(TCR) - True Christian Religion: Containing the Whole Theology of the New Church Predicted by the Lord in Daniel 7:13-14 and Revelation 21:1-2

TCR 41

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41. (4) Love and Wisdom in God make one. Every wise man in the church knows that every good of love and charity is from God, also every truth of wisdom and faith; and human reason is able to see this when it knows that the origin of love and wisdom is the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which is Jehovah God, or what is the same thing, that they are from Jehovah God through the sun which is round about Him; for the heat that goes forth from that sun is in its essence love, and the light that goes forth from it is in its essence wisdom. It is therefore as plain as the open day that in that origin love and wisdom are one, consequently are one in God, from whom that sun has its origin. This may be illustrated by the sun of the natural world, which is pure fire, in that from its fire heat goes forth, and from the shining of its fire light goes forth; thus the two in their origin are one. [2] But that these are separated in their going forth becomes evident from their subjects, some of which receive more of heat and others more of light. This is especially true of men in whom the light of life which is intelligence and the heat of life which is love, are separated; and this is done because man needs to be reformed and regenerated, which is impossible unless he is taught by the light of life, which is intelligence, what ought to be willed and loved. It must be understood, however, that God is continually working to conjoin love and wisdom in man; while man, unless he looks to God and believes in him, is continually working to separate them; so far, therefore, as these two, the good of love or charity, and the truth of wisdom or faith, are conjoined in man, so far he becomes an image of God, and is raised up towards and into heaven where angels are; and on the other hand, so far as these two are separated by man he becomes an image of Lucifer and the dragon, and is cast down from heaven to earth, and finally below the earth into hell. From the conjunction of these two, man's state becomes like that of a tree in spring, when heat and light in equal measure are conjoined, whereby the tree buds, blooms, and bears fruit; but on the other hand, by the separation of these two, man's state becomes like that of a tree in winter, when the heat withdraws from the light, whereby the tree is stripped and made bare of all its foliage and verdure. [3] When spiritual heat, which is love, separates itself from spiritual light, which is wisdom, or, what is the same thing, when charity separates itself from faith, man becomes like sour or rotting soil in which worms are bred; and if it brings forth plants their leaves become covered with lice, and are eaten up. For the allurements of the love of evil, which in themselves are lusts, break forth, not being subdued and restrained by intelligence, but loved, fostered, and nourished by it. In a word, to separate love and wisdom, or charity and faith, which two things God constantly strives to bring together, is like depriving the face of its ruddiness, which leaves a death-like pallor, or like taking away the whiteness from the ruddiness, which makes the face like a burning torch. It is also like dissolving the marriage bond between two persons, making the wife a harlot and the husband an adulterer. For love or charity is like a husband, and wisdom or faith is like a wife: and when the two are separated, spiritual idolatry and whoredom follow, which are the falsification of truth and the adulteration of good.

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