1152. And wine and oil signifies profaned worship from truths and goods that are from a celestial origin. This is evident from the signification of "wine," as being truth (of which presently); also from the signification of "oil," as being good from a celestial origin (See n. 375). "Wine" signifies truth from a celestial origin because it is here joined with "oil" which means good from that origin. For in this verse, as in the former, there are pairs, of which one signifies what belongs to truth, and the other what belongs to good, both from the same origin; and from this it follows that "wine" signifies truth from a celestial origin, because "oil" signifies good from that origin. That "wine" in the Word signifies truth or spiritual good may be seen above (n. 376); for truth from a celestial origin coincides with spiritual good. It is the same with oil; when the oil of holy anointing is meant, "oil" signifies the good of celestial love, but when the oil with which they anointed themselves on festal days is meant, it signifies the good of spiritual love.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] It has been said above that it is a law of the Divine providence that man himself should compel himself; but this means that he should compel himself from evil, and does not mean that he should compel himself to good; for it is possible for man to compel himself from evil, but not to compel himself to good that in itself is good. For when a man compels himself to good and has not compelled himself from evil he does good from himself and not from the Lord, for he compels himself to it for the sake of self, or for the sake of the world, or for the sake of recompense, or from fear; and such good is not in itself good, because the man himself or the world or recompense is in it as its end, and not the good itself, thus neither the Lord; and it is love and not fear that makes good to be good. For example, to compel oneself to do good to one's neighbor, to give to the poor, to endow churches, to do what is righteous, thus to compel oneself to charity and truth before compelling oneself from evils and thereby removing them, would be like a palliative treatment by which the disease or ulcer is healed externally; or like an adulterer compelling himself to act chastely, or a proud man to act humbly, or a dishonest man to act honestly in external conduct.

[3] But when a man compels himself from evils he purifies his internal, and when that is purified he does good from freedom without compelling himself to do it; for so far as a man compels himself from evil so far he comes into heavenly freedom, and everything good that is in itself good is from that freedom, and to such good man does not compel himself. The appearance is that compelling oneself from evil and compelling oneself to good necessarily go together, but they do not. I know from the evidence of experience of many who have compelled themselves to do goods, but not from evils; and when such were explored it was found that evils from within clung to the goods, and in consequence their goods were like idols or images made of clay or dung; and it was said that such persons believe that God may be gained over by praise and gifts, even from an impure heart. Nevertheless, before the world a man may compel himself to goods without compelling himself from evil, since in the world he is rewarded for so doing; for in the world the external is regarded and rarely the internal; but before God it is not so.

70. There are many reasons why such communities, or such heavens, were tolerated. The chief is that by means of outward holiness and outward honesty and fairness they were linked with the simple good people in the lowest heaven, and with those who were still in the world of spirits and not yet admitted to heaven. In the spiritual world all are in touch with and so linked with similar spirits. The simple good people in the lowest heaven and those in the world of spirits pay attention mainly to externals, yet without being inwardly wicked. If therefore they were torn apart before the appointed time, heaven would suffer at its lowest level; yet the lowest level is the basis on which the higher levels of heaven rest.

[2] The Lord teaches in this passage that this was why they were tolerated until the final period:

The servants of the head of the household came to him and said, Was it not good seed you sowed in your field? Where then do the weeds come from? And they said, Do you want us then to go and gather them? But he said, No, for fear that in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat together with them. So let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I shall say to the reapers, Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into the barns. He who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed is the children of the kingdom, the weeds the children of evil; the harvest is the ending of the age. As therefore the weeds are gathered and burnt with fire, so shall it be at the ending of this age. Matthew 13:27-30, 37-42.

The ending of this age is the final period of the church; the weeds are those who are inwardly wicked; the wheat those who are inwardly good; their gathering and tying in bundles for burning is the Last Judgment. ¹

[3] A similar meaning is conveyed by the Lord's parable in the same chapter about the gathering of fish of every kind, when the good were put into vessels and the bad thrown out; of these too it is said:

So shall it be at the ending of the age; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous. Matthew 13:47-49.

They are compared to fish, because in the spiritual sense of the Word fish mean those who are natural and external, good as well as wicked; on the meaning of the righteous see at the end of the chapter. ²

Poznámky pod čarou: