BRJIJEJF RJEA\DJINGS

War anJ Peace

No. 12 in a series of extracts from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

THE contents of this Brief R eading are taken from "True Christian Religion," (1771), "Arcana Coelestia," (1749-1756), "Charity," (posth.), "Divine Pro,vidence," ( 1763), "Heaven and Hell," ( 1758), "Apocalypse Explained," (posth.). The initials and numerals a,t the end of each paragraph indicate the book, and section, from which the extract is taken. '

The compiler acknowledges indebtedness to Rev. Eric A. Sutton's Peace and W~r, published by the Swedenborg Society, London, England. ,

The above named works: by Emanuel Swedenborg, as well as his other theo­logical writings, are offered in an Intro­ductory Edition at 5c. per volume ( 600 pages) , postpaid, in t he following titles :

"Heaven and Hell," "Divine Providence,"

"Divine Love and Wisdom,"

"Four 1Doctrines."

Arcana Coelestia, Vol. 1 (Heavenly Secrets)

Additional copies of this Booklet, and Catalogue may be secured free of

charge from the publishers.

SWEDENBORG FOUNDATION, INC.

51 East Forty-Second St. New York 17, N. Y.

1949

War anJ P eace

THE MAINTENANCE OF THE

COMMON GOOD

'11T"HE Common Good consists in thes;e ~ things: That in the society or kingdom,

1. there be what is Divine among them;

2. that there be justice among them';

3. that there be morality among them;

4. that there be industry, knowledge, and uprightness among them;

5. that there be the necessaries of life;

6. that there be the necessaries; for occupa­

tions; 7. that there be the necessaries for pro­

tectilon;* 8. that there be a sufficiency of wealth, be­

cause from this are those three necessaries. c. 130

Ministries, Functions, Offices, and various Occupations are the Goods of Use which in­dividuals perform, from which the General Good exists.

By ministries are meant priestly offices and their duties. By functions are meant various offices which are of a civi1 nature.

By occupations are meant employments such

*These words are italicised by the compiler as the suc­ceading passages relate to this idea of protection.

[3]

as those of artificers, which are numerous. By offices are meant various pursuits, busi­nesses, and services. From these foui:;, the commonwealth or society exists. Those who are in ministries provide that what is Di­vine shall be there; the various civil func­tionaries, that justice shall be there, and also morality, as well as industry, knowledge, and uprightness; the various workmen [provide] that there shall be the necessaries of life; and merchants, that there shall be the necessaries for occupations; soldiers, that there shall be protection; and these last especially, and al­so farmers, that there shall be a sufficiency of wealth. Everyone may know that the general good is according to these goods­the industries and pursuits~of every kind. -c. 134-136

One's own country is the neighbor accord­ing to its spiritual, moral, and civil good. In the idea of all, one's own country is as one, wherefore all the laws, both of justice and of economy, are framed as for one. One's country, therefore, is like a man in the concrete. It is, indeed, called a body, in which the king is highest. Its good, which must be consulted, is called the public good and the common good, and it is said of the king that [his subjects] are in the body of his government.-c. 84 '

COUNTRY AND NEIGHBOR

Ones country is the neighbor more than a society because it c.onsists of many societies. Hence the love towards it is of a more ex­tensive and higher kind, and to love one's

[4]

country is to love the public welfare. A man's country is the neighbor because

it is like a parent ; for there he was born; it has nourished and still nourishes' him; it has protected and still protects him from injury. Men are bound fr.om love to do good to their country according to its needs, some· of which are natural while

1 others are spiritual ..

Natural needs regard civil life and order; spiritual needs regard spiritual life and nr­der.

That every man is bound to love his coun­try, not as he loves himself, but more than himself, is a law inscribed on the human heart. Hence is the universal saying, to which every upright man subscribes, that if ruin threatens one's country from an enemy or any other source, it is noble to die for it and it is glorious for a solidier to shed his blood in her defence. This is a common say­ing, because to such an extent ought one's country to be loved.-T. 414

We will now say what is meant by lo·ving the neighbor: It is not only to will and do good to a relative, a friend, and a good man, but also to a stranger, an enemy, and a bad man. Charity, however, is exercised in a di~erent way towards the former from what it is towards the latter. Towards a relative and a friend it is shown in the form of direct benefits, but towards an enemy and a wicked pers.on, by indirect benefits, as by exhorta­tion, discipline, and punishment, and thus by correction.

This can be illustrated as follows: A judge, who, according to law and jus-

[5]

tice, punishes an evil-doer, loves the neighbor; for so he subjects him to discipline and consults the welfare of the citizens, by se­curing them against harm from him in the

· future. Everyone knows that a father shows his

love towards his children by correcting them when they do wrong. If, on the other hand, he does ncSt correct them, he loves their faults; and such love cannot be called charity.

So . again, if anyone resists an insolent enemy and in self-defence either beats him or delivers him to the judge so as to prevent injury to himself, yet with a disposition to befriend the man, in this case he acts from charity.

Wars, which have for their end the de­fence of one's country and the ohurch, are not inconsistent with charity. The end for which they are undertaken will show whether they are attended with charity or not.- T. 407

It is to be noted that t hose who love their country and render it go.od services from goodwill, after death love the Lord's King­dom for that is their country there, and those who love His Kingdom love the Lord, be­cause t h e Lord is the all-in-all of His King­dom.- T. 414

It is allowable for anyone to defend his country, and his fellow citizens, against in­vading enemies, even (under) wicked com­manders, but it is not allowable to become an . enemy without ca:use. (Further) a cause that looks to glory alone is in itself diaboli­cal, for it is of the love of self.- P. 252

[6]

THID REASON GOD PERMIT'S WAR

It is not from the Divine Providenee that wars exist, because they are united with mur­ders, depredations, acts of violence, cruelties, and other enormous evils', which are di­ametrically opposed to Christian charity. Still, they cannot but be permitted, because the life's love of man since the time of the most ancient people, meant by Adam and his wife, has become such as to desire to rule over others, and at length over all, and to possess the wealth of the world, and at length all wealth.

These two loves1 cannot be kept bound, be­cause it is according to the Divine Providence for everyone to be allowed to act from free­dom according to reason; and without per­missions man cannot be led from evil by the Lord, and thus he cannot be reformed and saved. Unless evils were permitted to break out, man would not see them, thus he would not acknowledge them, and thus he could not be led to resist them.

Hence it is that evils cannot be repressed by any Proviednce; or so they would remain shut in, and like the diseases called cancer and gangrene, they would spread and con­sume all that is vital in man.

CAUSE AND EFFECT

It is from this cause that there ai:e lesser and greater wars; lesser between possessors of estates and their neighbo,rs, and the greater between the sovereigns of kingdoms and their neighbors; lesser or greater makes no

[7]

difference, except that a lesser one is kept within bounds by the laws of the nation, and a greater by the laws of nations. Moreover, while the lesser and the greater desire to transgress their own laws, the lesser cannot and the greater can, though not beyond the limits of what is possible.

·There are many causes, stored up in the treasury of Divine Wisdom, why the greater wars, united as they are with murders, dep­redations, violences, and cruelties, are not repressed by the Lord with the kings and commanders, neither in the beginning nor in their progress, but only at the end, when the power of one or the other has become so weakened that he is in danger of destruction.

Some of these causes have been revealed to me, and among them is this:· that all wars, however much they may belong to civil af­fairs, represent in heaven the states of the church, and that they are correspondences. Such were all the wars described in the Word, and such also are all wars at this day.

The wars described in the Word are those which the children of Israel waged with · va­rious nations, as the Amorites, the Am­monites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, and the Assyrians. When the children of Israel, who represented the church, departed from their precepts and statutes, and fell into the evils whJ,ch were signified by those nations, for each nation with which the children of Israel waged war signified some particular kind of evil, then by that nation they were punished.

[8]

RESULT OF PROFANATION

For example, when they profaned the holy things of the church by foul idolatries, they were punished by the Assyrians and the Chaldeans, because by Assyria and Chaldea is signified the profanation of what is holy.

Similar things are represented by war:;; of the present day, wherever they are, for all things which take place in the natural world correspond to spiritual things in the' spiritual world, and all spiritual things con­cern the church. It is not known in this world what kingdoms in the Christian world answer to the Moabites and Amm.onites, what to the Syrians and Philistines, and what to the Chaldeans and Assyrians, and the others with whom the children of Israel waged wars; nevertheless, there are those which repres.ent them.

(The wars with the Philistines signifies combats with the evil principle of faith separated from charity. F. 50-54)

Bµt the quality of the church on earth, and what are the evils into which it falls, and for which it is punished by wars, cannot be

· seen at all in the natural world. In this world, only externals, which do not consti­tute the church, are manifest. It is seen, however, in the spiritual world, where in­ternals, in which the church itself is, appear; and there all are conjoined according to their various states.

The conflicts of these states in the -spir­itual world correspond t\) wars; and accord­ing to correspondence these a.re governed by tJ:ie Lord on both sides, in accordance with His Divine Providence.

[9]

THE GOVERNMENT OF PROVIDENCE

The spiritual man acknowledges that wars in the world are governed by the Divine Providence of the Lord. The natural man, however, does not make this acknowledgment, except that, when a festival is appointed on account of a victory, he may give thanks on his knees to God that He has given the vic­tory; and excepting, also, the few words be­fore he goes into battle. When, ho,wever, he returns into himself, he then either ascribes the victory to the prudence of the General or to some measure or occurrence in .the midst of the battle, which they had not thought of, and by which, nevertheless, the victory was decided.

The Divine Providence, which is called fortune, is in the veriest singulars of even trivial things. If you acknowledge the Di­vine Providence in those things, you should certainly acknowledge it in the affairs of war.

Successes, too, and the lucky' deeds of war, are called by the common expression, the fortune of war; and this is the Divine Providence, especially in the counsels and preparations of the general, even though he then and afterwards were to ascribe the whole to his own prudence. H e may do this if he will, for he is in full liberty to think in favor of the Divine Pro.vidence and against it, yea, in favor of God and against Him. But let him know that no part of the counsels and the preparations is from him­self. It all inflows, either from heaven or from hell - from hell by permission, from heaven by Pr:ovidence.- P. 251

[10]

CHARITY UNDER ARMS

When a man sincerely, justly, and faith­fully does the work that belongs to his of­fice or emploment, from affection and its delight, he is continually· in the good of use, not only towards the community or public but also towards individuals and private citizens. But he cannot do• this unless he looks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins·; for, as shown above, the, first essential of charity is to look to the Lord and shun evils as sins, and the second essential of charity is to do things that are good.-<;. 158

CHARITY IN THE SOLDIER

If he lo,oks to the Lord and shuns evils as sins, and does his work sincerely, justly, and faithfully, he, too, becomes a [form of] charity, for as to this there is no distinction of persons. For he is averse to unjust dep­redation. He abominates unjust shedding of blood.

In battle, it is another thing. He is then not averse to it, for he then does not think of it, but of the foe as a foe, who desires his blood. His fury ceases when he hears the sound of the drum calling him to desist from the slaughter. He looks upon the captives after victory as the neighbor acc.ording to the quality of their good.

Before battle he raises his mind to the Lord and commends his life into His hand; and when he has done this, he lets his mind down from its elevation into the body, and becomes brave~the thought of the Lord, of which he is then unc.onsciCJ1Us, still remaining

[11]

in his mind, above his bravery. then dies, he dies in the Lord. he lives in the Lord.-c. 166

And if he If he lives,

Since then charity, in its origin, consists in goodwill, and goodwill has its seat in the internal man, it is clear that :when anyone who has charity resists an enemy, punishes the guilty, and chastises the wicked, he does so by means of the external man, and con­sequently when he has done it, he returns into the charity which is in the internal man, and then, as far as he can or as far as it is useful, he wishes him [i. e. the enemy, etc.] well, and from goodwill does good to him. "

But those who have real charity have zeal · for what is good, and zeal in the external man may seem like anger and flaming fire. Yet, on the repentance of the adversary, it is instantly extinguished and appeased. It is otherwise with those who have no charity. Th_eir zeal is anger and hatred, for their in­ternal man is heated and set on fire by these evil passions.- T. 408

LAWS OF ORDER Order cannot be maintained without gov­

ernors who are to observe all things which are done according to order and which are done contrary to order, and who are to re­ward those who live according to order and to punish those who Hve contrary to order.

If this is not done, the human race must perish, for, from what is hereditary, every­one by birth wishes to command others and to possess the goods of others, whence come enmities, envyings, hatreds, revenges, de-

[12]

ceits, cruelties, and many other evils. Where­fore, unless they are kept in bonds by the laws, and by rewards suited to' their loves, which are honors and gains for those who do good deeds, and by punishments contrary to their loves, which are the losses of honors, of possessions, and of life for those who do evil deeds, the human race would perish.-A. 10790-1

All order is from Jehovah, that is, the Lord, according to which all things in general and iri particular are governed by ·Him, but with a manifold difference in respect to such gov­ernment, as being from Will, from Good Pleasure, from L eave, and from Permission.

The things which are from Will and Go,od Pleasure are from the laws of order as to good, and so also are several things which are from Leave, and some likewise which are from Permission.

But when man separates himse·lf from good, he then casts himself into the laws of order which are of truth separate from good, and which are such that they damn him; for all t ruth damns man and cast s him down in­to hell. But the Lord, out of good, that is, out of mercy, saves him and raises him up to heaven. Hence it is evident that it is man who damns H imself.

EFFECT ·oF PERMISSIONS

Many t hings which come to pass of per­mission are of this nature ; as, for example, that one devil should punish another, not to mention numberless other cases. Such things are from the laws of order as to truth sepa­rate from good, for otherwise they could

[13]

not be held in any bonds (}f restraint, nor with­held from assaulting all the upright and good and destroying them to all eternity. To prevent this, is the good which is held in view· by the Lord [in the permission of such laws] .

The case in this respect is like that of a mild and merciful king on earth who intends and does nothing but what. is .good. Unless he tolerated that his laws should punish the evir" and wicked, although he punishes no one, but rather grieves that they should be such as to make it expedient that their evils should punish them, his kingdom would be left a prey fo them, which would show the greatest want of clemency and mercy.-A. 2447

He is in charity and in mercy who exer­cises justice and judgment by punishing the evil and rewarding the good. There is charity in punishing the evil, for thus one is moved with zeal to amend him and at .the same time to protect others from suffering evil from him; for thus one has regard for, and wills well to him who is in evil or who is an enemy, and so one has regard fOT, and wills well to others and to the commonwealth itself, and thus, from charity towards the neighbor.-A. 2417

PEACE - THE GOAL IN VIEW All peace is from good and truth.-A. 3170 Peace is the state of bles-sedness in the

heavens affecting what is good and true from the inmosts. Hence the Lord is called, "The Prince of ·Peace.''--'A. 5044

Peace in the heavens is like the spring in

[14]

the world, which delights all things. It is the Celestial itself in its origin.- A. 5052

When man is in a state of peace, he is then led by the Lord by means of good. If man were then to lead himself, even if it were by means of truth, he would dissipate the state of peace.-A. 8517

Peace is that from which is all the delight of good.-H. 285

Peac-e is the inmost of the delight from the good of innocence.- H. 285

Peace is the Divine of the Lord inmostly affecting the good in which are they wh.o• are in His Kingdom·.-A. 3780

Divine peace is in the Lord, and results from the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in Him. The Divine of peace in heaven is from the Lord, and re• sults from His• conjunction with the angels of heaven, and, in particular, from the con­junction of good and truth in every angel.

These are the origins of peace. From then it may be manifest that peace in the heavens is the Divine, inmostly affecting every good there with blessedness; there­fore it is the source of all the joy of heaven, and is, in its essence, the Divine Joy of the Lord's Divine Love resulting from His conjunction with heaven and with every­one there. This joy, perceived by the Lord in the angels, and by the angels from the Lord, is peace. From this, the angels have all that is blessed, delightful, and happy, or what is called heavenly joy.-H. 286

Peace in the highest sense denotes the Lord, and hence it is that it inmostly affects

[15]

good and is the esse of the happiness of those who are in good. So long as a man is in truth and not yet in good, he is in an unquiet state, but when he is in good he is in a tran­quil state, thus in peace. This is because the evil spirits cannot assault good, but flee away at the first perception of it, whereas they can assault truth. Hence it is that those who a.re good are also in peace.- ,A. 8722

ORIGIN OF SABBATH

As peace in its first origin is from the un­ion of the Divine Itself and the Divine Hu­man in the Lord, and thence from the Lord in His conjunction with heaven and the church, and in the conjunction of good and truth with everyone therein, therefore the Sabbath, which was the most holy represen­tative of the church, was so called from rest or peace. Therefore, also, were commanded the sacrifices ca)led peace-offerings. So, too, it is said of Jehovah that from the burnt­offerings He smelled an odor of rest. By an odor of rest is signified a perception of peace.-E. 365

It should be known that the Divine Provi~ dence is universal, that is, in the veriest singular of all things, and that they who are in the stream of Providence are borne con­tinually to happiness whatever may be the appearance of the means. Those a.re in the stream of Providence who put their trust in the Divine and attribute all things to Him, while those are not in the stream of Provi­dence who trust to themselves alone and at­tribute all things to themselves. It should

[16]

be known, too, that so far as anyone is in the stream of Providence, so far he is in a state of peace. Similarly, so far as anyone is in a state of peace from the good of faith, so far he is in the Divine Providence.-A. 8478

Whoso·ever lives in good, and believes that the Lord governs the universe, and that from Rim alone comes all the good which is of love and charity, and all the truth which is of faith: that from Him, indeed, comes life and that hence from Him we live and move and have our being, is in such a state that he can be given heavenly freedom and, there­with, peace, for in such case he trusts only in the Lord and counts other things. of no concern, and is certain. that then all things tend to his good, blessedness, and happiness to eternity.

ONLY THE GOOD HAVE PEACE But whosoe.ver believes that he governs

himself, is continually restless, being borne along Into lusts, into solicitudes concerning things to come, and thereby into manifold anxieties.-A. 2892

They who are in evil have no peace. It appears, indeed, as if ' they had rest, tran­quillity and delight, when things succeed ac­cording to their wishes, but all this is exter­nal and not internal. Interiorly, they burn with enmity, hatred, revenge, cruelty, · and many other evil lusts, .into which also their minds rush as soon as they see anyone who does not favor them.~H. 290

In the other life, the exteriors are suc­cessively unfolded even to the inmost, and

[17]

peace is the inmost of every delight; it is even within what is undelightful with the man ' who is in good.-A. 8455

When spiritual things are appropriated to the natural man, then those things recede

. which are of the lust of evil and the persua­sion of falsity, consequently those things which induce restlessness; and those things accede which are of the affection of good and truth, consequently those things which cause peace.

All restlessness arises from evil and falsity, and all peace from good and truth.-,A. 3170

Innocence and peace are the two inmost things of heaven. They are called inmost because they proceed inmostly from the Lord, for the Lord is Innocence itself and Peace itself.

From innocence, the Lord is called the Lamb; and from peace, He said,

"Peace I Zecve with you; My p.eace I give unto you."-John 14:'21

And this is meant also by the peace with which men were to salute a city or a house when they entered it,

"Which, if worthy, pe<roe should come up­on it, and if unworthy, the peace should re­turn."- M atthew 10 :11-15

Hence, also, the Lord is called "The Prince of Peace".-lsaiah 9:6

[18]

A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF SWEDENBORG

EMANUEL SWEIDENBORG, the scientist, philosopher and religious reformer, was born in Stockholm in 1688. His father was the Bishop of Skara. Early renowned for his learning, and for the extraordinary versatility of his genius Swedenborg not only antici­pated much which is significant in modern science and related departments, but his writings in the fields of philosophy and psy­chology alone den:ions.trate his right to a p1ace among the world's great teachers.. As a culmination to so many years' rich and practical. experience, which, as a nobleman, included a voice in his nation's government , Swedenborg in his fifty-fifth year turned from his purely scientific and philosophical pursuits and thereatter, with the Bible as his only textbook, wrote on spiritual subjects alone. He died in London in 1772 and his remains now lie in Sweden's national cathedral at Upsala.

"Swedenbor g was in many respects the most remarkable man of his own or any age."-- .Schafj-Herzog Ency­c1opedia of Religious Knowledge, 191.1 edition.

NEW-CHURCH BOOK DEPOTS Boston, Mass.

Massachusetts New-Church Union, 134 Bowdoin St.

Chicago, Ill . Western' New-Church Union, 17 N. State St.

Cincinnati, Ohio New-Church Center, Oak St. and Winslow Ave.

Detroit, Mich . New-Church Library, Meyers at Curtis St.

Houston, Tex. Ncw-C?urch Center, Box 221, Bellaire

Los Angeles, Cal. New-Church Library, 509 So. Westmoreland Ave.

New York, N. Y . Swedenborg Foundation, Inc., 51 East 42nd St. The New-Church Press, 108 Cl.ltrk St., Brooklyn

Orange, N. J. New-Church Center, 26 N. Essex Ave.

Paterson, N. J. The Swedenborg Press, 380 Van iHouten St.

Philadell)hia, Pa. New-Church Book Center, 2129 Chestnut St.

P·ortland, Ore. New-Church Center, 1603 S. E .. Maple St.

Providence, R. I . New-Church Center, Broad & Llnd'en Sts.

San Francisco, Cal. New-Church Library, 2107 J,yon St.

San Diego, Cal. New-Church Center, 4144 Campus Ave.

St. Louis, Mo. Xew-Church Libra;y, 620 Spring Ave.

St. Petersburg, Fla. New-Church Center, 656 Ji'lrst St., N.

Toronto,O nt., Canada New-Church Book Room, 70 Elwood Ave.

Washington , D. C.

New-Church Library, 1611 16th St., N. W.