9146. 'Or standing grain, or a field' means the truth and good of faith in the process of being conceived. This is clear from the meaning of 'grain' as the truth of faith, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a field' as the Church in respect of good, thus the Church's good, dealt with above in 9139. The reason why 'grain' means the truth of faith is that grain crops, such as wheat and barley, and bread made from them, mean the Church's forms of good, 3941, 7602. The Church's forms of good are those of charity towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. These forms of good are the being and soul of faith; for they are what cause faith to be faith and give it life. The reason why 'standing grain' is the truth of faith in the process of being conceived is that it has not yet been gathered into stacks or stored away in barns. Therefore when grain is standing or still shooting up it is the truth of faith in the process of being conceived.

[2] Much the same is meant by 'standing grain' in Hosea,

Israel has made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know. Their silver and their gold they have made into idols. Because they sow the wind, they will reap the whirlwind. He does not have any standing grain; the ears will yield no flour. If they do yield it, aliens will swallow it up. Hosea 8:4, 7.

This refers to the Church's truths and forms of the good of faith when they have been reduced to nothing by hollow and false ideas. The fact that these things are the subject is evident from the train of thought, but what is actually being said about them is evident only from the internal sense. For in this sense 'a king' is used to mean the Church's truth of faith in its entirety, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148, and 'princes' to mean primary truths, 1482, 2089, 5044; and from all this one may see what is meant by the words 'Israel has made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know', 'Israel' being the Church, 4286, 6426, 6637. By 'silver' is meant in the internal sense the truth of good, and in the contrary sense the falsity of evil, 1551, 2954, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 8932, by 'gold' is meant good, and in the contrary sense evil, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, and by 'idols' is meant worship consisting of falsities and evils, 8941; and from all this one may see what is meant by 'their silver and their gold they have made into idols'. 'The wind' which they sow means senseless ideas; 'the whirlwind' which they will reap means the resulting turmoil in the Church; 'the standing grain' which he does not have any of means the truth of faith in the process of being conceived; 'the ears' which will yield no flour means sterility; and 'aliens' who will swallow it up means falsities that will consume it.

2023. 'And to your seed after you' means the Divine from that source with those who have faith in Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as the faith that inheres in charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 1610, and also from the meaning of 'after you' as following Him, dealt with just above in 2019. The Divine as it resides with those who have faith in Him is love and charity - love to the Lord being understood by 'love', and love towards the neighbour by 'charity'. Love to the Lord cannot possibly be separated from love towards the neighbour, for the Lord's love is directed towards the whole human race whom He wishes to save eternally and to join so completely to Himself that not a single one of them perishes. Anyone therefore who has love to the Lord possesses the Lord's love and so cannot help loving the neighbour.

[2] But not all people who are moved by love towards the neighbour are on that account moved by love to the Lord. This is so in the case of honest gentiles with whom, though they do not know the Lord, the Lord is nevertheless present in their charity, as shown in Volume One, in 1032, 1059. And this also applies to others inside the Church, for love to the Lord is of a higher order. People who have love to the Lord are celestial, but those who have love towards the neighbour, which is charity, are spiritual. The Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and was celestial was moved by love to the Lord, whereas the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood and was spiritual was moved by love towards the neighbour, which is charity. This distinction between love and charity will be maintained, when they are mentioned, in what follows.