CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY mAQHl DOES Nof OmCULATE Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029468232 THE PATH OF LIFE COMPILED FROM THE WRITINGS OF EMANUEL SWEDENBORG THOU WILT SHOW ME THE PATH OF LIFE — Ps. xvi, 11 "all EELIGION IS A MATTER OF LIFE" — Swedenhorg J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO THE LATE JULIEN SHOEMAKER OF THE J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY WHO TOWARD THE CLOSE OF HIS LONG LIFE PROPOSED ITS PREPARATION AND TO THE LATE JOHN CURTIS AGER TO WHOM THE WORK OF COMPILATION WAS ENTRUSTED. AND WHOSE RIPE SCHOLAR- SHIP BBOTJGHT THE IDEA TO FRUITION SHORTLY BEFORE HIS OWN DECEASE PREFACE The purpose of this compilation is to set forth the main features of Swedenborg's doctrinal teach- ings in his own language as completely and yet as briefly as is consistent with clearness and accuracy. The reference given at the end of each passage will enable the reader to find readily, when he so de- sires, the completer statement and its context. (For meaning of letter references, see page vii.) The central and dominant theme of all of Swedenborg's religious works is " the doctrine of life," of the Divine life, the Divine Human Life and the finite human life, in all of its spiritual and eternal aspects; and it will he quickly seen that this general truth has been the determining factor both in the selection and in the arrangement of this little volume. In many of the passages more or less condensa- tion has been necessary, but great care has been taken not to modify in any way the meaning of the statements. It is hoped that the work will be helpful in giving to readers of Swedenborg, and especially new readers, that general view of his teachings which furnishes so helpful an introduc- tion to more careful and specific studies. John C. Agee. The following list will give clew to the works Irom which the selections have been taken : A. Arcana Coelestia. B. Brief Exposition. C. Doctrine of Charity. D. Spiritual Diary. E. Apocalypse Explained. F. Doctrine of Faith. H. Heaven and Hell. I. Influx, or Intercourse of the Soul and Body. J. Last Judgment. L. Doctrine of the Lord. M. Marriage Love, or Conjugial Love. N. New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine. P. Divine Providence. Q. Nine Questions. R. Apocalypse Revealed. S. Doctrine of the Holy Scripture. T. True Christian Religion, or Universal Theology. U. Earths in the Universe. W. Angelic Wisdom concerning tlie Divine Love and Wisdom. CONTENTS CHAPTER I The Fundamental Ideas of Religion Page 1. What Religion Is 1 2. Religion Universal 2 3. A Right idea of God, the Central Truth of Religion 2 4. A False Idea of God Perverts All Belief 3 CHAPTER II The Divine Life 1. The Divine Life the One and Only Life. ... 4 2. Man's Appropriation of the Divine Life ... 4 3. The Divine is Uncreated 5 4. ITie Lord's Life is the Divine Love. 5 5. The Nature of the Divine Love 5 6. The Spiritual Result of Thinking Against God , 7 7. TTie Idea that God is Invisible an Empty Idea 7 8. What in Respect to God is Thinkable 8 9. Recognized by an Internal Dictate 9 10. Seen by an Interior Enlightenment 9 11. Those Who Acknowledge God and His Provi- dence 10 CHAPTER III The Divine Human Life 1. The Lord is the Universal Human Life 11 2. Only an Indefinite Thought About God Possible Unless He is Thought of as Man. . 11 3. Conjunction With An Invisible God Im- possible 12 4. God is the Infinite and the Essential Man . . 13 5. The Lord the One and Only Man 13 6. Antiquity of the Belief in the Divine Human 14 7. The Heathen Think of God as a Man.... 15 ix X CONTENTS The Trinity CHAPTER IV 1. The Trinity Defined 17 2. The Divine Trinity is Like Soul, Body and Activity in Man 17 3. Both Unity and Trinity in the Lord Jesus Christ ■. 19 4. The Trinity Before the Incarnation 19 CHAPTER V The Holy Spirit L " The Holy Spirit Was Not Yet " 21 2. What the Holy Spirit Is 21 3. Goes Forth Through the Divine Human. ... 22 4. What the Holy Spirit Does 22 5. The Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit 23 6. Sin Against the Holy Spirit 23 Creation CHAPTER VI 1. The Divine Love the Source of Creation. ... 24 2. By the Word of the Lord Were All Tilings Made 24 3. Successive Adaptations of the Infinite Divine 25 4. The Universal Purpose of Creation 25 5. The End of Creation a Heaven of Angels ... 20 G. The Two Realms of Existence 27 7. The Creative Process Illustrated 28 8. Tilings Creatable and Things Not Creatable 28 9. The Universe Not Created Out of Nothing. . 29 CHAPTER VII The Created and the Finite 1. The Created and the Finite the Same 30 2. Time and Space and the Finiting Process .... 30 3. Nature Created to Clothe the Spiritual.... 31 4. The Creation of Matter 32 CHAPTER VIII Finite Human Life 1. The Essential Purpose of the Divine Love. . 34 2. Man Created to be an Object of the Divine Love 34 3. Human Life Defined 35 CONTENTS xi 4. Difference between the Life of Man and the Life of the Beasts 30 5. All Men Are Spirits 37 0. The Human Race the Basis of Heaven .... 37 7. By Means of Man the Two Worlds are Con- joined 38 CHAPTER IX The Theatre of Human Life 1. Tlie Two Worlds 39 2. The Natural World Exists from the Spiritual World 39 3. The Spiritual World the Cause, the Natural the Effect 40 4. How Creation Differs in the Two Worlds ... 40 5. The Substances in the Two Worlds 41 6. Man Created for -Both Worlds 43 7. Spaces in the Spiritual World 43 The Soul CHAPTER X 1. What the Soul Is 44 2. How the Soul Acts in the Body 44 3. The Soul a Form of Life 45 4. Mutual Activity of Soul and Body 45 5. The Soul is the Man ". 40 CHAPTER XI The One Source of Life 1. The One Inflowing Life 48 2. How This Life is Varied 48 3. Influx Defined 49 4. All Thinking and Feeling are from Influx . . 49 5. Influx Through Heaven and Through Hell . . 50 C. Relation of Soul to Body 51 7. How Man can be Gifted with Peace 51 8. The Appearance that Man Lives from Himself 52 9. The Two Entrances Into Human Life 53 CHAPTER XII The General Inflow of Life into Creation 1. General Inflow and Particular Inflow 54 2. Creation Maintained by Means of Influx. ... 55 3. The Influx Into the Soul, the Mind, and the Body 57 CONTENTS CHAPTER XIII Special Inflow of Life Through Angels and Spirits 1. How Influx is Adapted to Man Through Angels and Spirits 59 2. The Need of Special Individual Influx 60 3. The Relation of Good and Evil Spirits to Man 60 4. The Nature of Individual Influx 61 5. Man Unconscious of These Ministrations. ... 63 6. What the Angels do for Man 64 7. Spirits Unconscious of their Presence with Man 64 Ownhood CHAPTER XIV 1. Ownhood Defined 66 2. Results of Its Dominance 67 3. The Appearance on which Ownhood Rests . . 67 4. The Function of the Ownhood in Regenera- tion 68 CHAPTER XV Freedom Secured by Balance of Influences 1. Freedom Essential to Regeneration 69 2. Equilibrium a Balance 69 3. The Balance Unceasingly Regulated 69 4. Freedom of Choice Defined 70 5. The Two Spheres of Influence 70 6. How this Balance Is Maintained 71 7. Why Man is Associated with Evil Spirits. . . 71 8. Spiritual Equilibrium 72 9. The Lord Alone Can Preserve the Equilibrium 73 CHAPTER XVI The Functions of Freedom 1. The Divine Gift of Freedom 74 2. The Functions of Freedom 74 3. Regeneration Effected by the Lord through Man's Freedom 70 E^jl CHAPTER XVII 1. Evil Defined 78 2. Different Sorts of Evil 78 3. How Evil Originated 79 CONTENTS xiii 4. God Not the Source of Evil 79 5. In Appearance Man's Life Is His Own .... 80 6. Man Not Created Evil 80 7. How Man Attributes Evil and Falsity to Himself 81 8. Howr the Primal Loves of Man Become Per- verted 81 9. How Evil Becomes Confirmed 82 10. Evil in Thought Only Not Harmful 83 11. How God Is Present in Evil Men 83 CHAPTER XVIII Inherited Evil 1. Its Origin and Nature 84 2. Actual Evils Not Inherited 85 3. Spiritual Charity Not Inherited 85 4. Inherited Evil Serves as a Nurse 86 5. Man Not Responsible for His Inherited Evils 86 CHAPTER XIX Inherited Good 1. Good as well as Evil Inherited 88 2. Inherited Good and Good Derived from Religion 88 3. Good from Inheritance and from Conscience 89 CHAPTER XX The Divine Provisions for Human Salvation (a) The Divine PIuman eefoke the Incarnation 1. Known Only Through Representatives.... 91 2. The Divine Human in the Ancient Churches 91 3. Revealed as the Angel of the Lord 93 4. The Incarnation Foreknown 94 5. God Thinkable Only as the Divine Human. . 94 (b) Necessity fob the Incaknation 1. Why Needed 95 2. The Human Race Thereby Reached and Saved 95 3. Redemption Effected Thereby 97 4. The Need Too Great for Human Comprehen- sion 97 5. The Essential Divine Incomprehensible 98 6. The Foundations Destroyed 99 (c) The Incaknation Accomplished 1. The Incarnation Foreordained 100 siv CONTENTS 2. Why the Human was Assumed 100 3. How the liuman was Assumed 101 4. Man God's Dwelling-place 101 5. The Lord Became Thereby More Nearly Present With Man 102 6. Only Through God Incarnated Could Man be Redeemed and Saved 103 7. How Man is Saved through the Incarnation 104 8. The Hells Overthrown 105 9. Conjunction Only With the Lord's Divine Human 105 10. The Need of a Natural Basis of Thought. . 106 (d) Humiliation and Glokification 1. State of " Exinanition " Described 107 2. Humiliation versus Glorification 108 3. Glorification Defined 109 4. The Glorification Process 109 5. Human Regeneration an Image of the Lord's Glorification Ill 6. How Glorification Was Effected Ill 7. Functions of Spirits and Angels in Glorifica- tion 112 8. How the Lord Could Pray to the Father. . 113 9. The Glorified Human the Source of Life. . . 114 10. The Human Race Saved by the Lord's Glori- fication 114 CHAPTER XXI The Lord as Teacher and Guide (a) The Wokd as a Divine Revelation 1. A Revelation Always Provided 115 2. The Divine Word the Word of God 115 3. Revelation the Only Source of the Knowledge of God 116 4. What Man Cannot Know Apart from Revela- tion 117 5. The Ancients had TTieir Religious Beliefs from Revelation 118 6. The Word Divine in Every Iota 119 7. The Books of the Word 119 8. The Gospels and the Epistles 119 9. Numberless Things in the Word 120 10. The Literal Sense Adapted to All 120 11. The Style of the Word 121 12. The Historic Parts Delightful to Children. . 122 CONTENTS XV 13. The Literal Sense a Guard 122 14. A Fountain of Life 123 (b) The Spiritual Sense or the Word 1. The Spirit Within the Letter 123 2. The Spiritual Sense Described 124 3. All Spiritual Truth is from the Word 124 4. The Source of Spiritual Life 125 5. To Whom Revealed 125 6. Correspondence Defined 125 7. All Things Correspondential 126 8. Correspondences Have All Power 126 9. Doing Violence to the Spiritual Sense of the Word 126 CHAPTER XXll The Lord as a Helper 1. Tlie Purpose of All Divine Activities 128 2. Man's Good the Single Divine Purpose .... 128 3. The Different Phases of Divine Providence 128 4. The Lord Rules All Things for Good 129 5. A Providence in Every Least Particular.. 130 6. The Minute Things of Providence Perceived Only by the Good 131 7. Why Called " Providence " 131 8. The Stream of Divine Providence 131 9. The Leading and Guidance of Providence.. 132 10. Why Foreknowledge is Not Granted 132 11. How Providence Makes Use of Wealth and Dignities 133 12. Providence in Length of Life 134 13. " Care for the Morrow " 134 14. Chance 136 15. Fortune 136 16. Accidents 137 17. Solicitude About the Future 137 CHAPTER XXIII Man as a Spiritual Being (a) The Sense Life 1. Man's State at Birth 138 2. The Sensuous Defined 139 3. The Sensuous Itself Cannot be Fully Re- generated 139 xvi CONTENTS 4. Two of the Senses Are Serviceable in Re- generation 140 5. Enjoyments and Pleasures Not Forbidden. . 140 (b) The' Mind 1. What the Mind Is 141 2. Tlie Mind of Man is his Spirit 142 3. The Three Regions of the Mind 143 4. Their Successive Openings 143 5. Eternal Life Ensured Thereby 144 (c) Memory and Knowledge 1. The Memory Defined 144 2. The Memory Twofold 144 3. The Two Memories 145 4. External Memory Not Extinguished by Death 146 5. External Memory After Death the Basi= of Life 146 6. Memory Formed by Knowledges 146 7. The First, Second and Third Things of Re- generation . . 147 8. Glorying in the Possession of Knowledge. . 147 9. The Right Love of Knowledge 148 10. How Knowledges Become Truths 149 11. How the Angels Think About Things Past and Things to Come 149 ( d ) Rationai-ity 1. The Rational Mind Defined 150 2. The Relation Between the Rational and the Natural 151 3. The Source of Rational Life 151 4. An AiTection for Truth the Life of the Rational 151 5. How Par Man is Conscious of His Rational 152 6. True Intelligence 152 (e) Faith 1. The Tliree Kinds of Faith 152 2. Faith and Love 153 3. Faith and Conscience 153 4. Faith and Doctrine 154 5. Faith is Being Mindful of the Lord 154 6. Natural Faith and Spiritual Faith 154 7. Faith that Is Faith 155 8. Charity and Not Doctrine the Essential. . . . 15fi (f) The Remnant 1. " The Remnant Shall Return " 156 CONTENTS svii 2. How the " Remnant " is Implanted 158 3. When the " Remnant" Becomes Active. . . . 158 4. The " Remnant " in Regeneration 150 (g) Conscience 1. Conscience Defined 160 2. Without Conscience There Can be no Spirit- ual Temptation 160 3. The Several Planes of Conscience 161 4. True, Spurious, and False Conscience .... 163 5. Conscience versus Fears 164 6. Conscience versus Perception 164 (h) Feeedoji and Self-compulsion 1. Freedom Cannot Exist Under Compulsion. . 165 2. Freedom and Self-compulsion Inseparable. . 165 3. Man Must Compel Himself from Evil 166 4. Jiffects of Compelling Himself from Evil. . . 167 5. No Regeneration Possible Under Compulsion 167 (i) Temptations 1. Temptations Defined 168 2. Temptations the Work of Evil Spirits.... 169 3. Temptations Are States of Doubt 170 4. The Issue in Temptations 170 5. Natural Temptations and Spiritual Tempta- tions 171 6. What Temptations Do for Man.- 172 7. The Most Ignorant May Be Saved 172 CHAPTER XXIV The Regenerating Process (a) Repentance 1. Actual Repentance 174 2. Confession of Sins 174 3. General Confession Useless 175 4. Repentance is Living a Life of Faith Daily n.'i 5. Freedom Essential in Repentance... 175 6. How Sins Are Removed and Forgiven 176 (b) Forgiveness of Sins 1. Forgiveness of Sins Defined 178 2. Sins Enrooted in the Life 177 3. Both the Good and the Evil Receive Good and Truth from the Lord 177 4. Forgiveness of Sins and Regeneration 178 5. Sins Not Separated When They Are For- given, but Only Removed 179 6. Man's Side of the Forgiveness of Sins.... 180 xviii CONTENTS 7. The Signs that Sins Are Not Forgiven 180 8. The Signs that Sins Are Forgiven 180 (c) MOBALITY 1. The Tliree Grades of Goodness 181 2. The Three Kinds of Truths 181 3. Moral Life Defined 182 4. Moral Life a Receptacle of Spiritual Life. . 182 5. Morality the First Step in Regeneration.. 184 6. Moral Life from a Spiritual Origin 185 (d) Charity and Good Works 1. Charity Defined 186 2. The Beginning of Heavenly Joy 186 3. Charity in Business 186 4. Charity and Piety 187 5. The Blessedness of Genuine Charity 188 6. Benefactions Useful to the Ignorant 189 (e) The Spiritual Life 1. The Spiritual Life Defined 189 2. How Man Becomes Receptive of the Divine Life 189 3. How Regeneration is Effected 190 4. The Delights of the Natural Life and of the Spiritual Life 191 a. The First Stage of Regeneration 192 6. The Second Stage of Regeneration 192 7. The Life of Man Threefold 193 8. Living a Spiritual Life Not Difiicult 195 9. Every One Can See Truth Who So Desires. 196 CHAPTER XXV The Life After Death (a) Death and Resurrection 1. Orderly Death 197 2. What Death Is 197 3. The Resurrection Process 198 (b) The World of Spirits 1. The Spirits Associated with Man Are in the World of Spirits 198 2. Man Alone Responsible for His Destiny. . . . 199 3. The Terms " Angel " and " Spirit " 200 4. The World of Spirits , 200 5. The Changes in Man's Appearance There. 201 (c) Heaven 1. Heaven 202 2. The Three Heavens 202 CONTENTS six 3. The Three Degrees of Goodness and Truth in Heaven 203 4. Tlie Phenomena of the Spiritual World. . . 204 5. The Desire to Get to Heaven 204 6. Progress in Heaven 205 7. Angelic Abodes 205 8. Subjects of Conversation 206 9. Heaven a State of Blessedness 206 10. The Nature and Source of Heavenly Blessed- ness 207 11. Age in Heaven 207 12. Idleness Destructive of Heavenly Blessedness 208 13. Thought of Recompense Destructive of Heavenly Blessedness 208 (d) Children in Heaven 1. Children Form a Third Part of Heaven 209 2. Enter Heaven as Children 209 3. How Their State Surpasses Their State in the World 210 4. The Tenderness of Their Understanding. . . . 210 5. Their Growth to Maturity 211 (e) Hell 1. The Origin of Hell 212 2. Of Whom Hell Consists 213 3. The Process of Condemnation 213 4. The Desire to be Useful the Test of Char- acter 214 5. The Progress from the World of Spirits Into Hell 215 6. The Evils themselves Recognize the Justice of Their Condemnation 216 7. Evil States Become Fixed After Death 216 The Church CHAPTER XXVI (a) Its Nature and Constitution 1. What Makes the Church 218 2. Spiritual Membership of the Church 218 3. The Church in General and in Particular. 219 4. The Internal and the External Church... 219 5. The Church the Foundation for Heaven... 220 6. The Church Among the Heathen 220 (b) Worship 1. Essential Worship 221 2. Practical Worship 222 3. Why the Lord Desires Worship 222 XX CONTENTS 4. External Worship Necessary 223 T). ^\'lly Idols Were Forbidden to the Jews . . . 224 0. Heathen Worship 224 (o) The Ministky 1. The Two Classes of Affairs Among Men. . . 225 2. The Function Pre-eminently a Work of Cliarity 225 3. The Ministry in the Heavens 226 4. Church Activities in the Heavens 220 5. Worship in the Heavens 227 G. Preachers in the Heavens 227 7. Ministerial Duties 227 (d) Peayeb 1. Prayer Defined 228 2. Geniiine Praj'er 228 3. Prayer Apart from Spiritual Living In- effective 229 4. Prayer from Conscience 229 5. Contents of the Lord's Prayer 230 6. Prayer in Temptation 230 (e) The Sacraments 1. Why the Sacraments are Correspondential. 231 2. What Baptism Means 232 3. What Baptism Does for Men 232 4. Why the Holy Supper Was Instituted. . . . 233 5. The Conjunction Effected by the Holy Supper 233 Marriage CHAPTER XXVII 1. The Divine Marriage 235 2. The Origin of Marriage Love 235 3. The Universal Marriage Sphere 230 4. How the Marriage Spliere is Received by the Two Sexes 237 5. Marriage Love Defined 237 6. A Kind of Marriage in Everything 238 7. Marriage Love Mutual and Reciprocal ... . 239 8. Marriage in Paradise 239 9. Marriage Love and Mutual Love 240 10. The Marriage Pair One 241 11. Who Can Possess True Marriage Love.... 241 12. The Spiritual Basis of Marriage 241 13. True Marriage Love Seeks Union of Wills. 242 14. The Two Sexes 243 15. The Love of Offspring 244 CONTENTS xxi 16. Spiritual Offspring 245 17. The Preparation for Marriage 24o 18. Remarriage 246 19. The Effect of the Marriage Ceremony 246 20. Marriage Love the Source of Heavenly Peace 246 21. Marriage and Religion Go Together at Every Step 247 22. The Beauty Inherent in Marriage Love .... 247 23. The Delights of Marriage Love 24S CHAPTER XXVIll The Second Coming of the Lord and The New Church 1. The Second Coming of tlie Lord not a Com- ing in Person 249 2. The New Church 250 THE PATH OF LIFE THE FUNDAMENTAL IDEAS OF ' RELIGION /. What Religion Is. All religion is a matter of life; and the life of religion is doing good. (Life 1.) Where there is no goodness of life there is no religion. (C. 134.) Religion does not consist in thinking this or that; but in willing and doing what is thought. (E. 902.) To acknowledge God and to refrain from doing evil because it is against God are the two things that make a religion to be a religion ; and if either of these is lacking it cannot be called a religion, for to acknowledge God and to do evil is a contra- diction ; also to do good and not acknowledge God ; for one is not possible without the other. The Lord provides that there shall be some religion nearly everywhere, and that there shall be these two things in every religion. The Lord also pro- vides that every one who acknowledges God and refrains from doing evil because it is against God should have a place in heaven. (P. 326.) 1 2 THE PATH OF LIFE 2. Religion Universal. The Lord provides that there shall be a religion everywhere, and that in every religion there shall be the two essentials of salvation, which are, to acknowledge God and to refrain from doing evil because it is against God. All other things, which pertain to the understanding and to thought therefrom, and which are called matters of faith, are provided for every one accotding to his life, for they are adjuncts of the life; and if they pre- cede right living they do not as yet receive life. It is also everywhere provided that all who have lived well and have acknowledged God shall be in- structed after death by angels. And then all those who have cherished while they v?ere living in the world, these two essentials of religion, accept the truths of the church which they find in the Word and acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and of the church. And all this they then accept more readily than those Christians, who have brought with them from the world the belief that the Lord's Human is separate from His Divine. The Lord also provides that all who die in in- fancy, wherever they were born, shall be saved. (P. 328.) 3. A Right Idea of God, the Central Truth of Religion. On a right idea of God the whole body of the- ology hangs, like a chain on its first link; and if you will believe it, every one is allotted his place in the heavens in accordance with his idea of God. For that idea is like a touchstone by which THE PATH OF LIFE 3 gold and silver are tested, that is, the quality of good and truth in man. For there can be no saving good in man except from God, nor any truth that does not derive its quality from the bosom of good. (T. 163.) 4. A False Idea of God Perverts All Belief. The idea of God enters into all things relating to the church and religion and worship. Theo- logical matters have their seat above all others in the human mind ; and supreme therein is the idea of God; consequently if tliat is false, all things which follow derive from the source from which they ilow either that they are false, or have been falsified. For that which is supreme, which is also the inmost, forms the very essence of its sequences ; and the essence, as a soul, forms its sequences into a body after its own image, and when such a soul of error in its descent lights upon truths, it infects them also with its own blemish and error. (B. 40.) II THE DIVINE LIFE • /. The Divine Life t/ie One and Only Life. The Lord alone is love itself, because life itself ; men and angels are only recipients of life (E. 1120). That there is only one life, and that this life is from the Only Lord, and that angels, spirits, and men are merely recipients of life, has been made known to me by experience so manifold as to leave no room for even the slightest doubt. In heaven this truth is so clearly seen that the angels actually perceive this influx of the Divine life, and also the extent and quality of it. When they are in this fuller state of reception, they are in their peace and happiness, but otherwise they are in a state of restlessness and a kind of anxiety. Moreover the life of the Lord is appropriated to the angels in such a way that they can have the feeling that they live from themselves and yet know that they do not (A. 3743). 2, Men's Appropriation of t/ie Divine Life. This appropriation of the life of the Lord by men and angels comes from His love and mercy toward the whole human race, in that He wills to give Himself and what is His, to every one. THE PATH OF LIFE 5 and this He actually does give so far as they are able to receive; that is, so far as they are in good- ness of life and in a life of truth, as likenesses and images of Him. And because such a Divine effort goes forth unceasingly from the Lord His life is appropriated. (A. 3742.) 3. The Divine is Uncreated. God is uncreated because He is Himself life. Life can create, but cannot be created, for to be created is to have existence from another, and if life had existence from another there would be another being even as regards life, and that life would be life in itself. If this First were not life in itself it would be either from another or from itself; and you cannot say life from itself because from itself involves coming forth, and that coming forth would be from nothing, and from nothing nothing can come forth. This First, which has being in itself and from which all things have been created, is God, who is called Jehovah because He is Being in Himself. (E. 1126.) 4. T/ie Lord's Life is tlie Divine Love. The Lord's life is the Divine love which is a love toward the whole human race. In other words it is His will to save forever, if possible, the whole human race. (A. 1803.) 5. Tfie Nature of tlie Divine Love. There are two constituents in the essence of God, namely. Love and Wisdom; and there are 6 THE PATH OF LIFE three properties which constitute the essence of His love, namely, to love others who are outside of itself, to desire to be one with others and to render them blessed from itself. The same three properties also constitute the essence of His wis- dom, because love and wisdom in God make one; and love desires these three things, while wisdom effects them. The first of these essentials, which is loving others who are outside itself, is well known from the love of God towards the whole human race, and His loving for its sake all things that He has created because they are means; for he who loves an end loves also the means. All men and all things in the universe are outside of God because they are finite, and God is infinite. The love of God goes forth and extends not only to good men and things, but also to evil men and things, there- fore not only to the men and things in heaven, but also to those in hell, for God is everywhere, and is from eternity to eternity the same. He says also that " He maketh His sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." But that evil men are still evil, and evil things are still evil, pertains to the subject and objects themselves, that is, it is due to their not receiving the love of God such as it is in itself, and such as it is inmostly in them, but receiving it only as they themselves are; just as thorns and nettles receive the heat of the sun and the rain of heaven. The second essential of the love of God, which is a desire to be one with others, can be seen in THE PATH OP LIFE • 7 His union with tlie angelic lieavens, with the church on earth, witli everj' one there, and with every thing good and true which enters into and con- stitutes man and the church. Moreover, love, when viewed in itself is nothing but an endeavor to effect' union ; and in order to obtain this object of the essence of love, God created man in His own image and likeness, with whom union is possible. The third essential of the love of God, which is to render others blessed from itself, is manifest in the eternal life which is the endless blessedness, happiness and felicity that God gives to' those who receive His love into themselves. For as God is love itself, so is He blessedness itself; for all love exhales delight, and the Divine love exhales bless- edness itself, happiness, and felicity for ever. It is thus that God from Himself renders angels and men after death happy, which is done by His union with them. (T. -±3.) 6. The Spiritual Resu/t of Thinking Against God. EvEET man is able to think freely, yea most freely, v/hatever he wishes, as well against God as in favor of God. But he that thinks against God rarely sufEers any punishment for it in the natural world because there he is always in a state to be reformed; but after death, in the spiritual world he sutlers for it. (P. 249.) 7. The Idea that God is Invisible an Empty Idea. All who come into heaven are allotted a place there, and thus eternal joy, according to their idea 8 THE PATH OF LIFE of God; because this idea reigns universally in all things of worship. The idea of an invisible God is not determined to any being, nor terminated in any being, and consequently it comes to. an end and perishes. The idea of God as a spirit, when spirit is believed to be like ether or wind, is an empty idea. But the right idea is the idea of God as a Man. (E. 224.) 8. What in Respect to God is Thinkab/e. The Divine love, which in the Divine wisdom is the life itself which is God, is not in its essence thinkable, for it is infinite and thus transcends comprehension, but in its appearance it is think- able. Before the eyes of angels the Lord appears as a sun, and from that sun heat goes forth and light goes forth. The sun itself is Divine love; the heat thereof is Divine love going forth, which is called Divine good ; and its light is Divine wisdom going forth, which is called Divine truth. And yet the life that is God must not be thought of as a fire or as heat or light, unless, at the same time, there goes with it the thought of love and of wisdom, in other words, that the Divine- love is like fire; and the Divine wisdom is like light; and the Divine love and the Divine wisdom together are like a sunbeam. For God is a complete Man — in face like a Man and in body like a Man — with no difference in respect to form but only in re- spect to essence. His essence is that He is love THE PATH OF LIFE 9 itself and wisdom itself, thus life itself. (E. 1124.) 9. Recognized by an Internal Dictate. In the whole world there is not found a nation possessed of religion and sound reason, which does not acknowledge that there is a God and that He is one. For in consequence of a Divine influx into the souls of men, there is in every man an internal dictate, affirming the existence and unity of God. That there are found, nevertheless, men who deny God, who acknowledge nature instead of God, who worship several gods, and even some who worship images for gods, is due to their having obstructed the interiors of their reason or understanding with worldly and corporeal matters, and have thereby obliterated their primitive or infantile conception of God, and have at the same time banished re- ligion from their breasts, and cast it behind their backs. (T. 9.) 10. Seen by an Interior Enlightenment. By an interior enlightenment a rational man perceives, as soon as he hears it, 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 from truth itself. Man perceives these things and other like things interiorly in himself when he hears them ; and he has this percep- tion because he has a rationality that is in the light of heaven, which gives enlightenment. (P. 165.) 10 THE PATH OF LIFE //. Those Who Acknowledge God and His Providence. Those who acknowledge God and His Divine Providence are like the angels of heaven who re- fuse to be led by themselves and love to be led by the Lord. That they love the neighbor is a proof that they are led by the Lord. But those who acknowledge nature and their own prudence are like the spirits of hell, who refuse to be led by the Lord and love to be led by themselves. (P. 208.) Ill THE DIVINE HUMAN LIFE /. The Lord is the Universal Human Life. The Lord Jesus Christ, who alone is Man, and from whom angels, spirits, and the inhabitants of earth, ire called men, by His influx into heaven causes the entire heaven to represent and resemble a single man; and by influx both through heaven and also from Himself immediately into the individuals there, causes each one to appear as a man, the angels in a more beautiful and splendid form than it is possible to describe. And the same is true of the influx into the spirit of man. In every angel, spirit and man who lives in charity towards his neighbor and in love to the Lord, the smallest things of the thought resemble a man, because that charity and that love are from the Lord, and whatsoever is from the Lord resembles a man. In fact, these things are what constitute a man. (A. 6626.) 2. Only An Indefinite Thought About God Possible Unless He Is Thought of as Man. jSTo one can think of the Divine Itself, unless he forms to himself the idea of a Divine Man; still less can any one: be conjoined by love to the Divine Itself except through such a conception of It. If any one, apart from an idea of a Divine Man, thinks of the Divine Itself, he thinks indefinitely, 11 12 THE PATH OF LIFE and has an idea so indefinite as to be no idea at all ; or he forms an idea of the Divine from thinking about a visible universe without an end which ends in darlmess. And such an idea falls in with the idea of the worshippers of nature, which sinks into mere nature and thereby becomes no idea ; in which case there can evidently be no conjunction with the Divine either by faith or by love. (A. 8705.) 3. Conjunction WHh An Invisible God Impossible. The New Church is the crown of all the churches that have hitherto existed on the earth, for the reason that it will worship one visible God, wherein is the invisible, like a soul in its body. Thus and not otherwise, is conjunction of God with man pos- sible, since man is natural, and therefore thinks naturally; and such conjunction must needs exist in man's thought and therefore in his love's affec- tion; and this can take place only when he thinks of God as a Man. For in all conjunction of God with man there must be a reciprocal conjunction of man with God; and such reciprocation is impossible except with a visible God. That God was not visible be- fore the assumption of the Human, the Lord Him- self teaches in John : " Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape," v. 37; and that He is seen by means of His Human is stated in John : " No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him," i. 18. And again : " Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth and the life ; no man cometh unto the Father THE PATH OF LIFE 13 but by Me. If ye had known Me, ye would have known my Father also. He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father," xiv. 6, 7, 9. (T. 787.) 4. God is the Infinite and the Essential Man. In all the heavens there is no other idea of God than that He is a Man. This is because heaven as a whole and in part is in form like man, and be- cause it is the Divine which is with the angels that constitutes heaven; and because thought proceeds according to the form of heaven, it is impossible for angels to think of God in any other way. From this it is that all in the world who are conjoined with heaven when they think interiorly in them- selves, that is, in their spirit, think of God as a man. And it is because God is a man that all angels and all spirits, in their complete form, are men. This results from the form of heaven, which is like itself in its greatest and in its least parts. We are taught moreover that men were created after the image and likeness of God, and that God appeared as a man to Abrahanl and to others. The ancients, from the wise even to the simple, thought of God no otherwise than as being a Man; and when at length they began to worship a plurality of gods, as at Athens and Kome, they worshipped them all as men. (W. 11.) 5. The Lord the One and Only Man. That God is a Man and that the Lord [Jesus Christ] is that Man is made evident by all things in the heavens and beneath the heavens. In the heavens all things that go forth from the Lord in 14 THE PATH OF LIFE greatest and in least things are either in the human form or have reference to the human form ; the whole heaven is in the human form; every society of heaven is in the human form; every angel is a human fonn; and also every spirit beneath the heavens; and it has been revealed to me that all things both least and greatest that go forth imme- diately from the Lord are in. that form, for that which goes forth from God is an image of Him. This is why it is said of the. man Adam and Eve, That they were created into the image and likeness of God (Gen. i. 36, 27). (E. 1170.) 6. Antiquity of tlie Belief in t/ie Divine Human. Is it not surprising that all idea of the Lord's Divine Human has been destroyed in Christian churches, especially among the learned there; and that only with the simple does anything of it re- main ? This is because the simple think of God as a Man, and not as a Spirit without a human form as the learned do. The most ancient people, who were wiser than those of our days, had no other idea of God than as a Man encompassed about the head with radiant circles, as is shown by the writ- ings of ancient men, and by their paintings and sculptiires. Moreover, all who were of the church from the time of Adam down to Abraham, Moses, and the prophets, thought of God as a Man; and they saw Him in a human form, and called Him Jehovah, as is evident from the Word; and God under a human form is the Lord, as is clear from the Lord's words in John : " Before Abraham was, I am," viii. 58. THE PATH OP LIFE 15 That the inhabitants of this earth from the primeval age had an idea of God-Man or of the Divine Human, is evident from the worship of idols, also from the ideas of such of the heathen as had interior thought and perception, like some of the Africans ; likewise from the inhabitants of almost all the earths. Man has such an idea of the Divine because it flows in from heaven, for in heaven no one can think of God except as in a human form. If he thinks otherwise his thought of God perishes, and he himself falls from heaven. This is because the human form is the form of heaven, and all the thought of angels proceeds according to the form of heaven. Yet this idea of God, which is the chief of all ideas, is with the learned of the world at this day rooted out, as it were, to such an extent that when it is merely said that God is a Man they are unable to think it. This is why the Divine of the Lord, even from the first establishment of the church, was separated from His Human. And from this it has come to pass that few in thinking of the Lord think of His Divine, but they think of Him as a man like them- selves. And yet with this idea of the Divine no one, whoever he may be, can enter heaven, but is repelled as soon as he touches the first threshold of the way that leads thither. (E. 808.) 7. The Heathen Think of God as a Man. The heathen, especially the Africans, who ac- knowledge and worship one God, the Creator of the universe, cherish the belief that God is a Man, and insist that no one can have any other idea of 16 THE PATH OF LIFE God. When they are told that there are many who cherish an idea of God as something cloudlike in the midst of things, they ask where such persons are ; and on being told that they are among Chris- tians, they declare it to be impossible. But they are informed that this idea arises from the fact that God in the Word is called " a Spirit," and of a spirit such persons have no other idea than of a bit of cloud, not knowing that every spirit and every angel is a man. (W. 11.) IV THE TRINITY /. The Trinity Defined. A DiviifE Trinity in one Person is to be under- stood as soul, hoAj, and proceeding activity, to- gether constituting one essence, for the one is from the other, and therefore the one belongs to the other. In this sense there is a trinity in each man, which taken together constitutes one person, to wit, the soul, the body, and the activity that goes forth. But in man this trinity is finite, he- cause man is only an organ of life ; whereas in the Lord the Trinity is infinite and thus Divine, be- cause the Lord is life itself even in respect to the Human, as He Himself teaches in John v. 26 ; xiv. 0; and also elsewhere. (Q. iii.) In the Lord (Jesus Christ) are the Divine Esse to which the soul in man corresponds ; the Divine Human to which the body corresponds ; and the proceeding Divine (Holy Spirit) to which the activity corresponds. This trine is a one. (R. 961''.) 2. T/>e Divine Trinity is Like Soul, Body and Activity* in Man. Theee is a Divine Trinity, namely, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. How this is to be * Activity in man corresponds to the Divine proceeding in the Lord." (R. 961.) 2 17 18 THE PATH OF LIFE understood, whether it means that there are three Gods, who ill Essence and consequently in name are one God, or that they are three manifestations of one subject, thus that they are merely qualities or attributes of one God, which are so named, or in some other way, unaided reason is wholly unable to see. But with whom shall we take counsel? There is no other way, than for man to approach the Lord God the Saviour, and under His auspices to read the Word ; for He is the God of the Word ; and thus will man be enlightened and will see truths which reason also will acknowledge. These three, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the three essentials of one God, which make one as soul, body and activity make one in man. Every one acknowledges that these three essentials, namely, soul, body and activity were and are in the Lord God the Saviour. That His soul was from Jehovah the Father cannot be denied except by Antichrist; for in the Word of both Testaments He is called the Son of Jehovah, the Son of the most high God, the Only -begotten ; consequently the Divine of the Father, like the soul in man, is His iirst essential. It follows that the Son whom Mary brought forth is the body of that Divine Soul, for in the mother's womb nothing is provided but the body, conceived and derived from the soul; this therefore is His second essential. Activities form the third essential, because they proceed from both soul and body, and whatever proceeds is of the same essence as that which pro- duces it. That the three essentials. Father, Son, THE PATH OF LIFE 19 and Holy Spirit, in the Lord are one, like soul, body, and activity in man, is clearly manifest from the Lord's words, that He and the Father are one, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and in like manner He and the Holy Spirit are one, since the Holy Spirit is the Divine going forth out of the Lord from the Father. (T. 165-167.) 3. Both Unity and Trinity in t/ie Lord Jesus Christ. Ti-iEHE is a trinity in God and there is also a unity. That there is a trinity is evident from the passages in the Word vphere the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are mentioned; and that there is a unity, from the passages in the Word where it is said that God is one. The unity in which there is a trinity, or the one God in whom there is a trine, does not exist in the Divine that is called the Fa.ther, nor in the Divine that is called the Holy Spirit, but in the Lord alone. In the Lord alone there is a trine, namely, the Divine which is called the Father, the Divine Human which ■ is called the Son, and the Divine going forth which is the Holy Spirit; and this trine is one because it is in one person, and may be called a triune. (E. 1106.) 4. The Trinity Before the Incarnation. It has been said that one Divine by itself is not possible, but that there must be a trine, and that this trine is one God in essence and in person. It may be asked. What trine God had before the Lord took on the Human and made it Divine in the world? God was then also a Man and had a 20 THE PATH OF LIFE Divine, a Divine Human, and a Divine going forth, tliat is, a Divine esse^ a Divine existere, and a Divine procedure, for as has been said, God with- out a trine is not possible. But the Divine Human was not then Divine down to outmosts. Outmosts are meant by " flesh and bones," and even these were made Divine by the Lord while He was in the world. This was what was added, and this is the Divine Human that God now has. This, too, may be illustrated by this comparison. Every angel is a man, having a soul, having a body, and having a going forth; and yet this does not make him a complete man, for he does not have flesh and bones as a man in the world has. That the Lord made His Human Divine even to its outmosts, which are called " flesh and bones," He made clear to the disciples, who, when they saw Him believed that they saw a spirit, saying, " See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye behold Me having" (Luke xxiv. 39). From this it follows that God now is more a man than an angel is. (E. 1113.) V THE HOLY SPIEIT /. "The Holy Spirit Was Not Yet." It is worthy of special notice that in the Old Testament Word the Holy Spirit is nowhere men- tioned, but only the Spirit of holiness; and that in three places only; but in the Word of the New Testament, both in the Gospels and in the Acts of the Apostles, as also in the Epistles, it is men- tioned frequently. This is because the Holy Spirit existed for the first time when the Lord came into the world; since it proceeds out of Him from the Eather. For the Lord' alone is Holy; therefore it is said : " The Holy Spirit was not yet, because that Jesus was not glorified," John vii, 39. This is why it is nowhere said in the Old Testament Word that the prophets spoke from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah ; for it is everywhere said : " Jehovah spake unto me ;" " The Word of Jehovah came unto me ;" " Jehovah said ;" " Thus saith Jehovah." (T. 158.) 2. What the Holy Spirit Is. The Divine love and Divine wisdom which go forth from the Lord as a sun and which consti- tute the heat and light in heaven are the Divine going forth, which is the Holy Spirit. (W. 146.) 21 22 THE PATH OF LIFE 3. Goes Forth Through the Divine Human. The Divine that constitutes heaven and that gives to angels and men love, faith, wisdom, and intelligence, does not go forth immediately from tlie Lord's Divine itself, but goes forth through His Divine Human; and this Divine that goes forth is the Holy Spirit. In this way is to be understood what the church teaches, that the Son goes forth from the Father, and the Holy Spirit through the Son, also that the Lord's Divine and His Human are not two, but a single person, that is, the one Christ. For the Divine of the Lord is what assumed the Human, and it was for that reason that He called that Divine His Father. So this Divine which He called the "Father" was not another Divine than His own Divine, namely, the Divine which is at this day worshipped as the Father in place of His own Divine. And the Divine that goes forth is what is called the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Truth, and the Paraclete; for this is the Holy of the Spirit, or the holy Divine which the Spirit speaks, and not another Divine, which is wor- shipped as the third person of the Divinity. That this is so all can understand who axe in any heavenly light. (B. 343.) 4. What the Holy Spirit Does. Ti-iB Lord makes active those virtues which are meant by the mission of the Holy Spirit in those who believe in Him, that is. He reforms them, regenerates, renews, quickens, sanctifies, justifies. THE PATH OF LIFE 23 and purifies them from evils, and finally saves them. (T. 149.) 5. The Spirit of God and the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God in the Old Testament and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament are two distinct things. The Spirit of God neither did nor could operate in man otherwise than imperceptibly ; while the Holy Spirit, which proceeds solely from the Lord, operates in man perceptibly, and enables him to comprehend spiritual truths in. a natural way; for the Lord united to His Divine Celestial and Divine Spiritual the Divine Natural, and through the latter He operates from the former. The Holy Spirit is the same as the Divine Sphere, when by that is meant the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, which two go forth from Jehovah the Lord oiit of the Sun of the angelic heaven, as heat and light go forth out of the sun of the natural world and constitute its sphere ; for the heat from the Sun of the angelic heaven is in its essence love; and the light from that Sun in its essence is wisdom to which two the heat and light from the sun of this world correspond. (Q. v.) 6. Sin Against the Holy Spirit. To deny utterly the Lord's Divinity and the holiness of the AVord, and to maintain this denial confirmed in oneself to the end of life is what is meant by the " sin against the Holy Spirit which is forgiven neither in this world nor in the world to come." (P. 98.) VI CEBATION /. The Divine Love the Source of Creation. Life which is the Divine love is in a form. Spiritual things can proceed from no other source than love; and love can proceed from no other source than Jehovah God, w^ho is love itself. The sun of the spiritual world therefore, from which all spiritual things issue as from a foun- tain, is pure love proceeding from Jehovah God, who is in the midst of it. That sun is not God but is from God and is the nearest sphere about Him from Him. Through that sun the universe was created by Jehovah God. By the universe all the worlds [systems] in one complex are meant, which are as many as the stars in the expanse of our heaven. (I. 5.) The sun of the spiritual world is not the Lord Himself but is from the Lord. It is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom going forth which appear in that world as a sun. (W. 86.) 2. By the Word of the Lord Were All Things Made. Divine truth going forth from the Divine good is the veriest real and the veriest essential thing in the universe; and this it is that makes and creates. Scarcely any one has any other idea of 24 THE PATH OF LIFE 25 Divine truth than as a word that issues from the mouth of a spealrer and is dissipated in the air. This idea of the Divine truth has given rise to an opinion that "the Word" means merely a com- mand, and therefore that all things were made merely by a command, and thus not from any real thing which proceeded from the Divine of the Lord. But, in fact, it is the Divine truth going forth from the Lord, which is the veriest real and essential thing, and which is the source of all things. (A. 5272.) 3. Successive Adaptations of the Infinite Divine. The truth that goes forth immediately from the Lord, since it is the Infinite Divine Itself, can in no way he received by any finite living substance, thus not by any angel. Therefore the Lord created successive [spheres] through which as media the immediately proceeding Divine truth might be communicated. But the first successive therefrom is too full of the Divine to be as yet received by any finite living substance, thus by any angel. Therefore, the Lord created another successive through which the Divine truth immediately going forth might become in some measure receivable. (A. 7270.) 4. The Universal Purpose of Creation. The universal purpose, that is, the end of all things of creation, is that there may be an eternal conjunction of the Creator with the created uni- verse; and this is impossible unless there are sub- jects in which His Divine can be as in Itself, thus 26 THE PATH OF LIFE in which it can dwell and abide. In order that these subjects may be dwelling-places and man- sions of Him, they must be recipients of His love and wisdom as if of themselves; and, therefore, must be such as will be able to elevate themselves to the Creator as if of themselves, and conjoin themselves with Him. Without such an ability to reciprocate no conjunction would be possible. These subjects are men, who are able as if of themselves to elevate and conjoin themselves; and it is by means of this conjunction that the Lord is present in every work created by Him. For every- thing has been created for man as its end; conse- quently the uses of all created things ascend by degrees from outmosts to man, and through man to God the Creator from whom all things are. (W. 170.) 5. The End of Creation a Heaven of Angels. And because the end of creation is an angelic heaven out of the human race, and thus the human race itself, all other created things are mediate ends, and these, as having relation to man, with a view to his conjunction with the Lord, refer them- selves to these three things in him, his body, his rational, and his spiritual. For man cannot be conjoined to the Lord unless he be spiritual, nor can he be spiritual unless he be rational, nor can he be rational unless his body is in a sound state. These three are like a house; the body like the foundation, the rational like the superstructure, the spiritual like those things which are in the THE PATH OF LIFE 27 house, and conjunction with the Lord like dwell- ing in it. From all this can be seen in what order, degree, and respect uses (which are the mediate ends of creation) have relation to man, namely, (1) for sustaining his body, (8) for perfecting his rational, (3) for receiving what is spiritual from the Lord. (W. 230.) 6. The Two Realms of Existence. Theke are two worlds, a spiritual world where angels and spirits are and a natural world where men are. In each world there is a sun. The sun of the spiritual world is nothing but love from Jehovah God who is in the midst of it. From that sun heat and light go forth; the heat that goes forth therefrom is in its essence love, and the light that goes forth is in its essence vsdsdom ; and these two affect the will and understanding of man — ■ the heat his will and the light his understanding. But the sun of the natural world is nothing but fire, and therefore its heat is dead, also its light. These serve as a covering and auxiliary to spiritual heat and spiritual light, to enable them to pass over to man. Again, the two which go forth from the sun of the spiritual world, and consequently all things that have existence in that world by means of them, are substantial, and are called spiritual; while the two like things that go forth from the sun of the natural world, and consequently all things here that have existence by means of them, are mate- rial, and are called natural. (T. 75.) 28 THE PATH OF LIFE 7. The Creative Process Illustrated. A TYPE of the creation of the universe was shown me in a living way, by the angels. I fl-as conducted into heaven ; and it was there granted to me to see all things of the animal kingdom, of the vegetable kingdom, and of the mineral kingdom, which were in every respect like the objects of these kingdoms in the natural world. And then they said, " All these things in heaven are created in a moment by God, and they continue to exist as long as the angels are interiorly, in regard to their thoughts, in a state of love and faith. And this instanta- neous creation furnishes a clear proof of the crea- tion of like things, and even a like creation, in the natural world, with the sole difference that spiritual things are there clothed with natural things, and that this clothing was provided by God for the sake of generations one from another, by which creation is perpetuated. Consequently, the creation of the universe was effected in a way similar to that in which it is effected every moment in heaven. But the noxious and hideous things that exist in the three kingdoms of nature were not created by God, but sprang up along with hell. (T. 401.) 8. Things Creatable and Things Not Creatable. The following things are not creatable: 1. The infinite is not creatable. 2. For love and wisdom. 3. Consequently life is not. 4. Nor light and heat. 5. Nor even activity itself viewed in itself. But organs receptive of these are creatable and have been created. THE PATH or LIFE 29 This may be made clear by the following com- parisons : — that light is not creatable, but its organ, the eye; that sound, which is the activity of the atmosphere, is not creatable, but its organ, the ear; neither is heat, which is the primary active principle, for the reception of which all things in the three kingdoms of nature have been created, and in accord with this reception are acted upon but do not act. It arises from the order of crea- tion, that wherever there is an active there should also be a passive, and that the two should unite as in one. (T. 473.) 9. The Universe Not Created Out of Nothing. EvEEY one who thinks from clear reason sees that the universe was not created out of nothing, for he sees that not anything can be made out of nothing; since nothing is nothing, and to make anything out of nothing is a contradiction, and a contradiction is contrary to the light of truth, which is from Divine wisdom ; and v.hatever is not from Divine wisdom is not from Divine omnipo- tence. Every one who thinks from clear reason sees also that all things have been created out of a Substance that is Substance in itself, for that is Esse itself, out of which every thing that is can take form; and since God alone is Substance in itself, and therefore Esse itself, it is clear that from this source alone is the formation of things. (W. 283.) VII THE CEEATED AND THE FINITE /. The Created and the Finite the Same. It is the common idea, that, because finite thought cannot grasp the infinite, things finite cannot be receptacles of the infinite. But the truth is that God first rendered His infinity finite by substances emitted from Himself, and from these His nearest surrounding, which constitutes the sun of the spiritual world came into existence; and then, through that sun, He perfected the other surroundings even to the outmost which consists of passive materials; and thus, by means of de- grees, He rendered the world more and more finite. (T. 33.) Everything created must needs be from an un- create. What is created is also finite ; and the finite can exist only from the Infinite. (W. 44.) 2. Time and Space and the Finifing Process. God is Infinite, because He was before the world was, thus before spaces aaid times arose. In the natural world there are spaces and times; but in the spiritual world these exist only apparently, and not actually. Time and space were introduced into these worlds for the purpose of distinguishing one thing from another, the great from the small, the many from the few, thus quantity from quantity, 30 THE PATH OF LIFE 31 and so quality from quality; also to enable the bodily senses to distinguish between their objects, and the mental senses between theirs, and thereby to be affected and to think and choose. Prom this it can be comprehended how spaces and times render each and all things in both worlds finite; and consequently men are finite both in body and in soul, and likewise angels and spirits. The conclusion to be drawn from all this is that God is infinite, that is, not finite; since He Him- self, as the Creator, Former, and Maker of the uni- verse, gave finiteness to all things. This He did by means of His spiritual sun, in the midst of which He is, and which is constituted of the Divine essence that goes forth from Him as a sphere. There, and from that, is the first of the finiting process, and its progress reaches even to the out- most things of the world's nature; consequently in Himself God is infinite because He is uncreated. To man nevertheless, because he is finite, and thinks from things finite, the infinite seems to be nothing; and therefore he feels that if the finite which adheres to his thought should be taken away, that which would be left would amount to nothing. And yet the truth is that God is infinitely all ; and man of himself in comparison is nothing. (T. 29.) 3. Nature Created to Clothe the Spiritual. Nature in itself is dead, being created in order that the spiritual may be clothed by it with forms that may serve for use, and thus may be terminated. Nature and life are two distinct things. Nature has its beginning in the sun of this world, and life 32 THE PATH OF LIFE has its begirming in the sun of heaven. The sun of the world is pure fire, and the sun of heaven is pure love. The spiritual is capable of being clothed by the material, because all things that have existence in the world of nature, atmospheric, aqueous, or earthy, in respect to every atom thereof, are effects produced by the spiritual as a cause, and the effects act as one with the cause and wholly in agreement with it, according to this axiom, that nothing comes forth in effect that is not in the cause. But there is this difference, that the cause is a living force because it is spiritual, while the effect is a dead force because it is natural. This is the reason why such things exist in the natural world as wholly agree with those in the spiritual world, and why the two can be closely conjoined. And these are the reasons for saying that nature was created in order that by it the spiritual might be clothed with foims that might serve for use. (E. 1207.) 4. The Creation of Matter. The atmospheres, of which there are three both in the spiritual and in the natural world, in their outmosts close into substances and matters such as are in lands. These atmospheres are distinct from each other according to degrees of height, and, in their prog- ress toward lower things, decrease [in activity] according to degrees of breadth. And since atmos- pheres in their progress toward lower things de- crease [in activity] , it follows that they constantly THE PATH OF LIFE 33 become more compressed and inert, and finally, in outmosts, become so compressed and inert as to be no longer atmospheres, bnt substances at rest, and in the natural world, fixed like those in soils which are called matters. As such is the origin of sub- stances and matters, it follows, first, that these sub- stances and matters also are of three degrees ; secondly, that they are held together in mutual connection by encompassing atmospheres ; thirdly, that they are fitted for the production of all uses in their forms. (W. 302.) VIII FINITE HUMAN LIFE /. The Essential Purpose of the Divine Love. The Divine Love, which is love itself, from its author who is the Lord bears in its bosom nothing else than to create and form images and likenesses of itself, which images and likenesses are men, and angels from men, and also to clothe, with a corre- spondent body affections of every kind, which are animals. All these forms, complete and incom- plete, are forms of love, and are alike in whatever pertains to their life in externals, which is an in- clination to move, to walk, to act, to see, to hear, to smell, to taste, to feel, to eat, to drink, to asso- ciate with others, and to propagate themselves. But men are unlike the beasts in what pertains to their internals, which is an inclination to think, to will, to speak, to know, to understand, to be wise, and from these things to find enjoyment and blessed- ness. Men and angels are forms of this class ; ani- mate things of many kinds are forms of the other class. That these several faculties may come forth in effect and in use, they have been produced and wonderfully organized from created substances and matters. (D. L. xx. 1, 2.) 2. Man Created to be an Object of the Divine Love. It is impossible for Grod to love others and to be loved reciprocally by others in whom there is any- 34 THE PATH OF LIFE 35 thing of infinity, that is, anything of the essence and life of love in itself, or anything of the Divine ; for if there were beings having in them anything of infinity, that is, of the essence and life of love in itself, that is, of the Divine, it would not be God loved by others, but God loving Himself ; since the Infinite, that is, the Divine, is one only, and if this were in others. Itself would be in them, and would be the love of self Itself; and of that love not the least trace can possibly be in God, since it is wholly opposed to the Divine Essence. Consequently, for this relation to be possible there must be others in whom there is nothing of the Divine in itself. (W. 49.) 3. Human Life Defined. Scarcely any one knows what life is. When one thinks about life, it seems as if it were a fleet- ing something, of which no distinct idea is possible. It so seems because it is not known that God alone is life, and that His life is Divine Love and Divine Wisdom. Prom this it is evident that in man life is nothing else than love and wisdom, and that there is life in man in the degree in which he re- ceives these. It is known that heat and light go forth from the sun, and that all things in the uni- verse are recipients and grow warm and bright in the degree in which they receive. So do heat and light go forth from the sun where the Lord is, the heat going forth therefrom is love and the light wisdom. Life, therefore, is from these two which go forth from the Lord as a sun. That love and wisdom from the Lord is life can be seen also from 36 THE PATH OF LIFE this, that man grows torpid as love recedes from him, and stupid as wisdom recedes from him, and that were they to recede altogether he would be- come extinct. (W. 363.) 4. Difference between the Life of Ullan and the Life of the Beasts. Eegaeded in himself or in respect to what is his own, man is nothing but a beast. He has nearly the same appetites, senses and desires, and all of his affections, even Ms best, are nearly the same, for example, his love for companions of his own kind, his love for his children, and love for his wife ; so that they scarcely differ. But his being man and more than beast consists in his having an interior life, which beasts never have or can have. This life is the life of faith and love from the Lord. And if this [higher] life were not within in everything that he has in common with beasts, he would not differ from them. Take only one example, love toward companions - — if he should love them only for the sake of him- self, and there were nothing more heavenly or divine in his love, he conld not from that be called a man, because it is the same with beasts. And so with all the rest. If therefore there were not the life of love from the Lord in his will, and the life of faith from the Lord in his understanding, he would not be a man. It is by virtue of the life which he has from the Lord that he lives after death ; because the Lord thereby adjoins him to Himself. And thus he can be in the Lord's heaven with the angels, and live to eternity. And even if THE PATH OF LIFE 37 a man lives like a wild beast, and loves nothing but himself and what regards himself, yet so great is the Lord's mercy which is Divine and Infinite, that He does not leave him, but continually breathes into him His own life through the angels. And even if he received that life no otherwise, it still has the effect that he is able to think, to reflect and to understand whether a thing is good or evil in relation to what is moral, civil, worldly, and cor- poreal, and therefore whether it is true or false. (A. 714.) 5. All Men Are Spirits. All men in respect to the interiors which belong to their minds are spirits, clothed in the world with a material body, which is under the direction of the thought of the spirit and under the control of its affection; for the mind which is spirit acts, and the body which is matter is acted upon; and every spirit, when the material body has been cast off, is a man in a form like that which he had as a man in the world. (B. 1142.) 6. The Human Race the Basis of Heaven. The human race is the basis on which heaven is founded, for the reason that man was created last, and that which was created last is the basis of all that precedes. Creation began from the highest or inmost, because from the Divine, and proceeded to the lowest or outmost, where it first had perma- nent existence. The outmost of creation is the natural universe, including the terraqueous globe, with all things on it. When these were finished ■ man was created, and into him were gathered all 3S THE PATH OF LIFE things of Divine order from firsts to lasts. Into his inmosts were gathered those things which are in the firsts of that order, and into his lasts those that are in the lasts ; so that man was made Divine order in form. From this it is that all things in man and with man are both from heaven and from the world, those which are of his mind from heaven, and those which are from his body from the world. (J. 9.) 7. By Means of Man the Two Worlds Are Conjoined. Man is the means whereby the natural world and the spiritual world are conjoined; that is, man is the medium of conjunction because there is in him a natural world and a spiritual world. Conse- quently to the extent that a man becomes spiritual is he the medium of conjunction ; but to the extent that he is natural, and not spiritual, he is not a medium of conjunction. Nevertheless, apart from this mediumship of man there continues to be a Divine influx into the world and into those things pertaining to man that are from the world, but not into man's rational faculty. (H. 112.) IX THE THEATEB OF HimAN LIFE /. The Two Worlds. The universe in general is divided into two vrorlds, the spiritual and the natural. In the sjDir- itual world there are angels and spirits, in the natural world men. In external appearance these two worlds are entirely alike, so alike that they cannot be distinguished; but in internal appear- ance they are entirely unlike. The men themselves in the spiritual world, who are called angels and spirits, are spiritual, and, being spiritual, they think spiritually and speak spiritually. But the men of the natural world are natural, and there- fore think naturally and speak naturally; and spiritual thought and speech have nothing in com- mon with natural thought and speech. Thus these two worlds, the spiritual and the natural, are so entirely distinct from each other that they can in no respect be called the same. (W. 163.) 2. The Natural World Exists from the Spiritual World. Theee is an unceasing influx of the spiritual world into the natural world. He who does not know that there is a spiritual world, and that it is distinct from the natural world as what is prior is distinct from what is subsequent, or as cause is distinct from the thing caused, can have no idea of this influx. This is why those who have written 39 40 THE PATH OF LIFE on the origin of plants and animals could do no otherwise than ascribe that origin to nature; or if to God, then in the sense that God had implanted in nature from the beginning a power to produce such things, — not knowing that no power has been implanted in nature, since nature, in herself, is dead, and contributes no more to the production of these things than a tool does, for instance, to the work of a mechanic, the tool acting only as it is continually moved. (W. 340.) 3. The Spiritual World the Cause, fhe Natural the Effect. Nothing in nature comes forth except from the spiritual, because no effect is possible without a cause. Whatever comes forth in effect is from a cause ; what is not from a cause is something apart. Thus it is with nature. Its particular and most particular parts are effects from a cause which is prior, interior, and superior to the effect, and which is immediately from. God. For there is a spiritual world; and that world is prior, interior, and superior to the natural world, consequently every thing in the spiritual world is a cause, and every thing in the natural world is an effect. (E. 1206.) 4. How Creation Differs in the Two Worlds. God is love itself and wisdom itself. The affec- tions of His love are infinite, and the perceptions of His wisdom are infinite ; and of these each thing and all things that appear on the earth are corre- spondences. THE PATH OF LITE 41 Such is the origin of birds and beasts, forest trees, fruit trees, crops and liarvests, herbs and grasses. For God is not extended, and 3'et He is present tliroughout all extension, thus throughout the universe from firsts to lasts; and because He is thus omnipresent, there are these correspond- ences of the affections of His love and veisdom in the whole natural world. In the spiritual world, there are like correspond- ences with those who are receiving affections and perceptions from God. The difference is that in the spiritual world such things are created b-y God from moment to moment in accordance with the affections of the angels. In the natural world they were created in like manner in the beginning; but it was provided that they should be renewed un- ceasingly by the propagation of one from another, and creation be continued in that manner. In the spiritual world creation is from moment to moment, but in the natural world it is continued by propagation, because the atmospheres and earths of the spiritual world are spiritual, and the atmos- pheres and earths of the natural world are natural ; and natural things were created to clothe spiritual things as skin clothes the bodies of men and ani- mals, as outer and inner barks clothe the trunks and branches of trees, the several membranes clothe the brain, tunics clothe the nerves, and the inner coats their fibres, and so on. (T. 78.) 5. The Substances in the Two Worlds. Only in man can the angelic mind be pro- created and be multiplied by procreations. One 42 THE PATH OF LIFE who knows what the substances in the spiritual world are, ajad. relatively what the matters in the natural world are, can easil}^ see that no procreation of angelic minds is possible except in those and from those who dwell upon some earth, an outmost work of creation. But as it is not known what the substances in the spiritual world are relatively to the matters in the natural world, it shall be told. Substances in the spiritual, world appear to be material, although they are not, and because they are not material they are not permanent. They are correspondences of the affections of angels, and they remain as long as the affections of the angels remain, and disappear with them. And the same would have been true of angels if they had been created in the spiritual world. Furthermore, with the angels there is and there can be no procreation, and no consequent multipli- cation, except such as is spiritual, which has rela- tion to wisdom and love, and such as pertains to the souls of men who are born anew or regenerated. But in the natural world there are matters by means of which and out of which procreations and afterward formations can be effected; thus mul- tiplications of men, and of angels therefrom. From this spirits and angels derive the ability to exist permanently, and to live to eternity. And this for the reason that every angel or spirit, from having been first born a man in the world takes to himself a mediiun between the spiritual and the natural whereby he is so terminated as to have stability and permanency. Through this he has what gives him a relation to the things that are in THE PATH or LIFE 43 nature, and which corresponds to them. (E. viii. 3,7.) 6. Man Created for Both Worlds. Man was created according to the type of each world — his interiors after the type of the spiritual world, and his exteriors after the type of the natu- ral world — ^to the end that the two might be con- joined in him. Consequently his natural world or microcosm can continuously live only by means of an influx from the spiritual world; and there is in every one a continual endeavor towards the con- junction of these two worlds in him. (D. 4603.), 7. Spaces in the Spiritual World. As there are like things in heaven and in our world, so in the heavens there are spaces and times, but the spaces there, like the lands them- selves and the things upon them, are appearances, for they appear according to the states of the angels, and extensions of spaces and distances appear ac- cording to the similarities and dissimilarities of states. By states are meant states of love and wisdom, or of afliections and of thoughts therefrom, which are manifold and various. According to these the angelic societies in the heavens are apart from each other, also the heavens are apart from the hells, and the societies of the hells from each other. It has been granted me to see how likeness of state conjoins, and lessens the extension of space or distance; and how unlikeness of state separates, and produces extension of space or distance. (E. 1319.) X THE SOUL /. What the Soul Is. With regard to the soul, of which it is said that it shall live after death, it is nothing else than the man himself who lives in the body, that is, the interior man who acts through the body in the world, and causes the body to live. (A. 6054.) 2. How the Soul Acts in the Body. The soul flows into the human mind, and through the mind into the body, and carries life with it, which life it receives unceasingly from the Lord, and thus transfers it mediately into the body where by the closest union it makes the body seem- ingly to live. Prom this and from a thousand tes- timonies of experience, it is plain that the spiritual united to the material, as a living force with a dead force, is what causes man to speak rationally and to act morally. The appearance is that the tongue and lips speak from a certain life in themselves, and that the arms and hands act in a like manner; but it is the thought, which in itself is spiritual, that speaks, and the will, which likewise is spiritual, that acts, and each by means of its own organs, which in themselves are material because taken from the natural world. 44 THE PATH OF LIFE 45 From all this it is perceived that what is spiritual and what is natural, when united in man, are what cause him to live as a spiritually natural man. He lives in a like and yet unlike manner after death for the reason that his soul is then clothed with a substantial body, Just as in the natural world it was clothed with a material body. (I. 12.) 3. The Soul a Form of Life. Who does not believe that the soul is man's in- most and finest essence? Yet what is an essence without a form but a mere figment of the reason? The soul is therefore a form, but what kind of a form shall be explained. It is the form of all things of love and all things of wisdom. All things of love are called afEections, and all things of wis- dom are called perceptions. These perceptions form their affections, and with them constitute one form in which are innumerable things in such order, series and coherence that they may be called a unit. What is the human soul but such a form ? Are not all things of love and all things of wisdom the essentials of that form? And in man these are in the soul ; and from the soul are in the head and body. (T. 697.) 4. Mutual Activity of Soul and Body. This may be illustrated more closely by the mutual intercourse of the soul and body, which are two distinct things, and yet are reciprocally united. The soul acts in and into the body, not through it ; the body acts of itself from the soul. The soul does not act through the body, for the two do not 46 THE PATH OF LIFE consult and deliberate each with the other, nor does the soul command or ask the body to do this or that, or to speak from its mouth; neither does the body demand or beg the soul to give or supply anything; for every thing that belongs to the soul belongs also to the body, mutually and inter- changeably. It is the same with the Divine and the Human of the Lord, for the soul of His Human is the Divine of the Father, and the Human is His body ; and the Human does not ask its ov/n Divine to tell it what to say or do. (T. 154.) 5, The Soul is the Man. An angel addressing some new comers in the spiritual world, said : " In the world you believed spirits and angels to be like wind or ether, and thus to be mere minds or dispositions ; but now you see clearly that you are truly, really, and actually men, who in the world thought and lived in a material body. Also, you knew that it was not the mate- rial body that lives and thinks, but the spiritual substance in that body; and this you called the soul, although of its form you had no knowledge, and yet you have now seen it and still see it. All of you are souls, respecting the immortality of which you have heard, thought, spoken, and writ- ten so much ; and being forms of love and wisdom from God, you can never die. Thus the soul is a human form, from which not an iota can be taken away, and to which not an iota can be added ; and it is the inmost form of all the forms of the entire body. And as exterior forms receive both essence THE PATH OF LIFE 47 and form from the inmost form, so you, as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word the soul is the man himself, because it is the inmost man; and therefore its form is fully and completely the human form. Yet it is not life, but the nearest receptacle of life from God, and thus God's dwelling place." (T. 697.) XI THE OXE SOURCE OP LIFE /. The One Inflowing Life. There is one only life and all live from it, and every one differently from another. The evil live from the same life, and likewise the hells, and the inflowing life is active in accordance with its recep- tion. (A. 4321.) 2. How This Life is Varied. Tpieee is but the one life, which is the Lord's life. This one life flows in and causes man to live, yea, causes both the good and the evil to live. To this life there are corresponding forms which are substances and which by a continuous Divine influx are so vivified as to appear to themselves to live from themselves. This correspondence is the cor- respondence of organs to their life. And such as the recipient organs are, such is the life which they live. Those who are in love and charity are in such correspondence, for by them the life itself is received adequately ; but those who are in what is contrary to love and charity are not in such cor- respondence, because the life itself is not received adequately; consequently with them life exists in keeping with their quality. This may be illustrated by natural forms into which the light of the sun flows. Such as the re- 48 THE PATH OF LIFE 49 cipient forms are, such are their modifications of liglit. In the spiritual world the modifications are spiritual, therefore in that world such as the re- cipient forms are, such is their intelligence and such is their wisdom. (A. 3484.) 3. Influx Defined. What this inflow is can be seen by comparison with such things a& inflow in nature, as for ex- ample, the inflow of heat from the sun into all things of the earth, whence comes vegetable life; and the inflow of light into the same, whence comes what is of aid to vegetable life, and to its colors and beauty ; in like manner the inflow of heat into the surface of our bodies, also of light into the eye ; in like manner the inflow of sound into the ear, and so on. From this the inflow of life from the Lord, who is the Sun of heaven, from whom comes the heat which is love and the spiritual light which is faith, can be comprehended. Moreover the inflow itself is manifestly felt. For the heavenly heat which is love is what causes the vital heat which is in man; and the heavenly light, which is faith, is what causes the intellectual light which is in man ; but these are varied accord- ing to reception. (A. 6128.) 4, All Thinking and Feeling are from Influx. The Divine providence is in the least particu- lars of man's thought and affections; and this means that man can think and will nothing from himself, but that every thing that he thinks and wills, and that he says and does therefrom, is from 4 50 THE PATH OF LIFE influx; if goad, it is from influx out of heaven, and if evil, from influx out of hell ; or what is the same, good is from influx from the Lord, and evil from what is man's own. (P. 287.) 5. Influx Through Heaven and Through Hell. The Lord is continually flowing into man with good, and into the good with truth ; but man either receives or does not receive that influx. If he receives it it is well with him; but if he does not receive it, it is ill with him. When he does not receive it, if he feels some anxiety, which is meant by " distress of soul," there is hope that he may be reformed; but if he has no feeling of anxiety, the hope vanishes. With every man there are two spirits from hell, and two angels from heaven ; for man, being born in sins, can by no means live unless he communicates on the one side with hell, and on the other with heaven. All his life is therefrom. When a man is grown up and begins to rule himself from himself, that is, when he seems to himself to will and act from his own judgment, and to think and to conclude concerning the things of faith from his own understanding, if he then betakes himself to evils, the two spirits from hell draw near, and the two angels from heaven with- draw a little; but if he betakes himself to good, the two angels from heaven draw near and the two spirits from hell withdraw. When therefore man betakes himself to evils, as is the case with many in youth, if he feels any anxiety when he THE PATH OF LIFE 51 reflects upon his having done wrong, it is an in- dication that he will receive influx through the angels from heaven; and it is also an indication that he will afterward suffer himself to be re- formed. But if he has no anxious feeling when he reflects upon his having done wrong, it is an indication that he is no longer willing to receive influx through the angels from heaven, and also an indication that he will not afterward suffer himself to be reformed. (A. 5470.) 6. Relaiion of Soul to Body. The spiritual clothes itself with the natural, as a man clothes himself with a garment. The or- ganic body with which the soul clothes itself is compared to a garment because a garment invests the body. Moreover, the soul puts off the body and casts it away as a useless covering when it emigrates by means of death from the natural world into its own spiritual world. For the body grows old like a garment, but the soul does not, because the soul is a spiritual substance which has nothing in common with the changes in nature, which advance from their beginnings to their ends, and are periodically terminated. (I. 11.) 7. How Man Can be Gifted with Peace. It is an eternal truth that the Lord governs heaven and earth, also that He alone lives from Himself, consequently that everything of life flows in — good of life from the Lord, and evil of life from hell. This is the faith of the heavens. When 52 THE PATH OP LIFE man accepts this faith, as he- may if he is in good, evil cannot be adjoined and appropriated to ium, because he is then aware that the evil is not from himself, but is from hell. When man is in this state, he can be gifted with peace, for he will then trust solely in the Lord. ISTeither can peace be given to any others than to those who are in this faith from charity ; for others cast themselves into anxieties and desires, whence troubles come. The spirits who wish to govern themselves, sup- pose that in such a state they would lose their power of will, thus their freedom, consequently all enjoyment, thus all of life and its sweetness. This they say and believe because they do not know how the case really is; for the man who is led of the Lord, is in freedom itself, and thereby in en- joyment and blessedness itself. Goods and truths are then appropriated to him; there is given him an affection and desire for doing good, and noth- ing is more delightful to him than to perform uses. Perception of good is given him and the sensation thereof, also intelligence and vpisdom, and all these as hifi own, for then he is a recipient of the Lord's life. (A. 6335.) 8. The Appearance that Man Lives from Himself. The appearance to man is that he lives from himself, but this is a fallacy. If it were not a fallacy, man would be able to love God from himself, and be wise from himself. The appear- ance is such because life flows in from the Lord into man's inmosts, and these are far removed from his thought's sight, and thus from his per- THE PATH OF LIFE 53 ception; also because the principal cause, which is life, and the instrumental cause, which is the recipient of life, act together as one cause, and this is felt in the instrumental cause, which is the recipient, that is, in man, as if the life were in himself. (E. 1123.) 9. The Two Entrances into Human Life. Man is not born into any knowledge still less into any intelligence or wisdom, but only into a capability for receiving and becoming imbued therewith. This is effected in a two-fold way, namely, an internal way, and an external way. By the internal way the Divine flows in, by the ex- ternal way what is of the world flows in. These meet in man within, and then so far as he suffers himself to be enlightened by the Divine, he enters into wisdom. The things which enter by the ex- ternal way flow in through the senses of the body. They do not, however, flow in of themselves, but are elicited by the internal man that they may serve as a plane for the heavenly and spiritual things which flow in by an internal way from the Divine. (A. 5081.) XII THE GENERAL INFLOW OF LIFE INTO CREATION /. General Inflow and Particular Inflow. From the Lord through the spiritual world into the subjects of the natural world, there is a gen- eral influx and also a particular influx — a general influx into those things that are in order, and a particular influx into those things that are not in order. Animals of every kind are in the order of their nature, and therefore into them there is a general influx. That they are in the order of their nature is evident from the fact that they are born into all their faculties, and have no need to be in- troduced into them by acquiring information. But men are not in their order, nor in any law of order, and therefore they receive a particular influx; that is, there are with them angels and spirits through whom the influx comes. And un- less these were with them, men would rush into every wickedness and would plunge in a moment into the deepest hell. Through these spirits and angels man is kept under the auspices and guidance of the Lord. The order into which man was created was that he should love his neighbor as himself, and even more than himself. This the angels do. But man loves only himself and the world, and hates the 54 THE PATH or LIFE 55 neighbor, favoring him only so far as he may thereby rule and gain the world. So because the life of man is altogether contrary to heavenly order, he is ruled by the Lord through separate spirits and angels. But because animals are in the order of their life they are governed by means of a general in- flux from the spiritual world, and have not been able to pervert and destroy that order because they have no rational faculty. (A. 5850.) 2. Creation Maintained by Means of Influx. Ckeation when completed, is made continuous by means of influx from the sun of heaven. If this influx were not continuous all things would perish, for apart from this influx the influx of the sun of the world is nothing, 'for the latter is only the instrumental cause, while the former is the principal cause. There is a correspondence of the sun's heat and its effect with the life of the Lord's love, and there is a correspondence of the sun's light and its effect with- the Lord's wisdom, for the Divine love going forth from the sun of heaven is heat in the spiritual world, and the Divine wisdom going forth from that sun is light there. To this light and heat the light and heat of the sun of the world correspond, for every thing is a cor- respondence. But how the Lord from His Divine love and Divine wisdom, which are life itself, flows in and animates the created universe, shall be told in a few words. 56 THE PATH OP LIFE The Divine that goes forth is that about the Lord which appears to the angels as a sun. From that sun His Divine goes forth through spiritual atmospheres ; virhich atmospheres He had created for the conveyance of light and heat down even to the angels, and which He had adapted to the life both of their minds and of their bodies, that they might receive intelligence from the light and might see, and also in accordance with correspond- ence might breathe', since angels, like men, breathe. Also that they might receive love from that heat and might have sensation, and in accordance with correspondence their hearts might beat, for angels, like men, enjoy pulsation of the heart. These spiritual atmospheres increase in density by discrete degrees even to the angels of the lowest heaven, to whom also they become adapted. Be- cause of this the angels of the highest heaven live as in a pure aura, the angels of the middle heaven as it were in an ether, and the angels of the lowest heaven as it were in air. Underlying these atmospheres in eacn heaven are the lands where the angels dwell, where they have their palaces, and houses and pleasure gar- dens, and cultivated grounds and rose gardens and lawns, which spring up anew every morning, with every thing in them in accord with the reception by the angels of love and wisdom from the Lord. All these things are from a spiritual origin, and from no natural origin. Spiritual origin is life from the Lord. In correspondence with these all things that ap- THE PATH OF LIFE 57 pear in the natural world have been created; and for this reason like things exist there, with this difference, that these are, like the others, from a spiritual origin, and are also from a natural origin ; which natural origin is added that they may be at the same time material and therefore fixed; and this to the end that the human race may be pro- created, which can be done only in outmosts, where there is fiilness ; and further, that from the human race as a seed plot the inhabitants of the spiritual world, who are angels, may spring. This is th° chief and final end of creation. (D. W. xii. 5.) 3. The Influx into the Soul, the Mind, and the Body. LirE from God flows into man through the soul, and through this into his mind, that is, into its affections and thoughts, and from these into the senses, speech, and actions of the body be- cause these have relation to life in successive order ; for the mind is subordinate to the soul, and the body is subordinate to the mind. Moreover, the mind has two lives, one of the will and another of the understanding. The life of the will is the good of love, the derivations of which are called afliec- tions, and the life of the understanding is the truth of wisdom, the derivations of which are called thoughts. By these together the mind lives. But the senses, the speech, and the actions constitute the life of the body. That these are all from the soul through the mind, follows from the order in which they exist; and according to this order they become evident 58 THE PATH OF LIFE to a wise man without investigation. The human soul because it is a superior spiritual substance, receives influx immediately from God; but the human mind, because it is an inferior spiritual substance, receives influx from God mediately through the spiritual world; and the body, be- cause it is from the substances of nature, which are called material, receives influx from God mediately through the natural world. (I. 8.) XIII SPECIAL INFLOW OP LIFE THEOUGH ANGELS AND SPIEITS /, How Influx is Adapted to Man through Angels and Spirits. Theeb are with every man at least two evil spirits and two angels.. The evil spirits excite his evils, and the angels inspire things that are good and true. Every good and true thing in- spired by the angels is from the Lord; thus the Lord is continually speaking v/ith man, but quite differently with different men. With those who suffer themselves to be led away by evil spirits, the Lord speaks as if absent or from afar, so that it can scarcely be told that He is speaking; but with those who are being led by the Lord, He speaks as more nearly present; which may be sufficiently evident from this, that no one can ever think anything good and true, except from the Lord. The presence of the Lord is predicated accord- ing to the state of love to the neighbor and the state of faith in which the man is. In love to the neighbor the Lord is present because He is in all good: but not so much in faith so called, without love. 59 60 THE PATH OF LIFE Man knows no otherwise than that he thinks from himself, but he has not a single idea, nor the least particular of an idea, from himself; but he has what is evil and false through evil spirits from hell, and what is good and true through angels from the Lord. Such is the inflow into man, from which is his life and the intercourse of his soul with his body. (A. 904.) 2. The Need of Special Individual Influx. Angels and spirits are able to conjoin them- selves so closely with man as not know but that what is man's is their own, for the reason that the conjunction between the spiritual world and the natural world is so close that the two are seem- ingly one. But inasmuch as man has separated himself from heaven the Lord has provided that there should be angels and spirits with each in- dividual, and that man should be ruled by the Lord through these. This is the reason for such close conjunction. It would have been otherwise if man had not separated himself from heaven, for in that case he might have been ruled by the Lord through the general influx from heaven, and with no spirits or angels adjoined to him. (H. 247.) 3. The Relation of Good and Evil Spirits to Man. With each individual there are good spirits and evil spirits. Through good spirits he has con- junction with heaven, and through evil spirits with hell. These spirits are in the world of spirits, which lies midway between heaven and hell. When THE PATH OF LIFE 61 these spirits come to a man they enter into his entire memory, and thus into his entire thought, evil spirits into the evil things of his memory and thought, and good spirits into the good things of his memory and thought. These spirits have no knovrledge whatever that they are with man ; but when they are with him they believe that all things of his memory and thought are their own ; neither do they see the man, because nothing that is in our solar world falls into their sight. The Lord exercises the greatest care that spirits may not know that they are with man ; for if they knew it they would talk with him, and in that case evil spirits would destroy him. For evil spirits being joined with hell, desire nothing so much as to destroy man, not alone his soul, that is, his faith and love, but also his body. It is otherwise when they do not talk with man, in which case they are not aware that what they are thinking and what they are saying among themselves is from man. For although it is from man that they talk with one another, they believe that what they are thinking and saying is their own, and every one esteems and loves what is his own. In this way spirits are constrained to love and esteem man, even when they do not know it. (H. 393.) 4. The Nature of Individual Influx. That there is an influx from the spiritual world through angels and spirits into man's affections and thoughts has been given me to know so mani- festly by the experience of now many years, that 62 THE PATH OF LIFE nothing can be more clear. I have been sensible of the influx not only as to my thoughts, but also as to my affection; and when evils and falsities flowed in, it was given me to know from what hells they came, and when goods and truths, from what angels. This has thus become so familiar to me that at length I have been able to know in re- gard to each thing of my thoughts and affections whence it came; and still they were as much my thoughts as were the thoughts which I had had before. Such is the influx that comes through spirits and angels. The order of influx is, that evil spirits first flow in, and angels dispel what they infuse. That there is such an influx man does not perceive, first, because his thought is kept in freedom through equilibrium between the two, and also because he gives no attention to such things. Nor could the evil know if they did attend, because with them there is no equilibrium between evil and good; but those who are in good may know. And such know also from the Word that there is something within which fights against evil and falsity with them, and that the spiritual man fights against the natural, thus the angels, who are in the things interior and spiritual of man fight against the evil spirits who are in the things exterior and natural of man; and for this reason the church is called militant. But the evil that flows into the thought from evil spirits does not at all hurt man unless he accepts it. But if he accepts it and transfers it from thought into pur- THE PATH OF LIFE 63 pose he makes it his own; and he then goes over to the side of infernal spirits, and withdraws from the angels of heaven. This the Lord teaches in Mark when He says, that not that which enters into a man defiles him, but that which comes out, because this is from the heart, that is, from the purpose. (A. 6307.) 5. Man Unconscious of These Ministrations. Man does not know at all that he is governed by the Lord by means of angels and spirits; and that with every man there are at least two spirits and two angels. Through spirits communication of man with the world of spirits is effected, and through angels with heaven. Without communica- tion through spirits with the world of spirits, and through heaven with the Lord, man can by no means live. His life depends entirely on that conjunction. If the spirits and angels should withdraw he would perish in a moment. While man is unregenerate, he is governed quite otherwise than when regenerated. While unre- generate there are evil spirits with him, who so domineer over him that the angels, though pres- ent, are scarcely able to do any thing more than just guide him so that he may not plunge into the lowest evil, and bend him to some good, in fact, to bend him by means of liis own desires, to good, and through the fallacies of the senses to truth. Pie then has communication with the world of spirits, through the spirits who are with him. 64 THE PATH OF LIFE but not so much with heaven, because evil spirits rule, and angels only avert their rule. But when man is regenerated, angels rule, and inspire him with all goods and truths, and with fear and horror of evils and falsities. The angels indeed lead, but only as ministers, for it is the Lord alone who governs man by means of angels and spirits. And because this is done through the ministry of angels it is said, in the plural number, " Let us make man in our image " ; and yet, be- cause the Lord alone governs and disposes, it is said in the following verse, in the singular number, " God created him in His own image." (A. 50.) 6. What the Angels do for Man. When angels flow in they incite the aSections, also, and affections contain in them innumerable things but of these innumerable things only a few are received by man — only those which are ap- plicable to what is already in his memory. The rest of the angelic influx encompasses man, and keeps him as it were in its bosom, (A. 6330. ) 7. Spirits Unconscious of their Presence with Man. TiiE spirits who are with man do not know that they are with him, because they are adjoined to his soul or spirit, and not to his body. Whatever there is in his body that pertains to his thought when it is determined into speech, and whatever there is in his body that pertains to his will when it is determined into act, flows in by a general in- flux in an orderly way, according to correspond- THE PATH or LIFE 65 ence with the Greater Man. Consequently, the spirits who are with man have no part in this iniiux. And therefore they do not speak through man's tongue, which would be obsession, nor see through his eyes nor hear through his ears what goes on in the world. (A. 6320.) XIV OWNHOOD * /. Omnhood Defined. Every man has an ownhood, and this he loves above all things. This is said to be the dominat- ing, or if you will, the universally ruling thing in him. It is unceasingly present in his thought and also in his will, and constitutes his veriest life. (A. 8853.) The goodness pertaining to faith and charity can be given neither to man nor angel so as to be his own ;.for men and angels are mere recipients, or forms adapted to the reception of life, that is, of good and truth from the Lord. Life itself is from no other source. And because life is from the Lord, it can be appropriated by man in no other way than as being in appearance his own. Moreover, those who are in the Lord clearly per- ceive that life flows in, consequently also good and truth, since these constitute life. Life appears to be man's own for the reason that the Lord, from * " Ownhood " is here used for the Latin term proprium, a word that has been translated in various ways by students of Swedenborg, "own" and "selfhood" being the most commonly used equivalents. The general trend at present is to adopt the Latin word itself into our own language, a tendency which is already recognized by some of our best English dictionaries. The Hon. John Bigelow adopted it as the title of a book, "Proprium." 66 THE PATH OF LIFE 67 His Divine Love, wishes to give to man and to conjoin to man His all; and this He does so far as possible. This ownhood which the Lord bestows is called the heavenly ownhood. (A. 8497.) 2. Results of lis Dominance. Ownhood is the totality of the evil and falsity that springs from the love of self and of the world and from not believing in the Lord or in the Word, but in self ; and thinking that what cannot be apprehended from sense and knowledge is noth- ing. In this way men become nothing but what is evil and false, and so look at all things per- versely. What is evil they see as good, and what is good as what is evil; and what is false they see as true, and what is true as false; things that are, they suppose to be nothing, and those that are nothing they think to be everything. (A. 310.) 3. The Appearance on which Ownhood Rests. It is a law of the Divine providence that man should act from freedom in accordance with reason, also that every thing a man wills, thinks, speaks, and does should appear to him to be from himself ; also that without this appearance no man could have any thing as his own nor could he be his own man {homo suus) ; thus he could have no own- hood (propriiim) ; and therefore nothing could be imputed to him; and without such imputation it would be a matter of indifference whether he did evil or good, whether he had the faith of God or the persuasion of hell; in a word, he would not be man. (P. 176.) 68 THE PATH OF LIFE 4. The Function of the Ownhood in Regeneration. The first state of all who are being reformed and being made spiritual is that they believe that they are reformed by themselves and not by the Lordj that is, they believe everything of the will of good and of the thought of truth to be from themselves. And they are left in this state by the Lord, because they can be reformed in no other way. For if before they have been regenerated, it should be said to them that they can do nothing of good from themselves, or think any thing of truth from themselves, they would then either fall into the error of thinking that they must wait for influx into the will and influx into the thought, and if this did not take place must attempt noth- ing, or into the error of thinking that if good and truth were from any other source than from them- selves, nothing would be imputed to them for righteousness; or into this, that so they would be as it were, machines, and not their own masters, or in control of themselves; or into some other errors. They are therefore permitted to think for a time that good and truth are from themselves. But when they have become regenerate, then by degrees the knowledge is communicated to them that the case is otherwise, and that all good and truth are solely from the Lord; and still further, when they are becoming more perfected, that what- ever does not come from the Lord is evil and false. To the regenerate, if not in the life of the body still in the other life, it is given not only to know this, but also to perceive it; for all angels are in the perception that it is so. (A. 3946.) XV FEEEDOM SECURED BY BALANCE OF INFLUENCES /. Freedom Essential to Regeneration. Unless a man is interiorly iu freedom in respect to all his affections and all his thoughts, he can never be So set in order that good and truth can take root. (A. 3879.)- 2. Equilibrium a Balance. Spiritual equilibrium, which is freedom of choice, may be compared to a balance, in each scale of which equal weights are placed; but if a slight weight is added to either scale, the tongue of the scale begins to vibrate. (T. 478.) 3. The Balance Unceasingly Regulated. It is God's gift that man should feel life in himself as if it were his own, and it is God's will that he should so feel, in order that man as if of himself may live in accordance with the laws of order which are as numerous as the precepts of the Word, and thus may dispose himself for the reception of God's love. Nevertheless, God per- petually holds with His finger the perpendicular above the scales, and moderates man's freedom of choice, but never violates it by compulsion. (T. 504.) 69 70 THE PATH OF LIFE 4. Freedom of Choice Defined. Man's freedom of choice is from this, that life in himself is felt as his own, and that G-od leaves him so to feel in order that a conjunction may be effected between them, which is not pos- sible unless it is reciprocal ; and it becomes recipro- cal when man acts from freedom altogether as if of himself. If God had not left this to man he would not be man, neither would he have eternal life; for reciprocal conjunction with God is the cause that man is a man and not a beast, and also that he lives after death to eternity. This is the effect of freedom of choice" in spiritual things. (T. 504.) 5. The Two Spheres of Influence. Thbee is around every man and every good spirit a general sphere of impulses from hell and a general sphere of impulses from heaven. The sphere from hell is one of impulses to do evil and to destroy; and the sphere from heaven is one of impulses to do good and to save. These are general spheres. In like manner there are particular spheres around every man, for spirits from hell are with him, and angels from heaven. In consequence of this man is in equilibrium and has the freedom to think and vrill evil, and the freedom to think and will good. When therefore the man of the church comes into temptation, which takes place when he is let down into his evil, there is a combat around him between spirits from hell and angels THE PATH OF LIFE 71 from heaven, which combat lasts as long as the man is kept in his evil. (A. 6657.) 6. How this Balance is USaintained. The existence and permanence of all things, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world depend upon the exact equilibrium between two activities. It is in this way that all things in both worlds are preserved; and without this all things would perish. In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good from heaven and evil from hell. For the Lord arranges unceasingly that all kinds and species of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in the hells evils and falsities that correspond by opposi- tion. The cause of these equilibriums is to be found in the fact that the same Divine goods and Divine truths that the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in the hells turn into evils and falsities. All angels, spirits and men are kept by the Lord in this equilibrium between good and evil, and thus between truth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may be led from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if by themselves, although in fact they are led by the Lord. For the same reason they are led in freedom from good to evil and from truth to falsity, and this, too, as if by them- selves, although the leading is from hell. (E. 1043.) 7. Wiiy Man is dissociated wit/i Evil Spirits. Spikits that communicate with hell are asso- ciated with man because man is born into evils 72 THE PATH OP LIFE of every kind, consequently his iirst life is wliolly evil; therefore unless spirits like himself were associated with him he could not live, nor indeed could he be withdrawn from his evils and re- formed. He is therefore both held in his own life by means of evil spirits and withheld from it by means of good spirits ; and by the two he is kept in equilibrium; and being in equilibrium he is in freedom, and can be drawn away from evils and turned towards good, and good can be im- planted in him, which would not be possible if he were not in freedom; and freedom is possible to man when the spirits from hell act on one side and spirits from heaven on the other, and man is be- tween the two. (H. 393.) 8. Spiritual Equilibrium. It is acknowledged that when two things act against each other and as much as one reacts and resists the other acts and impels neither has any effect, because there is equal power on either side, and both can be acted upon freely by a third. Such is the equilibrium between heaven and hell. It is not an equilibrium like that between two bodily combatants whose strength is equal; but it is a spiritual equilibrium, that is, an equilibrium of falsity against truth and of evil against good. Prom hell falsity from evil continually exhales, and from heaven truth from good. It is this spiritual equilibrium that ensures to man freedom to think and will ; for whatever a man thinks and wills has reference either to evil and falsity there- from or to good and truth therefrom. Therefore THE PATH OF LIFE 73 when man is in that equilibrium he is in freedom either to admit and accept evil and its falsity from hell or to admit and accept good and its truth from heaven. Every man is held in this equi- librium by the Lord, because the Lord rules both heaven and hell. (H. 537.) 9. The Lord Alone Can Preserve the Equilibrium. The equilibrium between the heavens and the hells is weakened or perfected in accordance with the number of those who enter heaven and who enter hell; and this amounts to several thousands daily. The Lord alone and no angel, can know and perceive this, and regulate and equalize it to a balance; for the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is omnipresent, and sees everywhere whether there is any wavering, while an angel sees only what is near himself and has no internal perception of what is taking place even in his own society. (H. 594.) XVI THE FUNCTIONS OP FEEBDOM /. The Divine Gift of Freedom. Ant one can see that a covenant cannot be en- tered into and conjunction be effected by it unless there is some return on man's part, not only in consent but also in acceptance. To this end the Lord has imparted to man a freedom to will and act as of himself, and such a freedom that man does not know otherwise, when he is thinking about truth and doing good, than that the freedom is in himself and thus from himself. There is this return on man's part in order that conjunction may be effected. But as this freedom is from the Lord, and con- tinually from him, man must always acknowledge and confess that thinking about and understand- ing truth and willing and doing good are not from himself, but are from the Lord. (E. 1037.) 2. The Functions of Freedom. Man cannot be reformed unless he has freedom, for the reason that he is born into evils of every kind; and these evils must be removed in order that man may be saved; and they cannot be re- moved unless he sees them in himself and acknowl- edges them, and afterwards ceases to vsdll them, and finally holds them in aversion. Not until then 74 THE PATH or LIFE 75 are they removed. And this cannot be done unless man is in good as well as in evil, since it is from good that he is able to see evils, while from evil he cannot see good. The spiritual goods that man is capable of thinking about he learns from childhood by read- ing the Word and from preaching; and he learns moral and civil good from his life in the world. This is the first reason why man ought to be in freedom. Another reason is that nothing is appropriated to man except what is done from an affection of his love. Other things may gain entrance, but no farther than the thought, not reaching the will; and whatever does not gain entrance into the will of man does not become his, for thought derives what pertains to it from memory, while the will derives what pertains to it from the life itself. Only what is from the will, or what is the same, from an affection of love, can be called free, for whatever a man wills or loves that he does freely; consequently man's freedom and the affection of Ms love or his will are one. It is for this reason that man has freedom, namely, that he may have an affection for truth and good or may love them, and truth and good may thus become as if they were his own. In a word, whatever does not enter into man's freedom has no permanence, because it does not belong to his love or will and what does not belong to man's love or will does not belong to his spirit ; for the very being (esse) of the spirit of man is love or will. It is said love or will, since a man 76 THE PATH OF LIFE wills what he loves. This is why man can be re- formed only in freedom. (H. 598.) 3. Regeneration Effected by the Lord through Man's Freedom. There are two things that are in man's freedom by reason of the unceasing presence of the Lord, and His nnceasing desire to conjoin Himself with man. The first is that man has therein the means and the capacity to think in the right way about the Lord and the neighbor. For every one is able to think freely in a right or a wrong way about the Lord and the neighbor. If he thinks in a right way the door is opened, if in a wrong way it is shut. The other thing which is in man's freedom, by reason of the unceasing presence of the Lord with him, and the Lord's unceasing desire to conjoin Himself with man, is man's ability to abstain from evils; and so far && man does abstain from them, the Lord opens the door and enters; for the Lord is unable to open and enter so long as evils are in man's thought and will, since these block the way and close it up. Moreover, the ability has been given to man by the Lord to know about the evils of thought and will, and the truths by which evils are to be dispersed ; for the Word is given wherein these things are disclosed. From all this it can be seen that nothing is lack- ing that man may be reformed if he wishes to be ; for all the means of reformation have been be- queathed to man in his freedom; but it should be clearly recognized that this freedom is from the THE PATH OF LIFE 77 Lord, and that the Lord effects reformation by means of it to the extent that man, from the freedom that is given to every one, receives. Ee- ception must be wholly from man, which is meant by " If any one hear My voice and open the door." It does not matter, since man does not perceive the inflowing, that in the beginning he does not know that all this is done by the Lord, provided he afterwards believes from the Word that all good of love and truth of faith are from the Lord, for it is the Lord who effects these things, althoiigh man does not know it, and this by His unceasing presence, which is signified by " I stand at the door and knock." In short, it is the Lord's wish that man should of himself abstain from evil things and do good, and should also believe that the ability to do so is not from man, but from the Lord; for it is the Lord's will that there be re- ception on man's part, and such reception is pos- sible only as man acts as of himself, though in fact from the Lord. Thus is the ability to reciprocate given in man, and this is his new will. (E. 248.) XVII EVIL /. Evil Defined. Evil is the delight of a lust for acting and thinking contrary to Divine order, and good is the delight of an affection for acting and thinking in accordance with Divine order. There are myriads of lusts that enter into and compose every single evil, and myriads of affections in like manner that enter into and compose every single good; and these myriads are in such order and connection in man's interiors that no one can be changed unless at the same time all are changed. Those who do not know this may hold the belief or opinion that evil, which to them seems to be a single thing, can easily be removed; and good, which also appears to be a single thing, can be brought in in its place. As such do not know what evil is and what good is they must needs be of the opinion that instant salvation and mercy apart from means are possible. (P. 279.) 2. Different Sorts of Evil. Iisr the Word evils are sometimes called sins, sometimes iniquities, and again trespasses or trans- gressions ; but what is meant specifically by these several terms is not plain except from the internal sense. Those evils are called transgressions which 78 THE PATH or LIFE 79 are done contrary to the truths of faith ; those are called iniquities which are done contrary to the goods of faith; and those are called sins which are done contrary to the goods of charity and love. The first two proceed from a perverted understanding, but the last from a depraved will. (A. 9156.) 3. How Evil Originated. " Mait was so created that all that he wills, thinks and does appears to him as if it were in himself and thus of himself. Without this appear- ance a man would not be man — for he could not receive, retain, and as it were appropriate to him- self anything of good and truth, or of love and vns- dom. Whence it follows that without this just as if living appearance, man would have no con- Junction with God, and therefore no eternal life. But if from this appearance he brings himself into the belief that he does will, think, and therefore do good of himself, and not from the Lord — although it is in all appearance as if of himself — he then turns good into evil within him, and thus makes in himself the origin of evil. This was the sin of Adam." (M. 444.) 4. God not t/ie Source of Evil. God did n'ot create evil, but evil was introduced by man himself. Man turns into evil the good that is continually flowing in from God, thereby turning himself away from God and towards him- self. When this is done, although the delight in good may remain it is changed into delight in 80 THE PATH OF LIFE evil. For unless a seemingly similar delight re- mained man could not continue to live; since de- light constitutes the very life of man's love. (T. 490.) 5. In Appearance Man's Life Is His Own. The opinion that life is in man in such a way as to be his own is purely an appearance that springs from the unceasing presence of the Lord, and also from His Divine love, in that He wills to be conjoined to man, to be in him, and to impart to him His life. Such is the Divine love. And because this appearance is unceasing and continu- ous, man concludes that life is in him to be his own, and yet the fact is that there is not a single good or truth [originally] in man; but they all come from above, that is, they flow in. It is the same with love and faith ; for everything of man's love is from [the inflowing] good, and everything of his faith is from [the inflowing] truth; for what a man loves is good to him, and what he be- lieves is truth to him. (E. 349.) 6. Ulan not Created Evil. If man were bom into the love into which he was first created he would not be in any evil, nor would he even know what evil is. The love into which man was created is love to the neighbor, to the end that he may wish as well to the neighbor as to himself and even better, and may be in the delight of that love when he is doing good to the neighbor; nearly the same as a parent's love for his children. THE PATH OF LIFE 81 This love is truly human, for there is in it a spiritual element that distinguishes it from the natural love that belongs to brute animals. If man were bom into that love he would not be bom into the thick darkness of ignorance, as every man now is, but into a certain light of knowledge and intel- ligence therefrom; and these he would quickly come into after birth. (P. 275.) 7. How Man Attributes Evil and Falsity to Himself. The man who thinks he lives of himself is in a false persuasion; and in believing that he has life from himself he attributes every evil and falsity to himself — which he would by no means do if he believed as the fact really is. (A. 150.) 8. How the Primal Loves of Man Become Perverted. Max was created to love self and the world, to love the neighbor and heaven, and to love the Lord. For this reason when a man is bom he first loves himself and the world, and afterwards, so far as he becomes wise, he loves the neighbor and heaven, and as he becomes still wiser he loves the Lord. Such a man is in the Divine order, and is actually led by the Lord, although apparently by himself. But so far as he fails to become wise he stops at the first stage, which is to love himself and the world; and if he also loves the neighbor, heaven and the Lord, it is for the sake of self before the world. But if he continues to be wholly unwise he loves himself alone, and the world and also the neighbor for the sake of self ; while heaven and the 6 82 THE PATH OF LIFE Lord he either despises or denies or hates in heart, if not in words. Such are the sources of the love of self and of the love of the world. And as these loves constitute hell it is evident whence hell is. (E. 1144.) 9. How Evil Becomes Confirmed. In regard to the origin of the influx of evil from hell [into man] the case is this. When a man first from consent, then from purpose, and lastly from enjojrment of affection, casts himself into evil there is a hell opened which is in such evil — for according to evils and all their varieties the hells are distinct one from another — and then there comes to be an influx from that hell. When man thus comes into evil, it clings to him ; for the hell in the sphere of which he then is, is in its very enjoyment when it is in its evil. Wherefore it does not refrain, hut obstinately presses in and causes man to think about that evil, at first occa- sionally, and afterward as often as anything pre- sents itself which is related to it, and at last it comes to rule in him universally. And when this is the case, he seeks out such things as confirm [him in the belief] that it is not an evil, and this until he wholly persuades himself so. And then, so far as he is able, he studies to remove external bonds, and makes evils allowable and clever, and at length creditable and honorable — such as adulteries, thefts effected by art and deceit, various sorts of arrogance and boasting, contempt of others, slanders, persecu- tions under an appearance of Justice, and the like. (A. 6203.) THE PATH OF LIFE 83 10. Evil in Thought only, not Harmful. Evil which merely enters into the thought does not harm man, because evil is constantly infused by spirits from hell, and is constantly repelled by angels. But when evil enters into the will, it does harm, for it then also goes forth into act whenever external bonds do not restrain. Evil enters into the will by detention in the thought, by consent, especially by act and enjoyment therefrom. (A. 6204.) //. How God Is Present in Evil Men. God is in man ; fully in him to the extent that he is living in accordance with Divine order. He is also in him even if he is not living in accordance with Divine order; but in that case only in the highest regions in him, thereby giving him the ability to understand what is tru.e and to will what is good. But so far as man lives contrary to order he shuts up the lower regions of his mind or spirit, and thus prevents God's descending and filling these lower regions with His presence; and in con- sequence, although God is in him he is not in God. (T. 70.) XVIII INHEEITED EVIL /. Its Origin and Nature. At the present time it is believed in tlie church that all inherited evil is from our first parent, and therefore that all are under condemnation in con- sequence of it. But this is not so. Inherited evil is derived from each one's parents and parents of parents, that is, from grandparents and ancestors successively. Ever}^ evil that these acquired by actiTal living, so that it became by frequent use or habit a part of their nature, was transmitted to their children and became to them inherited evil, in addition to that which was implanted in the parents from grandparents and ancestors. Inherited evil from the father is interior, and inherited evil from the mother is exterior. The former cannot be eradicated easily but the latter can. When man is regenerated, the inherited evil enrooted from his nearest ancestors is extirpated ; but with those who are not regenerated, or cannot be, it remains. But what inherited evil is few know. It is be- lieved to be merely doing evil ; but it is willing and thence thinking evil. Inherited evil is both in the will itself and in the thought therefrom. It is known by the enjoyment that is felt when evil hap- pens to another. The root lies deep ; for the inte- rior form itself that receives good and truth from 84 THE PATH OF LIFE 85 heaven or through heaven from the Lord, becomes so depraved, and, so to speak, distorted that when good and truth flow in from the Lord, they are reflected back or perverted or suffocated. It is on this account that there is no perception of good and truth at this day, but in place of it with the regenerate a conscience which acknowledges as good and true what is learned from parents and masters. (A. 4317.) 2. Actual Evils not Inherited. Man" is not born into actual evils, but only into an inclination to evils, with a greater or less pro- clivity towards particular evils; consequently after death man is not judged from any inherited evil, but from the actual evils which he has himself committed. This is evident from the following statute of the Lord : "The father shall not die for the son, and the son shall not die for the father; everyone shall die for his own sin" (Deut. xxiv. 16). (T. 581.) 3. Spiritual Charity not inherited. A MAN" can by no means of himself act from spiritual Justice and fidelity; for while every one inherits from his parents a disposition to do what is just and good for the sake of himself and the world, no man inherits a disposition to do it for the sake of what is good and just; consequently, only he who worships the Lord, and acts from Him when acting from himself, attains to spiritual charity, and becomes imbued with it by the practice of it. (T. 423.) 86 THE PATH OF LIFE 4. Inherited Evil Serves as a Nurse. Max derives evil from both of his parents, and such evil is called inherited evil. This evil, al- though man is bom into it, does not manifest itself until he becomes an adult and acts from his un- derstanding and from his will therefrom. Mean- while it lies concealed, especially in infancy. And since by the mercy of the Lord no one is blamable for what is inherited, but only for what is actual, and what is inherited cannot became actual until man acts from his own understanding and his own will, therefore children are led by the Lord by means of children and angels from Him, and consequently they appear in a state of innocence, inherited evil still lurking in everything they do. This evil serves as a sort of nourishment to them, or is as a nurse, up to the time of their attaining to their own discretion ; and then, if they are re- generated, they are led on by the Lord into a state of new infancy, and at length into heavenly wis- dom, thus into a genuine infancy, that is, into innocence ; for genuine infancy or innocence dwells in wisdom. The difference is, that the innocence of infancy is then without and inherited evil is within; but in the other case the innocence of wisdom is mthin, and evil both actual and in- herited is without. (A, 4563.) 5. Man not Responsible for his Inherited Evils. ISTo one ever suffers punishment in the other life on account of inherited evil, because it is not his, and thus he is not responsible for being of this nature ; but he suffers from actual evil which THE PATH OF LIFE 87 is his own, and thus also for as much as he has appropriated to himself of inherited evil by actual life. It is not, therefore, for the sake of punish- ment that children on becoming adult are let into the state of their inherited evil, but that they may know that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and that they are brought out of the hell which is with them into heaven by the mercy of the Lord, and that they are not in heaven from their own merit, but from the Lord ; and thus that they may not boast before others of the good which is in them ; for this is contrary to the good of mutual love, as it is contrary to the truth of faith. (A. 2308.) XIX INHEEITBD GOOD /. Good as well as Evil Inherited. The good into which man is bom he derives from his parents, either father or mother; for everything that parents have contracted by fre- quent use and habit, or have become imbued with by actual life, till it has become so familiar to them that it appears as if natural, is derived into their children. Where parents have lived in the good of the love of good, and in that life have their enjoy- ment and blessedness, and have conceived offspring in that state, the offspring receives therefrom an inclination to like good. When parents have lived in the good of the love of truth and in that life have found their enjoyment, if they are in that state when they conceive offspring, the offspring receives thetefrom an inclination to like good. (A. 3469.) 2. Inherited Good and Good Derived from Religion. Good in man is from two sources. It is either from what is inherited and consequently foreign, or it is from the doctrine of faith and charity, or with the heathen from their religion. Good from the former source is natural good, not spiritual, while good from the latter source is natural spir- itual good. Truth is from a like origin, because all good has its own truth adjoined to it. THE PATH OF LIFE 89 Good natural which is from what is inherited, and hence is foreign, has many things in affinity with good natural from the doctrine of faith and charity or one's religion; but only so in external form, being entirely different in its internal. Good natural from inheritance may be compared to the good given with gentle animals; but good natural from religion pertains only to man, who acts from reason and who knows therefrom how to administer good in various ways according to uses. This administration of good is taught by the doctrines of justice and right, and in a higher de- gree by the doctrines of faith and charity, and with those who are truly rational is also in many things confirmed by reason. Those who do good from inheritance are carried along blindly by a sort of instinct into acts of charity, but those who do good from religion are carried along by an internal obligation, and, as it were, with their eyes open. In a word, those who do good from inheritance do it not from any conscience of what is just and right, still less from a conscience of spiritual truth and good; but those who do good from religion do it from conscience. (A. 4988.) Some receive by inheritance a kind of softness of heart. (A. 1033.) 3. Good from Inheritance and from Conscience. Theke are many who enjoy natural good from inheritance, by virtue of which they have enjoy- ment in doing good to others, but have not been 90 THE PATH OF LIFE imbued with the principles of well-doing derived from the Word or the doctrine of the church or from their religion. Thus they have not been en- dowed with any conscience, for conscience does not come from natural or inherited good and a life in accordance therewith. When such come into the other life, they wonder that they are not received into heaven, saying that they have led a good life. But they are told that a good life is not a life from what, is natural or inherited, but a good life must come from the doc- trines of good and truth and a life according thereto. Thereby they have principles impressed on them concerning truth and good, and receive conscience therefrom which is the plane into which heaven flows. That they may know that this is so, they are sent into various societies and there they suffer themselves to be led astray into evils of every kind, merely by reasonings and by persuasions there- from that evil things are good and good things are evil, and thus they are persuaded in every direc- tion, and are carried away as chaff before the wind ; for they are without principles and without a plane into which angels may operate and withdraw them from evils. (A. 6208.') XX THE DIVINE PROVISIONS FOR HUMAN SALVATION (a) The Divine Human before the Incae- NATION /. Known only through Representatives. Before the incarnation there was no Divine Human [known to man] except a representative one through some angel whom Jehovah the Lord filled with His spirit. And because this was rep- resentative, all things of the church were at that time representative, and as something obscure ; but, after the incarnation representatives ceased, or be- came like the shades of evening or of night before sunrise. This representative Human in which Jehovah manifested Himself in the world before His actual advent, was not of such efficacy that it could spiritually enlighten men, and consequently, there could then be enlightenment in no other way than by means of types and figures. (Q. vii.) 2. The Divine Hunnan in the Ancient Churches. The Divinity of the Ancient Church was the Lord in respect to the Divine Human. This the Ancient Church had from the Most Ancient, for 91 92 THE PATH OF LIFE Jehovah was seen by them in a human form. Therefore when they thought about Jehovah they did not think about Him as a universal entity, of which they could have no [distinct] idea, but they thought about a Human Divine wherein their thoughts could be terminated, for thereby they could not only think about Jehovah, but could also be conjoined to Him by love. Those who belonged to the Ancient Church, and especially those of the most Ancient, were much wiser than the men of our time, and yet they were unable to think about Jehovah otherwise than as a Man whose Human was Divine. Nor did there flow into their thoughts any unbecoming idea derived from the natural man and his weakness and evil; but what flowed in re- lating to Him was altogether holy. ISTor can the angels themselves, who so far excel men in wisdom, think otherwise of the Divine, for in the Divine Human they see the Lord. They know that an angel, in whom all things are finite, can have no idea of the Infinite except through what resembles the finite. That in ancient times Jehovah was worshipped as a Human Divine is very evident from the angels that were, seen by Abraham in a human form, and afterwards by Lot, also by Joshua, and by Gideon and Manoah, which angels were called Jehovah and were worshipped as the God of the universe'. If at this day Jehovah were to appear in the church as a Man, men would be offended, and would think that inasmuch as He appeared as a Man He could not possibly be the Creator and Lord of the universe. Moreover, they would have no THH PATH OF LIFE 93 other idea, of Him than as being a common man. In this they believe themselves to be wiser than the ancients, not being aware that in this they are wholly removed from wisdom. For when the thought is directed to the idea of a universal entity altogether incomprehensible, the idea falls into nothing, and is wholly dissipated; and then in place of it comes the idea of nature, to which all things are attributed. It is in consequence of this that the worship of nature is at this day so com- mon, especially in the Christian world. (A. 6876.) 3. Revealed as the Angel of the Lord. When Jehovah appeared to men before the coming of the Lord into the world. He appeared in the form of an angel, because when He passed through the heavens He clothed Himself with that form, which was the human form. For the whole heaven, from the Divine that is therein, is as one man, as has been abundantly shown in treating of the Greater Man, which is heaven; and from that is the Divine Human. And although Jehovah ap- peared in the human form as an angel, it is plain that still it was Jehovah Himself; and also that that very form was His form, since it was His Divine in heaven. This was the Lord from eter- nity. But as that human form was assumed by passing through heaven, and yet to save the human race it was necessary for it to be really and essen- tially man, it pleased Him to be born and to as- sume therehy a human form actually wherein was Jehovah Himself. (A. 10579.) 94 THE PATH OF LIFE 4. The Incarnation Foreknown. The God, who was worshipped in the Ancient Church, was the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, and it was known to them that it was the Lord who was represented in all the rites of their church ; and many of them knew also that the Lord was to come into the world, and to make the Human in Himself Divine. (A. 6846.) 5. God Thinkable only as the Divine Human. The Ancient Church which was after the flood, and more especially the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, understood by the titles " Jehovah " and " God " no other than the Lord, and, in fact, no other than the Lord in re- spect to His Divine Human. They knew about the essential Divine which is in the Lord, and which He calls His " Father." I^evertheless they were unable to think about that essential Divine which is in the Lord, but only about a Divine Human. Consequently they could be conjoined with no other Divine; for conjunction is effected by means of thought, which pertains to the un- derstanding, and by means of affection, which per- tains to the will, thus by means of faith and love. For when we think of the essential Divine the thought strays as it were into a boundless uni- verse, and is thus dissipated, and in consequence there is no conjunction. But it is otherwise when one thinks of the essential Divine as being the Divine Human. (A. 5663.) THE PATH OF LIFE 95 (b) Necessity foe the Incarnation /. Why Needed. [Before the incarnation] the Divine Human was the essential Divine as it is in heaven, that is, in the Greater Man, and was Jehovah Himself clothed in this way with the Human. But when the Human race had become such that the essential Divine, so clothed as to be the Divine Human in heaven, could no longer effectively influence men, that is, when Jehovah could no longer reach man because man had so far removed himself, then Jehovah, who is the Lord in respect to the essen- tial Divine, came down and took upon Himself a human which was by conception Divine, while by its birth from a virgin it was such as is the human of other men. This human He put away, and by Divine means made the human so bom to be Di- vine; and from this all holiness proceeds. Thus the Human came to be Essence in Itself, which fills the entire heaven, and also enables those to be saved who could not otherwise be saved. And this is now the Lord who as to His Divine Human is alone Man, and from whom man has it that he is man. (A. 3061.) 2. The Human Race thereby Reached and Saved. When everything heavenly in man had per- ished, that is, all love to God, so that there was no longer any willing of anything good, the human race became separated from the Divine; for nothing conjoins but love, and when this became a nonen- "IP 96 THE PATH OP LIFE tity there was disjunction; and when there is disjunction, destruction and extirpation follow. Therefore a promise was then given respecting the Lord's coming into the world, that He might unite the Human to the Divine, and hy this union might bring together in Himself the whole human race through a faith of love and charity. From the time of the first promise (Gen. iii. 15) through a faith of love to the Lord who was to come, there was such a conjunction. Again, when there was no longer any faith of love remaining in the whole world, the Lord came and united the Human Essence to the Divine Es- sence, so that these were altogether one, as He clearly says. At the same time He taught the way of truth, namely, that every one who believed in Him, that is, who loved Him and the things which pertain to Him, and who partook of His love, which is a love toward the whole human race and thus toward the neighbor, would he conjoined with Him and saved. When the Human had been made Divine and the Divine had been made Human in the Lord, there was with man an influx of the Infinite or Supreme Divine which could not have otherwise existed at all. And hy this influx the direful per- suasion of falsity and the direful lusts for evil with which the world of spirits was filled, and with which it was continually being filled from the souls arriving from the world were dispersed, and those who were in those persuasions and lusts were cast THE PATH OF LIFE 97 into hell, and thus were kept apart. Unless this had been done, the human race would have per- ished; for it is ruled by the Lord through spirits. Nor could they have been dispersed in any other way. (A. 2034.) 5. Redemption Effected Thereby. Redemption consisted in subjugating the hells, restoring the heavens to order, and after this re- establishing the church; and this redemption God with Plis omnipotence could effect only by means of the Human, as it is only by means of an arm that one can work. In the Word this Human of the Lord is called the arm of Jehovah. In no other way would it be possible for God, who is in the inmost and thus in the purest things, to pass over to outmost things, in which the hells are and in which the men of that time were ; just as the soul can do nothing without a body, or as no one can conquer an enemy without coming in sight of him, or approaching and getting near to him with proper equipments. (T. 81.) 4. The Need too great for Human Comprehension. He to whom it has not been given to know heavenly arcana, may think that there was no need of the Lord's coming into the world to fight against the hells, and by temptations admitted into Him- self to vanquish and conquer them; when they might have been subjugated at any time by the Divine Omnipotence, and shut up in their hells. But that this could not have been done is a certain truth. 7 98 THE PATH OF LIFE To imfold these arcana even in a general way would fill a whole work; and it would also give occasion for reasonings about Divine mysteries which human minds could not comprehend, how- ever fully they might be unfolded; and most peo- ple would not wish to comprehend them. There- fore, it is enough to know, and, because it is so, to believe, that it is an eternal truth that unless the Lord had come into the world and subjugated and conquered the hells by temptations admitted into Himself, the human race would have perished ; and that otherwise those who have been on this earth even from the time of the Most Ancient Church could not possibly have been saved. (A. 1676.) 5. The Essential Divine Incompreliensible. No one can be conjoined by faith and love to the essential Divine apart from the Divine Human; for the essential Divine, which is called the Father, cannot be thought about because it is incompre- hensible ; and what cannot be thought about cannot become an object of faith, nor therefore an object of love; when yet the head of all worship is to be- lieve in God, and to love Him above all things. That the essential Divine, which is the Father, is incomprehensible, the Lord teaches in John : " No one hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him" (i. 18). (A. 10067.) THE PATH OF LIFE 99 6. The Foundations Destroyed. The human race is related to the heavens as a base to a column, or as a foundation to a palace; consequently the heavens rest pennanently in order upon the things of the church that are with men in the world, thus upon Divine truths in outmosts which are such Divine truths as are in the sense of the letter of the Word. What force there is in these truths cannot be told in a few words. Into these outmosts with man the Lord ilows from Him- self, thus from things first, and He thereby rules and keeps together in order and connection all things in the spiritual world. And because Divine power itself resides in the outmosts, the Lord Himself came into the world and became Man that He might be in outmosts at the same time as in things first, to the end that through outmosts, from things first. He might reduce all things to order that had become dis- ordered, namely, all things in the hells and all things in the heavens. This was the reason of the Lord's coming, for at the time just before His coming there was no Divine truth in outmosts which had not been falsified and perverted, either in men in the world, or still less in the church which then existed with the Jewish nation. Con- sequently there was no foundation for the heavens to rest upon; and unless the Lord had come into the world and had thus Himself assumed an' out- most, the heavens that were made up of the inhab- itants of this earth would have been transferred elsewhere, and the whole human race on this earth would have perished in eternal death. (E. 726.) 100 THE PATH OP LIFE (c) The Incarnation Accomplished /. The Incarnation Foreordained. As God from His very essence burned with a love to unite Himself with man, He must needs in order to do this, veil Himself with a body adapted to reception and conjunction. For this reason He came down and took on a Human in accordance with the order established by Him from the crea- tion of the world ; which order was, that by means of a power generated from Himself a Human should be conceived, carried in the womb, and born, and then increase in wisdom and love, and thereby draw near to a union with its Divine origin. Thus God became Man and Man became God. (T. 838.) 2. Wtiy tlie Human Was Assumed. The faith of the New Heaven and the New Church in its universal form is as follows. The Lord, from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subjugate the hells and to glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could have been saved; and those are saved who believe in Him. (T. 2.) Jehovah God had from eternity a Human such as the angels in the heavens have, although of infinite essence and therefore Divine, but did not have such a human as men on the earth have. But Jehovah God assumed such a human as men on the earth have, in accordance with His own Divine Orrler, which is that it should be conceived, bom, THE PATH OF LIFE 101 grow up, and be gradually initiated into Divine Wisdom and Divine Love. (Can. viii.) 3. How the Human Was Assumed. Since it was God who descended, and since He is order itself, it was necessary, if He was to be- come man actually, that He should be conceived, carried in the womb, bom, educated, acquire knowledges gradually, and thereby be introduced into intelligence and wisdom. For this reason He was in respect to His Human, an infant like other infants, a boy like other boys, and so on; with the sole difference that this development was ac- complished in Him more quickly, more fully, and more perfectly than in others. That this develop- ment was in accordance with order is evident from these words in Lul-ce : " And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit. And He advanced in wis- dom, and in stages of life, and in favor with God and man" (ii. 40, 52). That this was done more quickly, more fully, and more perfectly than with others is evident from what is said of Him in the same Gospel, that when He was twelve years old He sat in the temple in the midst of the doctors and taught them, and that all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers (ii. 46, 47; and iv. 16-22, 32). (T. 89.) 4. Man God's Dwelling-place. All this took place because Divine order re- quires that man should prepare himself for the reception of God ; and in proportion as he prepares himself, God enters into him as into His dwelling- place and home; and this preparation is effected 102 THE PATH OF LIFE by means of knowledges respecting God and the spiritual things pertaining to the church, and thus by means of intelligence and wisdom. For it is a law of order that in proportion as man approaches and gets near to God (which he must do wholly as if of hiniself) does God approach and get near to man, and conjoin Himself with man in man's interiors. It was in accordance with this order that the Lord progressed even to a oneness with His Father. (T. 89.) 5. The Lord Became thereby more nearly Present with Man. Befoee the Lord came into the world He was present with men of the church, but only mediately, through angels who represented Him. But since His coming He is present with men of the church immediately; and this for the reason that He put on, when He was in the world, a Divine Natural in which He is present with men. The glorification of the Lord is the glorification of the Human that He assumed in the world; and the Lord's glorified Human is the Divine Natural. The truth of this is evident from the fact that the Lord rose from the tomb with the whole of the body that He had in the world, leaving nothing in the tomb, and therefore He took with Him from the tomb the Natural Human itself from the firsts to the lasts of it. So after the resurrection when His disciples thought that what they saw was a ghost, He said unto them : " See my hands and my feet that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a ghost hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have " (Luke xxiv. 37, 39). This makes it clear that by THE PATH OF LIFE 103 means of His glorification His natural body was made Divine. Therefore Paul says, that in Christ dwelleth all the fulness of Divinity bodily (Col. ii. 9). (T. 109.) 6. Only through God Incarnated Could Man be Re' deemed and Saved. Eedemption could not have been effected, and hence neither could salvation have been ensured except by God incarnated. The Word of the Old and Kew Testament teaches that God was incarnated. Before God was incarnated all tlie worship of the church fore^ shadowed and had regard to Him after His incar- nation, and hence and from no other ground was that worship Divine. God Incarnated is Jehovah our Eighteousness, Jehovah our Eedemption, Jeho- vah our Salvation, and Jehovah our Truth; and all these are meant by the two names, Jesus Christ. God not incarnated could not have fought against the hells and conquered them. God not incarnated could not have been tempted, still less have suf- fered the cross. God not incarnated could not have been seen and known; and thus could not have been approached, and so could not have been conjoined to men and angels. Faith in God not incarnated is impossible, but only in Him incar- nated. Hence it was said by the ancients, that " no one can see God and live," and by the Lord, that "no one hath seen the shape of the Father nor heard His voice." Moreover, by means of angels God had revealed Himself in the sight of the ancients in a human form, which form was a representative of God Incarnated. 104 THE PATH OF LIFE From all this it follows, that Eedemptioii could by no means have been effected except by means of God Incarnated; and there could have been no salvation except by God Incarnated, that is, by the Lord the Eedeemer and Saviour; which salvation is perpetual redemption. Consequently those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal life; and those who do not believe in Him have not that life. (Can. viii.) 7. How Man Is Saved through the Incarnation. How man was saved and redeemed by the Divine through the subjugation of the hells and the glori- fication of His Human, no one can know unless he knows that there are with every man angels from heaven and spirits from hell, and that unless these are present with man continually, he can neither think nor will anything; consequently, in respect to his interiors, man is always either under the dominion of spirits from hell, or is under the dominion of angels from heaven. When this is known it can be seen that unless the Lord had wholly subjugated the hells, and reduced all things both there and in the heavens into order, no one could have been saved; nor could any have been saved unless the Lord had made His Human Divine and had thereby ac- quired to Himself Divine power over the hells and over the heavens to eternity. This could not have been effected by the essential Divine which is called the Father, apart from the Divine Human which is called the Son, because the essential Divine apart from the Divine Human could reach neither man nor angel because the human race had then re- moved itself wholly from the Divine. THE PATH OF LIFE 105 This is wliat had come to pass in this final period when there was no longer any faith nor any charity. Therefore it was then that the Lord came into the world and restored all things, and this He did from His Human, and thereby saved and re- deemed man. (A. 10152.) 8. The Hells Overthrown. The diabolical crew, that is, the hells, had at this time become so rampant for the reason that the Divine passing through heaven, which was, until the coming of the Lord, the Divine Human, could no longer prevail against the evils and fal- sities which had so immensely increased. There- fore it pleased the Divine Himself to assume a human and to make it Divine, and^at the same time by combats admitted into Himself to cast that diabolical crew into the hells, and shut them in there, and subject them to the heavens and at the same time also to reduce the heavens themselves to order. Because of these combats the Lord is here called " a man of war," and also afterwards because, when He had thus conquered the hells and been made righteousness. He by Divine power pro- tects men, and this continually and especially in the combats of temptations. (A. 8873.) 9. Conjunction only with the Lord's Divine Human. Man's conjunction with the Lord is not with His Supreme Divine Itself, hut with His Divine Human; for a man can have no idea at all of the Supreme Divine of the Lord, which so transcends his thought that it altogether perishes and becomes 106 THE PATH OF LIFE nothing. But he can have an idea of His Divine Human. For any one may be conjoined by thought and affection with one about whom he has some idea, but not with one about whom he has no idea. When one thinks of the Lord's Human, if there is holiness within his thought, he thinks also of the holiness that fills heaven from the Lord, and thus also of heaven; for heaven in its complex is presented as one man, and this from the Lord. Thus it is that conjunction is not possible with the Supreme Divine of the Lord, but only with His Divine Human, and through His Divine Human with His Supreme Divine. Therefore it is said in John, that no one hath seen God at any time, but the Only -begotten Son; and that no one can come to the Father except through Him; and because of this He is also the Mediator. That this is so may be clearly knovni from the fact that all within the church who say that they believe in a Supreme Being but make no account of the Lord, are those who believe nothing at all, not even that there is a heaven, nor that there is a hell, but worship nature only. More- over, if they would be taught by experience, they would see that the evils, even the worst, say the same thing. (A. 4211.) 10. The Need of a Natural Basis of Thought. Man is so natural and sensual as to be quite incapable of any clear thought concerning anything abstract unless there is adjoined to it something natural that has entered from the world through the senses. For without some such natural basis his thought perishes as in an abyss and is dissi- THE PATH or LIFE 107 pated. Therefore, lest the Divine should perish in those who were wholly immersed in corporeal and earthly things, and in those in whom it re- mained, should be defiled by impure ideas, and along with it everything celestial and spiritual from the Divine, it pleased Jehovah to manifest Himself actually as He is, and as He appears in heaven, namely, as a Divine Man. This Divine, or this (presence) of Jehovah in heaven, is the Lord from eternity. This Divine the Lord took upon Him when He glorified or made Divine the human in Himself; as is evident from the form in which He appeared before Peter, James, and John, when He was transfigured. (A. 5110.) (d) Humiliation and Gloeification /. State of " Exinanition " Described. The Lord's progress toward union was His state of exinanition [emptying Himself], and the union itself was His state of Glorification. It is acknowledged in the church that when the Lord was in the world he was in two states, called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification. This former state, namely, the state of exinanition, is described in the Word in many places, especially in the Psalms of David and in the Prophets, and particularly in Isaiah (ch. liii.) where it is said: That He emptied His soul even unto death (v. 12). This same state was His state of humiliation before the Father, for in it He prayed to the Father; and He says that He does the Father's will, and ascribes to the Father all that He did and said. That He prayed to the Father is evi- 108 THE PATH OF LIFE dent from Matt. xxvi. 39, 44, and others; that He did the Father's will, John iv. 34, v. 30; f^at He ascribed to the Father all that He did and said: John viii. 26-28 . . . He even cried out upon the cross : " My God, My God, why hast Thou for- saken Me?" (Matt, xxvii. 46). Moreover, except for this state He could not have been crucified. But the state of glorification is also the state of union. He was in that state when lie was trans- figured before His three disciples, and also when He wrought miracles, and whenever He said that the Father and He are one, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and that all things of the Father are His ; and, when the union was com- plete, that He had " power over all flesh " (John xvii. 2), and "all power in heaven and on earth" (Matt, xxviii. 18) ; besides other things. (T. 104.) 2. Humiliation versus Glorificaiion. The Lord's state of humiliation was when He was in the human which He had from the mother. His state of glorification was when He was in the Divine which He had from Jehovah His Father. The former state, that is, the human from the mother, the Lord wholly put off, and when He passed out of the world He put on the Divine Human and returned to the Divine Itself, in which He was from eternity (John xvii. 5) together with the Human made Divine; from both of which is the Holy which fills the whole heaven; and thus from the Divine Itself and the Divine Human by means of the proceeding Holy, He governs the uni- verse. (A. 2288.) THE PATH OF LIFE 109 3. Glorification Defined. The Lord by the most grievous temptation com- bats reduced all things in Himself to Divine order, insomuch that there remained nothing at all of the human which He had derived from the mother ; so that He was not merely made new as other men are but was made wholly Divine. For a man who has been made new by regeneration still retains in himself an inclination to evil, and even evil itself ; ' but he is withlield from evil by an influx of the life of the Lord's love, and this with all power ; whereas the Lord east out all the evil that He had inherited from the mother, and made Himself Divine even as to truths, which are the vessels. This is what is called in the Word His glorification. (A. 3318.) 4. The Glorification Process. The Lord's external man, or the human essence, was conjoined to the Divine Essence by degrees, according to the multiplication and fructification of knowledges. Only by means of knowledges can any one, as a man^ be conjoined to Jehovah or the Lord, for it is by knowledges that man becomes a man. Therefore the Lord, because He was born as another man, was instructed as other men ; but into His knowledges as receptacles, celestial things were perpetually being insinuated, so that His knowl- edges continually became recipient vessels of celes- tial things, and these also became themselves ce- lestial. He continually went on thus, to the celestial things of infancy. For celestial things, which are matters of love, are insinuated into man from earliest infancy to no THE PATH OF LIFE his boyhood, and also to youth, and when he has attained to manhood lie is imbued with knowledges both external and internal. If the man is then capable of being regenerated, these knowledges are gradually filled with the celestial things which are matters of love and charity, and are thus implanted in the celestial things with which the man has been gifted from infancy to boyhood and youth; and thus his external man is conjoined to the internal. These knowledges are first implanted in the celes- ' tial things with which he was gifted in youth, next in those with which he was gifted in boyhood, and lastly in those with which he was gifted in infancy. He then becomes a child of whom the Lord said " of such is the kingdom of God." This implantation is effected by the Lord alone ; and for this reason nothing celestial is given with man, or can be given, that is not from the Lord, and which is not the Lord's. But the Lord from His own power conjoined His external man to His internal, and filled His knowledges with celestial things, and implanted them in things celestial, and this indeed according to Divine order ; first in the celestial things of His boyhood, next in the celestial things between boy- hood and infancy, and lastly in the celestial things of His infancy. He thus at the same time became, as to His Human Essence, innocence itself and love itself, from which is all innocence and all love in the heavens and on earth. Such innocence is true infancy, because it is at the same time wis- dom. But the innocence of infancy, unless it be- comes by means of knowledges the innocence of wisdom, is of no use; and therefore infants are THE PATH OF LIFE 111 imbued in the otlier life with knowledges. (A. 1616.) 5. Human Regeneration an Image of the Lord's Glorification. That the Lord might make the human Divine by tlie ordinary way, He came into the world, that is, it was His will to be born as a man, and to be instructed as a man, and to be reborn as a man; but with this difference that man is reborn of the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Him- self but also glorified Himself, that is, made Him- self Divine; and further, that a man is made new by an influx of charity and faith, but the Lord, by the Divine love whiqh was in Him and which was His. From this it can be seen that the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord ; or what is the same, that in the process of the re- generation of man, may be seen as in an image, although remotely, the process of the Lord's glori- fication. (A. 3138.) 6. How Glorification Was Effected. When the Lord had expelled his inherited evil and had thus purified the organic things of His Human Essence these also received life ; so that the Lord, as He was life in respect to His internal man, became life in respect to His external man also. This is what is signified by glorification, in John : " Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glori- fied, and God is glorified in Him. If God be glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself and straightway shall He glorify Him " (xiii. 31, 32). (A.'"] 603.") 112 THE PATH OF LIFE 7. Function of Spirits and Angels in Glorification. When the Lord made the human in Himself Divine, He had societies of spirits and angels around Him, for He willed all things to be done according to order ; but He called around Himself only such as might be of service, and changed them at His good pleasure ; and yet He took and applied to Himself nothing of good and truth from them, but all from His Divine. It v?as thus also that He reduced to order both heaven and hell, and this by successive steps until He had fully glorified Him- self. How these societies of spirits and angels could subserve a use, and He still take nothing from them, may be illustrated by examples. Societies which are such as to believe that good is from them- selves, and which thus place merit in their good, were serviceable to Him for introducing Him into knowledge concerning such good, and thus into wisdom concerning good without merit, like the good that is from the Divine. Such knowledge and the wisdom gained therefrom were not from those societies, but was gained through them. For another example: societies which believe themselves to be very wise, and yet reason about good and truth, and about everything whether it is so, pertain for the most part to the spiritual. These societies were serviceable to Him for intro- ducing Him into knowledge regarding them, how much they are relatively in shade, and that unless the Lord should have mercy on them they would perish; and into knowledge of many more things from the Divine, which were not derived from these societies, but through them. THE PATH OF LIFE 113 Take for another example : societies wliich are in love to God, and believe that if they look to the Infinite, and worship a hidden God, they can thus be in love to Him. But this cannot be unless through some interpretation they make that In- finite finite, or make that hidden God visible within themselves by means of their finite intellectual ideas ; because otherwise it would be a looking into thick darkness, and embracing with love what they find therein, namel}^, many absurd and distorted notions, according to each one's fancies. Such societies were also serviceable to Him for introducing Him into knowledge of the quality of their interiors, and also of their love, and likewise into pity that they too could not be saved unless the Lord's human should also become Divine for them to look upon. (A. 4075.) 8. How the Lord Could Pray to the Father. That the Lord worshipped and prayed to Jeho- vah His Father, is known from the Word in the Gospels; and this even as to one different from Himself, although eTehovah was in Him. But the state in which the Lord was at these times was His state of humiliation ; that is. He was in the human infirmity which was from the mother. But so far as He put this off and put on the Divine, He was in another state, which is called His state of glori- fication. In the former state He worshipped Jeho- vah as one different from Himself, although in Himself, for as has been said, His internal was Jehovah. But in the latter state, that is. His state of glorification. He spoke with Jehovah as 8 114 THE PATH OF LIFE with Himself, for He was Jehovah Himself. (A. 1992.) 9. The Glorified Human tfie Source of Life. While the Lord was in the world He had fore- sight and providence, in His human, but these were from the Divine. But subsequently, when He was glorified. He had these solely from the Divine; for the Human glorified is the Divine. The human regarded in itself, is merely a form receptive of life from the Divine; but the Lord's glorified Human, or His Divine Human, is not a form re- cipient of life from the Divine, but is the very esse of life; and what proceeds therefrom is life. (A. 5256.) fO. The Human Race Saved by the Lord's Glorifica- tion. The Lord came into the world to save the human race, which otherwise would have perished in eter- nal death. And He saved the race by His subjuga- tion of the hells which were infesting every man who came into the world or went out of the world ; and at the same time by this, that He glorified His Human, for thereby He can hold the hells under subjection to eternity. The subjugation of the hells and at the same time the glorification of His Human were effected by temptations ad- mitted into His Human and then by continual victories. His passion on the cross was the last temptation and the full victory. (A. 10838.) XXI THE LORD AS TEACHER AND GUIDE (a) The Word as a Divine Revelation /. A Revelation always Provided. The Lord from His Divine always provides that with tlie human race there shall be a church wherein there shall be a revelation of truth Di- vine, which on our earth is the Word. By means of this there is a continuous connection of the human race with the heavens. Therefore it is that in every expression of the Word there is an internal sense which is for heaven, and which is of such a nature that it conjoins angelic minds with human minds by a bond so close that they act as one. (A. 9216.) 2. The Divine Word the Word of God. It is on every one's lips that the Word is from Grod, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet thus far it has not been known where in the Word its Divinity resides. Eor in its letter it ap- pears like ordinary writing, foreign in style, neither lofty nor brilliant as the writings of the present time are in appearance. For this reason the man who worships nature instead of God, or more than God, and whose thought therefore is from himself and his ownhood and not from the Lord out of 115 ■1 -1 116 THE PATPI OF LIFE heaven, may easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, and when reading it may say to himself, what does this and that mean? Is this Divine? Can God whose wisdom is infinite speak thus ? Wherein and wherefrom is its holiness, except from some religions notion and consequent persuasion ? But he who so thinks does not consider that Je- hovah the 'Lord, who is the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and therefore it cannot be other than Divine truth, for what Jehovah the Lord Himself speaks must be such. Neither does he consider that the Lord the Saviour, who is the same with Jehovah, spoke the Word in the Gospels, much of it by His own mouth, and the rest of it by the breath of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, through His twelve disciples; whence it is that in His words, as He says, there is spirit and there is life, and that He is the Light that enlightens, and that He is the Truth; as is evident from the fol- lowing : " Jesus said. The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life" (John vi. 63). (T. 189, 190.) 3. Revelation the only Source of the Knowledge of God. Theke are many reasons why nations and peo- ples have differed and still differ in respect to what the one God is. The first reason is that without revelation there can be no knowledge and conse- quent acknowledgment of God, for only from the Word, which is the crown of revelations, is a THE PATH OF LIFE 117 knowledge of the Lord possible, and consequent acknowledgment that " in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily." For it is only through the revelations given to man that he is able to approach God and to receive influx, and thereby from being natural to become spiritual. The primeval revelation extended throughout the whole world; but it was perverted by the natural man in many ways, which was the origin of relig- ious disputes, dissensions, heresies, and schisms. (T. 11.) 4. What Man Cannot Know apart from Revelation. It is believed by some in the world that man can know from the light of nature, thus without reve- lation, many things pertaining to religion, as that there is a God, that He is to be worshipped, and also that He is to be loved, likewise that man will live after death, and many other truths which de- pend upon these. But I have learned by much experience that man of himself or apart from revelation, knows nothing at all about Divine things and about those things which pertain to heavenly and spiritual life. For man is born into the evils of the love of self and of the world, which are such that they shut out influx from the heavens and open up influx from the hells, thus maldng man blind and inclining him to deny that there is a Divine, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death. This is very manifest in the case of the learned in the world, who by a store of knowledge have '^ '^ 118 THE PATH OF LIFE raised their so-called light of nature above the light of others; for it is known that these more than others deny the Divine and acknowledge nature in place of the Divine ; and also that when they speak from the heart and not from doctrine they deny that there is a life after death, or a heaven or hell, consequently all things of faith, which they call restraints for the common people. All this shows what the light of nature is without revelation. (A. 8944.) 5. The Ancients Had their Religious Beliefs from Revelation. But two considerations have arisen which bring the mind into doubt upon this subject: first, that the ancients, although they were Gentiles^ knew that there is a Divine who is to be worshipped, and that man as to his soul is immortal ; secondly, that these things are known also to many nations at this day, with whom there is no revelation. But the ancients did not learn these things from the light of their own nature, but learned them from a reve- lation which emanated from the church even to them; for there had been a church of the Lord from the most ancient times in the land of Canaan ; and from it such things as pertained to Divine worship had emanated to the nations round about, and likewise to the neighboring Greeks, and from these to the Italians or Eomans. From this source both Greeks and Eomans had knowledge respect- ing the Supreme Deity and the immortality of the soul, of which their learned men wrote. Also as to the heathen at the present day who THE PATH OF LIFE 119 know that there is a Divine being, and that there is a life after death ; these do not have this knowl- edge from the light of their own nature, but from the religious teaching handed down to them from ancient times. (A. 8944.) 6. The Word Divine in Every lota. The Word is wonderful in this, that it is Divine in respect to every iota, for every expression in it corresponds to something spiritual which may be said to lie hidden within it, for the spiritual in it is opened to the angels when the Word is read by man. (A. 10633.) 7. The Books of the Word. The books of the Word are all those which have an internal sense, and those which have not an in- ternal sense are not the Word. The books of the Word in the Old Testament are the five books of Moses, the book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of the Kings, the Psalms of David, the Prophets, Isaiah, Jere- miah including the Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; and in the New Testament the four gos- pels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and the Apo- calypse. (A. 10335.) 8. The Gospels and the Epistles. The Gospels contain the words of the Lord Him- self, all of which have concealed in them a spiritual meaning, through which immediate communication 120 THE PATH Or LIFE with heaven is granted, while the writings of the Apostles contain no such meaning, although they are useful books for the church. (B. 815.) 9. Number/ess Things in tiie Word. It is a Divine truth that every phrase in the Word, however simple and rude it may aj^pear to men, contains numberless things, more even than the entire heaven, and that the arcana which are therein may be presented before the angels by the Lord with perpetual variety to eternity. This is so incredible to the reason that it is unwilling to give it any credence whatever; nevertheless it is true. (A. 1936.) 10. The Literal Sense Adapted to All. Every particular of the Word in the sense of the letter, because this is its outmost sense, is natural, and is adapted to the comprehension of the sensual man, thus of children and the simple ; and for this reason most things in it are appearances of truth, and unless these are perceived from a spiritual, that is, from an enlightened understanding, they become falsities; for they are then believed to be actually true, and not merely true in appearance. But it is otherwise when they are perceived under- standingly and spiritually. Then all things of the Word become true, in the genuine sense actually true, and in the sense of the letter apparently true. From all this it can be seen how innumerable things in the Word become falsified and adulter- ated; as that God tempts, that He is angry, that He does evil, and that He casts into hell ; likewise. THE PATH OF LIFE 121 that at the last judgment the Lord is to come in the clouds of heaven, that the sun and the moon will then withdraw their light, and the stars will fall from heaven ; and that the earth and the uni- verse will perish, and a new creation of all things take place ; with other things that are truths of the mere sense of the letter of the Word, but which become falsities if they are not perceived from an enlightened understanding (E. 719.) //. The Style of the Word. The natural man cannot be convinced that the Word is Divine truth itself, in which there is Divine wisdom and Divine life; for such a man estimates it by its style, and does not perceive in it these contents. Yet the style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other style can be compared, however sublime and excellent it may seem. The style of the Word is such that there is a holiness in every sentence and in every word, and even in some places in the very letters, and thereby the Word conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven. There are two things that go forth from the Lord, Divine love and Divine wisdom, or what is the same thing, Divine good and Divine truth. In its es- sence the Word is both of these; and because it conjoins man with the Lord and opens heaven, it fills man with the goods of love and the truths of wisdom — his will with the goods of love and his understanding with the truths of wisdom ; thus by means of the Word man has life. (T. 191.) 122 THE PATH OF LIFE 12. The Historic Parts DelightuI to Children. The Word was given to unite heaven with earth or angels with men anfl therefore it is so written that it may be apprehended spiritually by angels when it is apprehended naturally by men, and thus what is holy may flow in through the angels, whereby union is effected. Such is the Word both in the historic and in the prophetic parts ; but the internal sense is less apparent in the historic than in the prophetic parts because the historic are written in another style, yet still by significatives. The historic parts were given that children may be led thereby into the reading of the Word ; for the historic parts are delightful and gain a place in their minds whereby communication is given to them with the heavens; and this communication is grateful to them because they are in a state of innocence and mutual charity. This is why the historic Word is given. (A. 6333.) 13. The Literal Sense a Guard. The sense of the letter of the Word is a guard for the genuine truths concealed within it, that they may not be injured. It is a guard in this way, that it may be turned hither and thither and ex- plained according to each one's understanding of it, and yet without injury or violence to its inter- nal. For no harm is done when one person under- stands the sense of the letter in one way, and an- other in another way; but the harm is done when falsities are brought in which are contrary to Di- vine truths, and this is done only by those who THE PATH OF LIFE 123 have confirmed themselves in falsities. In this way violence is done to the Word. This is what the sense of the letter guards against, and it does this for those who are in falsities from their re- ligion, but who do not confirm these falsities. (T. 360.) 14. A Fountain of Life. That the Word of the Lord is such that it gives life to him that thirsts, that is, to him who desires life, the Lord teaches in John. The Word is living and thus gives life because in its highest sense the Lord is treated of, and in the inmost sense His kingdom wherein the Lord is all; and this being so there is in the Word life itself, which flows into the minds of those who read the Word with a sense of its holiness ; and from this it is that the Lord, in respect to the Word which is from Himself, declares Himself to be a fountain of water spring- ing up into eternal life. (A. 3424.) (b) The Spiritual Sense op the Wokd /. TAe Spirit within tlie Letter. In the Word there is a spiritual sense hitherto unknown. When it is asserted that inasmuch as the Word is Divine it must be in its bosom spir- itual, who does not acknowledge and assent? But who as yet has Imown what this spiritual is and where in the Word it is stored up? The Word in its bosom is spiritual because it came down from Jehovah the Lord, and passed through the angelic 124 THE PATH OF LIFE heavens; and in its descent the Divine itself, whicn in itself is ineffable and unperceivable, became adapted to the perception of angels, and finally to the perception of men. From this is the spiritual sense, which is in- wardly in the natural, as the soul is in man, as the thought of the understanding is in the speech, and as the will's affection is in action. (T. 193.) 2. The Spiritual Sense Described. The spiritual sense is not the sense that shines forth from the sense of the letter of the Word when one is studying it and so construing it as to confirm some dog-ma of the Church. That may be called the literal and ecclesiastical sense of the Word. The spiritual sense is not apparent in the sense of the letter. It is interiorly within the literal sense as the soul is in the body, as the thought of the understanding is in the eyes, or the love's af- fection is in the face. It is that sense chiefly that makes the Word spiritual, not only for men but for angels also; and therefore by means of that sense the Word has communication with the heavens. As the Word is inwardly spiritual it was written purely by correspondences. (T. 194.) 3. All Spiritual Truth Is from the Word. All knowledge and doctrine of good and truth is from the Word. The natural man may know and also perceive what good and truth are, but only natural and civil good and truth. Spiritual good and truth he cannot know, for this must come from revelation, thus from the Word. (A. 3768.) THE PATH OF LIFE 125 4. The Source of Spiritual Life. If faith in the Word perishes, man cannot live spiritually, for man has spiritual life through faith derived from the Word. (A. 9033.) 5. To IVfiom Revealed. The things in the literal sense of the Word are apparent to every man because they present them- selves directly to the eye; but the things that lie hidden in the spiritual sense are apparent only to those who love truths because they are truths, and do goods because they are goods. To them the treasujes that the literal sense covers and guards lie open. These goods and truths are the essen- tial constituents of the church. (T. 244.) 6. Correspondence Defined. What correspondence is. The whole natural world corresponds to the spiritual world, and not merely the natural world in general, but also every particular of it; and as a consequence every thing in the natural world that springs from the spiritual world is called a correspondent. It must be under- stood that the natural world springs from and has permanent existence from the spiritual world, pre- cisely like an effect from its effecting cause. All that is spread out under the sun and that receives the heat and light from the sun is what is called the natural world ; and all things that derive their subsistence therefrom belong to that world. But the spiritual world is heaven ; and all things in the heavens belong to that world. (H. 89.) 126 THE PATH Or LIFE 7. All Things Correspondential. Each and all things in the natural world have correspondences with those things which are in the spiritual world, and this even to every single ex- pression. And the Word is so written that the expressions therein in their series involve series of spiritual ideas, which do not appear to man unless he is acquainted with correspondences. In this manner the Divine lies hidden in the Word. (A. 10633.) 8. Correspondences Have all Power. Correspondences have all power, insomuch that what is done on earth according to correspond- ence, avails in heaven, for correspondences are from the Divine. Those who are in the good of love and of faith are in correspondence, and the Divine does all things with them, for the good of love and the good of faith are from the Divine. All the miracles recorded in the Word were done by cor- respondences. The Word is so written that every particular therein even to the most minute corre- sponds to things that are in heaven. Therefore the Word has Divine power. Moreover it conjoins heaven with earth; for when the Word is read on earth, the angels in heaven are drawn to the holi- ness which is in the internal sense. This is caused by the correspondence of each particular in the Word. (A. 8615.) 9. Doing Violence fo the Spiritual Sense of the Word. To do violence to the internal sense of the Word is to deny those things which are the three chief THE PATH OF LIFE 127 things of that sense, and which are tlie essential holy things of the Word, namely, the Divine Hu- man of the Lord, love to Him, and love to the neighbor. These three are the chief things of the internal sense, and are the holy things of the Word. They are also the internal and holy things of all doctrines vs'hich are from the Word, and like- wise the internal and holy things of all v^orship ; for in them is the very kingdom of the Lord. A fourth is, that the Word, as to each and every thing therein, even as to the smallest point, is Divine; thus that the Lord is the Word. (A. 3454.) XXII THE LORD AS A HELPER /. The Purpose of all Divine Activities. The Lord's Divine providence is universal from the minutest particulars, in that He created the universe that an infinite and eternal creation from Himself might exist in it; and this creation exists by the Lord's forming a heaven out of men to be before Him as one man, vt'hich is His image and likeness. (P. 202.) 2. Man's Good the Single Divine Purpose. In the whole spiritual world the end that pro- ceeds from the Lord reigns, which is, that nothing at all, not even the least thing, shall exist, except that good may come from it. (A. 6574.) When the Lord is with any one He leads him, and provides that whatever befalls him, whether sad or Joyful, shall turn to his good. This is the Divine providence. (A. 6203.) 3. The Different Phases of Divine Providence. The Lord foresees and sees everything and pro- vides and disposes all things ; but some things from permission, some from sufferance, some from favor, some from good pleasure, some from will. (A. 1755.) 128 THE PATH OF LIFE 129 4. The Lord Rules all Things for Good. The reality is that the Lord, by truth going forth from Himself, rules all things even to the most particular, not as a king in the world but as God in heaven and in the universe. A king in the world exercises only a general care, and his princes and officers exercise particular care. It is other- wise with God, for God sees all things and knows all things from eternity, and provides all things to eternity, and of Himself holds all things in their order ; from which it is evident that the Lord, otherwise than a king in. the world, has not only a general care, but also a particular and individual care for all things. His direction is immediate by Divine truth from Himself, and is also mediate through heaven. But the mediate ordering through heaven is also as it were immediate from Himself, for what comes out of heaven comes through heaven from Him. That this is so, angels in heaven not only know, but also perceive in themselves. But this trutli scarcely enters into the thought of any man, and least of all into the idea of those who trust in their own prudence; for they attri- bute all things which turn out auspiciously to themselves, and the rest they ascribe to fortune or chance, and few to the Divine providence ; thus they attribute the things that happen to dead causes and not to the living cause. They say in- deed when a matter turns happily, that it is of God, and even that there is nothing but what is of God, but few, yea, scarce any, in heart believe it. The same is true of those who place all prosperity 9 1? 130 THE PATH OF LIFE in wordly and corporeal things, that is, in honors and riches, and who believe that these alone are Divine blessings; and so when they see many of the evil abounding in sneh things and not the good, they reject from their hearts and deny the Divine providence in particulars, not remembering that Divine blessing means to be happy to eternity ; and that the Lord does not regard things that are of brief duration, as the things of this world are relatively, as anything else than means to what is eternal. Consequently the Lord provides the good, who receive His mercy in time, with such things as conduce to their eternal happiness, riches and honors to whom they are not hurtful, and no riches and honors to whom they would be hurtful. And yet to such He gives in time, in the place of honors and riches, to find joy in a few things, and to be more content than the rich and honored. (A. 8717.) 5. A Providence in Every Least Particular. It is most false, and what may be called a fiction of the reason, to say that the Lord's providence is universal and is not in least particulars. For to provide and govern in the universal and not in particulars, is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically; and it is wonderfuj. that the philosophers themselves, even those who soar the highest, take it differently and think differently. (A. 1919.) If the Lord's providence were not in the most minute things, it would be impossible for man to THE PATH OF LIFE 131 be saved, or indeed to live, for life is from the Lord, and all the moments of life have a series of consequences to eternity. (A. 6490.) 6. The Minute Things of Providence Perceived only by the Good. Divine providence is in the most minute things of all particulars. Unless it were in these minute particulars it could not be in the universal. And further in regard to this truth, man only begins to live ^Yhe■n that perishes which in the world he believes to be the all of life ; and the life which he then receives, is relatively ineffable and unlimited. But of this he is altogether ignorant so long as he is in evil. These and like truths can never be be- lieved, unless a man is in good. (A. 3175.) 7. Why Called "Providence." Everything that God, that is, the Lord, does is providence, which because it is from the Divine has in it the eternal and the infinite. It has in it the eternal, because it does not look to any bound from which nor to any bound to which, it proceeds ; and it has in it the infinite, because it looks at once at the universal in every single thing, and at every single thing in the universal. This is called prov- idence; and because there is such a quality in all and each of the things that the Lord does, there- fore His doing can be defined by no other word than providence. (A. 5264.) 8. The Stream of Divine Providence. The Divine providence is universal, that is, is in the things most minute; and those who are in 132 THE PATH OF LIFE the streajn of Providence are borne continuously toward happiness, whatever may be the appearance of the means, and those are in the stream of Provi- dence who put their trust in the Divine and at- tribute all things to Him. But those who trust in themselves alone and at- tribute all things to themselves, are not in this stream but are in its opposite, since they take away providence from the Divine, and claim it to them- selves. Furthermore, so far as any one is in the stream of the Divine providence, so far he is in a state of peace; and so far as any one is in a state of peace, so far he is in the Divine providence. (A. 8478.) 9. The Leading and Guidance of Providence. Divine providence differs from all other leading and guidance in this, that Providence continually regards what is eteriial and continually leads unto salvation, and this through various states, some- times glad, sometimes sad, which man cannot at all comprehend; but still they all conduce to his life eternal. (A. 8560.) 10. WIty Forelinowledge Is not Granted. As a knowledge of future events takes away the human itself, which is to act from freedom in accordance with reason, a knowledge of the future is granted to no one; nevertheless, every one is permitted to form conclusions about the future from reason; and in this the reason with all that pertains to it finds its proper life. This is why a THE PATH OF LIFE 133 man is not permitted to know what his lot will be after death, or to know about any event until he is in it; for if he knew this he would cease to think from his interior self how he must act or must live in order to come into it; but he would simply think from his exterior self that he was coming into it ; and such a state closes the interiors of his mind, in which the two faculties of his life, liberty and rationality, have their chief seat. A longing to know things future is innate with most people; but this longing has its origin in a love of evil, and is therefore taken away from those who believe in the Divine providence; and there is given them a trust that the Lord is directing their lot, and consequently they have no wish to know beforehand what it will be, lest they should in some way interfere with the Divine providence. (P. 179.) //. How Providence Makes Use of Wealth and Dig- nities. Something shall now be said about why the Divine providence permits the impious in heart to be raised to dignities and enriched with posses- sions. The impious or wicked can perform uses equally with the pious or good, and even with greater zeal, because they have regard to themselves in the uses, and to the honors as the uses; therefore to what- ever height the Jove of self climbs the lust of per- forming uses for the sake of its own glory bums in it. With the pious or good there is no such fire, 134 THE PATH OF LIFE unless unconsciously kindled by some feeling of honor. Thus the Lord governs the impious in heart who are in places of dignity by the glory of their name, and incites them to the performance of uses to the community or countrj', to the society or city in which they dwell, and to their fellow- citizen or neighbor with whom they are associated. This is the Lord's government, which is called the Divine providence with such; for the Lord's kingdom is a kingdom of uses ; and where there are but few who perform uses for the sake of uses He causes the worshippers of self to be raised to high offices, in which each one is incited to do good by means of his own love. (P. 250.) 12. Providence in Length of Life. The life of every man is foreseen by the Lord, as to how long he will live, and in what manner. From earliest infancy therefore he is directed with regard to a life to eternity. Thus the provi- dence of the Lord commences from earliest in- fancy. (D. 5002.) 13 " Care for the Morrow. " " Care for the morrow " does not mean a care for procuring for oneself food and raiment, and even resources for the time to come; for it is not contrary to order for any one to be provident for himself and his own. But they have " care for the morrow," who are not content with their lot, who do not trust in the Divine but in themselves, and who regard only worldly and earthly things, and not heavenly things. With such there universally THE PATH OF LIFE 135 prevails anxiety for the future, a desire to possess all things and to rule over all, which desire is kindled and grows with acquisition, and at length beyond all measure. Such lament when they do not get the things they desire, and they are dis- tressed when they lose them; neither is there any consolation for them for they are then angry with the Divine, reject it together with eveijthing of faith, and curse themselves. Such are they who have anxiety for the morrow. It is altogether otherwise with those who trust in the Divine. These, notwithstanding they have care for tlie morrow, still have none; for they do not think of the morrow with solicitude, still less with anxiety. They bear it with equanimity, whether they get the things they desire or not; neither do they lament over the loss of them ; they are content with their lot. If they become rich, they do not set the heart upon riches; if they arc raised to honors, they do not regard themselves as more worthy than others ; if they become poor, they are not made sad ; if their condition be mean, they are not dejected. They know that all things ad- vance toward a happy state in eternity for those who put their trust in the Divine, and that what- ever befalls them in time still conduces thereto. (A. 8478.) Those who have faith rarely obtain the objects of their desire while they are desiring them ; and yet, if it be for their good, they obtain them after- wards when not thinking of them. (D. 3535.) 136 THE PATH OF LIFE 14. Chance. Evil spirits by their arts have the skill to pro- duce a sphere that is a source of unfortunate cir- cumstances, which appear to be wholly a matter of chance. And it was said that all things, even to the least particulars, of these circumstances, are directed by the providence of the Lord, even as to their very succession ; and when such a sphere pre- vails as is contrary thereto, misfortunes happen. It was confirmed by the spirits that there is no such thing as chance, and that apparent accident or fortune is providence in the outmost of order, in which all things are relatively inconstant. (A. 6493.) 15. Fortune. Hardly any one knows that fortune is from the spiritual world, and yet it is. When I was playing at a common game of chance with dice in company, the spirits who were with me talked with me about fortune in games, and said that what is fortunate was represented to them by a bright cloud, and what is unfortunate by a dusky cloud; and that Avhen a dusky cloud appeared with me, it was im- possible for me to win, and from that they pre- dicted to me the turns of fortune in that game. From this I learned that what is attributed to for- tune, even in games, is from the spiritual world, much more what befalls man as to vicissitudes in his life; and what is called fortune is from the inilux of providence in the outmosts of order, where it so esists; thus that there is providence in the THE PATH OF LIFE 137 minutest things — according to the Lord's words, that not a hair falls from the head without the will of God. (A. 6494.) 1S. Accidents. Everything that befalls or happens, or in other words is called accidental and is ascribed to chance or fortune, is a matter of providence. The Divine providence operates thus invisibly and incompre- hensibly in order that man may in freedom ascribe an event either to providence or to chance; for if providence were to act visibly and comprehensibly, there would be danger of man's believing, from what he sees and comprehends, that the thing was from providence, and afterwards believing the opposite. Thus truth and falsity would be con- joined in the interior man, and truth would be profaned, which profanation carries with it eternal damnation. Therefore it is better for such a man to be kept in unbelief, than to be at one time in faith and then to recede from it. (A. 5508.) 17. Solicitude about the Future. Solicitude about the future confirmed by act greatly dulls and retards the influx of spiritual life; for this is to attribute to oneself that which belongs to the Divine providence; and those who do this obstruct the influx, and remove from them- selves a life of goodness and truth. (A. 5177.) XXIII MAK AS A SPIEITUAL BEIISTG (a) The Sense Life /. Man's State at Birth. Every man at his birth is so wholly sensuous, that even the five senses of l:Lis body must be opened by use. He next becomes sensuous in thought, since he thinks from the objects that have entered through liis bodily senses; afterwards he becomes still more inwardly sensuou.s; and then so far as by visual experiences, by knowledges, and especially by the practices of moral life, he acquires for him- self natural light, he becomes natural inwardly. This is the first or outmost degree of man's life. And as at this time from parents, masters, and preachers, and from reading the Word and books respecting it, he imbibes knowledges of spiritual good and truth, and stores them up in his memory like other knowledges, he lays the foundations of the church in himself ; and yet if he goes no further he continues natural. But if he goes on further, that is, if he lives ac- cording to these knowledges from the Word, the interior degree is opened in him and he becomes spiritual; but only so far as he is influenced by truths, understands them, wills them, and does them ; and for the reason that evils and their fal- 138 THE PATH OF LIFE 139 sities which by inheritance have their seat in the natural and sensual man, are in this and in no other way removed and dispersed. For the spiritual man is in heaven and the natural man is in the world ; and so far as heaven, that is, the Lord through heaven, can flow in through the spiritual man into the natural, so far evils and their falsities, which have their seat in the natural man, are removed. (B. 739.) 2. The Sensuous Defined. He is called a sensuous man who thinks only from such things as are in the memory from the world, and who cannot be elevated toward inte- riors. Such especially are those who believe nothing about heaven and the Divine, because they do not see them, for they trust only to the senses, and what does not appear before the senses they believe to be nothing. Such people approach near to the nature of brute animals, which also are led solely by the external senses. Such, nevertheless, are cunning and skilful in acting and reasoning, but they do not see the truth from the light of truth. These were formerly called serpents of the tree of knowledge, and such for the most part is the infernal company. (A. 5128.) 3. The Sensuous Itself Cannot Be fully Regenerated. Tub sensuous itself, which is the lowest part of the natural, can with difficulty be regenerated, because it is altogether charged with material ideas from what is earthy, carnal, and worldly ; therefore the man who is regenerated, especially at this day, 140 THE PATH OF LIFE is not regenerated in respect to his sensuous, but in respect to his natural which is next above the sensuous, and to which he is elevated by the Lord from the sensuous when he thinks about the truths and goods of faith. And to every man who is being regenerated by the Lord there is given the ability to be elevated above the sensual. (A. 7443.) 4. Two of the Senses Are Serviceable in Regehera- tion. There are two senses given to man which serve as means for receiving the things whereby the rational is formed, and also the things whereby man is reformed ; these are the sense of sight and the sense of hearing ; the other senses are for other uses.- (E. 14.) 5. Enjoyments and Pleasures not Forbidden. Pleasure not only affects man, but also sus- tains him, like food. Pleasure without enjoyment is not pleasure, but is something without life, and is called pleasure only from enjoyment. Also such as the enjoyment is, such is the pleasure. Things of the body and of sense are in themselves mate- rial, lifeless, and dead ; but they have life from the enjoyments that come in an orderly way from in- teriors. Such as is the life of the interiors, such is the enjoyment in pleasures, for in enjoyment is life. The enjoyment in which there is good from the Lord is the only living enjoyment, for such enjoy- ment is from the very life of good. Some think that no one who wishes to be happy in the other life ought to live in the pleasures of the body and THE PATH OF LIFE " 141 its seuses; but ought to renounce all such things on the ground that they are corporeal and worldly, and that they withdraw man and keep him away from the spiritual and heavenly life. But those who so think and therefore reduce themselves to voluntary misery while they live in the world, do not know what the real case is. jSTo one is forbidden to enjoy the pleasures of the body and its senses, that is, the pleasures of the possession of lands and wealth; the pleasures of honor and office in the state; the pleasures of marriage love and of love for infants and children; the pleasures of friend- ship and of intercourse with companions, and the pleasures of the senses; for these are outmost or bodily affections arising from the interior affec- tions. Interior affeptions, which are living affec- tions, derive their enjoyment from good and truth ; and good and truth derive their enjo^'ment from charity and faith, and so from the Lord, and thus from life itself; consequently such affections and the pleasures therefrom are living. And because genuine pleasures are from this origin, they are denied to no one. (A. 995.) (b) The Mind /. What the Mind Is. Man consists of mere forms for receiving life, one is more interior than another; and eacli form has come into .existence and subsists from another; also when the lower or exterior form is dissolved, the higlier or interior form still lives. All opera- tions of the mind are variations of form; which 142 ■ THE PATH OF LIFE variations in the purer substances are in such per- fection as cannot be described. The ideas of thought also are nothing else; and these variations take place according to changes of state in the affections. (A. 6326.) 2. The Mind of Man Is His Spirit j\Ian's mind is his spirit, and the spirit is the man, because the mind means all things of man's will and understanding, which things are in first principles in the brains and in derivatives in the body. Such are all things of man in respect to their forms. This being so the mind (that is, the will and understanding) impels the body and all its belongings at will. Does not the body do what- ever the mind thinks and determines? Does not the mind incite the ear to hear and direct the eye to see, move the tongue and the lips to speak, impel the hands and fingers to do whatever it pleases, and the feet to walk whither it will ? Is the body, then, any thing but obedience to its mind ; and can the body be this unless the mind is in its deriva- tives in the body ? Is it consistent with reason to think that the body acts from obedience solely be- cause the mind so determines? If such were the case they would be two, the one above, the other below, one commanding, the other obeying. As this is in no way consistent with reason, it follows that man's life is in its first principles in the brains, and in its derivatives in the body ; also that such as life is in first principles, such it is in the whole and every part; and that by means of these first principles life is in the whole from every THE PATH or LIFE 143 part, and in every part from the whole. More- over all things of the mind have relation to the will and understanding, and the will and under- standing are the receptacles of love and wisdom from the Lord, and these two constitute man's life. (W. 387.) 3. The Three Regions of the Mind. The human mind is formed into regions as it were, in accordance with the three degrees of love and wisdom. In the highest region life is in its highest degree, in the second region in a less de- gree, and in the outmost region in the lowest de- gree. These regions are opened in men one after another. The outmost region, where there is life in the lowest degree, is opened from infancy to childhood; and this is done by means of knowl- edges; the second region, where there is life in a larger degree, is opened from childhood to youth; and the highest region, where there is life in the highest degree, is opened from youth to early man- hood and onward; and this is done by means of perceptions of moral and spiritual truths. (T. 42.) 4. Their Successive Openings. Degrees in man are opened one after another; the first degree by a life in accordance with what is equitable and Just; the second degree by a life in accordance with the truths of faith from the Word and in accordance with the goods of charity toward the neighbor from that faith; and the third degree by a life in accordance with the good of mutual love and the good of love to the Lord. 144 THE PATH OF LIFE These are the means whereby the three degrees of life in man are opened one after another, and thus also the three heavens in him. (A. 9594.) 5- Eternal Life Ensured Thereby. There are three degrees of life in man, called the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial, and these degrees are actually in every man; vifhile in beasts there is only one degree of life, which is like the lowest degree in man, which is called the natural. From this it follows that by the eleva- tion of his life to the Lord man is above the beasts, in such a state as to be able to understand what pertains to the Divine wisdom, and to will what pertains to the Divine love, thus to receive the Divine ; and a being that is capable of so receiving the Divine as to see and perceive it in himself can- not but be conjoined with the Lord, and by that conjunction live forever. (P. 324.) (c) Memory and Knovfledgb /. The Memory Defined. Memory is nothing else than a permanent state of the changes in the forms of the mind. (P. 379.) 2. The Memory Twofold. Into the external or natural memory of man objects from the world enter through sensuous things on the one side; and on the other side there enter into it objects through rational things. These separate themselves in that memory. The things which have entered through rational things THE PATH OF LIFE 345 place themselves more interiorly, but those which have entered through sensuous things more exte- riorly. (A. 5094.) 3. The Two Memories. It is scarcely known to any one that every man has two memories, an exterior and an interior ; and that the exterior belongs to his body, but the inte- rior to his spirit. So long as one is living in the body he can hardly know that he has an interior memory, because it tlien acts almost as one with his exterior memory; for the ideas of thought of the interior memory flow into the things in the exte- rior memory, as into their vessels, and are there conjoined. These two memories are altogether distinct from each other. To the exterior memory, which be- longs to man while he is living in the world, per- tain all the words of languages and the objects of the outer senses, and also all matters of knowl- edge belonging to the world. To the interior mem- ory pertain the ideas of speech of spirits, which relate to the inner sight, and all rational things, from the ideas of which thought itself exists. While men are living in the bod}'' they can con- verse only by means of languages distinguished into articulate sounds, that is, into words, and cannot understand one another unless they are acquainted with those languages, for the reason that their speech is from their exterior memory. But spirits converse together by a universal lan- guage, distinguished into ideas such as pertain to thought itself, and thus they can talk with 10 146 THE PATH OF LIFE any spirit, of whatever language or nation he had been in the world ; and for the reason that their speech is from the interior memory. Into this language every man comes immediately after death, because he comes into the memory, which pertains to his spirit. (A. 2469.) 4. External Memory not Extinguished by Deat/i. MEiSr after death lose nothing whatever of the things which pertain to their external or corporeal memory; but they retain all things of it, or the whole of it, although they are not permitted to produce from it the particulars of their life. This has been made known to me by much experience. (A. 2481.) 5. Externa/ Memory after Deatfi the Basis of Life. Although man after death becomes a spirit, he nevertheless has with him in the other life the things which pertain to his external man, namely, natural affections, and also doctrinals, and even knowledges; in a word, all things of the exterior or natural memory; for these are the planes in which his interiors terminate. In such manner, therefore, as these are arranged are interior things formed when they flow in, for therein they are modified. (A. 3539.) 6. Memory Formed by Know/edges. Enowledges in a man in his childhood never come from the interior; but from objects of the senses, especially from hearing. For in the ex- ternal man there are receiving vessels, called things of the memory, which vessels are formed by knowl- THE PATH OP LIFE 147 edges, the internal flowing in and helping. Con- sequently knowledges are learned and are im- planted in the memory according to an influx from the internal man. (A. 1460.) 7. The First, Second and Third Things of Regen- eration. To know is the first thing of regeneration, to acknowledge is the second, to have faith is the third. The worst men may know, and yet not acknowledge ; and unbelievers may acknowledge, and in certain states may preach, confirm, and per- suade with zeal; but none can have faith who are not believers. Those who have faith, and who know, acknowledge and believe, have charity and' have conscience; and unless one has these, faith can never be predicated of him, that is, he cannot be said to have faith. This then is what it is to be regenerated. Only to know what belongs to faith pertains to a man's memory without the concur- rence of his reason. To acknowledge what belongs to faith is a rational consent induced by certain causes and for the sake of certain ends. But to have faith belongs to conscience, that is, to the Lord's operating through conscience. (A. 896.) 8. Glorying in the Possession of Knowledge. Those who love knowledges alone, and not a life according to them, for the most part take glory to themselves on that account, and seem to them- selves to be wiser than others. Thus they love themselves and despise others, especially such others as are in good, whom they regard as simple 148 THE PATH OP LIFE and unlearned. But the lot is inverted in the other life, where those who have seemed to them- selves wise become foolish, and those who seemed simple are wise. (A. 7749.) 9. The Right Love of Know/edge. Ti-iE learning of knowledge has in it something natural which is manifested in boys when they first begin to learn— namely, that the higher things are, the more they desire them ; and still more when they hear that they are heavenly and Divine. But this enjoyment is natural and arises from the eagerness that pertains to the external man. With other men this eagerness makes them find enjoy- ment only in the learning of knowledges, without any further end ; when yet the learning of knowl- edges is nothing but something instrumental, with use for the end, that they may serve celestial and spiritual things as vessels ; and only when they are serving are they in their use and receive from the use their enjoyment. For the sake of this end, the Lord insinuates the enjoyment which child- hood and youth perceive in acquiring knowledge. But when a man begins to place enjoyment in knowledge alone, it is a corporeal desire which car- ries him away. And so far as he is thus carried away, or so far as he places enjoyment in knowl- edge alone, so far he removes himself from the celestial, and so far does the knowledge shut itself up toward the Lord, and become material; but the more the knowledge is acquired for the end of use — as for the sake of human society, for the sake THE PATH OF LIFE 149 of the Lord's church on the earth, for the sake of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens, and still more for the Lord's sake — the more is it opened toward Him. On this account, angels, who are acquainted with all knowledges, and indeed to such a degree that scarce one part in ten thousand can be pre- sented to the full apprehension of man, still esteem such knowledge as nothing in comparison with use. The Lord when a hoy knew this and thought thus, namely, that if He should be carried away by mere eagerness of the learning of knowledges, this learning is such that it would care no more for celestial things, but only for the Icnowledges. (A. 1472.) 10. How Knowledges Become Truths. Knowledges are no other than the truths of the natural man; but such truths as have not yet been made his own. They do not become truths in man until they are acknowledged by the under- standing, which takes place when they have been confirmed. And these truths do not then become his own until he lives according to them ; for nothing is made a man's own except that which becomes a part of his life, and thus he himself is in the truths, because his life is in them. (A. 5376.) //. How the Angels Think about Things Past and Things to Come. I HAVE talked with the angels about the memory of things past, and consequent anxiety for things to come ; and have been told that the more internal and the more perfect the angels are the less they 150 THE PATH OF LIFE care for past things, and the less do they think of things to come ; and that their happiness is there- from. They say that the Lord gives them every moment what to think, and this with blessedness and holiness ; and that they are thus without cares and anxieties. Also that this was meant in the internal sense by manna being received daily from heaven, and by the daily bread in the Lord's Prayer ; also by the instruction not to be solicitous about what they may eat and drink, and wherewith they may be clothed. But although they do not care for things past, and are not solicitous about things to come, they still have the most perfect recollection of past things, and the most perfect intuition of things to come; because in all their present there is both the past and the future. Thus they have a more perfect memory than can ever be conceived of or described. (A. 2493.) (d) Rationality /. The Rational Mind Defined. There are two minds in man, a natural mind and a rational mind. The natural mind is the mind of the external man, and the rational is the mind of the internal man. The things belonging to the natural mind are called knowledges, while those belonging to the rational mind are called conclusions. They are also distinguished by this, that what pertains to the natural mind, is for the most part in the light of the world, which is called the light of nature; but what pertains to the rational mind is in the light of heaven, which is spiritual light. (A. 7130.) THE PATH OF LIFE 151 2. The Relation between the Rational and the Nat- ural. Knowledges in the natural mind are objects of sight to the rational mind; and if these objects are contrary to the light, that is, to the under- standing of truth and the wisdom of good, the sight of the rational perishes; for it cannot flow into things contrary to itself ; and consequently the rational with those who are in evils and falsities is so closed up that no commtinication with heaven is open through it except through chinks as it were, in order that the ability to think, to reason and to speak may be preserved. (A. 4618.) 3. The Source of Rational Life. The rational receives its life from the life of the internal man flowing into the life of the affec- tion from Iniowledges in the outer man. The life of the affection for these knowledges gives a sort of body to the rational, or clothes the life of the in- ternal man as the body does the soul. Such is the relation between knowledges and the rational. There is an idea or semblance of soul and body in every thing in man, in every thing of his affection and in every thing of his thought ; for there is nothing, however simple it appears, that is not composite, and that does not come forth from what is prior to itself. (A. 1910.) 4. An Affection for Truth the Life of the Rational. Tpie rational is in itself nothing unless affection flows into it and makes it active and causes it to live; from which it follows that the rational is such as the affection is. When an 152 THE PATH OF LIFE afEection for good flows in, it becomes, in the rational, an affection for truth. The contrary is the case, when an afEection for evil flows in. Be- cause the knowing faculty adjoins itself to the rational, and is its instrumental, it follows that the afEection flows in into this also, and arranges it; for nothing but affection lives at all in the external man. (A. 1589.) 5. How Far Man Is Conscious of His Rational. The things that are in the rational are not ap- parent to man while he is living in the body ; for the things that are in the natural are what come to perception, and seldom those in the rational ex- cept by a certain manifestation of light illuminat- ing the natural, or as an inflowing power by which the ideas of thought are disposed into order; and also as a power of perceiving that which the mind is considering. (A. 3057.) 6. True Intelligence. To be able to confirm whatever one pleases is not the mark of an intelligent man, but to be able to see that the truth is true and that the false is false, and to confirm it, is the mark of an intelli- gent man. (M. 233.) (e) Faith /. The Three Kinds of Faith. The progress of faith with those who are created anew is of this kind. At first they have no life, for there is no life in evil and falsity, but only in THE PATH or LIFE 153 good and truth. Afterwards they receive life from the Lord through faith — first through a faith of the memory, which is a faith of knowl- edge; then through faith in the understanding, which is an intellectual faith; after that through faith in the heart, which is a faith of love, or sav- ing faith. (A. 30.) 2. Faith and Love. Those who have separated faith from love do not even know what faith is. Some understand it to be mere thought ; some to be thought concern- ing the Lord ; a few to be a doctrine of faith. But faith is not merely a knowledge and acknowledg- ment of all things that the doctrine of faith em- braces; but is chiefly obedience to all that it teaches. The first thing that it teaches, to which men ought to yield obedience, is love to the Lord and love to the neighbor. Whoever does not have this love does not have faith, as the_ Lord teaches in Mark. The first of all the commandments is : " Hear, Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore tJiou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. This is the first commandment; and the second, like unto it, is this : Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (A. 36.) 3. Faith and Conscience. Faith is inseparable from conscience, so insep- arable, indeed, that whether you say faith or con- 154 THE PATH OF LIFE science, it is all the same. By faith is meant the faith by means of which there is charity and which is from charity, thus charity itself; for faith with- out charity is no faith; and as faith is not to be had without charity, so neither is conscience. (A. 2325.) 4. Faith and Doctrine. Good of life, or affection for good, is insinuated by the Lord by an internal way without man's knowing it at all; but truth of doctrine, that is, faith, is introduced by an external way, and into the memory, from which it is called forth by the Lord in His own good time and according to His own order, and is conjoined to affection for good. This is done in man's freedom ; for man's freedom is from affection. Such is the insemination and enrooting of faith. (A. 2875.) 5. Faith Is Being Mindful of the Lord. He who receives and has faith is continually mindful of the Lord, even when he is thinking or speaking of other things, and also when he is dis- charging his public, private, or domestic duties, although he is not conscious that he is then mind- ful of the Lord ; for the remembrance of the Lord by those who are in faith reigns universally with them, and what reigns universally is not per- ceived, except when the thought is directed to it. (A. 5130.) 6. Natural Faith and Spiritual Faith. A FAITH that is merely natural is a faith that is introduced by an external and not by an internal THE PATH OF LIFE 155 way, like sensuous faith, which consists in believ- ing a thing to be so because the eye hath seen and the hand hath touched ; or like the faith of author- ity, which consists in believing a thing to be so because another, to whom credence is given, has said it. But spiritual faith is a faith that is in- troduced both by an internal way, and by an ex- ternal way. Introduction by an internal way causes a thing to be believed, and then that which is introduced by an external way causes it to be confirmed. Spiritual faith is affection for charity ; and from this comes affection for truth for the sake of good uses and for the sake of life. These are what make faith to be spiritual. The introduction of faith by an internal way is effected by the reading of the Word, and by enlightenment at the same time from the Lord, which is granted according to the quality of the affection, that is, according to the end sought in learning the truth. From all this it can be seen what faith merely natural is, (A. 8078.) 7. Faiih That Is Faith. Faith that is faith makes one absolutely with love, for what a man loves belongs to his faith, but what he does not love does not belong to his faith. That which one thinks from memory and teaches from doctrine appears to be faith; but if this be loved only from a natural love, not from a spir- itual love, it is merely the thought-sight of the ex- ternal man, which sight is a counterfeit of faith. Such faith, since it is destitute of life, until it is implanted in the internal man and its love, is not 156 THE PATH OF LIFE in man but is behind him or at his back. Faith implanted in the internal man and its love is be- lieving and loving truth because it is truth, and not loving it chiefly for the sake of a reputation for learning, and honor or gain therefrom. (B. 299.) 8. Charity and not Doctrine t/ie Essentia/ It is from doctrine that sects are named, which would not be if men would make love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor the chief things of faith. Doctrines would then be only varieties of opinion respecting the mysteries of faith, which truly Christian men would leave to every one ac- cording to his conscience, and would say in their heart that one is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, or as the Lord teaches. Thus from all the differing churches there would become one Church; and all the dissensions which exist from doctrine alone would vanish; and the hatreds against one another would be dissipated in a mo- ment, and the Lord's kingdom would come upon the earth. (A. 1799.) (f ) The Eemi^ant 1. "T/ie Remnant Shall Return." The " remnant " consists of all the states of affection for good and truth with which a man is gifted by the Lord, from earliest infancy even to the end of life. These states are stored up for him for use in the life after death; for all the THE PATH OF LIFE 157 states of one's life return in succession in the other life, and are then tempered by the states of good and truth with which he had been gifted by the Lord. The more, therefore, a man has received of this " remnant " in the life of the body, that is, the more of good and truth, the more delightful and more beautiful do the rest of his states appear when they return. When a man is born he has not a particle of good from himself, but is wholly defiled throughout with inherited evil. And whatever good he has, such as love for his parents, his nurses, his companions, iiows into him, and this from innocence. Such are the things that flow in from the Lord through the heaven of innocence and peace, which is the inmost heaven, and man is thereby imbued with them in his infancy. And afterwards when he grows up-, this good, innocent, and peaceful state of infancy recedes little hy little. And so far as he is introduced into the world, he comes into worldly pleasures and into cupidities, and thus into evils; and to the same extent the heavenly or good things of the age of infancy are dispersed. And yet they remain, and the states which the man afterwards puts on or acquires, are tempered by them. Without these a man could never be a man; for his lustful or evil states, if not tempered by states of affection for good, would be more atro- cious than those of any animal. These states of good are what are called " the remnant," given by the Lord and implanted in man's natural disposi- tion, and this when he does not know it. (A. 1906.) 158 THE PATH OF LIFE 2. HoiM the "Remnant" /s Implanted. Infants are first of all in a state of good, for they are in a state of innocence, and in a state of love toward their parents and nurses, and in a state of mutual charity toward their infant companions ; so that good is with every man the first-born. This good into which man is thus initiated when an in- fant, remains; for whatever is imbibed from in- fancy enters into the life, and because it remains, becomes the good of life; for if man were without such good, which he had derived from infancy, he would not be a man, but would be more of a wild beast than any in the forest. (A. 3795.) 3. When the "Remnant" Becomes Active. All who are being reformed and regenerated are gifted with charity and faith by the Lord, but each one according to his capacity and his state; for there are evils and falsities which man has im- bibed from infancy which stand in the way of one person's receiving a like gift with another. These evils and falsities must be vastated before man can be regenerated. But so far as there is a residue of heavenly and spiritual life after vastation, this residue can be enlightened with truth and enriched with good. It is the " remnant," that is, the goods and truths from the Lord that have been stored up in man, that then receive life. These goods and truths are acquired from infancy even to the time of reformation, with one person more, with another fewer. These are preserved in his internal man; nor can they be brought forward until his external man has been reduced to correspondence, which is THE PATH OF LIFE 159 effected chiefly by temptations, and by many kinds of vastation. For it is only where the corporeal things that are contrary to these goods and truths, that is, such things as pertain to love of self and the world, become quiescent, that the celestial and spiritual things which pertain to affection for good and truth, can flow in. This is why every one is reformed according to his state and ca- pacity. (A. 2976.) 4. The "Remnant" In Regeneration. From earliest infancy even to the first of boy- hood, man is introduced by the Lord into heaven, and indeed among celestial angels, by whom he is kept in a state of innocence; a state which, as is well known, infants are in up to the first years of boyhood. When the age of boyhood begins, he gradually puts off this state of innocence, though he is still kept in a state of charity by the affection of mutual charity toward his like; which state with many continues up to youth; and during it he is among spiritual angels. Then, because he begins to think from himself and to act accord- ingly, he can no longer be kept in charity as before ; for he then calls forth inherited evils, by which he suffers himself to be led. When this state comes, the goods of charity and innocence which he had before received, are, according to the degree in which he thinks evils and confirms them by act, exterminated; and yet they are not exterminated, but withdrawn by the Lord toward the interiors, and there stored up. But since man does not yet know truths, the goods of innocence and charity 160 THE PATH OF LIFE whicli he had received in the two previous states have not yet gained their quality; for truths give quality to good, and good gives their essence to truths ; wherefore he is from that age imbued with truths by instruction, and especially by his own thoughts and confirmations from them. As far, therefore, as he is then in affection for good, so far truths are conjoined with good in him by the Lord, and are stored up for use. This state is what is signified by " the seven years of plenty ;" and these truths adjoined to good are what in the proper sense are called the " rem- nant." So far therefore as man suffers himself to be regenerated so far this " remnant " serves for use ; for so far a supply therefrom is drawn forth by the Lord, and remitted into the natural, in order to produce a correspondence of exteriors with inte- riors, or of what is natural with what is spiritual ; and this is effected in the state which is signified by "the seven years of famine." (A. 5342.) (g) Conscience /. Conscience Defined. Conscience is a kind of general and thus ob- scure dictate from the things that flow in through the heavens from the Lord. (A. 1914.) 2. Without Conscience t/iere Can Be no Spiritual Temptation. No one can be tempted, that is, undergo any spiritual temptation, unless he has conscience; for spiritual temptation is nothing else than torment of conscience. Consequently only those can be THE PATH OF LIFE 161 tempted who are in celestial and spiritual good ; for such have conscience, but others have not and do not even know what conscience is. Con- science is a new will and a new understanding from the Lord. Thus it is the Lord's presence in man; and this so much the nearer, as man has more of an affection for good and truth. If the Lord's presence is in excess of the man's affection for good or truth, the man comes into temptation, and for the reason that the evils and falsities which are in man, tempered by the goods and truths that are in him, cannot sustain any nearer presence. (A. 4399.) 3. The Several Planes of Conscience. There are two planes in man, upon which heavenly and spiritual things are based, and which are from the Lord. The one plane is interior, and the other is exterior. These planes themselves are nothing else than conscience. Without these planes, that is, without conscience, nothing heav- enly or spiritual from the Lord could in any wise be fixed, but would flow through as water through a sieve. For this reason those who are without such a plane or without conscience, do not know what conscience is; and in fact they have no be- lief in anything spiritual or heavenly. The interior plane or interior conscience, is where good and truth exist in a genuine sense ; for it is made active by good and truth flowing in from the Lord. The exterior plane is the exterior conscience, and is where justice and equity are in the true sense; 11 162 THE PATH OF LIFE for it is actuated by Justice and equity, moral and civil, which, likewise flow in. There is also an outermost plane, which appears like conscience, but is not conscience, namely, do- ing justice and equity for the sake of self and the world, that is, for the sake of one's own honor or fame, and for the sake of the world's wealth and possessions, and also from fear of the law. These three planes are what govern man, that is, are tlie means by which the Lord rules man. By the interior plane, or by the conscience of spiritual good and truth, the Lord rules those who are regenerated. By the exterior plane, or by the conscience of justice and equity, that is, by the conscience of moral and civil good and truth, the Lord rules those who are not yet regenerated, but who Can be regenerated and are being regenerated — if not in the life of the body, still in the other life. But by the outermost plane, which appears like conscience, and yet is not conscience, the Lord rules all the rest, even the evil. These without this control would rush into all wicked and insane things, and this they do when they are without the restraints of that plane. Those who do not suffer themselves to be ruled by these planes, are either insane or are punished according to the laws. With those who are regenerated these three planes act as one; for one flows into another, the interior disposing the exterior. The first plane, or the conscience of spiritual good and truth, is in man's rational; but the second plane, or the conscience of moral and civil good and truth, that is, of justice and equity, is in man's natural. (A. 4167.) THE PATH OF LIFE 163 4. True, Spurious, and False Conscience. In general there is a true conscience, a spurious conscience, and a false conscience. True conscience is formed by the Lord out of the truths of faith. When man is gifted with this he fears to act con- trary to his conscience. This conscience no one can receive who is not in the truths of faith, and there- fore there are not very many who receive it in the Christian world, since every one sets up his own dogma as the truth of faith, and yet all who are regenerated receive conscience with charity, for the very ground of conscience is charity. There is also a spurious conscience which is formed with the heathen from their religious ob- servances into which they were born and educated, to act against which is to act against conscience. When their conscience is founded in charity and mercy and obedience, they are in a state wherein they can receive true conscience in the other life; and they do receive it because they love nothing before and beyond the truth of faith. Palse conscience is formed not from things internal but from things external, that is, not from charity but from love of self and the world. For there are those who seem to them- selves to act against their conscience whenever they act against the neighbor, and also seem to them- selves to be then inwardly pained; and yet it is for the reason that they perceive in their thought, that their life, honor, fame, and wealth or gain, are thus imperiled, and themselves are thereby in- jured. Some inherit such a weakness of heart and some acquire it; but it is a false conscience. (A. 1033.) 164 THE PATH OF LIFE 5. Conscience versus Fears. The Lord is continually putting evils and falsi- ties to flight, as far as possible. This He does through the conscience. But when the conscience is relaxed, there is no medium through which the Lord can flow in; for the Lord's influx with man is through charity into his conscience. This makes necessary a new medium which is then formed, which is an external medium; namely, fear of the law, fear for life, for honor and wealth, and for reputation therefrom. But these fears are not mat- ters of conscience; they are only external bonds which enable a man to live in society with others, and to appear friendly, whatsoever he may be in- wardly. But in the other life this medium, or these bonds, are of no account; for externals are there removed, and every one remains as he is in- ternally. (A. 1835.) 6. Conscience versus Perception. What perception is, is wholly unknown at this day, for no one at the present day has such per- ception as the ancients had, and especially the most ancient. These knew from perception whether a thing is good, and consequently whether it is true. There was an influx into their rational faculty from the Lord through heaven, from which, w;hen they thought about anything holy, they had a per- ception whether it was true or not true. Such perception afterwards perished with man, when he began to be no longer in heavenly ideas, but only in worldly and corporeal ideas; and in THE PATH OF LIFE 165 place of it conscience succeeded, which is also a kind of perception ; for to act contrary to conscience or according to conscience is nothing else than to perceive from it whether a thing is so or not, or whether it should be done. And yet the percep- tion of conscience is not from an inflowing good, but from the truth that is implanted in men from infancy in accordance with their holy states of worship and which is afterwards confirmed. Then this alone they believe to be good. This conscience is a kind of perception, but is from that implanted truth ; and when charity and innocence are insinu- ated into tliat truth by the Lord the good of that conscience is made manifest. (A. 2144.) (h) Freedom and Self-compulsion /. Freedom Cannot Exist under Compulsion. It is an inviolable Divine law that man shall be in freedom; and that good and truth, or charity and faith, shall be implanted in freedom, and never under compulsion ; for what is received in a state of compulsion does not remain but is dis- sipated. To compel man is not to insinuate into his will; because under such compulsion, he acts from the will of another; and therefore when he returns to his own will, that is, to his freedom, the result is nullified. (A. 5854.) 2. Freedom and Self-compulsion Inseparable. In compelling oneself there is freedom, that is, what is spontaneous and voluntary; and it is by this that compelling oneself is distinguished 166 THE PATH OF LIFTS, from being compelled. Without this free, spon- taneous or voluntary state, a man can never be reformed and receive what is heavenly as his own. Furthermore, there is more freedom in tempta- tions than out of them, although the contrary appears to be the case. For the freedom is then the stronger according to the assaults from evils and falsities, and is so strengthened by the Lord in order that what is heavenly may be given to man as his ovm; and consequently in temptations the Lord is more fully present. The Lord never compels any one ; for he who is compelled to think what is true and to do good is not thereby re- formed, but thinks falsity and wills evil all the more. (A. 1944.) 3. Man Must Compel Himself from Evil. It is a law of Divine providence that man him- self should compel himself. But this means that he should compel himself from evil, and does not mean that he should compel himself to good; for it is possible for man to compel himself from evil, but not to compel himself to good that in itself is good. For when a man compels himself to good before he has compelled himself from evil he does good from himself and not from the Lord, for he compels himself to it for the sake of self, or for the sake of the world, or for the sake of recompense, or from fear ; and such good is not in itself good, because the man himself or the world or recompense is in it as its end, and not the good itself, thus neither the Lord; and it is love and not fear that makes good to be good. (E. 1152.) THE PATH or LIFE 167 4. Effect of Compelling Himself from Evil. When a man compels himself from evils he purifies his internal, and when that is purified he does good from freedom without compelling him- self to do it; for so far as a man compels himself from evil so far he comes into heavenly freedom, and from that freedom is every thing good that is in itself good, and to such good man does not compel himself. The appearance is that compel- ling oneself from evil and compelling oneself to good necessarily go together, but they do not. I know from the evidence of experience of many who have compelled themselves to do good, but not from evils; and when such were explored it was found that evils from within clung to the goods, and in consequence their goods were like idols or images made of clay or dung; and it was said that such persons believe that God may be gained over by praise and gifts, even from an impure heart. ISTevertheless, before the world a man may compel himself to good without compel- ling himself from evil, because in the world he is compensated for so doing; for in the world the external is mainly regarded and the internal is rarely regarded; but before God it is not so. (E. 1152.) 5. No Regeneration Possible under Compulsion. It is supposed that the Lord if He wills can save every one, and this by means innumerable, as by miracles, by the dead rising again, by immediate revelations, by angels holding man back from evil and impelling him to good by manifest force, and 168 THE PATH OF LIFE by means of many states on being led into which man may repent, and by many other- means. It is not known that all such means are compulsions, and that by compulsions man cannot be reformed. For whatever compels man does not impart to him any affection, and if it be of such a nature as to do this, it allies itself with affection for evil. For it appears to infuse something holy, and even does so ; but when his state is changed the man returns to his former affections, namely, for evils and falsities, and becomes guilty of profanation; and he is then of such a nature as to be led into the most grievous hell of all. (A. 4031.) If man could have been reformed by compulsion, there would be no man in the universe who would not have been saved; for nothing would be easier for the Lord than to compel men to fear Him, and indeed as it were to love Him — the means are in- numerable. But as that which is done in compul- sion is not appropriated, it is the farthest possible from the Lord to compel any one. (A. 3881.) (i) Temptations /. Temptations Defined. What temptations or the combats of tempta- tions effect, scarcely any one can know. They are the means whereby evils and falsities are broken up and dispersed, and whereby ako a hor- ror for evils and falsities is induced, and con- science is given and also strengthened, and man THE PATH OF LIFE 169 is regenerated. These are the reasons why those who are being regenerated are led into combats and undergo temptations; and those who do not undergo them in the life of the body, undergo them in the other life if they are capable of being regenerated. Also this is why the Lord's church is called militant. The Lord alone sustained the most cruel com- bats of temptations from His own strength or His own power ; for He was surrounded by all the hells, and continually conquered them. So it is the Lord alone who fights in men who are in the combats of temptation, and who overcomes. For man from his own power can efEect nothing at all against evil or infernal spirits; for such spirits are so connected with the hells that if one were over- come, another would rush in, and so on forever. They are like the sea which presses upon every part of a dike; if the dike should he broken through by a cleft or a crack, the sea would not stop, but would hurst through and overflow, till nothing would he left standing. So would it be if the Lord alone did not sustain in man the combats of temptations. (A. 1692.) 2. Temptations the Work of Evil Spirits. Evil spirits always contend against the things that man loves; and the more ardently he loves them, the more fiercely do they contend. Evil genii contend against whatever pertains to affection for good, and the evil spirits against whatever per- tains to affection for truth. As soon as they notice even the smallest thing which a man loves, or per- 170 THE PATH OF LIFE ceive^ as it were by scent, what is delightful and dear to him, they forthwith assault this, and en- deavor to destroy it, and thus the whole man; for man's life consists in his loves. (A. 1692.) 3. Temptations Are States of Doubt. TbjMPTations carry with them doubts in regard to the Lord's presence and mercy, and in regard to salvation. The evil spirits who are then with the man and who induce the temptation strongly in- spire the negative; while the good spirits and angels from the Lord dispel these doubts in every way, and hold man in continual hope, and at length confirm the affirmative. Thus the man who is in temptation hangs between the negative and the affirmative. He who succumbs remains in doubt and falls into the negative ; but he who over- comes, although he be still in a state of doubt, if only he suffers himself to be raised up by hope, stands fast in the affirmative. In such combats man urges the Lord, especially by prayers, to be present, to be merciful, to give help, and to deliver from damnation. (E. 2338.) 4. The Issue in Temptations. Temptations have reference to the dominion of the evil that is in the man from hell, or the dominion that is in him from the Lord. The evil which wills to rule has its seat in the natural or external man, the good in the spiritual or in- ternal man. So if evil conquers, the natural man rules over the spiritual ; if good conquers, the spiritual man rules over the natural. (A. 8961.) THE PATH OF LIFE 171 5. Natural Temptations and Spiritual Temptations. There axe spiritual temptations and there are natural temptations. Spiritual temptations per- tain to the internal man, and natural temptations pertain to the external man. Spiritual tempta- tions sometimes exist without natural temptations, sometimes with them. Natural temptations are when a man suffers in respect to his body, that is, in respect to honors, or wealth, in a word, in re- spect to his natural life, such as diseases, misfor- tunes, persecutions, undeserved punishments, and the like. The anxieties which then arise are what are meant by natural temptations. But these temptations do not at all affect his spiritual life, neither can they be called temptations, but griefs ; for they arise from the hurt to the natural life, and have relation to the love of self and the world. The wicked sometimes endure these griefs, and are grieved and tormented the more in proportion as they love themselves and the world, and so place their life in these loves. Spiritual temptations pertain to the internal man, and assault his spiritual life. The anxieties then are not on account of any loss pertaining to the natural life, but on account of the loss of faith and charity, and consequently salvation. These temptations are frequently induced by natural temptations, for when a man is in these, that is, in disease, grief, the loss of wealth or honor and the like, if thought then arises concerning the Lord's aid, concerning His providence, concerning the state of the evil that they glory and exult when 172 THE PATH OF LIFE the good suffer and undergo various griefs and various losses, then spiritual temptation is con- joined to natural temptation. Such was the last temptation of the Lord in Gethsemane, and when He suffered the cross, which was the severest of all. All this makes clear what natural temptation is, and what spiritual temptation is. There is also a third kind, namely, melancholy anxiety, which has its cause for the most part in infirm states of the body or of. the mind. In that anxiety there may be something of spiritual temptation, or there may be nothing of it. (A. 8164.) 6. What Temptations Do for Man. Temptations help to confirm truths of faith, also to implant them, and instill them into the will, that they may become goods of charity. For man fights from the truths of faith against evils and falsities; and because, when he conquers, his mind is in truths, he confirms himself in them and implants them, and the evils and falsities which assault him he accounts as an enemy, and rejects them from himself. Moreover by temptations the lusts that pertain to the love of self and of the world are subdued, and man becomes humble. Thus he is rendered meet to receive the life of heaven from the Lord, which life is the new life, such as belongs to the regenerated man. (A. 8966.) 7. The Most ignorant May Be Saved. It was granted me to see and perceive certain ones as they entered into the other life, who in THE PATH OF LIFE 173 the life of the body had had regard only to earthly affairs, with no other interest in life, nor had they been initiated through any knowledges into any good and truth. Their employment had been that of sailors and peasants. They had apparently so little life that it seemed impossible for them to re- ceive, like other spirits, eternal life, for they were like machines with almost no animation. But the angels had tender care for them, and through the ability which they possessed as men, insinuated into them the life of goodness and truth, whereby they were more and more led on from a life like that of animals to human life. (A. 3647.) XXIV THE EBGENEEATING PROCESS (a) Repentance /. Actual Repentance. Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to Ivnow and acknowledge one's sins, to hold oneself guilty, to confess one's sins before the Lord, to implore help and power to resist them, and thus to refrain from them, and lead a new life; and to do all this as if of oneself. Do so once or twice in a year, when you come to the Holy Communion ; and afterwards, when the sins of which you have found yourselves guilty recur, say to yourselves, " We do not will these, because they are sins against God." This is actual repentance, (E. 531.) 2. Confession of Sins. He who would be saved must confess his sins, and do ,the work of repentance. Confession of sins is recognizing evils, seeing them within oneself, acknowledging them, making oneself guilty and condemning himself on account of them. When this is done before God it is confession of sins. And when one has thus confessed his sins and from an humble heart has prayed that they may be forgiven, repentance consists in refraining from them and living a new life in accordance with the precepts of faith. (A. 8387-9.) 174 THE PATH or LIFE 175 3. General Confession Useless. One who merely acknowledges in a general way that he is a sinner, thus making himself guilty of all evils, and does not examine himself, but re- mains blind to his sins does indeed make con- fession, but not a repentance-confession, for his life continues as it was before. (A. 8370.) 4. Repentance Is Living a Life of Faith Daily. He who is living a life of faith daily does the work of repentance, for he reflects upon the evils that are within him and acknowledges them, guards himself against them, and prays to the Lord for aid. For man of himself is unceasingly lapsing, and is unceasingly raised up by the Lord. Of himself he lapses when in thought he wills evil ; and he is raised up by the Lord when he resists evil and thus does not do it. Such is the state of the good. But the evil are continually lapsing; and they are continually raised up by the Lord, that they may be withheld from falling into the hells of the basest evils toward which of them- selves their life wholly tends ; that they may thus be held in a milder hell. (A. S.^91.) 5. Freedom Essential in Repentance. The work of repentance which is done in a state of freedom avails, but that which is done in a state of compulsion is of no avail. A state of com- pulsion is a state of sickness, a state of dejection of mind on account of misfortunes, a state of im- minent death ; in a word, every state of fear which restrains the exercise of sound reason. An evil 176 THE PATH OF LIFE man, -who in a state of compulsion promises re- pentance and "also does good, as soon as he comes into a state of freedom returns to his former life of evil. It is different with a good man. To him such states are states of temptation in which he conquers. (A. 8393.) 6. How Sins Are Removed and Forgiven. Eepentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Sins are not forgiven by repent- ance of the mouth, but only by repentance of the life. Sins are constantly forgiven to man by the Lord, for He is mercy itself; but the sins still ad- here to the man however he supposes them to be for- given, and can be removed from him only by a life according to the precepts of faith. So far as a man lives according to these precepts his sins are removed, and so far as they are removed they are forgiven. For man is withheld by the Lord from evil, and is held in good ; and in the other life he can be withheld from evil, but only so far as he has resisted evil in the life of the body ; and he can be held in good in the other life only so far as he has done good from affection in the life of the body. This makes clear what forgiveness of sins is, and whence it is. He who believes that sins are forgiven in any other way is much deceived. (A. 8393.) (b) Forgiveness of Sins /. Forgiveness of Sins Defined. He who knows nothing about man's deliver- ance from evils and falsities, that is, about for- THE PATH OF LIFE 177 giveness of sins, may believe that sins are wholly wiped away when they are said to be forgiven. This belief is derived from the literal sense of the Word, where it is sometimes so expressed; from which an error has gained possession of the minds of many that they are just and pure when they have received absolution. But such persons are not at all aware what is meant by the forgiveness of sins, namely, that a man is not thereby purified of them but is withheld from them by the Lord, when he is such that he can be held in good and truth. (A. 9333.) 2. Sins Enrooted in tfie Life. The sins which a man does are enrooted in and make his very life. Therefore no one can be free from his sins unless he receives a new life from the Lord; and this is effected by regeneration. Of himself man can neither be good nor think truth, but only from the Lord ; as is said in John : " A man can do nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from Me ye can do nothing." Prom which it is clear that no one but the Lord can lead man away from sins, and thus remit them. (A. 9444.) 3. Both the Good and the Evil Receive Good and Truth from the Lord. The Lord continually flows into man with the good of love and with the truths of faith ; but each man receives them differently. (A. 9446.) Those who are regenerated are continually kept 12 178 THE PATH OF LIFE by the Lord in the good of faith and love, and are kept from evils and falsities. And those who do not suffer themselves to be regenerated by the Lord are also kept from evil and held in good; but the infernal loves, which are the loves of self and the world in which evil men are, stand in the way and turn the inflow of good into evil and the inflow of truth into falsity. (A. 9447.) 4. Forgiveness of Sins and Regeneration. The Lord out of Divine mercy regenerates man, and this is effected from his infancy even to the end of his life in the world, and afterward to eternity. Thus out of Divine mercy He leads man away from evils and falsities and leads him to truths of faith and goods of love, and then holds him in these. And afterwards out of Divine mercy He takes him up unto Himself in heaven and renders him happy. This is what is meant by the forgiveness of sins out of mercy. Those who be- lieve that sins are remitted in any other way are altogether deceived, for it would be unmerciful to see a multitude of men in the hells and not save them, if it could have been brought about other- wise, when, in fact, the Lord is mercy itself and wills not the death of any one, but desires that all may live. Therefore those who do not suffer them- selves to be regenerated, and to be withheld thereby from evils and falsities,, put away from them and reject these mercies of the Lord. Thus it is man's own fault if he is not saved. And this is what is meant in John: "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to be sons of God, to them THE PATH OF LIFE 179 that believe on His name: which were boxn, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (A. 9452-9454.) 5. Sins not Separated when They Are Forgiven, but only Removed. It is an error of the age to believe that evils have been separated, and even east out, when they have been forgiven. It has been granted me to know from heaven that no evil into which man is bom and which he himself actually imbibes is separated from him, but is only so removed as not to appear. I formerly held the belief that is held by most in the world, that when evils are forgiven they are cast out, and are washed and wiped away as dirt is washed from the face by water. But this is not true of evils or sins. They all remain; and when after repentance they are forgiven they are moved from the centre to the sides ; and then what is in the centre, because it is directly under view, appears as in the light of day, and what is at the sides is in the shade, and sometimes as it were in the darkness of night. And as evils are not sepa- rated but only removed, that is, dismissed to the sides, and as man can pass from the centre to the parts round about, it is possible for him to return into his evils which he supposed had been cast out. For man is such that he can pass from one affection into another, and sometimes into an op- posite one, thus from one centre to another, his affection, so long as he is in it, making the centre, for then he is in its delight and in its light. (P. 279.) 180 THE PATH OF LIFE 6. Man's Side of the Forgiveness of Sins. The Lord forgives to every one his sins, since He is mercy itself ; and yet the sins are not thereby forgiven unless man performs serious repentance, and refrains from evils, and afterwards lives a life of faith and charity, and this even to the end of his life. When from this nevsr lifel he views the evils of his former life and turns away from them and regards them vi^ith horror, then only are his evils forgiven, for then man is held in truths and goods by the Lord and is withheld frpm evils. (A. 9014.) 7. The Signs that Sins Are not Forgiven. The signs that sins are not forgiven are the following: God is not worshipped for the sake of God, and the neighbor is not served for the sake of the neighbor; thus good is done and the truth is spoken not for the sake of good and truth, but for the sake of self and the world. Such wish to claim merit by their deeds ; they despise others in comparison with themselves; they perceive enjoy- men in evils, in enmities, in hatred, in revenge, in cruelty, in adulteries; and they scorn the holy things of the church and in heart deny them. (A. 9450.) 8. The Signs that Sins Are Forgiven. The signs that sins are forgiven are the follow- ing: Enjoyment is perceived in worshipping God for the sake of God, in serving the neighbor for the sake of the neighbor, thus in doing good for the sake of good, and in believing truth for truth's THE PATH or LIFE 181 sake. There is an unwillingness to claim merit for anything of charity and faith. All evils, such as enmities, hatreds, revenges, unmercifulness, adulteries, in a word, all things contrary to G-od and the neighbor, are shunned and held in aversion. (A. 91-19.) (e) Morality /. The Three Grades of Goodness. Divine celestial good, which makes the third or inmost heaven, is the good of love to the Lord; Divine spiritual good, which makes the middle or second heaven, is the good of charity toward the neighbor; and Divine natural good, which makes the first or lowest heaven, is the good of faith and obedience. To Divine natural good belongs also civil good, which is known as what is just among citizens, and also moral good, which per- tains to all the virtues composing what is honor- able. (A. 9812.) 2. The Three Kinds of Truths. There are three kinds of truths, civil, moral, and spiritual. Civil truths relate to matters of judgment and of government in kingdoms, and in general to what is just and equitable in them. Moral truths relate to matters of individual life in regard to companionships and social relations, in general to what is honest and right, and in par- ticular to virtues of every kind. But spiritual truths relate to matters of heaven and of the church, and in general to the good of love and the truth of faith. (H. 468.) 182 THE PATH OF LIFE 3. Moral Life Defined. A LiPE according to the comniandments is a merely moral life, the precepts of which are known to all who live in human society, and from civil life itself and the laws thereof; for example, that the Deity is to be worshipped, parents are to be honored, that murder, adultery, and theft must not be committed. But he who is being regen- erated is led by degrees from this more remote life, or from moral life, into a life nearer to the Divine teachings, that is, into spiritual life. When this comes about man begins to wonder why such commandments or precepts were sent down from heaven in so miraculous a manner, and written on tables by the finger of God, when they are known to every people, and are also written in the laws of those who have never heard anything from the Word. When he comes into this state of thought, if he be among those who are capable of being regenerated, he is led of the Lord into a still more interior state, namely, into a state of thought that deeper things lie concealed in these, with which as yet he is unacquainted; and when he reads the Word in this state, he finds everywhere in the prophets, and especially in the gospels that each one of these precepts contains in it things still more heavenly. (A. 3690.) 4. Moral Life a Receptacle of Spiritual Life. It shall now be told how a civil and moral life is a receptacle of spiritual life : Live these laws, not only as civil and moral laws, but also as Divine THE PATH OF LIFE 183 laws, and you will be a spiritual man. Scarcely a nation exists so barbarous as not to have pro- hibited by laws murder, adultery with the wife of another, theft, false witness, and injury to another's property. The civil and moral man ob- serves these laws, that he may be, or may seem to be, a good citizen; but if he does not also regard these laws as Divine he is merely a civil and moral natural man; while if he does, also regard them as Divine he becomes a civil and moral spiritual man. The difference is that the latter is both a good cit- izen of the earthly kingdom and also a good citizen of the heavenly kingdom; while the former is a good citizen of the earthly kingdom only, and not of the heavenly kingdom. The difference is seen in the goods they do. The goods done by civil and moral natural men are not in themselves good, for the man and the world are in them ; the goods done by civil and moral spiritual men are good in them- selves, because the Lord and heaven are in them. From all this it can be seen that as every man was born that he might become a civil and moral natural man, so, too, he was bom that he might become a civil and moral spiritual man; and this is done simply by his acknowledging God and not doing evil because it is against God, and doing good because it is accordant with God, whereby a spirit enters into his civil and moral activities and they live; otherwise there is no spirit in them, and therefore they are not living. And this is why the natural man, however civilly and morally he may act, is called dead ; but the spiritual man is called living. (P. 322.) 184 THE PATH OF LIFE 5. Morality the First Step in Regeneration. A MAN who is such as to be capable of being regenerated, at first, like an infant child, does not know what works of charity toward his neighbor are, because he does not as yet know what charity is, nor what his neighbor is. Since, therefore, he knows from the Word that he ought to give to the poor, and that whoever gives to the poor has reward in heaven, he does good to beggars more than to others, believing that these are the poor who are meant in the Divine Word. One who is in this first state of regeneration does good from his heart to such persons, and these good deeds are the goods of external truth from which re- generation begins ; and the truth of good, which is interior, flows into these acts, and does its work according to the knowledges which piertain to such a state. But when he becomes further enlightened, he makes a distinction, and affords help only to the upright and good, knowing that to afford help to the wicked is to do harm to many; since by his benefits and services he supplies the wicked with means for doing harm to others. Evidently, then, his former state in respect to this state was an inverted state, since he believed that to be good which is not good. And yet in the beginning of his regeneration he must needs do that good, be- cause his knowledge of the matter went no farther, and because the interior good of charity could flow into no other truth than that which was related to it. It is also clear that interior good was always THE PATH OF LIFE 185 present and working, but was not able to manifest itself until the man was gradually enlightened by knowledges concerning the qualities of goods and ti-uths. (A. 3688.) 6. Moral Life from a Spiritual Origin. A man's life is a moral life from a spiritual origin when he is living from religious motives. Then whenever anything evil, insincere or wrong presents itself, his thought is that it nmst not be done because it is contrary to the Divine laws. When a man abstains from doing such things in deference to Divine laws he acquires for himself spiritual life, and his moral life is then from the spiritual; for by such thought and faith man communicates with angels of heaven, and by com- munication with heaven his internal spiritual man is opened, the mind of which is a higher mind, such as the angels of heaven have, and he is thereby imbued with heavenly intelligence and wisdom. From this it can be seen that to live a moral life from a spiritual origin is to live from religious motives, and if within the church, it is to live from the Word. For those who live a moral life from religious motives and from the Word are raised above their natural man, thus above what is their ownhood, and are led by the Lord through heaven, and consequently have faith, the fear of God, and conscience, also a spiritual affection for truth which is an affection for knowledges of truth and good from the Word, for to such men such knowl- edges are Divine laws, according to which they must live. Many of the heathen live such a moral 186 THE PATH OF LIFE life, for they think that evil must not be done because it is contrary to their religion. And for this reason many of them are saved. (B. 195.) (d) Charity and Good Works /. Charity Defined. Every man who looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, if he sincerely, justly, and faithfully performs the vs'orks that belong to his office and employment, becomes a form of charity. (C. vii.) 2. The Beginning of Heavenly Joy. It is impossible for those vi^hose purposes are from the love of self and the world to have charity. They do not even know what charity is. They cannot at all comprehend that heaven in man is willing and doing good to the neighbor apart from any view to reward ; and that as great a happiness dwells therein as the angels in heaven have, which happiness is ineffable. For they believe that, should they be deprived of the joy arising from the glory consequent upon posts of honor and wealth, no further joy would be left. But in fact heavenly joy, which infinitely exceeds all other joys, only then begins. (A. 8037.) 3. Charity in Business. When a business man looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and transacts his business sin- cerely, justly, and faithfully he becomes a form of charity. Although he acts as from his own prudence he nevertheless trusts in the Divine Prov- THE PATH OF LIFE 187 idence. He is therefore not despondent in mis- fortune nor elated with success. He thinks of the morrow and yet does not think of it. He thinks about what should be done on the morrow, and how it should be done ; and yet does not really think of the morrow, because he ascribes the future to the Divine Providence and not to his own prudence. He even ascribes his prudence to the Divine Providence. He loves business as the chief thing of his vocation, and loves money as its in- strumental. Thus he loves his occupation which is in itself a good use, and not the means rather than the occupation. He shuns avarice which is an evil and the root of many evils. He loves the common good while loving his own good. ISTot that he contributes to it from his own beyond what is due, but because the public good is also the good of his fellow-citizens, from which indeed it arises, and these he loves from the charity of which he is a form. (C. 108.) 4. Charity and Piety. Piety consists in thinking and speaking piously ; in praying assiduously, and in behaving then with humility; in attending churches, and in listening devoutly to the preaching there ; in partaking fre- quently every year of the Sacrament of the Supper ; and in observing in like manner the other acts of worship according to the ordinances of the church. But a life of charity consists in willing and doing well to the neighbor; and in acting from what is just and fair and good and true in every 188 THE PATH OF LIFE work aud in every function ; in a word, the life of charity consists in the performance of uses. It is in such a life that Divine worship consists pri- marily, and only .secondarily in a life of piety. Consequently he who separates the one from the other, that is, who leads a life of piety and not at the same time a life of charity, does not worship God. He thinks about God but not from God, but from himself; for he thinks constantly about himself and not at all about the neighbor ; and if he does think about the neighbor he has little re- gard for him unless he is like himself. He thinks about heaven as a reward; consequently there is in his mind the idea of merit, and also self-love, and a contempt or disregard for uses and for the neighbor, and at the same time a belief in his own blamelessness. From this it is clear that a life of piety separated from a life of charity is not such a spiritual life as there ought to be in Divine worship. (ISr. 124.) 5. The Blessedness of Genuine Charity. Veey few at the present day know that there is heavenly happiness in doing good without a view to recompense ; for men do not know that there is any other happiness than in being advanced to honors, being served by others, abounding in riches, and living in pleasures. They are deeply ignorant that above these things there is a happi- ness which afEects the interiors of man, thus that there is a heavenly happiness and that this is the happiness of genuine charity. (A. 6392.) THE PATH OF LIFE 189 6. Benefactions Useful to the Ignorant. Benefactions are advantageous in many ways, especially the giving to the poor and to beggars; since by these means boys, girls, servants and in general all simple-minded persons are initiated into charity, for benefactions are the externals of charity whereby such become accustomed to the practice of charity, for they are its rudiments, and are also like unripe fruit. But to those who are afterwards perfected in a right knowledge of charity and faith, they become like ripe fruit, and they then regard the previous works, which were clone in simplicity of heart, only as duties. (T. 426.) (e) The Spiritual Life /. The Spiritual Life Defined. Man is bom from his parents not into spiritual life but into natural life. A spiritual life consists in a man's loving God above all things and his neighbor as himself, in accordance with the pre- cepts of faith, which the Lord has taught in the Word, while a natural life consists in his loving himself and loving the world more than his neigh- bor, and even more than God himself. (A. 8349.) 2. How Man Becomes Receptive of the Divine Life. DuEiNG his life in the world, man induces upon the purest substances of his interiors, such a form that he may be said to form his own soul, that is, its quality; and the Lord's life is received in accordance with that form, which is the life of His love toward the whole human race. (A. 5847.) 190 THE PATH OF LIFE 3. How Regeneration Is Effected. Eegbneiuvtion is effected in this order: Man must first fill his memory with knowledges of truth and good, and by means of these he must acquire for himself the light of reason. Especially must he learn that God is one, that the Lord (Jesus Christ) is the God of heaven and earth, that there is a heaven and a hell, that there is a life after death, and that the Word is holy. ISText he must learn what evils are sins, first from the decalogue, and afterwards from the Word every- where> and must come to see that they are sins against God, and that they therefore withhold and separate man from heaven, and condemn and sentence him to hell. Consequently, the first thing of reformation is to refrain from sins, to shun them, and finally to turn away from them. But in order that man may refrain from sins, and may shun them and turn away from them, he must pray to the Lord for help. Also he must shun them and turn away from them because they are opposed to the Word, that is, opposed to the Lord, and thus opposed to heaven, and because they are in themselves in- fernal. So far as a man thus shuns evils, and turns away from them because they are sins, and thinks about heaven, and about his salvation and eternal life, so far he is adopted by the Lord, and conjoined to heaven, and so far he is endowed with spiritual affection, which is such that he not only wishes to know truths, but also to understand them and THE PATH OF LIFE 191' will and do them. Thus is man reformed by the Lord and becomes a new man, that is, a regenerate man, and also becomes an angel of heaven, and has a heavenly love and life. (E. 837.) 4. The Delights of the Natural Life and of the Spir- itual Life. When the good of charity, which constitutes spiritual life, is to be implanted, the delight of pleasures, which had constituted the natural life, is removed, and man comes into temptation. For he believes that if he were to be deprived of the delight of pleasures he would be deprived of all life, for his natural life is in that delight, and he calls it good. But when that kind of life is removed the Lord implants in its place spiritual delight and good. But it must be remembered that the man who is regenerated is not deprived of the delight of the pleasures of the body and of the mind; for that delight he fully enjoys after regeneration, even more fully than before, but in an inverse manner. Before regeneration his whole life was in the delight of pleasures ; but after regeneration it is in the good of charity; and then the delight of pleasures serves as a means and an outmost plane in which spiritual good with its happiness and blessedness terminates. Therefore when the order is to be inverted the former delight of pleas- ures ceases, and a new one from a spiritual origia is implanted in its place. (A. 8413.) 192 THE PATH OP LIFE 5. The First Stage of Regeneration. The truth that is insinuated into man while he is being regenerated has its origin in good. At first the good is not manifest because it is in the internal man; but as the truth is in the ex- ternal man it is manifest. The affection for truth in the man who is being regenerated is from good. But the truth that is received at this first period is not the genuine truth of good, but is the truth of doctrine, for man does not yet con- sider whether it is the truth or not, but accepts it because it is a part of the doctrine of the church. Nevertheless so long as his acknowledgment of the truth is such, it is not his own, and is not made his own. This is the first state of the man who is regenerated. (A. 6717.) 6. Ttie Second Stage of Regeneration. When man has been thus regenerated good manifests itself especially in his loving to live in harmony with the truth, which he now from him- self acknowledges ' to be the truth. And because he now wills the truth which he acknowledges, and lives in accordance with it, it is his own. And because the understanding now makes one with the will there is a conjunction of the good and the truth. Then, as from a marriage, goods and truths are continaally born with their beatitudes and delights. These are the two' states which are meant by the origin of truth from good, and their con- Junction. The truth received in the first state is THE PATH OF LIFE 193 the doctrinal truth of the church into which the man was born ; but the truth received in the second state is the very truth itself. (A. 6717.) 7. The Life of Man Threefold. The life of maji is threefold, spiritual, moral' and civil, each distinct from the others. The moral and civil life is the active plane of the spiritual life, since to will well is the province of the spiritual life, and to act well the province of the moral and civil life, and if the latter is separated from the former the spiritual life consists solely of thought and speech, and the will, left with no support, recedes; and yet the will is the very spiritual part of man. To live the life that leads to heaven is not so difficult as some believe. Any one can live a civil and moral life; for every one from his childhood is initiated into that life, and learns what it is by living in the world. Moreover, every one, whether evil or good, lives that life ; for who does not wish to be called honest, and who does not wish to be called just? Almost every one practises honesty and justice outwardly, so far as to seem to be honest and just at heart, or to seem to act from real honesty and justice. The spiritual man ought to live in like manner, and can do so as easily as the natural man can, with this difference only, that the spiritual man believes in the Divine, and acts honestly and justly, not solely because to so act is in accord with civil and moral laws, but also because it is in accord with Divine laws. As the spiritual man, in whatever he is doing, 13 194 THE PATH OF LIFE thinks about Divine things, he has a communion with the angels of heaven ; and so far as this is the case he is conjoined with the angels; and thereby his internal man, which regarded in itself is the spiritual man, is opened. When man comes into 'this state he is adopted and led by the Lord, although himself unconscious of it, and then what- ever he does that is honest and just pertaining to moral and civil life, is done from a spiritual mo- tive; and doing what is honest and just from a spiritual motive is doing it from honesty and justice itself, or doing it from the heart. His justice and honesty may appear outwardly precisely the same as the justice and honesty of natural men, and even of evil and infernal men; but in inward form they are wholly unlike. For evil men act justly and honestly solely for the sake of themselves and the world; and therefore if they had no fear of laws and penalties, or the loss of reputation, of honor, of gain, and of life, they would act in every respect dishonestly and unjustly, since they neither fear God nor any Divine law, and therefore are not restrained by any internal bond; consequently they would use every opportunity to defraud, plunder, and spoil others, and this with delight. But those who have acted honestly and justly from regard to Divine laws, when their externals are taken away and they are left to their internals, act wisely, because they are conjoined to the angels of heaven, from whom wisdom is communicated to them. Therefore when the internal man, that is, the will and thought, are conjoined to the THE PATH OF LIFE 195 Divine, the civil and moral life of the spiritual man may be Just the same as the civil and moral life of the natural man. (H. 529, 530.) 8. Living a Spiritual Life not Difficult. There axe some who believe that to live the life that leads to heaven, which is called the spiritual life, is difficult, because they have been told that man must renounce the world, must divest himself of the lusts called the lusts of the body and the flesh, and must live spiritually; 'and they understand this to mean that they must dis- card worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and honors ; that they must walk continually in pious meditation on God, salvation, and eternal life; and must spend their life in prayers and in reading the Word and pious books. Such is their idea of renouncing the world, and living in the spirit and not in the flesh. Those who renounce the world and live in the spirit in this manner acquire a sorrowful life which is not receptive of heavenly joy, since every one's life continues the same after death. On the contrary, to receive the life of heaven a man must live in the world and engage in its business and employments, and by means of a moral and civil life there receive the spiritual life. In no other way can the spiritual life be formed in man, or his spirit prepared for heaven ; for to live an internal life and not at the same time an external life is like dwelling in a house that has no foundation, that gradually sinks or becomes cracked and rent asunder, or totters till it falls. (H. 538.) 196 THE PATH OF LIFE That it is not so difficult to lead the life of heaven as some believe can be seen from this, that vi^hen any thing presents itself to a man that he knows to be dishonest and unjust, but to which he is inclined, it is simply necessary for him to think that it ought not to be done because it is opposed to the Divine precepts. If a man accus- toms himself so to think, and from so doing establishes a habit of so thinking, he is gradually conjoined to heaven; and so far as he is conjoined to heaven the higher regions of his mind are opened; and so far as these are opened he sees whatever is dishonest and unjust, and so far as he sees these evils they can be dispersed, for no evil can be dispersed until it is seen. Into this state man is able to enter because of his freedom, for is not any one able from his freedom so to think ? And when man has made a beginning the Lord quickens all that is good in him, and causes him not only to see evils, but also to refrain from willing them, and finally to turn away from them. This is meant by the Lord's words " My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (H. 533.) 9. Every One Can See Truth Who so Desires EvEEY man, whose soul desires it, can see the truths of the Word in light. There is not found an animal that does not kn.ow the food of its life when he sees it. And man is a rational and spiritual animal. He sees the food of his life, — not so much that of his body, but of his soul, which is the truth of faith, — if he hungers for it, and seeks it from the Lord. (E. 234.) XXV THE LIFE AHTER DEATH (a) Death and Resdrebctiokt /. Orderly Death. If man had lived a life of good, his interiors would be open to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord; and so too vs'ould the very least and invisible little vessels. In consequence man would be without disease, and would only decline to ex- treme old age, even until he became a child again, but a wise child; and when the body could no longer minister to his internal man or spirit, he would pass without disease out of his earthly body into a body such as angels have, thus out of the world directly into heaven. (A. 5726.) 2. What Death Is. When" the body is no longer able to perform its functions in the natural world, which functions correspond to the spirit's thoughts and affections which the spirit has from the spiritual world, man is said to die. This takes place when the respira- tion of the lungs and the beatings of the heart cease. But the man does not die; he is merely separated from the bodily part that was of use to him in the world, while the man himself con- tinues to live; for man is not a man because of 197 198 THE PATH OP LIFE his body but because of his spirit. It is the spirit that thinks in man, and thought together with affection is what constitutes man. Evidently, then, the death of man is merely his passing from one world into another. (H. 445.) 3. The Resurrection Process. After this separation, the spirit of man con- tinues in the body for a short time, until the heart's action has wholly ceased; which happens variously in accord with the diseased condition that causes death; with some the motion of the heart continuing for some time, with others not so long. As soon as this motion ceases the man is resuscitated. This is done by the Lord alone. Eesuscitation means the drawing forth of the spirit from the body, and its introduction into the spir- itual world; this is commonly called the resur- rection. (H. 447.) (b) The Woeld op Spirits /. The Spirits Associated with Man Are in the World of Spirits. The evil spirits that are with man are from the hells, but while they are with him they are not in hell, but are taken out from it; and are in a place midway between hell and heaven which is called "the World of Spirits." In that worid there are also the good spirits who are with man. Into that world men come immediately after death, who after tarrying a while there, are either sent away to the lower earth, or let down into THE PATH OF LIFE 199 hell, or taken up into heaven, each one according to his life. In that world the hells are terminated upward, and are there closed or opened at the good pleasure of the Lord; while heaven is terminated below. Thus it is an intermediate space separat- ing heaven from hell. While the evil spirits who are with man are in that world they are not in any infernal torment, but in the enjoyments of the love of self and the world, as also of all the pleasures that man himself enjoys, for they are in every thought and affection of man. But when they are sent back into their hell, they return into their former state. (A. 6852.) 2. Man Alone Responsible for His Destiny. Aptee death there is granted to every man ample means of amending his life, if that be pos- sible. All are taught and led by the Lord by means of angels ; and as they are then conscious that they are living after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, at first they are receptive of truths. But those who, while they lived in the world did not acknowledge God and did not shun evils as sins soon weary of truths and withdraw; while those who acknowledged truths with the lips but not with the heart are like the foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil, and who begged oil of others, and who went away and bought, and yet were not admitted to the wedding ; from which it can be seen that the Divine Providence makes it possible for every one to be saved, and that man alone is responsihle if he is not saved. (P. 328.) 200 THE PATH OF LIFE 3. The Terms "Angel" and "Spirit" EvEEY man after death comes, in the first place, into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, azid there, passes through his own times or states, and becomes prepared, according to his life, either for heaven or for hell. So long as one stays in this world of spirits he is called a spirit. He who has been raised up out of that world into heaven is called an angel; while he who has been cast down into hell is called either a satan or a devil. But so long as these continue in the world of spirits, he who is preparing for heaven is called an angelic spirit; and he who is preparing for hell is called an infernal spirit. In the meantime the angelic spirit is conjoined with heaven, and the infernal spirit with hell. All spirits in the world of spirits are closely related to men ; because men, in respect to the interiors of their minds, are in like manner between heaven and hell, and through these spirits they com- municate with heaven or with hell according to their life. The world of spirits is one thing, and the spiritual world another; the world of spirits has just been described. The spiritual world in- cludes that world, and heaven and hell. (W. 140.) 4. Tfie World of Spirits. The world of spirits is both an intermediate place between heaven and hell and an intermedi- ate state of man after death. It is an intermediate place, having the hells below it and the heavens above it. It is an intermediate state, since so long THE PATH OF LIFE 201 as man is in it he is not yet either in heaven or in hell. The state of heaven in man is the con- junction of good and truth in him, and the state of hell is the conjunction of evil and falsity in him. Whenever good in a. man-spirit is conjoined to truth he comes into heaven, because that con- junction is heaven in him; but whenever evil in a man-spirit is conjoined with falsity he comes into hell, because that conjunction is hell in him. That conjunction is effected in the world of spirits, man .then being in an intermediate state. It is the same thing whether you say the con- junction of the understanding and the will or the conjunction of good and truth. (H. 421-2.) 5. The Changes in Man's Appearance there. Whek the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits, which takes place shortly after his re- suscitation, his face and his tone of voice resemble those he had in the world because he is then in the state of his exteriors, and his interiors are as yet uncovered. This is man's first state after death. But subsequently his face is entirely different, resembling his ruling affection or ruling love, in conformity with which the interiors of his mind had been while he was in the world and his spirit while it was in the body. For the face of a man's spirit differs greatly from the face of his body. The face of his body is from his parents, but the face of his spirit is from his affection, and is an image of it. When the life of the spirit in the body is ended, and its exteriors are set aside and 202 THE PATH Or LIFE its interiors disclosed, it comes into this affection. This is man's second state. I have seen some who had recently arrived from the world, and have recognized them from their face and speech ; but seeing them afterwards I did not recognize them. Those that had been in good affections appeared with beautiful faces ; but those that had been in evil affections with misshapen faces ; for man's spirit, viewed in itself, is nothing but his affection ; and the face is its outward form. Another reason why faces are changed there is that no one in the other life is permitted to counterfeit affections that are not his own, and thus assume looks that are contrary to his love. All in the other life are brought into such a state as to speak as they think, and to manifest in their looks and gestures the inclinations of their will. And because of this, the faces of all become forms and images of their affections ; and in consequence all that have known each other in the world know each other in the world of spirits, but this is not so in heaven or in hell. (H. 457.) (c) Heaven" /. Heaven. Heaven is such that all who live well, from whatever religion, have a place there. (P. 330.) 2. The Three Heavens. Thehe are three heavens, entirely distinct from each other, an inmost or third, a middle or second, and an outmost or first. These have the same order and relation to each other as the highest part of man, or his head, the middle part, or body, and THE PATH OF LIFE 203 the lowest, or feet; or as the upper, the middle, and the lower stories of a house. In the same order is the Divine that goes forth and descends from the Lord ; consequently heaven, from a neces- sity of order, is threefold. (H. 29.) The interioTS of man, which belong to his mind and disposition, are in like order. He has an in- most, a middle, and an outmost part. For when man was created all things of Divine order were brought together in him, so that he became Divine order in form, and consequently a heaven in mini- ature. For this reason man, as regards his in- teriors, has communication with the heavens and comes after death among the angels, either among those of the inmost, or of the middle, or of the outmost heaven, in accordance vtdth his reception of Divine good and truth from the Lord during his life in the world. (H. 30.) 3. The Three Degrees of Goodness and Truth in Heaven. Those who are in genuine love to the Lord, so as to have a perception of that love, are in a su- perior degree of good and truth, and are in the inmost or third heaven, thus are nearest to the Lord, and are called celestial angels. Those who are in charity toward the neighbor, so as to have a perception of charity, and not so much a per- ception of love to the Lord, are in a lower degree of good and truth, and axe in the inner or second heaven, and thus more remote from the Lord, and are called spiritual angels. But those who are in charity toward the neighbor merely from an affec- 204 THE PATH Or LIFE tion for tnith^ so as not to have any perception of charity itself toward the neighbor, except from tlie truth with which they are impressed, are in a still lower degree of good and truth, and in the outer or first heaven, and thus still more remote from the Lord, and are called good spirits. 4. The Phenomena of the Spiritual World. The spiritual world is, in external appear- ance, wholly like the natural world. Lands, mountains, hills, valleys, plains, fields, lakes, rivers, springs of water are to be seen there, as in the natural world; thus all things be- longing to the mineral kingdom. Parks, gardens, groves, woods, and in them trees and shrubs of all kinds bearing fruit and seeds; also plants, flowers, herbs, and grasses are to be seen there; thus all things pertaining to the vegetable king- dom. There are also to be seen there beasts, birds, and fishes of every kind; thus all things pertaining to the animal kingdom. Man is there as angel or spirit. This is premised that it may be known that the universe of the spiritual world is wholly like the universe of the natural world, with this difference only, that things in the spir- itual world are not fixed and settled like those in the natural world, because in the spiritual world nothing is natural, but everything is spir- itual. (W. 321.) 5. The Desire to Get to Heaven. . The spirits who go from this world into the other life desire nothing so much as to get into heaven. Nearly all seek to enter, supposing that THE PATH OF LIFE 205 heaven consists solely in being admitted and re- ceived. Because of this desire they are brought to some society of the lowest heaven. But as soon as those who are in the love of self and of the world draw near the first threshold of that heaven they begin to be distressed and so tortured in- wardly as to feel hell rather than heaven to be in them; and in consequence they cast themselves down headlong therefrom, and do not rest until they come into the hells among their like. (H. 405.) 6. Progress in Heaven. It is worthy of mention, since it is wholly un- known in the world, that the states of good spirits and of angels are continually changing and per- fecting, and that they are thereby raised up into the interiors of the province in which they are, and so into nobler functions; for in heaven there is a continual purification and, so to speak, a new creation; and yet the case is such that no angel even to eternity can possibly attain absolute per- fection. The Lord alone is perfect; in Him and from Him is all perfection. (A. 4803.) 7. Angelic Abodes. The angels of whom the Lord's celestial king- dom consists dwell for the most part in elevated places that appear like mountains of soil; the angels of whom the Lord's spiritual kingdom con- sists dwell in less elevated places that appear like hills ; while the angels in the lowest parts of heaven dwell in places that appear like ledges of stone. 206 THE PATH OF LIFE All these things spring from correspondence, for interior things correspond to higher things, and exterior things to lower things ; and this is why in the Word " mountains " signify celestial love, "hills" spiritual love, and "rocks" faith. (H. 188.) There are also angels who do not live associated together, but apart, house by house. These .dwell in the midst of heaven, since they are the best of angels. (H. 189.) 8. Subjects of Conversation. Some persons may perhaps wonder what the angels talk about with one another, and conse- quently what the men who become angels talk about after death ; but let them know that it is about such subjects as are contained in the internal sense of the Word; about the glorification of the Lord, His kingdom, the church, the regeneration of man through the good of love and the truth of faith; but on these subjects their speech is by means of arcana which for the most part are in- expressible. (A. 5349.) 9. Heaven a State of B/essedness. Heaven in itself is so full of delights that viewed in itself it is nothing else than blessedness and delight ; for the Divine good that flows forth from the Lord's Divine love is what makes heaven in general and in particular with every one there and the Di\dne love is a longing for the salvation of all and the happiness of all from inmosts and THE PATH OF LIFE 207 in fulness. Thus whether you say heaven or heav- enly joy it is the same thing. (H. 397.) 10. The Nature and Source of Heaven// B/essedness. Mutual love with those in heaven consists in loving the neighbor more than themselves; and therefore the whole heaven represents as it were one man; for all are consociated by mutual love from the Lord, and thus the blessings of all are communicated to each one, and those of each one to all. Consequently the heavenly form is such that every one is as it were a certain centre, thus a centre of communication, and accordingly of blessings, from all; and this in accordance with all the differences of mutual love, which are in- numerable. And because those wha are in that love perceive the highest happiness in being able to share with others that which flows into them, and this from the heart, the sharing becomes per- petual and eternal ; and on this account, as the Lord's kingdom increases, so the happiness of each one increases. (A. 2057.) //. Age in Heaven. In heaven there is no inequality of age; nor of rank, nor of wealth. As respects age, all there are in the bloom of youth, and remain in it to eternity. As to station, all there regard others according to the uses that they perform; the more eminent look upon those in lower station as brethren — and do not put the dignity above the excellence of the use, but this above that. And when virgins are given in marriage they do not even know of what 208 THE PATH OF LIFE lineage they are, for no one there knows his father on earth, but the Lord is Father of all. As regards wealth likewise, this is there the gift of attaining wisdom ; according to this riches are given to them in sufficiency. (M. 350.) 12. Idleness Destruciive of HBavenly Blessedness. The enjoyment from good and delight from truth, "which cause blessedness in heaven, do not consist in idleness, but in activity ; for what is en- joyable and pleasant in idleness, becomes unenjoy- able and unpleasant; but what is enjoyable and pleasant in activity, endures and continually elevates, and causes blessedness. Activity with those in heaven consists in performing uses, which to them is enjoyment from good, and in enjoying truths with a view to use, which to them is delight from truth. (A. 6410.) 13. Thought of Recompense Destructive of Heavenly Blessedness. Those who are in mutual love, when they per- form uses and do good to others, are in such joy and happiness that they seem to themselves then first to be in heaven; this is given them by the Lord, to each one according to the uses he per- forms. But the happiness vanishes as soon as they think of recompense, for thought concerning recompense, when yet they are in the recompense itself, renders that love impure and perverts it; because then they think of themselves and not of the neighbor, that is, of rendering themselves happy, and not others, unless so far as this makes them happy themselves. (A. 6388.) THE PATH OF LIFE 209 (d) Childken i2sr Heaven The Lord provides that all who die in infancy shall be saved, wherever born. (P. 328.) /. Children Form a Third Part of Heaven. Children, who form a third part of heaven, are all initiated into the acknowledgment and be- lief that the Lord is their Father, and afterwards that He is the Lord of all, thus the God of heaven and earth. Every child, wherever he is bom, whether within the church or outside of it, whether of pious parents or impious, is received, when he dies, by the Lord and trained up in heaven, and taught in accordance with Divine order, and im- bued with affections for what is good, and through these with a knowledge of what is true ; and after- wards as he is perfected in intelligence and wisdom is introduced into heaven and becomes an angel. Every one who thinks from reason can be sure that all are born for heaven and no one for hell, and if man comes into hell he himself is culpable ; but little children cannot be held culpable. (H. 4.) 2. Enter Heaven as Children. When children die they are still children in the other life, having a like infantile mind, a like innocence in ignorance, and a like tenderness in all things. They are merely in the rudiments of a capacity to become angels, for children are not angels, but become angels. Every one passing out of this world enters the other in the same state of life, a little child in the state of a little child, a 14 210 THE PATH OF LITE boy in the state of a boy, a youth, a man, an old man, in the state of a youth, a man, or an old man ; but subsequently each one's state is changed. The state of little children surpasses the state of all others in that they are in innocence, and evil has not yet been rooted in them by actual life; and in innocence all things of heaven can be im- planted, for it is a receptacle of the truth of faith and of the good of love. (H. 330.) 3. How Their State Surpasses Their State in the World. The state of children in the other life far sur- passes their state in the world, for they are not there clothed vsrith an earthly body, but with such a body as the angels have. The earthly body is in itself gross, and receives its first sensations and first motions not from the inner or spiritual world, but from the outer or natural world; and in con- sequence in this world children must be taught to walk, to guide their motions, and to speak; and even their senses, as seeing and hearing, must be opened by use. It is not so with children in the other life. As they are spirits they act at once in accordance with their interiors, walking without practice, and also talking, but at first from general affections not yet distinguished into ideas of thought ; but they are quickly initiated into these, for the reason that their exteriors are homogeneous with their interiors. (H. 331.) 4. The Tenderness of Their Understanding. It was shown how tender their understanding is. When I was praying the Lord's prayer, and THE PATH OF LIFE 211 from their understanding they flowed into the ideas of my thought, their influx was perceived to be so tender and soft as to be almost solely a matter of affection; and at the same time their understanding seemed to be open even from the Lord, for what flowed forth from them was as if it simply flowed through them. Moreover, the Lord flows into the ideas of children chiefly from inmosts, for there is nothing, as with adults, to close up their ideas, no principles of falsity to close the way to the understanding of truth, nor any life of evil to close the way to the reception of good, and thereby to the reception of wisdom. All this makes clear that children do not come at once after death into an angelic state, but are gradually brought into it by means of knowledges of good and truth, and in harmony with all heav- enly order ; for the least particulars of their nature are known to the Lord, and thus they are led, in accord with each and every movement of their inclination, to receive the truths of good and the goods of truth. (H. 336.) 5. Their Growth to Maturity. Many suppose that children remain children in the other life, and that they are as children among the angels. But the fact is quite otherwise. In- - telligence and wisdom make an angel, and these children do not have so long as they are infants. They are indeed with the angels, but they are not angels. It is when they have become intelligent and wise that they become angels, and then they do not appear as children, but as adults ; for they are 212 THE PATH OF LIFE no longer of a childlike genius, but of an adult angelic genius. Intelligence and wisdom carry this with them; for understanding and judgment, and life according thereto are what cause one to appear as an adult to himself and to others, as every one can see. I have not only been told by the angels that this is so, but I have talked with one who died an infant, and afterwards until he appeared as an adult. This same one also talked with his brother who died in adult age, and this with so great a brotherly and mutual love that the brother could not refrain from tears; saying that he perceived nothing else than that it was love itself which spoke. (A. 2304.) (e) Hell. /. The Origin of Hell. The universe was a continuous work from its Creator even to outmosts, and being a continuous work it depends upon the Lord, who is its common centre, and it is moved and governed by Him as a single, continuous chain. It was asked, "Whence then is hell?" It was said, " Prom man's freedom, without which man would not be a man; that man by that freedom severed the continuity in himself, and with this break a separation took place, and the continuitj' which was in man from creation became like a chain or linked work which falls when the links above are broken or torn asunder and thencefor- THE PATH OF LIFE 213 ward hangs by slender threads. This separation was effected and is effected by a denial of God." (D. W. cont.) The universals of hell are three loves, — the love of ruling, from the love of self; the love of pos- sessing the goods of others, from Jove of the world ; and scortatory love. The universals of heaven are the three loves opposite to these, — love of ruling, from the love of use; love of possessing goods of the world from the love of performing uses by means of them; and true marriage love. (M. 261.) 2. Of Whom Hell Consists. Hell consists of spirits who when they were men in the world denied God, acknowledged nature, lived contrary to Divine order, loved evils and falsities, although for the sake of appearance this was not done openly; and this being so they were either insane iii respect to truths, or despised truths, or denied them in heart if not with the lips. Of all such that have lived from the creation of the world hell consists. These are all called either devils or satans; those in whom love of self has predominated are called devils, and those in whom love of the world has predominated are called satans. (E. 1143.) 3. The Process of Condemnation. It is not known in the world that before the evil are condemned and let down into hell they pass through many states. It is believed instead 214 THE PATH OF LIFE that man is immediately either condemjied or saved, and that this is effected without any definite process. But justice reigns even in hell, and no one is condemned until he himself realizes by an interior conviction, that he is in evil and that it is impossible for him to be in heaven. His evils are also made clear to him, according to the words of the Lord in Luke : " There is nothing covered up, that shall not be revealed ; and hid, that shall not be known. Therefore whatsoever ye have said in the darkness shall be heard in the light; and what ye have spoken in the ear in the innej' cham- ber shall be proclaimed upon the housetops " (xii. 2, 3). (A. 7795.) 4. The Desire to be Useful the Test of Character. As man was created to perform uses, and this is loving the neighbor, so all who come into heaven must perform uses. All the delight and blessed- ness of these is according to uses and the love of uses. Pleavenly joy is from no other source. He who believes that such joy is possible in idle- ness is much deceived. No idle person is tolerated even in hell. Those who are there are in work- houses and under a judge who imposes tasks on the prisoners that they must do daily. To those who do not do their tasks no food or clothing is given, but they stand hungry and naked ; thus are they compelled to work there. The difference is that in hell uses are done from fear, but in heaven from love; and fear does not give joy, but love does. (E. 1194.) THE PATH OF LIFE 215 5. The Progress from the World of Spirits into Hell. Ti-iB food in the world of spirits is similar to the food in our world, but is from a spiritual origin, and is given from heaven by the Lord to all according to the uses they perform. To the idle none is given, because they are idle. So when the evil refuse to do what is given them to do they begin to be hungry, and to think of nothing else than how they are to get food and appease their hunger. When they are in this state, there come to them certain ones, of whom they ask alms; but they reply, " Why do ye sit thus idle? Come with us into our houses, and we will give you work to do, and will feed you." Then they rise up gladly, and go with them to their houses; and there to each one is given his task, and for the work food is given. But inasmuch as all those who have confirmed themselves in falsities of faith are un- able to do good works, but only evil works, nor even these faithfully they soon leave their work, and care only to be together, to talk, to walk about, and to sleep. And then, because they can no longer be induced by the masters to work, they are cast out as useless. When they have been cast out, their eyes are opened, and they see a way leading to a certain cavern. When they come thither, a door is opened, and they enter, and ask whether there is food there; and when told that there is, they ask to be permitted to remain there; and permission is granted and they are let in and the door is shut after them. Of such caverns, which are nothing but eternal workhouses, the entire hell 216 THE PATH OP LIFE consists. I have been permitted to enter into some of them and see them, to the end that I might make the fact known. They were all seen to be vile. None of those who were there knew who or in what function he had been in the world; but the angel who was with me told me that this one in the world had been a domestic, this a soldier, this an officer, this a priest, this in dignity, this in opulence ; and yet they all knew no otherwise than that they had been slaves and comrades as now. Such is the lot of those who have set aside the life of charity, and have not lived it in the world. (E. 153.) 6. The Evils Themselves Recognize the Justice of Their Condemnation. The condemnation of those who are in evils is not effected in a moment when they come into the other life, but only after they have been explored. Exploration is so made that they are themselves able to perceive that they cannot but be condemned because they have not lived otherwise; also that spirits and angels may know that they have been such. Thus neither they themselves nor can others find excuse. (A. 7278.) 7. Evil States Become Fixed after Death. That man must be led away from evil in order to be reformed is evident without explana- tion; for he that is in evil in the world is in evil after he has left the world; consequently if evil is not removed in the world it cannot be removed afterwards. Where the tree falls there it lies. So THE PATH OF LIFE 217 a man's life when he dies remains such as it has been. Every one is judged according to his deeds ; for he returns to them and acts in the same way. For death is a continuation of life, with the difEer- ence that man cannot then be reformed. All re- formation is effected in completeness, that is, simultaneously in first principles and in outmosts ; and while man is in the world outmosts are re- formed harmoniously with first principles and cannot be reformed afterwards, because the out- mosts of life that man carries with him after death become quiescent, and are in harmony with his interiors, that is, they act as one. (P. 377.) A man's life cannot be changed after death, but remains such as it had been. For a man's spirit in its whole measure is such as his love is; and infernal love cannot be transmuted into heavenly love, since they are opposite. This is meant by Abraham's words to the rich man in hell : " There is a great gulf between you and us, so that they who wish to pass to you cannot, neither can they pass from thence to us" (Luke xvi. 36) ; from which it is plain that they who come into hell remain there forever, and that they who come into heaven remain there forever. (N. 239.) XXVI TPIE CHUECH (a) Its Nature and Con.stitution /. What Makes the Church. The conjunction of good and truth makes the Church. (T. 398.) Good of life from charity and its faith makes the Church. (K. 5.) There are two things tliat make the Church: good of love, and truth of doctrine. The marriage of these is the Church. (E. 349.) There are three things that make the Church: truth of doctrine, good of love, and worship from these. (E. 486.) 2. Spiritual Membership of the Church. By a man of the Church is meant one who is in the good of charity, and from that in truths of faith from the Lord. (T. 249.) By a man of the Church is meant a man in whom the Church is. (W. 118.) Life makes the man of the Church. (E. 235.) Spiritual good is the good of truth, that is, truth in the will and in the act. This truth, or 218 THE PATH OF LIFE 219 this good of truth, in man makes him to be a church. (A. 5826.) When a man perceives delights from an affection for good and truth, he then begins to be a church. (A. 3939.) A man of the Church begins to be a church when he acts from charity, which is the essential doc- trine of faith. (A. 916.) 3. The Church in General and in Particular. It is the same whether you say a spiritual man or a spiritual church; for a spiritual man is a church in particular and many are the church in general. Unless a man individually were a church, there could be no church in general. An assembly in general is what, in common language, is called a church; but in order that there may be any church each one in that assembly must be in- dividually a church, for every general 'involves parts like itself. (A. 4292.) The church in general is constituted of those who are churches in particular, however remote from each other they may be. (A. 6637.) 4. The Internal and the External Church. Those who place Divine worship in frequenting churches, hearing preachings, partaking of the Holy Supper, and do these things with devotion, with no further thought than that they ought to be done frequently, because they are appointed and commanded, such are of the external church. But those who not only believe that such things should 220 THE PATH OF LIFE be done, but also that the essential of worship is a life of faith, that is, charity toward the neighbor and love to the Lord, are of the internal church. Consequently those who do good to the neighbor and worship the Lord merely from the obedience of faith, are of the external church. But those who do good to the neighbor and worship the Lord from love, are of the internal church. (A. 8768.) 5. The Church the Foundation for Heaven. The church on the earth is the foundation for heaven. For the influx of good and truth from the Lord through the heavens has its outmost termination in the goods and truths which are in the man of the church. Consequently, when the man of the church is in so perverted a state, that there is no longer any admission for the influx of good and truth, the powers of the heavens are said to be moved. It is always provided, there- fore, by the Lord that something of the church should remain ; and when a former church per- ishes, a new one is established. (A. 4060.) 6. The Church among the Heathen. I HAVE been taught in many ways that the heathen who have led a moral life and have lived in obedience and subordination and mutual charity in accordance with their religion, and have thus received something of conscience, are accepted in the other life, and are there instructed with so- licitous care by the angels in the goods and truths of faith; and that when they are being taught THE PATH OF LIFE 221 they behave themselves modestly, intelligently, and wisely, and readily accept truths and adopt them. They have not worked out for themselves any principles of falsity antagonistic to the truths of faith which will need to be shaken off, still less cavils against the Lord, as many Christians have who cherish no other idea of Him than that He is an ordinary man. The heathen, on the contrary, when they hear that God has become a man, and has thus mani- fested himself in the world, immediately acknowl- edge it and worship the Lord, saying that because God is the God of heaven and of earth, and be- cause the human race is His, He has fully dis- closed Himself to men. It is a Divine truth that apart from the Lord there is no salvation ; but this is to be understood to mean that there is no salvation except from the Lord. There are many earths in the universe and all of them full of inhabitants, scarcely any of whom know that the Lord took on a Human on our earth. Yet because they worship the Divine under a human form they are accepted and led by the Lord. (H. 381.) (b) WOESHIP /. Essential Worship. All true worship consists in adoration of the Lord, adoration of the Lord consists in humilia- tion, and humiliation consists in one's acknowledg- ment that in himself there is nothing living and nothing good, but that all within him is dead, yea, 222 THE PATH OF LIFE as a lifeless body ; and in the acknowledgment that everything living and everything good are from the Lord. The more a man acknowledges these things, not from the mouth, but with the heart, the more he is in humiliation; and so the more he is in adoration, that is, in true worship; and the more he is in love and charity, and the more in happi- ness. (A. 1153.) 2. Practical Worship. Genuine worship consists in the performance of uses, thus in exercising charity. He who be- lieves that serving the Lord consists solely in going to church, in hearing preaching there, and in pray- ing, and that this is sufficient, is much deceived. Essential worship of the Lord during man's life in the world consists in everyone's discharging aright his duty in his station, thus serving his country, society, and his neighbor from the heart, in dealing sincerely with his fellow man, and in performing duties prudently according to the char- acter of every one. These uses are eminently works of charity and are the ways whereby the Lord is especially worshipped. Attending church, hearing sermons, and saying prayers are also necessary ; but apart from the performance of uses they avail nothing, for they do not pertain to the life, but only indicate what the life should be. (A. 7038.) 3. Why the Lord Desires Worship. Because the Lord is to be adored, worshipped and glorified. He is supposed to love adoration. THE PATH OF LIFE 223 worship, and glory for His own sake ; but He loves these for man's sake, because by means of them man comes into a state in which the Divine can flow in and be perceived, because by these means man puts away that which is his own which hinders influx and reception; for what is man's own, which is self-love, hardens the heart and shuts it up. This is removed by man's acknowl- edging that from himself comes nothing but evil and from the Lord nothing but good; from this acknowledgment there is a softening of the heart and humiliation, out of which flow forth adoration and worship. (W. 335.) 4. External Worship Necessary. By worship in the essential sense, is meant all conjunction by love and charity. A man is in wor- ship continually when he is in love and charity; external worship is only the effect. The angels are always in a state of worship ; and therefore with them there is a perpetual Sabbath. And for this reason the Sabbath, in the internal sense, signifies the Lord's kingdom. But so long as man is in the world, he ought not to be without external worship also. For by means of external worship internal things are called forth and by means of external worship external things are kept in a holy state, so that internal things can flow in. And besides man is thus imbued with knowledges, and is prepared for the reception of heavenly things, and is also gifted with states of holiness, though he does not know it; which states of holiness are preserved to him by the Lord for the 224 THE PATH OF LIFE benefit of his eternal life; for all the states of man's life return in the other life. (A. 1618.) 5. Why Idols Were Forbidden to the Jews. The sons of Israel were in externals without an internal, that is, were 'for the most part merely natural men. Therefore if they had made to them- selves the figure of ajiy beast or bird, which sig- nified affections and the like, they would have made idols for themselves, and would have wor- shipped them. This, too, was why the Egyptians, who had more knowledge of representatives than any other people, made for themselves figures of beasts, such as calves, serpents, and various other things, although at first not with reference to wor- ship but on account of their meaning. But their posterity, who from internal became external, and thus merely natural, did not look upon these things as representative and significative, but as holy things of the church, and therefore they offered to them idolatrous worship. It was for this reason that the posterity of Jacob who were wholly ex- ternal men, and thus at heart idolatrous, were forbidden to make to themselves any figure of these things. (E. 650.) 6. Heathen Worship. The worship and religious teachings and morals and even the idols, of the well-disposed heathen the Lord leaves intact, but so adapts them by means of charity that they may serve as vessels. It is the same in regard to the many rites in the Ancient Church, and afterwards THE PATH OF LIFE 225 in the Jewish Church ; which, in. themselves, were nothing hut rituals in which there was no truth, but which were tolerated and permitted and in- deed commanded, because they were held as sacred by parents, and so were implanted in the minds of children, and impressed upon them from infancy as truths. (A. 1832.) (c) The Ministry /. The Two Classes of Affairs among Men. There are two classes of affairs among men which must be in order, namely, those pertaining to heaven, and those pertaining to the world. Those that pertain to heaven are called ecclesi- astical, and those that pertain to the world are called civil. (N. 311.) 2. The Funciion Pre-eminently a Work of Charity. The priest who teaches truths from the Word, and leads by them to the good of life and so to heaven, practises charity in an eminent degree, because he exercises care for the souls of the men of his church. (T. 422.) When a priest looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and sincerely, justly and faithfully does the work of the ministry enjoined upon him, he becomes a charity in form. And he does this when he has a love for the salvation of souls. And in proportion as he has this love he has a love for truths, because it is by means of truths that he leads souls to heaven ; and he leads souls to heaven 15 226 THE PATH OP LIFE by means of truths when he leads them to the Lord. His love then is to teach truths diligently from the Word; because when he teaches them from the Word he teaches them from the Lord. (C. 86.) 3. The Ministry in fhe Heat/ens. Those are engaged in ecclesiastical affairs in heaven who in the world loved the Word and eagerly sought in it after truths, not for the sake of honor or gain, but for the uses pertaining to life, both for themselves and for others. In the measure of their love and their desire for use they have enlightenment and the light of wisdom, which they derive from the Word in the heavens, which is not a natural Word, as in the world, but a spiritual Word. These minister in the preaching office, and in accordance with Divine order there, those are in superior station who in enlighten- ment excel others in wisdom. (H. 393.) 4. Churcii Activities in the Heavens. There is a church in the heavens as well as on earth. For the Word is there; there are church edifices and preachings in them; and there are ministerial and priestly offices. For all the angels there have been men, and their going thither out of the world was only a continuation of their former life ; therefore they continue to be perfected in love and wisdom, every one according to that degree of affection for truth and good which he brought with him from the world. (R. 533.) THE PATH OF LIFE 227 5. Worship in i/ie Heavens. Divine worship in the heavens in respect to externals is not unlike Divine worship on earth; but in respect to internals it is different. In the heavens, just as on earth, there are doctrines and preachings and church edifices. In essentials the doctrines there are everywhere the same ; but those •in the higher heavens contain more interior wis- dom than those of the lower heavens. The preachings are according to the doctrines. And as there are houses and palaces, there are also church edifices, in which there is preaching. The preachings in the temples serve only as means of instruction in matters of life. They are fraught with such wisdom that no preachings in the world can be compared with them; for those in the heavens are in interior light. (H. 221-323.) 6. Preac/iers in the Heavens. The preachers in heaven are all appointed by. the Lord, and therefore have a gift for preaching. None besides them are permitted to teach in the churches. They are called preachers, and not priests, because the priesthood of heaven is the celestial kingdom ; for " priesthood " signifies the good of love to the Lord, in which those are who are in that kingdom. (H. 226.) 7. Ministerial Duties. In" regard to priests, they ought to teach men the way to heaven, and also lead them ; they should teach them according to the doctrine of their 228 THE PATH OF LIFE church, from the Word, and should lead them to live according to it. Priests who teach truths,'and thereby lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are good shepherds of the sheep; but those who merely teach and do not lead to the good of life, and so to the Lord, are bad shepherds. (N. 315.) (d) Pratee /. Prayer Defined. Prayer in itself considered is talking with God, together with some internal intuition at the same time of the matters of prayer, to which there answers something like influx into the perceptions and thoughts of the mind, so that there is a cer- tain opening of man's interiors toward God; but this with a difference according to his state, and according to the essence of the subject of prayer. If one prays from love and faith, and for only heavenly and spiritual things, then there is some- thing like revelation in the prayer, which is mani- fested in the feelings of him who prays, as to hope, consolation, or a certain inward joy. It is from this that to pray signifies in the internal sense to be revealed. (A. 2535.) 2. Genuine Prayer. Worship does not consist in . prayers and ex- ternal devotion, but in a life of charity. Prayers are only its externals, for they merely go forth from the man through his mouth, consequently men's prayers are such as they themselves are in respect THE PATH OF LIFE 229 to life. It matters not that a man bears himself humbly, that he kneels and sighs when he prays; these are externals, and externals, unless they come forth from internals, are only posturings and sounds without life. In each thing that a man utters there is an affection, and every man, spirit, and angel is his own affection, for their affection is their life. It is the affection itself that speaks, and not the man outside of it; thei'efore such as the affection is such are the prayers. Spiritual affection is what is called charity toward the neighbor; to be in that affection is true worship; praying is what goes forth. (E. 335.) 3. Prayer apart from Spiritual Living Ineffective. Those err who believe that they can make them- selves receptive of influx by prayers, adorations, and external acts of worship. These things are of no effect unless man abstains from thinking and doing evils, and by truths from the Word leads himself, as of himself, to things good in respect to life. When a man does this he makes himself receptive, and then his prayers, adorations and external acts of worship avail before the Lord. (E. 248.) 4. Prayer from Conscience. I PERCEIVED in spiritual thought, that prayers to the Lord when made from conscience, as a dutyj are good, but if made in order that thereby some- thing may be obtained or merited, they are not good, but are even evil. (D. 3126.) 230 THE PATH OF LIFE 5. Contents of the Lord's Prayer. While I was reading the Lord's prayer morning and evening, the ideas of my thought were always opened toward heaven, and innumerable things- flowed in, so that I observed clearly that the ideas of thought derived from the contents of the prayer were filled from heaven. Such things were in- fused as cannot be uttered, nor indeed compre- hended by me, and I was sensible only of the general resulting affection ; and what is wonderful, what flowed in was varied from day to day, from which I learned that in the contents of the prayer there is more than the whole heaven is capable of comprehending ; and that with man ther© is more in it in proportion as his thought is open toward heaven; and on the other hand, there are fewer things in it in proportion as his thought is closed, for with those whose thought is closed, nothing more appears^ therein than the sense of the letter, or that sense which is nearest the -words. (A. 6619.) 6. Prayer in Temptation. Those who are in temptations are wont to let fall their hands and betake themselves wholly to prayers, which they then ardently pour forth, not knowing that prayers alone will not avail, but that they must fight against the falsities and evils which are infused from the hells. This fight is main- tained by means of truths of faith, which give aid because they confirm goods and truths against falsities and evils. Moreover, in the combats of temptations man THE PATH OF LIFE 231 must fight as if of himself, and yet must aeloiowl- edge and believe that it is of the Lord. If man does not fight as if of himself, the good and truth which flow in through heaven- from the Lord are ■ not appropriated to him ; but when he fights as if of himself, and still believes it to be of the Lord, the goods and truths axe appropriated to him. And still further those who are in temptations, and not in some active life other than that of prayers, do not know that, if the temptations were intermitted before their purpose was fully accomplished, they would not be prepared for heaven, and thus could not be saved. For this reason also the prayers of those who are in temptations are little heard ; for the Lord wills the end, which is the salvation of man, which end He knows, but man does not ; and the Lord does not heed prayers contrary to that end. He who conquers in temptations is confirmed in this truth; but he who does not conquer is in doubt concerning the Divine aid and power, be- cause he is not heard, and sometimes because he then lets fall his hand, he in part yields. (A. 8179.) (e) The Sacraments /. Why the Sacraments are Correspondent/a/. That there is the greatest power in correspond- ences is shown by the fact that heaven and the world, or the spiritual and the natural, are to- gether in them; and it was for this reason that the Word was written by pure correspondences; and by the Word man is conjoined with heaven, and thus with the Lord. And thus is the Lord in 232 THE PATH OF LIFE things first, and at the same time in things last. It was for this reason that the sacraments were in- stituted by correspondences. (I. 59.) 2. What Baptism Means. Baptism was instituted as a sign that the man is a man of the church, and for a memorial that he is to be regenerated ; for the washing of baptism is no other than spiritual washing or regeneration. All regeneration is effected by the Lord, by means of the truths of faith and a life according to them. Baptism therefore testifies that a man is a man of the church, and that he can be regenerated. For in the church the Lord, who alone regenerates, is acknowledged; and there the Word is, wherein are the truths of faith by which regeneration is effected. As every one who is regenerated endures temptations, which are spiritual combats against evil and falsities, so these also are signified by the waters of baptism. Because baptism is for a sign and a memorial of these truths, a man may be baptised as an in- fant, and if not then as an adult. Therefore those who are baptised should recognize that the bap- tism itself confers neither faith nor salvation ; but it testifies that they may receive faith and may be saved, if they are regenerated. (H. 302-207.) 3. What Baptism Does for Men. By baptism infants are introduced into the Christian heaven ; and the Lord there assigns angels to them who take care of them, and by whom they are kept in a state to receive faith in THE PATH OF LIFE 233 the Lord. But as they grow up, and come to act of their own right and of their own reason, the guardian angels leave them, and they draw to themselves such spirits as make one with their life and faith. (T. 667.) 4. Why the Holy Supper Was Instituted. In" order that man in repenting might look to the Lord alone. He instituted the Holy Supper, which to those who repent confirms the remission of sins. It confirms, hecause in that Supper or communion every one is kept looking to the Lord only. (P. 122.) The Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord that hy means of it there might be conjunction of the church with heaven, and so with the Lord. It is therefore the most holy thing of worship. (K 210.) 5. The Conjunction Effected by the Holy Supper. How conjunction is effected by the Holy Supper is not apprehended by those who know nothing about the internal or spiritual sense of the Word; for such do not think beyond the external sense, which is the sense of the letter. From the internal or spiritual sense of the Word it is knovm what is signified by the "body," and the "blood," and what by the " bread and wine," also what is sig- nified by " eating." In that sense, the " body " of the Lord is the good of love, as is the bread likewise; and the " blood " of the Lord is the good of faith, as also 234 THE PATH OF LIFE is the wine ; and " eating " is appropriation and conjunction. It is in this way that the angels who are attendant on man when he receives the Sacra- ment of the Supper understand these things for they perceive all things spiritually. And in con- sequence of this the holiness of love and the holi- ness of faith then flow into man from the angels, and thus through heaven, from the Lord, and from this there is conjunction. So when man takes the bread, which is the " body," he is conjoined to the Lord by means of the good of love to Him from Him; and when he takes the wine, which is the " blood," he is conjoined to the Lord by means of the good of faith in the Lord and from the Lord. But conjunction with the Lord by means of the Sacrament of the Supper is effected only with those who are in the good of love and faith in the Lord from the Lord. With these there is conjunction by means of the Holy Supper; with others there is presence, but not conjunction. (N. 311, 212.) XXVII MAREIAGE The marriage love of one man with one wife is the precious treasure of human life and the re- pository of the Christian religion. (M. 457.) /. The Divine Marriage. The conjunction of Divine good and Divine truth in the Lord is the essential marriage from which is the heavenly marriage, which is likewise a marriage of good and truth; and fiom that is marriage love. Therefore, where marriage is treated of in the Word in the internal sense, the heavenly marriage, which is that of good and truth, is signified, and in the highest sense the Divine marriage, which is in the Lord. (A. 3132.) 2. The Origin of Marriage Love. Marriage love has its origin in the Divine marriage of good and truth, and thus in the Lord Himself. This is not apparent to sense nor to comprehension; but it is evident from influx and from correspondence, as well as from the Word. It is evident from influx, in that heaven, because of the union of good and truth which flows into it from the Lord, is compared to a marriage, and is called a marriage. Also from correspondence, in that good united with truth when it flows dovra into a lower sphere, establishes a union of minds ; and when into one still lower, it constitutes mar- 235 236 THE PATH OF LIFE riage. Therefore, union of minds from goodness united with truth from the Lord, is marriage love itself. That this is the origin of genuine marriage love can be seen from the fact that no one can be in it unless he is in good from truth and truth from good from the Lord. It can be seen also from the fact that heavenly blessedness and happiness are in that love; and that all who are in it come into heaven, or into the heavenly marriage. (A. 2728, 2729.) 3. The Universal Marriage Sphere. There is a marriage sphere which flows in from the Lord through heaven into all things and every thing of the universe, even to its outmosts. Love and Wisdom, or what is the same, good and truth, go forth continuously from the Lord, because they are Himself, and from Him are all things; and the things that go forth from Him fill the universe ; for without this Divine going forth nothing that exists could continuously exist. There are several spheres that go forth from the Lord; as the sphere of the preservation of the created universe; the sphere of the protection of good and truth against evil and falsity ; the sphere of reformation and regeneration; the sphere of innocence and peace; the sphere of mercy and grace; and others. But the universal of all is the marriage sphere; for this is the sphere also of propagation, and is thus the supereminent sphere for the preservation of the created universe by successive generations. THE PATH OF LIFE 237 This marriage sphere fills the universe and per- vades it from first things to last, as is evident from the fact that there are marriages in the heavens, the most perfect of which are in the third or high- est heaven. And besides being vi^ith men, it is in all the subjects of the animal kingdom on the earth, even down to the lowest; and is moreover ir all the subjects of the vegetable kingdom, from olives and palms, even to the diminutive grasses. This sphere is even more ujiiversal than the sphere of heat and light which proceeds from the sun of our world. (M. 222.) 4. How the Marriage Sphere is Received by the Two Sexes. The marriage sphere is received by the female sex, and through this is transferred into the male sex. There is no conjugial love with the male sex ; it is solely with the female sex and from that sex is transferred into the male ; and for the reason, that the masculine is an intellectual form, and an intellectual form cannot grow warm with conjugial heat of itself, but only from the con- junctive heat of one in whom it is implanted by creation. Therefore it can receive that love only through the volitional form of a female adjoined to itself, because that form is a form of love. (M. 223.) 5. Marriage Love Defined. The source of marriage love is the marriage of good and truth, which marriage is from the Lord. As love is such that it longs to communicate its joys to another whom from the heart it loves, and 238 THE PATH OF LIFE also longs to confer joys upon that other, and to receive its own joys therefrom, so infinitely more is this true of the Divine Love toward man, who was created to be a recipient both of the love and of the wisdom that proceed from the Lord. And because the Lord created men for the re- ception of His love and wisdom, man for the re- ception of wisdom and woman for the reception of the love of the man's wisdom, so He from inmosts infused into men marriage love, into which He might bring together all the blessedness, happiness, joys, and pleasures, which, together with life, pro- ceed and flow solely from His Divine Love through His Divine Wisdom, that is, into such as are in true marriage love, for such only can be recipients. Innocence, peace, tranquillity, inmost friendship, full confidence, and the mutual desire of mind and heart to do each other every good, are here men- tioned because innocence and peace pertain to the soul; tranquillity pertains to the mind; inmost friendship pertains to the bosom; full confidence pertains to the heart; and from these mutual de- sire of mind and heart to do each other every good pertains to the body. (M. 180.) 6. A Kind of Carriage in Everything. Man" has not the least of thought nor the least of affection or action in which there is not a kind of marriage of the understanding and will. With- out some kind of marriage nothing ever exists or is produced. In the very organic forms of man, composite and simple, even in the most simple, there is a passive and an active, which, if they THE PATH or LIFE 239 were not coupled as in a marriage like that of man and wife, could not even be there, still less pro- duce anything. So it is in all nature. These per- petual marriages derive their source and origin from the heavenly marriage; and thereby there is impressed upon everything in universal nature, animate and inanimate, an idea of the Lord's kingdom. (A. 718.) 7. Marriage Love tXuiual and Reciprocal. " Maeeiage love is of such a nature that each wishes to be altogether the other's, and this reci- procally; and when this is realized mutually and reciprocally, they are in heavenly happiness. Also, the conjunction of minds is of such a nature that this mutuality and reeiprocality are in everything of their life, that is, in everything of their affec- tion, and in everything of their thought. On this account it has been established by the Lord that wives should be affections for good, which pertain to the will, and husbands should be thoughts of truth which pertain to the understanding; and that from this there should be such a marriage, as there is between all things of the will and understanding in those who are in the good of truth and the truth of good." (A. 2731.) 8. Marriage in Paradise. What is meant in the internal sense by male and female was clearly known to the Most Ancient Church. And yet, among their posterity, when the interior sense of the Word had been lost, this arcanum also was lost. Their highest blessings 240 THE PATH OF LIFE and delights were marriages; and whatever could in any way be so likened they likened to mar- riages, that they might perceive therefrom the happiness of marriage. As they were internal men they delighted only in internal things. External things they only saw with their eyes, but thought of what was repre- sented. So that outward things were nothing to them, save as they could turn their thoughts some- what from them to internal things, and from these to heavenly things, and so to the Lord who was their all, and consequently to the heavenly mar- riage, from whence they perceived that the happi- ness of their marriages came. The understanding in the spiritual man they therefore called male, and the will female, and when these acted as one they called it a marriage. Prom that church came the form of speech which became customary, whereby the church itself, from affection for good, was called " a daughter " and " a virgin," as " the virgin of Zion," " the virgin of Jerusalem " — ^and also " a wife." (A. 54.) 9. Ularriage Love and Mutual Love. Marriage love is the foundation of all mutual love. Mutual love is wishing better for another than for oneself; but still closer is the tie of marriage love. In that relation one experiences not only the highest happiness in giving himself up to his marriage partner in order that their minds may be united as one, but this love is also a love for the conservation of the whole human race. The Lord's mercy toward the whole human race THE PATH OF LIFE 241 flows into marriage love ; aad therefore there flows into the marriage love of married partners the love of procreating offspring and the love of offspring; and they are so created that their minds may thereby become more and more closely united. CD. 4229.) 10. The Marriage Pair One. The marriage pair who are in eonjugial love from the Lord love one another mutually and reciprocally from the heart, thus from inmosts; and therefore although apparently two they are actually one; two in respect to their bodies, but one in respect to their life. (E. 984.) //. Wlio Can Possess True Marriage Love. None can have true marriage love except those who receive it from the Lord, who are those who come directly to Him and from Him live the life of the church; and this for the reason that this love viewed from its origin and its correspondence is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, beyond every love that exists with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church; and these at- tributes can be given only to those who are con- joined with the Lord and by Him are brought into association with the angels of heaven. For these flee from loves outside of marriage, which are conjunctions with others than one's own con- sort, as they would flee from the ruin of the soul and the lakes of hell. (M. 71.) 12. The Spiritual Basis of Marriage. The Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is a conjunction of good and truth. Good 16 242 THE PATH OF LIFE is from the Lord, and truth is in man, and from this is the conjunction that is called the heavenly marriage, and from that marriage true marriage love exists between the married pair who are in such conjunction with the Lord. True marriage love is from the Lord alone, and exists in those who are in the conjunction of good and truth from the Lord. This conjunction or this marriage was thus established from creation. The man was created to be an understanding of truth, and the woman to be an afEection for good ; and thus the man to be a truth, and the woman to be a good. When understanding of truth which is in the man makes one with the afEection for good which is in the woman, there is a conjunction of the two minds into one. This conjunction is the spiritual marriage from which marriage love descends. For when two minds are so conjoined as to be one mind there is love between them ; and when this love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, descends into the body it becomes the love of natural marriage. That this is so any one can clearly perceive if he will. A married pair who interiorly or in respect to their minds love each other mutually and reciprocally also love each other mutually and reciprocally in respect to their bodies. (E. 983.) 13. True Marriage Love Seeks Union of Wills. Maeeiage love among its iirst aspirations looks to a union of wills, and a consequent freedom to do its pleasure. Striving after pre-eminence, or for control, casts these two out of marriage; for THE PATH OF LIFE 243 it sunders and separates the wills into parties, and transforms freedom of action into servitude. (M. 248.) 14. The Two Sexes. The distinction, between the male and the fe- male consists in the fact that in the male the in- most is love and its clothing is wisdom; while in the female the inmost is that wisdom of the male, and its clothing is the love therefrom. This love is feminine love, and is given by the Lord to the wife through the wisdom of the husband; and the former love is masculine love, and is the love of growing wise and is given by the Lord to the husband according to his reception of wisdom. It is from this that the male is the wisdom of love, and that the female is the love of that wisdom. (M. 38.) The male and the female were created to be the veritable form of the marriage of good and truth. The male was created to be the understand- ing of truth, thus truth in form ; and .the female was created to be the will of good, thus good in form ; and to both was imparted from the inmosts an inclination to conjunction into one. The two thus make one form, which emulates the conjugial form of good and truth. (M. 100.) The female sex is such and so formed that will or desire governs, rather than understanding. Such is the disposition of their very fibres, and such their nature. But the male sex is so formed that understanding or reason governs ; and such is 244 THE PATH OF LIFE the disposition of tiieir fibres, and such their nature. And from this comes the marriage of the two, like that of the will and understanding in the individual. (A. 568.) Ik a word, nothing whatever is alike in them; and yet in every least thing there is what is con- junctive. Yea, in the male the masculine is mascu- line in every part of his body, even the most minute; and also in every idea of his thought, and in every least impulse of his affection, and so is the feminine in the female. And as one cannot therefore be changed into the other, it follows that after death the male is a male and the female is a female. (M. 33.) 15. The Love of Offspring. The cause and origin of the love of offspring must needs be the Lord, from whom flows all marriage love and all love of parents for their children ; for His love is such that He loves all as a father loves his sons. He wishes to make all His heirs; and He provides an inheritance for those who are to be born as He provides for those already born. (A. 18G5.) TiiEHE is every delight and pleasure in the love of producing offspring, because all that is delight- ful, pleasurable, blessed, and happy, in the whole heaven and in the whole world, has been from creation brought together into the effort and thus into the act of bringing forth uses ; and these joys increase in an ascending degree to eternity, accord- THE PATH OF LIFE 245 ing to the goodness and excellence of the uses. This makes evident why the pleasure of producing offsprings which surpasses every other pleasure, is so great. It surpasses every other because its use, which is the procreation of the human race, and thus of heaven, surpasses all other uses. (B. 991.) 16. Spiritual Offspring. The spiritual delights, conjoined with the natural delights that they have who are in true marriage love, cause lovingness, and thence the faculty for acquiring wisdom. Hence it is that with angels marriage love is according to their wisdom ; and the increments of the love and at the same time of its delights are according to the in- crements of wisdom; and that the spiritual off- spring that are born of their marriages are such things as are of wisdom from the father and such as are of love from the mother, which they love from spiritual parental affection — a love which adds itself to their marriage love, and continually elevates it and conjoins them. (M. 811.) 17. The Preparation for Marriage. It is provided by the Lord that marriage pairs are born ; and that they, the boy and the girl, are continually educated unconsciously, for marriage, and that after the completed time the then mar- riageable virgin and the then marriageable youth meet and see each other somewhere, as if by chance, and instantly, as by some instinct, they know that they are mates, and from a kind of internal dictate they think within them, the young man, " She is 246 THE PATH OF LIFE mine," and the maiden, " He is mine." And when this has been for some time fixed in the minds of both they deliberately address each other and are betrothed. It is said, as if by chance, and as if by instinct because, when unknown, it so appears, but the meaning is " by Divine Providence." (M. 316.) 18. Remarriage. Those who have lived together in true marriage love do not wish to marry again. The two are not separated by the death of one, since the spirit of the deceased dwells continually with the spirit of the one not yet deceased, and even until the death of the other, when they meet again, and reunite, and love each other more tenderly than before, be- cause they are in a spiritual world. (M, 321.) 19. The Effect of the Marriage Ceremony. The marriage ceremony is an entering into a complete separation of love of the sex from mar- riage love, which comes into effect when, through a full opportunity for conjunction, there takes place an intense surrender of the love of the one to the love of the other. (M. 306.) 20. Marriage Love the Source of Heavenly Peace. Because all joy pertains to love, and marriage love is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven, so peace itself has its seat chiefly in mar- riage love. Peace is bliss of heart and soul arising from the conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the church, as well as from the conjunction of good and truth, when all conflict and combat of evil and THE PATH or LIFE 247 falsity with good and truth have ceased. And as marriage love descends from such conjunction so all tlie delight of that love descends and derives its essence from heavenly peace. Moreover, this peace shines forth in the heavens as heavenly bliss from the faces of a marriage pair who are in that love, and who mutually regard each other from that love. But such heavenly bliss, which inmostly ailects the delights of loves, and is called peace, can be granted only to those who can be joined together inmostly, that is, as to their very hearts. (E. 997.) 21. Marriage and Religion Go Togetiier at Every Step. The human marriage principle and religion go together at every step. Every advance and every step from, religion or into religion is also an ad- vance and step from or into the marriage prin- ciple that belongs to and is peculiar to the Chris- tian man. This marriage principle is the desire to live with one wife only. And the Christian man has this desire according to his religion. (M. 80.) 22. The Beauty Inherent in Marriage Love. Since true marriage love is, in its origin, the pure delight itself of the mind, and since that love is the fundamental of all loves, and since all the beauty of the angels in heaven is from that love, for love's affection is what gives form to every one, it follows that with the angels of heaven all beauty is from their marriage love; for the reason that that love constitutes the inmost of their life which shines through. I have seen an angel from the third heaven who had been in pure marriage love, and who had such beauty that the bystanders 248 THE PATH OF LIFE were rapt in admiration, saying that it was beauty itself in its very essence. (De. Conj. 2.) 23. The Delights of Marriage Love. Into marriage love all joys and all delights from first to last are gathered. All delights of what- ever kind that are felt by man have relation to his love. By them his love manifests itself, exists, and lives. Delights are exalted in the degree that love is exalted ; so as marriage love is the foundation of all good loves, and as it is inscribed upon the very least things of man, it follows that its delights exceed the delights of all other loves ; and also that it imparts delight to all other loves according to its presence and at the same time its conjunction with them. For it expands the inmost things of the mind, and at the same time the inmost things of the body, as the delicious current of its fountain flows through and opens them. It is because of the superior excellence of its use above all other uses that all delights from first to last are gathered into this love. Its use is the propagation of the human race and an angelic heaven therefrom ; and as this use was the end of ends of Creation, it follows that all the states of blessedness, satisfaction, delight, gratification, and pleasure that could ever be con- ferred on man by the Lord the Creator are gathered into this love. (M. 68.) The delights of marriage love ascend to the highest heaven, and on the way, and there, they conjoin themselves with the delights of all heavenly loves, and thus they enter into its felicity which endures to eternity. (M. 294.) XXVIII THE SECOND COMING OF THE LOED AND THE NEW CHUECH /. The Second Coming of the Lord not a Coining in Person. The Second Coming of the Lord is not a coming in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. It is written in many jDlaces that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven. And as no one has hitherto known what is meant by "the clouds of heaven," it has been believed that the Lord would appear in them in Person. Here- tofore it has not been known that " the cloiids of heaven " mean the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the " glory and power " in which He is then to come mean the spiritual sense of the Word, because no one as yet has had the least conjecture that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, such as this sense is in itself. But as the Lord has now opened to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has granted me to be associated with angels and spirits in their world as one of them, it is disclosed that the " cloud of heaven " means the Word in the natural sense, and " glory " the Word in the spiritual sense, and " power " the Lord's power through the Word. . . . From all this it is evi- dent that the Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person because since He ascended into heaven He is in the glorified Hu- manity, and in this He cannot appear to any man 249 250 THE PATH OP LIFE unless He first opens the eyes of his spirit, and this cannot be done with any one who is in evils and thence in falsities. . . . It is therefore a vain thing to believe that the Lord will appear in a cloud of heaven in Person; but He will appear in the Word, which is from Him and thus is Him- self. (T. 766, 777.) 2. The New Church. The coming of the Lord is for the purpose of forming a new heaven of those who have believed in Him, and of establishing a new church of those who believe in Him hereafter, because these two are the ends for which He came. (T. 773.) The New Church is meant by the New Jerusa- lem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. xxi). (T. 783.) The doctrine which is for the New Church is called Heavenly Doctrine, because it was revealed to me out of heaven. (N. 7.) INDEX Act, S3, 85 active, 29, 48 affection, 34, 36, 40, 45, 57, 61, 64 aflSrmative, 170 African, 15 ancient, 13, 14, 91, 103, 118 angel, 10, 13, 20, 26, 50, 59, 60, 63, 73, 86, 90, 92, 102, 112, 149, 199, 200, 233 animal, see beast appearance, 8, 24, 30, 43, 52, 66, 67, 79, 120 appropriate, 52, 62, 66, 75, 79, 87 as of oneself, 26, 48, 52, 60, 66, 67, 68, 70, 71, 79 assumption, 12 atmosphere, 32, 41, 56 automaton, see machine baptism, 232 beast, 34, 36, 54, 70, 81, 139, 144 being, 5, 8, 29, 75 benefaction, 189 body, 44, 45, 57, 58, 64, 100, 102, 142 bond, 164 business, 186, 187, 195 Canaan, 118 capability, 53 cause, 32, 53, 55 celestial, 23, 109, 159, 203, 205 chance, 129, 136 charity, 66, 79, 85, 105, 186, 225 childhood, 75, 86, 122, 143, 148, 157, 159, 209 Christian, 156, 221, 235 choice, 69, 70, 129 church, 7, 62, 91, 94, 97, 99, 102, 103, 106, 118, 138, 219, 250 civil, 75, 181, 193 compulsion, 69, 166 confirm, 152 conjunction, 12, 25, 26, 43, 63, 70, 74, 94, 103, 105, 109, 233 conscience, 85, 89, 90, 147, 153, 160, 185 corporeal, 107 correspondence, 34, 55, 71, 124, 125, 158, 231 creation, 5, 24, 26, 28, 37, 55, 80, 128, 205 death, 146, 197 degree, 26, 30, 32, 56, 68, 109, 143 dictate, 9, 160 dike, 169 disease, 171, 175, 197 Divine Human, 17, 19, 91 doctrine, 90, 146, 156, 192, 218 dominion, 55 door, 76 doubt, 170 effect, 32 Egypt, 224 end, 25 endeavor, 7, 43 enlightenment, 9, 18, 155 equilibrium, 62, 69 essence, 5, 6, 8, 17, 18, 24, 31,35, 45, 94, 95, 98, 104, 109, 110, 235 eternal, 25, 36, 42, 70, 79, 93, 99, 100, 104, 114, 131, 178, 205 evil, 6, 28, 37, 48, 58, 63, 67, 71, 78, 169 exinanition, 107 external, 53, 110, 111 faith, 52, 59, 66, 79, 103, 104, 105, 147, 152, 185 fallacy, 63 father, 84, 88 fear, 163, 164, 166, 185 finite, 30 food, 196 foreknowledge, 132 form, 14, 24, 31, 33, 45, 66, 93, 141 fortune, see chance freedom, 52, 67, 69, 70, 74, 132, 137, 154, 165 general, 54, 60, 64, 70 generation, 28 glorification, 100, 102, 107, 109 God before Incarnation, 19, 23 good, 37, 78, 88 Greater Man, 65, 93, 106 251 252 INDEX Greeks, 118 guards, 122, 125 health, 26, 27 heart, 89 heat, 8, 27 heathen, 15, 88, 185, 220 heaven, 7, 13, 15, 26, 50, 56, 93, 99, 139, 157, 181, 202 hell, 10, 48, 50, 64, 70, 82, 100, 103, 199, 212 heredity, 84, 111 Holy Spirit, 17, 21 'hope, 170 human, 14, 92 humiUty, 108, 113, 172, 221 idol, 15 image, 111, 128 immediate, 25, 58, 102, 129 impute, 67 incarnation, 18, 91, 102 indefinite, 12 infancy, 2, 9, 86, 101, 109, 159 infinite, 8, 11 influx, 9, 38, 48, 50, 53 inherit, see heredity iniquity, 79 innate, 133 innocence, 86, 158, 159 insane, 162 intelligence, 152, 185 internal, 53, 69, 110, 111 intuition, 150, 228 Itself, 11, 22, 25, 35, 95, 105 Jehovah, 5, 9, 100 Jesus Christ, 103 judgment, 85 justify, 22 knowledge, 110, 148, 150, 151 language, 145 life, 4, 5, 31, 35, 48, 66, 69, 81 hght, 8, 27 Lord, 11, 13, 24, 34, 59, 60, 73, 74, 91, 109, 110, 149 love, 6, 6, 34, 35, 80, 111, 166 machine, 68 man, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 20, 34, 36, 67, 70, 79, 93, 100, 107, 109 mansion, 26 marriage, 235 matter, 27, 30, 32, 34, 42, 44, 58 medium, 25, 26, 38, 42, 44, 58, 102, 106, 129, 164 melancholy, 172 memory, 61, 64, 75, 139, 144, 154 mercy, 78, 87 merit, 87 microcosm, 43 militant, 62, 169 mind, 57, 58, 141 miracle, 126, 167 moral, 75, 181, 193 mother, 84, 88 mystery, 98, 156 natural, 12, 23, 27, 41, 62, 88, 102, )06, 138, 140, 144, 149 nature, 9, 12, 27, 28, 31, 40, 43, 58, 71, 93, 106, 115, 117 negative, 170 neighbor, 10, 11, 54, 59, 80, 207 New Church, 12, 100 New Heaven, 100 nothing, 29 nurse, 86 obedience, 153, 181, 220 obflession, 65 omnipresence, 73 order, 54, 57, 69 organic. 111 Ownhood, see proprium particular, 49, 54, 70, 128 passive, 29, 30 peace, 52, 132 perception, 9, 15, 40, 45, 53, 57 66, 68, 73, 85, 143, 152, 164 permit, 128 person, 22 piety, 187 plane, 90 pleasure, 141, 191 prayer, 113, 170, 175, 228 presence, 76, 80, 83, 161 primeval, 15 profane, 137, 168 propagate, 41 proprium, 10, 60, 66, 185 Providence, 10, 49, 67, 114, 128, 187 prudence, 10, 186 punishment, 86 rationality, 9, 26, 38, 55, 67, 150, 151, 152, 164 recipient, 4, 25. 26, 47, 48, 53, 66. 69, 101, 109 reciprocal, 12, 26, 45, 70 redemption, 97, 104 reformation, 7, 22, 50, 51, 67, 74, 76 INDEX 253 regeneration, 42, 63, 68, 84, 111, 139, 184, 190, 232 religion, 1, 2, 3, 9, 185, 202, 220, 235 remains, 156 repentance, 174 representative, 91. 102, 103 resurrection, 102, 198 reveal, 14, 28, 103, 115, 116 righteousness, 68 Rome, 118 Sabbatli, 223 salvation. 2, 5, 74, 78, 96, 100, 104, 153, 168, 199 sect, 156 self, 67, 81, 133, 188 sense, 31, 53, 140, 146 sensual, 106 sensuous, 138 siglit, 151, 155 simple, 14 sin, 79 society, 43, 134, 148, 154, 181 soul, 44. 57, 68 space, 30, 43 sphere, 23, 24, 25, 31, 70, 136, 236 spirits, 10, 13, 14, 50, 59. 61, 63, 64, 70, 71, 83, 200, 204 spiritual, 138, 203 star, 24 substance, 27, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 42, 45, 48, 58, 142 successive, 25, 57 sun, 8, 21, 23, 24, 27, 30, 31, 35, 55 supreme, 105 temptation, 70, 98, 109, 159, 160, 168, 230 time, 30, 43 transfiguration, 107, 108 transgression, 78 trinity, 17, 18, 19 truth, 25, 88, 104 ultimate, 20, 26, 30, 31, 37, 57, 99, 102 understanding, 27, 79 universal, 100, 128, 130, 131, 236 use, 27, 31, 33, 52, 85, 110. 134, 148, 214 vastate, 158 veil, 100 vessel, 109 wealth, 130, 133 will, 27, 74, 75, 77, 83, 84, 104 wisdom, 86 Word, 18, 23, 25, 62, 67, 69 75, 77, 78. 79, 99, 103, 115, 119 world, 67 world of spirits, 60, 63, 96, 200, 215 worship, 218, 221 : PHASED * DETERIORATION