Arcana Coelestia # 2325
2325. 'And Lot saw' means [their] conscience - that is to say, the conscience of those with whom the good of charity exists but whose worship is external. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'seeing'. 'Seeing' in the Word means understanding, see 897, 1584, 1806, 1807, 2150. In the internal sense however 'seeing' means having faith, a meaning which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed at Genesis 29:32. The reason why conscience is meant here is that people who have faith have conscience as well. Conscience is inseparable from faith, so inseparable in fact that it makes no difference whether you speak of faith or of conscience. By faith is meant faith through which charity comes, and which derives from charity. This being so, it is charity itself, for faith without charity is not faith at all. And just as faith is not possible without charity, neither is conscience possible without it.
2 Kings 5:7-8
7
It happened, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he tore his clothes, and said, "Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends to me to heal a man of his leprosy? But please consider and see how he seeks a quarrel against me."
8
It was so, when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, that he sent to the king, saying, "Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
