797. Verse 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, signifies the falsification of Divine truth, thus of the Word, which is from the Lord and which is the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "opening his mouth," when the "mouth" signifies doctrine, and instruction, preaching, and reasoning therefrom (see above, n. 794), as being to instruct, preach, and reason; also from the signification of "blasphemy," as being the falsification of the Word, even to the destruction of Divine truth such as it is in heaven (see above, n. 778); also from the signification of "God," as being Divine truth, thus the Word. And as Divine truth is from the Lord, and is the Lord in heaven, therefore "blasphemy against God" signifies the falsification of Divine truth, or the Word, which is from the Lord, and which is the Lord. Moreover, the Word is the Lord because it is from the Lord, for the reason that the Word is the Divine truth, and the Divine truth proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and what proceeds belongs to Him from whom it proceeds, yea, is Himself; consequently the Divine truth, which is the source of all the wisdom and intelligence that angels and men have, is the Lord in heaven. Furthermore, the Word is such as it is with us in the world because that Word is the Divine truth in the ultimate of order, and contains a spiritual sense, which is the Divine truth such as it is in heaven. But more about this elsewhere. From this it is clear that "the beast opened his mouth in blasphemy against God" signifies the falsification of the Divine truth or the Word which is from the Lord and which is the Lord. [2] As this verse treats of blaspheming, and as "blasphemy" signifies the falsification of the divine truth or the Word, namely, by those who separate faith from life, in explaining this verse, I will state who of that class so falsify the Word as to wholly close heaven to themselves, and what the quality of such is; and then who of that class do not so falsify the Word as to close heaven to themselves, and what their quality is; and finally who of that class do not falsify the Word, and in whom, therefore, heaven can be opened or is being opened, and what their quality is. In this article those who so falsify the Word that they altogether close heaven to themselves shall be described, but in the following article the others in order. All those altogether close heaven to themselves who confirm themselves by doctrine and at the same time by life that faith alone without good works justifies and saves; the reason is that these so falsify the Word that it is contrary to the Divine truth which is in heaven, and from which is heaven. The Word may be falsified to this extent or it may not. [3] The reasons that they falsify the Word to that extent are these: (1) From their doctrine they regard the goods of life, which are good works, as of no value, and in their life they make them of no account, and yet the universal heaven is in good, for good is of love, and love is of the life. All the wisdom and all the happiness that angels of heaven have is from good through truths; and each one there has so much and such wisdom and happiness, as he has of the good from which are truths; consequently good is the very essence of angelic life, and thus the essence of heaven itself. Those, therefore, who ascribe the whole of salvation to faith alone, and nothing of it to good works, must needs close heaven to themselves; for they regard good, in which heaven consists, as of no account, and they make it of no account; and where good is not, there evil is; and where evil is, there is hell. (2) [4] Because these place everything of salvation, and thus everything of heaven and of the church, in faith alone, and nothing of these in the goods of charity, which are good works, they give little value to love to God and love towards the neighbor, and make these of no account; and yet the Lord teaches:
That on these two commandments hang the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:34, 38). "The Law and the Prophets" are all things of the Word. Also the Lord says to the lawyer respecting these two commandments:
Do these and thou shalt live (Luke 10:28). To love God and to love the neighbor is nothing else than doing goods, for love in its essence is to will, and in its existence it is to do; for what a man loves, that he wills, and what he wills from love, that he does. Therefore also the Lord teaches:
He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; but he that loveth Me not keepeth not My commandments (John 14:21, 24). From this it follows that those who regard good works, which are the goods of love, the goods of charity, and the goods of life, which in heaven are called uses, as of no account, and who make them of no account, close heaven to themselves; for they neither love God nor love the neighbor, and yet heaven is heaven from these two loves. This is especially what falsifies the Word even to the destruction of Divine truth, which in heaven is from the Lord, and which is the Lord there. (3) [5] Those who confirm themselves in doctrine and in life in the belief that faith alone without good works justifies and saves, close heaven to themselves by this also, that they excuse evil works; they excuse these by saying and believing that evils are not seen by God; or that with those who have faith the evils are forgiven (according to some with those who have the confidence of faith, according to others with those who are justified by faith). Therefore many think insanely, "Of what consequence is it for me to do goods when goods do not save me? Or what does it matter if I do evils, when evils do not damn me? I am in grace because I have faith." Thus they live for themselves and for the world, and do not abstain from evil because it is evil, nor do good because it is good; if they abstain from evil it is from fear of the civil law and of the loss of reputation, and not from any fear of the Divine law and of the loss of eternal life; and if they do good it is from love of reward, and not from love of God. And yet such as the life is, such is the man:
Do men gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? (Matt. 7:16) Moreover, such a man does not know what a good life is, or what an evil life is. If he lives as a citizen of the world he believes that he lives a good life; when yet such a life, if he does not live it as a citizen of heaven, is an evil life. Neither does he distinguish the one from the other, because the two appear alike in externals. He does not distinguish them, because good works, which make the life, he values lightly. From this it now follows that those who confirm themselves both in doctrine and in life in the belief that faith alone without good works justifies and saves, altogether close heaven to themselves. (4) [6] Again, they close heaven to themselves by this, that although their life is a merely natural life, everything of which is drawn from the love of self and of the world, yet they attribute to themselves the Lord's merit, saying in their hearts, "If only I shall have believed with trust and confidence that the Lord endured the cross for me, and thereby redeemed me, I can have eternal life, and this because that righteousness and that merit are imputed to me by faith, and nothing of it by works of the life." And yet there is no imputation of the Lord's merit; so neither can life thence be imputed to man. But a life from the Lord is given, such as has been described above in the article treating of it. Therefore to impute to oneself the merit of the Lord, and not to live according to His commandments in the Word, and thus live from Him, is blasphemy; because this implies the possibility of living solely for self and the world, thus wickedly, in the Lord. (5) [7] Again, they close heaven to themselves by this, that they acknowledge what is no faith as faith, or historical faith as saving faith, thus natural for spiritual faith, and dead for living faith; and the same is true of the confidence of their faith. For such believe that knowing and thinking opens heaven, and not at the same time willing and doing, when yet these are primary, and the others are secondary. For the life of man's thought is from the affection of his will. (6) [8] Again, they close heaven to themselves by this, that because man cannot do good from himself that is good and unless it is meritorious, they omit doing good, and pray earnestly for faith; and yet there is no faith that is faith except from charity, thus except from good. The faith that is then suffered to be given through these beseechings is a faith in falsity from evil, for where good is not, there evil is; and where evil is, there falsity is; and faith in falsity from evil is the faith of hell, which is called dead faith; and this closes heaven. (7) [9] Heaven is especially closed to them by the application of the Word to confirm all these things; for they thus falsify them even to the destruction of the Divine truth that is in heaven. For our Word in its spiritual sense is the Divine truth such as it is in heaven; and if the sense of the letter is falsified so as to destroy the spiritual sense, heaven is closed up; for the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord makes heaven, yea, is heaven; since the angels there are angels from the reception of it. (8) [10] It has been said that those altogether close heaven to themselves who, both in doctrine and in life, make good works to be of no account from the principle that faith without good works justifies and saves. It shall now be stated briefly how heaven is closed by doctrine and how by life. Doctrine closes by consent, affirmation, confirmation, and persuasion that it is so; for then man not only thinks that it is so, but also wills it to be so. And if he still does goods because they are commanded in the Word he does only moral goods from the natural man; and these goods are from himself, and are meritorious goods. For all of man's doing is from his will and is according to his will, since a deed is nothing but the will in its activity; consequently when a man thinks and also wills that there is nothing of salvation in works, he can do no other goods than such as are like their origin. Of this character are many of the learned, who have confirmed faith alone with themselves by their preaching and writings. In the spiritual world the mind of such appears to be covered as with a veil, or to be involved as if in a dense cloud, which prevents the entrance of light or truth from heaven; thus heaven is closed in them. But a life according to that doctrine altogether closes heaven because their faith is that the goods of life do not save, nor do the evils of life condemn. (9) [11] It is similar whether it is said that heaven is closed to man, or that the higher mind of man, which is called his spiritual mind, is closed; for man's spiritual mind is his heaven, therefore through this a man has conjunction with heaven, while the natural mind is his world, therefore through this he has conjunction with the world. But how the spiritual mind is opened, and thus communication and conjunction with heaven is granted to man, has been explained above (n. 790).
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