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Genesis 1:8

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8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #170

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170. From Arcana Coelestia:

Of sin or evil. There are innumerable kinds of evil and falsity (n. 1188, 1212, 4818, 4822, 7574). There is evil from falsity, there is falsity from evil, and evil and falsity again from thence (n. 1679, 2243, 4818). The nature and quality of the evil of falsity (n. 2408, 4818, 7272, 8265, 8279). The nature and quality of the falsity of evil (n. 6359, 7272, 9304, 10302). Of blamable evils, and of those which are not so blamable (n. 4171-4172). Of evils from the understanding and of evils from the will (n. 9009). The difference between transgression, iniquity and sin (n. 6563, 9156).

All evils adhere to man (n. 2116). Evils cannot be taken away from man, but man can only be withheld from them, and kept in good (n. 865, 868, 887, 894, 1581, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333, 9446-9448, 9451, 10057, 10059). To be withheld from evil and kept in good, is effected by the Lord alone (n. 929, 2406, 8206, 10060). Thus evils and sins are only removed, and this is effected successively (n. 9334-9336). This is done by the Lord by means of regeneration (n. 9445, 9452-9454, 9938). Evils shut out the Lord (n. 5696). Man ought to abstain from evils, that he may receive good from the Lord (n. 10109). Good and truth inflow in proportion as man is withheld from evils (n. 2388, 2411, 10675). To be withheld from evil and kept in good, constitutes remission of sins (n. 8391, 8393, 9014, 9444-9450). The signs whether sins are remitted or not (n. 9449-9450). It is a consequence of the remission of sins to look at things from good and not from evil (n. 7697).

Evil and sin are a separation and turning away from the Lord; and this is signified by "evil" and "sin" in the Word (n. 4997, 5229, 5474, 5746, 5841, 9346); they are and signify separation and aversion from good and truth (n. 7589). They are and signify what is contrary to Divine order (n. 4839, 5076). Evil is damnation and hell (n. 3513, 6279, 7155). It is not known what hell is, unless it be known what evil is (n. 7181). Evils are as it were heavy, and fall of themselves into hell; and so also falsities that are from evil (n. 8279, 8298). It is not known what evil is unless it be known what the love of self and the love of the world are (n. 4997,7178, 8318). All evils are from those loves (n. 1307-1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488-7489, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742).

All men whatever are born into evils of every kind, even so that their proprium is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307-2308, 3518, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283-10284, 10731). Man must therefore be born again or regenerated, in order to receive a life of good (n. 3701).

Man casts himself into hell when he does evil from consent, afterwards from purpose, and at last from delight (n. 6203). They who are in evil of life, are in the falsities of their own evil, whether they know it or not (n. 7577, 8094). Evil would not be appropriated to man, if he believed, as is really the case, that all evil is from hell, and all good from the Lord (n. 4151, 6206, 6324-6325). In the other life evils are removed from the good and goods from the evil (n. 2256). All in the other life are let into their interiors, thus the evil into their evils (n. 8870).

In the other life evil contains its own punishment, and good its own reward (n. 696, 967, 1857, 6559, 8214, 8223, 8226, 9048). Man is not punished in the other life for hereditary evils, as he is not to blame for these, but for his actual evils (n. 966, 2308). The interiors of evil are foul and filthy, however they may appear otherwise in an external form (n. 7046).

Evil is attributed in the Word to the Lord, and yet nothing but good proceeds from Him (n. 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7677, 7926, 8227-8228, 8632, 9306). So also anger (n. 5798, 6997, 8284, 8483, 9306, 10431). Why it is so said in the Word (n. 6071, 6991, 6997, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8282, 9010, 9128). What is signified by "bearing iniquity," where it is predicated of the Lord (n. 9937, 9965). The Lord turns evil into good with the good who are infested and tempted (n. 8631). To leave man from his own liberty to do evil, is permission (n. 1778). Evils and falsities are governed by the laws of permission by the Lord; and they are permitted for the sake of order (n. 7877, 8700, 10778). The permission of evil by the Lord is not as of one who wills, but as of one who does not will, but who cannot bring aid on account of the end (n. 7877).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8094

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8094. 'Although that was near' means that this is the first to present itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'being near', when said in reference to separated faith, as the fact that it is the first to present itself. A brief statement needs to be made about how one should understand this explanation, that the particular belief regarding separated faith or faith alone is the first to present itself. Evil in life is accompanied by its own falsity, and a person subject to evil in life has this falsity hidden away inside himself. Sometimes he does not even know that it is there. But the moment he thinks about the Church's truths, and in particular about salvation, that falsity emerges and reveals itself; and if he is unable to deny the truth itself, the general aspects of it, he explains it in a way to suit his evil, and in so doing falsifies it. When therefore he thinks about faith and charity, which are the indispensable elements of the Church and of salvation, faith instantly presents itself, but not charity since this is opposed to evil in life. As a consequence too he sets aside charity and gives preference to faith alone. From this it is evident that the truths of faith are 'near', but not forms of the good of faith; that is, those truths are the first to present themselves, but not these forms of good.

[2] From this incorrect and false starting-point many more ideas that are false and incorrect then follow, such as the ideas that good works contribute nothing to salvation; that a person's life does not follow him after death; that a person is then saved by mercy alone through faith, irrespective of the life he has been leading in the world; that the worst criminal is saved through faith in the final hour of his life; and that evils are wiped away in an instant. These and others like them are the ideas that enter human thought and establish themselves from that false starting-point; they extend from it in a continuous chain. But the way in which these ideas are seen would be altogether different if charity and life were the starting-point.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.