THE LAWS OF PERMISSION
ARE ALSO
LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
(CONTINUATION)
nos.256-258
Selection from
ANGELIC WISDOM
CONCERNING
THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE
Translated from the Latin of
EMANUEL SWEDENBORG
• The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence when he
sees that the Christian religion is accepted only in the smaller division of the
habitable globe called Europe, and is there divided. The Christian religion is
accepted only in the smaller division of the habitable globe called Europe
because it was not adapted to the genius of the Orientals, like the Mohammedan
religion, which is a mixed religion, as has been shown just above; and a
religion that is not adapted is not accepted. For example, a religion that makes
it unlawful to marry more than one wife is not accepted but is rejected by those
who for ages back have been polygamists. The same is true of other ordinances of
the Christian religion.
Nor does it matter whether a smaller or a greater part of the world has
accepted that religion, provided there are peoples that have the Word; for even
those have light therefrom who are outside of the church and do not have the
Word, as is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred
Scripture (n. 104-113); and what is wonderful, where the Word is read reverently
and the Lord is worshiped from the Word the Lord with heaven is present. This is
because the Lord is the Word, and the Word is Divine truth which makes heaven;
therefore the Lord says:-Where two or three are gathered together in My
name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18: 20). This may take
place with the Word in many parts of the habitable world with Europeans, because
their commerce extends over the whole earth, and everywhere the Word is read by
them, or there is teaching from the Word. This seems like a fabrication, and yet
it is true.
The Christian religion is divided for the reason that it is from
the Word, and the Word is written throughout wholly by correspondences, and the
correspondences are in great part appearances of truth, enclosed within which,
however, genuine truths lie hidden. And as the doctrine of the church must be
drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, and that sense is such, there
must needs spring up in the church disputes, controversies, and dissensions,
especially in regard to the understanding of the Word, but not in regard to the
Word itself and in regard to the Lord's Divine itself; for it is everywhere
acknowledged that the Word is holy, and that Divinity belongs to the Lord; and
these two are the essentials of the church. Also for this reason those who deny
the Lord's Divinity, who are called Socinians, have been excommunicated by the
church; and those who deny the holiness of the Word are not regarded as
Christians. To this I will add a noteworthy fact in regard to the Word, from
which it may be concluded that the Word interiorly is the Divine truth itself,
and inmostly is the Lord.
Whenever any spirit opens the Word, and rubs his
face or his clothing against it, his face or clothing shines from the mere
rubbing, as brightly as the moon or a star, and this in the sight of all whom he
meets. This is a proof that nothing exists in the world more holy than the Word.
That the Word is written throughout wholly in correspondences, may be seen in
the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 5-26).
That the doctrine of the church must be drawn from the sense of the letter of
the Word and established by it (see n. 50-61 of the same work). That heresies
may be extorted from the sense of the letter of the Word, but that it is
destructive to confirm them (n. 91-97). That the church is from the Word, and is
such as its understanding of the Word is (76-79).
• The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence by the fact that in many of the
kingdoms where the Christian religion is accepted there are some who claim for
themselves Divine power, and wish to be worshiped as gods, and that the dead are
invoked. They say, indeed, that they have not arrogated to themselves Divine
power, and do not wish to be worshiped as gods; and yet they declare that they
can open and close heaven, remit and retain sins, and therefore save and condemn
men; and this is Divinity itself. For the Divine providence has for its end
nothing else than reformation and consequent salvation; this is its unceasing
operation with everyone; and salvation can be accomplished only through an
acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord, and a confidence that the Lord
effects salvation when man lives according to His commandments.
Who cannot see that this is the Babylon described in the Apocalypse; also that it is the Babylon spoken of
here and there in the prophets? It is also the "Lucifer" spoken of in Isaiah
14, as is evident from the verses of that chapter in which are these
words:-Thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon
(verse 4); And (then) I will cut off from Babylon name and remnant (verse
22); from which it follows that Babylon there is Lucifer, of whom it is
said:-How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!
...
And thou saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens; I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God; and I will sit upon the mount of the
congregation, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds; I will become like the Most High (verses 12-14). That they
invoke the dead and pray to the dead for help is known. They may be said to
invoke the dead, inasmuch as invocation of the dead was established by a papal
bull confirming the decree of the Council of Trent, in which it is plainly
declared that the dead are to be invoked. Yet every one knows that God alone
should be invoked, and not any dead person.It shall now be told, however,
why the Lord has permitted such things. It cannot be denied that He has
permitted them for the sake of the end, which is salvation. For it is known that
apart from the Lord there is no salvation; and it was for this reason necessary
that the Lord should be preached from the Word, and that the Christian church
should by that means be established. But this could be done only by an advance
guard who would do this with zeal; and none would do this except those who were
in an ardor resembling zeal that was from the fire of self-love. By such a fire
they were at first stirred up to preach the Lord and to teach the Word; and it
was because of this their primeval state that Lucifer was called the son
of the morning (verse 12). But as they saw that they could gain dominion
by means of the holy things of the Word and the church, the love of self, by
which they were first stirred up to preach the Lord, broke forth from within,
and finally exalted itself to such a height that they transferred to themselves
the whole of the Lord's Divine power, leaving nothing.This could not have
been prevented by the Lord's Divine providence; for if it had been prevented
they would have publicly taught that the Lord is not God, and that the Word is
not holy, and would have made themselves Socinians or Arians, and thus would
have destroyed the whole church, which, whatever may be the character of its
rulers, continues to exist with the submissive people; for all those of this
religion who approach the Lord and shun evils as sins are saved, consequently
there are many heavenly societies of such in the spiritual world. It has also
been provided that among them there should be a nation that has not passed under
the yoke of such domination, and that holds the Word to be holy; this is the
noble French nation. But what has been done?
When the love of self exalted
its dominion even to the Lord's throne, set Him aside, and placed itself
thereon, that love, which is Lucifer, could not but profane all things of the
Word and the church. That this might be prevented, the Lord by His Divine
providence took care that they should withdraw from the worship of Himself, and
should invoke the dead, should pray to images of the dead, should kiss their
bones, and bow down at their tombs, should forbid the reading of the Word,
should place holy worship in masses not understood by the common people, and
sell salvation for money; because if they had not done these things they would
have profaned the holy things of the Word and of the church. For only those who
have a knowledge of holy things can profane them, as has been shown in a
preceding paragraph.
So to prevent their profaning the most Holy Supper they
were permitted, under the Lord's Divine providence, to divide it, and to give
the bread to the people and drink the wine themselves, for the wine in the Holy
Supper signifies holy truth and the bread holy good; but when these are
separated the wine signifies profaned truth and the bread adulterated good; and
still further, they were permitted to make it corporeal and material, and to
adopt this as the primary principle of religion. Any one who turns his mind to
these several things and considers them with some enlightenment of mind can see
the wonderful activities of the Divine providence in guarding the holy things of
the church, in saving all that can be saved, and in snatching from the fire, as
it were, those who are willing to be rescued.
•
The merely natural man confirms himself against the Divine providence by the
fact that among those who profess the Christian religion there are some who
place salvation in certain phrases which they should think and talk about,
making no account of the good works they should do. That such are those who make
faith alone saving, and not a life of charity, and therefore those who separate
faith from charity, is shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning
Faith; and there it is also shown that such are meant in the Word by
"Philistines," by the "dragon," and by "goats."
Such doctrine also has been
permitted under the Divine providence in order that the Divine of the Lord and
the holiness of the Word might not be profaned. The Divine of the Lord is not
profaned when salvation is placed in the words, "That God the Father may be
merciful for the sake of His Son, who endured the cross and made satisfaction
for us;" for in this way the Divine of the Lord is not approached, but the
Human, which is not acknowledged as Divine. Nor is the Word profaned, for they
pay no attention to the passages where love, charity, doing, and works are
mentioned. They claim that these are all included in a belief in the formula
just quoted; and those who confirm this say to themselves, "The law does not
condemn me, so neither does evil; and good does not save me, because the good
from me is not good." These, therefore, are like those who have no knowledge of
truth from the Word, and thus cannot profane it. But belief in the above
statement is confirmed by those only who from the love of self are in the pride
of their own intelligence. Such are not Christians at heart, but only wish to
seem so. It shall now be explained how the Lord's Divine providence is,
nevertheless, unceasingly working for the salvation of those in whom faith
separate from charity has become a matter of religion.
It is of the Lord's
Divine providence that, although that faith has come to be a matter of religion,
yet every one knows that it is not that faith that saves, but a life of charity
with which faith acts as one; for in all churches where that religion is
accepted it is taught that there is no salvation unless man examines himself,
sees his sins, acknowledges them, repents, refrains from them, and enters on a
new life. This is proclaimed with great zeal in the presence of all who are
coming to the Lord's Supper; and to this is added, that unless they do this they
mix what is holy with what is profane, and hurl themselves into eternal
damnation; and in England it is taught even that unless they do this the devil
will enter into them as he entered into Judas, and will destroy them both soul
and body. From all this it is clear that even in the churches where the doctrine
of faith alone has been adopted every one is still taught that evils must be
shunned as sins.
Furthermore, every one who is born a Christian knows also
that evils must be shunned as sins, because the Decalogue is placed in the hands
of every boy and every girl, and is taught them by parents and teachers; also
all citizens of the kingdom, especially the common people, are examined by a
priest from the Decalogue alone, recited from memory, as to their knowledge of
the Christian religion; and are counseled to do the things there commanded. It
is then never said by any leader that they are under the yoke of law, or that
they cannot do the things commanded because they can do no good from themselves.
Moreover, the Athanasian Creed has been accepted throughout the Christian world,
and what is said in it at the end is acknowledged, namely, that the Lord shall
come to judge the living and the dead, and then those that have done good shall
enter into life eternal, and those that have done evil into everlasting fire.
In Sweden, where the religion of faith alone has been adopted, it is also
plainly taught that a faith separate from charity or without good works is
impossible. This is found in a certain appendix concerning things to be kept in
remembrance, attached to all their psalm books [This
appendix was omitted in the revision of the psalm book made in 1819] called "Hindrances or
Stumbling-blocks of the Impenitent (Obotfardigas forhinder)." In it are these
words: "They that are rich in good works thereby show that they are rich in
faith, since when faith is saving it operates these through charity; for
justifying faith never exists alone and separate from good works, just as there
can be no good tree without fruit, or a sun without light and heat, or water
without moisture."
These few statements are made to show that although a religion of faith alone
has been adopted, goods of charity, which are good works, are nevertheless
everywhere taught; and that this is of the Lord's Divine providence, that the
common people may not be led astray by it. I have heard Luther, with whom I have
sometimes talked in the spiritual world, execrating faith alone, and saying that
when he established it he was warned by an angel of the Lord not to do it; but
that his thought was that unless works were rejected no separation from the
Catholic religion could be effected; and therefore, contrary to the warning, he
established that faith. ... (Continue)
(The Divine
Providence 256 - 258)
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