The Gist of Swedenborg Part 6

If it is the affection of charity which is in them, all diversions will recreate it--shows, games, instrumental and vocal music, the beauties of field and garden, social intercourse generally. There remains deep in them, being gradually renewed as it rests, the love of work and service. The longing to resume this work breaks in upon the diversions and puts an end to them. For the Lord flows into the diversions from heaven, and renews the man; and He gives the man an interior sense of pleasure in them, too, of which those know nothing who are not in the affection of charity.

--_Doctrine of Charity, nn._ 127, 128, 130

THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE

"He leadeth me."

--_Psalm_, XXIII, 2

THE DIVINE PURPOSE

The Divine Providence has for an end a heaven which shall consist of men who have become angels or who are becoming angels, to whom the Lord can impart from Himself all the blessedness and felicity of love and wisdom.

--_Divine Providence, n._ 27

THE LAWFUL ORDER OF PROVIDENCE

In all that proceeds from the Lord the Divine Providence is first.

Indeed, we may say that the Lord _is_ Providence, as we say that G.o.d is Order; for the Divine Providence is Divine Order with regard above all to the salvation of man. As order is impossible without laws, it follows that as G.o.d is order so is He the Law of His order. And as the Lord is His Providence, He is also the Law of His Providence. The Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His Providence, for to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to Himself.

--_Divine Providence, n._ 331

A WORLD-WIDE LEADING

The Lord provides that there shall be religion everywhere, and in each religion the two essentials of salvation, which are, to acknowledge G.o.d, and not to do evil because it is contrary to G.o.d. It is provided furthermore that all who have lived well and acknowledge G.o.d should be instructed by angels after death. Then, they who, in the world, were in the two essentials of religion, accept the truths of the Church, such as they are in the Word, and acknowledge the Lord as the G.o.d of heaven and the Church. It has also been provided by the Lord that all who die infants shall be saved, wherever they may have been born.

--_Divine Providence, n._ 328

THE DIVINE PERSEVERANCE

The Divine Providence differs from all other leading and guidance in this, that it continually regards what is eternal, and continually leads to salvation, and this through various states, now glad, now sad,--states which a man cannot understand at all, and yet they all conduce to his life to eternity.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8560

IN THE STREAM OF PROVIDENCE

The Divine Providence is universal, that is, in the leasts of all things. They who are in the stream of Providence are borne along continually to happiness, whatsoever the appearance of the means may be. They are in the stream of Providence, who put their trust in the Divine, and ascribe all things to Him. They are not in the stream of Providence who trust themselves alone and ascribe all things to themselves. As far as one is in the stream of Providence, so far one is in a state of peace. Such alone know and believe that the Divine Providence of the Lord is in each and all things, yea, in the leasts of all things.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8478

CARE FOR THE MORROW

It is not contrary to order to look out for one's self and one's dependents. Those have "care for the morrow" who are not content with their lot, who do not trust in the Divine but themselves, and who regard only worldly and earthly things and not heavenly. With such there prevails universally a solicitude about things future, a desire to possess everything, and to rule over all. They grieve if they do not get what they desire, and suffer torment when they lose what they have. Then they grow angry with the Divine, rejecting it together with everything of faith, and cursing themselves. Altogether different is it with those who trust in the Divine. Though they have care for the morrow, yet they have it not; for they do not think of the morrow with solicitude, still less with anxiety. Whether they get what they wish or not, they are composed, not lamenting over losses, but being content with their lot. If they become rich, they do not set their hearts upon riches. If they are exalted to honors, they do not look upon themselves as worthier than others. If they become poor, they are not cast down. If their condition be mean, they are not dejected. They know that with those who put their trust in the Divine, all things work toward a happy state to eternity.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8478

THE SUFFERANCE OF EVIL

The chief aim and effort of the Lord's Divine Providence is that a man shall be in what is good and in what is true at the same time; for thereby man is man, since he is then an image of the Lord. But because, in his life in the world, he can be in what is good and in what is false at the same time, and also in what is evil and what is true at the same time, nay, even in evil and at the same time in good, and thus be a double man, as it were, and because this division destroys G.o.d's image and so destroys the man, therefore the Lord's Divine Providence in all its workings seeks to prevent this division.

Furthermore, because it is better for man to be in what is evil and in the same time in what is false than to be in good and at the same time in evil, therefore the Lord permits it; not as one willing it, but as one unable to prevent it consistently with the end, which is salvation.

--_Divine Providence, n._ 16

DEATH AND THE RESURRECTION

"I laid me down and slept: I awaked: for the Lord sustained me."

--_Psalm,_ III, 5

"Now that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush, when he called the Lord the G.o.d of Abraham, and the G.o.d of Isaac, and the G.o.d of Jacob: for He is not a G.o.d of the dead, but of the living; for to Him all are living."

--_Luke_, XX, 37, 38

IMMORTAL BY ENDOWMENT

Man has been so created that as to his inward being he cannot die; for he can believe in G.o.d, and also love G.o.d, and thus be united to G.o.d in faith and love; and to be united to G.o.d is to live to eternity.

--_Heavenly Doctrine, n._ 223

FROM WORLD TO WORLD

When the body is no longer able to perform its functions in the natural world, a man is said to die. Still the man does not die; he is only separated from the bodily part which was of use to him in the world. The man himself lives. He lives, because he is man by virtue, not of the body, but of the spirit; for it is the spirit in man which thinks; and thought together with affection makes the man. It is plain, then, that when a man dies, he only pa.s.ses from one world into the other.... The spirit of man after separation remains awhile in the body, but not after the motion of the heart has entirely ceased. This takes place with a variation according to the diseased condition of which the man dies. As soon as the motion ceases, the man is resuscitated. This is done by the Lord alone.

--_Heaven and h.e.l.l, nn._ 445, 447

UNHURT BY DEATH

When a man pa.s.ses from the natural world into the spiritual, he takes with him everything that belongs to him as a man except his earthly body. (This he leaves when he dies, nor does he ever resume it.[A]) He is in a body as he was in the natural world; and to all appearance there is no difference. But his body is spiritual, and is therefore separated or purified from things terrestrial. And when what is spiritual touches and sees what is spiritual, it is just the same as when what is natural touches and sees what is natural.... A human spirit also enjoys every sense, external and internal, which he enjoyed in the world. He sees as before, hears and speaks as before, smells and tastes as before, and feels when he is touched. He also longs, desires, craves, thinks, reflects, is stirred, loves, wills, as he did previously.... In a word, when a man pa.s.ses from the one life into the other, or from the one world into the other, it is as though he had pa.s.sed from one place to another; and he carries with him all that he possesses in himself as a man. It cannot, then, be said, that after death a man has lost anything that really belonged to him. He carries his natural memory with him, too; for he retains all things whatsoever which he has heard, seen, read, learned and thought in the world, from earliest infancy even to the last of life.

--_Heaven and h.e.l.l, n._ 461