Spiritual background for EXODUS 16    previous  -  next  -  text  -  Exodus  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY

AC 8387. He who wishes to be saved must confess his sins and do repentance.

AC 8388. To confess sins is to become thoroughly acquainted with evils, to see them in one’s self, to acknowledge them, to regard one‘s self as guilty, and to condemn one’s self on account of them. When this is done before God, it is to confess sins.

AC 8389. To do repentance is after one has thus confessed his sins and from a humble heart has made supplication for their forgiveness, to desist from them and to lead a new life according to the commands of faith.

AC 8390. He who merely acknowledges that he is a sinner like all others, and who regards himself as guilty of all evils, and does not examine himself--that is, see his sins--does indeed make confession, but not the confession of repentance, for he lives afterward as he had done before.

AC 8391. He who leads a life of faith does repentance daily; for he reflects upon the evils that are in him, acknowledges them, guards himself against them, and supplicates the Lord for aid. For from himself man is continually falling, but is continually being raised up by the Lord. He falls from himself when he thinks what is evil with desire; and he is raised up by the Lord when he resists evil, and consequently does not do it. Such is the state with all who are in good; but they who are in evil are continually falling, and also are continually being uplifted by the Lord; but this to prevent them from falling into the most grievous hell of all, whither from themselves they incline with all their might: thus in truth uplifting them into a milder hell.

AC 8392. The repentance that is done in a state of freedom avails; but that which is done in a state of compulsion avails not. A state of compulsion is a state of sickness, a state of dejection of mind from misfortune, a state of imminent death; in a word, every state of fear which takes away the use of sound reason. When an evil man who in a state of compulsion promises repentance and also does what is good, comes into a state of freedom, he returns into his former life of evil. The case is otherwise with a good man, such states being to him states of temptation in which he conquers.

AC 8393. Repentance of the mouth and not of the life is not repentance. Sins are not forgiven through repentance of the mouth, but through repentance of the life. Sins are continually being forgiven man by the Lord, for He is mercy itself; but sins adhere to the man, however much he may suppose that they have been forgiven, nor are they removed from him except through a life according to the commands of faith. So far as he lives according to these commands, so far his sins are removed; and so far as they are removed, so far they have been forgiven. For by the Lord man is withheld from evil, and is held in good; and he is so far able to be withheld from evil in the other life, as in the life of the body he has resisted evil; and he is so far able to be held in good then, as in the life of the body he has done what is good from affection. This shows what the forgiveness of sins is, and whence it is. He who believes that sins are forgiven in any other way, is much mistaken.

AC 8394. After a man has examined himself, and has acknowledged his sins, and has done repentance, he must remain constant in good up to the end of life. If however he afterward falls back into his former life of evil, and embraces it, be commits profanation, for he then conjoins evil with good, and consequently his latter state becomes worse than his former one, according to the Lord‘s words:--

When the unclean spirit goeth out of a man he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, but findeth none; then he saith, I will return into my house whence I came out; and when he is come, and findeth it empty, and swept, and garnished for him, then goeth he, and joineth to himself seven other spirits worse than himself, and having entered in they dwell there; and the last things of the man become worse than the first (Matt. 12:43-45).

CONTINUATION ABOUT THE SPIRITS AND INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH JUPITER

AC 8541. As regards their Divine worship, the chief point is that they acknowledge our Lord as the Most High, who rules heaven and earth; they call Him, The One Only Lord. And because they acknowledge and worship Him during the bodily life, they accordingly seek Him after death, and find that He is the same as our Lord. They were asked whether they know that the One Only Lord is a Man? They answered that they all know that He is a Man, because on their earth He has been seen by many as a Man, and because He instructs them in the truth, preserves them, and gives eternal life to those who believe in Him. They said further that He has revealed to them how they should live, and how they should believe; and that what has been revealed is handed down by the parents to their children, and that thus the teaching spreads to all the families, and thus throughout the whole nation that is from one father. They added that they seem to themselves to have the teaching inscribed on their minds, which they conclude from the fact that they instantly perceive, and acknowledge as of themselves, whether what is said by others about the life of heaven with man is true, or not.

AC 8542. The greatest care is taken that no one should fall into wrong opinions about the One Only Lord; and if they observe that anyone begins to think wrongly about Him, they first admonish him, then deter him by means of threats, and finally by means of punishments. They said that they have observed that if any such thing has crept into any family, that family is taken from among then‘, not by any death penalties inflicted by their companions, but by deprivation of breathing and consequently of life by spirits, after they have first been threatened with death. For on that earth spirits speak with the people, and chastise them if they have done evil, and also if they have intended to do evil (n. 7801-7812); consequently if they think badly about the One Only Lord, they are threatened with death unless they repent. In this way the worship of the Lord, who to them is the supreme Divine, is preserved there.

AC 8543. They do not know that their One Only Lord was born a man on this earth. They said that it is of no concern to them to know this, but only to know that He is a Man, and directs the universe. when I said that on our earth He is named Jesus Christ, and that "Christ" means the Anointed or King, and "Jesus" Saviour, they said that they do not worship Him as a King, because royalty savors of what is worldly, but that they worship Him as the Saviour. And because a doubt was injected by the spirits of our earth, whether their One Only Lord is the same as our Lord, they removed the doubt by recalling that they had seen Him in the Sun, and that they recognized that it was He whom they had seen on their earth. On this subject see (n. 7173); and that our Lord is the Sun of heaven, (n. 1053, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321, 5097, 7078, 7083, 7171, 7173).

AC 8544. When the spirits of the earth Jupiter had stayed with me for several weeks, there suddenly flowed into them a doubt whether their One Only Lord is the same as our Lord; but this doubt, which inflowed in a moment, was also dissipated in a moment. It flowed in from some spirits from our earth; and then to my surprise, the spirits of Jupiter blushed with shame so great at their for a moment doubting it, that they told me not to publish it on this earth, lest they should be charged with some unbelief on that account, when yet they now know it better than others.

AC 8545. There were spirits from the earth Jupiter with me while I was reading the seventeenth chapter of John, about the Lords love, and about His glorification; and then they heard what is there written, a holy influence took possession of them, and they confessed that all things therein are Divine. But then spirits from our earth who were unbelievers continually suggested objections, saying that He was born an infant, lived a man, appeared like other men, was crucified, and the like. But the spirits of the earth Jupiter paid no attention to these things. They said that such are their devils, whom they abhor, adding that nothing heavenly finds room in the minds of those spirits of our earth, but only what is earthly, which they call dross. That such is the case, they found out with certainty from the fact that when those spirits heard that on their earth the inhabitants walk naked, obscenity at once took possession of their thoughts, and they paid no attention to their heavenly life, of which they heard at the same time (n. 8375).

AC 8546. Once also I talked with the spirits of the earth Jupiter about the Lord, saying that no one can do any good from himself, but from the Lord, who is Good itself, consequently the fountain of all good. They then modestly replied that they suppose they can do good of themselves, and do not know otherwise. But when it was shown them that all good comes solely from the Lord, they said that they spoke after the human manner, and that this was said in a heavenly manner, and that their angels so think, and they themselves also, in so far as they become angels. They added that it is simpler to speak in that way. It was then given to reply that the Lord allows those who live in simplicity and innocence so to speak, provided they know that nothing of good comes from themselves, but all from the Lord.

AC 8547. The spirits of the earth Jupiter were very much affected, and rejoiced, when they heard it said that the One Only Lord is the only Man, and that all have from Him that they are called men; but that they are men in so far as they be. become images of Him, that is, in so far as they love Him and love he neighbor, thus in so far as they are in good; for the good of love and of faith is the Lord’s image.

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