Arcana Coelestia # 35
35. Man has two inherent powers of will and understanding. When the understanding is governed by the will they then constitute one mind and so one life; for what a person in that case wills and does he also thinks and intends. But when the understanding is at variance with the will, as it is with people who claim to have faith and yet live otherwise, then a mind previously one is split in two. One half seeks to transport itself into heaven, while the other inclines towards hell. And because the will is what accomplishes everything, the whole man would rush straight into hell unless the Lord took pity on him.
Arcana Coelestia # 113
113. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the good that belongs to wisdom or else to love to be meant and represented by 'gold'. All the gold of the Ark, the Temple, the golden table, 1 the lampstands, the vessels, and on Aaron's vestments, meant and represented good that belongs to wisdom or else to love. Similarly in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,
In your wisdom and in your intelligence have made wealth for yourself, and you have made gold and silver in your treasures. Ezekiel 28:4.
Here it is plainly stated that gold and silver, or good and truth, are the products of wisdom and intelligence, for 'silver' here means truth, as also does the silver of the Tabernacle 2 and the Temple. In Isaiah,
A multitude of camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Jehovah. Isaiah 60:6.
So too the wise men from the east who came to Jesus after His birth,
And they fell down and worshipped Him, and they opened their treasures, and offered Him gifts - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:1, 11.
Here also 'gold' means good, 'frankincense and myrrh' those things that are pleasing, because they derive from love and faith, and are consequently called 'the praises of Jehovah'. 'Gold' is for the same reason mentioned in David,
He will live, and He will give to him from the gold of Sheba, and will pray for him continually, and bless him every day. Psalms 72:15.
სქოლიოები:
1. i.e. the table of Shewbread, or the table for the Bread of the Presence
2. The latin here means the Ark but Swedenborg is clearly referring to the Tabernacle.
