Page:A Compendium of the Theological Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg.djvu/458



In the representative church among the posterity of Jacob there was first a kingdom of judges, afterwards a kingdom of priests, and finally a kingdom of kings; and by the kingdom of judges Divine truth from Divine good was represented; by the kingdom of priests, who were also judges, Divine good was represented from which Divine truth is derived; and by the kingdom of kings Divine truth was represented without Divine good. But when to the regal office something of the priesthood too was adjoined, by the kings was then represented also Divine truth in which there was so much of good as there was of the priesthood attached to the regal office. All these things in the Jewish church were instituted in order that the states of heaven might be represented by them; for in heaven there are two kingdoms, one which is called the celestial kingdom, and another which is called the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom is what is called the priesthood, and the spiritual kingdom is what is called the royalty of the Lord. In the latter Divine truth reigns, in the former Divine good. And because the representative of the celestial kingdom began to be destroyed when they sought a king, therefore, in order that the representative of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens might still be continued, the Jews were separated from the Israelites, and the celestial kingdom of the Lord was represented by the Jewish kingdom, and His spiritual kingdom by the Israelitish kingdom. Those who know these things may know the reasons why the forms of government among the descendants of Jacob were successively changed; why also when they asked a king it was said to them of Jehovah by Samuel, that by so doing they rejected Jehovah, that He should not reign over them (1 Sam. viii. 7); and that then the right of a king was declared to them (ver. 11 seq.), by which Divine truth without good is described. Those who know the things above mentioned may also know why something of the priesthood was granted to David; and also why after the time of Solomon the kingdom was divided into two, the Jewish and the Israelitish kingdoms. (A. C. n. 8770.)

The nature of their fantasies and lusts no one can know unless he has had some intercourse with them in the other life; and