302. I have talked with angels about the conjunction of heaven with the human race, and I said that, while the man of the Church declares that all good is from God, and that angels are with man, yet few believe that angels are conjoined to man, still less that they are in his thought and affection. To this the angels replied that they know that there is such a belief and even such a mode of speaking in the world, and especially, to their surprise, within the Church, where yet there is the Word to teach men about heaven and its conjunction with man. Nevertheless, there is such a conjunction that man is unable to think the least thing apart from the spirits adjoined to him, and on this his spiritual life depends. They said that the cause of ignorance of this matter is man's belief that he lives from himself, without a connection with the First Being (Esse) of life; and that he does not know that this connection exists by means of the heavens; and yet if that connection were broken man would instantly fall down dead. If man believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would not make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that inflows would be cast down to hell whence it comes. But because man does not believe that there is any influx into him either from heaven or from hell, and so supposes that all the things that he thinks and wills are in himself, and therefore from himself, he appropriates the evil to himself, and the inflowing good he defiles with merit.

397. Until their fellow-servants as well as their brethren, who were to be killed, as they also were, should be fulfilled, signifies until evils were consummated. This is evident from the signification of "until they should be fulfilled," as being until they were consummated; also from the signification of "their fellow-servants as well as their brethren, who were to be killed, as they also were," as being evils, for to kill these denotes evil, "fellow-servants" meaning those who are in truths, and "brethren" those who are in goods, and "fellow-servants" and "brethren" together those who are in truths from good; for in the internal sense the two are conjoined into one.

"Consummation" is mentioned in some passages in the Word, likewise "when evils are consummated," but scarcely anyone at this day knows what this signifies. In three articles above (n. 391, 392, 394) it is said that the former heaven consisted of such as had led a moral life in externals, and yet were internally evil, and that these dwelt in high places in the spiritual world, and therefore thought themselves to be in heaven.

These, because they were interiorly evil, would not tolerate among them those that were interiorly good, and this because their affections and thoughts were discordant, for all consociations in the spiritual world are effected according to agreement of affections and thence of thoughts; for angels and spirits are nothing but affections and thoughts therefrom in a human form; and as those who then were in the high places could not endure the presence of those who were interiorly good, they cast them out from among them, and wherever they saw them, treated them wrongfully and shamefully, consequently the good were delivered by the Lord from this violence and concealed under heaven and preserved; and this was taking place from the time when the Lord was in the world even until this time when the judgment was accomplished; then those who were on high places were cast down, and those who were under heaven were elevated. The evil were tolerated so long on the high places, and the good were detained so long under heaven, in order that both "might be fulfilled," which means that there might be a sufficient number of the good to form a new heaven, and also that the evil might sink down of themselves into hell; for the Lord casts no one down into hell, but the evil itself which is with evil spirits casts them down (as may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 545-550). This takes place when evils are consummated, that is, fulfilled.

[2] This also is what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:

The servants of the householder coming, said, Didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? whence then are the tares? And they said, Wilt thou therefore that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest in gathering the tares ye root up at the same time the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them into bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into the barn. So shall it be in the consummation of the age (Matthew 13:27-30, 37-42).

"The consummation of the age" is the last time when judgment takes place; "the time of harvest" is when all things are consummated, that is, are fulfilled; "the tares" mean evils or those in whom evils are, and "the wheat" means goods or those in whom goods are. (But of these see further in the small work on The Last Judgment 65-72.) From all this it can in some measure be known why it was said to them "that they should rest yet a little time, until their fellow-servants, as well as their brethren, who were to be killed, as they also were, should be fulfilled;" "to be killed" has here the like signification as "to be slain" above n. 392, namely, to be rejected by the evil because of Divine truth, and because of their confession of the Lord.

[3] When this is known it can be known what is signified by "consummation" and by "iniquity consummated" in the following passages. In Moses:

Jehovah said, I will go down and see whether they have made a consummation, according to the cry that is come unto Me (Genesis 18:20-21).

This is said of Sodom. In the same:

For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated [fulfilled] (Genesis 15:16).

In Isaiah:

A consummation and decision I have heard from the Lord Jehovih of Hosts upon the whole earth (Isaiah 28:22).

In the same:

A consummation is determined, righteousness has overflowed. For the Lord Jehovih of Hosts is making a consummation and a decision in the whole earth (Isaiah 10:22-23).

In Zephaniah:

In the fire of the zeal of Jehovah of Hosts the whole land shall be devoured; for He shall make a consummation, even a speedy one, with all the inhabitants of the land (Zephaniah 1:18).

In Daniel:

At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision it shall drop upon the devastation (Daniel 9:27);

and elsewhere. "Consummation" and "decision" in these passages signify the last state of the church, a state in which there is no longer any truth because there is no good, or in which there is no longer any faith because there is no charity; and when this is the state of the church, then comes the Last Judgment. The Last Judgment then comes, for the further reason that the human race is the basis or foundation of the angelic heaven, for the conjunction of the angelic heaven with the human race is perpetual, the one subsisting by means of the other; when therefore the basis does not correspond the angelic heaven totters; consequently there must then be a judgment upon those who are in the spiritual world, that all things in the heavens as well as in the hells, may be reduced to order. (That the human race is the basis and foundation of the angelic heaven, and that the conjunction is perpetual, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 291-310.) From this it can be known that "consummation" means the last state of the church, when there is no longer any faith because there is no charity. This state of the church is also called in the Word "vastation" and "desolation," and by the Lord "the consummation of the age" (Matthew 13:39, 40, 49; 24:3; 28:20).

196. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

Before a summary is given of what is written in the Arcana Coelestia, respecting temptations, something shall first be said concerning them, in order that it may be known still more clearly from whence they proceed. It is called spiritual temptation when the truths of faith which a man believes in his heart, and according to which he loves to live, are assaulted within him, especially when the good of love, in which he places his spiritual life, is assaulted. Those assaults take place in various ways; as by influx of scandals against truths and goods into the thoughts and the will; also by a continual drawing forth, and bringing to remembrance, of the evils which one has committed, and of the falsities which he has thought, thus by inundation of such things; and at the same time by an apparent shutting up of the interiors of the mind, and, consequently, of communication with heaven, by which the capacity of thinking from his own faith, and of willing from his own love, are intercepted. These things are effected by the evil spirits who are present with man; and when they take place, they appear under the form of interior anxieties and pains of conscience; for they affect and torment man's spiritual life, because he supposes that they proceed, not from evil spirits, but from his own interiors. Man does not know that such assaults are ¹ from evil spirits because he does not know that spirits are present with him, evil spirits in his evils, and good spirits in his goods; and that they are in his thoughts and affections. These temptations are most grievous when they are accompanied with bodily pains; and still more so, when those pains are of long continuance, and no deliverance is granted, even although the Divine mercy is implored; hence results despair, which is the end.

Some particulars shall first be adduced from the Arcana Coelestia, concerning the spirits that are with man, because temptations proceed from them.

Spirits and angels are with every man (n. 697, 5846-5866). They are in his thoughts and affections (n. 2888, 5846, 5848). If spirits and angels were taken away, man could not live (n. 2887, 5849, 5854, 5993, 6321). Because by spirits and angels man has communication and conjunction with the spiritual world, without which he would have no life (n. 697, 2796, 2886-2887, 4047-4048, 5846-5866, 5976-5993). The spirits with man are changed according to the affections of his love (n. 5851). Spirits from hell are in the loves of man's proprium (n. 5852, 5979-5993). Spirits enter into all things of man's memory (n. 5853, 5857, 5859-5860, 6192-6193, 6198-6199). Angels are in the ends from which and for the sake of which man thinks, wills, and acts thus and not otherwise (n. 1317, 1645, 5844). Man does not appear to spirits, nor spirits to man (n. 5885). Thence spirits cannot see what is in our solar world through man (n. 1880). Although spirits and angels are with man, in his thoughts and affections, yet still he is in freedom of thinking, willing, and acting (n. 5982, 6477, 8209, 8307, 10777); and in the work on Heaven and Hell, where the Conjunction of Heaven with the Human Race is treated of (n. 291-302).

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