9188. 'A sorceress' means those with whom something of the Church has been joined to falsities arising from the evil of self-love. This is clear from the meaning of 'sorceries' as falsities arising from the evil of self-love which have been joined to such things as belong to the Church. There are two things that compose heaven and so compose spiritual life with a person - the truth of faith in the Lord and the good of love to Him. And there are two things that compose hell and so compose spiritual death with a person - the falsity of faith and the evil of self-love. The second two have been joined together with those in hell and constitute the hellish marriage, whereas the first two are joined together with those in heaven and constitute the heavenly marriage. So far as possible the Lord withholds a person from joining truth and good to falsity and evil, since such a joining together is profanation. Even so, a large number of those who belong to the Church cannot be withheld, the reason for this being that from the time they were young children they have absorbed from the Word and from teachings drawn from the Word such things as belong to the Church. Some of these people have embraced them and made them matters of their own faith; and then having reached adult life when they start to think for themselves and not rely on others as they had done previously, they have set no value on those things which have become matters of their faith and instead of them have seized on and also embraced falsities. These are the ones who have within themselves joined truths to falsities; for once truths have become matters of faith they remain and cannot be rooted out, and after that falsities which become matters of faith join themselves to those truths.
[2] This joining together is what is meant in the internal sense by 'sorceries'. The reason why those falsities are falsities arising from the evil of self-love is that all evil wells up chiefly from that love; and when evil wells up, so too does falsity since they cling to each other. From this it is evident that no spiritual life exists with such people because it has been destroyed by falsities arising from evil. To the extent that they have joined those falsities to truths these people have wiped out the spiritual life they have within themselves. And since they have thus become dead instead of living it says 'you shall not keep them alive'.
[3] The fact that this kind of joining together is meant in the Word by 'sorceries' is evident in Isaiah,
You said, 1
A widow I shall not sit, nor shall I know loss of children. But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day - loss of children and widowhood - on account of the multitude of your sorceries, on account of the extremely great abundance of your magic. You have trusted in your wickedness; you have said, No one sees me. Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, when you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else like me. Therefore evil will come upon you, which you will not know how to ward off, and calamity will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate. Devastation will come upon you suddenly, [which] you will not know. Persist now in your magic, and in the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have laboured from your youth. You are wearied with the multitude of your counsels. Let those who search the sky, those who gaze at the stars, and those who know about new moons now stand up and save you from those things that will come upon you. Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame. 2
Isaiah 47:8-14.
[4] 'Sorcerers' are people who join falsities arising from the evil of self-love to the truths of faith, and in so doing perish. This is evident from the details of these verses when seen in the internal sense; for such people are described there. The annihilation of their spiritual life is described by 'widowhood and loss of children', 'widowhood' being the deprivation of truth and of the good resulting from it, and 'loss of children' being the deprivation of truth and good. The origin of falsity - that it arises from the evil of self-love - is described by the following words, 'Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, when you said in your heart, I am, and there is no one else like me'. And the evil itself of self-love is described by 'Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame', 'the fire' and 'the flame' being self-love. The fact that spiritual life has been completely annihilated is described by 'Evil will come upon you, which you will not be able to ward off, and calamity will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate'. They are called 'those who search the sky, those who gaze at the stars, and those who know about new moons' because they are interested in external things and not in anything internal. Such people see things from the external man's point of view and nothing from the internal man's; thus they see things in inferior, natural light and nothing in superior, spiritual light. For 'the sky', 'the stars', and 'new moons' in the internal sense mean religious and factual knowledge, in this instance when seen from a worldly and not a heavenly point of view.
[5] The fact that 'sorceries' means this kind of falsities is also evident in Micah,
I will cut off the cities of your land and pull down all your fortifications; I will cut off sorceries from your hand, and you will have no soothsayers. Micah 5:11-12.
'The cities of your land' are the false teachings of their Church, which are called 'sorceries' because they destroy the truths of faith. In Nahum,
... because of the multitude of the acts of whoredom of a harlot with goodly grace, 3
the mistress of sorceries, the seller of nations in her acts of whoredom, and of families in her sorceries. Nahum 3:4.
'The acts of whoredom' are perversions of truth, 'sorceries' falsities resulting from them. Similarly in the second Book of Kings,
Jehoram said to Jehu, Is all well, 4
Jehu? And he said, All well? 5
when the harlotries of Jezebel your mother, and her many sorceries are still with us! 2 Kings 9:22.
[6] People are sorcerers when they rely on their own ideas to teach them, and when they trust themselves alone to such an extent that they love themselves and wish to be worshipped as deities. This is also evident from places which openly refer to the Coming of the Lord, who will teach them and cast out sorcerers. For anyone who is going to learn about the truths and forms of the good of faith must rely on the Lord to teach him and not at all on his own ideas. This is why the following is stated in Malachi,
Behold, I am sending My angel, who will prepare the way before me. And suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you seek, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. And I will draw near to you to judgement; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against adulterers, and against those who swear falsely. Malachi 3:1, 4, 5.
'The sorcerers' stands for those who rely on their own ideas to teach them and in so doing destroy truths received from the Lord. 'Adulterers' stands for those who destroy forms of good, and 'those who swear falsely' for those who corroborate falsities. The fact that the Lord is the one who will cast them out is self-evident, for it says that 'there will come to His temple the Lord, and the angel of the covenant'.
[7] Also in Moses,
When you come to the land which Jehovah [your] God will give you, there shall not be found among you anyone who makes [his] son or his daughter pass through the fire, practises divination, or enquires of the hells, or is a foreteller of the future, or is a sorcerer, or is an enchanter, or enquires of a familiar spirit, or is a soothsayer, or is one who seeks the dead. For everyone doing these things is an abomination to Jehovah; and because of these abominations Jehovah your God is driving them out before you. Jehovah your God will raise up for you from the midst of you, from your brothers, a Prophet like me; Him you shall obey. Jehovah said in Horeb, I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from the midst of their brothers; and I will put My words in His mouth, that He may speak to them all that I command Him. Therefore it will happen, that a man who does not obey My words which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. Deuteronomy 18:9-19.
[8] 'Practisers of divination', 'foretellers of the future', 'sorcerers', and all the others mentioned here, mean in the internal sense those who destroy the Church's truths and forms of good by a wrong use of factual knowledge (that is, who do so by relying on their own intelligence) and who destroy them by falsities arising from the evils of self-love and love of the world (that is, who are moved to learn and teach by a desire for gain and important positions, not by any affection for the truth of faith or for goodness of life). And since all falsities contained in religious teachings and all evils of life are the outcome of this, these verses speak of a Prophet who is going to come and teach them. The Church knows that this Prophet is the Lord, and Jews and gentiles at that time knew it too, as is evident in Matthew 21:11; Luke 1:76; 7:16; 13:33; Mark 6:4. People are taught by the Lord when they read the Word not for any selfish or worldly reason but for goodness and truth's own sake; for they are enlightened then. But when they read it for a selfish or worldly reason they are blind. 'A prophet' means one who teaches, and in the abstract sense withdrawn from ideas of persons means doctrinal teachings, 2534, 7269, thus the Lord in respect of the Word or Divine Truth.
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