SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE WORD OF GOD

by EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)

Extracted from the Apocalypse Explained (A E)

Part Second--THE COMMANDMENTS

I. The First Commandment

"Thou shalt not make to thee other gods" includes not loving self and the world above all things; for that which one loves above all things is his god.  There are two directly opposite loves, love of self and love to God, also love of the world and love of heaven.  He who loves himself loves his own (proprium); and as a man's own (proprium) is nothing but evil he also loves evil in its whole complex; and he who loves evil hates good, and thus hates God.  He who loves himself above all things sinks his affections and thoughts in the body, and thus in his own (proprium), and from this he cannot be raised up by the Lord; and when one is sunk in the body and in his own (proprium) he is in corporeal ideas and in pleasures that pertain solely to the body, and thus in thick darkness in respect to higher things; while he who is raised up by the Lord is in light.  He who is not in the light of heaven but in thick darkness, since he sees nothing of God, denies God and acknowledges as god either nature or some man, or some idol, and even aspires to be himself worshipped as a god.  From this it follows that he who loves self above all things worships other gods.

The same is true, but in a less degree, of one who loves the world; for there cannot be so great a love of the world as of one's own (proprium); therefore the world is loved because of one's own and for the sake of one's own, because it is serviceable to it.  Love of self means especially the love of ruling over others from a mere delight in ruling and for the sake of eminence, and not from a delight in uses and for the sake of public good; while love of the world means especially a love of possessing goods in the world from a mere delight in possession and for the sake of riches, and not from a delight in uses from these and for the sake of the consequent good.  These loves are both of them without limit, and rush on, so far as scope is given, to infinity. (A.E., n.950.)

It is not believed in the world that the love of ruling from a mere delight in ruling, and the love of possessing goods from a mere delight in possession, and not from delight in uses, conceal in themselves all evils, and also a contempt for and rejection of all things pertaining to heaven and the church; and for the reason that man is stirred up by the love of self and love of the world to right doing in respect to the church, to the country, to society, and to the neighbor, by making good deeds honorable and looking for reward.  Therefore this love is called by many the fire of life, and the incitement to great things.

But it is to be noted that so far as these two loves give uses the first place and self the second they are good, while so far as they give self the first place and uses the second they are evil, since man then does all things for the sake of self and consequently from self, and thus in every least thing he does there is self and what is his own (proprium), which regarded in itself is nothing but evil. But to give uses the first place and self the second is to do good for the sake of the church, the country, society, and the neighbor; and the goods that man does to these for the sake of these are not from man but from the Lord.  The difference between these two is like the difference between heaven and hell.  Man does not know that there is such a difference, because from birth and thus from nature he is in these loves, and because the delight of these loves continually flatters and pleases him.

But let him consider that a love of ruling from delight in ruling, and not from a delight in uses, is wholly devilish; and such a man may be called an atheist; for so far as he is in that love he does not in his heart believe in the existence of God, and to the same extent he derides in his heart all things of the church, and he even hates and pursues with hatred all who acknowledge God, and especially those who acknowledge the Lord.  The very delight of the life of such is to do evil and to commit wicked and infamous deeds of every kind.  In a word, they are very devils.

This a man does not know so long as he lives in the world: but he will know that it is so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death.  Hell is full of such, where instead of having dominion they are in servitude.

Moreover, when they are looked at in the light of heaven they appear inverted, with the head downward and the feet upward, since they gave rule the first place and uses the second; and that which is in the first place is the head, and that which is in the second is the feet; and that which is the head is loved, but that which is the feet is despised. (A.E., n. 951.)

He who supposes that he acknowledges and believes that there is a God before he abstains from the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, especially from the love of ruling from a delight in ruling, and from the love of possessing the goods of the world from a delight in possession, and not from delight in uses, is mistaken.  Let a man confirm himself as fully as he can, from the Word, from preachings, from books, and from the light of reason, that there is a God, and thus be persuaded that he believes, yet he does not believe unless the evils that spring from love of self and of the world have been removed.  The reason is that evils and their delights block up the way, and shut out and repel goods and their delights from heaven, and prevent their establishment. And until heaven is established there is only a faith of the lips, which in itself is no faith, and there is no faith of the heart, which is real faith.  A faith of the lips is faith in externals, a faith of the heart is faith in internals; and if the internals are crowded with evils of every kind, when the externals are taken away (as they are with every man after death), man rejects from them even the faith that there is a God. (A.E., n. 952.)

So far as a man resists his own two loves, which are the love of ruling from the mere delight in rule and the love of possessing the goods of the world from the mere delight in possession, thus so far as he shuns as sins the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, so far there flows in through heaven from the Lord, that there is a God, who is the Creator and Preserver of the universe, and even that God is one.  This then flows in for the reason that when evils have been removed heaven is opened, and when heaven is opened man no longer thinks from self but from the Lord through heaven; and that there is a God and that God is one is the universal principle in heaven which comprises all things. That from influx alone man knows and as it were sees that God is one, is evident from the common confession of all nations, and from a repugnance to think that there are many gods.

Man's interior thought, which is the thought of his spirit, is either from hell or from heaven; it is from hell before evils have been removed, but from heaven when they have been removed.  When this thought is from hell man sees no otherwise than that nature is god, and that the inmost of nature is what is called the Divine.  When such a man after death becomes a spirit he calls anyone a god who is especially powerful; and also himself strives for power that he may be called a god.  All the evil have such madness lurking inwardly in their spirit.  But when a man thinks from heaven, as he does when evils have been removed, he sees from the light in heaven that there is a God and that He is one.  Seeing from light out of heaven is what is meant by influx.  (A.E., n. 954. 

When a man shuns and turns away from evils because they are sins he not only sees from the light of heaven that there is a God and the God is one, but also that God is a Man.   For he wishes to see his God, and he is incapable of seeing Him otherwise than as a Man.   Thus did the ancients before Abraham and after him see God; thus do the nations in lands outside the church see God from an interior perception, especially those who are interiorly wise although not from knowledges; thus do all little children and youths and simple well-disposed adults see God; and thus do the inhabitants of all earths see God; for they declare that what is invisible, since it does not come into the thought, does not come into faith.  The reason of this is that the man who shuns and turns away from evils as sins thinks from heaven; and the whole heaven, and everyone there, has no other idea of God than that He is a Man; nor can he have any other idea, since the whole heaven is a man in the largest form, and the Divine that goes forth from the Lord is what makes heaven; consequently to think otherwise of God than according to that Divine form, which is the human form, is impossible to angles, since angelic thoughts pervade heaven.

(That the whole heaven in the complex answers to a single man may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 51-86; and that the angels think according to the form of heaven, n. 200-212.)

This idea of God flows in from heaven into all in the world, and has its seat in their spirit; but it seems to be rooted out in those in the church who are in intelligence from what is their own (proprium), indeed so rooted out as to be no longer a possible idea; and this for the reason that they think of God from space.  But when these become spirits they think otherwise, as has been made evident to me by much experience. For in the spiritual world an indeterminate idea of God is no idea of Him; consequently the idea there is determined to someone who has his seat either on high or elsewhere, and who gives answers.

From a general influx which is from the spiritual world men have  received ideas of God as a Man variously according to the state of  perception; and for this reason the triune God is with us called  Persons; and in paintings in churches God the Father is represented as a  man, the Ancient of Days. It is also from a general influx that men,  both living and dead, who are called saints, are adored as gods by the  common people in Christian Gentilism, and their sculptured images are  esteemed.  The same is true of many nations elsewhere, of the ancient  peoples in Greece , in Rome , and in Asia , who had many gods, all of whom  were regarded by them as men.  This has been said to make known that  there is an intuition, namely, in man's spirit, to see God as a man.  That is called an intuition which is from general influx. (A.E., n.  955.)

As man from a general influx out of heaven sees in his spirit that God  is a Man, it follows that those who are of the church where the Word is,  if they shun and turn away from evils as sins, see, from the light of  heaven in which they then are, the Divine in the Lord's Human, and the  trine in Him, and Himself to be the God of heaven and earth.  But those  who by intelligence from what is their own (proprium) have destroyed in  themselves the idea of God as a Man are unable to see this; neither do  they see from the trinity that is in their thought that God is one; they  call Him one with the lips only.  But those who have not been purified  from evils, and therefore are not in the light of heaven, do not in  their spirit see the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth; but in  place of the Lord some other being is acknowledged; by some of these  someone whom they believe to be God the Father; by others someone whom  they call God because he is especially powerful; by others some devil  whom they fear because he can bring evil upon them; by others Nature, as  in the world; and by others no God at all.  It is said in their spirit,  because they are such after death when they become spirits; therefore  what lay concealed in their spirit in the world then becomes manifest.  But all who are in heaven acknowledge the Lord only, since the whole  heaven is from the Divine that goes forth from Him, and answers to Him  as a Man; and for this reason no one can enter heaven unless he is in  the Lord, for he enters into the Lord when he enters into heaven.  If  others enter they lose their mind and fall backward.  (A.E., n. 956.)

The idea of God is the chief of all ideas; for such as this idea is such  is man's communication with heaven and his conjunction with the Lord,  and such is his enlightenment, his affection for truth and good, his  perception, intelligence, and wisdom; for these are not from man but  from the Lord according to conjunction with Him.  The idea of God is the  idea of the Lord and His Divine, for no other is God of heaven and God  of earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew:

"Authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth" (xxviii. 18).

But the idea of the Lord is more or less full and more or less clear; it  is full in the inmost heaven, less full in the middle, and still less  full in the outmost heaven; therefore those who are in the inmost heaven  are in wisdom, those who are in the middle in intelligence, and those  who are in the outmost in knowledge.  The idea is clear in the angels  who are at the center of the societies of heaven; and less clear in  those who are round about, according to the degrees of distance from the  center.

All in the heavens have places allotted them according to the fullness  and clearness of their idea of the Lord, and they are in correspondent  wisdom and in correspondent felicity.  All those who have no idea of the  Lord as Divine, like the Socinians and Arians, are under the heavens,  and are unhappy.  Those who have a twofold idea, namely, of an invisible  God and of a visible God in a human form, also have their place under  the heavens, and are not received until they acknowledge one God, and  Him visible.  Some in the place of a visible God see as it were  something aerial, and this because God is called a spirit.  If this idea  is not changed in them into the idea of a Man, thus of the Lord, they  are not accepted.  But those who have an idea of God as the inmost of  nature are rejected, because they cannot help falling into the idea of  nature as being God. All nations that have believed in one God, and have  had an idea of Him as a Man, are received by the Lord.  From all this it  can be seen who those are that worship God Himself and who those are  that worship other gods, thus who live according to the first  commandment of the Decalogue and who do not.  (A.E., n. 957.)

II. The Second Commandment

The second commandment is, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God."

In the first place, what is meant by "the name of God" shall be told,  and afterward what is meant by "profaning" it.  "The name of God" means  every quality by which God is worshipped.  For God is in His own  quality, and is His own quality.  His essence is Divine love, and His  quality is Divine truth therefrom united with Divine good; thus with us  on earth it is the Word; consequently it is said in John:

"The Word was with God, and the Word was God" (i. 1).

So, too, it is the doctrine of genuine truth and good from the Word; for  worship is according to that.

Now as His quality is manifold, for it comprises all things that are  from Him, so He has many names; and each name involves and expresses His  quality in general and in particular.  He is called "Jehovah," "Jehovah  of Hosts," "Lord," "Lord Jehovah," "God," "Messiah (or Christ),"  "Jesus," "Saviour," "Redeemer," "Creator," "Former," "Maker," "King,"  and "the Holy One of Israel," "the Rock" and "the Stone of Israel,"  "Shiloh," "Almighty," "David," "Prophet," "Son of God," and "Son of  Man," and so on.  All these names are names of the one God, who is the  Lord; and yet where they occur in the Word they signify some universal  Divine attribute or quality distinct from other Divine attributes or  qualities.  So, too, where He is called "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,"  three are not meant, but one God; that is, there are not three Divines,  but one; and this trine which is one is the Lord.

Since each name signifies some distinct attribute or quality, "to  profane the name of God" does not mean to profane His name itself but  His quality.  "Name" signifies quality for the reason that in heaven  everyone is named according to his quality; and the quality of God or  the Lord is everything that is from Him by which He is worshipped. For  this reason, since no Divine quality of the Lord is acknowledged in hell  the Lord cannot be named there; and in the spiritual world His names  cannot be uttered by anyone except so far as His Divine is acknowledged;  for there all speak from the heart, thus from love and consequent  acknowledgment.  (A.E., n. 959.)

Since "the name of God" means that which is from God and which is God,  and this is called Divine truth, and with us the Word, this must not be  profaned, because it is in itself Divine and most holy; and it is  profaned when its holiness is denied, which is done when it is despised,  rejected, and treated contemptuously.  When this is done heaven is  closed and man is left to hell.  For as the Word is the only medium of  conjunction of heaven with the church, so when the Word is cast out of  the heart that conjunction is dissolved; and because man is then left to  hell he no longer acknowledges any truth of the church.

There are two things by which heaven is closed to the men of the church.  One is a denial of the Lord's Divine, and the other is a denial of the  holiness of the Word; and for this reason, that the Lord's Divine is the  all of heaven; and Divine truth, which is the Word in the spiritual  sense, is what makes heaven; which makes clear that he who denies the  one or the other denies that which is the all of heaven and from which  heaven is and exists, and thus deprives himself of communication and  consequent conjunction with heaven.  To profane the Word is the same as  "blaspheming the Holy Spirit," which is not forgiven to anyone,  consequently it is said in this commandment that he who profanes the  name of God shall not be left unpunished.  (A.E., n. 960.)

As Divine truth or the Word is meant by "the name of God," and the  profanation of it means a denial of its holiness, and thus contempt,  rejection, and blasphemy, it follows that the name of God is interiorly  profaned by a life contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue.  For  there can be a profanation that is inner and not outer, and there can be  a profanation that is inner and at the same time outer, and there can be  also a kind of profanation that is outer and not at the same time inner.  Inner profanation is wrought by the life, outer by the speech.  Inner  profanation, which is wrought by the life, becomes outer also, or of the  speech, after death.  For then everyone thinks and wills, and so far as  it can be permitted, speaks and acts, according to his life; thus not as  he did in the world.  In the world man is wont [accustomed], for the  world's sake and to gain reputation, to speak and act otherwise than as  he thinks and wills from his life.  This is why it has been said that  there can be a profanation that is inner and not at the same time outer.  That there can be also a kind of profanation that is outer and not at  the same time inner is possible from the style of the Word, which is not  at all the style of the world, and for this reason it may be to some  extent despised from an ignorance of its interior sanctity. (A.E., n.  962.)

He who abstains from profaning the name of God, that is, the holiness of the Word, by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy, has religion; and such as his abstinence is such is his religion.  For no one has religion except from revelation, and with us revelation is the Word.  Abstinence from profaning the holiness of the Word must be from the heart, and not merely from the mouth.  Those who abstain from the heart live from religion; but those who abstain merely from the mouth do not live from religion, for they abstain either for the sake of self or for the sake of the world, in that the Word can be made to serve them as a means of acquiring honor and gain; or they abstain from some fear. But of these many are hypocrites who have no religion. (A.E., n. 963.)

III. The Third Commandment

The third commandment is, to keep the Sabbath holy.

The third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue contain things that must be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and that parents must be honored.  The other commandments contain things that are not to be done, namely, that other gods must not be worshipped; that the name of God must not be profaned; that one must not steal, must not commit adultery, must not bear false witness, must not covet the goods of others.  These two commandments are commandments to be done because the sanctification of the rest of the commandments depends upon these, for the "Sabbath" signifies the union in the Lord of the Divine itself and the Divine Human, also His conjunction with heaven and the church, and thus the marriage of good and truth in the man who is being regenerated.  This being the signification of the Sabbath, it was the chief representative of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church , as is evident in Jeremiah (xvii. 20-27), and elsewhere.  It was the chief representative of all things of worship, because the first thing in all things of worship is the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord's Human, for without that acknowledgment man can believe and do only from self, and to believe from self is to believe falsities, and to do from self is to do evils, as is also evident from the Lord's words in John:

To those asking, "What shall we do that we might work the works of God?" Jesus said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom God hath sent" (vi. 28, 29).

And in the same, "He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from Me ye can do nothing" (xv. 5).

That the Sabbath represented that union and the holy acknowledgment of it, has been fully shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that the "Sabbath" signified in the highest sense the union of the Divine itself and the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the conjunction of the Lord's Human with heaven and with the church, in general the conjunction of good and truth, thus the heavenly marriage (n. 8495, 10356, 10730).  Therefore the rest on the Sabbath day signified the state of that union, because the Lord then has rest; also through that union there is peace and salvation in the heavens and on the earth.  In a relative sense it signified the conjunction of man with the Lord, because man then has peace and salvation (n. 8494, 8510, 10360, 10367, 10370, 10374, 10668, 10730).  The six days preceding the Sabbath signified the labors and combats that precede union and conjunction (n. 8510, 8888, 9431, 10360, 10667).  The man who is being regenerated is in two states, the first when he is in truths and by means of truths is being led to good and into good, the other when he is in good.  When man is in the first state he is in combats or temptations; but when he is in the second state he is in the tranquillity of peace.  The former state is signified by the six days of labor that precede the Sabbath; and the latter state is signified by the rest on the Sabbath day (n. 9274, 9431, 10360).  The Lord also was in two states: the first when He was Divine truth and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them, the other when He was made Divine good by union with the very Divine in Himself. The former state was signified in the highest sense by the six days of labor, and the latter by the Sabbath (n. 10360). Because such things were represented by the Sabbath, it was the chief representative of worship, and the holiest of all (n. 10357, 10372).  "To do work on the Sabbath day" signified to be led not by the Lord but by self, thus to be disjoined (n. 7893, 8495, 10360, 10362, 10365).  The Sabbath day is not now representative, but is a day of instruction (n. 10360 at the end).  (A.E., n. 965.)

IV. The Fourth Commandment

The fourth commandment of the Decalogue is that parents must be honored.

This commandment was given because honor to parents represented and thus signified love to the Lord and love toward the church, for "father" in the heavenly sense, that is, the Heavenly Father, is the Lord; and "mother" in the heavenly sense, that is, the heavenly mother, is the church; "honor" signifies good of love; and "length of days," which such will have, signifies the happiness of eternal life.  So is this commandment understood in heaven, where no father but the Lord is known, and no mother but the kingdom of the Lord, which is also the church. For the Lord gives life from Himself, and through the church He gives nourishment. That in the heavenly sense no father in the world can be meant, and indeed, when man is in a heavenly idea, can be mentioned, the Lord teaches in Matthew:

"Call no man your father on earth; for one is your Father who is in the heavens" (xxiii. 9).

That "Father" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine good may be seen in the Apocalypse Explained (n. 32, 200, 254, 297).  That "mother" signifies the Lord's kingdom, the church, and Divine truth, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897); that "length of days" signifies the happiness of eternal life (n. 8898); and the "honor" signifies good of love (n. 8897), and Apocalypse Explained (n. 228, 345).  All this makes clear that the third and fourth commandments involve arcana relating to the Lord, namely, acknowledgment and confession of His Divine, and worship of Him from good of love. (A.E., n. 966.)

V. The Fifth Commandment

The fifth commandment is, "Thou shalt not steal."  By "thefts" both open thefts and those not open are meant, such as unlawful usury and gains, which are effected by fraud and craft under various pretenses to make them appear lawful, or so done clandestinely as not to appear at all. Such gains are commonly made by higher and lower managers of the goods of others, by merchants, also by judges who sell judgments and thus make justice purchasable.  These and many other things are thefts that must be abstained from and shunned, and finally renounced as sins against God, because they are against the Divine laws that are in the Word and against this law, which is one among the fundamental laws of all religions in the whole globe.  For these ten commandments are universals, given to the end that in living from these a man may live from religion, since by a life from religion man is conjoined with heaven, while a life according to these from obedience to civil and moral law conjoins man with the world and not with heaven, and to be conjoined with the world and not with heaven is to conjoined with hell. (A.E., n. 967.)

Man is so created as to be an image of heaven and an image of the world, for he is a microcosm.  He is born of his parents an image of the world, and he is born again to be an image of heaven.  To be born again is to be regenerated; and man is regenerated by the Lord by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them.  Man is an image of the world in respect to his natural mind, and he is an image of heaven in respect to his spiritual mind.  The natural mind, which is the world, is beneath; and the spiritual mind, which is heaven, is above.  The natural mind is full of all kinds of evil, such as thefts, adulteries, murders, false witnesses, covetousnesses, and even blasphemies and profanations respecting God.  These evils and many others have their seat in that mind, for the loves of them are there, and thus the delights of thinking, willing, and doing them.

 These things are inborn in that mind from parents, for man is born and grows up into the things that are in that mind, and is restrained only by the bonds of civil law and by the bonds of moral life from doing them, and from thus manifesting the tendencies of his depraved will. Who cannot see that the Lord cannot flow in out of heaven into man and teach him and lead him until these evils have been removed? For they obstruct, repel, pervert, and suffocate the truths and goods of heaven, which present themselves from above, press down, and strive to flow in. For evils are infernal and goods are heavenly, and everything infernal burns with hatred against everything heavenly.

This makes clear that before the Lord can flow in with heaven out of heaven and form man to the image of heaven, those evils that lie heaped up in the natural mind must needs be removed.  Moreover, as the removal of evils must come first before man can be taught and led by the Lord, the reason is evident why in eight commandments of the Decalogue the evil works that must not be done are recounted, but not the good works that must be done.  Good does not exist together with evil, nor does it exist until evils have been removed; for until then there is no way possible from heaven into man.  Man is like a dark sea, the waters of which must be removed on either side before the Lord in a cloud and in fire can give a passage to the sons of Israel .  The "dark sea" signifies hell, "Pharaoh with the Egyptians" the natural man, and "the sons of Israel " the spiritual man. (A.E., n. 969.)

Communication with heaven is not possible until the evils and the falsities therefrom with which the natural mind is stopped up have been removed; for these are like black clouds between the sun and the eye, or like a wall between the light of heaven and the lumen of a candle in a chamber. For so long as a man is in the lumen of the natural man only he is like one shut up in a chamber where he sees by a candle.  But as soon as the natural man has been purified from evils and falsities therefrom he is as if he saw through windows in the wall the things of heaven from the light of heaven.  For as soon as evils have been removed, the higher mind, which is called the spiritual mind, is opened, and this, viewed in itself, is a type or image of heaven.  Through this mind the Lord flows in and enables man to see from the light of heaven, and through this He also reforms and at length regenerates the natural man, and implants in it truths in the place of falsities and goods in the place of evils. This the Lord does through spiritual love, which is a love for truth and good.  Man is then placed in the midst between two loves, between the love of evil and the love of good; and when the love of evil recedes the love of good takes its place.  The love of evil recedes solely through a life according to the commandments of the Decalogue, that is, through refraining from evils there enumerated because they are sins, and finally shunning them as infernal.

In a word, so long as man does not refrain from evils because they are sins the spiritual mind is shut; but as soon as he refrains from evils because they are sins the spiritual mind is opened, and with that mind heaven also. And when heaven is opened man comes into another light in respect to all things of the church, heaven, and eternal life; although so long as man lives in this world the difference between this and the former light is scarcely noticeable, and for the reason that in the world man thinks naturally even about spiritual things, and until he passes from the natural into the spiritual world spiritual things are enclosed in natural ideas; but in the spiritual world spiritual things are disclosed, perceived, and made evident. (A.E., n. 970.)

So far as man refrains from evils and shuns and turns away from them as sins, good flows in from the Lord.  The good that flows in is an affection for knowing and understanding truths, and an affection for willing and doing goods.  But man cannot refrain from evils by shunning and turning away from them of himself, for he himself is in evils from his birth, and thus from nature; and evils cannot of themselves shun evils, for this would be like a man's shunning his own nature, which is impossible; consequently it must be the Lord, who is Divine good and Divine truth, who causes man to shun them.

Nevertheless, man ought to shun evils as if of himself, for what a man does as if of himself becomes his and is appropriated to him as his own; while what he does not as if of himself in no wise becomes his or is appropriated to him. What comes from the Lord to man must be received by man; and it cannot be received unless he is conscious of it that is, as if of himself.  This reciprocation is a necessity to reformation.

This is why the ten commandments were given, and why it is commanded in them that man shall not worship other gods, shall not profane the name of God, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery, shall not kill, shall not covet the house, wife, or servants of another, thus that man shall refrain from doing these things by thinking, when the love of evil allures and incites, that they must not be done because they are sins against God, and in themselves are infernal.  So far, therefore, as a man shuns these evils so far the love of truth and good enters from the Lord; and this love causes man to shun these evils, and at length to turn away from them as sins.  And as the love of truth and good puts these evils to flight it follows that man shuns them not from himself but from the Lord, since the love of truth and good is from the Lord. If a man shuns evils merely from a fear of hell they are withdrawn; but goods do not take their place; for as soon as the fear departs the evils return.

To man alone is it granted to think as if of himself about good and evil, that is, that good must be loved and done because it is Divine and remains to eternity, and that evil must be hated and not done because it is devilish and remains to eternity.  To think thus is not granted to any beast.  A beast can do good and shun evil, yet not of itself, but either from instinct or habit or fear, and never from the thought that such a thing is a good or an evil, thus not of itself.  Consequently, one who would have it believed that man shuns evils or does goods not as if of himself but from an imperceptible influx, or from the imputation of the Lord's merit, would also have it believed that man lives like a beast, without thought of, or perception of, or affection for, truth and good.

That this is so has been made clear to me from manifold experience in the spiritual world.  Every man after death is there prepared either for heaven or for hell.  From the man who is prepared for heaven evils are removed, and from the man who is prepared for hell goods are removed; and all such removals are effected as if by them.  Likewise those who do evils are driven by punishments to reject them as if of themselves; but if they do not reject them as if of themselves the punishments are of no avail.  By this it was made clear that those who hang down their hands, waiting for influx or for the imputation of the Lord's merit, continue in the state of their evil and hang down their hands forever.

To shun evils as sins is to shun the infernal societies that are in them, and man cannot shun these unless he repels them and turns away from them; and a man cannot turn away from them with repulsion unless he loves good and from that love does not will evil.  For a man must either will evil or will good; and so far as he wills good he does not will evil; and it is granted him to will good when he makes the commandments of the Decalogue to be of his religion, and lives according to them.

Since man must refrain from evils as sins as if of himself, these ten commandments were inscribed by the Lord on two tables, and these were called a covenant; and this covenant was entered into in the same way as it is usual to enter into covenants between two, that is, one proposes and the other accepts, and the one who accepts consents.  If he does not consent the covenant is not established.  To consent to this covenant is to think, will, and do as if of oneself.  Man's thinking to shun evil and to do good as if of himself is done not by man, but by the Lord.

This is done by the Lord for the sake of reciprocation and consequent conjunction; for the Lord's Divine love is such that it wills that what is its own shall be man's, and as these things cannot be man's, because they are Divine, it makes them to be as if they were man's.  In this way reciprocal conjunction is effected, that is, that man is in the Lord and the Lord in man, according to the words of the Lord Himself in John (xiv. 20); for this would not be possible if there were not in the conjunction something belonging as it were to man.  What man does as if of himself he does as if of his will, of his affection, of his freedom, consequently of his life.  Unless these were present on man's part as if they were his there could be no receptivity, because nothing reactive, thus no covenant and no conjunction; in fact, no ground whatever for the imputation that man had done evil or good or had believed truth or falsity, thus that there is from merit a hell for anyone because of evil works, or from grace a heaven for anyone because of good works.  (A.E., n. 971.)

He who refrains from thefts, understood in a broad sense, and even shuns them from any other cause than religion and for the sake of eternal life, is not cleansed of them; for only by such refraining is heaven opened.  For it is through heaven that the Lord removes evils in man, as through heaven He removes the hells.  For example, there are higher and lower managers of property, merchants, judges, officers of every kind, and workmen, who refrain from thefts, that is, from unlawful modes of gain and usury, and who shun these, but only to secure reputation and thus honor and gain, and because of civil and moral laws, in a word, from some natural love or natural fear, thus from merely external constraints, and not from religion; but the interiors of such are full of thefts and robberies, and these burst forth when external constraints are removed from them, as takes place with everyone after death.  Their sincerity and rectitude is nothing but a mask, a disguise, and a deceit. (A.E., n. 972.)

So far then as the various kinds and species of theft are removed, and the more they are removed, the kinds and species of goods to which they by opposition correspond enter and occupy their place; and these have reference in general to what is sincere, right and just.  For when a man shuns and turns away from unlawful gains through fraud and craft he so far wills what is sincere, right, and just, and at length begins to love what is sincere because it is sincere, what is right because it is right, and what is just because it is just.  He begins to love these things because they are from the Lord, and the love of the Lord is in them. For to love the Lord is not to love the person, but to love the things that go forth from the Lord, for these are the Lord in man; thus it is to love sincerity itself, right itself, and justice itself.  And as these are the Lord, so far as a man loves these, and thus acts from them, so far he acts from the Lord and so far the Lord removes insincerity and injustice in respect to the very intentions and volitions in which they have their roots, and always with less resistance and struggle, and therefore with less effort than in the first attempts.  Thus it is that man thinks from conscience and acts from integrity,--not the man of himself but as if of himself; for he then acknowledges from faith and also from perception that it seems as if he thought and did these things from himself, and yet he does them not from himself but from the Lord.  (A.E., n. 973.)

When a man begins to shun and turn away from evils because they are sins all things that he does are good, and may be called good works; with a difference according to the excellence of the use.  For what a man does before he shuns and turns away from evils as sins are works done by the man himself; and as the man's own (proprium), which is nothing but evil, is in these, and they are done for the sake of the world, so they are evil works.  But the works that a man does after he shuns and turns away from evils as sins are works from the Lord, and because the Lord is in these and heaven with Him they are good works.

The difference between works done by man and works done by the Lord in man is not apparent to man's vision, but is clearly evident to the vision of angels.  Works done by man are like sepulchers outwardly whitened, which within are full of dead men's bones.  They are like platters and cups outwardly clean, but containing unclean things of every kind.  They are like fruits inwardly rotten, but with the outer skin still shining; or like nuts and almonds eaten by worms within, while the shell remains untouched; or like a foul harlot with a fair face.  Such are the good works done by man himself, since however good they appear on the outside, within they are full of impurities of every kind; for their interiors are infernal, while their exteriors appear heavenly.

But as soon as man shuns and turns away from evils as sins his works are good not only outwardly but inwardly also; and the more interior they are the more they are good, for the more interior they are the nearer they are to the Lord. Then they are like fruits that have a fine-flavored pulp, in the center of which are depositories with many seeds, from which new trees, even to whole gardens, may be produced; but everything and all things in his natural man are like eggs from which swarms of flying creatures may be produced, and gradually fill a great part of heaven.  In a word, when man shuns and turns away from evils as sins the works that he does are living works, while those that he did before were dead works; for what is from the Lord is living but what is from man is dead.  (A.E., n. 974.)

It has been said that so far as a man shuns and turns away from evils as sins he does goods, and that the goods that he does are such good works as are described in the Word, for the reason that they are done in the Lord; also that these works are good so far as man turns away from the evils opposed to them, because so far they are done by the Lord and not by man.  Nevertheless, works are more or less good according to the excellence of the use; for works must be uses.  The best are those that are done for the sake of uses to the church.  Next in point of goodness come those that are done as uses to one's country; and so on, the uses determining the goodness of the works.

The goodness of works increases in man according to the fullness of truths from affection for which they are done; since the man who turns away from evils as sins wishes to know truths because truths teach uses and the quality of their good.  This is why good loves truth and truth loves good, and they wish to be conjoined.  So far, therefore, as such a man learns truths from an affection for them so far he does goods more wisely and more fully, more wisely because he knows how to distinguish uses and to do them with judgment and justice, and more fully because all truths are present in the performance of uses, and form the spiritual sphere that the affection for them produces. (A.E., n. 975.)

Take judges for an example: All who make justice venal [purchasable] by loving the office of judging for the sake of gain from judgments, and not for the sake of uses to their country, are thieves, and their judgments are thefts. It is the same if judgments are given according to friendship or favor, for friendships and favors are also profits and gains.  When these are the end and judgments are the means, all things that are done are evil, and are what are meant in the Word by "evil works" and "not doing judgment and justice, perverting the right of the poor, of the needy, of the fatherless, of the widow, and of the innocent."  And when such do justice, and yet regard profit as the end while they do a good work, to them it is not good; for justice, which is Divine, is to them a means, and such gain is the end; and that which is made the end is everything, while that which is made the means is nothing except so far as it is serviceable to the end. Consequently, after death such judges continued to love what is unjust as well as what is just, and are condemned to hell as thieves.  I say this from what I have seen.  These are such as do not abstain from evils because they are sins, but only because they fear punishments of the civil law and the loss of reputation, honor, and office, and thus of gain.

It is otherwise with judges who abstain from evils as sins and shun them because they are contrary to the Divine laws, and thus contrary to God. Such make justice their end, and they venerate, cherish, and love it as Divine.  In justice they see God, as it were, because everything just, like everything good and true, is from God.  They always join justice with equity and equity with justice, knowing that justice must be of equity in order to be justice, and that equity must be of justice in order to be equity, the same as truth is of good and good is of truth.

As such make justice their end, their giving judgments is doing good works; yet these works, which are judgments, are to them more or less good as there is in their judgments more or less of regard for friendship, favor, or gain; also as there is more or less in them of a love of what is just for the sake of the public good, which is that justice may prevail among their fellow citizens, and that those who live according to the laws may have security.  Such judges have eternal life in a degree that accords with their works; for they are judged as they themselves have judged. (A.E., n. 976.)

Take as an example managers of the goods of others, higher or lower.  If these secretly by arts or under some pretext by fraud deprive their kings, their country, or their masters of their goods, they have no religion and thus no conscience, for they hold the Divine law respecting theft in contempt and make it of no account.  And although they frequent churches, devoutly listen to preachings, observe the sacrament of the Supper, pray morning and evening, and talk piously from the Word, yet nothing from heaven flows in and is present in their worship, piety, or discourse, since their interiors are full of theft, plundering, robbery, and injustice; and so long as these are within, the way into them from heaven is closed; consequently all the works they do are evil works.

But the managers of property who shun unlawful gains and fraudulent profits because they are contrary to the Divine law respecting theft, have religion, and thus also conscience; and all the works they do are good, for they act from sincerity for the sake of sincerity, and from justice for the sake of justice, and furthermore are content with their own, and are cheerful in mind and glad in heart whenever it happens that they have refrained from fraud; and after death they are welcomed by the angels and received by them as brothers, and are presented with good things even to abundance.  But the opposite is true of evil managers; these after death are cast out of societies, and afterward seek wages and finally are sent into the caverns of robbers to labor there.  (A.E., n. 977.)

Take merchants as an example: All their works are evil works so long as they do not regard as sins, and thus shun as sins, unlawful gains and wrongful usury, also fraud and craft; for such works cannot be done from the Lord, but must be done from man himself.  And the more expert they are in skillfully and artfully contriving devices from within for overreaching their companions the more evil are their works. And the more expert they are in bringing such devices into effect under the pretense of sincerity, justice, and piety, the more evil still are their works.  The more delight a merchant feels in such things the more do his works have their origin in hell.

But if he acts sincerely and justly in order to acquire reputation, and wealth through reputation, even so as to seem to act from a love of sincerity and justice, and yet does not act sincerely and justly from affection for the Divine law or from obedience to it, he is still inwardly insincere and unjust, and his works are thefts, for through a pretense of sincerity and justice he seeks to steal.

That this is so becomes evident after death, when man acts from his inner will and love, and not from the outer; for then he thinks about and devises nothing but sharp practices and robberies, and withdraws himself from those who are sincere, and betakes himself either to forests or deserts, where he devotes himself to stratagems.  In a word, all such become robbers.

But it is otherwise with merchants who shun as sins thefts of every kind, especially the more interior and hidden, which are effected by craft and deceit.  All the works of such are good, because they are from the Lord; for the influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, for accomplishing such works is not intercepted by the evils just mentioned.  To such riches do no harm, because to them riches are means for uses.  Their tradings are the uses by which they serve their country and their fellow citizens; and through their riches they are in a condition to perform those uses to which affection for good leads them. (A.E., n. 978.)

From what has been said above, what is meant in the Word by good works can now be seen, namely, that they are all works done by man when evils have been set aside as sins. For the works done after this are done by man only as if by him; for they are done by the Lord; and all works done by the Lord are good, and are called goods of life, goods of charity, and good works; as for instance, all judgments of a judge who has justice as his end, all who venerates and loves it as Divine, and who detests as infamous decisions made for the sake of rewards or friendship, or from favor. Thus he consults the good of his country by causing justice and judgment to reign therein as in heaven; and thus he consults the peace of every innocent citizen and protects him from the violence of evildoers.  All these are good works.  So all services of managers and dealings of merchants are good works when they shun unlawful gains as sins against the Divine laws.  When a man shuns evils as sins he daily learns what a good work is, and an affection for doing good grows in him, and an affection for knowing truths for the sake of good; for so far as he knows truths he can perform works more fully and more wisely, and thus his works become more truly good.  Refrain, therefore, from asking in thyself, "What are the good works that I must do, or what good must I do to receive eternal life?"  Only refrain from evils as sins and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead you.  (A.E., n. 979.)

VI. The Sixth Commandment

Thus far five commandments of the Decalogue have been explained.  Now follows the explanation of the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Who at this day can believe that the delight of adultery is hell in man, and that the delight of marriage is heaven in him, consequently so far as he is in the one delight he is not in the other, since so far as man is in hell he is not in heaven?  Who at this day can believe that the love of adultery is the fundamental love of all hellish and devilish loves, and that the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love of all heavenly and Divine loves; consequently so far as a man is in the love of adultery he is in every evil love, if not in act yet in endeavor; and on the other hand, so far as he is in the chaste love of marriage he is in every good love, if not in act yet in endeavor?  Who at this day can believe that he who is in the love of adultery believes nothing of the Word, thus nothing of the church, and even in his heart denies God; and on the other hand, that he who is in the chaste love of marriage is in charity and in faith, and in love to God; also that the chastity of marriage makes one with religion, and the lasciviousness of adultery makes one with naturalism?

All this is at this day unknown because the church is at its end, and is devastated in respect to truth and in respect to good; and when the church is such, the man of the church, by influx from hell, comes into the persuasion that adulteries are not detestable things and abominations, and thus comes into the belief that marriages and adulteries do not differ in their essence, but only as a matter of order, and yet the difference between them is like the difference between heaven and hell.  That such is the difference between them will be seen in what follows.  This, then, is why in the Word in its spiritual sense heaven and the church are meant by nuptials and marriages, and hell and rejection of all things of the church are meant in the Word in its spiritual sense by adulteries and whoredoms. (A.E., n. 981.)

Since adultery is hell in man and marriage is heaven in him, it follows that so far as a man loves adultery he removes himself from heaven; consequently adulteries close heaven and open hell, and this they do so far as they are believed to be allowable and are perceived to be more delightful than marriages.  The man, therefore, who confirms himself in adulteries and commits them from the favor and consent of his will, and turns away from marriage, closes heaven to himself, until finally he ceases to believe anything of the church or of the Word, and becomes a wholly sensual man, and after death an infernal spirit; for, as has been said above, adultery is hell, and thus an adulterer is a form of hell. And since adultery is hell it follows that unless a man abstains from adulteries and shuns them and turns away from them as infernal he shuts up heaven to himself, and does not receive the least influx therefrom. Afterward he reasons that marriages and adulteries are alike, but that marriages must be maintained in kingdoms for the sake of order and the training of offspring; also that adulteries are not criminal, since children are equally born from them; and they are not harmful to women, since they can endure them, and by them the procreation of the human race is promoted.  He does not know that these and other like reasonings in favor of adulteries ascend from the Stygian [extremely dark] waters of hell, and that the lustful and bestial nature of man which inheres in him from birth attracts them and sucks them in with delight, as a swine does excrement.  That such reasonings, which at this day possess the minds of most men in the Christian world, are diabolical, will be seen. (A.E., n. 982.)

That marriage is heaven and that adultery is hell cannot be better seen than from considering their origin.  The origin of true marriage love is the Lord's love for the church; and this is why the Lord is called in the Word a "Bridegroom" and a "Husband," and the church a "bride" and a "wife."  It is from this marriage that the church is a church in general and in particular.  The church in particular is a man in whom the church is.  From this it is clear that the Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is the very origin of true marriage love; and how that conjunction can be the origin shall be told.

The Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is a conjunction of good and truth; good is from the Lord, and truth is a man, and from this is the conjunction that is called the heavenly marriage, and from that marriage true marriage love exists between the married pair that are in such conjunction with the Lord.

From this it is now evident that true marriage love is from the Lord alone, and exists in those who are in the conjunction of good and truth from the Lord.  As this conjunction is reciprocal it is said by the Lord that

They are in Him, and He in them (John xiv. 20).

This conjunction or this marriage was thus established from creation. The man was created to be an understanding of truth, and the woman to be an affection for good; and thus the man to be a truth, and the woman to be a good.  When understanding of truth which is in the man makes one with the affection for good which is in the woman, there is a conjunction of the two minds into one.  This conjunction is the spiritual marriage from which marriage love descends. For when two minds are so conjoined as to be one mind there is love between them; and when this love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, descends into the body it becomes the love of natural marriage.  That this is so anyone can clearly perceive if he will.  A married pair who interiorly or in respect to their minds love each other mutually and reciprocally also love each other mutually and reciprocally in respect to their bodies. It is well known that all love descends into the body from an affection of the mind, and that apart from such an origin no love exists.

Since then the origin of marriage love is the marriage of good and truth, which marriage in its essence is heaven, it is clear that the origin of the love of adultery is a marriage of evil and falsity, which in its essence is hell. Heaven is a marriage because all who are in the heavens are in a marriage of good and truth; and hell is adultery because all who are in the hells are in a marriage of evil and falsity. From this it follows that marriage and adultery are as opposite as heaven and hell are. (A.E., n. 983.)

 Man was so created as to be spiritual and celestial love, and thus an image and likeness of God.  Spiritual love, which is a love for truth, is an image of God; and celestial love, which is a love for good, is a likeness of God.  All angels in the third heaven are likenesses of God; and all angels in the second heaven are images of God.  Man can become the love which is an image or likeness of God only by a marriage of good and truth; for good and truth in mostly love one another, and ardently long to be united that they may be one; and for the reason that Divine good and Divine truth go forth from the Lord united, therefore they must be united in an angel of heaven and in a man of the church.

This union is by no means possible except by a marriage of two minds into one, since, as has been said before, man was created to be an understanding of truth, and thus a truth, and woman was created to be an affection for good, and thus a good; therefore in them a conjunction of good and truth is possible.  For marriage love which descends from that conjunction is the veriest medium by which man (homo) becomes the love that is an image or likeness of God.  For the married pair who are in conjugal love from the Lord love one another mutually and reciprocally from the heart, thus from inmosts; and therefore although apparently two they are actually one, two in respect to their bodies, but one in respect to life.

This may be compared to the eyes, which are two as organs but one in respect to the sight; also to the ears, which are two as organs but one in respect to hearing; so, too, the arms and the feet are two as members but one in respect to use, the arms one in respect to action, and the feet one in respect to walking.  So with the other pairs with man.  All these have reference to good and truth, the organ or member on the right to good, and that on the left to truth.  It is the same with a husband and wife between whom there is a true marriage love; they are two in respect to their bodies but one in respect to life; consequently in heaven the married pair are not called two angels but one.  All this makes clear that through marriage man becomes a form of love, and thus a form of heaven, which is an image and likeness of God.

Man is born into a love of evil and falsity, which love is the love of adultery; and this love cannot be turned about and changed into spiritual love, which is an image of God, and still less into celestial love, which is a likeness of God, except by a marriage of good and truth from the Lord, and not fully except by a marriage of two minds and two bodies.  From this it is clear why marriages are heavenly and adulteries infernal; for marriage is an image of heaven, and true marriage love is an image of the Lord, while adultery is an image of hell, and love of adultery is an image of the devil.  Moreover, marriage love appears in the spiritual world in form like an angel, and love of adultery in form like a devil.  Reader, treasure this up within you, and after death, when you are living as a spirit-man, inquire whether this is true, and you will see. (A.E., n. 984.)

How profane and thus how much to be detested adulteries are can be seen from the holiness of marriages.  All things in the human body, from the head to the sole of the feet, both interior and exterior, correspond to the heavens, and in consequence man is a heaven in its least form, and also angels and spirits are in form perfectly human, for they are forms of heaven.  All the members devoted to generation in both sexes, especially the womb, correspond to societies of the third or inmost heaven, and for the reason that true marriage love is derived from the Lord's love for the church, and from the love of good and truth which is the love of the angels of the third heaven; therefore marriage love, which descends therefrom as the love of that heaven, is innocence, which is the very being (esse) of every good in the heavens.  And for this reason embryos in the womb are in a state of peace, and when they have been born as infants are in a state of innocence; so, too, is the mother in relation to them.

As this is the correspondence of the genital organs in the two sexes, it is evident that by creation they are holy, and therefore they are devoted solely to chaste and pure marriage love, and are not to be profaned by the unchaste and impure love of adultery, by which man converts the heaven in himself into hell; for as the love of marriage corresponds to the love of the highest heaven, which is love to the Lord from the Lord, so the love of adultery corresponds to the love of the lowest hell.

The love of marriage is so holy and heavenly because it has its beginning in the inmosts of man from the Lord Himself, and it descends according to order to the outmosts of the body, and thus fills the whole man with heavenly love and brings him into a form of the Divine love, which is the form of heaven, and is an image of the Lord.  But the love of adultery has its beginning in the outmosts of man from an impure lascivious fire there, and thus, contrary to order, penetrates toward the interiors, always into the things that are man's own, which are nothing but evil, and brings these into a form of hell, which is an image of the devil. Therefore a man who loves adultery and turns away from marriage is in form a devil.

As the organs of generation in the two sexes correspond to the societies of the third heaven, and the love of a married pair corresponds to the love of good and truth, so those organs and that love correspond to the Word.  The reason is that the Word is Divine truth united to Divine good going forth from the Lord; and this is why the Lord is called "the Word," also why in every particular of the Word there is a marriage of good and truth, or a heavenly marriage.  That there is such a correspondence is a mystery not yet known in the world, but it has been made evident and proved to me by much experience.

From this also it is clear how holy and heavenly marriages are in themselves, and how profane and diabolical adulteries are.  And for this reason adulterers make no account of Divine truths and thus of the Word, and if they were to speak from the heart they would even blaspheme the holy things that are in the Word.  This they do when they have become spirits after death, for every spirit is compelled to speak from the heart, that his interior thoughts may be revealed.  (A.E., n. 985.)

As all the delights that man has in the natural world are turned into correspondent delights in the spiritual world, so are the delights of the love of marriage and the delights of the love of adultery.  The love of marriage is represented in the spiritual world as a virgin, whose beauty is such as to inspire the beholder with the charms of life; while the love of adultery is represented in the spiritual world by an old woman, whose deformity is such as to inspire in the beholder a coldness and death to every charm of life. Therefore in the heavens the angels are beautiful according to the quality of marriage love in them, and in the hells the spirits are deformed according to the quality of the love of adultery in them.  In a word, the angels of heaven have life in their faces, in the movements of the body, and in their speech, in the measure of their marriage love, while the spirits of hell have death in their faces in the measure of their love of adultery.

In the spiritual world the delights of marriage love are represented to the sense by odors from fruits and flowers of various kinds, while the delights of the love of adultery are there represented to the sense by the stenches from excrements and putridities of various kinds. Moreover, the delights of the love of adultery are actually turned into such things, since all things pertaining to adultery are spiritual filth.  Therefore from the brothels in the hells stenches pour forth that excite vomiting.  (A.E., n. 986.)

How holy in themselves, that is, from creation, marriages are can be seen from the fact that they are the nurseries of the human race; and as the angelic heaven is from the human race they are also the nurseries of heaven; consequently by marriages not only the earths but also the heavens are filled with inhabitants; and as the end of the entire creation is the human race, and thus heaven, where the Divine itself may dwell as in its own and as it were in itself, and as the procreation of mankind according to Divine order is accomplished through marriages, it is clear how holy marriages are in themselves, that is, from creation, and thus how holy they should be esteemed.  It is true that the earth might be filled with inhabitants by fornications and adulteries as well as by marriages, but not heaven; and for the reason that hell is from adulteries but heaven from marriages.

Hell is from adulteries because adultery is from the marriage of evil and falsity, from which hell in the whole complex is called adultery; while heaven is from marriages because marriage is from the marriage of good and truth, from which heaven in its whole complex is called a marriage. That is called adultery where its love, which is called a love of adultery, reigns, whether it be within wedlock or apart from it, and that is called marriage where its love, which is called marriage love, reigns.

When procreations of the human race are effected by marriages in which the holy love of good and truth from the Lord reigns, then it is on earth as it is in the heavens, and the Lord's kingdom on earth corresponds to the Lord's kingdom in the heavens.  For the heavens consist of societies arranged according to all the varieties of celestial and spiritual affections, from which arrangement the form of heaven springs, and this pre-eminently surpasses all other forms in the universe.  There would be a like form on the earth if the procreations there were effected by marriages in which a true marriage love reigned; for then, however many families might descend in succession from one head of a family, there would spring forth as many images of the societies of heaven in a like variety.

Families would then be like fruit-bearing trees of various kinds, forming as many different gardens, each containing its own kind of fruit, and these gardens taken together would present the form of a heavenly paradise.  This is said in the way of comparison, because "trees" signify men of the church, "gardens" intelligence, "fruits" goods of life, and "paradise" heaven.  I have been told from heaven that with the most ancient people, from whom the first church on this globe was established, which was called by ancient writers the golden age, there was such a correspondence between families on the earth and societies in the heavens, because love to the Lord, mutual love, innocence, peace, wisdom, and chastity in marriages then prevailed; and it was also told me from heaven that they were then inwardly horrified at adulteries, as at the abominable things in hell. (A.E., n. 987.)

That heaven is from marriages and hell from adulteries has been shown above.  What this means shall now be told.  The hereditary evils into which man is born are not from Adam's having eaten of the tree of knowledge, but from the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth by parents, thus from the marriage of evil and falsity, from which a love of adultery springs.  The ruling love of parents by means of a germ from it passes over into the offspring and is transcribed upon it and becomes its nature. If the love of the parents is a love of adultery it is also a love of evil for falsity and of falsity for evil.  From this source man has all evil, and from evil he has hell. All this makes clear that it is from adulteries that man has hell, until he is reformed by the Lord by means of truths and a life according to them.  And no one can be reformed unless he shuns adulteries as infernal and loves marriages as heavenly.  In this and in no other way is hereditary evil broken and rendered milder in the offspring.

It is to be noted, however, that while from adulterous parents man is born a hell, he is not born for hell but for heaven.  For the Lord provides that no one shall be condemned to hell on account of hereditary evils, but only on account of the evils that the man has actually made his own by his life, as can be seen from the lot of infants after death, all of whom are adopted by the Lord, educated under His auspices in heaven, and saved.  This makes clear that every man, although from the evils with which he is born he is a hell, is born not for hell but for heaven.

It is the same with every man born from adultery if he does not himself become an adulterer.  Becoming an adulterer means living in the marriage of evil and falsity by thinking evils and falsities from a delight in them and by doing them from a love for them.  Every man who does this becomes an adulterer.  Moreover, it is from Divine justice that no one suffers punishments on account of the evils of his parents, but only on account of his own; therefore the Lord provides that hereditary evils shall not return after death, but only one's own evils, and it is only for those that return that a man is then punished.  (A.E., n. 989.)

It has been said that the difference between a love of marriage and a love of adultery is like that between heaven and hell.  There is a like difference between the delights of these loves; for delights derive their all from the loves from which they spring.  The delights of the love of adultery derive what they are from the delights of doing evil uses, thus of evil-doing; and the delights of the love of marriage from the delights of doing good uses, thus of well-doing.  Therefore such as the delight of the evil is in doing evil such is the delight of their love of adultery; because a love of adultery descends therefrom.  That it descends from that scarcely anyone can believe; and yet such is its origin.  From this it is evident that the delight of adultery ascends from the lowest hell.  But the delight of the love of marriage, since it is from the love of the conjunction of good and truth and from the love of doing good, is a heavenly delight; and it comes down from the inmost or third heaven, where love to the Lord from the Lord reigns.

From this it can be seen that the difference between these two delights is like that between heaven and hell.  And yet, for a wonder, it is believed that the delight of marriage and the delight of adultery are similar; nevertheless the difference between them is such as has now been described. But the difference can be discerned and felt only by one who is in the delight of marriage love.  One who is in that delight plainly feels that in the delight of marriage there is nothing impure or unchaste, thus nothing lascivious; and that in the delight of adultery there is nothing but what is impure, unchaste, and lascivious.  He feels that unchastity comes up from beneath, and that chastity comes down from above.  But one who is in the delight of adultery is incapable of feeling this, because he feels what is infernal as his heavenly.

From all this it follows that the love of marriage, even in its outmost act, is purity itself and chastity itself; and that the love of adultery in its acts is impurity itself and unchastity itself.  Since the delights of these two loves are alike in outward appearance, although inwardly they are wholly unlike, because opposites, the Lord provides that the delights of adultery shall not ascend into heaven and that the delight of marriage shall not descend into hell; and yet that there shall be some correspondence of heaven with prolification in adulteries, though none with the delight itself in them.  (A.E., n. 990.)

It has been said that marriage love, which is natural, descends from the love of good and truth, which is spiritual; this spiritual therefore is in the natural love of marriage as a cause is in its effect.  So from the marriage of good and truth there comes forth a love of bearing fruit, that is, good through truth and truth from the good; and from that love a love of producing offspring descends, and in that love there is every delight and pleasure.

On the contrary, love of adultery, which is natural, springs from a love of evil and falsity, which is spiritual; consequently this spiritual is in the natural love of adultery as a cause is in its effect.  So from the marriage of evil and falsity by love there comes forth a love of bearing fruit, namely, evil through falsity and falsity from evil; and from that love a love of producing offspring in adulteries descends, and in that love there is every delight and pleasure.

There is every delight and pleasure in the love of producing offspring, because all that is delightful, pleasurable, blessed, and happy, in the whole heaven and in the whole world, has been from creation brought together into the effort and thus into the act of bringing forth uses; and these joys increase in an ascending degree to eternity, according to the goodness and excellence of the uses.  This make evident why the pleasure of producing offspring, which surpasses every other pleasure, is so great.  It surpasses every other because its use, which is the procreation of the human race, and thus of heaven, surpasses all other uses.

From this, too, comes the pleasure and delight of adultery; but as prolification by adulteries corresponds to the bringing forth of evil through falsity and of falsity from evil, that pleasure or delight decreases and becomes vile by degrees until it is changed at last into aversion and disgust.  Because, as has been said above, the delight of the love of marriage is a heavenly delight, so the delight of adultery is an infernal delight, so the delight of adultery is from a certain impure fire, which as long as it lasts, counterfeits the delight of the love of good, but in itself it is the delight of the love of evil, which is in its essence the delight of hatred against good and truth. And because this is its origin there is not love between an adulterer and an adulteress except such as the love of hatred is, which is such that they can be in conjunction in externals but not in internals.  For in the externals there is something fiery, but in the internals there is coldness; therefore after a short time the fire is extinguished and coldness succeeds, either with impotence or a turning away as from something filthy.

It has been granted me to see that love in its essence, and it was such that within it was deadly hatred, while without it appeared like a fire from burning dung and putrid and stinking matters.  And as that fire with its delight burnt out, so by degrees the life of mutual discourse and intercourse expired, and hatred came forth, manifested first as contempt, afterward as aversion, then as rejection, and finally as abuse and contention.  And what was wonderful, although they hated each other they could from time to time come together and for the time feel the delight of hatred as the delight of love; but this came from a hankering of the flesh.

What the delight of hatred and thus of doing evil is with those who are in hell can neither be described nor believed. To do evil is the joy of their heart, and this they call their heaven.  Their delight in doing evil derives its all from hatred and vengeance against good and truth; when, therefore, they are moved by a deadly and devilish hatred they rage against heaven, especially against those who are from heaven and who worship the Lord; for they violently burn to slaughter them, and because they cannot destroy their bodies they desire to destroy their souls.  It is, therefore, the delight of hatred which, becoming a fire in the extremes and being injected into the lusting flesh, becomes for the moment the delight of adultery,--the soul in which the hatred lies concealed then withdrawing itself.  It is for this reason that hell is called adultery, and also that adulterers are desperately unmerciful, savage, and cruel.  This, then, is the infernal marriage. (A.E., n. 991.)

It has been said that the love of adultery is a fire enkindled from impurities that soon burns out and is turned into cold, and into an aversion corresponding to hatred. But the reverse is true of the love of marriage.  This is a fire enkindled from a love of good and truth and from a delight in well-doing, thus from love to the Lord and from love toward the neighbor.  This fire, which from its origin is heavenly, is full of innumerable delights, as many, in fact, as are the delights and blessednesses of heaven.  It has been told me that the charms and pleasantnesses of that love, which are manifested from time to time, are so many and such that they cannot be numbered or described. Moreover, they are multiplied with continued increase to eternity.  These delights have their origin in the fact that the married pair wish to be united into one in respect to their minds, and into such a union heaven breathes from the marriage of good and truth from the Lord in heaven. (A.E., n. 992.)

That true marriage love contains in itself ineffable delights that can neither be numbered nor described can be seen from the fact that this is the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, since through that love man becomes love; for from it each of the married pair loves the other as good loves truth and truth loves good, thus representatively as the Lord loves heaven and the church. Such a love can come forth only through a marriage in which the man is truth and the wife is good.  When a man through marriage has become such a love he is also in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor, and thus in a love for all good and in a love for all truth.  For from man as a love loves of every kind must proceed; therefore marriage love is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven. And as it is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven it is also the foundation of all the delights and joys of heaven, since every delight and joy is of love.  From this it follows that heavenly joys, in their order and in their degrees, have their origins and their causes in marriage love.

From the felicities of marriages a conclusion may be drawn respecting the infelicities of adulteries, namely, that the love of adultery is the fundamental love of all infernal loves, which are in themselves not loves, but hatreds, consequently from the love of adultery hatreds of every kind gush forth, both against God and against the neighbor, and in general against every good and truth of heaven and the church; therefore to it all infelicities belong, for, as has been said before, from adulteries man becomes a form of hell, and from the love of adulteries he becomes an image of the devil.  That from the marriages in which there is true marriage love all delights and felicities increase even till they become the delights and felicities of the inmost heaven, and that all that is undelightful and unhappy in the marriages in which love of adultery reigns increases in direfulness even to the lowest hell, can be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 386).  (A.E.,