Chapter 40

in the church.

332. (i) _The activity of divine providence to save man begins at his birth and continues to the close of his life and afterwards to eternity._ It was shown above that a heaven from mankind is the very purpose of the creation of the universe; that this purpose in its operation and progress is the divine providence for the salvation of man; and that all which is external to man and available to him for use is a secondary end in creation--in brief, all that is to be found in the three kingdoms, animal, vegetable and mineral. When all this constantly proceeds according to laws of divine order fixed at the first of creation, how can the primary end, which is the salvation of the human race, fail to proceed constantly according to laws of its order, which are the laws of divine providence?

[2] Observe just a fruit tree. It springs up first as a slender shoot from a tiny seed, grows gradually into a stalk, spreads branches which become covered with leaves, and then puts forth flowers and bears fruit, in which it deposits fresh seed to provide for its perpetuation. This is also true of every shrub and of every herb of the field. Do not each and all things in tree or shrub proceed constantly and wonderfully from purpose to purpose according to the laws of their order of things? Why should not the supreme end, a heaven from the human race, proceed in similar fashion? Can there be anything in its progress which does not proceed with all constancy according to the laws of divine providence?

[3] As there is a correspondence of man's life with the growth of a tree, let us draw the parallel or make the comparison. His infancy is relatively like the tender shoot of the tree sprouting from seed out of the ground; his childhood and youth are like the shoot grown to a stalk with its small branches; the natural truths with which everyone is imbued at first are like the leaves with which the branches are covered ("leaves" signify precisely this in the Word); man's first steps in the marriage of good and truth or the spiritual marriage are like the blossoms which the tree puts forth in the springtime; spiritual truths are the petals in these blossoms; the earliest signs of the spiritual marriage are like the start of fruit; spiritual goods, which are goods of charity, are like the fruit (they are also signified in the Word by "fruits"); the procreations of wisdom from love are like the seed and by them the human being becomes like a garden or paradise. Man is also described in the Word by a tree, and his wisdom from love by a garden; nothing else is meant by the Garden of Eden.

[4] True, man is a corrupt tree from the seed, but still a grafting or budding with shoots taken from the Tree of Life is possible, by which the sap drawn from the old root is turned into sap producing good fruit. The comparison was drawn for it to be known that when the progression of divine providence is so constant in the growth and rebirth of trees, it surely must be constant in the reformation and rebirth of human beings, who are of much more value than trees; so the Lord's words:

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, yet not one of them is forgotten by God? But even the hairs of your head are all numbered; fear not therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. Which of you moreover can by taking thought add a cubit to his stature? .. . if then you are unable to do what is least, why do you take thought for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow . . . If then God so clothed the grass, which is in the field today and is cast into an oven tomorrow, how much more will he clothe you, 0 men of little faith? (Lu 12: 6, 7, 25-28).

333. The activity of divine providence for man's salvation is said to begin with his birth and continue to the close of his life. For this to be understood, it should be known that the Lord sees what a man's nature is and foresees what he wills to be and thus what he will be. For him to be man and thus immortal, his freedom of will cannot be taken away. The Lord therefore foresees his state after death and provides for it from the man's birth to the close of his life. With the evil He makes the provision by permitting and withdrawing from evils, in the case of the good by leading to good. Divine providence is thus continually acting for man's salvation, but more cannot be saved than are willing to be saved, and those are willing who acknowledge God and are led by Him. Those are not willing who do not acknowledge God and who lead themselves. The latter give no thought to eternal life and to salvation, the former do. The Lord sees the unwillingness but still He leads such men, and does so in accordance with the laws of His divine providence, contrary to which he cannot act, for to act contrary to them would be to act contrary to His divine love and wisdom, and this is to act contrary to Himself.

[2] Inasmuch as the Lord foresees the states of all after death, and also foresees the places in hell of those who do not desire to be saved and the places in heaven of those who do desire to be saved, it follows that He provides their places for the evil by the permitting and withdrawing of which we spoke, and their places for the good by leading them. Unless this was done steadily from birth to the close of life neither heaven nor hell would remain standing, for apart from this foresight and providence neither would be anything but confusion. It may be seen above (nn. 202, 203) that everyone has his place provided for him by the Lord through this foresight.

[3] A comparison may throw light on this. If a javelin thrower or a marksman should aim at a target, from which a line was drawn straight back for a mile and should err in aim by only a finger's breadth, the missile or the bullet at the end of the mile would have deviated very far from the line. So would it be if the Lord did not, at every moment and even the least fraction of a moment, look to what is eternal in foreseeing and making provision for one's place after death. But this the Lord does: the entire future is present to Him, and the entire present is to Him eternal. That divine providence looks in all it does to what is infinite and eternal, may be seen above, nn. 46-49, 214 ff.

334. As was said also, the activity of divine providence continues to eternity, for every angel is being perfected in wisdom to eternity, each, however, according to the degree of affection of good and truth in which he was when he left this world. It is this degree that is perfected to eternity; what is beyond that is outside the angel and not in him, and what is external to him cannot be perfected in him. This perfecting is meant by the

"Good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over" which will be given into the bosom of those who forgive and give to others (Lu 6:37, 38),

that is, those who are in the good of charity.

335. (ii) _The activity of divine providence is maintained steadily out of pure mercy through means._ Divine providence has means and methods. Its means are the things by which man becomes man and is perfected in will and understanding; its methods are the ways this is accomplished. The means by which man becomes man and is perfected in understanding are collectively called truths. In the thought they become ideas, are called objects of the memory, and in themselves are forms of knowledge from which information comes. All these means, viewed in themselves, are spiritual, but as they exist in what is natural, they seem by reason of their covering or clothing to be natural and some of them seem to be material. They are infinite in number and variety, and more or less simple or composite, and also more or less imperfect or perfect. There are means for forming and perfecting natural civil life; likewise for forming and perfecting rational moral life; as there are for forming and perfecting heavenly spiritual life.

[2] These means advance, one kind after another, from infancy to the last of man's life, and thereafter to eternity. As they come along and mount, the earlier ones become means to the later, entering into all that is forming as mediate causes. From these every effect or conclusion is efficacious and therefore becomes a cause. In turn what is later becomes means; and as this goes on to eternity, there is nothing farthest on or final to make an end. For as what is eternal is without end, so a wisdom that increases to eternity is without end. If there were an end to wisdom for a wise man, the enjoyment of his wisdom would perish, which consists in the perpetual multiplication and fructification of wisdom. His life's enjoyment would also perish; in its place an enjoyment of glory would succeed, in which by itself there is no heavenly life. The wise man then becomes no longer like a youth but like an old man, and at length like a decrepit one.

[3] Although a wise man's wisdom increases forever in heaven, angelic wisdom cannot approximate the divine wisdom so much as to touch it. It is relatively like what is said of a straight line drawn about a hyperbola, always approaching but never touching it, and like what is said about squaring a circle. Hence it may be plain what is meant by the means by which divine providence acts in order that man may be man and be perfected in understanding, and that these means are called by the common term truths. There are an equal number of means by which man is formed and perfected as to his will. These are called collectively goods. By them man comes to have love, by the others wisdom. The conjunction of love and wisdom makes the man, for what he is is in keeping with the nature of this conjunction. This conjunction is what is called the marriage of good and truth.

336. The methods by which divine providence acts on and through the means to form and perfect the human being are also infinite in number and variety. They are as numerous as the activities of divine wisdom from divine love to save man, and therefore as numerous as the activities of divine providence in accordance with its laws, treated of above. That these methods are most secret was illustrated above by the activities of the soul in the body, of which man knows so little it is scarcely anything--how, for instance, eye, ear, nose, tongue and skin sense things; how the stomach digests; how the mesentery elaborates the chyle and the liver the blood; how the pancreas and the spleen purify the blood, the kidneys separate it from impure humors, the heart collects and distributes it, and the lungs purify it and pass it on; how the brain refines the blood and vivifies it anew; besides innumerable other things which are all secret, and of which one can scarcely know. Clearly, the hidden activities of divine providence can be entered into even less; it is enough to know its laws.

337. Divine providence acts in all things out of pure mercy. For the divine essence is itself pure love; this love acts through divine wisdom and its activity is what is called divine providence. This pure love is pure mercy because 1. It is active with all men the world over, who are such that they can do nothing of themselves. 2. It is active with the evil and unjust and the good and just alike. 3. It leads the former in hell and rescues them from it. 4. It strives with them there perpetually and fights for them against the devil, that is, against the evils of hell. 5. To this end pure love came into the world and endured temptations even to the last of them, which was the passion of the Cross. 6. It acts continually with the unclean to make them clean and with the unsound to make them sound in mind. Thus it labors incessantly out of pure mercy.

338. (iii) _Instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is impossible._ We have just shown that the activity of divine providence to save man begins at his birth and continues to the close of his life and afterwards to eternity; also that this activity is continually pursued out of pure mercy through means. It follows that there is neither instantaneous salvation nor unmediated mercy. But as many, not thinking from the understanding about things of the church or of religion, believe that they are saved by immediate mercy and hence that salvation is instantaneous, and yet this is contrary to the truth and in addition is a pernicious belief, it is important that it be considered in due order:

1. Belief in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy has been assumed from man's natural state. 2. This belief comes from ignorance of the spiritual state, which is completely different from the natural state. 3. The doctrines of all churches in Christendom, viewed interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation by direct mercy, but external men of the church nevertheless maintain the belief.

[2] First: _Belief in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy has been assumed from man's natural state._ From his state the natural man does not know otherwise than that heavenly joy is like worldly joy and that it flows in and is received in the same way; that, for example, it is like a poor man's becoming rich and from a sad state of poverty coming into a happy one of plenty, or like a lowly person's being raised to honors and passing thus from contempt to renown; or like one's going from a house of mourning to happy nuptials. As these states can be changed in a day and as there is a like idea of man's state after death, it is plain whence it comes that instantaneous salvation by direct mercy is believed in.

[3] In the world, moreover, many can join in one group or in one civic community and enjoy the same things, yet all differ in mind; this is true of the natural state. The reason is that the external of one person can be accommodated to that of another, no matter how unlike their internals are. From this natural situation it is also concluded that salvation is merely admission among angels in heaven, and that admission is by direct mercy. It is also believed, therefore, that heaven can be given to the evil as well as to the good, and that their association then is similar to that in the world, with the difference that it is filled with joy.

[4] Second: _This belief comes from ignorance of the spiritual state, which is altogether different from the natural state._ The spiritual state, which is man's state after death, has been treated of in many places above. It has been shown that everyone is his own love, that no one can live with others than those who are in a like love, and that if he comes among others he cannot breathe his own life. For this reason everyone comes after death into a society of his own people, that is, who are in a like love, and recognizes them as relatives and friends, and what is remarkable, on meeting and seeing them it is as if he had known them from infancy. Spiritual relationship and friendship bring this about. What is more, in a society no one can dwell in any other house than his own. Everyone in a society has his own home, which he finds prepared for him as soon as he enters the society. He may be in close company with others outside his home, but he cannot dwell elsewhere. Again, in somebody else's apartment one can sit only in his own place; seated elsewhere he becomes frustrated and mute. And it is remarkable that on entering he knows his own place. This is as true in temples he enters and in any companies in which people gather.

[5] It is plain from this that the spiritual state is altogether different from the natural state, and is such that no one can be anywhere but where his ruling love is to be found. For there the enjoyment of one's life is, and everyone desires to be in the enjoyment of his life. A man's spirit cannot be anywhere else because that enjoyment constitutes his life, his very breathing, in fact, and his heartbeat. It is different in the natural world; there man's external is taught from infancy to simulate in look, speech and bearing other enjoyments than those of his internal man. Accordingly, no conclusion can be formed about man's state after death from his state in the natural world. For after death everyone's state is spiritual and is such that he cannot be anywhere except in the enjoyment of his love, an enjoyment that he has acquired in the natural world by his life.

[6] Hence it is quite plain that no one who is in the enjoyment of hell can be admitted into the enjoyment of heaven, commonly called heavenly happiness, or what is the same, no one who is in the enjoyment of evil can be admitted into the enjoyment of good. This can be concluded still more plainly from the fact that after death no one is denied going up to heaven; he is shown the way, has the opportunity given him, and is admitted, but as soon as he enters heaven and inhales its enjoyment, he begins to feel constricted in his chest and racked at heart, and falls into a swoon, in which he writhes as a snake does brought near a fire. Then with his face turned away from heaven and towards hell, he flees headlong and does not stop until he is in a society of his own love. Hence it may be plain that no one reaches heaven by direct mercy. Consequently, just to be admitted is not enough, as many in the world suppose. Nor is there any instantaneous salvation, for this presupposes unmediated mercy.

[7] When some who had believed in the world in instantaneous salvation by direct mercy became spirits, they wanted their infernal enjoyment or enjoyment of evil changed by both divine omnipotence and divine mercy into heavenly enjoyment or enjoyment in the good. As they ardently desired this, permission was given for it to be done by angels, who proceeded to remove their infernal enjoyment. But as this was the enjoyment of their life's love and consequently their life, they thereupon lay as if dead, devoid of all feeling and movement; nor could any life be breathed into them except their own, because all things of mind and body which had been turned backward could not be reversed. They were therefore revived by letting in the enjoyment of their life's love. They said afterwards that in that state they had experienced something dreadful and horrible, which they did not care to divulge. There is a saying in heaven, therefore, that it is easier to change an owl into a turtle-dove or a serpent into a lamb than an infernal spirit into an angel of heaven.

[8] Third: _The doctrines of all churches in Christendom, viewed interiorly, are opposed to instantaneous salvation by direct mercy, but still some external men of the church maintain the idea._ Viewed interiorly, the doctrines of all the churches teach life. Is there a church whose doctrine does not teach that man ought to examine himself, see and acknowledge his sins, confess them, repent and then live a new life? Who is admitted to Holy Communion without this admonition and precept? Inquire and you will be assured of it. Is there a church whose doctrine is not based on the precepts of the Decalog? The precepts of the Decalog are precepts of life. What man of the church, in whom there is anything of the church, does not, on hearing it, acknowledge that he who lives rightly is saved and he who lives wickedly is condemned? In the Athanasian Creed, which is also the doctrine received in the whole Christian world, it is therefore said:

The Lord will come to judge the quick and the dead; and then those who have done good will enter into eternal life, and those who have done evil into everlasting fire.

[9] It is clear, then, that the doctrines of all churches, when viewed interiorly, teach life, and teaching life they teach that salvation is according to the life. Man's life is not breathed into him in a moment but is formed gradually, and it is reformed as the man shuns evils as sins, consequently as he learns what sin is, recognizes and acknowledges it, does not will it but desists from it, and also learns the helps that come with a knowledge of God. By all these means man's life is formed and reformed, and they cannot be given on the instant. For hereditary evil, in itself infernal, has to be removed, and good, in itself heavenly, implanted in its place. Because of his hereditary evil man may be compared to an owl as to the understanding and to a serpent as to the will, but when he has been reformed, he may be compared to a dove as to the understanding and to a sheep as to the will. Instantaneous reformation and hence salvation would be like changing an owl at once into a dove or a serpent at once into a sheep. Who that knows anything about man's life does not see the impossibility of this? Salvation is impossible unless the owl and serpent nature is removed and the nature of the dove and sheep implanted instead.

[10] Moreover, it is common knowledge that every intelligent person can become more intelligent than he is, and every wise man wiser than he is, and that intelligence and wisdom in man may increase and do so in some men from infancy to the close of life, and that man is thus continually perfected. Why should not spiritual intelligence and wisdom increase as well? These rise by two degrees above natural intelligence and wisdom, and as they ascend become angelic intelligence and wisdom, which are ineffable. These in turn increase to eternity with the angels. Who cannot understand, if he will, that what is being perfected to eternity cannot possibly be made perfect in an instant?

339. Thence it is evident now that all who give thought to salvation for their life's sake do not think of an instantaneous salvation by immediate mercy. Their thought is about the means to salvation, on and by which the Lord acts in accord with the laws of His divine providence, and thus by which man is led by the Lord out of pure mercy. Those, however, who do not think of salvation for their life's sake presume an instantaneousness in salvation and an immediacy in mercy, as do those who, separating faith from charity (charity is life), presume that faith can be instantaneous, at the final hour of death, if not earlier. Those do this, too, who believe remission of sins without any repentance to be absolution from sins and thus salvation, when attending the Holy Supper. So again those do who trust to indulgences of monks, their prayers for the dead, and the dispensations they grant by the authority which they claim over the souls of men.

340. (iv) _Instantaneous salvation by unmediated mercy is the flying fiery serpent in the church._ By a flying fiery serpent evil aglow with infernal fire is meant, as it is by the flying fiery serpent in Isaiah:

Rejoice not, all Philistia, that the rod which smote you is broken, for out of the serpent's root shall come forth a basilisk, whose fruit is a flying fiery serpent (14:29).

Evil of the kind is flying about in the church when belief is put in instantaneous salvation by immediate mercy, for this 1. abolishes religion; 2. induces security; and 3. charges condemnation to the Lord.

[2] First: _It abolishes religion._ Two things are the essentials and at the same time the universals of religion, namely, acknowledgment of God, and repentance. Neither has meaning for those who believe that they are saved out of mercy alone no matter how they live. What need then to do more than cry, "Have mercy on me, O God"? In all else pertaining to religion they are in darkness, even loving the darkness. In regard to the first essential of the church, which is an acknowledgment of God, they only think, "What is God? Who has seen Him?" If told that God is, and is one, they say that He is one; if told there are three, they also say there are three, but the three must be called one. Such is their acknowledgment of God.

[3] Touching the church's second essential, namely, repentance, they give this no thought, nor thought to any sin, and finally do not know that there is such a thing as sin. Then they hear and drink in with pleasure that the law does not condemn them because a Christian is not under its yoke. If only you say, "Have mercy on me, 0 God, for the sake of the Son," you will be saved. This is repentance in their life. If, however, you take away repentance, or what is the same thing, separate life from religion, what is left except the words, "Have mercy on me"? They are therefore sure to maintain that salvation is instantaneous, accomplished by these words, even if uttered at the hour of death, if not before. What does the Word become to them then but an obscure and cryptic utterance issuing from a tripod in a cave, or like an incomprehensible response from the oracle of an idol? In a word, if you remove repentance, that is, sever life from religion, what is human nature then but evil aglow with infernal fire or a flying fiery serpent in the church? For without repentance man is in evil, and evil is hell.

[4] Second: _By the belief in instantaneous salvation out of pure mercy alone security of life is induced._ Security of life arises either from the belief of the impious man that there is no life after death, or from the belief of one who separates life from salvation. Although the latter may believe in eternal life, he still thinks, "whether I live rightly or wickedly, I can be saved, for salvation is by outright mercy, and God's mercy is universal, for He does not desire the death of anyone." If it occurs to him that mercy should be implored in the words of the traditional faith, he can think that this can be done, if not earlier, just before death. Everyone who feels this security, makes light of adultery, fraud, injustice, acts of violence, blasphemy and revenge, and gives a free rein to body and spirit for committing all these evils; nor does he know what spiritual evil, or the lust of evil, is. Should he hear something about it from the Word, it is like something falling on ebony and rebounding, or falling into a ditch and being swallowed up.

[5] Third: _By this belief condemnation is charged to the Lord._ If the Lord can save anybody out of pure mercy, who is not going to conclude that if man is not saved, it is not he but the Lord who is in fault? If it is asserted that faith is the medium of salvation, what man cannot have this faith? For it is only a thought, and this can be imparted, along with confidence, in any state of the spirit withdrawn from the mundane. Man may also declare "I cannot acquire this faith of myself." Hence if it is not vouchsafed him and he is condemned, what else can he think except that the Lord is in fault who could have given him the faith but would not? Would this not amount to calling the Lord unmerciful? Moreover, in the fervor of his belief he may ask, "How can God see so many condemned in hell when He can save them all in an instant from pure mercy?" And more such things, which can only be called an atrocious indictment of the Divine. From the above it may be evident that belief in instantaneous salvation out of sheer mercy is the flying fiery serpent in the church.

[6] Excuse the addition of what follows to fill the remainder of the sheet.

Certain spirits were permitted to ascend from hell who said to me, "You have written much from the Lord; write something from us, too." I asked, "What shall I write?" They said, "Write that every spirit, good or evil, has his own enjoyment; a good spirit is in the enjoyment of his good, and an evil spirit in the enjoyment of his evil." I then asked, "What is your enjoyment?" They answered that it was the enjoyment of committing adultery, stealing, defrauding and lying. Again I inquired, "What is the nature of those enjoyments?" They replied, "By others they are perceived as offensive odors from excrement and as the putrid smell from dead bodies and as the reeking stench from stagnant urine." I then said, "Do you find them enjoyable?" "Most enjoyable," they said. I remarked, "Then you are like unclean beasts which live in such filth." They replied to this, "If we are, we are; but such things are delightful to our nostrils."

[7] I asked, "What more shall I write from you?" They said, "Write this. Everyone is allowed to be in his own enjoyment, even the most unclean, as it is called, provided he does not infest good spirits and angels, but as we could not but infest them, we were driven off and cast into hell, where we suffer fearful things." I asked, "Why did you infest the good?" They replied that they could not help it; a fury seems to seize them when they see an angel and feel the divine sphere around him. Then I said, "So you are also like savage beasts!" On hearing this, a fury came over them which appeared like the fire of hate, and lest they inflict some injury, they were drawn back into hell. On enjoyments sensed as odors or as stenches in the spiritual world, see above (nn. 303-305, 324).