others idols and monstrous graven images, dead men also.
2. He notes especially that the Mohammedan religion is accepted by so
many empires and kingdoms.
3. He notes that the Christian religion is found only in a very small
part of the habitable globe, called Europe, and is divided there.
4. Also that some in Christendom arrogate divine power to themselves,
want to be worshiped as gods, and invoke the dead.
5. And there are those who place salvation in certain phrases which they
are to think and speak and not at all in good works which they are to do;
likewise there are few who live their religion.
6. Besides there are heretical ideas; these have been many and some exist
today, like those of the Quakers, Moravians and Anabaptists, besides
others.
7. Judaism also persists.
As a result, one who denies divine providence concludes that religion in
itself is nothing, but still is needed to serve as a restraint.
239. To these more arguments can be added today by which those who think
interiorly in favor of nature and of human prudence alone can still
further confirm themselves. For example:
1. All Christendom has acknowledged three Gods, not knowing that God is
one in essence and in person and that He is the Lord.
2. It has not been known before this that there is a spiritual sense in
each particular of the Word from which it derives its holiness.
3. Again, Christians have not known that to avoid evils as sins is the
Christian religion itself.
4. It has also been unknown that the human being lives as such after
death.
For men may ask themselves and one another, "Why does divine providence,
if it exists, reveal such things for the first time now?"
240. All the points listed in nn. 236-239 have been put forward in order
that it may be seen that each and all things which take place in the
world are of divine providence; consequently divine providence is in the
least of man's thoughts and actions and thereby is universal. But this
cannot be seen unless the points are taken up one by one; therefore they
will be explained briefly in the order in which they were listed,
beginning with n. 236.
241. _The wisest of human beings, Adam and his wife, allowed themselves
to be led astray by the serpent, and God in His divine providence did not
avert this._ This is because by Adam and his wife the first human beings
created in the world are not meant, but the people of the Most Ancient
Church, whose new creation or regeneration is described thus: their
creation anew or regeneration in Genesis 1 by the creation of heaven and
earth; their wisdom and intelligence by the Garden of Eden; and the end
of that church by their eating of the tree of knowledge. For the Word in
its bosom is spiritual, containing arcana of divine wisdom, and in order
to contain them has been composed throughout in correspondences and
representations. It is plain then that the men of that church, who at
first were the wisest of men but finally became the worst through pride
in their own intelligence, were led astray not by a serpent but by
self-love, meant in Genesis by "the serpent's head," which the Seed of
the woman, namely, the Lord, was to trample.
[2] Who cannot see from reason that other things are meant than those
recorded literally like history? For who can understand that the world
could be created as there described? The learned therefore labor over the
explanation of the things in the first chapter, finally confessing that
they do not understand them. So of the two trees placed in the garden or
paradise, one of life and the other of knowledge, the latter as a
stumbling-block. Again, that just by eating of this tree they
transgressed so greatly that not only they but their posterity--the whole
human race--became subject to damnation; further, how any serpent could
lead them astray; besides other things, as that the woman was created out
of a rib of her husband; that they recognized their nakedness after the
fall and covered it with fig leaves; that coats of skin were given them to
cover the body; and that cherubim with a flaming sword were stationed to
guard the way to the tree of life.
[3] All this is representative, describing the establishment, state,
alteration and finally destruction of the Most Ancient Church. The arcana
involved, contained in the spiritual sense which fills the details, may
be seen explained in _Arcana Caelestia,_ on Genesis and Exodus, published
at London. There it may also be seen that by the tree of life the Lord is
meant as to His divine providence, and by the tree of knowledge man is
meant as to his own prudence.
242. _Their first son, Cain, killed his brother Abel, and God did not
speak to him and dissuade him, but only afterwards cursed him._ As the
Most Ancient Church is meant by Adam and his wife, as we have just said,
the two essentials of a church, love and wisdom or charity and faith are
meant by their first sons, Cain and Abel. Love and charity are meant by
Abel, and wisdom and faith and in particular wisdom separate from love,
and faith separate from charity, are meant by Cain. Wisdom as well as
faith when separate is of such a nature that it not only rejects love and
charity, but also destroys them and thus kills its brother. It is well
known in Christendom that faith apart from charity does so; see _Doctrine
of the New Jerusalem about Faith._
[2] The curse on Cain portends the spiritual state into which those come
after death who separate faith from charity or wisdom from love. But lest
wisdom or faith should perish, a mark was put on Cain lest he be slain,
for love cannot exist without wisdom, nor charity without faith. As
almost the same thing is represented by this as by eating of the tree of
knowledge, it follows next after the account of Adam and his wife.
Moreover, those in faith separate from charity are in intelligence of
their own; those who are in charity and thence in faith are in
intelligence from the Lord, thus in divine providence.
243. _The Israelites worshiped a golden calf in the wilderness and
acknowledged it as the god that had brought them out of Egypt, yet
Jehovah saw this from Mt. Sinai near by and did not warn against it._
This occurred in the desert of Sinai near the mountain. It is in
accordance with all the laws of divine providence recounted so far and
with those to follow that Jehovah did not restrain the Israelites from
that atrocious worship. This evil was permitted them that they might not
all perish. For the children of Israel were brought out of Egypt to
represent the Lord's church; they could not represent it unless the
Egyptian idolatry was first rooted out of their hearts. This could not be
done unless it was left to them to act upon what was in their hearts and
then to remove it on being severely punished. What further is signified
by that worship, by the threat that they would be entirely rejected, and
by the possibility that a new nation might be raised from Moses, may be
seen in _Arcana Caelestia_ on Exodus 32, where these things are spoken
of.
244. _David numbered the people and as a consequence a pestilence befell
them in which so many thousands of them perished; God sent the prophet
Gad to him not before but after the deed and denounced punishment._ One
who confirms himself against divine providence may have various thoughts
about this also and ponder especially why David was not admonished first
and why the people were so severely punished for the king's
transgression. That he was not warned first is in accord with the laws of
divine providence already adduced, especially with the two explained at
nn. 129-153 and 154-174. The people were so severely punished for the
king's transgression and seventy thousand smitten by the pestilence not
on account of the king but on account of themselves, for we read
The anger of Jehovah kindled still more against Israel; therefore He
incited David against them saying, Go, number Israel and Judah (2 Sa
24:1).
245. _Solomon was allowed to establish idolatrous forms of worship._ For
he was to represent the Lord's kingdom or church in all varieties of
religion in the world. For the church established with the Israelitish
and Jewish nation was a representative church; all of its judgments and
statutes represented the spiritual things of a church, which are its
internals. The people represented the church, the king the Lord, David
the Lord to come into the world, Solomon the Lord after His coming. As
the Lord after the glorification of His humanity had all power over
heaven and earth (as He said, Mt 28:18), Solomon as representative of Him
appeared in glory and magnificence, was wise beyond all earthly kings,
and also built the temple. Moreover, he permitted and set up the forms of
worship of many nations, by which the various religions of the world were
represented. His wives, who numbered seven hundred and his concubines who
numbered three hundred (1 Kgs 11:13), had a similar signification, for
"wife" in the Word signifies the church and "concubine" a form of
religion. Hence it may be evident why it was granted Solomon to build the
temple, by which the Divine Humanity of the Lord (Jn 2:19, 21) is
signified and the church, too; and why he was allowed to establish
idolatrous forms of worship and to take so many wives. See _Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (nn. 43, 44) that in many places in the
Word the Lord who was to come into the world is meant by David.
246. _After Solomon many kings were allowed to profane the temple and the
sacred things of the church._ This was because the people represented the
church and the king was their head. The Israelitish and Jewish nation was
of such a nature that they could not represent the church for long, for
at heart they were idolaters; they therefore relapsed gradually from
representative worship, perverting all things of the church, even to
devastating it finally. This was represented by the profanations of the
temple by the kings and by the people's idolatries; the full devastation
of the church was represented by the destruction of the temple, the
carrying off of Israel, and the captivity of Judah in Babylon. Such was
the cause of this toleration; and what is done for some cause is done
under divine providence according to one of its laws.
247. _That nation was permitted to crucify the Lord._ This was because
the church with that nation was entirely devastated and had become such
that they not only did not know or acknowledge the Lord, but hated Him.
Still, all that they did to Him was according to laws of His divine
providence. See in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (nn.
12-14) and in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about Faith_ (nn. 34, 35)
that the passion of the cross was the last temptation or battle by which
the Lord fully conquered the hells and fully glorified His Humanity.
248. So far the points listed at n. 236 have been explained, involving
passages in the Word by which the naturally minded reasoner may confirm
himself against divine providence. For, as was said, whatever such a man
sees, hears or reads he can make into an argument against providence. Few
persons, however, confirm themselves against divine providence from
incidents in the Word, but many do so from things before their eyes,
listed at n. 237. These are to be explained now in like manner.
249. _Every worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against
divine providence when he sees so many impious in the world and so many
of their impieties and how some glory in them, yet sees the impious go
unpunished by God._ All impieties and all gloryings in them are
permissions, of which the causes are laws of divine providence. Each
human being can freely, indeed very freely, think what he wills, against
God as well as in favor of God. One who thinks against God is rarely
punished in the natural world, for he is always in a state to be reformed
then, but is punished in the spiritual world, which is done after death,
for then he can no longer be reformed.
[2] That laws of divine providence are the causes of tolerance is clear
from the laws set forth above, if you will recall and examine them. They
are: that man shall act in freedom according to reason (of this law
above, nn. 71-79); that he shall not be forced by external means to think
and will, thus to believe and love what is of religion, but bring himself
and sometimes compel himself to do so (nn. 129-153); that there is no
such thing as one's own prudence, but there only appears to be and it
should so appear, but divine providence is universal from being in the
least things (nn. 191-213); divine providence looks to what is eternal,
and to the temporal only as this makes one with the eternal (nn.
214-220); man is not admitted inwardly into truths of faith and goods of
charity except as he can be kept in them to the close of life (nn.
221-233).
[3] That the laws of divine providence are the causes of tolerance will
also be evident from the following, for one thing from this: evils are
tolerated because of the end, which is salvation. Again from this: that
divine providence is continual with the wicked as well as with the good.
And finally from this: the Lord cannot act contrary to the laws of His
divine providence because to do so would be to act contrary to His divine
love and wisdom, thus contrary to Himself. Brought together, these laws
can make the causes manifest why impieties are tolerated by the Lord and
are not punished while they exist in the thought only and rarely, too,
while they exist in intention, thus in the will but not in act. Yet its
own punishment follows every evil; it is as if its punishment were
inscribed on an evil, and the impious man suffers it after death.
[4] These considerations also explain the next point, listed at n. 237:
_The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself still more against
divine providence when he sees plots, schemes and frauds succeed even
against the devout, just and sincere, and injustice triumph over justice
in the courts and in business._ All the laws of divine providence have
requirements; and as they are the causes why such things are permitted,
it is plain that for man to live as a human being and be reformed and
saved, these things can be removed from him by the Lord only through
means. The Word and, in particular, the precepts of the Decalog are the
means with those who acknowledge all kinds of murder, adultery, theft and
false witness to be sins. With those who do not acknowledge such things
as sins, they are removed by means of the civil laws and fear of their
penalties and by means also of the moral laws and fear of disrepute and
consequent loss of standing and wealth. By the latter means the Lord
leads the evil, but only away from doing such things, not from thinking
and willing them. But by the former means He leads the good, not only
away from doing them, but from thinking and willing them, too.
250. _The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against divine
providence on seeing the impious advanced to honors and becoming leaders
in the state and in the church, abounding, too, in riches and living in
luxury and magnificence, and on the other hand sees worshipers of God
despised and poor._ A worshiper of self and of nature believes that
standing and riches are the greatest and the one felicity possible, thus
felicity itself. If he has some thought of God as a result of worship
begun in childhood, he calls them divine blessings, and as long as he is
not elated by them he thinks that there is a God and worships Him. But in
the worship there lurks a desire, of which he is unaware then, to be
advanced by God to still higher standing and to still greater wealth. If
he attains them, his worship tends more and more to externalities until
it slips away and at last he makes little account of God and denies Him.
The same thing occurs if he is cast down from the standing and loses the
riches on which he has set his heart. What, then, are standing and riches
to the wicked but stumbling blocks?
[2] To the good they are not, for these do not set their heart on them,
but on the uses or goods for rendering which standing and wealth serve as
means. Hence only a worshiper of self and of nature can confirm himself
against divine providence because the impious are advanced to honors and
become leaders in the state and in the church. Moreover, what is greater
or less standing, or greater or less wealth? Is this not in itself
imaginary? Is one person more blessed and happier than another for it? Is
a great man's standing, or even a king's or an emperor's, not regarded in
a year's time as a commonplace, no longer exalting his heart with joy but
quite possibly becoming worthless to him? Have those with standing a
larger measure of happiness than those with little standing or even the
least standing, like farmers and their hands? May not these enjoy more
happiness when it is well with them and they are content with their lot?
What is more unquiet at heart, more often provoked, or more violently
enraged than self-love? It happens as often as it is not honored to suit
the haughtiness of its heart or as something does not succeed at its beck
and wish. What, then, is standing except an idea, unless it attaches to
the office or the use? Can the idea exist in any other thought than
thought about self and the world, and does it not really mean that the
world is all and eternity nothing?
[3] Something shall be said now why divine providence permits the impious
at heart to be promoted to standing and to acquire wealth. The impious or
the evil can render services as well as the pious or good, indeed with
more fire, for they regard themselves in the use and their standing as
the use. As self-love mounts, therefore, the lust of doing service for
one's glory is fired. There is no such fire with the devout or good
unless it is kindled incidentally to their standing. Therefore the Lord
governs the impious at heart who have standing by their desire for a name
and arouses them to perform uses to the community or their country, their
society or city, and their fellow citizen or neighbor. With such persons
this is the Lord's government which is called divine providence, for the
Lord's kingdom is one of uses, and where only a few perform uses for
uses' sake providence brings it about that worshipers of self are raised
to higher offices, in which each is incited by his love to do good.
[4] Suppose an infernal kingdom in the world (though there is none) where
self-love alone rules, which is itself the devil, would not everyone
perform uses with the zeal of self-love and for the enhancement of his
glory more than in another kingdom? The public good is borne on the lips
of them all, but their own benefit in the heart. And as each relies on
what rules him in order to become greater, and aspires to be greatest,
how can he see that God exists? A smoke like that of a conflagration
envelops him through which no spiritual truth can pass with its light. I
have seen that smoke around the hells of such men. Light a lamp and
inquire how many in present-day kingdoms aspire to eminence who are not
loves of self and the world. Will you find fifty in a thousand who are
loves of God, among whom, moreover, only a few aspire to eminence? Since
so few are loves of God and so many are loves of self and the world and
since the latter perform more uses by their ardor, how can one confirm
himself against divine providence because the evil surpass the good in
eminence and opulence?
[5] This is borne out also by these words of the Lord:
The lord praised the unjust steward because he had acted prudently; for
the sons of this age are more prudent in their generation than the sons
of light in their generation. So I say to you, Make friends for
yourselves of the unjust mammon that when you fail they may receive you
into eternal habitations (Lu 16:8, 9).
The meaning in the sense of the letter is plain. But in the spiritual
sense by the "mammon of injustice" are meant knowledges of good and truth
which the evil possess and employ solely to acquire standing and wealth
for themselves. It is of these knowledges that the good or the children
of light are to make friends for themselves and it is these knowledges
that will conduct them into eternal homes. The Lord also teaches that
many are loves of self and the world, and few are loves of God, in these
words:
Wide is the gate, and broad is the way, which leads to destruction, and
many there be who enter it, but narrow and strait is the way which leads
to life, and there are few who find it (Mt 7:13, 14).
It may be seen above (n. 217) that eminence and riches are either curses
or blessings, and with whom they are the one or the other.
251. _The worshiper of self and of nature confirms himself against divine
providence when he reflects that wars are permitted and the slaughter in
them of so many men and the plundering of their wealth._ It is not by
divine providence that wars occur, for they entail murder, plunder,
violence, cruelty, and other terrible evils which are diametrically
opposed to Christian charity. Yet they cannot but be permitted because
the life's love of mankind, since the time of the most ancient people,
meant by Adam and his wife (n. 241), has become such that it wants to
rule over others and finally over all, and also to possess the wealth of
the world and finally all wealth. These two loves cannot be kept in
fetters, for it is according to divine providence that everyone is
allowed to act in freedom in accordance with reason, as may be seen above
(nn. 71-97); and apart from permissions man cannot be led from evil by
the Lord and consequently cannot be reformed and saved. For unless evils
were allowed to break out, man would not see them, therefore would not
acknowledge them, and thus could not be induced to resist them. Evils
cannot be repressed, therefore, by any act of providence; if they were,
they would remain shut in, and like a disease such as cancer and
gangrene, would spread and consume everything vital in man.
[2] For from birth man is like a little hell between which and heaven
there is perpetual discord. No one can be withdrawn from his hell by the
Lord unless he sees he is in it and desires to be led out of it. This
cannot be done apart from tolerations the causes of which are laws of
divine providence. As a result, minor and major wars occur, the minor
between owners of estates and their neighbors, and the major between
sovereigns of kingdoms and their neighbors. Except for size the only
difference is that the minor conflicts are held within limits by a
country's laws and the major by the law of nations; each may wish to
transgress its laws, but the minor cannot, and while the major can, still
the possibility has limits.
[3] Hidden in the stores of divine wisdom are several causes why the
major wars of kings and rulers, involving murder, looting, violence and
cruelty as they do, are not prevented by the Lord, either at their
beginning or during their course, only finally when the power of one or
the other has been so reduced that he is in danger of annihilation. Some
of the causes have been revealed to me and among them is this: all wars,
although they are civil in character, represent in heaven states of the
church and are correspondences. The wars described in the Word were all
of this character; so are all wars at this day. Those in the Word are the
wars which the children of Israel waged with various nations, Amorites,
Moabites, Philistines, Syrians, Egyptians, Chaldeans and Assyrians.
Moreover, it was when the children of Israel, who represented the church,
departed from their precepts and statutes and fell into evils represented
by other peoples (for each nation with which the children of Israel waged
war represented a particular evil), that they were punished by that
nation. For instance, when they profaned the sanctities of the church by
foul idolatries they were punished by the Assyrians and Chaldeans because
Assyria and Chaldea signify the profanation of what is holy. What was
signified by the wars with the Philistines may be seen in _Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem about Faith_ (nn. 50-54).