Week 5    Day 4

    Listen:

Let Him Have the Cloak Also

Matthew 5:40

And if anyone wills to have thee judged and take thy tunic, let him have the cloak also.

Arcana Coelestia 9049:6

By “coat” and “cloak” is signified truth in the external form (n. 4677, 4741, 4742); by “dragging to the law” is signified the endeavor to destroy.

Arcana Coelestia 9942:11

He who does not know what the state of the angels in the Lord’s celestial kingdom is like cannot possibly know what these words of the Lord involve. For the subject here treated is the state of good and truth with those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom, with whom all truth is imprinted on the heart. For from the good of love to the Lord they know all truth, insomuch that they never reason about it, as is done in the spiritual kingdom. And therefore, when truths are being spoken of, they only say, Yes, yes, or No, no; and they do not even mention faith there... From this then it is evident what is signified by the injunction “swear not at all,” for by “swearing” is signified to confirm truths (n. 3375, 9166), which is done in the spiritual kingdom by means of the rational and by memory-knowledges from the Word. By “dragging to the law, and desiring to take away the tunic,” is meant to debate about truths, and to wish to persuade that they are not true. A “tunic” denotes truth from what is celestial; for the celestial leave to everyone his truth without further reasoning.

Apocalypse Explained 556:9

“If any man wills to sue thee at the law and to take away thy tunic, let him have thy cloak also,” signifies if anyone wishes to take away truth interiorly with thee, it may be allowed him to take away also exterior truth, “tunic” signifying interior truth, and “cloak” exterior truth. This also is what angels do when they are with the evil, for the evil can take away nothing of good and truth from angels, but they can from those who on that account burn with enmity, hatred, and revenge, for these evils avert and repel protection by the Lord.

Heaven and Hell 577

The Lord cannot protect man unless he acknowledges the Divine and lives a life of faith and charity; for otherwise man turns himself away from the Lord and turns himself to infernal spirits, and thus his spirit becomes imbued with a malice like theirs.

Arcana Coelestia 5992

The angels through whom the Lord leads and also protects a man are near his head. It is their office to inspire charity and faith, and to observe in what direction the man’s delights turn, and so far as they can, without interfering with the man’s freedom, moderate them and bend them to good. They are forbidden to act with violence and thus break the man’s cupidities and principles, but are enjoined to act gently.

It is also their office to rule evil spirits who are from hell, which is done in innumerable ways, of which the following only may be mentioned. When evil spirits pour in evils and falsities, angels insinuate truths and goods which, even if not received, are nevertheless the means of tempering. Infernal spirits continually attack, and angels protect; such is the order.

The angels especially regulate the affections, for these make the man’s life and also his freedom. The angels also observe whether any hells are open that were not open before, and from which there is influx with the man, which takes place when the man brings himself into any new evil. The angels close these hells so far as the man allows and remove any spirits who attempt to emerge from them. They also disperse strange and new influxes that produce evil effects.

Especially the angels call forth the goods and truths that are with a man and set them in opposition to the evils and falsities that the evil spirits stir up. Thus the man is in the midst, and does not perceive either the evil or the good; and being in the midst, he is in freedom to turn himself either to the one or to the other. By such means, angels from the Lord lead and protect a man, and this every moment, and every moment of a moment. For if the angels were to let up their care for a single moment, the man would be plunged into evil from which he could never afterward be brought out. Angels do these things from the love they have from the Lord, for they perceive nothing more delightful and happy than to remove evils from a man and lead him to heaven.

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