9300. The first of the firstfruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God. That this signifies that all truths of good and goods of truth are holy, because they are from the Lord alone, is evident from the signification of “the firstfruits of the ground,” as being that the goods and truths of the church are to be ascribed to the Lord alone (that “the firstfruits” denote these, see n. 9223; and that “the ground” denotes the church, n. 566, 1068). It is said “the first of the firstfruits,” because this ascription must be the foremost thing; for goods and truths have their life from the Lord, and they have life from the Lord when they are ascribed to Him. And from the signification of “bringing into the house of God,” as being to ascribe to the Lord, that they may be holy. (That “the house of God” denotes the Lord, seen. 3720; and that everything holy is from the Lord, n. 9229.) From all of which it is evident that by “the first of the first fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring into the house of Jehovah thy God” is signified that all truths of good and goods of truth are holy, because they are from the Lord alone.
[2] They are called “truths of good” and “goods of truth,” because with the man who is being regenerated, and still more so with him when he has been regenerated, truths are of good, and goods are of truth; for truths make the life of the understanding, and good makes the life of the will. Moreover, with the regenerate man the understanding and the will make one mind, and communicate reciprocally, the truths which are of the understanding with the good which is of the will, and the good which is of the will with the truths which are of the understanding. They flow into each other scarcely otherwise than as the blood flows from the heart into the lungs, and thence back again into the heart; and then from the left ventricle of the heart into the arteries, and from these through the veins back again into the heart. Such an idea may be formed about the reciprocal action of good and truth in man from his understanding into his will, and from his will into his understanding. That an idea about the reciprocal action of the truth of faith and the good of charity in the understanding and the will, may be obtained in especial from the lungs and the heart, is because the lungs correspond to the truths which are of faith, and the heart to the good which is of love (n. 3635, 3883-3896). Hence also it is that by the “heart” in the Word is signified the life of the will, and by the “soul” the life of faith (n. 9050).
[3] That from these an idea can be formed about the truths which are of the understanding and the good which is of the will, is because all things that belong to faith and love carry with them an idea from such things as the man knows, for without an idea from what he knows and feels in himself a man cannot think; and a man thinks rightly even about the things of faith and love, when he thinks of them from correspondences, for correspondences are natural truths, in which as in mirrors, spiritual truths are represented. Wherefore, so far as the ideas of thought concerning things spiritual are formed independently of correspondences, so far they are formed either from the fallacies of the senses, or from what is inconsistent with such things. The kind of ideas a man has about what belongs to faith and love, is very manifest in the other life, for there ideas are clearly perceived.
[4] The statement that the truths of faith bear relation to man’s understanding, and the good of charity to his will, may seem not consistent to those who say and confirm themselves in the idea that the things of faith are simply to be believed, because the natural man and his understanding do not apprehend anything of this kind, and because faith is not from man, but from the Lord. Nevertheless the same persons acknowledge and believe that a man is enlightened in truths and enkindled with good when he reads the Word, and that when he is enlightened he perceives what is true and what is not true; and they also call those men enlightened who excel others in discovering truths from the Word; which shows that those who are enlightened see and perceive within themselves whether a thing is true, or is not true. That which is then inwardly enlightened is their understanding, and that which is then inwardly enkindled is their will. But if it is genuine truth of faith in which they are enlightened, and if it is genuine good of charity with which they are enkindled, then it is the understanding of the internal man that is enlightened; and the will of the internal man that is enkindled. The case is very different with those who have not the genuine truth of faith, and the genuine good of charity.
[5] They who are in truth and good not genuine, and even they who are in falsities and evils, can indeed confirm the truths of the church, but they cannot see and perceive from within whether they are truths. Hence it is that most persons remain in the doctrinal things of the church in which they were born, and merely confirm these; and they would have confirmed themselves in the greatest heresies, such as Socinianism and Judaism, if they had been born of such parents. From all this it is evident that the understanding is enlightened with those who are in the affection of truth from good, but not with those who are in the affection of truth from evil. With those who are in the affection of truth from good the understanding of the internal man is enlightened, and the will of the internal man is enkindled; but with those who in the affection of truth from evil the understanding of the internal man is not enlightened, neither is the will of the internal man enkindled, for the reason that they are natural men, and therefore insist that the natural man cannot apprehend the things of faith.
[6] That with those who are in the affection of truth from good, and who consequently are interior and spiritual men, it is the understanding which is enlightened in the truths of faith, and that it is the will which is enkindled with the good of charity, is very manifest from the same persons in the other life. There they are in the understanding of all things of faith, and in the will of all things of charity, and this they also clearly perceive. Consequently they possess intelligence and wisdom unspeakable, for after putting off the body they are in that interior understanding which was enlightened in the world, and in that interior will which was there enkindled. But at that time they were not able to perceive in what manner they were enlightened and enkindled, because they then thought in the body, and from such things as belong to the world. From all this it is now evident that the truths of faith make the life of the understanding, and the good of charity the life of the will; consequently that the understanding must needs be present in the things of faith, and the will in those of charity; or what is the same, that it is into these two faculties that the faith and charity from the Lord flow, and that these are received according to the state of these faculties, thus that the dwelling place of the Lord in man is nowhere else.
[7] From what has been said about the internal and the external man (n. 6057, 9279), an idea can be formed further, that the internal man is formed according to the image of heaven, and the external man according to the image of the world; and that those in whom the internal man has not been opened see nothing from heaven; and that what they see from the world about heaven is thick darkness; and that therefore they can have no spiritual idea about what belongs to faith and charity. Hence also it is that they cannot even apprehend what Christian good or charity is; insomuch that they quite think that the life of heaven consists solely in the truths which they call matters of faith; and also that the life of heaven is possible with all men whatever who have the confidence of faith, even though they have not the life of faith.
[8] How blind such people are in respect to the life of faith, which is charity, is very evident from the fact that they pay no attention whatever to the thousands of things the Lord Himself taught about the good of life; and that when they read the Word they at once cast these things behind faith’s back, and thus hide them from themselves and from others. Hence also it is that they cast out from the doctrine of the church everything that belongs to good-that is, to charity and its works-into a lower doctrine, which they call moral theology, and which they regard as natural and not spiritual; when yet after death the life of charity remains, and only so much of faith as is in agreement with this life; that is to say, there remains only so much of thought about the truths of faith as there is of the will of good according to these truths. (That those who are in faith from good are able to confirm themselves therein by all knowledges of whatever kind, and thereby strengthen their faith, see n. 2454, 2568, 2588, 4156, 4293, 4760, 5201, 6047, 8629)
