9296. And the feast of ingathering, in the going out of the year, when thou gatherest in thy works out of the field. That this signifies worship from a grateful mind on account of the implantation of good therefrom, thus on account of regeneration and complete liberation from damnation, is evident from the signification of “a feast,” as being the worship of the Lord and thanksgiving (of which above, n. 9286, 9287, 9294), thus worship from a grateful mind; from the signification of “ingathering,” when said of the implantation of truth in good, as being the implantation of good itself; from the signification of “the going out of the year,” as being the end of the works; and from the signification of “when thou gatherest in thy works out of the field,” as being the enjoyment and use of all things that have been implanted in good. For, by “the works” are signified not only the things of the field, but also those of the vineyard and the oliveyard, consequently those of the fruit of the earth; as is evident from the description of this feast in Moses:

Thou shalt make for thee the feast of tabernacles seven days, after thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress. And Jehovah thy God shall bless thee in all thy produce, and in every work of thy hands (Deuteronomy 16:13, 15).

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days (Leviticus 23:39).

[2] As by this feast is signified the worship of the Lord from a grateful mind on account of the implantation of good, and thus on account of complete liberation from damnation, it shall first be explained what the implantation of good is. It has already been everywhere shown that man has two faculties of life, namely, the understanding and the will; and that the understanding is allotted to the reception of truth, and the will to the reception of good; for there are two things to which all things in the universe, both in heaven and in the world, bear relation, namely, truth and good. From this it is also evident that these two make the life of man, and that the truth of faith and the good of charity make his new life, and that unless both of these have been implanted in man he has no new life. In what way the truth which is of faith is sown and implanted in man, is known in the church; but it is not as yet so well known in what way the good which is of charity is implanted. When he is a little child, man receives good from the Lord, and this good is the good of innocence, such as little children have. This good makes the beginning of the new will in man, and in the succeeding age it grows in accordance with his life of innocence with his companions and in accordance with his life of goodness and obedience toward his parents and masters, but still more with those who afterward suffer themselves to be regenerated. This the Lord foresees, and provides according to the state of life that follows; for in every present moment the Lord foresees evil, and provides good; and this He does from the first thread of life even to eternity. Afterward, when the man grows up and begins to think from himself, so far as he is then carried away by the delights of the loves of self and of the world, so far this new willing, or beginning of a new will, is closed; and so far as he is not carried away by these delights, so far it is opened, and is also perfected.

[3] But how it is perfected by the implantation of truth, shall now be told. This new will, which is from the good of innocence, is the dwelling place through which the Lord enters into man and excites him to will what is good, and from willing to do it. This influx works in the man in proportion as he desists from evils. From this he has the faculty of knowing, of perceiving, reflecting upon, and understanding moral and civil truths and goods in accordance with the delight of use. Afterward the Lord flows in through this good into the truths of doctrine of the church with the man, and calls forth from the memory such as are of service to the use of life, and implants these in the good, and so perfects the good. It is from this that the good with a man is wholly in accordance with the use of life. If the use of life is for the neighbor (that is, for the good of our fellow citizen, of our country, of the church, of heaven), and for the Lord, then this good is the good of charity. But if the use of life is only for self and the world, then this beginning of the new will is closed, and beneath it is formed a will from the evils of the loves of self and of the world, and from this an understanding is formed of falsities. This latter will is closed above and open beneath, that is, closed to heaven and open to the world. From all this it is evident how truths are planted in good, and form it; and also that when a man is good he is in heaven with the Lord; for as before said, the new will, in which is the good of charity, is the dwelling place of the Lord, and consequently is heaven in man; and the new understanding thence derived is as it were the tabernacle through which He comes in and goes out.

[4] Such are the things in general and in particular that were represented by the feast, which was called “the feast of the ingathering of the fruits of the earth,” and “the feast of tabernacles.” That this is the case, is evident from the institution of this feast, of which in Moses:

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the earth, ye shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days; on the first day is a Sabbath, and on the eighth day a Sabbath. And ye shall take you on the first day the fruit of the tree of honor, branches of palm trees, and a bough of the dense tree, and willows of the torrent; and ye shall be glad before Jehovah your God seven days. All the homeborn of Israel shall dwell in tabernacles, that your generations may know that I made the sons of Israel to dwell in tabernacles when I led them forth out of the land of Egypt. (Leviticus 23:39-43).

Thou shalt make for thee the feast of tabernacles seven days, after thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress; thou shalt be glad in that feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the orphan, and the widow, that are within thy gates. Thou shalt be wholly glad (Deuteronomy 16:13-15).

[5] That a state of good implanted by means of truth by the Lord, thus a state of heaven in man, was represented by this feast, is plain from the internal sense of all the things here mentioned. For in this sense by “the fifteenth day of the seventh month” is signified the end of a former state and the beginning of a new state (that “fifteenth” has this signification, see, n. 8400; as also “seventh,” n. 728, 6508, 8976, 9228); by “the fruit of the earth which had been gathered in” is signified the good of charity (n. 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847, 3146, 7690, 7692). The like is signified by “the gathering in from the threshing-floor and from the winepress," for the grain of the threshing-floor denotes the good of truth (n. 5295, 5410); the wine of the winepress denotes truth from good (n. 6377); and the oil which is also of the press denotes the good from which is truth (n. 886, 3728, 4582, 4638). By “a Sabbath on the first day, and a Sabbath on the eighth day” is signified the conjunction of truth with good, and reciprocally of good with truth (that “the Sabbath” denotes the conjunction of truth and good, see n. 8495, 8510, 8890, 8893, 9274); that the eighth day was also called “a Sabbath” is because by “the eighth” was signified the beginning of a new state (n. 2044, 8400).

[6] By “the fruit of the tree of honor,” which they were to take on the first day, was signified festivity and joy on account of good implanted, wherefore the words follow, “that ye may be glad before Jehovah;” by “the branches of palm-trees” are signified the internal truths of this good (n. 8369); by “the bough of the dense (or interwoven) tree” are signified the external truths of good, that is, memory-knowledges (n. 2831, 8133); and by “the willows of the torrent,” truths still more external, which are those of the bodily senses. By “the tabernacles in which they were to dwell seven days” is signified the holiness of love from the Lord and reciprocally to the Lord (see n. 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312, 3391, 4391, 4599; and that it denotes the holiness of union, n. 8666). By “the homeborn of Israel” are signified those who are in the good of charity, thus abstractedly this good (n. 3654, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 6426, 7957); by the “gladness” of all then was signified joy such as those have who are in good from the Lord, thus such as those have who are in heaven; for he who is in the good of charity from the Lord is in heaven with the Lord. These are the things for the sake of which this feast was instituted.