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9978. Those who place merit in works cannot fight against the evils which are from the hells, for no one can do this from himself; but in the case of those who do not place merit in works, the Lord fights for them and conquers.

9979. The Lord alone has merit, because He alone from Himself conquered the hells, and subdued them; hence the Lord alone is merit and justice.

9980. Moreover man of himself is nothing but evil, therefore to do good from himself is to do it from evil.

9981. That good ought not to be done for the sake of recompense, the Lord teaches in Luke: "If ye love those who love you, what favour have ye? If ye do good to those who do good to you, what favour have ye? for sinners do the same; rather love your enemies, and do good, and lend hoping for nothing, then shall your recompense be great, and ye shall be the sons of the Highest." (vi. 32-35). That neither can man do good from himself which is real good, but from the Lord, “ A man cannot take anything unless it be given him from heaven" (iii. 27); and in another place: "Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches; he who abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye cannot do anything." (xv. 5.)

9982. To believe that they are remunerated if they do good, is not hurtful with those who are in innocence-as with infants and the simple; but to confirm themselves therein when they become adults is hurtful; for man is initiated into good by respecting remuneration, and he is deterred from evil by respecting punishment; but so far as he comes into the good of love and of faith, so far he is removed from respecting merit in the goods which he does

9983. To do good, which is good, must be from the love of good, thus for the sake of good; those who are in that love abhor merit, for they love to do, and hence they perceive satisfaction; and vice versâ, they are sorrowful if it be believed that what they do is for the sake of anything of themselves. The case herein is nearly as with those who do good to friends for the sake of friendship, to a brother for the sake of brotherhood, to a wife and children for the sake of the wife and

children, to the country for the sake of their country, thus from friendship and from love; those who think well, also say and insist that they do no good for the sake of themselves, but for the sake of others.

9984. The delight itself which is in the love of doing good without remuneration as an end, is the recompense which remains to eternity, for every affection of love is permanent, being inscribed on the life; into that love is insinuated heaven and eternal happiness from the Lord.

OF CONJUGIAL LOVE.

10,167. Few know from what origin conjugial love exists. Those who think from the world believe that it is from nature; but those who think from heaven, that it is from the Divine there.

10,168. Love truly conjugial is the union of two minds, which is spiritual union; and all spiritual union descends from heaven; hence it is that love truly conjugial is from heaven, and that its first esse is from the marriage of good and truth there. The marriage of good and of truth in heaven is from the Lord; wherefore the Lord in the Word is called the bridegroom and husband, and heaven and the Church is called the bride and wife; and on this account also heaven is compared to a marriage.

10,169. From these considerations it is evident, that love truly conjugial is the union of two as to the interiors which are of the thought and of the will, thus which are of truth and of good; for truth is of the thought, and good is of the will. For he who is principled in love truly conjugial, loves what another thinks and what another wills; thus also he loves to think as another, and he loves to will as another; consequently, to be united to another, and to become as one man. This is what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew: "And two shall be one flesh, wherefore they are no longer two but one flesh." (xix. 4, 5; also Gen. ii. 24.)

10,170. The delight of love truly conjugial, is an internal delight, because it is of the mind, and it is also an external

delight thence derived, which is of the body; but the delight of love not truly conjugial is only external delight without being internal, which is that of the body, not of the mind. This latter delight moreover is terrestrial almost like that of animals, and therefore in time perishes; but the former is celestial, such as that of men should be, and therefore it is permanent.

10,171. No one can know what love truly conjugial is, and what is the quality of its delight, unless he be in the good of love and in the truths of faith from the Lord, since, as was said, love truly conjugial is from heaven, and originates in the marriage of good and of truth there.

10,172. From the marriage of good and of truth in heaven and in the Church, we may be instructed what ought to be the quality of marriages in the earths-viz., that they ought to be between two, one husband and one wife, and that love truly conjugial is in no case given if one husband has a plurality of wives.

10,173. What is done from a principle of love truly conjugial, this is done from freedom on both sides, for all freedom is from love, and each party has freedom when one loves what the other thinks and what the other wills. Hence it is, that to be willing to exercise rule in marriages destroys genuine love, for it takes away its freedom, thus also its delight; the delight of exercising rule, which succeeds in its place, begets disagreements, and sets minds at enmity, and causes evils to take root according to the quality of dominion on one part, and the quality of servitude on the other.

10,174. From these considerations it may be manifest that marriages are holy, and that to do violence to them is to do violence to that which is holy; consequently, that adulteries are profane; for since the delight of conjugial love descends from heaven, the delight of adultery ascends out of hell.

10,175. Those, therefore, who take delight in adulteries, cannot any longer receive any good and truth from heaven. Hence it is that those who have taken delight in adulteries, afterwards make light of, and also in heart deny, those things which are of the Church and of heaven. The reason is,

because the love of adultery is from the marriage of what is evil and false, which is the infernal marriage.

OF DIVINE REVELATION.

10,318. Man, without a revelation from the Divine, cannot know anything about eternal life, nor even anything about God, and still less about love and faith to Him; for man is born into mere ignorance, and must after birth learn everything from wordly things, from which he must form his understanding; he is also born hereditarily into all evil, which is of self-love and the love of the world; the delights thence derived are perpetually prevalent, and suggest such things as are diametrically opposite to the Divine. Hence now it is. that man of himself knows nothing about eternal life; therefore there must necessarily be a revelation to communicate such knowledge.

10,319. That the evils of the love of self and the world induce such ignorance concerning those things which relate to eternal life, is very manifest from those within the Church, who, although they know from revelation that there is a God, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is eternal life, and that that life is to be acquired by the good of love and faith, still fall into denial concerning those subjects, as well the learned as the unlearned. Hence it is further evident what great ignorance would prevail if there were no revelation.

10,320. Since, therefore, man lives after death, and in such case to eternity, and a life awaits him according to his love and faith, it follows that the Divine, out of love towards the human race, revealed such things as may lead to that life, and conduce to man's salvation. What the Divine has revealed, with us, is the Word.

10,321. The Word, inasmuch as it is a revelation from the Divine, is Divine in all and singular things; for what is from the Divine cannot be otherwise.

10,322. What is from the Divine descends through the heavens even to man; wherefore in the heavens it is accommodated to the wisdom of the angels who are there, and in the

earths it is accommodated to the apprehension of the men who are there. Wherefore in the Word there is an internal sense,

which is spiritual, for the which is natural, for men.

angels, and an external sense, Hence it is, that conjunction of

heaven with man is effected by the Word.

10,323. The genuine sense of the Word is apprehended by none but those who are illustrated; and they only are illustrated who are in love and faith to the Lord, for the interiors of such are elevated by the Lord even into the light of heaven.

10,324. The Word in the letter cannot be apprehended except by doctrine derived from the Word by one who is illustrated; for the sense of its letter is accommodated to the apprehension of men, even the simple; wherefore doctrine derived from the Word must be to them for a lamp.

10,325. The books of the Word are all those which have an internal sense; but those which have not, are not the Word. The books of the Word in the Old Testament are, the five books of Moses, the book of Joshua, the book of Judges, the two books of Samuel, the two books of the Kings, the Psalms of David; the Prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi; and in the New Testament, the four Evangelists, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John; and the Apocalypse.

OF BAPTISM.

10,386. Baptism was instituted for a sign that man is of the Church, and for a memorial that he is to be regenerated. For the washing of baptism is nothing else than spiritual washing, which is regeneration.

10,387. All regeneration is effected from the Lord by the truths of faith, and by a life according to them; therefore baptism testifies that man is of the Church, and that he can be regenerated, for in the Church the Lord is acknowledged, who regenerates, and in the Church is the Word, containing the truths of faith by which regeneration is effected.

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