1. THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION

Containing THE UNIVERSAL THEOLOGY OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

This faith is presented at the outset in its general and in its particular form. It is so presented that it may serve as a preface to the whole work which follows, as a gateway, as it were, by which entrance is made to a temple, and as an epitome in which the subsequent details are duly summarized. It is said to be "The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church" because heaven, where angels are, and the Church, in which men are, act as one like the internal and the external with man. Hence it is that the member of the Church, who is in the good of love from the truths of faith, and in the truths of faith from the good of love, is an angel of heaven as to the interiors of his mind. Thus he enters into heaven after death, and there enjoys happiness according to the degree in which those principles are united in him. It should therefore be known that this faith in its summary form is the index and gateway of the new heaven now being formed by the Lord.

401. ¹ (5) The Internal and the External Man. 1. Man is so created as to be at the same time in the spiritual world and in the natural world. The spiritual world is where angels are, and the natural world is where men are. Because man is so created he is endowed with an internal and an external; by virtue of the internal he is in the spiritual world, and by virtue of the external he is in the natural world. His internal is called the internal man, and his external is called the external man.

[2] "Every man has both an internal and an external; but with a difference in the case of the good and the evil. With the good, the internal is in heaven and its light, and the external is in the world and in the light of its intelligence. This intellectual light of the world is with them illuminated by the light of heaven; ² and thus the internal and the external act in unity, like cause and effect, or like what is prior and what is posterior. On the other hand, with the evil the internal is in hell and in its light, ³ which, compared with the light of heaven, is thick darkness, while their external may be in the intellectual light similar to that which the good enjoy; that is, the interior state of the evil is an inverted one. This is the reason why the evil can speak and teach concerning faith, charity and God, but not, like the good, from faith, charity and God.

[3] "The internal man is what is called the spiritual man, because it is in the light of heaven, and this light is spiritual; and the external man is what is called the natural man, because it is in the intellectual light of the world, and this light is natural. The man whose internal is in the light of heaven, and whose external is in the intellectual light of the world, is a spiritual man as to both; for spiritual light from within illuminates the natural light, and makes it as its own. The case is the reverse with the wicked.

[4] "The internal spiritual man, viewed in himself, is an angel of heaven; and, while living in the body, although not conscious of the fact, is also associated with angels, amongst whom he is introduced after his release from the body. But with the evil, the internal man is a satan, and while living in the body, is also associated with satans, and amongst these he is introduced after his release from the body.

[5] "The interiors of the mind of those who are spiritual men are actually raised up towards heaven; for heaven is the primary object of their regard; but with those who are merely natural, the interiors of the mind are turned away from heaven and directed towards the world, because this is their primary object of regard.

[6] "Those who entertain only a general idea concerning the internal and the external man, believe that it is the internal man that thinks and wills, and the external that speaks and acts; because thinking and willing are internal, while speaking and acting are external. It should be known, however, that when a man thinks and wills rightly concerning the Lord and the neighbor, and concerning the things which respectively belong to them, he then thinks and wills from a spiritual internal, because he does so from the faith of truth and the love of good; but when a man thinks evil concerning them and wills evil to them, he then thinks and wills from an infernal internal, because from the faith of falsity and the love of evil. In short, so far as a man is principled in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor, he is in a spiritual internal, from which he thinks and wills, and also speaks and acts; but so far as a man is in the love of self and in the love of the world, he thinks and wills from hell, let his words and actions be what they may.

[7] "It is so provided and ordered by the Lord that, in proportion as a man thinks and wills from heaven, the spiritual man is opened and developed; this opening is into heaven, even to the Lord, and the development is in the direction of those things that pertain to heaven. On the other hand, however, so far as a man thinks and wills, not from heaven but from the world, the internal spiritual man is closed, and the external is opened, and developed; and this opening is into the world, and the development is towards those things that pertain to hell.

[8] "Those with whom the internal spiritual man is opened into heaven to the Lord, are in the light of heaven, and in enlightenment from the Lord, and consequently in intelligence and wisdom. These see truth from the light of truth, and have a perception of good from the love of it. But those with whom the internal spiritual man is closed, do not know what the internal man is; neither do they believe in the Word, nor in a life after death, nor in the things that pertain to heaven and the Church. Moreover, as they are only in natural light (lumen), they believe nature to be derived from itself, and not from God; they see falsity as truth, and perceive evil as good.

[9] "The internal and the external here treated of are the internal and the external of man's spirit. His body is only a superadded external, within which the others exist; for the body does nothing from itself, but acts from the spirit which is within it. It should be known that a man's spirit, after its separation from the body, retains this capacity to think and will, to speak and act; for thought and will constitute its internal, and speech and action now constitute its external."

Imibhalo yaphansi:

132. (7) IT IS A FUNDAMENTAL ERROR OF THE CHURCH TO BELIEVE THAT THE PASSION OF THE CROSS WAS REDEMPTION ITSELF; AND THIS ERROR, TOGETHER WITH THAT CONCERNING THREE DIVINE PERSONS FROM ETERNITY, HAS PERVERTED THE WHOLE CHURCH SO THAT NOTHING SPIRITUAL REMAINS IN IT.

There is no doctrine at the present time more extensively promulgated in the books of the orthodox, or more zealously taught and inculcated in the schools, or more frequently preached and proclaimed from the pulpit than this: "God the Father, being angry with the human race, not only removed it from His presence, but involved it in a general condemnation, and thus excommunicated it; but because He was gracious, He persuaded or stirred His Son to descend and take upon Himself the condemnation which had been decided, and thus appease the wrath of His Father; and by this means only could the Father look with any favor on mankind. This was done by the Son, who, by taking upon Himself the condemnation pronounced upon the human race, suffered Himself to be scourged by the Jews, spit upon, and finally crucified as one accursed of God, Deuteronomy 21:23. Moreover, after this was done, the Father was propitiated, and from love of His Son, cancelled the condemnation; but only in the case of those for whom the Son should intercede, and thus He became a Mediator in the presence of the Father for ever."

[2] These and similar doctrines are at this day proclaimed in the Churches, re-echoing from their walls as an echo resounds from the woods, and filling the ears of all present. Any one, however, whose reason is enlightened, and made sound by the Word, can see that God is mercy and pity itself, because He is love itself and Goodness itself, and that these are His Essence. It is, therefore, a contradiction to say that mercy itself or goodness itself can look upon a man with anger, and decide upon his condemnation, and still remain His own Divine Essence. Such things are scarcely ever ascribed to an upright man or to an angel, but only to a wicked man or to an infernal spirit; it is therefore impious to ascribe them to God.

[3] If inquiry be made into the cause of so widespread a belief, it will be found to be this, that men have assumed the passion of the cross to be redemption itself; hence have flowed those ideas as falsities in a continuous series flow from one false principle; as from a cask of vinegar nothing but vinegar can come forth, or from an insane mind nothing but insanity. For from a single conclusion there branch forth propositions of a like nature; they are latent in it, and emerge in due order. So from the belief that the passion of the cross is redemption many more opinions, offensive and dishonoring to God, can come forth and be spread abroad till that happens which is spoken of by Isaiah:

"Priest and prophet have erred through strong drink... they stumble in judgment... All tables are full of vomit and filthiness. Isaiah 28:7-8.