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Arcana Coelestia #8478

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8478. 'Let no one leave any of it until the morning' means that they must not be anxious to acquire it of themselves. This is clear from the fact that the manna was given every morning and that worms bred in what was left over, meaning that the Lord provides people's requirements every day and that for this reason they ought not to be anxious to acquire them of themselves. The same thing is meant by daily bread in the Lord's Prayer and also by the Lord's words in Matthew,

Do not be anxious for your soul, what you are going to eat or what you are going to drink, nor for your body, what you are going to put on. Why be anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they do not toil, nor do they spin. Do not therefore be anxious, so that you say, What shall we eat? or What shall we drink? or What shall we wear? For all these things the gentiles seek. Does not your heavenly Father know that you have need of all these things? Seek first the kingdom of God 1 and its righteousness, then all these things will be added to you. Do not therefore be anxious about the morrow; for the morrow will take care of the things that belong to it. Matthew 6:25-end.

Similar words occur in Luke 12:11-12, 22-31.

[2] The present verse and the one that follows refer in the internal sense to concern for the morrow, a concern which was not only forbidden but also condemned. The forbiddance of it is meant by their being told not to leave any of the manna till the morning, and the condemnation of it is meant by worms breeding in any they did leave and its becoming putrid. Anyone who does not view the matter from anywhere beyond the sense of the letter may think that all concern for the morrow is to be avoided, which being so, people should then await their requirements every day from heaven. But a person who views it from a position deeper than the literal meaning, that is, who views it from the internal sense, may recognize what concern for the morrow is used to mean - not concern to obtain food and clothing for oneself, and also resources for the future; for it is not contrary to order to make provision for oneself and one's dependents. But people are concerned about the morrow when they are not content with their lot, do not trust in God but in themselves, and have solely worldly and earthly things in view, not heavenly ones. These people are ruled completely by anxiety over the future, and by the desire to possess all things and exercise control over all other people. That desire is kindled and grows greater and greater, till at length it is beyond all measure. They grieve if they do not realize the objects of their desires, and they are distressed at the loss of them. Nor can they find consolation, for in times of loss they are angry with the Divine. They reject Him together with all belief, and curse themselves. This is what those concerned for the morrow are like.

[3] Those who trust in the Divine are altogether different. Though concerned about the morrow, yet are they unconcerned, in that they are not anxious, let alone worried, when they give thought to the morrow. They remain even-tempered whether or not they realize desires, and they do not grieve over loss; they are content with their lot. If they become wealthy they do not become infatuated with wealth; if they are promoted to important positions they do not consider themselves worthier than others. If they become poor they are not made miserable either; if lowly in status they do not feel downcast. They know that for those who trust in the Divine all things are moving towards an everlasting state of happiness, and that no matter what happens at any time to them, it contributes to that state.

[4] It should be recognized that Divine providence is overall, that is, it is present within the smallest details of all, and that people in the stream of providence are being carried along constantly towards happier things, whatever appearance the means may present. Those in the stream of providence are people who trust in the Divine and ascribe everything to Him. But those not in the stream of providence are people who trust in themselves alone and attribute everything to themselves; theirs is a contrary outlook, for they take providence away from the Divine and claim it as their own. It should be recognized also that to the extent that anyone is in the stream of providence he is in a state of peace; and to the extent that anyone is in a state of peace by virtue of the good of faith, he is in Divine providence. These alone know and believe that the Lord's Divine providence resides within every single thing, indeed within the smallest details of all, as has also been shown in 1919 (end), 4329, 5122 (end), 5894 (end), 6058, 6481-6486, 6490, 7004, 7007, as well as that Divine providence has what is eternal in view, 6491.

[5] Those with the contrary outlook are scarcely willing to allow any mention of providence. Instead they put every single thing down to prudence; and what they do not put down to prudence they put down to fortune or to chance. Some put it down to fate, which they do not ascribe to the Divine but to natural forces. They call those people simple who do not attribute all things to themselves or to natural forces. From all this one may again see what those people are like who are concerned for the morrow, and what those are like who are not concerned for the morrow.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means the heavens but the Greek means God, which Swedenborg has in most other places where he quotes this verse.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #6481

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6481. Spirits entering the next life bring with them the opinion that Divine Providence acts in an overall manner but not in specific ways. The reason they were of this opinion [in the world] was that they saw wicked people being promoted to important positions and made rich, and meeting with success, which they attributed to such people's own prudence. Those spirits did not know that Divine Providence has as its end in view a person's eternal salvation, thus not his great happiness in the world, not - that is to say - wealthiness and eminence which people during their lifetime think real happiness consists in. But such thinking is not correct, for eminence gives rise for the most part to self-love, and wealthiness to love of the world, thus to what are the opposites of love to God and charity towards the neighbour. Thus it is that things such as eminence and wealthiness are granted to the wicked, and to the good too provided that those things are not disadvantageous to them and lead them away from heaven.

[2] What is more, the Lord employs the wicked as much as the good to accomplish His ends; for the Lord spurs the wicked by means of their own actual loves to do good to neighbour, country, and Church. For the wicked wish to be eminent, wish to profit, and therefore wish to be seen as upright and zealous; and more forcefully than the upright they are aroused by that desire, as if by fire, to perform such deeds. The wicked are also allowed to think that everything can be attributed to their own prudence, and that Divine Providence has no existence or else operates only in an overall manner; for they have no wish to perceive anything different from this. And so that they may perform the kinds of deeds that are beneficial to society, successes in the things they think to do are granted them, successes which arouse them all the more since they attribute them to themselves.

  
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The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #277

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277. Of Influx.

Of the influx of heaven into the world, and of the influx of the soul into all things of the body, from experience (n. 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626). Nothing exists of or from itself, but from what is prior to itself, thus all things from the First (n. 4523-4524, 6040, 6056). As all things existed, they also subsist, because subsistence is perpetual existence (n. 2886, 2888, 3627-3628, 3648, 4523-4524, 6040, 6056). Influx takes place according to that order (n. 7270). Hence it is plain that all things subsist perpetually from the first esse, because they exist from it (n. 4523-4524, 6040, 6056). The all of life flows in from the First, because it is thence derived, thus from the Lord (n. 3001, 3318, 3337-3338, 3344, 3484, 3628-3629, 3741-3743, 4318-4320, 4417, 4524, 4882, 5847, 5986, 6325, 6468-6470, 6479, 9279, 10196). Every existere is from an esse, and nothing can exist unless its esse be in it (n. 4523-4524, 6040, 6056).

All things which a man thinks and wills flow into him, from experience (n. 904, 2886-2888, 4151, 4319-4320, 5846, 5848, 6189, 6191, 6194, 6197-6199, 6213, 7147, 10219). Man's ability of examining things, and of thinking and forming analytic conclusions, is from influx (n. 2888, 4319-4320). Man could not live a moment if the influx from the spiritual world were taken away from him; but still man is in freedom, from experience (n. 2887, 5849, 5854, 6321). The life which flows in from the Lord is varied according to man's state and according to reception (n. 2069, 5986, 6472, 7343). With the evil, the good which flows from the Lord is turned into evil, and the truth into falsity, from experience (n. 3643, 4632). The good and truth, which continually flow from the Lord, are so far received, as evil and falsity do not oppose their reception (n. 2411, 3142, 3147, 5828).

All good flows in from the Lord, and all evil from hell (n. 904, 4151). At this day man believes all things to be in himself and from himself, when nevertheless they inflow, as he might know from the doctrinal of the church, that all good is from heaven, and all evil from hell (n. 4249, 6193, 6206). But if he would believe as the thing is, he would not appropriate evil to himself, but cast it back from himself into hell, neither would he make good his own, and thus would not claim any merit from it (n. 6206, 6324-6325). How happy the state of man would then be, as he would view both good and evil from within, from the Lord (n. 6325). They who deny heaven, or know nothing about it, do not know there is any influx thence (n. 4322, 5649, 6193, 6479). What influx is, illustrated by comparisons (n. 6128, 6190, 9407).

Influx is spiritual, and not physical, thus it is from the spiritual world into the natural, and not from the natural world into the spiritual (n. 3219, 5119, 5259, 5427-5428, 5477, 6322, 9109-9110). Influx is through the internal man, into the external, and not contrariwise (n. 1702, 1707, 1940, 1954, 5119, 5259, 5779, 6322, 9380). Because the internal man is in the spiritual world, and the external in the natural world (n. 978, 1015, 3628, 4459, 4523-4524, 6057, 6309, 9701-9709, 10156, 10472). It appears as if influx is from externals into internals; this is a fallacy (n. 3721). Influx is into man's rational and through this into things scientific, and not contrariwise (n. 1495, 1707, 1940). The order of influx (n. 775, 880, 1096, 1495, 7270).

There is immediate influx from the Lord, and also mediate influx through the spiritual world or heaven (n. 6063, 6307, 6472, 9682-9683). The immediate influx from the Lord enters into the most single of all things (n. 6058, 6474-6478, 8717, 8728). Of the mediate influx of the Lord through heaven (n. 4067, 6982, 6985, 6996). It is effected through the spirits and angels who are adjoined to man (n. 697, 5846-5866). The Lord, by means of angels, flows into the ends from which, and for the sake of which, a man so thinks, wills, and acts (n. 1317, 1645, 5846, 5854). And thus into those things which are of conscience with man (n. 6207, 6213). But by means of spirits into the thoughts, and thence into the things of the memory (n. 4186, 5854, 5858, 6192-6193, 6198-6199, 6319). This can with difficulty be believed by man (n. 6214). The Lord inflows into firsts and at the same time into ultimates, or into inmosts and at the same time into outmosts, how (n. 5147, 5150, 6473, 7004, 7007, 7270). The influx of the Lord is into good with man, and through good into truth, and not contrariwise (n. 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701,10153). Good gives the faculty of receiving influx from the Lord, but not truth without good (n. 8321[1-2]). It is not what enters the thought, but what enters the will, that is hurtful, because this is appropriated to the man (n. 6308). The Divine in the highest is tacit and pacific, but as it descends towards lower things in man, it becomes unpacific and tumultuous, on account of the things therein being in disorder (n. 8823). The quality of the Lord's influx with the prophets (n. 6212).

There is a general influx, its quality (n. 5850). It is a continual effort of acting according to order (n. 6211). This influx takes place into the lives of animals (n. 5850). And also into the subjects of the vegetable kingdom (n. 3648). That thought is formed into speech and will into gestures with man, according to this general influx (n. 5862, 5990, 6192, 6211).

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