From Swedenborg's Works

 

Heaven and Hell #57

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57. What has been said of heaven can be said of the Church, for the Church is the Lord's heaven on earth. There are also many Churches, and yet any one of them is called the Church and indeed is a Church, so far as the good of love and of faith rules there. There again, the Lord out of diversity makes a unity, thus, one Church out of many Churches. 1 The same, too, can be said of the man of the Church in particular as is said of the Church in general, namely, that the Church is within a man and not outside him, and that every man in whom the Lord is present in the good of love and of faith is a Church. 2 Again, the same can be said of a man in whom is the Church as of an angel in whom is heaven, namely, that he is a Church in least form as an angel is heaven in least form, and furthermore, that a man in whom is the Church, equally with an angel, is a heaven. For man has been created that he may come into heaven and become an angel. Consequently, he who has good from the Lord is an angel-man. 3 It may be mentioned what a man has in common with an angel and what he has in addition to what angels have. A man has this in common with an angel, that his interiors are equally conformed to the image of heaven and that he, too, in so far as he is in the good of love and faith, may become an image of heaven. In addition to what angels have, a man has these things, that his exteriors have been formed according to the image of the world, that so far as he is in good, the world with him is subordinated to heaven and serves heaven, 4 and that then the Lord is present with him in both worlds, just as if he were in his heaven. For the Lord is in His Divine order in both worlds, since God is order. 5

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg's footnote] If good were the characteristic and essential of the Church, and not truth apart from good, the Church would be one (Arcana Coelestia 1285, 1316, 2982, 3267, 3445, 3451-3452).

Indeed from good all Churches make one Church before the Lord (Arcana Coelestia 7396, 9276).

2. [Swedenborg's footnote] The Church is in man, and not outside him, and the Church in general is made up of men who have the Church in them (Arcana Coelestia 3884 [Arcana Coelestia 6637]).

3. [Swedenborg's footnote] A man who is a Church is a heaven in the least form after the image of the greatest, because his interiors, which belong to his mind, are arranged after the form of heaven, and consequently for reception of all things of heaven (Arcana Coelestia 911, 1900, 1928, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884 [Arcana Coelestia 6637], Arcana Coelestia 4041, 4279, 4523-4524, 4625, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9632).

4. [Swedenborg's footnote] Man has an internal and an external; his internal has been formed by creation after the image of heaven, and his external after the image of the world; and for this reason man was called by the ancients a microcosm (Arcana Coelestia 4523-4524, 5608, 6013, 6057, 9279, 9706, 10156, 10472).

Therefore man was created to have the world in him serve heaven, and this takes place with the good; but it is the reverse with the evil, in whom heaven serves the world (Arcana Coelestia 9278, 9283).

5. [Swedenborg's footnote] The Lord is order, since the Divine good and truth that go forth from the Lord make order (Arcana Coelestia 1728, 1919, 2011, 2258, 5110, 5703, 8988, 10336, 10619).

Divine truths are laws of order (Arcana Coelestia 2447, 7995).

So far as a man lives according to order, that is, so far as he lives in good in accordance with Divine truths, he is a man, and the Church and heaven are in him (Arcana Coelestia 4839, 6605, 8067 [Arcana Coelestia 8513, 8547]).

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9279

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9279. 'And on the seventh day you shall cease' means a state of good, when the person is governed by internal things, and [his] peace and serenity then. This is clear from the meaning of 'the seventh day', or the sabbath, as a time when a person is governed by good and is led by the Lord by means of good, dealt with in 8495, 8510, 8890, 8893; and from the meaning of 'ceasing', or resting from work, as peace and serenity then. Regarding this state, see what has been stated and shown above in 9274, 9278.

[2] But a brief statement must be made to show why it is that when a person is governed by good he is governed by internal things. A PERSON'S EXTERNALS HAVE BEEN CREATED SO AS TO CONFORM TO AN IMAGE OF THE WORLD, BUT HIS INTERNALS TO CONFORM TO AN IMAGE OF HEAVEN, see 6057. Therefore also his externals receive things that belong to the world, but his internals those that belong to heaven. A person's externals belonging to the world are gradually opened up as he progresses from early childhood on into adult life; so are his internals. But the externals are opened up by things belonging to the world, whereas the internals are opened up by those belonging to heaven. Areas of the mind opened up in this way are of two kinds, those in the understanding and those in the will. Those in the understanding are opened up by things connected with truth, and those in the will by things connected with good; for everything in the whole created order, both in the world and in heaven, has connection with truth and good. The things connected with truth are called matters of knowledge and discernment, but those connected with good are called matters of love and affection. This shows exactly what those things are which open up a person's life and what they are like.

[3] As regards the internal man, which has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven, as has been stated, discernments of the truth and good of faith received from the Lord, and therefore of faith in the Lord, are what open up the areas in the understanding there. And affections for truth and good, which are attributes of love received from the Lord, and therefore of love offered to the Lord, are what open up the areas in the will, consequently form heaven and so an image of the Lord with him; for heaven is an image of the Lord. So it is that heaven is called the Grand Man, see 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 4218-4228, and that the human being has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven and an image of the world, 3628, 4523, 4524, 6013, 6057, and a person who has been regenerated and an angel are heaven and the Church in their smallest form, 1900, 3624ff, 3634ff, 3884, 4040, 4041, 4292, 4625, 6013, 6057, 6605, 6626, 8989. From all this it becomes clear why it is that when a person is governed by good he is governed by internal things. But regarding the opening up of a person's internals and externals, more will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated further on.

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