Chapter IV: Part 4

Since hatred is infernal fire it is clear that it must be put away before love, which is heavenly fire, can flow in, and by light from itself give life to man; and this infernal fire can in no wise be put away unless man knows whence hatred is and what it is, and afterward turns away from it and shuns it. There is in every man by inheritance a hatred against the neighbor; for every man is born into a love of self and of the world, and in consequence conceives hatred, and from it is inflamed against all who do not make one with him and favor his love, especially against those who oppose his lusts. For no one can love himself above all things and love the Lord at the same time; neither can anyone love the world above all things and love the neighbor at the same time; since no one can serve two masters at the same time without despising and hating the one while he honors and loves the other. Hatred is especially in those who are in a love of ruling over all; with others it is unfriendliness.

It shall be told what hatred is. Hatred has in itself a fire which is an endeavor to kill man. That fire is manifested in anger. There is a seeming hatred and consequent anger in the good against evil; but this is not hatred, but an aversion to evil; neither is it anger, but a zeal for good in which heavenly fire inwardly lies concealed. For the good turn away from what is evil, and are seemingly angry at the neighbor, in order that they may remove the evil; and thus they have regard to the neighbor's good. (A.E., n. 1016.)

When a man abstains from hatred and turns away from it and shuns it as devilish, love, charity, mercy, clemency flow in through heaven from the Lord, and then for the first time the works that he does are works of love and charity; while the works he had done before, however good might be their appearance in the external form, were all works of love of self and of the world, in which hatred lurked whenever they were not rewarded. So long as hatred is not put away so long man is merely natural; and the merely natural man remains in all his inherited evil, nor can he become spiritual until hatred, with its root, which is love of ruling over all, is put away; for the fire of heaven, which is spiritual love, cannot flow in so long as the fire of hell, which is hatred, stands in the way and shuts it out. (A.E., n. 1017.)

VIII. The Eighth Commandment

The eighth commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," shall now be explained. "To bear false witness" signifies in the sense nearest to the letter to lie about the neighbor by accusing him falsely. But in the internal sense it signifies to call what is just unjust, and what is unjust just, and to confirm this by means of falsities; while in the inmost sense it signifies to falsity the truth and good of the Word, and on the other hand to prove a falsity of doctrine to be true by confirming it by means of fallacies, appearances, fabrications, knowledges falsely applied, sophistries, and the like. The confirmations themselves and the consequent persuasions are false witnesses, for they are false attestations.

From this it can be seen that what is here meant is not only false witness before a judge, but even a judge himself who in perverting right makes what is just unjust, and what is unjust just, for he as well as the witness himself acts the part of a false witness. The same is true of every man who makes what is straight to appear crooked, and what is crooked to appear straight; likewise any ecclesiastical leader who falsifies the truth of the Word and perverts its good. In a word, every falsification of truth, spiritual, moral, and civil, which is done from an evil heart, is false witness. (A.E., n. 1019.)

When a man abstains from false testimonies understood in a moral and spiritual sense, and shuns and turns away from them as sins, a love of truth and a love of justice flow in from the Lord through heaven. And when, in consequence, the man loves truth and loves justice he loves the Lord, for the Lord is truth itself and justice itself. And when a man loves truth and justice it may be said that truth and justice love him, because the Lord loves him; and as a consequence his utterances become utterances of truth, and his works become works of justice. (A.E., n. 1020.)

IX: The Ninth and Tenth Commandments

The ninth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house," is now to be treated of. There are two loves from which all lusts spring and flow forth perpetually like streams from their fountains. These loves are called love of the world and love of self. Lust is a love continually desiring, for what a man loves, that he continually longs for. But lusts belong to the love of evil, while desires and affections belong to the love of good. Now because love of the world and love of self are the fountains of all lusts, and all evil lusts are forbidden in these last two commandments, it follows that the ninth commandment forbids the lusts that flow from love of the world, and the tenth commandment the lusts that flow from love of self. "Not to covet a neighbor's house" means not to covet his goods, which in general are possessions of wealth, and not to appropriate them to oneself by evil arts. This lust belongs to love of the world. (A.E., n. 1021.)

The tenth commandment is "Thou shalt not covet (or try to get possession of) thy neighbor's wife, his man-servant, or his maid-servant, his ox, or his ass." These are lusts after what is man's own, because the wife, man-servant, maid-servant, ox, and ass, are within his home, and the things within a man's home mean in the spiritual internal sense the things that are his own, that is, the wife means affection for spiritual truth and good, "man-servant and maid-servant," affection for rational truth and good serving the spiritual, and "ox and ass" affection for natural good and truth. These signify in the Word such affections; but because coveting and trying to get possession of these affections means to wish and eagerly desire to subject a man to one's own authority or bidding, it follows that lusting after these affections means the lusts of the love of self, that is, of the love of ruling, for thus does one make the things belonging to a companion to be his own.

From this it can now be seen that the lust of the ninth commandment is a lust of the love of the world, and that the lusts of the tenth commandment are lusts of the love of self. For, as has been said before, all lusts are of love, for it is love that covets; and as there are two evil loves to which all lusts have reference, namely, love of the world and love of self, it follows that the lust of the ninth commandments has reference to love of the world, and the lust of this commandment to love of self, especially to the love of ruling. (A.E., n. 1022.)

X. The Commandments in General

The commandments of the Decalogue are called the ten words or ten commandments, because "ten" signifies all; consequently the ten words mean all things of the Word, and thus all things of the church in brief. All things of the Word and all things of the church in brief are meant, because there are in each commandment three interior senses, each sense for its own heaven, for there are three heavens. The first sense is the spiritual moral sense; this is for the first or outmost heaven; the second sense is the celestial spiritual sense, which is for the second or middle heaven; and the third sense is the Divine celestial, which is for the third or inmost heaven. There are thus three internal senses in every least particular of the Word. For from the Lord, who is in things highest, the Word has been sent down in succession through the three heavens even to the earth, and thus has been accommodated to each heaven; and therefore the Word is in each heaven and I may say in each angel in its own sense, and is read by them daily; and there are preachings from it, as on the earth.

For the Word is Divine truth itself, thus Divine wisdom, going forth from the Lord as a sun, and appearing in the heavens as light. Divine truth is the Divine that is called the Holy Spirit, for it not only goes forth from the Lord but it also enlightens man and teaches him, as is said of the Holy Spirit. As the Word in its descent from the Lord has been adapted to the three heavens, and the three heavens are joined together as inmosts are with outmosts through intermediates, so, too, are the three senses of the Word; which shows that the Word is given that by it there may be a conjunction of the heavens with each other, and a conjunction of the heavens with the human race, for whom the sense of the letter is given, which is merely natural and thus the basis of the other three senses. That the ten commandments of the Decalogue are all things of the Word in brief can be seen only from the three senses of those commandments, which are as above stated. (A.E., n. 1024).

What these three senses in the commandments of the Decalogue are can be seen from the following summary explanation. The first commandment, "Thou shalt not worship other gods beside Me," involves in the spiritual moral sense that nothing else nor anyone else is to be worshipped as Divine; nothing else, that is, Nature, by attributing to it something Divine of itself; nor anyone else, that is, any vicar of the Lord or any saint. In the celestial spiritual sense it involves that one God only is to be acknowledged, and not several according to their qualities, as the ancients did, and as some heathens do at this day, or according to their works, as Christians do at this day, who make out one God because of creation, another because of redemption, and another because of enlightenment.

This commandment in the Divine celestial sense involves that the Lord alone is to be acknowledged and whorshipped, and a trinity in Him, namely, the Divine itself from eternity, which is meant by the Father, the Divine Human born in time, which is meant by the Son of God, and the Divine that goes forth from both, which is meant by the Holy Spirit. These are the three senses of the first commandment in their order. From this commandment viewed in its threefold sense it is clear that it contains and includes in brief all things that concern the essence of the Divine.

The second commandment, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God," contains and includes in its three senses all things that concern the quality of the Divine, since "the name of God" signifies His quality, which in its first sense is the Word, doctrine from the Word, and worship of the lips and of the life from doctrine; in its second sense it means the Lord's kingdom on the earth and the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; and in its third sense it means the Lord's Divine Human, for this is the quality of the Divine itself.

In the other commandments there are likewise three internal senses for the three heavens; but these, the Lord willing, will be considered elsewhere. (A.E., n. 1025.)

As the Divine truth united to Divine good goes forth from the Lord as a sun, and by this heaven and the world were made (John i. 1, 3, 10), it follows that it is from this that all things in heaven and in the world have reference to good and to truth and to their conjunction in bringing forth something. These ten commandments contain all things of Divine good and all things of Divine truth, and there is also in them a conjunction of these. But this conjunction is hidden; for it is like the conjunction of love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, Divine good belonging to love to the Lord, and Divine truth to love toward the neighbor; for when a man lives according to Divine truth, that is, loves his neighbor, the Lord flows in with Divine good and conjoins Himself. For this reason there were two tables on which these ten commandments were written, and they were called a covenant, which signifies conjunction; and afterward they were placed in the ark, not one beside the other, but one above the other, for a testimony of the conjunction between the Lord and man. Upon one table the commandments of love to the Lord were written, and upon the other table the commandments of love toward the neighbor. The commandments of love to the Lord are the first three, and the commandments of love toward the neighbor are the last six; and the fourth commandment, which is "Honor thy father and thy mother," is the mediating commandment, for in it "father" means the Father in the heavens, and "mother" means the church, which is the neighbor. (A.E., n. 1026.)

Something shall now be said about how conjunction is effected by means of the commandments of the Decalogue. Man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and this He does by man's knowing, understanding, willing, and doing these commandments; and when man does them there is conjunction, but if he does not do them he ceases to will them, and when he ceases to will them he ceases also to understand and know them. For what does willing amount to if man when he is able does not do? Is it not a figment of reason? From this it follows that conjunction is effected when a man does the commandments of the Decalogue.

But it has been said that man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but that the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and that conjunction is effected by doing; and from this it follows that it is the Lord in man that does these commandments. But anyone can see that a covenant cannot be entered into and conjunction be effected by it unless there is some return on man's part, not only in consent but also in acceptance. To this end the Lord has imparted to man a freedom to will and act as if of himself, and such a freedom that man does not know otherwise, when he is thinking about truth and doing good, than that the freedom is in himself and thus from himself. There is this return on man's part in order that conjunction may be effected. But as this freedom is from the Lord, and continually from Him, man must by all means acknowledge that thinking about and understanding truth and willing and doing good are not from himself, but are from the Lord.

Consequently when man through the last six commandments conjoins himself to the Lord as if of himself, the Lord then conjoins Himself to man through the first three commandments, which are that man must acknowledge God, must believe in the Lord, and must keep His name holy. These man does not believe, however much he may think that he does, unless the evils forbidden in the other table, that is, in the last six commandments, he abstains from as sins. These are the things pertaining to the covenant on the part of the Lord and on the part of man, through which there is reciprocal conjunction, which is that man may be in the Lord and the Lord in man (John xiv. 20). (A.E., n. 1027.)

It is said by some that he who sins against one commandment of the Decalogue sins also against the rest, thus that he who is guilty of one is guilty of all. It shall be told how far this is in harmony with the truth. When a man transgresses one commandment, assuring himself that it is not a sin, thus offending without fear of God, because he has thus rejected the fear of God he does not fear to transgress the rest of the commandments, although he may not do this in act.

For example, when one does not regard as sins frauds and illicit gains, which in themselves are thefts, neither does he regard as a sin adultery with the wife of another, hating a man even to murder, lying about him, coveting his house and other things belonging to him; for when he rejects from his heart in any one commandment the fear of God he denies that anything is a sin; consequently he is in communion with those who in like manner transgress the other commandments. He is like an infernal spirit who is in a hell of thieves; and although he is not an adulterer, nor a murderer, nor a false witness, yet he is in communion with such, and can be persuaded by them to believe that such things are not evils, and can be led to do them. For he who becomes an infernal spirit through the transgression of one commandment, no longer believes it to be a sin to do anything against God or anything against the neighbor.

But the opposite is true of those who abstain from the evil forbidden in one commandment, and who shun and afterward turn away from it as a sin against God. Because such fear of God, they come into communion with angels of heaven, and are led by the Lord to abstain from the evils forbidden in the other commandments and to shun them, and finally to turn away from them as sins; and if perchance they have sinned against them, yet they repent and thus by degrees are withdrawn from them. (A.E., n. 1028.)

Part Third--PROFANATIONS OF GOOD AND TRUTH

I. Goods and Truths and Their Opposites

The Divine good that goes forth from the Lord is united with His Divine truth, as heat from the sun is with light in the time of spring. But angels, who are recipients of the Divine good and Divine truth going forth from the Lord, are distinguished as celestial and spiritual. Those who receive more of the Lord's Divine good than of His Divine truth are called celestial angels; because these constitute the kingdom of the Lord that is called the celestial kingdom. But the angels who receive more of the Lord's Divine truth than of his Divine good are called spiritual angels, because of these the Lord's spiritual kingdom consists. This makes clear that goods and truths have a twofold origin, namely, a celestial origin and a spiritual origin. Those goods and truths that are from a celestial origin are the goods and truths of love to the Lord; while those goods and truths that are from a spiritual origin are the goods and truths of love toward the neighbor. The difference is like that between higher and lower, or between inner and outer; thus like that between things that are in a higher or inner degree, and those that are in a lower or outer degree; and what this difference is can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heaven and Hell about the three degrees of the heavens, and thus of the angels and their intelligence and wisdom (H.H., n. 33, 34, 38, 39, 208, 209, 211, 435). (A.E., n. 1042.)

As the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, namely, into a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom, so are the hells divided into two domains opposite to those kingdoms. The domain opposite to the celestial kingdom is called devilish, and the domain opposite to the spiritual kingdom is called infernal. These domains are distinguished in the Word by the names Devil and Satan. There are two domains in the hells, because the heavens and the hells are opposite to each other; and opposite must fully correspond to opposite that there may be equilibrium. For the springing forth and permanence of all things, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world, depend upon an exact equilibrium between two activities that are opposite; and when these act against each other manifestly, they act by forces, but when not manifestly they act by endeavors (canatus). By means of equilibriums all things in both worlds are preserved; without this all things would perish. In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good from heaven and evil from hell; and thus between truth from heaven and falsity from hell. For the Lord arranges unceasingly that all kinds and species of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in the hells evils and falsities of kinds that correspond by opposition; thus goods and truths from a celestial origin have for their opposites evils and falsities that are called devilish; and in like manner goods and truths from a spiritual origin have for their opposites evils and falsities that are called infernal. The cause of these equilibriums is to be found in the fact that the same Divine goods and Divine truths that the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in the hells turn into evils and falsities. All angels, spirits, and men are kept by the Lord in equilibrium between good and evil, and thus between truth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may be led from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if by themselves, although in fact they are led by the Lord. For the same reason they are led in freedom from good to evil, and from truth to falsity, and this, too, as if by themselves, although the leading is from hell. (A.E., n. 1043.)

II. The First Kind of Profanation

Profanations are of many kinds. The most grievous kind is when one acknowledges and lives according to the truths and goods of the Word, of the church, and of worship, and afterward denies them and lives contrary to them, or even lives contrary to them and does not deny them. Such profanation effects a conjunction and coherence of good with falsity, and of truth with evil, and from this it comes to pass that man is at the same time in heaven and in hell; consequently, when heaven wills to have its own, and hell wills to have its own, and yet they cohere, they are both swept away, and thus the proper human life perishes, and the man becomes like a brute animal, continually delirious, and carried hither and thither by fantasy like a dragon in the air, and in his fantasy shreds and specks appear like giants and crowds, and a little platter like the universe; and so on.

As such have no longer any human life they are not called spirits, but something profane, nor are they called he or she, but it; and when they are seen in the light of heaven they appear like dried skeletons. But this kind of profanation is rare, since the Lord provides against a man's entering into a belief in truth and a life of good unless he can be kept in them continually even to the end of his life. (A.E., n. 1047.)

It has been said that the most grievous kind of profanation is when the truths of the Word are acknowledged in faith and confirmed in the life, and man afterward recedes from faith and lives wickedly, or if he does not recede from faith he nevertheless lives wickedly. But one who is in faith and in a life according to it from childhood to youth, and afterward in adult age recedes from faith and from a life of faith, does not profane, for the reason that the faith of childhood is a faith of the memory, and is the master's faith in the child; while the faith of adult age is a faith of the understanding, and thus a man's own faith. This faith a man can profane if he recedes from it and lives contrary to it, but not the former. For nothing enters the life of a man and affects it except what comes into the understanding and from that into the will; and a man does not think from his own understanding and act from his own will until he arrives at adult age. Before that he has thought merely from knowledge and acted merely from obedience; and this does not make a part of his life, and therefore cannot be profaned.

In a word, whatever a man thinks, speaks, and does, from the understanding with the will favoring it, this belongs to his life or comes to be of his life; and if this is holy it is profaned by his receding. But the profanations of this kind are more or less grievous according to the quality of the truth and the consequent faith, and according to the quality of the good and the consequent life, and according to the quality of the withdrawal from these; and therefore there are many specific differences in this profanation. (A.E., n. 1049.)

Why the state of profaners after death is so horrible shall be disclosed. Man has two minds, a natural and a spiritual. The natural mind is opened to him by knowledges (scientiae et cognitiones) of truth and good, and the spiritual mind is opened by a life according to these; and this is effected in those who know, acknowledge, and believe the truths of the Word and live according to them. In others that mind is not opened. When the spiritual mind has been opened, the light of heaven, which is Divine truth, flows through it into the natural mind, and there arranges truths in a corresponding order. Therefore when a man passes over into a contrary state, and either in faith or life denies the truths of the Word that he has previously acknowledged, the things that are in the natural mind no longer correspond with those that are in the spiritual mind; consequently heaven with its light flows in through the spiritual mind into non-corresponding things, or into things opposite to those that correspond in the natural man; and from this a fantasy arises that is so direful that they seem to themselves to fly in the air like dragons, while shreds and specks appear to them like giants and crowds, and a little ball like the whole globe, and other like things. The reason of this is that they have heaven in the spiritual mind and hell in the natural mind, and when heaven, which is in the spiritual mind, acts into hell, which is in the natural mind, such things appear. And as this destroys all things pertaining to the understanding, and the will with the understanding, the man comes to be no longer a man. And this is why a profaner is no longer called a man, nor he or she, but it, for he is a brute. (A.E., n. 1050.)

This kind of profanation exists especially in those who acknowledge the Lord and His Divine, and the Word and its holiness; and for the reason that the Lord alone by means of truths from the Word opens heaven to the man who lives according to those truths; and unless heaven is opened such profanation is not possible. And this shows why the Gentiles, who are ignorant of the Lord and know nothing about the Word, cannot bring upon themselves such profanation; neither can the Jews, for they deny the Lord from their infancy, and heaven is not opened to them by means of the Word; neither can the impious who have been such from childhood; for, as has been said, those only profane who believe rightly and live rightly, and afterward believe wrongly and live wrongly. Besides this kind of profanation there are other kinds that shall be treated of. (A.E., n. 1051.)

III. The Second Kind of Profanation

There is another kind of profanation of holy things that those come into who have supremacy as their end, and regard the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, as means. The Divine order is that heaven and the church, and consequently the holy things of these, be the end, and supremacy the means for promoting that end. For when holy things are the end and supremacy the means, the Lord is worshipped and adored; but when supremacy is the end and holy things the means, man instead of the Lord is worshipped and adored. For the means look to the end as servants look to their master, and the end looks to the means as a master looks to his servants; consequently as a master esteems and loves his servants according to the compliance they render to his will, so a man who has supremacy as his end esteems and loves the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliance they render to his end, which is supremacy. And on the other hand, as a lord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their place when they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has supremacy as his end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takes other things in their place when they are not subservient to his end, which is supremacy.

From this it is clear that in those who have supremacy as their end, holy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient to the end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they are subservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it is supremacy, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is the man's own (proprium); and man's own when viewed in itself is nothing but evil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means that they may be as one. In this kind of profanation are all those who are in sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things of the church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is the salvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart. (A.E., n. 1053.)

Those who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise than adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thus pervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord with the end, which is the supremacy of man over them, for they are Divine things that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that the means may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truths into falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in an increasing degree as the supremacy, which is the end, is increased.

That this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day, to which the holy things of the Word, of the church and of worship, are means, and supremacy is the end. So far as they have magnified supremacy they have minimized the holiness of the Word, and have actually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope's decrees; they have claimed to themselves power over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself, and they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living and dead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divine truth.

That the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, have been so changed is of the Lord's Divine providence; not of His providence that this should be done, but of His providence that when men wish to rule and do rule by means of the holy Divine things, they should choose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, for otherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominable before angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done. Take as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted by the Lord: they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the bread to the people and drinking the wine themselves. For "bread" signifies good of love to the Lord, and "wine" the truth of faith in Him; and good separated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from good truth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth. And so in other things. (A.E., n. 1054.)

Those who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of ruling, and who covet, acquire, and afterward exercise supremacy by means of the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those who profane. For the delight of the love of ruling for self's sake, that is, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage and a kind of worship of self, is an infernal delight. Moreover, this prevails in hell, for in hell everyone wills to be the greatest, while in heaven everyone wills to be the least; and to rule over holy things from an infernal delight is to profane them.

But this second kind of profanation of the holy things of the church is not like the former kind of the profanation of them. Those fall into the former kind in whom a communication with heaven has been effected by the opening of their spiritual mind; while this second kind of profanation those fall into in whom the spiritual mind has not been opened, or communication with heaven effected through it. For so long as the delight of the love of ruling resides in man, that mind cannot be opened, and communication with heaven is not possible to him.

Moreover, the lot of these profaners after death differs from the lot of the former. The former, as has been said, are in an unceasing delirium of fantasy; but these hate the Lord, hate heaven, hate the Word, hate the church, and hate all its holy things; and they come into such hatred because their dominion is taken away from them, and thus their state is changed into its opposite. They appear like something fiery, and their hell appears like a conflagration; for infernal fire is nothing else than a lust for ruling from love of self. These are among the worst, and are called devils, while the others are called satans. (A.E., n. 1055.)

The love of ruling by the holy things of the church as means wholly shuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts toward the outmosts, according to the kind and strength of that love. But to make clear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about the interiors belonging to the human mind. Man has a spiritual mind, a rational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind. By means of the spiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form. By means of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its least form. Heaven in man communicates with the world in him by means of the rational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind. The sensual mind is the first to be opened in man after his birth; after that the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent the rational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind. And at length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as the head, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves as a neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes like the sole of the foot.

In little children the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of the inflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened. But with those who begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of ruling through the holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is wholly shut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, even to the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose. And thus men become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in things spiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all in worldly and thus in civil matters. That they are so stupid in spiritual things they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believe these things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and cunning to be wisdom. And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind and strength of their lust for ruling and for exercising rule, also according to the kind and strength of the persuasion that they are holy, and according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that they profane. (A.E., n. 1056.)

Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but are crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the devils in hell, and because, as has been said above, they are merely sensual, and are therefore in what is their own (proprium), which draws its delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste matters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these cause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the titillation of these cause delight. That such is the source of their delight is made evident by their delights after death when they are living as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love the rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from outhouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme. The approach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and open the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which come their quickness in worldly things and their dullness in spiritual things.

In a word, the love of ruling by means of the holy things of the church corresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by words, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their hells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the oppression and occasional swooning which they produce. (A.E., n. 1057.)

IV. The Third Kind of Profanation

In the third kind of profanation are those who with devout gestures and pious utterance worship Divine things, and yet in heart and spirit deny them; thus who venerate the holy things of the Word and of the church and of worship outwardly or before the world, and yet at home or in secret deride them. When those of this class are in a holy external, and are teaching in a church or conversing with the common people, they do not know otherwise than that what they are saying is so; but as soon as they return into themselves their thought is reversed. Because these are such they can counterfeit angels of light, although they are angels of darkness.

From this it is clear that this kind of profanation is a hypocritical kind. They are not unlike images made of filth and gilded, or like fruits rotten within but with a beautiful skin, or like nuts eaten by worms within but with a whole shell. From all this it is evident that their internal is diabolical, and therefore that their holy external is profane.

Such are some of the rulers in the Babylon of the present day, and many of a certain society in Babylon, as those of them know who claim to themselves dominion over the souls of men and over heaven. For to believe as they do, that power has been given them to save and to admit into heaven, is the very opposite of acknowledging in heart that there is a God, and for the reason that man, in order to be saved and admitted into heaven, must look to the Lord and pray to Him. But a man who believes that such power has been given him looks to himself, and believes the things that are the Lord's to be in himself; and to believe this, and at the same time to believe that there is a God or that God is in him, is impossible. For a man to believe that God is in him when he thinks himself to be above the holy things of the church, and heaven to be in his power, is like ascribing that belief to Lucifer, who burns with the fire of ruling over all things. If such a man thinks that God is in him he cannot think this otherwise than from himself; and thinking from himself that God is in him is thinking not that God is in him, but that he himself is God, as is said of Lucifer in Isaiah (xiv. 13, 14), by whom is there meant Babylon, as is evident from the fourth and twenty-second verses of the same chapter.

Moreover, such a man of himself, when power is given him, shows forth what he is of himself, and this by degrees according to his elevation. From this it is clear that such are atheists, some avowedly, some clandestinely, and some ignorantly. And as they regard dominion as an end, and the holy things of heaven and the church as means, they counterfeit angels of light in face, gesture, and speech, and thus profane holy things. (A.E., n. 1058.)

Those who are in this kind of profanation, which is hypocritical, differ in this respect, that there are those who have less ability and those who have more ability to conceal the interiors of their mind, that they may not be disclosed, and to shape the exteriors, which pertain to face and mouth, into an expression of sanctity. When such after death become spirits they appear encompassed with a cloud, in the midst of which is something black, like an Egyptian mummy. But as they are raised up as it were into the light of heaven, that bright cloud changes to a diabolical duskiness, not from any shining through it, but from a breathing through it, and the consequent disclosing. In hell, therefore, these are black devils. The differences in this kind of profanation are known from the blackness, as being more or less horrifying. (A.E., n. 1059.)

V. The Fourth and Fifth Kinds of Profanation

A fourth kind of profanation is to live a life of piety, by frequenting churches, listening devoutly to preachings, observing the sacrament of the Supper, and the other appointed forms of worship, reading the Word at home, and sometimes books of devotion, and habitually praying morning and evening, and yet making the precepts of life that are in the Word, particularly in the Decalogue, of no account, by acting dishonestly and unjustly in business and in judgments for the sake of gain or influenced by friendship; committing whoredom and adultery when lust inflames and urges; burning with hate and revenge against those who do not favor their gain or honor; lying, and speaking evil of the good, and good of the evil, and so on. When a man is in these evils, and has not been purified from them by turning away from them and hating them, and still worships God devoutly, as has been said above, then he profanes; for he mingles his internals which are impure with externals that are pious, and these he defiles.

For there can be nothing external that does not proceed and have existence from internals. The actions and speech of man are his externals, and thoughts and volitions are his internals. Man can speak only from thought, and can act only from volition. When the life of the thoughts and of the will is infected with craft, cunning, and violence, it must needs be that these, as interior evils of the life, will flow into the speech and actions pertaining to worship and piety, and defile them as filth defiles waters.

This worship is what is meant by "Gog and Magog" (Apoc. xx. 8), and is thus described in Isaiah:

"What is the multitude of sacrifices unto Me, meat offerings, incense, sabbaths, new moons, appointed feasts, and prayers, when your hands are full of bloods? Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickedness of your doings . . . ; cease to do evil" (i. 11-19).

This kind of profanation is not hypocritical like the former, because the man who is in it believes that he will be saved by external worship separate from internal, and does not know that the worship by which he can be saved is external worship from internal. (A.E., n. 1061.)

Those who give themselves up wholly to a life of piety, who walk continually in pious meditations, who pray frequently upon their knees, and talk about salvation, faith, and love at all times and in all places, and yet do not shun frauds, adulteries, hatreds, blasphemies, and the like, as sins against God, nor fight against them, such are the kind that are more fully profaners; for by the impurities of their minds they defile the piety of their lips, especially when they renounce the world and lead solitary lives. Of this kind there are some who are still more profaners; these are like those just described, but by reasonings and by the Word falsely interpreted they defend their vices as adulteries and lusts that belong to their nature, and thus to their enjoyment. Such first regard themselves as free from danger, afterward as blameless, and at length as holy; and thus under the veil of sanctity they cast themselves into uncleannesses with which both themselves and their garments are polluted. (A.E., n. 1062.)

To this class of profaners those especially belong who read the Word and know about the Lord; because from the Lord through the Word are all things holy that can be profaned; things not from that source cannot be profaned. That is said to be profane that is the opposite of what is holy, and that offers violence to what is holy and destroys it. From this it follows that those who do not read the Word and do not approach the Lord, as is the case with the Papists, still less those who know nothing about the Lord and the Word, like the Gentiles, do not belong to this class of profaners.

Those who belong to this class of profaners appear after death at first with a face of human color, around which float many wandering stars; and those of them that had been leaders sometimes appear shining about the lips. But as they are brought into the light of heaven, the stars and the shining of the lips vanish, and the color of the face is changed to black, and likewise their garments. But the blackness of these profaners tends to blue, as the blackness of the other kind of profaners tends to red, for the reason that the latter profane the goods of the Word and of the church, while the others profane the truths of the Word and of the church. For red derives from the sun its signification of good, while blue derives from the sky its signification of truth. (A.E., n. 1063.)

The fifth kind of profanation is not like the others that have been treated of, for it consists in jesting from the Word and about the Word. For those who make jokes from the Word do not regard it as holy, and those who joke about it hold it in no esteem. And yet the Word is the very Divine truth of the Lord with men, and the Lord is present in the Word, and heaven also; for every particular of the Word communicates with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; therefore to jest from the Word or about the Word is to bespatter the holy things of heaven with the dust of the earth. (A.E., n. 1064.)

Part Fourth--THE DIVINE WORD

I. The Holiness of the Word

It was said of old that the Word is from God, Divinely inspired, and thus holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word the Divine is. For the Word appears in the letter like a common writing in a foreign style, and a style not so sublime or so lucid as appears in the writings of the present ages. For this reason a man who worships nature more than God, or in place of God, and thus thinks from himself and what is his own (proprium), and not from the Lord out of heaven, can easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, saying in his heart when he reads it, What is this, or what is that? Is this Divine? Can God who has infinite wisdom speak in this manner? Where is its holiness, and from what source, unless from the religion whose ministers it serves? and other like things. But that it may be known that the Word is Divine, not only in every meaning but also in every expression, its internal sense, which is spiritual, and which is in its external sense, which is natural, as a soul in its body, has now been revealed. This sense can bear witness to the Divinity and consequent holiness of the Word; and can convince even the natural man that the Word is Divine if he is willing to be convinced. (A.E., n. 1065.)

In brief, the Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens men. As Divine truth goes forth from the Lord, and as what goes forth is Himself out of Himself, the same as light and heat go forth from the sun and are the sun, that is, are of the sun out of it, and as the Word is Divine truth, it is therefore the Lord, as it is called in John (i. 1-3, 14). In as much as Divine truth, which is the Word, in its descent into the world from the Lord, has passed through the three heavens, it has become accommodated to each heaven, and lastly to men also in the world. This is why there are in the Word four senses, one outside of the other from the highest heaven down to the world, or one within the other from the world up to the highest heaven. These four senses are called the celestial, the spiritual, the natural from the celestial and spiritual, and the merely natural. This last is for the world, the next for the lowest heaven, the spiritual for the second heaven, and the celestial for the third. These four senses differ so greatly from one another that when one is exhibited beside the other no connection can be recognized; and yet they make one when one follows the other; for one follows from the other as an effect from a cause, or as what is posterior from what is prior; consequently as an effect represents its cause and corresponds to its cause, so the posterior sense corresponds to the prior; and thus it is that all four senses make one through correspondences.

From all this these truths follow. The outmost sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, and the fourth in order, contains in itself the three interior senses, which are for the three heavens. These three senses are unfolded and exhibited in the heavens when a man on the earth is reverently reading the Word. Therefore the sense of the letter of the Word is that from which and through which there is communication with the heavens, also from which and through which man has conjunction with the heavens. The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of Divine truth in the heavens, and without such a basis Divine truth would be like a house without a foundation; and without such a basis the wisdom of the angels would be like a house in the air. It is the sense of the letter of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists. It is the sense of the letter of the Word through which man is enlightened by the Lord, and through which he receives answers when he wishes to be enlightened. It is the sense of the letter of the Word by which everything of doctrine on the earth must be established. In the sense of the letter of the Word is Divine truth in its fullness. In the sense of the letter of the Word Divine truth is in its holiness. (A.E., n. 1066.)