Temporal and Eternal (09/29/24)
In this article, entitled “The Temporal and the Eternal” my Grandfather (Rev. Fred Schnarr) spends some time pointing out that when we look to the use being served, we come into a living understanding that we have everything we need to be happy by
fulfilling our duty to God by loving our neighbor. Thus, we include at the beginning of the article, a definition of use which helps so set everything that follows in context.
Love and Peace,
Ethan
In the work, Divine Providence, the teaching is given that "the Divine Providence looks to eternal things and to temporal things only as far as they agree with eternal things." (DP 214)
In the Apocalypse Explained, we find this teaching given in a somewhat different form and entitled, The tenth law of the Divine Providence:
“People have led himself to eminence and riches by their own prudence, when yet
these lead astray, for by the Divine Providence a person is led only to such things as do not lead astray and as are serviceable to their eternal life; for all things of the Divine Providence with us look to what is eternal, since the life which is God, from which a person is a person, is eternal." (Swedenborg, Revelation Explained 1185: 2)
These two teachings present the same general truth, but note that in the tenth law of Providence, instead of the phrase temporal things, the words, eminence and riches, are employed. Thus, by comparing the two teachings, we see that the essential definition of temporal things is eminence and
riches/material gain.
There are many reasons why some people on earth achieve dignities and riches, and others remain poor; as far as their own states are
concerned, Providence knows what will be either a blessing or a curse to a person. Providence strives to give dignities and riches to people who are sincerely looking to the Lord and placing usefulness above mere delight, when this will not harm the eternal state of the person, or their family, or associates. Certainly through such people the Lord provides means of establishing the uses of His church on earth.
Providence sometimes permits evil people to come temporarily into fame and fortune, either to keep them from worse things, or to cause them to perform certain needed uses [which Providence reveals] even though the
person intends nothing but evil. In any given case there can be no sure sight [for us] of how Providence is operating, except to know the general laws by which it does operate. What is clear in all of this, is that we are not to set our eyes on dignities and riches, we are not to let our thought dwell in the achieving of them.
This does not mean that we are not to desire them, and to obtain them through business transaction and works when these are done justly and honestly. (See DP 220) It does not mean that we are not to seek them as the means of bringing into being good works. But it means that our thought should be focused on use and
the performance of use, and on dignities and riches only as far as we can see some use within that looks to the order of the Lord's kingdom. This is the meaning of the instruction in Matthew: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth or rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal; for where your treasure is, your heart will
be also." (Matthew 6: 19-21).
If we understand how Providence operates, and if we apply ourselves to the uses of life with
sincerity and justice, we will not become angry when we are not raised to dignities and honors-for we will know that there is a very good reason in the eyes of the Lord. We will know that Providence will bring us these things when they will best serve our eternal happiness. When we look to use and learn of the Lord, the Lord can bring a great patience and sense of peace, which comes from the fact that we in our freedom, desire that our life should be led and guided by the love and wisdom of
the Lord.
