THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, containing the complete theology of the New Church as foretold by the Lord in Daniel 7:13-14 and in Revelation 21:2

by Emanuel Swedenborg, Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ

Translated from the original Latin by John Chadwick

London, The Swedenborg Society, 1988

Daniel 7:13-14: I was watching in the visions of the night, and I saw the Son of Man coming with the clouds of the heavens. And to him were given dominion and glory and the kingdom, and all peoples, nations and tongues will worship him. His dominion will be a dominion for ever, which will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not perish.

Revelation 21:1-2, 5, 9-10: I, John, saw a new heaven and a new earth; and I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. And the angel spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain, and showed me the great, holy city of Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, because these words are true and trustworthy.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION: THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH IN BOTH UNIVERSAL AND PARTICULAR TERMS, 1-3

CHAPTER ONE: GOD THE CREATOR

The oneness of God:

(i) The whole of the Sacred Scripture and all the doctrines extracted from it by churches throughout Christendom teach that there is a God and that He is one. 5-7

(ii) There is a general feeling emanating from God and flowing into men's souls that there is a God and He is one. 8

(iii) That is why there is no nation throughout the world possessed of religion and sound reason which does not acknowledge God and the fact that He is one. 9-10

(iv) There are many reasons why nations and peoples have formed varying ideas of the nature of that one God, and continue to do so. 11

(v) There are many things in the world which can lead the human reason, if it wishes, to grasp and deduce that there is a God and He is one. 12

(vi) If there had not been one God, the universe could not have been created and kept in existence. 13

(vii) Any person who does not acknowledge God is excommunicated from the church and damned. 14

(viii) The church cannot hold together at all in the case of a person who acknowledges not one God, but several. 15

The Divine Being, which is Jehovah

(i) The one God is named Jehovah from His Being, that is, from the fact that He alone is, was and will be, and because He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, Alpha and Omega. 19

(ii) The one God is substance itself and form itself, and angels and men are substances and forms derived from Him; to the extent that they are in Him and He is in them, so far are they images and likenesses of Him. 20

(iii) The Divine Being is Being in itself, and at the same time Coming-into-Being in itself. 21-22

(iv) The Divine Being and Coming-into-Being in itself cannot give rise to another Divine which is Being and Coming-into-Being in itself. Consequently another God of the same essence is impossible. 23

(v) The plurality of gods in ancient times, as well as to-day, was entirely the result of a failure to understand the Divine Being. 24

The infinity or the immensity and the eternity of God

(i) God is infinite, because He is and comes into being in Himself, and everything in the universe is and comes into being from Him. 28

(ii) God is infinite, because He existed before the world did, and thus before space and time came into existence. 29

(iii) Since the making of the world God is non-spatially in space and non-temporally in time. 30

(iv) The infinity of God as predicated of space is called immensity, and as predicated of time is called eternity. Despite these predications His immensity is totally devoid of space and His eternity is totally devoid of time. 31

(v) There is much in the world which can enable enlightened reason to see the infinity of God the Creator. 32

(vi) Every created object is finite, and the infinite is contained in finite objects as in receivers, and in human beings as images of it. 33-34

The Essence of God, which is the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom

(i) God is Love itself and Wisdom itself, these two making up His Essence. 37

(ii) God is Good itself and Truth itself, because Good refers to Love and Truth to Wisdom. 38

(iii) Since God is Love itself and Wisdom itself. He is Life itself or Life in itself. 39-40

(iv) Love and Wisdom are one in God. 41-42

(v) The essence of love is loving others than oneself, wishing to be one with them and devoting oneself to their happiness. 43-45

(vi) These properties of the Divine Love were the reason the universe was created, and are the reason it is preserved in existence. 46-47

The omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God:

(i) Omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence are properties of the Divine Wisdom resulting from the Divine Love, 50-51

(ii) The omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence of God cannot be recognised except through a knowledge of order, and these facts about order: that God is order, and that He introduced order into the universe and all its parts simultaneously with its creation. 52-55

(iii) God's omnipotence proceeds and works in the universe and all its parts in accordance with the laws of His order. 56-58

(iv) God is omniscient, that is, He perceives, sees and knows down to the tiniest detail everything that happens according to order; and from these things also what happens contrary to order. 59-62

(v) God is present everywhere from first to last in His order. 63-64

(vi) Man was created to be a form for Divine Order. 65-67

(vii) Man has from Divine Omnipotence power against evil and falsity, and from Divine Omniscience wisdom about good and truth, and from Divine Omni-presence is in God, to the extent that he lives in accordance with the Divine order. 68-70

The creation of the universe:

No one can form a correct idea of the creation of the universe, unless some universal ideas are first suggested to bring the understanding into a perceptive state. 75

The creation of the universe is described in five accounts of experiences. 76-80

CHAPTER TWO: THE LORD THE REDEEMER

(i) Jehovah God came down and took on Himself human form, in order to redeem and save mankind. 82-84

(ii) Jehovah God came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word, yet He did not separate the Divine Good from it. 85-88

(iii) God took upon Himself human form in accordance with His Divine order. 89-91

(iv) The Human by which He brought Himself into the world is the Son of God. 92-94

(v) The Lord by acts of redemption made Himself righteousness. 95-96

(vi) By the same acts the Lord united Himself with the Father, and the Father with Him. 97-100

(vii) Thus God became man, and man God, in one person. 101-103

(viii) His progress towards union was His state of exinanition, and the union itself is His state of glorification. 104-106

(ix) From this time on no one from Christian countries can come into heaven, unless he believes in the Lord God the Saviour. 107-108

(x) Additional note, on the state of the church before the Lord's coming, and its state after this event. 109

Redemption:

(i) The real redemption was the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens, and preparation by this means for a new spiritual church. 115-117

(ii) But for that redemption no person could have been saved, nor could the angels have remained unharmed. 118-120

(iii) The Lord thus redeemed not only men, but also angels. 121-122

(iv) Redemption was an entirely Divine deed. 123

(v) This redemption could only be effected by an incarnate God. 124-125

(vi) The passion on the cross was the last temptation which the Lord underwent as the greatest Prophet; this was the means by which He glorified His Human, and was not the redemption. 126-131

(vii) It is a fundamental error on the part of the church to believe that the passion on the cross was the real act of redemption. That error, together with the erroneous belief in three Divine Persons existing from eternity, has so perverted the whole church that there is no remainder of spirituality left in it. 132-133

CHAPTER THREE: THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WAY GOD WORKS

(i) The Holy Spirit is Divine truth, and also the Divine power and activity which proceeds from the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and so from the Lord God the Saviour. 139-141

(ii) The Divine power and activity meant by the Holy Spirit are, generally speaking, reformation and regeneration, which lead to renewal, quickening, sanctification and justification; and these lead to purification from evils and the forgiveness of sins, and ultimately to salvation. 142-145

(iii) The Divine power and activity meant by the sending of the Holy Spirit, with the clergy takes the particular form of enlightenment and instruction. 146-148

(iv) The Lord confers these benefits on those who believe in Him. 149-151

(v) The Lord works of Himself from the Father, not the reverse. 153-155

(vi) A person's spirit is his mind, and whatever comes from it. 156-157

- Additional Note. 158

The Divine Trinity

(i) There is a Divine Trinity, consisting of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 164-165

(ii) Those three, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of a single God, which make one as soul, body and activity do with a person. 166-169

(iii) This Trinity did not exist before the creation of the world, but it was provided and made after the creation of the world, when God became incarnate, and then it was in the Lord God, the Redeemer and Saviour, Jesus Christ. 170-171

(iv) A Trinity of Divine Persons from eternity, or existing before the creation of the world, implies thinking about a Trinity of Gods; and this thought cannot be banished by a verbal confession of belief in one God. 172-173

(v) The Trinity of Persons was unknown to the Apostolic church, but was the invention of the Council of Nicaea, leading to its introduction into the Roman Catholic church, and thus to the churches which split from it. 174-176

(vi) The Trinity as defined by the Council of Nicaea and by Athanasius caused a faith to arise which has perverted the whole Christian church. 177-178

(vii) This is the source of the abomination of desolation and the affliction such as has never been nor shall be, both of which the Lord predicted in Daniel, the Gospels and Revelation 179-181

(viii) Further, unless a new heaven and a new church are founded by the Lord, no flesh can be saved. 182

(ix) From a Trinity of Persons, each of which is individually God, as asserted by the Athanasian Creed, many absurd ideas of various kinds have arisen about God, which are mere fancies and abortions. 183-184

CHAPTER FOUR: THE SACRED SCRIPTURE OR THE WORD OF THE LORD

I. The Sacred Scripture, that is, the Word, is Divine truth itself. 189-192

II. The Word contains a spiritual sense unknown up to the present. 193

(i) What the spiritual sense is. 194

- From the Lord there proceed, one after the other, the celestial Divine, the spiritual Divine and the natural Divine. 195

(ii) The spiritual sense is present in every part and detail of the Word. 196-198

- The Lord, when He was in the world, spoke by means of correspondences; so He spoke spiritually as well as naturally. 199

(iii) It is the spiritual sense which makes the Word divinely inspired and holy in every word. 200

(iv) The spiritual sense of the Word has up to the present been unknown. 201-207

(v) The spiritual sense of the Word will in future only be granted to those who are in possession of genuine truths from the Lord. 208

(vi) Remarkable effects produced by the Word from its spiritual sense. 209

III. The literal sense of the Word is the basis, container and support of its spiritual and celestial senses. 210-213

IV. The Divine truth in the literal sense of the Word is in its fulness, holiness and power. 214-216

(i) The truths of the literal sense of the Word are meant by the precious stones forming the foundations of the New Jerusalem described in Revelation, and this is due to correspondence. 217

(ii) The forms of good and truth in the literal sense of the Word are meant by the Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod. 218

(iii) The forms of truth and good at the outermost level, such as they are in the literal sense of the Word, are meant by the precious stones in the garden of Eden, in which the king of Tyre is said to have been. 219

(iv) The same things were represented by the curtains, veils and posts of the Tabernacle. 220

(v) Likewise, the external features of the Temple at Jerusalem. 221

(vi) The Word in its glory was represented in the Lord at His transfiguration. 222

(vii) The power of the Word at its outermost level was represented by the Nazirites. 223

(viii) The Word's power is beyond description. 224

V. The doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word and supported by it. 225-230

(i) The Word is not to be understood without doctrine. 226-228

(ii) Doctrine is to be drawn from the literal sense of the Word, and proved by means of it. 229-230

(iii) The genuine truth in the literal sense of the Word, on which doctrine is based, is not visible to any but those who are enlightened by the Lord. 231-233

VI. The literal sense of the Word produces a link with the Lord and association with the angels. 234-239

VII. The Word is to be found in all the heavens and is the source of the angels' wisdom. 240-242

VIII. The church depends on the Word, and what the church is like in the case of each person depends upon how he understands the Word. 243-247

IX. The details of the Word all contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of good and truth. 248-253

X. Heresies can be extracted from the literal sense of the Word, but confirming them leads to damnation. 254-260

- Many things in the Word are appearances of truth, in which genuine truths are hidden. 257

- Fallacies arise through the confirming of appearances of truth. 258

- The literal sense of the Word is a protection for the genuine truths hidden within it. 260

- The literal sense of the Word is represented and meant in the Word by cherubim. 260

XI. The Lord when in the world fulfilled everything in the Word, and thus became the Word, that is, Divine truth, even in its outermost form. 261-263

XII. Before the time of the Word which we have in the world to-day, there was another Word, now lost. 264-266

XIII. The Word also serves to enlighten those who are outside the church and do not possess the Word. 267-272

XIV. If the Word did not exist, no one would know of the existence of God, heaven and hell, and life after death, even less of the Lord. 273-276

CHAPTER FIVE: THE CATECHISM OR THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, EXPLAINED IN BOTH THE EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SENSES

I. The Ten Commandments were the height of holiness for the Israelite church; on the holiness of the Ark containing the Law. 283-286

II. The literal sense of the Ten Commandments contains general instructions on belief and life; but their spiritual and celestial senses contain universal instructions. 287-290

III. The First Commandment: There is not to be any other God before my face. 291-296

IV. The Second Commandment: You are not to take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold anyone guiltless, who takes His name in vain. 297-300

V. The Third Commandment: Remember to keep the Sabbath day holy; for six days you are to labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath for Jehovah your God. 301-304

VI. The Fourth Commandment: Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long and you may prosper upon earth. 305-308

VII. The Fifth Commandment: You are not to commit murder. 309-312

VIII. The Sixth Commandment: You are not to commit adultery. 313-316

IX. The Seventh Commandment: You are not to steal. 317-320

X. The Eighth Commandment: You are not to bear false witness against your neighbour. 321-324

XI. The Ninth and Tenth Commandments: You are not to covet your neighbour's house, you are not to covet your neighbour's wife, nor his man-servant nor his maid-servant, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's. 325-328

XII. The Ten Commandments contain everything to do with love for God and everything to do with love towards the neighbour. 329-331

CHAPTER SIX. FAITH

Preface: faith is the first thing in time, but charity is the first thing in intention 336

I. Saving faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ. 337-339

- Since He is a visible God, in whom is the invisible God. 339

II. Faith in brief is this, that a person who lives a good life and holds a proper belief is saved by the Lord 340-342

- The leading point of faith in Him is the acknowledgment that He is the Son of God. 342

III. A person acquires faith by approaching the Lord, learning truths from the Word, and living by them. 343-348

(i) The being of faith; the essence of faith; [the coming into being of faith;] the condition of faith; the form of faith. 344ff

(ii) Purely natural faith, as being a firm conviction which pretends to be faith. 345-348

IV. The mass of truths, which cohere as it were in a bundle, raises the level of faith and brings it to perfection. 349-354

(i) The truths of faith are capable of being multiplied to infinity. 350

(ii) Their arrangement is into groupings, thus, so to speak, into bundles. 351

(iii) Faith is perfected in proportion to their volume and coherence. 352-353

(iv) The truths of faith, however numerous they are and however varied they appear, are made one by the Lord. 354

(v) The Lord is the Word, the God of heaven and earth, the God of all flesh, the God of the vineyard or the church, the God of faith, and light itself, truth and everlasting life; this is demonstrated from the Word. 354

V. Faith without charity is no faith, and charity without faith is no charity, and both are lifeless unless the Lord gives them life. 355-361

(i) A person can acquire faith for himself. 356

(ii) A person can acquire charity for himself. 357

(iii) A person can also acquire or himself a life of faith and charity. 358

(iv) But still faith, charity or life in either of them is not in the least created by man, but only by the Lord. 359

(v) The distinction between natural faith and spiritual faith; spiritual faith is under the Lord's guidance contained within natural faith. 360-361

VI. The Lord, charity and faith make one, just as in a person, will and under-standing do; if they are separated, each of them is destroyed, like a pearl collapsing into dust. 362-367

(i) The Lord flows into every human being with all His Divine love, all His Divine wisdom, and so with all His Divine life. 364

(ii) The Lord flows into every human being likewise with the whole essence of faith and charity. 365

(iii) How what flows in from the Lord is received by the person depends upon his condition and form. 366

(iv) The person, however, who separates the Lord, charity and faith is not a form which can receive them, but rather one which destroys them. 367

VII. The Lord is charity and faith in the person, and the person is charity and faith in the Lord. 368-372

(i) It is being linked with God, which affords a person salvation and everlasting life. 369

(ii) A link is impossible with God the Father, but it is possible with the Lord, and through Him with God the Father. 370

(iii) The link with the Lord is reciprocal, so that the Lord is in the person, and he is in the Lord. 371

(iv) This reciprocal link between the Lord and man is created by means of charity and faith. 372

VIII. Charity and faith are present together in good deeds. 373-377

(i) Charity is having good will, and good deeds are doing good from a good will.

(ii) Charity and faith are merely unstable mental concepts unless, when possible, they are realised in deeds and come into existence together in them. 375-376

(iii) Charity alone does not produce good deeds, much less does faith alone, but charity and faith together do. 377

IX. There is true faith, spurious faith and hypocritical faith. 378-381

- From its cradle the Christian church began to be attacked and split by schisms and heresies; what these were. 378

(i) There is only one true faith, and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, and is possessed by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father. 379

(ii) Spurious faith is any faith which departs from the true and only faith, and is possessed by those who climb up another way and look upon the Lord not as God, but merely as a human being. 380

(iii) Hypocritical faith is no faith at all. 381

X. The wicked have no faith. 382-384

(i) The wicked have no faith because evil belongs to hell and faith to heaven. 383

(ii) All those in the Christian world have no faith who reject the Lord and the Word, although they lead moral lives, and talk, teach and write rationally, even about faith. 384

CHAPTER SEVEN: CHARITY, OR LOVE TOWARDS THE NEIGHBOUR, AND GOOD DEEDS

I. There are three universal loves, the love of heaven, the love of the world, and self-love. 394-396

(i) The will and the understanding. 397

(ii) Good and truth. 398

(iii) Love in general. 399

(iv) Self-love and the love of the world in particular. 400

(v) The internal man and the external man. 401

(vi) The purely natural and sensual man. 402

II. When the three loves are duly subordinated, they increase a person's perfection; but when they are not, they corrupt and turn him upside down. 403-405

III. Every person taken singly is the neighbour who is to be loved, but he should be loved according to the quality of his good. 406-411

IV. Man collectively, which is one's community, great or small, and as a group of communities, which is one's country, is the neighbour who is to be loved. 412-414

V. The neighbour who is to be loved in a higher degree is the church, and in the highest degree the Lord's kingdom. 415-416

VI. The essence of loving the neighbour is not loving a person, but the good in him. 417-419

VII. Charity and good deeds are two different things, as are wishing well and doing good. 420-421

VIII. Real charity is dealing fairly and faithfully in whatever position, business or work one is engaged in, and with those with whom one comes into contact. 422-424

IX. The kindnesses of charity are giving to the poor and helping the needy, but with prudence. 425-428

X. Some charitable duties are public, some domestic and some private. 429-432

XI. Charitable recreations are lunches, dinners and parties. 433-434

XII. The first thing in charity is to banish evils, the second is to do good deeds which may be of use to the neighbour. 435-438

XIII. In the exercise of charity a person avoids attributing merit to deeds, so long as he believes that all good is from the Lord. 439-442

XIV. When a moral life is at the same time spiritual, this is charity. 443-445

XV. A bosom friendship contracted with a person without regard to his spiritual character is harmful after death. 446-449

XVI. Spurious charity, hypocritical charity and dead charity. 450-453

XVII. Bosom friendship between the wicked is implacable hatred between them. 454-455

XVIII. The linking of love to God and love towards the neighbour. 456-458

CHAPTER EIGHT: FREE WILL

The rules and dogmas of the present-day church on free will. 463-465

I. The fact that two trees, one of life and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, were put in the Garden of Eden, means that man was given free will in spiritual matters. 466-469

II. Man is not life, but a receiver of life from God. 470-474

III. So long as a person lives in the world, he is kept midway between heaven and hell, and he is there in spiritual equilibrium. This is free will. 475-478

IV. The fact that evil is permitted, a state enjoyed by everyone's internal man, makes it obvious that man has free will in spiritual matters. 479-482

V. Without free will in spiritual matters the Word would not be of any use, nor in consequence would the church be. 483-484

VI. Without free will in spiritual matters man would have no means of establishing a mutual link with the Lord. The result would be not imputation, but complete predestination, which is a detestable doctrine. 485

Some detestable facts about predestination published. 486-488

VII. But for free will in spiritual matters God would be responsible for evil, and thus there could be no imputation of charity and faith. 489-492

VIII. Anything spiritual to do with the church which enters freely and is freely accepted lasts; anything that does not, does not last. 493-496

IX. A person's will and understanding enjoy this free will; but wrongdoing in both the spiritual and natural worlds is curbed by laws, since otherwise society in either world would cease to exist. 497-499

X. If people did not have free will in spiritual matters, everyone throughout the world could in the course of a single day have been brought to believe in the Lord. But this would be impossible, because what a person does not accept of his own free will does not last. 500-502

- Miracles do not happen at the present day, because they take away free will in spiritual matters and compel. 501

CHAPTER NINE: REPENTANCE

I. Repentance is the first stage in the development of the church in a person. 510-511

II. Contrition, which is said at the present time to precede faith and to be followed by the consolation of the Gospel, is not repentance. 512-515

III. A mere verbal confession that one is a sinner is not repentance. 516-519

IV. Man is born with a tendency to every kind of evil, and if he does not partially remove evils by repentance, he remains subject to them, and if so cannot be saved. 520-524

- What is meant by keeping the law. 523-524

V. Recognition of sin and a person's self-examination are the beginnings of repentance. 525-527

VI. Real repentance is examining oneself, recognising and acknowledging one's sins, appealing to the Lord and beginning a new life. 528-531

VII. True repentance means not only examining what one does in one's life, but also what one intends in one's will to do. 532-534

VIII. Those too repent who do not examine themselves, but still refrain from evil actions because they are sins. This kind of repentance is practised by those who perform charitable deeds for religious reasons. 535-537

IX. Confession ought to be made before the Lord God the Saviour, and then prayer should be offered for help and the power to resist evils. 538-560

X. Real repentance is easy for those who have repented a number of times, but highly distasteful to those who have not. 561-563

XI. A person who has never repented, or looked into himself and examined himself, ends up not knowing what is the evil which damns him and what the good which saves him. 564-566

CHAPTER TEN: REFORMATION AND REGENERATION

I. Unless a person is born again and as it were created anew, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 572-575

II. A new birth or creation can only be brought about by the Lord through charity and faith as the two means with the person's co-operation. 576-578

III. Since all have been redeemed, everyone can be regenerated, in each case depending on the person's state. 579-582

IV. The process of regeneration is on the model of a person's conception, gestation in the womb, birth and upbringing. 583-586

- Some facts about the male and female sexes in the vegetable kingdom. 585

V. The first stage of re-birth is called reformation, a process affecting the understanding; the second stage is called regeneration, a process affecting the will and thus the understanding. 587-590

VI. The internal man must be reformed first, and the external by means of the internal; that is how a person is regenerated. 591-595

VII. When this happens, a struggle ensues between the internal and the external man, and the victor then controls the other. 596-600

VIII. When a person is regenerated, he acquires a new will and a new under-standing. 601-606

IX. A person who is regenerated is in touch with the angels of heaven, one who is not with the spirits of hell. 607-610

X. In so far as a person is regenerated, so far are his sins removed; this removal is the forgiveness of sins. 611-614

XI. Regeneration is impossible without free will in spiritual matters. 615-617

XII. Regeneration is impossible without truths through which faith may be formed, and with which charity may link itself. 618-620

CHAPTER ELEVEN: IMPUTATION

I. The faith of the present-day church, which is held to be the sole requirement for justification, is one with imputation. 626-627

II. Imputation as part of present-day faith is a double concept. There is imputation of Christ's merit and imputation of salvation as a result. 628-631

III. The idea of faith imputing the merit and righteousness of Christ the Redeemer sprang first from the decrees of the Council of Nicaea concerning three Divine Persons from eternity; and this faith has been accepted by the whole Christian world from that time to the present. 632-635

IV. Faith which imputes Christ's merit was unknown to the earlier, Apostolic church, and is nowhere to be understood in the Word. 636-639

V. It is impossible for Christ's merit and righteousness to be imputed. 640-642

VI. There is imputation but it is of good and evil. 643-646

VII. The faith and concept of imputation in the new church cannot by any means be combined with the faith and concept of imputation current in the former church. If they are combined, there is such a clash and conflict that a person loses all trace of anything to do with the church. 647-649

VIII. The Lord imputes good to everyone and hell imputes evil to everyone. 650-653

IX. It is what faith combines with which is the deciding factor. If true faith combines with good, that is a decision for everlasting life; but if faith combines with evil, that is a decision for everlasting death. 654-657

X. One's thoughts are not imputed to anyone, only one's will. 658-660

CHAPTER TWELVE: BAPTISM

I. Without knowledge of the spiritual sense of the Word no one can know what is involved in and effected by the two sacraments, baptism and the Holy Supper. 667-669

II. The washing called baptism means spiritual washing, which is purification from evils and falsities, and so regeneration. 670-673

III. Baptism was instituted to take the place of circumcision, because the circumcision of the foreskin was a representation of the circumcision of the heart. The purpose of baptism was so that the internal church should take the place of the external, which in every detail prefigured the internal church. 674-676

IV. The first purpose of baptism is to be introduced to the Christian church, and at the same time brought into the company of Christians in the spiritual world. 677-680

V. The second purpose of baptism is so that a Christian may get to know and acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer and Saviour, and follow Him. 681-683

VI. The third purpose of baptism, which is its end in view, is a person's regeneration. 684-687

VII. By John's baptism the way was prepared for Jehovah God to come down into the world and carry out redemption. 688-691

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE HOLY SUPPER

I. No one who does not know about the way natural things correspond with spiritual ones can know the benefits conferred by the Holy Supper. 698-701

II. A knowledge of correspondences allows us to know what is meant by the Lord's flesh and blood, much the same as by bread and wine. This is that the Lord's flesh and the bread mean the Divine good of His love and also all the good of charity; and the Lord's blood and the wine mean the Divine truth of His wisdom and also all the truth of faith. Eating means making one's own. 702-710

- Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of flesh. 704-705

- Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of blood. 706

- Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of bread. 707

- Demonstration from the Word of the meaning of wine. 708

III. By understanding this it is possible to grasp the fact that the Holy Supper contains everything to do with the church and heaven, both at the universal and at the particular level. 711-715

IV. The Lord is wholly present in the Holy Supper, and so is the whole of redemption. 716-718

V. The Lord is present and opens heaven to those who worthily approach the Holy Supper. He is also present with those who approach it unworthily, but He does not open heaven to them. Consequently just as baptism is being introduced to the church, so the Holy Supper is being introduced to heaven. 719-721

VI. The people who worthily approach the Holy Supper are those who have faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, so those who have been regenerated. 722-724

VII. Those who worthily approach the Holy Supper are in the Lord and the Lord is in them. Thus it is through the Holy Supper that they are linked with the Lord. 725-727

VIII. The Holy Supper for those who approach it worthily is a kind of guarantee and seal put on their adoption as sons of God. 728-730

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE ENDING OF THE AGE, THE LORD'S COMING, AND THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

I. The ending of the age is the final period or end of the church. 753-756

II. The present time is the final period of the Christian church foretold and described by the Lord in the Gospels and Revelation 757-759

III. This final period of the Christian church is absolute night, in which previous churches ended 760-763

IV. This night is followed by morning, and morning is the Lord's coming. 764-767

V. The Lord's coming does not mean His coming to destroy the sky we see and the earth where we live, and to create a new heaven and a new earth, as many people up to now have imagined through not understanding the spiritual sense of the Word. 768-771

VI. This, which is the Lord's second coming, is taking place in order that the wicked should be separated from the good, and those should be saved who believe in Him and have done so; and so that a new heaven of angels and a new church on earth should be formed from them. Without this no flesh could be saved (Matthew 24:22). 772-775

VII. This, the Lord's second coming, is not in person, but in the word, which is from Him and which He is. 776-778

VIII. This, the Lord's second coming, is taking place by means of a man, to whom He has shown Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, so that he may teach the doctrines of the new church which come from the Lord through the Word. 779-780

IX. This is the meaning of the new heaven and the New Jerusalem in Revelation, chapter 21. 781-785

X. This new church is the crown of all the churches which have up to now existed upon earth. 786-791

SUPPLEMENT

I. The nature of the spiritual world. 792-795

II. Luther in the spiritual world. 796

III. Melanchthon in the spiritual world. 797

IV. Calvin in the spiritual world. 798-799

V. The Dutch in the spiritual world. 800-805

VI. The British in the spiritual world. 806-812

VII. The Germans in the spiritual world. 813-816

VIII. The Roman Catholics in the spiritual world. 817-821

IX. The saints of the Roman Catholics in the spiritual world. 822-827

X. The Mohammedans in the spiritual world. 828-834

XI. The Africans in the spiritual world; also something about other nations. 835-840

XII. The Jews in the spiritual world. 841-845

400. (iv) SELF-LOVE AND THE LOVE OF THE WORLD IN PARTICULAR.

1. Loving oneself is wishing oneself alone well, and no others except for one's own sake, so neither the church, nor one's country, nor any human community or fellow citizen. It also includes for instance doing good to them solely for the sake of one's own reputation, honour and glory. If someone does not see these advantages in the good deeds he does to them, he says in his heart, 'What does this matter? Why should I do this, and what do I get out of it?' So he puts a stop to them. From this it is plain that a person who is in a state of self-love does not love the church, his country or community, nor his fellow citizen, nor anything that is truly good, but only himself and what is his.

[2] 2. A person is in a state of self-love when in his thoughts and deeds he does not pay regard to the neighbour, so not to the public, much less the Lord, but only to himself and his own people; and consequently when he does everything for his own sake or for the sake of his people. If he does something for the sake of the public, it is only for show; and if he does it for his neighbour's sake, it is to win his favour.

[3] 3. We say for his own sake or for the sake of his people, because the person who loves himself also loves his people. These are in particular his children and grandchildren, and generally speaking all who act as one with him and whom he calls his own. Loving either of these groups is also loving oneself, for he looks on them as, so to speak, in himself, and he sees himself in them. The people he calls his own include also all who praise, honour and respect him. Other people he may regard as human beings with his physical eyes, but with the eyes of his spirit as hardly more than ghosts.

[4] 4. A person is in a state of self-love, when he despises the neighbour compared with himself, when he treats him as an enemy if he does not take his part, revere and respect him. He is even more in a state of self-love if on this account he hates the neighbour and persecutes him; more still, if on this account he burns to get his revenge on him and longs for his ruin. Such people end up by loving cruelty.

[5] 5. A comparison with heavenly love can show what self-love is like. Heavenly love is loving to perform services for their own sake, or the good deeds which a person does for the church, his country, his fellow men and fellow citizens for the sake of the good deeds themselves. On the other hand the person who loves them for his own sake, only loves them as he would servants, because they are of use to him. It follows from this that a person who is in a state of self-love wants the church, his country, the communities he belongs to and fellow citizens to be of use to him, rather than himself to be of use to them; so he sets himself above them and them beneath him.

[6] 6. Further, in so far as anyone has heavenly love, which is loving forms of service and good deeds and being heartily pleased when he performs them, so far is he led by the Lord, because that is the Lord's love and the love that comes from Him. On the other, in so far as anyone loves himself, so far does he lead himself, and so far is he led by the self (proprium). A person's self is inevitably evil, for it is his hereditary evil, which is loving oneself more than God, and the world more than heaven.

[7] 7. Another characteristic of self-love is that in so far as its restraints are relaxed, so far, that is, as external bonds are removed - fear of the law and legal penalties, fear of losing one's reputation, honours, profit, office and life - so far does it rush headlong, until it not only wants to rule over the whole world, but even heaven, in fact, God Himself. Nowhere does it set itself an end or limit. This desire lurks hidden in every person in a state of self-love, even if it is not plain for the world to see, since there the restraints and bonds just mentioned hold him back; and anyone of this character, when confronted with an impossibility, simply stops there until it does become possible. The result of both these facts is that a person who is in that state is unaware that such a crazy, limitless craving lies hidden within him. Yet the truth of this must be apparent to everyone in the case of dictators and kings who meet none of these restraints, bonds or impossibilities. They rush to subdue provinces and kingdoms so far as their success permits and they aspire to unlimited power and glory; even more so, if they extend their dominion to heaven and arrogate to themselves all the Lord's Divine power. These people continually seek to go further.

[8] 8. There are two types of power, one based on love towards the neighbour, the other on self-love. These two types of power are opposites. A person who wields power as a result of love to the neighbour, wishes the good of all, and likes nothing better than performing uses, or being of service to others. (Being of service to others is doing good to others because one wishes them well, and performing uses.) This is his love, and this is the pleasure of his heart. Also, in so far as he is advanced to high rank, he is pleased, not because of his rank, but because of the uses he is then better able to perform, and in more cases. Such is power in the heavens. On the other hand, the person who wields power as a result of self-love, wishes no one well, only himself and his own people. The services he performs are for his own honour and glory, for these are the only uses he recognises. He is of service to others only for the sake of having services done to him, of being honoured and given power. He seeks high rank not so as to be able to do good, but so as to hold a leading position and be highly honoured, and so fulfil his heart's pleasure.

[9] 9. The love of power still remains with everyone after his life in the world; but those who wielded power out of love towards the neighbour have power entrusted to them in the heavens too, but then it is not they, but the services and good deeds they love, which wield the power. It is the Lord who wields the power when services and deeds do. Those, however, who wielded power in the world out of self-love, are, after their life in the world is over, deposed and reduced to slavery.

These are the signs by which those who are in a state of self-love can be recognised. It makes no difference what they look like in outward appearance, whether they are proud or submissive. For such things belong in the internal man, and most people hide the internal, and train the external to put on a pretence of love for people and the neighbour, the opposite of what he really feels. They do this for their own sakes, for they know that loving people and the neighbour inwardly disposes all in their favour, so that they are the more esteemed. The reason people are so disposed is the influence heaven exerts on that love.

[10] 10. The evils to be found in those who are in a state of self-love are in general contempt for others, envy, unfriendliness to those who do not take their part, hostility arising from this, various kinds of hatred, vengeful behaviour, trickery, guile, hard-heartedness and cruelty. Where such evils exist, there is also contempt for God and what is God's, the truths and kinds of good which belong to the church. Any respect they pay to these is mere lip-service and not from the heart. Since evils of this sort arise from this love, there are also similar falsities, because falsities arise from evils.

[11] 11. The love of the world, however, is wanting by any means to divert others' wealth to oneself, setting one's heart on riches, and allowing worldly considerations to withdraw and seduce one from spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbour and so of heavenly origin. Those who love the world are those who desire to divert others' goods to themselves by various means, especially those who do so by guile and trickery, paying no heed to the neighbour's good. Those in the power of that love long for other people's goods, and, in so far as they are not afraid of the laws or loss of reputation by seeking gain, they deprive them of their goods, or rather plunder them.

[12] 12. But the love of the world is not so diametrically opposed to heavenly love as is self-love, since there are no such great evils hidden within it.

[13] 13. The love of the world takes many forms. It includes the love of wealth as a means of advancement to honours; the love of honours and distinctions as a means to acquiring wealth; the love of wealth for various purposes which give pleasure in the world; the love of wealth simply for the sake of wealth (that is the love of the miserly), and so on. The purpose for which wealth is desired is called its use; and it is the purpose or use which gives a love its quality, for the quality of love is determined by the purpose for which it is desired - all else serves as its means.

[14] 14. In short, self-love and the love of the world are totally opposed to love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Self-love and the love of the world, as described above, are therefore hellish loves; they are dominant in hell, and also cause hell to exist in a person. Love to the Lord, however, and love towards the neighbour are heavenly loves; they are dominant in heaven and also cause heaven to exist in a person.