence, influx and conjunction by sense ; but these also observe that conjunction is no other than what is called adjunction. .59. It is not yet known that the Divine Providence, in all progression with man, looks at his eternal state ; for it can look at nothing else, because the Divine is infinite and eternal, and the infinite and eternal or the Divine is not in time, and hence all future things are present to it; and because the Divine is such, it follows that in each and every thing which it does is the eternal. Yet they who think from time and space, perceive this with difficulty, not only because they love temporal things, but also because they think from the present in the world and not from the present in hea- ven ; this is as absent from them as the end of the earth : but they who are in the Divine do also thhik from the eternal when from the present, because from the Lord, saying with themselves. What is that which is not eternal? is not the temporal respectively as nothing? and it also becomes nothing when it is ended: the eternal is otherwise; this alone is, because its being is not ended : to think thus is while thinking from the present to think at the same time from the eternal ; and when man so thinks, and at the same time so lives, then the proceeding Divine with him, or the Divine Providence, in all progression, looks at THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 59 the state of his eternal Hfe in heaven, and leads to it. That the Divine in every man, as well evil as good, looks at the eternal, will be seen in the following. 60. IV. That an image of the infinite and eternal is extant in the angelic heaven. Among the things necessary to be known is also the angelic heaven, for every one Avho has any religion thinks of it, and wishes to come thither; but heaven is given to no others but those who know the way to it, and walk in it : this way may also be somewhat known from a knowledge of what quality those are who constitute it, and that no one becomes an angel, or comes into heaven, except him who carries the angelic with him out of the world; and in the angelic there is the knowledge of the way from walking in it, and the walking in the way by the knowledge of it. In the spiritual world there are also actually ways, which tend to every society of heaven, and to every one of hell; and each sees his own way as of himself: that he sees it, is because there are ways there for every love, and love opens it, and leads to associates; no one sees any other ways but that of his own love : from which it is manifest that angels are nothing but heavenly loves, for otherwise they would not see the ways tending to heaven. But this may be better evident from the description of heaven. 61. Every spirit of man is affection and thence thought, and because all affection is of love, and thought is of the understanding, every spirit is his own love and thence his own understanding ; which is the cause that when man thinks only from his spirit, which is done when he meditates with himself at home, he thinks from the affection which is of his love: it may hence be evident that man, when he becomes a spirit, which takes place after death, is the affection of his own love, and not any other thought than what is of his affection : it is an evil affection, which is lust, if he had had the love of evil ; and a good affection, if he had had the love of good : and every one has a good affection, as he had shunned 60 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING evils as sins; and every one has an evil affection, as he had not so shunned evils. Now because all spirits and angels are affections, it is manifest that the universal angelic heaven is nothing but the love of all the affections of good, and thence the wisdom of all perceptions of truth ; and because all good and truth is from the Lord, and the Lord is love itself and wis- dom itself, it follows that the angelic heaven is an image of Him ; and because divine love and divine wisdom in its form is man, it also follows that the angelic heaven cannot be otherwise than in such a form : but concerning this, more will be said in the following article. 62. That the angelic heaven is an image of the infinite and eternal, is because it is an image of the Lord, and the Lord is infinite and eternal. An image of the infinite and eternal itself appears in this, that there are myriads of myriads of angels, of whom heaven is, and that they constitute just as many societies as there are general affections of heavenly love, and that every angel in every society is dis- tinctly his own affection ; and that from so many affections in general and in particular is the form of heaven, which is as a one before the Lord, not other- wise than as man is a one ; and that this form is per- fected to eternity according to plurality, for the more there are that enter the form of divine love, which is the form of forms, the more perfect the union becomes. From these things it is plainly manifest, that an image of the infinite and eternal is extant in the angelic heaven. 63. From the knowledge of heaven given through this brief description, it is manifest that the affection which is of the love of good makes heaven with man : but who knows this at this day? yea. who knows what the affection of the love of good is 7 also that the affections of the love of good are innumerable, yea, infinite ; for, as has been said, every angel is distinctly his own affection, and the form of heaven is the form of all the affections of the divine love THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 61 there. No other can unite all affections into this form, but He who is love itself and at the same time wisdom itself, and at once infinite and eternal ; for the infinite and eternal is in the all of form, the infi- nite in the conjunction, and the eternal in the per- petuity; if the infinite and eternal were taken away from it, it would fall asunder in a moment : who else can unite affections into a form 7 yea, who else can unite a one of it? for a one of it cannot be united, except from a universal idea of all, nor the universal of all, except from a particular idea of each : there are myriads of myriads who compose that form, and there are myriads who enter it yearly, and who will enter to eternity : all infants enter, and as many adults as are affections of the love of good. From these things may again be seen an image of the infinite and eternal in the angehc heaven. 64. V. That to look at the infinite and eternal in fanning the angelic heaven^ that it may be before the Lord as one tnan, v)hich is his i?nage, is the in?nost of the Divine Providence. That the universal heaven is as one man before the Lord, and that every society of heaven is in like manner, and that it is hence that every angel is in perfect form a man, and that this is so because God the creator, who is the Lord from eternity, is man, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 59 to S6. Also that hence there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man, n. 87 to 102. That the universal hea- ven is as one man, has not been seen by me, because the universal heaven cannot be seen by any one, but by the Lord alone ; yet that an entire society of hea- ven, greater or less, appeared as one man, this has been several times seen ; and it was then said, that the greatest society, v/hich is heaven in the whole aggregate, appears in like manner, bat before the Lord ; and that this is the cause that every angel is in all form a man. 65. Since the universal heaven in the sight of the Lord is as one man, therefore heaven is distinguished 6 62 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING into as many general societies as there are organs, viscera and members with man ; and each general society into as many societies, less general or particu- lar, as there are larger parts of each viscns and organ : from which it is manifest of what quality heaven is. Now because the Lord is man himself, and heaven is His image, therefore being in heaven is called being in the Lord : that the Lord is man himself, may be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 11 to 13, n. 285 to 289. 66. From these things may in some measure be seen this arcanum, which may be called angelic, that every affection of good and at the same time of truth is in its form a man ; for whatever proceeds from the Lord, draws from His divine love that it is an affection of good, and from His divine wisdom that it is an affection of truth. The affection of truth which proceeds from the Lord, appears as the perception and thence thought of truth in angel and in man, for the reason that perception and thought are attended to, and very little the affection from which they are, which yet with the affection of truth proceed as one from the Lord. 67. Now because man from creation is a heaven in the least form, and thence an image of the Lord, and because heaven consists of as many affections as there are angels, and every affection is in its form a man, it follows that the continual of the Divine Providence is, that man may become a heaven in form, and thence an image of the Lord ; and because this is done by the affection of good and truth, that he may be- come that affection : this therefore is the continual of the Divine Providence, but its inmost is, that he may be here or there in heaven, or here or there in the divine heavenly man, for thus he is in the Lord. But this takes place with those whom the Lord can lead to heaven ; and because the Lord foresees this, he also continually provides that he may become such ; for thus every one who suffers himself to be led to heaven, is prepared for his place in heaven. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 63 68. Heaven, as was said above, is distinguished into as many societies as there are organs, viscera and members in man; and among the latter there cannot be one part in any other place bat its own : since therefore the angels are such parts in the divine heavenly man, and no others become angels but those who have been men in the world, it follows that man, who suffers himself to be led to heaven, is continually prepared by the Lord for his own place; which is done by such affection of good and truth as corres- ponds : into this place also every man-angel, after his departure out of the world, is inscribed. This is the inmost of the Divine Providence concerning heaven. 69. But man who does not suffer himself to be led to and inscribed in heaven, is prepared for his own place in hell; for man of himself continually tends to the lowest of hell, but is continually led back by the Lord ; and he who cannot be led back, is prepared for a certain place there, in which he is also inscribed immediately after his departure from the world : and this place there is opposite to a certain place in heaven, for hell is in the opposite against heaven ; wherefore as a man-angel according to the affection of good and truth is allotted his place in heaven, so a man-devil according to the affection of evil and falsity is allotted his place in hell ; for two opposites arranged in like position against each other are kept together in connexion. This is the inmost of the Divine Provi- dence concerning hell. THAT THERE ARE LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, WHICH ARE UNKNOWN TO MEN. 70. That there is a Divine Providence, is known ; but of what quality it is, is not known. That it is not known of what quality the Divine Providence is, is because its laws are arcana, hitherto concealed in the wisdom with the angels, but now to be revealed, that to the Lord may be ascribed what is His, and not 64 ANGELTC WISDOM CONCERNING to any man what is not his : for most in the world attribnte all things to themselves and to their own prndence; and the things which they cannot so attri- bnte, they call fortnitons and contingent; not know- ing that imman prudence is nothing, and that fortni- tons and contingent are vain words. It is said that the laws of the Divine Providence are arcana, hitherto concealed in the wisdom with the angels ; the cause is, that in the christian world the understanding in di- vine things is shut up from religion, and hence it has become so blunt and resistant, that man could not because he would not, or would not because he could not, understand anything else concerning the Divine Providence than only that it is, and reason whether it is or is not, as also whether it is only universal or also particular: the understanding, shut up from religion in divine things, could not proceed farther. But because it has been acknowledged in the church that man cannot of himself do good which is in itself good, nor of himself think truth which is in itself truth, and these are one with the Divine Providence, therefore the belief of the one hangs upon the belief of the other ; lest the one therefore should be affirmed and the other denied, and thus both fall, it is by all means to be revealed what the Divine Providence is : yet this cannot be revealed, miless the laws are disclosed by which the Lord provides and governs the voluntary and intellectual things of man ; for the laws give to know its quality ; and whoever knows its quality, he and no other can acknowledge it; for he then sees it: this is the cause that the laws of the Divine Provi- dence, hitherto concealed in the wisdom with the angels, are now revealed. THAT IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHOULD ACT FROM FREEDOM ACCORDING TO REASON. 71. That man has freedom of thinking and willing as he pleases, but not freedom of speaking whatever THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 65 he thinks, nor freedom of doing whatever he wills, is known : wherefore the freedom which is here under- stood is spiritual freedom, and not natural, except when they make one ; for to think and will is spiritual, but to speak and act is natural : they are also mani- festly distinguished with men ; for man can think what he does not speak, and will what he does not do; from which it is manifest that the spiritual and the natural with man are discriminated, wherefore 'man cannot pass from the one to the other except by determination ; which determination may be compared to a door, which is first to be unclosed and opened ; but this door stands as if open with those who think and will from reason according to the civil laws of the kingdom and the moral laws of society, for these speak '* what they think and do as they will to ; but that door stands as if shut with those who think and will against those laws : he who attends to his wishes and thence his deeds, notices that such determination comes in, and many times in one discourse and in one action. These things are premised, that it may be known that by acting from freedom according to reason is under- stood to think and will freely, and thence to speak and do freely what is according to reason. 72. But because few know that this law can be a law of the Divine Providence, from this especially, because thus man has also freedom to think evil and falsity, and yet the Divine Providence is continually leading man to think and will good and truth, there- fore, that this may be perceived, it is necessary to go forward distinctly ; which shall be in this order. I. That man has reason and freedom, or rationality and liberty; and that these two faculties are from the Lord with man. II. That whatever man does from freedom, whether it is of reason or not of reason, pro- vided it is according to his reason, appears to him as his. III. That whatever man does from freedom according to his thought, is appropriated to him as his, and remains. IV. That man through these two faculties is reformed and regenerated by the Lord; 6# 66 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING and that without them he cannot be reformed and regenerated. V. That man by the means of these two faculties can be so far reformed and regenerated as he can through them be led to acknowledge that all the good and truth which he thinks and does is from the Lord and not from himself. VI. That the conjunc- tion of the Lord with man, and the reciprocal con- junction of man with the Lord, takes place by these two faculties. VII. That the Lord guards these two faculties with man inviolate and as sacred in all the- course of His Divine Providence. VIII. That there- fore it is of the Divine Providence that man should act from freedom according to reason. 73. I. That man has reason and freedom, or ration- ality and lihertij ; and that these two facvlties are from, the Lord with man. That man has the faculty of understanding, which is rationality, and the faculty of thinking, willing, speaking and doing that which he understands, which is liberty; and that these two faculties are from the Lord VvMth man. has been treated of in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 264 to 270, 42-5 ; and also above, n. 43, 44. But because many doubts may fall in con- cerning both of these faculties, when there is thought concerning them, I wish in this outset only to set forth something concerning the freedom of acting according to reason with man. But it must first be known that all freedom is of love, therefore that love and freedom are one; and because love is the life of man, freedom is also of his life; for all the delight which man has is from his love; from nowhere else is any delight given ; and to act from the delight of love is to act from freedom, for delight leads man as a stream does tViat which is borne of it according to its current. Now because there are many loves, some concordant and some discordant, it follows that there are in like manner many freedoms : but in general there are given three freedoms, natural, rational and spiritual. Natural Freedom every man has hereditarily; from this man loves nothing else but himself and the world; THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 67 his first life is nothing else ; and because all evils exist from these two loves, and thence evils also become of the love, it follows that to think and will evils is his natural freedom; and when he has confirmed them with himself by reasonings, that he does them from freedom according to his reason : to do so is from his faculty which is called liberty, and to confirm them is from his faculty which is called rationality. As for example, it is from man's love into which he is born that he wishes to commit adultery, to defraud, to blaspheme, to revenge; and when he confirms these evils with himself, and thereby makes them allowable, then from the delight of the love of them he thinks and wills them freely as if according to reason, and as far as the civil laws do not oppose, he speaks and does them : it is from the Divine Providence of the Lord that it is allowed man to act thus, because he has freedom or liberty. In this freedom man is from nature, because hereditarily ; and in this freedom are those who, from the delight of the love of self and the world, have confirmed it with themselves by reason- ings. Rational Freedom is from the love of fame for the sake of honor or for the sake of gain ; the delight of this love is to appear in the external form as a moral man ; and because he loves this fame, he does not defraud, commit adultery, revenge, nor blaspheme; and because these things he makes of his reason, he also from freedom according to his reason acts the sincere, the just, the chaste, the friendly; yea, he can from reason speak well in favor of them : but if his rational is only natural, and not at the same time spiritual, that freedom is only external freedom, but not internal freedom, for he, nevertheless, interiorly does not love those goods, but only exteriorly for the sake of fame, as was said ; wherefore the goods which he does are not in themselves good : he can also say that they are to be done for the sake of the public good, but he does not say this from the love of the public good, but from the love of his honor or gain ; therefore his freedom derives nothing from the love 68 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING of the public good ; nor does his reason, because this assents to the love : wherefore this rational freedom is interiorly natural freedom. This freedom also is from the Divine Providence left to every one. Spiritual Freedom is from the love of eternal life : into this love and its delight no other one comes but he who thinks evils to be sins, and therefore does not will them, and at the same time looks to the Lord : as soon as man does this, he is in that freedom ; for no one is able not to will evils because they are sins, and therefore not to do them, unless it be from interior or superior free- dom, which is from his interior or superior love. This freedom does not appear in the beginning as freedom, but still it is ; yet it afterwards appears so, and then acts from freedom itself according to reason itself, by thinking, willing, speaking and doing good and truth. This freedom increases as natural freedom decreases and becomes a servant ; and it conjoins itself with rational freedom, and purifies it. Every one can come into this freedom, provided he is Avilling to think that there is an eternal life, and that the delightful and the blessed of life in time unto time, is only as a fleeting shadow to the delightful and the blessed of life in eter- nity to eternity ; and man can think this if he wishes, because he has rationality and liberty, and because the Lord, from whom these two faculties are, contin- ually gives that he can. 74. II. That whatever man does from freedom^ whether it he of reason or not of reason^ provided it is according to his reason, appears to him as his. What rationality is, and what liberty, which are proper to man, cannot be more clearly known than by compari- son of men with beasts ; for the latter have not any rationality or faculty of understanding, nor any liberty or faculty of willing freely, and hence they have not understanding and will, but instead of understanding they have science, and instead of will they have atfec- tion, both natural : and because they have not those two faculties, therefore neither have they thought, but instead of thought internal sight, which makes one THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 69 with their external sight by correspondence. Every affection has its mate as a consort : the affection of natural love has science, the atfection of spiritual love intelligence, and the aflection of celestial love wisdom : for affection without its mate as a consort is not any- thing; for it is as being without existing, and as sub- stance without form, concerning which nothing can be predicated: hence it is, that in every created thing there is something which can be referred to the mar- riage of good and truth, as has been shown above in many places : in beasts there is the marriage of aflec- tion and science ; the affection in them is of natural good, and the science is of natural truth. Now because affection and science with them act altogether as one, and their affection cannot be elevated above their sci- ence, nor can tlieir science above their affection, and if elevated, both are elevated together, and because they have not any spiritual mind, into which or into whose light and heat they can be elevated, therefore they have not the faculty of understanding, or ration- ality, nor the faculty of willing freely, or liberty, but mere natural affection with its science : the natural affection which they have is the affection of nourish- ing themselves, of having a habitation, of having off- spring, of shunning and hating harm, with all the science requisite to these things : because such is the state of their life, they cannot think, I will this and I do not will it, nor, I know this and I do not know it, still less, I understand this and I love this; but they are carried along of their aflection by science, without rationality and liberty. That they are so carried along, is not from the natural world, but from the spiritual world; for there is not anything given in the natural world unconnected with the spiritual world ; every cause producing an effect is thence : something on this subject may also be seen below, n. 96. 75. It is otherwise with man, wlio has not only the affection of natural love, but also the aflection of spir- itual love, and the affection of celestial love ; for the human mind is of three degrees, as was shown in the 70 A.NGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING treatise on the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom in part third; wherefore man can be elevated from natural science into spiritual intelUgence, and thence into celestial wisdom, and from these two, intelligence and wisdom, can look at the Lord, and so be conjoined to Him, by which he lives to eternity; yet this elevation as to affection would not be given, unless he had the faculty of elevating the understanding from rationality, and of willing it from liberty. Man can by these two faculties think within himself concerning the things which he perceives by the senses of his body out of himself, and can also think superiorly concerning those things which he thinks inferiorly ; for every one can say, This I have thought and this I think, also, This 1 have willed and this I will, and also, This I understand that it is so, and this I love because it is such, and so on ; hence it is manifest, that man thinks also above thought, and sees it as below himself: man has this from rationality and liberty; from rationality that he can think superiorly, and from liberty that from affection he wills so to think ; for, unless he had the liberty of thinking thus, he would not have will, and hence neither thought. Wherefore they who do not wish to understand anything else but what is of the world and its nature, and not what moral and spiritual good and truth are, cannot be elevated from science into intelligence, still less into wisdom, for they have blocked up these faculties ; wherefore they make themselves no more men, than that they can under- stand from implanted rationality and liberty if they will, and also that they can will. From these two faculties man has it that he can think, and from thought speak : in the rest they are not men, but beasts ; and some, from the abuse of these faculties, worse than beasts. 76. Every one from rationality not veiled over can see or comprehend that man, without the appearance that it is his, cannot be in any affection of knowing, nor in any affection of understanding, for all delight and pleasure, thus the all of will, is from affection THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 71 which is of love : who can will to know and will to understand anything, except he have some pleasure of affection 7 and who can have that pleasure of affec- tion, unless that with which he is affected appears as his 7 if nothing were his, but all another's, that is, if any one from his affections should pour anything into the mind of another, who had no affections of know- ing and understanding as of himself, would he receive it? yea, could he receive? would he not be like that which is called a brute and a block ? hence it may be manifestly evident, that although all things flow in, which man perceives and thence thinks and knows, and according to perception wills and does, still it is of the Divine Providence of the Lord that it should appear as man's; for, as was said, otherwise man would receive nothing, thus no intelligence and wis- dom could be bestowed. It is known that all good and truth is not man's, but is the Lord's, and yet that it appears to man as his ; and because all good and truth so appears, so also do all things of the church and of heaven, and hence all things of love and wis- dom, also ,of charity and faith, so appear ; and yet nothing of them is man's : no one can receive them from the Lord, unless it appears to him that he per- ceives them as of himself From these things may be evident the truth of this thing, that whatever man does from freedom, whether it is of reason or not of reason, provided it is according to his reason, appears to him as his. 77. Who cannot, from his faculty which is called rationality, understand that this or that good is useful to the community, and that this or that evil is hurtful to the community? as that justice, sincerity, and chastity of marriage, are useful to the community; and that injustice, insincerity, and scortation with the wives of others, are hurtful to the community; con- sequently that these evils in themselves are injuries, and that those goods in themselves are benefits : who therefore cannot make them of his reason, provided he wills? he has rationahty, and he has liberty; and his 72 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING rationality and liberty is unveiled, appears, is mode- rated, and gives to perceive and to be able, so far as he for that reason shnns those evils with himself; and as far as he does this, so far he looks to those goods, as a friend to friends. From these things then man can, from his faculty which is called rationality, conclude as to the goods which are useful to the community in the spiritual world, and as to the evils which are hurtful there, if oidy instead of evils he perceives sins and instead of goods the works of charity : this also man can make of his reason, provided he wills; since he has rationality and liberty, and his rationahty and liberty are unveiled, appear, are moderated, and give to perceive and to be able, so far as he shuns those evils as sins ; and as far as he does this, so far he looks to the goods of charity, as a neighbor to a neigh- bor from love on both sides. Now because the Lord, for the sake of reception and conjunction, wills that whatever man does freely according to reason should appear to him as his, and this is according to reason itself, it follows that man, from reason, because it is his eternal happiness, can will, and from imploring the divine power of the Lord, can do this. 78. III. That whatever inari does from freedom according to reason is appropriated to him as his, and remains. The cause is, that the proprinm of man and his freedom make one: man's proprium is his life; and what man does from life, this he does from free- dom : also man's proprium is what is of his love, for love is the life of every one ; and what man does from his life's love, this he does from freedom. The reason that man does it from freedom according to thought, is because that which is of the life or love of any one is also thought, and is confirmed by thought; and when it is confirmed, then he does it from freedom according to thought ; for whatever man does, he does from the will through the understanding, and freedom is of the will, and thought is of the understanding. Man can also from freedom act against reason, also from non-freedom according to reason ; but these are THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 73 not appropriated to man ; they are only of his mouth and body, and not of his spirit or heart; yet those things which are of his spirit or heart, provided they also become of his mouth and body, are appropriated to man : that it is so, may be illustrated by many things, but this is not for this place. By being appro- priated to man is understood, to enter into his life and to become of his life, conseqnently to become his pro- prium. But that there is not any proprinm to man, but that it appears to him as if there was, will be seen in what follows : here only, that all good which man does from freedom according to reason is appropriated to him as his own, because in thinking, willing, speak- ing, and doing, it appears to him as his own ; but yet that the good is not man's, but is the Lord's with man, may be seen above, 76. But how evil is appropriated to man, will be seen in its appropriate article. 79. It is said that that which man does from free- dom according to his thought remains also; for nothing whatever, which man has appropriated to himself, can be eradicated ; for it has become of his love and at the same time of his reason, or of his will and at the same time of his understanding, and hence of his life : this can indeed be removed, but still not cast out; and when it is removed, it is transferred as from the centre to the circumferences, and there stays : this is under- stood by its remaining. As for example, if man in boyhood and youth has appropriated to himself a certain evil by doing it from the delight of his love, as if he has defrauded, blasphemed, revenged, com- mitted whoredom, then because he had done them from freedom according to thought, he has also appro- priated them to himself; but if afterwards he repents, shuns them, and looks upon them as sins which are to be loathed, and thus from freedom according to reason desists from them, then are appropriated to him the goods to which those evils are opposite : these goods then make the centre, and remove the evils towards the circumferences, farther and farther ac- cording to the aversion and loathing of them; yet 7 74 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Still they cannot thus be cast out, so that they may be said to be extirpated; but still by that removal they may appear as extirpated, which is done by man's being held back from evils by the Lord, and held in goods : this is done with all hereditary evil, and in like manner with all the actual evil of man. This also I have seen proved by experience with some in heaven, who, because they were held by the Lord in good, considered themselves to be without evils ; but lest they should believe the good in which they were was proper to them, they were sent down from heaven and sent back into their own evils, until they should acknowledge that they were in evils from themselves, but in goods from the Lord ; after which acknowledgment they were led back into heaven. Let it therefore be known, that those goods are no otherwise appropriated to man than that they are constantly of the Lord with man; and that as far as man acknowledges this, so far the liOrd gives that good may appear to man as his ; that is, that it may appear to man that he loves his neighbor or has charity as of himself, believes or has faith as of him- self, does good and understands truth, thus is wise, as of himself; from which one illustrated can see of what quality and how strong the appearance is, in which the Lord wills that man should be; and the Lord wills this for the sake of his salvation, for no one can be saved without that appearance. Concern- ing these things may also be seen those which were shown above, n. 42 to 45. 80. Nothing is appropriated to man which he only thinks ; yea, neither what he thinks to will, unless he at the same time so far wills it, that when opportunity is given he also does it : the reason is, because while man does it thence, he does it from the will through the understanding, or from the affection of the will through the thought of the understanding: but as long as it is of thought alone, it cannot be appro- priated ; because the understanding does not conjoin itself with the will, or the thought of the understand- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 75 ing with the affection of the will, but the will and its affection conjoins itself with the understanding and its thought, as was shown in many places in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in part fifth. This is understood by these words of the Lord : '■'■Not what enters into the inoutli^ renders man unclean, hut what goes out of the heart through the •mouth renders man unclean,^'' Matt. xv. 11, 17, 18, 19 : by the mouth in the spiritual sense is understood thought, since thought speaks through the mouth, and by the heart in that sense is understood affection which is of love ; if man thinks and speaks from this, then he renders himself unclean : by the heart is also signified affection which is of the love or will, and by the mouth, thought which is of the understanding, in Luke, vi. 45. 81. The evils which man believes allowable, al- though he does not do them, he also appropriates to himself; for what is allowable in thought is from, the will, for there is consent; wherefore when man believes any evil allowable, he looses the internal bond in favor of it, and is held back from doing it only by external bonds, which are fears ; and because the spirit of man favors that evil, therefore the external bonds being removed, he does it as allowable, and in the mean time continually does it in his spirit : but concerning this thing, see the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, n. 108 to 113. 82. IV. That by these tv)o faculties man is reform,ed and regenerated by the Lord, and that without them, he could not be reformed and regenerated. The Lord teaches that unless one is born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God: John iii. 3, 5, 7; but what it is to be born anew or regenerated, is known to few : the reason is, because it has not been known what love and charity is, and hence neither what faith is; for he who does not know what love and charity is, can- not know what faith is, since charity and faith make one, as good and truth do, or as affection Avhich is of the will and thought which is of the understanding j 76 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING which union may be seen treated of in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 427 to 431 ; also in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n, 13 to 24 ; and above, n. 3 to 20. 83. The reason that no one can come into the king- dom of God unless he is born anew, is because man hereditarily from his parents is born into evils of every kind, with the faculty that by the removal of those evils he may become spiritual ; and unless he does become spiritual, he cannot come into heaven : from natural to become spiritual, is to be born again or regenerated. But that it may be known how man is regenerated, these three things are to be considered: what his first state is, which is a state of damnation ; what his second state is, which is a state of reforma- tion ; and what his third state is, which is a state of regeneration. Man's first state^ xohich is a state of damnation, every man has hereditarily from his parents ; for man is thxince born into the love of self and into the love of the world, and. from these as fountains into evils of every kind: the delights of these loves are the things by which he is led, and the delights cause that he may know that he is in evils ;' for every delight of love is no otherwise felt than as good ; wherefore also, unless man is regene- rated, he does not know otherwise than that to love himself and the world above all things is good itself, and that to rule over all and to possess the wealth of all others is the highest good : hence also is all evil, for he looks at no other from love but himself alone ; and if he looks at another from love, it is as a devil at a devil, and as a thief at a thief, when they act as one. They who from the delight of them confirm these loves and the evils welling forth from them, remain natural and become corporeal sensual ; and in their own thought, which is that of their spirit, they are insane ; but still, while they are in the world, they can speak and act rationally and wisely ; for they are men, and hence have rationality and liberty; but this too they do from the love of self and the world. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. T7 These, after death, when they become spirits, cannot have any other dehght than that which they had in their spirit in the world; and that dehght is the dehght of infernal love, which is turned into the undelightful, the dolorific and the direful, which is understood in the AVord by torment and hell-fire. From these things it is manifest, that the first state of man is a state of damnation, and that they are in it who do not suffer themselves to be regenerated. Mmi's second state, loliich is a state of refonnation, is when man begins to think concerning heaven from the joy there, and thus concerning God, from whom is the joy of heaven to him : but he thinks this first from the delight of his love ; this delight is to him the joy of heaven : but as long as the delight of that love, together with the delight of the evils thence welling, reigns, he cannot understand anything else than that to come to heaven is to pour forth prayers, to listen to preachings, to go to the Holy >Supper, to give to the poor, to help the needy, to expend money on churches, to confer endow- ments upon hospitals, and other like things : in this state man knows no otherwise than that merely to think those things which religion teaches saves, whether it is that which is called faith, or that which is called faith and charity : that he does not under- stand otherwise than that to think those things saves, is because he thinks nothing concerning the evils in the delights of which he is, and as long as the delights of them remain, the evils also remain : their delights are from the concupiscence of them, which continually breathes after them, and also produces them, provided no fear restrains. As long as the evils remain in the concupiscences of their love and the delights thence, there is no faith, charity, piety, or worship, except only in externals, which appear before the world as if they were so, but still are not : they may be com- pared to waters emanating from an impure fountain, which cannot be drunk. As long as man is such that he thinks concerning heaven and concerning God from rehgion, and nothing concerning evils as sins, he is 7# 78 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Still in the first state; yet he comes into the second state, or that of reformation, when he begins to think that there is sin, and more that this and that is sin, and when he explores it a little with himself, and does not will it. Man's third state, which is a state of regeneration, follows and is continued from the former state, begins when man desists from evils as sins, pro- gresses as he shuns them, and is perfected as he fights against them; and then, as he conquers from the Lord, he is regenerated. With him who is regene- rated the order of life is turned; from natural it becomes spiritual, for the natural separated from the spiritual is contrary to order, and the spiritual is according to order; wherefore man regenerated acts from charity, and makes that of his faith which is of his charity. But still he no more becomes spiritual than as he is in truths; for every man is regenerated by truths and by a life according to them ; for by truths he knows life, and by life he does them ; thus he conjoins good and truth, which is the spiritual marriage, in which is heaven. 85. That man by those two faculties, which are called rationality and liberty, is reformed and regene- rated, and that without them he cannot be reformed and regenerated, is because by rationality he can understand and know what is evil and what good, and thence what is false and what true; and by liberty he can will that which he understands and knows: but as long as the delight of the love of evil reigns, he cannot freely will good and truth, and make them of his reason; wherefore he cannot appro- priate them to himself; for, as was shown above, the things which man does from freedom according to reason, are appropriated to him as his ; and unless they are appropriated as his, man is not reformed and regenerated: and he then first acts from the delight of the love of good and truth, when the delight of the love of evil and falsity is removed ; for two delights of love opposite to each other are not given at the same time : to act from the delight of love is to act THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 79 from freedom, and because reason favors the love, it is also according to reason. 86. Because man, as well the evil as the good, has rationality and Hberty, he can, the evil as well as the good, nnderstand truth and do good; yet the evil can- not from freedom according to reason, but the good can ; because the evil is in tlie delight of the love of evil, but the good in the delight of the love of good ; wherefore the truth which the evil man understands, and the good which he does, are not appropriated to him, but they are appropriated to the good man ; and without appropriation as his, reformation and regenera- tion are not given ; for, with the evil, evils with falsi- ties are as in the centre, and goods with truths in the circumference ; but with the good, goods with truths are as in the centre, and evils with falsities in the cir- cumference ; and in both cases the things which are of the centre pour themselves forth even to the circum- ference, as heat from fire in the centre, and cold from frost in the centre; thus with the evil the goods in the circumference are defiled from the evils in the centre, and with the good the evils in the circumference grow mild from the goods in the centre ; which is the reason that evils do not damn the regenerate, and goods do not save the unregenerate. 87. V. That man by means of these two faculties can be so far reformed and regenerated, as he ca7i be led by them to acknowledge that all the truth and good which he thinks and does is from the Lord., and not from himself. What reformation is, and what regen- eration, has been told just above ; also that man is reformed and regenerated by those two faculties, which are called rationality and liberty; and because this is done through them, therefore a few things shall still be said concerning them. Man has from rationality that he can understand, and from liberty that he can will, both as from himself; yet the ability to will good from freedom, and thence to do it accord- ing to reason, he has not unless regenerated : the evil can from freedom only will evil, and according to 80 ANGELIC AVISDOM CONCERNING thought, which by confirmations he makes as of rea- son, do it ; for evil can be confirmed equally as good, but evil by fallacies and appearances, which while they are confirmed become falsities ; and when it is confirmed, it appears as of reason. 88. Every one who has any thought from interior understanding, can see that ability to will and ability to understand is not from man, but from Him to whom ability itself is, that is, to whom ability is in its essence : think only whence ability is ; is it not from Him to whom it is in its very power, that is, to whom it is in Himself, and thus from Himself? wherefore ability in itself is the Divine. To all ability there must be supply [copia], which must be given, and thus determination from an interior or superior self: the eye cannot see from itself, nor the ear hear from itself, neither the mouth speak from itself, or the hand do from itself; supply and thence determination must be from the mind : neither can the mind think and will this or that from itself, unless there be some- thing more interior or superior which determines the mind to it ; it is the like with the ability to understand and the ability to will ; these cannot be given from any other than from Him who in Himself is able to will and is able to understand. From Avhich it is manifest that these two faculties, which are called rationality and liberty, are from the Lord, and not from man ; and because they are from the Lord, it follows that man wills nothing whatever from himself, nor understands from himself, but only as from him- self That it is so, every one can confirm with him- self, who knows and believes that the will of all good and the understanding of all truth is from the Lord and not from man. That man cannot take anything from, himself, nor do anything from himself, the Word teaches in John iii. 27, xv. 5. 89. Now because all willing is from love, and all understanding is from wisdom, it follows that the ability to will is from the Divine Love, and the ability to understand is from the Divine Wisdom, thus both THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 81 from the Lord, who is the Divine Love itself and the Divine Wisdom itself Hence it flows, that to act from freedom according to reason is not from else- where. Every one acts according to reason, because freedom, like love, cannot be separated from willing; but with man there is given interior willing and exte- rior Avilling; and he can act according to the exterior, and not at the same time according to the interior; thus he acts the hypocrite and the flatterer ; and still the exterior willing is from freedom, because from the love of appearing otherwise than he is, or from the love of some evil which he intends from a love of the interior will : yet, as was said above, the evil cannot from freedom according to his reason do anything but evil, but cannot from freedom according to reason do good; he can indeed do this, but not from interior freedom, which is his proper freedom, from which exterior freedom derives that it is not good. 90. It is said that man can so far be reformed and regenerated, as he can by these two faculties be led to acknowledge that all the good and all the truth which he thinks and does is from the Lord, and not from himself: that man cannot acknowledge this, except by these two faculties, is because these two faculties are from the Lord, and are the Lord's with man, as is manifest from the things said above; wherefore it follows that man cannot do this from himself, but from the Lord; yet still he can, as of himself; this the Lord gives to every one : suppose that he believes from himself: still, when he is wise, he acknowledges that it is not from himself: otherwise the truth which he thinks, and the good which he does, are not true and good in themselves, for there is man in them, and not the Lord in them ; and good in which man is, if it is for the sake of salvation, is meritorious good ; but good in which the Lord is, is not meritorious. 91. But that the acknowledgment of the Lord, and the acknowledgment that all good and truth is from Him, causes man to be reformed and regenerated, is what few can see with the understanding; for it 82 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING may be thought, what does that acknowledgment do, since the Lord is omnipotent, and wills the salvation of all, and hence that He is able and willing, provided He is moved to mercy ; but to think thus is not from the Lord, thus neither is it from the interior sight of the understanding, that is, from any illustration; wherefore, what acknowledgment operates shall here be told in few words. In the spiritual world, where spaces are only appearances, wisdom makes presence, and love makes conjunction; and the reverse : there is given an acknowledgment of the Lord from wis- dom, and there is given an acknowledgment of the Lord from love ; the acknowledgment of the Lord from wisdom, which viewed in itself is only know- ledge, is given from doctrine ; and the acknowledg- ment of the Lord from love is given from a life accord- ing to it ; the latter gives conjunction, but the former presence ; which is the cause that they who reject the doctrine concerning the Lord, remove themselves from Him ; and because they also reject life, they separate themselves from Him : but they who do not reject doctrine, but life, are present, yet still separated : they are as friends who converse with each other, but do not mutually love each other; and they are as two, one of whom speaks as a friend with the other, but hates him as an enemy. That it is so, is also known from the common idea, that he who teaches well and lives well is saved, but not he who teaches well and lives ill ; also that he who does not acknowledge God cannot be saved. From these things it is manifest, what kind of religion it is, to think concerning the Lord from faith, as it is called, and not to do anything from charity ; wherefore the Lord says, Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things tvhich I say 7 every one who cometh to Me, and heareth my words^ and doeth them, is like to a inan building a house ; and he laid the foundation upon a rock : but he who hear- eth and doeth not, is like to a man building a house upon the ground without a foundation. Luke vi. 46 to 49. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 83 92. VI. That the conjunction of the Lord with man^ and the reciprocal conjimctio?i of man with the Lord, takes j)lace by these tivo faculties. Conjunction with the Lord and regeneration are one, for as far as any one is conjoined to the Lord, so far he is regenerated ; wherefore all that has been said above concerning regeneration, may be said concerning conjunction ; and what is here said concerning conjunction may be said concerning regeneration. That there is conjunc- tion of the Lord with man and a reciprocal conjunc- tion of man with the Lord, the Lord Himself teaches in John : Remain in ik/e, and I in you : he who re- inaineth in Me, and I in him., beareth much fruit: XV. 4, 5. Lt that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you : xiv. 20. Every one can see from rea- son alone, that there is not any conjunction of minds unless it is also reciprocal, and that the reciprocal conjoins : if any one loves another and is not loved in return, then as the one draws near the other recedes :, but if he is loved in return, then as the one comes near the other also comes near, and conjunction takes place : love also wills to be loved ; this is implanted in it; and as far as it is loved again, so far it is in itself and in its delight. From these things it is manifest, that if the Lord only loves man, and is not loved in return by man, the Lord would approach and man would recede : thus the Lord would continually will to come to man and to enter in to him, and man would turn himself back and go away : with those who are in hell it is so, but with those who are in heaven there is mutual conjunction. Since the Lord wills conjunc- tion with man, for the sake of his salvation. He also provides that there should be with man a reciprocal ; the reciprocal with man is, that the good which he wills and does from freedom, and the truth which he thinks and speaks from that willing according to rea- son, appear as from him ; and that that good in his will, and that truth in his understanding, appear as his ; yea, they appear to man as from himself and as his, altogether as if they were his ; there is no differ- 84 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING ence; observe whether any one perceives otherwise by every sense : concerning that appearance as from himself, may be seen above, n. 74 to 77; and concern- ing appropriation as his, n. 78 to 81 : the only differ- ence is, that man ought to acknowledge that he does not do good and think truth from himself, but from the Lord ; and hence that the good which he does, and the truth which he thinks, are not his : to think thus, from some love of the will, because it is the truth, makes conjunction ; for so man beholds the Lord, and the Lord beholds man. 93. What the diiference is between those who be- lieve all good to be from the Lord, and those who believe good to be from themselves, it has been given both to hear and see in the spiritual world : they who believe good to be from the Lord, turn the face to Him, and receive the delight and the blessedness of good : but they who believe good to be from themselves, look at themselves, and think with themselves that they have merited ; and because they look at themselves, they cannot do otherwise than perceive the delight of their good, which is not the delight of good, but the delight of evil; for the proprium of man is evil; and the delight of evil perceived as good, is hell. They who have done good, and have believed it to be from themselves, if they do not after death receive this truth, that all good is from the Lord, mingle them- selves with the infernal genii, and at length make one with them: but they who receive that truth are reformed; yet no others receive it, but they who have looked to God in their life : to look to God in their life, is nothing else than to shun evils as sins. 94. The conjunction of the Lord with man and the reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord takes place by loving the neighbor as one's self, and by loving the Lord above all things : to love the neighbor as one's self is nothing else than not to act dishonestly and unjustly with him, not to have him in hatred and burn with revenge against him, not to revile and de- fame him, not to commit adultery with his wife, and THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 85 not to do other like things against him : who cannot see, that they who do such things, do not love the neighbor as themselves ; but they who do not do such things because they are evils against the neighbor, and at the same time sins against the Lord, act sincerely, justly, friendly and faithfully with the neighbor: and because the Lord does in like manner, reciprocal con- junction takes place; and when conjunction is recip- rocal, then whatever man does to the neighbor, he does from the Lord, and whatever he does from the Lord, is good ; and then the neighbor is not a person to him, but good in a person. To love the Lord above all things, is nothing else than not to do evil to the Word, because the Lord is in the Word ; nor to do evil to the holy things of the church, because the Lord is in the holy things of the church ; nor to do evil to the soul of any one. because the soul of every one is in the hand of the Lord : they who shun these evils as enormous sins, love the Lord above all things; but no others can do this, except they who love the neigh- bor as themselves ; for the two things are conjoined. 95. Since there is a conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, therefore there are two tables of the law, one for the Lord, and the other for man : as far as man as of himself does the laws of his table, so far the Lord gives that he may do the laws of His table : but man who does not do the laws of his table, which all have reference to the love of the neighbor, cannot do the laws of the Lord's table, which all have reference to the love of the Lord : how can a murderer, a thief, an adulterer, and a false wit- ness, love the Lord ? does not reason dictate, that to be such, and to love God, are contradictory? is not the devil such ? can he do otherwise than have God in hatred? But when man loathes murders, adul- teries, thefts, and false testimonies, as infernal, then he can ; for then he turns his face away from the devil to the Lord ; and when he turns his face to the Lord, there is given to him love and wisdom ; these enter man through the face, and not through the back 8 86 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING of his neck. Because conjunction with the Lord takes place thus and not otherwise, therefore those tables are called a covenant, and a covenant is between two, 96. VII. That the Lord guards these tiao faculties with 7nan inviolate and as sacred^ in all tJie course of His Divine Providence. The reasons are, that with- out these two faculties man would not have under- standing and will, and thus would not be man ; also, that without these two faculties man could not be conjoined to the Lord, and thus be reformed and regenerated; as also, that without these two faculties man would not have immortality and eternal life. That it is so, may indeed be seen from the knowledge of what liberty and rationality, which are these two faculties, are, which was given in the preceding pages; but not clearly, unless those things are set before the sight as conclusions ; wherefore they are to be illustra- ted. That without these two faculties man woidd not have tvill and understanding ; for man has will from nothing else, than that he can will freely as of himself; and to will freely as of himself, is from the faculty continually given to him by the Lord, which is called liberty: and man has understanding from nothing else, than that he can as of himself understand whether a thing is of reason or not; and to understand whether it is of reason or not, is from the other faculty contin- ually given to him by the Lord, which is called ration- ality. These faculties conjoin themselves in man as will and understanding do ; viz., that because man can will, he can also understand ; for willing is not given without understanding ; to understand is its partner or mate, without which [ evils themselves in the exterjial man. The reason that the Lord then purifies man from the concupiscences of evil, when man as of himself removes the evils, is because the Lord cannot purify him before ; for evils are in the external man, and the concupiscences of evil in the internal ; and they cohere as the roots with THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 107 the trunk : wherefore, unless evils are removed, there is not given an opening; for they block up and close the gate, which cannot be opened by the Lord except by the means of man, as was shown just above : when man thus as of himself opens the gate, then the Lord at the same time extirpates the concupiscences. The reason also is, because the Lord acts into the inmost of man. and from the inmost in sequence even to the ultimates ; and in the ultimates is man at the same time : as long therefore as th-e ultimates are kept closed by man himself, there cannot be any purification ; but only such operation can be done by the Lord in the interiors, as is that of the Lord in hell, the form of which is a man who is in the concupiscences of evil; which operation is only an arrangement lest one thing should destroy another, and lest good and truth should be violated. That the Lord continually urges and presses man to open the gate to Him, is manifest from the words of the Lord in the Apocalypse : Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any one shall hear my voice, and open the door, I will enter to him, and will Slip with hi?n, and he with me : iii. 20. 120. Man knows nothing at all concerning the in- terior state of his mind, or his internal man ; yet there are infinite things there, not one of which comes to his knowledge; for the internal of man's thought, or his internal man. is his spirit itself; and in it there are things as infinite or as innumerable as there are in man's body ; yea, still more innumerable ; for man's spirit is in its form a man, and all the things of it correspond to all things of man in his body. Now as man knows nothing from any sensation, how his mind or soul operates into all things of his body con- jointly and singly, so neither does man know how the Lord operates into all things of his mind or soul, that is, into all things of his spirit: the operation is con- tinual; in this man has no part; but still the Lord cannot purify man from any concupiscence of evil in his spirit or internal man, as long as man holds the external closed : it is evils hy which man holds the 108 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING external closed, every one of which appears to him as one, although there are infinite things in each ; when man removes this as one, then the Lord removes the infinite things in it. This is what is understood by the Lord's then purifying man from the concupis- cences of evil in the internal man, and from the evils themselves in the external. 121. It is believed by many, that only to believe that which the church teaches, purifies man from evils; and it is believed by some that to do good puri- fies ; by some, that to know, speak, and teach such things as are of the church does ; by some, that to read the Word and books of piety does; by some, to frequent churches, to listen to preachings, and espe- cially to come to the Holy Supper ; by some, to re- nounce the world, and to pursue piety ; by some, to confess one's self guilty of all sins, and so on. But still all these things purify man in nothing, unless he explores himself, sees his sins, acknowledges them, condemns himself on account of them, and does re- pentance by desisting from them ; and does all these things as of himself, but still from the acknowledg- ment of the heart lliat it is of the Lord. Before these things are done, the aforesaid things aid in nothing, for they are either meritorious or hypocritical ; and those persons appear in heaven before the angels either as beautiful harlots smelling badly from their corrup- tion; or as deformed women appearing beautiful from paint laid on; or as jugglers and mimics represented in the theatres; eras apes in human clothes. But when evils are removed, then the above-mentioned things become of their love, and they appear in heaven before the angels as beautiful men, and as their partners and associates. 122. But it is to be well known, that man desiring to repent ought to look to the Lord alone ; if to God the Father alone, he cannot be purified ; nor if to the Father for the sake of the Son ; neither if to the Son as man only ; for God is one, and the Lord is He ; for His Divine and Human is one person, as was shown in THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 109 the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord. That every one desiring to repent might look to the Ijord alone, the Holy Supper was instituted by Him, which confirms the remission of sins with those who repent : it confirms it. because in that supper or communion every one is kept looking to the Lord alone. 123. Vn. That it is the continual of the Divine Provi- dence of the Lord^ that He may conjoin man to Himself and Himself to him^ that He may be able to give him the happy things of eternal life ; which cannot be done^ ex- cept as far as evils tvith their cojicupiscences are removed. That the continual of the Divine Providence of the Lord is to conjoin man to Himself and Himself to him, and this conjunction is what is called reformation and regeneration, and that hence man has salvation, was shown above, n. 27 to 45. Who does not see that conjunction with God is eternal life and salvation? Every one. sees this who believes that men are from creation images and likenesses of God, Gen. i. 26, 27, and who knows what the image and likeness of God is. Who that has sound reason, while he thinks from his rationality, and wills to think from his liberty, can believe that there are three Gods, equal in essence; and that the Divine Being or Divine Essence can be divi- ded? That there is a trine in the one God, may be thought and comprehended, as in an angel and in man, sonl and body, and the proceeding of life from them, is comprehended ; and because this trine in one is given only in the Lord, it follows that conjunction must be with Him : use your rationality and at the same lime your liberty of thinking, and you will see this truth in its light; but admit first, that there is a God, and that there is a heaven, and that there is an eternal life. Now because God is one, and man from creation was made His image and likeness, and because by infernal love, and by its concupiscences and their delights, he has come into the love of all evils, and hence has de- stroyed with himself the image and likeness of God, it follows that it is the continual of the Divine Provi- 10 110 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING dence of the Lord, that He may conjoin man to Himself and Himself to man, and thus cause that he should be His image : that this is to the end that the Lord may- be able to give to man the happy things of eternal life, also follows, for Divine Love is such : but that He can- not give these things, nor make him an image of Him- self, "imless man as of himself removes sins in the exter- nal man, is because the Lord is not only Divine Love, but also Divine Wisdom ; and Divine Love does nothing except from Divine Wisdom, and according to it : that man cannot be conjoined to Him, and thus be reform- ed, regenerated and saved, unless it were permitted him to act from freedom according to reason, for thereby man is man, is according to His Divine Wis- dom ; and whatever is according to the Divine Wis- dom of the Lord is also of His Divine Providence. 124. To these things 1 will add two arcana of an- gelic wisdom, from which it may be seen of what quality the Divine Providence is: the one, that the Lord never acts into any particular thing with man singly, unless into all things at the same time; the other, that the Lord acts from inmost things and from ultimates at the same time. That the Lord never acts into any jmrticular thing with man singly, unless into all things of Jii.ni at the same time, is Ijecause all things of man are in such connection, and by connec- tion in such form, that they act not as many, but as one : that man, as to the body, is in such connection and through connection in such a form, is known : in a like form from a connection of all things is also the human mind, for the human mind is a spiritual man, and also is actually a man ; hence it is that the spirit of man, which is his mind in the body, is in all form a man ; wherefore man after death is equally man as in the world, only with the difference, that he has thrown away the cast-offs, which made his body in the world. Now because the human form is such that all the parts make a general whole which acts as one, it fol- lows that one cannot be moved out of place, and changed as to state, except with consent of the rest; THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. Ill for if one should be moved out of place and changed as to state, the form which acts as one would suffer. From these things it is manifest, that the Lord never acts into any particular, unless at the same time into all : the Lord acts thus into the universal angelic heaven, since the universal angelic heaven is in the sight of the Lord as one man ; thus too the Lord acts into every angel, because every angel is a heaven in the least form; thus also he acts into every man, prox- imately into all things of his mind, and through these into all things of his body ; for the mind of man is his spirit, and according to conjunction with the Lord it is an angel, and the body is obedience. But it is to be well observed, that the Lord also acts singly, yea, most singly, into every particular of man, but at the same time through all the things of his form; yet still does not change the state of any part, or of any thing in particular, except conformably to the whole form : but concerning these things more will be said in what fol- lows, where it will be demonstrated that the Divine Providence of the Lord is universal because in particu- lars, and that it is particular because it is universal. That the Lord acts from inmost things and from ulti- 7natcs at the same time^ is because thus and not other- wise things all and each are held together in connec- tion ; for the intermediates depend on the inmost things successively even to the ultimates, and in the ultimates they are together; for it was shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom, in part third, that in the ultimate is the simulta- neous of all things from the first. From this also it is, that the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, came into the world, and there put on and undertook the Human in ultimates, that He might be from first things and at the same time in ultimates, and thus from first things through ultimates govern the universal world, and so save men, whom, according to the laws of His Divine Providence, which are also the laws of His Divine Wisdom, he can save. This therefore it is, which is known in the christian world, that no mortal could 112 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING have been saved, unless the Lord had come into the world ; concerning which may be seen the Doctrine OF THE New Jerusalem concerning Faith, n. 35. Hence it is that the Lord is called the first and the last. 125. These angelic arcana are premised, that it may be comprehended how the Divine Providence of the Lord operates, that He may conjoin man to Him- self and Himself to man ; this is not done upon any particular of him singly, unless upon all things of him at the same time; and this takes place from man's inmost and from his ulti mates at the same time : man's inmost is his life's love, the ultimates are those things which are in the external of thought, the inter- mediates are the things which are in the internal of his thought; of wiiat quality these are with the evil man, has been shown in what goes before ; from which things it is again manifest, that the Lord can- not act from inmost things and ultimates at the same time, unless together with man, for man is together with the Lord in ultimates; wherefore, as man acts in itltimates, which are at his decision, because in his freedom, so the Lord acts from his inmost things and in things successive to ultimates. Those things which are in man's inmost parts, and in things suc- cessive from inmost things to ultimates, are altogether unknown to man ; and therefore man is altogether ignorant how and what the Lord operates there ; but because they cohere as one with the ultimates, therefore it is not necessary for man to know more, tiian that he should shun evils as sins, and look to the Lord. Thus and not otherwise can his life's love, which from birth is infernal, be removed by the Lord, and the love of heavenly life be implanted in its place. 126. When the love of heavenly life is implanted by the Lord in place of the love of infernal life, then in place of the concupiscences of evil and falsity are im- planted the affections of good and truth, ^nd in place of the deUghts of the concupiscences of evil and falsity are implanted the delights of the affections of good, and in place of the evils of infernal love are implanted THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 113 the goods of heavenly love : then instead of craftiness is implanted prudence, and instead of thoughts of malice are implanted thoughts of wisdom: thus man is born anew, and becomes new. What goods suc- ceed in the place of evils, may be seen in the Doc- trine OF Life for the New Jerusalem, n. 67 to 73, n. 74 to 79, n. 80 to 86, n. 87 to 91. Also, that as far as man shuns and loathes evils as sins, so far he loves the truths of wisdom, n. 32 to 41 ; and that so far he has faith, and is spiritual, n. 42 to 52. 127. That it is the common religion in the univer- sal christian world, that man should explore himself, see his sins, acknowledge them, confess them before God, and desist from them, and that this is repent- ance, remission of sins, and thence salvation, was shown above from the exhortations read in all chris- tian churches before the holy communion. The same may also be evident from the creed which has its name from Athanasius, which is also received in the universal christian world, where at the end are these words : " The Lord will come to judge tJie living and the dead, at lohose coming they loho have done good things will enter into eternal life, and they who have done evil things into eteriicd fire^ 128. Who does not know from the Word, that every one is allotted a life after death according to his deeds'? Open the Word, read it, and yon will see clearly ; but remove then the thoughts from faith and from justifi- cation by it alone. That the Lord teaches this every- where in His Word, let these few things be for testi- mony : Every tree which bringeth not forth good FRUIT, shall be cut down and cast into the fire ; ichere- fore from their fruits shall ye know them: Matt. vii. 19, 20. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied by thy name, and in thy name done muny virtues 1 but then I vnll confess to them, I know you not ; depart from Me, ye that work iniquity: Matt. vii. 22, 23. Every one who heareth my icords and doeth them, / ivill compare to a prudent man, who built a house npon a rock : but every one hearing my 114 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING words and not doing them, shall be convpared to a fool- ish man, who built his lionise upon the ground without a foundation : Matt. vii. 24, 26 ; Luke vi. 46 to 49. The Son of man 7vill come in the glory of his Father, and then will he render to every one according to HIS DEEDS : Matt. xvi. 27. The kingdom of God shall be taken axoay from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth its fruits : Matt. xxi. 53. Jesus said, My motJter and my brethren are these, who hear the word of God and do it : Luke viii. 21. Then sliall ye begin to stand and knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us ; but he, answering, shall say to them, I know you not whence ye are ; depart from me, all workers of iniquity : Luke xiii. 25 to 27. They ivho have done good things shall go forth into a resurrection of life, but they who have done evil things into a resur- rection of judgment : John v. 29. We know that God doth not hear sinners, bnt if any one worship God, and DO his will, him He heareth: John ix. 21. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them : John xii. 17. He who hath ony precepts, and doeth them, he it is who loveth m.e, and I will love Itim, and will com,e to him, and make an abode with him : John xiv. 15, 21 to 24. Ye are iny friends, if ye do whatever I commatid you : I have chosen you that ye should bear fruits, and that your fruit should remain : John xv. 14, 16. The Lord said to John, Write to the angel of the Ephesiaxi church, I KNOW THY" WORKS : / havc against thee, that thou hast left the former charity; repent, and do the former WORKS ; if not, I will m.ove thy candlestick from its place: Apoc. ii. 1, 2, 4, 5. To the cm gel of the church of the Smy means write, I know thy works : Apoc. ii. 8. To the angel of the church in Pergamvs rorite, I know thy works; repent: Apoc ii. 13, 16. To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, I knoav thy WORKS AND charity ; and thy latter works more than the first : Apoc. ii. 26. To the angel of the church in Sardis ivrife, I know thy avorks, that thou hast a 7iame that thou livest, but art dead ; I have not found thy works perfect before God; repent : Apoc. iii. 1, 2, 3. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 115 To the angel of the church which is in Philadelphia write, I KNOW thy works : Apoc. iii. 7, 8. To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, I know thy works; repent: Apoc. iii. 14, 15, 19. I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord from now ; their works follow them : Apoc. xiv. 13. A book loas opened, jvhich is that of life, and the dead were judged, all according to their works : Apoc. xx. 12, 13. Behold, I' come qnickly, and my reward is with tne, that I may give to every one according to his work : Apoc. xxii. 12. These are in the New Testament : there are still more in the Old, from which I shall adduce this only : Stand in the gate of Jehovah, and proclaim there this word; thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, God of Israel, Render good your loays, and your rvorks ; do not trust to yourselves upon the uwrds of a lie, saying, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these : will ye, in stealing, killing, and committing adultery, and in sioearing by a lie, afterwards come, and stand before Me in this house, upon n-hich my name is named, and say. We have been seized, while ye do these abomi- nations 7 has this house become a den of robbers 7 even I, behold, I have seeti ; the saying is JehovaKs : Jer. vii. 1, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11. that it is a law of the divine providence, that man should not be compelled by external means to thinking and willing, thus to believing and loving, the things which are of religion; but that man should lead, and sometimes compel, himself. 129. This law of the Divine Providence follows from the two preceding ones, which are, that man should act from freedom according to reason ; con- cerning which, n. 71 to 99 : and that he shonld do this of himself, although from the Lord, thus as of himself; concerning which, n. 100 to 128 : and be- cause being compelled is not from freedom according 116 ANGELIC AVISDOM CONCERNING to reason, and is not of one's self, but is from non- freedom, and from another, therefore tfiis law of the Divine Providence follows in order after the two former ones : every one also knows, that no one can be compelled to think what he does not will to think, and to will what he thinks not to will, thus neither to believe what he does not believe, and not at all what he does not will to believe, nor to love what he does not love, and hot at all what he does not will to love ; for the spirit of man or his mind is in full liberty of thinking, willing, believing, and loving: in which liberty it is from influx from the spiritual world, which does not compel, for the spirit or mind of man is in that world ; but not from influx from the natural world, which is not received, unless they act as one : man can be driven to say that he thinks and wills these things, and that he believes and loves these things ; but if they are not or do not become of his affection and thence of his reason, he still does not think, will, believe, and love them : man may also be compelled to speak in favor of religion, and to do according to it, but he cannot be compelled to think in favor of it from any faith, and to will it from any love : every one also, in kingdoms in which justice and judgment are maintained, is compelled not to speak against religion, nor to act against it; but still no one can be compelled to think and will in favor of it; for it is in the liberty of every one to think with hell, and to will in favor of it; and also to think in favor of heaven, and to will in favor of it; but reason teaches what the one is and what the other, and what lot awaits the one and what lot the other; and the will has choice and election from reason. From these things it inay be evident that the external cannot compel the internal : yet it is sometimes done ; but that it is injurious, will be demonstrated in this order. I. That no one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel. II. That no one is reformed by visions, and by discourses with the deceased, because they compel. III. That no one is reformed by threats THE DIVfNE PROVIDENCE. 117 and punishments, because they compel. IV. That no one is reformed in states of non-rationahty and non- liberty. V. That it is not contrary to rationahty and liberty to compel one's self. VI. That the external man is to be reformed by the internal, and not the reverse. 130. I. That 7iQ one is reformed by 'miracles and sigtis, because they compel. That man has an inter- nal and an external of thought, and that the Lord flows in through the internal of thought into its exter- nal with man, and thus teaches and leads him, was shown above : also that it is from the Divine Provi- dence of the Lord that man should act from freedom according to reason : both of these would perish with man, if miracles were done, and man was driven by them to believe. That it is so, may be seen ration- ally thus : it cannot be denied but that miracles induce faith and strongly persuade that that is true which he who does the miracles says and teaches ; and that this in the commencement so occupies the external of man's thought, that it as it were binds and enchants : but man is thereby deprived of his two faculties, which are called rationality and liberty, so that he cannot act from freedom according to reason, and then the Lord cannot flow in through the internal into the external of his thought, except only to leave to man to confirm that thing from his rationality which was made of his faith by the miracle. The state of man's thought is such, that by the internal of thought he sees a thing in the external of his thought, as in a certain mirror; for, as was said above, man can see his thought, which cannot be given except from interior thought; and when he sees a thing as in a mirror, he can also turn it hither and thither, and form it, until it appears beautiful to him : which thing, if it is a truth, may be compared to a virgin or a youth beautiful and living; but if man cannot turn that thing hither and thither, and form it, but only believe it from persuasion induced by a miracle, if then it is a truth, it may be compared to a virgin or a youth sculptured from stone or wood, 118 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCliKN'lNG in which the living is not: and it may also be com- pared to an object that is continually before the sight, which alone is seen, and hides all that which is each way on the side, and which is behind it : it may also be compared to a continual sound in the ear, which takes away the perception of harmony from many [sounds] : such blindness and deafness is induced upon the human mind by miracles. It is the like with everything confirmed, which is not looked at from any rationality before it is confirmed. 131. From these things it may be evident, that faith induced by miracles is not faith, but persuasion; for there is not any rational in it, still less any spirit- ual ; for it is only an external without an internal : it is the like with all that man does from that persuasive faith, whether he acknowledges God, or worships Him at home or in temples, or does kindnesses: when a miracle alone induces man to acknowledgment, wor- ship and piety, he acts from the natural man, and not from the spiritual ; for a miracle infuses faith through an external way, and not through an internal way ; thus from the world, and not from heaven ; and the Lord does not enter through any other way with man but through the internal way, which is through the Word, doctrine and preachings from it : and because miracles shut this way, therefore at this day no mira- cles are done. 132. That miracles are such, may be manifestly evident from the miracles done before the Jewish and Israelitish people ; although the latter saw so many miracles in the land of Egypt, and afterwards at the Red sea, and others in the desert, and especially upon mount Sinai, where the law was promulgated ; yet after the days of a month, when Moses tarried upon that mountain, they made a golden calf, and acknowl- edged it instead of Jehovah who led them out of the land of Egypt : Ex. xxxii. 4, 5, 6. And also from the miracles done afterwards in the land of Canaan ; and yet they receded so many times from the worship commanded. Just so from the miracles which the THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 119 Lord did before them when He was in the world ; and yet they crucified Him. The reason that miracles were done among them was, because the Jews and Israehtes were altogether external men, and were introduced into the land of Canaan, that by the exter- nals of worship they might only represent a church and its internals, and a bad man can represent equally as a good one; for externals are the rituals, all of which with them signified spiritual and celestial things ; yea, Aaron, although he made the golden calf, and commanded the worship of it, Ex. xxxii. 2, 3, 4, 5, 35, could still represent the Lord and His work of salvation : and because they could not by the internals of worship be led to represent these things, therefore they were led, yea, were driven and compelled to it, by miracles. The reason that they could not be led by the internals of worship was, because they did not acknowledge the Lord, although the whole Word, which was with them, treats of Him alone ; and he who does not acknowledge the Lord, cannot receive any internal of worship : but after the Lord manifest- ed Himself, and was received and acknowledged as the eternal God in the churches, miracles ceased. 133. But tlie effect of miracles is other with the good than with the evil ; the good do not wish mira- cles, but believe the miracles which are in the Word ; and if they hear anything concerning a miracle, they do not attend to it otherwise than as to a light argu- ment which confirms their faith ; for they think from the Word, thus from the Lord, and not from a mira- cle. The evil do otherwise : they indeed may be driven and compelled to faith, yea, to worship and to piety, by miracles ; but only for a little time ; for their evils are shut up, the concupiscences of which, and the delights thence, continually act into the external of their worship and piety ; and that they may get out of their confinement and burst forth, they think con- cerning the miracle, and at length call it a mockery and an artifice, or the work of nature, and thus they return into their evils ; and he who returns into his 120 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING evils after worshif), profanes the truths and goods of worship ; and the lot of profaners after death is the worst of all : these are they who are understood by the words of the Lord in Matt. xii. 43, 44, 45 ; whose latter state becomes worse than the former. Besides, if miracles were done with those who do not believe from the miracles in the Word, they would be done continually and before the sight with all such. From these things it may be evident whence it is that mira- cles are not done at this day. 134. II. That no one is reformed by visions and by discourses with the deceased., because they compel. Vis- ions are of two kinds, divine and diabolical : divine visions take place by representatives in heaven ; and diabolical visions take place by things magical in hell : there are also fantastic visions, which are the sportings of an abstract mind. Divine visions, which, as was said, take place by representatives in heaven, are such as the prophets had, who, when they were in them, were not in the body, but in the spirit; for visions cannot appear to any man in the wake- fulness of his body; wherefore, when they appeared to the prophets, it is also said that they were then in the spirit; as is manifest from these things follow- ing : Ezekiel says, " The spirit took me up, and led me back into Chaldea, to the captivity, in the Vision OF God in the Spirit of God ; thus the Vision which I saw went up over me:" xi. 1, 24: Again, that "the Spirit took him up between earth and heaven, and led him away into Jerusalem in the visions of God :" viii. 3, and following verses : in like manner he was in the vision of God or in the spirit when he saw the four animals, which were cherubs, chap. i. and chap. X. : as also, when he saw the new temple and new earth, and the angel measuring them, chap. xl. to xlviii. : that he was then in the visions of God, he says, chap. xl. 2, 26 ; and that he was in the spirit, chap, xliii. 5. In a like state was Zachariah, when he saw a man riding among the myrtles, chap. i. 8, and following verses. When he saw the four horns, and THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 121 the man in whose hand was a measuring cord, chap, ii. 1, 3, and following verses. When he saw the can- dlestick, and the two olive-trees, chap. iv. 1, and following verses. When he saw the flying scroll, and the ephah, chap. v. 1, 6. When he saw four chariots going out between four mountains, and the horses, chap. vi. 1, and following verses. In a like state Avas Daniel, when he saw the four beasts coming up out of the sea, chap. vi. 1, and following verses : And when he saw the battles of the ram and the he- goat, chap. viii. 1, and following verses: that he saw these things in a vision of his spirit is said in chap, vii. 1, 2, 7, 13; chap. viii. 2; chap. x. 1, 7, 8: and that the angel Gabriel was seen by him in vision, chap. ix. 21. John also Avas in a vision of the spirit when he saw the things which he described in the Apocalypse ; as when he saw the seven candlesticks, and in the midst of them the Son of man : chap. i. 12 to 26. When he saw a throne in heaven, and one sitting upon the throne, and four animals, which were cherubs, around it : chap. iv. When he saw the book of life taken by the Lamb : chap. v. When he saw the horses going out of the book : chap. vi. When he saw the seA^en angels with trumpets : chap, viii. When he saw- the pit of the abyss opened, and the locusts going out thence: chap. ix. When he saAV the dragon, and his battle with Michael : chap. xii. When he saAV the tAvo beasts ascending, the one out of the sea, the other out of the earth : chap. xiii. When he saAV the Avoman sitting upon a scarlet beast : chap, xvii. And Babylon destroyed : chap, xviii. When he saw the white horse, and one sitting upon him : chap, xviii. When he saw the new heaven and the ncAV earth, and the holy Jerusalem descendingout of heaven : chap. xxi. And Avhen he saAV the river of Avater of life : chap. xxii. That he saw them in a vision of the spirit, is said in chap. i. ] 1 ; chap. iv. 2 ; chap. v. 1 ; chap. vi. 1 ; chap. xxi. 12. Such Avere the visions which appeared from heaven before the sight of their spirits, and not before the sight of their bodies. Such 11 122 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING do not exist at this day, for if they existed, they would not be understood, because they are done by representatives, each of wliich signifies the internals of the church and arcana of heaven : that they were also about to cease when the Lord came into the world, is foretold by Daniel, chap. ix. 24. But dia- holical visions have sometimes existed, brought on by enthusiastic and visionary spirits, who, from the delirium in which they were, called themselves the Holy Spirit. But those spirits are now collected by the Lord, and cast down into a hell separate from the hells of others. From these things it is manifest, that no one can be reformed by visions other than those which are in the Word. There are also fcm- tastic visions, but they are the mere spor tings of an abstract mind. 134|. That neither can any one be reformed by discourses with the deceased, is evident from the words of the Lord concerning the rich one in hell, and concerning Lazarus in Abraham's bosom ; for the rich one said, / beseech thee, father Abraham, that thou woiddst send Lazarus unto my father'' s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify to them,, lest they also come info this place of torment: Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the jirophets, let them hear them : but he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one from, the dead came to them, they would repent : he answered him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither ivill they be persuaded if one rose from the dead: Luke xvi. 27 to 3L Speaking with the dead would produce a like efFecc as miracles, con- cerning which just above ; namely, that man would be persuaded and driven to worship for a little time; but because this deprives man of rationality, and at the same time shuts in evils, as was said above, this enchantment or internal bond is loosed, and the evils shut in burst forth, with blasphemy and profanation : but this takes place only when the spirits induce some dogma of religion ; which is never done by any good spirit, still less by any angel of heaven. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 123 135. Yet speaking v/ith spirits, but rarely with angels of heaven, is still given, and has been given for many ages back ; but when it is given, they speak with man in his mother-tongue, yet only a few words: but they who speak from permission of the Lord, never speak anything which takes away free- dom of reason, nor teach ; for the Lord alone teaches man, but mediately through the Word in illustration; which is treated of in what follows : that it is so, it has been given to know from my own experience ; I have had speech with spirits and with angels now for many years, neither has any spirit dared, nor any angel wished, to tell me anything, still less to instruct me concerning any things in the Word, or concerning any doctrinal from the Word ; but the Lord alone has taught me, who was revealed to me, and afterwards continually appeared and appears before my eyes as a sun in which He is, as He appears to the angels; and has illustrated me. 136. III. That no one is reformed by threats and pnnishmeiits, because they compel. It is known that the external cannot compel the internal, but that the internal can compel the external : again, it is known that the internal is so averse lo compulsion from the external, that it turns itself away : and it is also known, that external delights allure the internal to consent and to love : it may also be known, that there is given internal compulsion and internal freedom. But all these things, although they are known, are still to be illustrated; for there are many things, which, when they are heard, are immediately perceived to be so, because they are true, and hence are affirmed; but if they are not at the same time confirmed by reasons, they may be weakened by arguments from fallacies, and at length denied ; wherefore these things which have been now stated as known, are to be resumed, and confirmed rationally. First, Tliat the external cannot compel the internal.^ but that the internal can compel the external. Who can be compelled to believe and to love? one can no more be compelled to believe, 124 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING than to think a thing is so, when he thinks it is not so; and one can no more be compelled to love, than to will what he does not will ; faith also is of the thought, and love is of the will : but the internal may be compelled by the external not to speak ill against the laws of the kingdom, the morals of life, and the sanctities of the church : to this the internal may be compelled by threats and punishments, and also is and must be compelled; but this internal is not an internal properly human, but it is the internal which man has in common with beasts, which can also be compelled ; the human internal resides above this ani- mal internal ; the human internal is here understood, which cannot be compelled. Secondly, That the internal is so averse to conipalsion from the external^ that it turns itself away. The reason is, because the internal wishes to be in freedom, and loves freedom; for freedom is of the love or life of man, as was shown above ; wherefore, when freedom feels itself to be compelled, it draws itself back as if into itself, and turns itself away, and looks at compulsion as its enemy; for love, which makes man's life, is exaspe- rated, and causes man to think that thus he is not his own, consequently that he does not live for himself. That man's internal is such, is from the law of the Divine Providence of the Lord, that man should act from freedom according to reason. From these things it is manifest, that it is injurious to compel men to divine worship by threats and punishments. But there are those who suffer themselves to be compelled to religion, and there are those who do not ; those who suffer themselves to be compelled to religion are many from the popish nations ; but this is done with those with whom there is nothing internal in worship, but all is external : those who do not suffer themselves to be compelled are many from the English nation ; from this it comes that there is an internal in their worship, and that what is in the external is from the internal : the interiors of these as to religion appear in spiritual light like bright clouds ; but the interioi's of the former THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 125 as to religion appear in the light of heaven like dark clouds : both of these are given to be seen in the spir- itual world, and he who wishes will see them, when he comes into that world after death : moreover, com- pelled worship shuts in evils, which then lie hid like fires in wood under ashes, which continually kindle and spread, until they burst forth into a conflagration : but worship not compelled, but spontaneous, does not shut in evils ; wherefore they are as fires which imme- diately burn out and are dissipated. From these things it is manifest, that the internal is so averse to compulsion, that it turns itself away. That the inter- nal can compel the external, is because the internal is as a lord, and the external as a servant. Thirdly, That external delights allure the internal to consent, and also to love. Delights are of two kinds, the delights of the understanding and the delights of the will ; the delights of the understanding are also delights of wis- dom, and the delights of the will are also delights of love; for wisdom is of the understanding, and love is of the will : now because the delights of the body and its senses, which are external delights, act as one with the internal delights, which are of the understanding and will, it follows that as the internal is averse to compulsion from the external, until it turns itself away, so the internal looks with gratification upon the delight in the external, until it turns itself to it; thus consent takes place on the part of the under- standing, and love on the part of the will. All infants in the spiritual world are introduced by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and by it into heavenly love, by means of delightful and pleasant things ; first by beau- tiful things in the houses, and by pleasant things in gardens; and then by representatives of spiritual things, which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure; and at length by the truths of wisdom, and so by the goods of love ; thus continuously by delights in their order, first by the delights of the love of the understanding and its wisdom, and at length by the delights of the love of the will, which becomes their 126 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING life's love, under which the rest of the things which have entered by means of delights are kept subor- dinate. This is done, because everything of the understanding and will is to be formed by the external before it is formed by the internal; for everything of the understanding and will is formed first by those things which enter through the senses of the body, especially through the sight and the hearing : but when the first understanding and the first will are formed, then the internal of thought looks at those things as the externals of its thought, and either con- joins itself with them, or separates itself from them ; it conjoins itself with them if they are delightful, and separates itself from them if they are not. But it is to be well known, that the internal of the understand- ing does not conjoin itself with the internal of the will, but that the internal of the will conjoins itself with the internal of the understanding, and causes that there should be a reciprocal conjunction ; but this is done by the internal of the will, and not in the least ^by the internal of the understanding. Hence it is, that man cannot be reformed by faith alone, but by the love of the will, which makes a faith to itself. Fourthly, That there is gioen internal compulsion arid internal freedom. Internal compulsion is given with those who are in external worship alone, and no inter- nal ; for their internal is to think and will that to which the external is compelled : these are they who are in the worship of living and dead men, and hence in the worship of idols, and in the faith of miracles; with these no other internal is given but what is at the same time external. But with those who are in the internal of worship, there is given internal com- pulsion, one from fear, and another from love : inter- nal compulsion from fear is with those who are in worship from fear of the torment of hell and its fire; but this internal is not the internal of thought, which was before treated of, but the external of thought, which is here called internal because it is of thought: the internal of thought which was before treated of. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 127 cannot be compelled by any fear ; but it can be com- pelled by love and by the fear of its loss : the fear of God in the genuine sense is nothing else ; to be com- pelled by love and by the fear of its loss is to compel one's self That compelling one"s self is not contrary to liberty and rationality, will be seen below. 137. From these things it may be evident, what is compelled worship, and worship not compelled : com- pelled worship is corporeal, inanimate, obscure, and sad worship ; corporeal, because it is of the body and not of the mind ; inanimate, because there is not life in it; obscure, because there is not understanding in it ; and sad, because there is not the dehght of heaven in it. But worship not compelled, when it is genuine, is spiritual, living, lucid, and glad worship; spiritual, because there is spirit from the Lord in it; living, because there is life from the Lord in it ; lucid, because there is wisdom from the Lord in it; and glad, because there is heaven from the Lord in it. 138. IV. That no one is reformed in states of non- rationality and non-liberty. It was shown above, that nothing is appropriated to man, except what he does from freedom according to reason ; the cause is, that freedom is of the will, and reason is of the understand- ing; and when man acts from freedom according to reason, then he acts from the will by his understand- ing ; and that which is done in the conjunction of both is appropriated. Now because the Lord wills that man should be reformed and regenerated, that he may have eternal life or the life of heaven, and no one can be reformed and regenerated unless good is appropri- ated to his will that it may be as his, and truth to his understanding that it may also be as his, and because nothing can be appropriated to any one, except what is made of the understanding from freedom of will according to reason, it follows that no one is reformed in states of non-liberty and non-rationality. The states of non-liberty and non-rationality are many; but in general they may be referred to these, to states of fear ^ of misfortune^ of disorder of nii?id [animus], 128 ANGELIC WISBOIVI CONCERNING of disease of the hody^ of ignorance, and of blindness of the understanding ; but something shall be said concerning each state in particular. 139. That no one is reformed in a State of Fear, is because fear takes away freedom and reason, or liberty and rationality ; for love opens the interiors of the mind, but fear closes them; and when they are closed, man thinks few things, and only those which then offer themselves to the mind [animus] or to the senses : all fears which invade the mind {animiis] are such. That man has an internal of thought and an external of thought, has been shown above : fear can never invade the internal of thought; this is always in freedom, because in the love of its life: but it can invade the external of thought, and when it invades this, the internal of thought is closed ; which being closed, man can no longer act from freedom according to his reason, thus not be reformed. The fear which invades the external of thought and closes the internal, is chiefly the fear of the loss of honor or gain ; but fear for civil punishments and for external ecclesiastical punishments does not close, because those laws only dictate punishments for those who speak and act con- trary to the civil things of the kingdom and the spir- itual things of the church, but not for those who think contrary to them. Fear for infernal punishments indeed invades the external of thought, but only for a few moments, or hours, or days ; but it is soon let back into its freedom from the internal of thought, which is properly of its spirit and life's love, and is called the thought of the heart. But fear for the loss of honor and gain invades the external of man's thought ; and when it invades, it then closes the inter- nal of thought from above for influx from heaven, and causes that man cannot be reformed : the reason is, because the life's love of every man from birth is the love of self and of the world, and the love of self makes one with the love of honor, and the love of the world makes one with the love of gain ; wherefore when man is in honor or in gain, from fear for the loss of THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 129 them he confirms with himself the means which sub- serve him for honor and gain, which are as well civil as ecclesiastical, both being of authority : in like man- ner does he who is not yet in honor or gain, if he aspires to them, but from fear for the loss of fame on account of them. It is said that that fear invades the external of thought, and closes the internal from above for influx from heaven : this is said to be closed when it altogether makes one with the external ; for then it is not in itself, but in the external. But because the loves of self and of the world are infernal loves, and the fountain-heads of all evils, it is manifest what the internal of thought is in itself with those with whom those loves are the life's loves, or with whom they govern ; namely, that it is full of the concupiscenes of evils of every kind. Those do not know this, who from fear of the loss of dignity and opulence are in a strong persuasion concerning the religion in which they are, especially in a religion which involves that they should be worshipped as divinities, and at the same time as plutos in hell : these can burn as with zeal for the salvation of souls, and yet this from infer- nal fire. Because this fear especially takes away rationality itself and liberty itself, which are heavenly from origin, it is manifest that it stands in the Avay that man cannot be reformed. 140. That no one is reformed in a State of Mis- fortune, if then only he thinks concerning God and implores help, is because the state is compelled ; wherefore, when he comes into a free state, he returns into the former state, in which he had thought little if any concerning God : it is otherwise with those who in the free state before feared God. By fearing God is imderstood fearing to offend Him, and to offend Him is to sin : and this is not of fear, but it is of love : who that loves any one, does not fear to do evil to him 7 and the more he loves, the more he fears this : with- out this fear love is insipid and cutaneous, of thought only, and of no will. By states of misfortune are understood states of desperation from perils, as in 130 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING battles, duels, shipwrecks, falls, fires, imminent or im- expected loss of wealth, also of income and hence of honor, and in other like things : to think concerning God in these alone, is not from God, bat from one's self; for the mind is then imprisoned as it were in the body, thus not in liberty, and hence neither in ration- ality; without which reformation is not given. 141. That no one is reformed in a State of Disor- der OF Mind [a?iim7fs], is because disorder of mind [a7iimiis] takes away rationality, and hence the free- dom of acting according to reason ; for the mind is disordered and not sound, and the sound mind is rational, but not the disordered mind. Such disorders are melancholies, spurious and false consciences, fan- tasies of various kinds, griefs of mind [cminms] from misfortunes, anxieties and anguishes of mind from defect of the body; which things are sometimes re- garded as temptations, but are not; because genuine temptations have spiritual things for their objects, and in these the mind is sane; but those have natural things for their objects, and in these the mind is insane. 142. That no one is reformed in a State of Disease OF THE Body, is because reason is not then in a free state, for the state of the mind depends on the state of the body : when the body is sick, the mind is also sick; if from nothing else, still from removal from the world ; for a mind removed from the world thinks indeed concerning God, but not from God, for it is not in freedom of reason : man has freedom of reason from this, that he is in the midst between heaven and the world, and that he can think from heaven and from the world, also from heaven concerning the world, and from the world concerning heaven : when there- fore man is in disease, and thinks concerning death, and concerning the state of his soul after death, then he is not in the world, and is abstracted in spirit, in which state alone no one can be reformed ; but he may be confirmed, if he was reformed before he fell into disease. It is the like with those who renounce THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 131 the world and all business therein, and give them- selves only to thoughts concerning God, heaven and salvation : but concerning this thing more will be said elsewhere. Wherefore the same, if they were not reformed before disease, after it, if they die, become such as they were before disease ; wherefore it is vain to think that any can repent, or receive any faith, in diseases ; for there is nothing of action in that repent- ance, and nothing of charity in that faith ; wherefore all is of the mouth and nothing of the heart in both. 143. That no one is reformed in a State of Igno- rance, is because all reformation is made by truths and by a life according to them ; wherefore they who do not know truths, cannot be reformed : but if they desire them from the affection of them, they are re- formed in the spiritual world after death. 144. That neither can any one be reformed in a State of Blindness of the Understanding : these also do not know truths, and thence neither life ; for the understanding will teach them, and the will will do them; and when the will does what the understanding teaches, then there is made for it a life according to truths ; but when the understanding is blinded, the will also is shut up, and does not from freedom accord- ing to its reason do anything else but evil confirmed in the understanding, which is falsity. Besides igno- rance, the religion which teaches a blind faith also blinds the understanding: also the doctrine of falsity; for as truths open the understanding, so falsities close it up; they close it up above, but open it below; and the understanding open only below cannot see truths, but only confirm whatever it wishes, especially falsity. The understanding is also blinded by the cupidities of evil; as long as the will is in them, it actuates the understanding to confirming them : and as far as the cupidities of evil are confirmed, so far the will cannot be in the affections of good, and from them see truths, and so be reformed. As for example, he who is in the cupidity of adultery, his will, which is in the delight of his love, actuates the understanding to con- 132 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING firming it, saying, What is adultery ? is there any evil in it 7 is there not the like between a husband and his wife? cannot offspring equally be born from adultery 7 cannot a woman admit several without harm 7 what has that which is spiritual in common with this 7 thus thinks the understanding, which is then the harlot of the will, and becomes so stupid from whoredom with the will, that it cannot see that conjugial love is spir- itual-celestial love itself, which is the image of the love of the Lord and the church, from which it is also derived; and thus that in itself it is holy, chastity itself, purity and innocence; and that it makes men loves in form ; for consorts can love each other from things inmost, and so form themselves into loves : and that adultery destroys this form, and with it the image of the Lord; and that it is horrible that an adulterer should mix his life with the life of a husband in his wife ; in the seed is the life of man : and because this is profane, therefore hell is called adultery, and heaven, on the contrary, is called marriage: the love of adul- tery also communicates with the lowest hell, but love truly conjugial with the inmost heaven; the members of generation of each sex also correspond to the socie- ties of the inmost heaven. These things are adduced, that it may be known how the understanding is blinded when the will is in the cupidity of evil ; and that in a state of blindness of the understanding no one can be reformed. 145. y. Tlint it is not coji/rmy to rationality and liberty to compd one's self. It has before been shown, that man has an internal of thought and an external of thought ; and that they are distinct as prior and posterior, or as superior and inferior ; and that, be- cause they are thus distinct, they can act separately, and can act conjointly : they act separately, when man speaks and does from the external of his thought otherwise than he thinks and wills interiorly ; and they act conjointly, when he speaks and does what he thinks and wills interiorly: the latter is common with the sincere, but the former with the insincere. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 133 Now because the internal and the external of the mind are so distinct, the internal can also fight with the external, and by combat compel it to a consent : combat exists, when man thinks evils to be sins and therefore wishes to desist from them ; for when he desists, the door is opened ; which being opened, the concupiscences of evil are cast out by the Lord, which blocked up the internal of thought, and in their place are implanted the affections of good; this is in the internal of thought : but because the delights of the concupiscences of evil, which block up the external of thought, cannot be cast out at the same time, there- fore combat exists between the internal and the exter- nal of thought : the internal wishes to cast out those delights, because they are delights of evil, and are not concordant with the affections of good, in which the internal now is ; and in place of the delights of evil to introduce the delights of good, which are concord- ant: the delights of good are what are called the goods of charity. From this contrariety arises com- bat ; which, if it becomes severe, is called temptation. Now because man is man from the internal of his thought, for this is the very spirit of man, it is evident that man compels himself, when he compels the ex- ternal of his thought to a consent, or to receiving the delights of his affections, which are the goods of char- ity. That this is not contrary to rationality and liberty, but according to them, is manifest; for ration- ality causes that combat, and liberty executes it : liberty itself also resides with rationality in the inter- nal man, and from this in the external. When there- fore the internal conquers, which takes place when the internal has reduced the external to consent and compliance, then there is given to man by the Lord liberty itself and rationality itself; for then man is taken away by the Lord from infernal freedom, which in itself is slavery, and is brought into heavenly free- dom, which in itself is freedom itself; and there is given to him consociation with the angels. That they are slaves who are in sins, and that the Lord makes 12 134 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING those free who receive truth from Him through the Word, He teaches in John, viii. 31 to 36. 146. Take an example for ilhistration : The man who has taken dehght in defraudings and clandestine thefts, and sees and interiorly acknowledges that they are sins, and on that account wishes to desist from them : when he does desist, there arises combat of the internal man with the external : the internal man is in the affection of sincerity, but the external still in the delight of defrauding; which delight, because it is altogether opposite to the delight of sincerity, does not recede, unless it is compelled, nor can it be com- pelled except by combat ; and then, when he conquers, the external man comes into the delight of the love of sincerity, which is charity : afterwards the delight of defrauding successively becomes unpleasant to him. It is the like with other sins, as with adulteries and whoredoms, revenges and hatreds, blasphemings and lies. But the most difficult combat of all is with the love of ruling from the love of self: he who sub- jugates this, easily subjugates the rest of the evil loves ; because it is their head. 147. It shall also be stated in a few words how the Lord casts out the concupiscences of evil, which besiege the internal man from birth, and in place of them implants the affections of good, when man re- moves evils as sins as of himself: it has been before shown, that man has a natural mind, a spiritual mind, and a celestial mind: and that man is in the natural mind alone, as long as he is in the concupiscences of evil and in their delights ; and that so long the spiritual mind is closed : but as soon as man, after exploration, acknowledges evils as sins against God, because against the divine laws, and therefore wishes to desist from them ; then the Lord opens the spiritual mind, and enters into the natural by the affections of good and truth, and enters into the rational, and from it disposes those things in order which in the natural man below are contrary to order: this is what ap- pears to man as combat, and with those who have THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 135 much indulged in the delights of evil, as temptation ; for grief of the mind [miinms] takes place, when the order of its thoughts is inverted. Now because there is combat against the things which are in man him- self, and which man feels as his, and no one can fight against himself unless from an interior self, nor unless from freedom there, it follows that the internal man then fights against the external, and that from freedom, and that it compels the external to obedi- ence; this therefore is to compel one's self: that this is not contrary to liberty and rationality, but according to them, is manifest. 148. Moreover, every man wishes to be free, and to remove non-freedom or slavery from himself: every boy who is under a master wishes to be at his own direction and thus free : every servant under his lord, and maid under her mistress, in like manner': every virgin wishes to go from the liouse of lier father and be married, that she may act freely in her own house : every youth, who wishes to work, or do business, or discharge some office, while he is in servitude under others, wishes to be emancipated, that he may be at his own disposal : all those who serve of their own accord for the sake of liberty, compel themselves ; and since they compel themselves, they act from free- dom according to reason ; but from interior freedom, from which exterior freedom is looked upon as a servant. This is adduced, for confirming that it is not contrary to rationality and liberty to compel one's self. 149. One reason why man does not in like manner wish to come out of spiritual servitude into spiritual liberty, is, that he does not know what spiritual slavery is, and what spiritual freedom : he has not the truths which teach it; and without truths, it is believed that spiritual slavery is freedom, and spiritual freedom slavery. Another reason is, because the re- ligion of the christian world has shut the understand- ing, and faith alone has sealed it up ; for each has placed as an iron wall around itself the dogma that 136 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING theological matters are beyond reach ; and that there- fore they cannot be come at by any rationality ; and that they are for the blind, and not for those that see : by this the truths have been hidden, which would teach what spiritual liberty is. A third reason is, because few explore themselves, and see their sins ; and he who does not see them, and desist from them, is in the freedom of them, which is infernal freedom, in itself slavery ; and from this to see heavenly free- dom, which is freedom itself, is like seeing day in thick darkness, and under a black cloud that which is from the sun above. Hence it is, that it is not known what heavenly freedom is, and that the dif- ference between it and infernal freedom is like the difference between living and dead. 150. That the external man is to be reformed by the internal^ and not the 7'everse. By the internal and external man the same is understood as by the inter- nal and external of thought, which are often spoken of above : that the external is reformed by the internal, is because the internal flows into the external, and not the reverse : that there is given spiritual influx into natural, and not the reverse, is known in the learned world ; and that the internal man is first to be puri- fied and renewed, and thus the external, is known in the church : that it is known, is because the Lord and reason dictate it : the Lord teaches this in these words, Woe to you, hypocrites, because ye cleanse the exterior of the cup and platter, but the interiors are full of rapine and intemperance : Blind Pharisee, cleanse first the interior of the cup and platter, that the exterior may also be m^ade clean : Matt, xxiii. 25, 26 : that reason dictates it, was shown by many things in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom : for what the Lord teaches, he also gives man to perceive by reason ; and this in two ways : the one, that he sees in himself that it is so, as soon as he hears it ; the other, that he understands it by reasons : to see in himself is in his internal man, and to under- stand by reasons is in the external man : who does THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. IS'f not see in himself when he hears that the internal man is first to be purified, and through it the external? hut he who does not receive a general idea on this subject by influx from heaven, may stumble when he consults the external of his thought ; from this alone no one sees otherwise than that external works, which are those of charity and piety, without internal, save: in like manner in other things, as that sight and hearing flow into thought, and smell and taste into perception, thus the external into the internal ; when yet it is the contrary : that the things seen and heard appear to flow into thought, is a fallacy'- ; for the un- derstanding sees in the eye, and hears in the ear, and not the reverse : in like manner in other things. 151. But something shall here be said as to how the internal man is reformed, and through it the ex- ternal. The internal man is not reformed by knov/ing, understanding and being wise alone; consequently not by thinking alone; but by willing that which knowledge, intelligence and wisdom teach : when man knows, understands, and sees in wisdom, that there are a heaven and a hell, and that all evil is from hell, and all good from heaven ; if he then does not will evil because it is from hell, but wills good because it is from heaven, he is then in the first step of reformation, and in the threshold from hell to heaven : when man advances farther, and wills to desist from evils, he is in the second step of reforma- tion, and is then out of hell, but not yet in heaven ; this he sees above himself: there must be this inter- nal, that man may be reformed ; but unless each is reformed, the external as well as the internal, man is not reformed : the external is reformed by the internal, when the external desists from evils which the inter- nal does not will because they are infernal : and still more when he therefore shuns them, and fights against them : thus the internal is to will, and the external is to do ; for unless one does what he wills, there is within that he does not will ; and at length non-willing takes place. From these few things it 12* 138 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING may be seen how the external man is reformed by the internal : it is this also which is understood by the words of the Lord to Peter : Jesus said, If I wash thee not, thou hast 7io part with Me : Peter said unto Him^ Lord, not my feet only, hut also my hands and Jiead : Jesus said unto him. He who is washed, hath not need, except to ivash his feet, and is wholly clean : John xiii. 8, 9, 10 ; by washing is understood spiritual washing, which is purification from evils ; by washing the head and hands is understood to purify the internal man, and by washing the feet is understood to piu'ify the external : that when the internal man is purified, the external is to be purified, is understood by this, He who is ^cashed hath not need except to wash his feet : that all purification from evils is from the Lord, is understood by this, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me. That washing with the Jews repre- sented purification from evils, and that this is signified by washing in the Word, and that by washing the feet is signified the purification of the natural or ex- ternal man, is shown in many places in the Heavenly Arcana. 152. Since man has an internal and an external, and both must be reformed that man may be reformed, and since no one can be reformed, unless he explores himself, sees and acknowledges his evils, and after- wards desists from them, it follows that not only must the external be explored, but also the internal: if the external alone is explored, man sees nothing else than what he had actually committed; as that he has not killed, has not committed adultery, has not stolen, has not testified falsely, and so on; thus he explores the evils of his body, and not the evils of his spirit ; and yet, the evils of the spirit must be explored, that one may be reformed ; for man lives a spirit after death, and all the evils which are in him remain ; and the spirit is no otherwise explored, than as man attends to his thoughts, especially to the intentions ; for the intentions are thoughts from the will : there evils are in their origin and in their root, that is, in their con- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 139 cupiscences and in their delights ; and unless they are seen and acknowledged, man is still in evils, although he has not committed them in externals : that to think from intention is to will and to do, is manifest from the words of the Lord : If any one shall look upon another^s ivoman, so as to lust after her, he already commits adultery with her in heart : Matt. v. 28 : such is the exploration of the internal man, from which the external man is essentially explored. 153. I have very often wondered, that, although the universal christian world knows that evils are to be shunned as sins, and that otherwise they are not remitted, and that if sins are not remitted, there is no salvation, still scarcely one among thousands knows this : this was inquired into in the spiritual world, and it Avas found so ; for every one in the christian world knows it from the exhortations read before those who come to the Holy Supper, for it is openly said in them ; and yet, when they are asked whether they know this, they answer that they do not know, and have not known it ; the reason is because they have not thought concerning it, and because most have only thought concerning faith, and concerning salvation by it alone. And I have also wondered that faith alone has so shut the eyes, that they who have confirmed themselves in it, while they read the Word, see nothing of the things which are there said concerning love, charity and works : it is as if they daubed faith over all things of the Word, as he who daubs a writing with red paint, from which nothing that is beneath appears; and if anything does appear, it is absorbed by faith, and is said to be it. THAT IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, THAT MAN IS LED AND TAUGHT BY THE LORD FROM HEAVEN, THROUGH THE WORD, DOCTRINE AND PREACHINGS FROM IT, AND THIS IN ALL APPEARANCK AS OF HIMSELF. 154. It is according to appearance that man is led and taught by himself, and it is according to truth that 140 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING man is led and taught by the Lord alone : they who confirm the appearance with themselves, and not at the same time the truth, cannot remove from them- selves evils as sins ; but they who confirm with them- selves the appearance and at the same time the truth; can ; for evils as sins are removed in appearance by man, and in truth by the Lord : these can be reformed, but those cannot. They who confirm with them- selves the appearance and not at the same time the truth, are all interior idolaters; for they are worship- pers of self and the world ; if they have no religion, they become worshippers of nature, and thus atheists ; but if they have religion, they become worshippers of men, and at the same time of images; these are they that are understood in the first commandment of the decalogue, who worship other gods : but they who confirm with themselves the appearance and at the same time the truth, become worshippers of the Lord ; for the Lord elevates them from their proprium, which is in the appearance, and leads them into the light, in which the truth is, and which is the truth ; and gives them to perceive interiorly that they are not led and taught by themselves, but by the Lord. The rational of the latter and the former may appear to m.any as alike, but they are unlike : the rational of those who are in the appearance and at the same time in the truth, is a spiritual rational ; but the rational of those who are in the appearance and not at the same time in the truth, is a natural rational ; but this rational may be compared to a garden such as it is in wintry light; but the spiritual rational may be compared to a garden such as it is in spring light. But more con- cerning these things in what follows, in this order. I. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone. IL That man is led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic heaven and from it. III. That man is led of the Lord by influx, and taught by illustration. IV. That man is taught of the Lord by the Word, doctrine and preachings from it, thus immediately from Himself alone. Y. That man is led and taught THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 141 of the Lord in externals in all appearance as of him- self 155. I. That mail is led and taught by the Lord alone. This flows as a universal consequence from all those things which were shown in the treatise con- cerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom ; as well from those which were demonstrated therein concern- ing the Divine Love of the Lord and concerning His Divine Wisdom in the first part, as those concerning the sun of the spiritual world and concerning the sun of the natural world in part second ; also those con- cerning degrees in part third ; and those concerning the creation of the universe in part fourth ; as also those concerning the creation of man in part fifth. 156. That man is led and taught of the Lord alone, is because he lives from the Lord alone; for the will of his life is led, and the understanding of his life is taught : but this is contrary to the appearance; for it appears to man as if he lived from himself, and yet the truth is, that he lives from the Lord and not from himself: now because there cannot be given to man, as long as he is in the world, the perception of sensa- tion that he lives from the Lord alone, since the ap- pearance that he lives from himself is not taken away from him, for without it man is not man ; therefore this is to be evinced by reasons, which must afterwards be confirmed by experience, and at length by the Word. 157. That man lives from the I>ord alone, and not from himself, is evinced by these reasons : That there is an only essence, an only substance, and an only form, from which are all essences, substances and forms, which were created. That that only essence, substance and form, is the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, from which are all things which have rela- tion to love and wisdom with men. Also, that there is good itself and truth itself, to which all things have relation. And that they are life, from which the life of all, and all things of life, are. Also, that the Only and the Very is omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipo- 142 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING tent. And that this Only and Very is the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah. First: That there is cm only es- sence, an only substance, and an only form, from which are all essences, snhstances and forms, which were cre- ated. It was shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 44 to 46, and in part second therein, that the sun of the angehc heaven, which is from the Lord, and in which is the Lord, is that only substance and form, from which are all things which were created ; and that nothing is given, nor can be given, which is not from it : that all things are from it by derivations according to degrees, was demonstrated there in part third. Who does not from reason perceive and acknowledge, that there is an only essence from which is all essence, or an only Being from which is all being ? What can exist without being? and what being is there from which is ail being, unless there is Being itself? and what is Being itself is also the only Being, and Being in itself: since it is so, and every one perceives and acknowl- edges this from reason, and if not, can perceive and acknowledge it, what else then follows, than that this Being, which is the Divine itself, which is Jehovah, is the all of all things which are and exist 7 It is the like, if it is said that there is an only substance, from which all things are ; and because a substance with- out a form is not anything, it follows also that there is an only form, from which all things are. That the sun of the angelic heaven is that only substance and form; also, how that essence, substance and form is varied in created things, has been demonstrated in the above-named treatise. Secondly : That that only es- sence, snbstance and form, is the Divine Love and Di- vine Wisdom, from which are all things which have relation to love and wisdom with mayi, was also fully shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom : whatever things with man appear to live, have relation to the will and understanding with him ; and that these two make his life, every one per- ceives and acknowledges from reason : what else is THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 143 there but 1 will this or I understand this, or I love this or I think this? and because man wills what he loves, and thinks what he understands, therefore all things of the will have relation to love, and all things of the understanding to wisdom : and because these two cannot be given with any one from himself, but from Him who is love itself and wisdom itself, it fol- lows that it is from the Lord from eternity, or Jeho- vah : if it were not from thence, man would be love itself and wisdom itself, thus God from eternity, at which human reason itself shudders. Can anything be given, unless from a prior to itself? and can this prior be given, unless from what is still prior to itself, and thus at length from a first which is in itself? Thirdly : In like manner^ that there is good itself and truth itself to which all things have relation. It is re- ceived and acknowledged by every one who has rea- son, that God is good itself and truth itself, also that all good and truth is from Him ; just so too that all good and truth can come from nowhere else, but from good itself and truth itself; these things are ac- knowledged by every rational man, as soon as they are heard : when it is then said that the all of will and un- derstanding, or the all of love and wisdom, or the all of aft'ection and thought, with the man who is led by the Lord, has relation to good and truth, it follows that all things which that man wills and understands, or what he loves and is wise in, or with which he is affected and which he thinks, is from the Lord : hence it is that every one in the church knows that all good and all truth from man is not good and truth in itself, but only that which is from the Lord. Since these things are the truth, it follows that all that which such a man wills and thinks, is from the Lord. That every evil man cannot will and think from any other origin, will be seen in what follows. Fourthly : That they are life, from ivhicli the life of all., and all things of life., are., was shown in many places in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. Human reason also receives and acknowledges at the 144 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING first hearing, that all man's life is of his will and un- derstanding ; for if will and understanding are taken away, he does not live ; or, what is the same, that all man's life is of his love and thought; for if love and thought are taken away, he does not live : now be- cause the all of will and understanding, or the all of love and thought with man, is from the Lord, as was now said above, it follows that the all of life is from Him. Fifthly : That tins Only and Very is omni- present^ omniscient^ and omnipotent: this too every christian acknowledges from his doctrine, and every heathen from his religion : hence also, every one, wherever he is, thinks that God is where he is, and prays to God present ; and since every one so thinks and so prays, it follows that they cannot think other- wise than that God is everywhere, thus omnipresent : in like manner that he is omniscient and omnipotent ; wherefore everyone praying to God supplicates in his heart, that He would lead him, because He is able : thus every one then acknowledges the divine omni- presence, omniscience, and omnipotence : he acknowl- edges, because he then turns his face to the Lord, and then that truth flows in from Him. Sixthly : That this Only and Very is the L,ord from eternity, or Je- hovah. It has been shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, that God is one in essence and in person, and that that God is the Lord ; and that the Divine itself, which is called Je- hovah the Father, is the Lord from eternity ; that the Divine Human is the Son conceived from his Divine from eternity, and born in the world ; and that the proceeding Divine is the Holy Spirit. It is said the Very and the Only, because it was before said, that the Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, is life itself, because He is love itself and wisdom itself, or good itself and truth itself, from which are all things. That the Lord created all things from Himself, and not from nothing, may be seen in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 282 to 284, n. 349 to 357. From these things this truth, that man THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 145 is led and taught by the Lord alone, is confirmed by reasons. 158. This same truth is confirmed with the angels, not only by reasons, but also by living perceptions, especially with the angels of the third heaven : these perceive the influx of the divine love and divine wis- dom from the Lord ; and because they perceive this, and know from their wisdom that these are life, there- fore they say that they live from the Lord, and not from themselves ; and they not only say this, but also love and will that it should be so : and yet they are still in all appearance as if they lived from them- selves ; yea, in a stronger appearance than other angels ; as it was shown above, n. 42 to 45, Tliat the inore nearly any one is conjoined to the Lord^ the more distinctly he appears to himself as if he were his own, and the more evidently he notices that he is the Lord^s. To be in a like perception and appearance at the same time, has also been given to me now for many years; from which I am fully convinced, that I will and think nothing from myself; but that it appears as from myself: and it has also been given to will and love it. This same may be confirmed by many other things from the spiritual world, but these two will suf- fice for the time. 159. That the Lord alone has life, is manifest from these places in the Word : / am the resurrection and the life ; he that believeth on ilfe, cdtltovgh he die, shall live: John xi. 25. lam tJie ivay^ and the triith^ and the life : John xiv. 6. God was the Word : in Him was lifo^ and the life loas the light of men : John i. 1, 4, The Word there is the Lord. As the Father hath life in Himself so hcdh He given to the ^on to have life in Himself: John v. 26. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone, is manifest from these passages : Without Me ye cannot do anything : John xv. 5. A Tnan cannot take anything^ unless it be given to him, from Heaven : John iii. 27. A man cannot make one hair ivhite or black : Matt. v. 36 : by a hair in the Word is signified the least of all things. i 13 146 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING 160. That the life of the evil is also from the same origin, will be demonstrated in its proper article in what follows : here it will only be illustrated by com- parison. From the sun of the world flows both heat and light ; and it flows in like manner into trees which bear bad fruits, as into trees which bear good fruits ; and they vegetate and grow in like manner : the forms, into which the heat flows, make this diver- sity ; but not the heat in itself. It is the like with light : this is variegated into colors, according to the forms into which it flows : there are colors beautiful and cheerful, and there are colors unbeautiful and sad; and still the hght is the same. It is the hke with the influx of spiritual heat, which in itself is love, and spiritual light, which in itself is wisdom, from the sun of the spiritual world : the forms into which it flows make diversity ; but not that heat which is love, and that light which is wisdom, in themselves : the forms into which they flow are hu- man minds. From these things it is now manifest, that man is led and taught by the Lord alone. 161. But what the life of animals is, was shown above; namely, that it is the life of affection merely natural with its mate science ; and that it is a medi- ate life corresponding to the life of those who are in the spiritual world. 162. II. That man is led and taught by the Lord alone through the angelic heaven and from it. It is said that man is led by the Lord through the angelic heaven, and from it ; but that it is through the angelic heaven, is from appearance ; yet, that it is from that heaven, is from the truth : that the appearance is that it is through the angelic heaven, is because the Lord ap- pears above that heaven as a sun: that the truth is, that it is from that heaven, is because the Lord is in that hea- ven, as the soul in man : for the Lord is omnipresent, and is not in space, as has been before shown ; where- fore distance is an appearance according to conjunction with Him, and conjunction is according to the recep- tion of love and wisdom from Him : and because no THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 147 one can be conjoined to tlie Lord, as He is in Himself, thei'efore He appears to the angels at a distance as a sun : but still He is in the universal angelic heaven, as the soul in man ; and in like manner in every society of heaven, and in like manner in every angel there ; for the soul of man is not only the soul of the ■»vliole, but also of every part. But because it is ac- cording to appearance that the Lord governs the univer- sal heaven, and through this the world, from the sun which is from Him, and where He is ; concerning which sun may be seen the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in part second ; and because it is permitted every man to speak according to appearance, nor can he do otherwise ; therefore also it is permitted to every one, who is not in wisdom itself, to think that the Lord governs things all and each from His sun ; and also that He governs the world through the angelic heaven : according to such appearance also the angels of the lower heavens think ; but the angels of the higher heavens speak indeed according to appearance, but think according to the truth ; which is, that the Lord governs the universe from the angelic heaven, which is from Himself, That the simple and the wise speak alike, but do not think alike, may be illustrated from the sun of the world : all speak concerning it from appearance, as that it rises and sets ; yet the wise, although they speak in like manner, still think that it stands un- moved : the latter also is the truth, and the former is the appearance. The same may also be illustrated from appearances in the spiritual world ; for there appear there spaces and distances as in the natural world ; but still they are appearances according to dis- similarities of affections and thence of thoughts. It is the like with the appearance of the Lord in His sun. 163. But how the Lord leads and teaches every man from the angelic heaven, shall be said in few words. In the treatise concerning the Divine Love AND Divine Wisdom, and above in this treatise concern- 148 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING ing the Divine Providence ; also in the work concern-' ing Heaven and Hell, pubHshed in London i^i the year 1758, it has been made known from things heard and seen, that the universal angelic heaven appears before the Lord as one man ; and that each society in heaven does in like manner ; and that it is thence that every angel and spirit is in perfect form a man ; and it was also shown, in the aforesaid treatises, that heaven is not heaven from the propriuin of the angels, but from the reception by the angels of divine love and divine wisdom from the Lord : hence it may be evident that the Lord governs the universal angelic heaven as one man ; and that that heaven, because it is in itself a man, is the very image and the very like- ness of the Lord; and that the Lord Himself governs that heaven, as the soul governs its body. And, because the universal human race is governed by the Lord, that it is not governed through heaven, but from heaven by the Lord, consequently from Himself, be- cause He is heaven, as has been said. 164. But because this is an arcanum of angelic wis- dom, it cannot be comprehended by man, unless his spiritual mind is opened; for this, from conjunction with the Lord, is an angel : by this man, from the things premised, the following can be comprehended. 1. That all, as well men as angels, are in the Lord and the Lord in them, according to conjunction with Him; or, what is the same, according to reception of love and wisdom from Him. 2. That each one of these is allotted a place in the Lord, thus in heaven, according to the quality of conjunction, or of the reception of Him. 3. That each one in his place has his state distinct from the state of others ; and that from the common stock he draws his task according to his situation, his function, and his necessity, alto- gether like each thing in the human body. 4. That every man is initiated into his place by the Lord according to his life. 5. That every man from infancy is brought into that Divine Man, whose soul and life is the Lord ; and that he is led and THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 149 taught from His Divine Love according to His Divine Wisdom, in Him and not out of Him. But that, because the freedom of man is not taken away, man cannot be otherwise led and taught, than according to reception as of himself 6. That they who receive, are carried through infinite windings, as through meanderings, to their places ; nearly as the chyle through the mesentery and lacteal vessels there into the cisterna, and from this through the thoracic duct into the blood, and thus into its seat. 7. That they who do not receive, are secreted from those who are within the Divine Man, as excrement and urine are secreted from man. These are arcana of angelic wisdom, which may be somewhat comprehended by man ; but there are very many more which cannot. 165. III. That man is led of the L,ord by influx, and taught by illustration. That man is led of the Lord by influx, is because to be led and also to flow in are said of love and of the will ; and that man is taught of the Lord by illustration, is because to be taught and to be illustrated are properly said of wis- dom and the understanding : that every man is led of his love by himself, and according to it by others, and not from the understanding, is known : he is led by the understanding and according to it, only when love or the will makes it ; and when this takes place, it may also be said of the understanding, that it is led ; but still, the understanding is not then led, but the will from which it is. It is called influx, because it is a received custom to say, that the soul flows into the body, and that influx is spiritual and not physical ; and the soul or life of man is his love or will, as has been before shown : also, because influx is compara- tively as is the influx of the blood into the heart, and from the heart into the lungs : that there is a corres- pondence of the heart with the will, and of the lungs with the understanding ; and that the conjunction of the will with the understanding is as the influx of the blood from the heart into the lungs, was shown in the 13^ 150 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wis- dom, 11. 371 to 432. 166. But that man is taught by ilhistration, is because to be taught and also to be ilkistrated are said of the understanding; for the understanding, which is the internal sight of man, is no otherwise illustrated by spiritual light, than as the eye or exter- nal sight of man by natural light : both are also taught alike ; but the internal sight, which is that of the understanding, by spiritual objects, and the exter- nal sight, which is that of the eye, by natural objects. There is spiritual light and natural light ; both, as to external appearance, alike ; but as to internal, unlike ; for natural light is from the sun of the natural world, and hence in itself dead ; but spiritual light is from the sun of the spiritual world, and hence in itself liv- ing;, this light illustrates the human understanding, and not natural light : natural and rational lumine is not from the latter light, but from the former; it is called natural and rational lumine, because it is spirit- ual-natural; for there are three degrees of light in the spiritual world, celestial light, spiritual light, and spiritual-natural light : celestial light is a flamy bright- red light ; this light have those who are in the third heaven : spiritual light is a white shining light ; this light have those who are in the middle heaven : and spiritual-natural light is such as is the light by day in our world; this light have those who are in the ulti- mate heaven, and also those who are in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell : but this light m this world is with the good as the light of summer, and with the evil as the light of winter on earth. But it is to be known, that all light of the spiritual world has nothing in common with the light of the natural world: ihey differ as living and dead. From which things it is manifest, that natural light, such as is before our eyes, does not illustrate the understanding, but spiritual light. Man knows not this, because he has known nothing hitherto concern- ing spiritual light. That spiritual light is in its origin THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 151 Divine Wisdom or Divine Truth, has been shown in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 126 to 140. 167. Since the hght of heaven has now been spoken of, something is also to be said concerning the light of hell : light in hell is also of three degrees ; the light in the lowest hell is as the light from ignited coals ; the light in the middle hell is as the light from a fire- hearth flame ; and the light in the highest hell is as the light from candles, and to some as the light by night from the moon. Neither are these lights natu- ral, but they are spiritual; for all natural light is dead, and extinguishes the understanding; and they who are in hell have the faculty of understanding, which is called rationality, as has been shown before ; and rationality itself is from spiritual light, and not in the least from natural light; and the spiritual light, which they have from rationality, is turned into«nfer- nal light, as the light of day into the darkness of night. But still, all who are in the spiritual world, as well they who are in the heavens as they who are in the hells, see as clearly in their light as man sees in the daytime in his: the reason is, because the eye- sight of all is formed to the reception of the light in which it is; thus, the eye-sight of the angels of heaven is for the reception of the light in which it is; and the eye-sight of the spirits of hell, for the recep- tion of their light, is comparatively as with owls and bats, which see objects as clearly by night, in the eve- ning, as the rest of the birds see them by day; for their eyes are formed to the reception of their light. But the difference between those lights appears per- spicuously to those who look from one light into the other ; as when an angel of heaven looks into hell, he sees nothing but mere thick darkness there ; and when a spirit of hell looks into heaven, he sees nothing but thick darkness there : the reason is, because heavenly wisdom is to those who are in hell as thick darkness ; and on the contrary, infernal insanity is to those who are in heaven as thick darkness. From these things it may be evident, that such understanding as man 152 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING has, such light he has, and that every one comes into his own light after death ; for he does not see in any other : and in the spiritual world, where all are spirit- ual even as to their bodies, the eyes of all are formed for seeing from their light ; the life's love of every one makes for itself understanding, and thus also light ; for love is as the fire of life, from which is the light of life. 168. Since few know anything concerning illustra- tion, in which the understanding of man is who is taught by the Lord, therefore something shall be said concerning it. There is illustration from the Lord, interior and exterior; and there is also illustration from man, interior and exterior : interior illustration from the Lord is, that man perceives, from the first hearing, whether what is said is true or not true ; exterior illustration is thence in the thought : interior illustration from man is from confirmation alone ; and exterior illustration from man is from science alone : but something shall be said concerning each. The rational man from interior illustration from the Lord forthwith perceives, when he hears, very many things, whether they are true or not true : let there be for example these : That love is the life of faith, or that faith lives from love : from interior illustration man perceives this also, that whatever man loves, that he wills; and that what he wills, that he does; and hence that to love is to do : and this also, that what- ever man believes from love, this also he wills and does; and hence that to have faith is also to do: and also, that an impious one cannot have a love of God, thus neither a faith of God. The rational man from interior illustration also, when he hears, forthwith perceives these things : That God is one : That He is omnipresent : That all good is from Him : also. That all things have relation to good and truth; and that all good is from good itself, and all truth is from truth itself. These and other hke things man perceives interiorly in himself, when he hears them ; that he does perceive, is because he has rationality ; and this THE DIVINE PilOVIDENCE. 153 in the light of heaven which ilhistrates. Exterior illustration is ilhistration of the thought from that interior ilhistration; and the thought is so far in that illustration, as it rernaius in the perception which it has from interior illustration, and at the same time as far as it has knowledges of good and truth ; for from these it takes reasons, by which it confirms. From this exterior illustration, thought sees a matter on both sides; on one it sees the reasons which confirm, and on the other it sees the appearances which invali- date : the latter it disperses, the former it collects. But interior illustration from 'man is altogether differ- ent ; by this man sees a matter on one side, and not on the other; and when he has confirmed it, he sees it in a light similar as to appearance to the light spoken of above ; but it is wintry light : let there be for example this : A judge, who from gifts and for the sake of gain judges unjustly, after he has confirmed the judgment by the laws and by reasons, sees nothing but what is just in his judgment : some see what is unjust ; but because they do not wish to see it, they darken and blind themselves, and thus do not see ; it is the like with the judge who passes judgments from friendship, from seeking for favor, or from conjunction by relationships. To such it is the like with every- thing which they derive from the mouth of a man of authority, or from the mouth of a man of fame, or have hatched out from their own intelligence : they are blind rationals ; for from the falsities they con- firm, have they sight; and falsity shuts, and truth opens it. Such do not see any truth from the light of truth, nor anything just from the love of what is just; but from the light of confirmation, which is fatuous light : they appear in the spiritual world as a face Avithout a head, or as faces like to human faces behind which are wooden heads, and they are called rational cattle, because they have rationality in poten- cy. But exterior illustration from man is with those who think and speak from science alone impressed on 154 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING the memory : these of themselves are very httle able to confirm anything. 169. These are the distinctions of illustration, and thence of perception and thought : actual illustration is from spiritual light ; but illustration itself from that light is not apparent to any one in the natural world, because natural light has nothing in common with spiritual light: but that illustration has sometimes been apparent to me in the spiritual world, being seen Avith those who were in illustration from the Lord, as something luminous around the head, glowing red of the color of the human face. But with those who were in illustration from themselves, there appeared such a luminous thing, not around the head, but around the mouth and above the chin. 170. Besides these illustrations there is also given another illustration, by which it is revealed to man in what faith, in what intelligence and wisdom he is ; which revelation is such, that he perceives it in him- self: he is sent into a society where there is genuine faith, and where is true intelligence and wisdom ; and there his interior rationality is opened, from which he sees his faith, and his intelligence and wisdom, what they are, even to acknowledgment : I have seen some returning thence, and have heard them confessing that they had nothing of faith, although they believed in the world that they had much and remarkable above others ; in like manner concerning their intelli- gence and wisdom : they were those who are in sepa- rate faith, and in no charity, and who are in their own intelligence. 171. IV. That man is taught of the Lord by the Word, doctrine and 'preachings from it, and thus im- mediately from Himself alone. It has been said and shown above, that man is led and taught of the Lord alone, and that it is from heaven, and not through heaven, or through any angel there ; and be- cause he is led of the Lord alone, it follows that it is immediately and not mediately : but how this is, shall now be said. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 155 172. In the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem con- cerning THE Sacred Scripture, it was shown that the Lord is the Word, and that all doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the Word : now because the Lord is the Word, it follows that man who is taught from the Word, is taught by the Lord alone. But because this is comprehended with difficulty, it shall be illus- trated in this order. 1. That the Lord is the Word, because the Word is from Him and concerning Him. 2. And because it is the divine truth of the divine good. 3. That thus to be taught from the Word is to be taught from Him. 4. And, that it is done me- diately through preachings, does not take away the immediate. First : That the Lord is the Word, be- cause it is from Him and concerning Him. That the Word is from the Lord, is denied by no one in the church; but that the Word is concerning the Lord alone, is not indeed denied, yet not known ; but it is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem con- cerning THE Lord, n. 1 to 7, and n. 37 to 44 ; and in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 62 to 69, n. 80 to 90, n. 98 to 100 : now because the Word is from the Lord alone, and concerning the Lord alone, it follows that when man is taught from the Word, he is taught from the Lord ; for the Word is divine : who can communicate the Divine, and put it into the hearts, except the Divine itself, from which it is, and concerning which it treats : wherefore the Lord says, when he speaks concerning the conjunction of Himself with the disci- ples. That they shoidd remain in Him., and His icords in them, John xv. 7 : That His icords were spirit and life, John vi. 63 : And that He ivould have an abode with them who kept His u'ords, xiv. 20 to 24 : wherefore to think from the Lord, is from the Word, as through the Word. That all things of the Word have communication with heaven, is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sa- cred Scripture, from beginning to end ; and because the Lord is heaven, it is understood that all things of 156 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING the Word have commimication with the Lord Himself ; the angels of heaven indeed have communication, but this also from the Lord. Secondly : That the Lord is the Word, because it is the divine iriitJi of tlie divine good : that the Lord is the Word, He teaches, in John, in these words : In the beginning toas the Word, and the Word ivas with God, and God ivas the Word: and the Word became Jlesh and divelt among us : i. 1, 14: because this has hitherto been no otherwise un- derstood, than that God taught man through the Word, therefore it has been explained as a hyper- bolical expression, which involves that the Lord is not the Word itself: the reason is because they have not known that by the Word is understood the divine truth of the divine good, or, what is the same, the divine wisdom of the divine love : that these are the Lord Himself, is shown in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in part first ; and that these are the Word, is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 1 to 86. How the Lord is the divine truth of the divine good, shall also be here said in few words : every man is not man from the face and body, but from the good of his love and from the truths of his wisdom ; and because man is man from these, every man is also his trutli and his good, or his love and his wisdom; without these he is not man : but the Lord is good itself and truth itself, or, what is the same, love itself and wisdom itself; and these are the Word, which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, and which became flesh. Thirdly : That thus to he tavght from the Word is to be taught of tlie Lord Himself because it is from good itself and truth itself, or from love itself and wisdom itself, which are the Word, as was said ; but every one is taught according to the understanding of his love ; what is over and above does not remain. All those who are taught by the Lord in the Word, are taught in few truths in the world, but in many when they become angels; for the interiors of the Word, which are divine spiritual THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 157 and divine celestial things, are implanted at the same time ; but these are not opened with man, till after his death, in heaven, where he is in angelic wisdom, which, respectively" to human, thus to his former wisdom, is ineffable. That divine spiritual and divine celestial things, whicii make angelic wisdom, are in each and all things of the Word, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 5 to 26. Fourthly : That this is done mediately through preachings, does not take away the imniediate : the Word cannot be taught oth- erwise than mediately through parents, masters, preachers, books, and especially through the reading of it; but still it is not taught by them, but through them by the Lord : this is also according to what is known to preachers, who say, that they do not speak from themselves, but from the spirit of God ; and that all truth as all good is from God : they can indeed speak it. and bring it to the understanding of many, but not to the heart of any one ; and that which is not in the heart, perishes in the understanding: by heart is understood the love of man. From these things it may be seen, that man is led and taught by the Lord alone ; and that it is immediately by Him, when from the Word. This is an arcanum of arcana of angelic wisdom. 173. That by means of the Word those also have light who are out of the church, and have not the Word, was shown in the Doctrine of the New Jeru- salem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 104 to 113 : and because through the Word man has light, and from light has understanding, and the evil have the latter as well as the good, it follows that from light in its origin there is light in its derivations, which are perceptions and thoughts concerning anything whatever : the Lord says, Thai without Him they can do nothing, John xv. 5. That man cannot take any- thing, unless it he given him from heaven, John iii. 27. And that the Father in the heavens maketh his sun to rise upon the evil and the good; and sendeth 14 158 ANGELIC W1SI>0:\I CONCEItNlNG rain upon the just and the myiist, Matt. v. 45 : by snri here, as elscAvhere in the Word, in its spiritual sense, is understood the divine good of the divine love, and by- rain, the divine truth of the divine wisdom ; these are given to the evil and the good, and to the just and the unjust ; for if they were not given., no one would have perception and thouglit. That there is but one only life, from which all have life, was shown above; and perception and thought are of life ; wherefore from the same fountain, from which life is, perception and thought also are. That all light, which makes the understanding, is from the sun of the spiritual world, which is the Lord, has been demonstrated before in many places. 174. V. That 'man is led and taught of the Lord in externals i?i all appearance as of himself : this is done in his externals, but not in internals ; no one knows how the Lord leads and teaches man in his internals, as he does not know how the soul operates that the eye should see, the ear hear, the tongue and mouth speak, the heart actuate the blood, the lungs breathe, the stomach digest, the liver and pancreas dispose, the kidneys secrete, and numberless other things : these do not come to man's perception and sensation : in like manner those things which are done by the Lord in the interior substances and forms of the mind ; these are infinitely more : the operations of the Lord in them do not appear to man; but the effects them- selves appear, which are many ; and also some causes of the effects : the latter are the external things, in which man is together with the Lord ; and because the externals make one with the internals, for they cohere in one series, therefore he cannot otherwise be disposed in internals by the Lord, than according to that which is disposed in externals by the means of man. That man thinks, wills, speaks and does, in all appearance as of himself, every one knows ; and that without that appearance man would have no will and understanding, thus no affection and thought, and also no reception of any good and truth from the Lord, THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 159 every one can see : since it is so, it follows that with- out that appearance there would be no knowledge of God, no charity and faith, and hence no reformation and regeneration, thus no salvation; from which it is manifest, that that appearance is given to man by the Lord for the sake of all these uses ; and chiefly that he might have a receptive and a reciprocal, through which the Lord maybe conjoined to man, and man to the Lord ; and that man by that conjunction may live to eternity. This is the appearance which is here understood. THAT IT IS A LAW OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE THAT MAN SHOULD NOT PERCEIVE AND FEEL ANYTHING CONCERNING THE OPERATION OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, BUT THAT HE SHOULD STILL KNOW AND ACKNOWLEDGE IT. 175. The natural man, who does not believe in the Divine Providence, thinks with himself, What is Divine Providence, when the evil are raised to honors and gain wealth more than the good, and many like things succeed with those who do not believe in the Di- vine Providence more than with those who do believe? yea, that the unbelieving and impious may bring wrongs, injuries, misfortunes, and sometimes death, upon the believing and pious, and this by craftiness and malice ; and thus he thinks. Do I not see from experience itself as in clear day, that guileful machi- nations, provided man from ingenious shrewdness can cause them to appear as faithful and just, prevail over fidelity and justice ? what is the rest, but necessities, consequences, and fortuities, in which nothing of Divine Providence appears? are not necessities of nature ? are not consequences causes flowing from natural or civil order? and fortuities either from causes which are unknown, or from no causes? Such things the natural man thinks with himself, who ascribes no- thing to God, but all things to nature ; for he who attributes nothing to God also attributes nothing to 160 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING the Divine Providence ; for God and the Divine Provi- dence make one. But the spiritual man says or thinks otherwise with himself: allhoiigh he does not perceive in thought, nor see by eye-sight, the Divine Providence in its progression, still he knows and ac- knowledges it. Now because the appearances and thence fallacies mentioned above have blinded the understanding, and it cannot receive any sight, unless the fallacies which have brought on the blindness, and the falsities which have induced the thick darkness, be removed, and this cannot be done except by truths, in which is the power of dispersing falsities, there- fore they are to be laid open ; but that it may be done distinctly, it shall be in this order. I. That if man perceived and felt the operation of the Divine Provi- dence, he would not act from freedom according to reason, nor would anything appear to him as of him- self In like manner if he foreknew events. II. That if man manifestly saw the Divine Providence, he would interfere with the order and tenor of its course, and pervert and destroy it. III. That if man mani- festly saw the Divine Providence, he would either deny God, or would make himself God. IV. That it is given to man to see the Divine Providence on the back and not in the face; also in a spiritual state and not in a natural state. 176. I. TJiat if man perceived and felt the opera- tion of the Divine Providence, he would not act from freedom according to reason, nor woidd anyihing- appear to him as his. In like manner if man fore- knew events. That it is a law of the Divine Provi- dence, that man should act from freedom according to r6ason ; also that everything which man wills, thinks, speaks and does, should appear to him as of himself; and that without that appearance no man would have his own, or be his own man ; thus he would not have a proprium ; and thus he would have no impu- tation, without which it would be indifferent whether he did evil or good, and \vhether he had the faith of God or the persuasion of hell ; in a word, that THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. IGl he would not be man, has been shown above to the evidence of the understanding in their appropriate articles. It shall here be now shown, that man would have no liberty of acting according to reason, and no appearance of acting as of himself, if he perceived and felt the o^^eration of the Divine Providence ; since if he perceived and felt it, he would also be led by it; for the Lord by His Divine Providence leads all, and man does not lead himself except apparently, as was also shown above; wherefore if to living perception and sensation he were led, he would not be conscious of life, and then would scarcely be otherwise actuated to making sounds and acting, than as a sculpture : if he were still conscious of life, he would then not be otherwise led, tban as one bound with handcuffs and fetters, or as a beast before a cart : who does not see, that man would then have no freedom 1 and if no freedom, he would have no reason ; for every one thinks from freedom and in freedom; and whatever he thinks not from freedom and in freedom, does not appear to him to be from himself, but from another; yea, if you weigh this interiorly, you will perceive that he would not have thought, still less reason, and hence would not be man. 177. The operation of the Divine Providence of the Lord to lead man from evils is continual ; if any one perceived and was sensible of this continual ope- ration, and still was not led as one bound, would he not continually withstand, and then either quarrel with God, or intermingle himself with the Divine Providence? if the latter, he would also make himself God ; if the former, he would release himself from bonds, and deny God : this is clearly manifest, that there would be two powers continually acting against each other ; the power of evil from man, and the power of good from the Lord ; and when two opposites act against each other, then either the one conquers, or both perish ; but here, if one conquers, both perish ; for the evil which is of man does not receive good from the Lord in a moment, nor does good from the 14* 162 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Lord cast out evil from man in a moment ; if the one or the other were done in a moment, hfe would not remain to man. These and more and other inju- rious things would exist, if man manifestly perceived or was sensible of the operation of the Divine Provi- dence. But this will be clearly demonstrated by examples in what follows. 178. The reason also that it is not given to man to foreknow events is, that he may act from freedom according to reason ; for it is known that whatever man loves, he wills its effect, and leads himself to the latter by reason ; also that there is nothing that man revolves by reason, which is not from a love that it may come through thought to effect; wherefore if he knew the effect or the event from divine prediction, reason would quiesce, and with reason love ; for love with reason comes to a close in the effect, and from it there then begins a new one. The very delight of reason is, from love in thought to see the effect, not in it but before it, or not in the present but the future : hence man has what is called Hope, which increases and decreases in reason, as it sees or waits for the event: this delight is fulfilled in the event, but then it is oblite- rated with the thought concerning it : in like manner would it be with an event foreknown. The mind of man is continually in these three things, which are called end, cause and efiect ; if one of them is wanting, the human mind is not in its life : the affection of the will is the end from which ; the thought of the understand- ing is the cause by which ; and the action of the body, the speech of the mouth, or external sensation, are the effect of the end through the thought : that the human mind is not in its life, when it is only in the affection of the will, and nothing further, in like manner when only in the effect, is manifest to every one ; wherefore the mind has no life from one of them separately, but from the three conjointly; this life of the mind would be diminished and recede in a predicted event. 179. Since the foreknowledge of future things takes away the human itself, which is to act from freedom THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 163 according to reason, therefore it is given to no one to know future things, but it is permitted to every one to conchide from reason concerning future things ; thence reason, with all things of it, is in its life : from this it is, that man knows not his lot after death, nor knows any event before he is in it ; for if he knew, he would no longer think from his interior self, how he should do or live, that he might come to it ; but only from his exterior self, that he might come ; and this state closes the interiors of his mind, in which the two faculties of his life, which are liberty and rationality, chiefly reside. The desire of foreknowing future things is innate with most; but this desire derives its origin from the love of evil ; wherefore it is taken away from those who believe in the Divine Providence, and there is given to them a trust that the Lord disposes their lot ; and hence they do not wish to foreknow it, lest they should themselves in some way interfere with the Divine Providence : this the Lord teaches by many things in Luke xii. 14 to 48. That this is a law of the Divine Providence, may be confirmed by many things from the spiritual world : most, when they come into it after death, wish to know their lot ; but it is answered them, that if they have lived well, their lot is in heaven ; if they have lived ill, in hell : but because all, even the evil, fear hell, they ask what they shall do and what they shall believe, that they may come into heaven ; but it is answered them, that they may do and beheve as they wish, but may know that in hell they do not do good nor believe truth, but in heaven; inquire what good is and what truth is, and think the latter and do the former, if you can: thus every one is left to act from freedom according to reason, in the spiritual world as in the natural world ; but as they have acted in this world, so they act in that; for his life remains to every one, and hence his lot; because the lot is of the life. 180. II. Tliat if man manifestly satv the Divine Providence^ he toould inteifere with the order and tenor of its course^ and j^^rv^rt and destroy it: that these 164 ANGELIC "WISDOM CONCERNING things may come distinctly into the perception of the rational and also of the natural man, they must be illustrated by examples, in this order. 1. That exter- nals have such a connection with internals, that in all operation they make one. 2. That man is only in certain externals with the Lord ; and if he were in internals, he would pervert and destroy all the order and tenor of the course of the Divine Providence : but, as was said, these shall be illustrated by examples. First : That externals have such a connection iinth internals^ that in all oj)cration they make one : illustra- tion by examples may here be made by some things which are in the human body : in the whole and in every part there are internals and externals; the externals therein are called skins, membranes, and envelopes; the internals are forms variously compounded and inwo- ven of nervous fibres and blood-vessels : the envelope, which encompasses by offsets from itself, enters into all the interiors even to the inmost parts ; thus the exter- nal, which is the envelope, conjoins itself with all the internals, which are organic forms from fibres and ves- sels: from which it follows, that as the external acts or is acted upon, the internals also act or are acted upon ; for there is a perpetual confasciculation of all things. Take only some common envelope in the body, as for example the Pleura, which is the common envelope of the chest, or of the heart and lungs ; and survey it with an anatomical eye ; and if this has not been your study, consult anatomists, and you will hear that this com- mon envelope, by various circumvolutions, and then by oifsets from itself, finer and finer, enters into the inmost parts of the lungs, even into the smallest bronchial ramifications, and into the follicles them- selves, which are the beginnings of the lungs : not to mention its course afterwards through the trachea into the larynx towards the tongue : from which it is man- ifest that there is a perpetual connection of things out- most with things inmost; wherefore as the outmost acts or is acted upon, so also the interiors from things inmost act or are acted upon : which is the cause THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 165 that when that outmost covering, which is the pleura, is either inundated or inflamed, or is filled Avith ulcers, the lungs are diseased from the inmost parts; and if the disease grows worse, all action of the lungs is discontinued, and man dies. It is the like everywhere else in the whole body, as with the Peritoneum, the common envelope of all the vis- cera of the abdomen; and also with the envelopes around every one, as with the stomach, the liver, the pancreas, the spleen, the intestines, the mesentery, the kidneys, and tlie organs of generation in both sexes : take some one of these, and either survey it yourself and you will see, or consult those skilled in the sci- ence and you will hear; for example, take the liver, and you will detect that there is a connection of the peritonenm with the envelope of that viscus, and by the envelope with the inmost things of it ; for there are perpetual off'sets thence, and insertions towards the interiors, and thus continuations to the inmost parts, and thence a confasciation of all things, which is such that when the envelope acts or is acted upon, the whole form in like manner acts or is acted upon. It is the like with the rest : the reason is, because in every form, the general and the particular, or the universal and the singular, by a wonderful conjunction, act as one. That the like takes place in spiritual forms and in the changes and variations of their state, which have relation to the operations of the will and under- standing, as in natural forms and their operations, which have relation to motions and actions, will be seen below. Now because man, in certain external operations, is together with the Lord, and the liberty of acting according to reason is not taken away from any one, it follows that the Lord cannot otherwise act in the internals than as together with man in the exter- nals; wherefore if man does not shun and loathe evils as sins, the external of thought and will is vitiated and impaired, and then at the same time their internal; comparatively as the pleura, from its disease which is called the pleurisy, from which the body dies. Second- 166 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING LY : That if man roere at the same time in internals^ he ivo7ild jyervert and destroy all the order and tenor of the Divine Providence: this also will be illustrated by examples from the human body: if man knew all the operations of both the brains into the fibres, and of the fibres into the muscles, and of the muscles into the actions, and from the science of them disposed all things as he disposes actions, would he not pervert and destroy all things? If man knew how the stomach digests, how the viscera round about go about their task, elaborate the blood, and distribute it to every work of life, and if he was in the disposing of these as he is in externals, as when he eats and drinks, would he not pervert and destroy all things 'I when he cannot dispose the external, which appears as one, but that he destroys it by luxury and intem- perance, what then, if he also disposed the internals, which are infinite? wherefore the internals, lest man by some will should enter into them and make them subject to himself, are altogether exempt from his will, except the muscles, which make the clothing; and it is also unknown how these act, and is only known that they act. It is the like with the rest, as, if man disposed the interiors of the eye to seeing, the interiors of the ear to hearing, the interiors of the tongue to tasting, the interiors of the skin to feeling, the inte- riors of the heart to acting systolically, the interiors of the lungs to breathing, the interiors of the mesentery to distributing the chyle, the interiors of the kidneys to secreting, the interiors of the organs of generation to prolificating, the interiors of the womb to perfecting the embryo, and so on, v/ould he not in infinite ways pervert and destroy in them the order of the course of the Divine Providence? that man is in externals is known, as that he sees with the eye, hears v/itli the ear, tastes with the tongue, feels with the skin, breathes with the lungs, contributes to propagation, and so on : is it not enough that he should know the externals, and dispose them to the health of the body and the mind? since he cannot do this, what would be done if he also THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 167 disposed the internals 7 From these things it may now be evident, that if man manifestly saw the Divine Providence, he would interfere with the order and tenor of its course, and pervert and destroy it. 181. That it is the like in the spiritual things of the mind, as it is in the natural things of the body, is because all things of the mind correspond to all things of the body ; wherefore also the mind actuates the body, in externals, and in the general, at full pleasure; it actuates the eyes to seeing, the ears to hearing, the mouth and tongue to eating and drinking, and also to speaking, the hands to doing, the feet to walking, the organs of generation to prolificating : the mind not only actuates the externals to these things, but also the internals in all series; the outmost things from the inmost, and the inmost things from the outmost : thus while it actuates the mouth to speaking, it actuates the lungs, the larynx, the glottis, the tongue, the lips, and each one distinctly to its function at the same time, and also the face to conformity. Hence it is manifest that the like to what was said of the natural forms of the body, is to be said of the spiritual forms of the mind, and what was said of the natural ope- rations of the body, is to be said of the spiritual ope- rations of the mind : just as man disposes the exter- nals, the Lord disposes the internals; thus, one way, if man disposes the externals from himself, and another, if he disposes the externals from the Lord, and at the same time as from himself The mind of man is also in all form a man; for it is his spirit, which after death appears a man altogether as in the world ; and hence there are like things in both : and thus what was said concerning the conjunction of externals with internals in the body, is to be under- stood concerning the conjunction of externals with internals in the mind ; with the difference only, that the one is natural, and the other spiritual. 182. III. That if man manifestly saw the Divine Providence, he woidd either deny God, or make him,- self God : the merely natural man says with himself, 168 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING What is the Divine Providence? is it aught else or more than a word among the common people from a priest? who sees anything of it? is it not prudence, wisdom, craftiness and malice, from which all things are done in the world? are not the rest hence necessi- ties and consequences ? and are not many things con- tingencies? does the Divine Providence lie concealed in these ? how can it in deceits and crafts ? and yet it is said, that the Divine Providence operates all things : make me therefore see it, and I will believe it; can any one believe it before? So speaks the merely natural man ; but the spiritual man speaks otherwise : the latter, because he acknowledges God, also acknowledges the Divine Providence, and also sees it : but he cannot manifest it to any one who does not think except in nature from nature ; for this one cannot elevate the mind above it, and see in its appearances anything of the Divine Providence, or draw conclusions concerning it from its laws, which are also laws of the Divine Wisdom ; wherefore if he manifestly saw it, he would infuse it into nature, and thus not only veil it over with fallacies, but also pro- fane it; and instead of acknowledging it, he would deny it ; and he who in heart denies the Divine Provi- dence, also denies God. It will either be thought that God governs all things, or that nature does : he who thinks that God governs all things, thinks that love itself and wisdom itself, thus life itself, does ; but he who thinks that nature governs all things, thinks that natural heat and natural light do; which yet are in themselves dead, because from a dead sun: does not what is living itself govern what is dead? can what is dead govern anything? if you think that what is dead can give life to itself, 3^ou are insane; life must be from Life. 183. That if man manifestly saw the Divine Prov- idence and its operation, he would deny God, appears as improbable ; because it seems that if any one manifestly saw it, he could not do otherwise than acknowledge it, and thus God ; but still it is the con- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 169 trary. The Divine Providence never acts together with the love of man's will, but continually against it : for man from his hereditary evil always pants after the lowest hell ; but the Lord by his Providence continually leads him back and draws him out thence, first to a milder hell, then out of hell, and at length to Himself into heaven : this operation of the Divine Providence is perpetual ; wherefore if man manifestly saw or felt this drawing or leading back, he would be enraged, and hold God as an enemy, and from the evil of his proprium would deny Him ; wherefore, lest man should know this, he is held in freedom, from which he knows no otherwise than that he leads him- self. But let examples serve for illustration : man, from inheritance, wishes to become great, and also wishes to become rich; and as far as these loves are not bridled, he wishes to become greater and richer, and at length the greatest and the richest ; and he would not then be at rest, but would wish to become greater than God Himself, and to possess heaven itself: this hankering lies hid most interiorly in hereditary evil, and hence in man's life and his life's nature. The Divine Providence does not take away this evil in a moment; for, if it took it away in a moment, man would not live ; but it takes it away silently and successively, without man's knowing anything con- cerning it : this is done by permitting man to act according to thought which he makes of reason, and then by leading him back by various means, as well by rational things as by civil and moral things ; and thus he is led back, as far as he can be led in free- dom. Nor can evil be taken away from any one, unless it appears, is seen, and acknowledged : it is as a wound, which is not healed unless it is opened. If therefore man knew and saw that the Lord by His Divine Providence was thus operating against his life's love, from which he has his greatest delight, he could not do otherwise than run counter to it, grow angry, join issue, say hard things, and at length from his evil remove the operation of the Divine Provi- 15 170 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING dence, by denying it, and thus God ; especially if he saw that his success was withstood, that he was cast down from dignity, and deprived of opulence. But it is to be known, that the Lord never leads man away from seeking honors and from acquiring wealth; but that he leads him away from the desire of seeking honors for the sake of eminence alone, or for the sake of himself; in like manner from acquiring wealth for the sake of opulence alone, or for the sake of wealth : but when he leads him av.^ay from these, he intro- duces him into the love of uses, that he may look at eminence not for the sake of himself, but for the sake of uses ; thus that it may be of uses, and thence of himself, and not of himself and thence of uses : in like manner opulence. That the Lord continually humbles the proud, and exalts the humble, He teaches in many places in the Word ; and that which He there teaches is also of His Divine Providence. 184. The like happens with other evil in which man is hereditarily, as with adulteries, frauds, re- venges, blasphemies, and other like ones ; all which can no otherwise be removed, than as the liberty of thinking and willing them is left, and that man should thus remove them as of himself ; which, how- ever, he cannot do, unless he acknowledges the Divine Providence, and implores that it may be done through it: without that liberty and the Divine Providence at the same time, those evils would be like poison kept within and not discharged, which would soon spread itself around, and occasion death in all parts ; and they would be like the disease of the heart itself, from which the whole body soon dies. 185. That it is so, cannot better be known, than from men after death in the spiritual world ; most of those there \vho have become great and opulent in the natural world, and in honors have looked to them- selves alone, and in like manner in riches, in the beginning speak concerning God, and concerning the Divine Providence, as if they in heart acknowledged them : but because they then manifestly see the Di- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 171 vine Providence, and from it their ultimate lot, which is that they are to come into hell, they conjoin them- selves with the devils there, and then not only deny, but also blaspheme God ; and then they come into that delirium that they acknowledge the more power- ful of the devils for their gods, and strive after nothing more ardently than that they also may become gods. 186. That man would run counter to God, and also deny Him, if he manifestly saw the operations of His Divine Providence, is because man is in the de- light of his love; and that delight makes his very life: wherefore when man is held in the delight of his life, he is in his freedom ; for freedom and that delight make one : if therefore he perceived that he was con- tinually led away from his delight, he would be ex- asperated as against him who wished to destroy his life, and would hold him as an enemy : lest this should take place, the Lord does not manifestly appear m His Divine Providence, but by it he leads man as silently as a hidden stream or a flowing current does a ship : from this man knows no otherwise than that he is continually in his proprium, for freedom makes one with proprium : hence it is manifest, that freedom appropriates to man that which the Divine Provi- dence introduces; which would not be done, if it manifested itself : to be appropriated is to become of the life. 187. IV. That it is give^i to man to see the Divine Providence on the hack and not in the face, also in a spiritual state, and not in his natural state : to see the Divine Providence on the back and not in the face is, after it, and not before it ; and from a spiritual state and not in a natural state is, from heaven and not from the world : all those who receive influx from heaven, and acknowledge the Divine Providence, and especially those who by reformation have become spiritual, when they see events in a certain wonder- ful series, from interior acknowledgment they as it were see it and confess it : these do not wish to see it in the face, that is, before it exists ; for they fear lest 172 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING their will should enter into something of its order and tenor. It is otherwise with those who do not admit any influx from heaven, but only from the world; especially those who from the confirmation of appear- ances with themselves have become natural : these do not see anything of the Divine Providence on the back or after it, but wish to see it in the face, or before it exists ; and because the Divine Providence operates through means, and means are wrought through man or through the world, therefore, whether they see it in the face or on the back, they attribute it either to man or to nature, and so confirm them- selves in the denial of it. The reason that they thus attribute is because their understanding is closed above, and only open below, thus closed towards heaven and open towards the world ; and to see the Divine Providence from the world is not given, but to see it from heaven is given. I have sometimes thought with myself, whether they would acknowl- edge the Divine Providence, if their understanding was opened above, and they saw as in clear day, that nature in itself is dead, and human intelligence in itself is nothing, but that it is from influx that both appear to be ; and I have perceived that those who have confirmed themselves in favor of nature and of human prudence, would not acknowledge, because natural light flowing in from below would forthwith extinguish the spiritual light flowing in from above. 1S9. The man who has become spiritual by the acknowledgment of God, and wise by the rejection of proprium, in the universal world and in all and each of the things of it sees the Divine Providence : if he looks at natural things, he sees it; if he looks at civil things, he sees it; if he looks at spiritual things, he sees it ; and this as well in the simulta- neous as in the successive relations of things ; he sees it in ends, in causes, in eflects, in uses, in forms, in things great and small ; especially in the salvation of men, as that Jehovah gave the Word, taught them by it concerning God, concerning heaven and hell, con- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 173 cerning eternal life ; and that He came into the world, that He might redeem and save men : these and more things, and the Divine Providence in them, man sees from spiritual light in natural light. But the merely- natural man sees nothing of these things : he is as one who sees a magnificent temple, and hears a preacher illustrated in divine things, and says at home, that he saw nothing but a stone house, and heard nothing but an articulate sound ; or as a near-sighted person, who enters a garden noted for fruits of every kind, and then comes home and relates that he saw only a forest and trees : such also, having become spirits after death, when they are elevated into the angelic heaven, where all things are in forms representative of love and wisdom, do not see anything, not even that they are ; as I have seen done with many, who denied the Divine Providence of the Lord. 190. There are many constant things, which were created that inconstant things might exist : the con- stant things are the stated alternations of the rising and setting of the sun and moon, and also of the stars ; the obscurations of them from interpositions, which are called eclipses ; the heat and light from them ; the seasons of the year, which are called spring, summer, autumn and winter ; and the times of the day, which are morning, noon, evening and night ; also the at- mospheres, waters and earths in themselves considered ; the vegetative faculty in the vegetable kingdom ; and that, and also the prolific faculty in the animal king- dom ; also the things which take place constantly from these, when they are put into act according to the laws of order. These and very many other things are from creation, being provided that infinity of varying things may exist ; for varying things cannot exist except in things constant, stated, and certain. But let these things be illustrated by examples : the varyings of vegetation would not be given, unless the rising and setting of the sun, and the heat and light thence, were constant : harmonies are of infinite A^ariety ; but they would not be given, unless the 15* 174 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING atmospheres in their laws, and the ears in their form, were constant : the varieties of sight, which are also infinite, would not be given, unless the ether in its laws, and the eye in its form, were constant ; just so colors, unless light were constant : it is the like with the thoughts, speech, and actions, which also are of infinite variety ; and which would not be given, un- less the organs of the body were constant : must not a house be constant, that various things may be done therein by man 7 in like manner a temple, that therein various worship, sermons, instructions, and medita- tions of piety, may exist : so in the rest. As regards the varieties themselves, which take place in things constant, fixed, and certain, they run into infinity, and have no end ; and yet there is never given one altogether the same with another in all and each of the things in the u.niverse, nor can be given in suc- cessive things to eternity : who disposes these varie- ties advancing to infinity and to eternity, that they may be in order, except He who created constant things, to the end that they might exist in them 7 and who can dispose the infinite varieties of life with men, but He who is life itself, that is, love itself and wisdom itself7 without His Divine Providence, which is like continual creation, could the infinite affections and thence thoughts of men, and thus men themselves, be disposed that they should make a one 7 the evil affec- tions and thoughts thence one devil, who is hell, and the good affections and thoughts thence one Lord in heaven : that the universal angelic heaven is in the sight of the Lord as one man, who is His image and likeness, and that the universal hell is in the opposite as one man monster, has been often said and shown before. These things are said, because some natural men also, from things constant and fixed, which are necessities for the sake of the end that varying things may exist in them, catch at arguments of their de- lirium in favor of nature and in favor of one's own prudence. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 175 THAT ONE S OWN PRUDENCE IS NOTHING, AND ONLY APPEARS TO BE, AND ALSO OUGHT TO APPEAR AS IF IT WAS ; BUT THAT THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE FROM THINGS MOST PAR- TICULAR IS UNIVERSAL. 191. That one's own prudence is nothing, is alto- gether contrary to appearance, and hence contrary to the behef of many ; and because it is so, no one, who from appearance is in the behef that human prudence does all things, can be convinced, except by reasons of deeper investigation, which are to be gathered from causes : that appearance is an elfect, and causes dis- close whence it is. In this introduction something shall be said concerning the common belief of this thing : contrary to appearance is this which the church teaches, that love and faith are not from man but from God ; also that wisdom and intelligence, thus also prudence, and in general all good and truth, are : when these things are received, it must also be re- ceived that one's own prudence is nothing, but only appears to be : prudence is from nothing else but in- telligence and wisdom, and these two are from noth- ing else but the understanding and thence thought of good and truth. This which is now said is received and believed by those who acknowledge the Divine Providence, and not by those who acknowledge human prudence alone. Whether now will this be true which the church teaches, that all wisdom and prudence is from God ; or what the world teaches, that all wisdom and prudence is from man ? can they be reconciled in any other way, than that that which the church teaches is truth, and that that which the world teaches is an appearance? for the church confirms it from the Word, but the world from proprium; and the Word is from God, and proprium is from man. Since prudence is from God, and not from man, therefore a christian man, when he is in devotion, prays that God would lead his thoughts, counsels, and deeds ; and also adds, because he cannot of himself: also, 176 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING when he sees any one doing good, he says that he was led to it by God ; and many like things : can any one so speak, unless he then interiorly believes it ? and to believe it interiorly is from heaven ; but when he is thinking with himself, and collecting arguments in favor of human prudence, he can be- lieve the contrary, and this is from the world : but the internal belief conquers with those who in heart acknowledge God, and the external belief with those who do not in heart acknowledge God, however they do with the mouth. 192. It was said that no one, who from the appear- ance is in the belief that human prudence does all things, can be convinced except by reasons of deeper investigation, which are to be gathered from causes; wherefore, that reasons gathered from causes may be manifest Ijefore the understanding, they must be set in their order, which will be this. I. That all the thoughts of man are from the affections of his life's love, and that there are altogether no thoughts, nor can they be given, without them. II, That the affec- tions of the life's love of man are known to the Lord alone. III. That the affections of the life's love of man are led of the Lord by His Divine Providence, and at the same time too the thoughts from which is human prudence. IV. That the Lord by His Divine Providence composes the affections of the whole hu- man race into one form, which is the human. V. That hence heaven and hell, which are from the human race, are in such a form. VI. That they who have acknowledged nature alone and human prudence alone, make hell ; and they who have acknowledged God and His Divine Providence, make heaven. VII. That all these things cannot take place, unless it appears to man that he thinks from himself and disposes from himself. 193. That all the thonghts of man are from the af- fections of his lifers love, and that there are no thoiights^ nor can they he given, loithotit them. What the life's love is, and what the affections and the thoughts THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 177 thence, and from these the sensations and actions which exist in the body, in their essence are, was shown above in this treatise, and also in that which is called Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love AND Divine Wisdom, in particular in its first and fifth parts : now because the causes are thence, from which human prudence flows forth as an effect, it is neces- sary that some things should be here also adduced concerning them; for the things which are Avritten else- where cannot be connected with those which are writ- ten after them, thus continuously, as if the same are recalled and placed in sight. In this treatise hereto- fore, and in that mentioned above concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, it is demonstrated that in the Lord there is divine love and divine wis- dom ; and that these two are life itself, and that from these two man has will and understanding ; will from the divine love, and understanding from the divine wisdom; and that to these two the heart and lungs in the body correspond ; and that it may hence be evi- dent, that as the pulsation of the heart together with the respiration of the lungs governs the whole man as to his body, so the will together with the understand- ing governs the whole man as to his mind : and that thus there are two principles of life with every man, the one natural and the other spiritual ; and that the natural principle of life is the pulse of the heart, and the spiritual principle of life is the will of the mind ; and that each adjoins to itself a mate with which it cohabits, and with which it performs the functions of life ; and that the heart conjoins to itself the lungs, and that the will conjoins to itself the understanding. Now because the soul of the will is love, and the soul of the understanding is wisdom, both from the Lord, it follows that love is the life of every one, and that love is such life as is conjoined to wisdom ; or, what is the same thing, that the will is the life of every one, and that this is such life as is conjoined to the understanding ; but concerning these things more may be seen in the treatise above, ]78 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING and especially in tlie Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, in part first and part fifth. 194. In the forenamed treatises it is also demonstra- ted, that the life's love produces from itself subaltern loves, which are called affections, and that these are exterior and interior ; and that these taken together make as it were one dominion or kingdom, in which the life's love is lord or king : it is also demonstrated that these subaltern loves or affections adjoin to themselves mates, each one its own ; the interior affections mates which are called perceptions, and the exterior affec- tions mates which are called thoughts ; and that each cohabits, and engages in the duties of its life, with its mate; and that such is the conjunction of both, as is the Being of life with the Existing of life; which is such that the one is not anything, unless together with the other ; for what is the Being of life, unless it exists 7 and what is the Existing of life, unless from the Being of life ? also that such is the conjunction of life, as is that of sound and harmony ; and that of sound and harmony is such in general as is that of the pulsation of the heart and of the respiration of the lungs ; which conjunction is such that the one without the other is not anything, and that the one becomes something by conjunction with the other. There must either be conjunctions in them, or they must take place by them : as for example, sound ; he who supposes that sound is anything, unless there is in it what distinguishes, is deceived : sound also corresponds to affection with man; and because there is always something in it Avhich distinguishes, therefore from the sound of a man speaking is known the affection of his love ; and from the variation of it, which is speech, is known his thought : hence it is, tliat the wiser angels from the sound of one speaking only perceive his life's loves, together with certain affections, which are derivations. These things are said, that it may be known, that af- fection is not given without its thought, nor thought without its affection : but more concerning these things THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 179 may be seen above in this treatise, and in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. 195, Now because the life's love has its delight, and its wisdom has its pleasantness, in like manner every aftection which in its essence is a subaltern love derived from the life's love, as a brook from its spring, or as a branch from its tree, and as an artery from its heart, wherefore every affection has its delight, and perception and thought thence their pleasure ; hence it follows, that these delights and pleasantnesses make the life of man : what is life without delight and pleas- antness ? it is not anything animate, but inanimate: diminish them, and you will grow cold or torpid; and take them away, and you will expire and die : from the delights of the affections, and the pleasantnesses of the perceptions and thoughts, is vital heat. Since every affection has its delight, and thought thence its pleasantness, it may be evident whence is good and truth, also what good and truth in their essence are : good to every one is what the delight of his affection is, and truth is what the pleasantness of his thought thence is : for every one calls that good, which from the love of his will he feels as delightful •, and he calls that truth, which from the wisdom of his understand- ing he perceives to be pleasant thence : both flow from the life's love, as water from a spring, or as blood from the heart : both taken together are as a wave or an atmosphere, in which the whole human mind is. These two things, delight and pleasantness, in the mind are spiritual, but in the body they are natural ;in both they make the life of man : from these things it is man- ifest, what it is with man which is called good, and what it is which is called truth : and also what it is with man which is called evil, and which is called false; namely, that that is evil to him, which destroys the de- light of his affection; and that is false, which destroys the pleasantness of his thought thence; and that evil from its delight, and falsity from its pleasantness, may be called and believed good and true. Goods and truths 180 AN(JELIC WISDOM CONCERNING are indeed the changes and variations of the state of the forms of the mind, but these are perceived and Hve solely by means of their delights and pleasantnesses. These things are adduced that it may be known what affection and thought in their life are. 196. Now because it is the mind of man which thinks, and thinks from the delight of its affection, and not the body ; and because the mind of man is his spirit, which lives after death ; it follows that the spirit of man is nothing but affection and thence thought. That there cannot be given any thought without affection, manifestly appears from spirits and angels in the spiritual world, because all there think from the affections of their life's love, and because the delight of these presses around every one, as his at- mosphere; and because according to these spheres exhaled from their affections through their thoughts, all there are conjoined : every one also from the sphere of his life is known as to quality. From these things it may be evident that all thought is from affec- tion, and that it is the form of its affection. It is the like with the will and understanding; and it is the like with good and (ruth ; and the like with charity and faith. 197. II. That the affections of the lifers love of ma7i are known to the JLord alone. Man knows his thoughts, and thence intentions, because he sees them in himself; and because all prudence is from them, he also sees that in himself: if then his life's love is the love of self, he comes into the pride of his own intel- ligence, and ascribes prudence to himself; and he col- lects arguments in favor of it, and thus recedes from the acknowledgment of the Divine Providence : the like takes place if the love of the world is his life's love ; but still tliis does not recede to such a degree : from which it is manifest, that these two loves ascribe all things to man and his prudence; and nothing to God and His Providence, if they are explored interiorly : wherefore when by chance they hear that it is the truth that human prudence is nothing, but that it is the Divine Providence alone which governs all things, THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 181 if they are altogether atheists, they laugh at it; but if the)^ retain anything from religion in memory, and it is said to them that all wisdom is from God, they indeed aflirm it at the first hearing, but still within in their spirit deny it. Such especially are priests, who love themselves above God, and the world above hea- ven; or, what is the same thing, who worship God for the sake of honors and gains, and still have preached that charity and faith, all good and truth, also all wisdom, yea, prudence, are from God, and nothing from men. Once in the spiritual world I heard two priests disputing Vi^ith a certain ambassador of a king- dom concerning human prudence, whether it is from God or from man ; the dispute was ardent : the three believed alike in heart, namely, that human prudence does all things, and the Divine Providence nothing : but the priests, who were then in theological zeal, said that nothing of wisdom and prudence is from man ; and when the ambassador retorted that thus neither is anything of thought, they said that nothing was : and because it was perceived by the angels that the three were in a like belief, it was said to the ambassador of the kingdom, Put on the garments of a priest, and believe that you are a priest, and then speak : he put them on and believed so ; and then spoke aloud, that nothing of wisdom and prudence could ever be given in man, unless from God ; and he defended it with his accustomed eloquence full of rational arguments : and afterwards it was said to the two priests, Put off your garments, and put on the garments of political ministers, and believe that ye are such ; and they did so, and then at the same time they thought from their interior selves, and spoke from the arguments which they had cherished before in favor of human prudence against the Divine Providence : after- wards the three, because they were in a like belief, became bosom friends, and at the same time entered the way of their own prudence, which tends to hell. 198. It was shown above, that there is given no thought of man, unless from some affection of his life's 16 ]82 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING love, and that thought is nothing else but the. form of affection : since therefore man sees his thoughts, and cannot see his affection, for this he feels, it follows that it is from sight, which is in appearance, that he determines that one's own prudence does all things ; and not from affection, which does not come into sight, but into sense : for affection manifests itself only by a certain delight of thought and pleasure of reason- ing concerning it, and then this pleasure and delight make one with the thought with those who are in the belief of one's own prudence from the love of self or from the love of the world ; and thought flows in its delight, as a ship in the current of a stream, to which the helmsman does not attend, but only to the sails which he spreads. 199. Man can indeed reflect upon the delight of his external affection, provided this acts as one with the delight of some sense of the body ; but still he does not reflect upon this, that that delight is from the delight of his aftection in thought : as, for example, when a whoremonger sees a harlot, the sight of his eye glistens from the fire of lasciviousness, and from it he feels delight in the body; but yet he does not feel the delight of his affection or concupiscence in thought, except something of desire together with the body: in like manner a robber in a forest, when he sees travellers ; and a pirate at sea, when he sees ships; and alike in the rest: that these delights govern his thoughts, and that the thoughts are no- thing withont them, is manifest; but he thinks that they are only thoughts, when yet they are not thoughts, except as affections composed into forms from his life's love, that they may appear in the light; for all affection is in heat, and thought in light. These are the external affections of thought, which indeed manifest themselves in the sensation of the body, but rarely in the thought of the mind. But the internal affections of thought, from which the external exist, never manifest themselves before man : con- cerning these man knows no more than one sleep- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 183 ing in a carriage does concerning the road, and no more than he feels the circumrotation of the earth : now since man knows nothing concerning the things which are carried on in the interiors of his mind, which are so infinite that they cannot be determined by numbers ; and yet the few external things which come down to the sight of the thought are produced from the interiors, and the interiors are governed by the Lord alone through His Divine Providence, and these few externals are together with man, how then can any one say that his own prudence does all things 7 If you saw only one hidden idea of thought, you would see stupendous things more than the tongue can tell. That in the interiors of man's mind there are things so infinite, that they cannot be deter- mined by numbers, is manifest from tlie infinite things in the body, from which nothing comes down to the sight and to sense, but action alone in much simpli- city ; in which, however, concur thousands of things in the moving or muscular fibres; thousands in the nerv- ous fibres; thousands in the sanguineous vessels; thousands in the lungs, which last cooperate in every action ; thousands in the brains and the dorsal spine ; and many more still in the spiritual man, which is the human mind, all things of which are forms of affections, and thence of perceptions and thoughts. Does not the soul, which disposes the interiors, dis- pose also the actions from them 7 the soul of man is nothing else but the love of his will, and thence the love of his understanding : as is this love, such is the whole man ; and he becomes such according to dispo- sition in externals, in which man is together with the Lord : wherefore if he attributes all things to himself and to nature, the love of self becomes the soul, but if he attributes all things to the Lord, the love of the Lord becomes the soul : and the latter love is heaven- ly, and the former love infernal. 200. Now because the delights of man's afifections from things inmost through the interiors to the exteri- ors, and at length to the extremes, which are in the 184 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING body, carry man as the waves and the atmosphere do a ship, and nothing of them appears to man, except what is ill the extremes of the mind and the extremes of the body, how then can man claim to himself what is divine from this alone, that these few extremes appear to him as his 7 and still less ought he to claim to him- self what is divine, when he knows from the Word, that man cannot take anything of himself, unless it is given to him from heaven ; and from Reason, that that appearance is given to him that he may live a man, see what is good and evil, choose the one or the other, appropriate to himself that which he chooses, that he may be reciprocally conjoined to the Lord, be reform- ed, regenerated, saved, and live to eternity. That that appearance is given to man, that he may act from freedom according to reason, thus as of himself, and not slacken his hand, and wait for influx, was said and shown above. From these things follows as confirmed that which was to be demonstrated thirdly, Tkat the affections of the life's love of man are led of the Lord by His Divine Providence, and then at the same tim,e the thoughts^ frmn which is hum,an pru- dence. 201. IV. That ilie Lord by His Divine Providence composes the affections into one form, 2vhich is the human. That this is a universal of the Divine Provi- dence will be seen in a subsequent section : they who ascribe all things to nature, also ascribe all things to human prudence ; for they who ascribe all things to nature, in heart deny God; and they who ascribe all things to human prudence, in heart deny the Divine Providence: the one is not separated from the other. But still the latter and the former, for the sake of the fame of their name, and lor fear of the loss of it, carry in the mouth that the Divine Providence is nniversal, and that the particulars of it are with man ; and that these particulars are understood in the aggregate by human prudence. But think with yourself, what is a universal Providence, when the particulars are sepa- rated? is it anything else but a word alone? for that THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 185 is called a universal which at the same time is made up of particulars, like a general thing which exists from particulars : if therefore you separate particu- lars, what then is the universal, unless as something which is empty within ; thus as a surface within which there is nothing, or an aggregate in which there is not anything? If it were said, that the Divine Providence is a universal government, and that nothing is governed, but is only held together in con- nection, and that those things which are of govern- ment are disposed by others, can this be called a uni- versal government ? No king has such a government ; for if any king should give to his subjects to govern all things of his kingdom, he wouid no longer be king, but would only be called king; thus would only have the dignity of a name, and not the dignity of any real- ity : with such a king government cannot be predica- ted, still less universal government. Providence with God is called prudence with man ; as there cannot be said to be universal prudence with a king who has reserved to himself no more than the name, in order that the kingdom may be called a kingdom, and thus be held together; so there cannot be said to be a uni- versal Providence, if men provided all things from their own prudence. It is the like with the name of a univer- sal Providence as of a universal government, when- ever it is spoken of nature, when it is understood that God created the universe, and endowed nature that it should produce all these things from itself: what then is universal Providence, but a metaphysical word, which is not an entity beyond a word? There are also many of those who attribute to nature everything which is produced, and to human prudence every- thing which takes place, and yet say with the mouth that God created nature; who think no otherwise con- cerning the Divine Providence than as of an empty word. But the reality is such in itself, that the Divine Providence is in the most particular things of nature, and in the most particular things of human prudence; and that from them it is universal. 16* 186 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING 202. The Divine Providence of the Lord is univer- sal from things most particnlar in this, that it created the universe, that in it an infinite and eternal creation might exist from Him; and this creation exists, that through it the Lord might form a heaven from men, which should be before Him as one man, who is an image and likeness of Him : that heaven from men is such in the sight of the Lord, and that this was ihe end of creation, is shown above, n. 27 to 45 : and that the Divine, in everything which it does, looks at the infinite and the eternal, n. 56 to 69. The infinite and the eternal, which the Lord looks at in forming his heaven from men, is that it may be enlarged to mfin- ity and to eternity; and thus that He may constantly dwell in the end of His creation. This is the infinite and eternal creation which the Lord provides by the creation of the universe, and He is constantly in that creation by His Divine Providence. Who, that knows and believes from the doctrine of the church, that God is infinite and eternal, (/or iV is in the doctrine of all the churches in the christian world, that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, is infinite, eter- nal, uncreated, oninipotent : see the Athanasian Creed,^ can be so destitute of reason, as not to affirm when he hears it, that He cannot do otherwise than look at the infinite and the eternal in the great work of his crea- tion ? what else can He do, when He acts from Him- self? also that He looks at this in the human race, from which He forms that heaven of His. What else then can the Divine Providence have for end, but the reformation of the human race and its salvation? and no one can be reformed of himself by his own pru- dence, but of the Lord by His Divine Providence; hence it follows, that unless the Lord leads man every moment even the most minute, man would recede from the way of reformation and perish : every change and variation of state of the human mind, changes and varies something in the series of things present, and thence of the things following : what is not progress- ive to eternity ? it is like a weapon discharged from a THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 187 bow, which, if at starting it declines in the sHghtest de- gree from the mark, would decline immensely at the dis- tance of a mile and more : so it would be, if the Lord did not lead the states of human minds, every most minute moment. This the Lord does according to the laws of His Divine Providence ; according to which also it is, that it appears to man as if he led himself; but the Lord foresees how he leads himself, and con- tinually accommodates. That the laws of permission are also laws of the Divine Providence ; and that every man may be reformed and regenerated : and that there is not given anything predestinated, will be seen in what follows. 203. Since therefore every man after death lives to eternity, and according to his life is allotted a place in heaven or hell, and both, as well heaven as hell, must be in a form which acts as one, as was said before ; and no one in that form can be allotted any other place than his own ; it follows that the human race in the whole habitable world is under the auspices of the Lord, and that every one, from infancy even to the end of his life, is led by Him in things the most particular, and that his place is foreseen and at the same time provided. From which things it is manifest, that the Divine Providence is universal, because it is in the most particular things; and that this is the infinite and eternal creation which the Lord provided for Himself by the creation of the universe. Concerning this universal Providence man sees nothing; and if he did see, it could not appear otherwise before his eyes than as the scattered heaps and accumulated piles, from which a house is to be formed, appear to those that pass by : but to the Lord, as a magnificent palace continually in its construction, and in its ampli- fications. 204. V. That heaven and hell are in snch a form. That heaven is in the human form, is made known in the work Concerning Heaven and Hell, published in London in 17.58, n. 59 to 102; and also in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom; and 188 ANGELIO WISDOM CONCERNING also several times in this treatise ; wherefore I forbear to confirm it further. It is said that hell also is in the human form, but it is in a monstrous human form, such as the devil is in ; by whom is understood hell in the whole aggregate; it is in the human form, because they who are there were also born men, and have also those two human faculties which are called liberty and rationality; although they have abused liberty to the willing and doing of evil, and rationality to the thinking and confirming of it. 205. VI. 2Viat they who have acknowledged nature alone and human jjrudence alone^ make hell ; and they who have acknowledged God and His Divine Provi- de?ice, 'make heaven. All who pass an evil life, interi- orly acknowledge nature and human prudence alone; the acknowledgment of these lies hid within in all evil, however it is veiled around by goods and truths: these are only borrowed garments, or as garlands of flowerets which perish, put around lest the evil appear in its nakedness. That all who pass an evil life inte- riorly acknowledge nature alone and human prudence alone, from that general circumveiling is not known, for by it this is concealed from sight: but that they still aclvuowledge them, may be evident from the ori- gin and cause of the acknowledgment of them ; and that this may be disclosed, it shall be told whence and what one's own prudence is; next, whence and what the Divine Providence is; afterwards, who and what persons the former and the latter are ; and at length, that they who acknowledge the Divine Provi- dence are in heaven, and they who acknowledge one's own prudence are in hell. 206. Whence and what one's own prudence is : it is from the proprium of man, which is his nature, and is called his soul from his parent : this proprium is the love of self, and thence the love of the world ; or the love of the world, and thence the love of self: the love of self is such, that it regards itself alone, and others either as vile or as nothing : if it regards some as anything, it is as long as they honor and worship THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE 189 it : inmostly in that love, as the endeavor of fructify- ing and prohficating in seed, there lies hid, that it wishes to become great; and if it can, to become a king ; and if it then can, to become a god : such is the devil, because he is the very love of self: he is such, that he adores himself, and favors no one, unless he also adores him: another devil like to himself he holds in hatred, because he wishes to be adored alone. Since there cannot be given any love without its mate, and the mate of love or of the will in man is called the understanding, when the love of self inspires its love into its mate the understanding, it then becomes pride, which is the pride of one's own intelligence ; hence is one's own prudence. Now because the love of self wishes to be the only lord of the world, thus also a god, therefore the concupiscences of evil, which are derivations of it, have life in themselves from it ; in like manner the perceptions of the concupiscences, which are craftinesses ; in like manner too the delights of the concupiscences, which are evils ; and the thoughts of these, which are falsities : all things are like servants and ministers of their lord, and act at his every nod, not knowing that they do not act, but that they are acted upon : they are acted upon by the love of self through the pride of one's own intelligence : hence it is, that one's own prudence lies hid in every evil from its origin. That there also lies hid the acknowledgment of nature alone, is because it has closed up the window of its roof, through which heaven lies open ; and also the windows of the sides, lest it should see and hear that the Lord alone governs all things, and that nature in itself is dead, and that the proprium of man is hell, and hence the love of proprium is the devil ; and then, the windows being closed, it is in darkness, and makes there a fire for itself, to which it sits down with its mates, and they reason in a friendly manner in favor of nature against God, and in favor of one's own prudence against the Divine Providence. 207. Whence and what the Divine Providence is : 190 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING it is the divine operation with the man who has removed the love of self; for the love of self, as was before said, is the devil; and the concupiscences and their delights are the evils of his kingdom, which is hell : which being removed, the Lord enters with the affections of the love of the neighbor, and opens the window of his roof, and then the windows of the sides, and causes him to see that there is a heaven, that there is a life after death, and that there is eter- nal happiness ; and by the spiritual light and at the same time the spiritual love then flowing in, makes him acknowledge that God governs all things by His Divine Providence. 208. Who and of what quality the former and the latter are : they who acknowledge God, and His Divine Providence, are as the angels of heaven, who loathe to be led of themselves, and love to be led of the Lord : an evidence that they are led of the Lord is that they love the neighbor. But they who ac- knowledge nature and their own prudence, are as the spirits of hell, who loathe to be led of the Lord, and love to be led of themselves : who, if they have been the great men of the kingdom, wish to rule over all things : in like manner if they have been primates of the church : if they have been judges, they pervert judgments, and exercise dominion over the laws : if they have been learned, they apply scientifics to con- firming the proprium of man and nature : if they have been men of business, they act as robbers: if they have been husbandmen, they act as thieves. All are enemies of God, and scoffers of the Divine Providence. 209. It is wonderful that, when heaven is opened to such, and it is said that they are insane, and this too is manifested to their very perception, which is done by influx and illustration, still out of indignation they shut up heaven to themselves, and look upon the earth, under which is their hell : this takes place with those in the spiritual world, who are still out of hell, and are such : from which is manifest the error of those, who think, If I should see heaven, and hear THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 191 the angels talking with me, I should acknowledge ; but their understanding acknowledges, yet if the will does not at the same time, still they do not acknowl- edge : for the love of the will inspires into the under- standing whatever it wills, and not the reverse ; yea, it destroys everything in the understanding which is not from itself. 210. VII. That all these things could not he done^ imless it appeared to man that he thinks from himself and disposes from himself. That unless it appeared to man as if he lived from himself, and thus that he thought and willed, spoke and acted as from himself, man would not be man, has been fully demonstrated in what precedes : from which it fol- lows, that unless man disposed of all things which are of his function and life as from his own prudence, he could not be led and disposed from the Divine Providence ; for he would be like one Avho stands with the hands relaxed, the mouth open, the eyes closed, and the breath drawn in, in the expectation of influx ; thus he would strip himself of the human, which he has from the perception and sensation that he lives, thinks, wills, speaks, and acts, as of himself; and at the same time too he would strip himself of his two faculties, which are rationalit)^ and liberty, by which he is distinguished from the beasts : that without this appearance no man would have the receptive and the reciprocal, and thus not immortal- ity, has been demonstrated above in this treatise, and in the treatise concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. Wherefore if you are willing to be led of the Divine Providence, use prudence, as a ser- vant and minister, who faithfully dispenses the goods of his master : this prudence is the pound which was given to the servants for trading, of which they should render an account: Luke xix. 13 to 25 ; Matt. XXV. 14 to 31. Prudence itself appears to man as his own, and is so long believed to be his own, as man holds enclosed within the most hostile enemy of God and of the Divine Providence, which is the love of 192 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING self; this dwells in the interiors of every man from birth ; if you do not know it, for it does not wish to be known, it dwells securely, and guards the door, lest it should be opened by man, and thus it should be cast out by the Lord. The door is opened by man, by his shunning evils as sins as of himself, with the acknowledgment that it is of the Lord. This is the prudence with which the Divine Providence acts as one. 21L That the Divine Providence operates so hid- denly, that scarcely any one knows that it is, is lest man should perish ; for the proprium of man, which is his will, never acts as one with the Divine Provi- dence : the proprium of man has innate enmity against it ; for it is the serpent which seduced our first parents, concerning which it is said, I will pnt enmity between thee and the woman^ and between thy seed and her seed^ and this shall tread upon thy head : Gen. iii. 15 : the serpent is evil of every kind ; his head is the love of self; the seed of the woman is the Lord ; the enmi- ty which is put. is between the love of man's proprium and the Lord, thus also between man's own prudence and the Divine Providence of the Lord ; for one's own prudence is unceasing in the exaltation of its head, and the Divine Providence is unceasing in the depression of it. If man was sensible of this, he would be enraged and exasperated against God, and would perish ; but while he is not sensible of it, he may be enraged and exasperated against men and against himself, and also against fortune, by which means he does not perish. Hence it is, that the Lord by His Divine Providence continually leads man in freedom, and freedom appears no otherwise to man than as his proprium : and to lead in freedom one that is opposite to one's self, is like drawing up from the earth a heavy and resisting weight by screws, by the force of which gravity and resistance is not felt : and it is as if one is with an enemy, in whose mind it is to kill him, which he then knows not, and a friend leads him away through unknown ways, and afterwards discloses the enemy's mind. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 193 212. Who does not name fortune 7 and who does not acknowledge it, because he names it, and because he knows something concerning it from experience ? but who knows what it is 7 that it is something cannot be denied, because it is, and because it is given ; and nothing can be and be given without a cause; but the cause of this something, or fortune, is unknown ; but lest it should be denied, from the cause alone being unknown, take dice or playing-cards, and play, or consult players ; who of them denies fortune? for they play with it and it with them wonderfully: who can act against it, if it is steadfast? does it not then laugh at prudence and wisdom? is it not, while you shake the dice and shuffle the cards, as if it knew and dis- posed the shakings and shufflings of the joints of the hand, to favor one more than the other from some cause ? can the cause be given from anywhere else than from the Divine Providence in ultimates, where, by constancies and inconstancies, it acts wonderfully with human prudence, and at the same time hides itself? That the heathen formerly acknowledged fortune, and built a temple to it, also the Italians at Rome, is known. Concerning this fortune, which, as was said, is the Divine Providence in ultimates, it has been given to know many things, which it is not permitted to make manifest : from which it was manifest to me, that it is not an illusion of the mind, nor a sport of nature, nor anything without a cause, for this is not anything ; but that it is an ocular testification that the Divine Providence is in the most particular things of man's thoughts and actions. Since the Divine Providence is given in things so trifling and light, why not in the most particular things of affairs not trifling and light, which are the affairs of peace and war in the world, and the affairs of salvation and life in heaven ? 213. But I know that human prudence brings over the rational more to its side, than the Divine Provi- dence does to its ; for the reason that the latter is not apparent, but the former is apparent : it can be more 17 194 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING easily received, that there is one only life, which is God, and that all men are recipients of life from Him, as has been shown before in many places ; and yet this is the same thing, because prudence is of life. Who in reasoning does not speak in favor of one's own prudence and in favor of nature, when he reasons from the natural or external man 7 but who in rea- soning does not speak in favor of the Divine Provi- dence, and in favor of God, when he reasons from the spiritual or internal man ? But, I say to the natural man, pray write books, and fill them with arguments, plausible, probable, and likely, and in your judgment solid, one in favor of one's own prudence, the other in favor of nature, and afterwards give them into the hand of any angel, and I know that he will write below these few words : They are all appearances and fallacies. THAT THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE LOOKS TO ETERNAL THINGS, AND NO OTHERWISE TO THINGS TEMPORAL THAN AS FAR AS THEY AGREE WITH THE ETERNAL. 214. That the Divine Providence looks to eternal things, and no otherwise to things temporal than as they make one with eternal things, will he demonstra- ted in this order. I. That temporal things have re- ference to dignities and riches, thus to honors and gains, in the world. II. That eternal things have reference to spiritual honors and wealth, which are love and wisdom in heaven. III. That temporal and eternal things are separated by man, but are conjoined by the Lord. IV. That the conjunction of things temporal and eternal is the Divine Providence of the Lord. 215. I. Thai te'inpnral things have reference to dignities and riches^ thus to honors and gainSj it?, the world. Temporal things are many, but still they all have reference to dignities and riches : by temporal things are understood those things which either THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 195 perish with time, or which only terminate with the hfe of man in the world ; but by eternal things are understood those which do not perish and ter- minate with time, thus not with life in the world. Since, as was said, all temporal things have reference to dignities and riches, it is important to know the following things, namely: What and whence are digni- ties and riches : of what quality is the love of them for the sake of them, and of what quality is the love of them for the sake of uses : that these two loves are distinct from each other as hell and heaven : that the distinction between these loves is with difficulty known by man : but each of these shall be treated of distinctly. First : What and whence are dignities and riches : dignities and riches in the most ancient times were altogether different from what they suc- cessively became afterwards: in the most ancient times dignities were no other than such as there are between parents and children, which dignities were the digni- ties of love, full of respect and veneration, not on account of nativity from them, but on account of in- struction and wisdom from them, which is a second nativity, in itself spiritual, because it was of their spirit : this was the only dignity in the most ancient times, because then tribes, families and houses dwelt separately, and not under empires as at this day : it was the father of the family, with whom that dignity was : these times were called by the ancients, the golden ages. But after those times the love of ruling from the sole delight of that love successively invaded ; and because there then invaded at the same time enmity and hostility against those who were not wil- ling to submit themselves, tribes, families and houses from necessity congregated themselves into commu- nities, and set over themselves one whom in the beginning they called a judge, and afterwards chief, and at length king and emperor : and they then began also to fortify themselves by towers, ramparts and walls. From the judge, chief, king and emperor, as from the head into the body, the lust of ruling entered into 196 ANGELIC AVISDOM CONCERNING many like a contagion : licnce arose degrees of dig- nities, and also honors according to them ; and with them the love of self, and the pride of one's own pru- dence. Tiie like took place with tlie love of riches : in the most ancient times, when tribes and families dwelt distinct from each other, there was no other love of riches, than that they might possess the neces- saries of life, which they procured to themselves by flocks and herds, and by fields, plains and gardens, from which they had food : among their necessaries of life were also handsome houses, furnished with utensils of every kind, and also clothes : in study and work upon all these things were the parents, children, servants, and maids, who were in the house, engaged. But after the love of ruling invaded and destroyed this commonwealth, the love too of possessing wealth beyond necessities invaded, and grew to the height that it wished to possess the wealth of all others. These two loves are as blood relations, for he who wishes to rule over all things, wishes also to possess all things; for thus all are made slaves, and they alone lords : this is clearly manifest from those in the pontifical class, who have exalted their dominion even into heaven to the throne of the Lord, upon which they have placed themselves, that they may also rake together the wealth of the whole earth, and heap up treasures without end. Secondly : Of what quality is the love of dignities and 7'i,ches for the sake of them : and of what qualitij is the love of dignities and riches for the sake of uses : the love of dignities and honors for the sake of dignities and honors is the love of self, properly the love of ruling from the love of self; and the love of riches and wealth for the sake of riches and wealth is the love of the world, properly the love of possessing the goods of others by any art whatever : but the love of dignities and riches for the sake of uses is the love of uses, which is the same as the love of the neighbor; for that for the sake of which a man acts, is the end from which, and is the first or primary thing; and the rest are means, and are THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 197 secondary. As to the love of dignities and honors for the sake of them, which is the same as the love of self, properly as the love of ruling from the love of self, it is the love of propriiim, and the proprium of man is all evil; hence it is, that it is said, that man is born into all evil, and that his hereditary is nothing but evil : the hereditary of man is his proprium, in which he is, and into which he comes by the love of self, and chiefly by the love of ruling from the love of self; for the man who is in that love, looks at no- thing but himself, and thns plunges his thoughts and affections into his proprium: hence it is, that in the love of self there is the love of doing evil ; the reason is, because he does not love the neighbor, but himself only ; and he who loves himself only, does not see others but as out of himself, or as vile, or as nothing; whom he despises in comparison of himself, and to whom he makes no account of doing evil : from this it is, that he who is in the love of ruling from the love of self, makes no account of defrauding his neighbor, of committing adultery with his wife, of defaming him, of breathing revenge against him even unto death, of being cruel towards him, and other like things : man derives this from this, that the devil himself is nothing else but the love of ruling from the love of self, with whom he is conjoined, and by whom he is led ; and he who is led by the devil, that is, by hell, is led into all these evils; and is continually led by the delights of these evils : hence it is. that all who are in hell, wish to do evil to all ; but those who are in heaven, wish to do good to all. From this opposition there exists that which is in the middle, in which man is ; and he is in it as in an equilibrium, that he may be able to turn himself either to heaven or to hell: and so far as he favors the evils of the love of self, so far he turns himself to hell ; and so far as he removes them from himself, so far he turns himself to heaven. It has been given me to be sensible what and how great is the delight of the love of ruling from the love of self: I have been led into it for the sake of becoming ac- 17# 198 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING quainted with it; and it was such that it exceeded all the delights which there are in the world; it was a delight of the whole mind, from its inmost things to its nltimates; but in the body it was not felt other- wise than as a pleasure and willingness in the swel- ling breast : and it was also given to feel that from that delight, as from a fountain, spring forth the de- lights of all evils, as of committing adultery, of re- venging, of defrauding, of blaspheming, and in general of doing evil. There is also a like pleasure in the love of possessing the wealth of others by whatever art, and in the concupiscences from it, which are de- rivations ; but yet not to that degree, unless it is con- joined with the love of self But as regards dignities and riches not for their own sake but for the sake of uses, it is not the love of dignities and riches, but the love of uses, to which dignities serve as means ; this love is heavenly : but more concerning this in what follows. Thirdly. Tliat these two loves are distinct from each other as hell and heaven, is manifest from the things now said ; to which I will add, that all who are in the love of ruling from the love of self, are as to spirit in hell, whoever they are, whether great or small ; and that all who are in that love are in the love of all evils ; and if they do not do them, still in their spirit they believe them allowable, and hence do them in body, when dignity and honor, and the fear of the law, do not hinder : and what is more, the love of ruling from the love of self hides inmostly in itself hatred against God, consequently against the divine things which are of the church, and especially against the Lord : if tliey acknowledge God, they do this only with the mouih ; and if the divine things of the church, they do this only from fear of the loss of honor. The reason why that love inmostly hides hatred against the Lord, is because there is inmostly in that love that it wishes to be God ; for it worships and adores itself alone : hence it is, that if any one honors it so far as to say that it has divine wisdom, and that it is the deity of the world, it loves him in heart. It is other- THE DH'^INE PROVIDENCE. 199 wise with the love of dignities and riches for the sake of nses : this love is heavenly, hecause, as was said, it is the same as the love of the neighbor. By uses are understood goods, and hence by doing uses is under- stood doing goods ; and by doing uses or goods is understood serving others and ministering to them : these, although they are in dignity and opulence, still do not regard dignity and opulence otherwise than as means to doing uses, thus to serving and ministering. These are they who are understood by these words of the L(Ord : Whoever wishes to become great mnoyig you, ought to be your mbdster ; and ivhoever wishes to be first, ought to be your servant ; Matt. xx. 26, 27 : it is these also to whom dominion in heaven is entrusted by the Lord ; for they have dominion as a means of doing uses or goods, thus of serving; and when uses or goods are the ends or loves, then they do not rule, but the Lord, for all good is from him. Fourthly: That the difference between these is loith difficulty known by man. is because most who are in dignity and opulence also do uses ; but they do not know whether they do uses for the sake of themselves, or whether for the sake of uses ; and the less, because in the love of self and of the world there is more of the fire and ardor of doing uses, than in those who are not in the love of self and the world ; but the former do uses for the sake of fame or of gain, thus for the sake of themselves ; but they who do uses for the sake of uses, or goods for the sake of goods, do not do them from themselves, but from the Lord. The dif- ference between them can with difficulty be known by man, for the reason, that man knows not whether he is led by the devil, or whether by the Lord : he who is led by the devil does uses for the sake of himself and the world, but he who is led by the Lord does uses for the sake of the Lord and heaven ; and all those do uses from the Lord who shun evils as sins; but all tho.se do uses from the devil who do not shun evils as sins ; for evil is the devil, and use or good is the Lord : thence and not from elsewhere is the diifer- 200 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING ence known : both in tlie Pxternal form appear alike, but in tlie internal form they are altogether unlike; the one is like gold in which there is dross within, but the other is like gold in which there is pure gold within ; and the one is like fruit made by art, which appears in the external form like fruit from a tree, when yet it is colored wax, in which there is dust or bitumen within ; but the other is like noble fruit, pleasant in taste and smell, in which are seeds within. 216. II. That eternal things have reference to spiritual honors and wealthy v^hieh are of love and wisdom, in heaven. Since the natural man calls the delights of the love of self, which are also the delights of the concupiscences of evil, goods, and also confirms them to be goods, therefore honors and wealth he calls divine blessings ; but when that natural man sees that the evil are raised to honors and promoted to wealth equally as the good, and still more when he sees that the good are in contempt and poverty, and tlie evil in glory and opulence, he thinks with himself, What is this? it cannot be of the Divine Providence; for if that governed all things, it would heap honors and wealth upon the good, and would afflict the evil with poverty and contempt, and thus compel the evil to acknowledge that there is a God and that there is a Divine Providence. But the natural man, unless illustrated by the spiritual man, that is, unless he is at the same time spiritual, does not see that honors and wealth may be blessings, and also that they may be curses ; and that when they are blessings, they are from God, and when they are curses, they are from the devil : that honors and wealth are also given by the devil, is known: for from this he is called the prince of this world. Now because it is not known when honors and wealth are blessings, and when they are curses, it is to be told ; but in this order. 1. That honors and wealth are blessings, and that they are curses. 2. That honors and wealth, when they are blessings, are spiritual and eternal ; but that when they are curses, they are temporal and perishable. 3. THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 201 That honors and wealth which are curses, in com- parison with honors and wealth which are blessings, are as nothing to everything, and as what in itself is not, to that which in itself is. 217. Now these three points are to be illustrated by themselves. First: Tliat hojiors and nealth are blessings, and that they are curses : common experi- ence testifies that as well the pious as the impious, or as well the just as the unjust, that is. as well the good as the evil, are in dignities and wealth ; and yet it can be denied by no one, but that the impious and the unjust, that is, the evil, come into hell ; and the pious and the just, that is, the good, into heaven : since this is true, it follows that dignities and riches, or honors and wealth, are either blessings or curses ; and that with the good they are blessings, and with the evil they are curses. In the work concerning Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758, n. 357 to 365, it is shown that the rich as well as the poor, and the great as well as the small, are in heaven, and also in hell ; from which it is manifest, that dignities and riches, with those who are in heaven, were blessings in the world ; and that with those who are in hell, they were curses in the world. But whence it is that they are blessings, and whence it is that they are curses, every one can know, if he only thinks somewhat con- cerning this subject from reason ; namely, that they are blessings with those who do not place the heart in them, and that they are curses with those who do place the heart in them : to place the heart in them is to love one's self in them, and not to place the heart in them is to love uses and not one's self in them : what and of what quality is the difference between these two loves, was told above, n. 215 : to which is to be added, that dignities and wealth seduce some, and some they do not seduce : they seduce when they excite the loves of man's proprium, which is the love of self; and that this is the love of hell, which is called the devil, was also said above : but they do not seduce when they do not excite that love. That the evil as well as the 202 ANGEI.IC WISDOM CONCERNING good are raised to honors, and are promoted to wealth, is because the evil equally as the good do uses; but the evil for the sake of the honors and gains of their person, but the good for the sake of the honors and gains of the thing itself: the latter regard the honors and gains of the tiling as principal causes, and the honors and gains of the person as instrumental causes; but the evil regard the honors and gains of the person as principal causes, and the honors and gains of the thing as instrumental causes : but who does not see, that the person, his function and honor, are for the sake of the thing which he administers, and not the contrary ? who does not see, that the judge is for the sake of justice, the magistrate for the sake of the com- mon weal, and tlie king for the sake of the kingdom, and not the contrary ? wherefore also, according to the laws of the kingdom, every one is in dignity and honor according to the dignity of the thing in the discharge of which he is ; and the difference is as between principal and instrumental. He who attributes the honor of the thing to himself or to his person, appears in the spiritual world, vvdien this is represented, like a man with the body inverted, the feet up and the head down. Secondly : That dignities and wealthy when they are blessings^ are spiritual and eternal, and that when they are curses, they are temporal and perishable : there are dignities and wealth in heaven as in the world, for there are governments there, and hence administrations and functions; and there are also tradings, and hence wealth, since there are societies and communities. The universal heaven is distin- guished into two kingdoms, of which one is called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom ; and each kingdom into innumerable socie- ties, greater and less ; all which, and all in which, are arranged according to the differences of love and thence wisdom ; the societies of the celestial kingdom according to the differences of celestial love, which is love to the Lord ; and the societies of the spiritual kingdom according to the dilferences of spiritual love, THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 203 which is love towards the neighbor : because there are such societies, and all who are in them have been men in the world, and hence retain with themselves the loves which they had in the world, with the dif- ference that they are now spiritual, and that the dignities and wealth themselves are spiritual in the spiritual kingdom, and celestial in the celestial king- dom ; consequently those have dignities and wealth above others that have love and wisdom above others, who are those to whom dignities and wealth were blessings in the world. From these things it may be evident, of what quality spiritual dignities and wealth are ; that they are of the thing and not of the person: the person indeed who is in dignity there, is in mag- nificence and glory, like that of kings on earth ; but still they do not look upon the dignity itself as any- thing; but the uses, in the administration and dis- charge of which they are : they indeed receive honors, each those of his dignity: but they do not attribute them to themselves, but to the uses themselves ; and because all uses are from the Lord, they attribute them to the Lord, from whom they are : such there- fore are spiritual dignities and wealth, which are eternal. But it happens otherwise to those, to whom dignities and wealth in the world were curses : these, because they attribute them to themselves, and not to uses, and because they have not been willing that uses should rule over them, but they over uses, which they have regarded as uses so far as they sulDserved their honor and glory, are therefore in hell, and are base drudges there, in contempt and misery ; where- fore, because these dignities and wealth perish, they are said to be temporal and perishable. Concerning the former and the latter the Lord thus teaches: " Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, where rust and the moth corrupt, and where thieves dig through and steal : but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor the moth corrupt, and where thieves dig not through nor steal : for where your treasure is, your heart also is," Matt. vi. 19, 20, 204 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING 21. Thirdly : Tltat dlgmtics and wealth which are curses, in comparison of dignities and wealth tohich are blessings, are as nothing to everytliing, and as what in itself is 7iot, to that which in itself is. Every- thing which perishes, and does not become anything, is inwardly in itself nothing: it is indeed outwardly something ; yea, it appears as much, and to some as everytliing, as long as it lasts; but not inwardly in itself: it is like a surface within which there is nothing ; and it is like a theatrical character in a royal dress, when the play is ended : but that which remains to eternity, is in itself perpetually something, thus ev^erything ; and it also is, because it does not cease to be. 218. III. That temporal and eternal things are separated by man, but that they are conjoined by the Lord: that it is so, is because all things of man are temporal, from which man may be called the tempo- ral, and all things of the Lord are eternal, from which the Lord is called the eternal ; and temporal things are those which have an end and perish ; but eternal things are those which have not an end, and do not perish. That these two cannot be conjoined, except by the infinite wisdom of the Lord, and thus that they can be joined by the Lord, and not by man, every one can see. But that it may be known that the two are separated by man, and conjoined by the Lord, it is to be demonstrated in this order. 1. What temporal things are and what are eternal things. 2. That man is temporal in himself, and that the Lord is eternal in Himself; and that hence nothing can proceed from man but \vhat is temporal, and nothing from the Lord but what is eternal. 3. That temporal things separate eternal things from themselves, and that eternal things conjoin things temporal to themselves. 4. That the Lord conjoins man to Himself by appear- ances. 5. And that He does by correspondences. 219. But these points are to be illustrated and con- firmed by themselves singly. First : What temporal things are^ and wliat are eternal things : temporal THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 205 things are all those things which are proper to nature, and which thence are proper to man : the things proper to nature are especially spaces and times, both of them with limit and bound : the things proper to man thence are what are of his own will and his own understanding, and those which thence are of his affection and thought, especially those which are of his prudence ; and that those are finite and limited, is known. But eternal things are all things which are proper to the Lord, and from Him are as it were proper to man: the things proper to the Lord are all things infinite and eternal, thus without time, conse- quently without limit and without end : those Avhich are thence as it were proper to man, are alike infinite and eternal; but nothing of them is man's, but they are of the Lord alone with him. Secondly : That man is teinporal in himse/f, and that the Lord is eter- nal in Himself ; and that hence nothing can jnoceed from man but what is temporal^ and nothing from the Lord but ichai is eternal. That man in himself is temporal, and that the Lord in Himself is eternal, was said above : since nothing else can proceed from anything but what is in itself, it follows that nothing else can proceed from man but what is temporal, and nothing from the Lord but what is eternal ; for from the finite cannot proceed the infinite ; that it can proceed is contradictory : but still from the finite can proceed the infinite; yet not from the finite, but from the infinite through it : on the other hand also, from the infinite cannot proceed the finite ; that it can pro- ceed is also contradictory : yet from the infinite can be produced the finite ; but this is not to proceed, but to create ; concerning which subject may be seen the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdo3I, from beginning to end : wherefore if the finite proceeds from the Lord, as takes place in many things with man, it does not proceed from the Lord, but from man ; and it may be said, from the Lord through man, because it so appears. This may be illustrated by these words of the Lord : " Your 18 206 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING discourse must be yea, yea ; nay, nay ; what is be- yond these, is from evil," Matt. v. 37: such discourse have all in the third heaven; for they never reason concerning divine tilings, whether it is so or is not so, but see in themselves from the Lord, that it is so or not so ; wherefore to reason concerning divine things, whether they are so or not, is because the reasoner does not see them from the Lord, but wishes to see from himself; and what man sees from himself, is evil. But still the Lord wishes not only that man should think and speak concerning divine things, but also reason concerning them, to the end that he may see that it is so or not so ; and this thought, speech or reasoning, provided it has for end that he may see the truth, may be said to be from the Lord with man ; but it is from man, until he sees the truth and acknowledges it : in the mean time it is only from the Lord that he is able to think, speak and reason ; for this he can do from the two faculties, which are called liberty and rationality; which faculties man has from the Lord alone. Thirdly : That temporal tldngs separate eternal things from themselves, and that eternal things conjoin things temporal to themselves : by temporal things separating eternal things from themselves, is understood that man does, who is tem- poral, from the temporal things in himself; and by eternal things conjoining temporal things to them- selves, is understood that the Lord does, who is eter- nal, from the eternal things in himself, as was said above. It was shown in tlie preceding pages that there is a conjunction of the Lord with man, and a reciprocal one of man with the Lord ; but that the reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord is not from man. but from the Lord; also that the will of man runs counter to the will of the Lord, or, what is the same, man's own prudence to the Divine Provi- dence of the Lord : from these things follows this, that man, from his temporal things, separates the eternal things of the Lord from himself, but that the Lord conjoins His eternal things to the temporal THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 207 things of man, that is, Himself to man and man to Himself: because these things have been mnch treated of in the preceding pages, there is no need of confirming them by more words. Fourthly: That the Lord con- joins inan to Himself by appearances : for it is an appearance, that man of himself loves the neighbor, does good, and speaks truth: unless these things ap- peared to man as from him, he would not love the neighbor, do good, and speak truth, thus would not be conjoined to the Lord : but because love, good, and truth are from the Lord, it is manifest that the Lord conjoins man to Himself by appearances. But this appearance, and the conjunction of the Lord with man, and the reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord by it, have been treated of in many places above. Fifthly : That the Lord conjoins ina,n to Himself by correspondences : this is done by the means of the Word, the literal sense of which consists of mere cor- respondences : that by that sense there is conjunction of the Lord with man, and a reciprocal conjunction of man with the Lord, is shown in the Doctrine of THE New .Terusalem concerning the Sacred Scrip- ture, from beginning to end. 220. IV. That the conjunction of temporal and eternal things with man is the Divine Providence of the Lord: but because these things cannot fall into the first perception of the understanding, unless they are first reduced to order, and are unfolded and de- monstrated according to it, therefore this shall be the order of them. 1. That it is of the Divine Providence, that man by death puts off natural and temporal things, and puts on spiritual and eternal things. 2. That the Lord by His Divine Providence conjoins Himself to natural things by spiritual, and to tem- poral things by eternal, according to uses. 3. That the Lord conjoins Himself to uses by correspondences, and thus by appearances according to confirmations from man. 4. That such conjunction of temporal and eternal things is the Divine Providence. But these shall be put into clearer light by explanations. 208 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING First : That it is of the Divine Providence, that man after death puts off natural and temporal things and puts on spiritual and eternal things : natural and temporal things are the extremes and nltimates, into which man first enters ; which is done when he is born, for the purpose that he may afterwards be intro- duced into interior and superior things; for extremes and nltimates are continents, aud these are in the natural world : hence it is that no angel or spirit was immediately created such, but that they were all born men, and so introduced : hence they have extremes and nltimates, which in themselves are fixed and stated, within which and from which interior things can be held together in connection. But man fi.rst puts on the grosser things of nature; his body is from them ; but these he puts off by death, and retains the purer things of nature, which are next to spiritual things, and these are then his continents. Moreover, in extremes or nltimates are at the same time all interior or superior things, as has been shown before in the proper places ; wherefore all operation of the Lord is by first things and nltimates at the same time, thus in fulness. But because the extremes and nltimates of nature cannot receive the spiritual and eternal things to which the human mind is formed, as they are in themselves, and yet man is born that he may become spiritual and live to eter- nity, therefore man puts them off", and retains only the interior natural things, which are suitable to and accord with spiritual and celestial things, and sub- serve them for continents : this is done by the rejec- tion of temporal and natural nltimates, which is the death of the body. Secondly : That the Lord by His Divine Providence conjoins Himself to natural things by spirituaL and to temporal things by eternal, accord- ing to uses: natural and temporal things are not only those which are proper to nature, but also those which are proper to men in the natural world : the former and the latter man puts oft' by death, and puts on the spiritual and eternal things corresponding to THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 209 them : that he puts on these according to uses, has been shown m many places in the preceding pages. The natural things which are proper to nature have reference in general to times and spaces, and in par- ticular to those things which are seen upon the earth : these man leaves by death, and in place of them receives spiritual things, which as to external look or appearance are like them, but not as to internal look or essence itself; which subject has been also treated of above. The temporal things which are proper to men in the natural world have reference in general to dignities and wealth, and in particular to every man's necessities, which are food, clothing, and hab- itation : these also are put off and left by death, and such things are put on and received as are like them as to external look or appearance, but not as to inter- nal look and as to essence : all these things have their internal look and essence from the uses of temporal things in the world : uses are the goods which are called goods of charity. From these things it may be evident that the Lord by His Divine Providence con- joins spiritual and eternal things to natural and tem- poral things according to uses. Thirdly : That the Lord conjoins Hmiself to uses by correspondences, and thus by appewances according to the confirmations of them by man: but because these things cannot but seem obscure to those who have not yet received a clear notion as to what correspondence and what ap- pearance is, therefore they must be illustrated and so explained by examples : all things of the Word are mere correspondences of spiritual and heavenly things, and because they are con-espondences they are also appearances ; that is, all things of the Word are divine goods of the divine love and divine truths of the divine wisdom, which are naked in themselves, but are clothed in the literal sense of the Word ; wherefore they appear like a man in a dress which corresponds to the state of his love and wisdom : from which it is manifest, that if man confirms ap- pearances, it is the like as if he confirmed that clothes 18* 210 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING are men ; hence appearances become fallacies : it is otherwise if man seeks out truths and sees them in the appearances. Now because all the uses, or goods and truths of charity, which man does to liis neigh- bor, he either does according to appearances or accord- ing to the truths themselves in the Word, if he does them according to appearances confirmed with him- self, he is in fallacies ; but if according to truths, he does them as he ought : from these things it may be evident what is understood by the Lord's conjoining Himself to uses by correspondences, and thus by ap- pearances according to the confirmations of them by man. Fourthly : That such conjunction of temporal and eternal things is the Divine Providence : that these things may be set in some light before the understanding, they shall be illustrated by two exam- ples ; by one which concerns dignities and honors, and by another which concerns riches and wealth : both in the external form are natural and temporal, but in the internal form they are spiritual and eternal. Dignities with their honors are natural and temporal, when man regards himself as to person in them, and not the commonwealth and uses in them ; for then man cannot think otherwise interiorly with himself, than that the commonwealth is for the sake of him- self, and not he for the sake of the commonwealth : he is like a king who thinks that the kingdom and all the men in it are for the sake of himself, and not he for the sake of his kingdom and men. But the same dignities with their honors are spiritual and eternal, when man regards himself as to person for the sake of the commonwealth and uses, and not these for the sake of himself: if he does this, man is then in the truth and in the essence of his dignity and honor ; but if the former, he is then in correspondence and appearance; and if he confirms them with himself, he is in fallacies, and no otherwise in conjunction with the Lord, than as they are who are in falsities and thence in evils ; for fallacies are the falsities with which evils conjoin themselves : they have indeed THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 211 performed uses and goods, but from themselves and not from the Lord; thus they have put themselves in place of the Lord. It is the like with riches and wealth, which are also natural and temporal, also spiritual and eternal : riches and wealth are natural and temporal with those who only look at them, and themselves in tlieni. and all their pleasure and delight in these two ; hut the same are spiritual and eternal with those who look at good uses in them, and inte- rior pleasure and delight in these : with these, exterior pleasure and delight also becomes spiritual, and the temporal becomes eternal ; wherefore also these after death are in heaven, and in palaces there, the utensile forms of which shine from gold and precious stones ; which however they do not regard otherwise than as external things shining and pellucid from internal things, which are uses, from which they have pleasure itself and delight, which in themselves are the felici- tousness and happiness of heaven : the contrary lot have those who have looked at riches and wealth only for the sake of them and of themselves ; thus for the sake of external things, and not at the same time of internal things ; thus according to appearances, and not according to their essences : when they put them off, which is done when they die, they put on the internals of them ; and because these are not spiritual, they cannot but be infernal ; for either the one or the other is in them, hut both cannot be at the same time: whence instead of riches they have poverty, and instead of wealth, misery. By uses are understood not only the necessaries of life which have reference to food, clothing and habitation for themselves and theirs, but also t!ie good of the country is understood, the good of society, and the good of a fellow-citizen. Such a good is trading, when it is the final love, and money a mediate love subserving; provided the trader shuns and loathes frauds and bad arts as sins : it is otherwise when money is the final love, and trading a mediate love subserving ; for this is avarice, which 212 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING is the root of evils; concerning which, see Luke xii. 15, and the parable concerning it, verses 16 to 21. THAT MAN IS NOT LET INTERIORLY INTO THE TRUTHS OF FAITH, AND INTO THE GOODS OF CHARITY, EXCEPT SO FAR AS HE CAN BE KEPT IN THEM UNTIL THE END OF LIFE. 221. It is known in the christian world, that the Lord wills the salvation of all, and also that He is omnipotent ; wherefore many conclnde from this, that He can save every one, and that He will save those who implore His mercy ; especially those who implore it through the formula of the received faith, that God the Father has mercy for the sake of the Son ; espe- cially if they at the same time implore that they may receive that faith : but that it is altogether otherwise, will be seen in the last chapter of this treatise; where it will be explained, that the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His Divine Providence, because to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His divine love and contrary to His divine wisdom, thus contrary to Himself; when it will be seen that such immediate mercy is not possible, because man's salva- tion takes place through means, according to which no other one can lead man but he who wills the sal- vation of all, and is at the same time omnipotent, thus the Lord. The means by which man is led by the Lord, are what are called the laws of the Divine Providence, among which is also this, that man is not let interiorly into the truths of wisdom and into the goods of love, except so far as he can be kept in them until the end of life. But that this may be manifest before the reason, it is to be explained in this order. 1. That man can be let into the wisdom of spiritual things, and also into the love of them, and still not be reformed. 2. That if man afterwards recedes from, and runs counter to them, he profanes holy things. 3. That there are very many kinds of profana- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 213 tions, but that this kind is the worst of all. 4. That the Lord therefore does not let man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and at the same time into the goods of love, except as far as man can be kept in them until the end of life. 222. I. That man can be let into the uisdom of spiritual things, a?id also into the love of them, and still not be reformed : the reason is, because man has rationality and liberty ; by rationality he can be ele- vated into wisdom almost angelic, and by liberty into love not unlike angelic love ; but still, as is the love, such is the wisdom : if the love is celestial and spirit- ual, the wisdom becomes celestial and spiritual also ; but if the love is diabolical and infernal, the wisdom is also diabolical and infernal: the latter may then indeed appear, in the external form, and thus before others, as celestial and spiritual ; but in the internal form, which is its very essence, it is diabolical and infernal ; not without it, but within it : that it is such, does not appear to men ; because men are natural, and see and hear naturally, and the external form is natu- ral : but that it is such, does appear to the angels; because the angels are spiritual, and see and hear spiritually, and the internal form is spiritual. From these things it is manifest, that man can be let into the wisdom of spiritual things, and also into the love of them, and still not be reformed ; yet then only into the natural love of them, but not into the spiritual love of them: the reason is, that man can let himself into natural love, but the Lord alone into spiritual love ; and they who are let into the latter are reformed, but they who are only let into the former are not reformed; for these are most of them hypocrites, and very many are of the order of the Jesuits, who inte- riorly believe nothing divine, but exteriorly play with divine things like conjurers. 223. It has been given to know by much experience in the spiritual world, that man possesses in himself the faculty of understanding the arcana of wisdom, like the angels themselves; for I have seen fiery 214 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING devils, who, when they heard arcana of wisdom, not only understood them, but also from their rationality spoke them ; yet as soon as they returned to their dia- bolical love, they did not understand them, but instead of them the contrary things, which were of insanity; and this they then called wisdom : yea, it has been given to hear, that when they were in the state of wisdom, they laughed at their insanity; and when they were in the state of insanity, they laughed at wisdom. A man who has been such in the world, when he becomes a spirit after death, is let into the alternate state of wisdom and insanity very many times, that he may see the latter from the former : but although they see from wisdom that they are insane, still when the choice is given them, which is done to every one, they let themselves into the state of insan- ity, and love it ; and then they hold in hatred the state of wisdom : the reason is, because their internal was diabolical, and the external as divine : these are they who are understood by the devils, who make themselves angels of light; and by him who in the house of the wedding was not clothed in a wedding garment, and was cast into outer darkness : Matt. xxii. 11, 12, 13. 224. Who cannot see, that it is the internal from which the external exists? consequently that the external has its essence from the internal? and who does not know from experience, that the external may appear otherwise than according to its essence from the internal '? for this manifestly appears with hypo- crites, adulterers, and dissemblers; and that man can in externals counterfeit characters not his own, appears from comedians and mimics; for these know how to represent kings, emperors, yea angels, by the sound, speech, face and gesture, as they would be, when yet they are nothing but conjurers: this is also said, because man can alike act the sycophant, not only in civil and moral things, but also in spiritual things; and it is also known that many do it. When therefore the internal in its essence is infernal, and the external in THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 215 its form appears spiritual, and yet the external derives its essence from the internal, as was said, it is asked where indeed that essence lies hid in the external : it does not appear in the gesture, nor in the sound, nor in the speech, nor in the face ; but still it lies hid inte- riorly in these four: that it lies hid in them interiorly, is plainly manifest from the same in the spiritual world ; for when man comes from the natural world into the spiritual world, which is done when he dies, then he leaves his externals with the body, and retains his internals, which he has stored up in his spirit ; and then, if his internal has been infernal, he appears like a devil, such as he had also been as to his spirit, when he lived in the world. Who does not acknowledge that every man leaves externals with the body, and enters into internals when he becomes a spirit ? To these things I will add also these, that in the spiritual world there is a communication of the affections and thence of the thoughts ; from which it is, that no one can speak otherwise than just as he thinks : also that every one there changes the face, and becomes like his affection ; so that it also appears from the face what he is : it is sometimes given to hypocrites to speak otherwise than they think, but the sound of their speech is heard altogether discordant from their interior thoughts ; and from the discordance they are distinguished : hence it may be evident that the inter- nal lies hid interiorly in the sound, speech, face and gesture of the external ; and that this is not perceived by men in the natural world, but manifestly by angels in the spiritual world. 225. From these things it is now manifest that man, as long as he lives in the natural world, can be let into the wisdom of spiritual things, and also into the love of them ; and that this is done, and can be done, as well with those who are merely natural, as with those who are spiritual; but with the difference, that the lat- ter are reformed by these things, but that by the same the former are not reformed : with these also it may appear as if they loved wisdom, but they no otherwise 216 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING love it than as an adulterer loves a noble woman for a mistress, with whom he speaks caressingly, and to whom he gives dresses of ornament ; concerning whom, however, he thinks with himself at home, that she is nothing but a vile prostitute, whom I will make believe that I love her, because she favors my lust ; but if she did not favor it, I would reject her. His internal man is this adulterer, and his external man is this woman. 226. II. That if man afterwards recedes from and 7'uns counter to them^ he profanes holy things. There are many kinds of profanation of what is holy, which will be treated of in the following article ; but this kind is the most grievous of all ; for they who are profaners of this kind, after death become no longer men : they live indeed, but continually in fantastic deliriums ; they appear to themselves to fly on high ; and when they are permanent, they play with fanta- sies, which they see as real things ; and because they are no longer men, they are not called he or she, but it : yea, when they are set up to be seen in the light of heaven, they appear like mummies ; some like mummies of a bony color, some as fiery, and some as burnt. That the profane of this kind become such after death, is unknown in the world ; and it is un- known, because the cause is unknown : the cause itself is, that when man first acknowledges divine things and believes them, and afterwards recedes and denies them, he then mixes holy things with profane; which, when they are mixed, can no otherwise be separated, than by the destruction of the whole. But that these things may be perceived more clearly, they must be disclosed in their order, which shall be this. 1. That whatever man thinks, speaks and does from the will, is appropriated to him, and remains, as well good as evil. 2. But that the Lord by His Divine Providence continually takes care and disposes, that evil should be by itself, and good by itself, and thus that they may be separated. 3. But that this cannot be done, if man first acknowledges the truths of faith and lives according to them, and afterwards recedes THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 217 and denies them. 4. That he then mixes good and evil, so far that they cannot be separated. 5. And because good and evil must be separated with every man, and cannot be separated with such an one, that therefore he is destroyed as to everything truly human. 227. These are the causes on account of which such enormity exists, but because they are in obscu- rity from ignorance of them, they must be explained, that they may be manifest before the understanding. First : That whatever man thinks, speaks or does fro?n the IV ill, is appropriated to hint and remains, as well good as evil: tliis was shown above, n. 78 to 81 ; for man has an external or natural memory, and he has an internal or spiritual memory : on the latter memo- ry are inscribed each and all things whatever he had thought, spoken and done in the world from the will ; and so far each and all, that not one is wanting : this memory is the book of his life, which is opened after death, and according to which he is judged. Con- cerning this memory more things are adduced from experience in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, n. 461 to 465. Secondly: But tliat the Lord by His Divine Providence continnally takes care and disposes, that evil should be by itself, and good by itself, and thus that they should be separated: every man is in evil as well as in good ; for he is in evil from himself, and in good from the Lord ; and man cannot live unless he is in both ; for if he were in himself alone, and thus in evil alone, he would not have anything of life ; and if in the Lord alone, and thus in good alone, neither would he have anything of life; for man in the latter kind of life would be like one suftbcated, continually gasping for breath, as if ready to die in agony ; and in the former kind of life he would become extinct, for evil without any good in itself is dead ; wherefore every man is in both : but the difier- ence is, that the one is interiorly in the Lord, and exte- riorly as if in himself; and the other interiorly in himself, but exteriorly as if in the Lord ; and the lat- ter is in evil, and the former in good ; but yet each in 19 218 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING both : that the evil is also, is because he is in the good of civil and moral life, and also exteriorly in some good of spiritual life; besides that he is held by the Lord in rationality and liberty, that he may be in good : this is the good, by which every man, even the evil, is led of the Lord. From these things it may be seen, that the Lord separates evil and good, that the one may be interior and the other exterior ; and thus takes care lest they be mixed. Thirdly : Btit that this cannot be ofowe, if man first acknowledges the truths of faith, and lives according to them, and after- wards recedes from and denies them: this is manifest from the things just now said ; in the first place, that all things which man thinks, speaks and does from the will, are appropriated to him and remain ; and in the second, that the Lord by His Divine Providence continually takes care and disposes that good should be by itself, and evil by itself, and that they may be sepa- rated : they are also separated by the Lord after death; with those who interiorly are evil and exteriorly are good, the good is taken away, and thus they are left to their evil ; it is the contrary with those who interiorly are good and exteriorly like other men have scraped together wealth, have sought for dignities, have been delighted with various worldly things, and favored certain concupiscences: with these, however, good and evil are not mixed, but are separated like internal and external ; thus in the external form they were like the evil in many things, yet not in the inter- nal : on the contrary, the evil also, who in the exter- nal form have appeared as if good, in piety, worship, speech and deeds, and yet in the internal form were evil ; with these evil is also separated from good. But Avith those who have first acknowledged the truths of faith, and lived according to them, and have after- wards run counter to and rejected them, and especially if they have denied them, goods and evils are no longer separated, but mixed ; for such a man has appropriated good to himself, and has also appropri- ated evil to himself, and thus has conjoined and mixed THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 219 them. Fourthly : That he then mixes good and evil, so far ^ that they cannot he separated, follows from the things just now said ; and if evil cannot be separated from good, and good from evil, he cannot be in heaven nor in hell : every man must be either in the one or in the other ; he cannot be in both ; for thus he would be now in heaven, and now in hell ; and while in heaven would act in favor of hell, and while in hell would act in favor of heaven, thus would destroy the life of all who were around him, heavenly life with the angels, and infernal life with devils, from which the life of every one would perish ; for the life of every one must be his own : no one lives in another's life, still less in an opposite one. Hence it is, that with every man after death, when he becomes a spirit or a spiritual man, the Lord separates good from evil and evil from good ; good from evil with those who interiorly are in evil, and evil from good with those who interiorly are in good : which is according to His words. To every one that hath shall be given and he shall abound, and from him who hath not, even what he hath shall be taken aicay, Matt. xiii. 12, and xxv. 29, Mark iv. 25, Luke viii. 18, and xix. 26. Fifthly : Because good and evil must be separated with every inan, and cannot he separated with such an one, that therefore as to everything trnly human he is destroyed: every one has what is truly human from rationality, that he may see and know, if he will, what is true and what is good, and also that he may will, think, speak and do it from* liberty, as has been shown before ; but this liberty with its rationality is destroy- ed with those who have mixed good and evil with themselves ; for they cannot from good see evil, nor from evil become acquainted with good, for they make one ; hence they no longer have rationality in faculty or in potency, and hence neither any liberty : which is the cause that they are like mere fantastic deliri- ums, as was said above ; and no more appear like men, but like some bones covered with skin ; and hence, when they are named, they are not called he 220 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING or she, but it : such lot have those who in this man- ner mix holy things with profane : but there are many kinds of profanation, which still are not such ; which will be treated of in the following article. 228. No man thus profanes holy things, who does not know them ; for he who does not know them, cannot acknowledge them, and then deny them; wherefore they who are out of the christian world, and do not know anything concerning the Lord, and concerning redemption and salvation by Him, do not profane that holy thing, when they do not receive it, yea, when they speak against it. Neither do the Jews themselves profane that holy thing, because from infancy they are not willing to receive and acknowl- edge it ; it would be otherwise, if they received and acknowledged, and afterwards denied ; which yet is rarely done ; for many of them acknowledge it exte- riorly, and deny it interiorly, and are like hypocrites. But those profane holy things by the mixture of them with profane things, who first receive and acknowl- edge, and afterwards go away and deny. It effects nothing, that they received and acknowledged in infancy and childhood: every christian does this; be- cause they do not then receive and acknowledge those things which are of faith and charity from any rational- ity and liberty, that is, in the understanding from the will, but only from memory and from trust in a mas- ter; and if they live according to them, it is from a blind obedience : but when man comes into the use of his rationality and liberty, which is done success- ively as he grows up and becomes a man, if he then acknowledges truths and lives according to them, and afterwards denies them, he mixes holy with profane things, and from a man becomes such a monster as was described above. But if man is in evil, from the time when he has become of his own rationality and liberty, that is, at his own direction, even to manhood, and afterwards acknowledges the truths of faith and lives according to them, provided he then remains in them until the end of life, he does not mix them; for THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 221 the Lord then separates tlie evils of his former hfe from the goods of his after Hfe : thus it happens with all who repent. But more will be said concerning these things in the following pages. 229. III. That there are very many kinds of the profanation of lohut is holy, and that this kind is the worst of all. In the most general sense, hy profana- tion is understood all impiety ; thus by profaners are understood all the impious, who in heart deny God, the sanctity of the Word, and hence the spiritual things of the church ; which are the holy things themselves, concerning which they also speak impiously. But these are not here treated of; but those who profess God, establish the sanctity of the Word, and acknowl- edge the spiritual things of the church ; yet most of them only with the mouth : the reason that these pro- fane, is because what is holy from the Word is in them and with them ; and this which is in them, and which makes a part of their understanding and will, they profane : but yet in the impious, who deny the Divine and divine things, there is not anything holy which they can profane : these are indeed profaners, but still not the profane. 230. The profanation of what is holy is understood in the second commandment of the decalogue by Thou shalt not profane the Name of thy God : and that profaning must not be done, is understood in the Lord's Prayer, by Hallowed be thy Name : what is understood by the name of God, is scarcely known by any one in the christian world : the reason is, because it is not known that in the spiritual world there are not names as in the natural world, but that every one is named according to the quality of his love and wis- dom ; for as soon as any one comes into society or participation with others, he is forthwith named according to his quality there : the naming is done by spiritual speech, which is such that it can give a name to everything; because there each letter in the alpha- bet signifies one thing, and the several letters joined into one word, which make a person's name, involve 19=^ 222 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING the entire state of the thing : this is among the won- derful things in the spiritual world. From these things it is manifest, that by the name of God in the Word is signified God with every divine thing which is in Him, and which proceeds from Him ; and be- cause the Word is the proceeding Divine, it is the name of God ; and because all the divine things, which are called the spiritual things of the church, are from the Word, they also are the name of God. From these things it may be seen what is understood in the second commandment of the decalogue by Thou shalt not profaiie the name of God ; and in the Lord's Prayer by Hallowed he tJiy Name. Like things are signified by the name of God and of the Lord in many places in the Word of both Testaments, as in Matt. vii. 22; x. 22; xviii. 5,20; xix. 29; xxi. 9; xxiv. 9, 10; John i. 12; ii. 23; iii. 17, 18; xii. 13, 28; xiv. 14, 15, 16; xvi. 23, 24, 26, 27; xvii. 6; xx. 31 ; besides other places, and very many in the Old Testament. He who knows this signification of name, can know what is signified by these words of the Lord, Whoeve?- receives a jiro'phet in the name of a projiJiet^ shall receive a prophet's reward : whoever re- ceives ajnst one in the name of a just one^ shall receive a just one^ s reward : and whoever shall give drink to one of these little ones in a cup of cold water only in the 7iame of a disciple, he shall not lose his reward : Matt. X. 21 : he who, by the name of a prophet, a just one, and a disciple, understands here only a prophet, a just one, and a disciple, does not know any other sense therein than only the sense of the letter; and neither does he know wliat a prophet's reward, a just one's reward, and a reward for a cup of cold water given to a disciple, are ; when yet, by the name and the reward of a prophet, is understood the state and happiness of those who are in divine truths ; by the name and the reward of a just one, the state and happiness of those who are in divine goods ; and by a disciple, the state of those who are in some of the spiritual things of the church; a cup of cold water is THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 223 some truth. That the qiiaUty of the state of love and Avisdom, or of good and truth, is signified by a name, is evident also from these words of the Ijord : He who enterelh by the door, is the shepherd of the sheep ; to him the door-keeper openeth, and the sheefp hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and lead- eth them out, John x. 2, 3 : to call the sheep by name, is to teach and lead every one who is in the good of charity, according to the state of his love and wisdom : by the door is understood the Lord, as is evident from verse 9 there, / am the door ; by me if any one enter in, he shall be saved ; from which it is manifest, that the Lord Himself must be approached, that one may be saved ; and he who goes to Him is the shepherd of the sheep ; and he who does not go to Him is a thief and a robber, as is said in verse 1 of that chapter. 23L Since by the profanation of what is holy, is understood profanation by those who know the truths of faith and the goods of charity from the Word, and also in some manner acknowledge them, and not those who do not know them, neither who from impiety altogether reject them, therefore the following things are not spoken concerning the latter, but concerning the former : the kinds of profanation of these are very many, the lighter and the more grievous; but they may be reduced to these seven. The first kind of PROFANATION IS BY THOSE, loho jest from the Word and concerning the Word, or from the divine things of the church and concerning them : this is done by some from a depraved habit, by taking names or phrases from the Word, and mixing them with discourse hardly decent and sometimes filthy ; which cannot but be connected with some contempt for the Word ; when yet the Word in each and all things is divine and holy ; for every word therein stores up in its bosom some- thing divine, and thereby it has communication with heaven : but this kind of profanation is lighter or more grievous, according to the acknowledgment of the sanctity of the Word, and the indecency of speech 224 ANGELIO WISDOM CONCERNING in which it is introduced by the jesters. The second KIND of profanation IS BY THOSE, v^lio Understand and ackiiowledge divine truths^ and yet live contrary to them; yet those profane more Hghtly who only understand, but those more grievously who also acknowledge ; for the understanding only teaches, scarcely otherwise than as a preacher, and does not of itself conjoin itself with the will ; but acknowledgment does conjoin itself, for nothing can be acknowledged, except with the consent of the will : but still this conjunction is various, and according to the conjunction is the pro- fanation, when a life is led contrary to the truths which are acknowledged : as, if one acknowledges that revenge and hatred, adulteries and fornications, frauds and deceits, blasphemies and lies, are sins against God, and still commits them, he is in this more grievous kind of profanation ; for the Lord says, " The servant who knows his Lord's will, and does not do his will, shall be beaten with many stripes;" Luke xii. 48. And again, "If ye were blind, ye would not have sin ; but now ye say we see, therefore your sin remauieth ;" John ix. 4L But it is one thing to acknowledge appearances of truth, and another to acknowledge genuine truths : they who acknowledge genuine truths, and still do not live according to them, appear in the world of spirits without the light and heat of life in the sound and speech, as if they were mere inactivities. The third kind of profanation is BY THOSE, v^lio apply the literal sense of the Word to confinnin g evil loves and false principles : the reason is, because the confirmation of falsity is the denial of the truth, and the confirmation of evil is the rejection of good ; and the Word in its bosom is nothing but divine truth and divine good ; and this, in the ultimate sense, which is the sense of the letter, does not appear in genuine truths, except where it teaches the Lord and the way itself of salvation, but in clothed truths, which are called appearances of truth ; wherefore that sense can be turned aside to confirming heretical things of many kinds : but he who confirms evil loves, THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 225 offers violence to divine goods ; he who confirms false principles offers violence to divine truths: the latter violence is called the falsification of truth, but the former the adulteration of good ; both are understood in the Word by blood : for the spiritual Holy, which is also the spirit of truth proceeding from the Lord, is within in each thing of the literal sense of the Word ; this holy is harmed, when the Word is falsified and adulterated : that this is profananation, is manifest. The fourth kind of profanation is by those, ii-Jio speak jnous and holy things with the mouthy and also counterfeit by sonnd and gestvre the affection of the love of thern^ and yet in heart do not believe and love them. Most of these are hypocrites and pharisees, from whom after death all truth and good is taken away ; and then they are sent into outer darkness. Those of this kind, who have confirmed themselves against the Divine, and against the Word, and hence also against the spiritual things of the Word, sit in that darkness mute, unable to speak, wishing to prate out pious and holy things, as in the world, but cannot : for in the spiritual world every one is compelled to speak as he thinks : but the hypocrite wishes to speak otherwise than he thinks ; hence exists opposition in the mouth, from which it is that he can only mutter. But hypocrisies are lighter or more grievous, accord- ing to confirmations against God and reasonings in favor of God exteriorly. The fifth kind of profa- nation IS BY THOSE, who attribute divine things to themselves : it is they who are understood by Lucifer in Isaiah xiv. : by Lucifer is there understood- Babel, as may be evident fi'om verses 4 and 22 of that chap- ter ; where also their lot is described : they are the same also who are understood by the whore sitting upon the scarlet beast, in the Apocalypse, chapter xvii. Babel and Chaldea are named in many places in the Word, and by Babel is there understood the profanation of good, and by Chaldea the profanation of truth ; both of them with those who attribute divine things to themselves. The sixth kind of profana- 226 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING TiON IS BY THOSE, idIw acknoioled^e the Word, and still deny the Divine of the Lord : these are called in the world Sociniaus, and some Arians; the lot of the for- mer and the latter is, that they invoke the Father, and not the Lord, and continually pray the Father, some also for the sake of the Son, that they may be admit- ted into heaven, but in vain, until they become with- out hope of salvation ; and then they are let down into hell among those who deny God : it is these who are understood by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit, to whom it is not remitted in this age nor in the future, Matt. xii. 32 : the reason is, because God is one in person and essence, in whom is a trinity, and that God is the Lord ; and because the Lord is also heaven, and hence they who are in heaven are in the Lord, therefore they who deny the Divine of the Lord cannot be admitted into heaven, and be in the Lord: that the Lord is heaven, and hence that they who are in heaven are in the Lord, has been shown above. The seventh kind of profanation is by those, tvho first acknoiiiledge divine truths and live according to them, and afterwards recede from and deny them: this is the worst kind of profanation, for the reason that they mix holy things with profane, so far that they cannot be separated ; and yet they must be separated, that they may be either in heaven or in hell ; and because this carmot be done with them, all the human intellectual and voluntary is rooted out, and they become no longer men, as was said before. Nearly the like takes place with those who acknowl- edge in heart the divine things of the Word and of the church, and altogether immerse them in their pro- prium, which is the love of ruling over all things, concerning which many things have been said before : for these, after death, when they become spirits, are altogether unwilling to be led by the Lord, but by themselves ; and when the bridle is relaxed to their love, they wish not only to rule over heaven, but also over the Lord ; and because they cannot do this, they deny the Lord, and become devils. It is to be known, that the life's love, which is also the reigning love, THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 227 remains to every one after death, and that it cannot be taken away. The profane of this kind are under- stood by the hikewarm, concerning whom it is thus written in the Apocalypse : / knoio thy works^ that tho7i art neither cold nor hot; I would that thou wert cold or hot ; but because thou art lukeivarm^ and nei- ther cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth ; iii. 14, 15. This kind of profanation is described by the Lord thus in Matthew: When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, it loalketh through dry places, seeking rest, but findeth not ; theii it saith, I will turn back unto my house whence I came out ; when, it returneth and findeth it empty, swept and fur- nished, it goeth aicay, and taketh to itself seven other spirits xDorse than itself, and entering in they dioell there, and the last things of that man become ivorse than the first : xii. 43 to 45 : the conversion of man is here described by the going forth of the unclean spirit from him ; and the turning back to former evils, the truths and goods being cast out, by the retnrn of the unclean spirit with seven worse than itself into the house furnished for itself; and the pro- fanation of what is holy by a profane one, by the last things of that man becoming worse than the first. The like is understood by this in John : Jes7/s said to the one cured in the pool of Bethesda, sin no more lest worse happen to thee: v. 14. That the Lord pro- vides that man should not interiorly acknowledge truths, and afterwards recede, and become profane, is understood by these words : He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, lest they should see ivith the eyes and understand trith the heart, and should turn themselves roinid, and I should heal them: John xii. 40: lest they should turn themselves round and I should heal them, signifies lest they should ac- knowledge truths and then recede, and thus become profane : for the same cause the Lord spoke by para- bles, as He says. Matt. xiii. 13. That it was prohib- ited to the Jews to eat the fat and the blood. Lev. iii. 17; vii. 23, 25, signified that they should not profane holy things; for fat signified the divine good, and 228 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING blood the divine truth. That the once converted will remain in good and truth to the end of life, the Lord teaches in Matt. : Jesus said, Whoever shall perse- vere to the end will be saved, x. 22 : so, too, Mark xiii. 13. 232. IV, That the Lord therefore does not let man interiorly into the triitlis of wisdom and at the same tvme into the goods of love, except so far as man can he kept in them until the end of life. The demonstration of this must be proceeded in methodically, for two reasons ; one, because it is of concern to human sal- vation ; the other, because on the knowledge of this lav\'- depends the knowledge of the laws of permission, to be treated of in the following chapter : for it is of concern to human salvation, because, as was said before, he that first acknowledges the divine things of the Word and thence of the church, and afterwards recedes from them, most grievously profanes holy things. Therefore that this arcanum of the Divine Providence may be disclosed, so that the rational man may see it in its light, it must be unfolded in this series. 1. That in the interiors with man there can- not be evil and at the same time good, hence neither the falsity of evil and at the same time the truth of good. 2. That good and the truth of good cannot be introduced by the Lord into the interiors of man, except so far as evil and the falsity of evil is removed there. 3. If good with its truth were introduced there sooner or more than evil with its falsity is removed, man would recede from good, and go back to his evil. 4. That when man is in evil, many truths may be introduced into his understanding, and these be stored up in the memory, and yet not be pro- faned. 5. But that the Lord by His Divine Provi- dence takes the greatest possible care, lest it should be received thence by the will sooner and more than as far as man removes evil as of himself in the external man. 6. That if it were done sooner and more, then the will would adulterate the good, and the under- standing would falsify the truth, by mixing them with THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 22f9' evils and with falsities. 7. That therefore the Lord does not let man interiorly into the truths of wisdom and into the goods of love, except so far as man can be kept in them until the end of life. 233. Therefore that this arcanum of the Divine Providence may be unfolded, so that the rational man may see it in its light, these things which have now been stated, must be explained singly. First : That in the interiors with men there cannot he evil and at the same time good, and hence neither the falsity of evil and at the same time the good of truth : by the inte- riors of man is understood the internal of his thought, concerning which man knows nothing, before he comes into the spiritual world and its light; which takes place after death : in the natural world it can be known only from the delight of his love in the external of his thought, and from evils themselves, while he is exploring them ; for, as was shown above, the internal of thought coheres with the external of thought with man in such a connection that they can- not be separated : but more is said concerning these things above. It is said, good and the truth of good, and evil and the falsity of evil ; since good cannot be given without its truth, nor evil without its falsity; for they are partners of the bed or consorts; for the life of good is from its truth, and the life of truth is from its good : it is the like with evil and its falsity. That in the interiors of man there cannot be evil with its falsity, and at the same time good with its truth, may be seen by the rational man without explana- tion ; for evil is opposite to good, and good is opposite to evil ; and two opposites cannot be together : there is implanted also in all evil a hatred against good, and there is implanted in all good the love of protect- ing itself against evil, and of removing it from itself: from which it follows, that the one cannot be together with the other; and if they should be together, there would first arise conflict and combat, and then de- struction : which also the Lord teaches by these words : " Every kingdom divided against itself is 20 230 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING desolated, and every city or house divided against itself does not stand. Whoever is not with Me, is against Me ; and whoever does not gather with Me, scattereth," Matt. xii. 30 : and elsewhere. " No one can serve two masters at the same time ; for he will either hate the one, or will love the other," Matt. vi. 24. Two opposites cannot be given at the same time in one substance or form, without its being torn asun- der and perishing; if the one should approach and draw near to the other, they would altogether separate themselves ; like two enemies, one of which betakes himself within his camp or within his fortifications, and the other out of it : thus it happens with evils and goods in a hypocrite ; he is in both ; but the evil is within and the good is without, and thus the two are separated, and not mixed. From these things it is then manifest, that evil with its falsity, and good with its truth, cannot be together. Secondly : That good and the trvth of good cannot he introduced by the Lord into the interiors of man, except so far as evil and the falsity of evil is removed there : this is the very consequence of the foregoing things ; for, since evil and good cannot be together, good cannot be introduced before evil is removed. It is said, in the interiors of man, by which is understood the internal of thought: these are what is treated of; in which either the Lord must be, or the devil must be : the Lord is there after reformation, and the devil is there before it; as far therefore as man suffers himself to be reformed, so far the devil is cast out; but as far as he does not suffer himself to be reformed, so far the devil remains : who does not see that the Lord cannot enter, as long as the devil is there 7 and he is there as long as man holds the door shut, in which man is together with the Lord : that the liOrd enters, when the door is opened by the means of man, the Lord teaches in the Apocalypse : "I stand at the door and knock ; if any one hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in unto him, and will sup with him, and he with Me," iii. 20 : the door is opened by man's removing evil, by shunning and loathing it as infer- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 231 nal and diabolical ; for whether it is said evil or the devil, it is the same ; and on the other hand, whether it is said good or the Lord, it is the same ; for in- wardly in all good is the Lord, and inwardly in all evil is the devil. From these things the truth of this matter is manifest. Thirdly : If good ivith its truth tcere introduced sooner or more than evil with its falsity is removed, man irould recede from good, and turn back to his evil: the reason is, because evil would prevail ; and that which prevails, conquers; if not then, still afterwards : while evil as yet pre- vails, good cannot be introduced into the inmost apartments, but only into the ante-rooms; since, as was said, evil and good cannot be together; and that which is only in the ante-rooms, is removed by its enemy, who is in the apartments : hence takes place a receding from good and a turning back to evil, •which is the worst kind of profanation. Besides^ the very delight of man's life is to love himself and the world above all things: this delight cannot be removed in a moment, but successively ; yet as much of this delight as remains with man, so much evil prevails- there; and this evil can no otherwise be removed, than as the love of self becomes the love of uses, or as the love of ruling is not for its own sake, but for the sake of uses ; for thus uses make the head, and the love of self or of ruling makes first the body under the head, and afterwards the feet upon which he walks: who does not see that good should make the head ? and that when good makes the head, the Lord is there? good and use are one: who does not see, that if evil makes the head, the devil is there'/ and, because civil and moral good must still be received, and also spiritual good in external form, that this then makes the feet and soles, and is trampled upon 7 Since therefore the state of man's life must be invert- ed, that what is above may be below, and this inver- sion cannot be given in a moment, for the greatest delight of life, which is from the love of self and thence of dominion, cannot be diminished and turned 232 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING into the love of uses except successively, therefore good cannot be introduced by the Lord sooner and more than as this evil is removed; and if sooner and more, man would recede from ^ood, and would go back to his evil. Fourthly : That ivhen incm is in evil, inany truths may be introduced into his under- standing, and these stored up in the memory, and yet not be jirofaned: the reason is, because the under- standing does not flow into the will, but the will into the understanding ; and because it does not flow into the will, many truths may be received by tlie under- standing, and these be stored up in the memory, and yet not be mixed with evil of the will, and so holy things not be profaned : and it is also incumbent upon every one to learn truths from the Word or from preachings, lay them up in the memory, and think upon them ; for the understanding, from the truths lliiich arc Til the mciViOry, and come thence into thought, will teach the will, that is, will teach the man, what he should do ; this therefore is the princi- pal means of reformation : when truths are only in the understanding, cind hence iri the memory, they are not in the man, but out of him. The memory of man may be compared with the ruminatory stomach in certain animals, into which they take their food ; which, as long as it is there, is not in their body, but out of it; but as they take it thence and swallow it, it becomes of their life, and the body is nourished: but in man's memory there is not material but spirit- ual food, wbich is understood by truths, and they are in themselves thoughts ; as far as man takes them thence by thinking, as if ruminating, so far his spiritual mind is nourished : the love of the will is what desires, and as it were has appetite, and causes them to be swallowed, and to nourish : if that love is evil, it desires and as it were has appetite for unclean things ; but if good, it desires and as it were has appetite for clean things ; and those which are not conformable it separates, removes, and casts out ; which is done in various ways. Fifthly : But that THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 233 the Lord by His Divine Providence takes the greatest 'possible care, that it should, not be received thetice by the will sooner and more than as far as -man as of himself removes evil in the external man: for that which is received by the will, comes into the man, and is appropriated to him, and becomes of his hfe : and in the hie itself, which man has from the will, there cannot be evil and good at the same time, for thus it would perish ; but in the understanding there can be both, which are there called falsities of evil or truths of good, but yet not at the same time, other- wise man could not see evil from good, and know good from evil; but they are distinguished and sepa- rated there, as a house into interior and exterior parts: when an evil man thinks and speaks good things, he then thinks and speaks exteriorly; but when evil things, then interiorly ; wherefore, when he speaks good things, his speech is made as from a wall, and may be compared to fruit fair on the surface, which inwardly is wormy and rotten, and also to a dragon's egg, beautiful as regards the shell. Sixthly : That if it ivere sooner and more, then the will woidd adtdterate the good, and the understanding would falsify the truth, by mixing them rcith evils and thence falsities : when the will is in evil, then it adulterates good in the understanding ; and adulterated good in the un- derstanding is evil in the will ; for it confirms that evil is good, and the contrary; evil does thus with all good, which is opposite to itself : evil also falsifies truth, because the truth of good is opposite to the falsity of evil : this also the will does in the understanding, and not the understanding of itself Adulterations of good are described in the Word by adulteries, and falsifications of truth by whoredoms therein. These adulterations and falsifications are made by reason- ings from the natural man which is in evil, and they are also made by confirmations from the appearances of the literal sense of the Word. The love of self, which is the head of all evils, surpasses other loves in the talent of adulterating goods and falsifying 20* 234 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCEUNING truths; and it does this by the abuse of rationahty, which every man, as well evil as good, has from the Lord ; yea, it can by confirmations make evil appear altogether as good, and falsity as truth: what can it not? when it can confirm by a thousand arguments that nature created itself, and that it then created men, beasts and vegetables of every kind : also, that by influx from its interior self it causes men to live, to think analytically, and to understand wisely. That the love of self surpasses in the talent of confirming whatever it wishes, is because a certain splendor of light variegated into various colors makes its outmost surface ; this splendor is that love's glory of being wise, and thus also of being eminent and of ruling. But when that love has confirmed such things, then it becomes so blind, that it does not see otherwise than that man is a beast, and that they think in like manner; yea, that if a beast could also speak, it would be a man under another form : if it were led from some persuasion to believe that something of man lives after death, then it is so blind that it be- lieves that a beast would also, and that this something living after death is only a subtle exhalement of life, like vapor, which still falls back to its carcass ; or that it is something vital without sight, hearing, and speech, thus blind, deaf and dumb, flying about and thinking; besides many more insanities, which nature itself, which in itself is dead, inspires into its fantasy : this does the love of self, which in itself considered is the love of proprium; and the proprium of man, as to affections, all which are natural, is not unlike the life of a beast; and as to perceptions, because they are from those affections, is not unlike an owl : wherefore he who continually immerses the thoughts in his proprium, cannot be elevated out of natural light into spiritual light, and see anything of God, heaven, and eternal life. Because this love is such, and still surpasses in the talent of confirming what- ever it pleases, therefore with a like talent also it can adulterate the goods of the Word, and falsify its THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 235 truths, when it is held by some necessity to confess them. Seventhly : That the Lord tlierefore does not let man interiorly into the trvths of wisdom and into the o-oods of love, except as far as ma7i can be kept in them until the end of life : the Lord does this, lest man should fall into that most grievous kind of profanation of what is holy, which is treated of in this chapter : on account of that danger, the Lord also permits evils of life and very many heretical things of worship ; concerning the permission of which it will be seen in the subsequent articles. THAT the laws OF PERMISSION ARE ALSO LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 234. There are not any laws of permission by them- selves, or separate from the laws of the Divine Provi- dence ; but they are the same ; wherefore it is said that God permits, by which is not understood that he wills it, but that he cannot avert it, for the sake of the end, which is salvation : whatever is done for the sake of the end, which is salvation, is accord- ing to the laws of the Divine Providence : for, as was said before, the Divine Providence perpetually runs different from and counter to the will of man, contin- ually intending the end; wherefore, in every moment of its operation, or in every step of its progress, when it perceives man to wander from the end, it directs, bends and disposes him according to its laws, by lead- ing him away from evil, and leading to good : that this cannot be done without the permission of evil, will be seen in what follows. Besides, nothing can be permitted without a cause, and the cause is nowhere else given, but in some law of the Divine Providence, which law teaches why it is permitted. 235. He who does not at all acknowledge the Di- vine Providence, does not in his heart acknowledge God, but acknowledges nature instead of God, and human prudence instead of Divine Providence : that 236 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING it is so, does not appear, because man can think one way, and think another way, and also speak one way, and speak another way ; he can think and speak one way from his interior self, and another way from his exterior self; he is like a hinge which can turn agate both ways, differently when he enters from when he goes out ; and as a sail can turn a ship both ways, as the shipmaster spreads it. They who have confirmed themselves in favor of human prudence, so far as to deny the Divine Providence, whatever they at any time see, hear and read, when they are in that thought of theirs, notice nothing else ; yea, neither can they ; because they receive nothing from heaven, but only from themselves : and because they conclude from appearances and fallacies alone, and see nothing else, they can swear that it is so ; and if they also acknowl- edge nature alone, they can be enraged against the defenders of the Divine Providence, provided they are not priests, concerning whom they think, that this belongs to their doctrine or function. 236. Some things will now be enumerated, which are things of permission, and still according to the laws of the Divine Providence, by which the merely natural man confirms himself in favor of nature against God, and in favor of human prudence against the Divine Providence ; as when he reads in the Word, that the wisest of men, Adam and his wife, suffered themselves to be seduced by the serpent, and that God did not avert this by his Divine Providence. That their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not then withhold him by speaking with him, but only after the deed by cursing him. That the Isra- elitish nation worshiped a golden calf in the desert, and acknowledged it instead of God, who led them out of the land of Egypt ; when yet Jehovah saw this from mount Sinai near by, and did not prevent it. Also that David numbered the people, and therefor a plague was sent, of which so many thousand men perished; and that God sent the prophet Gad to him and denounced punishment, not before but after the THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 237 deed. That Solomon was permitted to institute idol- atrous worship ; and many kings after him, to profane the temple and the holy things of the church : and at length that that nation M'^as permitted to crucify the Lord. In these and many other places in the Word, the acknowledger of nature and human prudence sees nothing but things contrary to the Divine Providence, wherefore he can use them as arguments for denying it, if not in his exterior thought, which is next to speech, still in the interior, which is remote from speech. 237, Every worshiper of himself and worshiper of nature confirms himself against the Divine Provi- dence, when he sees in the world so many impious, and so many of their impieties, and at the same time the gloryings of some about tb.em, and still none of their punislnnents therefor bv God And he confirms himself still more against the Divine Providence, when he sees that machinations, craftiness and deceits succeed, even against the pious, just and sincere; and that injustice triumphs over justice in judicial trials and in business. Especially he confirms himself, when he sees the impious raised to honors, and be- come great and first men : also that they abound in riches, and live in delicacies and magnificence ; and the worshipers of God, on the contrary, in contempt and poverty. He also confirms himself against the Divine Providence, when he thinks that wars are permitted, and thus the slaughter of so many men, and the plunder of so many cities, nations and fami- lies : and also that victories take the side of prudence, and sometimes not that of justice; and that it makes no difference whether the commander is upright or unprincipled ; besides other like things : all which are permissions according to the laws of the Divine Provi- dence. 238. The same natural man confirms himself against the Divine Providence, when he looks at the religions of the various nations ; as that there are given those who are altogether ignorant of God ; and 238 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING that there are given those who adore the sun and moon ; also who adore idols and even monstrous sculptures; and also dead men. Besides, when he looks at the Mahometan religion, that it is received by so many empires and kingdoms ; and that the chris- tian religion is only in the smallest part of the habit- able world, which is called Europe; and that it is divided there ; and that there are some there who claim to themselves divine power, and wish to be wor- shiped as gods; and some who invoke dead men : also that there are some who place salvation in certain words which they think and speak, and nothing in the goods which they do ; also that there are few who live according to their religion : besides heresies, of which there have been very many, and are also some at the present day; as those of the Quakers, the Mo- ravians, the Anabaptists, besides others ; also that Judaism still continues. From these things the de- nier of the Divine Providence concludes, that religion in itself is nothing, but still that it is necessary be- cause it serves as a bond. 239. To these arguments there may at this day be added more, by which those may still confirm them- selves, who think interiorly in favor of nature and of human prudence alone ; as that the whole christian world acknowledges three Gods, not knowing that God is one in essence and in person, and that He is the Lord. Also that they have hitherto not known, that in each thing of the Word there is a spiritual sense, and that hence is its sanctity. As also, that they have not known, that to shun evils as sins is the christian religion itself. And also that they have not known, that man lives a man after death : for they can say with themselves and among themselves. Why does the Divine Providence, if there is one, reveal such things now for the first time? 240. All the things which have been enumerated in numbers 237, 238, 239, are adduced to the end that it may be seen, that all and each of the things which take place in the world, as well with the evil as with THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 239 the good, are of the Divine Providence ; and hence that the IDivine Providence is in the most particular ^things of man's thoughts and actions, and that hence it is universal. But because this cannot be seen from those things, unless each one is explained separately, therefore they must be explained briefly, in the order in which they are adduced, beginning with n. 236. 241. I. That the wisest of men, Adam and his tcife, svfered themselves to be sednced by the serpent, and that God did not by His Divitie Provide?ice avert this, is because by Adam and his wife are not understood the first of all men created in this world, but the men of the most ancient church, the nev\r creation or regen- eration of whom is thus described; their new creation or regeneration itself, in the first chapter, by the creation of heaven and earth ; their wisdom and intel- ligence, by the garden of Eden ; and the end of that church, by the eating of the tree of knowledge : for the Word in its bosom is spiritual, containing arcana of divine wisdom ; and that they may be contained, it is written by mere correspondences and representa- tions. From which it is manifest that the men of that church, who in the beginning were the wisest, and in the end, from the pride of their own intelli- gence, the worst, were not seduced by any serpent, but by the love of self, which is there the serpent's head, which the seed of the woman, that is, the Lord, should tread down. Who cannot see from reason, that other things are understood, than what are there historically related in the letter? for who can compre- hend, that the creation of the world could be such as it is there described ] wherefore also the learned have toiled in the explanation of the things that are in the first chapter, confessing at length that they do not understand them : also that in their garden or para- dise were placed two trees, the one of life and the other of knowledge, and these for a stumbling-block : as also, that from the mere eating of the latter tree, they so far transgressed, that not only they, but also the universal human race, their posterity, became 240 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING liable to damnation : further, that any serpent could have seduced thenri ; besides other things there ; as that the wife was created from the rib of the husband ; that tliey acknowledged their nakedness after the fall, and covered it with fig-leaves ; and that there were given to them coats of skins for covering the body ; and that there were placed cherubs with a flaming sword, for guarding the way to the tree of life. All these are representatives, by which is described the establishment of the most ancient church, its state and change, and at length its destruction : the arcana of all these things, that are contained in the spiritual sense, which is in each thing there, may be seen ex- plained in the Heavenly Arcana upon Genesis and Exodus, published at London : from which it may also be evident, that by the tree of life is there under- stood the Lord as to His Divine Providence, and that by the tree of knowledge is understood man as to his own prudence. 242. H. That their first son, Cai7i, killed his brother Abel, and God did not then withhold him by speaking with him, but only after the deed by ct/rsi?ii^ him. Since by Adam and his wife is understood the most ancient church, as was just now said above, hence by Cain and Abel, their first sons, are under- stood the two essentials of the church, which are love and wisdom, or charity and faith ; by Abel love and charity, and by Cain wisdom and faith; in particular, wisdom separated from love, or faith separated from charity ; and wisdom and faith sep- arated is such that it not only rejects love and charity, but also annihilates them, and thus kills its brother : that fiitli separated from charity does thus, is sufficiently known in the christian world ; see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith. The curse of Cain involves their spiritual state, into which those come after death, who separate faith from charity, or wisdom from love. But still, lest wisdom or faith should therefore perish, a sign was placed upon Cain, lest he should be killed ; for love is THE DIVINE PUOVIDENCE. 241 not given without wisdom, nor charity without faith. Because by these things almost the Hl' by fruits in the Word ; the procreations o£ wisdom 374 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING from love are like seeds, by which procreations man becomes like a garden and paradise : man is also described in the Word by a tree, and his wisdom from love by a garden ; by the garden of Eden nothing else is signified. Man is indeed a bad tree from the seed; but still there is given grafting or inocnlation from shoots taken from the tree of life, by which the sap extracted from the old root is turned into sap making good fruits. This comparison is made, that it may be known, that when there is so constant a progression of the Divine Providence in the vegetation and regeneration of trees, it will by all means be con- stant in the reformation and regeneration of men, who are much more valuable than trees, according to these Avords of the Lord: "Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings? yet one of them is not forgotten be- fore God : but now also the hairs of your head are all numbered ; therefore fear ye not, ye are much better than the sparrows. Moreover, who of you by being anxious can add to his stature one cubit ? if then ye cannot do that which is least, why are ye anxious for the rest 7 attend to the lilies, how they grow : there- fore if God so clothe the grass in the field, which to- day is, but to-morrow is cast into the oven, how much more you, O men of little faith :" Luke xii. 6, 7, 25, 26, 27, 28. 333. It is said that the operation of the Divine Providence for saving man commences from his birth and lasts unto the end of his life : that this may be understood, it is to be knowu, that the Lord sees what man is, and foresees what he wills to be, thus what he is to be ; and the freedom of his will cannot be taken away, that he may be man and thence im- mortal, as has been before shown in many places j wherefore the Lord foresees his state after death, and provides for it from his birth even to the end of his life : with the evil he provides, by permitting and continually withdrawing from evils; but Avith the good he provides, by leading to good ; thus the Divine Providence is continually in the operation of saving THE DIVINE PKOAaDENCE. 375 man ; but there cannot more be saved than are wiUing to be saved, and they are willing to be saved who acknowledge God, and are led by Him ; and they are not willing who do not acknowledge God, and lead themselves ; for the latter do not think concern- ing eternal life and concerning salvation, but the former do : this the Lord sees, and still leads them ; and leads according to the laws of His Divine Provi- dence, contrary to which He cannot act ; since to act contrary to them would he to act contrary to His divine love, and contrary to His divine wisdom, that is, contrary to Himself Now because He foresees the state of all after death, and also foresees the places of those in hell who are not willing to be saved, and the places of those in heaven who are willing to be saved, it follows, as was said, that He provides for the evil their places by permitting and withdrawing, and for the good their places by leading ; and unless this was done continually from the birth of every one to the end of his life, heaven would not subsist, nor hell ; for, without that foresight and at the same time provi- dence, there would not be a heaven nor a hell, except a certain confused thing : that his place is provided for every one by the Lord from foresight, may be seen above, n. 202, 203. This may be illustrated by this comparison : if a shooter or marksman should aim at a mark, and from the mark behind it there were drawn a straight line to the distance of a mile, if in the aim he should err only a nail, the weapon or ball at the end of the mile would diverge immensely from the line drawn behind the mark; thus it would be, unless the Lord, at every moment, yea, the most minute, should regard eternity in foreseeing and providing every one's place after death : but this is done by the Lord, because all the future is present to Him, and all the present is eternal to Him. That the Divine Providence regards the infinite and eternal in all that it does, may be seen above, n. 46 to 69, 214 and following numbers. 334. It is also said that the operation of the Divine 376 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Providence lasts to eternity, since every angel is per- fected in wisdom to eternity ; but each one according to the degree of the alfection of good and truth, in which he was when he went out of the world : it is this degree which is perfected to eternity ; what is beyond this degree, is without the angel, and not within him; and that which is without him, cannot be perfected within him. This is understood by the good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, which shall be given into the bosom of those who remit and give to others; Luke vi. 37, 38; that is, who are in the good of charity. 335. II. Tliat the operation of the Divine Provi- dence conti)niaUy takes place throvgh means from pure 'mercy. There are means and modes of the Divine Providence ; it is the means, from which man be- comes man, and is perfected as to understanding and as to will ; it is the modes, by which those things are done. The means from which man becomes man, and is perfected as to understanding, are called by the general word truths, v/hich become ideas in the thought, and are called things in the memory, and in themselves are knowledges, from which are sciences. All these means in themselves considered are spirit- ual; but because they are in natural things, they appear from their clothing or dress as natural, and some as material. These means are infinite in num- ber, and are infinite in variety : they are more or less simple and compound, and more or less imperfect and perfect. There are means for forming and perfecting natural civil life; also for forming and perfecting rational moral life; as also for forming and perfecting heavenly spiritual life, '^l^'hese means succeed, one kind after another, from infancy even to the last age of man, and after that to eternity : and as they succeed by increasing, so the prior ones become the means of the posterior : for they enter into every formation as middle causes; for from these every efTect or every conclusion is efficient, and thence becomes a cause ; thus the posterior ones successively become means: THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 377 and because this is done to eternity, there is not given a postreme or iihimate, which closes ; for as eternity- is without end, so wisdom which increases to eternity is without end : if there were an end of wisdom with the wise, the dehght of his wisdom, which consists in the perpetual multiplication and fructification of it, and thus the delight of his life, would perish, and in place of it would succeed the delight of glory, in which when alone there is not heavenly life : that wise man then becomes no longer as a young man, but as an old man, and at length as one decrepit. Although the wisdom of the wise increases in heaven to eter- nity, still, however, there is not given such an approx- imation of angelic wisdom to the divine wisdom, that it can touch it ; it is comparatively as is said con- cerning the straight line drawn about the hyperbola, continually approximating and never touching ; and as is said concerning squaring the circle. From these things it may be evident, what is understood by the means, through which the Divine Providence operates that man may be man, and that he may be perfected as to the understanding, and that these means are called by the general word truths. Just as many also are the means through which man is formed and per- fected as to the will ; but these are called by the gene- ral word goods ; from the latter man has love, but from the former man has wisdom: the conjunction of them makes man; for as that is, snch is man: this conjunc- tion is what is called the marriage of good and truth. 336. But the modes by which the Divine Providence operates into the means, and through the means, for forming man, and for perfecting him, are also infinite in number and infinite in variety: just as many as are the operations of the Divine Wisdom from the Divine Love for saving man ; thus as many as are the operations of the Divine Providence according to its laws, which were treated of above. That these modes are most secret, was illustrated above by the operations of the soul into the body, concerning which man knows so little, that it is scarcely anything ; as 32* 378 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING how the eye, the ear, tlie nose, the tongue, the skin, feel ; and how tlie stomach digests, the mesentery- makes the chyle, the liver elaborates the blood, the pancreas and spleen purify it, the kidneys secrete it from impure humors, the heart collects and distributes it, the lungs clarify it; and how the brain sublimates the blood, and vivifies it anew; besides innumerable other things, all of which are arcana, into which scarcely any science can enter. From these things it is manifest that the secret operations of the Divine Providence can still less be entered into : it is enough that its laws are known. 337. That the Divine Providence operates all things from pure mercy, is because the divine essence itself is pure love, and it is this which operates through the divine wisdom ; and this operation is what is called the Divine Providence. That that pure love is pure mercy, is, 1. Because it operates with all that are in the universal habitable world, who are such that they can do nothing from themselves. 2. That it operates with the evil and unjust equally as with the good and just. 3. That it leads the former in hell, and snatches them out thence. 4. That it per- petually strives there with them, and fights against the devil for them, that is, against the evils of hell. 5. That on this account it came into the world, and underwent temptations even to the last of them, which was the passion of the cross. 6. That it acts continually with the unclean that it may render them clean, and with the insane that it may render them sane: thus it labors continually from pure mercy. 338. III. That instaalnneous salvation from bnme- diate mercy is not possible. It is shown in the forego- ing numbers that the operation of the Divine Provi- dence for saving man coamiences from his birth, and lasts even to the end of his life, and afterwards to eternity; also that that operation is continually effect- ed through means from pure mercy : from these it fol- lows, that neither instantaneous salvation, nor imme- diate mercy, is given. But because many, who think THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 379 nothing concerning matters of the chnrch or of rehgion from the understanding, beUeve that they are saved by immediate mercy, and hence that salvation is instanta- neous, and yet this is contrary to the truth, and more- over is a hurtful beHef, it is important that it should be examined in tliis order. 1. That the beHef concerning instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is taken from the state of tlie natural man. 2. That this belief is from ignorance of the spiritual state, which is altogether diflerent from the natural state. 3. That the doctrines of all the churches in the christian world, viewed interiorly, are against instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy ; but that still the external men of the church establish it. First: That the belief concerning instantaneous salvation from im- mediate mercy is taken from the state of the natural man. The natural man from his state knows no oth- erwise than that heavenly joy is like worldly joy, and that it flows in and is received in like manner : for example, that it is as if he who is poor becomes rich, and thus comes out of a sad state of poverty into a happy state of opulence; or as if he who is low becomes honored, and thus comes from contempt into glory; or like him who from a house of grief comes into the joy of a wedding : because these states can be changed witliin a day, and there is no other idea concerning the state of man after death, it is manifest whence it is, that instantaneous salvation from imme- diate mercy is believed. In the world also there can be many in one fellowship, or in one civil society, and rejoice together, and yet all differ in minds ; this happens in a natural state ; the reason is, because the external of one man may be accommodated to the external of another, however dissimilar the internals are : from this natural state it is also concluded, that salvation is only admission into heaven among the angels, and that admission is from immediate mercy : wherefore it is also believed, that heaven can be given to the evil equally as to the good, and that consocia- tion is then like what it is in the world, with the dif- 380 ANGELIC AVISDOM CONCERNING ference that it is full of joy. Secondly : But that this haUef is from ifrnorance of the spiriiaal state, which is altogether different from the natural state. The spirit- ual state, which is the state of man after death, has been treated of in many places above ; and it has been shown, that every one is his love ; and that no one can live with any others but with those who are in like love ; and that if he comes among others, he cannot breathe his life ; hence it is, that every one after death comes into the society of his own, who are those that are in like love, and that he knows these as relations and as friends ; and what is won- derful, when he meets and sees them, it is as if he had known them from infancy ; it is spiritual relationship and friendship, which causes this : yea, more ; no one in a society can dwell in any other house but his ; every one in a society has his house, which he finds ready for him, as soon as he enters the society ; he can be in intercourse with others out of his house, but still not tarry elsewhere than in his : and what is still more, no one can sit in another's apartment, except in his own place ; if in another, he becomes as out of his mind and dumb ; and what is wonderful, every one, when he enters the apartment, knows his place : the like takes place in the temples, and also when they are congregated in assemblies. From these things it is manifest that the spiritual state is altogether different from the natural state, and such that no one can be elsewhere than where his reigning love is ; for there is the delight of his life, and every one wishes to be in the delight of his life; and the spirit of man cannot be elsewhere, because that makes his life, yea, his very respiration, as also the pulse of his heart : it is otherwise in the world ; in this the external of man has been taught from infancy to feign other deUghts in the face, speech and gesture, than those which are of his internal ; wherefore from the state of man in the natu- ral world it cannot be concluded as to his state after death ; for the state of every one after death is spirit- ual ; which is, that he cannot be elsewhere than in the THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 381 delight of his love, which he procured to himself by the life in the natural world. From these things it may be manifestly evident, that ho one can be admit- ted into the delight of heaven, which in common speech is called heavenly joy, who is in the delight of hell ; or, what -is the same, into the delight of good, who is in the delight of evil ; which may be con- cluded still more clearly from this, that it is denied to no one after death to ascend into heaven ; the way is pointed out to him, leave is given, and he is admitted in ; but when he comes into heaven, and draws in its delight by breathing, he begins to be pained in the breast, and tortured in heart, and to feel a swooning, in which he writhes himself like a snake brought to the fire ; and with the face turned away from heaven and turned towards hell, he flees away head- long ; nor does he rest until in the society of his love : it may hence be evident, that to come into heaven falls to no one from immediate mercy, and therefore that it is not merely to be admitted, as many in the world imagine ; also that neither is there instantane- ous salvation, for this supposes immediate mercy. There were some who in the world believed in in- stantaneous salvation from immediate mercy, and when they had become spirits, they wished that their infernal delight or delight of evil might, from the divine omnipotence and at the same time from the divine mercy, be changed into heavenly delight or the delight of good ; and because they so desired, it was also permitted that it should be done by the angels, who then removed their infernal delight ; but then, because that was the delight of their life, and there- fore their life, they lay as dead, without all sense and all motion; nor was it possible to breathe into them any other life than theirs, because all things of their mind and body, which were turned backwards, could not be twisted back into the contrary ; where- fore they were resuscitated, by letting in the delight of their life's love ; after this they said that in that state they felt interiorly something direful and dread- 382 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING fill, which Ihey were not willing to make public : wherefore it is said in heaven, that it is easier to con- vert an owl into a (nrtle-dove, and a serpent into a lamb, than any infernal spirit into an angel of heaven. Thirdly : TJkU the doctrines of tlie churches in the christian iDorld, vieived interiorly, are against instanta- neous salvation from immediate tnercy ; but still that the external men of the church establish it. The doc- trines of all churches, viewed interiorly, teach life ; of what church is there the doctrine, which does not teach that man is to explore himself, see and acknow- ledge his sins, confess them, repent, and then live a new life 7 who is admitted to the Holy Communion without this monition and precept 7 inquire, and you will confirm it. Of what church is there the doc- trine, which is not founded upon the precepts of the decalogue 7 and the precepts of the decalogue are pre- cepts of life. What man of the church is there, in whom there is anything of the church, who does not acknowledge, when he hears it, that he is saved who lives well, and he is condemned who lives ill 7 where- fore in the Athanasian creed, which is also the doc- trine received in the whole christian world, these things are said, " That the Lord is to come to judge the living and the dead, and then they who have done good things shall enter into eternal life, and they who have done evil things, into eternal fire." From which it is manifest, that tlie doctrines of all the churches, viewed interiorly, teach life; and because they teach life, they teach that salvation is according to the life ; and the life of man is not inspired in a moment, but is formed successively, and reformed as man shuns evils as sins ; therefore as he knows what sin is, and becomes acquainted with and acknowledges it, and as lie does not will it, and hence desists from it; and also as he knows those means wliich have relation to a knowledge of God : by the latter and the former is the life of man formed and reformed, and they cannot be infused in one moment ; for hereditary evil must be removed, which in itself is infernal ; and good must THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 383 be implanted in its place, which in itself must be heavenly : man, from his hereditary evil, may be com- pared to an owl as to the understanding, and to a ser- pent as to the will ; and man reformed may be com- pared to a dove as to the understanding, and to a sheep as to the will ; wherefore instantaneous reformation and hence salvation would be comparatively like the instantaneous conversion of an owl into a dove, and of a serpent into a sheep: who, that knows anything concerning the life of man, does not see that this is not given, unless the nature of the owl and the serpent is taken away, and the nature of the dove and the sheep is implanted '? It is also known, that every intelligent person may become more intelligent, and every wise one more wise ; and that intelligence and wisdom may increase with man, and does increase with some, from infancy even to the end of his life ; and that man is thus continually perfected : why not spiritual intelli- gence and wisdom still more ? this ascends by two degrees above natural intelligence and wisdom, and when it ascends, it becomes angelic, which is ineffa- ble ; that this increases with the angels to eternity, was said above : who cannot comprehend, if he will, that it is impossible that that which is perfected to eternity, is perfected in an instant? 339. From these things it is now manifest, that all who think from life concerning salvation, do not think of any instantaneous salvation from immediate mercy, but of the means of salvation, into which and through which the Lord operates according to the laws of His Divine Providence, thus througli which man is led by the Lord from pure mercy. But they who do not think from life concerning salvation, suppose some- thing instantaneous in salvation, and something imme- diate in mercy, as those do who separate faith from charity ; charity is life, and they suppose an instanta- neous [act] of faith, and if not before, about the last hour of death : and those also do this, who believe the remission of sins without repentance to be absolu- tion from sins and thus salvation, and go to the Holy 384 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING Supper : also they who trust in the indulgences of monks; and in their prayers for the dead ; and in dis- pensations, from power claimed to themselves over the souls of men. 340. IV. That instantaneous salvation fro'}n imme- diate mercy is the flying serpent in the church : by a flying serpent is understood evil shining from infernal fire, the like as by the flying serpent in Isaiah: " Rejoice not, whole Philistea, that the rod that smote thee is broken ; for out of the root of the serpent shall go forth a basilisk, whose fruit is a flying serpent;" xiv. 29. Such an evil flies in the church, when in- stantaneous salvation from immediate mercy is be- lieved in; for thereby, 1, Religion is abolished, 2, Security is induced, 3, And damnation is imputed to the Lord. As regards the First : That thereby reli- gion is abolished: there are two essentials, and at the same time imiverstils, of religion ; the acknowledg- ment of God, and repentance; these two are useless to those who believe that they are saved from mercy alone, however they live; for what need is there of more than to say, Pity me, O God? concerning all the rest of the things which are of religion, they are in thick darkness, yea, love thick darkness : concern- ing the first essential of the church, which is the acknowledgment of God, they think nothing else than What is God] who has seen Him 7 if it is said that He is, and that He is one, they say that He is one ; if it is said that there are three, they also say that there are, but that the three are to be named One : this is the acknowledgment of God with them. Concerning the other essential of the church, which is repentance, they think nothing, consequently neither do they concerning any sin, and at length they do not know that there is any sin ; and then they hear and draw in with pleasure, that the law does not damn, because a christian is not under its yoke; if you only say. Pity me, O God, for the Son's sake, and you will be saved : this is repentance of life with them. But remove repentance, or, what is the same, separate life THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE. 385 from religion, what remains but the words, Pity me 1 Hence it is, that tliey have been able to say nothing else, than that salvation is instantaneous through these words ; and if not before, still near the hour of death : what then is the Word to them, but an obscure and enigmatical voice sent forth from a tripod in a cave ? or like an answer not understood from the oracle of an idol 7 In a word, if you remove repentance, that is, separate life from religion, what else is man then, but evil shining from infernal fire, or a flying serpent in the church ? for without repentance man is in evil, and evil is hell. Secondly : Thai by the belief in instan- taneous salvation from pure and mere mercy security of life is induced. Security of life arises either from the belief of the impious that there is not a life after death, or from the belief of him who separates life from salvation ; the latter, although he believes in an eternal life, still thinks, I can be saved, whether I live well, or whether I live ill, since salvation is pure mercy, and the mercy of God is universal, because He does not will the death of any one ; and if by chance the thought falls in, that mercy must be implored by the words of the received faith, he may think that this can be done, if not sooner, just before death : every man who is in this security, makes nothing of adul- teries, defraudings, injustices, violences, blasphemies, revenges ; but lets loose his flesh and his spirit to them all ; nor does he know Avhat spiritual evil and its con- cupiscences are : if he hears anything concerning this from the Word, it is comparatively like that which falls upon ebony and bounds back, or like that which falls into a ditch and is absorbed. Thirdly : That by that belief damnation is imputed to the Lord. Who cannot conclude that not man, but the Lord, is in fault, if he is not saved, when He can save every one from pure mercy? if it is said that faith is the means of salvation, but what man is there to whom that faith cannot be given? for it is only a thought, which- can be infused in every state of the spirit abstracted from worldly things, even with trust ; and he can also 33 386 ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING say, I cannot take it of myself : if therefore it is not given, and man is damned, what else can the damned one think, but that the Lord is in fault, who could and would not? would not that be to call Him unmerci- ful ; and moreover, in the heat of his belief he can say. Why can he see so many damned in hell, when yet He can save all from pure mercy in a moment? and more like things which cannot be called anything but wicked accusations against God. From these things it may now be evident, that the belief in instan- taneous salvation from pure mercy is the flying ser- pent in the church. Excuse it that these things are added, that the su- perfluous paper may be filled up. Some spirits as- cended by permission from hell, and said to me. You have written many things from the Lord, write also something from us. I answered, What shall I write 7 they said. Write, that every spirit, whether he be good or evil, is in his delight ; the good in the delight of his good, and the evil in the delight of his evil. I asked, What is your delight ? they said that it was the delight of committing adultery, of stealing, of defrauding, of lying : and I asked again, Of what quality are these delights? they said that they were felt by them as stinks from dung, and as stenches from carcasses, and as bad smells from stagnant urine. I said. Are these delightful to you? they said that they were most de- lightful. I said. Then ye are like the unclean beasts, which pass their time in such things: they answered. If we are, we are ; but such things are the delicacies of our nostrils. I asked, What more shall I write from you ? they said, This, that it is allowed to every t)ne to be in his delight, even the most unclean, as they call it, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels ; but because we cannot do otherwise than in- THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE, 387 fest them, we are driven away, and cast down into hell, where we suffer direful things. I said, Why did you infest the good ? they answered that they could not do otherwise : it is as if fury invades, when they see any angel, and feel the divine sphere around him. I then said. Thus ye are even like wild beasts : at hearing which the fury came on, which appeared like the fire of hatred ; and lest they should bring harm, they were drawn back into hell. 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