4367. 'And Jacob said, No, I beg of you' means the birth of that affection. This becomes clear from what has been stated immediately above, that is to say, that the refusal to accept a gift instills affection, which is manifested here in his saying 'No, I beg of you'. From this it is evident that the birth of an affection is meant here.

571. When anyone is such that he immerses the truths of faith in his own insane desires he renders truths unholy and deprives himself of remnants which, though with him still, cannot be brought out. For the instant they are brought out they in turn are rendered unholy by those things which are already profaned. For profanations of the Word create hard skin so to speak which blocks and absorbs into itself the goods and truths constituting remnants. This being so, let man be on his guard against profaning the Word of the Lord in which eternal truths are present that have life within them, though the person who is under the influence of false assumptions does not believe that they are truths.