Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/216

120 There are also some things that appear like contradictions; and yet there is no contradiction in the Word viewed in its own light. (S. S. n. 51.)

Enlightenment is from the Lord alone, and is with thosewho love truths because they are truths, and apply them to the uses of life; with others there is no enlightenment in the Word. That enlightenment is from the Lord alone is because the Word is from Him, and therefore He is in it; that it is with those who love truths because they are truths and apply them to the uses of life, is because they are in the Lord and the Lord is in them. For the Lord is the Truth itself; and the Lord is loved when man lives according to His Divine truths; thus when. uses are performed from them,— according to these words in John: "In that day ye shall know that . . . ye are in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; . . . and I will love Him, and will manifest Myself to him; . . . and I will come unto him, and make an abode with him;" (xiv. 20, 21, 23). These are they who are in enlightenment when they read the Word, and to whom the Word is bright and translucent. The reason why the Word to them is bright and translucent is that in the least parts of the Word there is a spiritual and a celestial sense, and these senses are in the light of heaven; and therefore through these senses and their light the Lord flows in into the natural sense of the Word, and into the light of this with man. Hence, from an interior perception, man acknowledges the truth, and then sees it in his thought; and this as often as he is in the affection of truth for the sake of truth. For perception comes from affection, and thought from perception; and thus the acknowledgment is produced which is called faith. (T. C. R. n. 231.)

Since few know how it is with the influx of Divine truth, and enlightenment thence with man, it is permitted here to say something on these subjects. It is known in the church that every good of love and truth of faith is not from man, but is with him out of heaven, from the Divine there; and that they are in enlightenment who receive this. But the influx and enlightenment are effected in this manner: Man is such that as to his interiors, which are of the thought and will, he can look downwards and can look upwards. To look downwards is to look outwards, into the world and to himself; and to look upwards is to