Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/62

 from both the others, and more grievous than either: it is that which is committed by one who believes Divine truth and acknowledges it, and yet lives an evil life in opposition to it. Says the Doctrine of the New Church, "By taking God's name in vain, is properly signified to turn truth into evil, that is, to believe that it is truth, and yet to live in evil; and also it is to turn good into the false, that is, to live a holy life, and yet not to believe: each is profanation. For to believe is of the understanding, and to live is of the will; wherefore with those who believe otherwise than as they live, the thought and will are divided. But whereas the will continually flows into the understanding, hence it is that where there is a diversity between a man's belief and his life, in this case truth and evil, or good and the false, are conjoined, thus the things which are of heaven with man are conjoined with those which are of hell. This conjunction cannot be loosened except by a distraction which carries along with it all spiritual life; wherefore such subjects are let into a hell the most grievous of all, where they are direfully tormented. This is what is meant by the Lord's words in Matthew, 'Every sin and blasphemy shall be remitted unto man, but the blasphemy of the Spirit shall not be remitted to him; if any one shall say a word against the Son of man, it shall be remitted to him; but he who shall speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be remitted to him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.' The same is signified by these words in Luke: 'When the unclean spirit is gone out from a man, he wanders through dry places,