4464. Nevertheless in this will we consent to you, if ye be as we. That this signifies accession to their religiosity, is evident from the signification of “consenting,” as being accession; and from the signification of “to be as they,” as being that they should be in external things only and not in internal things, for then they would be like them (see just above, n. 4459, where it is shown what it is to be in external things alone, and what it is to be in internal things). It is necessary to state here why man ought to be in internal things. Everyone who reflects is able to know that it is by means of internal things that man has communication with heaven, for the whole heaven is in internal things, and unless a man is in heaven in respect to his thoughts and affections, that is, in respect to the things of his understanding and of his will, he cannot go to heaven after death, because he has no communication with it. This communication is acquired by a man during his bodily life by means of truths that belong to his understanding and goods that belong to his will, and unless he acquires it then he cannot do so afterwards, because after death his mind cannot be opened toward interior things unless it has been opened during the life of the body.

[2] A man is not aware that he is encompassed with a certain spiritual sphere that is in accordance with the life of his affections, and that to the angels this sphere is more perceptible than is the sphere of an odor to the finest sense on earth. If a man’s life has been passed in mere external things, that is to say in the pleasures that come from hatred against his neighbor, from the consequent revenge and cruelty, from adulteries, from the exaltation of self and the attendant contempt for others, from clandestine robberies, from avarice, from deceit, from luxury, and from other like evils, then the spiritual sphere which encompasses him is as foul as is in this world the sphere of the odor from carcasses, dung, stinking garbage, and the like. The man who has lived such a life carries with him after death this foul sphere, and as he is wholly in it he must needs be in hell, the place of spheres of this character. (Concerning the spheres in the other life, and whence they are, see n. 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2401, 2489)

[3] But those who are in internal things, that is to say those who have felt delight in benevolence and charity toward the neighbor, and above all those who have felt blessedness in love to the Lord, are encompassed with a grateful and pleasant sphere which is the heavenly sphere itself, and therefore they are in heaven. All the spheres which are perceived in the other life originate from the loves and the derivative affections in which the men have been, consequently from their life, for the loves and derivative affections make the life itself; and as the spheres in question originate from the loves and their derivative affections, they originate from the intentions and ends for the sake of which the man so wills and acts, for everyone has for his end that which he loves, and therefore a man’s ends determine his life and constitute its quality, and this is the main source of his sphere. This sphere is most exquisitely perceived in heaven, because the universal heaven is in the sphere of ends. We can now see of what quality is the man who is in internal things, and also of what quality is he who is in external things, and also the reason why it is necessary to be in internal things and not in external things only.

[4] But these are matters of perfect indifference to the man who is in external things only, no matter how clever he may be as regards the things of civil life, or what may be the reputation for learning he has acquired on account of what he knows, for he is the kind of man who believes in nothing that he cannot see with his eyes and feel with his touch, consequently not in heaven or hell; and if he were told that he will enter the other life immediately after death, and will then see, hear, speak, and enjoy the sense of touch more perfectly than in the body, he would reject the statement as a paradox or fancy, although such is actually the case; and it would be the same if he were told that the soul or spirit which lives after death is the man himself, and not so the body which he carries about in the world.

[5] It follows from this that they who are in external things alone care nothing for what is said of internal things, although it is these which make men blessed and happy in the kingdom into which they are about to come, and in which they will live to eternity. Most Christians are in such unbelief, as I am permitted to know from those who have come from the Christian world into the other life, and with whom I have spoken; for in the other life they cannot conceal what they have thought, because the thoughts there show themselves openly; nor can they conceal what they have had as their ends, that is, what they have loved, because this manifests itself by their sphere.

4462. To give our sister to a man that hath a foreskin. That this signifies unless they made the truth and good of the church to consist in representatives, and would recede from the things which these signify, is evident from the signification of the “foreskin,” as being an external representative-a sign that they were of the church; and therefore it was usual to speak of circumcision and the foreskin when a distinction was to be made between those who were of the church and those who were not. For “circumcision” signifies recession from filthy loves, namely, from the love of self and of the world, and accession to heavenly loves, which are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, thus accession to the church. Hence it is that by these words is signified accession to their religiosity, and consequently that like them they should make the truth and good of the church consist in representatives by receding from the internal things which are signified, for otherwise they would not be like them, according to the words that follow: “In this will we consent to you, if ye be as we.” (That circumcision is a sign of purification from filthy loves, see n. 2039, 2632; and that they who are in these loves were called “uncircumcised,” n. 2049, 3412, 3413.)

[2] Scarcely anyone at this day knows what is the specific signification of circumcision, and therefore this must be told. The genitals in both sexes signify the things which belong to the conjunction of good and truth; nor do they merely signify these things, but also actually correspond to them. It has been shown at the end of the chapters that all man’s organs and members have a correspondence with spiritual things in heaven, and consequently so have the organs and members allotted to generation. These correspond to the marriage of good and truth; and from this marriage descends conjugial love (see n. 2618, 2727-2729, 2803, 3132, 4434). As the foreskin covers the genital, in the Most Ancient Church it corresponded to the obscuration of good and truth, but in the Ancient Church to their defilement. For with the man of the Most Ancient Church, who was an internal man, good and truth could be obscured but not defiled; whereas with the man of the Ancient Church, being a comparatively external man, good and truth could be defiled, because it is external things—that is, external loves—which defile. For this reason they who were of the Most Ancient Church knew nothing of circumcision, but only they who were of the Ancient Church.

[3] From this church circumcision spread to many nations; and it was not enjoined upon Abraham and his descendants as anything new, but merely as a discontinued rite that was to be restored; and it became to his posterity a sign that they were of the church. But that nation neither knew nor desired to know what this rite signified, for they made their religiosity consist in mere representatives, which are external matters, and therefore they included all the uncircumcised in one general condemnation, although circumcision was only a sign representative of purification from the love of self and of the world. Those who are purified from this love are the spiritually circumcised, and are said to be “circumcised in heart,” as in Moses:

Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God in all thy heart, and in all thy soul (Deuteronomy 30:6).

In the same:

Ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and shall no longer harden your neck (Deuteronomy 10:16).

And in Jeremiah:

Break up your fallow ground, and take away the foreskin of your heart (Jeremiah 4:3-4).

[4] But they who are in the loves of self and of the world are called “the uncircumcised,” in spite of the fact that they had been circumcised; as in Jeremiah:

Behold the days come in which I will visit upon everyone that is circumcised in the foreskin, upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that are cut off at the corner, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart (Jeremiah 9:25-26);

this passage shows that many other nations were circumcised, for it is said, “I will visit upon everyone that is circumcised in the foreskin,” so that as already stated this was not a new rite, or restricted to the descendants of Jacob as a mark of distinction. The Philistines were not circumcised, and therefore it is they who are usually meant by “the uncircumcised” (1 Samuel 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Samuel 1:20, and in other places).