3066. 'And the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water' means affections for truth, and instruction acquired through those affections. This is clear from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections, dealt with in 489-491, 2362; from the meaning of 'the men of the city' as truths, for in the Word the residents of a city are sometimes called 'the men of the city', sometimes 'the inhabitants of the city', truths being meant when they are called 'the men of the city', goods when they are called 'the inhabitants' - what 'men' means, see 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517, what 'inhabitants' means, 2268, 2451, 2712, and what 'a city' means, 402, 2449, 2943; and from the meaning of 'drawing water' as receiving instruction, dealt with above in 3058. From all this it is evident that 'the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water' means affections for truth, and instruction acquired through those affections.

[2] No one is ever instructed through truths but through the affections for truth. For when truths are devoid of affection they do indeed flow as sounds into the ear but they do not pass into the memory. What causes them to pass into the memory and stay there is affection. For good that is the object of affection is like the soil into which truths are sown as seeds. But the quality of the soil, that is, the essential nature of the affection, determines the nature of that which is produced from the seed sown there. The end in view or the use dictates the essential nature of the ground - that is, of the affection - and so dictates the nature of that which is produced from the seed sown there. Or if you prefer, the love itself is what decides it, for love is to all things the end in view and the use. Nothing is considered to be an end in view and a use except that which is loved.

915. 'He went out' means that this did in fact happen. 'Noah and his sons means the member of the Ancient Church; and 'his wife and his sons' wives' means the Church itself. This is clear from the train of thought, which implies that in this way the Ancient Church came into being, for these words form an end or conclusion to what goes before them. When the Church is being described in the Word it is described either as 'husband (vir) and wife' or as 'man (homo) and wife'. When it is husband and wife 'husband' means the understanding part, which is truth, and 'wife' the will part, which is good. And when man and wife is used 'man' means love, or good that stems from love, and 'wife' faith, or the truth of faith. 'Man' accordingly means the essential element of the Church, 'wife' the Church itself. This applies throughout the Word. Here, since the subject up to now has been the forming of a new Church while the Most Ancient Church was dying out, 'Noah and his sons' means the member of the Ancient Church, and 'his wife and his sons' wives with him' the Church itself. This is why they are here referred to in a different order from what they were in verse 16 previously. In that verse, where it is said, 'Go out, you and your wife, and your sons and your sons' wives with you', 'you' and 'wife' are coupled together, as are 'sons' and 'your sons' wives'. Consequently 'you' and 'sons' mean truth, and 'wife' and 'sons' wives' good. In this verse 18 however they do not come in the same order, the reason being, as has been stated, that 'you and sons' means the member of the Church, and 'his wife and his sons' wives' the Church itself. It in fact forms the conclusion to what goes before it. It was not Noah but his sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth who constituted the Ancient Church, as stated already. For three Churches in a sense formed this Ancient Church, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on. These Churches emerged as offspring of the one Church called Noah, and this is why the expressions 'you and your sons', and then 'your wife and sons' wives' are used here.