385. There are evident signs that conjugial love and the love of
infants, which is called _storge_, are connected; and there are also
signs which may induce a belief that they are not connected; for there
is the love of infants with married partners who tenderly love each
other, and also with married partners who disagree entirely, and
likewise with those who are separated from each other, and in some cases
it is more tender and stronger with the latter than the former; but that
still the love of infants is always connected with conjugial love, may
appear from the origin from which it flows in; for although this origin
varies with the recipients, still those loves remain inseparable, just
as the first end in the last, which is the effect. The first end of
conjugial love is the procreation of offspring, and the last, or the
effect, is the offspring procreated. That the first end enters into the
effect, and is therein as in its origin, and does not withdraw from it,
may be seen from a rational view of the orderly progression of ends and
causes to effects. But as the reasonings of the generality commence
merely from effects, and from them proceed to some consequences thence
resulting, and do not commence from causes, and from them proceed
analytically to effects, and so forth; therefore the rational principles
of light must needs become the obscure principles of cloud; whence come
derivations from truth, arising from appearances and fallacies. But that
it may be seen that conjugial love and the love of infants are
interiorly connected, although exteriorly disjointed, we will proceed to
demonstrate it in the following order. I. _Two universal spheres proceed
from the Lord to preserve the universe in its created State; of which
the one is the sphere of procreating, and the other the sphere of
protecting the things procreated._ II. _These two universal spheres make
a one with the sphere of conjugial love and the sphere of the love of
infants._ III. _These two spheres universally and singularly flow into
all things of heaven, and all things of the world from first to last._
IV. _The sphere of the love of infants is a sphere of protection and
support of those who cannot protect and support themselves._ V. _This
sphere affects both the evil and the good, and disposes every one to
love, protect, and support his offspring from his own love._ VI. _This
sphere principally affects the female sex, thus mothers, and the male
sex, or fathers, by derivation from them._ VII. _This sphere is also a
sphere of innocence and peace from the Lord._ VIII. _The sphere of
innocence flows into infants, and through them into the parents, and
affects them._ IX, _It also flows into the souls of the parents, and
unites with the same sphere (as operative) with the infants; and it is
principally insinuated by means of the touch._ X. _In the degree in
which innocence retires from infants, affection and conjunction also
abate, and this successively even to separation._ XI. _A state of
rational innocence and peace with parents towards infants is grounded on
the circumstance, that they know nothing and can do nothing from
themselves, but from others, especially from the father and mother; and
that this state also successively retires, in proportion as they know
and have ability from themselves, and not from others._ XII. _The above
sphere advances in order from the end through causes into effects and
makes periods; whereby creation is preserved in the state foreseen and
provided for._ XIII. _The love of infants descends and does not ascend._
XIV. _Wives have one state of love before conception and another after,
even to the birth._ XV. _With parents conjugial love is conjoined with
the love of infants by spiritual causes, and thence by natural._ XVI.
_The love of infants and children is different with spiritual married
partners from what it is with natural._ XVII. _With spiritual married
partners that love is from what is interior or prior, but with natural
from what is exterior or posterior._ XVIII. _In consequence hereof that
love prevails with married partners who mutually love each other, and
also with those who do not at all love each other._ XIX. _The love of
infants remains after death, especially with women._ XX. _Infants are
educated under the Lord's auspices by such women, and grow in stature
and intelligence as in the world._ XXI. _It is there provided by the
Lord, that with those infants the innocence of infancy becomes the
innocence of wisdom, and thus the infants become angels._ We now proceed
to an explanation of each article.
386. I. TWO UNIVERSAL SPHERES PROCEED FROM THE LORD TO PRESERVE THE
UNIVERSE IN ITS CREATED STATE; OF WHICH THE ONE IS THE SPHERE OF
PROCREATING AND THE OTHER THE SPHERE OF PROTECTING THE THINGS
PROCREATED. The divine which proceeds from the Lord is called a sphere,
because it goes forth from him, surrounds him, fills both the spiritual
and the natural world, and produces the effects of the ends which the
Lord predestinated in creation, and provides since creation. All that
which flows from a subject, and surrounds and environs it, is named a
sphere; as in the case of the sphere of light from the sun around it, of
the sphere of life from man around him, of the sphere of odor from a
plant around it, of the sphere of attraction from the magnet around it,
and so forth: but the universal spheres of which we are here treating,
are from the Lord around him; and they proceed from the sun of the
spiritual world, in the midst of which he is. From the Lord by means of
that sun, proceeds a sphere of heat and light, or what is the same, a
sphere of love and wisdom, to produce ends, which are uses; but that
sphere according to uses, is distinguished by various names: the divine
sphere which looks to the preservation of the universe in its created
state by successive generations, is called the sphere of procreating;
and the divine sphere which looks to the preservation of generations in
their beginnings, and afterwards in their progressions, is called the
sphere of protecting the things procreated: besides these two, there are
several other divine spheres which are named according to their uses,
consequently variously, as may be seen above, n. 222. The operations of
uses by these spheres are the divine providence.
387. II. THESE TWO UNIVERSAL SPHERES MAKE A ONE WITH THE SPHERE OF
CONJUGIAL LOVE AND THE SPHERE OF THE LOVE OF INFANTS. That the sphere of
conjugial love makes a one with the sphere of procreating, is evident;
for procreation is the end, and conjugial love the mediate cause by
which (the end is promoted), and the end and the cause in what is to be
effected and in effects, act in unity, because they act together. That
the sphere of the love of infants makes a one with the sphere of
protecting the things procreated, is also evident, because it is the end
proceeding from the foregoing end, which was procreation, and the love
of infants is its mediate cause by which it is promoted: for ends
advance in a series, one after another, and in their progress the last
end becomes the first, and thereby advances further, even to the
boundary, in which they subsist or cease. But on this subject more will
be seen in the explanation of article XII.
388. III. THESE TWO SPHERES UNIVERSALLY AND SINGULARLY FLOW INTO ALL
THINGS OF HEAVEN AND ALL THINGS OF THE WORLD, FROM FIRST TO LAST. It is
said universally and singularly, because when mention is made of a
universal, the singulars of which it is composed are meant at the same
time; for a universal exists from and consists of singulars; thus it
takes its name from them, as a whole exists from, consists of, and takes
its name from its parts; therefore, if you take away singulars, a
universal is only a name, and is like a mere surface which contains
nothing: consequently to attribute to God universal government, and to
take away singulars, is vain talk and empty preaching: nor is it to the
purpose, in this case, to urge a comparison with the universal
government of the kings of the earth. From this ground then it is said,
that those two spheres flow in universally and singularly.
389. The reason why the spheres of procreating and of protecting the
things procreated, or the spheres of conjugial love and the love of
infants, flow into all thing of heaven and all things of the world, from
first (principles) to last, is because all things which proceed from the
Lord, or from the sun which is from him and in which he is, pervade the
created universe even to the last of all its principles: the reason of
this is, because divine things, which in progression are called
celestial and spiritual, have no relation to space and time. That
extension cannot be predicated of things spiritual, in consequence of
their not having any relation to space and time, is well known: hence
whatever proceeds from the Lord, is in an instant from first
(principles) in last. That the sphere of conjugial love is thus
universal may be seen above, n. 222-225. That in like manner the sphere
of the love of infants is universal, is evident from that love's
prevailing in heaven, where there are infants from the earths; and from
that love's prevailing in the world with men, beasts and birds, serpents
and insects. Something resembling this love prevails also in the
vegetable and mineral kingdoms; in the vegetable, in that seeds are
guarded by shells or husks as by swaddling clothes, and moreover are in
the fruit as in a house, and are nourished with juice as with milk; that
there is something similar in minerals, is plain from the matrixes and
external covering, in which noble gems and metals are concealed and
guarded.
390. The reason why the sphere of procreating, and the sphere of
protecting the things procreated, make a one in a continual series, is,
because the love of procreating is continued into the love of what is
procreated. The quality of the love of procreating is known from its
delight, which is supereminent and transcendent. This love influences
the state of procreating with men, and in a remarkable manner the state
of reception with women; and this very exalted delight with its love
continues even to the birth, and there attains its fulness.
391. IV. THE SPHERE OF THE LOVE OF INFANTS IS A SPHERE OF PROTECTION AND
SUPPORT OF THOSE WHO CANNOT PROTECT AND SUPPORT THEMSELVES. That the
operations of uses from the Lord by spheres proceeding from him, are the
divine providence, was said above, n. 386; this divine providence
therefore is meant by the sphere of protection and support of those who
cannot protect and support themselves: for it is a law of creation that
the things created are to be preserved, guarded, protected, and
supported; otherwise the universe would fall to decay: but as this
cannot be done immediately from the Lord with living creatures, who are
left to their own choice, it is done mediately by his love implanted in
fathers, mothers, and nurses. That their love is from the Lord
influencing them, is not known to themselves, because they do not
perceive the influx, and still less the Lord's omnipresence: but who
does not see, that this principle is not of nature, but of the divine
providence operating in and by nature; and that such a universal
principle cannot exist except from God, by a certain spiritual sun,
which is in the centre of the universe, and whose operation, being
without space and time, is instant and present from first principles in
last? But in what manner that divine operation, which is the Lord's
divine providence, is received by animate subjects, will be shewn in
what follows. That mothers and fathers protect and support infants,
because they cannot protect and support themselves, is not the cause of
that love, but is a rational cause derived from that love's falling into
the understanding; for a man, from this cause alone, without love
inspired and inspiring it, or without law and punishment compelling him,
would no more than a statue provide for infants.
392. V. THIS SPHERE AFFECTS BOTH THE EVIL AND THE GOOD, AND DISPOSES
EVERY ONE TO LOVE, PROTECT, AND SUPPORT HIS OFFSPRING FROM HIS OWN LOVE.
Experience testifies that the love of infants prevails equally with the
evil and the good, and in like manner with tame and wild beasts; yea,
that in some cases it is stronger and more ardent in its influence on
evil men, and also on wild beasts. The reason of this is, because all
love proceeding from the Lord and flowing into subjects, is changed in
the subject into the love of its life; for every animate subject has no
other sensation than that its love originates in itself, as it does not
perceive the influx; and while also it actually loves itself, it makes
the love of infants proper to itself; for it sees as it were itself in
them, and them in itself, and itself thus united with them. Hence also
this love is fiercer with wild beasts, as with lions and lionesses, he
and she bears, leopards and leopardesses, he and she wolves, and others
of a like nature, than with horses, deer, goats, and sheep; because
those wild beasts have dominion over the tame, and hence self-love is
predominant, and this loves itself in its offspring; therefore as we
said, the influent love is turned into self-love. Such an inversion of
the influent love into self-love, and the consequent protection and
support of the young offspring by evil parents, is of the Lord's divine
providence; for otherwise there would remain but few of the human race,
and none of the savage beasts, which, nevertheless, are of use. From
these considerations it is evident, that every one is disposed to love,
protect, and support his offspring, from his own love.
393. VI. THIS SPHERE PRINCIPALLY AFFECTS THE FEMALE SEX, THUS MOTHERS
AND THE MALE SEX, OR FATHERS, BY DERIVATION FROM THEM. This follows from
what was said above, in regard to the origin of conjugial love,--that
the sphere of conjugial love is received by the women, and through them
is transferred to the men: because women are born loves of the
understanding of the men, and the understanding is a recipient. The case
is the same with the love of infants, because this originates in
conjugial love. It is well known that mothers are influenced by a most
tender love of infants, and fathers by a love less tender. That the love
of infants is inherent in conjugial love, into which women are born, is
evident from the amiable and endearing love of girls towards infants,
and towards their dolls, which they carry, dress, kiss, and press to
their bosoms: boys are not influenced by any such affection. It appears
as if mothers derived the love of infants from nourishing them in the
womb out of their own blood, and from the consequent appropriation of
their life, and thus from sympathetic union: but still this is not the
origin of that love; for if another infant, without the mother's
knowledge, were to be put after the birth in the place of the genuine
infant, the mother would love it with equal tenderness as if it were her
own: moreover infants are sometimes loved by their nurses more than by
their mothers. From these considerations it follows, that this love is
from no other source than from the conjugial love implanted in every
woman, to which is joined the love of conceiving; from the delight of
which the wife is prepared for reception. This is the first of the above
love, which with its delight after the birth passes fully to the
offspring.
394. VII. THIS SPHERE IS ALSO A SPHERE OF INNOCENCE AND PEACE (FROM THE
LORD). Innocence and peace are the two inmost principles of heaven; they
are called inmost principles, because they proceed immediately from the
Lord: for the Lord is innocence itself and peace itself. From innocence
the Lord is called a Lamb, and from peace he saith, "_Peace I leave you;
my peace I give you_," John xiv. 27; and he is also meant by the peace
with which the disciples were to salute a city or house which they
entered; and of which it is said, that if it was worthy, peace would
come upon it, and if not worthy, peace would return, Matt. x. 11-15.
Hence also the Lord is called the Prince of peace, Isaiah ix. 5, 6. A
further reason why innocence and peace are the inmost principles of
heaven, is, because innocence is the _esse_ of every good, and peace is
the blessed principle of every delight which is of good. See the work on
HEAVEN AND HELL, as to the state of innocence of the angels of heaven,
n. 276-283; and as to peace in heaven, n. 284-290.
395. VIII. THE SPHERE OF INNOCENCE FLOWS INTO INFANTS, AND THROUGH THEM
INTO THE PARENTS, AND AFFECTS THEM. It is well known that infants are
innocences; but it is not known that their innocence flows in from the
Lord. It flows in from the Lord, because, as was said just above, he is
innocence itself; neither can any thing flow in, since it cannot exist
except from its first principle, which is IT itself. But we will briefly
describe the nature and quality of the innocence of infants, which
affects parents: it shines forth from their face, from some of their
gestures, and from their first speech, and affects them. They have
innocence, because they do not think from any interior principle; for
they do not as yet know what is good and evil, and what is true and
false, as the ground of their thoughts; in consequence of which they
have not a prudence originating in selfhood, nor any deliberate purpose;
of course they do not regard any evil as an end. They are free from
selfhood acquired from self-love and the love of the world; they do not
attribute any thing to themselves; they refer to their parents whatever
they receive; content with the trifles which are given them as presents,
they have no care about food and raiment, or about the future; they do
not look to the world, and immerse themselves thereby in the desire of
many things; they love their parents, their nurses, and their infant
companions, with whom they play in innocence; they suffer themselves to
be guided, they harken and obey. This is the innocence of infancy, which
is the cause of the love called _storge_.
396. IX. IT ALSO FLOWS IN TO THE SOULS OF THE PARENTS, AND UNITES WITH
THE SAME SPHERE (AS OPERATIVE) WITH THE INFANTS, AND IT IS PRINCIPALLY
INSINUATED BY MEANS OF THE TOUCH. The Lord's innocence flows into the
angels of the third heaven, where all are in the innocence of wisdom,
and passes through the inferior heavens, but only through the innocences
of the angels therein, and thus immediately and mediately flows into
infants. These differ but little from graven forms; but still they are
receptible of life from the Lord through the heavens. Yet, unless the
parents also received that influx in their souls, and in the inmost
principles of their minds, they would in vain be affected by the
innocence of the infants. There must be something adequate and similar
in another, whereby communication may be effected, and which may cause
reception, affection, and thence conjunction; otherwise it would be like
soft seed falling upon a stone, or a lamb exposed to a wolf. From this
ground then it is, that innocence flowing into the souls of the parents,
unites with the innocence of the infants. Experience may shew that, with
the parents, this conjunction is effected by the mediation of the bodily
senses, but especially by the touch: as that the sight is intimately
delighted by seeing them, the hearing by their speech, the smelling by
their odor. That the communication and therefore the conjunction of
innocence is principally effected by the touch, is evident from the
satisfaction of carrying them in the arms, from fondling and kissing
them, especially in the case of mothers, who are delighted in laying
their mouth and face upon their bosoms, and at the same time in touching
the same with the palms of their hands, in general, in giving them milk
by suckling them at the breasts, moreover, in stroking their naked body,
and the unwearied pains they take in washing and dressing them on their
laps. That the communications of love and its delights between married
partners are effected by the sense of the touch has been occasionally
proved above. The reason why communications of the mind are also
effected by the same sense is, because the hands are a man's ultimates,
and his first principles are together in the ultimates, whereby also all
things of the body and of the mind are kept together in an inseparable
connection. Hence it is, that Jesus touched infants, Matt, xviii. 2-6;
Mark x. 13-16; and that he healed the sick by the touch: and that those
who touched him were healed: hence also it is, that inaugurations into
the priesthood are at this day effected by the laying on of hands. From
these considerations it is evident, that the innocence of parents and
the innocence of infants meet each other by the touch, especially of the
hands, and thereby join themselves together as by kisses.
397. That innocence produces similar effects with beasts and birds as
with men, and that by contact, is well known: the reason of this is,
because all that proceeds from the Lord, in an instant pervades the
universe, as may be seen above, n. 388-390; and as it proceeds by
degrees, and by continual mediations, therefore it passes not only to
animals, but also to vegetables and minerals; see n. 389; it also passes
into the earth itself, which is the mother of all vegetables and
minerals; for the earth, in the spring, is in a prepared state for the
reception of seeds, as it were in the womb; and when it receives them,
it, as it were, conceives, cherishes them, bears, excludes, suckles,
nourishes, clothes, educates, guards, and, as it were, loves the
offspring derived from them, and so forth. Since the sphere of
procreation proceeds thus far, how much more must it proceed to animals
of every kind, even to worms! That as the earth is the common mother of
vegetables, so there is also a common mother of bees in every hive, is a
well known tact, confirmed by observation.
398. X. IN THE DEGREE IN WHICH INNOCENCE RETIRES FROM INFANTS, AFFECTION
AND CONJUNCTION ALSO ABATE, AND THIS SUCCESSIVELY EVEN TO SEPARATION. It
is well known that the love of infants, or _storge_, retires from
parents according as innocence retires from them; and that, in the case
of men, it retires even to the separation of children from home, and in
the case of beasts and birds, to a rejection from their presence, and a
total forgetfulness of relationship. From this circumstance, as an
established fact, it may further appear, that innocence flowing in on
each side produces the love called _storge_.
399. XI. A STATE OF RATIONAL INNOCENCE AND PEACE WITH PARENTS TOWARDS
INFANTS, IS GROUNDED IN THE CIRCUMSTANCE, THAT THEY KNOW NOTHING AND CAN
DO NOTHING FROM THEMSELVES, BUT FROM OTHERS, ESPECIALLY FROM THE FATHER
AND MOTHER; AND THIS STATE SUCCESSIVELY RETIRES, IN PROPORTION AS THEY
KNOW AND HAVE ABILITY FROM THEMSELVES, AND NOT FROM OTHERS. That the
sphere of the love of infants is a sphere of protection and support of
those who cannot protect and support themselves, was shewn above in its
proper article, n. 391: that this is only a rational cause with men, but
not the very essential cause of that love prevailing with them, was also
mentioned in the same article. The real original cause of that love is
innocence from the Lord, which flows in while the man is ignorant of it,
and produces the above rational cause; therefore as the first cause
produces a retiring from that love, so also does the second cause at the
same time; or what is the same, as the communication of innocence
retires, so also the persuading reason accompanies it; but this is the
case only with man to the intent that he may do what he does from
freedom according to reason, and from this, as from a rational and at
the same time a moral law, may support his adult offspring according to
the requirements of necessity and usefulness. This second cause does not
influence animals who are without reason, they being affected only by
the prior cause, which to them is instinct.
400. XII. THE SPHERE OF THE LOVE OF PROCREATING ADVANCES IN ORDER FROM
THE END THROUGH CAUSES INTO EFFECTS, AND MAKES PERIODS; WHEREBY CREATION
IS PRESERVED IN THE STATE FORESEEN AND PROVIDED FOR. All operations in
the universe have a progression from ends through causes into effects.
These three are in themselves indivisible, although in idea they appear
divided; but still the end, unless the intended effect is seen together
with it, is not any thing; nor does either become any thing, unless the
cause supports, contrives, and conjoins it. Such a progression is
inherent in every man in general, and in every particular, altogether as
will, understanding, and action: every end in regard to man relates to
the will, every cause to the understanding, and every effect to the
action; in like manner, every end relates to love, every efficient cause
to wisdom, and every effect thence derived to use. The reason of this
is, because the receptacle of love is the will, the receptacle of wisdom
is the understanding, and the receptacle of use is action: since
therefore operations in general and in particular with man advance from
the will through the understanding into act, so also do they advance
from love through wisdom into use. By wisdom here we mean all that which
belongs to judgement and thought. That these three are a one in the
effect, is evident. That they also make a one in ideas before the
effect, is perceived from the consideration, that determination only
intervenes; for in the mind an end goes forth from the will and produces
for itself a cause in the understanding, and presents to itself an
intention; and intention is as an act before determination; hence it is,
that by a wise man, and also by the Lord, intention is accepted as an
act. What rational person cannot see, or, when he hears, acknowledge,
that those three principles flow from some first cause, and that that
cause is, that from the Lord, the Creator and Conservator of the
universe, there continually proceed love, wisdom, and use, and these
three are one? Tell, if you can, in what other source they originate.
401. A similar progression from end through cause into effect belongs
also to the sphere of procreating and of protecting the things
procreated. The end in this case is the will or love of procreating; the
middle cause, by which the end is effected and into which it infuses
itself, is conjugial love; the progressive series of efficient causes is
the loving, conception, gestation of the embryo or offspring to be
procreated; and the effect is the offspring itself procreated. But
although end, cause, and effect successively advance as three things,
still in the love of procreating, and inwardly in all the causes, and in
the effect itself, they make a one. They are the efficient causes only,
which advance through times, because in nature; while the end or will,
or love, remains continually the same: for ends advance in nature
through times without time; but they cannot come forth and manifest
themselves, until the effect or use exists and becomes a subject; before
this, the love could love only the advance, but could not secure and fix
itself. That there are periods of such progressions, and that creation
is thereby preserved in the state foreseen and provided for, is well
known. But the series of the love of infants from its greatest to its
least, thus to the boundary in which it subsists or ceases, is
retrograde; since it is according to the decrease of innocence in the
subject, and also on account of the periods.
402. XIII. THE LOVE OF INFANTS DESCENDS, AND DOES NOT ASCEND. That it
descends from generation to generation, or from sons and daughters to
grandsons and granddaughters, and does not ascend from these to fathers
and mothers of families, is well known. The cause of its increase in
descent is the love of fructifying, or of producing uses, and in respect
to the human race, it is the love of multiplying it; but this derives
its origin solely from the Lord, who, in the multiplication of the human
race, regards the conservation of creation, and as the ultimate end
thereof, the angelic heaven, which is solely from the human race; and
since the angelic heaven is the end of ends, and thence the love of
loves with the Lord, therefore there is implanted in the souls of men,
not only the love of procreating, but also of loving the things
procreated in successions: hence also this love exists only with man and
not with any beast or bird. That this love with man descends increasing,
is in consequence of the glory of honor, which in like manner increases
with him according to amplifications. That the love of honor and glory
receives into itself the love of infants flowing from the Lord, and
makes it as it were its own, will be seen in article XVI.
403. XIV. WIVES HAVE ONE STATE OF LOVE BEFORE CONCEPTION AND ANOTHER
AFTER, EVEN TO THE BIRTH. This is adduced to the end that it may be
known, that the love of procreating, and the consequent love of what is
procreated, is implanted in conjugial love with women, and that with
them those two loves are divided, while the end, which is the love of
procreating, begins its progression. That the love called _storge_ is
then transferred from the wife to the husband; and also that the love of
procreating, which, as we said, with a woman makes one with her
conjugial love, is then not alike, is evident from several indications.
404. XV. WITH PARENTS CONJUGIAL LOVE IS CONJOINED WITH THE LOVE OF
INFANTS BY SPIRITUAL CAUSES, AND THENCE BY NATURAL. The spiritual causes
are, that the human race may be multiplied, and from this the angelic
heaven enlarged, and that thereby such may be born as will become
angels, serving the Lord to promote uses in heaven, and by consociation
with men also in the earths: for every man has angels associated with
him from the Lord; and such is his conjunction with them, that if they
were taken away, he would instantly die. The natural causes of the
conjunction of those two loves are, to effect the birth of those who may
promote uses in human societies, and may be incorporated therein as
members. That the latter are the natural and the former the spiritual
causes of the love of infants and of conjugial love, even married
partners themselves think and sometimes declare, saying they have
enriched heaven with as many angels as they have had descendants, and
have furnished society with as many servants as they have had children.
405. XVI. THE LOVE OF CHILDREN AND INFANTS IS DIFFERENT WITH SPIRITUAL
MARRIED PARTNERS FROM WHAT IT IS WITH NATURAL. With spiritual married
partners the love of infants as to appearance, is like the love of
infants with natural married partners; but it is more inward, and thence
more tender, because that love exists from innocence, and from a nearer
reception of innocence, and thereby a more present preception of it in
man's self: for the spiritual are such so far as they partake of
innocence. But spiritual fathers and mothers, after they have sipped the
sweet of innocence with their infants, love their children very
differently from what natural fathers and mothers do. The spiritual love
their children from their spiritual intelligence and moral life; thus
they love them from the fear of God and actual piety, or the piety of
life, and at the same time from affection and application to uses
serviceable to society, consequently from the virtues and good morals
which they possessed. From the love of these things they are principally
led to provide for, and minister to, the necessities of their children;
therefore if they do not observe such things in them, they alienate
their minds from them and do nothing for them but so far as they think
themselves bound in duty. With natural fathers and mothers the love of
infants is indeed grounded also in innocence; but when the innocence is
received by them, it is entwined around their own love, and consequently
the love of their infants from the latter, and at the same time from the
former, kissing, embracing, and dangling them, hugging them to their
bosoms, and fawning upon and flattering them beyond all bounds,
regarding them as one heart and soul with themselves; and afterwards,
when they have passed the state of infancy even to boyhood and beyond
it, in which state innocence is no longer operative, they love them not
from any fear of God and actual piety, or the piety of life, nor from
any rational and moral intelligence they may have; neither do they
regard, or only very slightly, if at all, their internal affections, and
thence their virtues and good morals, but only their externals, which
they favor and indulge. To these externals their love is directed and
determined: hence also they close their eyes to their vices, excusing,
and favoring them. The reason of this is, because with such parents the
love of their offspring is also the love of themselves; and this love
adheres to the subject outwardly, without entering into it, as self does
not enter into itself.
406. The quality of the love of infants and of the love of children with
the spiritual and with the natural, is evidently discerned from them
after death; for most fathers, when they come into another life,
recollect their children who have died before them; they are also
presented to and mutually acknowledge each other. Spiritual fathers only
look at them, and inquire as to their present state, and rejoice if it
is well with them, and grieve if it is ill; and after some conversation,
instruction, and admonition respecting moral celestial life, they
separate from them, telling them, that they are no longer to be
remembered as fathers because the Lord is the only Father to all in
heaven, according to his words, Matt. xxiii. 9: and that they do not at
all remember them as children. But natural fathers, when they first
become conscious that they are living after death, and recall to mind
their children who have died before them, and also when, agreeably to
their wishes, they are presented to each other, they instantly embrace,
and become united like bundles of rods; and in this case the father is
continually delighted with beholding and conversing with them. If the
father is told that some of his children are satans, and that they have
done injuries to the good, he nevertheless keeps them in a group around
him, if he himself sees that they are the occasion of hurt and do
mischief, he still pays no attention to it, nor does he separate any of
them from association with himself; in order, therefore, to prevent the
continuance of such a mischievous company, they are of necessity
committed forthwith to hell; and there the father, before the children,
is shut up in confinement, and the children are separated, and each is
removed to the place of his life.
407. To the above I will add this wonderful relation:--in the spiritual
world I have seen fathers who, from hatred, and as it were rage, had
looked at infants presented before their eyes, with a mind so savage,
that, if they could, they would have murdered them; but on its being
hinted to them, though without truth, that they were their own infants,
their rage and savageness instantly subsided, and they loved them to
excess. This love and hatred prevail together with those who in the
world had been inwardly deceitful, and had set their minds in enmity
against the Lord.
408. XVII. WITH THE SPIRITUAL THAT LOVE IS FROM WHAT IS INTERIOR OR
PRIOR, BUT WITH THE NATURAL FROM WHAT IS EXTERIOR OR POSTERIOR. To think
and conclude from what is interior or prior, is to think and conclude
from ends and causes to effects; but to think and conclude from what is
exterior or posterior, is to think and conclude from effects to causes
and ends. The latter progression is contrary to order, but the former
according to it; for to think and conclude from ends and causes, is to
think and conclude from goods and truths, viewed in a superior region of
the mind, to effects in an inferior region. Real human rationality from
creation is of this quality. But to think and conclude from effects, is
to think and conclude from an inferior region of the mind, where the
sensual things of the body reside with their appearances and fallacies,
to guess at causes and effects, which in itself is merely to confirm
falsities and concupiscences, and afterwards to see and believe them to
be truths of wisdom and goodnesses of the love of wisdom. The case is
similar in regard to the love of infants and children with the spiritual
and the natural; the spiritual love them from what is prior, thus
according to order: but the natural love them from what is posterior,
thus contrary to order. These observations are adduced only for the
confirmation of the preceding article.
409. XVIII. IN CONSEQUENCE HEREOF THAT LOVE PREVAILS WITH MARRIED
PARTNERS WHO MUTUALLY LOVE EACH OTHER, AND ALSO WITH THOSE WHO DO NOT AT
ALL LOVE EACH OTHER; consequently it prevails with the natural as well
as with the spiritual; but the latter are influenced by conjugial love,
whereas the former are influenced by no such love but what is apparent
and pretended. The reason why the love of infants and conjugial love
still act in unity, is, because, as we have said, conjugial love is
implanted in every woman from creation, and together with it the love of
procreating, which is determined to and flows into the procreated
offspring, and from the women is communicated to the men. Hence in
houses, in which there is no conjugial love between the man and his
wife, it nevertheless is with the wife, and thereby some external
conjunction is effected with the man. From this same ground it is, that
even harlots love their offspring; for that which from creation is
implanted in souls, and respects propagation, is indelible, and cannot
be extirpated.
410. XIX. THE LOVE OF INFANTS REMAINS AFTER DEATH, ESPECIALLY WITH
WOMEN. Infants, as soon as they are raised up, which happens immediately
after their decease, are elevated into heaven, and delivered to angels
of the female sex, who in the life of the body in the world loved
infants, and at the same time feared God. These, having loved all
infants with maternal tenderness, receive them as their own; and the
infants in this case, as from an innate feeling, love them as their
mothers: as many infants are consigned to them, as they desire from a
spiritual _storge_. The heaven in which infants are appears in front in
the region of the forehead, in the line in which the angels look
directly at the Lord. That heaven is so situated, because all infants
are educated under the immediate auspices of the Lord. There is an
influx also into this heaven from the heaven of innocence, which is the
third heaven. When they have passed through this first period, they are
transferred to another heaven, where they are instructed.
411. XX. INFANTS ARE EDUCATED UNDER THE LORD'S AUSPICES BY SUCH WOMEN,
AND GROW IN STATURE AND INTELLIGENCE AS IN THE WORLD. Infants in heaven
are educated in the following manner; they learn to speak from the
female angel who has the charge of their education; their first speech
is merely the sound of affection, in which however there is some
beginning of thought, whereby what is human in the sound is
distinguished from the sound of an animal; this speech gradually becomes
more distinct, as ideas derived from affection enter the thought: all
their affections, which also increase, proceed from innocence. At first,
such things are insinuated into them as appear before their eyes, and
are delightful; and as these are from a spiritual origin, heavenly
things flow into them at the same time, whereby the interiors of their
minds are opened. Afterwards, as the infants are perfected in
intelligence, so they grow in stature, and viewed in this respect, they
appear also more adult, because intelligence and wisdom are essential
spiritual nourishment; therefore those things which nourish their minds,
also nourish their bodies. Infants in heaven, however, do not grow up
beyond their first age, where they stop, and remain in it to eternity.
And when they are in that age, they are given in marriage, which is
provided by the Lord, and is celebrated in the heaven of the youth, who
presently follows the wife into her heaven, or into her house, if they
are of the same society. That I might know of a certainty, that infants
grow in stature, and arrive at maturity as they grow in intelligence, I
was permitted to speak with some while they were infants, and afterwards
when they were grown up; and they appeared as full-grown youths, in a
stature, like that of young men full grown in the world.
412. Infants are instructed especially by representatives adequate and
suitable to their genius; the great beauty and interior wisdom of which
can scarcely be credited in the world. I am permitted to adduce here two
representations, from which a judgement may be formed in regard to the
rest. On a certain time they represented the Lord ascending from the
sepulchre, and at the same time the unition of his human with the
divine. At first they presented the idea of a sepulchre, but not at the
same time the idea of the Lord, except so remotely, that it was
scarcely, and as it were at a distance, perceived that it was the Lord;
because in the idea of a sepulchre there is somewhat funereal, which
they hereby removed. Afterwards they cautiously admitted into the
sepulchre a sort of atmosphere, appearing nevertheless as a thin vapor,
by which they signified, and this with a suitable degree of remoteness,
spiritual life in baptism. They afterwards represented the Lord's
descent to those who were bound, and his ascent with them into heaven;
and in order to accommodate the representation to their infant minds,
they let down small cords that were scarcely discernible, exceedingly
soft and yielding, to aid the Lord in the ascent, being always
influenced by a holy fear lest any thing in the representation should
affect something that was not under heavenly influence: not to mention
other representations, whereby infants are introduced into the
knowledges of truth and the affections of good, as by games adapted to
their capacities. To these and similar things infants are led by the
Lord by means of innocence passing through the third heaven; and thus
spiritual things are insinuated into their affections, and thence into
their tender thoughts, so that they know no other than that they do and
think such things from themselves, by which their understanding
commences.
413. XXI. IT IS THERE PROVIDED BY THE LORD, THAT WITH THOSE INFANTS THE
INNOCENCE OF INFANCY BECOMES THE INNOCENCE OF WISDOM (AND THUS THEY
BECOME ANGELS). Many may conjecture that infants remain infants, and
become angels immediately after death: but it is intelligence and wisdom
that make an angel: therefore so long as infants are without
intelligence and wisdom, they are indeed associated with angels, yet are
not angels: but they then first become so when they are made intelligent
and wise. Infants therefore are led from the innocence of infancy to the
innocence of wisdom, that is, from external innocence to internal: the
latter innocence is the end of all their instruction and progression:
therefore when they attain to the innocence of wisdom, the innocence of
infancy is adjoined to them, which in the mean time had served them as a
plane. I saw a representation of the quality of the innocence of
infancy; it was of wood almost without life, and was vivified in
proportion as the knowledges of truth and the affections of good were
imbibed: and afterwards there was represented the quality of the
innocence of wisdom, by a living infant. The angels of the third heaven,
who are in a state of innocence from the Lord above other angels, appear
like naked infants before the eyes of spirits who are beneath the
heavens; and as they are wiser than all others, so are they also more
truly alive: the reason of this is, because innocence corresponds to
infancy, and also to nakedness, therefore it is said of Adam and his
wife, when they were in a state of innocence, that they were naked and
were not ashamed, but that when they had lost their state of innocence,
they were ashamed of their nakedness, and hid themselves, Gen. ii. 25;
chap. iii. 7, 10, 11. In a word, the wiser the angels are the more
innocent they are. The quality of the innocence of wisdom may in some
measure be seen from the innocence of infancy above described, n. 395,
if only instead of parents, the Lord be assumed as the Father by whom
they are led, and to whom they ascribe what they have received.
414. On the subject of innocence I have often conversed with the angels
who have told me that innocence is the _esse_ of every good, and that
good is only so far good as it has innocence in it: and, since wisdom is
of life and thence of good, that wisdom is only so far wisdom as it
partakes of innocence: the like is true of love, charity, and faith; and
hence it is that no one can enter heaven unless he has innocence; which
is meant by these words of the Lord, "_Suffer infants to come to me, and
forbid them not; for of such is the kingdom of the heavens; verily I say
unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of the heavens as an
infant, he will not enter therein_," Mark x. 14, 15; Luke xviii. 16, 17.
In this passage, as well as in other parts of the Word, infants denote
those who are in innocence. The reason why good is good, so far as it
has innocence in it, is, because all good is from the Lord, and
innocence consists in being led by the Lord.
* * * * *
415. To the above I shall add this MEMORABLE RELATION. One morning, as I
awoke out of sleep, the light beginning to dawn and it being very
serene, while I was meditating and not yet quite awake, I saw through
the window as it were a flash of lightning, and presently I heard as it
were a clap of thunder; and while I was wondering whence this could be,
I heard from heaven words to this effect, "There are some not far from
you, who are reasoning sharply about God and nature. The vibration of
light like lightning, and the clapping of the air like thunder, are
correspondences and consequent appearances of the conflict and collision
of arguments, on one side in favor of God, and on the other in favor of
nature." The cause of this spiritual combat was as follows: there were
some satans in hell who expressed a wish to be allowed to converse with
the angels of heaven; "for," said they, "we will clearly and fully
demonstrate, that what they call God, the Creator of all things, is
nothing but nature; and thus that God is a mere unmeaning expression,
unless nature be meant by it." And as those satans believed this with
all their heart and soul, and also were desirous to converse with the
angels of heaven, they were permitted to ascend out of the mire and
darkness of hell, and to converse with two angels at that time
descending from heaven. They were in the world of spirits, which is
intermediate between heaven and hell. The satans on seeing the angels
there, hastily ran to them, and cried out with a furious voice, "Are you
the angels of heaven with whom we are allowed to engage in debate,
respecting God and nature? You are called wise because you acknowledge a
God; but, alas! how simple you are! Who sees God? who understands what
God is? who conceives that God governs, and can govern the universe,
with everything belonging thereto? and who but the vulgar and common
herd of mankind acknowledges what he does not see and understand? What
is more obvious than that nature is all in all? Is it not nature alone
that we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, smell with our nostrils,
taste with our tongues, and touch and feel with our hands and bodies?
And are not our bodily senses the only evidences of truth? Who would not
swear from them that it is so? Are not your heads in nature, and is
there any influx into the thoughts of your heads but from nature? Take
away nature, and can you think at all? Not to mention several other
considerations of a like kind." On hearing these words the angels
replied, "You speak in this manner because you are merely sensual. All
in the hells have the ideas of their thoughts immersed in the bodily
senses, neither are they able to elevate their minds above them;
therefore we excuse you. The life of evil and the consequent belief of
what is false have closed the interiors of your minds, so that you are
incapable of any elevation above the things of sense, except in a state
removed from evils of life, and from false principles of faith: for a
satan, as well as an angel, can understand truth when he hears it; but
he does not retain it, because evil obliterates truth and induces what
is false: but we perceive that you are now in a state of removal from
evil, and thus that you can understand the truth which we speak; attend
therefore to what we shall say:" and they proceeded thus: "You have been
in the natural world, and have departed thence, and are now in the
spiritual world. Have you known anything till now concerning a life
after death? Have you not till now denied such a life, and degraded
yourselves to the beasts? Have you known any thing heretofore about
heaven and hell, or the light and heat of this world? or of this
circumstance, that you are no longer within the sphere of nature, but
above it; since this world and all things belonging to it are spiritual,
and spiritual things are above natural, so that not the least of nature
can flow into this world? But, in consequence of believing nature to be
a God or a goddess, you believe also the light and heat of this world to
be the light and heat of the natural world, when yet it is not at all
so; for natural light here is darkness, and natural heat is cold. Have
you known anything about the sun of this world from which our light and
heat proceed? Have you known that this sun is pure love, and the sun of
the natural world pure fire; and the sun of the world, which is pure
fire, is that from which nature exists and subsists; and that the sun of
heaven, which is pure love, is that from which life itself, which is
love with wisdom exists and subsists; and thus that nature, which you
make a god or a goddess, is absolutely dead? You can, under the care of
a proper guard, ascend with us into heaven; and we also, under similar
protection, can descend with you into hell; and in heaven you will see
magnificent and splendid objects, but in hell such as are filthy and
unclean. The ground of the difference is, because all in the heavens
worship God, and all in the hells worship nature; and the magnificent
and splendid objects in the heavens are correspondences of the
affections of good and truth, and the filthy and unclean objects in the
hells are correspondences of the lusts of what is evil and false. Judge
now, from these circumstances, whether God or nature be all in all." To
this the satans replied, "In the state wherein we now are, we can
conclude, from what we have heard, that there is a God; but when the
delight of evil seizes our minds, we see nothing but nature." These two
angels and two satans were standing to the right, at no great distance
from me; therefore I saw and heard them; and lo! I saw near them many
spirits who had been celebrated in the natural world for their
erudition; and I was surprised to observe that those great scholars at
one time stood near the angels and at another near the satans, and that
they favored the sentiments of those near whom they stood; and I was led
to understand that the changes of their situation were changes of the
state of their minds, which sometimes favored one side and sometimes the
other; for they were _vertumni_. Moreover, the angels said, "We will
tell you a mystery; on our looking down upon the earth, and examining
those who were celebrated for erudition, and who have thought about God
and nature from their own judgement, we have found six hundred out of a
thousand favorers of nature, and the rest favorers of God; and that
these were in favor of God, in consequence of having frequently
maintained in their conversation, not from any convictions of their
understandings, but only from hear-say, that nature is from God; for
frequent conversation from the memory and recollection, and not at the
same time from thought and intelligence, induces a species of faith."
After this, the satans were entrusted to a guard and ascended with the
two angels into heaven, and saw the magnificent and splendid objects
contained therein; and being then an illustration from the light of
heaven, they acknowledged the being of a God, and that nature was
created to be subservient to the life which is in God and from God; and
that nature in itself is dead, and consequently does nothing of itself,
but is acted upon by life. Having seen and perceived these things, they
descended: and as they descended the love of evil returned and closed
their understanding above and opened it beneath; and then there appeared
above it as it were a veil sending forth lightning from infernal fire;
and as soon as they touched the earth with their feet, the ground
cleaved asunder beneath them, and they returned to their associates.
416. After these things those two angels seeing me near, said to the
by-standers respecting me, "We know that this man has written about God
and nature; let us hear what he has written." They therefore came to me,
and intreated that what I had written about God and nature might be read
to them: I therefore read as follows. "Those who believe in a Divine
operation in everything of nature, may confirm themselves in favor of
the Divine, from many things which they see in nature, equally, yea more
than those who confirm themselves in favor of nature: for those who
confirm themselves in favor of the Divine, attend to the wonderful
things, which are conspicuous in the productions of both vegetables and
animals:--in the PRODUCTION OF VEGETABLES, that from a small seed sown
in the earth there is sent forth a root, by means of the root a stem,
and successively buds, leaves, flowers, fruits, even to new seeds;
altogether as if the seed was acquainted with the order of succession,
or the process by which it was to renew itself. What rational person can
conceive, that the sun which is pure fire, is acquainted with this, or
that it can endue its heat and light with a power to effect such things;
and further, that it can form wonderful things therein, and intend use?
When a man of elevated reason sees and considers such things, he cannot
think otherwise than that they are from him who has infinite wisdom,
consequently from God. Those who acknowledge the Divine, also see and
think so; but those who do not acknowledge it, do not see and think so,
because they are unwilling; and thereby they let down their rational
principle into the sensual, which derives all its ideas from the
luminous principle in which the bodily senses are, and confirms their
fallacies urging, 'Do not you see the sun effecting these things by its
heat and light? What is that which you do not see?' Is it anything?
Those who confirm themselves in favor of the Divine, attend to the
wonderful things which are conspicuous in the PRODUCTIONS OF ANIMALS; to
mention only what is conspicuous in eggs, that there lies concealed in
them a chick in its seed, or first principles of existence, with
everything requisite even to the hatching, and likewise to every part of
its progress after hatching, until it becomes a bird, or winged animal,
in the form of its parent stock. A farther attention to the nature and
quality of the form cannot fail to cause astonishment in the
contemplative mind; to observe in the least as well as in the largest
kinds, yea, in the invisible as in the visible, that is, in small
insects, as in fowls or great beasts, how they are all endowed with
organs of sense, such as seeing, smelling, tasting, touching; and also
with organs of motion, such as muscles, for they fly and walk; and
likewise with viscera, around the heart and lungs, which are actuated by
the brains: that the commonest insects enjoy all these parts of
organization is known from their anatomy, as described by some writers,
especially SWAMMERDAM in his Books of Nature. Those who ascribe all
things to nature do indeed see such things; but they think only that
they are so, and say that nature produces them: and this they say in
consequence of having averted their minds from thinking about the
Divine; and those who have so averted their minds, when they see the
wonderful things in nature, cannot think rationally, and still less
spiritually; but they think sensually and materially, and in this case
they think in and from nature, and not above it, in like manner as those
do who are in hell; differing from beasts only in this respect, that
they have rational powers, that is, they are capable of understanding,
and thereby of thinking otherwise, if only they are willing. Those who
have averted themselves from thinking about the Divine, when they see
the wonderful things in nature, and thereby become sensual, do not
consider that the sight of the eye is so gross that it sees several
small insects as one confused mass; when yet each of them is organized
to feel and to move itself, consequently is endowed with fibres and
vessels, also with a little heart, pulmonary pipes, small viscera, and
brains; and that the contexture of these parts consists of the purest
principles in nature, and corresponds to some life, by virtue of which
their minutest parts are distinctly acted upon. Since the sight of the
eye is so gross that several of such insects, with the innumerable
things in each, appear to it as a small confused mass, and yet those who
are sensual, think and judge from that sight, it is evident how gross
their minds are, and consequently in what thick darkness they are
respecting spiritual things.
417. "Every one that is willing to do so, may confirm himself in favor
of the Divine from the visible things in nature; and he also who thinks
of God from the principle of life, does so confirm himself; while, for
instance, he observes the fowls of heaven, how each species of them
knows its proper food and where it is to be found; how they can
distinguish those of their own kind by the sounds they utter and by
their external appearance; how also, among other kinds, they can tell
which are their friends and which their foes; how they pair together,
build their nests with great art, lay therein their eggs, hatch them,
know the time of hatching, and at its accomplishment help their young
out of the shell, love them most tenderly, cherish them under their
wings, feed and nourish them, until they are able to provide for
themselves and do the like, and to procreate a family in order to
perpetuate their kind. Every one that is willing to think of a divine
influx through the spiritual world into the natural, may discern it in
these instances, and may also, if he will, say in his heart, 'Such
knowledges cannot flow into those animals from the sun by the rays of
its light:' for the sun, from which nature derives its birth and its
essence, its pure fire, and consequently the rays of its light are
altogether dead; and thus they may conclude, that such effects are
derived from an influx of divine wisdom into the ultimates of nature.
418. "Every one may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from what is
visible in nature, while he observes worms, which from the delight of a
certain desire, wish and long after a change of their earthly state into
a state analogous to a heavenly one; for this purpose they creep into
holes, and cast themselves as it were into a womb that they may be born
again, and there become chrysalises, aurelias, nymphs, and at length
butterflies; and when they have undergone this change, and according to
their species are decked with beautiful wings, they fly into the air as
into their heaven, and there indulge in all festive sports, pair
together, lay their eggs, and provide for themselves a posterity; and
then they are nourished with a sweet and pleasant food, which they
extract from flowers. Who that confirms himself in favor of the Divine
from what is visible in nature, does not see some image of the earthly
state of man in these animals while they are worms, and of his heavenly
state in the same when they become butterflies? whereas those who
confirm themselves in favor of nature, see indeed such things; but as
they have rejected from their minds all thought of man's heavenly state,
they call them mere instincts of nature.
419. "Again, everyone may confirm himself in favor of the Divine from
what is visible in nature, while he attends to the discoveries made
respecting bees,--how they have the art to gather wax and suck honey
from herbs and flowers, and build cells like small houses, and arrange
them into the form of a city with streets, through which they come in
and go out; and how they can smell flowers and herbs at a distance, from
which they may collect wax for their home and honey for their food; and
how, when laden with these treasures, they can trace their way back in a
right direction to their hive; thus they provide for themselves food and
habitation against the approaching winter, as if they were acquainted
with and foresaw its coming. They also set over themselves a mistress as
a queen, to be the parent of a future race, and for her they build as it
were a palace in an elevated situation, and appoint guards about her;
and when the time comes for her to become a mother, she goes from cell
to cell and lays her eggs, which her attendants cover with a sort of
ointment to prevent their receiving injury from the air; hence arises a
new generation, which, when old enough to provide in like manner for
itself, is driven out from home; and when driven out, it flies forth to
seek a new habitation, not however till it has first collected itself
into a swarm to prevent dissociation. About autumn also the useless
drones are brought forth and deprived of their wings, lest they should
return and consume the provision which they had taken no pains to
collect; not to mention many other circumstances; from which it may
appear evident, that on account of the use which they afford to mankind,
they have by influx from the spiritual world a form of government, such
as prevails among men in the world, yea, among angels in the heavens.
What man of uncorrupted reason does not see that such instincts are not
communicated to bees from the natural world? What has the sun, in which
nature originates, in common with a form of government which vies with
and is similar to a heavenly one? From these and similar circumstances
respecting brute animals, the confessor and worshiper of nature confirms
himself in favor of nature, while the confessor and worshiper of God,
from the same circumstances, confirms himself in favor of the Divine:
for the spiritual man sees spiritual things therein, and the natural man
natural; thus every one according to his quality. In regard to myself,
such circumstances have been to me testimonies of an influx of what is
spiritual into what is natural, or of an influx of the spiritual world
into the natural world; thus of an influx from the divine wisdom of the
Lord. Consider also, whether you can think analytically of any form of
government, any civil law, any moral virtue, or any spiritual truth,
unless the Divine flows in from his wisdom through the spiritual world:
for my own part, I never did, and still feel it to be impossible; for I
have perceptibly and sensibly observed such influx now (1768) for
twenty-five years continually: I therefore speak this from experience.
420. "Can nature, let me ask, regard use as an end, and dispose uses
into orders and forms? This is in the power of none but a wise being;
and none but God, who is infinitely wise, can so order and form the
universe. Who else can foresee and provide for mankind all the things
necessary for their food and clothing, producing them from the fruits of
the earth and from animals? It is surely a wonderful consideration among
many others, that those common insects, called silk-worms, should supply
with splendid clothing all ranks of persons, from kings and queens even
to the lowest servants; and that those common insects the bees, should
supply wax to enlighten both our temples and palaces. These, with
several other similar considerations, are standing proofs, that the Lord
by an operation from himself through the spiritual world, effects
whatever is done in nature.
421. "It may be expedient here to add, that I have seen in the spiritual
world those who had confirmed themselves in favor of nature by what is
visible in this world, so as to become atheists, and that their
understanding in spiritual light appeared open beneath but closed above,
because with their thinking faculty they had looked downwards to the
earth and not upwards to heaven. The super-sensual principle, which is
the lowest principle of the understanding, appeared as a veil, in some
cases sparkling from infernal fire, in some black as soot, and in some
pale and livid as a corpse. Let every one therefore beware of
confirmation in favor of nature, and let him confirm himself in favor of
the Divine; for which confirmation there is no want of materials.
422. "Some indeed are to be excused for ascribing certain visible
effects to nature, because they have had no knowledge respecting the sun
of the spiritual world, where the Lord is, and of influx thence; neither
have they known any thing about that world and its state, nor yet of its
presence with man; and consequently they could think no other than that
the spiritual principle was a purer natural principle; and thus that
angels were either in the ether or in the stars; also that the devil was
either man's evil, or, if he actually existed, that he was either in the
air or in the deep; also that the souls of men after death were either
in the inmost part of the earth, or in some place of confinement till
the day of judgement; not to mention other like conceits, which sprung
from ignorance of the spiritual world and its sun. This is the reason
why those are to be excused, who have believed that the visible
productions of nature are the effect of some principle implanted in her
from creation: nevertheless those who have made themselves atheists by
confirmations in favor of nature, are not to be excused, because they
might have confirmed themselves in favor of the Divine. Ignorance indeed
excuses, but does not take away the false principle which is confirmed;
for this false principle agrees with evil, and evil with hell."