TCR 571. After treating of Repentance, Reformation and Regeneration come next in order, because they follow repentance, and by means of it advance step by step. There are two states that man must enter upon and pass through, when from being natural he is becoming spiritual. The first state is called Reformation, and the second Regeneration. In the first man looks from his natural to his spiritual state and longs for that state; in the second state he becomes spiritual-natural. The first state is formed by means of truths, which must be truths of faith, and through these he looks to charity; the second state is formed by means of the goods of charity, and by these he enters into the truths of faith. Or what is the same, the first is a state of thought from the understanding, and the second a state of love from the will. When this latter state begins and is progressing, a change takes place in the mind; the mind undergoes a reversal, the love of the will then flowing into the understanding, acting upon it and leading it to think in accord and agreement with its love; and in consequence so far as the good of love comes to act the first part and the truths of faith the second, man is spiritual and is a new creature; and he then acts from charity and speaks from faith; he feels the good of charity and perceives the truth of faith; and he is then in the Lord, and in peace, and thus regenerate. The man who while in the world has entered upon the first state, after death can be introduced into the second; but he who has not entered into the first state while in the world, cannot after death be introduced into the second, thus cannot be regenerated. These two states may be compared to the progression of light and heat during the days of spring; the first to the dawn or cock-crowing, the second to the morning or sunrise; and the progress of this second state may be compared to the advance of the day to noon, and thus into light and heat. There may also be a comparison with a field of grain, which is at first in the blade, then grows into the ear or head, in which the grain is afterward formed; also with a tree, which first grows out of the ground from a seed, then it becomes a stem from which branches go out, and these are adorned with leaves; at length it blossoms, and from the inmost of the blossoms the fruit begins to form, and this, as it matures, produces new seeds, like a new generation. The first state, which is that of reformation, may also be compared to the state of a silk-worm, when it draws out and evolves from itself filaments of silk, and after finishing its industrious labor, flies forth into the air, nourishing itself, not by leaves as before, but by the juices of flowers.

TCR 572. That unless a man is born again he cannot enter into the kingdom of God, is the Lord's doctrine in the following passages from John:--

"The kingdom of God" means both heaven and the church, for the church is the kingdom of God on earth. So in other places, where the kingdom of God is mentioned (Matt. 11:11; 12:28; 21:43; Luke 4:43; 6:20; 8:1, 10; 9:11, 60, 62; 17:21).

"To be born of water and the spirit" signifies to be born by means of truths of faith and a life in accordance with them. That "water" signifies truths, may be seen in the Apocalypse Revealed (AR n. 50, 614, 615, 685, 632); that "spirit" signifies a life in accordance with Divine truths is clear from the Lord's Words in (John 6:63). "Verily, verily" (or "Amen, amen"), signifies that this is the truth; and the Lord used that expression so frequently because He was the truth itself. He Himself is also called "the Amen" (Apoc. 3:14). In the Word the regenerate are called "Sons of God" and "born of God," and regeneration is described by "a new heart and a new spirit."

TCR 573. The expression "born again," which means, as it were, created anew, is here used because "to be created" signifies to be regenerated. That this is the signification of "to be created" in the Word can be seen from the following passages:--

(And elsewhere.) Also where the Lord is called Creator, Former and Maker. This makes clear what is meant by these words of the Lord to His disciples:--

"creatures" meaning all who are capable of regeneration. So also in (Apoc. 3:14; 2 Cor. 5:16, 17.))

TCR 574. All reason shows that man must be regenerated, for he is born into evils of every kind derived from his parents; and these evils have their seat in his natural man, which of itself is diametrically opposed to the spiritual man. Nevertheless man is born for heaven; although he does not enter heaven unless he becomes spiritual, and he can become spiritual only by means of regeneration. From this it follows of necessity that the natural man with its lusts must be subdued, subjugated, and inverted, and that otherwise man cannot approach a single step toward heaven, but sinks deeper and deeper into hell. Who cannot see this, if he believes that he has been born into evils of every kind and acknowledges the existence and contrariety of good and evil, and believes in a life after death, a hell and a heaven, and that evil is what constitutes hell and good is what constitutes heaven? Viewed in himself the natural man in no way differs in his nature from the nature of beasts. Like them he is wild; but it is as to his will that he is such; in understanding he differs from beasts, in that the understanding can be elevated above the lusts of the will, and not only see but also moderate them; and for this reason man is able to think from understanding, and speak from thought, which beasts cannot do. What man is by birth, and what he would he if not regenerated, can be seen from fierce animals of every kind; that he would be a tiger, a panther, a leopard, a wild hog, a scorpion, a tarantula, a viper, a crocodile, and so on; consequently if he were not transformed by regeneration into a sheep, what would he be but a devil among devils in hell? And in that state, if not restrained by civil laws, would not men from innate ferocity, rush upon one another and slaughter each other, and plunder each other even of the last scrap of clothing? How many are there of the human race who are not born satyrs and priapi or four-footed lizards; and who among these, if not regenerated, does not become an ape? External morality is required, for the sake of covering up their internals; and it does that.

TCR 575. What man is when not regenerated can be still further made clear by the following comparisons and similitudes from Isaiah:--

TCR 576. That regeneration is effected by the Lord through charity and faith, follows from what was set forth in the chapters on Charity and Faith, especially from this, That the Lord, Charity and Faith make one, like Life, Will and Understanding in man, and if they are divided, each of them perishes like a pearl reduced to powder. These two, charity and faith, are called the means, because they are what conjoin man with the Lord, causing charity to be charity, and faith to be faith; and this conjunction cannot be effected unless man has part in his regeneration; and this is why it is said, man cooperating. In the preceding chapters man's cooperation with the Lord has been several times treated of; but as the human mind is such as to be incapable of perceiving otherwise than that man effects this by his own power, the subject shall be illustrated again. In all motion, and consequently in all action, there is an active and a passive; that is to say, the active acts, and the passive acts from the active, so that from both one action arises; comparatively as a mill is moved by its wheel, a carriage by its horse, as motion is from effect, an effect from its cause, a dead force from a living force, and in general, as the instrument is moved by the principal. everyone knows that these two together produce one action. As to charity and faith, the Lord acts and man acts from the Lord, for the Lord's active is in man's passive; therefore the power to act aright is from the Lord, and the will to act therefrom is as if it were man's, because he has the freedom of choice, whereby he is able to act as one with the Lord and thus conjoin himself with Him, or to act from the power of hell which is an extraneous power, and thus to separate himself from the Lord. It is man's action in harmony with the Lord's action that is here meant by co-operation. To give a clearer perception of this, it shall be still further illustrated by comparisons which follow.

TCR 577. From the foregoing it also follows, that the Lord is unceasingly in the act of regenerating man, because He is unceasingly in the act of saving him, and no one can be saved unless he is regenerated, according to the Lord's own words in John:--

Regeneration, therefore, is the means of salvation, while charity and faith are the means of regeneration. To say that regeneration follows the faith of the present church, which leaves out man's cooperation, is vanity of vanities.

[2] The action and cooperation here described may be seen in everything that is in any state of activity and mobility. Such is the action and cooperation of the heart and of every artery thereof; the heart acts, and the arteries by their sheaths or coats cooperate; hence circulation. It is the same with the lungs. The air acts by its incumbent weight according to the height of the atmosphere, and at first the ribs cooperate with the lungs, and immediately after the lungs with the ribs; from which there is respiration in every membrane of the body. Thus the meninges of the brain, the pleura, the peritoneum, the diaphragm and the other parts which cover the viscera and enter into their composition, act and are acted upon, and thus they cooperate; for they are elastic; and from this is their existence and subsistence. It is the same in every fiber and nerve, and in every muscle, and even in every cartilage; in everyone of these, as is known, there is action and cooperation.

[3] There is such a cooperation also in every sense; for the sensories of the body, like the motories, consist of fibers, membranes, and muscles; but to describe the co-operative action of each, is needless; for it is known that light acts upon the eye, sound upon the ear, odor upon the nostrils, and taste upon the tongue, and that the organs adapt themselves thereto; from which there is sensation. Who cannot see from all this, that unless there were such action and cooperation with the influent life in the spiritual organism of the brain, will and thought could not exist? For life from the Lord flows into that organism, and because of this operation, man has a perception of what he thinks, and in like manner of what is there considered, concluded upon, and defined into act. If life were to act merely, and not to cooperate as if of himself, he could no more think than a stock, or than a temple while the minister is preaching in it. The temple may indeed, owing to the reverberation of the sound from its doors, have a sense, as it were, of the echo, but not of the discourse. So would man be, did he not co-operate with the Lord in respect to charity and faith.

TCR 578. What man would be if he did not co-operate with the Lord, may also be illustrated by comparisons: When he had a perception and sense of anything spiritual pertaining to heaven and the church, it would be as if something distasteful or discordant flowed in, like an offensive smell entering the nose, a discordant sound the ear, a monstrous sight the eye, or a foul taste affecting the tongue. If a delight of charity or a pleasure of belief were to flow into the spiritual organism of the mind of those whose delight is in evil and falsity, if such delight and pleasure were thrust upon them, they would be in anguish and torture, and finally would fall into a swoon. Because that organism consists of perpetual helices, in such a case it would coil itself up in spirals, and writhe like a serpent on an ant-hill. The truth of this has been proved to me by much experience in the spiritual world.

TCR 579. That this may be understood, something must be premised respecting redemption. The Lord came into the world chiefly for these two purposes, to remove hell from angel and from man, and to glorify His Human. For before the Lord's coming hell had grown up so far as even to infest the angels of heaven, and also, by interposing itself between heaven and the world, to intercept the Lord's communication with men on earth, so that no Divine truth and good could pass from the Lord to men. Consequently a total damnation threatened the whole human race, and the angels of heaven could not have long continued to exist in their integrity.

[2] And thus, in order that hell might he cleared away, and this impending damnation be thereby removed, the Lord came into the world, and dislodged hell, subjugated it, and thus opened heaven; so that He could henceforth be present with men on earth, and save those who live according to His commandments, and consequently could regenerate and save them, for those who are regenerated are saved. This is how it is to be understood, that, since all have been redeemed they may be regenerated, and because regeneration and salvation make one, all may be saved. So the teaching of the church, that without the Lord's coming no man could have been saved, is to be understood in this way, that without the Lord's coming no one could have been regenerated.

[3] In respect to the other purpose for which the Lord came into the world, namely, to glorify His Human, this was because He thereby became the Redeemer, Regenerator and Saviour forever. For it is not to be believed that by redemption once wrought in the world, all men had been thereby redeemed, but that the Lord is perpetually redeeming those who believe in Him and who obey His words. But on these points more may be seen in the chapter on Redemption.

TCR 580. Every man may be regenerated, each according to his state; for the simple and the learned are regenerated differently; as are those engaged in different pursuits, and those who fill different offices; those who search into the external things of the Word, and those who search into its internals; those who are principled in natural good from their parents, and those who are in evil; those who from their infancy have entered into the vanities of the world, and those who sooner or later have withdrawn from them; in a word, those who constitute the Lord's external church are regenerated differently from those who constitute His internal church, and this variety, like that of men's features and dispositions, is infinite; and yet everyone, according to his state, may be regenerated and saved.

[2] The truth of this can be seen in the heavens, to which all the regenerate go, in that there are three heavens, a highest, a middle, and a lowest; and those who by regeneration acquire love to the Lord enter the highest heaven, those who acquire love to the neighbor, enter the middle heaven, and those who merely practise external charity, but at the same time acknowledge the Lord as God the Redeemer and Saviour, enter the lowest heaven. All these are saved but in different ways.

[3] All may be regenerated and thus saved, because the Lord with His Divine good and truth is present with every man; this is the source of everyone's life and his ability to understand and will, together with freedom of choice in spiritual things; in no man are these lacking. And the means to these are also given, for Christians in the Word, and for Gentiles in their religions, which teach that there is a God, and which furnish precepts respecting good and evil. From all this it follows that everyone may be saved; consequently that it is not the Lord's fault if man is not saved, but man's, because he does not co-operate.

TCR 581. That redemption and the passion of the cross are two distinct things and by no means to be confounded, and that by means of both the Lord took to Himself the power to regenerate and save men, has been shown in the chapter on Redemption. From the accepted faith of the church of to-day respecting the passion of the cross, as being redemption itself, have sprung throngs of horrible falsities respecting God, faith, charity and other things that in a continuous chain depends on these three; as, respecting God, that He had determined upon the damnation of the human race, and that He was willing to be brought back to mercy by the imposition of that damnation upon His Son, or by the Son's taking it upon Himself, and that only those are saved who by foreknowledge or predestination have Christ's merit bestowed upon them. From this fallacy another belonging to that faith has been hatched, namely, that those upon whom that faith has been bestowed, are at the same time regenerated without any cooperation on their part; and even that they have thus been absolved from the condemnation of the law, and are no longer under the law, but under grace, and this although the Lord has said,

and also commanded His disciples:--

He also said:--

"the gospel" meaning that they can be regenerated and thus saved, which they could not have been unless the Lord had wrought redemption, that is, had deprived hell of its power by combats against it and victories over it, and unless He had glorified His Human, that is, had made it Divine.

TCR 582. Think rationally and say what the entire human race would be if the faith of the present church were to continue; this faith being that men are redeemed by the passion of the cross alone, and that those upon whom that merit of the Lord has been bestowed are not under the condemnation of the law; and again, that this faith (whether or not it is in him man not knowing at all), remits sins and regenerates, and that man's co-operation in the act thereof, that is, when it is being given and entering, would defile it, and at the same time deprive him of salvation, since he would thereby commingle his own merit with that of Christ. Think rationally, I say, and tell me whether the whole Word would not be thus rejected, where regeneration by means of the spiritual washing away of evils, and by the exercise of charity is especially taught. What would the Decalogue, the starting point of reformation, then be, more than the paper that is sold in small shops and used to wrap up spices? What would religion then be, but a kind of lamentation that one is a sinner, and supplication to God the Father to be merciful on account of the passion of His Son, thus a matter of the mouth and lungs only, and not of anything done from the heart? What would redemption then be but a papal indulgence; or what more than a monk's flagellation of himself for the sake of the whole assembly, as is sometimes done? If faith alone regenerated man, repentance and charity doing nothing, what would the internal man (which is the man's spirit that lives after death), be like, but a burnt city, the ruins of which form the external man; or a field or plain laid waste by caterpillars and locusts? Such a man appears to the angels altogether like one who cherishes a serpent in his bosom, and tries to conceal it under his garments; or like one sleeping like a lamb with a wolf; or like one sleeping under beautiful bed-clothing in a night-gown made of spider's webs. Or seeing that all are arranged in heaven according to the different degrees of their regeneration, and all in hell according to the different degrees in which they have rejected it, what would the life after death be but a life of the flesh, and so like that of a fish or a crab?

TCR 583. In man there is a perpetual correspondence between what takes place naturally and what takes place spiritually, or between what takes place in his body and what takes place in his spirit. This is because man as to his soul is born spiritual, and is clothed with what is natural, which forms his material body. Therefore when this body is laid aside, his soul, clothed with a spiritual body, enters a world where all things are spiritual, and is there affiliated with its like. Since then, the spiritual body must be formed in a material body, and is formed by means of truths and goods which flow in from the Lord through the spiritual world, and are inwardly received by man in such things in him as are from the natural world, which are called civil and moral, the way in which its formation is effected is evident; and since, as before said, there is in man a constant correspondence between what takes place naturally and what takes place spiritually, it follows that this formation is like conception, gestation, birth and education. It is for this reason that natural births in the Word mean spiritual births, which are births of good and truth; for whatever is mentioned in the sense of the letter of the Word, which is natural, involves and signifies what is spiritual. That in each and all things of the sense of the letter of the Word there is a spiritual sense is fully shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture. That the natural births mentioned in the Word involve spiritual births is very obvious from the following passages:--

(So also in many other places.) As natural generations in the Word signify spiritual generations, and these are from the Lord, He is called the Maker and the former from the womb, as appears from the following:--

(Besides other passages.) For this reason the Lord is called,

And those who are in goods and truths from Him are called,

And again the church is called,

TCR 584. From all this it is now clear that there is a correspondence between natural generations and spiritual generations; and because of this correspondence it follows that conception, gestation, birth and education may not only be predicated of the new birth, but that they actually exist. In this chapter on Regeneration the nature of these are being presented to view in their proper order; here let it be said merely that man's semen is conceived interiorly in the understanding, and is given form in the will; is transferred therefrom to the testicle where it clothes itself with a natural covering, and is thus conducted into the womb and enters the world. Moreover, there is a correspondence of man's regeneration with all things in the vegetable kingdom; therefore in the Word man is also pictured by a tree, his truth by its seed and his good by its fruit. That an evil tree may be born anew, as it were, and afterward bear good fruit and good seed, is evident from grafting and budding, for although the same sap ascends from the root through the trunk to the graft or bud, it is then changed into good sap and makes the tree good. It is the same in the church with those who are engrafted into the Lord, as He teaches in these words:--

TCR 585. It has been taught by many of the learned that the processes of plant growth, not only of trees but also of all shrubs, correspond to human prolification. I will, therefore, add something on this subject by way of appendix. In trees and in all other subjects of the vegetable kingdom there are not two sexes, a masculine and a feminine, but everything there is masculine; the earth alone or the soil is the common mother, and is thus as it were feminine; for it receives the seeds of all fruits, opens them, carries them as it were in a womb, and then nourishes them and brings them forth, that is, ushers them into the light of day, and afterward clothes and sustains them.

[2] When a seed is first opened by the earth it begins with the root, which is a kind of heart; from this it emits and transmits sap like blood, and so forms as it were a body provided with limbs; its body is the trunk itself, while the branches and their branchlets are its limbs. The leaves which it puts forth immediately after its birth serve as lungs; for as the heart without the lungs produces no motion or sensation, and it is by means of these that man is made alive, so the root without leaves does not cause a tree or shrub to vegetate. The blossoms which precede the fruit are means for purifying the sap, the tree's blood, for separating its grosser from its purer elements, for forming a new little trunk for the influx of these purer elements contained in the bosom of this sap, through which trunk the purified sap may flow in and thus initiate and gradually form the fruit (which may be compared to the testicles), in which the seed is perfected. The vegetative soul which inmostly governs in every particle of sap, or which is its prolific essence, is from no other source than the heat of the spiritual world; and as this heat is from the spiritual sun there, it aspires to nothing but generation, and a continuance of creation thereby; and because it essentially aspires to the generation of man, it induces upon whatever it generates a certain resemblance to man.

[3] That no one may be astonished at the statement, that the subjects of the vegetable kingdom are masculine only, and that the earth alone or the soil is like a common mother, or is like the feminine, let it be illustrated by something similar among bees. According to the observation of Swammerdam, reported in his Book of Nature, bees have only one common mother, from which the offspring of the entire hive is produced. As there is but one common mother for these little insects, why not the same for all plants?

[4] That the earth is a common mother may also be illustrated spiritually; and is so illustrated by the fact that in the Word "the earth" signifies the church, and the church is a common mother, and is so called in the Word. As to the earth's signifying the church, consult the Apocalypse Revealed (AR n. 285, 902), where it is shown. But the earth or the soil can enter into the inmost of a seed even to its prolific principle, calling this forth and giving it circulation, because every least particle of dust or powder exhales from its essence a kind of subtle penetrating effluvium, which is an effect of the active force of the heat from the spiritual world.

TCR 586. That man can only be regenerated gradually, may be illustrated by each and all things that come into existence in the natural world. A tree cannot reach its full growth in a day, but there is first growth from the seed, then from the root, and then from the shoot, which becomes the trunk, and from this go forth branches and leaves, and finally blossoms and fruit. Wheat or barley does not ripen for the harvest in a day; a house is not built in a day, nor does a man acquire his full stature in a day, still less wisdom; a church is not established and perfected in a day, nor is there any progression to an end except from a beginning. Those who have a different conception of regeneration know nothing of charity and faith, nor of the growth of either according to man's cooperation with the Lord. From all this it is clear that regeneration is effected in a manner analogous to that in which man is conceived, carried in the womb, born and educated.

TCR 587. As reformation and regeneration are treated of here and in what follows, and reformation is ascribed to the understanding and regeneration to the will, it is necessary that the distinctions between the understanding and will should be known, which distinctions are described above (n. 397); therefore it is advisable to read first what is there said, and afterwards this section. It has also been shown there that the evils into which man is born are generated in the will of the natural man, and that the will causes the understanding to favor it by thinking in agreement with it. For this reason, that man may be regenerated, it is necessary that his regeneration be effected by means of the understanding as the mediate cause; and this is done by means of the various kinds of instruction that the understanding receives, first from parents and teachers, afterward by reading the Word, by preaching, books, and conversation. The things which the understanding receives from these sources are called truths; it is the same, therefore, whether reformation is said to be effected by means of the understanding, or by means of the truths which the understanding receives; for truths teach man in whom he ought to believe, and what he ought to believe, also what he ought to do, thus how he ought to will; for whatever one does he does from the will in accordance with his understanding. Since then, man's will itself is evil by birth and the understanding teaches what good and evil are, and man can will either good or evil, it follows that he must be reformed by means of the understanding; and so long as anyone sees and mentally acknowledges that evil is evil, and good is good, and thinks that the good ought to be chosen, he is in what is called the state of reformation; but when his will leads him to shun evil and do good, the state of regeneration begins.

TCR 588. For the sake of this end there has been given to man the ability to elevate his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, that he may see what he must will and must do therefrom, that he may be prosperous in the world for a time and blessed after death to eternity. He becomes prosperous and blessed if he acquires for himself wisdom, and keeps his will in obedience thereto; but he becomes unprosperous and unhappy if he makes his understanding subservient to his will. This is because the will by birth inclines to evils, even to enormities; therefore unless it is held in check by means of the understanding, man left to the freedom of his will would rush into great wickedness, and from the ferine nature inherent in him would plunder and slaughter for his own sake all who did not favor him and indulge his cupidities. Moreover, if man were not able to perfect his understanding separately, and to perfect his will by means of it, he would not be a man, but a beast; for without that separation, and without the ascent of the understanding above the will, he would not be able to think, and from thought to speak, but would be able to express his affections by sounds only; nor would he be able to act from reason, but only from instinct; still less could he recognize what relates to God, and thereby God Himself, and thus be conjoined with Him and live forever. For man exercises thought and will as if of himself; and this as if of himself, is the reciprocal element in conjunction, for conjunction without reciprocation is impossible, as there can be no conjunction of an active with a passive without adaptation or application. God alone acts; man permits himself to be acted upon, and co-operates to all appearance as if of himself, although interiorly from God. But from a right perception of these things, it can be seen what the love of man's will is when it is elevated by means of the understanding; also what it is when not elevated; thus what man is.

TCR 589. It must be known that the ability to elevate the understanding even to the intelligence in which the angels of heaven are, is by creation inherent in every man, the wicked as well as the good, and even in every devil in hell, for all who are in hell have been men. This has been frequently shown to me by living experience. But such are not intelligent but insane in spiritual things, because they do not will good but evil, consequently they are averse to knowing and understanding truths, for truths favor good and oppose evil. From all this it is clear that the first step in the new birth is a reception of truths by the understanding, and the second is the will to act in accordance with truths, and finally to practise them. No one, however, can he said to be reformed by mere knowledges of truth; for man is able to acquire these and to talk about, teach, and preach them through his ability to elevate his understanding, above the love of his will. But he is a reformed man who has an affection for truth for the sake of truth; for this affection conjoins itself with the will, and if it goes on it conjoins the will to the understanding, and then regeneration begins. But how regeneration afterward advances and is perfected, will be told in what follows.

TCR 590. But the nature of the man whose understanding has been elevated, but not the will's love by means of it, shall be illustrated by comparisons. He is like an eagle flying on high, but as soon as he sees food below, as hens, young swans, or even young lambs, he darts down in a moment and devours them. He is also like an adulterer who hides a harlot in a room below, and in turn ascends to the highest story of his house, and there in the presence of his wife talks wisely with visitors about chastity, and again steals away from the company and satiates his lust with the harlot below. He is also like marsh flies that fly in a body over the head of a running horse, but when the horse stops settle down and immerse themselves in their marsh. Such is the man who is elevated as to the understanding, while the will's love remains down at the foot, immersed in the uncleannesses of nature and the libidinous propensities of the senses. But because such men shine as if with wisdom in the understanding, while the will is in opposition to wisdom, they may also be likened to serpents with shining skins, and to the Spanish flies that glisten as if made of gold, or to the ignis fatuus in marshes, or to shining rotten wood and phosphorescent substances. There are among them some who can counterfeit angels of light, both among men in the world and after death among the angels of heaven; but these, after a brief examination, are deprived of their clothing, and cast down naked. This cannot be done in the world, because there the spirit of such is not open, but is covered over by a mask like that used by actors in theaters. In countenance and with the lips they are able to counterfeit angels of light, which is both an effect and a proof of their ability to elevate the understanding, as has been said, above the love of the will almost to angelic wisdom. Since then, man's internal and external can run thus counter to each other, and since the body is cast aside while the spirit remains, a dark spirit may evidently dwell behind a bright face, and a fiery one behind a bland mouth. Therefore, my friend, form your opinion of a man not from his mouth but from his heart, that is, not from his words but from his deeds; for the Lord says:--

TCR 591. That the internal man must first be regenerated, and by means of it the external, is generally conceded in the church at the present day; but "internal man" suggests nothing to the thought but faith, which faith is that God the Father imputes to men the merit and righteousness of His Son, and sends the Holy Spirit. It is believed that this faith constitutes the internal man, and that from the internal the external flows forth, which is the moral natural man, this being an appendage to the former, comparatively like the tail of a horse or cow, or like the tail of a peacock or bird of paradise which extends to the feet without being connected with them; for it is said that while charity follows that faith, the faith perishes if charity from man's will comes in. But this being the only internal man recognized in the church at the present day, there is no internal man, for no one knows whether such a faith has been bestowed upon him or not; moreover, as has been shown above, it is an impossible thing and therefore purely imaginary. From this it follows, that at the present day, among those who are confirmed in that faith there is no other internal man than that natural man which from birth overflows in evils of every kind. To this it may be added, that regeneration and sanctification are said to follow that faith of themselves, and that man's co-operation, which is the only means by which regeneration is effected, must be excluded. Therefore it is that no knowledge of regeneration in the present church is possible, when yet the Lord says that he who is not regenerated cannot see the kingdom of God.

TCR 592. But the internal and external man of the New Church are wholly different. The internal man pertains to the will, from which man thinks when left to himself, as when he is at home; but the external man is his actions and words, such as come forth from the internal when man is with others, thus when abroad. Consequently, the internal man is both charity, because this pertains to the will, and faith, which pertains to thought. Before regeneration these two constitute the natural man, which is thus divided into an internal and an external. This is shown in the fact that it is not permissible for man to act and speak in company or abroad as when alone or at home. The cause of this division is, that civil laws prescribe punishments for those who act wickedly, and rewards for those who act rightly, consequently men compel themselves to separate the external from the internal man; for no one wishes to be punished, and everyone wishes to be rewarded, which is done by riches and honors; and man attains to neither of these unless he lives according to those laws. It results from this that morality and benevolence exist in externals even with those who have none internally. And from the same source is all hypocrisy, flattery and simulation.

TCR 593. As to the division of the natural man into two forms, it is an actual division both of will and of thought therein; for every action of man goes forth from his will, and every word from his thought; consequently another will is formed by man beneath the first, and likewise another thought; but the two still constitute the natural man. This will which is being formed by the man, may be called a bodily will, because it impels the body to make a show of moral activities, and that thought may be called pulmonary thought, because it impels the tongue and lips to utter such things as belong to the understanding. This outer thought and will taken together may be likened to the inner bark that adheres to the outer bark of a tree, or to the membrane that adheres to the shell of an egg. Within these is the internal natural man, who, if evil, may be likened to a tree the wood of which is rotten, but about which the aforesaid outer and inner barks seem sound; as also to a rotten egg in a white shell. But something shall also be said about what the internal natural man is by birth. Its will inclines to evils of every kind and the thought therefrom is inclined to falsities of every kind. This then is the internal man that is to be regenerated, for unless it is regenerated it is nothing but hatred against everything that belongs to charity, and consequent rage against all things belonging to faith. From this it follows that this natural internal man must first be regenerated, and by means of it the external; for this is according to order; while to regenerate the internal by means of the external would be contrary to order; for the internal is like a soul in the external, not only in general but also in every particular, consequently it is in every least word one speaks; it is present in these beyond what man knows. Because of this the angels, from a single action of a man, can perceive what his will is, and from a single word what his thought is, whether infernal or heavenly. Thus they know the entire man; from the tone of his voice they have a perception of his thought's affection, and from the gesture or the form of his action they have a perception of his will's love. And this they have, however he may simulate a Christian or a moral citizen.

TCR 594. Man's regeneration is described in Ezekiel by the "dry bones" which were clothed with sinews, then with flesh and skin, and at last had spirit breathed into them, whereby they lived again (Ezekiel 37:1-14). That regeneration was represented by those things, is evident from what is there said:--

A comparison is also there made with graves, for it is written, That Jehovah would open their graves, and cause the bones to come up out of their graves, and put spirit in them, and bring them together into the land of Israel (Ezek. 37:12-14). "The land of Israel" there and elsewhere means the church Regeneration was here represented by bones and graves, because the unregenerate man is called dead, and the regenerate alive; for in the latter there is spiritual life, but in the former spiritual death.

TCR 595. In every created thing in the world, whether living or dead, there is an internal and an external; one never exists without the other, as there is no effect without a cause; and every created thing is esteemed according to its internal goodness, or is deemed base if internally malignant, as external goodness is when within it there is internal malignity. Every wise man in the world and every angel in heaven so judges. But the nature of the unregenerate man and of the regenerate, may be illustrated by comparisons. The unregenerate man who simulates a moral citizen or a Christian, may be likened to a corpse wrapped in aromatics, which nevertheless exhales a putrid odor that infects the aromatics, insinuates itself into the nostrils, and injures the brain. He may also be likened to a mummy, gilded or placed in a silver coffin, upon looking beneath the covering of which a hideously black body comes to view.

[2] Again, he may be likened to bones or skeletons in a sepulchre that is adorned with lapis lazuli and other gems; also to the rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, but whose internal was nevertheless infernal (Luke 16:19). Still again he may be likened to sweet-tasting poison, to a poison hemlock in flower, to fruit with a bright skin, but inwardly worm-eaten, and also to an ulcer covered first with a plaster and then with a thin skin, but with nothing within but foul matter. In the world only those who have no internal goodness, and who therefore judge by the appearance, can estimate the internal by the external; but in heaven it is otherwise. For when the body which is moveable about the spirit and easily directed from evil to good, is separated by death, the internal remains, for this constitutes the man's spirit; and then at a distance he looks like a serpent that has shed his skin, or like rotten wood stripped of its bark or covering in which it looked so well.

[3] But with the regenerate man it is different. His internal is good, and his external resembles the external of the other. And yet his external differs from that of the unregenerate as heaven differs from hell, since the soul of good is in it, and it matters not to him whether he is a great man, who dwells in a palace, and goes surrounded by attendants, or lives in a cottage and is waited upon by a boy; or even whether he is a primate clad in a purple robe and wearing the cap of his rank, or the shepherd of a few sheep in a wood, clothed in a loose rustic frock and wearing a little cap on his head.

[4] Gold is still gold, whether it flashes before the fire or has its surface blackened by the smoke; whether it is melted into a beautiful form like that of an infant, or into an ugly one like that of a mouse. Mice made of gold and placed beside the ark, were acceptable and pleasing (1 Sam. 6:3-5); for gold signifies internal good. Diamonds and rubies obtained from whatever matrix, lime or clay, are in like manner esteemed according to their internal goodness, the same as those in the necklace of a queen: and so on. From all this it is clear that the external is estimated from the internal, and not the reverse.

TCR 596. A conflict then arises because the internal man is reformed by means of truths; and from truths he sees what is evil and false, which evil and falsity are still in the external or natural man; consequently disagreement first springs up between the new will, which is above, and the old will, which is below; and as the disagreement is between the two wills, it is also between their delights; for the flesh, it is well known, is opposed to the spirit and the spirit to the flesh, and the flesh with its lusts must be subdued before the spirit can act and man become new. After this disagreement of the two wills a conflict arises; and this is called spiritual temptation. This temptation or conflict does not take place between goods and evils, but between the truths of good and the falsities of evil. For good cannot fight from itself but fights by means of truths; nor can evil fight from itself but by means of its falsities; just as the will cannot fight from itself but by means of the understanding where its truths reside.

[2] Man is not sensible of that conflict except as in himself, and as remorse of conscience; and yet it is the Lord and the devil (that is, hell) that are fighting in man, and they are fighting for dominion over him, or to determine who shall possess him. The devil or hell attacks man and calls out his evils, while the Lord protects him and calls out his goods. Although that conflict takes place in the spiritual world, still it takes place in man between the truths of good and the falsities of evil that are in him; therefore man must fight wholly as if of himself, for he has the freedom of choice to act for the Lord, and also to act for the devil; he is for the Lord, if he abides in truths from good, and for the devil, if he abides in falsities from evil. From this it follows that whichever conquers, the internal man or the external, that one rules over the other; precisely like two hostile powers contending as to which shall be master of the other's kingdom- the conqueror takes possession of the kingdom, and places all in it under obedience to himself. In this case, therefore, if the internal man conquers, he obtains dominion and subjugates all the evils of the external man, and regeneration then goes on; but if the external man conquers, he obtains the dominion, and dissipates all the goods of the internal man, and regeneration perishes.

TCR 597. While it is known at the present day, that there are temptations, hardly anyone knows whence and what they are and what good they effect. Whence and what they are has just been explained, also the good they effect, which is, that when the internal man conquers, the external is subjugated, and as this is subjugated lusts are dispersed, and affections for good and truth are implanted in their place, and are so arranged that the goods and truths which a man wills and thinks he may also do, and may speak them from the heart; and furthermore that by victory over the external man man becomes spiritual, and is then affiliated by the Lord with the angels of heaven, who are all spiritual. Heretofore temptations have not been understood, and scarcely anyone has known whence and what they are and the good they effect, because heretofore the church has not been in truths. No man is in truths unless he approaches the Lord directly, rejects the former faith and accepts the new. And this is why no one has been admitted into any spiritual temptation during the centuries that have passed since the Nicene Council introduced a belief in three Gods; for if anyone had been, he would have succumbed immediately, and thus would have precipitated himself more deeply into hell. The contrition which is said to precede the present faith is not temptation. I have questioned very many about it, and they have declared that it is nothing but a word, except perhaps with the simple there might be some timorous thoughts about hell-fire.

TCR 598. When man has passed through temptations he is as to his internal man in heaven, while by means of the external man he is in the world; thus by means of temptations there is a conjunction of heaven and the world effected in man; and then the Lord in him rules his world from heaven according to order. The contrary takes place if man remains natural; he is then eager to rule heaven from the world. Such does everyone become who is in the love of ruling from the love of self. If interiorly examined, such a man believes in himself only and not in God; and after death he believes him to be God who can exercise dominion over others. Such madness prevails in hell, and it even proceeds to such a length that some call themselves God the Father, some God the Son, some God the Holy Spirit, and among the Jews some call themselves the Messiah. This shows clearly what man becomes after death if the natural man is not regenerated, and therefore to what length his fantasies would carry him if a New Church, in which genuine truths are taught, had not been established by the Lord. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:--

TCR 599. In the conflicts or temptations of men the Lord works a particular redemption; as He wrought a total redemption when in the world. By conflicts and temptations in the world the Lord glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine; in like manner now with man individually, when he is in temptations, the Lord fights for him, conquers the evil spirits who are infesting him, and after temptation glorifies him, that is, renders him spiritual. After His universal redemption the Lord reduced to order all things in heaven and in hell; with man after temptation He does in like manner, that is, He reduces to order all the things of heaven and the world that are in him. After redemption the Lord established a new church; in like manner He also establishes what pertains to the church in man, and makes him to be a church in particular. After redemption the Lord bestowed peace upon those who believed on Him, for He said:--

Likewise He gives to man after temptation a sense of peace, that is, gladness of mind and consolation. From all this it is clear that the Lord is the Redeemer forever.

TCR 600. A regenerated internal man without a regenerated external also, may be likened to a bird flying in the air with no resting place on dry land except in a marsh, where it is attacked by serpents and frogs, so that it flies away and dies. It may be likened also to a swan swimming in mid-ocean, which cannot reach the shore and make her nest, so that the eggs she lays sink in the water, where they are eaten by fishes. It may be likened also to a soldier on a wall which is pulled down under him, so that he falls headlong and dies amid the ruins. Again it may be likened to a beautiful tree transplanted into filthy soil where troops of worms eat up its roots, so that it withers and dies. It may also be likened to a house without a foundation, or to a column without a pedestal. Such is the internal man when it alone is reformed and not the external also; for it then has no means of determining itself to doing good.

TCR 601. The church of today knows both from the Word and from reason that a regenerated man is a renewed or new man. From the Word, by the following passages:--

In these passages "a new heart" means a new will, and "a new spirit" means a new understanding; for "heart" in the Word signifies the will, and "spirit," when connected with heart, signifies the understanding. The church also knows from reason that the regenerated man has a new will and a new understanding, since these two faculties constitute man, and they are what are regenerated. Therefore every man is such as he is with respect to these two faculties, that is, he is evil whose will is evil, and still more so he whose understanding favors the evil; while the reverse is true of the good. Religion alone renews and regenerates man. Religion occupies the highest seat in the human mind, and sees beneath it the civil matters pertaining to the world; it also ascends by means of them, as the pure sap ascends through a tree to its very top, and from that height it surveys what is natural, as from a tower or mountain one surveys the plains below.

TCR 602. But it must be understood that while man may rise as to his understanding almost into the light in which the angels of heaven are, unless he rises also as to his will, he is still the old and not a new man. But it has been shown already how the understanding elevates the will more and more to the same height with itself. For this reason regeneration is predicated primarily of the will, and secondarily of the understanding. For the understanding in man is like light in the world, and the will is like the heat there; and it is known that light without heat does not vivify or cause vegetation, but light joined with heat. Moreover, as to the lower region of the mind, the understanding is actually in the light of the world, while as to the higher region it is in the light of heaven; consequently if the will is not raised from the lower region into the higher, and there conjoined with the understanding, it remains in the world; and then the understanding flies upward and downward, but returns every night to the will below and sleeps there; and they unite like a man and a harlot, and beget two-headed offspring. From all this it is clear that unless a man has a new will and a new understanding, he is not regenerated.

TCR 603. The human mind is divided into three regions, the lowest is called the natural, the middle the spiritual, and the highest the celestial. By regeneration man is raised from the lowest region, which is the natural, into the higher, which is the spiritual, and through this into the celestial. That there are these three regions belonging to the mind will be shown in the following section. This is why the unregenerate man is called natural, and the regenerate man spiritual. This makes clear that the mind of the regenerate man is raised into the spiritual region, and there sees from the higher what takes place in the lower or natural mind. That there is a lower and a higher region in the human mind, everyone can see and recognize by a slight attention to his own thoughts; for what he thinks, he sees; and therefore he says that he has thought or thinks this and that, which would be impossible unless there were an interior thought that is called perception, which looks down into the lower which is called thought. When a judge has heard or read over a long series of arguments presented by an advocate, he collects them all into one view in the higher region of his mind, thus forming them into one general idea; and from that he then looks down into the lower region, which is that of natural thought, and there arranges the arguments in order, and accordance with the higher, presents his opinion and pronounces judgment. Who does not know that a man may form more thoughts and conclusions in a moment or two, than he can express by means of his lower thoughts in half an hour? All this has been presented to make known that the human mind is divided into lower and higher regions.

TCR 604. As to the new will: it is above the old one in the spiritual region, and the new understanding likewise, this with that and that with this. In that region they are conjoined and conjointly look down upon the old or natural will and understanding, and so arrange all things therein as to moderate them. Who cannot see that if there were but one region in the human mind, and if both evils and goods and truths and falsities were there brought together and mixed together, there would be a conflict such as would arise if wolves and lambs, tigers and calves, hawks and doves, were brought together into one enclosure? What would result but a cruel slaughter, the savage beasts tearing in pieces the tame ones? This is why it has been provided that goods with their truths should be collected together in the higher region, so that they may subsist in safety, and resist assault, and also by constraints and other means may subjugate and afterward disperse evils with their falsities This, then, is the same as was said in the preceding section, that in the regenerated man the Lord through heaven rules what pertains to the world. And the higher or spiritual region of the human mind is a heaven in miniature, while the lower or natural region is a world in miniature, and for this reason man was called by the ancients a microcosm (a little world), and he may also be called a microuranos (a little heaven).

TCR 605. That the regenerate man, that is, one who is renewed in will and understanding, is in the heat of heaven, that is, in its love, and at the same time in the light of heaven, that is, in its wisdom; and on the other hand, that the unregenerate man is in the heat of hell, that is, in its love, and at the same time in its darkness, that is, in its insanities, is at this day known and yet unknown. This is because the church of today makes regeneration an appendage to its faith, and into faith reason must not be admitted, consequently it must be admitted into nothing pertaining to its appendage, which, as before said, includes renovation and regeneration. These, together with that faith itself, are to those of the present church like a house, the doors and windows of which are closed, so that it is not known what is in it, whether it is empty or is full of genii from hell, or of angels from heaven. It may be added, that this confusion has been brought about by a fallacy which has arisen from the fact that a man may by his understanding ascend almost into the light of heaven, and consequently can from intelligence think and speak of spiritual things, whatever his will's love may be. Ignorance of this truth has also caused ignorance of all that concerns regeneration and renovation of character.

TCR 606. From all this it may be concluded that an unregenerate man is like one who sees phantoms at night, and believes them to be men; and afterwards, when he is being regenerated, he is like the same man seeing in the early dawn that the things he saw at night are delusions, and still later, when he is regenerated and is in the light of day, seeing them to be the offspring of delirium. An unregenerate man is like one dreaming, and a regenerate man like one awake; and in the Word natural life is likened to sleep, and spiritual life to a state of wakefulness. The unregenerate man is meant by the foolish virgins who had lamps but no oil, and the regenerate man by the wise virgins who had both lamps and oil, "lamps" meaning such things as pertain to the understanding, and "oil" such things as pertain to love. The regenerate are like the lamps of the lampstand in the tabernacle; they are like the bread of faces there with the frankincense upon it; and they are those who shall "shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever" (as said in Dan. 12:3). The unregenerate man is like one who is in the garden of Eden, and who eats from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and is therefore banished from the garden; he is indeed that very tree. But the regenerate man is like one who is in that garden and eats of the tree of life. That it is given to such to eat of it, is obvious from the following in the Apocalypse:--

"the garden of Eden" leaning intelligence in spiritual things, arising from love of truth(see AR n. 90). In a word, the unregenerate man is a "son of the evil one," and the regenerate a "son of the kingdom" (Matt. 13:38); "the son of the evil one" there meaning a child of the devil, and "the son of the kingdom" a child of the Lord.

TCR 607. Every man is in communion, that is, in affiliation either with angels of heaven or with spirits of hell, because he is born to become spiritual, and this would be impossible unless he were born to be in some conjunction with those who are spiritual. It has been shown in the work on Heaven and Hell that as to his mind man is in both worlds, the natural and the spiritual. But neither man nor angel nor spirit knows of this conjunction, for the reason that man while he lives in the world is in a natural state, while angels and spirits are in a spiritual state; and because of the distinction between the natural and the spiritual, one is not visible to the other. The nature of this distinction has been described in the work on Conjugial Love in the Memorable Relation there recorded (CL n. 326-329). From that it is clear that their conjunction is not one of thoughts but of affections, and scarcely anyone reflects upon his affections, because they are not in the light in which the understanding is, and therefore its thought is; but only in the heat in which the will is and therefore the affection of its love is. The conjunction between men and angels and spirits by means of the affections of love is so close that if it were severed and they were thereby separated, men would instantly fall into a swoon, and if the relation were not restored, and their conjunction renewed, men would die.

[2] It has been said that man becomes spiritual by regeneration, but this does not mean that he becomes spiritual as an angel is in himself, but that he becomes spiritual natural, that is to say, that the spiritual is inwardly in his natural, just as thought is in speech, or as will is in action, for when one ceases the other ceases. In like manner man's spirit is in every least thing that takes place in the body, and it is that which impels the natural to do whatever it does. The natural viewed in itself is passive or is a dead force, but the spiritual is active or is a living force; the passive or a dead force cannot act from itself, but must be impelled by the active, or by a living force.

[3] As man lives continually in communion with the inhabitants of the spiritual world, he is also, when be leaves the natural world, introduced immediately among such as are like those with whom he had been associated in the world. Therefore it is that after death everyone seems to himself to be still living in the world, for he then comes into the company of those who are like him as to their will's affections, and whom he then acknowledges, as kinsmen and relations acknowledge their own in the world; and this is what is meant where it is said in the Word of those who die, that they are brought together and gathered to their own. From all this it can now be seen that a regenerate man is in communion with the angels of heaven, and an unregenerate man with the spirits of hell.

TCR 608. It must be known that there are three heavens, and these distinct from each other according to the three degrees of love and wisdom, and that man is in communion with the angels of those three heavens in the measure of his regeneration; and this being so, that the human mind is divided into three degrees or regions in accord with the heavens. But on these three heavens and their division in accordance with the three degrees of love and wisdom, see (HH n. 29); and also the pamphlet on Intercourse between the Soul and the Body, (ISB n. 16, 17). Here it will be sufficient merely to illustrate, by a simile, the nature of the three degrees in accordance with which the heavens are divided. They are like the head, body, and feet in man; the highest heaven constituting the head, the middle the body, and the lowest the feet; for the whole heaven is before the Lord like one man. The truth of this has been disclosed to me by actual observation, for it has been granted me to see wholly as one man a single society of heaven, which consisted of thousands. Why then should not the whole heaven so appear to the Lord? Respecting this living experience, see the work on Heaven and Hell (HH n. 59). This makes clear what is meant by this, which is well known in the Christian world, that the church constitutes the body of Christ, and that Christ is the life of that body. And this also is thus made clear, namely, that the Lord is the all in all things of heaven, since He is the life of that body. Likewise, the Lord is the church with those who acknowledge Him alone as the God of heaven and earth, and believe in Him. That He is the God of heaven and earth, He Himself teaches in (Matthew 28:18); and that men ought to believe in Him, in (John 3:15, 16, 36; 6:40; 11:25, 26).

TCR 609. The three degrees in which the heavens are, and consequently, in which the human mind is, may also be illustrated in some measure by comparisons with material things in the world. In their relative nobility these three degrees are like gold, silver and brass, to which metals they are likened in the statue of Nebuchadnezzar (Dan. 2:31-35). These three degrees are also distinct from each other, like the ruby, sapphire and agate in respect to purity and goodness; also like the olive tree, the vine, and the fig-tree; and so on. Moreover, in the Word, "gold," "ruby," and "oil" signify celestial good, which is the good of the highest heaven; "silver," "sapphire," and "a vine" signify spiritual good, which is that of the middle heaven; while "brass," "agate," and "a fig-tree" signify natural good, which is that of the lowest heaven. That there are three degrees, a celestial, a spiritual and a natural, has been stated above.

TCR 610. To the foregoing this shall be added, that man's regeneration is not effected in a moment, but gradually, from the beginning to the end of his life in the world, and is afterward continued and perfected. And because man is reformed by conflicts with the victories over the evils of his flesh, the Son of man says to each one of the seven churches, that he will give gifts to him that overcometh; as to the church of Ephesus:--

to the church of Smyrna:--

to the church in Pergamos:--

to the church in Thyatira:--

to the church in Sardis:--

to the church in Philadelphia:--

and to the church of the Laodiceans:--

Finally it may be added that so far as man is regenerated, or so far as regeneration is perfected in him, so far he attributes nothing of good and truth, that is, of charity and faith, to himself, but to the Lord only; for the truths which he gradually acquires teach this clearly.

TCR 611. So far as man is regenerated sins are removed, because regeneration is the restraining of the flesh that it may not rule, and the subjugating of the old man with its lusts, that it may not rise up and destroy the intellectual faculty, for that would render man incapable of reformation, reformation being impossible unless man's spirit, which is above the flesh, is instructed and perfected. Who, if he still retains a sound understanding, can fail to see from all this that such a work cannot be effected in a moment but only gradually, just as man is conceived, carried in the womb, born and educated, according to what has been shown above? For those things which pertain to the flesh or the old man are inherent in man from his birth, and build the first habitation of his mind, in which lusts have their abode like wild beasts in their caves, dwelling first in the outer courts, then by turns entering into the underground rooms, as it were, of the house, and finally ascending by steps and forming for themselves chambers. This takes place gradually, as an infant grows, becomes a boy, afterwards a youth, and then begins to think from his own understanding, and to act from his own will. Who cannot see that this house in the mind thus far built in which lusts dance with joined hands, like the ochim, tziim and satyrs, cannot be destroyed in a moment and a new house built in its place? Must not those lusts with clasped hands and so sporting themselves be first removed, and new desires, which belong to good and truth, be introduced in the place of the cupidities which belong to evil and falsity? That these things cannot be done in a moment every wise man sees from this alone, that every evil is composed of innumerable lusts, and is like a fruit which beneath the surface is full of worms with white bodies and black heads; also, that evils are numerous and joined together like the progeny of a spider when first hatched; wherefore unless one evil is brought out after another, and this until their connection is broken up, man cannot be made new. These things have been cited to make clear that so far as anyone is regenerated sins are removed.

TCR 612. Man inclines by birth to evils of every kind and from that inclination lusts after them, and so far as he is in freedom he also does them; for by birth he lusts after dominion over others, and to possess the goods of others, which two lusts cut asunder love to the neighbor, and then man hates everyone who opposes him, and from hatred breathes revenge which inwardly cherishes murder. For the same reason he thinks nothing of adulteries, nothing of such robbery as secret theft, nothing of blasphemies, which include false witness; and he who thinks nothing of these things, is in heart an atheist. Such is man by birth; from which it is clear that he is from birth a hell in miniature. Inasmuch then, as man, in respect to the interiors of his mind, is born spiritual, as beasts are not, and consequently is born for heaven, and yet, as has been said, his natural or external man is a miniature hell, it follows that a heaven cannot be implanted in this hell, unless the hell is removed.

TCR 613. He who knows the relation between heaven and hell, and how the one is removed from the other, can know how man is regenerated, and also what the regenerate man is. That this may be understood it shall be made known briefly that the faces of all who are in heaven look toward the Lord, while all who are in hell turn their faces from the Lord; therefore when hell is looked at from heaven, only the occiput and back appear; and those there even appear inverted, like the antipodes, feet upward and heads down, and this although they walk upon their feet and turn their faces around; for it is the contrary direction of their minds' interiors that produces this appearance. These remarkable facts I report from my own observation. They made clear to me how regeneration is effected, namely, just as hell is removed and thus separated from heaven. For, as stated above, as to his first nature which he has by birth, man is a hell in miniature, and as to the other nature which he acquires by the second birth, he is a heaven in miniature. And from this it follows that the evils in man are removed and separated in the same manner as heaven and hell in their large form are separated, and that evils, as they are removed, turn themselves away from the Lord, and gradually invert themselves, and that this takes place in the degree that heaven is implanted, that is, that man is made new. To this may be added, for the sake of illustration, that every evil in man is in conjunction with those in hell who are in like evil, and on the other hand that every good in man is in conjunction with those in heaven who are in like good.

TCR 614. From what has been presented it can be seen that the forgiveness of sins is not their being rooted out and washed away, but their removal, and thus their separation; also that every evil that a man has actually appropriated to himself remains. And since the forgiveness of sins is their removal and separation, it follows that man is withheld from evil by the Lord and kept in good, and this is what is given to man by regeneration. I once heard a certain person in the lowest heaven saying that he was exempt from sins, because they had been washed away, adding, "by the blood of Christ." But because he was in heaven, and was in that error from ignorance, he was let into his own peculiar sins, and as they returned he acknowledged them; thereby acquiring a new belief, namely, that every man, as well as every angel, is withheld from evil and kept in good by the Lord.

[2] This shows plainly what the forgiveness of sins is, that it is not instantaneous, but follows regeneration according to the progress thereof. The removal of sins which is called the forgiveness of them, may be likened to the casting forth of the filth from the camps of the children of Israel into the desert which was round about them; for their camps represented heaven, and the desert hell. It may also be likened to the removal of the nations from the children of Israel, in the land of Canaan, and of the Jebusites from Jerusalem; these were not cast out, but separated. It may also be likened to what occurred to Dagon the god of the Philistines, in that when the ark was brought in he first lay upon his face on the ground, and afterward, with his head and hands cut off, upon the threshold; thus he was not cast out, but removed.

[3] It may also be likened to the demons sent by the Lord into the swine that afterward plunged into the sea; "the sea" there and elsewhere in the Word, signifying hell. It may also be likened to the throng that followed the dragon, which, on being separated from heaven, first invaded the earth, and was afterward cast down into hell. It may also be likened to a forest where there are wild beasts of many kinds which when the forest is cut down flee to the neighboring thickets, and then the ground in the midst being leveled it becomes by cultivation a field.

TCR 615. Who, except a stupid person, cannot see that without freedom of choice in spiritual things man cannot be regenerated? Can he without this approach the Lord, acknowledge Him as the Redeemer and Saviour and the God of heaven and earth, as He himself teaches (Matt. 28:18)? Without that freedom of choice who can believe in the Lord, that is, from faith look to Him and worship Him, and adapt himself to receiving the means and benefits of salvation from Him, and from Him cooperate in the reception of them? Who without freedom of choice can do any good to the neighbor, can practice charity, or take into his thought and will other things pertaining to faith and charity, bring them forth, and put them into acts? Otherwise, what is regeneration but a mere word dropped from the lips of the Lord (John 3), which either remains in the ear, or having dropped upon the lips from the thought nearest to speech, becomes merely an articulated sound of twelve letters, which sound cannot by any meaning be raised into any higher region of the mind, but falls upon the air and is dissipated?

TCR 616. Tell me, if you can, whether a blinder stupidity respecting regeneration is possible than that which prevails with those who have confirmed themselves in the faith of the present day, which is, that faith is infused into man while he is like a stock or a stone, and that when it has been infused, it is followed by justification, which is forgiveness of sins, and regeneration, and other gifts besides; and also that man's effort must be wholly excluded, that it may not do violence to the merit of Christ. In order that this dogma might be still more firmly established, they have deprived man of all freedom of choice in spiritual things, by asserting his complete impotence therein. It is, then, as if God alone were to operate on His part, and no power were given to man to operate on his part, and thus conjoin himself with God. In that case what is man in respect to regeneration, but like one bound hand and foot, like the prisoners on ships called galley-slaves? And like these, if he were to free himself from those manacles and fetters, he would be punished or condemned to death, that is, if, from freedom of choice he were to do good to the neighbor, and of himself were to believe in God for the sake of salvation. If a man were confirmed in such opinions, and yet had a pious desire for heaven, what would he be like but a specter standing and speculating as to whether that faith with its benefits has been infused into him; or if not, whether it will be infused, therefore whether God the Father has taken pity on him, or whether His Son has interceded for him, or whether the Holy Spirit is inoperative because employed elsewhere? And yet, because of his complete ignorance of the matter, he might go away and console himself by saying, "Perhaps that grace is in the morality of my life, which I have and which I retain as formerly, and in me therefore it may be holy, while in those who have not attained to that faith it is profane. Therefore, in order that this holiness may remain in my morality, I will be careful hereafter not to exercise either charity or faith of myself;" with much more. Such a specter, or if you prefer, such a statue of salt, does everyone become who thinks of regeneration separated from freedom of choice in spiritual things.

TCR 617. The man who believes that regeneration is possible without freedom of choice in spiritual things, thus without co-operation, becomes as frigid as a stone in regard to all the truths of the church; or if he is warm, since his warmth arises from lusts, he is like a burning brand in a fire-place, that blazes from the combustible elements in it. He becomes comparatively like a palace sinking into the ground even to its roof, and becoming flooded with muddy water; after which he dwells upon the bare roof, making a but there for himself of marsh rushes, and at length the roof sinks also, and he is drowned. He is also like a ship laden with all kinds of precious merchandise taken from the Word as a treasury, but gnawed by mice and moth-eaten, or thrown by the sailors into the sea, so that the merchants are defrauded of their goods. Those who are learned or rich in the mysteries of that faith, are like the venders in little shops who sell idols, fruit, wax-flowers, shells, snakes in bottles, and such like things. Those who, because of the lack of spiritual power adapted and given to man by the Lord, have no wish to look upward, are actually like beasts whose heads look downward, and which care for nothing but to graze in the forests; and if they enter an orchard, they eat up the foliage of the trees like worms, or if they see the fruit with their eyes, or still more if they feel it with their hands, they fill it with worms; and finally they become like scaly serpents, their fallacies sounding and glittering like serpents' scales; and so on.

TCR 618. There are three means whereby man is regenerated, the Lord, faith, and charity. These three would lie hidden like the most costly jewels buried in the earth, if Divine truths from the Word did not reveal them. They would indeed be hidden from those who deny man's cooperation even if they were to read the Word a hundred or a thousand times, although they there stand forth in clear light. As concerns the Lord, who that is confirmed in the prevailing faith sees there with open eyes the declarations that He and the Father are one, that He is the God of heaven and earth, that it is the will of the Father that men should believe in the Son, with innumerable other statements of the same kind respecting the Lord in both Testaments? They do not see because they are not in truths, and consequently not in the light in which subjects of this kind can be seen; and if light were given, falsities would extinguish it, and these truths would then escape their attention like something wholly erased, or like underground drains which are trodden upon and passed over. These things are said that it may be known that without truths this first thing in regeneration cannot be seen.

[2] As to faith, neither is that possible without truths; because faith and truth make one thing; for the good of faith is like a soul, truths constituting its body. To say therefore that a man believes or has faith, when he is ignorant of all of its truths, is like taking the soul out of the body, and talking with it when thus invisible. Moreover, all the truths that make up the body of faith emit light and enlighten, and render the features of faith visible. It is the same with charity; this emits heat with which the light of truth conjoins itself, as heat does with light in the world in the time of spring, from the conjunction of which the animals and vegetables of the earth return to their prolifications.

[3] It is the same with spiritual heat and light; these in like manner conjoin themselves in man when he is in the truths of faith and at the same time in the goods of charity. For as said above in the chapter on Faith, from each particular truth of faith there flows forth a light that enlightens, and from each particular good of charity a heat that enkindles. It is also there said that spiritual light in its essence is intelligence, and spiritual heat in its essence is love; and that the Lord alone conjoins these two in man when He regenerates him. For the Lord said:-

The Lord is the Sun in the spiritual world; this is the source of all spiritual light and heat; that light enlightens, and that heat enkindles; and by the conjunction of the two the Lord vivifies and regenerates man.

TCR 619. From all this it can be seen, that without truths there is no knowledge of the Lord; also that without truths there is no faith, and thus no charity; consequently that without truths there is no theology, and where this is not, there is no church. Such is the condition to-day of that body of people who call themselves Christians, and who say they are in the light of the Gospel, and yet are in the veriest darkness; for with them truths lie hidden beneath falsities, like gold, silver, and precious stones buried among the bones in the valley of Hinnom. That it is so, I was enabled to see clearly from the spheres in the spiritual world that flow forth from the Christendom of to-day and propagate themselves.

[2] One sphere is that respecting the Lord; this breathes and pours itself forth from the southern quarter, where the learned clergy and erudite laity reside. Wherever this sphere goes it insinuates itself into the ideas, and with many takes away faith in the Divinity of the Lord's Human, with many weakens it, with many makes it seem foolish; and this because it brings in with it the faith in three Gods, and thus produces confusion.

[3] Another sphere that takes away faith is like a black cloud in winter, which brings on darkness, turns rain into snow, strips bare the trees, freezes the waters, and takes away all pasture from the sheep. This sphere in conjunction with the former insinuates a kind of lethargy respecting one God, regeneration, and the means of salvation.

[4] A third sphere relates to the conjunction of faith and charity; this is so strong as to be irresistible, but at the present day it is abominable; it is like a pestilence that infects everyone on whom it breathes, and tears asunder every tie between those two means of salvation, established as such from the creation of the world, and restored anew by the Lord. This sphere invades even the men in the natural world, and extinguishes the marriage torches between truths and goods. I have felt this sphere, and at such times, when I thought of the conjunction of faith and charity, it interposed itself between them and violently endeavored to separate them.

[5] The angels complain of these spheres, and pray to the Lord for their dissipation, but they received the answer that they cannot be dissipated so long as the dragon is on the earth, because it is from the draconic spirits; for it is said of the dragon that he was cast down unto the earth, and then follows:--

[6] These three spheres are like tempest-driven atmospheres coming forth from the breathing-holes of the dragons, which, being spiritual, invade the mind and control it. The spheres of spiritual truth there are as yet few, only in the new heaven, and also with those beneath heaven, who are separated from the draconic spirits. This is why those truths are so little recognized by men in the world to-day, just as ships in the Eastern ocean are invisible to captains and shipmasters who are sailing in the Western ocean.

TCR 620. That regeneration is impossible without the truths by which faith is formed, may be illustrated by the following comparisons. It is as impossible as a human mind without understanding; for the understanding is formed by means of truths, and therefore teaches what ought to be believed and what ought to be done, what regeneration is, and how it is effected. Regeneration without truths is as impossible as the vivification of animals or the growth of trees without light from the sun; for if the sun did not give light at the same time that it gives heat, it would become "like sackcloth of hair" (as described in the Apocalypse 6:12), and "black" (Joel 2:10, 31), and thus mere darkness would be upon the earth (Joel 3:15). It would be the same with man without truths, which send out light from themselves; for the sun from which the light of truths flows forth is the Lord in the spiritual world. If spiritual light did not flow therefrom into human minds, the church would be in mere darkness, or in shadow from a perpetual eclipse. Regeneration, which is effected by means of faith and charity, without truths that teach and lead, would be like navigation on the great ocean without a rudder, or without a mariner's compass and charts. It would also be like riding in a dark forest at night. The mind's internal sight with those who are not in truths but in falsities, which they believe to be truths, may be likened to the sight of those whose optic nerves are obstructed, the eye still appearing sound and capable of sight, although it sees nothing; which kind of blindness is called by physicians amaurosis and gutta serena; for in such the rational or intellectual faculty is obstructed above and open below only, owing to which rational light becomes like the light of the eye, and consequently all their opinions are imagination only and are fashioned from mere fallacies. And in such case men would stand like astrologers in the market-places with long telescopes, uttering unmeaning prophecies. Such would all students of theology become, unless genuine truths were disclosed by the Lord from the Word.

TCR 621. To this the following Memorable Relations shall be added. First:-

I saw an assembly of spirits, all on their knees praying to God to send angels to them, with whom they might speak face to face, and to whom they might open the thoughts of their hearts. And when they rose up, there appeared three angels in white standing in their presence. And the angels said "The Lord Jesus Christ has heard your prayers, and has therefore sent us to you; open to us the thoughts of your hearts."

[2] And the spirits replied, "Our priests have told us that in theological matters it is not the understanding but faith that avails, and that an intellectual faith does not profit in such matters, because it springs from and savors of man, and is not from God. We are Englishmen, and we have heard many things from our sacred ministry which we believed; but when we have spoken with others who also called themselves reformed, and with some who called themselves Roman Catholics, and again with those of various sects, they all seemed learned, and yet in many things they did not agree with one another; although they all said, `Believe us,' and some said, `We are ministers of God, and we know.' But as we know that Divine truths, which are called truths of faith and are the truths of the church, are no one's by birthright alone, or by inheritance, but are from God out of heaven; and as they point the way to heaven and enter the life together with the goods of charity, and thus lead to eternal life; we have become anxious, and on our knees have prayed to God."

[3] Then the angels answered, "Read the Word and believe in the Lord, and you will see the truths which must be the truths of your faith and of your life. All in the Christian world draw their doctrinals from the Word as the one only fountain."

But two of the assembly said, "We have read, but have not understood."

The angels replied, "You have not approached the Lord, who is the Word, and also have first confirmed yourselves in falsities." The angels said further, "What is faith without light; and what is thinking without understanding? It is not human. Ravens and magpies can also learn to talk without understanding. We can assure you that every man whose soul desires it, is able to see the truths of the Word in clear light. There is no animal that does not know its life's food when it sees it; and man is a rational and spiritual animal; he sees the food of his life, not his body's but his soul's food, which is the truth of faith, provided he hungers for it and seeks it from the Lord.

[4] Moreover, the substance of anything that is not received in the understanding, does not remain in the memory, but only the verbal statement of it. So when we looked down from heaven into the world, we have not seen anything, but have only heard sounds, and for the most part discordant ones. But we will enumerate some things which the learned of the clergy have separated from the understanding, not knowing that there are two ways to the understanding, one from the world and the other from heaven, and that when the Lord is enlightening the understanding He withdraws it from the world. But if the understanding is closed in regard to religion, the way to it from heaven is closed; and then man sees no more in the Word than a blind man. We have seen many such fall into pits out of which they did not rise.

[5] Let this be made clear by examples. Can you not understand what charity is and what faith is, that charity is doing rightly with the neighbor, and faith is thinking rightly respecting God and the essentials of the church; and consequently that he who does rightly and thinks aright, that is, lives well and believes aright, is saved?"

To this the spirits answered that they understood.

[6] The angels said further, "Man must repent of his sins in order to be saved, and unless he repents he remains in the sins into which he was born; and repentance consists in man's ceasing to will evils because they are contrary to God, searching himself once or twice a year, seeing his evils, confessing them before the Lord, praying for help, refraining from evils, and beginning a new life; and so far as he does this, and believes in the Lord, his sins are forgiven."

Then some of those from the assembly said, "That we understand, and consequently what the forgiveness of sins is."

[7] Then they asked the angels to give them still further information, and first of all about God, the immortality of the soul, regeneration, and baptism.

To this the angels replied: "We shall not say anything but what you will understand; otherwise our words would fall like rain upon the sand, and upon the seeds therein which wither and die, however they may be watered from heaven."

And about God they said, "All who enter heaven are allotted a place there, and thus eternal joy according to their idea of God, because this idea universally reigns in everything pertaining to worship. The idea of God as a Spirit, when spirit is supposed to be something like ether or wind, is an idea without meaning; but the idea of God as a Man is the right idea; for God is Divine love and Divine wisdom, together with every quality thereof, and the subject of these is not ether or wind, but Man. In heaven the idea of God is that He is the Lord the Saviour; He is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself has taught. Let your idea of God be like ours, and we shall be associated together." When this had been said, their faces beamed.

[8] Of the immortality of the soul they said, "Man lives forever, because he is capable of conjunction with God through love and faith; every man is capable of this. That this capability is what constitutes the immortality of the soul you can understand if you think a little more deeply about the matter."

[9] Of regeneration they said, "Who does not see that every man has the freedom to think about God, or not to think about Him, provided he has been taught that there is a God? Thus every man has freedom in spiritual things as well as in civil and natural things. The Lord gives this to all unceasingly; therefore it is man's fault if he does not think. It is because of this ability that man is man; while it is because of the absence of it that a beast is a beast. Man consequently has the ability to reform and regenerate himself as if from himself, provided he acknowledges in his heart that it is from the Lord. everyone who repents and believes in the Lord is being reformed and regenerated. Man does both as if from himself; but the as if from himself is from the Lord. It is true that man cannot contribute anything to this work from himself, not an iota; nevertheless, you were not created statues but men, in order that you may do this from the Lord as if from yourselves. This one and only reciprocation of love and faith, is what the Lord above all things wishes man to make to Him. In a word, act from yourselves, and believe that it is from the Lord; this is acting as if from yourselves."

[10] Then they asked whether this acting as if from himself was implanted in man from creation.

An angel replied, "It was not, because to act from himself belongs to God alone, but He gives it unceasingly, that is, joins it (to man) unceasingly; and then so far as man does good and believes truth as if from himself, he is an angel of heaven; while so far as he does evil and therefrom believes falsity, which he also does as if from himself, he is a spirit of hell. You may wonder that he does this also as if from himself, nevertheless you can see that it is so, when you pray to be guarded from the devil lest he seduce you, and enter into you as he did into Judas, and fill you with all iniquity, and destroy you soul and body. But a man becomes guilty when he believes that he acts from himself, whether in doing good or evil, and not when be believes that he acts as if from himself; for when he believes that the good is from himself, be claims as his own what belongs to God, and when he believes the evil to be from himself he attributes to himself what belongs to the devil."

[11] Respecting baptism they said, that baptism is spiritual washing, which is reformation and regeneration; that a child is reformed and regenerated when, having become an adult, he does the things that his sponsors promised for him, namely, these two, repents, and believes in God. For they promise first that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and secondly, that he will believe in God. All infants in heaven are initiated into these two duties; but to them the devil is hell and God is the Lord. Moreover, baptism is a sign to the angels that a man belongs to the church."

Hearing this, those of the assembly said, "We understand that."

[12] Then a voice was heard from the side, crying out, "We do not understand," and another, "We do not wish to understand." Inquiry was made from whom those voices came, and it was found that they came from those who had confirmed themselves in falsities of faith, and who wished to be believed as oracles, and so to be worshiped.

The angels said, "Do not be surprised; there are many such at this day; to us from heaven they appear like sculptured images made with such skill that they can move the lips and make sounds like those of the vocal organs, but do not know whether the breath which the sound comes from is from hell or from heaven, because they do not know whether it is false or true. They reason and reason, and they confirm and confirm, and yet do not see whether anything is so or not. But know this, that human ingenuity can confirm whatever it will, even until it seems to be actually true; therefore heretics can do so, and impious persons; and atheists are more able to prove that there is no God, but nature only."

[13] After this the assembly of the English, inflamed with a desire to be wise, said to the angels, "They say so many different things about the holy supper, tell us what the truth is about it."

The angels replied, "The truth is, that the man who looks to the Lord and repents, is by that most holy ordinance conjoined with the Lord and introduced into heaven."

Those of the assembly said, "That is a mystery."

The angels replied, "It is a mystery, and yet such as may be understood. The bread and wine do not effect this; from these there is nothing holy; but material bread and spiritual bread, as also material wine and spiritual wine correspond to each other mutually, spiritual bread being the holy principle of love, and spiritual wine the holy principle of faith, both from the Lord, and both being the Lord. From this comes the conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord, not with the bread and wine, but with the love and faith of the man who has repented; and conjunction with the Lord is also introduction into heaven."

And after the angels had taught them something about correspondence, those of the assembly said, "Now for the first time we can understand this also." And when they had said this, behold, a flame with light descended from heaven and affiliated them with the angels, and they loved each other mutually.

TCR 622. Second Memorable Relation:-

All who have been prepared for heaven (which is done in the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell), when the time is completed wish for heaven with great longing; and soon their eyes are opened and they see a path leading to some society in heaven; they take this path and ascend and in the ascent there is a gate and a keeper there. He opens the gate, and they enter in through it.

Then an examiner meets them, who tells them from the president to enter still further and to look about and see whether there are houses anywhere which they recognize as their own, for there is a new house for every novitiate angel. If they find one they so report and remain there.

But if they do not find one they return and say that they have not seen any. And then an examination is made by a certain wise one there whether the light that is in them harmonizes with that in the society, and especially whether the heat does; for the light of heaven in its essence is Divine truth, and the heat of heaven in its essence is Divine good, both going forth from the Lord there as a sun. If there is in them a light and a heat different from the light and heat of that society, that is, a different kind of good and truth, they are not received. Therefore they leave that place, and through ways opened between the societies in heaven they pass on; and this they do until they find a society perfectly harmonious with their affections, and this becomes their abode forever. For they are then among their own, just as if among relatives and friends whom they love from the heart, because they are in like affections; and there they are in their life's happiness, and in the joy of their whole bosom from peace of mind, for in the light and heat of heaven there is ineffable delight, which is shared. Thus it happens with those who are becoming angels.

[2] And yet those who are in evils and falsities may ascend to heaven by permission; but when they enter they begin to catch their breath and to breathe with difficulty; and presently their sight grows dim, their understanding is darkened, they cease to think, a kind of oblivion hovers before their eyes, and so they stand like stocks. Then the heart begins to throb, the chest to be oppressed, the mind is seized with anguish, and their distress increases more and more; and in this state they writhe like serpents brought near a fire, so that they roll themselves away, and by a steep descent which then appears, they cast themselves down, and do not rest until they are in hell among their like, where they can draw breath and where their hearts beat freely. After this they hate heaven, reject truth, and in heart blaspheme the Lord, believing that their pains and torments in heaven were from Him.

[3] From these few things it can be seen what the lot is of those who have no regard for the truths of faith, which nevertheless constitute the light in which the angels of heaven are, and who have no regard for the goods of love and charity, which nevertheless constitute the heat of life in which the angels of heaven are; and it will also be seen therefrom, how greatly those err who believe that anyone may enjoy heavenly happiness if only he is admitted into heaven. For it is the belief of the present day, that to be received into heaven is a matter of mercy only and that a man's reception into heaven is like entering a house in the world where there is a wedding, and being admitted at once into its joys and festivities. But let it be understood that in the spiritual world there is a sharing of the love's affections and the thoughts arising from them, since man is then a spirit, and the life of the spirit is the love's affection and its thought; also that homogeneous affection conjoins while heterogeneous affection separates, and both to a devil in heaven and to an angel in hell heterogeneity is torture; and for this reason they are separated in strict accordance with the diversities, varieties, and differences of the affections pertaining to the love.

TCR 623. Third Memorable Relation:-

I was once permitted to see three hundred of the clergy and laity together, all learned and erudite in that they knew how to confirm faith alone even to justification thereby, and some still further. And because they were in the belief that heaven is a mere matter of admission from grace, they were given leave to ascend into a heavenly society, which however was not among the higher ones. And when they ascended they appeared at a distance like calves. When they entered heaven they were received by the angels civilly, but while they were talking a trembling seized them, afterward a horror, and finally torture like that of death; then they cast themselves down headlong, and in their fall they appeared like dead horses. In their ascent they had appeared like calves, because a vigorous natural affection for seeing and knowing appears, on account of its correspondence, like a calf; but in their fall thy appeared like dead horses because the understanding of truth appears, on account of its correspondence, like a horse, and a lack of understanding of truth pertaining to the church appears like a dead horse.

[2] There were boys below who saw them descending, and in their descent looking like dead horses; and they then turned their faces away and asked their teacher who was with them, "What monstrosity is this? We saw men, and now, instead of them we see dead horses; and not being able to look at them we turned away our faces. O Teacher, let us not stay in this place, let us go away." And they went away.

Then the teacher taught them on the way the meaning of a dead horse, saying, "A horse signifies the understanding of truth from the Word. This is the signification of all the horses you have seen; for when a man goes along meditating upon the Word, his meditation appears at a distance like a horse, noble and lively in proportion as he meditates spiritually, but on the other hand poor and lifeless as he meditates materially."

[3] Then the boys asked, "What is meditating spiritually and materially upon the Word?"

The teacher answered, "I will illustrate it by examples. When reading the Word in a reverent way, who does not think within himself about God, the neighbor and heaven? He who thinks of God from person only and not from essence thinks materially; and he who thinks of the neighbor from his outward form only, and not from quality, thinks materially; and he who thinks of heaven from place merely, and not from love and wisdom, from which heaven is heaven, also thinks materially."

[4] But the boys said, "We have thought of God from person, of the neighbor from form, that he is a man, and of heaven from place, that it is above us. Have we then when reading the Word appeared to anyone like dead horses?"

The teacher said, "No; you are still boys, and cannot think otherwise; but I have perceived in you an affection for knowing and understanding, and this being spiritual you have thought spiritually; for there is some spiritual thought latent within your material thought, although you are not aware of it. But I will return to what I said before, that he who thinks materially while reading the Word or meditating upon it, appears at a distance like a dead horse, while he who thinks spiritually appears like a living horse, and that he thinks materially of God who thinks of Him from person only and not from essence. For there are many attributes of the Divine Essence, as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, eternity, love, wisdom, mercy, grace, and others; and there are attributes that go forth from the Divine Essence, namely, creation, preservation, redemption and salvation, enlightenment and instruction. everyone who thinks of God from person makes three Gods, saying that the Creator and Preserver is one God, the Redeemer and Saviour another, and the Enlightener and Instructor a third; while everyone who thinks of God from essence makes one God, saying, `God created us, the same God redeemed and saves us, and He also enlightens and instructs.' This is why those who think of the trinity of God from person, thus materially, must needs, out of the ideas of their thought which is material, make three Gods out of one. Nevertheless, in opposition to their thought, they are compelled to say that there is a union of these three by means of the essence, because they have also thought of God from essence, although, as it were, through a lattice.

[5] "Therefore, my scholars, think of God from essence, and from essence of person. For to think of essence from person is to think of essence also materially; while to think from essence of person is to think of person also spiritually. Because the ancient heathen thought materially of God and therefore of the attributes of God, they not only made three gods but more, even as many as a hundred; for out of every attribute they made a god. You must understand that the material does not enter into the spiritual, but the spiritual enters into the material. It is the same with thought respecting the neighbor from the outward form and not from his quality; as also with thought about heaven from place, and not from love and wisdom, from which heaven exists. It is the same with each and all things in the Word; therefore he who cherishes a material idea of God, as also of the neighbor and heaven, can understand nothing in the Word; it is to him a dead letter, and when reading it or meditating upon it he appears at a distance like a dead horse.

[6] Those whom you saw descending from heaven, having become before your eyes like dead horses, were such as have closed up the rational sight in respect to the theological or spiritual matters of the church both in themselves and in others by their peculiar dogma that the understanding must be kept in obedience to their faith; not reflecting that an understanding closed up by religion is as blind as a mole, with nothing in it but thick darkness. And such darkness, in rejecting from itself all spiritual light, shuts out the influx of that light, from the Lord and heaven, and places before it a bar in the corporeal-sensual far beneath the rational in matters of faith, that is, it places it near the nose, and fixes it in its cartilage, so that afterward what is spiritual cannot even be smelled. Because of this some have become of such a nature that when they perceive the odor from spiritual things they fall into a swoon. By odor I mean perception. These are they who make God three. They say, indeed, that from essence God is one; and yet, when they pray according to their belief, which is, that God the Father will have mercy for the Son's sake and that He will send the Holy Spirit, they clearly make three Gods; and they cannot do otherwise; for they pray to one to be merciful for the sake of a second and to send a third."

Then their teacher taught them concerning the Lord that He is the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity.

TCR 624. Fourth Memorable Relation:-

Awaking from sleep at midnight, I saw at some height toward the east an angel holding in his right hand a paper which appeared of lustrous brightness in the sun's light, and in the center of it there was a writing in golden letters; and I saw written: The Marriage of Good and Truth. From the writing flashed a splendor which spread into a wide circle round about the paper; so that the circle or border appeared like the dawn of day in spring.

After this I saw the angel with the paper in his hand descending, and as he descended the paper appeared less and less bright, and the inscription, which was The Marriage of Good and Truth, was changed from a golden to a silver color, then to a copper color, then to an iron color, and finally to the color of copper and iron rust. At last the angel seemed to enter a dark mist and to pass through it to the earth; and there the paper, although still retained in his hand, was not visible. This was in the world of spirits where all men first assemble after death.

[2] The angel then spoke to me, saying: "Ask those who are coming here whether they see me or see anything in my hand."

A multitude came, one body from the east, one from the south, one from the west, and one from the north; and I asked those coming from the east and south, who were such as, while in the world, had been devoted to learning, whether they saw anyone there with me, or anything in his hand. They all said that they saw nothing whatever.

Then I asked those who came from the west and north, who were such as in the world had believed in the sayings of the learned; these said that they too did not see anything; although the last of them, who in the world had been in simple faith from charity or in some truth from good, said, after the former had gone away, that they saw a man with a paper, a man in graceful clothing, and a paper upon which letters were written; and when they brought their eyes close to it, they said that the inscription was, The Marriage of Good and Truth.

[3] These also spoke to the angel, and asked him to tell them what it was.

And the angel said, "All things in the whole heaven, and all things in the whole world, are by creation nothing but a marriage of good and truth, since each and all things, both the living and animate, and the lifeless and inanimate, are created from a marriage of good and truth and into that marriage. Nothing created into truth alone or into good alone is possible; either of these alone is nothing; but by means of that marriage the two exist and become a something, in quality in accord with the marriage. In the Lord God the Creator there is Divine good and Divine truth in their very substance. Divine good is the being (esse) of His substance, and Divine truth is the outgo (existere) of His substance, and they are also in their very oneness, for in Him they make one infinitely. As these two are one in God the Creator Himself, they are also one in each and all things created by Him; and by means of this the Creator is conjoined in an eternal covenant like that of marriage with all things created from Himself."

[4] The angel said further, that the Sacred Scripture, which was dictated by the Lord, is in the whole and in every part a marriage of good and truth (n. 248-253); and because the church, which is formed by truths of doctrine, and religion, which is formed by goods of life according to truths of doctrine, are, with Christians, solely from the Sacred Scripture, it is evident that the church also, in general and in particular, is a marriage of good and truth. And what has been said of the marriage of good and truth can he said also of The Marriage of Charity and Faith, since good belongs to charity, and truth to faith.

When this had been said the angel raised himself up from the earth, and passing through the mist, he ascended into heaven; and then the paper, according as he ascended, shone as before; and lo, that circle which before appeared like the day-dawn, settled down and dispelled the mist which had brought darkness upon the earth, and it became sunny.

TCR 625. Fifth Memorable Relation:-

Once when I was meditating about the Lord's second coming, there suddenly appeared a flash of light which forcibly struck my eyes; and I therefore looked up, and lo, the whole heaven above me appeared luminous, and there from the east to the west in a continuous strain a Glorification was heard; and an angel stood near who said, "That is a glorification of the Lord on account of His coming. It comes from the angels of the eastern and western heavens."

From the southern and northern heavens only a gentle murmur was heard.

And because all this was heard by the angel, he first said to me that these glorifications and celebrations of the Lord are made from the Word. Presently he said, "Now they are glorifying and celebrating the Lord especially by these words, which are spoken in the prophecy of Daniel:--

[2] After this I heard the sound of singing, and more deeply in the east I saw a flashing of light more brilliant than the former; and I asked the angel what the glorification there was.

He said it was in these words in Daniel:--

Beside this they were celebrating the Lord from these words in the Apocalypse:--

[3] I looked again into the eastern heaven, and it lighted up from the right side, the illumination extended to the southern expanse, and I heard a sweet sound, and asked the angel what it was pertaining to the Lord that they were glorifying there; and he said that it was in these words in the Apocalypse:--

Also in these words:--

[4] After this and more, a general glorification from the east to the west of heaven, and also from south to north was heard; and I asked the angel, "What now?" He said, "The following from the prophets":--

Hearing and understanding these things my heart greatly rejoiced, and I went home joyfully, and here I returned from the spiritual to the bodily state, in which I wrote out all this that I had seen and heard.