5. 3. There is some image of this unity in everything that has been created. We can tell from what is presented throughout Divine Love and Wisdom that in everything created there is some image of the divine love and wisdom that are a whole in the Lord and that emanate from him as a whole. See especially Divine Love and Wisdom 47-51, 54-60 [Divine Love and Wisdom 55-60], Divine Love and Wisdom 282-284, 290-295, 316-318 [Divine Love and Wisdom 313-318], Divine Love and Wisdom 319-326, 349-357. I have explained in these passages that Divinity is present in everything that has been created because God the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity, brought forth the sun of the spiritual world from his actual self, and by means of that sun brought forth the whole universe. This means that that sun, which is from the Lord and is where the Lord is, is not only the first but the only substance of which everything is made. Since it is the only substance, it follows that it is present in everything that has been created, but with infinite variety depending on function.

[2] In the Lord, then, there is divine love and wisdom; in the sun that comes from him there is divine fire and divine radiance; and from that sun come spiritual warmth and spiritual light, with the two making a single whole. It follows, then, that some image of this whole is present in everything that has been created.

This is why everything in the universe is based on what is good and what is true and in fact on their union, or (which amounts to the same thing) everything in the universe is based on love and wisdom and on their union, since goodness is a matter of love and truth is a matter of wisdom. Love in fact calls everything of its own good, and wisdom calls everything of its own true.

We will see now that this union is present in everything that has been created.

319. That the heathen equally with Christians are saved any one can see who knows what it is that makes heaven in man; for heaven is within man, and those that have heaven within them come into heaven. Heaven with man is acknowledging the Divine and being led by the Divine. The first and chief thing of every religion is to acknowledge the Divine. A religion that does not acknowledge the Divine is no religion. The precepts of every religion look to worship; thus to the way in which the Divine is to be worshiped that the worship may be acceptable to Him; and when this has been settled in one's mind, that is, so far as one wills this or so far as he loves it, he is led by the Lord. Everyone knows that the heathen as well as Christians live a moral life, and many of them a better life than Christians. Moral life may be lived either out of regard to the Divine or out of regard to men in the world; and a moral life that is lived out of regard to the Divine is a spiritual life. In outward form the two appear alike, but in inward form they are wholly different; the one saves man, the other does not. For he who lives a moral life out of regard to the Divine is led by the Divine; while he who leads a moral life out of regard to men in the world is led by himself.

[2] But this may be illustrated by an example. He that refrains from doing evil to his neighbor because it is antagonistic to religion, that is, antagonistic to the Divine, refrains from doing evil from a spiritual motive; but he that refrains from doing evil to another merely from fear of the law, or the loss of reputation, of honor, or gain, that is, from regard to self and the world, refrains from doing evil from a natural motive, and is led by himself. The life of the latter is natural, that of the former is spiritual. A man whose moral life is spiritual has heaven within him; but he whose moral life is merely natural does not have heaven within him; and for the reason that heaven flows in from above and opens man's interiors, and through his interiors flows into his exteriors; while the world flows in from beneath and opens the exteriors but not the interiors. For there can be no flowing in from the natural world into the spiritual, but only from the spiritual world into the natural; therefore if heaven is not also received, the interiors remain closed. All this makes clear who those are that receive heaven within them, and who do not.

[3] And yet heaven is not the same in one as in another. It differs in each one in accordance with his affection for good and its truth. Those that are in an affection for good out of regard to the Divine, love Divine truth, since good and truth love each other and desire to be conjoined. ¹ This explains why the heathen, although they are not in genuine truths in the world, yet because of their love receive truths in the other life.

Footnotes:

4368. 'If now I have found favour in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand' means the reciprocation of that affection, in order that it might be instilled. This is clear from what comes both before and after, for the subject is the joining together of good and truths within the natural and so the instilling of affection from good into truth. As shown above in 4366, this is the reason why the refusal of the gift sent from Jacob has the meaning it does, namely that an affection might be instilled into truth, and in 4367 why the immediately previous exclamation 'No, I beg of you' means the birth of that affection. Consequently these words 'If now I have found favour in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand' means a reciprocation of that affection, in order that it might be instilled; for Jacob says this from a desire for what is good, that is, from affection. Hence also the reference further on to his urging him.

[2] The reciprocation of that affection which is instilled by the good, meant by 'Esau', into the truth, meant by 'Jacob', is used to mean the affection for truth. For two affections that are heavenly exist - the affection for good and the affection for truth. These have been the subject several times already. The affection for truth has no other origin than good, the affection coming from there also; for by itself truth has no life but acquires it from good. Consequently when someone feels an affection for truth that affection does not originate in the truth but in the good which flows into the truth and creates the affection itself. This is what is meant at this point by the reciprocation of that affection in order that it might be instilled. It is well known that there are many within the Church who feel an affection for the Word of the Lord and put a lot of effort into reading it; but those whose end in view is to learn about what is true are only a few. The majority cling to their own dogmas, and are anxious only to confirm these from the Word. These people seem to be moved by an affection for truth, but they are not. The affection for truth exists solely with those who love to learn about truths, that is, to know what is true, and who search the Scriptures with that end in view. Nobody is moved by this affection except one who is governed by good, that is, one who is governed by charity towards the neighbour, and more so who is governed by love to the Lord. With people of this kind good itself flows into truth and creates the affection, for the Lord is present within that good.

[3] This can be illustrated by the following examples: Take those who are governed by the good of genuine charity and who read the following words which the Lord addressed to Peter,

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:15-19.

These people - that is to say, those who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity - like to be told what these words were really used to mean. When they hear that 'the rock' referred to here, on which 'the Church will be built', means faith rooted in charity, and that 'Peter' therefore has that meaning; and when they hear that the keys for opening and closing heaven are given to that faith, see Preface to Chapter 22 of Genesis, they are delighted and are stirred with affection for that truth, because it is in that case the Lord alone, the Source of faith, who possesses that power. But people who are not moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity but by an affection for truth originating in some other kind of good, and more so if it originates in self-love and love of the world, are not stirred by any affection for that truth, but become depressed and also angry since they wish to lay claim to that power as a priestly one. They are angry because they are deprived of the power to control, and depressed because they are deprived of other people's deference to them.

[4] Take another example. If people who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of charity hear that charity makes the Church, and not faith separated from charity, they accept that truth joyfully, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world do not accept it. Furthermore when those who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of charity hear that love towards the neighbour does not begin in themselves but in the Lord they are delighted, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world do not accept that truth but fiercely defend the idea that love begins in themselves. Consequently they do not know what loving the neighbour as themselves really is. When people who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity hear that heavenly blessedness consists in doing good to others out of a desire to do it, with no selfish end in view, they are delighted, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world, want none of this; nor can they even understand what it is.

[5] When people who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity learn that the works of the external man are nothing if they do not proceed from the internal man, and so from the desire to do what is good, they accept it joyfully, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world applaud the works of the external man but show no interest in the desire to do good present in the internal man. Nor indeed are they even aware that this desire, if present in the internal man, remains after death and that when the works performed by the external man have no connection with the internal man they are dead and come to nothing.

The same may be seen in every other example that might be mentioned. The examples that have been given show that the truths of faith cannot possibly be joined to anyone if he is not governed by the good of genuine charity, and so cannot be joined to anything other than good. They show also that all genuine affection for truth originates in that good. Anyone can see a confirmation of this from his daily experience - when he sees that people moved by evil have no real belief, unlike those moved by good. From this it is quite evident that the truth of faith is joined to good and never to evil.