From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9055

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

9055. 'Burning for burning' means if anything of love and affection present in the inward part of the will [is injured]. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning' as injuring or wiping out the good of love. The reason for saying 'in the will' is that the good of love belongs to the will, whereas the truth of faith belongs to the understanding, 9050, 9051. And the reason for saying 'the inward part' of the will is that 'wound', dealt with below, means an injuring or the wiping out of an aspect of love present in the outward part of the will. Here, as in the previous paragraphs, injuries done both in the internal man and in the external man are dealt with. For injuring the inner part of the understanding is meant by 'eye' and injuring the outer part by 'tooth', and injuring the power of truth in the internal man is meant by 'hand' and injuring the power in the external man by 'foot', as has been shown; thus injuring the will in the internal man is meant by 'burning' and injuring the will in the external man by 'wound'.

[2] A person has inward and outward parts of his will, just as he has inward and outward parts of his understanding, which are dealt with in 9050, 9051. The inward part of his will resides where the inward part of his understanding resides, and the outward part of his will resides where the outward part of his understanding resides. They must be joined together; for where truth resides, so does good, and where good resides, so does truth. Truth without good is not truth, and good without truth is not good. For good is the essential being (esse) of truth, and truth is the manifestation (existere) of good; and the situation with a person's understanding and his will is the same, in that the understanding is dedicated to receiving truth and the will to receiving good. From this it is evident that when a person is being regenerated the Lord gives him a new understanding through the truths of faith, and a new will through the good of charity, and that both must be present and also joined together if the person is to be regenerate.

[3] The reason why 'burning' means injuring the good of love is that love is meant by 'fire', 934, 2446, 4906, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324 (end), 7575, 7852; and what injures the good of love is evil desire blazing up from self-love. For this desire is called 'burning', 1297, 5215. Evil desire is also meant by 'branding' in Isaiah,

Instead of fragrance there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair, baldness, and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth, branding instead of beauty. Isaiah 3:24.

This refers to 'the daughter of Zion', by which the celestial Church, that is, the Church governed by love to the Lord, is meant, 2362, 6729. 'Branding' here is evil desire stemming from self-love.

[4] Anyone who does not know that there is an internal sense in the Word thinks that the proud adornments worn by the daughters of Zion as described in verses 16-24 of that chapter mean such adornments, and that because of such things among the daughters of Zion the Jewish and Israelite people were to be punished and - as said in verses 25, 26 - to fall by the sword. But the reality is altogether different from this. The spiritual and celestial beauties of the Church are what are meant by those adornments. It becomes clear to anyone who reads the Word that 'the daughter of Zion' is not used in the Word to mean the daughter of Zion, provided that he turns to and considers those places in the Prophets where Zion and the daughter of Zion are mentioned. From these he will see that the daughter of Zion is the Church.

  
/ 10837  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #179

Study this Passage

  
/ 603  
  

179. Because angels' clothes correspond to their intelligence they also correspond to what is true, since all intelligence comes from divine truth. So it amounts to the same thing whether you say that angels are dressed according to their intelligence or according to divine truth. The reason the garments of some angels gleam as though aflame, while the garments of others shine as though alight, is that flame corresponds to what is good, and light to what is true because of that good. 1 The reason some garments are pure white and soft white and do not shine, while others are of various colors, is that divine good and truth are less dazzling and are also differently accepted among less intelligent people. 2 Pure white and soft white correspond to what is true, 3 and colors correspond to different shadings of truth. The reason angels in the inmost heaven are naked is that they are in innocence, and innocence corresponds to nudity. 5

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] Garments in the Word mean truths by reason of correspondence: 1073, 2576, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536; because truths clothe what is good: 5248. A veil means something of intellect, since discernment is the vessel of what is true: 6378. White garments of linen mean truths from the Divine: 5319, 9469. Flame means spiritual good, and the light from it means truth from that good: 3222, 6832.

2. [Swedenborg's footnote] Angels and spirits are seen wearing clothes that accord with their truths and therefore with their intelligence: 165, 5248, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9814, 9952, 10536. Some garments of angels are radiant, and some are not: 5248.

3. [Swedenborg's footnote] Pure white and soft white in the Word mean what is true, because they come from light in heaven: 3301, 3993, 4001 [4007?].

1042-1043, 1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4742, 4922. Colors mean various things that are matters of intelligence and wisdom: 4530, 4922, 4677, 9466. The precious stones in the Urim and Thummim, depending on their colors, meant all the truths in the heavens that stem from what is good: 9865, 9868, 9905. To the extent that colors are derived from red, they mean what is good; while to the extent that they are derived from white, they mean what is true: 9476.

5. [Swedenborg's footnote] All the people in the inmost heaven are innocent, and therefore seem to be naked: 154, 165, 297, 2736, 3887, 8375, 9960. Innocence is manifested in heaven as nudity: 165, 8375, 9960. For innocent and chaste people, nudity is not a matter of shame because there is no occasion for offense: 165, 213, 8375.

  
/ 603  
  

Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.