New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Lessons on the Lord's Doctrine of Good and Truth
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons on the Lord's Doctrine of Good and Truth
By Rev. Paul Booth
There is a Sun that shines that with our natural eyes we are unaware and cannot see. It is Heaven's Sun. Yet that Sun brings us life, though few know of its existence, let alone how we receive its life giving rays.
Like this world, there is a Sun in Heaven whose rays bring heat and light, though celestial and spiritual, not natural, as the sun brings in this natural world to mankind. That celestial heat is God's love and that spiritual light is God's wisdom. The Sun of Heaven is not the Lord God Himself, but the Lord's proceeding first and is seen at a distance by angels like this world's natural sun by man and like this sun if approached one would be consumed. "No man or angel can see God." The Heaven's Sun is alive while this world's sun is dead, being pure fire. From the Lord God, who is Divine Love and Wisdom, proceeds Love and Wisdom and this is His Essence and Existence, His Life in Heaven proceeding to the angels and to man on earth since man is also spiritual and not just natural.
The two qualities proceeding from the Sun of Heaven to the angels and to mankind on earth, though mankind cannot understand because they live in the natural world, are good and truth. Good is the Esse or Essence and Truth is the Existere or Existence of the Lord God. And, as the Word of God in Genesis says, all what God made 'was good'. In God's Love and His Wisdom He created the universe, and as such, mankind in His image and His likeness that man might enjoy with Him His love and wisdom as do angels in Heaven.
Anyone can see that in God's love and wisdom He created man in His own image and likeness, thus celestially and spiritually, but that we are not Divine, for the Divine cannot be divided, but that Divine is within us giving life to us and is that Life. We see also that God created the natural world, which is of material substance, not of spiritual and celestial substance as Heaven is. It is this, the material of the universe that is the ultimate that our physical bodies are made of and that our spirit and soul lives within, mankind having fallen from his spiritual state into the natural state. From this, we can understand that man has a natural or physical body, which cannot enter the spiritual world or Heaven, for all that is material falls away 'as it were' when man comes into the spiritual world. The natural material of this world is only a covering and a vessel in which man's spirit lives while here on earth.
It is from the good and truth proceeding from the Lord God that has created man, but we see also from the Word that the universe was created, therefore, all things in it have relation to good and truth, for God has not created anything evil. There is no evil in what God has created, either natural, spiritual or celestial, for evil nor what is false can proceed from the Divine, and all that proceeds or flows 'as it were' from the Divine is according to Divine order.
It is for this reason that the doctrine of the Lord's New Church, which in the Word is call the New Jerusalem, begins with good and truth as its starting point. All one need do is ask himself, what is good and truth, what is their relationship with one another and how are they conjoined to each other in man that he becomes regenerated?
Heaven is related to the Church on earth. Angels are goods and have truths from the Lord and, so, we can understand them as being in Heaven and as Heaven, because of the Divine Good and Truth from the Lord within them. Now, if man is to one day come into Heaven and enjoy the life angels live, then he must come to live from God's Love and Wisdom in man as good and truth in this world and those who do are called the Church. So, let us start by learning about what good and truth means to our salvation.
As the heat or love from Heaven's Sun proceeds there is within it God's Love so that within man is goodness and as its light or truth proceed within is God's Wisdom into man it becomes genuine truths. Neither this heat or love nor light or truth is separated in God, for these two qualities are God's as we showed and are His Essence and Existence and so, they proceed united or as one to man and to angels as well. From reason alone they should be conjoined in man as they are in angles in Heaven. It is this conjunction of good and truth that is called in the Word the 'Heavenly Marriage'. Isn't the Church understood as the bride and wife of the Lord who is the groom and husband and to become married 'as it were'? And. they are in man when he has good and truth conjoined, for then the Lord reigns within him. How else can this marriage happen unless the Lord's good and truth are conjoined in man forming him into the Lord's image and likeness? It is the conjunction or the marriage of good and truth in man that makes him a true Church on earth as those in Heaven and so, both the Church and Heaven receive the Divine Good in truths, though in men on earth they become distorted because of a man's self love.
Divine Good cannot be received by man unless received in truths. Therefore, the intelligence and wisdom the angels have are from this marriage of good and truth, thus the understanding of the man of the Church comes from the good that is conjoined with the truth from the Lord. Good is loved by truth and truth is loved by good. If this state is not within man, if man does not love and long for good and truth there is no Heavenly marriage in him and the Church is not yet in him. Good and truth conjoined constitute the Church and Heaven within man. Evil and falsity conjoined is an infernal marriage and hell then is within man.
To be sure, good, whether spiritual or natural, are not conjoined with what is false, but with truth. In truth, all truths are forms of good. These two general goods - natural and spiritual - are conjoined in genuine moral good in man. It is said 'genuine' for a man can seem to be moral and do what is good only because he wants others to look upon him as a 'good' person, but this is from a love of himself, not from a love of what is good or a love to the Lord and is thus not genuine.
In talking about Divine order it was said that good and truth are according to Divine order. Thus, when what is seemingly done as good instead of being good is evil and likewise as what is false is not of any truth. And, these evils and falsities are in fact contrary to good and truth. The end is that instead of intelligence and wisdom or even understanding in the natural man there come folly and stupidity, for there is, then, the marriage of evil and falsity in man and in the spiritual world instead of being in Heaven he is in hell. Such conjunction of evils and falsities are called the Infernal Marriage as was said.
There is no conjunction of good and evil or of truth and falsity. If evil enters man, then the good that was in him becomes evil. There are falsities that are conjoined with evil and falsities not conjoined with evil. By adjoining good with the falsity of evil what was good becomes no longer good, but is evil having been adulterated. And, should truth be conjoined with evil it is no longer truth, but is false, having been falsified.
When a man believes his own evil to be good and his falsity from it to be true he has confirmed to himself that he lives a good life, but actually he lives an evil life nor does he know what good and truth are, thinking his evil is good and the falsities there from are truths. However, if one is in good and in truths from this good, he knows what evil and falsities are. What is shown and must be accepted is that good done by one's self or for self is not good, but that good, which is from Heaven that comes from the Lord, is good and has with it truths. Thus, truths that come not from good, but from the love of one's self, do not have in them any good. Let an example be shown. If someone tells something what is false, believing it is the truth to another, then evil is not in him, though he is in ignorance, because all good with is truth is in its essence Heavenly and what is not in its essence Heavenly is from a Heavenly origin. However, if someone tells something that is false, knowing it is false, then evil is within him and the falsity has a hellish essence.
All truth is from good and all good through truths. All falsity is from evil and all evil is through falsities. Because mankind lives in the natural world and no longer can understand God's Word spiritually, but only naturally, and his natural understanding has been distorted because of his love of self, he comes into falsities, believes them to be true. He then confirms them. Still, there are many kinds of falsities as there are evils. And, as was said there are falsities from evils and falsities not from evil. We have shown that there is a falsity in which there is good and a falsity in which there is no good.
Herein, we see that falsity, unless it is of evil, will not end in hell. On the other hand, when speaking of evil, it sinks into hell while good rises into Heaven. Good when it turns into evil, as when it is adjoined to evil, lapses into hell as does truth that is turned into falsities which is when it is confirmed as the truth.
The problem is that a man may know truths, but still be in evils and, so, good does not flow into him. Good and truths are removed from him as being evil and, so, the falsities from evils in him continue within him. Basically, there are two types of falsities, those from evil and those not from evil. Example: the falsities of religion that agree with good and those that disagree with good. The falsities of religion are not imputed or attributed to those who are in good, but they are in the person who is not in any good. What is to be understood, here, is that falsities of the understanding cannot be planted in the will and, so, the person may be associated with genuine truth because he is in good. One can see this in that even though they are false, because the person is in good, they are drawn towards good and, so evil is removed 'as it were' from him. In other words, the closer one comes to the Lord, thus to good, the falsities of religion, or what he believes is the truth in the Word, are removed and his good is accepted by the Lord. For, the man may be in ignorance from what he has been taught and in innocence when such falsities were taught as the truth and, thus be in good.
Many times a person may be in truths, and not in goods. In this, there is a division between good and truth in man. We have shown that Good and Truth proceeds from the Lord God together as one. Therefore, if a man has the truth and is not in good, then the truths are not true and have no life and he would not be like a man with the Lord in his heart and is as a body without a soul. What is only in the understanding and not in the will is only in the memory and what is in the memory and not at the same time in the will, has no life in it and the man only believes them to be truths. If a person is acquainted with truth, because he acknowledges truths having come from his love of self and the world, then they are not his and are not appropriated to be his own. In such truths a man is not saved and he is not of the Church, thus he is not regenerated. We have taught that in the light of the spiritual Sun there is not just light or intelligence and wisdom alone to angels, but heat in which there is affection and love, thus there is good as well as truth. Thus, the Lord speaks of being in darkness when one has no truth. In fact, the truths turn into falsities in man will also have no charity. It is Divine truth that condemns to hell, while Divine good rises to Heaven. Thus, it is that when the Lord comes to earth and when He came to the spiritual world that He judges and that His Word judges and that truth alone will not save, but truth coming from good saves, for it is then that the Lord comes into a man's will.
Other times a person may be in truths and look towards and aspire to good. A man who does this comes into good. The premise on which this stands is: What a man loves or wills is good, he thinks and confirms. For in this way the truth he has becomes a matter of love or of his will and it becomes his very life. Only an acquaintance of truth when it is loved and willed, and, in fact, done, does it become his life and the person is in good. Example: Take the truths of the Word, the religious scientifics; they lead to life as all Christians should know. However, as we just showed, they must be loved or willed for the sake of truth and good. In other words, this truth must have within or be conjoined with good and when this is so, then, there is the celestial of love in which life flows. It is obvious that the Lord's celestial love flows in to the angels and that they are in conjunction with the Lord. It is also obvious that unless a man is regenerated and saved that there is not this conjunction and the Lord's celestial love does not flow in. The angels are in a form, that is, an image and likeness of the Lord. This, the Third Testament calls the 'Grand Man' of Heaven. Men are to be made into the image of and the likeness of the Lord, for they are born into the natural and are separated from the spiritual and celestial life of the Lord because of their hereditary nature. We are to see from this: that unless the Lord came into the world putting on the natural of man - the man's external - He was unable to govern man as He governs the universal Heaven. In His coming the Lord reduced the truths and goods in His external man into order. And, so, He, by living in charity, for in charity flow the truths of faith and have life, has opened up to mankind a connection between Heaven and earth, between angels and men on earth
The truths a man has come by way of his external, by hearing and sight. Goods flow in man by an internal way, through the soul from the Lord. Thus, when a person wills and does good because or for the sake of truth and good, they enter him and are conjoined with the truth that he has interiorly, which is the rational of man, however, they are conjoined by the Lord and not by one's self. Thus, it is that a man's natural truths become spiritual truths and can then flow into the man's natural bringing good or charity from the Lord. Thus, it is that man is regenerated by his truth of faith and good of charity.
Lastly, a man may be in and have truth from good. Whereas, the man just spoken of was in truths that lead to good, we now speak of the truths that proceed from good. Basically, truth has its essence or life from good and its form is truth. Here is the premise: Truth is truth when it derives its essence from the good of charity and innocence. Innocence and charity are the grounds in which the seeds of truth may take root and come forth in man. These are the source of truth that is conjoined to good that is wedded and is the Heavenly marriage of good and truth in man.
End.
Like this world, there is a Sun in Heaven whose rays bring heat and light, though celestial and spiritual, not natural, as the sun brings in this natural world to mankind. That celestial heat is God's love and that spiritual light is God's wisdom. The Sun of Heaven is not the Lord God Himself, but the Lord's proceeding first and is seen at a distance by angels like this world's natural sun by man and like this sun if approached one would be consumed. "No man or angel can see God." The Heaven's Sun is alive while this world's sun is dead, being pure fire. From the Lord God, who is Divine Love and Wisdom, proceeds Love and Wisdom and this is His Essence and Existence, His Life in Heaven proceeding to the angels and to man on earth since man is also spiritual and not just natural.
The two qualities proceeding from the Sun of Heaven to the angels and to mankind on earth, though mankind cannot understand because they live in the natural world, are good and truth. Good is the Esse or Essence and Truth is the Existere or Existence of the Lord God. And, as the Word of God in Genesis says, all what God made 'was good'. In God's Love and His Wisdom He created the universe, and as such, mankind in His image and His likeness that man might enjoy with Him His love and wisdom as do angels in Heaven.
Anyone can see that in God's love and wisdom He created man in His own image and likeness, thus celestially and spiritually, but that we are not Divine, for the Divine cannot be divided, but that Divine is within us giving life to us and is that Life. We see also that God created the natural world, which is of material substance, not of spiritual and celestial substance as Heaven is. It is this, the material of the universe that is the ultimate that our physical bodies are made of and that our spirit and soul lives within, mankind having fallen from his spiritual state into the natural state. From this, we can understand that man has a natural or physical body, which cannot enter the spiritual world or Heaven, for all that is material falls away 'as it were' when man comes into the spiritual world. The natural material of this world is only a covering and a vessel in which man's spirit lives while here on earth.
It is from the good and truth proceeding from the Lord God that has created man, but we see also from the Word that the universe was created, therefore, all things in it have relation to good and truth, for God has not created anything evil. There is no evil in what God has created, either natural, spiritual or celestial, for evil nor what is false can proceed from the Divine, and all that proceeds or flows 'as it were' from the Divine is according to Divine order.
It is for this reason that the doctrine of the Lord's New Church, which in the Word is call the New Jerusalem, begins with good and truth as its starting point. All one need do is ask himself, what is good and truth, what is their relationship with one another and how are they conjoined to each other in man that he becomes regenerated?
Heaven is related to the Church on earth. Angels are goods and have truths from the Lord and, so, we can understand them as being in Heaven and as Heaven, because of the Divine Good and Truth from the Lord within them. Now, if man is to one day come into Heaven and enjoy the life angels live, then he must come to live from God's Love and Wisdom in man as good and truth in this world and those who do are called the Church. So, let us start by learning about what good and truth means to our salvation.
As the heat or love from Heaven's Sun proceeds there is within it God's Love so that within man is goodness and as its light or truth proceed within is God's Wisdom into man it becomes genuine truths. Neither this heat or love nor light or truth is separated in God, for these two qualities are God's as we showed and are His Essence and Existence and so, they proceed united or as one to man and to angels as well. From reason alone they should be conjoined in man as they are in angles in Heaven. It is this conjunction of good and truth that is called in the Word the 'Heavenly Marriage'. Isn't the Church understood as the bride and wife of the Lord who is the groom and husband and to become married 'as it were'? And. they are in man when he has good and truth conjoined, for then the Lord reigns within him. How else can this marriage happen unless the Lord's good and truth are conjoined in man forming him into the Lord's image and likeness? It is the conjunction or the marriage of good and truth in man that makes him a true Church on earth as those in Heaven and so, both the Church and Heaven receive the Divine Good in truths, though in men on earth they become distorted because of a man's self love.
Divine Good cannot be received by man unless received in truths. Therefore, the intelligence and wisdom the angels have are from this marriage of good and truth, thus the understanding of the man of the Church comes from the good that is conjoined with the truth from the Lord. Good is loved by truth and truth is loved by good. If this state is not within man, if man does not love and long for good and truth there is no Heavenly marriage in him and the Church is not yet in him. Good and truth conjoined constitute the Church and Heaven within man. Evil and falsity conjoined is an infernal marriage and hell then is within man.
To be sure, good, whether spiritual or natural, are not conjoined with what is false, but with truth. In truth, all truths are forms of good. These two general goods - natural and spiritual - are conjoined in genuine moral good in man. It is said 'genuine' for a man can seem to be moral and do what is good only because he wants others to look upon him as a 'good' person, but this is from a love of himself, not from a love of what is good or a love to the Lord and is thus not genuine.
In talking about Divine order it was said that good and truth are according to Divine order. Thus, when what is seemingly done as good instead of being good is evil and likewise as what is false is not of any truth. And, these evils and falsities are in fact contrary to good and truth. The end is that instead of intelligence and wisdom or even understanding in the natural man there come folly and stupidity, for there is, then, the marriage of evil and falsity in man and in the spiritual world instead of being in Heaven he is in hell. Such conjunction of evils and falsities are called the Infernal Marriage as was said.
There is no conjunction of good and evil or of truth and falsity. If evil enters man, then the good that was in him becomes evil. There are falsities that are conjoined with evil and falsities not conjoined with evil. By adjoining good with the falsity of evil what was good becomes no longer good, but is evil having been adulterated. And, should truth be conjoined with evil it is no longer truth, but is false, having been falsified.
When a man believes his own evil to be good and his falsity from it to be true he has confirmed to himself that he lives a good life, but actually he lives an evil life nor does he know what good and truth are, thinking his evil is good and the falsities there from are truths. However, if one is in good and in truths from this good, he knows what evil and falsities are. What is shown and must be accepted is that good done by one's self or for self is not good, but that good, which is from Heaven that comes from the Lord, is good and has with it truths. Thus, truths that come not from good, but from the love of one's self, do not have in them any good. Let an example be shown. If someone tells something what is false, believing it is the truth to another, then evil is not in him, though he is in ignorance, because all good with is truth is in its essence Heavenly and what is not in its essence Heavenly is from a Heavenly origin. However, if someone tells something that is false, knowing it is false, then evil is within him and the falsity has a hellish essence.
All truth is from good and all good through truths. All falsity is from evil and all evil is through falsities. Because mankind lives in the natural world and no longer can understand God's Word spiritually, but only naturally, and his natural understanding has been distorted because of his love of self, he comes into falsities, believes them to be true. He then confirms them. Still, there are many kinds of falsities as there are evils. And, as was said there are falsities from evils and falsities not from evil. We have shown that there is a falsity in which there is good and a falsity in which there is no good.
Herein, we see that falsity, unless it is of evil, will not end in hell. On the other hand, when speaking of evil, it sinks into hell while good rises into Heaven. Good when it turns into evil, as when it is adjoined to evil, lapses into hell as does truth that is turned into falsities which is when it is confirmed as the truth.
The problem is that a man may know truths, but still be in evils and, so, good does not flow into him. Good and truths are removed from him as being evil and, so, the falsities from evils in him continue within him. Basically, there are two types of falsities, those from evil and those not from evil. Example: the falsities of religion that agree with good and those that disagree with good. The falsities of religion are not imputed or attributed to those who are in good, but they are in the person who is not in any good. What is to be understood, here, is that falsities of the understanding cannot be planted in the will and, so, the person may be associated with genuine truth because he is in good. One can see this in that even though they are false, because the person is in good, they are drawn towards good and, so evil is removed 'as it were' from him. In other words, the closer one comes to the Lord, thus to good, the falsities of religion, or what he believes is the truth in the Word, are removed and his good is accepted by the Lord. For, the man may be in ignorance from what he has been taught and in innocence when such falsities were taught as the truth and, thus be in good.
Many times a person may be in truths, and not in goods. In this, there is a division between good and truth in man. We have shown that Good and Truth proceeds from the Lord God together as one. Therefore, if a man has the truth and is not in good, then the truths are not true and have no life and he would not be like a man with the Lord in his heart and is as a body without a soul. What is only in the understanding and not in the will is only in the memory and what is in the memory and not at the same time in the will, has no life in it and the man only believes them to be truths. If a person is acquainted with truth, because he acknowledges truths having come from his love of self and the world, then they are not his and are not appropriated to be his own. In such truths a man is not saved and he is not of the Church, thus he is not regenerated. We have taught that in the light of the spiritual Sun there is not just light or intelligence and wisdom alone to angels, but heat in which there is affection and love, thus there is good as well as truth. Thus, the Lord speaks of being in darkness when one has no truth. In fact, the truths turn into falsities in man will also have no charity. It is Divine truth that condemns to hell, while Divine good rises to Heaven. Thus, it is that when the Lord comes to earth and when He came to the spiritual world that He judges and that His Word judges and that truth alone will not save, but truth coming from good saves, for it is then that the Lord comes into a man's will.
Other times a person may be in truths and look towards and aspire to good. A man who does this comes into good. The premise on which this stands is: What a man loves or wills is good, he thinks and confirms. For in this way the truth he has becomes a matter of love or of his will and it becomes his very life. Only an acquaintance of truth when it is loved and willed, and, in fact, done, does it become his life and the person is in good. Example: Take the truths of the Word, the religious scientifics; they lead to life as all Christians should know. However, as we just showed, they must be loved or willed for the sake of truth and good. In other words, this truth must have within or be conjoined with good and when this is so, then, there is the celestial of love in which life flows. It is obvious that the Lord's celestial love flows in to the angels and that they are in conjunction with the Lord. It is also obvious that unless a man is regenerated and saved that there is not this conjunction and the Lord's celestial love does not flow in. The angels are in a form, that is, an image and likeness of the Lord. This, the Third Testament calls the 'Grand Man' of Heaven. Men are to be made into the image of and the likeness of the Lord, for they are born into the natural and are separated from the spiritual and celestial life of the Lord because of their hereditary nature. We are to see from this: that unless the Lord came into the world putting on the natural of man - the man's external - He was unable to govern man as He governs the universal Heaven. In His coming the Lord reduced the truths and goods in His external man into order. And, so, He, by living in charity, for in charity flow the truths of faith and have life, has opened up to mankind a connection between Heaven and earth, between angels and men on earth
The truths a man has come by way of his external, by hearing and sight. Goods flow in man by an internal way, through the soul from the Lord. Thus, when a person wills and does good because or for the sake of truth and good, they enter him and are conjoined with the truth that he has interiorly, which is the rational of man, however, they are conjoined by the Lord and not by one's self. Thus, it is that a man's natural truths become spiritual truths and can then flow into the man's natural bringing good or charity from the Lord. Thus, it is that man is regenerated by his truth of faith and good of charity.
Lastly, a man may be in and have truth from good. Whereas, the man just spoken of was in truths that lead to good, we now speak of the truths that proceed from good. Basically, truth has its essence or life from good and its form is truth. Here is the premise: Truth is truth when it derives its essence from the good of charity and innocence. Innocence and charity are the grounds in which the seeds of truth may take root and come forth in man. These are the source of truth that is conjoined to good that is wedded and is the Heavenly marriage of good and truth in man.
End.
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