example, affection and thought, charity and faith, will and understanding, are not mere abstractions, for the case with these is the same as with love and wisdom: they do not exist out of their subjects, which are substances, but they are states of subjects or substances. That there are changes of these, which produce variations, will be seen in what follows. By substance is also understood form; for there is no substance without a form. 210. Because the will and understanding, affection and thought, and charity and faith, may be thought of, and have been thought of, abstractedly from the substances which are their subjects, therefore the just idea of them has perished, which is, that they are states of substances or forms, altogether like sensations and actions, which also are not things abstracted from the organs of sensation and motion: abstracted or separated from these they are nothing but mental figments, like sight without an eye, hearing without an ear, taste without a tongue, &c. 211. Since all things civil, moral, and spiritual, proceed by degrees, like natural things, not only by continuous degrees, but also by discrete degrees; and since the progressions of discrete degrees are as the progressions of ends to causes, and of causes to effects, I chose to illustrate and confirm the present subject, (that the ultimate degree is the complex, continent, and basis of the prior degrees,) by the above mentioned things, which relate to love and wisdom, to the will and understanding, to affection and thought, and to charity and faith. 212. That the ultimate degree is the complex, continent, and basis of the prior degrees, appears manifestly from the progression of ends and causes to effects. That the effect is the complex, continent, and basis of the causes and ends, may be comprehended by enlightened reason; but not so clearly that the end, with every thing belonging to it, and the cause with every thing belonging to it, actually exist in the effect, and that the effect is their full complex. That the case is so, may appear from what has been premised in this Part, particularly from the following considerations, that one is from the other in a triplicate series, and that the effect is nothing but the cause in its ultimate; and as the ultimate is the complex, it follows that the ultimate is the continent and the basis. 213. As regards love and wisdom, love is the end, wisdom is the instrumental cause, and use is the effect; and use is the complex, continent, and basis of wisdom and love; and use is such a complex and continent, that it actually contains the whole of love and the whole of wisdom, being the simultaneous of them. But it is to be observed, that all things of love and wisdom, which are homogeneous and concordant, exist in use, according to what was said and shown above, in article n. 189 to 194. 214. Affection, thought, and action, are in a series of similar degrees, because all affection refers to love, thought to wisdom, and action to use. Charity, faith, and good works, are in a series of similar degrees; for charity is of affection, faith is of thought, and good works are of action. The will, understanding, and exercise, are in a series of similar degrees; for the will is of love and thence of affection, the understanding is of wisdom and thence of faith, and exercise is of use and thence of work. Therefore as the whole of wisdom and love exists in use, so the whole of thought and affection exists in action, the whole of faith and charity in good works, and so on; but they must be all homogeneous, that is, concordant. 215. That the ultimate of each series, which is use, action, work, and exercise, is the complex and continent of all the prior principles, is not yet known: it appears as if there was nothing more in use, action, work, and exercise, than there is in motion; but nevertheless all the prior principles are actually in them, and so fully that there is nothing wanting; they are included in them like wine in a vessel, and like utensils in a house. They do not appear, because they are only viewed externally, and in this view they are only activities and motions. It is as when the arms and hands move themselves, and it is not known that a thousand moving fibres concur in each motion, and that to these thousand moving fibres a thousand things of the thought and affection correspond, which excite the moving fibres, but which, because they act interiorly, do not appear to any of the bodily senses. It is well known, that nothing is done in the body, or by it, but from the will by the thought; and as both these act, therefore all and every thing of the will and thought must necessarily exist in action; for they cannot be separated: hence it is that from actions, or works, judgment is formed of the thought of a man's will, or of his intention. It has been made manifest to me, that the angels, from a man's action or work alone, perceive and see every thing of the will and thought of the doer; the angels of the third heaven perceive and see from his will the end for which he acts, and the angels of the second heaven, the cause by which the end operates. Hence it is that, in the Word, works and actions are so often enjoined, and that it is said that a man is known by them. 216. It is a tenet of angelic wisdom, that unless the will and the understanding, or affection and thought, as also charity and faith, invest and involve themselves in works or actions whenever it is possible, they are only like aerial things which pass away, or like phantoms (imagines) in the air, which perish; and that they only remain with man, and become principles of his life, when he operates and does them; because the ultimate is the complex, continent, and basis of prior things. Such an aerial vapour and phantom is faith separate from good works, and such also are faith and charity without their exercises; only, that those who establish faith and charity as principles necessary to be conjoined, have the knowledge and may have the will to do good, but not those who are in faith separate from charity. 217. THAT THE DEGREES OF ALTITUDE IN THEIR ULTIMATE ARE IN THEIR FULNESS AND THEIR POWER. It was shown in the preceding article, that the ultimate degree is the complex and continent of the prior degrees: hence it follows, that the prior degrees are in their fulness in their ultimate; for they are in their effect, and every effect is the fulness of its causes. 218. That the ascending and descending degrees, which are called prior and posterior, and degrees of altitude or discrete degrees, are in their power in their ultimate, may be confirmed by all those things which were adduced, by way of confirmation, from sensible and perceptible things in the preceding pages; but here I choose to confirm them only by efforts, powers, and motions, in dead subjects and in living subjects. It is well known that endeavor of itself does nothing, but that it acts by powers corresponding to it, and by them produces motion; hence that endeavor is the all in the powers, and through the powers in the motion; and motion being the ultimate degree of endeavor, that by this it produces its efficacy. Endeavor, power, and motion, are no otherwise connected than according to degrees of altitude, conjunction by which is not by continuity, for they are discrete, but by correspondences; for endeavor is not power, nor power, motion; but power is produced by endeavor, being endeavor excited, and motion is produced by power; wherefore there is no potency in endeavor alone, or in power alone, but in motion, which is their product. That this is the case, still appears doubtful, because it has not been illustrated by application to things sensible and perceptible in nature; but nevertheless such is their progression into potency. 219. Let us apply these principles to living endeavor, living power, and living motion. The living endeavor in a man, who is a living subject, is his will united to his understanding; the living powers in him are what constitute the interiors of his body, in all of which there are moving fibres variously interwoven, and living motion in him is action, which is produced through those powers by the will united to the understanding. The interiors of the will and understanding constitute the first degree, the interiors of the body constitute the second, and the whole body, which is their complex, constitutes the third degree. That the interiors of the mind have no potency but by powers in the body, and that powers have no potency but by action of the body, is a well known fact. These three do not act by continuity, but discretely; and to act discretely is to act by correspondences. The interiors of the mind correspond to the interiors of the body, and the interiors of the body to its exteriors, by which actions exist; wherefore the two former are in potency by means of the exteriors of the body. It may seem as if endeavor and powers in a man are in some potency although there is no action, as in dreams and states of rest; but in these cases the determination of endeavors and powers fall on the common moving principles of the body, which are the heart and lungs; but when the action of these ceases, the powers also cease, and the endeavor with the powers. 220. Since the whole, or the body, has determined its powers principally to the arms and the hands, which are ultimates, therefore arms and hands, in the Word, signify power, and the right hand, superior power. Since the evolution and exertion of degrees into power is such, therefore the angels who are with a man, and who are in the correspondence of all things belonging to him, know from action alone, which is effected by the hands, the state of the man as to his understanding and will; likewise as to charity and faith; and consequently as to the internal life of his mind, and as to the external life which is thence in the body. I have often wondered that the angels have such knowledge from the mere action of the body by the hands, but nevertheless it has occasionally been made manifest by lively experience, and it has been told me that this is the reason why inauguration into the ministry is performed by the imposition of hands, and why touching with the hand signifies communicating, besides other things of a similar nature. Hence it may be concluded, that the whole of charity and faith is in works; and that charity and faith without works are like rainbows about the sun, which vanish and are dissipated by a cloud; wherefore works are so often mentioned in the Word, and it is said that we are to do them, and that our salvation depends on them: moreover he who does them is called a wise man, and he who does not is called a foolish man. But it is to be observed, that by works here are meant uses, which are actually performed; for in and according to them is the whole of charity and faith: there is this correspondence with uses, because this correspondence is spiritual, but it is effected by substances and matters, which are its subjects. 221. Here two arcana, which may be comprehended by what has been said above, may be revealed. The FIRST ARCANUM is, that the Word in its literal sense is in its fulness and power: : for there are three senses according to the three degrees in the Word, a celestial sense, a spiritual sense, and a natural sense. Since these senses are according to the three degrees of altitude in the Word, and conjunction between them is effected by correspondences, therefore the ultimate, natural, or, as it is called, the literal sense, is not only the complex, continent, and basis of the interior corresponding senses, but the Word in its ultimate sense is also in its fulness and in its power. That this is the case, is abundantly shown and confirmed in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE, n. 27 to 36, 37 to 49, 50 to 61, 62 to 69. The SECOND ARCANUM is, that the Lord came into the world, and assumed the Human, that he might put Himself in power to subjugate the hells, and to reduce all things to order both in the heavens and on earth. This Human He superinduced over His former Human. The Human that He superinduced in the world was like the human of a man in the world; nevertheless both were divine, and therefore infinitely transcending the finite human of angels and men: and as He fully glorified His natural Human even to its ultimates, therefore He rose again with His whole body, different from any man. By the assumption of this Human He invested Himself with divine omnipotence, not only to subjugate the hells, and to reduce the heavens to order, but also to hold the hells in a state of subjugation to eternity, and to save mankind. This power is meant by His sitting at the right hand of the power and might of God. Since the Lord, by the assumption of the natural Human, made himself divine truth in ultimates, therefore He is called the Word, and it is said that the Word was made flesh. Divine truth in ultimates is the Word in the literal sense; this He made Himself by fulfilling all things of the Word concerning Himself in Moses and the prophets. Every man is his own good and his own truth, and a man is a man from no other ground; but the Lord, by the assumption of the natural Human, is divine good, and divine truth itself; or, what is the same, He is divine love and divine wisdom itself, both in first principles and in ultimates: hence, in the angelic heavens He appears as a sun, after His coming into the world with more powerful rays and in greater splendor than before his coming. This is an arcanum which may be comprehended by the doctrine of degrees. His omnipotence before his coming into the world, will be spoken of in what follows. 222. THAT THERE ARE DEGREES OF BOTH KINDS IN THE GREATEST AND LEAST OF ALL CREATED THINGS. That the greatest and least of all things consist of discrete and continuous degrees, or of degrees of altitude and latitude, cannot be illustrated by examples from visible things; because the least things are not visible to the eye, and the greatest things which are visible, are not apparently distinguished into degrees; wherefore this matter cannot be demonstrated but by universals; and as the angels are in wisdom from universals, and thence in science respecting particulars, we may declare what they affirm on this subject. 223. The angels affirm, that there is nothing so minute, but there are degrees in it of both kinds: for example, that there is not the least thing in any animal, vegetable, or mineral, or in æther and air, in which there are not these degrees; and as æther and air are receptacles of heat and light, that there is not the least of heat and light; and as spiritual heat and light are receptacles of love and wisdom, that there is not the least of these, in which there are not degrees of both kinds. They also affirm, that the least of affection and the least of thought. yea, that the least of an idea of thought, consists of degrees of both kinds, and that a least not consisting of such degrees, is nothing; for it has not a form, and therefore not a quality or not |