civil

Two Essentials of All Things of Man’s Life

Lastchurch - The Eternal Purpose

Selection from Divine Love and Wisdom ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
The Divine Essence Itself Is Love And Wisdom
Sum up all things you know and submit them to careful inspection, and in some elevation of spirit search for the universal of all things, and you cannot conclude otherwise than that it is Love and Wisdom. For these are the two essentials of all things of man’s life; everything of that life, civil, moral, and spiritual, hinges upon these two, and apart from these two is nothing. It is the same with all things of the life of the composite Man, which is … a society, larger or smaller, a kingdom, an empire, a church, and also the angelic heaven. Take away love and wisdom from these, and consider whether they be anything, and you will find that apart from love and wisdom as their origin they are nothing.
Love together with wisdom in its very essence is in God. This no one can deny; for God loves every one from love in Himself, and leads every one from wisdom in Himself. The created universe, too, viewed in relation to its order, is so full of wisdom coming forth from love that all things in the aggregate may be said to be wisdom itself. For things limitless are in such order, successively and simultaneously, that taken together they make a one. It is from this, and this alone, that they can be held together and continually preserved.

It is because the Divine Essence itself is Love and Wisdom that man has two capacities for life – from one of these he has understanding, from the other will. The capacity from which he has understanding derives everything it has from the influx of wisdom from God, and the capacity from which he has will derives everything it has from the influx of love from God. Man’s not being truly wise and not loving rightly does not take away these capacities, but merely closes them up; and so long as they are closed up, although the understanding is still called understanding and the will is called will, they are not such in essence. If these two capacities, therefore, were to be taken away, all that is human would perish; for the human is to think and to speak from thought, and to will and to act from will.

From this it is clear that the Divine has its seat in man in these two capacities, the capacity to be wise and the capacity to love (that is, that one may be wise and may love). That in man there is a possibility of loving [and of being wise], even when he is not wise as he might be and does not love as he might….

(Divine Love and Wisdom 28-30)
May 13, 2017

PEACE

PEACE
A Sermon by Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Preached in Boynton Beach, Florida (cataloged 8/11/97)

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).

In these beautiful and comforting words the Lord invites all people to enter into and partake of the peace and joy of heavenly life. He also tells us how we may attain this happy and much sought-after state. Two important truths are contained in our text. The first is that the Lord alone can bring us into this state of peace and spiritual rest. This is expressed by the words: “Come to Me,” and “I will give you rest.” The second is that the life that leads to heaven is not as difficult as we are apt to suppose. This is expressed by the words: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (quotations’ emphasis added).

If we believe in an infinite and loving God who created the universe and mankind, a God whose infinite wisdom established the laws which operate on all planes of creation, spiritual and natural, then it follows that He is the only one truly qualified to reveal those laws to us. They are the product of His love as formed and expressed by His wisdom. Since He is the one who created us, He alone can tell us what His purpose was in doing so, and how this purpose may be realized.

If we would understand the great issues of life the purpose and order of creation, the relationship between man and his Maker, and between man and man we must first acknowledge God the Creator, approach Him in His Word, and there come to know Him as He reveals Himself and His will to us. In adopting this course lies our only hope of finding real peace and contentment in a world troubled with selfishness, materialistic ambition, and the feverish pursuit of pleasure.

To all who genuinely desire to experience this state of inner peace, the Lord says: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

In the Word of the Second Advent, we are told that the purpose of creation is that there may be a heaven from the human race. And we are told that this purpose is fulfilled when we acknowledge the Lord, shun evils as sins against Him, and perform uses for the benefit of our fellow man from the heart, that is, from good will toward him.

But in order that we may shun evils as sins against the Lord, we must learn from the Lord what evils are, and in order to do good we must learn what is good. Simply stated, evil is all that which is contrary to the Divine laws of order. Good is all that which is in accord with these laws, and which promotes the Divine end in creation. It follows from this that spiritual peace is attained through learning the Divine laws of order and living according to them. This is the life of religion.

Many people have a prejudice against religion, believing that being religious involves a withdrawal from the activities of the world, and walking about in pious meditation on ethereal things. We are taught in the Word that this is not living a religious life. In fact, it is said that such a life is not compatible with heavenly joy. By living in this way a person acquires a sorrowful disposition that is not in accord with the happiness and peace of heaven.

We live a twofold life in this world, the life of the spirit and the life of the body. If our life is to be full, the life of the mind or spirit must flow into and express itself in the life of the body. That is, our internal life and our external life should be in harmony and correspondence. The intentions of our will and the thoughts of our understanding should find ultimate expression in bodily actions and deeds. To renounce bodily and worldly life is like living in a house without a foundation. Such a house eventually cracks and falls in ruins.

The life of religion, or spiritual life, is not as opposed to worldly life as is often supposed. Natural life consists in living according to natural laws the laws of nature, physiological laws and the laws of hygiene. Civil life consists in living according to the laws of the country, state or city in which we live. Moral life is living according to the moral laws which exist for the preservation of order on the social plane of life. Spiritual life consists in living a natural, civil and moral life from a sincere desire to be of service to our neighbor.

Willing well to the neighbor pertains to spiritual life, and doing well pertains to moral, civil and natural life. It is clear from this that spiritual life cannot be separated from life in the world, for to separate it would be like removing the soul from the body, or thought from speech. It would become an intangible, abstract something without quality or form. Therefore the Writings state that unless the intentions of the will are expressed by action, they are eventually dissipated and become nothing.

However, this does not necessarily mean that if we are living a civil and moral life we are living a spiritual life as well. We may be doing our civil duty and fulfilling our moral obligations purely for the sake of reward, or to avoid punishment. We may be doing so for the sake of our reputations, or to avoid friction and unpleasantness. If these are the motives which inspire our civil and moral life, we are not living a spiritual life. For if the rewards were absent, or the penalties removed, we would, in all probability, cease to live according to these laws.

In external appearance there may be no difference between living a spiritual life and purely natural life. The difference lies in the will or intention which is within the external acts. To live the life of religion then, all we need do is put a spiritual motive within our civil and moral life, provided, of course, we are living according to civil laws and sound moral principles. Spiritual life, therefore, consists in living a civil and moral life from a spiritual love.

This teaching is clearly expounded in Heaven and Hell. There we read: “It is not so difficult as some believe to live the life that leads to heaven … Who cannot live a civil and moral life? … Everyone from childhood is initiated into that life, and learns what it is by living in the world. Moreover, everyone, whether evil or good, lives that life; for who does not wish to be called honest, and who does not wish to be called just? Almost everyone practices honesty and justice outwardly, so far as to seem to be honest and just at heart … The spiritual person ought to live in like manner, and can do so as easily as the natural person can, with this difference only, that the spiritual person believes in the Divine, and acts honestly and justly not solely because to so act is in accord with civil and moral laws, but also because it is in accord with Divine laws” (HH 530, emphasis added).

As the spiritual person in whatever he is doing looks to spiritual ends, “he has communication with the angels of heaven; and so far as this takes place he is conjoined with them; and thereby his internal man, which regarded in itself is the spiritual man, is opened. When man comes into this state he is adopted and led by the Lord, although … unconscious of it, and then whatever the person does … pertaining to moral and civil life is done from a spiritual motive” (HH 530). And acting according to civil and moral law from a spiritual motive is doing it from the heart, or willing well to the neighbor from the heart.

This passage from the Heavenly Doctrines makes it clear that the life of religion is not as difficult as is commonly believed. Externally, our lives do not need to be changed as radically as some people would have us believe. For do not most of us live according to civil and moral laws? What we need to do is make sure that our reason for so living is spiritual. Instead of acting from the love of self, from fear of punishment or dishonor, from sheer necessity, or for the sake of reputation, let us act in all things from a love of being of service to our fellow men, from a desire to promote their eternal welfare, from a desire to do the Lord’s will. If we do this, we will be living the life that leads to heaven. This is why the Lord says: “My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

If we would have inner peace, then, we must free our minds from the grip of selfish ambitions and purely natural ends. We must lift them up to the Lord the mountain from whence comes our help. We need to realize that everything in the Lord’s sight has a spiritual purpose. When we thus elevate our minds above merely natural considerations, when we have spiritual ends in view and as we seek to promote these ends, then our spirits are elevated into the light and heat of heaven into the sphere of angelic love and wisdom. We come into association with angels, and the sphere of peace, which is theirs, is communicated to us. Amen.

Lessons: Psalm 34, Matt 5:1-12, AC 8480:1,3

Arcana Coelestia 8480:1,3

“And men made a residue of it until the morning.” That this signifies the abuse of good Divine, in that they desired to acquire it from themselves, is evident from the signification of “making a residue of it until the morning” as being to be solicitous about the acquisition of good of themselves (n. 8478), and consequently the abuse of good Divine. It is termed “abuse” when there arises what is alike in ultimates but from a contrary origin. Good arises from contrary origin when it does so from man and not from the Lord; for the Lord is good itself, consequently He is the source of all good. The good which is from Him has in it what is Divine; thus it is good from its inmost and first being; whereas the good which is from man is not good, because from himself man is nothing but evil; consequently the good which is from him is in its first essence evil, although in the outward form it may appear like good. The case herein is like that of flowers painted upon a tablet, as compared with the flowers that grow in a garden. These flowers are beautiful from their inmosts; for the more interiorly they are opened, the more beautiful they are; whereas the flowers painted on a tablet are beautiful only in the outward form, and as to the inward one are nothing but mud and a mixture of earthy particles lying in confusion, as the Lord also teaches when He says of the lilies of the field that “Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these” (Matt. 6:29).

Good from the Lord is with those who love the Lord above all things and the neighbor as themselves; but good from man is with those who love themselves above all things and despise the neighbor in comparison with themselves. These are they who have care for the morrow, because they trust in themselves; but the former are they who have no care for the morrow, because they trust in the Lord (n. 8478). They who trust in the Lord continually receive good from Him; for whatsoever happens to them, whether it appears to be prosperous or not prosperous, is still good, because it conduces as a means to their eternal happiness. But they who trust in themselves are continually drawing evil upon themselves; for whatever happens to them, even if it appears to be prosperous and happy, is nevertheless evil, and consequently conduces as a means to their eternal unhappiness. These are the things which are signified by the command that they should make no residue of the manna till the morning, and that what was left bred worms and stank.

REBIRTH

REBIRTH
A Sermon by Rev. Daniel W. Heinrichs
Preached in Boynton Beach, Florida, September 27, 1992

“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again”‘ (John 3:5-7).

The purpose in creation is a heaven from the human race. We are born into this world in order that we may be prepared for eternal life in heaven. Since the fall of man in the days of the Most Ancient Church, represented in the Word by Adam’s and Eve’s fall from integrity, man is born with a tendency to evils which have been increased in a long line from parents, grandparents, and ancestors. We read: “Everyone who is born is born into all these inherited evils thus increased in succession” and consequently by nature he loves nothing but evil (AC5280:2).

This being the case, how can we be prepared for heavenly life? Heavenly life, by its very nature, can have nothing in common with a life of evil. The Lord, addressing Nicodemus, answered this question directly and simply, saying: “Unless one be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).

“‘To be born,”‘ the Writings state, “is to be regenerated, because … spiritual birth is regeneration, which is also called rebirth … It is by one’s being born again, or regenerated, that man becomes man,” that is, truly human (AC 5160). This is the essential teaching of all Divine revelation. It is implied throughout the Old Testament. It is plainly stated in the New Testament, and it is thoroughly explained in the Writings. Our life on earth begins by natural birth. Our spiritual life begins by spiritual birth or regeneration.

It is commonly believed by many that people enter into heaven simply by the Lord’s admitting them. “But,” the Writings say, “he who holds this belief is much mistaken. For no one can be received into heaven who has not received heaven into himself, which is done by means of rebirth, or regeneration” (AC 5342:4). Heaven is not merely a place; it is a state of life. The state is the reality; the place is where those are who are in the state of heaven. Only those enter heaven who are in the state of heaven; these are people who have received heaven into themselves by rebirth, or regeneration.

The Writings declare that a person who is in good is being reborn every moment, from early infancy to the end of life on earth and thereafter to eternity. The processes by which this takes place are said to be both intricate and amazing, and it is these processes which are the subject of the internal, spiritual sense of the Word (see AC 5202:4).

Since the interiors of the Word have now been laid open to the sight of the understanding, we need no longer grope our way through life in obscurity and darkness. If we will regularly and conscientiously read the Word, especially the Writings, and make their light our light, we will be able to cooperate intelligently with the Lord in the process of regeneration. “No one can be regenerated except through the good of life conjoined with the truth of doctrine; from this one has spiritual life.”

Let us consider some of those teachings in the Word which throw light on this subject, so that, by a better understanding of these marvelous processes, we may willingly and intelligently enter into the process of regeneration and progress along the way that leads to heaven.

In infancy and childhood we are, as to our quality, completely sensuous. That is, our ideas and thoughts are formed entirely from impressions entering our minds through the five senses. The innocence of this state is not genuine but external, for true innocence is the product of wisdom. By this innocence, in which infants and children are kept, the Lord disposes into order those impressions which come in through the senses so that they may form a basis, or foundation, upon which the rational mind can be built in later life. The Writings state that without the influx of external innocence in this first age, rationality could never develop (see AC 5126:2).

From childhood to early youth, by instruction from parents and teachers and by individual study, the mind takes on a new quality. Not only are the ideas and thoughts received through the bodily senses, but abstract ideas are also received and partially comprehended. In this state of life, concepts of right and wrong can be appreciated. The obligations placed on us by the civil law are learned and understood. Thus a higher plane of the mind is formed, which is called in the Writings the “natural” to distinguish it from the lower plane, established in infancy and early childhood, called the sensuous (see AC 5126:2).

“From youth to early adulthood communication is opened between the natural and the rational by the learning of truths and goods of civil and moral life, and especially the truths and goods of spiritual life, through the hearing and reading of the Word” (AC 5126:2, emphasis added). When a young person lives according to the civil, moral and spiritual truths which have been learned, he becomes rational, that is, the rational plane is opened and established.

On the other hand, if one does not learn spiritual truths, or if one does not live according to them, the person does not become rational. Such a person merely stands on the threshold of rationality. The knowledges possessed by the person are a matter of memory only, not of insight, perception and life.

If then and in subsequent years the truths and goods of spiritual life are disregarded and denied, and the person lives contrary to them, then the rational is closed and also the natural which had previously been established. The person reverts to the plane of the sensuous. The person’s thoughts proceed from the same plane as that of the infant and child, despite the fact that the person may be of mature age and have a great fund of knowledge. “Nevertheless,” the Writings say, “of the Lord’s Divine providence, so much of communication still remains as to enable the person to understand goods and truths with some degree of understanding, yet not to make them one’s own unless he performs serious repentance and for a long while afterward struggles with falsities and evils” (ibid.).

If, however, a young person learns the truths of life – especially those of spiritual life – by instruction and study, and if the person lives the truths learned, then the rational mind is successively opened in the person. Since the activity of thought then originates in the rational, the person becomes more and more rational. When this state is reached, the natural degree is made subordinate to the rational, and the sensuous subordinate to the natural. “This takes place,” we read, “especially in youth up to adult age, and progressively to the last years of … life, and afterward in heaven to eternity” (AC 5126).

What is maturity, true maturity? Maturity is reached when the sensuous plane is subordinate to and serves the natural, and when the natural is subordinate to the rational and serves it. Maturity is not a matter of age; it is a matter of state. It is not reached until a person begins regeneration, until a person learns truths from the Word and lives them.

A sad note is sounded in the Writings. They say that few in the world progress to this stage. Many indeed learn truth from the Word and begin to be reformed. “But,” it is stated, “as soon as they come to the age of early adulthood they suffer themselves to be carried away by the world, and thus go over to the side of infernal spirits, by whom they are gradually so estranged from heaven that they scarcely believe any longer that there is a heaven” (AC 5280:4, emphasis added).

We are all born with the tendency to love self and the world more than the Lord and our neighbor. In the course of growing up we have all acted in accord with this natural tendency. Since we have confirmed some of these perverse tendencies by giving in to them and acting from them, we cannot be regenerated without combat and struggle. Why is this so?

When a regenerating person begins to live the truths which have been learned from the Word, and doctrine from it, one begins to recede from the evils of one’s former life. When this happens, the evil spirits who perceived their delight in the activity of this evil arouse and excite the evils one has done in previous states, and the false things one formerly thought. In this way they seek to maintain their influence over the person who is beginning to regenerate.

But the Lord never deserts us. The person is defended from within by the Lord through angels. They flow into the truths of doctrine which the person has acquired, and arouse, or bring to consciousness, those truths which can conquer the evils which have been awakened and stirred.

This combat between the angels and evil spirits with the person produces anxiety. The person does not realize one thousandth part of what is actually involved in the struggle, and yet the battle is being waged for the person’s eternal salvation. It is fought by the angels from the person. The weapons which the angels use to defend one against the attacks of evil are the truths of doctrine which the person possesses. We should, therefore, never underestimate the importance of knowing and understanding truth if we are to survive spiritual trials and combats.

When a person has overcome in these spiritual trials by strenuously resisting as of self the evils which seethed within, the person undergoes a gradual transformation. Little by little the interior organic forms of the mind are changed; they are reordered. As a result of this reorganization of the mind the person ceases to be a slave to natural passions and desires, as formerly was the case. One state has ended and a new one begun. We are told: “A new state begins in the one who is being regenerated when the order is changed, as takes place when interior things obtain dominion over exterior things, and the exterior things begin to serve the interior … With those who are being regenerated, this is observed from the fact that something within dissuades them from allowing sensuous delights and bodily or earthly pleasure to rule, and to draw over to their side the things of intellect to confirm them” (AC 5159).

This passage draws a remarkably clear distinction between a regenerating person and one who is not regenerating. A person who is regenerating is distinguished from one who is not regenerating by the fact that something within – a love for Divine truth – dissuades him from allowing bodily and worldly pleasures to rule, and from using one’s intellect and knowledge to justify and excuse selfish indulgence. Eternal things – the things of the spirit -come first with such a person, and the things of the world and of the body serve.

We might well ask ourselves: Is this the case with us? Whatever the answer, let us resolve that it shall be so! That is why we are here – to make choices: to choose to put the things of heaven above those temporal things of the world and the body! If this is our choice, the things of heaven will descend into the natural and impart their delight to the natural. They will no longer be in conflict but will work in harmony. The joys of heaven will be perceived externally. The delights of the body and of the world, because ordered from within, will enter into and penetrate the interiors of the mind, affecting them with joy and gladness. Thus heaven and the world will be conjoined in us, and from this conjunction will come the peace and blessedness that only those can experience who have been born of water and of the spirit. Amen.

Lessons: Mark 8:27-38, John 3:1-15, AC 1555:2,3

Arcana Coelestia 1555:2,3

Few, if any, know how man is brought to true wisdom. Intelligence is not wisdom, but leads to wisdom; for to understand what is true and good is not to be true and good, but to be wise is to be so. Wisdom is predicated only of the life – that the man is such. A man is introduced to wisdom or to life by means of knowing (scire et nosse), that is, by means of knowledges (scientiae et cognitiones). In every man there are two parts, the will and the understanding; the will is the primary part, the understanding is the secondary one. Man’s life after death is according to his will part, not according to his intellectual part. The will is being formed in man by the Lord from infancy to childhood, which is effected by means of the innocence that is insinuated, and by means of charity toward parents, nurses, and little children of a like age, and by means of many other things that man knows nothing of, and which are celestial. Unless these celestial things were first insinuated into a man while an infant and a child, he could by no means become a man. Thus is formed the first plane.

But as a man is not a man unless he is endowed also with understanding, will alone does not make the man, but understanding together with will; and understanding cannot be acquired except by means of knowledges and therefore he must, from his childhood, be gradually imbued with these. Thus is formed the second plane. When the intellectual part has been instructed in knowledges, especially in the knowledges of truth and good, then first can the man be regenerated; and when he is being regenerated, truths and goods are implanted by the Lord by means of knowledges in the celestial things with which he had been endowed by the Lord from infancy, so that his intellectual things make a one with his celestial things; and when the Lord has thus conjoined these, the man is endowed with charity, from which he begins to act, this charity being of conscience. In this way he for the first time receives new life, and this by degrees. The light of this life is called wisdom, which then takes the first place, and is set over the intelligence. Thus is formed the third plane. When a man has become like this during his bodily life, he is then in the other life being continually perfected. These considerations show what is the light of intelligence, and what the light of wisdom.