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825. So that he maketh fire come down out of heaven on the earth before men. That this signifies the love of falsity from evil, arising from the pride of man's own intelligence, as if it were the love of truth from good, which is from the heavens in the church, is evident from the signification of fire, as denoting love in both senses, that is, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; and, in the opposite sense, the love of self and the love of the world (concerning which see above, n. 504, 539). Therefore it signifies the love of good and truth, also the love of evil and falsity. For all goods and the truths therefrom flow from love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; and, on the other hand, all evils and the falsities therefrom, flow from the love of self and the love of the world. This is why those who are in the love of self and the world are in the love of all the evils arising therefrom, and in the love of the falsities from those evils. Concerning these loves and the evils and falsities therefrom, see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 65-80). The same conclusion is evident from the signification of causing the fire to come down out of heaven. This is said, because such a thing takes place in the spiritual world, caused by those who are in faith separate from charity, by means of arts there known. That there is an appearance that the love of falsity from evil is the love of truth from good, is from the confirmation of faith separate from the life, by the sense of the letter of the Word. For what is confirmed from the Word is confirmed from heaven. A falsity, however, when it is confirmed from the Word, is not confirmed from heaven, but only appears as if confirmed from heaven. And also from the signification of before men, as denoting especially before those who are proud of their own intelligence, and who, by their writings and preachings, confirm in themselves this heretical dogma. From these it passes to the simple-minded, who are not proud of their own intelligence; but these do not confirm it in themselves, but only suppose it to be so, because it is said and stated by a man of learning and consequent authority; therefore they merely retain it in the memory; whereas the former implant it in their life, especially if they have lived according to it. And what is implanted in the life remains to eternity; but not that which is merely in the memory.
[2] All who confirm falsities even to the destruction of the Divine truth in which the angels of heaven are, are proud of their own intelligence; for those who regard themselves only, that is, their own fame, in their writings and preachings, have this pride; for they are in the love of self. And every one who is in the love of self, when he writes and preaches, is in this state of pride; and pride derives everything from man's proprium. This is why it is called the pride of man's own intelligence. The love of self resides in the will, and the pride of man's own intelligence in the thought therefrom. Such persons, therefore, when they think any thing from themselves cannot but think falsities, for the proprium of the will, consequently of the love, rules, and this, strictly considered, is nothing but evil. The case is different with those who are in the love of uses, and thence in the love of truth for the sake of truth.
[3] Since those who are proud of their own intelligence remove works from faith, and on that account do not know what works are, nor indeed what is meant by charity and what by neighbour; after they have confirmed themselves [in their own belief], they have no desire to know; therefore it shall be stated here what good works are. Good works are everything that a man does, writes, or preaches, indeed everything that he utters, not from himself but from the Lord. And he acts, writes, preaches, and speaks from the Lord when he lives according to the laws of his religion. The laws of our religion are, that one God is to be worshipped; that adulteries, thefts, murders, and false witness are to be shunned; consequently also fraud, unlawful gains, hatred, revenge, lies, blasphemies, and various other things which are not only mentioned in the Decalogue but also in many other parts of the Word, and are called sins against God, and also abominations. When a man shuns these things, because they are contrary to the Word, and therefore against God, and from hell, then he lives according to the laws of his religion. And so far as he lives according to his religion, so far he is led of the Lord; and so far as he is led of the Lord, his works are good. For he is then led to do good and to speak truth for the sake of good and for the sake of truth, and not for the sake of self and the world. Uses are his enjoyments, and truths are his delight. Every day also he is taught of the Lord what to do and to speak, also what to preach or what to write; for evils being removed he is continually under the Lord's auspices, and in enlightenment. He is led and taught, however, not directly by any dictate, or by any perceptible inspiration, but by influx into the spiritual delight in which he is, whence he obtains a faculty of perception according to the truths from which is his understanding. And when he acts from this influx, he appears to act from himself, but nevertheless he acknowledges in heart that it is from the Lord. All the angels are in such a state; and all infants in heaven are led by that way to heaven.
[4] But the case is different with man when he abstains from evils, and shuns them on account of the civil laws, and of the injury he would suffer in his reputation. In this case he does not shun them from any spiritual origin, but from a natural one. This is why he does indeed perform works which appear outwardly to be good, but they are nevertheless inwardly evil. They are like pictures composed of filthy mire but coloured over so as to appear beautiful to the sight; or like harlots who appear comely in form, arrayed in white raiment, with crowns around their foreheads and jewels in their ears, whilst within they are full of all uncleanness.
Now consider what the character of the Christian world is at this day; how few there are who shun adulteries, frauds, unlawful gains, hatred, revenge, lies, and blasphemies, because they are contrary to the Word, and therefore against God, although many may shun them because they are contrary to the civil laws, and for the sake of reputation, and through fear of the loss of honour and gain in the world; then search interiorly into the cause of this, and you will become conscious that it is because they do not believe in the existence of heaven and hell, and in a life after death. From this it is evident that whatever a man does, be it small or great - provided it proceeds from religion, and, in the case of those who are in the church, from the Word - after he turns away from evils because they are sins, and in themselves infernal, is a good work; but, on the other hand, that whatever a man does, be it small or great, which at the same time is not done from religion, and with us from the Word, is an evil work.
[5] More upon this subject may be seen above (n. 803). It must be observed, however, that he who shuns evils because they are contrary to the Divine laws in the Word, also shuns them because they are contrary to civil and moral laws in the world. For man thinks from the latter when he is in a natural state, but from the former when he is in a spiritual state. From this it follows, that to shun evils and do goods for the sake of reputation and one's own honour is not hurtful, provided the Word and religion therefrom keep the higher place and constitute the head; and also that self and the world hold the lower place, and constitute the feet. Otherwise religion is trampled under foot, and the world worshipped as the head.
825. So that he even maketh fire to come down from heaven unto the earth before men, signifies the love of falsity from evil, arising from the pride of self-intelligence, as if it were the love of truth from good, which is in the church from 1the heavens. This is evident from the signification of "fire," as being love in both senses, namely, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; and in the contrary sense, the love of self and the love of the world (See above, n. 504, 539), consequently both the love of good and truth and the love of evil and falsity; for all goods and truths therefrom flow forth from love to the Lord and from love towards the neighbor; and on the other hand, all evils and falsities therefrom flow from the love of self and the love of the world. Therefore those who are in the love of self and of the world are in the love of all the evils that arise therefrom, and in the love of the falsities from those evils. (On these loves and the evils and falsities arising therefrom, see the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, n. 65-83.) The above is evident also from the signification of making it, namely, the fire, "to come down from heaven," which is said because this is done in the spiritual world, by means of arts there known, by those who are in faith separate; and it means that the appearance that the love of falsity from evil is the love of truth from good, is from the confirmation of faith separated from the life by means of the sense of the letter of the Word; since what is confirmed from the Word is confirmed from heaven; but when a falsity is confirmed from the Word it is not confirmed from heaven, but only appears to be confirmed from heaven. So also from the signification of "before men," as being especially before those who are in the pride of self-intelligence, and who confirm in themselves this heretical dogma by their writings and preachings. From these it passes to the simple-minded, who have no pride of self-intelligence; but these do not confirm it with themselves, but suppose that it is so because it is declared and affirmed by a man of learning and consequent authority. But these merely hold the dogma in the memory, while the others implant it in their life, especially if they have lived according to it; and that which is implanted in the life inheres to eternity; but not what is merely in the memory.
[2] The pride of self-intelligence is with all who confirm falsities even to the destruction of the Divine truth, in which the angels of heaven are; for those are in that pride who regard self only, that is, their reputation, in their writings and preachings. For such are in the love of self, and everyone who is in the love of self when he writes and preaches is in pride; and pride derives all things from man's own [proprium], consequently it is called the pride of self-intelligence. The love of self has its seat in the will, and the pride of self-intelligence in the thought therefrom; consequently when they think anything from self they can think nothing but what is false, for one's own [proprium] which is of the will and therefore of the love, is what rules, and this, viewed in itself, is nothing but evil. It is otherwise with those who are in the love of uses, and thence in the love of truth for the sake of truth.
[3] Because those who are in the pride of self-intelligence remove works from faith, and therefore do not know what is meant by works, nor indeed what is meant by charity and by the neighbor, and even, when they have confirmed themselves, are not willing to know, it shall here be told what is meant by good works. Good works are all things that a man does, writes, preaches, and even speaks, not from self but from the Lord; and he acts, writes, preaches, and speaks from the Lord when he is living according to the laws of his religion. The laws of our religion are that one God is to be worshiped; that adulteries, thefts, murders, false witness, must be shunned; thus also frauds, unlawful gains, hatreds, revenge, lies, blasphemies, and many other things that are mentioned not alone in the Decalogue but everywhere else in the Word, and are called sins against God and also abominations. When man shuns these because they are opposed to the Word, and thence opposed to God, and because they are from hell, then man lives according to the laws of his religion, and so far as he lives according to his religion is he led by the Lord; and so far as he is led by the Lord are his works good; for he is then led to do goods and to speak truths for the sake of goods and for the sake of truths, and not for the sake of self and the world; uses are his enjoyments, and truths his delights. Moreover, he is daily taught by the Lord what he must do and what he must say, also what he must preach or what he must write; for when evils are removed he is continually under the Lord's guidance and in enlightenment. Yet he is not led and taught immediately by any dictate, or by any perceptible inspiration, but by an influx into his spiritual delight, from which he has perception according to the truths of which his understanding consists. When he acts from this influx, he appears to be acting as if from himself, and yet he acknowledges in heart that it is from the Lord. All angels are in such a state; and all infants in heaven are being led by that way to heaven.
[4] But it is otherwise with man when he refrains from evils and shuns them on account of the civil laws or the damage to his reputation; he does not then shun evils from any spiritual origin, but from a natural origin; consequently he indeed does works that appear outwardly as if good yet inwardly they are evil. They are like pictures composed of filthy mire, but overlaid with colors beautiful to the sight; or like harlots who appear comely in form, and adorned in white raiment, with diadems upon their foreheads and in their ears, and yet within are full of foulness. Consider, then, what the Christian world is at this day; how many there are who shun adulteries, frauds, unlawful gains, hatred, revenge, lies, and blasphemies, not because they are opposed to the Word and thus to God, but because they are opposed to the civil laws, and for the sake of reputation and from a fear of the loss of honor and gain in the world; then search interiorly into the reason, and you will perceive that it is because they do not believe that there is a heaven and a hell or a life after death. From this it is clear that whatever a man does, be it small or great, is a good work when it is done from religion, and in the church when it is done from the Word, when the man has come to detest evils because they are sins, and in themselves are infernal; on the other hand, that whatever a man does, be it small or great, is an evil work when it is not done from religion, and with us, from the Word. (For more about this see above, n. 803).
[5] It must be known, however, that he who shuns evils because they are opposed to the Divine laws in the Word also shuns them because they are opposed to civil and moral laws in the world, for a man thinks from civil and moral laws when he is in a natural state, but from the Divine laws when he is in a spiritual state. From this it follows, that to shun evils and do goods for the sake of reputation and one's own honor is not hurtful, provided the Word and religion therefrom hold the higher place and constitute the head, and self and the world hold the lower place and constitute the feet. But otherwise religion is trampled down with the feet, and the world is worshiped with the head.
Footnotes:
1. The photolithograph has "in" for "ex."
825. "Ut et ignem faciat descendere a caelo in terram coram hominibus." Quod significet amorem falsi ex malo oriundum ex fastu propriae intelligentiae sicut foret amor veri ex bono qui 1
e caelis in ecclesia, constat ex significatione "ignis", quod sit amor in utroque sensu, nempe amor in Dominum, et amor erga proximum, et in opposito sensu amor sui et amor mundi (de qua supra, n. 504, 539); et inde amor boni et veri, tum amor mali et falsi, nam omnia bona et inde vera profluunt ex amore in Dominum et ex amore erga proximum, et vicissim omnia mala et inde falsa ex amore sui et amore mundi: inde est, quod qui in amore sui et mundi sunt, in amore omnium malorum inde oriundorum, et in amore falsorum ex illis malis sint; (de quibus amoribus, et inde oriundis malis et falsis, videatur in Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae, n. 65-83 2
): ex significatione facere illum, nempe ignem, "descendere e caelo"; hoc dicitur, quia tale fit in mundo spirituali ab illis qui [in] fide separata sunt, per artes ibi notas: quod sit apparentia sicut amor falsi ex malo foret amor veri ex bono, est ex confirmatione fidei separatae a vita per sensum litterae Verbi; nam quod confirmatur ex Verbo, ex caelo confirmatur; at falsum, dum ex Verbo, non ex caelo confirmatur, sed modo apparet sicut e caelo confirmatum: et ex significatione "coram hominibus", quod sit imprimis coram illis qui in fastu propriae intelligentiae sunt, et qui scriptis et praedicationibus apud se haereticum id dogma confirmant; ex illis derivatur id ad simplices, qui non in fastu propriae intelligentiae sunt, at hi non confirmant illud apud se, sed autumant quod ita sit, quia a viro eruditionis et inde auctoritatis dictum est et asseveratum; verum hi solum id memoria tenent, illi autem implantant illud suae vitae, imprimis si vixerunt secundum illud; et quod implantatur vitae, hoc in aeternum inhaeret, non autem quod solum memoriae.
[2] Fastus propriae intelligentiae est apud omnes qui falsa confirmant usque ad destructionem Divini Veri, in quo sunt angeli caeli: sunt enim illi in eo fastu qui se solum spectant, hoc est, sui famam, in scriptis et in praedicationibus; sunt enim in amore sui, et omnis qui in amore sui est, dum scribit et praedicat, in fastu est, et fastus ex proprio hominis omnia trahit; inde est quod dicatur fastus propriae intelligentiae; amor sui residet in voluntate, ac fastus propriae intelligentiae in cogitatione inde; hi itaque, dum aliquid ex se cogitant, non possunt aliter quam falsa cogitare; proprium enim, quod est voluntatis, proinde amoris, dominatur, quod in se spectatum non est nisi quam malum: aliter illi qui in amore usuum sunt, et inde in amore veri propter verum.
[3] Quoniam hi, qui in fastu propriae intelligentiae sunt, removent opera a fide, et propterea non sciunt quid opera, ne quidem quid charitas et quid proximus, immo postquam se confirmaverunt, non volunt scire; quare hic dicetur quid bona opera. Bona opera sunt omnia quae homo facit, scribit, praedicat, immo quae loquitur, non a semet sed a Domino; et a Domino facit, scribit, praedicat et loquitur, quando vivit secundum leges suae religionis. Leges nostrae religionis sunt, quod nempe Deus unus colendus sit, quod adulteria, furta, neces, falsa testimonia, fugienda sint, ita quoque fraudes, illicitae lucrationes, odia, vindictae, mendacia, blasphemationes, et plura, quae non solum in decalogo, sed etiam ubivis alibi in Verbo, dicuntur peccata contra Deum, et quoque abominationes; quum homo illa fugit, quia contra Verbum et inde contra Deum sunt, et quia ex inferno sunt, tunc vivit homo secundum leges suae religionis; et quantum religionem vivit, tantum ducitur a Domino; et quantum ducitur a Domino, tantum opera ejus sunt bona; ducitur enim tunc ad faciendum bona, et ad loquendum vera, propter bona et propter vera, et non propter semet et propter mundum; usus sunt ei jucunditates, et vera sunt ei deliciae; indies etiam docetur a Domino quid faciendum et loquendum est, tum quid praedicandum aut quid scribendum, nam remotis malis continue sub auspicio Domini est, ac in illustratione: at ducitur ac docetur non immediate per aliquod dictamen, aut per aliquam inspirationem perceptibilem, sed per influxum in ejus jucundum spirituale, unde ei fit perceptio secundum vera ex quibus est intellectus ejus; ex quo cum agit, apparet sicut a se agat, attamen agnoscit corde quod sit a Domino. Omnes angeli in tali statu sunt; et omnes infantes in caelo per illam viam ad caelum ducuntur.
[4] Aliter vero est cum homine, quando a malis abstinet, et illa fugit, propter leges civiles, et propter laesionem famae suae; is non fugit illa ex aliqua origine spirituali, sed ex origine naturali; inde is quidem opera facit quae exterius apparent sicut bona, sed usque interius mala sunt; sunt sicut picturae ex luto stercoreo inductae coloribus ad visum pulchris, aut sicut meretrices apparentes in forma venusta, et ornatae vestibus candidis, ac super fronte et sub auribus diadematibus, et usque intus scatent fetoribus. Expende nunc, qualis hodie est orbis Christianus, quot sunt hodie qui fugiunt adulteria, fraudes, lucrationes illicitas, odia, vindictas, mendacia et blasphemationes, [non] quia contra Verbum sunt, et sic contra Deum, sed quia contra leges civiles sunt, et [propter] famam, ac timorem jacturae honoris et lucri in mundo; sed inquire interius in causam, et appercipies quod hoc inde sit, quia non credunt quod caelum et infernum sint, et quod non vita post mortem. Ex his patet quod quicquid homo facit, tam parvum quam magnum, dum facit ex religione, et in ecclesia ex Verbo, postquam detestatur mala quia peccata sunt et in se infernalia, bonum opus sit; at vicissim, quod quicquid homo facit, tam parvum quam magnum, dum non facit ex religione, et apud nos ex Verbo, malum opus sit. (Plura de his videatur supra, n. 803.)
[5] Sciendum usque est, quod qui mala fugit quia contra leges Divinas in Verbo sunt, etiam fugiat illa quia contra leges civiles et morales in mundo sunt, homo enim ex his cogitat quando in statu naturali est, at ex illis quando in statu spirituali: ex quo sequitur, quod propter famam et sui honorem mala fugere et bona facere, nec damnosum sit, modo Verbum et inde religio locum superiorem teneant, et faciant caput, ac ipse et mundus locum inferiorem, et faciant pedes: sin aliter, pedibus conculcatur religio, et capite colitur mundus.
Footnotes:
1. The editors made a correction or note here.
2. The editors made a correction or note here.