9208. Verses 25-27 If you lend silver to My people, to the needy one with you, you shall not be like a money-lender to him; you shall not charge him interest. If you ever take your companion's clothing as a pledge you shall restore it to him even at the going in of the sun. For this is his only covering; it is his clothing for his skin, in which he may sleep; and it shall be, when he cries out to Me, that I shall hear, for I am merciful.

'If you lend silver to My people, to the needy one with you' means giving instruction to those who have no knowledge of truth and still have a desire to learn it. 'You shall not be like a money-lender' means that it must be done in a spirit of charity. 'You shall not charge him interest' means that therefore it must not be done for the sake of gain to be acquired from it. 'If you ever take your companion's clothing as a pledge' means if factual knowledge of truth is dispersed by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. 'You shall restore it to him even at the going in of the sun' means that it is to be restored before the arrival of a state of shade induced by delights belonging to external kinds of love. 'For this is his only covering' means because sensory impressions lie on a level below more internal things. 'It is his clothing for his skin' means that they also clothe relatively external things. 'In which he may sleep' means resting on them. 'When he cries out to Me' means pleading to the Lord. 'I shall hear' means help. 'For I am merciful' means that such help comes wholly from Him, out of mercy.

8516. 'Therefore on the sixth day He gives you the bread of two days' means that for this reason right at the end of the former state He imparts so great an amount of truth through good that the joining together takes place after that. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sixth day' as the end of a former state, dealt with in 8421; from the meaning of the manna, to which 'the bread' refers here, as the good of truth, dealt with in 8462, 8464; and from the meaning of the sabbath, for which day also the manna on the sixth day was given, so that it was two days' bread, as the joining together of goodness and truth, dealt with in 8495. It has been shown above that since 'the sabbath' means the joining together of goodness and truth, the fact that no man[na] was to be found on the seventh day means that when that joining together has taken place a person's actions spring from good and no longer from truth, indeed that they must not any longer spring from truth, 8510.

[2] But as this appears rather baffling, let a few further words of explanation be added. Everyone ought to be led to Christian good, which is called charity, through the truth of faith; for the truth of faith must teach not only what charity is but also what it needs to be like. And unless a person learns this first from the teachings of his Church - for he cannot by any means know it instinctively - he cannot be prepared and so made fit to receive that good. For example, he needs to know from religious teachings that charity in no way involves doing good for selfish reasons, that is, for the sake of reward, nor thus meriting salvation through the works of charity. He also needs to know that all the good of charity originates in the Lord, and none whatever in self, besides very many other teachings telling him what charity is and needs to be like. From all this it becomes clear that a person cannot be led to Christian good except through the truths of faith. In addition a person needs to know that truths do not of themselves enter good but that good adopts truths and attaches them to itself; for the truths of faith in a person's memory lie so to speak in a field that is spread out before his inward vision. Good from the Lord flows into that vision, and from the truths present there it selects and joins to itself those that are compatible. The truths, which lie below, cannot flow into the good, which is above, since it is altogether contrary to order, as well as impossible, for what is lower to flow into what is higher, 5259.

[3] From all this one may now see how Christian good is born with a person when he is being regenerated, and therefore also what a person will be like when he has been regenerated, namely one whose actions spring from good, but not from truth. That is, he is one who is led by the Lord through good and no longer through truth, for now he is governed by charity, that is, by an affection for doing that good. All who are in heaven are led in such a manner, for it is in keeping with Divine order. Thus everything they think or do flows so to speak spontaneously and freely. It would be altogether different if truth were to shape their thought and action, for then they would cogitate over whether or not they should do a certain thing, and so would hesitate over details, and in so doing would obscure the light they have. Eventually they would act in accord with what they themselves loved, thus in accord with influences that pander to their own loves, which is to be led by self, not by the Lord. From all this it is again evident what it is to be forbidden to acquire good through truth any longer, meant by the people gathering manna on six days, and finding none on the seventh day, dealt with in 8505, 8506, 8510.