YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
ofthe
STARLING W. CHILDS FUND

THE

ATHANASIAN CREED,

EXTRACTED FKOM

THE APOCALYPSE

OR BOOK OF

REVELATIONS EXPLAINED,

EMANUEL SWEDENBORG.

BOSTON :
OTIS CLAPP, SCHOOL STEEET.

MDCCCXLI.

ADVERTISEMENT.
This little work is taken from the Apocalypse Explained, beginning
with No. 1091 and ending with No. 1229. As it is there published it
cannot be read continuously without considerable difficulty, it being a
work which is distinct and complete in itself, and yet added in small
portions to the sections of another work, which is also" complete in itself.
To obviate this difficulty and thus to make this treatise more exten
sively useful, it hag been thought advisable to publish it separately.
The present edition of 1841 has been carefully revised, and the
translation is believed to be improved.

BOSTON:
PRINTED BY FREEMAN AND EOLLES,
WASHINGTON STBfiET.

CONTENTS.

Page.
The Athanasian Creed,  1
The state of faith and love with man in this world, and afterwards
in the other into which he comes after death,  2
That the doctrine of faith which has its name from Athanasius,
leaves a clear idea whilst it is reading, that there are three per
sons, and hence that there are three unanimous Gods, and an
ofeJbure idea that God is one, and so obscure, that it does not re
move the idea of three Gods,  10
That the same doctrine leaves a clear idea that the Lord has a Di
vine and a Human, or that the Lord is God and Man, but an ob
scure idea that the Divine and Human of the Lord are one per
son, and that his Divine is in his Human as the soul in the body, 12
That nevertheless all things contained in that doctrine, from begin
ning to end, both such as are clear and such as are obscure, agree
and coincide with the truth, if instead of saying that God is one
in essence and three in person, it be believed, as the real truth is,
that God is one both in essence and person,  15
The agreement of all things of the Athanasian doctrine with this
truth, that God is one both in essence and person, in whom is a
trinity (trinum)  -.  16
The agreement of the Athanasian doctrine with this truth, that the
Human of the Lord is Divine by virtue ofthe Divine which was
in him from conception,  18
That this has come to pass by the Divine Providence of the Lord, 19
That in the Lord there is a trinity (trinum), the Divine Itself,
which is called the Father, the Divine Human which is called
the Son, and the Divine Proceeding which is called the Holy
Spirit,   20
Of the Life Itself, which is God, and of the Divine attributes.
Eternity, Infinity and Omnipotence,  26
The laws of Divine order respecting man's reforraation, regenera
tion, and consequent salvation, which are called laws of Divine
Providence,  36
Of the first and second law of JJivine Providence,  39
 third Law of Divine Providence,  42
 fourth law of Divine Providence,  51
 fifth law of Divine Providence,  54
 sixth law of Divine Providence,  57
 seventh law of Divine Providence,  59
 eighth law bf Divine Providence,  62
— — ninth law of Divine Providence,  71
 tenth law of Divine Providence,  82
Of the life of animals and the soul of vegetables,  90
Of the Divine Omnipresence and Oraniscienc#,.  109

ATHANASIAN CREED

1. " Whosoever will be saved it is altogether necessary for
him to keep the catholic faith; which faith unless every one
shall keep lohole and entire without doubt, he shall perish
everlastingly. The catholic faith is this, that we worship
one God in trinity, and trinity in unity ; neither commixing
the persons, nor separating the substance (essence). For
there is one person of the Father, another of the Son, and
another of the Holy Spirit, but ihe Divinity of the Father,
of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is one and the same, the
glory equal, and the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father
is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father
is uncreate, the Son is uncreate, and the Holy Spirit is un-
create. The Father is infinite, the Son infinite, and the
Holy Spirit infinite. The Father eternal, the Son eternal,
and the Holy Spirit eternal : and yet there are not three
eternals, hut one eternal; 'and there are not three infinites ,
nor three uncreate, but one uncreate and one infinite. In
like manner as the Father is omnipotent, so the Son is omni
potent, and the Holy Spirit is omnipotent : and yet there are
not three omnipotents, but one omnipotent. As the Father is
God, so the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God : and
yet there are not three Gods, but one God. Although the
Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is
Lord, still there are not three Lords, but one Lord : for as
we are obliged, by the christian verity, to acknowledge every
person by himself to be God and Lord, yet are we forbidden
by the catholic religion to say there be three Gods or three
Lords (according to others, we cannot, from the christian
faith, make mention of three Gods or three Lords.) TJie
Father was made of none, neither created nor born. The
Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created, but horn.
1

4 ATHANASIAN CREEIJ.
agreeable to his conjunction with the societies of the spiritual
world, being an angel of a quality agreeable to his con
junction with the societies of heaven, or a devil of a quality
agreeable to his conjunction with the societies Of hell.
8. From what has been said, il is evident that the thoughts
of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infer
nal, and that unless they were extensions they would be no
thoughts ; for the thought of man is as the sight of his eyes,
which, unless it had extension out of itself, would either be
no sight, or be blindness. But man's love is what determines
his thoughts into societies, good love determining them into
heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies : for
the universal heaven is arranged into societies, according to
all the varieties of the affections which are of love, in gen
eral, in species, and in particular ; on the other hand, hell is
arranged into societies according to the lusts of the love of
evil, opposite to the affections of the love of good. Man's
love is comparatively as fire, and his thoughts are as rays of
light thence derived ; if the love be good, then the thoughts,
which are as rays, are truths; if the love be evil, the thoughts
which are as rays, are falsities. Thoughts derived from
good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven, but
thoughts derived from evil love, which are falsities, tend
towards hell, and conjoin, infit, and as it were inoculate
themselves into homogeneous societies, viz. such as are of
like love, so entirely, that the man is altogether one with
those societies. Man, by love to the Lord, is an image of
him : the Lord is Divine love, and in heaven before the
angels he appears as a sun : from that sun proceeds light and
heat, light is Divine truth, and heat is Divine good ; from
these two is the universal heaven, and all the societies of
heaven. The Lord's love with man, who is an image of him,
is as fire from that sun, from which fire in like manner pro
ceed light and heat: the light is the truth of faith, and the
heat is the good of love, each from the Lord, and each in-
generated in the societies with which the man's love acts in
unity. That man from creation is an image and likeness of
God, is evident from Genesis i. 26, and the reason why he is
an image and likeness of the Lord by love, is, because man
by love is in the Lord and the Lord in him, John xiv. 20, 2L
In a word, there cannot exist the smallest portion of thought,
but what has reception given it in some society, not with the
individuals or angels of the society, but with the affection of
love, from which and in which that society is ; hence it is,

ATHANASIAN CREED.

that angels are not conscious of any thing respecting the
influx, neither does that influx in any manner disturb the
society. From these considerations the above truth is
evident, that man is in conjunction with heaven whilst he
lives in the world, and likewise in consociation with .angels,
although both raen and angels are ignorant of it ; the cause
of their ignorance is, because the thought of man is natural,
and the thought of an angel spiritual, which make one only
by correspondences. Inasmuch as man, by the thoughts of
his love, is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or
hell, therefore, when he comes into the spiritual world, as is
the case immediately after death, his quality is known merely
by the extensions of his thoughts into societies, and thus
every one is explored; he is also reformed by the admissions
of thoughts into societies of heaven, and he is condemned
by immersions of his thoughts into societies of hell.
4. Since man, at his birth, is not in any society either
heavenly or infernal, inasmuch as he is without thought, and
yet is born for eternal life, it follows that, in process of time,
he either opens heaven to himself, or opens hell, and enters
into societies, and becomes an inhabitant either of heaven
or of hell, even while he is an inhabitant of the world : the
reason why man becomes an inhabitant there is, because in
the spiritual world is his real habitation, and, as it is called,
his country, for he is to live there to eternity, after he has
lived a few years in the natural world. From these consid
erations, it may be concluded, how necessary it is for man
to know, what opens heaven with him, and introduces hira
into its societies ; also, what opens hell with him, and in
troduces him into its societies; this will be shown in the fol
lowing articles : and suffice it to observe at present, that man
lets himself into societies of heaven successively more and
more, according to increments of wisdora, and into more
and more interior societies successively, according to incre
ments of the love of good ; also, in proportion as heaven is
opened to him, in the same proportion hell is closed : never
theless, man himself opens to himself hell, but heaven is
opened to man by the Lord.
5. The first and primary thought, which opens heaven to
man, is thought concerning God ; the reason is, because
God is the All of heaven, insomuch that whether you speak
of heaven or of God it is the same thing ; the Divine prin
ciples which make the angels to be angels, of whom heaven
consists, taken together, are God ; hence it is, that thought
1*

6 ATHANASIAN CREED.
concerning God is the first and primary of all thoughts which
open heaven to man, for it is the head and sum of all truths
and loves celestial and spiritual. But there is given the
thought of light and there is given the thought of love,
the thought of light alone being the knowledge that God
is, which appears as acknowledgment, but still is not so.
By the thought of light man has presence in heaven, but
not conjunction with heaven : for the. li^ht of thought,
alone, does not conjoin, but exhibits man present to the
Lord and to angels, inasmuch as that light is like winter-
light, in which man sees with equal clearness as in summer-
light, but which nevertheless does not conjoin itself to the
earth, nor to any tree, shrub, flower, or grass : every man,.
also, has implanted in him the faculty of thinking about
God, and, likewise, of understanding those things which are
of God, by virtue of the light of heaven, but the thought
alone of that light, which is intellectual thought, merely
constitutes his presence before the Lord and before the
angels, as was said above. When man is in intellectual
thought alone concerning God and concerning those things
which are of God, he then appears to the angels from afar
as an image of ivory or of marble, which can walk and utter
sounds, but in whose face and in whose sound there is yet
no life ; and so, likewise, he appears to the angels, com
paratively, as a tree appears in time of winter, with naked
branches without leaves, of which, nevertheless, some hope
is cherished, that it will be covered with leaves, and after
wards with fruits, when heat adjoins itself to light, as is the
case in tirae of spring. A& thought concerning God primarily
opens heaven, so thought against God primarily closes heaven.
6. Thought concerning one God opens heaven to man,
because there is but one God : on the other hand, thought
concerning several Gods closes heaven, since the idea of
several Gods destroys the idea of one God, Thought con
cerning the true God opens heaven, for heaven and all that
belongs to it is from the true God : on the other hand,
thought concerning a false God closes heaven, for no other
God but the true God is acknowledged in heaven. Thought
concerning God, Creator, Redeemer, and Illustrator, opens
heaven, for this trinity is of the one and true God; also,
thought concerning God infinite, eternal, uncreate, omnipo
tent, omnipresent, and omniscient, opens heaven, for these
are attributes of the essence of the one and true God : on
the other hand, thought concerning ^ living man as God, of

ATHANASIAN CREED. 7
a dead man as God, and of an idol as God, closes heaven,
because they are not omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent,
uncreate, eternal, and infinite, neither from them was creation
and redemption, nor from them is illustration. Thought*
concerning God as a man, in whom is a Divine trinity, viz.
what is called Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, opens heaven :
on the other hand, thought concerning God as not a man,
which thought is apparently presented as a little cloud, or as
nature in her smallest principles, closes heaven : for God
is a man, as the universal angelic heaven in its complex is a
man, and every angel and every spirit is thence a man :
therefore, thought concerning the Lord as being the God of
the universe, alone opens heaven : for the Lord says, ' The
Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son,' John
iii. 35. ' The Father hath given io the Son power over all
flesh,' John xvii. 2. ' All things are delivered to me by the
Father,' Matt. xi. 27. ' All power is given to me in heaven
and in earth,' Matt, xxviii. 18. From these considerations it
is evident, that man without the idea of God, such as it is in
heaven, cannot be saved : the idea of God in heaven is the
Lord; for the angels of heaven are in the Lord, and the
Lord in them ; wherefore, to think of any other God than
the Lord, is to them impossible ; see John xiv. 20, 21. Allow
me to add, that the idea of God as a man, is engrafted from
heaven in every nation throughout the universal terrestrial
globe, but, what I lament, is destroyed in Christendom : the
causes will be shown below.
7. The thought, alone, that God is, and that the Lord is
the God of heaven, opens, indeed, heaven, and exhibits man
present there, yet so lightly, that he is almost unseen, appear
ing afar off as in the shade ; but in proportion as his thought
becomes more full, more true, and more just, concerning
God, in the same proportion he appears in light : the thought
is rendered more full by the knowledges of truth, which are
of faith, and of good, which are of love, from the Word ;
for all things which are from the Word are divine, and di
vine things taken together are God. The man who only
thinks that God is, and thinks nothing about his quality, is
as one who thinks that the Word is, and that it is holy, yet
knows nothing of what is in it ; or who thinks that the law
is, and knows nothing of what is in the law; when yet the
thought of what God is, is so ample, that it fills heaven, and
constitutes all the wisdom in which the angels are, which ia
ineffable, for in itself it is infinite, because God is infinite.

8 ATHANASIAN CREED.
The thought that God is, derived from his quality, is what ia
meant in the Word by the name of God.
8. It was said, that raan has thought from light, and that
he has thought frora love, and that thought from light makes
the presence of raan in heaven, but thought from love makes
the conjunction of man with heaven : the reason is, because
love is spiritual conjunction : hence it is, that when the
thought of the light of man becomes the thought of his love,
man is introduced into heaven, as to a marriage, and so far as
love in the thought of light is the primary agent, or leads
that thought, so far man enters heaven as a bride the bride-
chamber, and is married ; for in the Word the Lord is called
the bridegroom and husband, and heaven and the church the
bride and wife ; by being married is meant to be conjoined
to heaven in some society thereof, and he is so far conjoined
to it, as he has procured to himself, in the world, intel
ligence and wisdom frora the Lord, by the Word, thus so far
as by divine truths he has learned to think that God is, and
that the Lord is that God ; but he who thinks from few
truths, thus from little intelligence, whilst he thinks from
love, is conjoined indeed with heaven, but iu itsulteriors. By
love is meant love to the Lord, and by loving the Lord is not
meant to love the Lord as a person, since by this love alone,
man is not conjoined with heaven, but by the love of the Di
vine gopd and Divine truth, which are the Lord in heaven
and in the church ; and those two are not loved by knowing
them, thinking them, understanding them, and speaking
them, but by willing and doing them, for this reason, because
they are commanded by the Lord, and hence, because they
are uses : nothing is full until it is done, and what is done ia
the end, and the end is that for the sake of which the love is
cherished ; wherefore, from the love of willing and doing
any thing exists the love of knowing, of thinking, of under
standing it. Tell me why you are desirous to know and un
derstand any thing, except for the sake of the end which
you love; the end which is loved is the deed : if you say,
for the sake of faith, it raay be replied, that faith alone, or
merely of the thought, without actual faith, which is deed, is
a nonentity. You are very much deceived if you fancy that
you believe in God, and do not the things which are of God;
for the Lord teaches in John, ' He that hath my precepts and
doeth ihem, he it is who loveth me, and I will make my abode
with him ; hut he who loveth me not, keepeth not my words,'
xiv. 21, 24. In a word, to love and to do are one; where-

ATHANASIAN CREED. 9
fore, in t^ Word, where mention is made of loving, doing
is underfed, and where mention is made of doing, loving
is also understood ; for what I love, this I do.
9. There is given the thought of light concerning God,
and concerning things divine, which in heaven are called ce
lestial and spiritual, in the world ecclesiastical and theologi
cal, and there is given the thought not of light concerning
them. The thought not of light appertains to those who
know those things, and do not understand them ; such are all
at this day, who are willing that the understanding be kept
under obedience to faith ; yea, that what is not intelligible
should be believed, saying, that intellectual faith is not true
faith ; but these are they who are not in the genuine affec
tion of truth, frora an interior principle, and, consequently,
not in any illustration, and most of them are in the conceit
of their own intelligence, and in the love of ruling by the
holy things of the church over the souls of men; not aware,
that truth wills to be in the light, since the light of heaven is
Divine truth, and that the understanding truly human is af
fected by that light, and sees from it, and if it did not see, it
would be the meraory that has faith, and not the raan, and
such faith is blind, because without an idea from the light of
truth, for the understanding is the raan, and the memory is
introductory. If what is not intelligible is to be believed,
man, like a parrot, might be taught to speak and to reraem
ber, even that there is sanctity in the bones of the dead and
in sepulchres, that carcases do miracles, that man will be tor
mented in purgatory if he does not consecrate his wealth to
idols or monasteries, that men are Gods, because heaven and
hell are in their power, not to mention other similar articles
of faith, which man must believe from a blind faith and
from a closed understanding, and thus frora the light of
both extinguished. But be it known, that all the truths of
the Word, which are truths of heaven and of the church,
may be seen by the understanding, in heaven spiritually, in
the world rationally; for the understanding truly huraan is
the very sight itself of those things, being separated from
whatis material, and when it is separated, it sees truths as
clearly as the eye sees objects ; it sees truths as it loves them,
for as it loves them it is illustrated. The angels have wis
dora in consequence of seeing truths ; wherefore, when it is
said to any angel, that this or that is to be believed although
it is not understood, the angel replies, do you suppose me to
be insane, or that yourself are a god whora I should believe?
If I do not see, it may be something false from hell,

10 ATHANASIAN CREED.
10. We now proceed to the doctrine of the Trinity, which
was written by Athanasius, and confirraed by the c%ncil of
Nice. This doctrine is such, that whilst it is read it leaves a
clear idea that there are three persons, and hence that there
are three unanimous Gods, but [it leaves] an obscure idea that
God is one ; when yet, as was above said, the idea of thought
concerning one God primarily opens heaven to man ; and, on
the other hand, the idea of three Gods closes heaven. That
this Athanasian doctrine, whilst it is read, leaves a clear idea
that there are three persons, and hence that there are three
unaniraous Gods, and that this unanimous Trinity makes the
thought that there is one God, let every one decide for him
self whether he can think otherwise; for it is said, in the
Athanasian creed, in express words, " There is one person of
the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy
Spirit. IVie Father is uncreate, infinite, eternal, omnipotent,
God, Lord, so likewise is the Son, and so likewise is the Holy
Spirit. Also, the Father was made and created of none, the
Son was born of the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceedeth
from both. Thus there is one Father, one Son, and one Holy
Spirit. And in this trinity all the three persons are to
gether eternal, and are altogether equal." From these words
no one can think otherwise than that there are three Gods;
neither could Athanasius think otherwise, nor also the Ni-
cene council, as is evident from these words inserted in the
doctrine : " As we are obliged by the christian verity to ac
knowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord, yet
are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say there be three
Gods and three Lords:" which cannot be understood in any
other sense, than that it is allowable to acknowledge three
Gods and Lords, but not to name them ; or that it is allow
able to think of three Gods and Lords, but not to say [that
there are three Gods and Lords.]
11. That the doctrine of the Trinity, which is called the
Athanasian Creed, whilst it is read, leaves an obscure idea
that God is one,, and so obscure as not to remove the idea of
three Gods, may be manifest from this consideration, that the
doctrine makes one God of three, by unity of essence, say
ing, " This is the christian faith, that we worship one God
in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither commixing ihe per
sons, nor separating the essence :" and afterwards, " Thus
the unity in trinity, and the trinity in unity is to be wor-.
shiped." These things are said to remove the idea of three_
Gods, but they do not fall into the understanding otherwise

ATHANASIAN CREED. 11
than thaUhere are three persons, but one Divine essence to all ;
thus by Divine essence is there meant God, when yet essence,
as also divinity, raajesty, and glory, whicli are also men
tioned, is a predicate, and God, as being a person, is the sub
ject, wherefore to say that essence is God would be like say
ing that a predicate is a subject, when yet essence is not God,
but is of God, as likewise majesty and glory are not God, but
are of God, as a predicate is not a subject, but is of a sub
ject ; hence it is evident the idea of three Gods as of
three persons is not reraoved. This may be illustrated- by a
coraparison : Let there be three rulers in one kingdom of
equal power, and let every one be called king; in this case,
if power and majesty is meant by king, they may, if it be so
comraanded, be called and said to be king; but whereas it is
person which is meant by king, it is impossible, from any
mandate, that three kings can be conceived to be one king :
wherefore, if they should say to you, speak to us with the
same freedora with which you think, you would, undoubt
edly, say, ye are kings, also ye are raajesties ; if you should
reply, I think as I speak in obedience to the raandate, you
are deceived, because you either siraulate or corapel yourself,
and if you corapel yourself, your thought is not left to itself,
but inheres in the speech. That this is the case, was seen
also by Athanasius, wherefore he explains the above words
by the following ; " As we are obliged hy the christian verity
to acknowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord,
so are we forbidden hy the catholic religion to say that there
are three Gods and three Lords ;" which words cannot be
otherwise understood than that it is allowable to acknowledge
three Gods and Lords, but not to name them; or that it is
allowable to think of three Gods and Lords, but not to say
so, because it is contrary to the christian faith ; in like man
ner, that it is allowable to acknowledge and think of three
infinites, eternals, uncreates, and omnipotents, because there
are three persons, but not to name three infinities, eternals,
uncreates, and omnipotents, but only one. The reason why
Athanasius added the above quoted words to the rest is, be
cause no one can think otherwise, not even himself, yet every
one can speak otherwise, and that every one ought to speak
so, because it is taught by the christian religion, that is, from
the Word, that there are not three Gods, but that there is
one God. Moreover, the property which is adjoined to each
' person as his special attribute, as creation to the Father, re-
¦demption to the Son, and illustration to the Holy Spirit, is

12 ATHANASIAN CREED.
not thus one and the same with the three persons, andjBt
each property enters the Divine essence, for creation is di
vine, redemption is divine, and illustration is divine. More
over, what",flnaa thinks that the trinity in unity and unity in
trinity is h be worshiped, neither commixing the persons, nor
separating the essence, who is desirous to turn the idea of
three Gods into the idea of one God 1 Who can do this, by
any power of metaphysics which transcends the apprehen
sion I The simple are utterly incapable of doing it; but the
learned hurry it over, saying with themselves, this is my doc
trine and faith concerning God ; nor do they thence retain
any thing else in the memory from an obscure idea, or any
thing else in the idea from the memory, than that there are
three persons, and one God, and every man out of three
makes one in his own way, but this only when he speaks and
writes, but whilst he thinks, he cannot think otherwise than
of three, and one from the unanimity of three, and, often, not
even from that [unanimity.] But attend, my reader, and do
not say to yourself, that these things are too harshly and too
boldly spoken against the faith universally received concern
ing the triune God ; for, in the following pages, you will
see, that all and singular the things which are written in the
Athanasian creed, agree with the truth, if only, instead of
three persons, one person he believed in, in whom is a trinity.
12. Another point which the Athanasian doctrine teaches,
is, that in the Lord there are too essences, the Divine and
the Human ; and in that doctrine the idea is clear that the
Divine andthe Huraan pertain to the Lord, or that the Lord
is God and Man ; but the idea is obscure, that the Divine of
the Lord is in His Human, as the soul in the body. The
clear idea, that the Lord has a Divine and a Human, is drawn
frora these words : " The true faith is, that we believe and
confess, that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God
and Man ; God of the substance of the Father horn hefore
the world, and Man of the substance of the Mother horn in
the world ; perfect God and perfect Man, consisting of a ra
tional soul. Equal to the Father as to the Divine, and in
ferior to the Father as to the Human." Here stops the clear
idea, nor does it go further, because from what follows it be
comes an obscure idea, and the things which are of an ob
scure idea, inasmuch as they do not enter the memory frora
any thought of light, do not gain a place there, except araong
such things as are not of the light, which things, since they
do not appear before the understanding, hide themselves, nor

ATHANASIAN CREED. 13
can they be called forth frora the memory together with those
things which are of the light. The point in that doctrine,
which is an obscure idea, is, that the Divine of the.Lord is
in his Human, as the soul in the body ; for on this subject it
is thus said : " Who, although he be God and Man, yet are
not two, hut one Christ ; one altogether by unity of person ;
since as ihe rational soul and the body are one man, so God
and Man is one Christ ;" the idea contained in these words
in itself indeed is clear, but still it becomes obscure by the
following words : " One, not hy conversion of ihe Divine es
sence into the Human, but hy assumption of the Human
essence into the Divine; one altogether, not by commixture of
essence, but by unity of person." Inasmuch as a clear idea
prevails over an obscure idea, therefore most people, both
simple and learned, think of the Lord as of a common raan,
like themselves, and not at the same time of his Divine; if
they think of the Divine, then they separate it in their idea
from the Huraan, and thereby also infringe the unity of per
son : if they are asked where is his Divine ? they reply, from
their idea, in heaven with the Father; the reason why they
so say and so perceive, is, because they find a repugnance to
think that the Huraan is Divine, and thus one with its Divine
in heaven, not aware, that whilst in thought they thus sepa
rate the Divine of the Lord from his Human, they not only
think contrary to their own doctrine, which teaches that the
Divine of the Lord is in his Human, as the soul in the body,
also, that there is unity of person, that is, that they are one
person, but also, they charge that doctrine undeservedly with
contradiction or fallacy, in supposing that the Human of the
Lord, together with the rational soul, was from the mother
alone, when yet every man is rational hy virtue ofthe soul,
which is from the father. But that such thought has place,
and such a separation, follows also from the idea of three
Gods, from which idea it results, that his Divine in the Hu
man is from the Divine of the Father, who is the first per
son, when yet it is his own proper Divine, which descended
from heaven and assumed the Huraan. If man does not
rightly perceive this, he raay possibly be led to suppose, that
his begetting [ex quo] Father was not one Divine, but three
fold, which yet cannot be received with any faith. In a word,
they who separate the Divine frora his Huraan, and do not
think that the Divine is in his Huraan as the soul in the body,
and that they are one person, may fall into erroneous ideas
concerning the Lord, even into an idea as of a man sepa-

14 ATHANASIAN CREED.
rated from a soul ; wherefore take heed to thyself, lest you
think of the Lord as of a man like yourself, but rather think
ofthe Lord as of a Man who is -God. Attend, my reader!
when you are perusing these pages, you may be led to sup
pose, that you have never, in thought, separated the Divine
of the Lord from his Human, thus neither the Human from
the Divine ; but, I beseech you, consult your thought, when.
you have determined it to the Lord, vvhether you have ever
considered, that the Divine of the Lord is in his Human as
the soul in the body? rather have you not thought, yea, if
you are now willing to make the inquiry, do not you at pre
sent think of his human separately, and of his Divine sepa
rately? And when you think of his Human, do not you con
ceive it to be like the human of .another man, and when
of the Divine, do not you conceive it in your idea, to be with
the Father ? I have questioned great numbers, even the
rulers of the church, and they have all replied that it is so;
and when I have said, that yet it is a doctrine of the Athan
asian creed, which is the very doctrine of their church
concerning God and concerning the Lord, that the Divine of
the Lord is in his Huraan as the soul in the body, they have
replied, that they did not know, this : and when I have recited
these words ofthe doctrine, " Our Lord Jesus Christ the Son
of God, although he be God and Man, yet they are not two hut
one Christ ; one altogether hy unity of person ; since as the
rational soul and hody are one man, so God and Man is one
Christ;" they were then silent and confessed afterwards, that
they had not noted these words, being indignant at thera
selves for having with so careless [strictis] eyes, examined
their own doctrine : some of them then gave up their mystic
union of the Divine of the Father with the Human of the
Lord. That the Divine is in the Human of the Lord, as the
soul in the body, the Word teaches and testifies in Matthew
and in Luke ; in Matthew thus : ' Mary being betrothed tp Jo
seph, hefore they came together, was found to be with child by
the Holy Spirit : and an angel said to Joseph in a drcan, fear
not to take Mary thy bride, for ihat which is horn in her is
from the Holy Spirit. And Joseph knew her not until she
brought forth her first born Son, and he called his name JeSus.'
i. 18, 20, 25 : and in Luke: ' The angel said to Mary, be
hold thou shalt conceive in the womb, and shall hi in^ forth a
son, and shalt call his name Jesus. Mary said to ike angel,
how shall this thing be, since 1 knew not a man; the angel said
in reply, the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the virtue

ATHANASIAN CREED. 15
of the Highest shall overshadow thee, whence the Holy thing
which is born of thee shall he called the Son of God,' i. 31,
.32, 34, 35 : frora which words it is evident, that the Divine
was in the Lord from conception, and thiit it was his life
from the Father, which life is soul. These are sufiicient for
the present; more will be said concerning them in what fol
lows, whe.n it shall be proved, that even the things in the
Athanasian doctrine, which give an obscure idea of the Lord,
are in agreement with the truth, when the trinity, viz. Fa
ther, Son, and Holy Spirit, is thought and believed to be in
the Lord as in one person : without such thought and faith,
it may be said, that christians, in contradiction to all people
and nations in the universal globe, who have rationality,
worship three Gods, as indeed it is asserted by them ; when
yet the christian orb both raay and ought to excel all others
in the brightness of the doctrine and faith, that God is one
both in essence and person.
13. It has been shown that the doctrine of faith, which
has its name from Athanasius, leaves a clear idea, whilst
it is read, that there are three persons, and hence that there
are three unanimous Gods, and an obscure idea that God is
one, and so obscure, that it does not remove the idea of three
Gods: and further, that the sarae doctrine leaves a clear idea
that the Lord has a Divine and a Huraan, or that the Lord is
God and Man, but an obscure idea that the Divine and Hu
man of the Lord are one person, and that his Divine is in
his Human as the soul in the body. It has been also said,
that nevertheless, all things in that doctrine, from bsginning
to end, both such as are clear and such as are obscure, agree
and coincide with the truth, if instead of this, that God is
one in essence and three in person, it be believed, as the
real truth is, that God is. one both in essence and in person.
There is a trinity in God, and there is also unity ; that there
is a trinity may be manifest from the passages in the Word
where mention is made of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
and that there is unity, from the passages in the Word, where
it is said that God is one. The unity in which is a trinity,
or the one God in whom is a trin6, is not given in the Divine
-which is called the Father, nor in the Divine which is called
the Holy Spirit, but in the Lord alone. In the Lord there is
a trine, viz. the Divine which is called Father, the Divine
Human which is called Son, and the Divine Proceeding
which is the Holy Spirit; and this trine is one, because it
is of one person, and may be called a triune. In what now

16 ATHANASIAN CREED.
follows, may be seen the agreement of all things ofthe Athan
asian doctrine with what is here asserted : First, con
cerning the trinity : Secondly, concerning the unity of per
son in the Lord : Thirdly, that it has come to pass of the
Divine Providence, that' that doctrine was so written, that al
though it disagrees, still it agrees with the truth. Afterwards,
in general, will be proved the trine in the Lord : and then,
specifically, that the Divine vvhich is called the Father, is he,
that the Divine which is called the Son, is he, and that the
Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit, is he.
14. We shall now proceed to the agreement of all things
of the Athanasian doctrine with this truth, that God is one
both in essence and person, in whom is a trine (trinum);
and to establish and prove this agreement, I desire to proceed
in the following order. The Athanasian doctrine first
teaches thus : "The catholic faith is this, that we worship one
God in trinity, and trinity in unity, neither commixing the
persons, nor separating the essence :" these words, whqn in
stead of three persons one person is understood, in whom
is a trine, are in themselves truth, and are perceived
by a clear idea thus, ' The christian faith is this, that we
worship one God, in whom is a trine, and a trine in one God,
and that the God, in whom is a trine, is one person, and that
the trine in God is one essence ; thus there is one God in
trinity, and trinity in unity, neither are persons commixed,
nor essence separated :' that persons are not commixed nor
essence separated will appear more clearly from what
now follows. The Athanasian doctrine further teaches,
" Since ihere is one person of the Father, another of
the Son, another of the Holy Spirit, but the Divinity of the
Father, of the Son, and of Holy Spirit, is one and the
same, the glory equal:" in this case, also, when instead of
three persons one person is understood, in whom is a trine,
the words are in theraselves truth, and in a clear idea are per
ceived thus : ' the trine in the Lord, as in one person, is the
Divine which is called the Father, the Divine Human
which is called the Son, and the Divine Proceeding which is
called the Holy Spirit ; but the Divinity or Divine essence of
the three is one, the glory equal.' Again : " Such as the
Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit :"
these words in such case are perceived thus : ' Such as the
Divine is which is called the Father, such is the Divine
which is called the Son, and such is the Divine which is
called the Holy Spirit.' And further ; " The Father is un-

ATHANASIAN CREED. - 17
create, the Son is uncreate, and the Holy Spirit is uncreate :
the Father is infinite, the Son is infinite, and the Holy Spirit
is infinite : the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy
Spirit is eternal : nevertheless there are not three eternals, hut
one eternal ; and there are not three infinites, but one infinite ;
neither are there three uncreated, but one uncreated : as ihe Fa
ther is almighty, so the Son is almighty, and the Holy Spirit
is almighty, and yet there are noi three almiglities, hut one
almighty :" when, instead of three persons, one person is
understood, in whom is a trine, then also these words are in
themselves truth, and in a clear idea are perceived thus: ' as
the Divine in the Lord, which is called the Father, is uncreate,
infinite, omnipotent, so the Divine Human -which is called
the Son, is uncreate, infinite, omnipotent, and so the Divine
which is called the Holy Spirit, is uncreate, infinite, and om
nipotent ; but these three are one, because the Lord is one
God, both in essence and person, in whom is a trine. In the
Athanasian doctrine are also the following words : "As the
Father is God, the Son also is God, and the Holy Spirit is
God, nevertheless there are not three Gods, but one God. So
the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is
Lord, yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord :" in this
case, also, when instead of three persons one person is un
derstood, in whom is a trine, the words are perceived in a
clear idea thus :. ' that the Lord, from his Divine which is
called the Father, from his Divine Huraan which is called
the Son, and from his Divine Proceeding, which is called
the Holy Spirit, is one God and one Lord, since the three
Divine called by the names of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
are in the Lord, one in essence and in person.' Further :
" Forasmuch as we are compelled by the christian verity to ac
knowledge every person by himself to be God and Lord, still
by the catholic religion we are forbidden. to say there are three
Gods and three Lords :" (in other copies thus : " As we are
hound by the christian truth to acknowledge every person to he
God or Lord, so we cannot in christian faith make mention of
three Gods or three Lords :" these words cannot be otherwise
understood, than that by the christian verity we raust needs
acknowledge and think that there are three Gods and three
Lords, but that slill it is not allowable, by the christian faith
and religion, to say and to narae three Gods or three Lords ;
as is also the case, for the generality think of three Gods
who are unanimous, and hence they call them a unanimous
trine, but still they are bound to say one God : nevertheless,
2*

18 ATHANASIAN CREED.
on the idea that there are not three persons, but one person,
then, instead of the above words, which ought to be taken
away from the Athanasian doctrine, raay be substituted the
following : ' When we acknowledge a trine in the Lord, then
it is from truth, and thereby from the christian faith and re
ligion, that we acknowledge both with the lips and the heart
one God and one Lord;' for, if it was allowed to acknowl
edge and think of three, it would be allowed also to believe
in three, for believing or faith is of thought and acknowledg
ment, and hence of speech, and not of speech separate [from
thought and acknowledgment!] Afterwards follow these
words : " The Father was made of none, neither created nor
born : the Son is of the Father alone, not made, nor created,
but born ; the Holy Spirit is of the Father and the Son, not
made, nor created, nor horn, but proceeding. Thus there is
one Father, not three Fathers, one Son-, not three Sons, one
Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits :" these words agree al
together with the truth, if opiy instead of the Father we un
derstand the Divine of the Lord vvhich is called the Father,
instead of the Son, his Divine Human, and instead of the
Holy Spirit, his Divine Proceeding-; for from the Divine
which is called the Father was born the Divine Human, which
is called the Son, and from both proceeds the Divine which
is called the Holy Spirit : but, concerning the Divine Hu
man, born of the Father, we shall speak raore specifically in
what follows. From these considerations it is now evident,
that the Athanasian doctrine agrees with the truth, that God
is one both in essence and in person, provided that instead
of three persons be understood one person, in whom is a trine,
which is called the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In the fol
lowing article, a like agreement will be established concern
ing unity of person in the Lord.
15. We now proceed to the agreement of the Athanasian
doctrine with this truth, that the Human of the Lord is Di
vine by virtue of the Divine which was in hirn from con
ception. That the Huraan of the Lord is Divine, appears,
indeed, as if it were not in the Athanasian doctrine, but still
it is, as is evident from these words in the doctrine : " Our
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. Who
although God and Man, yet they are not two but one Christ ;
one altogether by unity of person (or as others express it,
because they are one person) ; for as the rational soul and
body are one man, so God and Man is one Christ:" now,
whereas the soul and body are one man, and hence one

ATHANAS1A^- CREED. 19
person, and such as the soul is such is the body, it follows,
that since his soul from the Father was Divine, the body also,
which is his Human, is Divine. He did, indeed, assume a
body or human from the mother, but this he put off in the
world, and put on a Human from the Father, and this is the
Divine Human. It is said in the doctrine, " Equal to the
Father as to the Divine, inferior to the Father as to the
human:" this, likewise, agrees with the truth, provided that
the human from the mother be meant. In the doctrine, also,
it is said, ¦' God and Man is one Christ, one, not by. conversion
of the Divine substance into the Human, but by assumption of
the Human substance into the Divine : one altogether, not by
commixture of substance, but by unity of person :" these
words, likewise, agree with the truth, since the soul does not
convert itself into body, nor commix itself with body so as
to become body, but takes body to itself: thus soul and body,
although they be two distinct things, are still one man, and,
with respect lo the Lord, one Christ, that is, one Man who
is God. More will be said on the Divine Human of the
Lord in what follows.
16. That all and singular things of the Athanasian doc
trine, concerning the trinity and concerning the Lord, are
truth, and are concordant, if only instead of three persons
be understood one person in whom is a trinity, and it be be
lieved that the Lord is that person, has come to pass by the
Divine providence ofthe Lord ; for unless they had accepted
a trinity of persons, at that time they would have becoine
either Arians or Socinians, and hence the Lord would have
been acknowledged as mere man ouly, and not as God,
whereby the christian church would have perished, and
heaven would have been closed to the man of the church ;
for no one is conjoined with heaven, and admitted after death
into heaven, unless in the idea of his thought he sees God
as a man, and at the same. lime believes God to be one both
in essence and person ; by this belief the Gentiles are saved ;
and unless he acknowledges the Lord, his Divine and his
Human, by vvhich acknowledgment a man of the christian
church is saved, provided he lives at the same time a christian
life. That the doctrine concerning God and the Lord, which
is the primary of all, was so conceived by Athanasius, came
to pass of Divine permission; for it was foreseen by the
Lord, that the Roman Catholics would not otherwise have
acknowledged the Divine of the Lord, wherefore, also, even
to this day, they separate his Divine from his Human ; and

20 ATHANASIAN CREED.
the Reforraed would not have seen the Divine in the Human
of the Lord, for they who are in faith separate from charity,
do not see it; still they both of thera acknowledge the Divine
of the Lord in a trinity of persons. Nevertheless, that doc
trine, vvhiclj is called the Athanasian creed, by the Divine
providence ofthe Lord vvas so written, that all things therein
are truths, provided that instead of three persons one person
be assumed in whom is a trine, and it be believed that the
Lord is that person. It is also of providence that theyare
called persons, for a person is a man, and a Divine person is
God, who is a Man. This is revealed at this day for the
sake ofthe New Church, which is called the Holy Jerusalera.
17. That in the Lord there is a trine, the Divine Itself
which is called the Father, the Divine Human which is
called the Son, and the Divine Proceeding which is called
the Holy Spirit, may be raanifest frora the Word, from the
Divine Essence, and frora Heaven. From the Word; where
the Lord hiraself teaches, that the Father and he are one,
and that the Holy Spirit proceeds frora him and from the
Father ; also, where the Lord teaches, that the Father is in
him and he in the- Father, and that the Spirit of Truth,
which is the Holy Spirit, does not speak from hiraself but
from the Lord : in like raanner, from passages in the old
Word, where the Lord is called Jehovah, the Son of God,
and the Holy One of Israel. From the Divine Essence;
that one Divine by itself is not given, but there is a trine;
this trine consists of esse, existere, and proceeding, for esse
must needs exist, and when it exists must proceed that it may
produce, and this trine is one essence and one in person,
and is God. This may be illustrated by comparison ; an
angel of heaven is trine and thereby one; the esse of an
angel is that which is called his soul, and his existere is that
which is called his body, and the proceeding frora both is
that which is called the sphere of his life, without which an
angel neither exists nor is. By this trin,e an angel is an
iraage of God, and is called a son of God, and also an heir,
yea, also a god ; nevertheless, an angel is not life from him
self, but is a recipient of life; God alone is life from himself.
From Heaven; the trine Divine, which is one in essence
and in person, is such in heaven ; for the Divine which is
called the Father, and the Divine Human which is called the
Son, appears there, before the angels, as a sun, and the Di
vine Proceeding thence as light united to heat, the light
being divine truth, and the heat being divine good: thus, the

ATHANASIAN CREED. 21
Divine which is called the Father, is the Divine esse, the
Divine Human which is called the Son, is the divine existere
from that esse, and the Divine which is called the Holy
Spirit is the Divine Proceeding frora the divine existere and
from the divine esse. This trine is the Lord in heaven ; his
divine love is what appears as a sun there.
18. It was said, that one Divine by itself is not given, but
that there is a trine, and that this [trine] is one God in
essence and in person : if it now be asked, what sort of trine
God had, before the Lord assumed the Human and made it
divine in the world? It is answered, God vvas then in like
manner a man, and he had a Divine, a Divine Huraan, and
a Divine Proceeding ; or a divine esse, a divine existere, and
a divine proceeding, for, as vvas said, God without a trine
is not given; but the Divine Human at that tirae was not
divine even to ultimates, the ultiraates are what are called
flesh and bones ; these also were raade divine by the Lord,
when he was in the world. This was accessory ; and this
now is the Divine Human [appertaining] to God : this, like
wise, may be illustrated by this comparison : every angel is
a man, having a soul, having a body, and having a proceeding,
but still, he is not thus a perfect man, for he has not flesh
and bones, as a man in the world has. That the Lord made
his Human divine even to its ultimates, which are called
flesh and bones, he himself manifests to the disciples, who
believed that they saw a spirit when they saw the Lord,
saying, ' See my hcinds and my feet that it is 1 "myself ; han
dle me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bOnes as ye
see me have,' Luke xxiv. 39 : from which it follows, that
God is now more a man than the angels. Comparison has
been made with an angel and with a man, nevertheless, it
is to be understood that God is life in himself, but an angel
is not life in himself, for he is a recipient of life. That the
Lord as, to each, the Divine and the Divine Human, is life
in himself, he himself teaches in John : 'As the Father hath
life in himself, so hath he given to ihe Son to have life in
himself,' v. 26 : by Father, here, the Lord means the Divine
in himself; for elsewhere he says, that the Father is in him,
and that the Father and he are one.
19. Sorae, in the christian world, have formed to thera
selves an idea of God as of something universal; some, as
of nature in her inmost principles; some, as of a cloud in
sorae space of ether ; some, as a bright ray of light ; and
some, no idea at all ; whilst few [have formed] an idea of

22 athanasian ckeed.
God as of a man, when yet God is a man. There are several
causes that christians have formed to themselves such ideas
of God : the first is, because from their doctrine they be
lieve in three divine persons distinct from each other, in the
Father as an invisible God, in the Lord also, but as to his
Human not God. The second is, that they believe God to
be a spirit, and they think ofa s|)irit as of wind, or of air or
of ether, when yet every spirit is a man. The third is, that
a christian, in consequence of his faith alone without life,
has been rendered worldly, and from self-love corporeal, and
a worldly and corporeal man does not see God except frora
space, thus God as every thing inmost in the universe or in
nature, consequently as extended, when yet God is not to be
seen from space, for there is no space in the spiritual world,
space there is only an appearance grounded on what is like
it [ex simili]. Every sensual man sees God in like manner,
because he thinks but little above the speech, and the thought
of speech says to itself, ' What the eye sees and the hand
touches, this I know is,' and all other things it dissipates,
as if they were only things to be talked of These are the
causes that in the christian world there is no idea of God as
man. That there is no such idea, yea, that there is a re
pugnance to it, you may know from examining yourself, and
thinking of the Divine Human, when yet the Human of the
Lord is divine. Nevertheless, the above ideas of.God do
not appertain so much to the simple, as to the intelligent,
for many of the latter are blinded by the conceit of their
own intelligence, and are hence infatuated by science, ac
cording to the Lord's words, Matthew xi. 25 : xiii. 13, 14,
15. But let them know, that all who see God as a man, see
him frora the Lord, the rest frora themselves ; and they who
see from themselves, do n6t see.
20 But I will relate what must needs seem wonderful :
every man, in the idea of his spirit, sees God as a man, even
he who in the idea ofhis body sees him like a cloud, a mist,
air, or ether, even he who has denied that God is a man :
man is in the idea of his spirit when he thinks abstractedly,
and in the idea of his body when [he thinks] not abstractedly.
That every man in the idea of his spirit sees God as a man,
has been made evident to me from men after death, who are
then in the ideas of spirit ; for man after death becomes a
spirit, in which case, it is impossible for them to think of
God otherwise than as of a man : the experiment was made
whether they could [think] otherwise, and for this piirpose

ATHANASIAN CREED. 23
they were let into the state in which they were in the world,
and then they thought of God, sorae as of soraething univer
sal, some as of nature in her inmost principles, some as of
a cloud in Ihe raidst Of ether, some as a bright ray of light,
and some in other ways; but, instantly, when they came out
of that state into a state of spirit, they thought of God as of a
man ; which also they wondered at, and said it was implanted
[insitum] in every spirit. But evil spirits, who in the world
have denied God, deny him also after death, nevertheless,
instead of God they worship some spirit, who, by diabolical
arts, gains power over the rest. Jt was said, that to think of
God as a man is implanted in every spirit: that this is effect
ed by influx of the Lord into the interior of their thoughts,
is evident from this consideration : the angels of all the
heavens unitedly acknowledge the Lord ; they acknowledge
his Divine which is called the Father, they see his Divine
Human, and they are in the Divine Proceeding, for the uni
versal angelic heaven is the Divine Proceeding of the Lord ;
an angel is not an angel from any thing his own, but from
the Divine which he receives from the Lord ; hence they are
in the Lord, and therefore, when they think of God, they
cannot think .of any other than of the Lord, in whom they
are, and from whom they think. Add to this, that the uni
versal angelic heaven in its complex, before the Lord, is as
one man, which may be called the Grand Man, wherefore
the angels in heaven are in the man, who is the Divine Pro
ceeding of the Lord, as was said ; and since their thoughts
have a direction according to the form of heaven, therefore
when they think of God, they cannot think otherwise than
of the Lord. In a word, all the angels of the three heavens
think of God as of a man, nor can they think otherwise,
since if they would, thought would cease, and they would fall
down from heaven. Hence now it is, that it is implanted in
every spirit, and also in every man, when he is in the idea
of his spirit, to think of God as a man.
21. It was from this implanted principle, that the most
ancient people, more than their posterity, worshiped God
visible under a human form : that they also saw God as a
man, the Word testifies, as concerning Adam, that he heard
the voice of Jehovah walking in the garden ; concerning
Moses, that he spake with Jehovah mouth to mouth ; con
cerning Abrahara, that he saw Jehovah in the raidst of three
angels; and that Lot spoke with two of them : Jehovah was
also seen as a man by Hagar, was seen by Gideon, was seen

24 ATHANASIAN CREED.
by Joshua, was seen by Daniel as the Ancient of Days, and
as the Son of Man ; in like manner by John, as the Son of
Man in the midst of seven candlesticks, also by the other
prophets. That it was the Lord who was seen by them, he
himself teaches where he says, ' That Abraham exulted to
see his day, and that he saw and rejoiced,' John viii. 56 :
also, ' That he was hefore Abraham was,'' ver. 58: And that
' Ae was before the world was,' John xviii. 5,24. That it
was not the Father but the Son who vvas seen, is, because
the Divine Esse, which is the Father, cannot be seen except
by the Divine Existere, which is the Divine Human. That
the Divine Esse, which is called the Father, was not seen,
the Lord also teaches in John : ' The Father who hath sent
me, he beareth witness of me ; ye have neither heard his voice
at any "^time, nor seen his shape,' v. 37 : again : ' Not that
any one hath seen the Father, except he wha is with the Father,
he hath seen the Father,' vi. 46 : and again: 'No one hath
seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, who is in the
bosom of the Father, he hath brought him forth to view,' i.
18 : from which passages it is evident, that the Divine Esse,
which is the Father, was not seen by the ancients, neither
could be seen, and yet that it was seen by the Divine Exist
ere, which is the Son. Inasmuch as esse is in its existere,
as the soul is in its body, therefore he who sees the Divine
Existere or Son, sees also the Divine Esse or Father, which
the Lord confirms in these words : ' Philip said. Lord, show
us the Father ; Jesus said unto him, have I been so long time
with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip ? he who hath
seen me, hath seen the Father, how sayest thou then, show us
the Father?' John xiv. 8, 9 ; by which words it is manifest,
that the Lord is the Divine Existere, in which is the Divine
Esse ; thus God-Man, who was seen by the ancients. From
what has been adduced it follows, that the Word is also to be
understood according to the sense of the letter, when it says
that God has a f.ice, that he has eyes and ears, also, that he
has hands and feet.
22. Inasmuch as the idea of God as a man is implanted
in every one, therefore many people and nations have wor
shiped gods vvho either were men or were seen by thera as
men ; as Greece, Italy, and some kingdoms under their power,
[worshiped] Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, Pluto, Apollo, Mer
cury, Juno, Minerva, Diana, Venus and her boy, and others,
and ascribed to them the government of the universe. The
cause that they distributed the Divinity among so many per-

ATHANASIAN CREED. 25
sons, was, because it was implanted in them to see God as a
man, and therefore to see all the attributes, properties and
qualities of God, and thence, also the virtues, affections, in
clinations, and sciences, as persons. It was, also, from some
thing implanted, that the inhabitants of the lands round about
Canaan, and likewise of the regions within it, worshiped
Baalim, Astoroth, Beelzebub, Chemosh, Milcolra, Molech,
and others, many of whora had lived as men. It is, also,
from something implanted, that, at this day, in gentile Chris
tendom, saints are worshiped as gods, that the knees are
bended before their idols, that they are kissed, that the head
is made bare before them in the ways where they are expos
ed, and that they adore before their sepulchres ; yea, even
in the presence of the pope, the shoes of whose feet, and, in
some cases, his footsteps, are pressed with kisses; and they
would have saluted him as a god, if religion had allowed it.
These and several other particulars are from soraething im
planted, inclining men to worship a god whom they see, and
not any thing aerial, for this is sraoke to thera. But the idea
of God as a man, flowing in out of heaven, is perverted with
many, insomuch, that either a raan of the world, or an idol,
is worshiped in the place of God ; comparatively, as the
white light of the sun is turned into colors not beautiful,
and his summer heat into fetid odors, according to the ob
jects into which they fall. But that the idea of God is raade
an idea, of a little cloud, of a raist, or of the inmost thing of
nature, is from the causes above adduced, and has place
amongst christians, but rarely amongst other nations who
are in any light of reason, as araongst the Africans and raany
others. 23. That God is Man and that the Lord is that Man, is
manifest from all things vvhich are in the heavens, and which
are beneath the heavens. In the heavens, all things which
proceed frora the Lord, in the greatest and in the least,
are either in a human forra, or refer themselves to
the human form ; the universal heaven is in a human form,
every society of heaven is in a human form, every angel is a
human form, and, likewise, every spirit beneath the heavens :
and it has been revealed to me, that all things, the least as
well as greatest, which proceed immediately from the Lord,
are in that forra, for what proceeds from God is a resem
blance of him. Hence it is, that it is said of the man Adam
and Eve, ' that they were created into the image and likeness
of God,' Gen. i. 26, 27. Hence, also, it is, that the angels
3

26 ATHANASIAN CREED.
in the heavens, because they are recipients of the Divine
which proceeds from the Lord, are men of astonishing
beauty, but spirits in the hells, because they do not receive
the Divine which proceeds from the Lord, are devils, who, in
the light of heaven, do not appear as men, but as monsters.
From this consideration it is, that every one in the spiritual
world is known from his human form, how much he partakes
from the Lord [trahit a Domino."] Hence now it raay be
manifest, that the Lord is the only man, and that every one
is a man according to reception of divine good and divine
truth frora hira. In fine, he who sees God as a raan, sees
God, because he sees the Lord : the Lord, also, says, 'He
who seeth the Son, and believeth in him, hath eternal life,' John
vi. 40 : to see the Son is to see hira with the spirit, because
it is said, also, to those who have not seen hira in the world.
24. It was said, that the Lord is the only Man, and that all
are men according to reception of divine good and divine
truth from him. The reason why the Lord is the only Man
is, because he is Life itself, but others, because they are men
from him, are recipients of life. The distinction between
the man who is life, and the raan who is a recipient of life,
is like that between uncreated and created, and like that be
tween infinite and finite, which distinction is such as to adrait
of no ratio ; for there is no ratio given between infinite and
finite, thus there is none between God as a Man, and another
as a man, whether he be angel, or spirit, or raan in the world.
That the Lord is life, he hiraself teaches in John : ' The
Word was with God, and God was the Word, in Mm
was life, and ihe life was the light of men, and the Word was
made flesh,' i. 1, 4, 14 : again : ' As the Father hath life in
himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself,' v.
26 : again : ' As the living Father hath sent me, and 1 also
live by ihe Father,' vi. 57 : again : ^ I am the resurrection
and the life,' xi. 25 : again : ' 1 am the way, the truth, and the
life,' xiv. 6. Because the Lord is life, therefore in other pas
sages of the Word, he is called the Bread of Life, the Light
of Life, and the Tree of Life, also, the Alive and Liv
ing God. Since he is life, and every man is a recipient of
life from him, therefore, he also teaches that he gives life
and vivifies ; as in John : ' As the Leather vivifies, so also the
Son vivifies,' v. 21 : again : ' 1 am ihe bread of God which
cometh down from heaven, and giveth life to the world,' vi.
33 : again : ' Because 1 live, ye shall live also,' xiv. 19 : and
in many passages, that he giveth life to those who believe in

ATHANASIAN CREED. 27
him .- hence, also, God is called ' a Fountain of Life,' Ps.
xxxvi. 9 ; and in other places, Creator, Maker, Former, also.
Potter, and we the clay, and the work of his hands. Be
cause God is life, it follows that in him we live, move, and are.
25.. Life viewed in itself, which is God, cannot create
another, who shall be life alone ; for the life which is God is
uncreate, is what holds all things together, [est continens]
and is not separable ; hence it is, that God is one : but the
life which is God, can create forms from substances which
are not lives, in which it can be, and give the appearance as
if they lived ; these forms are men, which, as being recepta
cles of life, could not, in the first creation, be any thing but
images and likenesses of God ; images frora the reception of
truth, and likenesses frora the reception of good ; for life
and its recipient adapt themselves together like what is active
and what is passive, but do not mix together. Hence it is,
that human forras, which are recipient of life, do not live
frora themselves, but from God, who alone is life ; wherefore,
as is known, all the good of love and all the truth of faith is
from God, and nothing from man ; for if man had the
smallest portion of life as his own, he might will and do
good from himself, also understand and believe truth from
himself, and thus establish his own merit, when yet, if he
believes this, then the form recipient of life closes itself
above, is perverted, and intelligence perishes. Good and its
love, together with truth and its faith, are the life which is
God, for God is good itself, aud truth itself; wherefore God
dwells in those things with raan. Frora these considerations it
also follows, that raan of himself is nothing, and that he is only
so far something as he receives it from the Lord, and at the
sarae time acknowledges that it is not his own but the Lord's,
in which case the Lord gives him to be something although
not from himself but from the Lord.
26. It appears to man as if he lived from himself, but it is
a fallacy ; for if it were not a fallacy, man might love God
from himself, and be wise from himself. The reason why it
appears as if life vvas in raan, is, because it flows in from the
Lord into his inmost principles, which are removed from the
sight of his thought, and thus from perception ; also, be
cause the principal cause, vvhich is life, and the instrumental
cause, which is recipient of life, act as one cause, and this is
felt in the instrumental cause, which is recipient, thus in
man as in hiraself: the case, in this respect, is altogether as
the sensation of light in the eye, from which is sight, of

28 ATHANASIAN CKEED.
sound in the ear, frora which is hearing, of volatile parts in
the air in the nostril, from which is smelling, and ofthe soluble
parts of foods on the tongue, from which is taste, when yet
the eyes, the ears, the nostrils, and tongue, are recipient or
ganized substances, thus instrumental, causes, whilst light,
sound, the volatile parts in the air, and the soluble parts on
the tongue, are the principal causes, which act as one cause;
that is called principaUwhich acts, and that is called instru
mental which suffers itself to be acted upon. He who ex
amines the subject more deeply, may know that man, as to
all and singular things appertaining lo hira, is an organ of
life, and that what produces sense and perception flows in
from an extraneous source, and that the lifeitself causes man
lo feel and to perceive as from hiraself Another reason
why it appears as if life was in man, is, because the divine
love is such, that what is its own, it wills to communicate to
man as his, [velit esse hominis] but still teaches that it is not
man's. The Lord also wills, that man should think and will,
and thence should speak and act, as from himself, but that still
he should acknowledge that it is not from hiraself, otherwise
he cannot be reformed.
27. If it be said and thought that life itself is God, or that
God is life itself, unattended with any idea of what life is,
in such case, it is not understood what God is, beyond those
expressions. In the thought of man there are two ideas, one
abstracted, which is spiritual, and one not abstracted, which
is natural : the abstract idea, which is spiritual, concerning
the life which is God, is, that it is love itself, and that it is
wisdom itself, and that love is of wisdom, and that wisdom is
of love. But the idea not abstracted, which is natural, con
cerning the life which is God, is, that his love is as fire, and
that his wisdora is as light, and that each together is as efful
gent radiance [Juhar] ; this natural idea is taken from cor
respondence, for fire corresponds to love, and light corres
ponds to wisdom, wherefore, fire, in the Word, signifies love,
and light signifies wisdom, and whilst a preacher preaches
from the Word, he also prays, that heavenly fire may enkin--
die [all] hearts, and then is understood divine love, and that
heavenly light raay enlighten [all] minds, and then is under
stood divine wisdom. The divine love, which in the divine
wisdom is life itself, which is God, cannot be conceived of in
its essence, for it is infinite, and so transcends [all huraan
apprehension], but it may be conceived of in its appearance :
the Lord appears before the eyes of the angels as a sun, and

ATHANASIAN CREED. 29
from that sun heat proceeds and light proceeds; the sun is
divine love, the heat is divine love proceeding, which is
called divine good, and the light is divine wisdora proceeding,
which is called divine truth. Nevertheless, it is not allowed
to have an idea of the life which is God, as of fire, or of heat,
or of light, unless in it there be at the same lime an idea of
love and of wisdom, thus that the divine love is as fire, and
that the divine wisdom is as light, and that the divine love,
together with divine wisdom is as an effulgent radiance, [ju-
bar.] For God is a perfect Man, in face as a Man, and in
body as a Man, without any difference as to form, but as to
essence ; his essence is, that he is love itself, and that he is
wisdom itself, thus life itself
28. An idea of life, which is God, cannot be had, unless
an idea of degrees be also obtained, by which life descends
from inmost to its ultimates. There is an inmost degree of
life, and there is an ultimate degree of life, and there are
intermediate degrees of life, the distinction of these is, as
between things prior and things posterior, for a posterior
degree exists from a prior one, and so on ; and the difference
is, as between things less and more common, for what is of
a prior degree, is less common, and what is of a posterior
one, is more so. Such degrees of life are in every raan from
creation, and they are opened according lo the reception of
life frora the Lord ; in some is opened the degree next to the
ultimate [penultimus], in some the middle degree, and in
some the inmost ; the men, in whora is opened the inmost
degree, become, after death, angels of the inmost or third
heaven ; they, in whora is opened the middle degree, becorae,
after death, angels of the middle or second heaven ; but they,
in whora is opened the degree next to the ultimate, become,
after death, angels of the ultimate heaven. Those degrees
are called degrees of the life of man, but they are degrees
of his wisdora and love, because they are opened according
to the reception of wisdom and love, thus, of life frora the
Lord. Such degrees of life are, also, in every organ, viscus
and member of the body, and they act as one with the
degrees of life in the brains by influx, the skins, the cartilages
and the bones constituting their ultimate degree. The reason
why such degrees are in man, is, because such are the de
grees of the life which proceeds from the Lord, but in the
Lord they are life, whereas in man they are recipients of life.
It is, however, to be noted, that in the Lord there are degrees
still superior, and that all, both the supreme and the ultimate,
3*

30 ATHANASIAN CREED.
are life, for the Lord teaches that he is life, and likewise,
that he has flesh and bones. But concerning these degrees,
and concerning continuous degrees, see the work on Heaven
and Hell, n. 83, 34, 38, 39, 208, 209, 211, 425, where they
are more fully described, the knowledge of which it will be
expedient to draw forth thence for use in what follows.
29. Inasmuch as God is life, it follows that God is un
created : the reason why he is uncreated, is, because life
cannot be created, but it can create ; for lo be created is lo
exist frora another, and if life exist frora another, there would
be another who would be life, and this life would be life in
itself; and if this first were not life in itself, it would either
be from another or frora itself, and life frora itself cannot be
predicated, because from itself involves birth, and thafbirth
would be frora nothing, and frora nothing, nothing can be
born. This first, which in itself is, and frora which all
things have been created, is God, who, from esse in himself
is called Jehovah. That this is the case, reason may see,
especially if it be illustrated by things created. Now, whereas
he is not, unless he also exist, hence esse and existere in
God are one, for whilst he is he exists, and whilst he exists
he is. This, therefore, is the life itself which is God, and
which is a Man.
30. That all things are from the life itself which is God,
and which is a Man, may be illustrated from the man who
has been created, in that he, as to his ultimate principles, as
to his middle principles, and as to his inmost principles, is a
man ; for the raan, who in the world, as to his life, has been
merely corporeal, thus stupid, after the rejection of the ma
terial body appears still in the spiritual world as a raan ; and
the man, who in the world, as to his life, has been merely
sensual or natural, thus who has known little about heaven,
although much about the world, he, after death still appears
as a man ; the man, who in the world, as to life, has been
rational, thus who has thought well from natural lumen, he,
after death, when he becomes a spirit, appears as a man ;
the man, who in the world, as to his life, has been spiritual,
he, after death, when he becomes an angel, appears as man,
perfect according to the reception of life from the Lord ; the
man, with whom the third degree is open, thus who in the
world, as to life, has been celestial, he, after death, when he
becomes an angel, appears as a man in all perfection. The
life itself appertaining to him is a man, as well the sensual
and natural, as the rational, the spiritual, and the celestial;

ATHANASIAN CKEED. 31
the degrees of life are so called ; the man, in whom those
degrees exist, is only a recipient. And as it is in the
smallest types, so it is in the greatest ; the universal angelic
heaven in a whole complex is a raan ; every heaven by itself,
the first, the second and third, is a man ; every society ofthe
heavens, greater and less, is a man ; yea, the church in the
earths, in comraon, is a man ; also, all congregations, which
are called churches by theraselves, are raen : it is said the
church, and thereby are understood all with whom the
church is, in the complex; so the church in the earths ap
pears to the angels of heaven. That there is the appear
ance, is, because the life which is from the Lord is a man :
life from the Lord is love and wisdora, hence such as the re
ception of love and wisdora frora the Lord is, such is the
man. These things first testify, that all things were cre
ated frora the life, which is God, and which is a man.
31. That all things are from the life itself, which is God,
and which is wisdom and love, may, also, be illustrated by
things created, whilst they are viewed from order. For it is
from order that the angelic heavens, consisting of thousands
and thousands of societies, act in unity by love to the Lord,
[in Dominum] and by love towards the neighbor, and that they
are kept in order by divine truths, which are the laws of order ;
and likewise, that the hells beneath them, which, also, are dis
tinguished into thousands and thousands of congregations, are
kept in order by judgments and punishments, so that although
they are hatreds and insanities, still they cannot occasion the
least injury lo the heavens. It is, also, from order, that be
tween the heavens and the hells, there is an equilibrium, in
which raan is in the world, and in which he is led, if by the
Lord, to heaven, if by hiraself, to hell; for "it is a law of
order, that raan shall act what he acts frora freedora accord
ing lo reason. Since so many myriads of myriads of men,
since the creation of the world, have poured in thither, and
are perpetually pouring in like streams, and every one is ofa
dissimilar genius and love, they could not have been consoci-
ated together into one, unless God was one, who is life itself,
vvhich life is wisdom itself and love itself, and thence order
itself: So much respecting heaven. But in the world, divine
order appears from the sun, the moon, the stars, and the
planets ; the sun, to appearance, makes years, days and
hours, and likewise the times of the year, which are spring,
sumraer, autumn and winter, and the times ofthe day, which
are morning, raid-day, evening and night, and animates all

32 ATHANASIAN CREED.
things of the earth, according to the reception of his heat in
light, and of his light in heat, and, according to reception,
opens, disposes and prepares bodies and matters, vvhich are
in the earth, and upon the earth, to receive influx from the
spiritual world : hence, in the time of spring, by the union
of heat and light then, the fowls of heaven and the animals
of the earth return into the love of prolificalion, and into the
science of all things of it, whilst vegetables [return] into the
endeavor and act of producing leaves, flowers, and fruits,
and therein seeds, to perpetuate their kind to eternity, and to
multiply it ad infinitum. It is, also, from order, that the
earth produces vegetables, and that vegetables nourish ani
mals, and that both the latter and the former are of use to
man, for food, for raiment, and for pleasure ; and whereas
man is the creature in whom God dwells, all things thus re
turn to God frora whora they are. Frora these considerations
it is evident, that created things succeed in such an order,
that one is for another, and that they are perpetual ends
which are uses, and that the ends which are uses are con
stantly so directed, that they raay return to God from whom
they are. These things now testify, that all things were cre
ated from life itself, which is God, and which is wisdom it
self ; and they likewise testify that the universe of creation
is full of God. [plenum Deo.]
32. Inasmuch as God is uncreated, he is, also, eternal ;
for the life itself, which is God, is life in itself, not frora it
self, nor from nothing, thus il is without birth; and what is
without birth is from eternity, and is eternal : but an idea [of
what is] without birth cannot be given with the natural man,
thus neither can the idea of God frora eternity [be given] ;
but il is given with the spiritual [man] : the thought of the
natural man cannot be separated and abstracted from the
idea of time, which inheres [in man] from nature, in which
he is : thus neither can it be separated and abstracted from
the idea of birth, because birth is to him a beginning in time ;
the appearance of the sun's progression has impressed on the
natural man that idea. But the thought of the spiritual man
is abstracted from the idea of time, because it is elevated
above nature, and" instead of the idea of time there is an
idea of slate of life, and instead of the duration of time
there is an idea of state of thought from affection, which
constitutes life : for the sun in the angelic heaven neither
rises nor sets, nor makes years and days, like the sun in the
world; hence it is that the angels of heaven, because they

Athanasian creeD. S3
are in spiritual ideas, think abstractedly from time; where
fore their idea concerning God from eternity does not take
any thing from birth, or frora beginning, but frora state, that
it is eternal, thus that every thing which is God, and which
proceeds from God, is eternal, that is, divine in itself That
this is so has been given [me] to perceive by an elevation
above a natural idea into a spiritual. From these considera
tions it is now evident, that God, who is uncreated, is also
eternal ; likewise, that it is impossible to think that nature is
frora eternity, or in tirae frora itself, but that it is possible to
think that God is frora eternity, and that nature, with tirae, is
from God.
33. Since God is eternal, he is, also, infinite; but as there
is a natural idea and a spiritual idea of what is eternal, so
likewise of what is infinite : a natural idea of what is eternal
is from tirae, but a spiritual idea of it is not from time : a
natural idea also, of what is infinite is from space, but a
spiritual idea of it is not from space. For as life is not
nature, so the two properties of nature, which are lime
and space, are not lives, for they are frora the life which
is God, being created with nature. The natural idea of the
infinite God, which is from space, is, that he fills ihe uni
verse from end lo end, but from this idea concerning the in
finite there results a thought, that the inmost of nature is
God, and thus that he is extended, and every thing extended
is of matter. Thus because the natural idea does not at
all agree with the idea of life, of wisdora and love, which is
God, therefore what is infinite must be viewed from a spir
itual idea, in which, as there is nothing of time, so there is
nothing of space, because there is nothing of nature : it is
from a spiritual idea, that the divine love is infinite, and that
the divine wisdom is infinite, and since the divine love and
the divine wisdom are the life which is God, therefore divine
life is also infinite, hence, then, God is infinite. That the di
vine wisdom is infinite, may be manifest from the wisdom of
the angels of the third heaven; these, since they excel all
others in wisdom, perceive that no ratio is given between
theirs and the divine wisdom of the Lord, because no ratio
is given between what is infinite and whatis finite; they say,
also, that the first degree of wisdom is to see and acknowl
edge that this is the case : it is similar with the divine love.
Moreover, the angels, like men, are forras recipient of life,
thus recipient of wisdom and of love from the Lord, and
these forms are from substances which are without life, thus

34 ATHANASIAN CREED.
in theraselves dead, and between what is dead and what is
alive there is no given ratio. But how what is finite receives
what is infinite, raay be illustrated from the light and heat of
the sun of the world ; the light itself and the heat itself from
that sun are not material, but still they affect material sub
stances, the light by modifying them, and the heat by chang
ing their states : the divine wisdom ofthe Lord, is, likewise,
light, and the divine love of the Lord, is, likewise, heat, but
spiritual heat and light, because [they proceed] frora the Lord
as a sun, which is divine love, and at the same lime divine
wisdom : but light and heat frora the sun of the world are
natural, because that sun is fire and not love.
34. Inasmuch as God is infinite, he is, also, omnipotent,
for omnipotence is infinite power. The oranipotence of
God shines forth from the universe, which is the visible
heaven and habitable orb, which are the great works of an
omnipotent creator : in like raanner, the creation and sup
port of all things which are in the visible heaven and on the
habitable orb, testify that they are from divine omnipotence,
whilst their order and mutual respect to ends, from first to
last, testify that they are from divine wisdom. The oranipo
tence of God shines forth, also, frora the heaven which is
above or within our visible heaven, and frora the orb there,
which is inhabited, by angels, as ours is by men ; in that orb
are stupendous testiraonies of the divine omnipotence, which,
as having been seen by me, and revealed to rae, it is allowed
to raention : in that orb are all the men, who from the first
creation of the world have departed out of it, who, after
their decease, are also men as lo form, but are spirits as lo
essence. Spirits are affections which are of love, and thus,
also, thoughts ; spirits of heaven affections of the love of
good, and spirits of hell affections of the love of evil : the
good- affections, which are angels, dwell upon an orb which is
called heaven, and the evil affections, which are spirits of
hell, dwell at a depth beneath those : the orb is one, but di
vided as into expanses, one below another; the expanses are
six ; in the highest dwell the angels of the third heaven, and
beneath these the angels of the second heaven, and beneath
these the angels of the first : below these latter dwell the
spirits of the first hell, beneath them the spirits of the se
cond hell, and beneath these the spirits of the third ; all
things are so arranged in order, that the evil affections, which
are spirits of hell, are held in bonds by the good affections,
which are angels of heaven ; the spirits of the lowest hell by

ATHANASIAN CREED. 35
the angels of the highest heaven, the spirits ofthe middle hell
by the angels of the middle heaven, and the spirits of the
first hell by the angels of the first heaven ; from such opposi
tion the affections are held in equilibrium, as in the scale of
a balance. Such heavens and such hells are innuraerable,
distinguished into companies and societies according to the
genera and species of all affections, and these are in order
and in connexion according to their affinities nearer and more
remote : as it is in the heavens, so in the hells. This order
and this connexion of affections is known to the Lord alone,
and the orderly arrangement [ordinatio] of so raany various
affections, as there have been men from the first creation, and
as there will be hereafter, is of infinite wisdom, and at the
same time of infinite power. That the divine power is infi
nite, or that it is omnipotence, is very manifest from this cir
cumstance in the other world, that neither the angels of hea
ven nor the devils of hell have the least portion of power
from themselves ; if they had the least portion heaven would
fall to pieces, hell would become a chaos, and every man
would perish with them.
35. That all power belongs to God and none to a raan or
angel, is, because God alone is life, and a man and an angel
is only recipient of life, and it is the life which acts, and
the recipient of life which is acted upon. Every one may
see, that a recipient of life cannot at all act from itself, but
that what it acts is from the life which is God : nevertheless,
it can act as from itself; for this can be given lo il, and also
is given, as has been said above. If man does not live from
himself, it follows, that he does not think and will from him
self, neither does he speak and act from himself, but from
God, who alone is life. That this is the case appears as a
paradox, because man has no other sensation, than that these
things are in himself, and thus are done from himself, but
slill he acknowledges, whilst he speaks from faith, that every
thing good and true is from God, and every thing evil and
false is from the devil ; and yet, whatsoever a man thinks,
wills, speaks and acts, refer themselves to what is good and
true, or to what is evil and false : hence it is, that man says
within himself, or is taught to say by the rulers of the
church, when he does good, that he was led of God, and
when he does evil, that he was led of the devil: a man, a
preacher, also, prays that his thought, his discourse, and his
tongue, may be led by the spirit of God, and soraetimes,
also, says after preaching, that he has spoken from the spirit;
some [preachers] likewise, perceive it in themselves. I

36 ATHANASIAN CEEEO.
myself, can also testify before the world, that all things of
my thought and will have flowed in, goods and truths through
heaven from the Lord, and evils and falses frora hell, and
that for a long course of tirae it has been given me to per
ceive il. The angels of the superior heavens have manifest
sensation of this, and the wisest of them are not even
desirous to think and will as from themselves. But, on the
other hand, infernal genii and spirits altogether deny it, and
are angry when it is said ; nevertheless, by many things it
was shown to the life that it was so, but they were after
wards indignant. But because this appears as a paradox to
many, it is important that from some idea ofthe understand
ing it may be sden how it is effected, that so it may be ac
knowledged that it is effected : the thing in itself is as fol
lows : frora the divine love of the Lord, which appears in
the angelic heaven as a sun, light proceeds and heat pro
ceeds ; light is the life of his divine wisdom, and heat is the
life of his divine love ; this spiritual heat vvhich is love, and
that spiritual light which is wisdom, flow in into the subjects
recipient of life, no otherwise than as natural heat and natu
ral light from the sun of the world flow in into subjects not
recipient of life; and whereas, light only modifies the sub
stances into which it flows in, and heat only changes their
state, it follows, that if those subjects were animated, they
would be sensible of those changes in themselves, and would
suppose them to be frora themselves, when yet they depart
with the sun, and return with the sun. Now, since the life
ofthe divine wisdom ofthe Lord is light, therefore the Lord
in raany places in the Word is called light, and it is said, in
John, ' The Word was with God, and God was the Word;
in him was life, and the life was the light of men,' i. J, 2, 3.
Frora these considerations it is now evident, that to God
belongs infinite power, because he is the all appertaining to
all. But how an evil person can think, will, speak and do
things evil, when God alone is life, will be shown in what
follows. 36. Since such is the divine omnipotence, that man can
not of hiraself think and will, and thence speak and act, but
from the life which is God, it is asked, why then is not every
man saved ? But he who hence concludes that every one is
saved, and if not that he is in no fault, does not know the
laws of divine order respecting man's reformation, regenera
tion, and consequent salvation. The laws of that order are
called laws ofthe divine providence : these the natural raind
cannot know, unless it be illustrated; and because man does

ATHANASIAN CREED. 37
not know thera, and, therefore, forms conclusions concern
ing the divine providence frora contingencies in the world,
by which he falls into fallacies, and thence into errors, out
of which, afterwards, he can with difficulty extricate hira
self,' therefore, it is expedient that they should be revealed.
But, before we proceed to their discovery, it is of concern
that it should be known, that the divine providence operates
in singular the things appertaining to man, and in the most
singular of all, for his eternal salvation, since the salvation
of man was the end of the creation of heaven and earth ;
for the end was, that from the huraan race raight be formed
heaven, in which God might dwell, as in his own very house ;
wherefore, the salvation of man is the all in all of the Divine
Providence. But the Divine Providence proceeds so se
cretly, that man scarce sees a vestige of it, and yet it is ac
tive in the most singular things respecting him, from infancy
to old age in the world, and afterwards to eternity, and in
every thing raost singular it is eternity which is regarded.
Because divine wisdom in itself is nothing but an end,
therefore Providence acts frora an end, in an end, and to an
end ; the end is, that man may "become wisdom and may be
corae love, and thus a habitation and iraage of the divine
life. But, because the natural mind, unless it be illustrated,
cannot coraprehend why the Divine Providence, whilst it is
active in the work of salvation only, and in the most singu
lar things of the progress of the life of man, does not lead
all to heaven, when yet, from love, it is willing to lead them,
and is omnipotent, therefore, in what now follows, the laws
of order shall be opened, which are laws of the Divine Pro
vidence, by which, as I hope, the mind not before illustrated
will be withdrawn from fallacies, if it is willing to be with
drawn. 37. The laws of order, which are called the laws of Divine
Providence, are the following. I. That man should not feel
and perceive and thence know any other than that life is in
hira, thus that he thinks and wills from hiraself, and thence
speaks and acts from himself; but yet, that he ought to ac
knowledge and believe, that the truths vvhich he thinks and
speaks, and the goods which he wills and does, are from God,
thus as from himself II. That man should act what he acts
from freedom according to reason, but that still he should
acknowledge and believe that the very freedora which he
has is frora God ; in like manner, reason itself, viewed in
itself, which is called rationality. ITT That to think and
4

38 V ATHANASIAN CREED.
speak what is true, and to will and to do what is good, from
freedom according to reason, is not from himself, but frpm
God ; and that to think and to speak what is false, and to
will and to do what is evil, from freedom, is not frora him
self, but from hell ; yet so, that what is false and evil is from
that source, but the freedora itself viewed in itself, and the
faculty itself , of thinking, of willing, of speaking, and of
doing, viewed in themselves, are frora God. IV. That the
understanding and will of man ought not in the least to be
compelled by another, since all compulsion by another takes
away freedom, but that man himself should compel himself,
for lo compel himself is frora freedom. V. That man does
not know, from sense and perception in himself, in what
manner what is good and true flow in frora GodJ and in what
manner what is evil and false flow in from hell ; neither that
he should see in what manner the Divine Providence oper
ates in favor of good against evil ; for thus man would not
act frora freedom according to reason as from himself; it is
sufficient, therefore, that he ktiows and acknowledges those
things' from the Word and from the doctrine of the church.
VI. That man is not reformed by external raeans, but by
internal means; by external means is meant by miracles and
visions, also, by fears and punishments ; by internal means is
meant by truths and goods from the Word, and from the
doctrine of the church, also, by looking to the Lord, for
these raeans enter by an intern al-^ vvay, and remove the evils
and falses which inwardly reside ; but external means enter
by an external way, and do not remove evils and falses, but
shut thera in : nevertheless, man is further reforraed by ex
ternal means, when he has before been reformed by internal
means; but a man not reforraed, is only withheld by external
means, which are fears and punishments, frora speaking and
doing the evils and falses which he thinks and which he
wills. VII. That raan is not let into the truths of faith and
the goods oflove frora God, only so far as he can be kept in
thera, even to the end of life: for it is better that raan should
be constantly evil, than that he should' be good and after
wards evil, since, in the latter case, he becomes profane: the
permission of evil is principally from hence. VHI. That
God is continually withdrawing man frora evils, so far as
raan, from freedom, is willing to be withdrawn : that, so far
as man can be withdrawn from evils, so far he is led of God
to good, thus to heaven ; but so far as man cannot be vvith-
drawn frora evils, so far he cannot be led of God to good,

ATHANASIAN CREED. 39
thus to heaven: for so far as man is withdrawn frora evils, so
far he does goOd from God, which in itself is good; but so
far as he is not withdrawn from evils, so far he does good
from himself, which in itself has evil. IX. That God does
not immediately teach man truths, either from himself or by
angels, but that he teaches by the Word, by preaching, by
reading, and by discourse and cora,munication with others,
and thus by private thought from those things ; and that
man, in such case is illustrated according to the affection of
truth from use; otherwise man would not act as frora him
self. X. That raan, from his own proper prudence, has led
himself to erainence and to opulence, whilst they seduce :
for man is led of the Divine Providence to such things as
do not seduce, and which are serviceable to eternal life : for
all things of the Divine Providence with man respect what
is eternal, because the life, which is God, by which man is
man, is eternal.
38. From the above laws it is evident, that the Lord can
not lead man to heaven except by thera, although he has
divine love from which he wills, and divine wisdom from
which he knows all things, and divine power, which is
omnipotence, from which he can [effect] what he wills : for
the stated laws of providence are laws of order respecting
reformation and regeneration, thus respecting the salvation
of man, contrary to which the Lord cannot act, since to
act contrary to them would be to act contrary to his own
wisdom and contrary to his own love, thus contrary to him
self As to what concerns the first law, which is, that man
from sense and perception should know no other than that
life is in hira, but that still he should acknowledge that the
goods and truths which are of love and faith, which he
thinks, wills, speaks, and does, are not from him, but from
the Lord ; this law supposes the second, which is, that man
has freedom, and that this should appear as his, but yet that
he should acknowledge that it is not his, but the Lord's with
him : this law follows from the former, because freedom
makes one with life, for without freedom man cannot feel
and perceive that life is, as it were, in hira, this being felt
and perceived from freedom ; for frora freedora it appears to
man, that every thing which the life acts is as his own and
proper to him, since freedom is the power of thinking, of
willing, of speaking and doing, from himself, in this case as
frora himself; and principally [it is the power] of willing,
for a man says, I can whatI will, and I will what I can ; that

40 ATHANASIAN CREED.
is, I am in freedom : who, alsOj cannot think from freedom
that one thing is good and' another evil ; also, that one thing
is true and another false ? wherefore, freedom was given to
man together with his life, nor is it ever taken away frora
him, for so far as it is taken away or diminished, so far man
feels and perceives that he does not live, but another in hira,
and so far the delight of all things of his life is taken away
and diminished, for he becomes a slave. That man knows
no other, from sense and perception, than that life is in him,
thus as his own, has no need of any other confirmation than
experience itself; who feels and perceiv^es any othervvise,
than that he thinks from himself when he thinks, thathe wills
from himself when he wills, and that he speaks and acts frora
himself when he speaks and acts ? but it is from a law of
Divine Providence, that raan should know no otherwise,
since without that sense and without that perception, he can
not receive any thing to hiraself, appropriate any thing to
himself, nor produce any thing from himself, thus he would
not be recipient of life from the Lord, and an agent of life
from the Lord, but would be as an autoraaton, or as an
image, standing, without understanding or will, with the
hands hanging down, in expectation of influx, which would
not be given, since the life, in consequence of non-reception
as by man, and appropriation, would not be retained, but
would be transfluent, whereby man, frora being alive, would
become as dead, and from a rational soul, not rational, thus
either a brute or a stock; for he would be without delight of
life, which delight every one has from reception as from
hiraself, from appropriation, and frora production as of him
self; and yet delight and life act as one, for take away all
the delight of life, and you will grow cold and die. If it
was not from a law of Divine Providence, that raan should
feel and perceive as if life and every thing appertaining to it
was in him, and should only acknowledge that good and
truth are not from hira, but from the Lord, then nothing
would be imputed to man, neither good nor truth, thus
neither love nor faith ; and if nothing was to be imputed,
neither would the Lord have commanded in the Word, that
man should do good and shun evil, and that if he did good,
heaven would be his, but if evil, hell would be his ; yea,
neither would there be heaven nor hell, since, without that
perception, man would not be man, thus would not be the
habitation of the Lord ; for the Lord wills to be loved by
man as by him ; thus the Lord dwells with man in what is

ATHANASIAN CREED. 41
his own, which he has given to him to the intent that he
may be loved reciprocally ; for divine love consists in this,
that what is its own, it wills should be man's which would
not be the case unless man felt and perceived what is from
the Lord as his own. If it was not from a divine law, that
man from sense and perception should know no other than
that life was in hira, there would no end be given with raan,
for the sake of which [he should act] : this end is given with
him, because the end from which [he acts] appears as in
him ; the end from vvhich [he acts] is his love vvhich is his
life, and the end for the sake of which [he acts] is the de
light of his love or life, and the effect in which the end pre
sents itself is use : the end, for the sake of which [he acts]
which is the delight of the love of life, is felt and perceived
in man, because the end from which [he acts] gives him to
feel and perceive it, which end is, as was said, the love,
which is life : but the Lord gives to that man, who acknow
ledges that all things of hislife are from him, the delight and
blessedness of his love, so far as he acknowledges, and so far
as he performs uses ; thus whilst man, by acknowledgment
and by faith from love, as from himself, ascribes to the Lord
all things of his life, the Lord, in his turn, ascribes to man
the good of his life, vvhich is withall satisfaction and blessed
ness, and likewise grants that from an interior principle he
should exquisitely feel and perceive it in himself as his own,
and the raore exquisitely in proportion as man, from the
heart, wills what by faith he acknowledges. Perception,
then is reciprocal ; grateful to the Lord that he is in man,
and raan in him ; and satisfactory to man that he is in the
Lord, and the Lord in him. Such is the union of the Lord
with man, and of man with the Lord, by love.
39. The reason why man feels and perceives as if life was
in him, is, because the life of the Lord in him is as the light
and heat of the sun in a subject, which [light and heat] are
not of the subject, but are of the sun in it, for they retire
with the sun, and when they are in the subject, they are, to
appearance, all its own, [for] from the light is its color as
its own, and from the heat is the life of its vegetation as its
own : but this is much more the case with the light and heat
frora the sun of the spiritual world, vvhich is the Lord, whose
light is the light of life, and heat is the heat of life, for the
sun from vvhich they proceed is the divine love of the Lord,
but raan is the recipient subject; this light and this heat
never recede frora the recipient, who is raan, and when they
4*

42 ATHANASIAN CREED.
are with man, they are, to appearance, all his own ; for from
light he has the faculty of understanding, and from heat the
faculty of willing : frora this [circumstance] that light and
heat are as all in the recipient, although they are not his,
and frora this [consideration] that they never recede ; also,
from this, that they affect his inmost principles, whieh are
remote from the sight of his understanding and from the
sense of his will, it is raanifest that it must needs appear as if
those things were implanted, thus as in him, and consequently,
that they are brought into effect as from hiin : hence, now it
is, that man knows no other than that he thinks from him
self, and that he wills from himself, when yet, the smallest
portion [of thought and will is] not from himself, since these
cannot be united to the recipient so as to be his own, in like
manner, as the light of the sun cannot be united to a subject
ofthe earth, and become material as it is; the same is true
concerning heat. But the light of life and the heat of life
affect and fill recipients altogether>according to the quality of
the acknowledgraent that they are not his, but the Lord's,
and the quality of acknowledgment is altogether according to
the quality oflove in doing the' precepts, which are uses.
40. A third law of divine providence is. That to think
and io speak what is true, and to will and to do what is
good, from freedom according to reason, is not from man but
from ihe Lord: a)id ihat from freedom to think and to speak
what is false, and to will and to do what is evil, is not from
man hut from hell ; in such a manner, however, thai lohat is
evil and false is from thence, hut the freedom itself viewed in
itself, and the faculty itself of thinking, of willing, of speak
ing and doing, viewed in thtmselves, are from the Lord.
That all good which in itself is good, and that all truth
which in itself is truth, are not from raan, but from the
Lord, may be comprehended by the understanding frora this
[consideration], that the light which proceeds from the Lord
as a sun, is the divine truth of his divine wisdom, and that
the heat, which also proceeds from the Lord as a sun, is the
divine good ofhis divine love, and since man is the recipient
of those, it follows, that all the good which is oflove, and all
the truth which is of wisdora, are not frora raan but from the
Lord. But that every thing evil and every thing false are
not from man, but that they are from hell ; this [proposition],
inasrauch. as it has not before been heard of, has not been
made [an article] of faith, like this, that good and truth are
not from man. But that it is an appearance [that what is

ATHANASIAN CREED. 43
evil and false is from man], and if it be believed, that it is a
fallacy, cannot be comprehended, until it is known what hell
is, and how hell can flow in with what is evil and false on
one part, as the Lord flows in with what is good and true on
the other : it shall be stated therefore, first of whom hell
consists, what hell is, and where ; also, how it flows in and
acts against good, and thus, how roan, who is in the midst, is
on both parts acted upon as a recipient only.
41. First, then, it shall be stated of whom hell consists.
Hell consists of spirits, who, while they were men ih the
world, denied a God, acknowledged nature, lived, contrary to
divine order, loved evils and falses, although not so much
before the world because of appearance, and who, hence,
were either insane with regard to truths, or despised them,
or denied them, if not with the raoiith, still in heart : of
those, who have been such from the creation of the world,
hell consists. All these are there called either devils or
satans ; devils, with whom: the love Of self was predominant,
satans, with whom the love of the world was predorainant.
The hell where devils are, in the Word is understood by the
Devil, and the hell where satans are is there understood by
Satan. The Lord, also, has so joined the devils together,
that they are as one, in like raanner the satans; hence it is,
that the hells are called the Devil and Satan in the singular.
Hell does not consist of spirits iraraediately created, neither
does heaven [consist] of angels iramediately created, but hell
[consists] of raen born in the world, who were made devils
or satans by themselves, and heaven in like manner [consists]
of raen born in the world, who were there made angels by
the Lord. All men are spirits, as to the interiors which are
of their minds, clothed in the world with a material body,
which stands under the nod ofthe thought of his spirit, and
under the arbitration ofhis affection; for the raind, which is
spirit, acts, and the body, which is matter, is acted upon :
and every spirit, after the rejection ofthe material body, is a
raan, in a form similar to what he had when a raan in the
world. From these considerations it is evident of whom hell
consists. 42. The hell where are those who are called devils, is the
lova-of self; and the hell where are those who are called sa
tans, is the love of the world. [The reason] that the diabo
lical hell is the love of self, is, because that love is opposite
to celestial love, which is love to the Lord : and [the reason]
that the satanical hell is the love of the world, is, because this

44 ATHANASIAN CREED.
love is opposite to spiritual love, which is love towards the
neighbor. Now, whereas the two loves of hell are opposite
to the two loves of heaven, therefore hell and the heavens
are in opposition to each other ; for all who are in the hea
vens have respect to the Lord and to the neighbor, but all
who are inthe hells have respect to themselves and the world;
all who are in tlie heavens love the Lord and love the neigh
bor, but all who are in the hells love themselves and the
world, and hence hold the Lord and the neighbor in hatred :
all who are in the heavens think [what is] true and will
[what is] good, because [they think and will] from the Lord ;
but all who are in the hells think [what is] false and will
[what is] evil, because [they think and will] from themselves.
From this cause it is, that all vvho are in the hells appear
averted, with the face backwards frora the Lord, and like
wise inverted, with the feet upwards and the head down
wards ; this appearance is frora their loves, in that they are
opposite to the loves of heaven. •Inasmuch as hell is self-
love, it is, also, fire, for all love corresponds to fire, and in
the spiritual world is presented visible as fire afar off, al
though it is not fire, but love ; hence, the hells inwardly ap
pear as on fire, and outwardly as ejections of fire in smoke,
from furnaces or from burning substances, and sometimes,
also, the devils themselves appear as charcoal fires; the heat
[derived] to thera from that fire is as an effervescence frora im
pure dregs, which [effervescence] is concupiscence ;• and the
light [derived] to thera from that fire is only an appearance of
light [derived] from phantasies, and from confirraations of
evils by falses; nevertheless, it is not light, for whensoever
the light of heaven flows in it becomes to them thick dark
ness, and when the heat of heaven flows in it becomes to
thera cold; still, however, they see from their own light,
and live from their own heat, but they see as owls, birds of
night, and bats, whose eyes are blind to the light of heaven :,
and they live as half dead; the living principle [appertain
ing] to them is only from the ability to think, to will, to
speak, to do, and hence to see, to hear, to taste, to smell,
and to feel ; vvhich living principle is only a faculty springing
from the life which is. God, acting from vvithout into them,
according to order, and continually pressing [thern] to
order, from vvhich faculty it is that they live to eternity; and
the dead princijsle [appertaining] to them is from the evils
and falses springing. from their loves; hence it is, that their
life, viewed from their loves, is not life, but death, wherefore

ATHANASIAN CREED. 45
hell, in the Word, is called death, and its inhabitants are
called dead:
43. It was said, that self-love and the love of the world
constitute hell, but it shall now be stated whence those loves
are. Man was created to love hiraself and the world, to love
his neighbor and heaven, and, also, to love the Lord ; hence
it is, that when man is born, he first loves himself and the
world, and afterwards, in proportion as he grows wise, he
loves his neighbor and heaven, and in proportion as he grows
further in wisdora, he loves the Lord : when he becomes such,
he is then in divine order, and is led of the Lord actually,
and of himself apparently : but in proportion as he is not
wise, in the sarae proportion he stops in the first degree, which
is to love himself andthe world, and if he loves his neighbor,
heaven, and the Lord, it is for the sake of himself before the
world : but if he is altogether not wise, he then loves hiraself
alone, and the world for the sake of hiraself, in like manner
his neighbor, and with respect to heaven and the Lord, he
either makes light of them, or denies them, or hates them, if
not with the mouth, still in heart. These are the origins of
the love of self and of the love of the world, and inasmuch
as these loves are hell, it is evident whence hell is. When
man becomes a hell, he is then as a tree cut off, or as a tree
whose fruits are malignant ; and he is as sandy earth, in
which no seed strikes root, or as earth out of which springs
only the briar that pricks, and the nettle that burns. When
man becomes a hell, then the interior or superior [degrees] of
his mind are closed, and the exterior and inferior opened :
and whereas the love of self determines all things of the
Ihonght and will to self, and immerses thera in the body, it
hence inverts and twists back the exteriors of the mind,
which, as was said, are open ; and the consequence is, that
they verge, tend, and are carried backwards, that is, to
hell. But inasmuch as man has still the faculty of thinking,
of willing, of speaking and of doing, which faculty is never
taken from him, supposing hira to be born a raan, therefore
because he is inverted, and no longer receives any thing good
or any thing true from heaven, but only what is evil and false
frora hell, that he may be still distinguished above others, he
procures to hiraself a luraen by confirraations of what is evil
from what is false, and of what is false from what is evil ;
this he believes to be rational lumen, when yet it is infernal
lumen, in itself infatuated, from which he has vision as of a
dream in the night, or he has a delirious phantasy, fronj

46 ATHANASIAN CREED.
which, those things which are, appear as if they were not,
and those things-which are not, as if they were. But these
things will be seen more evidently from a coraparison be
tween a raan-angel and a man-devil.
44. There are in the world men-angels and there are men-
devils; heaven is from raen-angels, and hell is from men-
devils. With a man-angel all the degrees of his life are
open even to the Lord ; but with a man-devil only the ulti
mate degree is open, and the superior degrees are closed.
A man-angel is led of the Lord from within as well as from
without ; but a man-devil is led of hiraself frora within, and
ofthe Lord frora without. A raan-angel is led of the Lord
according to order, from within from order, from without to
order ; but a man-devil is led of the Lord to order from with
out, but of himself against order from within. A raan-angel
is continually withdrawn from evil by the Lord, find led to
good ; but a man-devil is continually, also, withdrawn by the
Lord frora evil, but from a more grievous to a less one, for he
cannot be led to good. A raan-angel is continually with
drawn from hell by the Lord, and is led into a heaven more
and more interiorly ; but a man-devil is continually, also,
withdrawn from hell, but frora a more grievous to a milder,
for he cannot be led into heaven. A man-angel, because he
is led ofthe Lord, is led by civil law, by moral law, and by
spiritual law, on account ofthe Divine [which is] in them ; a
raan-devil is led by the same laws, but on account of what is
of himself in them, A raan-angel from the Lord loves the
goods of the church, which, also, are the goods of heaven,
because they are goods, in like manner, its truths, because
they are truths; but of himself he loves the goods of the
body and ofthe world, because they are for use, and because
they are for pleasure, in like raanner, the truths which are of
the sciences, yet he loves both the latter and the former
apparently of himself, but actually from the Lord : but a
man-devil, from hiraself, also loves the goods of the body and
of the world, hecause they are for use, and because they are
for pleasure, in like manner, the truths which are of the
sciences ; but he loves both the latter and the former ap
parently from hiraself, but actually frora hell. A man-angel
is in freedom and in the delight of his heart, when he does
good from good, and likewise, when he is not doing evil ;
but a mEip-devil is in freedora and in the delight of his heart,
when he does good frora evil, and likewise whilst he is doing
evil. A man-angel and a man-devil appear like ter each

ATHANASIAN CREED. 47
other as to externals, but they are altogether unlike as to
internals ; wherefore, when external things are laid aside by
death, they are manifestly unlike; the one is taken away into
heaven, and the other is conveyed down to hell.
45. That raan is only a recipient of what is good and true
from the Lord, and of what is evil and false from hell, should
be illustrated by coraparison, confirmed by the laws of order
and influx, and, lastly, established by experience. It is
illustrated by the following comparisons : the sensories ofthe
body are only recipient and percipient as from theraselves ;
the sensory of sight, which is the eye, sees objects out of
itself, as if it vvere at them, when yet, the rays of light con
vey, with the wings of ether, their forras and colors to the
eye, which forms, being perceived in the eye; are exarained
by the internal sight, which is called the understanding, and
according to their quality are distinguished and known.
The sensory of hearing, in like manner, perceives sounds,
whether they be voices or modulations, from the place
whence they flow, as if it were there, when yet, the sounds
flow in from without, and are perceived by the understanding
within in the ear. The sensory of smell, also, perceives
from within what flows in frora without, sometimes frora a
great distance. The sensory of taste, also, is excited by the
eatables which are conveyed to the tongue frora without.
The sensory of touch has no sensation unless it be touched.
These five sensories of the body, by virtue of an influx from
within, are sensible of those things which flow in from vvith
out ; the influx from within is from the spiritual world, and
the influx from without is from the natural world. With
these facts, the laws inscribed on the naturc/of all things are in
concert, vvhich laws are, 1. That nothing exists, subsists, is
acted upon and raoved, of itself, but frora another : whence
it follows, that every thing exists, subsists, is acted upon and
moved, from the First (Being), who is not from another, but
in hiraself is a living force, which is life. 2. That nothing
can be acted upon and raoved, unless it be in the midst be
tween two forces, one of which acts and tbe other re-acts,
thus, unless one acts on one part, and one on the other;
also, unless one acts from within, and the other from with
out. 3. And whereas these two forces, whilst they are at
rest, make an equilibrium, it follows, that nothing can be
acted upon or raoved, unless it be in equilibriura, and when
it is acted upon, that it is out of that [equilibrium] ; also,
that every thing acted upon or' moved seeks to return to an

48 ATHANASIAN CIlEEl).
equilibrium. 4. That all activities are changes of state and
variations of form,, and that the latter are frora the former :
by state, in raan, we understand his love, and by changes of
state the affections oflove ; by forra, in raan, we understand
his intelligence, and by variations of form [his] thoughts ;
the latter, also, are from the forraer.
46. But on this subject we are also to speak from ex
perience : the angels of the superior heavens feel and per
ceive manifestly, that they have goods and truths frora the
Lord, and that they have nothing at all of good and truth
frora theraselves : when they are admitted into the state of
their proprium, as is the case at stated periods [per vices],
they, also, feel and perceive manifestly, that the evil and the
false, which appertain to their proprium, are [derived] to
them from hell. Some angels ofthe lowest heaven, not com
prehending that what is evil and false is from hell, because
in the world they had acknowledged that they theraselves
were in evils from nativity and from actual life, were led into
infernal societies from one to another, in each of which,
whilst they were in it, they thought altogether as the devils
there thought, and with a difference in one society and in
another, thinking on the occasion against goods and truths;
they were told to think from themselves, thus otherwise, but
Ihey replied, that they could not ; whence they comprehended
that evils and falses flowed in frora hell. The case is
sirailar with raany, who believe and insist that life is in them
[as their own]. It sometiraes, also, comes to pass, that the
societies with which they are connected are separated from
them, and when this is the case, they cannot think, nor will,
nor speak, nor act, they lie down like little new-born infants ;
but as soon as they are remitted into their societies, they
revive : for every one, both man, and spirit, and angel, as to
his affections and consequent thoughts, is connected with
societies, and acts as one with them ; hence it is, that all are
known, as to their qualify, from the societies in which they
are. From these considerations it is evident, that the quality
of life flows in to thera from without. As to what concerns
myself, I can testify, that for fifteen years I have manifestly
perceived, that I did not think and will any thing from
myself, also, that all evil and false flowed in frora infernal
societies, and that all good and truth flowed in from the
Lord : wherefore, some spirits observing this, said, that I did
not live ; to whom it was given to reply, that I lived more
than they did, because I was sensible of the influx of good

ATHANASIAN CREED. 49
and truth from the Lord, and saw and perceived illustration ;
and that, frora the Lord, I perceived evils and falses from
hell, not only that the evils are thence, but, also, frora whom ;
and it has likewise been given me to speak with them, lo
rebuke them, and to reject them with their evils and falses,
frora which I was thus liberated : and it has further been
given rae to say, that now I know that I live, and before not
so. Frora these considerations I have been fully convinced,
that all evil and false is from hell, and all good and truth,
together with the perception of thera, is frora the Lord ; and
moreover, that I had freedom and thence perception as frora
myself That all evil and false is from hell, it has also been
given rae to see with ray own eyes ; there appear over the
hells, as it were, fires and sraokes, evils are fires, and falses
are sraokes ; they continually exhale and rise up frora thence,
and the spirits, vvho abide in the midst between heaven and
hell, are affected by them according to their love. It shall,
also, be briefly shown, how evil and the false can flow forth
from hell, when there is given only one acting force, which
is the life which is God ; this, likewise, has been revealed :
a truth from the Word was uttered with a loud voice from
heaven, which flowed down to hell, and frora one and another
to the lowest hell ; and it was heard, that this truth, in its
flowing down, was successively and by degrees turned into
the false, and at length, into such a false as was altogether
opposite to the truth, and then it was in the lowest hell. The
reason why it was so turned, was, because every thing is re
ceived according to state and form ; hence, truth, flowing in
into inverted forras, such as are in hell, was successively
inverted and changed into the false opposite to truth. From
this circurastance, it was also evident, what is the quality of
hell, from the highest to the lowest; likewise, that there is
but one acting force, vvhich is the life which is the Lord.
47. That man is nevertheless a subject of guilt [reas]
follows from what has been said above, and likewise from
what has been before confirmed concerning the life which
is God, and which appertains to man from God, and, also,
from the laws above enuraerated, vvhich are truths. The
reason why evil is imputed to man, is, because it has been
given to him, and is continually given, to feel and to perceive
as if life was in hira, and inasrauch as he is in that state, he
is, also, in the freedom and faculty of acting as frora himself;
this faculty, viewed in itself, and this freedom, viewed in
itself, is never taken away frora him, because he is born a
5

50 ATHANASIAN CREJED.
man, who is to live forever; il is from that faculty and that
freedom, that he can receive both good and evil as of him
self And whereas man is kept in the midst between heaven
and hell, the Lord also gives him to know that good is from
Him, and that evil is frora the devil ; also by truths in the
church, to know what good is and what evil is : when raan
knows those truths, and it is given him from the Lord to
think thera, to will them, to speak and to do them, as from
himself, and this continually by influx, then, if he do^s not
receive, he becomes guilty. But the fallacy which man
denies thence, is principally, that he does not know that his
freedom, and faculty of acting as from himself, is from an
influx of life from the Lord into his inmost principles, and
that this influx is never taken away from hi-m, because he is
born a man, who has that inmost principle ; but that the
influx of life frora the Lord into the recipient forms, vvhich
are beneath that inmost principle, in which forms and where
the understanding and will reside, is varied according to the
reception ofgood and truth, yea, that that influx is diminish
ed, and is, also, taken away, according to the reception of
what is evil and false : in a word, the life which makes man
to be raan, and to be distinguished from the brute animals,
and vvhich is in his inmost principle, and is, therefore,
universally active in inferior principles, from which he has
freedora, and the faculty of thinking, of willing, of speaking
and of doing, is perpetually frora the Lord appertaining to
hira ; but the understanding and will of raan, thence, or
from that life, is changed and varied according to reception.
Man lives in the midst betvveen heaven and hell, and the
delight ofthe love of evil and of the false thence continually
flows into him from hell, and the delight of the love of good
and of the truth thence, flows into hira frora the Lord, and
he is kept constantly in the sense and perception of life, as
from himself, and by it is kept, also, constantly in the freedora
of choosing the one or the other, and in the faculty of re
ceiving the one or the other : in proportion, therefore, as he
chooses and receives what is evil and false, in the sarae pr6-
portion, frora that raidst, he is carried down to hell ; and in pro
portion as he chooses what is good and true, in the sarae propor
tion, frora' that raidst, he is taken up to heaven. The state of
man frora creation is, that he raay know that evil is from hell,
and that good is from the Lord, and that he raay perceive those
principles in hiraself as frora himself, and whilst he perceives,
that he may reject the evil to hell, and receive good, vvith the
acknowledgment, that it is from the Lord ; when he does the

ATHANASIAN CREED. 51
latter and the former, he then does not appropriate evil unto
himself, and does not make good meritorious. But I know
that there are many who do not coraprehend this, and who
are not willing to comprehend it, but nevertheless let them
pray thus : — ", That the Lord may be with them continually,
and may lift and up-lurn his faces to them, and may teach,
illustrate and lead them, since of themselves they cannot do any
thing that is good, and may grant to them that they may live ;
let not the devil seduce than, and instil evils into iheir hearts,
knowing thai whilst they are not led of ihe Lord, he [the
devil] leads them, and breathes into them evils of every kind,
as hatred, revenge, cunning, deceit, in like manner as a serpent
infuses poison ; for he is present, excites, and continually
accuses, and wheresoever he meets with a heart turned aivay
from God, he enters in, dtoells there, and draws the soul down
to hell: O Lord deliver us." These words coincide with
what was said above, for hell is the devil, and hereby it is still
acknowledged that man is either led of the Lord, or is led of
hell, thus that he is in the midst. See also what was said
above upon this subject n. 35.
48. A fourth law ofthe Divine Providence is, Tliat the un
derstanding and will should not be in ihe least compelled, since
all compulsion takes away freedom : but that man should com
pel himself , for to compel himself is to act from freedom. The
freedora of man is of his will, and from the will it is in the
thought of the understanding, and by this thought it is in the
speech of the mouth and in the action of the body : for raan
says, whilst he wills any thing from freedom, I will to think
this, I will to speak this, and I will to act this. Moreover,
frora the freedora of the will raan has the faculty of thinking,
of speaking, and of acting, for the will gives this faculty,
because it is free. Inasmuch as freedora is of the will of raan,
it is likewise of his love, since notliing else appertaining to
man constitutes freedom, but the love which is of his will ;
the reason is, because love is the life of man : for man is of
such a quality as hislove is, consequently, what proceeds from
the love of his will, this proceeds frora his life. Hence it is
evident, that freedom is ofthe will of man, is of his love, and
is of his life, consequently, that it makes one with his pro
prium, and with his nature and temper. Now, whereas the
Lord wills that every thing, vvhich comes frora Himself to
man, should be appropriated to man as his, since otherwise
there would not be in man a reciprocal principle by which
conjunction may be effected, therefore it is a law of the Divine
Providence, that the understanding and will of man should

52 ATHANASIAN CREED.
not be at all compelled by another ; for who cannot think and
will both evil and good, against the laws and with the laws,
against the king and with the king, yea, against God and with
God ? Nevertheless, it is not allowed hira to speak and do all
things which he thinks and wills, being restrained by fears,
which corapel the externals, but not the internals; the reason
is, because the externals are to be reformed by the internals,
and not the internals by the externals, for what is internal
flows in into what is external, and not vice versa: the inter
nals, also, appertain to man's spirit, and the externals to his
body, and because the spirit of man is to be reforraed, there
fore it is not compelled. There are, notwithstanding, fears
which compel the internals, or the spirit of man, but they are
no other fears but what flow in from the spiritual world which,
on one part, relate to the punishments of hell, and, on the
other, to not obtaining favor with God ; but fear on account
of the punishment of hell is external with respect to the
thought and will, whereas fear on account of not obtaining
favor with God is internal with regard to those principles, and
is a holy fear which adds and conjoins itself to love, with
which at length it makes one essence, since he who loves any
one, is fearful from a principle oflove to injure him.
49. There is an infernal freedora, and there is a celestial
freedora; the infernal freedora is that into which raan is
born from his parents, and the celestial freedom is that into
which raan is reforraed by the Lord. Frora infernal freedom
man has the will of evil, the love of evil, and the life of evil ;
but from celestial freedom he has the will of good, the love
of good, and the life ofgood; for as was before said, the
will, the love and the life of man make one with his freedom.
Those freedoras are opposite to each other, but the opposite
does not appear, only so far as raan is in one and not in the
other. Nevertheless, man cannot come out of infernal free
dom into celestial freedom, unless he compels hiraself: to
corapel hiraself, is to resist evil, and to fight against it as
from hiraself, but still to implore the Lord for aid ; thus raan
fights from the freedom which is from the Lord interiorly in
hiraself, against the freedora which is frora hell exteriorly in
himself It appears to him, whilst he is in the combat, that
it is not freedora from which he fights, but a somewhat forced,
because it is against that freedora which is connate with him ;
nevertheless, it is freedom, since otherwise he would not fight
as of hiraself But the interior freedom, from which he fights,
appearing as forced, is afterwards felt as freedora, for it be-

ATHANASIAN CREED. 53
comes as involuntary, spontaneous, and as it were innate;
coraparatively, as in the case of a person who compels his
hand to write, to work, to play upon a musical instrument,
or to fence, the hands and arms afterwards perform those
operations as of themselves and of their own accord : for
raan then is in good, because out of evil, and is led of the
Lord. When man has compelled himself against infernal
freedom, he then sees and perceives that infernal freedom is
servitude, and that celestial freedom is freedom itself, because
frora the Lord. The case in itself is this, that so far as raan
corapels hiraself by resisting evils, so far are removed from
him the infernal societies with which he acted as one, and he
is introduced by the Lord into heavenly societies, with which
he raay act as one. On the other hand, if man does not
corapel hiraself to resist evils, he reraains in thera : that this
is the case, has been made known to me by much experience
in the spiritual world ; also, that evil does not recede in con
sequence of the compulsion effected by punishment, nor after
wards by the fear of punishment.
50. It was said above, that it is a law of the Divine Provi
dence, that man himself should compel himself, and by this
is understood that he should compel himself from evil, but it
is not understood that he should compel himself lo good;
for it is granted to corapel hiraself from evil, but it is not
granted to compel himself to good which in itself is good;
since if man compels himself to good, and has not compelled
hiraself frora evil, he does not do good frora the Lord, but
from himself, for he compels hiraself to it either for the sake
of himself, or for the sake of the world, or for the sake of
recompense, or frora fear; such good in itself is not good,
because the man himself, or the world, or recompense, is in
it as its end, but not good itself, thus neither the Lord ; and
it is not fear, but love, which makes good to be good. As
for example ; for man to compel himself to do good to his
neighbor, to give to the poor, to endow churches, to do jus
tice, consequently, to charity and to truth, while he has
not compelled hiraself to abstain from evils, and thereby
has reraoved thera, would be like a palliative cure, by vvhich
the disease or ulcer is healed externally ; and it would be
like an adulterer compelling himself to chastity, a proud man
to humility, and a dishonest raan to sincerity, by mere exter
nal acts. But vvhen man compels himself [to abstain] from
evils, he then purifies his internal, which being purified, he
does good from freedom, nor does he corapel himself to dos
5*

54 ATHANASIAN CREED.
it; for so far as raan corapels hiraself [to absta'in] from evil,
so far he comes into celestial freedom, and frora this freedora
is every thing good vvhich in itself is good, to which there
fore the raan does not compel hiraself It appears, indeed,
as if there was a coherence between a man's compelling
himself frora evil, and corapelling himself to good, but there
is no coherence. From the testimofiy of experience I know
that several have corapeUed themselves to do good, but not
to abstain from evil, but when they were explored, it was
discovered, that evils from within adhered to the good; of
consequence, their good was compared with idols and with
images constructed either with clay or dung : and it was
said, that such persons believe that God is captivated with
receiving glory and gifts, even from a heart impure. Never
theless, before the world a man may corapel himself to goods,
although he does not corapel hiraself from evil, since in the
vvorld he is recompensed on that account; for in the world
regard is p'aid to what is external, and rarely to what is in
ternal ; but before God it is otherwise.
51. A fifth law of the Divine Providence is. That man,
from sense and perception in himself, should not know how
good and truth from ihe Lord fiows in, and how evil and the
false flows in from hell ; nor should he see how the Divine
Providence operates in favor of good against evil ; for thus
man would not act as of himself from freedom according to
reason ; it is suflicient for him io know and acknowledge those
things from the Word, and from the doctrine of the church.
This is understood by the Lord's words in John : ' The spirit
breatheth where it willeth, and thou hearest the sound
thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it
goeth : so is every one who is generated ofthe Spirit,' iii. 8 :
and likewise by these words in Mark : ' The kingdom of God
is as a man, who casteth seed upon the earth, and sleepeth,
and riseth night and day, but the seed springs up and grows,
while he knoweth not, for the earth spontaneously bringeth
forth fruit, first the grass, then the ear, at length the full corn in
the ear ; and when the fruit is produced, he putteth in the"
sickle, because the harvest is at hand,' iv. 26 to 29. That
man does not perceive the operation ofthe Divine Providence
in himself, is, because this would take away his freedom, and
hence the faculty of thinking as frora himself, and with it,
also, every delight of life, so that man ' would be like an
autoraaton, in which is nothing reciprocal, by which conjunc
tion is effected ; and he would likewise be a slave, and not a

ATHANASIAN CREED. 55
free-man. That the Divine Providence moves so secretly,
that scarce any trace ofit appears, although it operates in all
the raost singular things of man's thought and will which
respect his eternal state, is principally, because the Lord con
tinually wills to impress his love on man, and by it his wisdom,
and thus to create hira into his image ; therefore the operation
ofthe Lord is into man's love, and by this into his understand
ing, and not vice versa: the love with its affections, vvhich
are raanifold and innumerable, is not perceived by man ex
cept in a most general sense, and consequently so little as
scarce to amount to any thing, and yet raan is to be led from
one affection of the loves into another, according to the con
nexion in which they are arranged iu order, that he may be
reforraed and saved, which thing is incomprehensible, not
only to raan, but also to an angel : if man knew any thing of
those arcana, he could not be withdrawn from leading him
self, which would be continually frora heaven into hell, when
yet he is continually led by the Lord from hell into heaven :
for raan from himself constantly acts against order, and the
Lord constantly acts according to order : for man, in con
sequence of the nature derived from his parents, is in the love
of himself, and in the love of the world, and hence the all of
those loves, from a sense of delight, is perceived as good, and
still those loves as ends must be removed, vvhich is effected of
the Lord by infinite ways, which appear like the ways of a
labyrinth, even before the angels ofthe third heaven. Frora
these considerations it is evident, that it would be of no help
to man at all to knovv any thing of this subject frora sense and
perception, but that it would rather be hurtful to him, and
would destroy him to eternity. It is enough that raan knows
truths, and by thera what is good and evil, and acknowledges
the Lord, and his divine oversight in singular' things : in this
case, so lar as he knows truths, and by thera good and evil,
and does truths as frora himself, so far the Lord, by love,
introduces him into wisdom and the love of wisdom, and con
joins wisdom to love, and makes them to be one, because they
are one in himself Those ways, by which the Lord leads
man, may be compared with the vessels through which the
blood flows and circulates with man ; also, with the fibres
and their foldings within and without the viscera ofthe body,
especially in the brain, through which the animal spirit flows
and animates. In what manner all these things flow in and
flow through, man is ignorant, and yet he lives, provided
that he knows and does what is conducive to life. But the

56 ATHANASIAN CREED.
ways by which the Lord leads raan, are much more compli
cated and inextricable, as well those by which the Lord
leads man through the societies of hell, and frora thera, as
those by which he leads raan through the societies of heaven,
and interiorly into thera. This, therefore, is what is raeant
by the spirit breathing lohere it willeth, and thou knowest
not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, John iii. ; also,
by the seed springing up and growing, the man knowing not
how, Mark iv. Of what consequence, also, is it, that a man
should know how the seed grows, provided he knows how to
plough the earth, to dung it, to sow the seed, and when he
reaps his corn, to bless God?
52. The operation of the Divine Providence, whilst man
is ignorant of it, shall be illustrated by two comparisons : it
is like a gardener collecting the seeds of shrubs, fruit-trees
and flowers of every kind, and procuring for himself spades,
rakes, and several other hand instruments for preparing the
ground, and afterwards dunging his garden, digging it, cut
ting it into beds, sowing his seeds, and raking the ground ;
these are ofthe man as from hiraself: but it is the Lord who
causes the seeds to take root, to spring forth out ofthe earth,
to bring forth leaves, and then flowers, and lastly new seeds,
which are given to the gardener. It is, likewise, as a man
about to build a house, who procures for hiraself the requisite
raaterials, as tiraber, rafters, stone, mortar, and several other
things : but the Lord afterwards, whilst man is ignorant of it,
builds the house from bottom to top, entirely accommodated
fo fhe raan. From vvhich consideration it follows, that un
less man procure for himself the things requisite for a garden
or for a house, he will neither have a garden nor the advan
tage of its fruits, nor a house and thence a habitation. So
in the case of reforraation ; the things vvhich raan is to pro
cure for hiraself, are the knowledges of truth and good from
the Word, frora the doctrine of the church, from the world,
from his own labor, the Lord operates the rest, whilst raan is
ignorant of it. But it is to be noted that all the above re
quisites to sow a garden or to build a house, which, as vvas
said, are the knowledges of truth and good, are merely pro
visional things, which are not alive, until man does them, or
lives according to them as from himself; when this is done,
then the Lord enters, and vivifies and builds, that is, reforms.
The above garden, or the above house, is the understanding
of man, for his wisdom is there, which derives from love all
that it has.

ATHANASIAN CREED. 57
53. A sixth law of the Divine Providence is. That man
cannot be reformed by external means, hut by internal means ;
by external means is meant by miracles and visions, also hy
fears and punishments : by internal means is meant by truths
and goods from the Word, and from the doctrine of the church,
and by looking to the Lord ; for these means enter by an in
ternal way, and cast out the evils and falses which reside
within ; but external means enter by an external way, and do
not cast out evils and falses, but shut them in. Nevertheless, man
is further reformed by external means, provided he has heen
hefore reformed by internal means. This follows from the
laws above Tnentioned, viz. these, that man is reformed by
freedom, and not without freedom, also, that to compel him
self is from freedora, but not to be compelled : and man is
compelled by miracles and by visions, and likewise by fears
and punishments ; but by miracles and visions the external
of his spirit is compelled, which consists in thinking and
willing, and by fears and punishments the external of his
body is compelled, which consists in speaking and doing :
this latter may be compelled, because man, notwithstanding,
thinks and wills freely, but the external of his spirit, which
consists in thinking and willing, must not be compelled, for
thus his internal freedom perishes, by which he was to be
reforraed. If man could be reformed by miracles and visions,
all would be reformed inthe universal globe; wherefore, it
is a holy law ofthe Divine Providence, that internal freedom
should not at all be violated ; for by that freedora the Lord
enters into raan, even into the hell where he is, and by that
freedom leads him there, and brings him'forth thence, if he
be willing to follow, and introduces him into heaven, and
nearer and nearer to hiraself in heaven : thus, and no other
wise, man is brought out from infernal freedom, which,
viewed in itself, is servitude, because from hell, and is intro
duced into celestial freedora, vvhich is freedom itself, and
which becomes by degrees more free, and at length most
free, because frora the Lord, who wills that raan should not
be at all compelled: this is the way of man's reformation,
but this way is closed by miracles and visions. Neither is
the freedom of the spirit of man at any time violated on this
account also, that his evil, as well hereditary as actual, may
be reraoved, which is accoraplished whilst raan corapels him
self, as was said above ; those evils are removed by the Lord,
through the affection of truth inspired into man, by which he
has intelligence, aud through the affection ofgood, by which

58 ATHANASIAN CREED.
he has love ; for so far as raan is in these affections, so far
he compels hiraself to resist evils and falses : this way of re
formation is also closed by miracles and visions, for they
persuade and compel belief and thus send the thoughts as it
were bound into a prison ; hence, if freedom be taken away,
there is no opportunity given frora an interior principle of
reraoving evils, for nothing of evil is reraoved except from an
interior principle : thus evils remain shut in, which, from
their infernal freedora which they love, continually act
against those truths and those goods which rairacles and
visions have impressed, and at length dissipate them, calling
rairacles the interior operations of nature, and visions the
deliriums of phantasy, and truths and goods fallacies and
mockeries : for evils shut in produce this effect in the ex
ternals which shut them in. Nevertheless, man, whilst he
thinks only superficially, may believe that miracles and visions,
although they persuatle, do not take away the liberty of
thinking ; yet with the non-reformed they do take away
liberty, but with the reformed they do not take it away, for
with the latter they do not shut evils in, but with the for
mer. 54. All they who wish for miracles and visions, are like
the sons of Israel, who, when they had seen so many pro
digies in Egypt, at the red sea, and on mount Sinai, still after
a month receded frora the worship of Jehovah, and worship
ed a golden calf. Exodus xxxii. They are also like the rich
man in hell, who said lo Abraham, that if. any one frora the
dead should go to his brethren, they would repent ; to whora
Abrahara replied, they have Moses and the prophets, let them
hear them ; if they hear not Moses and fhe prophets, neither
will they be persuaded if one rose from the dead, Luke xvi. 29,
30, 31. And fhey are like Thoraas, who said that he would
not believe unless he should see ; to whora the Lord said,
Blessed are they who believe and do not see, John xx. 29 :
they vvho believe and do not see, are they who do not desire
signs, but truths from the Word, thus Moses and the pro
phets, and believe them ; these latter are internal men and
becorae spiritual, but the forraer are external and remain
sensual : the former, while they see miracles, and believe
only by them, in their belief are not unlike a handsorae
woraan, who is inwardly infected with a deadly disease, of
which she soon dies; and they are, also, like apples which
are beautiful as to the rind, but are corrupt as to the flesh;
or thejf are like nuts, in which a worra lie? concealed.

ATHANASIAN CREED. 59
Moreover, it is known that no one can be compelled fo love
and to believe, but that love and faith must be rooted inward
ly in man, consequently, no one can be led to love God and
to believe in him liy rairacles and visions, because fhey com
pel : for how can he, who does not believe from the miracles
[related] in the Word, believe from miracles not in the
Word? 55. A seventh law of divine providence is, That man shall
not he let into truths of faith and into goods of love by the
Lord, hut so far as he can he kept in them even to the end of
life; for it is better that man should be constantly evil, than
that he should be good and afterwards evil, since thus he be
comes profane : the permission of evil, also, is thence. The
Lord can give the affection of truth and faith thence, and the
affection of good and love thence, fo every man who is of
sound reason, by withholding him from evil loves, which are
of his proprium ; for so far as man is withheld from those
loves, so far he is in the understanding of truth and in the
will ofgood: I have seen devils themselves reduced to such
a state, in which when they were, they spoke truths from
understanding and faith, and did what is good from will and
love, into which state they were reduced, because they denied
their ability to understand truths and do good ; but as soon as
the detention from their own proper loves was relaxed, and
they returned into the lusts of their own loves, instead ofthe
faith of truth there was found in thera the faith of what is false,
and instead of the love of good there was in them the love
of evil : this has been witnessed frequently and before several :
hence it was made evident, that every one can be reforraed,
and that to be reformed is nothing else than to be removed
from evil loves : but how man is reraoved frora those loves,
has been said above. The reason why this removal is not
effected by the Lord, is, because they, who come into the
affection of truth and faith thence, and into the affection of
good and love thence, and do not abide constantly in those
affections to the end of life, but relapse into the loves from
which they have withheld themselves, profane holy things.
There are several kinds of profanation, but this kind is the
raost grievous of all, for the lot of such profaners after death
is terrible; they are not in hell but beneath hell, and there
they do not think nor will, but see and act; they see the
things which are not, and do not see the things which are,
and they act as if they acted every thing, and yet they act
nothing, being altogether deliriums of fantasy ; and because

60 ATHANASIAN CREED.
they do not think nor will, they are no longer men, for to
think and to will is huraan ; hence fhey are not called they,
in the raasculine or feminine gender, but they are called, in
the neuter gender, those things, or that : when they are
viewed in any light of heaven they appear as skeletons,
covered over with a black skin : such they becorae who have
been once reforraed and do not reraain so. The reason of
this their so horrible lot shall also be told : by reforraation
there is effected coraraunication between them and heaven :
hence flow in goods and truths, by which the interiors of
their minds are opened, and evils are removed to fhe side : if
they remain in this state till death, they are happy, but if they
do not remain they become unhappy, for then the evils which
were removed flow back, and mix theraselves with truths and
goods; thus hell mixes itself vvith heaven in them, so that
they cannot be separated ; for whatsoever is once irapressed
on fhe mind of raan by love, this is not extirpated, wherefore
after death, inasrauch as goods cannot be separated frora
evils, nor truths frora falses, the whole mind is destroyed,
and hence they have no longer any thought or will, but what
remains is as a shell when the kernel is taken out, or as
somewhat of skin and at the same time of bone without flesh,
for this is all that remains of the man. Let it therefore be
known, that there is no danger in coming from evil to good,
but that there is danger in coming from good to evil.
56. But such a lot does not await those who are constantly
evil, for all who are constantly evil are in hell, according to
the loves of their life ; and there they think, and from thought
speak, although [they speak] falses ; they likewise will, and
from will do, although [they do] evils ; and they appear among
themselves as men, although in the light of heaven [they
appear] in a raonstrous forra. Frora these considerations it
may be seen, why it is by a law of order respecting reforma
tion, which is called a law of Divine Providence, that raan
should not be let into truths of faith and into goods oflove,
only so far as he can be withheld from evils and kept in goods
even to the end of life; and that it is better that raan be con
stantly evil, than that he be good and afterwards evil, for then
he becomes profane. The Lord, who provides all things and
foresees all things, for this cause conceals the operations of
his providence, so that man scarce knows whether there be
any providence, and it is permitted hira rather to attribute
events to prudence, and contingencies, to fortune, yea, lo
ascribe several things to nature, than that by extant and mani-

ATHANASIAN CREED. 61
fest signs of providence and of divine presence, he should
unseasonably cast himself into sanctities in which he does
not abide. The Lord also permits sirailar things by the
other laws of his providence, naraely by these, that raan
should have freedora, and that he should act what he acts
according to reason, thus altogether as of himself; for it is
better that raan should ascribe the operations ofthe Divine
Providence to prudence and fortune, than that he should ac
knowledge them, and still live a devil. From these considera
tions it is evident that the laws of permission, which are
several, proceed from laws of providence.
57. One sort ofthe above mentioned profanation is meant
by these words in Matthew : ' When the unclean spirit goes
out ofa raan, he walks through dry places, seeking rest, but
finding none ; then he saith, I will return to the house from
whence I carae forth ; and when he is come he findeth it
erapty, swept, and garnished ; then he goes away, and
adjoins to hiraself seven other spirits worse than hiraself, and
entering in they dwell there ; and the latter things of that
man become worse than the first,' xii. 43, 44, 45 : in this
passage is described the conversion of a man by the de
parture of the unclean spirit from him ; and his return to
evils, and consequent profanation, is described by the un
clean spirit returning with seven spirits worse than himself.
In like manner, by these words in John : ' Jesus said to the
man who was healed at the pool of Bethesda, behold thou art
made whole, sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon thee,'
v. 14 : and by these words in the sarae evangelist : ' He hath
blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they do not
see with their eyes, and understand vvith their heart, and con
vert themselves, and I heal them,', xii. 4 ; lest they- should
convert theraselves and be healed, signifies, lest they should
become profane : thus it would have been with the Jews,
Matt. xii. 45 ; therefore they vvere forbidden to eat fat and
blood, Levit. iii. 17 ; vii. 23, 25 ; by which was signified the
profanation of what is holy by them in consequence of being
of such a character. The Lord also, by his Divine Provi
dence, is especially careful that this kind of profanation,
should not exist; and that it raay not exist, he separates the
holy things appertaining 1» man from the things not holy,
and stores up the holy things in the interiors of his mind,
and elevates them to himself; but the things not holy [he
stores up] in the exteriors, and turns thera to the world ;
hence, holy things can be separated from things not holy ¦
6

62 ATHANASIAN CREED.
and man thus be saved. This cannot be effected when goods
and evils are corarai'xed. That they will have a crown of
life, who reraain in faith and love even to death, the Lord
teaches inthe Apocalypse, chap. ii. 10; chap. iii. 26.
68. The eighth law of Divine Providence is, That the
Lord continually withdraws man from evils, so far as man
from freedom wills io he withdrawn ; that so far as he can
be withdrawn from evils, so far he is led by the Lord io good,
thus to heaven ; and so far as man cannot be withdrawn from
evils, so far he cannot be led by ihe Lord io good, thus to
heaven: for man, so far as he is withdrawn from evils, so far
does good from ihe Lord, which good in itself is good, but so
far as he is not withdrawn from evils, so far he does good
from himself, which good in itself has evil. Man, by the
speech of his mouth, and by the actions of his body, is in
the natural world, but by the thoughts of his understanding
and by the affections of his will he is in fhe spiritual world :
by the spiritual world is meant both heaven and hell, each
distinguished most ordinately into innumerable societies,
according to all the varieties of affections and of thoughts
thence. In the midst of those [societies] is raan, so tied to
them that he cannot in the least either think or will, but
together with thera, and so together, that if the raan was to
be plucked away from them, or they frora him, he would fall
down dead, retaining only life in his inmost degree, by which
degree he is a raan and not a beast, and by which he lives to
eternity. Man does not know that he is in such inseparable
consort as to life, and the reason why he does not know it is,
because he does not discourse with spirits, consequently,
does not know any thing concerning that state. But, lest
this should be concealed to eternity, lo I it is revealed. This
is necessary to be premised, before this law of Divine Provi
dence can be understood.
59. Man from his birth is in the midst of infernal societies,
and dilates hiraself into thera, altogether as he dilates the
evil affections of his will. The evil affections of the will are
all frora the loves of self and of the world ; the reason is,
because those loves turn all things of the mind dowtiwards
and outwards, thus to hell, which is beneath, and which is out
of theraselves, and thereby averts them from fhe Lord, thus
from heaven : the interiors also of all things of fhe human
mind, and therewith fhe interiors of all things ofthe spirit, can
be turned downwards and can be turned upwards; they are
turned downwards vvhen man loves himself above all things;

ATHANASIAN CREED. 63
and they are turned upwards when he loves the Lord above all
things; it is an actual turning; man of himself turns them
downwards, and the Lord from himself turns them upwards ;
the reigning love is what turns. Thoughts do not turn the
interiors of the raind, except so far as they are derived frora
he will. That this is so man does not know, and yet he
should knovv, in order that he may understand how he is led
out of hell, and led into heaven by the Lord.
60. But that raan raay be led out of hell, and be led into
heaven, by the Lord, it is necessary that he should resist hell,
that is, evils, as of himself; if he does not resist as of hira
self, he remains in hell, and hell in him, nor are fhey separa
ted to eternity. This, likewise, follows frora the above-men
tioned laws of Divine Providence, vvhich have been explained.
That this is the case, experience also will teach : evils are
reraoved frora man either by punishraents, or by teraptations
and consequent aversions, or by the affections of truth and
good. Evils are removed by punishments vvith those who
are not reformed ; by temptations and consequent aversions
with those about to be reformed ; and by the affections of
truth and good vvith the regenerate. Experience is this;
when one unreforraed or evil undergoes punishraents, as is
the case in hell, he is kept in the punishment until it is per
ceived that of himself he refuses evils, nor is he sooner lib
erated, thus he is compelled of himself to remove evils; if
he be not punished even to that intention and will, he re
mains in his evil ; nevertheless, evil is not still extirpated,
because he has not compelled himself, therefore it remains
within, and recurs when the fear ceases. Evils with those
who are about to be reforraed, are removed by temptations,
which are not punishraents, but combats : persons in these
circumstances are not compelled to resist evils, but compel
themselves, and iraplore the Lord, and are thus liberated from
the evils which they have resisted ; these afterwards desist
from evils, not from any fear of punishraent, but frora aver
sion to evil, which aversion in their case is at length resist
ance. But with the regenerate, there are not any teraptations
or combats, but there are affections of truth and good, vvhich
withhold evils at a distance from them : for they are altogether
separated frora hell, whence evils corae, and are conjoined to
the Lord. To be separated and reraoved frora evils is nothing
else than to be separated and reraoved from infernal societies.
The Lord is able to separate and remove all, as many as he
wills, from infernal societies, thus from evils, and is likewise

64 ATHANASIAN CREED.
able to transrait them into heavenly societies, thus into goods,
but this endures only for a few hours, after which the evils
recur : this, also, I have occasionally seen done, and likewise
that the evil person continued evil as before. In the whole
spiritual world there is not given an example of any one being
removed from evils, except by corabat or resistance as of
hiraself, or of any one being reraoved, except by the Lord
alone. 61. Experience further testifies to the sarae purpose; all
who corae from the earth into the spiritual world, are known
as to their quality, from this consideration, whether they can
resist evils as of themselves, or whether they cannot : they
who can are saved, but they who cannot are not saved : the
reason is, because man cannot resist evils of himself, but of
the Lord; for it is the Lord who resists evils with man, and
causes that man should feel and perceive as if he did it of
himself; they, therefore, who in the world have acknow
ledged the Lord, and likewise that all good and truth is from
him, and nothing from raan, and thus that they have power
against evils frora the Lord, and not frora themselves, resist
evils as of theraselves. But they who have not acknowledged
those things in the world, cannot resist evils as of themselves,
for they are in evils, and in the delight of thera from love,
and to resist the delight of love is to resist themselves, their
own nature, and their own life. The experiraent vvas raade
whether they were able to resist evils whilst the punishraents
of hell were announced to thera, yea whilst they were seen,
and likewise felt, but still it was in vain, for they hardened
the raind, [animus] saying, let corae what will, only let rae
be in the delights and joys of my heart so long as I am here;
I know things present, what is to corae I do not think about;
no more evil will befall me than many others: but after a
stated time they are cast into hell, where they are compelled
by punishraents not to do evil, but punishraents do not take
away the will, the intention, and consequent thought of evil,
they only take away the act. Frora these considerations it
is evident, that to resist evils is not effected by man, but by
the Lord with those vvho acknowledge him, and that the
Lord gives it to appear as if it were done by them.
62. That the Lord alone resists evils with man, and not by
any angels of heaven, is, because to resist evils with raan is
of Divine Oranipotence, Divine Oraniscience, and Divine
Providence. It is of Divine Omnipotence, because to resist
one evil is to resist many, and likewise is lo resist the hells;

ATHANASIAN CREED. 65
for every single evil is conjoined with innumerable evils, they
cohere like the hells with each other, for as evils so the
hells, and as fhe hells so evils, make one, and no one can
resist the hells so conjoined except the Lord alone. It is of
Divine Omniscience, because the Lord alone knows what is
the quality of man, and what his evils are, and in what con
nexion they are with other evils, thus in what order they are
to be removed, that man may be healed frora within, orradi-
cally. It is of Divine Providence, lest any thing be done
contrary to the laws of order, also, that what is done may
promote the happiness of man to eternity; for Divine Pro
vidence, Divine Omniscience, and Divine Omnipotence, in
singular things, have respect to what is eternal. From
these considerations it raay be manifest, that no angel can
resist evils with man, but the Lord alone. The Lord effects
these things with man imraediately from himself, and like
wise mediately through heaven, but still in such a manner,
that no angel knows any thing about it : for heaven in ils
whole complex is the Lord, because it is his Divine Pro
ceeding, wherefore, whilst he operates through heaven, it is
likewise from himself; but it is said mediately, because the
divine operation is transfluent through the heavens, yet still
it takes nothing from the proprium of any angel there, but
frora its own appertaining to them : the appearance is, as
when man performs an action, he moves innumerable moving
fibres scattered through the whole body to perform it, of
which no single fibre knows any thing : such also are angels
in the divine body, which is called heaven.
63. The law of Divine Providence, that man, so far as he
can be led from evils, so far does good from the Lord which
in itself is good, but so far as he cannot be led from evils, 50
far he does good from himself, which in itself has evil, raay
be illustrated frora the precepts of the decalogue; as for ex
ample, from the precept concerning not stealing ; they who
resist as of themselves the lust of stealing, thus also, the lust
of obtaining gain by insincerity and injustice, saying in their
hearts, that they ought not to do so, because il is contrary to
a divine law, thus contrary lo God, in itself infernal, thus in
itself evil, after a few short combats are withdrawn from that
evil, and are led by the Lord into the good which is called
sincere and into the good which is called just, and then
they begin to think of those goods, and to see them from
them, sincerity from sincerity, and justice from justice, and
afterwards, as they shun and hold in aversion the evil of the
6*

66

ATHANASIAN CREED.

above-mentioned lust, they love those goods, and from love
do thera vvithout corapelling theraselves : those goods are
from the Lord, because they are goods in themselves good.
But it is otherwise if the lust of obtaining gain by insincerity
and injustice reraains with man, for in this case he cannot
do what is sincere frora sincerity, nor what is just from
justice, thus not from the Lord, but frora hiraself; for he
does these things that he raay acquire the credit of being
sincere and just, for the sake ofthe ends which he purposes
of securing greater gain and honor : these ends are in his
goods, and from the end is all the quality of good : this
good, has in itself evil, since its quality is derived frora the
proposed end of obtaining gain by insincerity and injustice.
Every one can see, that this good cannot be raade good
in itself, until evil is reraoved. The case is similar in
regard fo the other precepts of the decalogue.
64. So far as man is reraoved frora evils, so far he is re
raoved frora hell, because evils and hell are one; and so far
as he is reraoved frora these, so far he enters into goods, and
is conjoined with heaven, for goods and heaven are one.
Man in this case becoraes another man, his freedom, his
good, his raind, andhis understanding and will, being invert
ed, for he becomes an angel of heaven. His freedom, which
had before been the freedora of thinking and willing evil,
becomes the freedom of thinking and willing good, which in
itself is freedora itself: when man is in this freedom, he then
first knows what freedom is, but not before, since from the
freedom of evil he felt the freedom of good as servitude, but
now from the freedora of good he feels the freedom of evil
as servitude, as also it is in itself The good, which man
had before done, inasmuch as it was from the freedom of
evil, could not be good in itself, since the love of self or of
the world was in it ; for good is not given frora any other
origin but from love, and hence, such as the love is, such is
the good; if the love be evil, still its delight is felt as good,
although it is evil ; but the good vvhich man afterwards does,
is good in itself, because from the Lord, who is good itself,
as was said above. The mind of man, before it was con
joined to heaven, was turned backwards, because it was not
yet brought forth out of hell ; but whilst it is in a state of
reformation, it looks frora truth to good, thus frora left fo
right, which is contrary to order ; but after the mind is con
joined to heaven, it is turned forwards, and is elevated to the
Lord, and looks from right lo left, that is, from good to truth.

ATHANASIAN CREED. 67
which is according lo order: thus a turning is effected.
The case is sirailar with the understanding and ihe will, be
cause the understanding is recipient of truth, and fhe will
recipient of good : before man is brought out of hell, the
understanding and will do not act as one, for at that time,
from the understanding, man sees and acknowledges several
things which he does not will, because he does not love
them ; but when man is conjoined to heaven, then the under
standing and will act as one, for the understanding becomes
ofthe will, since man, when the turning ia effected, loves
what he wills, and what he wills from love this he also
thinks ; thus, after man is removed from evils by resistance
and combat against them as from hiraself, he comes into
the love of truth and good, and in this case, all things
which he wills and thence does, he also thinks and thence
speaks. 65. There are two faculties of life appertaining to man ;
one is called understanding and the other will : those
faculties are altogether distinct frora each other, but are
created to make one, and when they make one, they are
called one mind ; nevertheless, with man they are at first
divided, but afterwards they are united. T'hey are dis
tinguished altogether as light and heat, for understanding is
frora the light of heaven, which in its essence is divine truth
or divine wisdom ; the understanding, also, appertaining lo
man, whilst he is in the world, sees, thinks, reasons and con
cludes from that light; that this is so raan does not know,
because he does not know any thing concerning that light
and its origin : but the will is from the heat of heaven, which
in its essence is divine good or divine love; the will, also,
appertaining to raan, whilst he is in the world, loves from
that heat, and has all its pleasure and delight; that this is so
man again does not know, because he does not know any
thing concerning that light and its origin. Now, whereas
the understanding sees from the light of heaven, it is evident
that it is the subject and receptacle of that light, thus also,
the subject and receptacle of truth and fhe wisdora thence
derived : and whereas the will loves frora the heat of heaven,
it is evident that it is the subject and receptacle of that heat,
so likewise, the subject and receptacle ofgood, thus oflove.
Frora these considerations it may be seen manifestly, that
those two faculties of the life of raan are distinct like light
and heat, also, like truth and good, and like wisdom and
love. That those two faculties are ai first divided with man.

68 ATHANASIAN CRfifiD.
is perceived evidently from this consideration, that raan can
understand what is true, and frora what is true [can under
stand] what is good, and approve if, but still not will it, and
frora willing do it; for he understands what is true, and
hence what is good, whilst he hears and reads it, and he so
perfectly understands, that afterwards he can teach it by
preaching and writing; but when he is left to hiraself, and
thinks frora his own spirit, he can then observe that he does
not will it, yea, that he wills to act contrary to it, and like
wise, that he does act contrary to it, when not restrained by
fears. Of this character are they, vvho can speak intelligent
ly, and yet live otherwise; this is what is raeant by a raan's
seeing one law in his spirit, and another in his flesh, for
spirit is tlie understanding, and flesh is the will. This dis
agreement of the understanding and will is perceived princi
pally by those vvho are willing to be reformed, but little by
others. The reason why this disagreement is given, is,
because the understanding vvith raan is not destroyed, but the
will is destroyed : for understanding is comparatively as fhe
light ofthe world, by virtue of which a man is able to see
with equal clearness in the tirae of winter as in the time of
summer ; and the will is coraparatively as the heat of the
world, vvhich may be absent frora the light, and raay be pre
sent with the light, for it is absent in the time of winter, and
it is present in the time of summer. But the case is this,
that nothing destroys understanding but will, as nothing
destroys the germinations of the earth but the absence of
heat. Understanding derived from will is destroyed with
ihose who are in evils, when they act in unity, not when they
do not act in unity; they act in unity, when raan thinks with
hiraself from his own love, but they do not act in unity when
he is with others; for in this latter case, he conceals and
thereby reraoves the proper love ofhis own will, which being
reraoved, fhe understanding is elevated into superior light.
The following experience may serve for confirmation ; I have
occasionally heard spirits discoursing with each other, and
likewise with rayself, so wisely, that an angel could scarce
discourse more wisely, and from this circurastance I have
been led to suppose, that in a short time they would be raised
up into heaven; but after a time, I have seen them with the
evil in hell, at which I was surprised; but it was given me,
in this case, to hear them discoursing in a strain altogether
different, not in favor of truths as before, but against thera,
by reason that now they were in the love of their own pro-

ATHANASIAN CREED. 69
per will, and in like manner of their own proper understand
ing, whereas before they were not in that love. It has also
been given to see how the proprium of man is distinguished
frora what is not his proprium, for this may be seen in the
light of heaven: the proprium resides interiorly, but what is
not the proprium exteriorly, and the latter veils fhe former,
and likewise hides it, nor does it appear until that veil is
taken away, as is done with all after death. I also observed,
that several were amazed at what they saw and heard, but
they were of those who judge ofthe state of man's soul frora
his discourse and writings, and not at the sarae time from the
deeds vvhich are of his own proper will. Frora these con
siderations it is evident, that the above two faculties of life
appertaining to man are at first divided. Something shall
now he said of their union : They are united vvith those who
are reforraed, which is effected by combat against the evils
ofthe will, for when those evils are reraoved, the will ofgood
acts as one with the understanding of truth : hence it fol
lows, that such as the will is, such is the understanding, or,
what is the same thing, that such as the love is, such is the
wisdom : the reason why the latter is of such a quality as
the former, is, because the will's love is the esse ofthe life
of man, and the understanding's wisdom is the existere of
life thence derived ; wherefore, love, which is of the will,
forms itself in the understanding, and the form which it there
receives is what is called wisdom ; for since both have one
essence, it is evident that wisdom is the form oflove, or love
in form. After the above faculties are thus united by refor
mation, then the will's love increases daily, and it increases
by spiritual nourishment in the understanding, for in the
understanding it has its affection of truth and good, vvhich is
as an appetite that hungers and desires. From these con
siderations it is evident, that the will is what ought to be
reformed, and that as it is reforraed, the understanding sees,
that is, grows wise ; for, as vvas said ; the will is destroyed,
but not the understanding. Will and understanding also
make one with those who are not reformed, or the evil, if
not in the world, still after death: for after death it is not
allowed man to think frora understanding except according
to his will's love, every one being at length reduced to this
necessity : and when he is so reduced, then the evil love of
the will has its forra in the understanding, which forra, inas
much as it is frora the falses of evil, is insanity.
66. To the above observations it may be proper to add, I.

70

ATHANASIAN CREED.

That the light of the understanding before reformation is as
the light of the moon, clear according to the knowledges of
truth and good, but after reformation is as the light of the
sun, clear according to the application of the knowledges of
truth and good to the uses of life. II. The reason why the
understanding has not been destroyed is, that man may know
truths, and frora truths may see the evils of his will ; and
when he sees them, may resist them as frora himself, and
thus be reforraed. III. Nevertheless, raan is not lo be re
forraed by virtue of understanding, but by this, that the un
derstanding acknowledges truths, and frora them sees evi)s;
for the operation of the Divine Providence of the Lord is
into the love of raan's will, and from this into the understand
ing, and not vice versa. IV. That the will's love, according
to its quality, gives intelligence; natural love derived from
spiritual gives intelligence in things civil and raoral ; but
spiritual love in natural gives intelligence in things spiritual ;
but love raerely natural, and the conceit thence derived,
does not give any intelligence in things spiritual, but gives
the faculty of confirraing whatsoever it is disposed to do, and
after confirmation infatuates the understanding, so that it sees
what is false as true, and what is evil as good : nevertheless
this love does not take away the faculty of understanding
truths in their light ; it takes away when it is present, and it
does not take away when it is absent, V. When fhe will is
reformed, and the wisdom which is of the understanding
becomes that of the love which is of the will, or when wisdom
becomes the love of truth and good in its form, then raan is
as a garden, in the time of spring, when heat is united to
light, and gives soul to germinations; spiritual germinations
are fhe productions of wisdom from love, and in this case, in
every production, there is a soul frora that love, and its
clothing frora wisdora, thus the will is as a father, and the
understanding as a raother. VI. Such then is the life of
raan, not only the life of his mind [animus) but also the life
of his body, inasmuch as the life of the raind acts as one
with the life of the body by correspondences ; for the
life ofthe will or love corresponds to the life of the heart,
and the life of the understanding or wisdom corresponds to
the life of the lungs, which are the two fountains ofthe life
ofthe body : that this is so man does not know, nevertheless
it is from this ground that an evil person cannot live in
heaven, and that a good person cannot live in hell ; for both
the one and the other becomes as it were dead, if be be not

ATHANASIAN CREED. 71
amongst those with whom the life of his will and hence the
life of his understanding act as one ; amongst such, and
araongst none else, his heart reciprocates freely, and hence
his lungs respire freely.
67. The ninth law of the Divine Providence [is] That
the Lord does not immediately teach man truths, either from
himself or hy the angels, but that he teaches mediately by the
Word, hy preachings, by readings, hy discourses, and by
communications with others, and thus by cogitations with one
self from these; and that man, is then enlightened according
to the affection of truth from use ; othencise man would not
act as of himself. These [things] follow frora the laws of
the Divine Providence before explained, [naraely] frora these,
that man is in freedom, and acts what he acts frora reason ;
[also] that frora understanding he should think as frora hira
self, and hence frora the will should do as from himself;
[and] further, that he is not to be compelled by miracles or
by visions to believe any thing, or fo do any thing : these
laws are iramutable, because they are of the Divine Wisdora,
and at the same time of the Divine Love, and yet they would
be disturbed if raan were immediately taught, either by in
flux or by discourses. Moreover, the Lord flows in into the
interiors of the mind of man, and through thera into his
exteriors ; also, into the affection of his will, and through
that into the thought of his understanding, halnol vice versa.
To flow in into the interiors of the mind of man, and through
them into his exteriors, is to in-fix the root [radicem agere]
and frora the root to produce; the root is in the interiors,
and production in the exteriors ; and to flow in into the affec
tion of the will, and through that into the thought of the
understanding, is first to inspire a soul ,. and through that to
forra all other things ; for the affection of the will is as a
soul, by which the thoughts of the understanding are forraed :
this, likewise, is influx from [what is] internal into [what is]
external, which is given. Man knows nothing concerning
that which flows in into the interiors of his mind, nor con
cerning that which flows in into the affection of his will ;
[N. B. The two next lines of the original Latin being un
intelligible, by reason, it is supposed, of some error of the
press, they are oraitted in the translation : The lines are
these, " sed de eo sciturus est, quod in exteriora mentis ejus,
et quod in cogitationera intellectus ejus influeret, et hoc foret
producere aliquid absque radice, et forraare aliquid absque
aniraa." Then it follows] Every one may see that this

72 ATHANASIAN CREED.
would be contrary to divine order, consequently, that it
would be to destroy and not to build. Frora these [considera
tions] the truth of this law of the Divine Provivence appears.
68. But how the Lord flows in, and raan is thus led, can
not be known frora any other source than from the spiritual
world ; there raan is as to his spirit, thus as fo his affections
and his thoughts thence, for the latter and the forraer are the
spirit of a raan ; it is this which thinks frora his affection,
and not the body. The affections of raan, from which his
thoughts are, have extension into societies in the spiritual
world in every direction, into a greater or lesser number,
according to the quantity and quality of affection ; within
those societies man is as to his spirit, to them he is tied as
with stretched-out cords which circumscribe the space for
his walking, then as [he proceeds] from one affection into
another, so he proceeds from one society into another, and
in whatsoever society he is, and wheresoever he is in the
society, there is the centre from which the affection and its
thought runs forth to the other societies as to circumferences,
which thus are in continual connexion with the affection of
the centre, from which [affection] he then thinks and speaks.
Man procures to himself in the world this sphere, which ia
the sphere of ,his affections and thoughts thence, if he be an
evil man, in hell, if he be a good man, in heaven. That
this is so, raan is ignorant, because he is ignorant that such
things are. Through those societies man, that is, his mind,
walks free, although bound, and the Lord leads him, nor
does he take a step, into which and frora which [the Lord]
does not lead, and gives to the raan continually to know no
otherwise, than that he goes of himself in full liberty ; and
it is allowed hira to persuade hiraself of this, because it is
from the law of Divine Providence that raan should be con
veyed whither his affection wills. If the affection be evil,
he is carried about through infisrnal societies, and if he does
not look to the Lord, he is brought into those [societies]
more entirely and deeply, yet still the Lord leads hira as by
the hand by perraifting, and withdrawing so far as [the man]
is willing to follow from freedom: but if he looks to the
Lord, he is brought forth from those societies successively,
according fo the order and connexion in which they are ;
which order and vvhich connexion is known to no one but to
the Lord alone ; and thus he is conveyed by continual steps
out of hell upwards towards heaven, and into heaven. This
is effected by the Lord whilst man is ignorant ofit, since if

ATHANASIAN CREED. 73
man knew it, he would disturb the continuation of that pro
gress by leading hiraself: it is-sufficient that he learn truths
from the Word, and by truths what things are good, and from
truths and goods what evils and falses are, to the end that he
may be affected by truths and goods, and not be affected by
falses and evils : he may indeed knovv evils and falses, be
fore he knows goods and truths, but he cannot see thera and
perceive thera : thus and no otherwise raan may be led from
affection into affection, in freedom and as of himself, from
the affection of truth and good, by leading, if he acknow
ledges the Divine Providence of the Lord in everything, and
from the affection of what is evil and false, by permission, if
he does not acknowledge that [Providence] : [it is sufficient]
also that he is capable of receiving intelligence correspond
ing to affection, which he receives, so far as from truths he
fights against evils as of himself This is lo be revealed, for
the reason, that il is not known that the Divine Providence
is continual, and in the most singular things of the life of
man, and this because it is not known how it is.
69. These things being premised, it shall now be told what
affection is, and afterwards why man is led of the Lord by
affections and not by thoughts, and lastly that man cannot
otherwise be saved. What affection is. — By affection is
meani the like as by love; but love is as the fountain, and
affections are as streams thence, thus also, they are ils con
tinuations. Love as a fountain is in the will of man ; affec
tions, which are its streams, by continuity flow in into the
understanding, and there by means of light from truths pro
duce thoughts, altogether as the influences of heat in a gar
den produce germinations by means of rays of light ; love,
also, in its origin is the heat of heaven, truths in their origin
are the rays of the light of heaven, and thoughts are the
germinations from their marriage. From such a marriage
are all the societies of heaven, which are innumerable, which
in their essences are affections ; for they are frora the heat
which is love, and from wisdom which is light, frora the
Lord as a sun; hence, those societies, in proportion as heat
there is united to light, and light is united to heat, are affec
tions of good and of truth : thence are the thoughts of all
in those societies. Frora this [consideration] it is evident,
that the societies of heaven are not thoughts, but that they
are affections, consequently, that to be led by those societies
is to be led by affections, or to be led by affections is to be
led by societies ; wherefore in what now follows, for socie-
7

74 ATHANASIAN CREED.
ties say affections. It shall now be shewn, why man is led
of the Lord by affections and not by thoughts : whilst raan ia
led of the Lord by affections, he raay be led according to
all the laws of his Divine Providence, but not if by thoughts :
affections do not raanifest themselves before the man, but
thoughts do manifest [themselves]; also, affections produce
thoughts, but thoughts do not produce affections; it appears
as if they produce thera, but it is a fallacy ; and when affec
tions produce thoughts, they also produce all things of man,
because thev are his life. This, likewise, is known in the
world; if you hold raan in his affection, you hold hira bound,
and lead hirn whither you will, and then, one reason goes as
far as a thousand [valet pro mille] ; but if you do not hold
man in his affection, reasons are of no avail, for the affec
tion, not in concord, either prevents them, or rejects them,
or extinguishes thern. Similar would be the case, if the
Lord led raan by thoughts iramediately, and not byaffections.
Also, when man is led of the Lord by affections, it appears
to him that he thinks freely as of himself, and that as of
himself he speaks freely, and likewise acts. Hence now it
is, that the Lord does not iraraediately teach raan, but
mediately by the Word, by doctrines and preachings from
the Word, by discourses and conversations, for from these
things raan thinks freely as of hiraself That man cannot
otherwise he saved, follows both from what has been said con
cerning the laws of fhe Divine Providence, and also from
this [consideration,] that thoughts do not produce affections
with raan ; for if man knew all things of the Word, and all
things of doctrine, even to the arcana of wisdom which per
tain to the angels, and thought and spake thera, whilst yet
his affections were concupiscences of evil, still he could not
be brought out of hell by the Lord. Hence it is evident,
that if raan were taught from heaven hy influx into his
thoughts, it would be like casting seed into the way, or into
water, or into snow, Or into fire.
70. Since the Divine Providence acts into the affections
which are of man's love and thence of his will, and leads
him in his own affection, and from that [affection] into an
other that is near and related lo it, by freedom, and thus,
imperceptibly, so that man knows nothing at all of the man
ner in which it acts, yea, that he scarce knows that ihere is
a Divine Providence ; hence it is, that many deny that [Provi
dence] and confirm themselves against il; which is done
[in consequence] of the various things which happen and

ATHANASIAN CREED. 75
exist, as that the arts and tricks of the wicked are successful,
that impiety prevails, that there is a hell, that there is blind
ness of understanding in things spiritual, and that hence
come so many heresies, and that each, coraraencing from one
head, diffuses itself into congregations and nations, and re
mains, as Popery, Lutheranism, Calvinism, Melancthonism,
Moravianism, Arianism, Socinianism, Quakerism, enthusi
asm, yea Judaism, and likewise in these naturalism and
atheism ; and out of Europe, [extending] through several
kingdoms, Mahometanism, and likewise Gentilism, in vvhich
are various kinds of worship, and in some cases none. All
who think on these subjects not from divine truth, say in
their heart that there is no Divine Providence, and they who
hesitate in opinion [qui hcercnt] affirm that there is [a Divine
Providence,] but that it is only universal : both the latter
and the former, when they hear that the Divine Providence
is in most singular things of fhe life of men, then either do
nof attend, or do attend; they who do not attend, reject fhe
idea behind them, and depart; but ,fhey vvho do attend, are
as those vvho depart, and yet they turn back the face, and
only look whether it be any thing, and when they see, they
say with theraselves, so it is said ; sorae also, of these latter,
affirm with the mouth, and not with the heart. Now, where
as it is of importance that the blindness [arising] from
ignorance, or the thick darkness arising from the absence of
light, should be dispersed, it shall be given lo see I. that the
Lord teaches no one immediately, but mediately by those
things which pertain to raan from hearing and sight: II.
and yet that the Lord provides that man raay be reformed
and saved by those things, which he thence adopts into his
religion : III. and that he provides for every nation a univer
sal raediura of salvation.
71. That the Lord teaches no one immediately, but mediate
ly by those things which pertain to man from hearing and
sight, follows frora what has been said above ; to which must
be added, that immediate revelation is not given, except
what has been given in the Word, and such as is in fhe
prophets and evangelists, and in the historical [parts of the
Word] ; this is such, that every one may be taught accord
ing fo the affections of his Jove, and the thoughts of his un
derstanding thence ; they, therefore, who are not in good as
to life, [may be taught] a little, but they who are [in good as
to life,] may be taught rauch, for these [latter] are taught by
illustration from the Lord. Illustration is thus : light con-

76 ATHANASIAN CREED.
joined to heat flows in through heaven from the Lord ; this
heat, vvhich is divine love, affects the will, whence man has
the affection of good ; and this light, which is divine wisdom,
affects the understanding, whence man has the thought of
truth : from these two fountains, which are the will and un
derstanding, all things df the love and all things of man's
science are affected, but only those things are excited and
presented to view, which relate to the subject. Thus illustra
tion is effected by the Word from the Lord, in which [Word]
every thing from the spiritual [world] which is in it, cora-
municates with heaven, andthe Lord flows in through heaven,
and into that which at the time is under roan's view, and the
influx is continuous and universal, extending to the most sin
gular things appertaining to every one ; it is comparatively
as the heat and light frora fhe sun of the world, vvhich oper
ate into all and singular things of the earth, and then vegetate
according to the qualify of their seed and [their] reception :
how rauch more raust this be the case with the heat and
light frora the divine sun, by virtue of which all things live?
[quid non calor ei lux ex Divino Sole, ex quibus omnia vivunt.]
To be illustrated through heaven frora the Lord is to be
illustrated by the Holy Spirit, for the Holy Spirit is the
Divine Proceeding frora the Lord as a sun, from which hea
ven is. Hence it is evident, that the Lord teaches the man
of the church mediately through the Word, according to the
love of his will, which he has acquired by life, and according
to the light of his understanding, which he has thence ac
quired by science, and that.it cannot be otherwise, because
this is the divine order of influx. This now is the reason
why the Christian religion is divided into churches, and within
those [churches] into heresies, in general and in particular.
But they who are out of the Christian orb, and have not the
Word, are taught in Hke raanner, for their illustration is
effected by the religious principle which they have instead
of the Word, and which is partly frora the Word : the reli
gious principle araong the Mahometans was in sorae respects
taken from the Word of each Testament : with others, the
religious principle is from the ancient [vetusto] Word, which
afterwards was lost: with some, the religious principle is
frora the ancient [antiqua] church, which extended through
a great part of the continent of Asia, and which, in like
manner as our church at this day, was divided into several,
in which that ancient Word was. Frora these churches
were derived the religious principles of several nations, which,

ATHANASIAN CKEED. 7
yet, in process of time, becarae in raany cases raore or less
idolatrous. They who derive their religious rites from such
an origin, are taught of the Lord mediately by their reli
gious principle, in like manner as christians [are] by the Word,
and this is effected, as, was said, by the Lord through hea
ven, and hence by the excitation of their will and at the
same time of their understanding. But illustration by those
religious principles is not like illustration by the Word;
illustration, by, [those] religious principles, is like the moon
in the evening, shining wiih less or greater degrees of bright
ness; whilst illustration by the Word is as by day the sun
shining from morning to noon, thus likewise with less or
greater degrees of brightness. Hence it comes to pass, that
the church of the Lord, extended through the universal
terrestrial globe, as to its light, which is Divine Wisdom, is
as the day from noon to evening, and even to night: and as
to its heat, which is Divine Love, is as the year from spring
to autumn, and even to winter.
72. That nevertheless the Lord provides that man may be
reformed and saved by those things which he thence adopts
into his religion. In the universal terrestrial globe, where
there is any religion, there are two [Beings] who constitute
il, which [two] are God and man, for there must be conjunc
tion [between them] ; and there are two [things] vvhich con
stitute conjunction, the good of love, and the truth of faith ;
the good of love is from God iraraediately. the truth of faith
is also frora God, but mediately; the goodT of love is that by
which God leads man, and the truth of faith is that by which
man is led : this is the same thing with what was said above:
the truth of faith appears lo man as his own, because il is
frora those things which he procures to himself as from him
self. God therefore conjoins himself to man by the good of
love, and man conjoins himself to God as of himself by the
truth of faith. Since conjunction is such, therefore the
Lord compares himself with a bridegroom and husband, and
compares the church with a bride and wife. The Lord flows
in continually with the full good of love, nevertheless he can
not be conjoined to man in the full truth of faith, but only
in that which appertains to man, and this is various : this may
be given in greater fulness with those who are there where
the Word is, but in less fulness with those who are there
where the Word is not ; still however, boih with the latter
and the former, the fulness varies according to science and
at the same time life according to that [science] ; henceit is,
7*

78 ATHANASIAN CREED.
that it may be given greater with those who have not the
Word, than with those who have the Word. Conjunction of
God with man, and conjunction of man with God, is taught
in the two tables which were written with the finger of God,
which are called tables of the covenant, the testiraony, and
the law ; in one table is God, in the other is man : these
tables are with all nations who have any religion ; from the
first table they knovv that God is to be acknowledged, is to be
sanctified, and is to be worshiped; from the other table they
know that theft ought not lo be committed, either openly or
clandestinely by arts, neither is adultery to be committed,
nor raurder with hand or vvith hatred, neither ought man to
bear false witness before a judge or before the world, and
likewise that he ought not to desire those things. Man from
his table knows the evils which are to be shunned, and in
proportion as he knows them and shuns them as from him
self, in the sarae proportion God conjoins raan to hiraself, and
gives hira frora his table to acknowledge hira, to sanctify him,
and to worship hira, and likewise gives him not to will evils,
and also gives him to know truths in abundance and extent,
[in amplitudine] so fa.' as he does not will evils. Thusthose
two ' tables conjoin themselves with men, and the table of
God is placed upon the table of raan, and is put as one into
the ark, over which is the propitiatory, which is the Lord,
and over the propitiatory the two cherubs, which are the Word
and what is frora the Word, in which the Lord speaks with
man, as with Moses and Aaron between the cherubs. In
asrauch now as conjunction of the Lord with raan, and of
man withthe Lord, is [effected] by these [things] it is evident
that every one who knows them, and lives according to thera,
not only frora civil and raoral law, but also from divine law,
will be-saved ; thus every one in his own religion, whether
he be a Christian, or a Mahometan, or a Gentile. And, what
is raore, the raan who frora religion lives [according to] these
[precepts] although in the world he knows nothing of the
Lord, nor any thing more from the Word, yet he is in that
state as to his spirit that he wills lo be wise, wherefore after
death he is informed by the angels, and acknowledges the
Lord, and receives truths according to affection, and becomes
an angel. Every such person is as a man who dies an infant,
for he is led of the Lord, and is educated by angels. They
who, from ignorance, because born in such a place, have no
divine worship, are also informed after death like infants,
and, according to their civil and raoral; life, receive the means.

ATHANASIAN CREED. 79
of salvation : I have seen such, and they appeared al first as
if not men, and afterwards I saw ihera as men, and I have
heard them speaking sanely from the precepts of the deca
logue ; to inform such is the inmost angelic joy. From
these [considerations] it is now evident that the Lord pro
vides that every man may be saved.
73. That the Lord provides for every nation a universal
medium of salvation. Frora what bas been said above it is
evident, that man, in whatsoever religion he lives, may be
saved, for he knows evils and from evils the falses, which
are to be shunned, and when he shuns them, be knows the
goods which are to be done, and the truths which are lo be
believed ; the goods which he does, and the truths which he
believes, before he has shunned evils, in themselves are not
goods, and in themselves are not truths, because from man
and not from the Lord : that they are not goods and truths
m themselves before, is, because they are not alive with man.
The raan who knows all goods and all truths, as raany as can
be known, and does not shun evils, knows nothing, evils
absorb thera and eject thera, and he becomes infatuated, not
in the world, but afterwards; but the man who knows a few
goods and a fevv truths, aud shuns evils, he knows those
[goods and truths] and superadds more, and becomes wise,
if not in the world, yet afterwards. Since, therefore, every
one, of every religion, knows evils, and from evils, falses,
which are to be shunned, and, whilst he shuns them, knows
the goods which are to be done, and the truths which are to
be believed, it is evident that this is provided of the Lord,
as a universal medium of salvation with every nation, which
has any religion. This is given in all fulness amongst Chris
tians ; and it is likewise given, although not in fulness,
amongst Mahometans, as also amongst Gentiles : other things,
which cause discrimination, are either ceremonious, which
are indifferent, or are goods which they can do or not do, or
are truths which they can believe or not believe, and yet be
saved. Man sees what the quality of those things is, after
evils are reraoved ; a Christian sees it frora the Word, a
Mahometan from the alcoran, and a Gentile, from his reli
gious principle. A Christian sees frora the Word, that God
is one, that the Lord is the Saviour of the world, that all
good in itself good, and all truth in itself truth, is frora God,
and nothing from man ; that baptism is, that the holy supper
is, that heaven and hell are, that there is a life after death,
and that he who does good comes into heaven, and he who

80 ATHANASIAN CKEED.
[does] evil, into hell : these things he believes from truth,
and does from good, whilst he is not in evil; other things,
which are not in accord with these and with the decalogue,
he may omit. A Mahometan sees from the alcoran that
God is one, that the Lord is the Son of God, that all good is
from God, that heaven and hell are, that there is a life after
death, and that the evils [mentioned] in the precepts of the
decalogue are to be shunned : if he does these things, he
also believes them, and is saved. A Gentile sees from his
religious principle, that there is a God, that he is to be
sanctified and is to be worshiped, that good is from him,
that heaven and hell are, that there is a life after death, that
the evils which are [mentioned] in the decalogue, are to be
shunned : if he does these things, and believes them, he ia
saved. And whereas several of the Gentiles perceive God
as a man and God-raan is the Lord, therefore also after death,
when they are informed by the angels, they acknowledge the
Lord, and from the Lord afterwards receive truths which
they did not knovv before. That they have not baptism, nor
the holy supper, does not condemn ; the holy supper and
baptism are for those alone, vvith whora the Word is, and fo
whom the Lord is known frora the Word ; for they, are
symbols of that church, and are testifications and certifi
cations that they are saved, who believe and live according to '
the Lord's precepts in the Word.
74. Soraething shall now be said concerninff the discourse
of spirits with raan: it is believed by many, that man may
be taught ofthe Lord by spirits speaking with him ; but they
who believe and will this, do not know that it is connected
with danger to their souls. Man, so long as he lives in the
world, is in the midst of spirits as to his spirit, and yet spirits
do not know that they are with man, nor man that lie is with
spirits : the reason is, because they are conjoined as lo
affections of the will iraraediately, and as to thoughts of the
understanding mediately ; for man thinks naturally, but
spirits think spiritually; and natural and spiritual thought do
not otherwise make one than by correspondences ; and one
by correspondences causes that one does not know any thing
concerning the other. But as soon as spirits begin to speak
with man, they corae frora their spiritual state into the natural
state of raan, and then they know that they are with raan,
and conjoin themselves with the thoughts of his affection,
and from those [thoughts] they speak vvith him : they cannot
enter into any thing else, for similar affection and thence

ATHANASIAN CREED. 81
thought conjoins all, and dissirailar separates. It is from
this [circumstance] that the speaking spirit is in the same
principles with the man [to whom he speaks], whether they
be true or whether fhey be false, and likewise that he ex
cites them, and by his own affection conjoined to the man's
affection, strongly confirms them : hence it is evident that
none other than similar spirits speak vvith man, or man
ifestly operate upon him, for manifest operalian coincides
with speech ; hence it is that no other than enthusiastic
spirits speak with enthusiasts; also, that no other than Qua
ker spirits operate upon Quakers, and Moravian spirits upon
Moravians ; the case would be sirailar with Arians, with
Socinians, and with other heretics. All spirits speaking with
man, are no other than such as have been men in the world,
and were then of such a qualify : that this is the case has
been given me to know liy experiences. And what is ridi
culous, when raan believes that the Holy Spirit speaks with
hira, or operates upon him, the spirit also believes that he is
the Holy Spirit ; this is common wiih enthusiastic spirits.
From these [considerations] the danger is evident in which
man is, who speaks with spirits, or who manifestly feels their
operation. Man is ignorant of the quality of his own affec
tion, whether it be good or evil, and with what others it is
conjoined ; and if he is in the conceit of his own intelligence,
[his attendant] spirit favors every thought which is thence;
in like raanner if any one has favor for [particular] principles,
enkindled by a certain fire, which has place with those who
are not in truths from genuine affection : when a spirit from
similar affection favors man's thoughts or principles, then
one leads the other, as the blind the blind, until each falls
into the pit. The Pythonics formerly were of this descrip
tion, and likewise the magicians in Egypt and in Babel, who
by reason of discourse with spirits, and of the operation
of spirits felt manifestly in theraselves, were called wise: but
by this the worship of God was converted into the worship of
demons, and the church perished ; wherefore such com
munications were forbidden the sons of Israel under penalty
of death.
75. It is otherwise with those whom the Lord lead's, and
he leads those who love truths, and will them from himself;
these are illustrated when they read the Word, for the Lord
is in the Word, and speaks with every one according to his
capacity : if these hear speech from spirits, which also they
do occasionally, they are not taught, but are led, and this so.

82 ATHANASIAN CREED.
providently, that the man is still left to hiraself, since, as waa
before said, every raan is led ofthe Lord by affections, and
thinks from them as from hiraself, in freedom; if this waa
nof the case, raan would not be reforraable, neither could he
be illustrated. But men are illustrated variously, every one
according lo the quality of his affection and thence intelli
gence : they who are in the spiritual affection of truth, are
elevated into the light of heaven, so as to perceive the
illustration. It has been given rae to see it, and frora it to
perceive distinctly what comes from the Lord, and what from
the angels; what comes frora the Lord is written, and what
from the angels is not written. Moreover it has been given
me to discourse with the angels as man with raan, and like
wise to see the things which are in the heavens, and which
are in the hells : the reason was, because the end of the
present church approaches, and the beginning ofa new one
is af hand, vvhich will be the New Jerusalera, to vvhich it is
to be revealed, that fhe Lord rules the universe, both heaven
and the world ; that heaven and hell are, and what is the
quality of each; that men live also men after death, in
heaven they vvho have been led ofthe Lord, in hell they who
[have been led] of themselves ; that the Word is the Divine
itself of the Lord in the earth ; also that fhe last judgment is
passed, lest man should expect it in his world to eternity;
besides many other things which are [effects] of the light
now arising after darkness.
76. The tenth law of the Divine Providence is, that man
from his own proper prudence has led himself io eminence and
to opulence, whilst they seduce : for man is led of the Divine
Providence io such things as do not seduce, and which are
serviceable to his eternal life : for all things of the Divine
Providence with man respect ichat is eternal, because the life
which is God, from which man is man, is eternal. There
are two things which principally affect the minds of men,
eminence and opulence; eminence is [derived] from the love
of glory and of honors, opulence is [derived] frora the lov^e
of money and possessions : they affect principally the rainds
[animos], because they are proper to the natural nfan ; hence
it is that they who are raerely natural, know no otherwise
than that eminence and opulence are blessings themselves,
which [are] from God, when yet they may be curses, as may
be clearly concluded from this, that they are the portion both
ofgood and evil men : the eminent and the opulent havebefen
seen by me in the heavens, and they have likewise been seen

ATHANASIAN CREED. 83
[by rae] in the hells ; wherefore, as was said, when they do
not seduce, they are from God, but when they seduce, they
are frora hell. The reason why man in the world does not
distinguish between the two cases, whether they be from
God o°r whether they be frora hell, is, because they cannot be
distinguished by the natural raan separate from the spiritual,
but they may be distinguished in the natural man from the
spiritual ; and this likewise with difficulty, because the natural
man is taught frora infancy to assume a semblance of the
spiritual man, and hence, when he performs uses to the
church, to his countrv, to society and a fellow-citizen, thus
to his neighbor, he not only says, but also can persuade him
self, that he has performed them for the sake ofthe church,
his country, society, and a fellow-citizen, when yet perhaps
he has performed them for the sake of himself and the world
as ends : man is in this blindness, from this [cause], that he
has not removed evils from himself by any combat, for so
long as evils reraain, man can see nothing frora what is
spiritual in his natural ; he is like a man dreaming who be
lieves himself awake, and he is like a bird of night which
sees darkness as light; such is the natural man, when the
gate of the light of heaven is shut; the light of heaven is the
spiritual [principle] illustrating the natural raan. Now,
whereas it is of the greatest concern to know whether
erainence and opulence, or the love of glory and honor, also
the love of money and of possessions, be ends or whether
they be means, we shall first speak of an end and of means,
since if they be ends they are curses, but if they are not
ends, but raeans, they are blessings*
77 The end, raiddle causes, and effects, are called also
the principal end, the interraediate ends, and the ultiraate
end; these [latter] are called ends, because the principal end
produces them, and is the all in them, and is their esse, and
their soul. The principal end is man's will's love, the inter
mediate ends are subordinate loves, .ind the ultimate end is
the will's love, existing as in its effigy. Inasmuch as the
principal end is the will's love, it follows, that the intermediate
ends, since they are subordinate loves, are foreseen, are pro
vided, and are produced by the understanding, and that the
ultimate end is the use foreseen, provided, and produced
from the will's love by the understanding, for every thing
which love produces is use. These things are to be pre
mised, to the intent that what was said above may be per
ceived, viz. that eminence and opulence may be blessings,
and likewise that they may be curses.

84 ATHANASIAN CREED.
78. Now, because the end, which is raan's wilJ's love, by
the understanding provides or procures for itself raeans, by
which raay exist the ultiraate end, to which the first end ad
vances by means, which end is the existing end, and this is
use, it follows that the end loves the means, when they per
form that use, and that it does not love them if they do not
perform it, and that in this case it rejects them, and by the
understanding provides or procures for itself other means.
Hence it is evident of what quality raan is, if his principal
end be the love of eminence, or the love of glory and honor,
or if his principal end be the love of opulence, or the love of
money or possessions, viz. that he regards all raeans as
servants administering to the ultimate end, which is the ex
isting love, and this love is use from himself As for ex
ample; in the case of a priest, whose principal end is the
love of money or possessions, his raeans are the rainistry, the
Word, doctrine, erudition, preaching thence, and by these
the instruction of raen of the church, and their reforraation
and salvation ; these raeans are estimated by him from the
end and for the sake ofthe end, but still they are not loved,
although with some it appears as if they vvere loved, for it is
opulence which is loved, inasmuch as this is the first and last
end, and that end, as was said, is the all in the means. They
say, indeed, that theyare willing that the raen of their church
should be instructed, reformed, and saved ; but because
they say this from an end of opulence, the things which they
say are not Ihe objects of their love, but are only the raeans
of acquiring farae and gain on account of them. The case
is similar with a priest, whose principal end is the love of
erainence over others ; this will be seen, if gain or honor
come from the raeans. It is altogether otherwise if the
instruction, reformation, and salvation of souls be the prin
cipal end, whilst opulence and eminence are the means,
then the man, a priest, is altogether of another character, for
he is spiritual, whereas in the former [case] he is natural;
with a spiritual priest opulence and eminence are blessings,
but with a natural [priest] they are curses. That this ia so
has been testified lo me from much experience in the spiritual
world : several have been there seen and heard, who said
that they had taught, had written, and had reformed, but
when the end or love of their will was manifested, it appear
ed that they had done all things for the sake of theraselves
and the world, and nothing for the sake of God and their
neighbor, yea, that they cursed God, and cursed theic

ATHANASIAN CHEED. 85
neighbor ; they are such as are understood in Matt. vii. 22,
23; and in Luke xiii. 26, 27.
79. To take another exaraple of a king, a prince, a consul,
a governor, and an officer, whose principal end is the love of
rule, and whose means are all things relative to their domin
ion, administration and function ; the uses, which they per
form, are not for the sake of the good of the kingdom,
commonwealth, country, societies, and fellow-citizens, but
for the sake of the delight of power, thus for the sake of
theraselves ; the uses theraselves are not uses to them, but
they are subservient to haughtiness [fastus] ; they perform
thera for the sake of appearances, and of distinction, they do
not love thera, but they commend and still make light of
them, just as a lord his servants. I have seen such after
death, and I was astonished; they were devils amongst the
fiery ones ; for the love of rule, whilst it is a principal end,
is the very fire of hell. I have seen also others, whose love
of rule was not a principal end, but the love of God and the
neighbor, which is the love of uses ; they were angels, to
whora were given dominions in the heavens. From these
[considerations] it is further evident, that erainence may be
a blessing, and that it raay be a curse; and that eminence
as a blessing is from the Lord, and that eminence as a curse
is frora the devil. What the quality of the love of rule is,
when it is a principal end, raay be seen by every one who is
wise, frora the kingdom which, in the Word, is meant by
Babel, in that it has set its throne in the heavens above the
Lord, by claiming to itself all his power ; hence they have
abrogated the divine raeans of worship, which are from the
Lord by the Word, and in their place have instituted de
moniacal means of worship,- which are adorations of living
and dead raen, also of sepulchres, carcases and bones. That
kingdom is described by Lucifer in Isaiah, xiv. 4 fo 24 : but
they, who have exercised that dorainion frora the love of it,
are Lucifers, not the rest.
80. Since in the christian world the love of ruling and the
love of riches upiversally reign, and those loves at this day
are so deeply in-rooted, that it is not known how far they
seduce, it is of moment that their quality should be taught:
they seduce every man who does not shun evils because they
are sins, for he vvho does not so shun evils, does not fear
God, wherefore he remains natural ; and inasmuch as the
loves proper to the natural man are the love of ruling and the
love of riches, therefore he does not see with interior acknow-
8

86 ATHANASIAN CREED.
tedgment what the quality of those loves in hiraself is : he does
not see unless he be reforraed, and he is reforraed only by
corabat against evils ; it is believed, that [he is reformed] by
faith, but the faith of God has no place with man until he
fights against evils [sed fides Dei non prius est]. When man
is thus reforraed, then light frora the Lord through heaven
flows in, and gives him the affection, and also the faculty, of
seeing what the quality of those loves is, and whether they
have rule vvith them, or are subservient, thus whether they
are in the first place with hira, and raake as it were the head,
or whether they are in the second place, and raake as it were
the feet ; if they have rule and are in the first place, they
then seduce, and become curses, but if they are subservient
and in the second place, they then do not seduce, and
become blessings. I can assert, that all with whora the love
of ruling is in the first place, are inwardly devils. This love
is known frora its delight, for it exceeds every delight of the
life of men ; it exhales continually frora hell, and the ex
halation appears as the fire of a great furnace, and enkindles
the hearts of raen, whora the Lord does not protect; the
Lord protects all [who are] reforraed. Still the Lord leads
them, but in hell ; yet only by external bonds, which are
fears for the punishments of the law, and for the loss of re
putation, of honor, of gain, and of pleasures thence ; also
by remunerations in the world ; nor can he bring thera out
of hell, because the love of ruling does not admit internal
bonds, which are the fears of God, and the affections ofgood
and truth, by which the Lord leads all, who follow [hira], to
heaven and in heaven.
81. Now something shall be said on ,this [circumstance],
that man is led of the Divine Providence to such things as do
not seduce, and which are serviceable to eternal life ; those
things also have reference lo eminence and to opulence.
That it is so, raay be raanifest frora the things which have
been seen by rae in the heavens. The heavens are dis
tinguished into societies, and in each [society] are the
erainent and the opulent, the erainent being there in such
glory, and the opulent in such abundance, that the glory and
abundance of the world are scarce any thing respectively.
But all fhe erainent there are wise, and all the opulent there
are knowing, wherefore eminence there is of wisdora, and
opulence there is of science : this eminence and this opulence
may be acquired in the world, as well by those who are
eminent and opulent there, as by those who are not, for they

ATHANASIAN CREED. 87
are acquired by all in the world who love wisdora and science.
To love wisdom is to love uses which are true uses, and to
love science is to love the knowledges of good and truth for
the sake of those uses. When uses are loved in preference
to self and the world, and the knowledges of good and truth
for the sake of those [uses], then uses are in the first place,
and eminence and opulence inthe second : it is so with all who
are eminent and opulent in the- heavens; they regard the
eminence in which they are frora wisdom, and the opulence
in which they are frora science, just as a raan regards
raiment. 82. The erainence and opulence of the angels of heaven
shall also be described : there are in the societies of heaven
superior and inferior governors, all arranged by the Lord,
and subordinate according to their wisdom and intelligence :
their chief, who is wise above the rest, dwells in the raidst,
in a palace so magnificent, that nothing in the universal
world can be compared with it ; its architectural qualities
are so wondrous, that I can from truth declare, that they can
not be described by natural language, as to a hundredth part,
for art itself is there in its art. Within in the palace
are charabers and bed-chambers, in which all the furniture
and ornaraents are resplendent vvith gold and various pre
cious stones, in such forms as cannot be effigied, either in
painting or engraving, by any artificer in the world : and,
what is wonderful, singular things, even to the most singular
of them, are for use, every one vvho enters sees for what use
they are [intended], and also perceives it as from the trans
piration of the uses through their images : but every wise
person, who enters, does not keep his eye long fixed in the
images, but vvith his raind attends to the uses, since these
delight his wisdom. Round about the palace are porticos,
are paradisiacal gardens, and are little palaces ; and singular
things are celestial pleasantnesses themselves in the forms of
their own beauty. Besides these magnificent [objects], there
are attendant guards, each of them [clad] in shining garments ;
besides raany other things. The subordinate governors have
similar magnificent and splendid abodes, according to the
degrees of their wisdom, and they have wisdom according to
the degrees oflove of uses. Such things not only appertain
to them, but also to the inhabitants, all of whora love uses,
and exhibit thera by various works. But there are few
things which can be described, and those which cannot be
described are inniiraerable ; and because frora their origin

88 ATHANASIAN CREED.
they are spiritual, they do not fall into the ideas of the natural
man, and so neither into the sounds of his language, only
into these, that wisdom builds for herself a habitation, and
makes it conformable to herself, and that then, every thing
which lies inmostly concealed in any science or in any art,
is confluent, and gives effect. These things now are written
that it may be known, that all. things in the heavens also
have reference to erainence and to opulence, but that era
inence there is of wisdora, and that opulence there is of
science, and that such are the things to which man is led of
the Lord by his Divine Providence.
83. Soraething shall now be said concerning the uses, by
which raan and angel has wisdom : to love uses is nothing
else than to love the neighbor, lise in the spiritual sense is
the neighbor. This may be seen frora this [circurastance],
that every one loves another not from his face and body, but
frora his will and understanding ; he loves him who wills well
and understands well, and he does not love him who wills
well and understands ill, nor who understands well and wills
ill ; and because raan is loved and not loved frora these [prin
ciples] it follows that the neighbor is that, frora which every
one is a raan, and this is his spiritual [principle] : set ten
men before thine eyes, that thou mayest choose one of them
to be thy companion in any office or business ; dost thou not
first explore them, and choose him who is nearest of use to
thee? wherefore he is thy neighbor* and is loved above the
rest: or approach ten virgins, that thou raayest choose one
pf them for thy wife ; dost thou not first explore the qualities
of each, and if she consents, thou betrothest to thyself her
who is most in agreeraent with thy love ? she, therefore, is
thy neighbor above the rest : if thou shouldst say to thyself,
every man is ray neighbor, and is therefore to be loved with
out distinction, then a raan-devil raight be loved equally with
a man-angel, and a harlot equally with a virgin. The reason
why use is the neighbor, is, because every raan is estimated
and loved, not from will and understanding alone, but frora
the uses which he performs, or is able to perform, from these
principles: hence a man of use is a man according to use,
and a man not of use is a man not a man, for of this [latter]
it is said, he is not useful for anything: although he be
tolerated in a coraraunity in the world, whilst he lives from
* It may here be proper to note, that in the Latin Imguage the term
neighbor is expressed by proxivvus, which signifies jienrest.

ATHANASIAN CREED. 89
his own principle, still after his decease, when he becomes a
spirit, he is cast out into a desert. Man therefore is of a
quality such as his use is : but uses are manifold, in general
they are celestial and they are infernal ; celestial uses are
those which are serviceable to the church, to a raan's country,
to society, and to a fellow-citizen, raore and less, and nearer
and more remotely, for the sake of them as ends ; but infernal
uses' are those, which are serviceable only to a man's self and
to those vvith whom he is connected [52/15], and if [they be
serviceable] to the church, to his country, to society, and a
fellow-citizen, it is not for the sake of them as ends, but for
the sake of himself as an end : nevertheless, every one ought
to provide for himself and for his connexions the necessaries
and requisites of life from love, but not from love of self
When man in the first place loves uses by doing them, and
in the second place loves the world and himself, then the
former is his spiritual principle, and the latter is his natural
principle, and the spiritual has dominion, and the natural
serves; hence it is evident what the spiritual principle is,
and what the natural. This is understood by the Lord's
words in Matthew : ' Seek ye first the kingdom of the heavens,
and its justice, and all things shall he added unto you,' vi.
33 : the kingdom ofthe heavens is fhe Lord and his church,
and justice is spiritual, moral, and civil good, and every
good, which is done frora the love of those goods, is use :
the reason why, then, all things shall be added, is, because
when use is in the first place, the Lord, frora whora is all
good, is in the first place and has rule, and gives whatever is
conducive to eternal life and happiness; for, as was said, all
things of the Divine Providence of the Lord appertaining to
man, have respect to what is eternal : the all things which
shall be added, are there spoken of food and raiment, because
by food is also meant every thing internal which nourishes
the soul, and by raiment every thing external, which, as a
body, clothes it ; every thing internal has reference to love
and wisdora, and every thing external to opulence and
erainence. Frora these [considerations] it is now evident,
what is understood by loving uses for the sake of uses, and
what the uses are frora" which raan has wisdora, from which
[wisdom] and according to which, every one has eminence
and opulence in heaven.
84. Since man was created to perform uses, and this is to
love the neighbor, therefore all, how many soever they be,
who come into heaven, must do uses: according to uses,
8*

90 ATHANASIAN CKEED.
and according to the love of thera, they have all delight and
blessedness, nor is heavenly joy from any other source ; he
who believes that such joy can be given in idleness, is much
deceived ; yea, neither is any idle person tolerated in hell,
for its inhabitants are in workhouses, and under a judge, who
imposes labors on the prisoners, which they are to do daily ;
and to those who do not do them, there is given neither food
nor raiment, but they stand hungry and naked, and are thus
compelled [to labor]; the difference is, that in hell they do
uses from fear, but in heaven from love, and fear does not
communicate joy, but love does. Nevertheless it is granted
to interrupt employment by various [engagements] in consort
with others, which [engagements] are recreations, thus also
uses. It has been given me to see several things in heaven,
several things in the world, and several things in the human
body, and at the same time to consider their uses, and it has
been revealed, that every thing in thera, both great and small,
was created from use, in use, and for use ; and that fhe part
in which the ultiraate, which is for use, ceases, is separated
as noxious, and cast out as accursed.
85. Soraething shall now be said concerning the life of
animals, and afterwards concerning the soul of vegetables.
The universal world, with all and every thing that is in it,
have existed and do subsist from the Lord the creator of the
universe. There are two suns, the sun of the spiritual world,
and the sun of the natural world : the sun of the spiritual
world is the divine love of the Lord, the sun of the natural
world is pure fire : from the sun, which is divine love, com
mences every work of creation, and by [per] the sun which
is fire, it is completed. All vvhich proceeds frora the sun
which is divine love is called spiritual, and all which pro
ceeds from the sun which is fire, is called natural. What is
spiritual frora its own origin has life in itself, but what is
natural frora its own origin has nothing of life in itself: and
whereas frora these two fountains of the universe all things
have existed, and do subsist, which are in both worlds, it
follows that there is a spiritual and a natural principle in
every created thing in this world, the spiritual being as a
soul and the natural as the body, or the spiritual as the inter
nal and the natural as the external ; or the spiritual as the
cause and the natural as the effect. That these two principles
cannot be separated, in any one thing, is well known to
every wise [person], for if you separate cause from effect,
the effect perishes ; if [you separate] the internal from the

ATHANASIAN CREED. 91
external, the external perishes, in like manner as if [yon
separate] the soul from the body. That this conjunction is
in singular things, yea, even in the most singular things of
nature, has not yet been known : that it has not been known,
is from ignorance concerning the spiritual world, concerning
the sun there, and concerning heat and light there ; and also
from fhe infatuated reasonings [vesania] of sensual men, in
ascribing all things to nature, and rarely any thing to God,
except creation in general, vvhen, notvvithstanding, not
the least thing in nature is given, nor can be given, in
which there is not a spiritual [principle]. That this is in
all and singular the things of the three kingdoms of nature,
and in what manner it is therein, will be explained in what
follows. 86. That the spiritual and natural principles in all and
singular things of the world are so united as the soul is in
all and singular things of the body, or as the efficient cause
in all and singular things of the effect, or as the internal pro
ducing [principle] in all and singular things of its product,
may be illustrated and confirmed from the subjects and ob
jects of the three kingdoras of nature, which are all things
of the world. That such a union of things spiritual and
things natural is in all and singular the subjects and objects
of the aniraal kingdora is evident from the wonderful things
which have been observed therein by learned raen and socie
ties, and are left for the scrutiny of those who investigate
causes. It is generally known that aniraals of all kinds,
both great and sraall, as well those which walk and creep on
the earth as those vvhich fly in fhe air and vvhich swira in the
waters, knovv from something innate and implanted, vvhich
is called instinct, and also nature, how their species is to be
propagated, how after the birth the young are to be brought
up, how and from what a! iraents they are to be nourished ; they
also know their proper food from the sight, smell, and taste,
only, and where it is to be sought and gathered ; they know
also their own habitations, and places of resort [lustra];
they knovv also where their like and consociates are, from
hearing the tone of their voice, and they knovv also from the
variations of the tone what they want: the science of such
things, viewed in itself, is spiritual, as likewise the affection
from which it is, but their clothing is from nature, and also
their production is by nature. Moreover an aniraal is alto
gether like a raan as to the organs, members, and viscera of
the body, and as to their uses ; an animal, like a roan, has

92 ATHANASIAN CKEED.
eyes and thence sight, has ears and thence hearing, has nos
trils and thence smelling, has a mouth and tongue and thence
taste, also has the cuticular sense with its variations in every
part of the body : and as fo the interiors of the body, they
have like viscera; they have two brains, they have a heart
and lungs, they have a stomach, liver, pancreas, spleen,
mesentery, intestines, with the other organs of chylification,
sanguification, and repurgation, besides the organs of separa
tion and the orgarfs of generation ; they are also alike as
to the nerves, blood-vessels, muscles, skins, cartilages, and
bones : the likeness is such, that man as to those things is an
aniraal ; that all those things in man have a correspondence
with societies of heaven, has been shown in many places in
the Arcana Coelestia : consequently also sirailar things in
animals ; frora vvhich correspondence it is evident, that the
spiritual principle acts into the natural and thereby produces
[edat] its effects, as the principal cause by its instruraental
cause. But these are only general signs vvhich testify con
junction in that kingdora.
87. The particular signs bearing a sirailar testimony are
still raore nuraerous and raore distinguished, which with
sorae species of aniraals are such, that the sensual raan, who
does not think, unless in raatter, corapares things appertain
ing to beasts vvith those which appertain to man, and from
infatuated intelligence concludes that the states of life are
alike, even after death, saying, that if he hiraself lives after
death, they live, or if they die, he himself also dies. The
signs testifying, and still leading the sensual raan into in
fatuation, are these ; that with certain aniraals there appears
sirailar prudence and cunning, sirailar connubial love, sirailar
friendship, and as it were charity, sirailar probity and benevo
lence, in a word, sirailar morality to what is vvith men; as,
for example, certain dogs, frora a genius innate in thera, as
frora a sort of ingenuity, knovv how to act as faithful guards,
frora the transpiration of the affection of their raaster know
as it were his will, search hira out from apperceiving the
habit of his footsteps and clothes, know the quarters of the
globe [plagas] and thereby speedily find their way horae,
even through devious ways and dark forests, with other things
of a like nature, frora which the sensual man judges the dog
also fo be knowing, intelligent, and wise: nor is this to be
wondered at, whilst he ascribes all such things in the dog,
and also in himself, to nature : but it is otherwise with the
spiritual man ; he sees that there is sorae spiritual [principle]

ATHANASIAN CREED. 93
which leads, and that this is united to the natural [principle].
Particular signs also are visible from birds, in that they knovv
how to build their nests, to lay therein their eggs, lo sit upon
them, to hatch their young, and afterwards, from the love
which is called storge, to provide for them warmth under
their wings, and food out of their mouths, until they become
clothed and are furnished vvith wings, when they also of
themselves come into all the sciences of their parents, from
the spiritual [principle] which is fo thera a soul, and from
which J;hey provide for themselves. Particular signs also are
all things relating to the egg, in which lies deeply concealed
the rudiraent of a new bird, encorapassed vvith every element
necessary to the formation of the foetus, from its beginnings
in the head to the full forraation of all things of the body:
^ is it possible that such provision can be made by nature? for
this is not only lo he produced, but also to be created, and
nature does not create : what also has nature in common
with life, unless that life may be clothed by nature, and may
put forth itself and appear in form as an animal? Amongst
the particular signs testifying the same thing, are also worms
which feed on herbs, which, when they are to undergo a
metamorphosis, encompass themselves as with a womb, that
they may be born again, being therein changed info nymphs
and chrysalises, which, after their work and time is accom
plished [are changed] into beautiful butterflies, and fly into
the air as into their heaven, where the female sports with her
male companion, as one conjugial partner with another, and
they nourish themselves from odoriferous flowers, and lay
their eggs, thus providing Ihat their species may live after
them : the spiritual man sees that this is emulous of the re
birth of man and representative of his resurrection, and so
is spiritual. Slill raore raanifest are the signs exhibited by
bees, which have a governraent analogous to the forms of
government with raen : fhey build for theraselves houses of
wax according to the rules of art in a series, with com
modious passages through which they corae and go ; they
fill the cells with honey from flowers; they appoint over
themselves a queen, from whora as frora a coramon parent,
a future race raay corae, dwells in her palace above, in the
midst of her guards of bees, who, when the time comes
that she should becorae a mother, follow her, with a pro
miscuous multitude after thera, as she goes from cell to cell
and lays an egg in each, and so continually until the matrix
is emptied, when she returns home ; this is several tiraes

94 ATHANASIAN CREED.
repeated : her guards, who are called drones, because they
perform no other use than as so may domestics to one mis
tress, and perhaps inspire her with something of amatory
desire, and because they perform no labor are afterwards
judged useless, and therefore, lest they should invade and
consume the produce of others' labors, are brought out,
and deprived of their wings; thus the coraraunity is purged
of its slothful members : moreover when the new progeny is
grown up, they are coramanded vvith a general voice, which
is heard as a murmur, to depart and to seek a habitation and
nourishment for themselves ; they also do depart and collect
into a swarm, and afterwards institute a similar order of
things in a nevv hive : these and various other things, dis
covered and coraraunicated in books by attentive observers,
are not unlike the governraents instituted and ordained in
kingdoras and republics by huraan intelligence and wisdom,
according to the laws of justice and judgraent : also that,
like raen, [these animals] know the approach of winter,
against which they make a provision of food, lest they should
then perish vvith hunger : who can deny that such things are
spiritual in their origin, or suppose that they can exist from
any other ?yAll these things are to me [convincing] argu
ments and docuraents of a spiritual influx into the things of
nature, and I greatly wonder how they can be used as argu
ments and docuraents for the operation of nature alone, as they
are with certain persons, who are infatuated frora their own
intelligence. 88. No one can know what is the quality of the life of
the beasts of the earth, of the birds of heaven, and fishes of
the sea, unless it be known what their soul is, and its quality
thereof: that every aniraal has a soul, is known, for they
live, and life is a soul, wherefore also in the Word they are
called living souls. That the soul in its ultiraate forra, which
is corporeal, such as appears before the sight, is the animal,
cannot be better known frora any other source, than frora
the spiritual world : for in that world, in like manner as in
the natural world, are seen beasts of all kinds, and birds of
all kinds, and fishes of all kinds, and so like in form, that
they cannot be distinguished from those which are in our
world ; but the difference is, that in the spiritual world they
exist apparently frora the affections of angels and spirits, so
that they are appearances of affections, wherefore also they
vanish away as soon as the angel or spirit departs, or his
affection ceases ; hence it is evident, that their soul is nothing

ATHANASIAN CREED. 95
else ; consequently that as many genera and species of ani
mals are given, as there are genera and species of affections.
That the affections, which in the spiritual world are represent
ed by aniraals, are not-interior spiritual affections, but that
they are exterior spiritual, which are called natural, will
be seen in what follows ; likewise also that there is not a hair
or thread of wool on any beast, not the smallest portion of
a quill or feather upon any bird, nor of a fin or scale on any
fish, which is not from the life of (heir soul, thus which is
not from a spiritual [principle] clothed by the natural. But
something shall first be said concerning the animals which
appear in heaven, in hell, and in the world of spirits, which
is in the raidst between heaven and hell,
89. Since the universal heaven is distinguished into socie
ties, in like raanner the universal hell, and also the universal
world of spirits, and the societies are arranged according to
the genera and species of affections, and since the animals
there are appearances of affections, as has been just said,
therefore one kind of animal with its species appears in one
society, and another in another, and all kinds of animals
with their species in fhe whole together. In the societies of
heaven appear the mild and clean aniraals, in the societies of
hell, the savage and unclean beasts, and in the world of spirits,
beasts of a mediate character. They have been often seen
by me, and it has been given thereby to know the quality of
the angels and spirits there ; all there are known from the
appearances vvhich are near and about thera, and their affec
tions, from various things, and also from aniraals. In the
heavens I have seen lambs, sheep, she-goats, so sirailar to
the lambs, sheep and goats in the world that there is no
difference ; also I have seen turtle doves, pigeons, birds of
paradise, and several others beautiful in form and color ;
likewise fishes in the waters have been seen, but these in the
lowest parts of heaven. But in the hells are seen dogs,
wolves, foxes, tigers, swine, mice, and several other kinds of
savage and unclean beasts, besides venomous serpents of
many species, likewise crows, owls and bats. But in the
world of spirits are seen camels, elephants, horses, asses,
oxen, stags, lions, leopards, bears, also eagles, kites, mag
pies, peacocks, and storks. There have also been seen
compound aniraals, such as were seen by the prophets, and
are described in the Word, as in the Apoc. xiii. 2, and else
where. Since there is such a similitude betvveen the aniraals
appearing in that world and the animals in this world that no

96 ATHANASIAN CREED.
difference can be discerned, and the forraer derive their ex
istence from the affections of the angels of heaven, and from
the cupidities of the spirits of hell, it follows that natural
affections and cupidities are their souls, and that these being
clothed vvith a body, are, in effigy, animals. But what affec
tion or cupidity is the soul of this or that animal, whether it
be beast or wild beast of the earth, whether a bird of day or
of night, vvhether a fish of liraprd or fetid water, does not
belong to this place to expound: fhey are frequently men
tioned in the Word, and have a signification there according
to their souls; what larabs, sheep, she-goats, raras, kids,
he-goats, heifers, oxen, camels, horses, asses, stags, signify,
likewise various sorts of fowls, may be seen unfolded in the
Arcana Coelestia.
90. These things being premised, it shall be explained
what the soul of beasts is. The soul of beasts, considered
in itself, is spiritual ; for affection, whatsoever may be its
quality, whether good or evil, is spiritual, for it is a deriva
tion of some love, and derives its origin from the heat and
liorht which proceed from the Lord as a sun, and whatever
proceeds thence is spiritual. That evil affections, which are
called concupiscences, are also thence is evident frora what
has been said before concerning the evil loves and thence
insane cupidities of genii and infernal spirits. Beasts and
wild beasts, whose souls are sirailar evil affections, were not
created from the beginning, as mice, venomous serpents,
crocodiles, basilisks, vipers, and the like, with the various
kinds of noxious insects, but have originated with hell, in
stagnant lakes, marshes, putrid and fetid waters, and where
there are cadaverous, stercoraceoiis, and urinous effluvia,
with which the malignant loves of the infernal societies com
municate : that such a communication exists, has been given
me to know from much experience: there is also in every
spiritual [principle] a plastic force, where homogeneous ex
halations are present in nature ; and there is also in every
spiritual [principle] a propagative force, for it not only forras
organs of sense and motion, but also organs of prolificalion,
by wombs or by eggs. But frora the beginning only useful
and clean beasts were created, whose souls are good affec
tions. It is, hovvever, to be known, that the souls of beasts
are not spiritual in that degree in which the souls of men
are, but they are spiritual in an inferior degree ; for there
are given degrees of spirituality, and the affections of the
inferior degree, although viewed in their origin they are

ATHANASIAN CREED. 97
spiritual, are yet to be called natural ; [they are] to be so
called, because they are similar to the affections of the natural
man. There are in man three degrees of natural affections,
similarly in beasts; in the lowest degree are the insects of
various kinds, in the superior are the fowls of the heaven,
and in a still superior degree are the beasts of the earth,
which were created from the beginning.
91. The difference betwixt men and beasts, is as between
waking and dreaming, and as between light and shade.
Man is spiritual and at the same tirae natural, whereas a
beast is not spiritual but natural. Man has will and under
standing, and his will is the receptacle ofthe heat of heaven,
vvhich is-love, and his understanding is the receptacle of the
light of heaven, which is wisdora; but a beast has not will
and understanding, but instead of will has affection, and
instead of understanding, science. The will and understand
ing with raan can act as one, and they can act not as one, for
man can think as from his understanding what is not of his
will, for he can think what he does not will, and vice versa ;
but with a beast affection and science make one, and cannot
be separated ; for [a beast] knows what appertains to its affec
tion, and is affected vvith what appertains to its science;
since the two faculties, vvhich are called science and affec
tion, with a beast cannot be separated, therefore a beast
could not destroy the order of its life, hence it is that it
is born into all the science of its affection : it is otherwise
with raan; his two faculties of life, which are called under
standing and will, can be separated, as was said above, there
fore he could destroy the order ofhis life, by thinking contrary
to his will, and willing contrary fo his understanding, and
hereby he also has destroyed it ; hence it is that he is born
into mere ignorance, that frora it he raay be introduced info
order by sciences through the raediura of the understanding.
The order, into which raan was created, is fo love God
above all things and his neighbor as hiraself, and fhe state
into which raan has come since he destroyed that order, is
that he loves hiraself above all things, and the world as
hiraself Whereas man has a- spiritual mind, and this is
above his natural raind, and his spiritual raind is capable of
intuition into such things as appertain to heaven and the
church, and likewise to moral and civil laws, and these things
have reference to truths and goods, which are called spiritual,
moral, and civil, besides the natural things of the sciences,
and to their opposites, which are falses and evils, therefore
9

98 ATHANASIAN CKEED.
man cannot only think analytically, and thence draw con
clusions, but also receive influx through heaven from the
Lord, and becorae intelligent and wise: this no beast is
capable of; what it knows is not from any understanding
but from the science of affection, which is its soul. The
science of affection is given in every thing spiritual, hecause
the spiritual proceeding from the Lord as a sun, is light
united to heal, or is wisdom united to love, and science ia
of wisdora, and affection is of love, in the degree which is
called natural. Since man has a spiritual raind, and at the
same tirae a natural mind, and his spiritual mind is above
his natural mind, and Ihe spiritual mind is such that it is
capable of the intuition and love of truths and goods in every
degree, conjointly with the natural mind, and abstractedly
from it, it follows that the interiors of man, appertaining to
each mind, can be elevated to the Lord by the Lord, and be
conjoined to hira ; hence it is that every raan lives eternally:
it is not so with a beast, that does not enjoy any spiritual
mind, but only a natural, hence its interiors, which are only
of science and affection, cannot be elevated by the Lord,
and conjoined to hira, wherefore a beast does not live after
death. A beast is indeed led by a certain spiritual influx,
falling into its soul, but inasmuch as its spiritual [principle]
cannot be elevated, it can only be determined downwards,
and to regard such things as appertain to its affection, vvhich
have reference only to the things appertaining to nourishment,
habitation, and propagation, and from the science of its affec
tion to know thera by means of sight, odor, and taste.
Since raan, frora his spiritual mind can think rationally,
therefore he can speak also, for lo speak is of thought from
the understanding, which can see truths in spiritual light;
but a beast, which has not any thought from understanding,
but only science from affection, can only utter sounds, and
vary the sound of its affection according to its appetites.
92. Something shall now be said concerning fhe vegeta
ble kingdom, and concerning its soul, which is called vegela^
tive soul : that this also is spiritual, is not known in the
world. By vegetative soul is understood the conatus and
effort of producing a vegetable frora its seed progressively
even to [new] seeds, and thereby of raultiplying itself to
infinity, and of propagating itself to eternity ; for there is
as it vvere an idea of what is infinite and eternal in every
vegetable; for One seed may be multiplied through a certain
number of years so as to fill the whole earth, and also may

ATHANASIAN CREED. 99
be propagated from seed to seed without end : this, together
with the wonderful progression of growth from the root into
a germ, afterwards, into 'a trunk, likewise into branches,
leaves, flowers, fruits, even intp new seeds, is not natural but
spiritual. In like manner vegetables, in many respects, have
a near resemblance to such things as relate to the animal
kingdom, as that they exist from seed, in which there is aa
it were a prolific principle, that they produce a germ as an
infant, a trunk as a body, branches as arras, a top like a head,
barks as skins, leaves as lungs, that they grow in years, and
afterwards hlossora as inaids before their nuptials, and after
blossoming expand as it were wombs or eggs, and bring forth
fruit as foetuses, in which are nevv seeds, frora which, as in
the aniraal kingdora, [new] prolifications or fructifications
of the same species or family take place : these and many
other things which are observed by those who are skilled in
the botanic art, who have instituted a parallel betwixt the
two kingdoms, indicate that the conatus and effort to such
things is not frora the natural world but frora the spiritual.
Th'dt a living force as the cause principal is the spiritual
principle, and that a dead force as the cause instrumental is
the natural principle, will be seen in what follows.
93. How the spiritual [principle] flows in and acts into
vegetables, and produces all that conatus, effort, and action,
cannot be comprehended by any understanding, unless the
following principles are first unfolded: I. That nothing in
nature exists and subsists unless frora soraething spiritual,
and by it. II. That nature in itself is dead, being created
that the spiritual principle may be thereby clothed with forms,
which raay serve for use, and that it may be terminated. III.
That there are two common forms, the spiritual and the
natural, the spiritual such as appertains to animals, and the
natural such as appertains to vegetables. IV. That there
are three fiirces in every thing spiritual, a force of acting, a
force of creating, and a force of forming. V. That from
the spiritual principle, by those forces, exist vegetables, and
also aniraals, as well those which appear in heaven, as those
which appear in the world. VI. 'That fhe same origin and
thence soul appertains to both, the difference being only of
the forms into which the influx is effected. VII. And that
origin is in use. Unless these things are first unfolded, the
cause of so many wonderful effects in the vegetable kingdom
cannot be seen by the understanding.
94. That nothing in nature exists except from something

100 ATHANASIAN CREED.
spiritual, and by it, is, because nothing can exist except from
another, so lastly frora Hira, who is and exists in himself,
He is God, thus also God is called esse and existere, Jah from
esse and Jehovah from esse and existere in himself That
nothing exists in nature but from a spiritual [principle] is,
because there cannot any thing be given, unless it has a soul ;
all that is called soul which is essence, for what has not in
itself an essence, this does not exist, for it is a nonentity,
because there is no esse from which it is ; thus it is with
nature ; its essence frora which it exists is the spiritual
[principle], because this has in itself the divine esse, and
also the divine power of acting, creating, and forming, as
will be seen from what follows : this essence may also be
called soul : because all that is spiritual lives, and what is
alive, when it acts into what is not alive, as info what is
natural, causes it either to have as it were life, or to derive
somewhat of the appearance thereof frora the living princi
ple : the latter, [is the case] in vegetables, the forraer in
aniraals. That nothing in nature exists but frora what is
spiritual, is because no effect is given without a cause, what
ever exists in effect is from a cause ; what is not frora a
cause, is separated : thus it is with nature; the singular and
most singular things thereof are an effect frora a cause which
is prior to it, and which is interior to it, and which is superior
to it, and also is iraraediately frora God : for a spiritual
world is given, that world is prior, interior, and superior to
the natural world, wherefore every thing of the spiritual
world is a cause and every thing of the natural world is an
effect. Indeed one thing exists frora another progressively
even in the natural world, but this by causes frora the spirit
ual world, for where the cause of the effect is, there also is
the cause of the effect efficient; for every effect becoraes an
efficient cause in order even to the ultiraate, where fhe effec
tive power subsists; but this is effected continually frora a
spiritual [principle], in which alone that force is : and so it
is, that nothing in nature exists except from something
spiritual and by it. There are two mediate causes in nature
by which every effect or production and formation tiiere ia
produced : these mediate causes are light and heat ; light
modifies substances and heat actuates them ; each is from the
presence of the sun in them : the presence of the sun which
appears as light, causes the activity of the forces or sub
stances of every individual according to the form in which it
is from creation ; this is modification : but the presence of

ATHANASIAN CREED. 101
the sun which is perceived as heat, expands individuals, and
produces the power of acting and effecting according to
their forms, by actuating the conatus [or effort] in which
they are frora creation : the conatus, which by means of
heat becomes an active power even in the most minute forms
of nature, is from the spiritual [principle] acting in them
aud into thera.
95. That nature in itself is dead, being created that the
spiritual principle may be clothed from it with forms, which
may serve for use, and that ii may be terminated. Nature
and life are two distinct things : nature commences frora the
sun of this world, and life commences from the sun of hea
ven. The sun of the world is pure fire, and the sun of
heaven is pure love : what proceeds from the sun which is
pure fire, this is called nature, and what proceeds from the
sun, which is pure love, this is called life : what proceeds
frora pure fire is dead, but what proceeds frora pure love is
alive : hence it is evident, that nature in itself is dead.
That nature serves for clothing the spiritual principle, is
manifest, from the souls of beasts, which are spiritual affec
tions, being clothed from raaterials which are in the world;
that their bodies are material, is known, in like raanner as the
bodies of men. That the spiritual [principle] can be cloth
ed by the material, is, because all things which exist in the
world of nature, as well the things of the atmospheres, as of
the waters and earth, as to all and every individual thereof,
are effects produced from a spiritual [principle] as a cause,
and the effects act as one with the cause and are altogether
concordant, according to this axiom, that nothing exists in
the effect which is not in the cause; but the difference is,
that the cause is a living force, because if is spiritual, but
the effect thence derived is a dead force, because it is natural.
From this [circurastance] it is, that in the natural world are
given such things as altogether agree vvith those which are
in the spiritual world, and that they can be aptly conjoined.
Hence then it is that it is said, that nature was created in
order that the spiritual [principle] raight be clothed frora it
with forras, which may serve for use. That nature is created
in order that the spiritual principle may therein be terrainated,
follows frora what was said, that the things which exist in
the spiritual world are causes, and that those vvhich are in
the natural world are effects, and effects are terrainations;
there raust in all cases be an ultiraate, where there is a first
[principle], and because in the ultimate co-exists all that is
9*

102 ATHANASIAN CREED.
interraediate frora the first [principle], the work of creation
in ultiraates is perfect. For this end the sun of the world
was created, and by the sun nature, and lastly the terraque
ous globe, that there raight be ultiraate raaterials, into which
all that is spiritual might close, and in which creation raight
subsist : to the end also that the work of creation raight
continually persist and endure, which is effected by the gen
erations of raen and animals, and by the germinations of
vegetables; and to the end, that all things might thence
return to their first [source] [ad Primum a quo] which is
effected by or through man. That intermediates co-exist in
ultiraates, is evident frora the axiom, that there is nothing in
the effect, which is not in the cause, thus frora the continuity
of causes and effects frora the first [principle] even to the
ultiraate. 96. That there are two common forms, a spiritual and a
natural, a, spiritual such as appertains to animals, and a
natural such as appertains to vegetables. Hence it is that
all things of nature, besides the sun, the raoon, and the
atmospheres, make three kingdoras, the aniraal, the vege
table, and the mineral, and that the mineral kingdom is only
a storehouse, in which are, and frora vvhich are taken, those
things which corapose the forms of the two [other] king
doms, the aniraal and fhe vegetable. The forras of the
aniraal kingdora, which in one word are called aniraals, are
all according to the flux of spiritual substances and forces,
which flux, frora the conatus which is in thera, lends to the
huraan forra, and to all and singular things thereof, from
head to heel, thus in general to produce organs of sense
and organs of motion, likewise organs of nutrition and also
of prolificalion : hence it is, that the universal heaven is in
such a forra, and that all angels and spirits are in such a
form, as likewise raen on the earth are in such a form ; and
also all beasts, birds and fishes; for all these have similar
organs. This aniraal forra derives a conatus to such things
from the first [principle], from whora all things are, who is
God, because he is Man : this conatus and consequent de
termination of all spiritual forces, cannot be given and exist
from any other source, for it is given in the greatest things
and in the least, in first [principles] and in last, in the spirit
ual world and thence in the natural world ; but with a differ
ence of perfection according to degrees. But the other
forra, which is the natural form, and in which are all vegeta
bles, derives its' origin from the conatus and consequent flux

ATHANASIAN CREED. 103
of natural forces, which are atmospheres, and are called
ethers, in which there is that conatus from the determination
of spiritual forces, which tends to the animal form, and from
the continual operation of these into natural forces, vvhich
are ethers, and thereby into matters of the earth, of which
vegetables are composed : that hence is its origin, is evident
from what has been said above concerning the likeness and
tendency to the animal form which appears in thera. That
all things of nature are in an effort to that forra, and that
the ethers have a tendency to produce it irapressed upon
thera, and so implanted frora a spiritual principle, is evident
frora raany considerations; as frora the universal vegetation
on the surface of the whole earth, likewise frora the vegeta
tion of rainerals info such forras in raines, where there are
given apatures, and frora the vegetation of shelly substances
into corals in the bottom of fhe sea, and even frora the forms
of the particles of snow, which are emulous of vegetables.
97. That there are three forces in every thing spiritual,
a force of acting, a force of creating, and a force of form
ing : A FORCE OF ACTING, bccause the spiritual [principle]
proceeds frora the first fountain of all forces, which is the
sun of heaven, and that is the divine love of the Lord, and
love is the essential agent, and thence proceeds the living
force which is life. The force of creating is a force of
producing causes and effects frora beginning to end, and
reaches from the first by intermediates to the last; the first
is the sun itself of heaven, which is the Lord, intermediates
are things spiritual, afterwards things natural, likewise things
terrestrial, frora which ultiraately are productions : and be
cause that force in the creation of the universe extended
frora the first to the ultimate, therefore it extends afterwards
in like manner, that productions may be continual, other
wise they would fail : for what is first continually regards
the ultiraate as an end, and unless the first had regard to the
ultiraate continually frora itself, by interraediates, according
to the order of creation, all things would perish : where
fore productions, which are especially aniraals and vegeta
bles, are continuations of creation. It raatters not that the
continuations are effected by seeds, still it is the sarae creat
ive force which produces : that there are certain seeds [of
new plants] also still producing, is testified by some from
experience. The force of forming is the ultimate force
from ultimates, for it is the force of producing animals and
vegetables from the ultimate matters of nature, which are

104 ATHANASIAN CREED.
collected in the earth. The forces which are in nature
from its origin, which is the sun of the world, are not living
forces, but dead forces ; vvhich are no other than as are the
. forces of heat in raan and in an aniraal, which keep the
body in such a state, that the will by affection, and the un
derstanding by thought, which are spiritual, raay flow in and
perforra their operations in it : nor are they any other than as
are the forces of light in the eye, which only cause that the
raind, which is spiritual, raay see by this its organ ; the light
of the world does not see any thing, but the mind by the
light of heaven. It is the same with vegetables; he who
believes, that the heat and light of the sun of the world ope
rate any further than to open and dispose fhe things proper
to nature to receive influx frora the spiritual world, is rauch
deceived. 9S. That from the spiritual [principle], by those forces,
exist vegetables, and also animals, as well those which appear
in heaven, as those which are in ihe world. That such things
also exist in heaven, is, because those forces are in the spirit
ual [principle] in the greatest things and in the least, in first
and in last, thus both in heaven and in the world ; its prima
ries are in the heavens, its ultimates are in the world: for
there are. degrees of spiritual things, and each degree is dis
tinct from the other, and the prior or superior degree is more
perfect than the posterior or inferior ; this raay appear frora
the light and from the heat in the heavens, and from the
wisdom of the angels thence derived ; the light in the
supreme or third heaven is so splendid from a flaming [prin
ciple], that it exceeds a thousand times the meridian light of
the world ; in the middle or second heaven the light is less
bright, but still it exceeds a hundred times the meridian light
of the v/orld ; in the ultiraate or first heaven the light is
similar to the meridian light of the world. There are also
degrees of heat, which in heaven is love, and according to
those [degrees] the angels have wisdom, intelligence and
science : all that is spiritual is of the light and heat which
are from the Lord as a sun, and all wisdora and intelligence
are frora these. As raany degrees of things spiritual are
also given under the heavens, or in nature, which are in
ferior degrees of things spiritual, as raay appear from the
natural mind of man, and from its rationality and sensuality ;
rational raen are in the first degree thereof, sensual men are
in the ultimate, and sorae are in the middle, and all thought
and affection of the natural mind, is spiritual. Those three

ATHANASIAN CREED. 105
forces, which are the force of acting, the force of creating,
and the force of forraing, are in the spiritual [principle] in
every degree thereof, but with a difference of perfection ;
but as there is nothing but what has ils ultiraate wherein it
terminates and subsists, so also has the spiritual [principle],
this ultimate is in the earth, in its lands and waters ; and
from this ultimate fhe spiritual [principle] produces vegeta
bles of all kinds, frora the tree to the blade of grass, in
which what reraains of the spiritual [principle] manifests
itself only in a certain similitude with the aniraals, of which
we treated above.
99. Something shall now be said concerning vegetables in
heaven, the animals there having been treated of before.
There are in the heavens, as in the earth, vegetables of all
kinds and all species ; yea, there are in the heavens vegeta
bles which are not in the earth, for there are compounds of
[different] genera and species, with infinite variation : this
they derive from their origin, of which below : but the genera
and species of vegetables differ in the heavens as the genera
and species of aniraals there, of which [we have spoken]
above. According to the degrees of light and of heat there,
there appear paradisiacal gardens, groves, fields and plains,
and in them shrubberies, flower-beds, and grass-plots. In
the inmost or third heaven, especially, there are shrubs,
whose fruits drop oils ; there are flower-beds frora which are
scattered abroad fragrant odors, and in the seeds, thereof
are fragrant scents and sweet oils; there are grass-plots
which abound with sirailar scents. In the middle or second
heaven are shrubs, whose fruits drop wine ; there are beds of
flowers frora which exhale pleasant odors, and in whose
seeds are delicate scent ; [there are] grass-plots in like man
ner. In the lowest or first heaven sirailar things exist as in
the inmost and raiddle heaven, vvith a difference of delights
and pleasantnesses according to degrees. In the inmost
heaven there are also fruits and seeds of pure gold, in the
middle heaven of silver, and in the lowest heaven of copper;
and there are also flowers of precious stones and of crystals.
All these things are germinations from the earths there ;
there are earths there as with us, but nothing is produced
there from seed sowed,^ but from seed created, and creation
there is instantaneous, and the duration sometiraes long and
sometimes moraentary ; for they exist by the forces of the
light and heat frora the sun of heaven, which is the Lord,
without aiding and auxiliary powers by the light and heat of

106 ATHANASIAN CREED.
the sun of [this] world : hence the matters in our earths
are fixed, -and the gerrainations constant; but the matters or
substances in the earths, which are in the heavens, are not
fixed, and hence neither are the germinations from them
constant : all things there are spiritual in a natural appear
ance ; [it is] othervvise in the earths subject to the sun of
our world. These things are adduced, that il raay be con
firmed, that in every thing spiritual, whether it be in heaven
or in the world, there are those three forces, viz. the force
of acting, the force of creating, and the force of forraing,
and that these forces continually go through to their ultimate,
where they terminate and subsist; and this not only in first
principles, but also in ultiraates; hence it is, that in Ihe
heavens there equally exist earths, for the earths there are
those forces in ultiraates: the difference is, that the earths
there are spiritual frora [their] origin, and here the earths are
natural ; and that the productions frora our earths, are effect
ed from the spiritual [principle] through the medium of
nature, but in those earths without nature.
100. That both animals and vegetables have the same
origin and thence the same soul, teith the difference only of
the forms which receive influx. That the origin of animals,
which also is their soul, is a spiritual affection, such as ap
pertains to man in his natural [degree] was shown above ;
that vegetables have also the same origin, is evident, espe
cially from the vegetables in the heavens, as that they appear
there according to the affections of the angels, and also that
they represent those [affections], insomuch, that in them, aa
in their types, the angels see and know their own affections,
as to their quality; and that they are also changed, according
to those [affections], but this is effected out of [extra] the
societies; the only difference is, that the affections appear
formed into animals by the spiritual [principle] in its middle
principles, and that they appear formed into vegetables in ila
ultiraates, vvhich are the earths there; for the spiritual, from
which [they exist]; in middle principles is alive, but in ulti
mates is not alive; the spiritual principle retains in ulfimatea
no more of life, than that it may produce the likeness of being
alive; nearly similar lo what lakes place in the human body,
in vvhich the ultiraates thereof, which are produced from the
spiritual principle, are the cartilages, bones, teeth, and nails,
in which what is alive, which is frora the soul, terminatea.
That the vegetative soul is from the same origin as the soul
of the beasts of the earth, of the birds of the heaven, and

ATHANASIAN CREED. 107
of the fishes of the sea, does not appear at first view as that
it was so, by reason that the one lives, and the other does not
live, but still it is manifestly evident from the animals, to
gether with the vegetables seen in the heavens, and also from
those vvhich are seen in the hells : in the heavens there ap
pear beautiful animals, and similar vegetables ; but in the
hells noxious animals, and vegetables also sirailar; and an
gels and spirits are known, from the appearances of the ani
mals, and' in like manner frora the appearances of the vegeta
bles ; there is a plenary concordance with their affections ;
yea the concordance is such, that an aniraal can be changed
into a concordant vegetable, and a vegetable into a concordant
animal. The angels of heaven know what of affection is
represented in one and the other ; and I have heard, and
I have also perceived, that it is sirailar [in both cases]. It
has also been granted rae to know raanifestly the correspon
dence not only of the aniraals hut also of the vegetables with
the societies of heaven, and with the societies of hell, thus
with their affections, for societies and affections in the spiritual
world make one. Hence it is that in many places in the
Word gardens, groves, forests, trees, likewise various plants
are mentioned, and that they there signify spiritual things
according to their origins, all which have reference to affec
tions. The difference, therefore, between vegetables in the
spiritual world and in the natural world, is, that in the spirit
ual world they exist momentaneously, according to the affec
tions, of the angels and spirits there, as well the seeds as the
germinations ; but in the natural world their origin is implant
ed in the seeds, from which they are reproduced annually.
Besides, there are two things proper fo nature, time and con
sequent succession, and space and consequent extension ; but
these are not given in the spiritual world, as proper thereto,
but there are appearances of the states of their life ; whence
also it is that frora the earths there, which are from a spiritual
origin, vegetables are produced in a moment, and also in a
moment disappear ; this however only takes place vvhen the
angels depart, but vvhen they do not depart, [the vegetables]
continue. This is the difference between vegetables of the
spiritual world, and vegetables of the natural world.
101. That that oi-igin is from use, is, because affections
have reference to uses: use is the subject of all affection ; for
man cannot be affected, unless it be for the sake of some
what; and this somewhat is use: now inasmuch as all affec
tion supposes use, and the vegetative soul, from its spiritual

108 ATHANASIAN CREED.
origin, is affection, as waa said, therefore also it is use. JTrom
this cause it is, that in every vegetable, there is contained a
use, a spiritual use in the spiritual world, and a spiritual and
also a natural use in the natural world ; the spiritual use is
for the various states of the raind, [animus], and the natural
is for the various states of the body : that rainds are refreshed,
recreated and excited, and on the other hand are induced to
sleepiness, sadness, and swooning, by the odors and savors
of different kinds of vegetables, is known ; and that the body
is healed by the various lixivia, raenstruuras, aud medicines
made frora thera, and on the other hand is killed by the poisons
extracted from thera, is also known. The external spiritual
use from thera in the heavens, is the recreation of rainds, and
the internal is the representation of divine things in them,
and thereby also the elevation of the mind ; for the wiser
angels see in them the quality of their affections in a series :
the varieties of flowers in their order, and at the sarae tirae
the variegations of colors and likewise odors, raanifest those
[affections], and whatever lies interiorly hid in thera: for
every ultimate affection, which is called natural, although it
is spiritual, derives its quality frora an interior affection, which
is of intelligence and wisdora, and these derive their quality
frora use and the love thereof: in a word, nothing springs up
frora the ground in the heavens, but use, because use is the
vegetative soul. Since use is the vegetative soul, therefore
in those places in the spiritual world which are called deserts,
where they are, who had in the world rejected works of chari
ty, which are uses theraselves, there does not appear either
grass or any herb, but raere wastes and sand. By the uses
which [it was said] alone flourish in the heavens, is raeant
all good in act, which is frora the Lord, by love to him, and
by love towards the neighbor. Every vegetable there rep
resents a form of use, and whatsoever appears in it frora its
first to its ultimate, and frora its ultiraate to its first, or frora
the seed to the flower, and from the flower to the seed, ex
hibits the progression and extension of affection, and at the
sarae tirae of use, frora end to end. Those who are skilled
in the arts of botany, chyraistry, medicine, and pharmacy,
corae after death into the science of spiritual uses frora the
vegetables there, and also exercise that [science], finding the
greatest delight in it; I have discoursed with thera, and heard
frora thera very wonderful things.
102. Frora the things which have been hitherto adduced
concerning the life which is from the Lord, and concerning

ATHANASIAN CKEED.

109

the existence of all things in the universe fron it, every per
son, wise in heart, may see, that nature does not produce
any thing from itself, but that it only serves for producing
to the spnilual [principle], vvhich proceeds from the sun of
heaven, which is the Lord, as the cause instrumental fo ils
cause principal, or as a dead force to its living force. From
which it is evident, how much they err, who ascribe the
generations of animals and the productions of vegetables to
nature : they are like those who ascribe magnificent and
splendid works to the instrument, and not to the artificer, or
who adore sculptured [images] and not God. The fallacies,
which are innuraerable, in all reasoning concerning things
spiritual, moral and civil, thence arise: for fallacy is an in
version of order, and is the judgment of the eye and not of
the raind, and is a conclusion from the appearance of a thing,
and not from its essence : wherefore fo reason from fallacies
concerning the world and concerning the existence of things
therein, is like confirming by reasonings that darkness is
light, that what is dead is alive, and that the body flows into
the soul, and not vice versa; when, notwithstanding, it is an
eternal truth, that spiritual influx is, and not pnysical influx,
that is, of the soul, which is spiritual, into the body, which
is material, and of the spiritual world into fhe natural world;
likewise that the Divine frora itself, and by what proceeds
from itself, as it created all things, also sustains all things;
and that support is perpetual creation, as subsistence is per
petual existence.
103. We have already treated of Infinity and Eternity,
likewise of Providence and Omnipotence, which appertain
to the Lord : we shall now treat of Omnipresence and
Oraniscience, which [also] appertain to hira. That God is
omnipresent, and that he is omniscient, is acknowledged in
every religion; hence it is that they pray to God, that he
may hear and that he may see, and have raercy ; which they
would not do unless they believed in his oranipresence and
oraniscience. This belief is derived frora influx from hea
ven with those who have religion, for, from religion itself,
it does not corae into question vvhether it is given, or how it
is given. But whereas at this day, especially in the christian
orb, natural raen are multiplied, and these do not see any
thing of God, and unless they see, they do not believe ; if
they say that they believe, it is either from their particular
office, or from a blind science, or from hypocrisy, and yet
they are able to see ; in order therefore that they may soe
10

110 ATHANASIAN CREED.
concerning those things~which are of God, it is allowed to
treat of them from light, and frora a rational view thence.
For every raan, even the merely natural and sensual, is
endowed with an understanding, which can be elevated into
the light of heaven, and see spiritual things, yea things di
vine, and also comprehend them, but only when he hears them
or reads concerning them, and afterwards from the meraory
can speak of thera, but to think them in himself from him
self, he cannot do : the reason is because whilst he hears and
reads, the understanding is separated from his own proper
affection, and when it is so separated, then it is in the light of
heaven : but when he thinks in hiraself frora himself, then
the understanding is conjoined to the affection of his will,
and this fills it, detains it, and restrains it from going forth.
But still the case' in itself is such, that the understanding
can be separated frora the affection of the will,' and so be
elevated into the light of heaven with those natural raen who
are in the affection of truth, and have not confirmed them
selves in falses, but hardly with those who are not in the
affection of truth, from their having rejected things of a
divine nature, or confirmed theraselves in falses; with these,
there is as it vvere a shady veil [umhraculum] between spirit
ual light and natural light, although with many this vail is
transparent. Now whereas every raan, even the sensual
corporeal, when he becoraes adult, is endowed with such a
faculty of understandiiig that he can comprehend those things
which are of God, when he hears or reads thera, and after
wards retain thera in his raemory, and thence speak, teach,
and write thera, it is iraportant that the work concerning the
divine attributes should be continued as it was begun ; we
shall therefore now treat concerning the divine Omnipresence,
and the divine Omniscence, lest the merely natural man
bring them into doubt, even to denial, through want of
willingness to understand any thing divine and spiritual,
which he calls a want of ability.
104. But how the Lord can be present with all who are in
heaven, and in the universal terrestrial globe, and also know
all things, and also the most singular with those in both the
present and future [time], cannot be comprehended, unless
by the following [propositions]. I. That in the natural
world are spaces and times, but that in the spiritual world
those things are appearances. II. That times and spaces
are to be removed from the ideas, that the omnipresence of
the Lord with all and every one may be comprehended, and

ATHANASIAN CREKD. Ill
his omniscience of things present and future appertaining
to them. III. That all the angels of heaven and allthe men
of the earth who constitute the church, are as one man, and
that the Lord is the life of that man. IV. Consequently
as the life is in singular and the most singular things of man,
and knows all their state, so the Lord is in singular and the
most singular things of the angels of heaven and of the men
of the church. V. That the Lord is also present with those
who are out of heaven and out of the church, who are in
hell, or vvho will come into hell, and knows all their state,
from the intellectual faculty which every man has, and from
the opposite. VI. That from the oranipresence and omni
science of the Lord thus perceived, it raay be apprehended
by the understanding, how the Lord is the all in all of hea
ven and the church, and that we are in the Lord and the
Lord in us. VII. The omnipresence and omniscience of
the Lord may be comprehended also from the creation of the
universe ; for it was so created by hira, that he may be in
first principles and in ultimates, and in the centre and at the
same time in the circumferences, and that uses are the things
in which he is. VIII. Inasrauch as the Lord has divine
love and divine wisdora, therefore he has divine oranipresence
and divine omniscience frora both, but omnipresence is
principally from the divine love, and oraniscience is prin
cipally frora the divine wisdora.
105. That in the natural world are spaces and times, and
that in the spiritual world those things are appearances,
is, because all things which appear in the spiritual world, are
iramediately from the sun of heaven, which is the divine love
ofthe Lord; but all things which appear in the natural world,
are frora the sarae, but by raediation ofthe sun ofthe world,
which is pure fire: pure love, frora which all things imraedi
ately exist in the spiritual world, is iraraaterial, but pure fire,
by which all things exist mediately in the natural world, is ma
terial ; hence it is, that all things which exist in the spiritual
world, are, from their origin, spiritual, and that all things which
exist in the natural world are, from their secondary origin, ma
terial ; and material things in theraselves are fixed, stated, and
mensurable ;^a;e<Z, because they continue, however the states
of men may be changed, as earths, mountains and seas; stated,
because they constantly recur by turns, as seasons, genera
tions, and germinations; and mensurable, because all things
can be defined, as spaces by miles and furlongs, and these
by feet and spans, and times by days, weeks, months, and

112 ATHAN.4.SIAN CREED.
years : but in fhe spiritual world all things are as it were
fixed, as it were stated, and as it were mensurable, but still
are not such in themselves, for they exist according to the
states ofthe angels, and continue according to thern, so that
their states themselves and those [things] make one, whence
they are also varied, as the states are varied : but this is chiefly
the case in the world of spirits, info which "every man comes
first after death, not so in heaven and in hell : that this takes
place in the world of spirits, is, because every raan there un
dergoes changes of state, and is prepared for heaven or for
hell. But the spirits do not reflect upon these changes and
variations, because fhey are spiritual, and thence in a spirit
ual idea, vvith which ail and singular things vvhich they per
ceive by their [outward] sense, make one ; likewise because
they are separated from nature, and yet they see there things
altogether sirailar to what they had seen in the world, as earths,
raountains, valleys, waters, gardens, forests, vegetables, pala
ces, houses, garments with vvhich they are clothed, food by
which they are nourished, and moreover animals and them
selves as men : they see all these things in a clearer light than
they saw the like things in the world, and also feel thern with
a more exquisite touch than in the world : hence raan after
his departure does not at all know that he has put off hia
material [part], and that he has emigrated out of the world
of his body into the world of his spirit : I have heard many
saying, that they vvere not deceased, and that they could not
understand how any thing of their body could be rejected in
the grave ; and this hy reason that all things there are similar ;
not knowing, that those things vvhich they there see and feel,
are not material, but substantial from a spiritual origin; and
that yet they are still real things, because they are from the
sarae origin as all things of the world, with this only differ
ence, that to those things which are in the natural world sorae
thing accessary, as it vvere superinduced, is given frora the
sun of the world, from which they become material, fixed, sta
ted, and mensurable : but still I can assert, that those things
which are in the spiritual world are more real than those
which are in the natural world, for the dead [principle], which
ia accessary to the spiritual principle in nature, does not con
stitute reality, but diminishes il ; that it diminishes if, appears
manifestly frora the state of fhe angels of heaven compared
with the state of rnen ofthe earth, and frora all things vvhioh
are in heaven compared with all things which are in the world.
106. Since there are sirailar things in heaven as in our

ATHANASIAN CREED. 113
world, therefore also there are spaces and times in the hea
vens, but spaces there, as well as the earths themselves, and
the things which are upon them, are appearances, for they
appear according to the states of the angels, and the exten
sions of spaces and distance, according to the similitudes and
dissimilitudes of states ; by states are understood states of
love and wisdom, or of affection and of the thoughts thence,
which are manifold and various: according to these is the
distance of the angelic societies in the heavens and also of
the heavens from the hells, as likewise of the societies of the
latter frora each other. ^It has been given to see, how simi
litude of state conjoins, and contracts the extension of space
or distance, and how dissimilitude separates, and produces
extension of space or distance : there they who to ap
pearance are at the distance of a thousand miles frora each
other, can be present in a raoraent, when the love of one
to the other is excited, and on the other hand they who are
discoursing together can be separated in like raanner the
moraent any aversion is excited. That spaces in the spiritual
world are only appearances, has also been made evident to
me frora this, that there have been present with rae several,
who were frora reraote lands, as frora the various kingdoms
of Europe, from Africa, and India, likewise also the inhabi
tants of the planets and of the earths the most distant. ")
But nevertheless spaces in the heavens still appear extended'^
in like raanner as the spaces of our earth; but because the
spaces there are from a spiritual origin, and not at the sarae
time natural, and thence appear according to the states of
the angels, therefore the angels cannot have any idea of
spaces, but instead thereof an idea of their own states ; for
when the spaces are changed, an idea thereof takes place
from an origin which is spiritual, thus from a similitude and
dissimilitude of affections ahd of thoughts thence. It is
sirailar with times, for as are spaces, so are times ; pro
gressions by spaces are also progressions by tiraes : that
these also are appearances of states, is because the sun of
heaven, which is the Lord, does not there make days and
years by circumvolutions and by progressions, as the sun of
the world appears to do; wherefore in the heavens there is
perpetual light and perpetual spring, and hence tiraes there
are not fixed, stated and mensurable : now because these also
vary, according to the states of the affections and thoughts
thence, for they are short and contracted in a delightfial state
of the affections, and long and protracted in an undelightful
10*

114 ATHANASIAN CREED.
State, therefore the angels cannot have any idea of time from
appearance, but an idea of states frora the origin thereof.
From these considerations it is evident, that the angels in
heaven have no idea of space and time, but a spiritual idea
concerning them, which is an idea of state. But the idea
of state, and thence idea of the appearance of space and
limes, is not given unless in the ultiraates of creation there,
and from them ; the ultimates of creation there are earths,
upon which the angels dwell; there spaces and times appear,
and not in the spiritual things themselves, from vvhich the
ultimates are created : yea neither [do they appear] in the
affections themselves of the angels, unless the thought from
them pervades to ultimates. It is otherwise in the natural
world, where spaces and times are fixed, stated, and men
surable, and therefore enter into the thoughts of men
and bound them, and distinguish them from the spiritual
thoughts of angels. It is from this circumstance principally,
that man can comprehend with difficulty the divine omnipre
sence and omniscience, for if he desires to comprehend them,
he raay fall into the error, that God is the inraost [principle]
of nature, and thus omnipresent and omniscient.
107. That spaces and times are to he removed from the ideas,
that the omnipresence of the Lord with all and every one may
be comprehended, and his omniscience of things present and
future: but whereas spaces and tiraes can hardly be removed
from the ideas of thought of the natural man, it is better
that a simple man should think of the divine omnipresence
and oraniscience not frorn any reasoning of the understand
ing. It is sufficient that he believe them simply frora reli
gion, and if he thinks frora reason, let hira say with hiraself,
that they are, because they of God, and God is every where
and infinite, likewise because the Word teaches this ; and if
he thinks of them from nature, and its spaces and times, let
him say with hiraself, that they are miraculously effected.
But whereas at this day naturalism has nearly inundated the
church, and this cannot be shaken off except by things
rational, whereby man may see that a thing is so, therefore
these divine [attributes] also shall be thereby brought forward
into light out of the darkness which nature induces ; which
may also be effected, because, as was said before, man is
endowed with an understanding, which may be elevated into
the interior light of heaven, if man does but love lo know
truths from a principle of love : all naturalism arises from
thought concerning things divine from things proper to na-

ATHANASIAN CREED," 115
ture only, which are matter, space, and tirae; the mind
which inheres in such things, and is not willing to believe
any thing but what it understands, cannot do otherwise than
blind its understanding, and from the darkness in which it
immerses it, denies that there is any Divine Providence, and
thence omnipotence, oranipresence, and omniscience, when
nevertheless these things are altogether as religion teaches,
as well within nature as above it, but they cannot be cora-
prehended in the understanding, unless spaces and times are
removed from the ideas of its thought : for these have place
in some manner in every idea of thought; for unless they
are removed, man cannot think otherwise than that nature is
all, that it is frora itself, and that life is frora it, and hence
that the inmost principle of nature is what is called God,
and that ail besides is ideal. T I know that persons will also
wonder, that any existence can be given where there is
neither tirae nor space ; and that the Divine itself is without
time and space, and that spiritual beings are not in them,
but only in appearances of thera, vvhen notwithstanding di
vine spiritual things are fhe very essences of all things,
which have existed and which do exist, and that natural
things without them are as bodies without a soul, which be
come carcasses. Every man vvho is made a naturalist by
thoughts from nature, reraains also such after death, and
calls all things, which he sees in the spiritual world, natural,
because they are sirailar; still however they are illustrated
and taught by angels that they are not natural, bnt that they
are appearances of things natural; theyare also convinced
so as to affirm that it is so ; but still they relapse, and wor
ship nature as in the world, and at length separate them
selves from angels, and fall into hell, nor can they be taken
out thence to eternity ; the reason is, because they have not
a spiritual soul, but a natural, such as appertains to beasts,
with the faculty however of thinking and speaking, because
they were born men. Now because the hells are filled
with such at this day, more than before, il is of importance
that such dense darkness arising frora nature, which at this
day crowds and bars up the thresholds of raen's understand
ing, be removed by light rational frora spiritual.*)
108. That all the angels of heaven, and ml men ofthe
earth who make the church, are as one man-,..jand that the
Lord is the life of ihat man : this you raay see confirraed in
the work concerning Heaven and Hell, under the following
articles : 1st. that the universal heaven, in a complex, has

116 ATHANASIAN CREED.
reference to one man, n. 59 to 67 : 2d. that each society in
the heavens has reference to one man, n. 68 to 72 : 3d. that
hence every angel is in a perfect human form, n. 73 to 77 :
and 4th. that heaven in the whole and in part has reference
to man, which is frora the Divine Human of the Lord, n. 78
to 87 : likewise that there is a correspondence of all things
of heaven with all things of man, n. 87 to 102: that the like
may be said of the church of the Lord in the earth, n. 57.
That heaven is as one man, experience has taught, and rea
son teaches. Experience : it has been granted [me] to see
a society consisting of thousands of angels, as one man of
middling stature; likewise societies consisting of fewer in
like manner : but this does not appear lo the angels in the
society, but to the angels who are out of that society at a
distance, and then when a society is to be purified from
strangers; when this takes place, all they who constitute the
life of the society are within that raan, but they who do not
constitute [the life] are out of hira, these are removed, and
those remain. It is similar vvith the universal heaven before
the Lord : hence and frora no other cause it is, that every
angel and spirit is a raan in a sirailar form in which he was
a raan on earth. That the church in the earth also is be
fore the Lord as a raan, has not been seen, but heard ; like
wise that it is also distinguished into societies, and that every
society is a man ; likewise that all vvho are within that man
are within heaven, but they who are out of hira are in hell ;
the cause of this has also been raentioned, viz.: that every
man of the church is also an angel of heaven, for he be
comes an angel after death : moreover the church in the
earth, not only, together with the angels, constitutes the in
teriors of that man, but also the exteriors, which are called
cartilaginous and bony : this the church constitutes, because
men of the earth are endued with a body, in vvhich the ulti
mate spiritual principle is clothed with the natural ; this con
stitutes the conjunction of heaven with the church, and of
the church with heaven. From reason : that heaven and
the church are a raan, in the concrete or complex, greatest,
less, and least, the sole cause is, because God is a man, and
hence the Divine Proceeding, which is the Divine from him,
is similar in every thing, least and greatest, which is man ;
for as was said above, the Divine is not in space and ex
tended, but causes spaces and extensions to exist in the ulti
mates ofhis creation, in the heavens apparently, in the world
actually : but still spaces and extensions are not spaces and

ATHANASIAN CREED. 117
extensions before God, for he is in his Divine every where :
this is manifestly evident from this [circumstance,] that the
universal angelic heaven, vvith the church, i.-, before the
Lord as one raan ; in like manner a society consisting of
thousands of angels, although their habitation.-s appear ex
tended through much space : and it is also evident f^rom this
[consideration,] that the universal heaven, likewi.se an entire
society in heaven, can, at fhe good pleasure of the Lord,
appear as a man, great or sraall, as a giant or as an infant,
and yet it is not the angels, who so appear, but the Divine
in them ; for the angels are only recipients ofthe Divine
from the Lord, and the Divine in thera constitutes the an
gelic principle, and thence heaven. Since angels are only
recipients, and the Divine in them constitutes the angelic
principle and heaven, it is evident that the Lord is the life of
that man, that is, of heaven and the church.
109. Consequently, ihat as life is in singular and most
singvlar things of man, and knows all iheir state ; so ihe
Lord is in singular and ihe most singular things of the angels
of heaven, and of ihe men of ihe church. That life is in
singular, and the most singular things of raan, is, because
the many various and divers things in raan, vvhich are called
raerabers, organs, and viscera, so raake one, that raan knows
no otherwise than that he is a simple, and not a compound
[being]. That life is in the most singular things of man, is
evident from this consideration, that from his own life he
sees, hears, smells, and tastes, which could not be effected
unless fhe organs of those senses also lived frora the life of,
his soul; likewise from this consideration, that the whole
surface of the body is endued with the sense of touch, it
is the life which causes that sense, and not the skin without
the life : it is evident also from this circumstance, that all
the muscles under the skin are subject to the arbitrement of
the life of mfln's will and understanding, and are moved at
their nod, ihus not only the hands and feet, and the whole
body, but also the tongue-, the lips, the face, with the whole
head ; the latter things and the former cannot be moved by
the body alone, but by the life from the will and understand
ing, together with the life in the members themselves; it is
the same with every one of the viscera in the body, each of
which performs therein its own office, and acts ob.sequiously
according to fhe laws of order inscribed on it, but this is
frora the actuation of fhe life, in a raanner unknown to
man, by raotion in all and singular things frora the heart and

118 ATHANASIAN CKEED.
lungs, and by sense in all and singular things from the cere
bellum. That life is in singular and in most singular things
of man, is because the animal forra, of which we have
treated above, is the forra itself of life ; for life from its first
fountain, which is the sun of heaven or the Lord, is perpetu
ally in the effort of forming a likeness and iraage of itself,
that is, a raan, and frora man an. angel, wherefore frora the
ultiraates, which are created from.it, it adjoins to itself
things conformable, whereby man raay exist, in whora it raay
live. Hence it is evident, that life is in singular and raost
singular things of man ; and that the part or even particle in
which life is not, becoraes dead and is dissociated. Now
whereas raen and angels are not lives, but only recipients of
life from the Lord, and the universal heaven, with the
church, before the Lord is as one raan, it is evident that the
Lord is the life of that man, that is of heaven and of the
church, and also that he is omnipresent and oraniscient in
singular and raost singular things of the angels of heaven
and raen ofthe church. Because the universal heaven, with
the church, before the Lord is as one raan, and according to
the [divine] arbitrement great or small, as a giant or as an
infant, it is manifest that the life or spiritual [principle]
which proceeds frora the Lord, is not in space, or extended,
with the angels of heaven and vvith raen ofthe church ; con
sequently that spaces and tiraes are to be reraoved from the
ideas, that the omnipresence and oraniscience of the Lord
with all and every one raay be comprehended.
110. That the Lord is also present with those who are out
of heaven and the church, who are in hell, or will come into
hell, and knows all their state, from the intellectual faculty
with which every man is endowed, and from the opposite.
Every raan has three degrees of life a lowest in comraon
with the beasts, and two superior which are not coramon
with thera ; by these two superior degrees raan is raan : with
the evil these degrees are closed, but open with the good ;
but these degrees are not closed with the evil in regard
lo the light of heaven, which is wisdora, which proceeds
from the Lord as a sun, but they are closed in regard to the
heat, which is love, which together thence proceeds : from
this circumstance it is, that every raan, even an evil one, has
the faculty of understanding, but not the faculty of willing
from celestial love ; for the will is the receptacle of heat,
that is, of love, and the understanding is the receptacle of
light, that is, of wisdom, frora that sun. That every man is

ATHANASIAN CKEED. 119
not intelligent and wise, is, because he, who is not, has by
his life closed in hiraself the receptacle of that love; which
being closed, he is not willing lo understand any other thing
than what he loves, for this he wills and loves to think, and
thence also lo understand. Now inasrauch as every raan,
even an evil one, has the faculty of understanding, and that
faculty is frora the influx of light from the sun which is the
Lord, it is evident that the Lord is also present with those
who are out of heaven and the church, who either are in hell
or will come into hell : from that faculty it also is, that man
can think and reason concerning various things, which beasts
cannot do; and also it is from that that he lives for ever.
Another reason of fhe Lord's oranipresence in hell, is be
cause the universal hell is before the Lord, equally as the
universal heaven, as one man, but as a man-devil, or a man-
monster, with vvhich all things are in opposition to those
which are in the divine man-angel, wherefore frora this latter
man is known all that is in the former, that is, from heaven,
all that is in hell ; for from good is known evil, and from
truth what is false, Ihus all the quality of the latter frora the
quality of the former. There are three heavens, and. there
are three hells ; and as the heavens are distinguished info
societies, so also are the hells, and every society of hell cor
responds, from opposition, to a society of heaven ; the cor
respondence is as between good affections and evil affections,
for all societies are affections : thus, in like manner, as every
society of heaven, in the view of the Lord, is as one man-
angel, in the likeness of his own affection, as was said above,
so every society oC hell, in the view of the Lord, is as one
man-devil, in the likeness of his own evil affection : it has
also been given [me] to see this: they appear indeed as raen,
but monstrous : I have seen three kinds of thera, the fiery,
the black, and the pallid, but all of thera with deformed
faces, dry tones of voice, external speech, and gestures
similar : they are all in lascivious loves and no one in chaste
love, the delights of their will are evils, and the delights of
their thoughts are falses.
111. That from the omnipresence and omniscience ofthe
Lord thus perceived, it may he apprehended by the understand
ing how the Lord is the all in all of heaven and the church,
and that we are in the Lord, and he in us. By all things
of heaven and the church is understood divine truth and
divine good, the former is from the light of the sun of hea
ven, which is wisdom, and the latter is from the heat of the

120 ATHANASIAN CREED.
sun of heaven, which is love ; the angels, in proportion as
they are recipients of those principles, are heaven in general,
and are themselves heavens in particular ; and men, in pro
portion as they are recipients of thera, are the church in
general, and churches in particular : there is not given any
thing witli any angel, which raakes heaven in hira, nor any
thing with any man, which raakes the church in him, but
the Divi4ie proceeding from the Lord ; for that all the truth
of faith and all the good of love is frora the Lord, and
nothing thereof frora raan, is known. Frora these consider
ations it is evident, that the Lord is the all and in all of hea
ven and the church. That we are in the Lord, and he in
us, the Lord himself leaches in John: 'Jesus said, he who
eaieih my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me and I
in him,' vi. 56 : and again : ' In that day ye shall know, that
ye are in me, and I in you,' xiv. 20, 21 : and elsewhere, that
'in him we live, and move, and have our being.' All the
angels of heaven, and all the men of the church are in the
Lord, and the Lord in them, when they are in that celestial
man spoken of above : angels and raen are then in the Lord,
because they are recipients of life frora him, thus are in his
Divine, and the Lord is in them, because he is life in recipi
ents. From these considerations it is evident, that all those
who are in a natural idea concerning the Lord, can have no
understanding of his divine oranipresence, otherwise than as
intuitive, when notwithstanding it is actual, such as is the
oranipresence of the holy spirit, which is the Divine Proceed
ing. 112. That the omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord
may also be comprehended from ihe creation ofthe universe;
for the universe was so created hy him tliat he is in first prin
ciples and in ultimates, also in the centre and in fhe circum
ference, and that uses are what he is in. That it is so may
appear from the creation of the universe, from the life of
raan, and frora the essence of uses. /The creation of
THE UNIVERSE canuot be better seen in any other way
than frora the types thereof in the heavens : there creation is
perpetual and instantaneous, for in the spiritual world earths
exist in a moraent, and upon thera paradisiacal gardens^ and
in these, trees full of fruits, also shrubs, flowers, and plants
of all kinds, which, when viewed by a wise [raan], are found
to be correspondences of the uses in which the angels are,
to whom they are given for reward ; they have also houses be
stowed on them, full of utensils and decorations according

ATHANASIAN CREED. 121
to their uses ; rairaent also is given to them according.to their
uses, and likewise food which is eatable and relishing accor
ding to uses ; besides pleasant conversations, which also are
uses, because they are recreations : all these things are given
gratis, but still on account of the uses which they perform :
in a word, the universal heaven is full of uses, so that it may
be called the very kingdom of uses. On the other hand, they
who do not perform uses,^^are sent into the hells, where they
are compelled by a judge to labor, and if they refuse, no
food is given thera, nor clothing nor a bed to lie on, and they
are laughed at by their associates as servants by their masters ;
it is also permitted them by the judge, [ut illorum mancipia
,sint] to use them as their slaves, and if they withdraw others
from their labors they are severely punished, this and that
is done until they are compelled ; but they who cannot be so
compelled, are cast out into deserts, where a piece of bread
is daily given them, and water to drink, and they dwell soli
tary in miserable cottages or in caves ; and because they per
form no uses, the earth where they are, is so barren, that the
least appearance of turf, on which is grass, is rarely seen. In
deserts and in hells I have seen several of noble descent, Who
in the world gave themselves up to idleness, who courted offi
ces, and performed the functions thereof, not for the sake of
use, but for honor and gain, which were the only uses to
them. The uses which they perform in the heavens, and the
labors which they do in the hells, are partly like those vvhich
exist in the world, but still the uses for the raost part are
spiritual [uses], which cannot be described by any natural
language, and, what I have often wondered at, do not fall in
to the ideas of natural thought : such is the spiritual [princi
ple] in raost cases. From the perpetual and instantaneous
creation of all things in the heavens may be seen, as in a
type, the creation of the whole world with its earths, that
there is nothing therein created but for use ; in general, one
kingdora of nature for another, the mineral kingdora for the
vegetable, this for the aniraal, and both for the huraan race,
that the latter may serve the Lord in perforraing uses to the
neighbor.^ From the life of man, in which, if viewed frora
the creation of all things in him, there will not be found a
part which is not for use, not a fibre or vessel in the brains,
in the organs of the senses, in the rauscles, nor in any of
the viscera of the thorax and abdomen, or in the rest, which
is not for some use in general and in particular, thus not for
itself, but for all about it and the whole together [propter
11

221 ATHANASIAN CREED.
omnia et consocia] : the greater forms themselves, which are
called merabers, sensories, raucles, viscera, composed and or
ganized from fibres and vessels, are all formed from use, in use,
and to use, so that they may be simply called uses, of which
the whole man is composed and formed ; whence it raan
ifestly appears, that their origin is frora use only, and that
they have use only for their end. That every raan in like
manner is created and born for use,, is manifestly evident
frora the use of all things in hira, and frora his state after
death, when, if be does not perform any use, he is accounted
so vile, as to be cast down into infernal prisons, or into desert
places: that raan is born that he may be use, the life also
manifests, for the man whose life is from the love of uses, is
altogether different to him whose life is from the love of idle
ness [oiii], by which is meant a life consisting only in con
versation, entertainments and diversions : the life of the love
of use is the life of the love of the public good, and also oflove
of the neighbor, and of the love of the Lord, for the Lord
does uses to man by raan, whence the life of the love of use
is divine spiritual, wherefore every one who loves good use, and
from the love thereof does it, is loved by the Lord, and is re
ceived with joy in heaven by the angels : but the life of the
love of idleness is a life of the love of self and of the world,
and hence is a merely natural life, which does not hold the
thoughts together but diffuses them abroad into every vanity,
and thereby turns raan away from the delights of wisdora and
immerses him in the delights of the body only, and of the
world, with which evils cohere ; wherefore after death he is
let down into the infernal society to which he addicted him
self in the world, and there is compelled to labor through
hunger and scarcity of food. By uses, in the heavens and
earths, are understood ministries, functions, studies of life,
employments, various family exercises, labors, consequently
all things which are opposite to idleness and indolence.
From the essence of uses : the essence of uses is the pub
lic good ; the public good, in the most general sense, with the
angels, is the good of the whole heaven, in a senseless gene
ral the good of the society, and in a particular sense the good
of each individual of the society. But with men, the essence
of uses, in the most general sense, is the good of the whole
huraan race both spiritual and civil, in a sense less general
the good of their country, in a particular sense the good of so
ciety, and^n a singular sense the good of each individual ;
and whereas those goods constitute their essence, love is their

athanasian CKEED. 123
life, since all good is oflove, and in love there is life: in this
love is every one, who is delighted with the use in which he
is for the sake ofthe use, whether he be a king, magistrate,
a priest, a minister a general, a raerchant, or laborer : every
one vvho is delighted with the use of his function for the
sake of the use, loves his country and fellow-citizens, but
he who is not delighted therewith for the sake of use, but
only does it for the sake of himself, for honors and wealth,
does not in his heart love his country, and fellow-citizens,
but only himself and the world; the reason is, because no
one can be kept by the Lord in the love of his neighbor,
unless he be in sorae love towards the public ; and no one
can be in that love, but he who is in the love of use for the
sake of use, or in the love of use frora use, thus from the
Lord. Noiv because all and singular things in the world
were created in the beginning for use, and also alfthings in
man were formed for use, and the Lord from creation viewed
all the human race as one raan, in whom every one in like
manner is for use, or a use, and because the Lord himself
is the life of that man, as was said above, it is evident, that
the universe was so created, that the Lord is in first princi
ples and in ultimates, also in the centre and in the circum
ference, that is, in the midst of all, and that uses are what
he is in. From these considerations also raay be coraprehend-
ed the omnipresence and oraniscience of the-Lord.
113. Since to the Lord appertains divine love and divine
wisdom, therefore to Mm also appertains divine omnipresence
and divine omniscience from both, but omnipresence is princi
pally from the divine love, and omniscience is principally from
the divine wisdom. Love and wisdora in the Lord are not two
but one, and this one is divine love, which before the angels
of heaven appears as a sun : but love and wisdora proceeding
from the Lord as a sun appear as two distinct [principles],
love appears as heat, and wisdora as light : both these from
their origin, which is the sun, act altogether as one, but are
separated with angels of heaven and with raen of the church;
with some of them love, which is heat, is raore received than
wisdom, which is light, these are called celestial angels and
men; and with some wisdom, which is light, is more received
than love, which is heat, these are called spiritual angels and
men. These things may be illustrated frora the sun of the
world : in that sun, fire and the origin of light are altogether
one, and this one is the fiery [principle] of that sun : frora this
proceeds heat, and at the sarae tirae light, which appear as

142 ATHANASIAN CREED.
•
two distinct things, but still from their origin they act as one ;
this one appears in the earth in the tirae of spring and sura
raer, but they are two distinct things according to the turning
of the earth to the sun, and thus also according to reception,
direct or oblique : this correspondence is adduced by way of
illustration. The case is similar with respect to omnipresence
and oraniscience ; these in the Lord are one, but still they
proceed frora the Lord as two distinct attributes, for orani
presence has reference to love, and oraniscience to wisdora,
or, what is the sarae, omnipresence has. reference to good,
and omniscience to truth, since all good is of love, and all
truth is of wisdom. The reason why the omnipresence of
the Lord has reference to love and good, is, because the Lord
is present with man in the good of his love; and the reason
why omniscience has reference to wisdom and truth, is, be
cause the Lord from man's good of love is omnipresent in
the truths of his understanding, and this oranipresence is call
ed omniscience; as in particular with one man so in gene
ral with all.

THE END

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