Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/173
ception; for with those who are in good and thence in the affection of truth, the intellectual principle of the mind is open into heaven, and their soul, that is, their internal man is in consort with the angels. But it is otherwise with those who are not in good, thus who do not from the affection of good desire truth. To them heaven is closed.
But what the nature of revelation is to those who are in good, and thence in the affection of truth, cannot be described. It is not manifest, neither is it altogether hidden. But it is a kind of consent and favoring from an interior principle if a thing is true, and a non-favoring if it be not true. When there is a favoring, the mind is at rest and is serene; and in that state there is an acknowledgment which is of faith. The reason why it is so, is grounded in the influx of heaven from the Lord; for through heaven from the Lord there is light, which spreads around and illumines the understanding which is the eye of the mind. The things which in such case appear in that light are truths; for that light itself is the Divine Truth which proceeds from the Lord. (A. C. 8694.)
No one can see whether the doctrinals of his own church be true, except such as are in the affection of truth for the sake of the uses of life. They who have this for an end, are enlightened continually by the Lord, not only during their life in the world, but also afterwards. These alone can receive, for the Lord leads them by good, and by good gives them to see truth, and thus to believe. (A. C. 8521.)