1068. And Noah began to be a man of the ground. That this signifies in general man instructed from the doctrinal things of faith, is evident from the signification of “ground” (concerning which above, n. 268, 566), namely, the man of the church, or what is the same, the church; for that there may be a church, the man must be a church. The church is called “ground” because it receives the seeds of faith, or the truths and goods of faith. “Ground” is distinguished from “earth”—which, as shown, also signifies the church—as faith is distinguished from charity. Just as charity is the containant of faith, so is “earth” the containant of “ground.” When therefore the church is treated of in general, it is called “earth;” and when specifically, it is called “ground” as in this verse; for the general is the complex of the things derived from it. The doctrinals possessed by the man of the Ancient Church were, as before said, from the revelations and perceptions of the Most Ancient Church, which had been preserved; and in these they had faith as at this day we have in the Word. These doctrinal things were their Word. Noah’s beginning to be “a man of the ground” signifies therefore man instructed in the doctrinals of faith.

268. That the “ground” signifies the external man, is evident from what was previously stated concerning “earth” “ground” and “field.” When man is regenerate, he is no longer called “earth” but “ground” because celestial seed has been implanted in him; he is also compared to “ground” and is called “ground” in various parts of the Word. The seeds of good and truth are implanted in the external man, that is, in his affection and memory, and not in the internal man, because there is nothing of one’s Own in the internal man, but only in the external. In the internal man are goods and truths, and when these no longer appear to be present, the man is external or corporeal; they are however stored up in the internal man by the Lord, without the man’s knowledge, as they do not come forth except when the external man as it were dies, as is usually the case during temptations, misfortunes, sicknesses, and at the hour of death. The rational belongs also to the external man n. 118), and is in itself a kind of medium between the internal man and the external; for the internal man, through the rational, operates on the corporeal external. But when the rational consents, it separates the external man from the internal, so that the existence of the internal man is no longer known, nor consequently the intelligence and wisdom which are of the internal.