out a Mediator. These are they who are so vastated, and finally saved, when they have first been instructed and have received the instruction that the Lord is the only God, Saviour, and Mediator. I have heard them confess that without a Mediator it would be impossible for them to be saved, because they are filthy and unworthy. I have also seen some of them, after suffering to the utmost, taken up into heaven, and when they were received there, I observed from them such a tenderness of gladness as drew tears from my eyes.

7252. The inhabitants and spirits of Venus who appear on the other side of that earth, are of an almost contrary disposition, being gentle and humane. It was granted of the Lord that some of these spirits should come thence to me, and then they appeared near above the head. In talking with me they said that when they were in the world they acknowledged, and now more fully acknowledge, our Lord as their only God. They said that in their earth they had seen Him, walking among them, and they also represented in what manner they had seen Him. 7253. These spirits have relation in the Grand Man to the memory of material things that corresponds to the memory of immaterial things which the spirits of the planet Mercury constitute (see the description of the spirits of Mercury, n. 7170). 7254. At the end of the following chapter I will speak of the inhabitants and spirits of the planet Mars.

CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.

THE DOCTRINE OF CHARITY.

7255. Inasmuch as good makes heaven with man, and evil makes hell, it is of the utmost importance to know what good is, and what evil is. It has already been said that good is that which belongs to love to the Lord, and to charity toward the neighbor; and that evil is that which belongs to the love of self and the love of the world. Hence it follows that it is from the loves, and from these alone, that it can be known what good is, and what evil is.

7256. All things in the universe which are according to Divine order have relation to good and truth; and all things in the universe which are contrary to Divine order have relation to evil and falsity. The reason is that the good and truth which proceed from the Divine make order, insomuch that they are order.

7257. The good which is of love to the Lord is called “celestial good," and the good which is of charity toward the neighbor is called "spiritual good." What the difference is, and how great, between the celestial good which belongs to love to the Lord, and the spiritual good which belongs to charity toward the neighbor, will be told in what follows.

7258. The doctrine of celestial good, which is that of love to the Lord, is the most ample and at the same time the most secret; but the doctrine of spiritual good, which is that of charity toward the neighbor, is also ample and secret, but less so than the doctrine of celestial good, which is the doctrine of love to the Lord. That the doctrine of charity is ample can be seen from the fact that charity is not the same with one as with another, and that one is not the neighbor the same as another.

7259. As the doctrine of charity was so ample, the ancients, with whom the doctrine of charity was the very doctrine of the church, distinguished charity toward the neighbor into many classes, which they also subdivided, and gave a name to each class, and taught how charity was to be exercised toward those who are in one class, and how toward those in another; and in this way they reduced the doctrine of charity into order, and also the exercises of charity, that these might fall distinctly under the view of the understanding.

7260. The names which they gave to those toward whom they were to exercise charity, were many: some they called blind, some lame, some maimed, some poor, also miserable and afflicted, some orphans, some widows; but in general they called those hungry to whom they were to give to eat, those thirsty to whom they were to give to drink, sojourners whom they were to gather in, naked whom they were to clothe, sick whom they were to visit, and in prison to whom they were to come (as to which see above, n. 4954–4959).

7261. These names were given from heaven to the ancients who were of the church, and by those who were so named they understood those who were spiritually such. Their doctrine of charity taught who these were, and what kind of charity there was to be toward each.

7262. Hence it is that these same names are in the Word, and signify those who are such in the spiritual sense. In itself the Word is nothing but the doctrine of love to the Lord and of charity toward the neighbor, as the Lord also teaches:

:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and in all thy soul, and in all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. The second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. In these two commandments hang the law and the prophets (Matt. xxii. 37-40); "the law and the prophets" denote the whole Word.

7263. The reason why these same names are in the Word, is that they who were in external worship were to exercise charity toward such as were so named; and they who were in internal worship, toward such spiritually understood; thus that the simple might understand and do the Word simply, and the wise wisely; also in order that the simple might be initiated by means of the externals of charity into its internals.

CHAPTER VII.

1. And Jehovah said unto Moses, See, I have given thee a god to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. 2. Thou shalt speak all that I command thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, and let him send the sons of Israel out of his land.

3. And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt.

4. And Pharaoh will not hear you; and I will give My hand upon the Egyptians, and lead forth My armies, My people, the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, with great judgments.

5. And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth My hand upon Egypt, and lead forth the sons of Israel from the midst of them.

6. And Moses and Aaron did so; as Jehovah commanded them, so did they.

7. And Moses was a son of eighty years, and Aaron a son of three and eighty years, when they spake unto Pharaoh.

8. And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, 9. When Pharaoh shall say unto you, saying, Give you a wonder, and thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, it shall become a water-serpent.

10. And Moses and Aaron came unto Pharaoh, and they did so as Jehovah had commanded; and Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a water-serpent.

11. And Pharaoh called also the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did so with their enchantments.

12. And they cast forth every man his rod, and they became water-serpents; and Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

13. And Pharaoh's heart was made firm, and he heard them not; as Jehovah had spoken.

14. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Pharaoh's heart is made heavy, he refuseth to let the people go.

15. Go unto Pharaoh in the morning; behold he goeth out unto the waters; and stand thou to meet him near the bank of the river; and the rod which was turned into a serpent take in thy hand.

16. And thou shalt say unto him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness; and behold hitherto thou hast not heard.

17. Thus said Jehovah, In this thou shalt know that I am Jehovah; behold I smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned into blood.

18. And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall stink; and the Egyptians shall labor to drink waters from the river.

19. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, and over their pools, and over every gathering of their waters, and they shall be blood;

and there shall be blood in all the land of Egypt, both in the woods and in the stones.

20. And Moses and Aaron did so, as Jehovah commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and smote the waters that were in the river, unto the eyes of Pharaoh, and unto the eyes of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.

21. And the fish that was in the river died; and the river stank, and the Egyptians could not drink water from the river; and there was blood in all the land of Egypt.

22. And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart was made firm, and he heard them not, as Jehovah had spoken.

23. And Pharaoh looked back, and came unto his house, and did not set his heart even to this.

24. And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for waters to drink; for they could not drink of the waters of the river.

25. And seven days were fulfilled after that Jehovah had smitten the river.

26.* And Jehovah said unto Moses, Come unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Let My people go, and let them serve Me.

27. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold I will smite all thy border with frogs:

28. And the river shall make frogs to creep forth, and they shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bed-chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and into that of thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneadingtroughs:

29. And on thee, and on thy people, and on all thy servants, shall the frogs go up.

Numbered as in the Hebrew; in the English text Chapter VIII. begins with this verse.