536. DEEL OVER DE HELDE HEER REGEERT DEHELLEN

Inhet voorgaande waar over de hemel is gesproken, werd overal aangetoond, in het bijzonder in nr. `2-6`, dat de Heer de God van de hemelen is, en dat dus alle bestuur van de hemelen in de handen van de Heer is; en omdat de verhouding van de hemelen tot de hel en van de hellen tot de hemel is als van twee tegenovergestelden, die wederkerig tegen elkaar werken, en uit hun actie en reactie een evenwicht volgt waarin alle dingen verblijven, daarom moet, opdat volstrekt ieder ding in evenwicht gehouden wordt, Hij die deze regeert ook gene regeren; want tenzij dezelfde God opstanden bedwong in de hel en de krankzinnigheden aldaar tegenging, zou het evenwicht ten gronde gaan en met het evenwicht het geheel.

227. Verse 14. And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, signifies those who are in faith alone, thus those who are in faith separate from charity. This is evident from the internal or spiritual sense of all things that are written to the angel of this church; for the essential of the church that is described in what is written to each of the churches, is made evident only from the internal sense; for these are prophecies; and all prophecies, like all things else in the Word, are written by correspondences, to the end that by means of these there may be conjunction of heaven with the church. Conjunction is effected by means of correspondences; for heaven, or the angels in heaven, understand spiritually all those things that man understands naturally, and between natural and spiritual things there is a perpetual correspondence, and by means of correspondences there is conjunction like that between soul and body. On this account the Word is written in the style that it is; otherwise there would be no soul within it, consequently no heaven within it; and if heaven were not in it, the Divine would not be in it. For this reason then it is said that from the internal or spiritual sense of all things in what is written to each church, it is made manifest what essential of the church is meant; thus that what is written to the angel of this church treats of those who are in faith alone, that is, in faith separate from charity. It is said faith separate from charity, by which is meant faith separate from the life, for charity is of the life; consequently when faith has been separated from the life, it is not in the man but outside of him; for whatever has place in the memory only, and is taken up from the memory into the thought, without entering into man's will and from the will into act, that is not within man but outside of him; for the memory, and thought therefrom, is only as a court, through which there is entrance into the house; the house is the will. Such is faith alone, or faith separate from charity. Moreover, what this faith is may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 108-122; also in the small work on The Last Judgment 33-39; and in the work on Heaven and Hell 270, 271, 364, 482, 526. Also above, in the Explanation of Revelation, n. 204, 211-213. Moreover, what charity is and what the neighbor is, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 84-107; in the work on Heaven and Hell 13-19, 528-535; and above, in the Explanation, n. 182, 198, 213.

270. I need now to say something about the wisdom of the angels of the third or inmost heaven, and about how much it surpasses the wisdom of the first or outmost heaven.

The wisdom of angels of the third or inmost heaven is beyond comprehension, even for angels of the first or outmost heaven. This is because the inner natures of angels of the third heaven are opened at the third level, while those of angels of the first heaven are open only at the first level; and all wisdom increases as you move toward the deeper levels and is perfected as they are opened (208, 267).

[2] Since the inner levels of angels of the third heaven are opened at the third level, they have divine truths virtually engraved on them, for inner matters at the third level are more in heaven's form than those at the second and first level. Heaven's form arises from divine truth and therefore is in agreement with divine wisdom. This is why divine truths seem to these angels to be engraved, or to be instinctive and innate. Because of this, as soon as they hear genuine divine truths, they immediately acknowledge and grasp them and from then on virtually see them within themselves. Because this is characteristic of angels of this heaven, they never try to figure out divine truths, much less argue whether some particular truth is true or not. They do not know what it is to believe or have faith, but say, "What is faith? I perceive and see that this is so." They offer a comparison by way of illustration. It would be like someone seeing a house and various things in and around it and telling someone with him that he ought to believe that they existed and that they were what they seemed to be. Or it would be like someone seeing a garden with trees and fruit in it and telling someone that she should have faith that it was a garden and that those were trees and fruit when she could see them plainly with her own eyes. So these angels never call "faith" by name and in fact have no concept of it. This is why they do not try to figure out divine truths, much less argue whether any particular truth is true or not. ¹

[3] In contrast, angels of the first or outmost heaven do not have divine truths engraved on their inner natures in this way because for them only the first level of life has been opened. So they do try to figure things out, and people who are calculating in this way see little more than the subject they are puzzling over. They do not go beyond that subject except to find support for their conclusions, and once they have decided, they say that these should be matters of faith and are to be believed.

[4] I have talked about this with angels, who have told me that the difference between the wisdom of angels of the third heaven and the wisdom of angels of the first heaven is like the difference between something bright and something dark. Or again, they have compared the wisdom of angels of the third heaven to a palace full of everything useful, surrounded far and wide by parklands, with all sorts of splendid things beyond. Since these angels enjoy truths of wisdom, they can enter the palace and see everything there. They can stroll anywhere in the parks and enjoy whatever they see. It is different for people who are trying to figure things out, though, and even more so for people who argue about them. These individuals do not see truths in the light of truth, but adopt them either from other people or from the literal meaning of the Word, which they do not understand in depth. So they say that truths must be believed or that people must have faith in things - things that they then do not want anyone looking into very deeply. The angels kept saying that these people could not get to the first threshold of the palace, much less enter it and stroll around in its parks, because they are stuck at the first step. It is different for people who are engaged in actual truths. Nothing keeps them from moving ahead without limit; for once truths have been seen they lead on wherever they are headed, even into spacious meadows, because every truth has an infinite outreach and is united to many, many others.

[5] They also said that the wisdom of angels of the inmost heaven consists primarily of their seeing divine and heavenly things in individual objects and wonders in series of objects, for everything that appears to their eyes has a correspondence. When they see palaces and gardens, for instance, their insight does not dwell on the things in front of their eyes but sees the deeper things they stem from, the things, that is, to which they correspond. This goes on with constant variety in keeping with the appearance of the objects; so at any given time there are countless things in a pattern and a connectedness so delightful to their minds that they seem to be transported. (Everything that is visible in the heavens corresponds to something divine that is from the Lord in angels, .)

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