ADULTERIES, THE LOVE OF RULING, DECEIT, ETC. It must be described how infernal are adulteries and the other sins, for instance, in this place, adulteries that is, believing that adulteries are allowable though there may, or may not, be adultery. Scarcely anyone, at this day, believes that they are so infernal, and that adulterers cannot possibly be saved. The reasons are: (1) Because heaven is marriage, and hell is adultery. (2) Because conjugial love descends from the marriage of good and truth, adultery from the marriage of evil and falsity. (3) Because from marriage, according to conjugial and infernal love, offspring is born. (4) That in heaven they abhor adulteries, and that therefore heaven is closed and hell opened widely [by them]. (5) That a man by conjugial love receives the form of love inwardly and outwardly, by adultery the form of hell; also, that heavenly love is implanted solely through conjugial love. (6) That conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves for, when man becomes a form of love, he becomes an image of the Lord: otherwise, the reverse is the case. (7) That, therefore, the delights of conjugial love exceed all other delights, both in number and quality. (8) That heavenly joy is founded upon that love in heaven; so that as far as any one is in that, so far he is in heavenly joy of every kind and degree. (9) That by marriages, in the heavens, wisdom increases; which increase, there, is in the place of procreation. (10) That with preachers in hell, there is a doctrinal adultery, which differs from natural adultery - of which anon. (11) The reason why wisdom increases according to chastity, is because the origin thereof is the marriage of good and truth, and the marriage of the Lord with the Church. This is its cause wherefore, nobody who is an adulterer can be wise in spiritual things. Hence, so far as he is an adulterer, so far is he blind in spiritual things, and so far is inwardly a devil. (12) That, hence, to love the married partner, is to do good in the sight of the Lord for it is thus, from chastity, to love the Lord. This communicates with the heavens, and delights the souls of the angels to such an extent as cannot be believed. (13) There is also a certain kind of coition, which, when it proceeds from chastity, inasmuch as it is the effect of that love, delights heaven in the highest degree. On the contrary, it distresses them so far as it is from adultery. (14) Proofs may be brought forward, that adulterers, no matter how morally well they may have lived in other respects and have given themselves to prayers, are cast into hell. The members devoted to generation, in both sexes, correspond to the inmost or third heaven, where the angels are in the heavenly marriage, or that of good and truth, more than the rest. In a word, marriages in the heavens are most holy; wherefore, they must not be profaned by adulteries.
Nor can it be believed that the love of ruling, like adultery, also has in itself hell. All those [who are in this love] are in evils and in falsities therefrom. The reason is, because the love of ruling sinks the mind into its proprium, so that it cannot be elevated by the Lord; but everyone in whom heaven is, is elevated from his proprium, although the man is not sensible of it. But to describe self-love: Its highest degree is the love of ruling over others; it also contains in itself the love of ruling over the Divine; and this is Babel, respecting which so many abominable things are stated in the Word. To describe the nature of the love of ruling: It is not ruling over others in one's official position, but desiring to rule over others outside of that, not being content with its own domain. The nature of the latter, and the nature of the former [love], might be described further; also, that all [who are in these loves], of whatsoever dignity, are cast down into hell.
As regards deceit, the reason why it is execrable, is because it enters man's interiors, even to the Rational, which is the inmost Natural, and there tightly closes the spiritual mind, in which heaven is. The quality of such persons might be described. These three things, especially, those shun who will be of the New Jerusalem.
Regarding adulteries, moreover, the reason why adulteries are so prevalent at this day, in the Christian world, is because those there are in the marriage of falsity and evil. As regards adulteries, they may be of a married man with harlots, of a man not married with another's wife, or with an undefiled virgin without the intention of taking her to wife - thus, the despoiling of virginity - or, the delight of variety; because all this destroys the conjugial. It is not so with an unmarried man who is unable to abstain altogether, and yet, from causes in the laws, cannot enter into matrimony, if he adjoins to himself a consenting prostitute, a concubine, or a mistress. But let him beware that the conjugial, which is interior love, do not enter, unless he have the purpose of taking her to wife. The former class deprive themselves of all the delight of marriage, but not the latter.
CONJUGIAL LOVE - (continued). Those men who are in conjugial love, are in such a state that they can enjoy intercourse with their wife as often as they please: the ability never fails, inasmuch as all parts of their body are in that love and, after intercourse, they are affected with joyfulness, and never with dejection, so that they are invigorated by it; but the contrary happens with those who are in adulteries. (2) The husband's love depends on the wife's love; so far as she loves such things, so far does the husband. It is the reverse in love which is not conjugial. The reason is because the former are one, and are conjoined as to interiors: this is meant by their being not twain, but one flesh. (3) Those who are in conjugial love, feel with certainty whether there is lasciviousness or not, for all lasciviousness is of adultery; but there is nothing of lasciviousness with those who are in conjugial love. This they perceive most perfectly. That sensation is from the interior. The outward act is similar to that. Adulterers feel nothing save that which is exterior, and not anything interior; when yet all spiritual delight is in interiors, and is incomprehensible to those who are not spiritual. (4) Nobody can be in conjugial love except he be spiritual, and except he acknowledge the Lord; for the ultimate cause thereof is from the Lord's marriage with heaven, and with the Church. This is its Divine-spiritual origin. (5) Since woman is born the affection of truth and good, and man the understanding of truth and good, it is hence manifest that they are conjoined as one, and that conjugial love constantly makes them one, and thus that they are loves, and images, of the Lord. (6) The effect of conjugial love is wonderful: its power may be described. (7) There is nothing at all of lasciviousness in conjugial love; although it is outwardly similar, yet it is dissimilar inwardly. (8) [I might mention] many exceedingly execrable things concerning adulteries. (9) Cerberus signifies a guard to prevent the delight of conjugial love from flowing down into hell. (10) Afterwards, [I might relate] various other things concerning adulteries. [Conjugial love] produces the delights of heaven, by communication. (11) The offspring puts on the affections of the father and mother: hence, the hereditary nature is not so malignant. The love of marriage opens heaven. The love of adultery closes heaven.
THE APARTMENTS OF HOUSES. It is a peculiarity of the apartments of houses, resulting from their situation, that the dweller, occupant, and others, in one apartment, have a different disposition from those in another. The delights are different; so that in one apartment there is the delight of studying and discharging duty; in another, the delight of going out; in another, the delight of social interaction, and in another the delight of being in the society of one's wife; in another, the delight of eating; in another, they have close communication with those who are outside, and in others a distant one. Spirits know, as of themselves, that, if they enter such an apartment, this or that thing is possible to them; and so forth, with much variety and according to their affections. This peculiarity derives its cause chiefly from the quarters, and from the inclinations to dwell in one quarter rather than in others. Also, everyone knows his own place in the apartment; which place accords with his disposition. He proceeds to it as soon as he enters; and if another appears in that place, he goes away. It is similar in the churches. This is the case in these particulars, because the greatest form and least form in the heavens are similar; so that there is an image of heaven in the single details.
GOD AS A MAN. The truly human idea concerning God, is as of a God-Man. That it is so, may be evident from these circumstances: (1) That everyone, in the other life, represents God to himself as a Man; the good especially, but also the evil. This was investigated, in the case of many, who, in the world, entertained the idea about God as of something invisible, or as of something spiritual, as it were aerial, at a great distance before the eyes. But, still, all these same persons, in the other life, see God as a Man. It was investigated and found to be so: it is because that idea is in man's spirit. There are many things in man's spirit which the man does not know are there; such as spiritual speech, the idea of space, and many others. From these facts it follows, that the idea of every single man, deeply rooted in his spirit, is of God as a Man. (2) But that idea has been destroyed in the world with those who began to think of Three Persons, and to separate the Lord's Human from them, and hence made themselves three invisible Gods; (3) [as is evident], also, from the idea of spirits who say that God is as it were something aerial, or nebulous, either bright or dark. (4) [The former idea] is destroyed, also, with those who attribute everything to nature, and consequently nothing to the Divine; these, in the spiritual world, make to themselves gods of all who excel in power, but still esteem them as men. (5) Children, the simple-minded, women, in a word all who have not destroyed that idea through the causes mentioned above, have the idea of God as of a Man. (6) The same idea remains with all gentiles, especially with Africans, who cannot conceive what a God who is not Man, is. (7) That idea was held by all the ancients, before and after the times of Abraham: they saw God as a Man, and called Him Jehovah and Creator of the Universe. (8) It existed with the gentiles in ancient times, who acknowledged many gods all of which were men; - respecting whom see the places in the Word where they are named. (9) Also, with all the Greeks and Italians; hence the Divine attributes from which their gods [take their origin] all as men, -Jupiter, Apollo, Venus, etc. (10) So, likewise, the inhabitants of other earths, respecting whom see my pamphlet. 6057-1 (11) Papists, also, in that they are willing to worship the Pope, and to acknowledge Divine power in him - and kiss his footprints - and in that they are willing to adore saints as gods. (12) The reason that this is so, is from the influx of heaven, which is received by every spirit; for heaven is the Divine in Human form: wherefore, no one can be an angel in heaven without that idea of God; on which account, the Lord is acknowledged, even by gentiles.
EVERY MAN IS IN HIS RULING LOVE, AND THUS, AS IT WERE, IN THE CENTER. It was asked by some, why it is that the evil - thus, those who have denied God - who keep quiet, cannot be in an angelic society; but they received reply, that every spirit at last comes to that place in which he may be, as it were, in his own center; for they who are above, below, and around him, in every direction, cause him to be in that place; for there is a communication and influx of affections. Wherefore, no one can, in the end, be anywhere else than in his own place, as it were in his center. Moreover, all angels and all spirits are centers for the heavenly form is one of continued centers.
THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT AMONG THE PAPISTS THEY HAVE SEPARATED THE BREAD AND WINE IN THE SACRAMENT OF THE SUPPER. There was a conversation about the Sacrament of the Supper, as to why, among the Papists, they have separated the bread and wine, and give the people the bread and drink the wine themselves; when, nevertheless, it was instituted differently by the Lord, and since this did not happen from necessity, by reason of the want of wine, inasmuch as there is wine in Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, the interior part of Germany, and Hungary: also, where wine is not produced - as in England, Holland, Sweden, Denmark, and in the part of Germany where the Reformed are - wine does not grow, and yet it is used in the Sacrament of the Supper. The Papists could not tell any reason, unless the private one that the monks, when they perform masses for the souls of the dead and attend to their other duties, may not faint under their continued labor, since they are then revived by wine. No other reason could be discovered; but it was said that this thing occurred of the Lord's Divine Providence; because, when they devastated the Church of every good and truth, they separated [the bread and the wine], because good is not good if separated from truth: it is good when in truth; nor is truth by any means truth save from good.
ZINZENDORF. After some time, I spoke with him; and he was, then, as if enfeebled in mind, because he was not received in the societies, where he wandered around. They refuted his doctrine by various arguments, and proved that there was nothing at all of truth in it, except that merit must not be placed in works. When it was said that neither should merit be placed in faith alone, and that those [who profess that] thereby exalted themselves over others, they do not answer. He was enfeebled in mind because his pride was humbled. He stated, that, when he entered gardens, he did not see any fruits, and that he saw the foliage, not green, but withered and yellow; when, nevertheless, others, who were with him, saw both fruits and green leaves, as in gardens. It signified that [he possessed] no truths. I spoke with one of the Moravians, who, being asked what he felt about evil works and adulteries, and also heinous sins, stated, that if they were indeed perpetrated, they admonish the offender to desist from them, but that, nevertheless, they are overlooked, because he holds their faith; and that if he did not desist, the evils would still be pardoned, but not to the same extent.
THE IDEA OF GOD AS A MAN. ZINZENDORF. There was discussion amongst spirits as to whether it is implanted in man to view God as a Man. Some said, that they who, in the world, viewed God, in their thought, as a little cloud, or as light, or as the inmost of nature, are not able to view God as a Man. Wherefore, this was tested with some and also, once, with Zinzendorf, and with an elder of the Moravian communion; both of whom, in the world, viewed Him, in the sight of the thought, as something cloudy. They were let into their spiritual state; and they then inquired where God the Father was, and then thought nothing else than of seeing Him as a Man. They inquired also where He was; and when they returned into their natural state with me, they regarded Him as something cloudy. Hence they were convinced that it is rooted in man's spirit to look upon God as a man. There came to Zinzendorf some of the gentiles in western India, with whom he there spoke. He talked to them concerning God, saying, at that time, that God sent His Son, who saved us from hell. They believed, because they held the idea of God as a Man; but, when they now gathered together in the spiritual world, they discerned that he had an idea of God, as being, as it were, in a cloud. Being astonished at this, they said, What is this? You think of God as not a Man? when yet they had believed that he thought of God as a Man when he spoke to them about the Lord.
ZINZENDORF AND PAUL. He [viz., Zinzendorf] was in an abstract idea, not as though he were speaking to anyone, but as if he thought in himself, or spoke with a friend who divulges nothing. He said that he could not at all think otherwise respecting the Lord than as he thought about another man, and not that He was God; and yet he said the Divine was in Him, but he meant the Divine as it is with another man: [He said], also, that He spoke in a very simple manner, and not wisely; and that Paul spoke more wisely. But it was shown him that the Lord spoke from Divine Wisdom Itself, by correspondences, exactly as He also spoke by the prophets, consequently from His own Divine; and that Paul indeed spoke from inspiration, but not in the same way as the prophets, to whom every single word was dictated but that his inspiration was that he received an influx, according to those things which were with him, which is quite a different inspiration, and has no conjunction with heaven by correspondences.
WRITINGS AND SPEECH IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. That speech and writing in the spiritual world differ entirely from the speech and languages in the world, so that there is no similarity, may be evident from these circumstances: (1) When writing is being done there, a single letter stands for an entire word, and that word a general term comprehending many things in itself; and these many things are gathered from what precedes and what follows, or from the matter itself which is being written about; say, for example, that it is bono [= by good]: the b, there, signifies glory and majesty; o, signifies along with, or among; n, signifies the evil - thus, among the evil: when it signifies among the good, there is a point above. (2) All the vowels signify something that conjoins, thus among, along with, in, or into, and so on: i, there, [i.e. in a word] signifies that which is from the interior, etc. (3) They speak in this way, too as, for example, vita [= life] signifies valley, begone, depart, and so forth. This refers to instances in which they understood nothing of their writing in the natural state, but only in the spiritual.
NEWTON. I spoke with him several times. He is a thoroughly sincere man, and is among his own, and is beloved. He told me that he now knows that the Lord is the sun of the angelic heaven, and that all light, which in its essence is Divine Intelligence, and which gives intelligence to angels and also to men, is from Him; although men are ignorant that that light enlightens the understanding, and causes them to think intelligently. He also knew that there was one Life which causes everyone to live, and that that Life appears amongst them as light, and that life is from it also, that it inflows into man's inmosts, and brings it about that it appears to man as if from himself. He also stated that, where he is, there appear colors much more brilliant than in the world, and of much greater variety; also, that the colors there originate from the modification of the Divine Light into life-receiving form in angels and men, and that from it are the varieties of understanding. Respecting the planes of colors, he spoke in this fashion: that there were. . . three: white from light, red from fire, and black from [shade]; and that all the varieties of colors arise therefrom.
THOSE WHO ARE IN FAITH SEPARATE: ALSO, WHAT THAT FAITH IS. MELANCTHON, AND THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. 6065-1 Melancthon was let out of his cell, and incited to assemble those spirits who, in the world, confessed faith alone, and with whom this was the chief thing of religion. They were assembled to the number of many thousands, and then were sent thence to a field where they might be separated, each according to his life. When they were assembled, a communication was made to them out of heaven, that that faith saves no one, for the reason that there is neither life nor truth in it. Wherefore, they inquired what truth is, and what life is. [2] It was then replied, that truth and life are to live according to the commands of the decalog: for instance, not to steal, or act insincerely and unjustly; which is the 7th 6065-2 commandment. The truth, in this case, is, that to act insincerely is a sin; that to live unjustly is a sin also, that living sincerely and acting justly is truth: thus, truth and life make one. Truth is to know evil and it is to know good; and truth is man's when he shuns evil and loves good. In like manner as regards the sixth commandment, to shun adulteries, to love the chastity of marriage: truth is, to know that adulteries are sins and it is truth that chastity is heavenly. Hence life causes truth to be; and truth is when there is also life. It is similar with not to kill, cherish hatred or take revenge. If this be shunned, a man comes to have charity. Similarly as regards the 8th, Not to witness falsely, etc. [3] From these things it is manifest that life and truth are one and so far as man does 6065-3 falsities, which consist in believing and doing those evils, so far the truth is not in him. So far, also, as he lives according to those [commandments], so far is he in truth, and so far he loves truth, and desires to know what sincerity, justice, chastity, charity and truth are; and, inasmuch as he is then led by the Lord, it is granted him to know what evil and good are, and what those specific [evils and goods]. [4] These things, therefore, are truth, which is faith. Faith, apart from these, is a sounding word, and has nothing of articulation, or voice, in the sound. It is sound inarticulated, consequently, not a word. [5] In this, and no other way, is he able to believe that God is, that the Lord is the Savior of the world, why He came into the world, why He suffered the cross, what is meant by His having borne the sins of the world, and many other things; for, so far as a man practices those precepts which belong to the second table, which was the covenant on man's part, so far does the Lord grant him to believe that God is, which is the covenant of the first table, which is on the part of God. That the decalog is the complex of all things of truth and good, is hence plain, and also from the fact that it was promulgated with such a miracle and with such solemnity, that the ten commandments were written by the finger of God, that they are called ten from the fact that they are all, and that they were placed in the ark, upon which was the mercy-seat, and above that, the cherubim. The mercy-seat is the Lord; and the cherubim were the Word in the letter - also the veil placed in front and it was called the Holy of Holies. Outside these, were all things of heaven and the Church in a representative image. There, was the table with the shew-bread; there, was the golden altar of incense there, was the candlestick with the lamps: by all which were represented all things belonging to heaven. That Church, also, was a representative one and, inasmuch as the Divine Law in its whole complex was in it, therefore there was a fire there by night, and a cloud by day. The fire signified love, and the cloud truth. Hence it was, that all the Levites, together with Aaron, pitched their tents round the ark, and that Aaron ministered there; likewise, that the ark showed them the way when they went forward; for the very truth, which is of faith, when it is living, leads. Afterwards, that ark divided the Jordan, by which is meant, entrance into the Church: the land of Canaan signifies the church. And afterwards, also, it wrought miracles, and was introduced into the city of David, by which is signified the Church in which Divine Truth reigns. The pattern of it was seen and exhibited in heaven, and the Lord there spoke, between the Cherubim, with Moses and Aaron. [6] When I know these things, then I know what faith is, what love, what religion, and what the Church and heaven in man. Otherwise, not. [7] This, therefore, is to think about God in the life, since [no one is able] to think about God in the life in any other way; and this, also, is to love God. This, too, is to begin from life and to receive faith thus; and thus faith is from life and according to it. This, likewise, is love to God and love towards the neighbor. Hence is plain what the conjunction of love and faith is.
THE PROVINCE OF THE NECK. That they who are diligent constitute the province of the neck was manifested from D[octor] Heygart, who was busy in transcribing various things: by diligence, moreover, communication of the head with the body takes place.
THE INDO-CHINESE. I was in bed, and slept sweetly and most deliciously for 6 hours, or more; and, when I awoke, there were, above me, at a distance, Chinese, sitting there, as the Indians are wont to do with the feet crossed; and I was told that angels spoke wisely to them about God and about His marvelous [attributes], and that they were so delighted at this, that the were in the tranquillity of peace. Others were unable to approach, because it was a spiritual-celestial [sphere]. When I had awaked, the company withdrew.
ZINZENDORF. I spoke with a certain one and he said [that] they who practice charity, or the Divine commands, on account of God, and at the same time with a view to heaven, are utterly damned, and that it is better for Sodom and Gomorrah than for them. He afterwards said, that it is no harm for a man to live in sins, even the graver ones, inasmuch as God has then an opportunity for mercy; and that all things are of mercy. [He also said] that, if another had taken on himself the passion of the cross, he would have been accepted for the Son of God, if Jesus Christ had not been willing and that He is the adoptive Son of God, born, in fact, in order to become so, but that He said that it was of His own will.
WHAT THE SPIRITUAL IS. The spiritual may think what is the nature and extent of the Natural. Thus the Spiritual is not finited and bounded, as the Natural is. There are in the spiritual world, numbers, measures, spaces, times, and materials, and those there also see them: they see spaces and materials, and perceive times; they have names for numbers and measures; but they think of those things from quality, as, also, [what they] signify. - It was perceived that the Spiritual cannot, by any means, be thought of naturally, but yet that it inflows into the Rational-natural, as cause into effect.
THE DRAGON. There was a preacher at the Hague. He was of the doctrine of faith alone. He appeared to others exactly like a dragon, and also seemed to stand in front of a woman who was, as it were, bringing forth, in the desire of devouring the offspring when it should come forth. The Lord's Church, which is the New Jerusalem, was representatively portrayed by the woman, and its Doctrine by the offspring.
POLHEM. He meditated much, just as in the world, but yet in a material manner, because his thought was engaged only in Mechanics and Physics, which he applied to mechanical appliances in certain things. He was also such after death. He there applied himself to the appearances and objects of sight which are there; and hence invented many magical things. In these he was a better workman than others. He made statues in various ways, and also tables, of such things as corresponded to the affections, and adapted them more diligently than others; by which things communication was given with certain societies of the lowest heaven. This was allowed him for the sake of the purgation of those societies; and he so constructed these things, that the evil in the societies sometimes communicated replies to them. Hence it happened, that he was cast [into] an exceedingly dark hell, where he was deprived of that inventiveness.
IDLENESS - USE - HEN[RIK] BENZELSTIERNA. 6072-1 It was made known to me by experience, that idleness is the devil's pillow, because idleness is like a sponge which draws to itself dirty water of various sorts, inasmuch as he who is in idleness, speaks, and therefore thinks, about all things in the world, pure and impure, and hence receives the devil of all impure things - since man inclines to these things and there is not anything to drive them away. Only the love of uses repels them for this holds the mind in its delight, and thus regards all other things as outside itself. This was seen in the case of H[enrik] B[enzelstierna], who loved ease. Owing to his delight in it, he attracted to himself very many evils, and suffered himself to be led by the delights thereof, thus by the spirits who were in them.
THE NECK-BAND (NECKTIE 6073-1). There was a certain one, who, in his youth, had read the Word diligently, but afterwards, because he did not understand it, banished it from the mind, saying to himself that moral or natural theology is a, better teacher. Wherefore, he fell into that opinion, and forsook the Word. He came to angels and the angels said, What is the use of the Word and that moral life apart from theological life, does not effect any use, does not purify from evils, and by itself does not conduce to life eternal. He, on hearing this, assented; wherefore a neckband was given him by the angels - a white neck-tie; 6073-2 delighted with which, he returned home. But that necktie made him almost unable to see. The cause was inquired into; and it was stated that it was because he had burst asunder the bond between heavenly and moral things, and that, consequently, with that band on, he was not able to see, but only without it; because those things which are of heaven and the church constitute the head; and moral and natural things constitute the body; and the neck constitutes their conjunction. Hence was manifest what the neck signifies, and what that which clothes it.
ZINZENDORF. He was with me for several days, and heard and perceived what they who were with me from the Lord [thought] about charity and faith, and what befell those who, in doctrine and in life, are in faith alone, [namely], that they are in a wretched condition and, further, that there is not any faith where there is not charity: it was also told him what charity is. On being told, he was amazed as, also, at the fact that the whole Word is the Lord. He saw this; also, [that he had been in error in believing] that the propheticals were nothing, 6074-1 and many other things; he was also grieved that he did not know this in the world; and being sent to one of the same communion, he told him that he may now do as he will, that it is not as they believe in the world, and withdrew. I conversed with him about the three great errors: (1) that the Lord is the adoptive Son of God - by which he denied that His Divine is from Himself; (2) that they discarded the Word of the Old Testament, and read the Evangelists with a certain contempt, esteeming only the epistles of Paul; (3) that they have quite excluded from religion, and almost condemned, the works of charity. It was also shown that all who so do, close heaven against themselves. He believed that he was enlightened; but it was shown him that enlightenment is not conferred, while those three errors are entertained.
MERIT IN GOOD WORKS. Good works take place with merit, and they take place without merit, as may be illustrated by the person who holds an office, and who performs his duty for the sake of merit: it is in order to obtain applause, thus for the sake of reputation, and honor and future promotion, or for the sake of gain; but, if he can have these things without the performance of his duty, he does so. But he who does not place merit in it, does it on account his obligation, because it belongs to his office. In this lies concealed the fear of God, and also love of the community but in the former is the love of self and the world. Also take as an example, a workman. One does his work because it is of his religion, and hence because he is under obligation, to do it: this is his end; but another does it merely to obtain applause and to be better thought of, solely that he may profit thereby. The latter places merit therein, the former not. The former, like the other, accepts any fame, honor and profit but to such ones these things are additions from the Lord.
THE QUAKERS. In addition to what has been previously disclosed, which are their abominations regarding their wives and sexual intercourse, it is also added that they preach the New Testament, because He [i.e. the Lord] was born of the Holy Spirit, and [say] that they are, likewise; and hence that they speak from the Holy Spirit as much as He, and that they are in the Holy Spirit when they eat; and that, when others are eating, they infuse the Holy Spirit into their feasts, and also that, in this way, there is the sanctification and proving of others, whether they are of them, and are able to enter among them.
THE INHABITANTS OF TARTARY CLOSE TO CHINA - LESSER TARTARY. There were some from that country with me. They came while I was asleep and I slept tranquilly. On my awakening, they noticed that they were not at home, but somewhere else. They wondered where they were, because they did not recognize such things as were in the world of spiritual things, as at all like [those they were accustomed to seeing]. They spoke of the country where they lived, that it was populous, and that they knew nothing about war. They knew of China and of Siberia. They said that, with them, he governs who is able to govern, and if he is not able, he is dismissed with a fine. They accord him no other honor than as a wise man who can tell them whether this or that is just. They stated that they are all engaged in their labors at home, in making clothes, in cultivating the land, and the like. When they came, they marveled that they should be questioned by Christians as to God being a man; inasmuch as they believed that all knew this, without any question whether it be so. In like manner respecting the precepts of the Decalog for example, regarding only one wife, whether they live so, as if they did not know that everyone so lived, since the Lord wills it, etc. They stated that they have houses, where they are taught about life, and about the commandments of God. - They said that they had a book, respecting which people elsewhere do not know that they have it. They called it the Divine Book: they read this, and are instructed by it and understand it. Inquiry was made, and it was the Psalms of David. They said that strangers are indeed admitted among them, but they do not give them the means of going away. They give them necessary food; and if one wishes to work, he is accepted. They also possess the Decalog. They call the Chinese their friends, because they are of their race: they do not think of wars, in their country. They have some fear of Siberia, but say that they have nothing, and that, if they came, they would at once surrender to them; but still they would all go away with their belongings, unawares to them.
ZINZINDORF. I asked him what he thinks about those who are justified by their faith. He said that they are no longer able to do any evil, because it is not looked upon as evil by God, and that, even though they commit an enormous evil, it is not imputed to them if they return to faith. I heard him saying why they are so furious against those who are in charity. He said, that this is abominable, because they steal from God the things which are God's, claiming to themselves merit, which is God's alone, and that this is the sin of sins.
THE PATHWAY OF FAITH, OR FROM IT, INTO THE WILL. I conversed with spirits about the pathway of faith; that it proceeds from the affection of truth to the perception of truth, consequently from the understanding to the thought, and afterwards either remains in the memory, or [proceeds] from the memory, thus, from the understanding immediately into the speech, but is not appropriated to man unless he advances from understanding to agent: thus it comes into the will. If it is something to be done, it comes into the intention, thus into the will, and into act; so that [the sequence] is, love, affection of truth, perception of the understanding, assent or intention, will, and action or speech. I said to spirits that to go from faith to good works is to go in inverted order: as, for example, when one provides himself with decorations and utensils of various kinds, and places them in a room the windows of which are blocked up, they do not appear, unless a flame be brought in. A flame gives light, so that all those things appear; otherwise, they are indeed there, but in darkness. Love, or affection, is the flame faith is the light from it; and without spiritual faith, which is the light of life, nothing lives, or is in a light which endures.
THE LORD'S INFLUX INTO MAN'S HONORS AND GAINS - SHUNNING EVILS. The Lord is always present with man, and urges that good and truth may be received. But, with those who had not shunned evils, that influx is turned into their proprial loves - which are of the love of self and the world - which are called forth; and thus the Lord leads men of the world by their proprial affections; so that man turns the influx of good, or love, in himself, into such things. He who does not shun evils, is inwardly in himself bowed down with evils, and outside himself is obsessed by such spirits as relate to his love; consequently, the Lord is unable to reach the man, because goods are turned into such things.
THE MORAVIANS AND ZINZENDORF. The Moravians, who believed that they, more than all communication in the world, were the living and the saved, on that account mounted on high, as usually happens, and were there divided into several societies. But, inasmuch as they desired to have dominion over the rest, they looked down and attached themselves to a certain devil, through whom they forced others, who did not acknowledge their religiosity, to obedience, even wishing to torture those who did not receive it. But, when their time came, they were cast down, successively, to lower places, and were compelled to enter a cavern which they entered, complaining that they were surprised that they have not food as the rest have, nor adornments for the house. But as, on account of deprivation of food, and other adversities, they were unable to stay there, they were let out, and the greatest part of them driven forth into desert places, where they live wretchedly. On their expressing astonishment at this, they were told that the reason was that they had rejected the three veriest essentials of the Church and of heaven: (1) the Divine of the Lord; (2) the Word of the prophets - they had, also, despised the Evangelists; and (3) the works of charity, which they had utterly rejected from themselves, and blasphemed; and, since theme three have been rejected, they have their portion, not with the blessed but with the miserable. Zinzendorf saw this and he desires to recede, laboring earnestly, as he sees their calamity, to be able to do so.
JERUSALEM AND THE TEMPLE AFTER THE CAPTIVITY. The building of the temple commenced in the year 72 after the captivity; completed as to the interior portions in 91, 94. Jerusalem built, 163. Haman wishes to massacre the Jews, 215. The Temple is pillaged, 439. The Jews are driven to idols by Antiochus, 441. The Temple cleansed, 444. Alcimus begins to destroy the Temple wall, 449. Hyrcanus, Anstabulus, Alexander Jannieus reign in Judea, 504, 505, 506. Aristabulus (II.), till 542. Pompey takes Jerusalem, 545. Antigonus takes possession of Judea, 568. Herod is then declared king of Judea, 568. Herod besieges and reduces Jerusalem, 571, 572. Augustus sets about building the Temple, 586. The building of the Temple finished, Herod celebrates the dedication, 595. The Temple polluted by the Samaritans, 615. The building of the Temple discontinued, 631. The Lord is born, 605.
HIEROGLYPHICS. Trismegistus, living in Egypt in the time of Moses as is supposed, is believed to have invented the mode of expressing ideas of the mind by images of beasts, which are called Hieroglyphics.
THE SPEECH OF THE THIRD HEAVEN. I conversed with spirits about angelic speech, and said that spiritual speech cannot be at all understood by anyone who is in a natural state; but that natural speech can be understood by spirits who are in a spiritual state, though only according to correspondences - and likewise the reverse, but, in that case, spiritual speech falls into natural. Hence it is, that man does not know anything about the spirits amongst whom he is, nor a spirit know anything about the man with whom he is. They were told that the spiritual angels are not able to understand celestial speech, or that of the angels of the third heaven, because their speech is the speech of affections. As this occasioned surprise, an angel from that heaven spoke with them, and they did not understand anything at all; by which was established that the angels of the third heaven have a higher speech.
THE OPERATION OF THE UNDERSTANDING AND OF THE WILL, THUS OF FAITH AND OF LOVE. The appearance, which is a fallacy, is, that the understanding acts upon the will, or faith upon love, and produces it. But it was shown to many that this is not so. Spirits not good fully understood their own evils, reasoned against them, and called themselves fools; but they were then in understanding, resulting from the affection of being distinguished for intelligence. As soon, however, as they were let into the evils of their will, their understanding was insane. This was repeated several times and it always so fell out; so that they confessed that the understanding merely teaches, and does not produce the will, but the will the understanding. That such is the appearance is clear. It appears as though the sight of the eye leads the feet in walking so as not to stumble, and the hands to act and work; when, yet, the eye only teaches and does not produce. The action of the feet and hands are the will's; and the sight of the eye is the understanding's; and there is a full correspondence. But he who believes that fallacy, and yet lives aright, suffers no harm for, in the spiritual world, there are many such who are blessed. When they, however, come to the second or third heaven, they are instructed and see [how the case is]. Nor can the matter be believed differently, not only on account of the appearance, but also on account of the received faith, that it [viz., faith] produces works. They liken faith to a tree, and fruit to works. But this is fallacious. By a tree is meant man, and by branches, boughs and leaves, faith; and by fruits, good works. Man is what produces.
SPIRITUAL LIGHT IS DIVINE WISDOM. Worldly spirits do not perceive this, because they have their idea from the light of the world; but it was shown them that it is so. A certain one who was in doubt about that matter, inasmuch as he was as much in light as the others, who were not worldly, was told, that he does not see there from his own light, but from theirs. Wherefore, when their light was removed, he was left to his own light and was in darkness. He was afterwards let into a place where there were worldly [spirits], who, although not in the light of heaven, still saw. . When he came thither, he at first saw nothing; he afterwards saw as they did - for his eyes were adapted to darkness, as is the case with certain birds which see at night; and, then, he saw as if in the light. Nevertheless, he was shown that it has not spiritual light. He was brought back to the former place, where there was spiritual light; and then he did not see until the former sight was removed.
QUEEN CHRISTINA. She dwelt in a house, which was quite elegant and splendid from such things as were within [meubler 6087-1]. There were servants there to attend upon her, but not altogether her own - still, sufficient for politeness. She is in a certain spiritual world which corresponds to spinning. Thither went C[harles] XII, in order to talk; and at length they went out. It was through a spacious, paneled gallery. Immediately afterwards, she told how she conversed with the Cardinals in Rome; which was in a familiar way with all kinds of pleasantries, always bantering them, as it were, yet understandingly, by various devices, whereby she represented many things which charmed [their] minds: she wished, for example, [persons] to appear naked before them; to which they replied, saying, that this could not be, and would be unbecoming. She said, that it was becoming, because to go naked is always to appear in pure truths; to which they assented. She showed in various ways what sort she was. She next related various things, how she conversed with the Pope, whom, also, she sometimes pleased by her ways; and, being asked what she thought of Christ, she replied that He was the High Pope; to which he replied that He was not, because He gave the power to Peter, and thus to him. He said that [she] affirmed this of the Son of God, by whom he meant the human from the mother; but she replied that [He is] the Son of God from eternity, who is equal to the Father, and, since the Father was above the Pope, He was also. To this, the Pope, on reflection, could make no reply: nevertheless, he wished her not to tell others; but, still, [she] insisted that it could not be otherwise. - After this, she spoke with the Cardinals, and told them to swear themselves upon the creed of Athanasius. They said they had sworn it before; but she compelled them, by her pleasant ways, to affirm it yet again with a certain oath - which was done. She then said, that it is there laid down that His Divine was in His Human, like the soul in the body, and that thus it is One Person; and then she strenuously insisted that they must not separate them, - that, since the body apart from its soul is not a man, there is not anything that could give anything; consequently, that His soul had given what was its own [to His body], inasmuch as they are one; and that thus the Son of God, as respects both [soul and body], is not able to give away what He still possesses. Today, also, she bantered the Cardinals, nor were they able to reply. They confessed that the Lord, since the Divine and Human constitute one Person, was above the Pope, and ought to be so acknowledged. They gave way to her, and assented; for she fascinated them by those pleasantries and her familiar talk, because she was a queen. She also told the Cardinals that the papal power is Divine, since, according to their doctrine, it was given to the Son, who also was God, and who was able to receive it because He was God and the Only begotten Son; but to bestow Divine Power on a man who is not God, this the understanding does not accept. She also asked what is meant by the Rock [Petram]. The Pope replied that it was the Lord and so forth.
FOOD IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. They eat and drink there, just as in the natural world; but all food there is from a spiritual origin: wherefore, it is not obtained beforehand, but is given daily. When it is dinner-time, and also when it is supper-time, a table furnished with viands appears while the meal-time lasts, and disappears when they have dined, or supped. All spirits whatsoever, are supplied with food according to their employments - rulers sumptuously; with much pomp, the magnificence of which cannot be described; the rest less sumptuously according to their condition. Be it observed that everyone is provided with food according to the labors which he performs. He who has no employment, business and work, does not receive food, but begs. I have seen grandees thus begging, because they were unwilling to do any work; also, women of rank. - I have seen grandees who lived magnificently in the world, provided only with bread and milk; and, when they complained that there was nothing more, they were told that they do no work, and food is not given to the slothful and those who pass the time in idleness. By this means, they are reduced to the performance of some mean employment, in order to receive sustenance. - Moreover, they go to such as work, and by begging eat with them; but this does not last long. - Bread can be bought in the places where such ones are, but not every kind of food. The reason is, because certain ones wish to be paid for the labors which they do, and because, [if] they thus work, the wages can be spent in buying bread. - But there is no buying except with such as are good. - To those in such duties, bread comes gratuitously. Besides other like things. All in the hells are forced to work and those who do not work receive neither food, nor garments, nor bed. Thus are they driven into labors. The reason is, because idleness is the root of all wickedness; for, in idleness, the mind is spread out to various evils and falsities; but, in work, it is held to one thing. Food cannot be kept till the morrow: worms breed in it, as in the manna. This is signified in the Lord's prayer: "Give us daily bread," and also by the circumstance that nothing of the paschal lamb, nor of the sacrifices, was to be laid by till the morrow. Inasmuch as the food is from a spiritual origin, and so is in itself spiritual, and since spirits and angels are men, and are furnished with a spiritual body, therefore such spiritual nourishment is adequate for them. A spiritual being is, therefore, nourished in this spiritual manner, and a material man materially. As all things that appear in the spiritual world correspond to the affections, and to the thoughts of the understanding thence, their houses, garments, fields, gardens, paradises do so - all of which, likewise, are from a spiritual origin; and good affection, together with the thought of the understanding of truth, cannot exist in idleness, but is dispersed. Therefore, food does not exist otherwise than according to correspondences; and, moreover, the works of those who are in hell have correspondences with the heavens, but not the infernal spirits themselves; as was the case with the Israelitish and Jewish nation, who, although they were evil, yet their representative worship nevertheless corresponded - respecting which correspondence of those things, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 6088-1 no. [248] Their food was seen as manifestly as the like food in our world. The food is of every kind, and also of every variety of luxuriousness. There are also table decorations which cannot be described in natural language.
THE COUNCIL OF TRENT. The decrees of that council were confirmed by bull, in 1564, in November of that year. (1) That Holy Scripture is not to be explained and interpreted by any, save by the Church. (2) That the seven Sacraments are, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Repentance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony. (3) That the body and blood are truly, really, and substantially in the Eucharist, together with the soul and Divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that there takes place a turning of the whole substance of the bread into the body, and of the whole substance of the wine into the blood - which they call conversion and transubstantiation. (4) That souls detained in purgatory are benefited by the suffrages of friends. (5) That the saints reigning with Christ should be venerated and invoked. (6) That honors and veneration are to be paid to images. (7) That the Pope is the successor of Peter, the chief of the apostles, and the Vicar of Jesus Christ. The following are from the bull: That the saints reigning with Christ, offer their prayers for men to God, and that it is for this reason good and profitable to invoke them in prayer, and, on account of the benefits obtained from God by His Son Jesus Christ, who is our only Redeemer and Savior, to have recourse to their prayers, assistance and help; but that those think wickedly who deny that the saints enjoying eternal happiness in heaven are to be invoked, or who assert, either that they do not pray for men, or that the invoking of them to pray also for each one of us is idolatrous, or that it is repugnant to the Word of God and opposed to the honor of the one Mediator of God and men, Jesus Christ, or that it is folly to supplicate, orally or mentally, those who are reigning in heaven. Concerning Justification by faith, and Sanctification by it, the Catholics entertain almost similar opinions with the Reformed. There is not much difference.
SPIRITUAL LANGUAGE OR SPEECH. That spiritual language, or speech, has nothing at all in common with human languages, was manifest to me from the words of that language, which cannot be in the least understood by any man; and yet, nevertheless, every man comes into that language, after death, of his own accord; so that it is implanted in his spiritual man, but not in the natural. This may be evident from these two words - they say, vita vella, which signifies, Let him be afar off and depart quickly; and from the word, scapuleja, which signifies, to cast out of doors. I have not yet been taught whence the words of that language originate. They take up the words, not from the sound of affection, but from the significations of the vowels and consonants: the ideas of thought fall into such unfoldings of the lips. - Their writing differs from the speech.
GENEVIEVE [Genoveva]. She sometimes appears to the Parisians, at a middle elevation above, and in splendid clothing, and with a face of as it were Divine holiness, and beautiful. She is beheld by many; and there are some who wish to invoke her. Then her face is changed, and she becomes like another woman, and chides them, saying that they are forbidden to be worshippers of men and women - and this till they are ashamed. She says, also, that she ranks with ordinary women, and is held in no more estimation than any other woman; that she is in a certain society where she is not known, being held in small esteem there; and that she knows nothing at all about those who are in the world, still less hears or perceives anything, marveling that men of the world are taken in by such nonsense. She says, also, that she is not among the better ones; and that whoever wishes to be greater than others becomes meaner than others; and that it does harm to many to be canonized, because, when they hear of it, they are puffed up owing to hereditary evil, and begin to be proud, and are removed from where they are to some place where they do not know themselves, as to who they were in the world.
I heard from a certain Pope, that he has spoken with all who have been made saints, of both sexes, and that, with the exception of two, he had not seen one of them in heaven, and these two abhor invocation. The greatest part do not know who they are: some are as it were silly.
THREE PERSONS OF THE DIVINITY. I compelled certain spirits to speak out, or express themselves, concerning the one God, just as they think. Those who are spiritual, and [whose] thoughts fall into their speech and produce it, could not, at that time, when they would say one God, pronounce "one God" with the lips. They folded the lips into various shapes, and wanted to force it out; but in vain.
IN THE TOUCH OF THE HAND THERE IS AFFECTION FROM THOUGHT. It has been made known to me, by living experience, that, in the touch of the hand there is affection together with thought. I touched an angel with my hand, and the angel stated, that, from the touch alone, he perceived [my] affection and the associated thought. Hence is manifest, whence it comes that those in the spiritual world are engaged in labors: it is because, by means of the hand, in work, thought is determined to something living. This, also, is why the Lord touched many people, and why inauguration into the priesthood takes place by the touch of the hand upon the head - and many things besides.
THE AFRICANS. They appear in striped linen garments. Their women likewise [in striped garments] but silken. They, more than others, imbibe truths from ardent desire. They call this being fed; for, when they are in the desire of those [truths], they go forth and search for food. This is innate in them, as is manifest from their infants, in that they frequently tell their nurses that they want to eat; and, when food is given, they examine whether it agrees, and this from correspondence; and, after they have eaten, they again ask to eat; from which is manifest that it is spiritual hunger which effects it. - They [i.e. the Africans] say that they are indeed permitted by the civil law to take two or three wives; but they say that yet they take but one, for the reason that love which is distributed among many is external, and hence lascivious, but with one wife, is internal, and truly conjugial. They know in what state of spiritual intelligence they are, by looking at a sword. If it glitters, it is a sign of the reception of truth in abundance, with a difference according to the brightness. - They said that monks sometimes penetrate to them but they then hear what they know, and when they find that it is nothing but rubbish, they inquire what the monks are useful for; and, when they are not serviceable in labors, or in managing anything, they are sold for slaves, and they are then allowed by their law to chastise them and, if they cannot then be compelled to perform anything useful, they sell them for a small price to the lower classes.
CONJUGIAL LOVE: A SYNOPSIS. I. N. B. - In the Divine sense, it is the marriage of love and wisdom in the Lord: hence the two [partners] are an image of the Lord. II. 1. The marriage of the Lord with Heaven and the Church. III. 2. The marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth. IV. 3. Heaven is called a marriage - and the church, also. V. 4. The Word is a marriage, because it is Divine Good united with Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord. VI. 5. Man, male and female, or husband and wife, are especially that marriage. That marriage is in every single thing in nature. VII. 6. Conjugial love is the fundamental of all loves. VIII. 7. Conjugial love is a heavenly love. IX. 8. Conjugial love is not possible, save between two. X. 9. Two married partners are continually being united, and according to the unition, potency and delight increase. XI. 10. Adultery is the union of the devil and those who are adulterers. It is the union of evil and falsity. XII. Hell is adultery, and evil, also. There cannot be found any who say it is in themselves. XIII. The adulteration of the good of the Word, and the falsification of its truth, is adultery: many things about this. XIV. Adultery is opposed to creation. XV. Adultery is the fundamental love of all evils. XVI. Adultery is the commingling of many lives in one. XVII. Potency diminishes, and aversion takes place; it also becomes common, unaccompanied by any sensation, and, at last, there is aversion. XVIII. What sort of whoredoms the adulteries which destroy conjugial love are. XIX. The various kinds of adulteries: see immediately above. MARRIAGE AND ADULTERY. XX. To acknowledge charity and not faith, is adultery of a brother and a sister. XXI. Man is formed by conjugial love, to be a form of love, whence come all the remaining heavenly loves. XXII. The destruction of that form is from adulteries. XXIII. Hell is adultery. XXIV. The following things correspond to the acts of adulteries there: XXV. Those who worship only the Father, and think nothing of the Lord's Divine, are in the adultery as of a brother with a sister. XXVI. Those who are in faith alone, are in the adultery as of a mother with a son. XXVIII. 6096-1 Those who are in the mere sense of the letter, and study that for the sake of honor only, are in the adultery of a father with a daughter-in-law. XXIX. Those who are in the highest degree of the love of ruling from the love of self, and not for the sake of use, are in Sodom. XXX. Those who are in the delight of variety of adultery, are such as love commerce with beasts and they become like the mucus of the nostrils. XXXI. [I learned] by experience, in the night time, from those in faith alone who were in an expanse above, that those same things which are in the creed of faith separated, are turned into various foul whoredoms.
LUTHER AND MELANCTHON. Since Luther, and afterwards Melancthon, began to make disturbances roundabout in defending faith separated, they were therefore borne down from the spiritual world to their own places, according to life, where they do not know who they are. This occurred on the 30th day of December, 1763.
AN ENGLISH BISHOP. A Bishop wished to see me for the purpose of refuting those things which have been written concerning faith separated; and he saw me. He said, that, in England, they would, indeed, receive the first work, 6098-1 concerning the Lord, and also the position that a New Church is meant by the New Jerusalem; the second work, too, concerning the Sanctity of the Word, and likewise the third, concerning the Doctrine of Life; but that they would utterly reject the fourth, concerning Faith. And then I began to reason with him about justification by that faith; and at length, being convinced he acknowledged that unless the fourth work, concerning Faith, were received, the three former would come to naught, besides many other things. But that Bishop, who died three years before, disclosed what art he employed to nullify those things which were written previously concerning Heaven and Hell, 6098-2 and the rest, both in the House of Lords [apud Mylords] and by the priests at Oxford; also, that he accomplished this, so that nothing is now heard of them. Moreover, that Bishop, inasmuch as he had confirmed himself in faith alone, and, consequently, possessed nothing of spiritual faith, because nothing of charity, was conjoined with societies of hell; wherefore, also, he became a magician, and abused correspondences there, - by which means, such ones are able to appear as if spiritual. I saw him ascending towards heaven with a bundle of wood on his back, and, afterwards, with an infant in his arms which he adorned with many beautiful representatives of good and truth. He changed the bundle of wood into the infant, and, by means of phantasies, caused it to shine; and thus it seemed no otherwise than that it was that. But at the entrance to heaven he was recognized, and sent back to his own; who were all priests, and had confirmed themselves in the same thing. Wood corresponds to good. - But they were all immediately separated, according to life, and according to confirmation of faith separate. I asked them whether they would permit me to recite to them the words which are read in the exhortation before the Communion, that if they do not abstain from sin and repent of the sins there mentioned, the devil would enter into them as into Judas; but they besought me not to recite those words to them: it is enough that they repeat them in church, and believe them at the time. That bishop said that there is no sin. He said that not even adultery was sin, - which, also, he persuaded a wife. Many others said the like, [namely,] that sins did not exist, because the Lord had taken them away, and because there is not any condemnation to those who are justified by that faith. He afterwards appeared like a viper, and was cast into hell. They were in the west quarter of London; and many were sent forth.
COCCEIUS AND VOETIUS. I spoke with Cocceius, who was with me for several days; and I said many things to him about repentance - both from the exhortation before the Holy Supper, and also from the Decalog and from the Creed of Athanasius, - to the effect that man ought to shun evils as sins; and he was convinced, for he could not deny it. But, still, he insisted that this is not a matter of doctrine, and that his doctrine was the very doctrine of the Church. I spoke to him out of the Word; but he said that he saw those things in the Word, but that they relate to faith. On being examined as to doctrine, it was stated by him and by his followers, that he preached the mysteries of faith more constantly and more deeply than others; that [he went] beyond justification to interior effort, saying, that the operation of the Holy Spirit works through faith received as far as the will, but that, on arriving at the will, it elevated itself so as not to touch any part of the will of man, and took its exit on the left, above the will, and thus purified man of his evils. Besides other mysteries which he fashioned, he made out the human will, in his idea, to be as it were a plane of filth, above which the Divine influx operated, and from which it elevated itself so as not to touch any part of it, for thus man would mix himself up with the Divine operation. In this way, he excluded all man's externals, saying, that these were then pure, from the internal influx, and that their evil was dispersed, and they were consequently, nothing else than good, and things similar to the internals appeared in the sight of God. To the question whether or not man should perform repentance, he said that this is the reply: it is no harm if it be done for the sake of the public good, but if for the sake of salvation it is damnable. I spoke to him about that faith; but he said it is the true faith; but, yet, in his idea, he was unwilling to think of the Lord, but about the Father only, [believing] that the whole of salvation depends on Him, and nothing of it on the Lord. When I said that He had taught that He has all power in heaven and on earth, and that He is one with the Father, he was silent, being unwilling to say anything. In like manner, when I said that God and man, in the Lord, according to the faith of Athanasius, is one Person, he said he had not heard this before, therefore that he had not read [that Creed]. He says that he has an idea solely of the Father, and none respecting the Lord's Divine. Thus he, himself, had denied; but, still, he had not disclosed the fact to others. He was an out and out Socinian at heart. It was proved to him, by many statements from the Word respecting the Lord, that the Father and He are one, and that He is the Jehovah of the Prophets; but he replied, that he abides in his own theology, and does not wish to see those declarations there. He was transferred to a certain society in heaven and, when he opened his mysteries, it was shown him that the thing he set forth was absurd, yea ridiculous, and was mere phantasy. It seems as though he is becoming profane. He has also conjoined himself with a woman who is profane. His followers, most of whom were priests, who not only imbibed his principles, but also taught them, were collected together and were scattered abroad. Those more learned than the rest, are prelates; and the most learned, therefore, and most renowned in his country, is Cocceius. But, on investigation being made whether any of the laity and of the councilors knew anything about his theology, they said that they knew nothing at all, save that he and his followers were more learned and scholarly than others. The priests and professors are divided into Cocceians and Voetians. Voetius lived 100 years before, and Cocceius 110. I spoke with Cocceius himself. He said, that, at first, he was among his priests from Holland, and, as is customary, lived quite well, but that he was afterwards taken away to a little stone chamber. It was a house, or hut, of one apartment, with windows in it. He sits alone, having no servant, or wife, and prepares papers, which are taken by others. He said that, round about, there is nothing but gravel, and pebbles, and stones heaped up, with scanty grass interspersed; and that he has some communication with certain ones of a like character in the world of spirits, and also some with the Moravians. He said that he acknowledged the Divine Trinity, but that, when he thought upon the Father, the rest, to him, were not anything. He also still writes something in his solitude, but frequently exclaims, I will demonstrate this, I know this, I will demonstrate this. I asked whether he was able to demonstrate it. He said that he knows, or from his idea perceives, that the thing is so. I inquired whether there were not many in his desert. He said there was an immense number, and that their huts were scattered and very little frequented. This desert is towards the front, at the right hand side, or in front of the desert of those who are in faith alone. Sometimes he goes away further and to a greater distance, somewhat into another desert, where dwell such of the Christians as had indeed read the Word, but did not know its doctrine; and, inasmuch as they rejected the goods of charity, or good works, like those who have not any religion, very many of them are in that desert of the Cocceiaus. None of them have any religion; for religion is of life and thence of faith, and not of faith separate, which is no religion. - I asked them again about their religiosity. They stated that the Divine operation is towards the plane of the will, but that it raises itself therefrom, and hence those things which are of man's will do not appear in the sight of God; also, that they are dissipated when man dies, and that their faith effects this. They said that man has evils, but they are not sins in the sight of God, but evils against their fellows and the commonwealth. I told them that they were well aware, from their exhortation before the Holy Supper, that a man ought to examine himself, to see and confess his sins, and refrain from them, and that he who does not do so, profanes the Holy Supper; also, that they have no remission of sins in any other way, and they knew that, without remission of sins, there is no Salvation. To this they answered nothing, save that they did not think about this when they read out that exhortation. I said, also, that the Old Testament, and the New also, teach nothing else than love, good-will, works, deeds, doing, thus life; and I asked whether it is possible for men to be Christians, when they do away with the whole Word by the doctrine of their faith. They said that they saw such things in the Word, but said to themselves that they are embraced in their faith. I spoke with some of the Voetians who said that their belief is that the Divine operation goes as far as the will, and touches it; that still, however, it does not so excite man's will that it does anything of itself, but that, nevertheless, a secret inclination to do good is experienced, and everything that proceeds from that, unawares to the man, is of God; but what is from man's will, he knowing of it, is not of God, thus not good. That influx, and inclination therefrom, they call an impulse of good. They also say that everything that is done in secret is from man, and does not appear to God and hence they do not think of evil regarded as sin, but only of evil against their fellows and the commonwealth. I asked the Voetians why they wish the Sabbath to be kept holy. They said that they desire external observances, which are liked by the multitude, in order to catch the favor, or confidence, of the people; from this there is the appearance that they are zealous for doing good: the simpler ones said, because the doing of good is commanded in the Word. Most of the laity said that they know nothing at all about this theology of theirs: when any ask whether good is to be done, they say it is to be done, and they then understand that it is not for the sake of salvation. Some, when they inquire into their mysteries, and hear them, say these things are mystical, - nothing else. Some of the Cocceian priests who had confirmed themselves in that doctrine, were examined as to whether they had any religion; and it was found that they had nothing whatever of religion, and that they were entirely destitute of every truth. There was a Dutch town, situated below, at the right hand side, respecting which I knew but little as to the character of the inhabitants, since there was not any communication opened. But I afterwards heard, that they have indeed lived together as good citizens, but have thought little about God in their life. They merely attended church, supposing that all Divine worship consists in that; but, as in the world, they liked priests who had a reputation for scholarship: these were the Cocceians. And the former ones, by means of insinuations into their rulers, brought it about that priests who were not scholars [should be appointed]: these were the ones who preached that evils were to he shunned as sins against God. Thus there remained Cocceian priests, who said, indeed, that good ought to be done, but not for the sake of salvation - they carefully guarded against thinking that; and said that there was not any sin, provided they held the received faith. When priests were appointed who were not scholarly, as they were called, then, from the sphere of the Cocceians and of those who favored them, and from others there who were led astray by them, a change of their state was produced; and then the former ruler, who was good, resigned his office, and another, a slothful and simple man [succeeded], who was such that he did nothing, but merely presided; and then the gates were opened, and it was allowed to anyone to enter the town who wished. Hence, their state became such that they no longer thought upon anything relating to the Church, but lived licentiously. Wherefore, that whole town sank down to a very great depth, together with the inhabitants and houses, and reached a situation deeper down. Of these, also, those of that nation who were above, complained that their minds became disquieted, because such lower ones were in that place, and formed [their] foundation. I spoke a little with the Cocceians, to the effect that it was their belief that it was allowed to man to do whatever he pleases, and that their evils are not seen by God, provided they hold the received faith; also, in their houses, and to certain ones around, they said that there is not any sin, and that they can do whatever they please if only they hold their faith. They preached, in like manner as in England, in a mystical style, fearing lest the multitude should penetrate into their mysteries. They said it was because the multitude understands only external things, but not, internals; and declared that, if they were to preach their mysteries openly, they would be deprived of the priestly office by the people, and a riot might ensue. The Divine operation by faith, as far as to the will, of which man knows nothing, the Cocceian's call charity, and what proceeds from the will, a destroyer of charity. I spoke with some of the laity regarding the Cocceian religiosity. I said, What is the need of those mysteries? they are empty and likewise false, since they flow from an impure and evil fount. Is it not the same thing as though a workman, or a speaker, should want to have knowledge of all the mysteries in the body, of the muscles, the operation of the trachea, larynx, glottis, tongue, lips, in order to be able to speak well, or to be able to work well; and thus, to work and speak from anatomical science? Is it not enough that he learn to speak well and elegantly, and to work well? this is what he should study. In like manner with knowledge of the Divine operation and influx, is it not sufficient that a man know evils, shun them, and live as a Christian? Does not the Lord effect these things by most secret methods, just as the soul by secret methods operates that the hands perform their work aright, and that a speaker speak aright? Can an anatomist work better, or can the dancer dance better, from anatomy? [I also said] that the Cocceians are Machiavellists.
THE DUTCH WHO LIVE IN A VOMIT-STENCH. THE RULE OF WIFE OVER HUSBAND THERE. Visitation was made upon certain societies of the Dutch, where are those of whom the wives ruled over their husbands. They were in the boundaries at that part, and there was a vile stench of vomit there; yea, they collected vessels full of vomit, and held the nostrils over them, and reveled in the stench. All those who were in the boundaries were cast down into hell; and some who were nearly like them, were gathered out of societies, and also cast down.
6057-1 The treatise On the Earths in the Universe is the one referred to. -TR.
6065-1 In the margin: "What the Mercy-seat is, and what the Cherubim."
6065-2 The Latin edition of Dr. Immanuel Tafel here reads, "the 5th"; but, inasmuch as the 5th, according to the Lutheran division, which was the one Swedenborg uniformly employed, is, "Thou shalt not commit murder," and is moreover referred to later on in this very paragraph, whereas the one here under consideration is, "Thou shalt not steal," which is the 7th in the Lutheran enumeration, we have substituted 7 for 5 in the text. There is no doubt whatever that the 7th - which is the 8th in the Church of England division - is the one meant.
6065-3 The Editor of the Latin reads fugit, in this place, and inserts (non) to supply the manifest sense of the passage. We prefer to read facit; which gives the sense perfectly without any addition. -TR.
6072-1 Usually written Benzelius. At the time of his death, in 1758, he was Archbishop of Upsal. -TR.
6073-1 Swedish, halsduk.
6073-2 Swedish, halsduk hvit.
6074-1 That the Moravians, of whose religiosity Zinzendorf was the founder, do this, is explicitly stated in n. 6081(2), below. See also the statement numbered "(2)" in the present section. It should be mentioned that the portion in brackets is inserted by the Editor of the Latin. -TR.
6087-1 A French word meaning, to furnish. -TR.
6088-1 The full title of the work here referred to is, The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine. -TR.
6096-1 There is no section XXVII., here, in the original. -TR.
6098-1 The full titles of these works, all of which were published in the same year - 1763 - are 1. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord; 2. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture; 3. The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, from the Precepts of the Decalog; and 4. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith. These works are sometimes published, in English, in a collected form, under the general title, The Four Leading Doctrines of the New Church in which form the "Doctrine of Faith" is given the third place, and the "Doctrine of Life" the forth. The text, here, shows that this is a wrong arrangement. Properly, the "Doctrine of Life" is the third, and that of "Faith" the forth. The reader should understand that Swedenborg himself did not publish these treatises collectively, but as four separate works. -TR.
6098-2 The contents, that is, of the work entitled Heaven and Hell and "The Four Doctrines" mentioned in the text; copies of all of which were presented by Swedenborg to the Bench of Bishops of the Church of England and the Protestant peers in the House of Lords (see n. 6101:2 below), and to the clergy at the University of Oxford. -TR
