Those that have not been instructed about heaven and the way to
heaven, and about the life of heaven in man, suppose that being
received into heaven is a mere matter of mercy, and is granted to
those that have faith, and for whom the Lord intercedes; thus that it
is an admission from mere favor; consequently that all men without
exception might be saved if the Lord so pleased, and some even
believe that all in hell might be so saved. But those who so think
know nothing about man, that he is just such as his life is, and that
his life is such as his love is, both in respect to the interiors
pertaining to his will and understanding and in respect to the
exteriors pertaining to his body; also that his bodily form is merely
the external form in which the interiors exhibit themselves in
effect; consequently that one's love is the whole man (see above, n.
363). Nor do they know that the body lives not from itself, but from
its spirit, and that a man's spirit is his essential affection, and
his spiritual body is nothing else than his affection in human form,
and in such a form it appears after death (see above, n. 453-460). So
long as man remains ignorant of all this he may be induced to believe
that salvation involves nothing but the Divine good pleasure, which
is called mercy and grace.
522. But first let us consider what the Divine mercy is. The divine
mercy is pure mercy towards the whole human race, to save it; and it
is also unceasing towards every man, and is never withdrawn from any
one; so that everyone is saved who can be saved. And yet no one can
be saved except by Divine means, which means the Lord reveals in the
Word. The Divine means are what are called Divine truths, which teach
how man must live in order to be saved. By these truths the Lord
leads man to heaven, and by them He implants in man the life of
heaven. This the Lord does for all. But the life of heaven can be
implanted in no one unless he abstains from evil, for evil obstructs.
So far, therefore, as man abstains from evil he is led by the Lord
out of pure mercy by His Divine means, and this from infancy to the
end of his life in the world and afterwards to eternity. This is what
is meant by the Divine mercy. And from this it is evident that the
mercy of the Lord is pure mercy, but not apart from means, that is,
it does not look to saving all out of mere good pleasure, however
they may have lived.
523. The Lord never does anything contrary to order, because He
Himself is Order. The Divine truth that goes forth from the Lord is
what constitutes order; and Divine truths are the laws of order. It
is in accord with these laws that the Lord leads man. Consequently to
save man by mercy apart from means would be contrary to Divine order,
and what is contrary to Divine order is contrary to the Divine.
Divine order is heaven in man, and man has perverted this in himself
by a life contrary to the laws of order, which are Divine truths.
Into this order man is brought back by the Lord out of pure mercy by
means of the laws of order; and so far as he is brought back into
this order he receives heaven in himself; and he that receives heaven
in himself enters heaven. This again makes evident that the Lord's
Divine mercy is pure mercy, and not mercy apart from means.{1}
{Footnote 1} Divine truth going forth from the Lord is the
source of order, and Divine good is the essential of order (n.
1728, 2258, 8700, 8988). Thus the Lord is order (n. 1919, 2011,
5110, 5703, 10336, 10619). Divine truths are the laws of order
(n. 2447, 7995). The whole heaven is arranged by the Lord in
accordance with His Divine order (n. 3038, 7211, 9128, 9338,
10125, 10151, 10157). Therefore the form of heaven is a form in
accord with the Divine order (n. 4040-4043, 6607, 9877). So far
as a man is living in accordance with order, that is, so far as
he is living in good in accordance with Divine truths, he is
receiving heaven in himself (n. 4839). Man is the being in whom
are brought together all things of Divine order, and by
creation he is Divine order in form, because he is a recipient
of Divine order (n. 3628, 4219, 4220, 4223, 4523, 4524, 5214,
6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 9706, 10156, 10472). Man is not born
into good and truth but into evil and falsity, thus not into
Divine order but into the opposite of order, and for this
reason he is born into pure ignorance; consequently it is
necessary for him to be born anew, that is, to be regenerated,
which is effected by the Lord by means of Divine truths, that
he may be brought back into order (n. 1047, 2307, 2308, 3518,
8480, 8550, 10283, 10284, 10286, 10731). When the Lord forms
man anew, that is, regenerates him, He arranges all things in
him in harmony with order, that is, in the form of heaven (n.
5700, 6690, 9931, 10303). Evils and falsities are contrary to
order; nevertheless those who are in them are ruled by the Lord
not in accordance with order but from order (n. 4839, 7877,
10777). It is impossible for a man who lives in evil to be
saved by mercy alone, for that would be contrary to Divine
order (n. 8700).
524. If men could be saved by mercy apart from means all would be
saved, even those in hell; in fact, there would be no hell, because
the Lord is mercy itself, love itself, and goodness itself. Therefore
it is inconsistent with His Divine to say that He is able to save all
apart from means and does not save them. It is known from the Word
that the Lord wills the salvation of all, and the damnation of no
one.
525. Most of those who enter the other life from the Christian world
bring with them this belief that they can be saved by mercy apart
from means, and pray for that mercy; but when examined they are found
to believe that entering heaven is merely gaining admission, and that
those who are let in are in heavenly joy. They are wholly ignorant of
what heaven is and what heavenly joy is, and consequently are told
that the Lord denies heaven to no one, and that they can be admitted
and can stay there if they desire it. Those who so desired were
admitted; but as soon as they reached the first threshold they were
seized with such anguish of heart from a draught of heavenly heat,
which is the love in which angels are, and from an inflow of heavenly
light, which is Divine truth, that they felt in themselves infernal
torment instead of heavenly joy, and struck with dismay they cast
themselves down headlong. Thus they were taught by living experience
that it is impossible to grant heaven to any one from mercy apart
from means.
526. I have occasionally talked with angels about this, and have told
them that most of those in the world who live in evil, when they talk
with others about heaven and eternal life, express no other idea than
that entering heaven is merely being admitted from mercy alone. And
this is believed by those especially who make faith the only medium
of salvation. For such from the principles of their religion have no
regard to the life and the deeds of love that make life, and thus to
none of the other means by which the Lord implants heaven in man and
renders him receptive of heavenly joy; and as they thus reject every
actual mediation they conclude, as a necessary consequence of the
principle, that man enters heaven from mercy alone, to which mercy
God the Father is believed to be moved by the intercession of the
Son. [2] To all this the angels said that they knew such a tenet
follows of necessity from the assumption that man is saved by faith
alone, and since that tenet is the head of all the rest, and since
into it, because it is not true, no light from heaven can flow, this
is the source of the ignorance that prevails in the church at this
day in regard to the Lord, heaven, the life after death, heavenly
joy, the essence of love and charity, and in general, in regard to
good and its conjunction with truth, consequently in regard to the
life of man, whence it is and what it is; when it should be known
that thought never constitutes any one's life, but the will and the
consequent deeds; and that the life is from the thought only to the
extent that the thought is derived from the will; neither is life
from the faith except so far as the faith is derived from love.
Angels are grieved that these persons do not know that faith alone is
impossible in any one, since faith apart from its origin, which is
love, is nothing but knowledge, and in some is merely a sort of
persuasion that has the semblance of faith (see above, n. 482). Such
a persuasion is not in the life of man, but outside of it, since it
is separated from man unless it coheres with his love. [3] The angels
said further that those who hold to this principle concerning the
essential means of salvation in man must needs believe in mercy apart
from means, for they perceive both from natural light and from the
experience of sight that faith separate does not constitute the life
of man, since those who lead an evil life are able to think and to be
persuaded the same as others; and from this comes the belief that the
evil as well as the good can be saved, provided that at the hour of
death they talk with confidence about intercession, and about the
mercy that is granted through that intercession. The angels declared
that they had never yet seen any one who had lived an evil life
received into heaven from mercy apart from means, whatever trust or
confidence (which is preeminently meant by faith) he had exhibited in
his talk in the world. [4] When asked about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob,
David, and the apostles, whether they were not received into heaven
from mercy apart from means, the angels replied that not one of them
was so received, but everyone in accordance with his life in the
world; that they knew where these were, and that they were no more
esteemed there than others. They said that these persons are
mentioned with honor in the Word for the reason that in the internal
sense the Lord is meant by them--by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
Lord in respect to the Divine and the Divine Human; by David the Lord
in respect to the Divine royalty; and by the apostles the Lord in
respect to Divine truths; also that when the Word is read by man the
angels have no perception whatever of these men, for their names do
not enter heaven; but they have instead a perception of the Lord as
He has just been described; consequently in the Word that is in
heaven (see above, n. 259) there are no such names mentioned, since
that Word is the internal sense of the Word that is in the world.{1}
{Footnote 1} In the internal sense of the Word by Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, the Lord in respect to the Divine itself and
the Divine Human is meant (n. 1893, 4615, 6098, 6185, 6276,
6804, 6847). In heaven Abraham is unknown (n. 1834, 1876,
3229). By David the Lord in respect to the Divine royalty is
meant (n. 1888, 9954). The twelve apostles represented the Lord
in respect to all things of the church, that is, all things
pertaining to faith and love (n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397).
Peter represented the lord in respect to faith, James in
respect to charity, and John in respect to the works of charity
(n. 3750, 10087). The twelve apostles sitting on twelve thrones
and judging the twelve tribes of Israel, signified that the
Lord will judge in accord with the truths and goods of faith
and love (n. 2129, 6397). The names of persons and of places in
the Word do not enter heaven, but are changed into things and
states; and in heaven these names cannot even be uttered (n.
1876, 5225, 6516, 10216, 10282, 10432). Moreover, the angels
think abstractedly from persons (n. 8343, 8985, 9007).
527. I can testify from much experience that it is impossible to
implant the life of heaven in those who in the world have lived a
life opposite to the life of heaven. There were some who had believed
that when after death they should hear Divine truths from the angels
they would readily accept them and believe them, and consequently
live a different life, and could thus be received into heaven. But
this was tried with very many, although it was confined to those who
held this belief, and was permitted in their case to teach them that
repentance is not possible after death. Some of those with whom the
experiment was made understood truths and seemed to accept them; but
as soon as they turned to the life of their love they rejected them,
and even spoke against them. Others were unwilling to hear them, and
at once rejected them. Others wished to have the life of love that
they had contracted from the world taken away from them, and to have
the angelic life, or the life of heaven, infused in its place. This,
too, was permitted to be done; but as soon as the life of their love
was taken away they lay as if dead, with their powers gone. By these
and other experiments the simple good were taught that no one's life
can by any means be changed after death; and that an evil life can in
no way be converted into a good life, or an infernal life into an
angelic life, for every spirit from head to heel is such as his love
is, and therefore such as his life is; and to convert his life into
its opposite is to destroy the spirit completely. The angels declare
that it would be easier to change a night-owl into a dove, or a
horned-owl into a bird of paradise, than to change an infernal spirit
into an angel of heaven. That man after death continues to be such as
his life had been in the world can be seen above in its own chapter
(n. 470-484). From all this it is evident that no one can be received
into heaven from mercy apart from means.
528. LV. IT IS NOT SO DIFFICULT TO LIVE THE LIFE THAT LEADS TO HEAVEN
AS IS BELIEVED.
There are some who believe that to live the life that leads to
heaven, which is called the spiritual life, is difficult, because
they have been told that man must renounce the world, must divest
himself of the lusts called the lusts of the body and the flesh, and
must live spiritually; and they understand this to mean that they
must discard worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and
honors; that they must walk continually in pious meditation on God,
salvation, and eternal life; and must spend their life in prayers and
in reading the Word and pious books. Such is their idea of renouncing
the world, and living in the spirit and not in the flesh. But that
this is not at all true it has been given me to know by much
experience and from conversation with the angels. I have learned, in
fact, that those who renounce the world and live in the spirit in
this manner acquire a sorrowful life that is not receptive of
heavenly joy, since everyone's life continues the same after death.
On the contrary, to receive the life of heaven a man must needs live
in the world and engage in its business and employments, and by means
of a moral and civil life there receive the spiritual life. In no
other way can the spiritual life be formed in man, or his spirit
prepared for heaven; for to live an internal life and not at the same
time an external life is like dwelling in a house that has no
foundation, that gradually sinks or becomes cracked and rent asunder,
or totters till it falls.
529. When the life of man is scanned and explored by rational insight
it is found to be threefold, namely, spiritual, moral, and civil,
with these three lives distinct from each other. For there are men
who live a civil life and not as yet a moral and spiritual life; and
there are men who live a moral life and not as yet a spiritual life;
and there are those who live a civil life, a moral life, and a
spiritual life at the same time. These live the life of heaven; but
the former live the life of the world separated from the life of
heaven. This shows, in the first place, that the spiritual life is
not a life separated from natural life or the life of the world, but
is joined with it as the soul is joined with its body, and if it were
separated it would be, as was said, like living in a house that has
no foundation. For moral and civil life is the active plane of the
spiritual life, since to will well is the province of the spiritual
life, and to act well of the moral and civil life, and if the latter
is separated from the former the spiritual life consists solely of
thought and speech, and the will, left with no support, recedes; and
yet the will is the very spiritual part of man.
530. That it is not so difficult as some believe to live the life
that leads to heaven will now be shown. Who cannot live a civil and
moral life? For everyone from his childhood is initiated into that
life, and learns what it is by living in the world. Moreover,
everyone, whether evil or good, lives that life; for who does not
wish to be called honest, and who does not wish to be called just?
Almost everyone practices honesty and justice outwardly, so far as to
seem to be honest and just at heart, or to seem to act from real
honesty and justice. The spiritual man ought to live in like manner,
and can do so as easily as the natural man can, with this difference
only, that the spiritual man believes in the Divine, and acts
honestly and justly, not solely because to so act is in accord with
civil and moral laws, but also because it is in accord with Divine
laws. As the spiritual man, in whatever he is doing, thinks about
Divine things, he has communication with the angels of heaven; and so
far as this takes place he is conjoined with them; and thereby his
internal man, which regarded in itself is the spiritual man, is
opened. When man comes into this state he is adopted and led by the
Lord, although himself unconscious of it, and then whatever he does
that is honest and just pertaining to moral and civil life, is done
from a spiritual motive; and doing what is honest and just from a
spiritual motive is doing it from honesty and justice itself, or
doing it from the heart. [2] His justice and honesty appear outwardly
precisely the same as the justice and honesty of natural men and even
of evil and infernal men; but in inward form they are wholly unlike.
For evil men act justly and honestly solely for the sake of
themselves and the world; and therefore if they had no fear of laws
and penalties, or the loss of reputation, of honor, of gain, and of
life, they would act in every respect dishonestly and unjustly, since
they neither fear God nor any Divine law, and therefore are not
restrained by any internal bond; consequently they would use every
opportunity to defraud, plunder, and spoil others, and this from
delight. That inwardly they are such can be clearly seen from those
of the same character in the other life, while everyone's externals
are taken away, and his internals in which he at last lives to
eternity are opened (see above, n. 499-511). As such then act without
external restraints, which are, as just said, fear of the law, of the
loss of reputation, of honor, of gain, and of life, they act
insanely, and laugh at honesty and justice. [3] But those who have
acted honestly and justly from regard to Divine laws, when their
externals are taken away and they are left to their internals, act
wisely, because they are conjoined to the angels of heaven, from whom
wisdom is communicated to them. From all this it can now be seen, in
the first place, that when the internal man, that is, the will and
thought, are conjoined to the Divine, the civil and moral life of the
spiritual man may be wholly like the civil and moral life of the
natural man (see above, n. 358-360).
531. Furthermore, the laws of spiritual life, the laws of civil life,
and the laws of moral life are set forth in the ten commandments of
the Decalogue; in the first three the laws of spiritual life, in the
four that follow the laws of civil life, and in the last three the
laws of moral life. Outwardly the merely natural man lives in
accordance with the same commandments in the same way as the
spiritual man does, for in like manner he worships the Divine, goes
to church, listens to preachings, and assumes a devout countenance,
refrains from committing murder, adultery, and theft, from bearing
false witness, and from defrauding his companions of their goods. But
all this he does merely for the sake of himself and the world, to
keep up appearances; while inwardly such a person is the direct
opposite of what he appears outwardly, since in heart he denies the
Divine, in worship acts the hypocrite, and when left to himself and
his own thoughts laughs at the holy things of the church, believing
that they merely serve as a restraint for the simple multitude. [2]
Consequently he is wholly disjoined from heaven, and not being a
spiritual man he is neither a moral man nor a civil man. For although
he refrains from committing murder he hates everyone who opposes him,
and from his hatred burns with revenge, and would therefore commit
murder if he were not restrained by civil laws and external bonds,
which he fears; and as he longs to do so it follows that he is
continually committing murder. Although he does not commit adultery,
yet as he believes it to be allowable he is all the while an
adulterer, since he commits adultery to the extent that he has the
ability and as often as he has opportunity. Although he does not
steal, yet as he covets the goods of others and does not regard fraud
and wicked devices as opposed to what is lawful, in intent he is
continually acting the thief. The same is true of the commandments
relating to moral life, which forbid false witness and coveting the
goods of others. Such is every man who denies the Divine, and who has
no conscience derived from religion. That he is such is clearly
evident from those of like character in the other life when their
externals have been removed and they are let into their internals. As
they are then separated from heaven they act in unity with hell, and
in consequence are affiliated with those who are in hell. [3] It is
not so with those who in heart have acknowledged the Divine, and in
the actions of their lives have had respect to Divine laws, and have
lived as fully in accord with the first three commandments of the
Decalogue as they have in accordance with the others. When the
externals of such are removed and they are let into their internals
they are wiser than they were in the world; for entering into their
internals is like entering from darkness into light, from ignorance
into wisdom, and from a sorrowful life into a happy life, because
they are in the Divine, thus in heaven. This has been said to make
known what the one kind of man is and what the other is, although
they have both lived the same external life.
532. Everyone may know that thoughts are led or tend in accord with
the intentions, that is, in the directions that one intends; for
thought is man's internal sight, and resembles the external sight in
this, that to whatever point it is directed or aimed, thither it
turns and there it rests. Therefore when the internal sight or the
thought is turned towards the world and rests there, the thought in
consequence becomes worldly; when it turns to self and self-honor it
becomes corporeal; but when it is turned heavenwards it becomes
heavenly. So, too, when turned heavenwards it is elevated; but when
turned selfward it is drawn down from heaven and immersed in what is
corporeal; and when turned towards the world it is also turned
down-wards from heaven, and is spent upon those objects that are
presented to the natural sight. [2] Man's love is what constitutes
his intention and determines his internal sight or thought to its
objects; thus the love of self fixes it upon self and its objects,
the love of the world upon worldly objects, and the love of heaven
upon heavenly objects; and when the love is known the state of the
interiors which constitute the mind can be known, that is, the
interiors of one who loves heaven are raised towards heaven and are
opened above; while the interiors of one who loves the world or who
loves himself are closed above and are opened outwardly. From this
the conclusion follows that when the higher regions of the mind are
closed above, man can no longer see the objects pertaining to heaven
and the church, but those objects are in thick darkness to him; and
what is in thick darkness is either denied or not understood. And
this is why those that love themselves and the world above all things
since the higher regions of their minds are closed, in heart deny
Divine truths; and if from their memory they say anything about them
they nevertheless do not understand them. Moreover, they regard them
in the same way as they regard worldly and corporeal things. And
being such they are able to direct the mind to those things only that
enter through the senses of the body, and in these alone do they find
delight. Among these are also many things that are filthy, obscene,
profane and wicked; and these cannot be removed, because into the
minds of such no influx from heaven is possible, since their minds,
as just now said, are closed above. [3] Man's intention, by which his
internal sight or thought is determined, is his will; for what a man
wills he intends, and what he intends he thinks. Therefore when his
intention is heavenward his thought is determined heavenward, and
with it his whole mind, which is thus in heaven; and from heaven he
beholds the things of the world beneath him like one looking down
from the roof of a house. So the man that has the interiors of his
mind open can see the evils and falsities that are in him, for these
are beneath the spiritual mind. On the other hand, the man whose
interiors are not open is unable to see his evils and falsities,
because he is not above them but in them. From all this one may
conclude whence man has wisdom and whence insanity, also what a man
will be after death when he is left to will and think and to act and
speak in accordance with his interiors. All this also has been said
in order to make clear what constitutes a man's interior character,
however he may seem outwardly to resemble others.
533. That it is not so difficult to live the life of heaven as some
believe can now be seen from this, that when any thing presents
itself to a man that he knows to be dishonest and unjust, but to
which his mind is borne, it is simply necessary for him to think that
it ought not to be done because it is opposed to the Divine precepts.
If a man accustoms himself so to think, and from so doing establishes
a habit of so thinking, he is gradually conjoined to heaven; and so
far as he is conjoined to heaven the higher regions of his mind are
opened; and so far as these are opened he sees whatever is dishonest
and unjust, and so far as he sees these evils they can be dispersed,
for no evil can be dispersed until it is seen. Into this state man is
able to enter because of his freedom, for is not any one able from
his freedom to so think? And when man has made a beginning the Lord
quickens all that is good in him, and causes him not only to see
evils to be evils, but also to refrain from willing them, and finally
to turn away from them. This is meant by the Lord's words,
My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matt. 11:30).
But it must be understood that the difficulty of so thinking and of
resisting evils increases so far as man from his will does evils, for
in the same measure he becomes accustomed to them until he no longer
sees them, and at length loves them and from the delight of his love
excuses them, and confirms them by every kind of fallacy, and
declares them to be allowable and good. This is the fate of those who
in early youth plunge into evils without restraint, and also reject
Divine things from the heart.
534. The way that leads to heaven, and the way that leads to hell
were once represented to me. There was a broad way tending towards
the left or the north, and many spirits were seen going in it; but at
a distance a large stone was seen where the broad way came to an end.
From that stone two ways branched off, one to the left and one in the
opposite direction to the right. The way that went to the left was
narrow or straitened, leading through the west to the south, and thus
into the light of heaven; the way that went to the right was broad
and spacious, leading obliquely downwards towards hell. All at first
seemed to be going the same way until they came to the large stone at
the head of the two ways. When they reached that point they divided;
the good turned to the left and entered the straitened way that led
to heaven; while the evil, not seeing the stone at the fork of the
ways fell upon it and were hurt; and when they rose up they ran on in
the broad way to the right which went towards hell. [2] What all this
meant was afterwards explained to me. The first way that was broad,
wherein many both good and evil went together and talked with each
other as friends, because there was no visible difference between
them, represented those who externally live alike honestly and
justly, and between whom seemingly there is no difference. The stone
at the head of the two ways or at the corner, upon which the evil
fell and from which they ran into the way leading to hell,
represented the Divine truth, which is rejected by those who look
towards hell; and in the highest sense this stone signified the
Lord's Divine Human. But those who acknowledged the Divine truth and
also the Divine of the Lord went by the way that led to heaven. By
this again it was shown that in externals the evil lead the same kind
of life as the good, or go the same way, that is, one as readily as
the other; and yet those who from the heart acknowledge the Divine,
especially those within the church who acknowledge the Divine of the
Lord, are led to heaven; while those who do not are led to hell. [3]
The thoughts of man that proceed from his intention or will are
represented in the other life by ways; and ways are visibly presented
there in exact accord with those thoughts of intention; and in accord
with his thoughts that proceed from intention everyone walks. For
this reason the character of spirits and their thoughts are known
from their ways. This also makes clear what is meant by the Lord's
words:
Enter ye in through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many
be they that enter in thereby; for straitened is the way
and narrow the gate that leadeth to life, and few be they
who find it (Matt. 7:13, 14).
The way that leads to life is straitened not because it is difficult
but because there are few who find it, as is said here. The stone
seen at the corner where the broad and common way ended, and from
which two ways were seen to lead in opposite directions, illustrated
what is signified by these words of the Lord:
Have ye not read what is written? The stone which the
builders rejected was made the head of the corner.
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken
(Luke. 20:17, 18).
"Stone" signifies Divine truth, and "the stone of Israel" the Lord in
respect to His Divine Human; the "builders" mean those who are of the
church; "the head of the corner" is where the two ways are; "to fall"
and "to be broken" is to deny and perish.{1}
{Footnote 1} "Stone" signifies truth (n. 114, 643, 1298, 3720,
6426, 8609, 10376). For this reason the law was inscribed on
tables of stone (n. 10376). "The stone of Israel" means the
Lord in respect to the Divine truth and His Divine Human (n.
6426).
535. I have been permitted to talk with some in the other life who
had withdrawn from worldly affairs that they might live in a pious
and holy manner, also with some who had afflicted themselves in
various ways, believing that they were thereby renouncing the world
and subduing the lusts of the flesh. But as most of these have thus
acquired a sorrowful life and had withdrawn from the life of charity,
which life can be lived only in the midst of the world, they are
incapable of being affiliated with angels, because the life of angels
is a life of joy resulting from a state of blessedness, and consists
in performing good deeds, which are works of charity. Moreover, those
who have lived a life withdrawn from worldly employments are inflamed
with the idea of their own merit, and are continually desiring heaven
on that account, and thinking of heavenly joy as a reward, utterly
ignorant of what heavenly joy is. When such are admitted into the
company of angels and into their joy, which discards merit and
consists in active labors and practical services, and in a
blessedness resulting from the good thereby accomplished, they are
astonished like one who has found out something quite foreign to his
belief; and since they are not receptive of that joy they go away and
ally themselves with spirits of their own kind that have lived in the
world a life like their own. [2] But those who have lived an
outwardly holy life, constantly attending church and praying and
afflicting their souls, and at the same time have thought constantly
of themselves that they would be esteemed and honored for all this
above others, and finally after death would be accounted saints--
such in the other life are not in heaven because they have done all
this for the sake of themselves. And as they have defiled Divine
truths by the self-love in which they have immersed them, some of
them are so insane as to think themselves gods; and are consequently
in hell among those like themselves. Some are cunning and deceitful,
and are in the hells of the deceitful. These are such as by means of
cunning arts and devices have maintained such pious conduct as
induced the common people to believe that they possessed a Divine
sanctity. [3] Of this character are many of the Roman Catholic
saints. I have been permitted to talk with some of them, and their
life was then plainly disclosed, such as it had been in the world and
as it was afterwards. All this has been said to make known that the
life that leads to heaven is not a life withdrawn from the world, but
a life in the world; and that a life of piety separated from a life
of charity, which is possible only in the world, does not lead to
heaven; but a life of charity does; and a life of charity consists in
acting honestly and justly in every employment, in every business,
and in every work, from an interior, that is, from a heavenly,
motive; and this motive is in that life whenever man acts honestly
and justly because doing so is in accord with the Divine laws. Such a
life is not difficult. But a life of piety separate from a life of
charity is difficult; and as much as such a life is believed to lead
towards heaven so much it leads away from heaven.{1}
{Footnote 1} A life of piety separated from a life of charity
is of no avail, but united with charity it is profitable for
all things (n. 8252, 8253). Charity to the neighbor consists in
doing what is good, just, and right in every work and in every
employment (n. 8120-8122). Charity to the neighbor takes in all
things and each thing that a man thinks, wills, and does (n.
8124). A life of charity is a life in accordance with the
Lord's commandments (n. 3249). Living in accordance with the
Lord's commandments is loving the Lord (n. 10143, 10153, 10310,
10578, 10645). Genuine charity claims no merit, because it is
from interior affection and consequent delight (n. 2371, 2380,
2400, 3816, 3887, 6388-6393). Man continues to be after death
such as was his life of charity in the world (n. 8256).
Heavenly blessedness flows in from the Lord into a life of
charity (n. 2363). Mere thinking admits no one into heaven; it
must be accompanied by willing and doing good (n. 2401, 3459).
Unless doing good is joined with willing good and thinking good
there is no salvation nor any conjunction of the internal man
with the external (n. 3987).