new church life: september/october 2017
created by Him in the natural world, where like things exist. For all things that
God has created and does create were and are good; while such things on the
earth sprang up along with hell, and hell originated in men . . . ”
The second is from Divine Love and Wisdom 338 and 339: “By evil uses
are meant all noxious things in the animal vegetable and mineral kingdoms.
Specifically; poisonous snakes, scorpions, crocodiles, great snakes, horned
owls . . . in a word creatures that destroy grasses, leaves, fruits, seed, food and
drink, and are harmful to beast and man. In the vegetable kingdom there are
all hurtful, virulent, and poisonous plants, and in the mineral kingdom all
poisonous earths . . .
“All things that are evil uses are in hell and all things that are good uses are
in heaven. Before it can be seen that all evil uses that take form on earth are
not from the Lord but from hell, something must be said . . . nothing whatever
takes form in the natural world that does not derive its cause and therefore its
origin from the spiritual world, and that good is from the Lord and evil from
the devil, that is, from hell. . . . In hell are to be seen all those things that ae
evil uses.” (Note here that it is not the thing itself but the use to which it is put
that is good or evil.)
Others of like meaning are Arcana Coelestia 3218, Apocalypse Explained
1201, Divine Love and Wisdom 339, 340, and True Christian Religion 53. Given
the number of passages available, this doesn’t seem like a minor item.
Humankind can know
about the Lord, and
we can acknowledge
and follow Him, or we
can reject Him and so
live out of the order
that was created for
us, but animals apart
from humans can’t do
otherwise than what
they are created to do
from their inherent
order and instinct.
Everything Created is from the Lord
Counter to these quotes are some
seven I found that seem to be in
apparent opposition. They are very
direct.
Arcana Coelestia 5272-2: “The
meaning is that the Divine truth that
goes forth from Divine good, that
is, goes forth from the Lord, is the
originator of all things that have been
brought and are brought into being.
Divine truth going forth from Divine
good is the ultimate reality and the
essential being within all creation;
and this Divine truth is what makes
and creates all things.”
And from Divine Love and
Wisdom 198: “The Divine, which
is substance in itself, that is, the
one, only, and sole substance is the
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