EVERYDAY BLESSINGS

  { PT.  39 }  -  SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE WORD OF GOD:          Who cannot see that the Lord cannot flow in out of heaven into man and teach him and lead him until these evils have been removed? For they obstruct, repel, pervert, and suffocate the truths and goods of heaven, which present themselves from above, press down, and strive to flow in. For evils are infernal and goods are heavenly, and everything infernal burns with hatred against everything heavenly. This makes clear that before the Lord can flow in with heaven out of heaven and form man to the image of heaven, those evils that lie heaped up in the natural mind must needs be removed. Moreover, as the removal of evils must come first before man can be taught and led by the Lord, the reason is evident why in eight commandments of the Decalogue the evil works that must not be done are recounted, but not the good works that must be done. Good does not exist together with evil, nor does ...

  ( SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE WORD OF GOD  -  { PT.  38 }        For these ten commandments are universals, given to the end that in living from these a man may live from religion, since by a life from religion man is conjoined with heaven, while a life according to these from obedience to civil and moral law conjoins man with the world and not with heaven is to conjoined will hell. ( A.E., n. 967 ). Man is so created as to be an image of heaven and an image of the world, for he is a microcosm. He is born of his parents an image of the world, and he is born again to be an image of heaven. To be born again is an image of heaven. To be born again is to be regenerated; and man is regenerated by the Lord by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them. Man is an image of the world in respect to his natural mind, and he is an image of heaven in respect to his spiritual mind. The natural mind, which is the world, is beneath; and the spiritual...

  ( SPIRITUAL LIFE AND THE WORD OF GOD )  -  {  PT.  37 }      That mother signifies the Lord's kingdom, the church, had Divine truth, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia ( n. 289,  2691,  2717,  3703,  5581,  8897 ); that length of days signifies the happiness of eternal life ( n. 8898 ); and the honor signifies good of love ( n. 8897 ), and Apocalypse Explained ( n. 228,  345 ). All this makes clear that the third and fourth commandments involve arcana relating to the Lord, namely, acknowledge and confession of His Divine, and worship of Him from good of love. ( A.E., n.  966 ). V. The Fifth Commandment The fifth commandment is, Thou shalt not steal. By thefts both open thefts and those not open are meant, such as unlawful usury and gains, which are affected by fraud and craft under various pretenses to make them appear lawful, or so done clandestinely as not to appear at all. Such gains are commonly made by hi...

  { PT.  35 } - The Lord also was in tow states: the first when He was Divine truth and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them, the other when He was made Divine good by union with the very Divine in Himself. The former state was signified in the highest sense by the six days of labor, and the latter by the Sabbath ( n. 10360 ). Because such things were represented by the Sabbath, it was the chief representative of worship, and the holiest of all ( n. 10357,  10372 ). To do work on the Sabbath day signified to be led not by the Lord but by self, thus to be disjoined ( n.  7893,  8495,  10360,  10362,  10365 ). The Sabbath day is not now representative, but is a day of instruction ( n.  10360 at the end ).  (A.E., n. 965 ). IV. The Fourth Commandment The fourth commandment of the Decalogue is that parents must be honored. This commandment was given because honor to parents represented and thus signified love to the Lord and ...

{ PT.  35 } - That the Sabbath represented that union and the holy acknowledgment of it, has been fully shown in the Arcana Coelestia, namely that the Sabbath signified in the highest sense the union of the Divine itself and the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the conjunction of the Lord's Human with heaven and with the church, in general the conjunction of good and truth, thus the heavenly marriage (n. 8495,  10356,  10730 ). Therefore the rest on the Sabbath day signified the state of that union, because the Lord then has rest; also through that union there is peace and salvation in the heavens and on the earth. In a relative sense it signified the conjunction of man with the Lord, because man then has peace and salvation ( n. 8494,  8510,  10360,  10367,  10370,  10374,  10668,  10730 ). The six days preceding the Sabbath signified the labors and combats that precede union and conjuction ( n. 8510,  8888,  94...

  { PT.  34 } - The third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue contain things that must be done, namely, that the Sabbath must be kept holy, and that parents must be kept holy, and that parents must be honored. The other commandments contain things that are not to be done, namely, that other gods must not be worshipped; that the name not be profaned; that one must not steal, must not commit adultery, must not bear false witness, must not covet the goods of others. These two commandments are commandments to be done because the sanctification of the rest of the commandments depends upon these, for the Sabbath signifies the union in the Lord of the Divine itself and the Divine Human, also His conjunction with heaven and the church, and thus the marriage of good and truth in the man who is being regenerated. This being the signification of the Sabbath, it was the chief representative of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church, as is evident in (  JEREMIAH  xv...