8754. A few words shall here be said about the good in which truths are to be implanted, which good is here signified by “the wilderness of Sinai.” (That the man who is being regenerated is first led by the Lord by means of truth, and afterward by means of good, see n. 7923, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701.) He who is being regenerated is led by means of truth to the intent that he may come to good, that is, may know it, and then will it, and finally do it. But when he is being led to good by means of truth, he first comes to the good in which the truths of faith have not yet been implanted; for truths cannot be implanted until he is in good. Before this they are indeed known, because they are in the memory, but at this time they are not in good, but are outside of good. Afterward when the man receives new life, which he first receives when he is in good, the truths of faith are implanted, and as it were enter upon a marriage with good in the internal man. This good, in which the truths of faith have not yet been implanted, but which is still so disposed that they can be received, is here meant by “the wilderness of Sinai.” No other good is meant than Christian good (on which see n. 8635-8638).

8701. Thou art not able to do it, thou alone. That this signifies without the influx of truth from good ¹ from some other source, is evident from the signification of “doing it alone,” when said of the truth Divine represented by Moses, as being the influx of truth from it alone, and not at the same time from some other source. How the case herein is can be seen from what was said above (n. 8685) concerning the immediate influx of truth Divine, and concerning its influx immediate and at the same time mediate; namely, that the influx of truth Divine is immediate in the first state of man when he is being regenerated; but that the influx is immediate and mediate in the second state, that is, when he has been regenerated. When the influx is immediate, the Lord indeed flows in with good and truth, yet the good is not then perceived, but truth; therefore the man is then led by means of truth, not so much by good. But when the influx is at the same time mediate, then good is perceived, for mediate influx is into the man’s external sensuous; hence it is that the man is then led by the Lord by means of good. In general be it known that a man has not been regenerated until he acts from the affection of good; for he then wills good, and it is delightful and blessed to him to do it. When he is in this state, his life is the life of good, and he is in heaven, for what universally reigns in heaven is good; the truth which is of faith, however, leads man to good, thus to heaven, but does not place him in heaven. The reason of this is that in the other life all are associated together according to the life of the will, not according to the life of the understanding; for where the will is, there the understanding is, but not the reverse: it is so in heaven, and it is so in hell. They who are evil are not sent into hell until they are in the evil of their life; for when they are in this, they are also in the falsity of their evil; in like manner they who are in good are, in heaven, in the truth of their good. In the other life all are reduced to the state of having one mind, namely, that what they will they also think, and they do not think differently from what they will. But in the world it is otherwise, for in the world a man can think differently, and even understand differently, from what he wills; but this in order that he may be reformed, that is, may understand good though he wills evil, and thus may be led by his understanding to will good; but in the other life everyone is led according to his will which has been acquired in the world.

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