1173. And cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning.- That this signifies grief of mind, from seeing punishment on account of the dire falsities which flowed from their loves, is evident from the signification of crying out, which denotes grief of mind, concerning which see above (n. 393, 424, 459); from the signification of smoke, which denotes infernal falsity flowing forth from the evils of worldly and bodily loves, concerning which see above (n. 539:6, 889, 1131); and from the signification of burning, which denotes the damnation and punishment of the evils springing from their loves, concerning which see above (n. 1083, 1126). It is evident from this that by their crying out when they saw the smoke of her burning, is signified grief of mind from seeing the punishment on account of the dire falsities springing from their loves.
[2] Continuation.- The ninth law of the Divine Providence is, That the Lord does not without the use of means teach man truths either from Himself or by angels, but that He teaches by means of the Word, by means of preaching, reading, conversations, and intercourse with others, and thus from private reflection arising out of those things; and that man is then enlightened according to his affection for truth grounded in use; otherwise he would nom act as if of himself. These propositions follow as consequences from the laws of the Divine Providence previously explained, namely, that man should be in freedom, and act in all that he does from reason; that from his understanding he should think as if from himself, and thence from his will act as if from himself; and further, that he should not be driven by miracles or visions to believe any thing, or do any thing. These laws are unchangeable, because they are laws of the Divine Wisdom, and at the same time of the Divine Love; they would, however, be disturbed if man were taught without the use of means, either by influx or by discourse.
[3] The Lord, moreover, enters by influx into the interiors of man's mind, and through them into its exteriors; also, into the affection of his will, and through that into the thought of his understanding, but not through the thought of his understanding into the affection. To enter by influx into the interiors of man's mind, and through them into its exteriors, is to take root, and from the root to produce, the root being in the interiors, and production in the exteriors. Again, to enter by influx into the affection of the will, and through it into the thought of the understanding, is first to quicken the soul, and through it to form all other things; for the affection of the will is as it were a soul, by means of which the thoughts of the understanding are formed. This, again, is influx from the internal into the external, which is the kind of influx that exists.
Man knows nothing whatever of the influx into the interiors of his mind, nor of that which enters into the affection of his will; but on this subject, he is likely to think that influx takes place into the exteriors of his mind, and into the thought of his intellect; and this would be to produce something without a root, and to form something without a soul. Every one may see that this would be contrary to Divine Order, consequently, that it would mean destruction and not building up. From these things the truth of this law of the Divine Providence is clear.
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