There is a general opinion that those born outside of the church, who
are called the nations, or heathen, cannot be saved, because not
having the Word they know nothing about the Lord, and apart from the
Lord there is no salvation. But that these also are saved this alone
makes certain, that the mercy of the Lord is universal, that is,
extends to every individual; that these equally with those within the
church, who are few in comparison, are born men, and that their
ignorance of the Lord is not their fault. Any one who thinks from any
enlightened reason can see that no man is born for hell, for the Lord
is love itself and His love is to will the salvation of all.
Therefore He has provided a religion for everyone, and by it
acknowledgment of the Divine and interior life; for to live in
accordance with one's religion is to live interiorly, since one then
looks to the Divine, and so far as he looks to the Divine he does not
look to the world but separates himself from the world, that is, from
the life of the world, which is exterior life.{1}
{Footnote 1} The heathen equally with the Christians are saved
(n. 932, 1032, 1059, 2284, 2589, 2590, 3778, 4190, 4197). The
lot of the nations and peoples outside of the church in the
other life (n. 2589-2604). The church is specifically where the
Word is, and by it the Lord is known (n. 3857, 10761).
Nevertheless, those born where the Word is and where the Lord
is known are not on that account of the church, but only those
who live a life of charity and of faith (n. 6637, 10143, 10153,
10578, 10645, 10829). The Lord's church is with all in the
whole world who live in good in accordance with their religion
and acknowledge a Divine, and such are accepted of the Lord and
come into heaven (n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 4190, 4197,
6700, 9256).
319. That the heathen equally with Christians are saved any one can
see who knows what it is that makes heaven in man; for heaven is
within man, and those that have heaven within them come into heaven.
Heaven with man is acknowledging the Divine and being led by the
Divine. The first and chief thing of every religion is to acknowledge
the Divine. A religion that does not acknowledge the Divine is no
religion. The precepts of every religion look to worship; thus to the
way in which the Divine is to be worshiped that the worship may be
acceptable to Him; and when this has been settled in one's mind, that
is, so far as one wills this or so far as he loves it, he is led by
the Lord. Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live
a moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians. Moral
life may be lived either out of regard to the Divine or out of regard
to men in the world; and a moral life that is lived out of regard to
the Divine is a spiritual life. In outward form the two appear alike,
but in inward form they are wholly different; the one saves man, the
other does not. For he who lives a moral life out of regard to the
Divine is led by the Divine; while he who leads a moral life out of
regard to men in the world is led by himself. [2] But this may be
illustrated by an example. He that refrains from doing evil to his
neighbor because it is antagonistic to religion, that is,
antagonistic to the Divine, refrains from doing evil from a spiritual
motive; but he that refrains from doing evil to another merely from
fear of the law, or the loss of reputation, of honor, or gain, that
is, from regard to self and the world, refrains from doing evil from
a natural motive, and is led by himself. The life of the latter is
natural, that of the former is spiritual. A man whose moral life is
spiritual has heaven within him; but he whose moral life is merely
natural does not have heaven within him; and for the reason that
heaven flows in from above and opens man's interiors, and through his
interiors flows into his exteriors; while the world flows in from
beneath and opens the exteriors but not the interiors. For there can
be no flowing in from the natural world into the spiritual, but only
from the spiritual world into the natural; therefore if heaven is not
also received, the interiors remain closed. All this makes clear who
those are that receive heaven within them, and who do not. [3] And
yet heaven is not the same in one as in another. It differs in each
one in accordance with his affection for good and its truth. Those
that are in an affection for good out of regard to the Divine, love
Divine truth, since good and truth love each other and desire to be
conjoined.{1} This explains why the heathen, although they are not in
genuine truths in the world, yet because of their love receive truths
in the other life.
{Footnote 1} Between good and truth there is a kind of marriage
(n. 1904, 2173, 2508). Good and truth are in a perpetual
endeavor to be conjoined, and good longs for truth and for
conjunction with it (n. 9206, 9207, 9495). How the conjunction
of good and truth takes place, and in whom (n. 3834, 3843,
4096, 4097, 4301, 4345, 4353, 4364, 4368, 5365, 7623-7627,
9258).
320. A certain spirit from among the heathen who had lived in the
world in good of charity in accordance with his religion, hearing
Christian spirits reasoning about what must be believed, (for spirits
reason with each other far more thoroughly and acutely than men,
especially about what is good and true,) wondered at such
contentions, and said that he did not care to listen to them, for
they reasoned from appearances and fallacies; and he gave them this
instruction: "If I am good I can know from the good itself what is
true; and what I do not know I can receive."
321. I have been taught in many ways that the heathen who have led a
moral life and have lived in obedience and subordination and mutual
charity in accordance with their religion, and have thus received
something of conscience, are accepted in the other life, and are
there instructed with solicitous care by the angels in the goods and
truths of faith; and that when they are being taught they behave
themselves modestly, intelligently, and wisely, and readily accept
truths and adopt them. They have not worked out for themselves any
principles of falsity antagonistic to the truths of faith that will
need to be shaken off, still less cavils against the Lord, as many
Christians have who cherish no other idea of Him than that He is an
ordinary man. The heathen on the contrary when they hear that God has
become a Man, and has thus manifested Himself in the world,
immediately acknowledge it and worship the Lord, saying that because
God is the God of heaven and of earth, and because the human race is
His, He has fully disclosed Himself to men.{1} It is a Divine truth
that apart from the Lord there is no salvation; but this is to be
understood to mean that there is no salvation except from the Lord.
There are many earths in the universe, and all of them full of
inhabitants, scarcely any of whom know that the Lord took on the
Human on our earth. Yet because they worship the Divine under a human
form they are accepted and led by the Lord. On this subject more may
be seen in the little work on The Earths in the Universe.
{Footnote 1} Difference between the good in which the heathen
are and that in which Christians are (n. 4189, 4197). Truths
with the heathen (n. 3263, 3778, 4190). The interiors cannot be
so closed up with the heathen as with Christians (n. 9256).
Neither can so thick a cloud exist with the heathen who live in
mutual charity in accordance with their religion as with
Christians who live in no charity; the reasons (n. 1059, 9256).
The heathen cannot profane the holy things of the church as the
Christians do, because they are ignorant of them (n. 1327,
1328, 2051). They have a fear of Christians on account of their
lives (n. 2596, 2597). Those that have lived well in accordance
with their religion are taught by angels and readily accept the
truths of faith and acknowledge the Lord (n. 2049, 2595, 2598,
2600, 2601, 2603, 2861, 2863, 3263).
322. Among the heathen, as among Christians, there are both wise and
simple. That I might learn about them I have been permitted to speak
with both, sometimes for hours and days. But there are no such wise
men now as in ancient times, especially in the Ancient Church, which
extended over a large part of the Asiatic world, and from which
religion spread to many nations. That I might wholly know about them
I have been permitted to have familiar conversation with some of
these wise men. There was with me one who was among the wiser of his
time, and consequently well known in the learned world, with whom I
talked on various subjects, and had reason to believe that it was
Cicero. Knowing that he was a wise man I talked with him about
wisdom, intelligence, order, and the Word, and lastly about the Lord.
[2] Of wisdom he said that there is no other wisdom than the wisdom
of life, and that wisdom can be predicated of nothing else; of
intelligence that it is from wisdom; of order, that it is from the
Supreme God, and that to live in that order is to be wise and
intelligent. As to the Word, when I read to him something from the
prophets he was greatly delighted, especially with this, that every
name and every word signified interior things; and he wondered
greatly that learned men at this day are not delighted with such
study. I saw plainly that the interiors of his thought or mind had
been opened. He said that he was unable to hear more, as he perceived
something more holy than he could bear, being affected so interiorly.
[3] At length I spoke with him about the Lord, saying that while He
was born a man He was conceived of God, and that He put off the
maternal human and put on the Divine Human, and that it is He that
governs the universe. To this he replied that he knew some things
concerning the Lord, and perceived in his way that if mankind were to
be saved it could not have been done otherwise. In the meantime some
bad Christians infused various cavils; but to these he gave no
attention, remarking that this was not strange, since in the life of
the body they had imbibed unbecoming ideas on the subject, and until
they got rid of these they could not admit ideas that confirmed the
truth, as the ignorant can.
323. It has also been granted me to talk with others who lived in
ancient times, and who were then among the more wise. At first they
appeared in front at a distance, and were able then to perceive the
interiors of my thoughts, thus many things fully. From one idea of
thought they were able to discern the entire series and fill it with
delightful things of wisdom combined with charming representations.
From this they were perceived to be among the more wise, and I was
told that they were some of the ancient people; and when they came
nearer I read to them something from the Word, and they were
delighted beyond measure. I perceived the essence of their delight
and gratification, which arose chiefly from this, that all things and
each thing they heard from the Word were representative and
significative of heavenly and spiritual things. They said that in
their time, when they lived in the world, their mode of thinking and
speaking and also of writing was of this nature, and that this was
their pursuit of wisdom.
324. But as regards the heathen of the present day, they are not so
wise, but most of them are simple in heart. Nevertheless, those of
them that have lived in mutual charity receive wisdom in the other
life, and of these one or two examples may be cited. When I read the
seventeenth and eighteenth chapters of Judges (about Micah, and how
the sons of Dan carried away his graven image and teraphim and
Levite) a heathen spirit was present who in the life of the body had
worshiped a graven image. He listened attentively to the account of
what was done to Micah, and his grief on account of his graven image
which the Danites took away, and such grief came upon him and moved
him that he scarcely knew, by reason of inward distress, what to
think. Not only was this grief perceived, but also the innocence that
was in all his affections. The Christian spirits that were present
watched him and wondered that a worshiper of a graven image should
have so great a feeling of sympathy and innocence stirred in him.
Afterwards some good spirits talked with him, saying that graven
images should not be worshiped, and that being a man he was capable
of understanding this; that he ought, apart from a graven image, to
think of God the Creator and Ruler of the whole heaven and the whole
earth, and that God is the Lord. When this was said I was permitted
to perceive the interior nature of his adoration, which was
communicated to me; and it was much more holy than is the case of
Christians, This makes clear that at the present day the heathen come
into heaven with less difficulty than Christians, according to the
Lord's words in Luke:
Then shall they come from the east and the west, and from
the north and the south, and shall recline in the kingdom
of God. And behold, there are last who shall be first, and
there are first who shall be last (13:29, 30).
For in the state in which that spirit was he could be imbued with all
things of faith and receive them with interior affection; there was
in him the mercy of love, and in his ignorance there was innocence;
and when these are present all things of faith are received as it
were spontaneously and with joy. He was afterwards received among
angels.
325. A choir at a distance was heard one morning, and from the
choir's representations I was permitted to know that they were
Chinese, for they exhibited a kind of woolly goat, then a cake of
millet, and an ebony spoon, also the idea of a floating city. They
desired to come nearer to me, and when they had joined me they said
that they wished to be alone with me, that they might disclose their
thoughts. But they were told that they were not alone, and that some
were displeased at their wishing to be alone, although they were
guests. When they perceived this displeasure they began to think
whether they had transgressed against the neighbor, and whether they
had claimed any thing to themselves that belonged to others. All
thought in the other life being communicated I was permitted to
perceive the agitation of their minds. It consisted of a recognition
that possibly they had injured those who were displeased, of shame on
that account, together with other worthy affections; and it was thus
known that they were endowed with charity. Soon after I spoke with
them, and at last about the Lord. When I called Him "Christ" I
perceived a certain repugnance in them; but the reason was disclosed,
namely, that they had brought this from the world, from their having
learned that Christians lived worse lives than they did, and were
destitute of charity. But when I called Him simply "Lord" they were
interiorly moved. Afterwards, they were taught by the angels that the
Christian doctrine beyond every other in the world prescribes love
and charity, but that there are few who live in accordance with it.
There are heathen who have come to know while they lived in the
world, both from interaction and report, that Christians lead bad
lives, are addicted to adultery, hatred, quarreling, drunkenness, and
the like, which they themselves abhor because such things are
contrary to their religion. These in the other life are more timid
than others about accepting the truths of faith; but they are taught
by the angels that the Christian doctrine, as well as the faith
itself, teaches a very different life, but that the lives of
Christians are less in accord with their doctrine than the lives of
heathen. When they recognize this they receive the truths of faith,
and adore the Lord, but less readily than others.
326. It is a common thing for heathen that have worshiped any god
under an image or statue, or any graven thing to be introduced, when
they come into the other life, to certain spirits in place of their
gods or idols, in order that they may rid themselves of their
fantasies. When they have been with these for some days, the
fantasies are put away. Also those that have worshiped men are
sometimes introduced to the men they have worshiped, or to others in
their place--as many of the Jews to Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and
David-but when they come to see that they are human the same as
others, and that they can give them no help, they become ashamed, and
are carried to their own places in accordance with their lives. Among
the heathen in heaven the Africans are most beloved, for they receive
the goods and truths of heaven more readily than others. They
especially wish to be called obedient, but not faithful. They say
that as Christians possess the doctrine of faith they may be called
faithful; but not they unless they accept that doctrine, or as they
say, have the ability to accept it.
327. I have talked with some who were in the Ancient Church. That is
called the Ancient Church that was established after the deluge, and
extended through many kingdoms, namely, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria,
Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Zidon,
and through the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan.{1} The
men of this church knew about the Lord that He was to come, and were
imbued with the goods of faith, and yet they fell away and became
idolaters. These spirits were in front towards the left, in a dark
place and in a miserable state. Their speech was like the sound of a
pipe of one tone, almost without rational thought. They said they had
been there for many centuries, and that they are sometimes taken out
that they may serve others for certain uses of a low order. From this
I was led to think about many Christians--who are inwardly though not
outwardly idolaters, since they are worshipers of self and of the
world, and in heart deny the Lord-what lot awaits such in the other
life.
{Footnote 1} The first and Most Ancient Church on this earth
was that which is described in the first chapters of Genesis,
and that church above all others was celestial (n. 607, 895,
920, 1121-1124, 2896, 4493, 8891, 9942, 10545). What the
celestial are in heaven (n. 1114-1125). There were various
churches after the flood which are called ancient churches (n.
1125-1127, 1327, 10355). What the men of the Ancient Church
were (n. 609, 895). The ancient churches were representative
churches (n. 519, 521, 2896). In the Ancient Church there was a
Word, but it has been lost (n. 2897). The character of the
Ancient Church when it began to decline (n. 1128). The
difference between the Most Ancient Church and the Ancient
Church (n. 597, 607, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 4493). The
statutes, the judgments, and the laws, which were commanded in
the Jewish Church, were in part like those in the Ancient
Church (n. 4288, 4449, 10149). The God of the Most Ancient
Church and of the Ancient Church was the Lord, and He was
called Jehovah (n. 1343, 6846).
328. That the church of the Lord is spread over all the globe, and is
thus universal; and that all those are in it who have lived in the
good of charity in accordance with their religion; and that the
church, where the Word is and by means of it the Lord is known, is in
relation to those who are out of the church like the heart and lungs
in man, from which all the viscera and members of the body have their
life, variously according to their forms, positions, and
conjunctions, may be seen above (n. 308).