9817. 'And you shall speak to all the wise at heart' means an influx from the Lord through the Word into all who are governed by the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx, dealt with in 2951, 5481, 5743, 5797, 7270; and from the meaning of 'the wise at heart' as those who are governed by the good of love, dealt with below. The reason why influx from the Lord through the Word is meant is that for members of the Church the main channel by which the Lord flows in is the Word. This is so because the nature of the Word is such that all things without exception there correspond to the Divine spiritual and Divine celestial realities that exist in the heavens; and as a result of this a person shares affections and thoughts with angels, in so complete a manner that he and they are seemingly one. So it is that the world has been joined to heaven through the Word, but only among those who are governed by the good of faith and love. From all this it becomes clear that for members of the Church the Lord flows in through the Word; for the Lord is the all in the heavens, since what is Divine and emanates from the Lord, and is received by angels, composes heaven.

[2] The reason why 'the wise at heart' means those who are governed by the good of love is that the presence of wisdom in a person is attributable to the life of heaven in him, also that 'heart' means the good of love. In the Word 'spirit' and 'heart' are expressions that have regard to the life of heaven present with a person, 'spirit' being used to mean that life in the understanding part of the person's mind and 'heart' that life in the will part. To the understanding part belongs truth, but to the will part belongs good; the former has to do with faith, but the latter with love. For the understanding receives truths that constitute faith, and the will forms of good that are aspects of love. From this it is evident that by 'the wise at heart' those governed by the good of love received from the Lord are meant. The good of love is celestial good, through which spiritual good comes into being; and spiritual good is that which covers celestial good, like garments the body. And since Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, and the former comes into being through the latter, the present verse goes on to say that 'the wise at heart', that is, those governed by the good of love received from the Lord, should make the garments for Aaron and his sons. As regards 'heart', that it means the good of love or celestial good, see 3635, 3880, 3883-3896, 9050; and that it therefore means the will, 2930, 3888, 7542, 8910, 9113, 9300, 9495.

8944. In the world it is thought that the human being can recognize from the light of natural evidence alone, that is, without revelation, most of what religion involves, such as the beliefs that there is a God, that He is to be worshipped, and also that He is to be loved, and in addition that a person will be alive after death. and many other beliefs dependent on these. However, those beliefs are the products of self-intelligence. Much experience has taught me that of himself a person knows nothing whatever about Divine realities, or about things belonging to celestial and spiritual life; without revelation he knows nothing about them. For a person is born into the evils of self-love and love of the world, and the nature of these is such that they seal off influx from the heavens and let through influx from the hells. This being so, they blind a person and place him in a negative frame of mind about the reality of the Divine, of heaven and hell, and of life after death. This is plainly evident from the learned people of the world, who through study of different branches of knowledge have developed the inferior light of this natural evidence of theirs to a higher degree than others. As is well known, these more than others deny the Divine, acknowledging natural forces instead. Also, when they speak from what is in their heart and not just from doctrine they deny life after death, also heaven and hell, consequently all things that are matters of faith, which they call bonds for the common people. This makes plain what light received from natural evidence without revelation is like. I have also been shown that in the next life many of those who have written books about natural theology, and from the inferior light of their natural evidence have skillfully substantiated the teachings of their Church, deny those same things at heart more than any others, and also deny the Word itself, which they try to destroy completely. For in the next life people's hearts speak. I have also been shown that those same people are unable to receive anything of the influx from heaven, only that from the hells. All this makes plain what light received from natural evidence, without revelation, is like, and therefore what anything that is a product of self-intelligence is like.

[2] But there are two phenomena that might have placed the mind in doubt so far as this matter is concerned. The first is that people in ancient times who were gentiles nevertheless knew that there is a God, that He is to be worshipped, and that a person as to his soul is immortal. The second is that those things are also known by a large number of nations at the present day among whom no revelation exists. But in the case of the ancients, they did not know those things from the inferior light they received from natural evidence but from revelation that spread from the Church even to them. For the Lord's Church had existed since most ancient times in the land of Canaan, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6516. From there such things as belonged to the worship of God spread to the nations round about and also to the neighbouring Greeks, and from the Greeks to the Italians or Romans. From the Church all these nations received the things they knew about a supreme deity, and about the immortality of the soul, which their learned men wrote about.

[3] As regards the nations at the present day who also know of God's existence and of life after death, they have not come to possess that knowledge from the inferior light they receive from natural evidence. They possess it from their religion which has come down to them from ancient times and which was founded on such things as had spread in various ways from the Church, where revelation existed. This happened in the Lord's Divine Providence. Furthermore those among them who from their religion acknowledge God above all things, and from their religion do what charity requires them to do for their neighbour, on receiving instruction in the next life accept the truths of faith and are saved, 258-2604.