inward - from verse 19 to the end. That this church on account of its wishing to investigate the truths of faith from itself and by reasonings first lapsed into errors and perversions verses 19-21. That those who are in outward worship separate from inward, for such reason mock at the very doctrine of faith verse 22. But those who are in inward worship and thence in outward worship interpret such things for good and excuse them verse 23. Those who are in outward worship separate from inward are most vile verses 24, 25; and yet may perform vile services in the church verses 26, 27. 976. Lastly the duration of the first Ancient Church and its state are described by the years of the age of Noah verses 28, 29. INTERNAL SENSE. 977. The subject here being the regenerate man, we must show briefly what his quality is as compared with that of the unregenerate. From this comparison the quality of both may be known. The regenerate man has a conscience of good and of truth. From conscience he does good, and from conscience he thinks truth. The good which he does is the good of charity, and the truth which he thinks is the truth of faith. The unregenerate man has no conscience, or if he has any, it is not the conscience of doing good from charity, and of thinking truth from faith, but from some love for the sake of self and the world. Consequently his conscience is spurious or false. The regenerate man has joy when he acts according to conscience, and he has anxiety when he is compelled to do anything, or think anything, contrary to conscience; but it is not so with the unregenerate man. He, for the most still less does he part, does not know what conscience is; do anything according to conscience, or contrary to conscience, but according to what favors his loves, from which he has his joy; while what is contrary to them brings anxiety. The regenerate man has a new will and a new understanding. This new will and new understanding are his 2 conscience, that is, they are in his conscience, by means of which the Lord works out the good of charity and the truth of faith. The unregenerate man has no will, but in place of will, lust, and thence proneness to all evil; and he has no understanding, but in place of it reasoning and hence a tendency to all falsity. The regenerate man has heavenly and spiritual life, but the unregenerate man has only bodily and worldly life; what ability he has for thinking and understanding what is good and true, is from the life of the Lord through remains, which have been described before, from which he has the faculty of reflecting. In the regenerate man the internal man rules and the external complies, but in the unregenerate man the external man rules and the internal is quiescent, as if there were none. The regenerate man knows, or may know if he reflects, what the internal man is and what the external; but the unregenerate man does not know at all, nor can he know even if he reflects, since he does not know what the good and truth of faith from charity is. From these things it is evident what is the nature of the regenerate man, and what is that of the unregenerate; and that there is a difference like that between summer and winter, and between light and darkness. The regenerate is therefore a living man, but the unregenerate is a dead man. 978. Few if any at this day know what the internal man is, and what the external. They suppose them to be one and the same, and indeed chiefly for the reason that they believe they do what is good and think what is true from their proprium. This belief the proprium has in itself. But the internal man is as distinct from the external as is heaven from earth. The learned as well as the unlearned, when they reflect upon it, have no other conception of the internal man than that it is thought, because it is within; body and its But thought, and of the external man than that it is the sense and pleasure, because this is without. which they suppose to be of the internal man, is not of the internal. In the internal man there are only goods and truths, which are of the Lord, and in the interior man is implanted conscience by the Lord; and yet the evil, even the worst of men have thought, and those also who have no conscience have thought. From this it is evident that man's thought is not of the internal man, but of the external. That the body and its sense and pleasure is not the external man, is evident from this, that spirits, who have no body such as they had while they lived in the world, 2 have all the same an external man. But what the internal man is, and what the external, no one can ever know unless he knows that there is in every man a celestial and spiritual, which corresponds to the angelic heaven; a rational, which corresponds to the heaven of angelic spirits; and an interior sensual, which corresponds to the heaven of spirits. For there are three heavens, and the same number in man; and these heavens are quite distinct one from another. Hence it is that after death a man who has conscience is first in the heaven of spirits, and afterward taken up by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits, and at length into the angelic heaven. But this could never be done if there were not the same number of heavens within him, to which and their state he may correspond. From this it could be made clear to me what constituted the internal and what the external man. Celestial and spiritual things form the internal man, rational things the interior or middle man, sensual things—not of the body but derived from bodily things- the external man; and this not only with man, but also with spirits. 3 To speak in the language of philosophy - these three are as end, cause, and effect. It is known that there can never be any effect unless there be a cause, and never any cause unless there be an end. Effect, cause, and end, are as dis tinct as exterior, interior, and inmost. Properly speaking, the sensual man, that is, he who thinks from sensual things, is the external man, and the spiritual and celestial man is the internal man; but the rational man is mediate between the two, and by this, or by what is rational, there is communication of the internal man with the external. I know that few apprehend these things, for the reason that they live in externals and think from externals. Hence some make themselves out to be like brutes and believe that when the body dies they will die altogether. But when they die, they then first begin to live. Then in the other life the good live at first the sensual life in the world or heaven of spirits, next the interior sensual life in the heaven of angelic spirits, and lastly the inmost sensual life in the angelic heaven. This life, the angelic, is the life of the internal man, about which almost nothing can be said which can be apprehended by man. The regenerate however 4 may know, if they reflect, that it is from good and truth, and from combat. For it is the life of the Lord with man, since the Lord through the internal man produces the good of charity and the truth of faith in his external man. What comes thence to perception in his thought and affection is a certain general idea in which are innumerable things coming from the internal man which man never perceives before he comes into the angelic heaven. As to the nature of this general idea see what is said above from experience (n. 545). But what has been said about the internal man, being above the apprehension of many, is not necessary to salvation. Only let them know that there is an internal man and an external, and let them acknowledge and believe that all good and truth is from the Lord. 979. These things have been premised in regard to the state of the regenerate man and the influx of the internal man into the external, because the subject in this chapter is the regenerate man and the dominion of the internal man over the external, with the compliance of the latter. 980. Verse 1. And God blessed Noah, and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth. "God blessed" signifies the presence and grace of the Lord; by "Noah and his sons" is signified the Ancient Church; by "Be fruitful are signified the goods of charity; by "multiply" are signified the truths of faith, which should now gain increase; by "replenish the earth" is signified in the external man. 981. And God blessed. That this signifies the presence and grace of the Lord, is evident from the signification of blessing. Blessing in the Word signifies in the outward meaning enriching with every earthly and bodily good, as in fact the Word is explained by all who remain in the outward meaning, as the Jews did formerly and still do, and also Christians, especially at this day. For this reason they have placed and still place the Divine blessing in riches and abundance of all things, and in their own glory. But blessing in the internal sense signifies enriching with every spiritual and heavenly good. And because this blessing is never given, nor can be given, except from the Lord, therefore blessing signifies the presence and grace of the Lord. The presence and grace of the Lord bears this blessing with itself. It is said presence, because the Lord is present only in charity, and here the spiritual regenerate man is now treated of, who acts from charity. The Lord is present with every man, but as far as man is distant from charity, so far the presence of the Lord is, so to speak, more absent, or the Lord is more remote. It is said grace, and not mercy, for the reason hitherto, as I suppose, unknown, that celestial men do not speak of grace, but of mercy, while spiritual men speak not of mercy but of grace. This comes from the fact that celestial men acknowledge that the human race is only filthy, and in itself excrementitious and infernal; and so they implore the mercy of the Lord, for mercy is predicated in such a condition. But spiritual men, though they know that such is |