5454. 'And if not, as sure as Pharaoh lives, you are spies' means that otherwise it is a certainty that truths exist with you solely for the sake of gain. This is clear from the meaning of 'as sure as Pharaoh lives' as a certainty, dealt with in 5449, and from the meaning of 'spies' as ones who are interested in the truths known to the Church solely for the sake of material gain, dealt with in 5432, 5438, 5447. No fuller explanation of these words and those immediately before them is attempted here as a general explanation has appeared already in what went before, apart from which they are the kinds of matters that cannot possibly present themselves at all clearly to the understanding. For general ideas must exist first in the understanding, and only then can the particular details such as are contained in what went previously be added. If general ideas are not received first, particular details are by no means allowed in. Indeed they are a source of boredom since no affection for such details exists unless the general ideas have entered in with affection prior to that.