for it is that good that flows into angels, and affects their inmosts, and arranges, and fits them for receiving all the good of heaven. From all this it can be seen that all innocence is from the Lord. For this reason the Lord is called in the Word a lamb, a lamb signifying innocence. Because innocence is the inmost in all the good of heaven, it so affects minds that when it is felt by anyone—as when an angel of the inmost heaven approaches-he seems to himself to be no longer his own master and is moved, and as it were, carried away by such a delight that no delight of the world seems to be anything in comparison with it."

"There are two inmost things of heaven, namely, innocence, and peace. These are said to be inmost things because they proceed directly from the Lord. From innocence comes every good of heaven, and from peace every delight of good. Every good has its delight; and both good, and delight spring from love, for whatever is loved is called good, and is also perceived as delightful. From this it follows that these two inmost things, innocence and peace, go forth from the Lord's Divine and move the angels from what is inmost.'

And He is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the first born from the dead; that in all things he might have the pre

eminence.

For it pleased the Father that in Him should all fulness dwell.
Colossians 1:18, 19.

THE DECALOGUE, OR THE TEN

COMMANDMENTS

I.

Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

II.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them; for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third, and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

III.

Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not bold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

IV.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; for in six days the Lord made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

V.

Honor thy father, and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.

VI.

Thou shalt not kill.

VII.

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII.

Thou shalt not steal.

IX.

Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

X.

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house; thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Exodus xx:3-17.

"The laws of spiritual life, the laws of civil life, and the laws of moral life are set forth in the ten commandments of the decalogue; in the first three, the laws of spiritual life, in the four that follow the laws of civil life, and in the last three the laws of moral life.

Religion with man consists in a life according to the Divine commandments, which are contained in a summary in the decalogue. He that does not live according to these can have no religion, since he does not fear God, still less does he love God; nor does he fear man, still less does he love him. Can one who steals, commits adultery, kills and bears false witness, fear God, or man? Nevertheless every one is able to live according to these commandments; and he who is wise does so live as a civil man, as a moral man, and as a material man. And yet he who does not live according to them as a spiritual man cannot be saved; since to live according to them as a spiritual man, means to live so, for the sake of the Divine that is in them, while to live according to them as a civil man, means for the sake of justice, and to escape punishments in the world; and to live according to them as a moral man, means for the sake of honesty, and to escape the loss of reputation, and honor; while to live according to them as a material man, means for the sake of what is human, and to escape the repute of having an unsound mind. All laws, civil, moral, and material, prescribe that one must not steal, must not commit adultery, must not kill, must not bear false witness, and a man is not saved by shunning these

evils from these laws alone, unless he shuns them as sins. For with such a man there is religion, and a belief that there is a God, a heaven, and a hell, and a life after death. Everyone who makes these commandments the principles of his religion becomes a citizen, and an inhabitant of heaven. Most nations know these commandments, and make them the principles of religion, and live according to them, because God so wills, and has commanded. Through this they have communication with heaven, and conjunction with God, consequently they are saved. But most in the Christian world at this day do not make them the principles of their religion, but only of their civil, and moral life. Who at this day can believe that the love of adultery is the fundamental love of all infernal, and diabolical loves, and that the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love of all heavenly, and divine loves? Who at this day can believe that he who is in the love of adultery believes nothing of the Word, thus nothing of the church, and even in his heart denies God, and on the other hand that he who is in the chaste love of marriage, makes one with religion, and the lasciviousness of adultery makes one with naturalism, or materialism? The man therefore, who confirms himself in adulteries, and commits them from the favor, and consent of his will, and turns away from marriage, closes heaven to himself, until he ceases to believe anything of the church, or of the Word, and becomes a wholly sensual man, and after death an infernal spirit; for, as has been said above, adultery is hell, and thus an adulterer is a form of hell. Those who are in the hells are sensual, and more so the more deeply they are in them. Hell is from adulteries, because adultery is from the marriage of evil, and falsity, from which hell in the whole complex is called adultery; while heaven is from marriages, because marriage is from the marriage of good, and truth, from which heaven in its whole complex is called a marriage."

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and who so marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

St. Matthew xix:9.

Whoso committeth adultery with a woman lacketh understanding: be that doeth it destroyeth his own soul. Proverbs vi:32.

For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolator, hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ, and of God. Ephesians v:5.

For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth, and maketh a lie. Revelations xxii:15.

"The law of order that thou shalt do to thy neighbor as thou wouldst have another do to thee, consequently that, what thou doest to another shall be done to thee, is evident from the fact that to give soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, and so forth, denotes that as thou hast done to another, so shall it be done to thee. Such is the law in the spiritual world. He who there does good to another from his heart, receives the like good. Consequently he who does evil to another from his heart, receives the like evil. For good that is from the heart is conjoined with its reward, and evil that is from the heart is conjoined with its punishments; therefore there is heaven for the good, and hell for the evil. Hell and heaven are near to man, yea in man; hell in an evil man, and heaven in a good man. Moreover, everyone comes after death into that hell, or into that heaven in which he has been while in the world. But the state is then changed; the hell which was not perceived in the world becomes perceptible, and the heaven which was not perceived in the world becomes perceptible; the heaven full of all happiness, and the hell of all unhappiness."

Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you. St. Luke xvii:21. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Psalm ix:17.

"We talk of breaking law; we can only break ourselves against it. But if we sin against Love we do destroy her; we take from her the power to redeem, and sanctify us. Believe, then in hell, because you believe in the love of God-not in a hell into which God con