TEN LAWS OF THE DIVINE PROVIDENCE

Selections from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

[Interspersed Series Between Numbers 1135 - 1194 From The Apocalypse Explained]

Lesson 1
 

Since the Divine Omnipotence is such that a man cannot of himself think and will, and thence speak and act, but from the life which is God, the question arises, Why, then, is not every man saved? But he who concludes from this that every one is saved, and if not, that he is not in fault, is ignorant of the laws of Divine Order respecting man's reformation, regeneration, and consequent salvation. The laws of that order are called laws of the Divine Providence, and of these the natural mind can have no knowledge unless it is enlightened. And because man has no knowledge of them, and, therefore, forms conclusions concerning the Divine Providence from events in the world, and falls by means of these into fallacies, and thence into errors, from which he afterwards extricates himself with difficulty, therefore it is expedient that these laws should be made known. 

But before we proceed to state them it is important that it should be understood that the Divine Providence, in every particular pertaining to man, even in the most minute, operates for his eternal salvation, the salvation of man being the end of the creation of both heaven and earth. For the end was, that out of the human race heaven might be formed, in which God might dwell, as in His own abode; the salvation, therefore, of man is the all in all of the Divine Providence. But the Divine Providence proceeds so secretly, that man scarcely sees a vestige of it, and yet it is operative in the most minute particulars relating to him, from infancy to old age in the world, and afterwards to eternity; and it is eternity which is regarded in every least thing.

Because Divine Wisdom in itself is nothing but an end, therefore Providence acts from an end, in an end, and with reference to an end, the end being that man may become wisdom and love, and thus a habitation and image of the Divine Life. But, because the natural mind, unless it is enlightened, cannot comprehend why the Divine Providence, while alone operative in the work of salvation, and in the most minute particulars relating to the progress of man's life, does not lead all to heaven, although from love it is willing to lead them, and is omnipotent, therefore, in what now follows, the laws of order which are laws of the Divine Providence shall be disclosed; by their means, the mind, previously unenlightened, may be withdrawn, I hope, from fallacies, if it is willing to be withdrawn.

The laws of order, called the laws of Divine Providence, are the following:

            1. Man should have no other sensation, perception, or knowledge than that life is in himself in such a way that he thinks and wills, and consequently speaks and acts from himself; but nevertheless, he should acknowledge and believe that the truths which he thinks and speaks, and the goods which he wills and does, are from God, and thus as it were from himself.

            2. Man should act in whatever he does from freedom according to reason, but should nevertheless acknowledge and believe that the very freedom which he has is from God; the same is the case with reason, regarded in itself-which is called rationality.

            3. To think and speak truth, and to will and to do good, from freedom according to reason, are not from man himself, but from God; and to think and speak falsity, and to will and do evil, from freedom, are not from man himself, but from hell, yet in such a way that falsity and evil are from thence; but freedom itself, regarded in itself, and the very faculty of thinking, willing, speaking, and doing, regarded in themselves, are from God.

            4. The understanding and will of man ought not to be in the least compelled by another, since all compulsion by another takes away freedom, but man ought to compel himself; for to compel oneself is to act from freedom.

            5. Man does not know, from feeling and perception in himself, how good and truth enter by influx from God, and how evil and falsity enter by influx from hell; nor see how the Divine Providence operates in favour of good against evil; for in such case man would not act from freedom according to reason as if from himself. It is sufficient for him to know and acknowledge these things from the Word and from the doctrine of the Church.

            6. Man must not be reformed by external, but by internal, means; by external means are meant miracles and visions, fears and punishments; by internal means are meant truths and goods from the Word, and from the doctrine of the Church, and also looking to the Lord. For these means enter by an internal way, and remove the evils and falsities which reside within; but external means enter by an external way, and do not remove evils and falsities, but shut them in. But nevertheless, he is further reformed by external means, provided he has been previously reformed by internal means; but a man who is not reformed is only withheld by external means-which are fears and punishments-from speaking and doing the evils and falsities which he thinks and wills.

            7. Man is admitted into the truths of faith and the goods of love by God, only so far as he can be kept in them to the end of life; for it is better that he should be constantly evil, than that he should be good and afterwards evil, since he thus becomes profane. The permission of evil is chiefly from this ground.

            8. God is continually withdrawing man from evils, so far as man, from freedom, is willing to be withdrawn. So far as man can be withdrawn from evils, so far God leads him to good, thus to heaven; but so far as he cannot be withdrawn from evils, so far God cannot lead him to good, thus to heaven. For so far as he is withdrawn from evils, so far he does good from God, which in itself is good; but so far as he is not withdrawn from evils, so far he does good from himself, and this has evil in itself.

            9. God does not, without the use of means, teach man truths, either from Himself or by angels, but He teaches by means of the Word; by means of preaching, reading, and conversation and intercourse with others, and thus from thought with himself about those things; and man is then enlightened according to his affection for truth grounded in use; otherwise he would not act as if from himself.

            10. When eminence and opulence lead astray, it is man who from his own prudence has led himself to them; for he is led of the Divine Providence to such things as do not lead astray, and that are serviceable with regard to eternal life; for all the operations of the Divine Providence with man look to what is eternal, because the life which is God, and from which man is man, is eternal.