5132. 'And show, I beg you, mercy to me' means the reception of charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'mercy' as love, dealt with in 3063, 3073, 3120, 5042, in this case love towards the neighbour, which is charity, since the reception of faith is spoken of above in 5130; for on the level of the senses, when these are born again, faith and charity must make one. The reason 'mercy' means charity is that all who have charity have mercy, that is, all who love their neighbour are merciful towards him. This also explains why the Word describes the practice of charity as acts of mercy, as in Matthew,

I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to me. Matthew 25:35-36.

And in other places the practice of charity is described as acts of mercy done to the poor, the afflicted, widows, and orphans.

[2] Charity consists essentially in desiring the welfare of one's neighbour, in having an affection for what is good, and in acknowledging that since what is good is one's neighbour, those who are governed by good are consequently one's neighbour, but varyingly so, depending on the amount of good that governs the individual person. Therefore since charity consists in having an affection for what is good, it also consists in feelings of mercy for those in distress. The good of charity holds such feelings within it because it comes down from the Lord's love towards the whole human race, a love which is 'mercy' because the whole human race is in distress. Mercy sometimes seems to exist among the evil who have no charity. But this is a case of pain because of their own suffering; for it consists in a concern for friends whom they identify with themselves, and when those friends suffer, they suffer too. This kind of mercy is not the mercy that belongs to charity but that which goes with friendship based on self-interest, which regarded in itself is the opposite of mercy. That kind of person despises and hates everyone else apart from himself, and so everyone else apart from the friends whom he identifies with himself.

5131. 'When it is well with you' means when a correspondence exists. This is clear from the meaning - when the subject is the rebirth or regeneration of the exterior natural or sensory power - of 'being well with you' as a correspondence that exists, for until that power corresponds things are not well with it. What correspondence is may be seen at the ends of chapters. There is a correspondence of sensory impressions with natural ideas, a correspondence of natural ideas with spiritual realities, a correspondence of spiritual realities with celestial entities, and finally a correspondence of celestial entities with the Lord's Divine. Thus a sequence of correspondences exists extending from the Divine down to the last and lowest degree of the natural.

[2] Since it is difficult for anyone to have any conception of the nature of correspondences if he has not previously given any thought to them, a brief statement must therefore be made about them. It is well known from philosophy that the end is prior to the cause, and the cause prior to the effect. To enable end, cause, and effect to follow one another and act as one, the effect must correspond to the cause, and the cause must correspond to the end. Nevertheless the end does not manifest itself as the cause, nor does the cause manifest itself as the effect. Rather, to enable the cause to exist the end must act on the level where the cause belongs, calling on assistant means to help it - the end - to bring the cause into existence; and to enable the effect to exist the cause likewise must act on the level where the effect belongs, by calling on assistant means to help it - the cause - to bring the effect into existence. These assistant means are ones that correspond; and because they correspond, the end can exist within the cause and bring the cause into operation, and the cause can exist within the effect and bring the effect into operation. Consequently the end uses the cause to bring the effect into operation. But it is different when no correspondence exists. In this case the end does not have a cause in which it may exist, let alone any effect in which it may do so. Instead the end undergoes change and variation within the cause, and finally within the effect, according to the form which the assistant means create.

[3] All things without exception within the human being, indeed all things without exception in the natural creation, follow one another as end, cause, and effect. When these correspond to one another in this way they act as one, for in this case the end is the all in all of the cause, and through the cause is the all in all of the effect. Take for example heavenly love, when this is the end, the will is the cause, and action is the effect. If the three exist in correspondence with one another - that love flowing into the will, and the will into action - they then act as one, so much so through their correspondence with one another that the action is seen as the love. Or take for another example faith grounded in charity. When this is the end, thought is the cause, and conversation is the effect. If the three exist in correspondence with one another - if faith grounded in charity is flowing into a person's thought, and this into his conversation - they then act as one, so much so that through their correspondence with one another his conversation is seen as if it were the end. But to enable the cause to exist, which is will or thought, the end, which is love or faith, must call on assistant means within the rational mind which must correspond. For without the corresponding assistant means the end, which is love and faith, has nothing to receive it, even though it flows in from the Lord through heaven. From this it is evident that both the interior and the exterior aspects of the human being, that is, his rational concepts, natural ideas, and sensory impressions, must be brought into a state of correspondence so that the Divine can flow in and be received by a person, consequently so that he may be born again, prior to which all is not well with him. From all this one may see that 'when it is well with you' here means [when] a correspondence exists.