1133. Verse 10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, signifies when they are in externals from a dread of infernal punishment. This is evident from the signification of "standing afar off," as meaning to be in externals (of which presently); also from the signification of "fear of torment," as being dread on account of infernal punishments, for "torment" signifies such punishments. "Standing afar off" signifies to be in externals because man is in himself when he is in internals, for there his love, and thus his very life, has its seat. The internals of man are the things that belong to his spirit, and are meant in the Word by "things near;" and therefore his externals, as being remote from internals, are meant by things "afar off," and here by "standing afar off." Moreover, every evil man when he is in externals is unlike what he is in internals. Not only does he then speak and act differently, he also thinks and wills differently, for his thought and will then are that he may appear as a civil, moral, and even as a spiritual man, and this either because of the law and its penalties or for the sake of reputation and consequent honor and gain, thus from fear of losing these. That the man is then "afar off" from himself is evident from the fact that when he returns from externals into his internals, as he does when alone, he thinks and wills in a wholly different way, and when he is with companions like himself he talks in a different way. This shows that "standing afar off" signifies in the spiritual sense to be in externals. [2] The chief reason why an evil man introduces himself or comes from internals into externals is fear; for fear closes up his internals when he sees the punishments and torments of his companions, and when his internals are closed up he comes into externals, and remains in them as long as the punishment is kept before his mind. And yet his internal is not made better by punishments, but remains wholly as before; therefore as soon as the fear of punishment recedes he returns into his evils, which are interiorly with him, and which belong to his spirit, and thus to his life. This may be illustrated by examples from the spiritual world. An evil spirit there is compelled by punishments not to speak or do evil; and in such a state he remains as long as he is in the place where the punishment is kept before his mind; but as soon as the fear of the punishment recedes he is evil as before. It is the same in the world. So long as thieves, robbers, and other criminals are in a city where all are held in restraint by the law and its penalties they do not steal or rob; but as soon as they come into forests, or into places where they have no fear of the penalties of the law, or when they can pervert the law by crafty devices and thus escape the penalties, they come into their internals and commit crimes. [3] All this makes clear that externals are remote from internals, and stand as it were afar off; and this is why in the Word "afar off" signifies the external or what is remote from the internal, as in the following passages. In Isaiah:
Hear, ye that are afar off, what I have done, and ye that are near know My power (Isa. 33:13). "Those that are afar off" here mean the nations, because they are remote from internal truths, and "those that are near" mean those who are of the church and who are in truths from the Word. In the same:
Bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth (Isa. 43:6). Here, too, "sons and daughters" mean the nations; and because these are remote from truths and goods, which are the internals of the church, they are called "sons from afar, and daughters from the end of the earth," "sons" meaning those who are in truths, and "daughters" those who are in goods, "the end of the earth" signifying the ultimates of the church. [4] In the same:
Listen, O isles, unto Me, and ye peoples from afar. Lo, these shall come to thee from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west (Isa. 49:1, 12). "Isles" and "peoples from afar," and "from the north and from the west," mean in like manner the nations with whom the church was to be established. The meaning is the same in Jeremiah:
Declare it in the isles afar off (Jer. 31:10). In Zechariah:
They that are afar off shall come, and shall build the temple of Jehovah (Zech. 6:15). Here, too, "those afar off" mean the nations, and the "temple" that they shall build is the church. In Jeremiah:
Am I God that is near, and not God afar off? (Jer. 23:23). This signifies that the Lord is God both to those who are within the church and to those who are outside of it, also to those who are in internal truths and to those who are in external truths. In David:
O God, the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of the sea, of those that are afar off (Ps. 65:5). "The ends of the earth and of the sea, of those that are afar off," signify the ultimates of the church. In the contrary sense "afar off" signifies evil, because evil is in the external man; for all who are in evils and falsities therefrom are external men. Such are meant by "nations and peoples from afar" and "from the end of the earth" in the following passages. In Isaiah:
The nations from afar and from the end of the earth (Isa. 5:26). Peoples coming from a land afar off, from the end of the earth* (Isa. 13:5). In Jeremiah:
Nations coming from a land afar off against Jerusalem (Jer. 4:16). In the same:
Upon the house of Israel will I be a nation from afar (Jer. 5:15). Because "Babylon" signifies evil of every kind and the profanation of good it is called:
A land afar off (Isa. 39:3). That "those afar off" signify those who are in the externals of the church can be seen also from those who are in externals and those who are in internals in the spiritual world; the latter are in the south and the former in the north, thus they are separated according to the degree of the reception of truth and good. That "near" means what is internal may be seen above (n. 16).
(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith and respecting the Lord)
[5] Since God is infinite He is also omnipotent, for omnipotence is infinite power. God's omnipotence shines forth from the universe, which is the visible heaven and the habitable globe; these, with all things that are in the visible heavens and on the habitable globe, are the great works of the omnipotent Creator. The creation of these and their maintenance testify that they are from the Divine omnipotence, while their order and mutual regard to ends from first to last testify that they are from the Divine wisdom. God's omnipotence shines forth also from the heaven that is above or within our visible heaven, and from the globe there that is inhabited by angels, as ours is by men. There are wonderful testimonies there to the Divine omnipotence; and as these have been seen by me and revealed to me, I am permitted to mention them. All men that have died from the first creation of the world are there; and these after death continue to be men in form, but are spirits in essence. [6] Spirits are affections that are of love, and thus also thoughts. The spirits of heaven are affections of the love of good, and the spirits of hell affections of the love of evil. Good affections, which are angels, dwell on a globe that is called heaven, and evil affections, which are spirits of hell, dwell at a great depth beneath them. The globe is one, but is divided into expanses as it were, one below another. There are six expanses; in the highest the angels of the third heaven dwell, and beneath them the angels of the second heaven, and beneath these the angels of the first heaven, below these dwell the spirits of the first hell, beneath these the spirits of the second hell, and beneath these the spirits of the third hell. All things are arranged in such order that the evil affections, which are spirits of hell, are held in bonds by the good affections, which are angels of heaven; the spirits of the lowest hell by the angels of the highest heaven, the spirits of the middle hell by the angels of the middle heaven, and the spirits of the first hell by the angels of the first heaven. By such opposition the affections are held in equilibrium as in the scales of a balance. [7] Such heavens and hells are innumerable, divided into assemblies and societies according to the genera and species of all affections; and these affections in their order and connection are in accord with the nearer and more remote affinities of the societies. This is true both of the heavens and of the hells. This order and this connection of affections are known to the Lord alone, and the arrangement of so many different affections, as many as there have been men from the first creation and will be hereafter, is a work of infinite wisdom, and at the same time of infinite power. That the Divine power is infinite, or that it is omnipotence, is there clearly evident from the fact that neither the angels of heaven nor the devils of hell have any power whatever from themselves. If they had any at all heaven would fall to pieces, hell would become a chaos, and with these every man would perish. * Photolithograph has "earth;" the Hebrew "heavens." See n. 331, where Swedenborg translates it "heavens."
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