3183. And her nurse. That this signifies from the innocence appertaining thereto (that they also sent this away, that is, separated it from themselves), appears from the signification of a “nurse,” or one that gives suck, as being innocence. Repeated mention is made in the Word of those that suck, and of those that give suck; and by the former is signified the first state of infants, which state it is evident must be a state of innocence; for when first born, man is introduced into a state of innocence, in order that this may be a plane for all the succeeding states, and be the inmost in them; which state is signified in the Word by a “suckling.” Next he is introduced into a state of the affection of celestial good, that is, of love toward his parents, which with such infants is in the place of love to the Lord; and this state is signified by an “infant.”

Afterwards he is introduced into a state of the affection of spiritual good, or of mutual love, that is, of charity toward his playmates, which state is signified by “boys.” As he advances further in age, he is introduced into a state of the affection of truth; this is signified by “young men;” and the subsequent states are signified by “men,” and finally by “old men.” This last state, signified by “old men,” is the state of wisdom, in which is the innocence of infancy; thus the first state and the last are united; and man when old, being again a little child, but wise, is introduced into the Lord’s kingdom.

[2] From all this it is evident that innocence is the first state, which is that of the sucking child. Hence also she that gives suck signifies innocence; for of the giver and the receiver, as of the actor and the one acted upon, a similar state is perceived. It is here said that they sent away also the nurse (or her who gave suck), to the intent that the affection of truth might be described, namely, that it was from innocence; for the affection of truth is not the affection of truth unless innocence is in it (see n. 2526, 2780, 3111); for by innocence the Lord flows into this affection, and indeed with wisdom, since true innocence is wisdom itself (see n. 2305, 2306); and in the eyes of the angels they who are in innocence appear as infants (n. 154, 2306).

[3] That in the Word a “sucking child” signifies innocence, is also evident from other passages; as in David:

Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast Thou founded strength (Psalms 8:2; Matthew 21:16); where “babes” denote celestial love, and “sucklings,” innocence.

In Jeremiah:

Wherefore commit ye great evil against your souls, to cut off from you man and woman, the infant and the suckling out of the midst of Judah, that I should leave you none remaining? (Jeremiah 44:7); where the “infant and the suckling” in like manner denote celestial love and the innocence thereof; and when these become none, then there are no longer any “remains,” that is, any good and truth remaining stored up by the Lord in the internal man (that these are remains, may be seen above, n. 1906, 2284); for all goods and truths perish together with innocence, inasmuch as innocence is immediately from the very Divine, and thus is the very essential in them all.

[4] Again:

The infant and the suckling faint in the streets of the city (Lam. 2:11); where the signification is the same. Again:

The whales draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones; the daughter of My people is become cruel; the tongue of the suckling cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; the little children ask bread, and no man reaches it unto them (Lam. 4:3-4).

The “suckling” again denoting innocence; “little children,” the affections of good.

In Moses:

Without shall the sword bereave, and from the chambers terror, both the young man, and the virgin, the suckling with the old man (Deuteronomy 32:25).

The “sword bereaving the young man, the virgin, the suckling with the old man,” signifies that falsity will destroy the affection of truth, and the affection of good; also innocence together with wisdom.

In Isaiah:

They shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon the shoulder, and kings shall be thy nourishers, and their queens those who give thee suck (Isaiah 49:22-23); where “kings thy nourishers” denotes intelligence; and “queens those who give thee suck,” wisdom: and that this is of innocence, has been stated above.

1906. After ten years of Abram’s dwelling in the land of Canaan. That this signifies the remains of good and of the derivative truth which the Lord procured to Himself, and by means of which that rational was conceived, is evident from the signification of “ten,” as being remains, spoken of before (n. 576). What remains are, has been stated and shown above (n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 661, 798, 1050), namely, that they are all the states of the affection of good and truth with which a man is gifted by the Lord, from earliest infancy even to the end of life; which states are stored up for him for the use of his life after death; for in the other life all the states of his life return in succession, and are then tempered by the states of good and truth with which he has been gifted by the Lord. The more remains therefore that a man has received in the life of the body, that is, the more of good and truth, the more delightful and beautiful do the rest of his states appear when they return. That this is really so may be evident to everyone, if he will consider. When a man is born he has not a particle of good of himself, but is wholly defiled throughout with hereditary evil, and all that is good flows in, such as his love for his parents, his nurses, his companions; and this from innocence. Such are the things that flow in from the Lord through the heaven of innocence and peace, which is the inmost heaven, and thus is man imbued with them in his infancy.

[2] Afterwards, when he grows up, this good, innocent, and peaceful state of infancy recedes little by little; and so far as he is introduced into the world, he comes into its pleasures, and into cupidities, and thus into evils; and so far the celestial or good things of the age of infancy begin to disappear; but still they remain, and the states which the man afterwards puts on or acquires are tempered by them. Without them a man can never be a man, for the states of the cupidities, or of evil, if not tempered by states of the affection of good, would be more atrocious than those of any animal. These states of good are what are called remains, given by the Lord and implanted in one’s natural disposition, and this when the man is not aware of it.

[3] In after life he is also gifted with new states; but these are not so much states of good as states of truth, for as he is growing up he is imbued with truths, and these are in like manner stored up in him in his interior man. By these remains, which are those of truth, born of the influx of spiritual things from the Lord, man has the ability to think, and also to understand what the good and the truth of civic and moral life are, and also to receive spiritual truth or faith; but he cannot do this except by means of the remains of good that he had received in infancy. That there are remains, and that they are stored up in a man in his interior rational, is wholly unknown to man; and this because he supposes that nothing flows in, but that everything is natural to him, and born with him, thus that it is all in him when an infant, when yet the real case is altogether different. Remains are treated of in many parts of the Word, and by them are signified those states by which man becomes a man, and this from the Lord alone.

[4] But the remains that appertained to the Lord were all the Divine states which He procured for Himself, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence. These cannot be compared to the remains that pertain to man, for the latter are not Divine, but human. It is the remains appertaining to the Lord that are signified by the “ten years in which Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan.” When angels hear the Word, they do not know what the number ten is, but as soon as it is named by man the idea of remains occurs to them; for by “ten” and “tenths” in the Word are signified remains, as is evident from what was shown above (n. 576, 1738); and when a perception comes to them based on the idea of the end of the ten years that Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, the idea of the Lord comes to them, and at the same time innumerable things that are signified by the remains in the Lord during the time that He was in the world.