Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 1.djvu/187

 natural heat of spring and summer merely disposes the seeds into their natural forms, by expanding and opening them so that influx from the spiritual world may act as the cause of their germination.

These things are adduced that it may be known that there are two kinds of heat, namely, spiritual and natural; and that spiritual heat is from the sun of heaven, and natural heat from the sun of the world; and that the influx of the former into the latter, and the subsequent co-operation of both, present the effects which appear before the eyes of men in the world.

Spiritual heat with man is the heat of his life, because, as was said above, in its essence it is love. This heat is what is meant by fire in the Word; love to the Lord and neighborly love being meant by heavenly fire, and self-love and the love of the world, by infernal fire.

Infernal fire or love exists from the same origin as heavenly fire or love, namely, from the sun of heaven, or the Lord; but it is made infernal by those who receive it. For all influx from the spiritual world varies according to its reception, or according to the forms into which it flows, just as the heat and light of the sun of the world are modified by their recipient subjects. The heat from this sun flowing into shrubberies and beds of flowers, produces vegetation, and likewise draws forth pleasant and delicious odors; but the same heat flowing into