eternity, for every angel is being perfected in wisdom to eternity, each,
however, according to the degree of affection of good and truth in which
he was when he left this world. It is this degree that is perfected to
eternity; what is beyond that is outside the angel and not in him, and
what is external to him cannot be perfected in him. This perfecting is
meant by the
"Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over" which
will be given into the bosom of those who forgive and give to others (Lu
6:37, 38),
that is, those who are in the good of charity.
335. (ii) _The activity of divine providence is maintained steadily out
of pure mercy through means._ Divine providence has means and methods.
Its means are the things by which man becomes man and is perfected in
will and understanding; its methods are the ways this is accomplished.
The means by which man becomes man and is perfected in understanding are
collectively called truths. In the thought they become ideas, are called
objects of the memory, and in themselves are forms of knowledge from
which information comes. All these means, viewed in themselves, are
spiritual, but as they exist in what is natural, they seem by reason of
their covering or clothing to be natural and some of them seem to be
material. They are infinite in number and variety, and more or less
simple or composite, and also more or less imperfect or perfect. There
are means for forming and perfecting natural civil life; likewise for
forming and perfecting rational moral life; as there are for forming and
perfecting heavenly spiritual life.
[2] These means advance, one kind after another, from infancy to the last
of man's life, and thereafter to eternity. As they come along and mount,
the earlier ones become means to the later, entering into all that is
forming as mediate causes. From these every effect or conclusion is
efficacious and therefore becomes a cause. In turn what is later becomes
means; and as this goes on to eternity, there is nothing farthest on or
final to make an end. For as what is eternal is without end, so a wisdom
that increases to eternity is without end. If there were an end to wisdom
for a wise man, the enjoyment of his wisdom would perish, which consists
in the perpetual multiplication and fructification of wisdom. His life's
enjoyment would also perish; in its place an enjoyment of glory would
succeed, in which by itself there is no heavenly life. The wise man then
becomes no longer like a youth but like an old man, and at length like a
decrepit one.
[3] Although a wise man's wisdom increases forever in heaven, angelic
wisdom cannot approximate the divine wisdom so much as to touch it. It is
relatively like what is said of a straight line drawn about a hyperbola,
always approaching but never touching it, and like what is said about
squaring a circle. Hence it may be plain what is meant by the means by
which divine providence acts in order that man may be man and be
perfected in understanding, and that these means are called by the common
term truths. There are an equal number of means by which man is formed
and perfected as to his will. These are called collectively goods. By
them man comes to have love, by the others wisdom. The conjunction of
love and wisdom makes the man, for what he is is in keeping with the
nature of this conjunction. This conjunction is what is called the
marriage of good and truth.
336. The methods by which divine providence acts on and through the means
to form and perfect the human being are also infinite in number and
variety. They are as numerous as the activities of divine wisdom from
divine love to save man, and therefore as numerous as the activities of
divine providence in accordance with its laws, treated of above. That
these methods are most secret was illustrated above by the activities of
the soul in the body, of which man knows so little it is scarcely
anything--how, for instance, eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin sense things;
how the stomach digests; how the mesentery elaborates the chyle and the
liver the blood; how the pancreas and the spleen purify the blood, the
kidneys separate it from impure humors, the heart collects and
distributes it, and the lungs purify it and pass it on; how the brain
refines the blood and vivifies it anew; besides innumerable other things
which are all secret, and of which one can scarcely know. Clearly, the
hidden activities of divine providence can be entered into even less; it
is enough to know its laws.
337. Divine providence acts in all things out of pure mercy. For the
divine essence is itself pure love; this love acts through divine wisdom
and its activity is what is called divine providence. This pure love is
pure mercy because 1. It is active with all men the world over, who are
such that they can do nothing of themselves. 2. It is active with the
evil and unjust and the good and just alike. 3. It leads the former in
hell and rescues them from it. 4. It strives with them there perpetually
and fights for them against the devil, that is, against the evils of
hell. 5. To this end pure love came into the world and endured
temptations even to the last of them, which was the passion of the Cross.
6. It acts continually with the unclean to make them clean and with the
unsound to make them sound in mind. Thus it labors incessantly out of
pure mercy.
338. (iii) _Instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is impossible._ We
have just shown that the activity of divine providence to save man begins
at his birth and continues to the close of his life and afterwards to
eternity; also that this activity is continually pursued out of pure
mercy through means. It follows that there is neither instantaneous
salvation nor unmediated mercy. But as many, not thinking from the
understanding about things of the church or of religion, believe that
they are saved by immediate mercy and hence that salvation is
instantaneous, and yet this is contrary to the truth and in addition is a
pernicious belief, it is important that it be considered in due order:
1. Belief in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy has been assumed
from man's natural state.
2. This belief comes from ignorance of the spiritual state, which is
completely different from the natural state.
3. The doctrines of all churches in Christendom, viewed interiorly, are
opposed to instantaneous salvation by direct mercy, but external men of
the church nevertheless maintain the belief.
[2] First: _Belief in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy has been
assumed from man's natural state._ From his state the natural man does
not know otherwise than that heavenly joy is like worldly joy and that it
flows in and is received in the same way; that, for example, it is like a
poor man's becoming rich and from a sad state of poverty coming into a
happy one of plenty, or like a lowly person's being raised to honors and
passing thus from contempt to renown; or like one's going from a house of
mourning to happy nuptials. As these states can be changed in a day and
as there is a like idea of man's state after death, it is plain whence it
comes that instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is believed in.
[3] In the world, moreover, many can join in one group or in one civic
community and enjoy the same things, yet all differ in mind; this is true
of the natural state. The reason is that the external of one person can
be accommodated to that of another, no matter how unlike their internals
are. From this natural situation it is also concluded that salvation is
merely admission among angels in heaven, and that admission is by direct
mercy. It is also believed, therefore, that heaven can be given to the
evil as well as to the good, and that their association then is similar
to that in the world, with the difference that it is filled with joy.
[4] Second: _This belief comes from ignorance of the spiritual state,
which is altogether different from the natural state._ The spiritual
state, which is man's state after death, has been treated of in many
places above. It has been shown that everyone is his own love, that no
one can live with others than those who are in a like love, and that if
he comes among others he cannot breathe his own life. For this reason
everyone comes after death into a society of his own people, that is, who
are in a like love, and recognizes them as relatives and friends, and
what is remarkable, on meeting and seeing them it is as if he had known
them from infancy. Spiritual relationship and friendship bring this
about. What is more, in a society no one can dwell in any other house
than his own. Everyone in a society has his own home, which he finds
prepared for him as soon as he enters the society. He may be in close
company with others outside his home, but he cannot dwell elsewhere.
Again, in somebody else's apartment one can sit only in his own place;
seated elsewhere he becomes frustrated and mute. And it is remarkable
that on entering he knows his own place. This is as true in temples he
enters and in any companies in which people gather.
[5] It is plain from this that the spiritual state is altogether
different from the natural state, and is such that no one can be anywhere
but where his ruling love is to be found. For there the enjoyment of
one's life is, and everyone desires to be in the enjoyment of his life. A
man's spirit cannot be anywhere else because that enjoyment constitutes
his life, his very breathing, in fact, and his heartbeat. It is different
in the natural world; there man's external is taught from infancy to
simulate in look, speech and bearing other enjoyments than those of his
internal man. Accordingly, no conclusion can be formed about man's state
after death from his state in the natural world. For after death
everyone's state is spiritual and is such that he cannot be anywhere
except in the enjoyment of his love, an enjoyment that he has acquired in
the natural world by his life.
[6] Hence it is quite plain that no one who is in the enjoyment of hell
can be admitted into the enjoyment of heaven, commonly called heavenly
happiness, or what is the same, no one who is in the enjoyment of evil
can be admitted into the enjoyment of good. This can be concluded still
more plainly from the fact that after death no one is denied going up to
heaven; he is shown the way, has the opportunity given him, and is
admitted, but as soon as he enters heaven and inhales its enjoyment, he
begins to feel constricted in his chest and racked at heart, and falls
into a swoon, in which he writhes as a snake does brought near a fire.
Then with his face turned away from heaven and towards hell, he flees
headlong and does not stop until he is in a society of his own love.
Hence it may be plain that no one reaches heaven by direct mercy.
Consequently, just to be admitted is not enough, as many in the world
suppose. Nor is there any instantaneous salvation, for this presupposes
unmediated mercy.
[7] When some who had believed in the world in instantaneous salvation by
direct mercy became spirits, they wanted their infernal enjoyment or
enjoyment of evil changed by both divine omnipotence and divine mercy
into heavenly enjoyment or enjoyment in the good. As they ardently
desired this, permission was given for it to be done by angels, who
proceeded to remove their infernal enjoyment. But as this was the
enjoyment of their life's love and consequently their life, they
thereupon lay as if dead, devoid of all feeling and movement; nor could
any life be breathed into them except their own, because all things of
mind and body which had been turned backward could not be reversed. They
were therefore revived by letting in the enjoyment of their life's love.
They said afterwards that in that state they had experienced something
dreadful and horrible, which they did not care to divulge. There is a
saying in heaven, therefore, that it is easier to change an owl into a
turtle-dove or a serpent into a lamb than an infernal spirit into an
angel of heaven.
[8] Third: _The doctrines of all churches in Christendom, viewed
interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation by direct mercy, but
still some external men of the church maintain the idea._ Viewed
interiorly, the doctrines of all the churches teach life. Is there a
church whose doctrine does not teach that man ought to examine himself,
see and acknowledge his sins, confess them, repent and then live a new
life? Who is admitted to Holy Communion without this admonition and
precept? Inquire and you will be assured of it. Is there a church whose
doctrine is not based on the precepts of the Decalog? The precepts of the
Decalog are precepts of life. What man of the church, in whom there is
anything of the church, does not, on hearing it, acknowledge that he who
lives rightly is saved and he who lives wickedly is condemned? In the
Athanasian Creed, which is also the doctrine received in the whole
Christian world, it is therefore said:
The Lord will come to judge the quick and the dead; and then those who
have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil
into everlasting fire.
[9] It is clear, then, that the doctrines of all churches, when viewed
interiorly, teach life, and teaching life they teach that salvation is
according to the life. Man's life is not breathed into him in a moment
but is formed gradually, and it is reformed as the man shuns evils as
sins, consequently as he learns what sin is, recognizes and acknowledges
it, does not will it but desists from it, and also learns the helps that
come with a knowledge of God. By all these means man's life is formed and
reformed, and they cannot be given on the instant. For hereditary evil,
in itself infernal, has to be removed, and good, in itself heavenly,
implanted in its place. Because of his hereditary evil man may be
compared to an owl as to the understanding and to a serpent as to the
will, but when he has been reformed, he may be compared to a dove as to
the understanding and to a sheep as to the will. Instantaneous
reformation and hence salvation would be like changing an owl at once
into a dove or a serpent at once into a sheep. Who that knows anything
about man's life does not see the impossibility of this? Salvation is
impossible unless the owl and serpent nature is removed and the nature of
the dove and sheep implanted instead.
[10] Moreover, it is common knowledge that every intelligent person can
become more intelligent than he is, and every wise man wiser than he is,
and that intelligence and wisdom in man may increase and do so in some
men from infancy to the close of life, and that man is thus continually
perfected. Why should not spiritual intelligence and wisdom increase as
well? These rise by two degrees above natural intelligence and wisdom,
and as they ascend become angelic intelligence and wisdom, which are
ineffable. These in turn increase to eternity with the angels. Who cannot
understand, if he will, that what is being perfected to eternity cannot
possibly be made perfect in an instant?
339. Thence it is evident now that all who give thought to salvation for
their life's sake do not think of an instantaneous salvation by immediate
mercy. Their thought is about the means to salvation, on and by which the
Lord acts in accord with the laws of His divine providence, and thus by
which man is led by the Lord out of pure mercy. Those, however, who do
not think of salvation for their life's sake presume an instantaneousness
in salvation and an immediacy in mercy, as do those who, separating faith
from charity (charity is life), presume that faith can be instantaneous,
at the final hour of death, if not earlier. Those do this, too, who
believe remission of sins without any repentance to be absolution from
sins and thus salvation, when attending the Holy Supper. So again those
do who trust to indulgences of monks, their prayers for the dead, and the
dispensations they grant by the authority which they claim over the souls
of men.
340. (iv) _Instantaneous salvation by unmediated mercy is the flying
fiery serpent in the church._ By a flying fiery serpent evil aglow with
infernal fire is meant, as it is by the flying fiery serpent in Isaiah:
Rejoice not, all Philistia, that the rod which smote you is broken, for
out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, whose fruit is a
flying fiery serpent (14:29).
Evil of the kind is flying about in the church when belief is put in
instantaneous salvation by immediate mercy, for this 1. abolishes
religion; 2. induces security; and 3. charges condemnation to the Lord.
[2] First: _It abolishes religion._ Two things are the essentials and at
the same time the universals of religion, namely, acknowledgment of God,
and repentance. Neither has meaning for those who believe that they are
saved out of mercy alone no matter how they live. What need then to do
more than cry, "Have mercy on me, O God"? In all else pertaining to
religion they are in darkness, even loving the darkness. In regard to the
first essential of the church, which is an acknowledgment of God, they
only think, "What is God? Who has seen Him?" If told that God is, and is
one, they say that He is one; if told there are three, they also say
there are three, but the three must be called one. Such is their
acknowledgment of God.
[3] Touching the church's second essential, namely, repentance, they give
this no thought, nor thought to any sin, and finally do not know that
there is such a thing as sin. Then they hear and drink in with pleasure
that the law does not condemn them because a Christian is not under its
yoke. If only you say, "Have mercy on me, 0 God, for the sake of the
Son," you will be saved. This is repentance in their life. If, however,
you take away repentance, or what is the same thing, separate life from
religion, what is left except the words, "Have mercy on me"? They are
therefore sure to maintain that salvation is instantaneous, accomplished
by these words, even if uttered at the hour of death, if not before. What
does the Word become to them then but an obscure and cryptic utterance
issuing from a tripod in a cave, or like an incomprehensible response
from the oracle of an idol? In a word, if you remove repentance, that is,
sever life from religion, what is human nature then but evil aglow with
infernal fire or a flying fiery serpent in the church? For without
repentance man is in evil, and evil is hell.
[4] Second: _By the belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy
alone security of life is induced._ Security of life arises either from
the belief of the impious man that there is no life after death, or from
the belief of one who separates life from salvation. Although the latter
may believe in eternal life, he still thinks, "whether I live rightly or
wickedly, I can be saved, for salvation is by outright mercy, and God's
mercy is universal, for He does not desire the death of anyone." If it
occurs to him that mercy should be implored in the words of the
traditional faith, he can think that this can be done, if not earlier,
just before death. Everyone who feels this security, makes light of
adultery, fraud, injustice, acts of violence, blasphemy and revenge, and
gives a free rein to body and spirit for committing all these evils; nor
does he know what spiritual evil, or the lust of evil, is. Should he hear
something about it from the Word, it is like something falling on ebony
and rebounding, or falling into a ditch and being swallowed up.
[5] Third: _By this belief condemnation is charged to the Lord._ If the
Lord can save anybody out of pure mercy, who is not going to conclude
that if man is not saved, it is not he but the Lord who is in fault? If
it is asserted that faith is the medium of salvation, what man cannot
have this faith? For it is only a thought, and this can be imparted,
along with confidence, in any state of the spirit withdrawn from the
mundane. Man may also declare "I cannot acquire this faith of myself."
Hence if it is not vouchsafed him and he is condemned, what else can he
think except that the Lord is in fault who could have given him the faith
but would not? Would this not amount to calling the Lord unmerciful?
Moreover, in the fervor of his belief he may ask, "How can God see so
many condemned in hell when He can save them all in an instant from pure
mercy?" And more such things, which can only be called an atrocious
indictment of the Divine. From the above it may be evident that belief in
instantaneous salvation out of sheer mercy is the flying fiery serpent in
the church.
[6] Excuse the addition of what follows to fill the remainder of the
sheet.
Certain spirits were permitted to ascend from hell who said to me, "You
have written much from the Lord; write something from us, too." I asked,
"What shall I write?" They said, "Write that every spirit, good or evil,
has his own enjoyment; a good spirit is in the enjoyment of his good, and
an evil spirit in the enjoyment of his evil." I then asked, "What is your
enjoyment?" They answered that it was the enjoyment of committing
adultery, stealing, defrauding and lying. Again I inquired, "What is the
nature of those enjoyments?" They replied, "By others they are perceived
as offensive odors from excrement and as the putrid smell from dead
bodies and as the reeking stench from stagnant urine." I then said, "Do
you find them enjoyable?" "Most enjoyable," they said. I remarked, "Then
you are like unclean beasts which live in such filth." They replied to
this, "If we are, we are; but such things are delightful to our
nostrils."
[7] I asked, "What more shall I write from you?" They said, "Write this.
Everyone is allowed to be in his own enjoyment, even the most unclean, as
it is called, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels, but as
we could not but infest them, we were driven off and cast into hell,
where we suffer fearful things." I asked, "Why did you infest the good?"
They replied that they could not help it; a fury seems to seize them when
they see an angel and feel the divine sphere around him. Then I said, "So
you are also like savage beasts!" On hearing this, a fury came over them
which appeared like the fire of hate, and lest they inflict some injury,
they were drawn back into hell. On enjoyments sensed as odors or as
stenches in the spiritual world, see above (nn. 303-305, 324).