4644. The present chapter deals with the following matters - the Good which was Divine and which the Lord had from when He was born; the joining of that Good to the truth and good which, as one who was born a human being, He acquired to Himself; also the derivatives from this. But because these matters, as has been stated, are of a kind which does not come within the range of anyone's understanding, not even that of any angel, it is not therefore possible for them to be explained in detail. What is more, mere names are used to describe that Divine [Natural Good] together with its derivatives, and to explain mere names devoid of any historical context which sheds light confirming the explanation given would leave the whole thing in doubt. For few are able to believe that spiritual things are meant by the names used in the Word, no matter how clearly this is shown to them. For all these reasons the actual words used in this chapter are being copied out, with the addition of no more than a general explanation of them involving the kinds of things which people are able to grasp, yet which are merely vague outlines. For no one can possibly see the things that exist within the Divine; but people can gain a general picture of things emanating from the Divine. What is then seen depends on the kind of understanding within whose range those things can come, though even then they are but vague outlines.

[2] In addition it should be recognized that no human being at all is born into any good. Rather, each person is born into evil - into more internal evil from his father and into more external from his mother - for everyone's heredity is an evil one. The Lord alone was born into good, actually into Divine Good itself, in that He received this from His Father. This Divine Good into which the Lord was born is the subject now. Its derivatives are those things which came to exist in the Lord's Human when He made this Divine and by means of which He glorified it. All this explains why it is possible for just a general explanation to be added here.

9154. 'The master of the house shall be brought to God' means enquiring of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'being brought to God' as being brought forward for enquiry to be made, dealt with below in 9160; and from the meaning of 'the master of the house' as good which is enquired of. The reason why 'the master of the house' means good is that the subject is truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from the memory, meant by 'the silver and the vessels which were delivered to someone for safe keeping but were taken away by theft', 9149, 9150. Since those truths and factual knowledge belong to good and exist in good 'the master of the house', to whom the objects belong and with whom they reside, means good. Good is called 'the master' because truths and factual knowledge belong to good as their master, and good is also called 'the house' because truths and factual knowledge exist within good as their house. For the meaning of 'the house' as good, and the fact that truths reside in that house, see 3652, where the Lord's words in Matthew are explained,

Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of the house. Matthew 24:17.

[2] The implications of this - that good should be enquired of regarding truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from the memory - are that the good present with a person is that which receives all truths into itself. For good receives its specific quality from truths; and in the measure that truths have good within them and also around them they have life. This is like a fibre or like a vessel in a living creature. In the measure that the fibre has spirit ¹ in it and in the measure that the vessel has blood in it they have life; and a blood vessel likewise has life in the measure that it has around itself fibres with spirit in them. A similar situation exists with truth and good. Truth without good is like a fibre without spirit, and like a vein or an artery without blood, the nature of which anyone can see, namely something devoid of life and so devoid of any use within a living creature. The situation is similar when faith is devoid of charity. Since good receives its specific quality from truths, as has been stated, good also receives its form from them; for where there is form, specific quality is present, and where there is no form no specific quality is present. Again it is like the situation with spirit and blood in a living creature. Spirit is circumscribed by its fibres and so receives form through them, while blood receives form through its vessels. From all this it is evident that truth without good has no life in it, and that good without truth possesses no specific quality, consequently that faith without charity is not faith that is alive. By faith here faith composed of truth is meant, and by charity life consisting of good.

[3] All this shows how to understand the explanation that if truths and factual knowledge have been taken away, enquiry should be made of good. That is to say, it shows that when a person is governed by good, that is, by an affection for doing good, he recollects all the truths that have entered into good, but when he turns away from good the truths disappear, for falsity arising from evil is that which takes them away as if by theft. But truths that have disappeared are recollected once again when a person comes back to an affection for good or for truth through the life he leads. Anyone who stops to reflect can recognize the truth of this from his own experience and from what takes place with others. All this makes plain what is meant by enquiring of good regarding truths and factual knowledge that have been taken away from a person's memory or mind.

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