Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/262

256 "The angels flow into the ends which a man regards, and so, through the ends, into the things which follow from them. This influx is tacit and imperceptible to men, but still operative in a hidden manner, and effective principally in turning from evil ends and insinuating good ones; . . . for the angels cannot be present in evil ends, that is, in the loves of self and the world, except remotely." (A. C. n. 5854.)

"Man regards as an end what belongs to his life or love. When the good of his neighbor, the general good, the good of the church and of the Lord's kingdom, is the end regarded, then man, as to his soul, is in the Lord's kingdom; for his kingdom is none other than a kingdom of ends and uses respecting the good of the human race. The angels attendant on man, have their abode solely in his ends of life. So far as a man has respect to an end of the same kind that influences the Lord's kingdom, the angels are delighted with him, and join themselves to him as a brother; but so far as he is influenced by selfish ends, the angels recede, and evil spirits from hell draw near—for only selfish ends rule in hell. Hence we may see the importance of searching and knowing the origin of our affections, which can only be known from the end at which we aim." (A. C. 3796.)