Produced by William J. Rotella
Angelic Wisdom about DIVINE PROVIDENCE
by
Emanuel Swedenborg
Translation By
WILLIAM FREDERIC WUNSCH
_Standard Edition_
SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION
INCORPORATED
NEW YORK
ESTABLISHED IN 1850
Originally published in Latin at Amsterdam 1764
First English translation published in U.S.A. 1851
51st Printing, 1975
(5th Printing Wunsch Translation).
ISBN 0-87785-059-3 (Student)
0-87785-060-7 (Trade)
_Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-30441_
Manufactured in the United States of America
CONTENTS[1]
Translator's Preface
I. What Divine Providence Is
II. The Goal of Divine Providence
III. The Outlook of Divine Providence
IV. Providence has its Laws
V. Its Regard for Human Freedom and Reason
VI. Even in the Struggle against Evil
VII. The Law of Noncompulsion
VIII. The Law of Overt Guidance
IX. The Law of Hidden Operation
X. Divine Providence and Human Prudence
XI. Binding Time and Eternity
XII. The Law Guarding against Profanation
XIII. Laws of Tolerance in the Laws of Providence
XIV. Why Evil is Permitted
XV. Providence Attends the Evil and the Good
XVI. Providence and Prudence in the Appropriation of Good and Evil to Man
XVII. The Salvation of All the Design of Providence
XVIII. The Steadfast Observance of its Laws by Providence
Index of Scripture Passages
Subject Index
[1]Swedenborg gave neither numbers nor brief captions to the chapters of
the book. Nor did he prefix a recital of all the propositions and
subsidiary propositions to come in the book; this was the work of the
Latin editor. For this the above, giving the reader a succinct idea of
the book's contents, is substituted. _Tr._
TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE
THE Book
The reader will find in this book a firm assurance of God's care of
mankind as a whole and of each human being. The assurance is rested in
God's infinite love and wisdom, the love pure mercy, the wisdom giving
love its ways and means. It is further grounded in an interpretation of
the universe as a spiritual-natural world, an interpretation fully set
forth in the earlier book, _Divine Love and Wisdom_, on which the present
work draws heavily. As there is a world of the spirit, no view of
providence can be adequate which does not take that world into account.
For in that world must be channels for the outreach of God's care to the
human spirit. There also any eternal goal--such as a heaven from the human
race--must exist. A view of providence limited to the horizons of the
passing existence can hardly resemble the care which the eternal God
takes of men and women who, besides possessing perishable bodies, are
themselves creatures of the spirit and immortal. The full title of the
book, _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence_, implies that its author,
in an other-world experience, had at hand the knowledge which men and
women in heaven have of God's care. Who should know the divine guidance
if not the men and women in heaven who have obviously enjoyed it? "The
laws of divine providence, hitherto hidden with angels in their wisdom,
are to be revealed now" (n. 70).
As it is presented in this book, providence seeks to engage man in its
purposes, and to enlist all his faculties, his freedom and reason, his
will and understanding, his prudence and enterprise. It acts first of all
on his volitions and thinking, to align them with itself. That it falls
directly on history, its events and our circumstances, is a superficial
view. It is man's inner life which first feels the omnipresent divine
influence and must do so. If we cannot be lifted to our best selves and
if our aims and outlook cannot be modified for the better, how shall the
world be bettered which we affect to handle? Paramount in God's presence
with all men, if only in their possibilities, is His providential care.
This care, to which man's inner life is open, is alert every moment, not
occasional. It is gentle and not tyrannical, constantly respecting man's
freedom and reason, otherwise losing him as a human being. It has set
this and other laws for itself which it pursues undeviatingly. The larger
part of the book is an exposition of these laws in the conviction that by
them the nature of providence is best seen. Is it not to be expected in a
universe which has its laws, and in which impersonal forces are governed
by laws, that the Creator of all should pursue laws in His concern with
the lives of conscious beings? To fit a world of laws must not the divine
care have its laws, too? Adjustment of thought about divine providence to
scientific thought is not the overriding necessity, for scientific
thought must keep adjusting to laws which it discerns in the physical
world. In consonance, religious thought seeks to learn the lawful order
in the guidance of the human spirit.
Do not each and all things in tree or shrub proceed constantly and
wonderfully from purpose to purpose according to the laws of their order
of things? Why should not the supreme purpose, a heaven from the human
race, proceed in similar fashion? Can there be anything in its progress
which does not proceed with all constancy according to the laws of divine
providence? (n 332)
Respecting the laws of providence, it is to be noted that there are more
laws than those, five in number, which are stated at the heads of as many
chapters in the book. Further laws are embodied in other chapters. At
n. 249(2) we are told that further laws were presented in nn. 191-213,
214-220, and 221-233. In fact, at n. 243. there is a reference to laws
which follow in even later chapters. In nn. 191-213 the law, partly
stated in the heading over the chapter, comes to full sight particularly
at n. 210(2), namely, that providence, in engaging human response, shall
align human prudence with itself, so that providence becomes one's
prudence (n. 311e). In nn. 214-220 the law is that providence employ the
temporal goals of distinction and wealth towards its eternal goals, and
perpetuate standing and wealth in a higher form, for a man will then have
sought them not for themselves and handled them for the use they can be.
To keep a person from premature spiritual experience, nn. 221-233, is
obviously a law of providence, guarding against relapse and consequent
profanation of what had become sacred to him.
The paradox of divine foreknowledge and human freedom, regularly
discussed in studies of providence, receives an explanation which becomes
more and more enlightening in the course of the book. The paradox,
probably nowhere else discussed, of man's thinking and willing to all
appearance all by himself, and of the fact that volition and thought come
to him from beyond him, receives a similar, cumulative answer. The
tension between the divine will and human self-will is a subject that
pervades the book; to that subject the profoundest insights into the
hidden activity of providence and into human nature are brought. On the
question, "Is providence only general or also detailed?" the emphatic
answer is that it cannot be general unless it takes note of the least
things. On miracle and on chance conclusions unusual in religious thought
meet the reader. The inequalities, injustices and tragedies in life which
raise doubts of the divine care are faced in a long chapter after the
concept of providence has been spread before the reader. What would be
the point in considering them before what providence is has been
considered? Against what manner of providence are the arguments valid? A
chapter such as this, on doubts of providence and on the mentality which
cherishes them, becomes a monograph on the subject, as the chapter on
premature spiritual experience, with the risk of relapse and profanation,
becomes a monograph on kinds of profanation.
Coming by revelation and by a lengthy other-world experience on
Swedenborg's part (in which he learned of the incorrectness of some of
his own beliefs, nn. 279(2), 290) the book, like others of his,
nevertheless has for an outstanding feature a steady address to the
reason. The profoundest truths of the spiritual life, among them the
nature of God and the laws and ways of providence, are not beyond grasp
by the reason. Sound reason Swedenborg credits with lofty insights.
_Divine Providence_ is a book to be studied, and not merely read, and
studied slowly. By its own way of proceeding, it extends an invitation to
read, not straight through, but something like a chapter at a time. In a
new chapter Swedenborg will recall for the reader what was said in the
preceding chapter, as though the reader had mean-while laid the book
down. The revelator proceeds at a measured pace, carries along the whole
body of his thought, and places each new point in this larger context,
where it receives its precise significance and its full force. It is an
accumulation of thought and not a repetition of statements merely that
one meets. "What has been written earlier cannot be as closely connected
with what is written later as it will be if the same things are recalled
and placed with both in view" (n. 193 (1)).
THE TRANSLATION
This volume has been translated afresh from the Latin; it is not a
revision of any earlier edition. Greater readableness has been striven
for. In the past, it is generally recognized, Latin sentence structure
and word order were clung to unnecessarily. "The defects in previous
translations of Swedenborg have arisen mainly from too close an adherence
to cognate words and to the Latin order of words and phrases." So wrote
the Rev. John C. Ager in 1899 in his translator's note in the Library
Edition of _Divine Providence_. Why, indeed, should English not be
allowed its own sentence structure and word order? In addition, in this
translation, long sentences, readily followed in an inflected language
like Latin, have been broken up into short ones. English also uses fewer
particles of logical relation than are at home in Latin. There is more
paragraphing, aiding the eye, which both British and American translators
have been doing for some years. Latin has neither a definite article nor
an indefinite article, and a translator into English must decide when to
use either or neither. The definite article, the present translator
thinks, has been overused, perhaps in a dogmatic tendency to be as
precise as can be. When, for instance, one is admitted into "truths of
faith" he is certainly not admitted into "the truths of faith," as though
he could comprehend them all. The very title of the book changes the
impression which it makes as the definite article is inserted or omitted
in it. "The divine providence" seems to single out a theological concept;
"divine providence" seems more likely to lead the thought to God's actual
care.
Swedenborg has his carefully chosen terms, of course, like "proprium,"
which are best kept, although in the present translation that term is
sometimes rendered by an explanatory word and one which, in the
particular context, is an equivalent. The verb "appropriate" presents a
difficulty, but has been kept, partly because of the noun "proprium." One
could translate rather wordily "make"--something good or evil--"one's own."
The English word now means "take exclusive possession of," which one can
hardly do of good or evil. Assimilation is the thought and the act, and
with that in mind the verb "appropriate" and the noun "appropriation" can
be retained. The unusual locution "affection of truth" or "of good,"
which Mr. Ager abandoned, translating "for truth" and "for good," has
been returned to. Much is implied in that phrase which is not to be found
in the other wording, namely, that we are affected by truth and by good,
and that there is an influx of these into the human spirit. Similarly
meaningful is another unusual way of speaking in English, of a person's
being "in" faith or "in" charity, where we say that he has faith or
exercises charity. The thought is that faith and charity, truth and
goodness beckon to us, to be welcomed and entered into.
Latin sometimes has a number of words for an idea or an entity, and the
English has not, but when English has the richer vocabulary, why not
avail oneself of the variety possible? The Latin word "finis," for
example, used in so many connections, can be rendered by one word in one
connection and by another in another connection. The "goal" or the
"object" of providence is plainer than the "end" of providence. The
"close" of life is common speech. "Meritorious" has been kept in our
translations, for in a restricted field of traditional theology it does
mean that virtue, for example, _earns_ a reward. To most readers the word
will be misleading, for they will understand it in its usual meaning,
that some act is well-deserving. The former is Swedenborg's meaning,
which is that an act is done to earn merit, or is considered to have
earned merit. We translate variously according to context to make that
meaning clear (nn. 321(11), 326(8), 90).
As it is what Swedenborg has written that is to be translated, the
Scripture passages which he quotes are translated without an effort to
follow the Authorized Version, which he did not know. This is also done
when he refers to the book which stands last in our Bibles; the name he
knew it by, the Apocalypse, is retained.
THE SUBJECT INDEX
The rewording in this translation would have necessitated revision of the
index long used in editions of _Divine Providence_, which goes back to an
index in French done by M. Le Boys des Guays. The opportunity was seized
to compile a subject instead of a word index. It is based on an analysis
of the contents of the book, and can serve as a reading guide. It does
not usually quote the text, but sends the reader to it. Definitions of a
number of terms are embodied in it.
The appearance that man thinks, wills, speaks and acts all of his own
doing is the subject of much of the book, and this the index shows. The
"life's love" deserves to be a separate entry, for little of a
psychological nature in the book becomes more prominent than the love
which forms in the way one actually lives, and which embodies one's
actual belief and thought. Single words which have been scattered entries
in the index long used--usually Scripture words of which the
correspondential meaning is given--are assembled alphabetically under the
entry "Correspondences."
A signal feature of Swedenborg's thought is the unities he perceives. Of
love and wisdom he says that they can only be perceived as one (4(5)). So
good and truth do not exist apart, nor charity and faith, nor affection
and thought. These and other pairs of terms are therefore entered in the
index; after references on the two together, references follow on each
term alone.
The index, it is hoped, will do more than introduce the reader to
statements made in the book, but will carry him into its stream of
thought.
WM. F. WUNSCH
Angelic Wisdom about DIVINE PROVIDENCE
DIVINE PROVIDENCE
I. DIVINE PROVIDENCE IS GOVERNMENT BY THE LORD'S DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM
1. To understand what divine providence is--namely, government by the
Lord's divine love and wisdom--one needs to know what was said and shown
earlier about divine love and wisdom in the treatise about them: "In the
Lord divine love is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom of divine love"
(nn. 34-39); "Divine love and wisdom cannot but be in, and be manifested
in, all else, created by them" (nn. 47-51); "All things in the universe
were created by them" (nn. 52, 53, 151-156); "All are recipients of that
love and wisdom" (nn. 55-60); "The Lord appears before the angels as a
sun, the heat proceeding from it being love, and the light wisdom" (nn.
83-88, 89-92, 93-98, 296-301); "Divine love and wisdom, proceeding from
the Lord, make one" (nn. 99-102); "The Lord from eternity, who is
Jehovah, created the universe and everything in it from Himself, and not
from nothing" (nn. 282-284, 290-295). This is to be found in the treatise
entitled _Angelic Wisdom about Divine Love and Wisdom._
2. Putting with these propositions the description of creation in that
treatise, one may indeed see that what is called divine providence is
government by the Lord's divine love and wisdom. In that treatise,
however, creation was the subject, and not the preservation of the state
of things after creation--yet this is the Lord's government. We now treat
of this, therefore, and in the present chapter, of the preservation of
the union of divine love and wisdom or of divine good and truth in what
was created, which will be done in the following order:
i. The universe, with each and all things in it, was created from divine
love by divine wisdom.
ii Divine love and wisdom proceed as one from the Lord.
iii. This one is in some image in every created thing.
iv. It is of the divine providence that every created thing, as a whole
and in part, should be such a one, and if it is not, should become such a
one.
v. Good of love is good only so far as it is united to truth of wisdom,
and truth of wisdom truth only so far as it is united to good of love.
vi. Good of love not united to truth of wisdom is not good in itself but
seeming good, and truth of wisdom not united to good of love is not truth
in itself but seeming truth.
vii. The Lord does not suffer anything to be divided; therefore it must
be either in good and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the
same time in falsity.
viii. That which is in good and at the same time in truth is something;
that which is in evil and at the same time in falsity is not anything.
ix. The Lord's divine providence causes evil and the attendant falsity to
serve for equilibrium, contrast, and purification, and so for the
conjunction of good and truth in others.
3. (i) _The universe, with each and all things in it, was created from
divine love by divine wisdom._ In the work _Divine Love and Wisdom_ we
showed that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, is in essence divine
love and wisdom, and that He created the universe and all things in it
from Himself. It follows that the universe, with each and all things in
it, was created from divine love by means of divine wisdom. We also
showed in that treatise that love can do nothing without wisdom, and
wisdom nothing without love. For love apart from wisdom, or the will
apart from understanding, cannot think anything, indeed cannot see, feel
or say anything, so cannot do anything. Likewise, wisdom apart from love,
or understanding apart from will, cannot think, see, feel, or speak,
therefore cannot do, anything. For if love is removed from wisdom or
understanding, there is no willing and thus no doing. If this is true of
man, for him to do anything, it was much more true of God--who is love
itself and wisdom itself--when He created and made the world and all that
it contains.
[2] That the universe, with each and all things in it, was created from
divine love by divine wisdom may also be established from objects to be
seen in the world. Take a particular object, examine it with some wisdom,
and you will be convinced. Take the seed, fruit, flower or leaf of a
tree, muster your wisdom, examine the object with a strong microscope,
and you will see marvels. Even more wonderful are the more interior
things which you do not see. Note the unfolding order in the growth of a
tree from seed to new seed; reflect on the continuous effort in all
stages after self-propagation--the end to which it moves is seed in which
its reproductive power arises anew. If then you will think spiritually,
as you can if you will, will you not see wisdom in all this? Furthermore,
if you can think spiritually enough, you will see that this energy does
not come from the seed, nor from the sun of the world, which is only
fire, but is in the seed from God the Creator whose wisdom is infinite,
and is from Him not only at the moment of creation but ever after, too.
For maintenance is perpetual creation, as continuance is perpetual coming
to be. Else it is quite as work ceases when you withdraw will from
action, or as utterance fails when you remove thought from speech, or as
motion ceases when you remove impetus; in a word, as an effect perishes
when you remove the cause.
[3] Every created thing is endowed with energy, indeed, but this does
nothing of itself but from Him who implanted it. Examine any other
earthly object, like a silkworm, bee or other small creature. View it
first naturally, then rationally, and at length spiritually, and if you
can think deeply, you will be astounded at all you see. Let wisdom speak
in you, and you will exclaim in astonishment, "Who does not see the
divine in such things? They are all of divine wisdom." Still more will
you exclaim, if you note the uses of all created things, how they mount
in regular order even to the human being, and from man to the Creator
whence they are, and that the connection, and if you will acknowledge it,
the preservation also of them all, depend on the conjunction of the
Creator with man. That divine love created all things, but nothing apart
from the divine wisdom, will be seen in what follows.
4. (ii) _Divine love and wisdom proceed as one from the Lord._ This, too,
is plain from what was shown in the work _Divine Love and Wisdom,_
especially in the propositions: "Esse and existere are distinguishably
one in the Lord" (nn. 14-17); "Infinite things are distinguishably one in
Him" (nn. 17-22); "Divine love is of divine wisdom, and divine wisdom of
divine love" (nn. 34-39); "Love not married to wisdom cannot effect
anything" (nn. 401-403); "Love does nothing except in union with wisdom"
(nn. 409, 410); "Spiritual heat and light, proceeding from the Lord as a
sun, make one as divine love and wisdom make one in Him" (nn. 99-102).
The truth of the present proposition is plain from these propositions,
demonstrated in that treatise. But as it is not known how two distinct
things can act as one, I wish now to show that there is no "one" apart
from form, and that the form itself makes it a unit; then, that a form
makes a "one" the more perfectly as the elements entering into it are
distinctly different and yet united.
[2] _There is no "one" apart from form, and the form itself makes it a
unit._ Everyone who brings his mind to bear on the matter can see clearly
that there is no "one" apart from form, and if a thing exists at all, it
is a form. For what exists at all derives from form what is known as its
character and its predicates, its changes of state, also its relevance,
and so on. A thing without form has no way of affecting us, and what has
no power of affecting, has no reality. It is form which enables to all
this. And as all things have a form, then if the form is perfect, all
things in it regard each other mutually, as link does link in a chain. It
follows that it is form which makes a thing a unit and thus an entity of
which character, state, affection or anything else can be predicated;
each is predicated of it according to the perfection of the form.
[3] Such a unit is every object which meets the eye in the world. Such,
too, is everything not seen with the eye, whether in interior nature or
in the spiritual world. The human being is such a unit, human society is,
likewise the church, and in the Lord's view the whole angelic heaven,
too; in short, all creation in general and in every particular. For each
and all things to be forms, He who created all things must be form
itself, and all things made must be from that form. This, therefore, was
also demonstrated in the work _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ as that "Divine
love and wisdom are substance and form" (nn. 40-43); "Divine love and
wisdom are form itself, thus the one Self and the single independent
existence" (nn. 44-46); "Divine love and wisdom are one in the Lord" (nn.
14-17, 18-22), "and proceed as one from Him" (nn. 99-102, and elsewhere).
[4] _A form makes a one the more perfectly as the elements entering into
it are distinctly different and yet united._ This hardly falls into a
comprehension not elevated, for the appearance is that a form cannot make
a one except as its elements are quite alike. I have spoken with angels
often on the subject. They said that this is a secret perceived clearly
by their wiser men, obscurely by the less wise. They said it is the truth
that a form is the more perfect as its constituents are distinctly
different and yet severally united. They established the fact from the
societies which in the aggregate constitute the form of heaven, and from
the angels of a society, for as these are different and free and love
their associates from themselves and from their own affection, the form
of the society is more perfect. They also illustrated the fact from the
marriage of good and truth, in that the more distinguishably two these
are, the more perfectly do they make a one; similarly, of love and
wisdom. The indistinguishable is confusion, they said, whence comes
imperfection of form.
[5] In various ways they went on to establish the manner in which
perfectly distinct things are united and thus make a one, especially by
what is in the human body, in which are innumerable things quite distinct
and yet united, held distinct by coverings and united by ligaments. It is
so with love, they said, and all its things, and wisdom and all its
things, for love and wisdom are not perceived except as one. See further
on the subject in _Divine Love and Wisdom_ (nn. 14-22) and in the work
_Heaven and Hell_ (nn. 56 and 489). This has been adduced as part of
angelic wisdom.
5. (iii) _This "one" is in some image in every created thing._ It can be
seen from what was demonstrated throughout the treatise _Divine Love and
Wisdom_ and especially at nn. 47-51, 55-60, 282-284, 290-295, 313-318,
319-326, 349-357, that divine love and wisdom which are one in the Lord
and proceed as one from Him, are in some image in each created thing. It
was shown that the divine is in every created thing because God the
Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, produced the sun of the spiritual
world from Himself, and all things of the universe through that sun. That
sun, which is from Him and in which He is, is therefore not only the
first but the sole substance from which are all things. As this is the
one substance, it is in everything made, but with endless variety in
accord with uses.
[2] In the Lord, then, are divine love and wisdom, and in the sun from
Him divine fire and radiance, and from the sun spiritual heat and light;
and in each instance the two make one. It follows that this oneness is in
every created thing. All things in the world are referable, therefore, to
good and truth, in fact to the conjunction of them. Or, what is the same,
they are referable to love and wisdom and to the union of these; for good
is of love and truth of wisdom, love calling all its own, "good," and
wisdom calling all its own, "truth." It will be seen in what follows that
there is a conjunction of these in each created thing.
6. Many avow that there is a single substance which is also the first,
from which are all things, but what that substance is, is not known. The
belief is that it is so simple nothing is more so, and that it can be
likened to a point without dimensions, and that dimensional forms arose
out of an infinite number of such points. But this is a fallacy,
springing from an idea of space. To such an idea there seems to be such a
least thing. The truth is that the simpler and purer a thing is, the more
replete it is and the more complete. This is why the more interiorly a
thing is examined, the more wonderful, perfect, and well formed are the
things seen in it, and in the first substance the most wonderful, perfect
and fully formed of all. For the first substance is from the spiritual
sun, which, as we said, is from the Lord and in which He is. That sun is
therefore the sole substance and, not being in space, is all in all, and
is in the greatest and least things of the created universe.
[2] As that sun is the first and sole substance from which all things
are, it follows that in it are infinitely more things than can possibly
appear in substances arising from it, called substantial and lastly
material. This infinity cannot appear in derivative substances because
these descend from that sun by degrees of two kinds in accord with which
perfections decline. For that reason, as we said above, the more
interiorly a thing is regarded, the more wonderful, perfect and well
formed are the things seen. This has been said to establish the fact that
the divine is in some image in every created thing, but is less and less
manifest with the descent over degrees, and still less when a lower
degree, parted from the higher by being closed, is also choked with
earthy matter. These concepts cannot but seem obscure unless one has read
and understood what was shown in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom_
about the spiritual sun (nn. 83-172), about degrees (nn. 173-281) and
about the creation of the world (nn. 282-357).
7. (iv) _It is of the divine providence that every created thing as a
whole and in part should be such a one or should become such a one,_ or
that there be in it something of the divine love and wisdom, or what is
the same, that there be good and truth in it, or a union of them.
(Inasmuch as good is of love and truth is of wisdom, as was said above
(n. 5), in what follows we shall at times say good and truth instead of
love and wisdom, and marriage of good and truth instead of union of love
and wisdom.)
8. It is evident from the preceding proposition that divine love and
wisdom, which are one in the Lord and proceed as one from Him, are in
some image in everything created by Him. Something shall be said now
specifically of the "one" or the union called the marriage of good and
truth. 1. This marriage is in the Lord Himself--for, as we said, divine
love and wisdom in Him are one. 2. This marriage is from Him, for in all
that proceeds from Him love and wisdom are fully united. The two proceed
from Him as a sun, divine love as heat, and divine wisdom as light. 3.
These are received as two, indeed, by angels, likewise by men of the
church, but are made one in them by the Lord. 4. In view of this influx
of love and wisdom as one from the Lord with angels of heaven and men of
the church, and in view of their reception of it, the Lord is spoken of
in the Word as bridegroom and husband, and heaven and the church are
called bride and wife. 5. An image and a likeness of the Lord are
therefore to be found in heaven and in the church in general, and in an
angel of heaven and a man of the church in particular, so far as they are
in that union or in the marriage of good and truth. For good and truth in
the Lord are one, indeed are the Lord. 6. Love and wisdom in heaven and
in the church as a whole, and in an angel of heaven and a man of the
church, are one when will and understanding, thus when good and truth,
make one; or what is still the same, when doctrine from the Word and life
according to doctrine make one. 7. How the two make one in man and in all
that pertains to him was shown, moreover, in Part V of the treatise
_Divine Love and Wisdom,_ where the creation of man, and especially the
correspondence of will and understanding with heart and lungs, were
treated of (nn. 358-432).
9. How good and truth, however, make one in what is below or outside man,
in both the animal and the vegetable kingdom, shall be told from time to
time in what follows. Three points are premised. _First,_ in the universe
and in each and all things of it as created by the Lord, there was a
marriage of good and truth. _Second,_ after creation this marriage was
severed in man. _Third,_ it is the work of divine providence to unite
what was severed, and so to restore the marriage of good and truth. As
all three points were established by many things in the work _Divine Love
and Wisdom,_ there is no need to substantiate them further. Anyone can
see from reason, moreover, that if there was a marriage of good and truth
in each created thing and later it was severed, the Lord must be working
constantly to restore it, and that the restoration of it, and hence the
conjunction of the created world with the Lord through man, are of divine
providence.
10. (v) _Good of love is good only so far as it is united to truth of
wisdom, and truth of wisdom is truth only so far as it is united to good
of love._ Good and truth have this from their origin, the one and the
other originating in the Lord, who is good itself and truth itself and in
whom the two are one. Hence in angels in heaven and men on earth, good is
not good basically except so far as it is joined to truth, and truth is
not truth basically except so far as it is joined to good. Granted that
all good and truth are from the Lord, then inasmuch as good makes one
with truth and truth with good in Him, good to be good in itself and
truth to be truth in itself must make one in the recipient, that is, the
angel in heaven or the man on earth.
11. It is indeed known that all things in the world are referable to good
and truth. For by good is meant what universally embraces and involves
all things of love; and by truth what universally embraces and involves
all things of wisdom. Still it is not known that good is nothing except
when it is joined to truth, and truth nothing unless it is joined to
good. Good apart from truth and truth apart from good still seem to be
something; yet they are not. For love (to which all that is called good
pertains) is the _esse_ of a thing, and wisdom (to which all things
called truths pertain) is a thing's _existere_ from that _esse_ (as was
shown in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom,_ nn. 14-16). Therefore, as
_esse_ is nothing apart from _existere,_ or _existere_ apart from _esse,_
good is nothing apart from truth or truth from good. What, again, is good
which has no relation to anything? Can it be called good if it is without
affection and perception?
[2] That which is associated with good, permitting it to affect and to be
perceived and felt, is referable to truth, since it has relation to what
is in the understanding. Tell someone, not that a given thing is good,
but simply say "good"--is good anything? It becomes something from what is
perceived along with it. This is united with good only in the
understanding, and all understanding has relation to truth. It is the
same with willing. Apart from knowing, perceiving and thinking what one
wills, to will is nothing actual; together with them it becomes
something. All volition is of love and is referable to good; and all
knowing, perceiving and thinking is of the understanding, and is
referable to truth. It is clear, then, that to will is nothing actual,
but to will this or that means something.
[3] So also with a use, inasmuch as a use is a good. Unless a use is
addressed to something which makes one with it, it is not a use, and thus
not anything. A use derives its something from the understanding, and
what is thence conjoined or adjoined to it, has relation to truth. So a
use gets its character.
[4] From these few things it is plain that good is nothing apart from
truth, nor truth anything apart from good. But if good together with
truth and truth together with good are something, evil with falsity and
falsity with evil are not, for the latter are opposite to the former and
the opposition destroys--that is, destroys the something. But of this in
what follows.
12. Marriage of good and truth may, however, be found either in a cause
or from the cause in an effect. In a cause the marriage of good and truth
is one of will and understanding, or of love and wisdom. Such a marriage
is in all that a man wills and thinks and in all his ensuing
determinations and purposes. This marriage enters into and in fact
produces the effect. But in producing the effect, good and truth seem
distinct, for then the simultaneous turns successive. When, for example,
a man wills and thinks about food, clothing, shelter, business or
employment, or about his relationship to others, first he wills and
thinks or comes to his conclusions and intentions all at the same time;
but when these are determined to effects, truth follows on good, though
in will and thought they continue to make one. In the effects the uses
pertain to love or good, and the ways of performing the uses pertain to
understanding or truth. Anyone can confirm these general truths by
particular instances provided he perceives what is referable respectively
to good of love and to truth of wisdom, and also how differently it is
referable in cause and in effect.
13. We have said often that love constitutes man's life. This does not
mean, however, love separate from wisdom or good from truth in the cause,
for love separate or good separate is not an actuality. The love which
makes man's inmost life--the life he has from the Lord--is therefore love
and wisdom together; neither is the love which makes his life as a
recipient being separate in the cause, but only in the effect. For love
cannot be understood except from its quality, which is wisdom; and the
quality or wisdom can exist only from its own _esse,_ which is love;
thence it is that they are one; it is the same with good and truth. Since
truth is from good as wisdom is from love, it is the two taken together
that are called good or love. For love has wisdom for its form, and good
for its form truth, and form is the source, and the one source, of
quality. It is plain from all this that good is good only so far as it
has become one with its truth, and truth truth only so far as it has
become one with its good.
14. (vi) _Good of love not united to truth of wisdom is not good in
itself but seeming good; and truth of wisdom not conjoined with good of
love is not truth in itself but seeming truth._ The fact is that no good,
in itself good, can exist unless joined with its truth, and no truth, in
itself truth, can exist unless it has become joined with its good. And
yet good separate from truth is possible, and truth separate from good.
They are found in hypocrites and flatterers, in evil persons of every
sort, and in such as are in natural but not spiritual good. These can all
do well by church, country, society, fellow-citizens, the needy, the
poor, and widows and orphans. They can also comprehend truths, from
understanding think them, and from thought speak and teach them. But the
goods and truths are not interiorly such, that is, basically goods and
truths, but only outwardly and seemingly such. For such good and truth
look to self and the world, not to good itself and truth itself; they are
not from good and truth; they are of the mouth and body only, therefore,
and not of the heart.
[2] They may be likened to gold or silver which is spread on dross,
rotten wood or mire. When uttered the truths may be likened to a breath
exhaled and gone, or to a delusive light which dies away, though they
appear outwardly like genuine truths. They are seeming truths in those
who utter them; to those hearing and assenting, and unaware of this, they
may be altogether different. For everyone is affected by what is external
according to his internal. A truth, by whomsoever uttered, enters
another's hearing and is taken up by his mind in keeping with the state
or character of his mind.
Of those in natural good by inheritance, but in no spiritual good, nearly
the same is true as of those described above. The internal of every good
or truth is spiritual. The spiritual dispels falsities and evils, but the
natural left to itself favors them. To favor evil and falsity does not
accord with doing good.
15. Good can be separated from truth, and truth from good, and then still
appear as good or truth, for the reason that the human being has a
capacity to act which is called liberty, and a capacity of understanding
called rationality. By abuse of these powers a man can appear in
externals other than he is in internals; an evil man can do good and
speak truth, and a devil feign himself an angel of light. But on this see
the following propositions in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom:_ "The
origin of evil is in the abuse of faculties proper to man, called liberty
and rationality" (nn. 246-270); "These two faculties are to be found with
the evil as well as with the good" (n. 425); "Love not married to wisdom,
and good not married to truth, can effect nothing" (n. 401); "Love does
nothing except in conjunction with wisdom or understanding, and it brings
wisdom or the understanding reciprocally into conjunction with itself"
(nn. 410-412); "From power given it by love, wisdom or understanding can
be elevated and can perceive and receive the things of light from heaven"
(n. 413); "Love can be raised similarly to receive the things of heat
from heaven if it loves its mate, wisdom, in that degree" (nn. 414, 415);
"Else love pulls wisdom or the understanding down from its elevation to
act at one with itself" (nn. 416-418); "If the two are elevated, love is
purified in the understanding" (nn. 419-421); "Purified by wisdom in the
understanding, love becomes spiritual and celestial, but defiled in the
understanding it become sensuous and corporeal" (nn. 422-424); "What is
true of love and wisdom and their union is true of charity and faith and
their conjunction" (nn. 427-430). What charity in heaven is, see n. 431.
16. (vii) _The Lord does not suffer anything to be divided; it must be
either in good and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the same
time in falsity._ The Lord's divine providence has for its goal, and to
this end it labors, that man shall be in good and at the same time in
truth. For then he is his own good and love and his own truth and wisdom;
thereby the human being is human, for he is then an image of the Lord.
But while he lives in the world he can be in good and at the same time in
falsity, likewise in evil and at the same time in truth, indeed in evil
and at the same time in good, and thus be double. As the cleavage
destroys the Lord's image in him and thus the man, the Lord's divine
providence takes care in every least act that this division shall not be.
And as it is better for man to be in evil and at the same time in falsity
than to be in good and at the same time in evil, the Lord permits it, not
as one willing it, but as one unable to resist because of the end sought,
which is salvation.
[2] A man can be simultaneously in evil and in truth and the Lord be
unable to prevent it in view of the end, which is salvation, for the
reason that man's understanding can be raised into the light of wisdom
and see truths, or acknowledge them when he hears them, while his love
remains below. Thus a man can be in heaven as to understanding, while as
to his love he is in hell. This is not denied him, because the two
faculties of liberty and rationality, by virtue of which he is a human
being and distinguished from beasts and by which alone he can be
regenerated and thus saved, cannot be taken away. By means of them, he
can act according to wisdom and at the same time according to an unwise
love. From wisdom above he can view the love below and also the thoughts,
intentions and affections, therefore the evils and falsities as well as
the goods and truths of his life and doctrine, without a knowledge and
recognition of which he cannot be reformed. We spoke of the two faculties
before and shall say more in what follows. What has been said explains
how man can be simultaneously in good and truth, or in evil and falsity,
or in mixtures of them.
17. In this world a man can hardly come into one or the other conjunction
or union, that is, of good and truth or of evil and falsity, for during
his life in the world he is kept in a state of reformation or
regeneration. After death, however, every man comes into the one union or
the other, because he can then no longer be reformed or regenerated. He
remains such as his life was in the world, that is, such as his reigning
love was. If therefore his was a life of an evil love, all the truth
acquired by him in the world from teacher, pulpit or Word is taken away.
On the removal of it, he absorbs the falsity agreeing with his evil as a
sponge does water. On the other hand, if his was the life of a good love,
all the falsity is removed which he may have picked up in the world by
hearing or from reading but did not confirm in himself, and in its place
truth congruous with his good is given him. This is meant by the Lord's
words:
Take . . . the talent from him, and give it to him that has ten talents.
For to everyone who has, shall be given until he abounds but from him
who has not, even what he has shall be taken away (Mt 25:28, 29; 13:12;
Mk 4:25; Lu 8:18; 19:24-26).
18. After death everyone must be either in good and at the same time in
truth or in evil and at the same time in falsity, for the reason that
good and evil cannot be united, nor can good and the falsity of evil, nor
evil and the truth of good. For these are opposites, and opposites
contend until one destroys the other. Those who are at the same time in
evil and in good are meant in the Apocalypse in these words of the Lord
to the church of the Laodiceans:
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; would that you were
cold or hot; but because you are lukewarm, I will spue you out of my
mouth (3:15, 16):
also in these words of the Lord:
No man can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or cleave to the one and not heed the other (Mt 6:24).
19. ( viii) _That which is in good and at the same time in truth is
something; that which is in evil and at the same time in falsity is not
anything._ See above (n. 11) that what is in good and at the same time in
truth is something. It follows that what is at once evil and false is not
anything. By not being anything is meant that it is without power and
without spiritual life. Those at once in evil and in falsity (all of whom
are in hell) have power indeed among themselves, for an evil man can do
evil and does so in a thousand ways. Yet he can do evil to the evil only
by reason of their evil; he cannot harm the good at all; if, as sometimes
happens, he does, it is by conjunction with their evil.
[2] In this way temptations arise; they are infestations by evil spirits
who are with a man; so combats ensue by which the good are freed from
their evils. Since the wicked have no power, all hell in the Lord's sight
is not only nothing, but nothing at all in point of power, as I have seen
proved by much experience. But it is remarkable that the evil all deem
themselves powerful, and the good all think themselves powerless. This is
because the evil ascribe everything to their own power or shrewdness and
malice, and nothing to the Lord; whereas the good ascribe nothing to
their own prudence, but all to the Lord who is almighty. Evil and falsity
together are not anything for the further reason that they have no
spiritual life. The life of the infernals is therefore called death, not
life. Since life holds everything, death has nothing.
20. Men in evil and at the same time in truths may be likened to eagles
flying aloft which, deprived of their wings, fall. For after death, on
becoming spirits, men do the like who have understood and spoken and
taught truths and yet have not looked to God in their lives. By means of
things of the understanding they raise themselves aloft and even enter
heaven at times and feign themselves angels of light. But when they are
deprived of truths and are cast out, they fall down to hell. Eagles also
signify rapacious men with intellectual acumen, and wings signify
spiritual truths. Such, we said, are those who have not looked to God in
their lives. To look to God in life means simply to think that a given
evil is a sin against God, and for that reason not to commit it.