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Arcana Coelestia #8857

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8857. It is similar with love to the Lord. When that love is dominant it is present in every aspect of his life, as when he loves his monarch or loves his parent. While he is in their presence love towards them shines from every part of his face, is heard in every syllable of his speech, and is apparent in every one of his gestures. This is how to understand the command 1 to have the Lord unceasingly before one's eyes and to love Him above all, with all one's soul and all one's heart.

Footnotes:

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

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The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #276

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276. Of Providence.

Providence is the government of the Lord in the heavens and on the earth (n. 10773). The Lord, from providence, rules all things according to order, and thus providence is government according to order (n. 1755, 2447). And He rules all things either from will or from leave, or from permission; thus in various respects according to man's quality (n. 1755, 2447, 3704, 9940). Providence acts invisibly (n. 5508). Most things which are done from providence appeal to man as contingencies (n. 5508). Providence acts invisibly, in order that man may not be compelled to believe from visible things, and thus that his free-will may not be injured; for unless man has freedom he cannot be reformed, thus he cannot be saved (n. 1937, 1947, 2876, 2881, 3854, 5508, 5982, 6477, 8209, 8987, 9588, 10409, 10777). The Divine providence does not regard temporary things which soon pass away, but eternal things (n. 5264, 8717, 10776; illustrated n. 6491).

They who do not comprehend this, believe that opulence and eminence in the world are the only things to be provided, and call such things blessings from the Divine, when nevertheless they are not regarded as blessings by the Lord, but only as means conducive to the life of man in the world; but that those things are regarded by the Lord which conduce to man's eternal happiness (n. 10409, 10776). They who are in the Divine providence of the Lord, are led in each and all things to eternal happiness (n. 8478, 8480). They who ascribe all things to nature and man's own prudence, and nothing to the Divine, do not think or comprehend this (n. 6481, 10409, 10775).

The Divine providence of the Lord is not, as believed in the world, universal only, and the particulars and single things 1 dependent on man's prudence (n. 8717, 10775). No universal exists but from and with single things, because single things taken together are called a universal, as particulars taken together are called a general (n. 1919, 6159, 6338, 6482-6484). Every universal is such as the single things of which it is formed, and with which it is (n. 917, 1040, 6483, 8857). The providence of the Lord is universal, because existing in the most single things (n. 1919, 2694, 4329, 5122, 5904, 6058, 6481-6486, 6490, 7004, 7007, 8717, 10774); confirmed from heaven (n. 6486). Unless the Divine providence of the Lord were universal, from and in the most single things, nothing could subsist (n. 6338). All things are disposed by it into order, and kept in order both in general and in particular (n. 6338). How the case herein is comparatively with that of a king on earth (n. 6482, 10800). Man's own proper prudence is like a small speck of dirt in the universe, whilst the Divine providence is respectively as the universe itself (n. 6485). This can hardly be comprehended by men in the world (n. 8717, 10775, 10780). Because many fallacies assail them, and induce blindness (n. 6481). Of a certain person in the other life, who believed from confirmation in the world, that all things were dependent on man's own prudence, and nothing on the Divine providence; the things belonging to him appeared infernal (n. 6484).

The quality of the Lord's providence with respect to evils (n. 6481, 6495, 6574, 10777, 10779). Evils are ruled by the Lord by the laws of permission, and they are permitted for the sake of order (n. 8700, 10778). The permission of evil by the Lord is not that of one who wills, but of one who does not will, but who cannot bring aid on account of the urgency of the end, which is salvation (n. 7887). To leave man from his own freedom to think and will evil, and so far as the laws do not forbid, to do evil, is to permit (n. 10778). Without freedom, thus without this permission, man could not be reformed, thus could not be saved, may be seen above in the doctrine of Freedom (n. 141-149).

The Lord has providence and foresight, and the one does not exist without the other (n. 5195, 6489). Good is provided by the Lord, and evil foreseen (n. 5155, 5195, 6489, 10781).

There is no such thing as predestination or fate (n. 6487). All are predestined to heaven, and none to hell (n. 6488). Man is under no absolute necessity from providence but has full liberty, illustrated by comparison (n. 6487). The "elect" in the Word are they who are in the life of good, and thence of truth (n. 3755, 3900, 5057-5058). How it is to be understood that "God would deliver one man into another's hand" (Exod. 21:13) (n. 9010).

Fortune, which appears in the world wonderful in many circumstances, is an operation of the Divine providence in the ultimate of order, according to the quality of man's state; and this may afford proof, that the Divine providence is in the most single of all things (n. 5049, 5179, 6493-6494). This operation and its variations are from the spiritual world, proved from experience (n. 5179, 6493-6494).

Footnotes:

1. The word "things" is plural in the Latin and appears to be singular due to a printing error.

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

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Apocalypse Explained #25

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25. Which are in sight of His throne, signifies presence and providence. This is evident from the signification of "sight," as being, when predicated of the Divine, presence, and providence therefrom (of which more in what follows); and from the signification of "throne of God," as being Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus heaven, because it is its receptacle (concerning which see Arcana Coelestia 5313, 6397). "Look" means presence, because by look or sight the understanding and thence thought are signified; and in the understanding everything that is thought stands forth as present. For this reason, those in the spiritual world with whom another desires to speak appear present provided the person had formed any idea of them from sight in the world, especially if this is true of both. This is why friends meet there, and also wives and husbands; the reason is that internal sight, which is the understanding, acts as one, in a spirit, with his external sight or sight of the eye; and as spaces in the spiritual world are not like spaces in the natural world, in that world what one desires to see is near, and what he does not desire to see is far off. From this now it is that "look" signifies presence.

(That "look" or "sight" signifies the understanding, see Arcana Coelestia 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 3863, 3869, 10705; and therefore signifies presence, n. 4723; and that spaces in heaven are not like spaces in the world, see i n the work on Heaven and Hell 191-199.) "Look," in respect to the Lord, as here, signifies His Divine presence, because the Lord knows all, and they, in turn, know the Lord who are in love and faith towards Him; consequently with such the Lord is present in the goods of love and in the truths of faith that are in them from Him. For these [goods and truths] are the Lord in heaven and in the church; since the things that proceed from the Lord are not merely His, but they are Himself

[2] From this it is clear how the Lord is in man; thus, how that is to be understood that he spoke in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit (John 15:4-5).

In the same:

He that loveth Me keeps My word; and the Father and I will come unto him, and make Our abode with him (John 14:23).

In the same:

Jesus said to His disciples, Ye know the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth; for He abideth with you, and shall be in you (John 14:17).

The "Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth," is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord; or what is the same, it is the Lord as to Divine truth; and "disciples" are all who are in goods and thence in truths; it is therefore said, "He shall be in you." In the same:

The Word became flesh and dwelt in you 1 (John 1:14).

The Word, too, is Divine truth; and that the Word is the Lord is clear, since it is said that "the Word became flesh." (That the "Word" signifies Divine truth, and signifies the Lord, see Arcana Coelestia 4692, 5075, 9987) "Look" here also signifies providence, because all presence of the Lord is providence (as may appear from what is said and shown in the small work on The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 267-279; and in the work on Heaven and Hell (Heaven and Hell 9, n. 9, 12, 143, 145).

Footnotes:

1. The Greek has "us," as found also in Apocalypse Explained 43.

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