Swedenborg Arcana Caelestia Vol. I (1750)

...your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the primary commandment. The second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these," XII: 28–35. In Matthew, He calls it the first and great commandment, and says that on these commandments hang the Law and the Prophets, XXII: 34–39. The Law and the Prophets are the entire doctrine of faith and the whole Word.

37. It is said that the lights shall be for signs, and for appointed times, and for days, and for years. These contain more arcana than can be stated at present, although in the sense of the letter nothing of an arcanum appears. Now, it is only to be noted that there are changes of spiritual and celestial things in general and in particular, which are compared to the changes of days and years. The changes of days are from morning to noon, thence to evening, and through the night to morning; those of years are similar, from spring to summer, thence to autumn, and through winter to spring. From these come the changes of heat and light, as well as the fruitfulness of the earth; by these changes, the changes of spiritual and celestial things are compared. Life without changes and varieties would be one, and thus nothing; nor would good and truth be known, distinguished, or perceived. These are called "statutes" in the Prophets, as in Jeremiah: "Jehovah said, who gives the sun for a light by day, the statutes of the moon and stars for a light by night; these statutes shall not depart from before Me," XXXI: 35, 36. And in the same Prophet: "Thus said Jehovah, if I have not established My covenant of day and night, and the statutes of heaven and earth," XXXIII: 25. But regarding these, by the Divine mercy of the Lord, see Genesis, Chapter VIII. 22.

38. Vers. 18. And to rule in the day, and in the night, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness; and God saw that it was good. By "day" is understood good; by "night," evil. Therefore, good deeds are called the works of the day, and evil deeds are the works of the night. By "light" is understood truth, and by "darkness" falsity, as the Lord speaks: "People loved darkness more than light; he who does the truth comes to the light," John III: 19–21. Vers. 19. And it was evening, and it was morning, the fourth day.

39. Vers. 20. And God said, "Let the waters bring forth the reptile, a living soul; and let the bird fly above the earth, upon the faces of the expanse of the heavens." After the great lights have been ignited and placed in the internal man, and from them the external man receives light, then he begins to live for the first time. Before this, he can hardly be said to have lived, for he thought that the good he did was done from himself, and that the truth he spoke was spoken from himself. And because a human being is dead in himself, and there is nothing in him but evil and falsity, whatever he produces from himself is not alive, to such an extent that he cannot even do good, which is good in itself, from himself. That a person cannot even think good, nor will good, and consequently cannot do good, except from the Lord, is evident to everyone from the doctrine of faith; for the Lord says in Matthew: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man," XIII: 37. Nor can good come except from the very source, which is one, as He also says: "No one is good except one, God," Luke XVIII: 19. But yet, when the Lord resurrects a human being into life, or regenerates him, He permits...