105 Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. -Psalm 119:105 King James Version
Apocalypse Revealed, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1766], tr. by John Whitehead [1912], at sacred-texts.com
...those who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and in a life according to it. With these the Word shines as it were when it is read; it shines from the Lord by means of the spiritual sense, because the Lord is the Word, and the spiritual sense is in the light of heaven which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and the light which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, is in its essence the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom. That in every particular of the Word there is a spiritual sense, in which the angels are, and from which their wisdom is derived...
Divine Wisdom, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1762-3], tr. by John Whitehead [1914], at sacred-texts.com
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...[10] 2. ...All truth is in light because the light that proceeds from the Lord as a sun [in heaven] is truth itself; and for this reason all truth in heaven shines, and the Word, which is the Divine truth, gives to the angels in heaven their common light, therefore also the Lord is called "the Word" and "the Light" (John 1:1-3). It has been granted me to know by much experience that the human understanding can be elevated into that light... [Those] that have a love of truth are actually in the light of heaven, and for that reason have enlightenment and perception of truth when they read the Word; while others have no enlightenment and perception of truth... [11] 3. The truths of faith look on one hand to the Lord, on the other to the neighbor. All truths look to these three things as their universal objects, above them the Lord and heaven, near them the world and the neighbor, and beneath them the devil and hell; and truths will teach man how he can be separated from the devil and hell, and can be conjoined to the Lord and heaven, and this by means of his life in the world in which he is, and his life with the neighbor with whom he is; by means of these all separation and all conjunction is effected. That man may be separated from the devil and hell and be conjoined to the Lord and heaven, he must know what evils are and what falsities from them are, because these are the devil and hell; and he must know what goods are and what truths from them are, because these are the Lord and heaven. Evils and falsities are the devil and hell because they are therefrom, and goods and truths are the Lord and heaven because they are therefrom. Unless a man knows goods and truths and evils and falsities he sees no way of egress [the action of going out of or leaving a place] from hell, and no way of entrance into heaven; these are what truths must teach, and the truths that teach have been given to man in the Word and from the Word; and as the way to heaven or to hell is from the world, and as man's life is in the world and with the neighbor there, therefore that life is the way that truths teach. For this reason if a man's life is according to the truths of the Word, the way to hell and from hell is closed, and the way to the Lord and from the Lord is opened, and the man's life becomes the life of the Lord with him. This is what is meant by the Lord's words in John: I am the way, the truth, and the life (14:6). On the other hand, if a man's life is contrary to the truths of the Word, the way from heaven and to heaven is closed, and the way to hell and from hell is opened, and the man's life becomes not life but death. It has been said above respecting charity that the Lord's life with man is a life of charity towards the neighbor, and that conjunction is in the love of uses; and as truths teach that life, it is evident that they look on the one hand to the Lord, and on the other to the neighbor. [12] 4. Truths teach how the Lord is to be approached, and how afterwards the Lord performs uses through man... [[3]] (3). The... Lord conjoins Himself with man in the love of uses, or in charity towards the neighbor. The spiritual is from conjunction with the Lord... The spiritual must be in man that he may be saved; and this is from the Lord, not... outside of man but within him; it cannot be in man's knowledge alone or from that in his thought and speech, it must be in his life, and his life is willing and doing... If it be asked, "How can I will and do?" the answer is, Fight against evils, which are from hell, and you will both will and do, not from yourself but from the Lord, for when evils are put away the Lord does all things. [[4]] (4). If these are separated there is no conjunction with the Lord. This can be seen from reason and from experience. From reason: If a man had such a memory and such an understanding as to be able to know and perceive all the truths of heaven and of the church, but was unwilling to do any of them, is it not said of him that he is an intelligent man but an evil man, yea all the more he should be punished? From this it follows that he who separates the spiritual from the moral and the civil is not a spiritual man... From, experience: There are such persons in the world, and I have talked with them after death, and have learned that they knew all things of the Word and many truths therefrom, and believed that on this account they would shine as stars in heaven; but when their life was examined it was found to be merely corporeal and worldly, and from the evils and propensities they had thought and purposed in themselves they were merely infernal [or hellish.] For this reason all the things they had known from the Word were taken away from them, and they became each his own will, and were cast into hell to their like, where they talked insanely according to their thoughts in the world, and acted basely according to their loves in the world. [14] 6. Faith is to know and think these truths; and charity is to will and do them...
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