During the process of the stomach digestion the
door between stomach and
intestine is not wholly closed; but those portions of the food which need the intestinal
treatment, and will not be benefited by that of the stomach, are constantly passing out;
and some of them, as fat and starch, are quickly changed by the bile and the pancreatic
and intestinal fluids, and absorbed by the lacteals from the intestinal wall. A considerable mass, however, remains in the
stomach and undergoes its utmost powers of digestion, without perfectly yielding to the
influences which would make fluid the good elements and separate them entirely both from
the useless and from those that need severer treatment.
But when all that the stomach can do is done this large remainder rapidly passes
out and all its elements meet the bitter and acrid bile.
This precipitates at once the nitrogenized portion of the chyme, and delays it for
solution again and absorption, while the other materials pass on, -the remaining fat and
starch to be converted into an emulsion and sugar respectively, and then absorbed, and the
worthless materials to be rejected.
This great mass corresponds to the spirits long delayed in the world of spirits,
many of whom are in the main good and charitable, disposed to good uses but confirmed in
some falsity, or attached to other persons who appear well as to worship and life, yet in
heart love evil of life and the false doctrines that permit it. These need to meet
together the sharp corrections of spirits who love to bring out and punish all the evil of
heart and thought that they can find, thus thoroughly exposing the wicked and causing them
to flee, when the humbled and chastened good, fearing that they also shall be rejected,
desire more earnestly to be instructed and taken up into heaven. The solvents of the
stomach are mildly acid and perhaps, like the acids of fruit, represent instruction that
is altogether pleasant and friendly but stimulating and quickening. The solvents of the
intestine are acrid and alkaline, and, the alkalies used in soap, and formerly used
instead of soap, seem to represent reproving, chastening instruction by which good and
evil are separated.
“ Who they are who constitute the province of the intestines in the Greatest Man, may be manifest in some measure from those who relate to the stomach; for the intestines are continued from the stomach, and the offices of the stomach there increase and become more harsh, even to the last intestines which are the colon and rectum. Wherefore they who are in these are near to the hells which are called excrementitious. In the region of the stomach and intestines are they who are in the lower earth, who because they have brought with them from the world unclean things which are fixed in their thoughts and affections, are wiped away, that is, are cast aside. After this is done, they can be taken up to heaven. They who are there are not yet in the Greatest Man ; for they are not introduced into the blood, thus into the body, until they are purified. They who are defiled with more earthly dregs are under these in the region of the intestines ; but the excrements themselves which ate discharged correspond to the hells which are called the excrementitious hells.”(A. C. 5392.)
There are
many kinds of persons who need
such discipline ; among them
are those who have contracted strong personal friendships without regard to the good or
evil in one another. These, Swedenborg teaches us,¾
+++++++++++++++ page 61 +++++++++++++++
Closely allied to these evil friends, who drag those who are attached to them
with them, seem to be “the judges of friendship and bribes,” who could
see nothing but what favored their friends, whom Swedenborg saw “in the lower earth,
next above hell,” and who were afterwards cast out (C.L. 231). There
also were those called
+++++++++++++++ page 62 +++++++++++++++
“learned,”[2] because they were able by ingenious reasoning to throw doubt upon the real existence of every thing ; who also, because they perpetually argue upon the surface of things, from appearances, are likened to “shells around almonds, without kernel,” and to “rinds around fruits, without pulp.” These likewise were cast out.
+++++++++++++++ page 63 +++++++++++++++
about to a little distance ;
there most persons are after death, before they are taken up into heaven.¼Beneath it
are the places of vastation, which are called pits ; below these places, and round about
to a great distance, are the hells” (A.C. 4728).He more commonly speaks of the places
of vastation, by which are meant the places of severer trials by which the good are freed
from evil clinging to them, as in the lower earth. He says,¾
+++++++++++++++ page 64 +++++++++++++++
complained
chiefly of evil spirits, as burning with a continual desire only to torment them ; and
they were in a state of despair, saying that they believed their torments would be eternal
; but it was granted me to comfort them.” (A. C. 669; 4940.)
Of the purpose of the vastation, he says,¾
+++++++++++++++ page 65 +++++++++++++++
in the lower
earth, in order that they may put off the principles of falsity. The times of their stay there are longer or
shorter according to the nature of the falsity and the life contracted from it, and
according to the principles confirmed in themselves ; some endure hard things in that
state, others not hard. These are what are
called vastations, whereof much mention is made in the Word. When the time of vastation is over, they are taken
up into heaven, and are instructed as novitiates in the truths of faith ; and this is done
by angels by whom they are received.”(n.1106.)
+++++++++++++++ page 66 +++++++++++++++
uted all
things to nature. Nevertheless those there
who have led a good moral life, when they have been detained there some time, successively
put off those principles and put on principles of truth.”(n. 4941.)
+++++++++++++++ page 67 +++++++++++++++
them and
console them.”(n.4943; also n. 1110; the grass-cutters, 1111.)
All these states of vastation appear to be accomplished in those parts of the lower
earth corresponding to the intestines, and from thence the chastened good spirits are
taken up as chyle is absorbed by the veins and lacteals.
No doubt the modes of correction and vastation are all represented in the methods
by which the chyme is sorted, some of which we have briefly touched
+++++++++++++++ page 68 +++++++++++++++
upon, and others will appear
more clearly when we study the liver and the pancreas.
+++++++++++++++ page 69 +++++++++++++++
The remainder of the chyme, together with such portions of these good materials as
have not completed their metamorphoses, passes rapidly on, subjected their metamorphoses,
passes rapidly on, subjected to more and more severe treatment, and parting at every turn
with its good particles, till by the time it reaches the large intestine, called the
colon, there is scarcely anything in it which can serve any good use in the body.
lived an evil life, and yet have some remains of good concealed in them. These remains cause them to have a little spiritual life after many ages of vastations.”(n. 5561.)
These, perhaps, are taken up from the province of the colon. Others, corresponding to the contents of the colon, some of whom are saved, are described as delighting in rapine and slaughter, yet having a little humanity.(n. 5393)
As to those who correspond to the walls of the intestine, and are a part of the
Greatest Man, they must be such as take pleasure in correcting and punishing, yet from
justice and for the sake of reformation. They
who correspond to the small intestine, especially the upper part of it, from which chyle
is most freely absorbed, are especially delighted to rescue the good from the evil, by
sharp reproof it necessary, and to introduce them among heavenly companions. But they who are in the large intestine, and
especially those who correspond in their uses to the rectum, take pleasure in punishing
and confining the evil; yet always
with an interior satisfaction
in protecting the good from them.
hell . . . for such pleasure,
which is merely corporeal, is, in the other life, changed into what is excrementitious; I
have seen them there carrying dung, and lamenting.”(A. C. 943.)
In the other life, the quality of spirits is made sensible by odors; and “they
who have indulged in mere sensual pleasures, and have lived in no charity and faith,
exhale an odor like that of excrement. The
case is the same with those who have passed their lives in adulteries; but the odor of
these is still more offensive.”(1514.)
+++++++++++++++ page 73 +++++++++++++++
absorbing
strength from the true and good things we learn and adopt.
That the process does go on, however, and that we do continue for a time to gather
strength from such spiritual food is evident.
From stomach and intestines the chyle is absorbed both by veins and by lacteals. That which is taken up by blood-vessels is carried forward by the portal vein to the liver, there to be sorted, trained to the activities of the body, and distributed in several ways according to its quality. That which is absorbed by the lacteals is carried through a labyrinthine network, knotted by many glands, called the mesentery, and is then collected into a vessel about the size of a finger, situated on the right side of the spinal column, just under the diaphragm, called the receptacle of chyle. Here it is mingled with the lymph returned by the lymphatics from all the viscera of the abdomen and thorax; and then, through and irregular tube called the thoracic duct, it ascends nearly to the neck, emptying usually into the vein that returns the blood from the left arm to the heart.
+++++++++++++++ page 75+++++++++++++++
Of those who constitute this receptacle and duct, Swedenborg says, -
“ They
who constitute this province are of a two fold kind; some are modest enough, some are
forward. The modest are they who have desired to know the thoughts of men, with the intent
of attracting and binding them to themselves; for he who knows what another thinks is
acquainted with his secrets and his interiors, which cause them to be conjoined together;
the end regarded is conversation and friendship. They desire only to know the good things
and explore them, and put a good interpretation upon the rest.” (A. C. 5180.)
Of a similar quality in general must be the angels of all the lacteals of the mesentery.
We can imagine these gentle
angels, loving conversation and friendship, receiving the new spirits, who by various
chastenings have come to desire instruction in the truth of heaven and a life according to
it, walking with them by intricate ways, calling out their good thoughts, explaining away
their troubles, leading them hither and thither according to the wants they discover in
them, in-
+++++++++++++++ page 76+++++++++++++++
troducing them to
quick and gentle changes of state, that their sympathies may be quickened and variously
extended, and bringing them to one gland-like community or another, as it may seem useful
to associate them with other new spirits, or to give them the benefit of angels’
teaching, and finally escorting them to the great road in which, with thousands of
redeemed, rejoicing spirits, they ascend toward the warm heart of the heavens.
This
initiation into heavenly companionship and heavenly thought is a preparation of the good
for heaven. The mesentery, therefore, corresponds to places of instruction for a part of
the new spirits in their progress toward heaven; as is confirmed by the following passage
:?
“It
may be known in some measure from the gyres to what province in the Greatest Man, and
correspondently in the body, spirits and angels belong. The gyres of those who belong to
the province of the lymphatics are slender and rapid as a watery element gently flowing so
that scarcely any gyration can be perceived. They who belong to the lymphatics are
afterwards conveyed into places
which they said have reference to the mesentery, and it was told me that there are as it were labyrinths therein, and that they are next taken away thence to various places in the Greatest Man, that they may serve for use as chyle in the body.” (5181.)
The winding ways by which
men are taught by the Lord, even in this world, are also likened by Swedenborg to these
mensenteric paths,---
“ Every one is from
infancy brought into that Divine Man whose soul and life is the Lord; and in Him, not out
of Him, he is led and taught from His Divine love according to His Divine wisdom. But as
freedom is not taken away from man, a man cannot be led and taught otherwise than
according to reception as by himself. They who receive are borne to their places by
infinite windings, as by meandering streams, almost as the chyle is carried through the
mesnetery and its lacteals into duct into the blood, and so to its destination. They who
do not receive are separated from those who are within the Divine Man, as the faeces and
urine are separated from man.”(D. P. 164.)
+++++++++++++++ page 78+++++++++++++++
The glands
of the mesentery are of great interest in their correspondence. The fibres of the network of lacteals run from one
gland to another, having also threads which pursue their course with more directness; so
that it is possible for the chyle to pass through several glands, or, perhaps, to enter
none at all, on its way to the receptacle.
In the
glands it meets arteries and veins and nervous fibres. The arteries bring fresh blood from
the heart, and the nerves bring spirit from the brain. The purpose of the glands is
evidently to prepare the new chyle more perfectly to enter into the uses of the body; and
this purpose they must fulfil by modifying the chyle, either through the forms of their
little vessels, or by communication of vital elements to it from the arteries and the
nervous fibres; perhaps it performs its office in both ways. “The mesentery
elaborates the chyle, and the liver the blood” (D. P. 336). It is believed also that the white corpuscles,
which are an active element in the blood and which are rapidly multiplied after a meal,
are formed in these glands.
+++++++++++++++ page
79+++++++++++++++
Now the
chyle of the Greatest Man is composed of good spirits freed from their association with
the evil and form evil influences, tender in feeling, and eager to learn. The blood of the arteries is composed of angelic
spirits, prepared for heaven, but not yet fixed in their own societies; also in part,
apparently, of “subject” angels sent from their societies for special service
elsewhere. And the nerve influence, direct
from the brain, is the direct influence or presence of wise angels of the third
heaven.
If, then,
we should read of good, intelligent spirits, eager to be instructed, being trained to
angelic thought under the care of angels and the direct supervision and inspiration of
angels of the third heaven, we should conclude with reason that we had found a place
marvellously like a mesenteric gland.
In n.132,
of the work on “Conjugial Love,” we read,---
“I
once conversed with two angel; one was from the eastern heaven, the other from the
south
+++++++++++++++ page 80+++++++++++++++
ern heaven; who . . . said, ‘Do you know anything of the Exercises of
Wisdom in our world?’ I answered that I
did not yet. And they said, ‘ They are
numerous, and those who love truths from spiritual affection, or truths because they are
truths, and because by means of them is wisdom, come together at a given signal, and
canvass and conclude those things which are of more profound understanding.’ They then took me by the hand, saying,
‘Follow us, and you shall see and hear; to day the signal for meeting is given.’ I was led across a plain to a hill; and, behold,
at the foot of the hill was an avenue of palms, continued even to its top. We entered it and ascended. And on the top or
summit of the hill was seen a grove, the trees of which, upon an elevation of ground,
formed as it were a theatre, within which was a plain surface covered with little stones
variously colored. Around it, in a square
form, were placed seats, upon which the lovers of wisdom were sitting; and in the middle
of the theatre was a table upon which was laid a paper sealed with a seal. Those sitting upon the seats invited us to the
seats as yet vacant. And I answered, ‘ I
was led here by the two angels to see and listen, and not to sit.’ And then those two angels went into the middle of
the plain surface to the table, and loosed the
seal of the paper,
and read, in the presence of those sitting ,the arcana of wisdom written upon the paper,
which they were canvass and unfold . They were written by angels of the third heaven, and
let upon the table. There were three
arcana : First , What the image of the God
is, created ? Second, Why man is not born into the knowledge belonging
to any love, when yet beast and birds, as well the noble is as the ignorable, are born
into the knowledges belonging to all there loves ? Third,
What tree of life signifies, and what the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and what
the eating from them?
"Under
these was written,' conjoin these three into one opinion, and write this upon a new paper,
and lay it upon the table, and we shall see it ; if the opinion when weighed appears right
and just, there shall be given to each of you a reward of wisdom.'
"These things being read, the two angels withdrew, and were taken up into their own heavens. And then those sitting upon the seat began to canvass and unfold the arcana proposed to them."
After an orderly and
enlightened discussion, there conclusions were combined one series, as follow?
++++++++++++++ page 82 +++++++++++++
"These
they wrote upon a new paper, and place this upon the table; and, behold suddenly angels
were present in the shining white light, and carried away the paper in the heaven; and
after it was read there, those sitting upon the seats heard thence the words 'Well , well,
well; and forthwith there appeared one thence if flying," and distributed to all
company beautiful reward of wisdom.
If this
admirable exercise did not take place in the mesentery, it certainly illustrates the
processes which must there be accomplished.
Other
similar lessons are also described by Swedenborg.
Somewhat
similar are the schools taught by the ancient wise men of Greece. "All the Athe-
nians," ST. Luke tells
us," and strangers which were there, spent there time in nothing else but either to
tell or to hear some new things." (ActsXVii. 21.)
In the neighborhood of Athens also were the school of philosophy taught by
Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and many other, in which, from the new things
told, wise lesson in morality or philosophy were deduced; and which have come to us
, in the form either of allegory or of direct instruction, almost all the remains we have
to wisdom of the Ancient Churches.
The desire of these wise men to learn new things, and to instruct in true wisdom, was not diminished but increased and enlightened by there change to the spiritual world. It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise to find them, in Swedenborg's descriptions, receiving modest and intelligent new comers with the greeting, " What news from the earth " — inquiring especially about the thoughts of men concerning eternal life, and then wisely
instructing the spirit in the nature of heavenly life and happiness.
These things are set forth
at length C.L. 151-,154,182,207.
++++++++++++++ page 85 +++++++++++++
That part of the chyle which is taken up by the lacteals is initiated into the quick and gentle flow of the mesentery, is modified, and, as it were, instructed in the mesenteric glands, and then is carried to the receptacle of chyle, and through the thoracic duct and the left subclavian vein to the heart.
The portion of the chyle which is taken up from the stomach and intestines by the veins, is collected in the great portal vein, where it mingles with the blood returned from all the viscera of digestion, and then by the portal vein it is conducted for its training, instruction, and purification to the liver.
The portal vein enters the liver side by side with the hepatic artery which brings fresh blood from the heart artery which brings fresh blood from the heart, the bile duct which returns its peculiar secretion to the intestines, and coating
of cellular tissue which appears to be the origin and home of a host of lymphatic vessels.
These proceed together, dividing and subdividing again and again, till their minute twigs enclose in their embrace minute little lobes or lobules are composed of small tubes running inward, and lined with cellular matter peculiar to the organ.
To these the portal vein and the hepatic artery offer their burdens of chyle and blood, both fresh and refuse; and the tubuli, with sensitive perception adapted to their use, drink in from them the harmonious elements which will combine in a rich, wholesome current for the use of the body, and this they offer to the open mouths of the hepatic veins. These veinlets open in the cavities of the lobules, and there receive, and thence convey to the vena cava, for the heart, whatever the liver may present to them. The lighter portion of the chyle and lymph, not needed for the present use of the blood, flows quickly on its pleasant lymphatic path, and joins its companions in the chyle
receptacle. The hard and obstinate particles which cannot
conform to the requirements of the tubuli, and would be of no use elsewhere in the body,
are remanded to the bile ducts and the gall bladder; the worst of them to be cast out, the
better for a low use in the intestines.
else than temptations of
various kinds, and afterwards by introduction into gyres." (A. C. 5182)
motions in every organ of the body peculiar to itself, to which all fluids and particles which are introduced must conform, or they will be immediately rejected[4]. If they do not agree with the little tubes, either in size or shape, or do not flow readily or smoothly
through their windings, the tubes refuse to admit them, or contract and expel them. And in this they are guided by an exquisite, unerring sensitiveness, given them continually in kind and degree adapted to their use.
The liver
may be regarded as a large gland whose primary use it is to prepare good blood for the
general uses of the body. It receives its supplies from the portal vein which brings new
chyle and older blood from the abdominal viscera, and from the hepatic artery which brings
fresh blood and old from the heart. It selects from
+++++++++++++++ page 89 +++++++++++++++
these the materials demanded by the wants of the body, examines them thoroughly, carefully strains and sorts them, makes intimately acquainted and combines the new and the old, and thus mingles wisely a stream rich and wholesome and suited to its use, which it sends through the hepatic veins and the vena cava to the heart. A secondary secretion of fresh, lively fluid, suited to replenish the streams returning from the left side of the head and the left arm, it sends thither through the lymphatics and the thoracic duct. And a third secretion of materials, not suited to the general circulation, but still capable of doing service in the digestion of new food, it despatches to the intestines through the hepatic duct and the gall bladder.
It is also regarded as an important function of the liver to reduce the surplus of sugary material, not immediately needed in the work of the body, to a starch-like condition, in which form it is called glycogen, and
store it up until it is wanted for use. In the form of glycogen it remains un-
changed until it is summoned, and then is quickly changed again into sugar. While it is proper to mention this use here, the consideration of its significance will be deferred till we study the omemtum.
The noble use of the liver to the body corresponds to a noble spiritual use of a
vast province to the heavens. the province is large; for the liver is larger than any
other viscus, if we except the whole mass of the intestines. And its use is to assimilate to the life and uses
of the heavens newly-arrived spirits, especially those with a zeal for usefulness; to
instruct, also, and expand the minds of others drawn from various provinces of the
heavens; and to separate from the system perverse individuals and affections[5].
eral orbicular. That their operation is diverse is represented also in the functions of the liver, that they are diverse; for the liver draws to itself the blood, and separates it; pours the better part into the veins, that of a middle sort it remands to the hepatic duct, and the vile it leaves to the gall bladder.
” (It is thus in adults; but in embryos the liver receives the blood from the mother's womb, and purifies it; the purer part it infuses into the veins, that it may flow by a short way to the heart. It then acts as a guard before the heart.)" (n. 5183.)
" By the liver is signified interior purification; for the liver purifies the
blood, but the intestines those things of which the blood is composed... In other cases by
the liver is signified the external good of innocence, such as appertains to infants; by
reason that infants, before the rest of the viscera are fully formed to their use, as is
the case when they are embryos, are nourished through the liver; for all the nutritious
juice is brought thither through the placenta and the navel from the womb of the mother;
this juice corresponds to the good of innocence."(n. 10031.)
way of the lacteals, being trained in the flow and varieties of heavenly thought and affection in the devious paths of the mesentery, and examined and instructed in the schools represented by its glands. Another, and probably the larger, part ascend by the way of the veins, ?not yet fairly in the circulation, for they have yet to be trained and instructed in the province of the liver and then received and sent forth by the heart.
As the treatment received by these two portions of the chyle is so different, it may be well to consider briefly the materials of which they consist. Nearly all the elements which enter into their composition they have in common, with the marked exception of the red globules which are already in the veins. There are white globules in the lacteals as well as in the vein, and even imperfect red globules soon appear. The chief difference seems to be in the proportions in which they are mingled. There are fibrine and fat, sugar, water, and salts, in both; but very much more of fibrine and sugar in the veins, and very
much more of water and fat, and probably of some salts, in the lacteals. From the comparative redness and solidity of the contents of the veins, it would appear that they represent those who are more in the love of goodness and of usefulness, which love is especially represented by the fibrineous, muscle-making element of the blood; the sweetness of the stream also represents the sweetness of character of those who have suffered hard things, and perhaps the enjoyment in the love of goodness in those in whom this love has been purified. And from the whiteness and wateriness of the contents of the lacteals, it seems plain that they represent those who are more in the love of truth and the good life which truth teaches. The considerable quantity of fat contained in the lacteals may seem to conflict with this, since fat has a celestial meaning. But the spiritual, - that is, the kindness and good-will of those who are in the love of truth ; as the butter of milk represents the mother's love for the children whom she teaches.
+++++++++++++++ page 94+++++++++++++++
It seems safe then to conclude that they who ascend by the portal way to the province of the liver are those who are especially in the love of goodness, and in the desire to be trained and instructed in angels' uses. They walk in company with those who have been sent to assist in the preparation of new spirits, and who now, delighted with their docile companions, discourse with them of heavenly employments, inspire into them their own love of use, and enter, together with them, the great province of instruction.
Thither come also, by the way of the heart, other new spirits who have entered the circulation by shorter ways, and angels from all provinces of the body who need to be relieved of opinions and feelings too narrow for their present uses, and initiated into broader views and quicker sympathies ; [6]]and possibly also some spirits who, by reason of their urgency, have been permitted to enter heaven unprepared, and by this way are cast out, if evil, or have an opportunity for instruction if good. (A. R. 611). Perhaps it is not
by chance that Swedenborg describes some of both of these kinds in the midst of his description of the places of instruction. (H. H. 518.)
" The third state of man, after death, " Swedenborg says, " is a state of instruction; this state appertains to those who come into heaven and become angels, but not to those who come into hell, since these latter cannot be instructed" (H. H. 512). We should, therefore, look for the places of instruction in some province through which the chyle passes after it is separated from worthless materials in the proper digestive organs, and before it reaches the heart. The only organs thus situated are the mesentery and the liver. The province of the mesentery appears to serve for this use, or at least for initiation into exercises of wisdom for a part of the new spirits; but the chief places of instruction and of introduction to heavenly uses evidently must be situated in the province of the liver.
"Those places of instruction," we are told, "are to the north, and are various, arranged and distin-
guished according to the genera and species of heavenly goods, that each and every person may there be instructed according to his particular temper and faculty of reception. Those places extend in all directions there to a considerable distance. The good spirits who are to be instructed are conveyed thither by the Lord, when they have passed through their second state in the world of spirits, but still not all; for they who had been instructed in the world were there also prepared by the Lord for heaven, and are conveyed into heaven by another way; some immediately after death; some after a short stay with good spirits, where the grosser thoughts and affections which they contracted from honors and riches in the world are removed, and thus they are purified; some are first vastated, which is effected in places under the soles of the feet, which are called the lower earth, where some suffer severely; these are they who have confirmed themselves in falsities, and still have led good lives; for falsities confirmed inhere with much force, and until they are dispersed truths cannot be seen, thus cannot be received.”
(H. H.513.)
“All who are in the places of instruction have distinct habitations there; for every one as to his interiors is connected with the society of heaven to which he is about to come; wherefore since the
+++++++++++++++ page 97+++++++++++++++
societies of heaven are arranged according to a heavenly form, so likewise are the places where instructions are given ; it is on this account that when those places are inspected from heaven, there appears then as it were a heaven in a lesser form. They extend themselves there lengthways from east to west, and breadthways from north to south ; but the breadth to appearance is less than the length. The arrangements, in general, are as follows: In front are those who died infants, and have been educated in heaven to the age of first adolescence, who, after completing the state of their infancy with the females appointed to educate them, are brought thither by the Lord and instructed. Behind them are the places where they are instructed who died adults, and who in the world were in affection for truth from the good of life. Behind them are they who have professed Mohammedan religion, and in the world have led a moral life . . . Behind these, more to the north are the places of instructions of various Gentile nations, who in the world have led a good life in conformity with their religion . . . These in number exceed all the rest ; the best of them are from Africa.
(n 514)
They who have been educated from infancy in heaven are here instructed by angels of the inte-
+++++++++++++++ page 98+++++++++++++++
rior heavens ; they who have died adult mostly by angels of the lowest heaven ; Mohammedans by angels who once were Mohammedans ; and gentiles by their respective angels; (n515.) But the “instructions on earth in this respect, that knowledge is not committed to memory, but to the life.” “The affection for truth for the sake of uses of life is continually inspired ; for the Lord provides that every one may love the uses suited to his particular genius, which love is also exalted by the hope of becoming an angel.” “Truth is thus implanted in use, so that the truths which they learn are truths of use. Angelic spirits are thus instructed and prepared for heaven.” (n. 517.)
It may have nothing to do with the four departments of the places of instructions,
that there are two larger and two smaller lobes of the liver ; but it may be worth bearing
in mind. Undoubtedly it is true that the
lobes have their respective characteristics, and draw from the supplies accordingly, and
furnish correspondingly varied products.
“After the spirits have been prepared for heaven in the above-mentioned places by instructions, which is effected in a short time, by reason that they are in spiritual ideas which comprehend many things together, they are then clothed with angelic garments, which for the most part are white, as of fine linen, and thus they are brought to the way which tends upwards toward heaven.” (n. 519.)
“
There are eight ways which lead from the above places to heaven, and by which the
novitiate angels are introduced, two from each place of instruction, one going up towards
the east, the other to the west; they who come into the Lord’s celestial kingdom are
introduced by the eastern way, but they they who come to the spiritual kingdom are
introduced by the western way. The four ways which lead to the Lord’s celestial
appear adorned with olive trees and fruit trees of various kinds ; but those which lead to
the Lord’s spiritual kingdom appear adorned with vines and laurels. This is from
correspondence, because vines and laurels correspond to the affection for truth and to its
uses, whilst olives and fruits corresponds to the affection for good and its uses.”
(n.520.)
May not this distinction be represented in the body by the distinction between the veins and the
lymphatics of the liver. For these are the only two kinds of vessels by which there is ascent to the heart; they both go from every part o f the liver, and also from every gland in the mesentery; and the lymphatics do go up to the left, and the veins to the right.
The rejoicing of the new angelic spirits in their salvation from evil, and their enjoyment in the uses of heavenly life, may be represented in the abundant sugar which is found everywhere in the liver and in the fresh blood which it sends to the heart. The warmth of the liver, said to be greater than that 9of every other organ in the body, may represent that supreme exaltation of love which angels feel in initiating new spirits into heavenly joys.
But, besides the angelic spirits who ascend from the places of instruction,
rejoicing in new life, there are some, corresponding to the bile, who reject the wise and
kindly instruction given in this province, adhere obstinately to their own opinions, are
embittered because they are not re-
ceived into heaven by reason of the natural depravity which they have done nothing to overcome, and therefore delight to find fault and to punish. (H.H. 518) (Compare A. R. 611, 839, where is described the casting of such in the neighborhood of the places of instruction of good boys.) These are permitted to go by the way of the hepatic duct to the intestines, where they may do a use in exposing evil, and in the vastations of the good who have some confirmation of evil and falsity; and as they go they are warned and threatened and guarded lest they should punish more than is useful. (A. C. 5185) Perhaps the best of them, who love to punish for the sake of rescuing the good, may return with them to the safe places of instruction, and again go forth upon similar errands ; as the better elements of the bile are absorbed by the veins and lacteals, and are again separated by the liver. Possibly some such may be said to be subjects of the liver sent to perform this use, as the solvents of the stomach were said to be subjects of that organ.
Swedenborg believed that the worst of the bile was deposited in the gall bladder; and either this is true, or the bile after it is carried there is severely wrung out, the lighter portions being carried away by veins or lymphatics, and the denser and bitterer portion being left, of course to be discharged into the intestine at suitable times. The bladder itself is tough and membranous; its inner surface being wrinkled and knotted. Its neck is furnished with a spiral staircase, by which bile is assisted in passing up from the hepatic duct as by the turns of a hollow screw. Through the same spiral way, by a reversal of the turns, the bile descends to the intestine. And possibly is exercised by being driven alternately one way and then the other, which exercise well corresponds with the mode of discipline described by Swedenborg as peculiar to the province.
Swedenborg describes those who are represented by the bile as loving to punish ;
the worst of them hardly being willing to desist. He says, “their delights are in
punishing, and thus doing good nor
do they abstain from
filth” (A. C. 5185). Those in the
bladder itself cooperate in the use, moderating and restraining too great severities, and
perhaps quickening the slow in the manner presently described. Of those in the gall bladder, he says,?
“ A certain spirit came to me inquiring whether I knew where he might stay. I thought that he might stay here, the vexatory
spirits of this province came, and vexed him miserably, which I was sorry for, and in vain
desired to prevent. I then observed that I
was in the province if the gall bladder. The
vexatory spirits were of those who despised what is honorable and pious. It was given to observe one kind of vexation
there, which was a compulsion to speak with a rapidity exceeding that of the thoughts,
which they effected by an abstraction of the speech from the thought, and then by
compulsion to follow their speech, which is done with pain.
By such vexation the slow are inaugurated into greater quickness of thinking and
speaking.” (n. 5187.)
From the “Spiritual Diary,” nos. 1012-1014, it would appear that in general it is the sprits who have despised spiritual and heavenly things whoi have despised spiritual and heavenly things who are thus dealt with, and who are represented by the bile. Excessive slowness has the effect of unwillingness and sullenness; if it can be overcome by temporary suffering the subjects will be forever happier and more useful.
Perhaps some who intend well in the main, but are obstinately slow, ? too slow to be initiated into the gyres of the liver, ? are brought here for a time , and then are again taken up by the lacteals, more willing to be instructed, and themselves giving useful warnings to others.
The influx from the province of the liver of the Greatest Man into our minds must produce a desire and capacity, first, to assimilate the knowledge we have loved and received to the uses of our life. As particles of fat and mucilage and gluten cannot always remain in the circulation as fat and mucilage and gluten, but must be combined with the fluids of the body into one homogeneous
+++++++++++++++ page 105+++++++++++++++
fluid , ready to turn its hand to any use that may be required of it, so the knowledge of good works that others doof the goodness of the Lord and that others do, of the goodness of the Lord and of the uses that He desires us to do, cannot remain in the mind in those forms, but must be transformed into thought and love of what it is good and right for us to do, and so enter the life current of our will. And this initiation of new ideas and intentions into the life of the spirit is done to a great extent in the province of the mind corresponding to the liver.
A secondary, though very important, effect of that influence is to separate and expel from the current of our thoughts, ideas and opinions which current of our thoughts, ideas and opinions which prevent harmonious cooperation with others, especially such as are self-asserting, bitter and fault-finding. If the liver of the body does not act efficiently, and separate such effete materials , the body becomes heavy and sleepy, suffers much pain and general discomfort , and digests new food imperfectly, or rejects it altogether. And if the corresponding mental faculty does not faithfully do
+++++++++++++++ page 106+++++++++++++++
its duty in removing vain regrets and bitter fault-finding, the mind loses its living relation to present circumstances; it a