Angelic Wisdom about Divine ProvidenceSwedenborg, Emanuel
Religion
Angelic Wisdom about Divine Providence
Swedenborg, Emanuel
Providence and government of God -- Christianity
15. Good can be separated from truth, and truth from good, and then still
appear as good or truth, for the reason that the human being has a
capacity to act which is called liberty, and a capacity of understanding
called rationality. By abuse of these powers a man can appear in
externals other than he is in internals; an evil man can do good and
speak truth, and a devil feign himself an angel of light. But on this see
the following propositions in the treatise _Divine Love and Wisdom:_ "The
origin of evil is in the abuse of faculties proper to man, called liberty
and rationality" (nn. 246-270); "These two faculties are to be found with
the evil as well as with the good" (n. 425); "Love not married to wisdom,
and good not married to truth, can effect nothing" (n. 401); "Love does
nothing except in conjunction with wisdom or understanding, and it brings
wisdom or the understanding reciprocally into conjunction with itself"
(nn. 410-412); "From power given it by love, wisdom or understanding can
be elevated and can perceive and receive the things of light from heaven"
(n. 413); "Love can be raised similarly to receive the things of heat
from heaven if it loves its mate, wisdom, in that degree" (nn. 414, 415);
"Else love pulls wisdom or the understanding down from its elevation to
act at one with itself" (nn. 416-418); "If the two are elevated, love is
purified in the understanding" (nn. 419-421); "Purified by wisdom in the
understanding, love becomes spiritual and celestial, but defiled in the
understanding it become sensuous and corporeal" (nn. 422-424); "What is
true of love and wisdom and their union is true of charity and faith and
their conjunction" (nn. 427-430). What charity in heaven is, see n. 431.
16. (vii) _The Lord does not suffer anything to be divided; it must be
either in good and at the same time in truth, or in evil and at the same
time in falsity._ The Lord's divine providence has for its goal, and to
this end it labors, that man shall be in good and at the same time in
truth. For then he is his own good and love and his own truth and wisdom;
thereby the human being is human, for he is then an image of the Lord.
But while he lives in the world he can be in good and at the same time in
falsity, likewise in evil and at the same time in truth, indeed in evil
and at the same time in good, and thus be double. As the cleavage
destroys the Lord's image in him and thus the man, the Lord's divine
providence takes care in every least act that this division shall not be.
And as it is better for man to be in evil and at the same time in falsity
than to be in good and at the same time in evil, the Lord permits it, not
as one willing it, but as one unable to resist because of the end sought,
which is salvation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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