4783. 'To comfort him' means to provide explanations based on the sense of the letter of the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'comforting' as calming a turbulence of mind with a hope concerning some thing, dealt with in 3610, in this case a turbulence or mourning over lost good and truth. And because this mourning cannot be subdued except by means of explanations based on the Word, and because reference is being made at this point to Jacob's sons and daughters, who mean those governed by falsities and evils, 4781, 4782, 'comforting' means explanations based on the sense of the letter. For the sense of the letter of the Word contains general ideas which, being like vessels, can be filled with truths or else with falsities and so can be given whatever explanation suits one's own point of view. And because they are general ones they are also obscure compared with other ideas, receiving light from nowhere else than the internal sense. For the internal sense exists in the light of heaven because it is the Word as angels know it, whereas the sense of the letter exists in the light of the world because it is the Word as men know it before they come to the light of heaven received from the Lord, by which light they are then enlightened. From this it is evident that the sense of the letter serves to introduce the simple to the internal sense.

[2] This use of explanations when one is expounding the Word - explanations which are based on the sense of the letter and which fit in with one's own point of view - is quite evident from the fact that all religious ideas, including heretical ones, are substantiated by such explanations. For example, the accepted teaching about faith separated from charity is substantiated by the following words spoken by the Lord,

God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16.

From these words and other places people deduce that eternal life is acquired through faith alone without works. And once these people have become convinced of this they no longer pay any attention to what the Lord said so many times about love to Him, and about charity and works, 1017, 2373, 3934. Thus they pay no attention to the following in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

If they are told that no one can believe in the Lord except him who has charity, they instantly take refuge in explanations like these: The law has been abolished; people are born in sins and so cannot do good of themselves, and those who do do it cannot do other than claim merit for it. These explanations too they substantiate from the sense of the letter of the Word, for example from what is stated in the parable about the Pharisee and the tax collector, Luke 18:10-14, and from other things that are stated. But these statements have an altogether different meaning from the explanations they resort to.

[3] Also, the adherents to faith separated from charity can have no other belief than that everyone is able by grace to be admitted into heaven, no matter what kind of life he has been leading, so that it is not a person's life but his faith that awaits him after death. This too they substantiate from the sense of the letter of the Word. But from the spiritual sense of the Word it is clear that the Lord has mercy on everyone, so that if a person reached heaven by mercy or grace irrespective of whatever life he has led everyone would be saved. The reason the adherents to faith separated from charity believe the way they do is that they have no knowledge at all of what heaven is because they do not know what charity is. If they knew how much peace, joy, and happiness is present within charity they would know what heaven is; but this is entirely hidden from them.

[4] Nor can the adherents to faith separated from charity have any other belief than that they will rise again with the physical body, though not until judgement day. This too they substantiate from many places in the Word, explained according to the sense of the letter. They give no thought at all to what the Lord said - many times in addition to the following - about the rich man and Lazarus, Luke 16:22-31, or to what He told the robber,

Truly I say to you, Today you will be with Me in paradise. Luke 23:43.

The reason the adherents to faith separated from charity believe the way they do is that if they were told that the body is not going to rise again they would refuse to believe in any resurrection at all, for what the internal man is they neither know nor have any conception of. Indeed no one can know what the internal man is and the internal man's life after death is except him who has charity; for charity is an attribute of the internal man.

[5] The adherents to faith separated from charity can have no other belief than that the works of charity consist solely in giving to the poor and helping the distressed. This belief too they substantiate from the sense of the letter of the Word. But in fact the works of charity consist in each person doing what is right and fair in his employment, from a love of what is right and fair, and of what is good and true.

[6] The adherents to faith separated from charity do not see anything in the Word apart from what substantiates their own accepted teachings, for they have no real insight. Indeed people who are not moved by the affection belonging to charity have merely external sight, or an inferior insight. With this no one can possibly behold higher things, for higher things are seen by him as darkness. Consequently such people see falsities as truths, and truths as falsities, and so by explanations based on the sense of the letter they ruin the good pasture and pollute the pure waters of that sacred spring which is the Word, as accords with the following in Ezekiel,

Is it a small thing to you? You feed off the good pasture and tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures; you drink the water that has settled down ¹ and stir up the rest with your feet. You butt with your horns all the weak [sheep] till you have scattered them abroad. Ezekiel 34:17-18, 21.

Poznámky pod čarou:

6645. 'And Joseph died' means that the situation with the internal part of the Church had now altered. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as the end of the former state and the beginning of the new one, thus the fact that the state of the Church had now altered (for 'dying' means ceasing to be what it has been, see 494, 6587, 6593, as well as meaning the end of the former representation, 3253, 3259, 7276, 6302); and from the representation of Joseph' as the internal part, dealt with in 6177, 6224. The nature of the state that the internal part of the Church passes through now is described in the internal sense of what follows, and so too is the state the external part of it passes through, which is meant by 'his brothers died, and all that generation'.

[2] The Church as it exists with a person goes from time to time through states that are new; for as the person's hold on the truth of faith and the good of charity grows stronger, so he is led into different states. A former state then serves as the foundation for the state that follows it, and so on unceasingly. In this way a person who is a Church, or one who is being regenerated, is being led all the time into things more internal, thus further into heaven. The reason why all this happens is that in His love, which is infinite because it is Divine, the Lord wishes to draw a person all the way to Himself and by doing this to bless him in every way with glory and happiness, as is also plainly evident from the Lord's words in John,

I pray that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. Father, I desire that those whom You gave Me may also be with Me where I am, that they may see My glory which You have given Me. For I made known to them Your name, and I will make it known, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them. John 17:20-26.

[3] These words, it is plainly evident, are those of Divine love going out towards all who receive it. The idea becomes additionally clear from the fact that the Lord is seen in the next life as the Sun, from which He fills the whole of heaven with warmth and light. The flame of that Sun is nothing else than Divine love, and the light from it is the holiness radiated by love, which is Divine Truth. This shows how great the Lord's love is. This then is why those who belong to the Church are led by consecutive stages into new states, thus all the time further into heaven, consequently closer to the Lord.