EVERYDAY BLESSINGS

  { PT.  13 } - For the same reason these commandments are the first things to be taught in the churches; for they are taught to boys and girls in order that man may begin his Christian life with them, and by no means forget them as he grows up; although he does so. The same is meant by these words in Isaiah: What is the multitude of sacrifices to Me? Your meat offering, your incense, your new moons, and your appointed feasts, Mt soul hateth. . . And when you multiply prayer I will not hear. . . Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes; cease to do evil . . . . Then though your sins were as scarlet they shall be white as snow; though they were red as purple they shall be as wool ( i.  11--19 ). Sacrifices, meat offerings, incense, new moons, and feasts, also prayer, mean all things of worship. That these are wholly evil and even abominable unless the interior is purified from evils is meant by Wash you, make you clean, put away the ...

  { PT.  13 } - And yet there is combat, because the evils which belong to man's life are stirred up by the evils that unceasingly rise up from hell; and then man must fight against them, and, indeed, as if of himself. If he does not fight as if of himself the evils are not set aside. ( A.E., n.  938 ). IV. Cleansing the inside. It is acknowledge that man's interior must be purified before the good that he does is good; for the Lord says, Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and the platter, that the outside may be clean also ( MATTHEW  xxiii.  26 ). Man's interior is purified only as he refrains from evils, in accordance with the commandments of the Decalogue. So long as man does not refrain from these evils and does not shun and turn away from them as sins, they constitute his interposed veil or covering, and in heaven this appears like an eclipse by which the sun is obscured and light is intercepted; also like a fountain of pitch or of bla...

  { PT.  11 } - But as all the evils into which man is born derive their roots from a love of ruling over others and from a love of possessing the goods of others, and all the delights of man's own life flow forth from these tow loves, and all evils are from them, so the loves and delights of these evils belong to man's own life. And since evils belong to the life of man, from himself can be no means refrain from them, for this would be from his own life to refrain from his own life. An ability to refrain from them of the Lord is therefore provided, and that he may have this ability the freedom to think that which he wills and to pray to the Lord for help is granted him. He has this freedom because he is in the middle between heaven and hell, consequently between good and evil. And being in the middle he is in equilibrium; and he who is in equilibrium is able easily and as of his own accord to turn himself the one way or the other; and the more so because the Lord continually ...

  { PT.  11 } - Man is placed in the middle between heaven and hell. Out of heaven goods unceasingly flow in, and of hell evils unceasingly flow in; and as man is between he has freedom to think what is good or to think what is evil. This freedom the Lord never takes away from anyone, for it belongs to his life, and is the means of his reformation. So far, therefore, as man from this freedom had the thought and desire of shun evils because they are sins, and prays to the Lord for help, so far does the Lord take them away and give man the ability to refrain from them as if of himself, and then to shun them. Everyone is able from natural freedom natural freedom to shun these same evils because of their being contrary to human laws. This every citizen of a kingdom does who fears the penalties of the civil law, or the loss of life, reputation, honor, wealth, and thus of office, gain, and pleasures; even an evil man does this. And the life of such a man appears exactly the same in ...

  { PT.  10 } - The seventh commandment, Thou shalt not kill, includes not hating the neighbor nor loving revenge; for hatred and revenge breathe murder. The eighth commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness, includes not to lie and blaspheme; for lies and blasphemies are false testimonies. The ninth commandment, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, includes not wishing to possess or to divert to oneself the goods of others against their will. The tenth commandment, Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, his man-servants, and so on, includes not wishing to rule over others and to subject them to oneself, for the things here enumerated mean the things that are man's own. Anyone can see that these eight commandments relate to evils that must be shunned, and not to goods that must be done ( A.E., n.  935 ). But many, I know, think in their heart that no one can of himself shun these evils enumerated in the Decalogue, because man is born in sins and has therefore...

  { PT.  9 } - To take up his cross signifies to fight against evils and falsities, which are from what is one's own ( proprium ). ( A.E., n. 934 ). III.  Shunning Evils In the previous chapter two things are said to be necessary that works may be good, namely, that the Divine of the Lord be acknowledge, and that the evils forbidden in the Decalogue be shunned as sins. The evils enumerated in the Decalogue include all the evils that can ever exist; therefore the Decalogue is called the ten commandments, because ten signifies all. The first commandment, Thou shalt not worship other gods, includes not loving self and the world; for he that loves self and the world above all things worships other god's for everyone's god is that which he loves above all things. The second commandment, Thou shalt not profane the name of God, includes not to despise the Word and doctrine from the Word, and thus the church, and not to reject these from the heart, for these are God's name. The...

{ PT.  8 } - The reason is that every good comes from the Lord alone, and the Lord cannot enter into man and lead him so long as these evils are not set aside as sins; for they are infernal, and in fact are hell with man, and unless hell is set aside the Lord cannot enter and open heaven. This is what is meant by the Lord's words to the rich man: Who asked Him about eternal life, and said that he had kept the commandments of the Decalogue from his youth; whom the Lord is said to have loved, and to have taught that one thing was lacking to him, that he should sell all that he had and take up the cross ( MATTHEW  xix.  16--22;  MARK  x.  17--22;  LUKE  xviii  18--23 ). To sell all that he had signifies that he should relinquish the things of his religion, which were traditions, for he was a Jew, and also should relinquish the things that were his own, which were loving self and the world more than God, and thus leading himself; and to follow th...

  { PT.  7 } - Some think that if good works must be done for the sake of eternal life they must give to the poor all they possess, as was done in the primitive church, and as the Lord commanded the rich man to sell all that he had all give to the poor, and take up the cross and follow Him. ( MATTHEW  xix.  21 ). ( A.E., n. 932 ). It has just been said that at this day it is scarcely known what is meant by charity, and thus by good works, unless it be giving to the poor, enriching the needy doing good to widows and orphans, and contributing to the building of churches and hospitals and lodging houses; and yet whether such works are done by man and for the sake of reward is not known; for if they are done by man they are not good, and if for the sake of reward they are not meritorious; and such works do not open heaven, and thus are not acknowledged as goods in heaven. In heaven no works are regarded as good except such as are done by the Lord in man, and yet the work...

  { PT.  6 } - Inquire now whether the faith of this day, which is, that the Lord suffered for our sins, that he took away the curse of the law by fulfilling it, and that man is justified and saved by this faith apart from good works, does not cancel all these commandments. Look about and discover how many there are at this day in the Christian world who do not live according to this faith. I know that they will answer that they are weak and imperfect men, born in sins, and the like. But who is not able to think from religion? This the Lord gives to everyone; and in him who thinks these things from religion the Lord works all things so far as he thinks. And be it known that he who thinks of these things from religion believes that there is a God, a heaven, a hell, and a life after death; but he who does not think of these things from religion does not, I affirm, believe them ( A.E., n. 902 )  II. Goods of charity What is meant be goods of charity or good works is at this ...

  { PT.  5 } - From this it follows that the faith of this day destroys spiritual life, which is the life of the angels of heaven, and is the Christian life itself. Consider further, why the ten commandments of the Decalogue were promulgated from Mount Sinai in so miraculous a way; why they were engraved on two tables of stone, and why these were placed in the ark, over which was placed in the ark, over which was placed the mercy-seat with cherubs, and the place where those commandments were was called Holy of holies, within which Aaron was permitted to enter only once a year, and this with sacrifices and incense; and if he had entered without these, he would have fallen dead; also why so many miracles were afterward performed by means of that ark. Have not all throughout the whole globe a knowledge of like commandments? Do not their civil laws prescribe the same? Who does not know from merely natural lumen, that for the sake of order in every kingdom, adultery, theft, murder,...

  { PT.  4 } - Thus it was made clear how spiritual life, which is the life of the angels of heaven, is acquired. It shall now be told how that life is destroyed by the faith of the present day. The faith of this day is that it must be believed that God the Father sent His Son, who suffered the cross for our sins, and took away the curse of the law be fulfilling it; and that this faith apart from good works will save everyone, even in the last hour of death. By this faith instilled from childhood and afterward confirmed by preachings, it has come to pass that no one shuns evils from religion, but only from civil and moral law; thus are sins but because they are damaging. Consider, when a man thinks that the Lord suffered for our sins, that He took away the curse of the law, and that merely to believe these things, or to have faith in them without good works saves, whether this is not to regard as of little worth the commandments of the Decalogue, all the life of religion as pr...

  { PT.  3 } - But when he acts from regard merely to the civil and moral law, he may act in the same way, and yet in heart may deny that there is a God, a heaven and a hell, and a life after death. And if he shuns evils and does goods, it is merely in the external form, and not in the internal; thus while he is outwardly in respect to the life of the body like a Christian, inwardly in respect to the life of his spirit he is like a devil. All this makes clear that a man can become spiritual life, in no other way than by a life according to religion from the Lord. I have had proof that this is true from angels of the third or inmost heaven, who are in the greatest wisdom and happiness. When asked how they had become such angels, they said it was because during their life in the world they had regarded filthy thoughts as abominable, and these had been to them adulteries; and had regraded in like manner frauds and unlawful gains, which had been to them thefts; also hatreds and re...