6047. 'And it may be, that Pharaoh may call you' means if the natural in which the Church's factual knowledge resides wishes to be joined to you. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling to oneself' as wishing to be joined to, for the call to them, made with affection, to live in his land and become a single nation together with his subjects is the expression of a wish to be joined to them; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural in which the Church's factual knowledge resides, as above in 6042. Pharaoh's call to them means the response made to the introduction and joining together, that is to say, the joining of the Church's factual knowledge to truths and forms of good in the natural. For every joining together requires such a response and therefore agreement on both sides.

[2] The subject here is the joining together of the Church's truths and its factual knowledge; but one needs to know in what way they should become joined. The joining together must not start with factual knowledge which is then used to look into the truths of faith; for a person's factual knowledge comes from sensory impressions, thus from the world, the source of countless illusions. It must start with the truths of faith; that is to say, one should proceed in the following way. First of all one should get to know what the Church teaches; then one should discover from the Word whether such teaching is the truth. For things are true not because they are what leaders of the Church have so declared and their followers uphold. If that were so one would have to say that the teachings of any Church or religion were the truth simply because they are those of a person's native soil and are those into which he was born. Thus not only the teachings of Papists or Quakers would be true but also those of Jews and of Mohammedans too since their Church leaders have so declared and their followers uphold it. From all this it is evident that one should search the Word and there see whether what the Church teaches is the truth. When an affection for truth motivates the search a person receives light from the Lord so that he may discern, though unaware of the source of his enlightenment, what the truth is and may be assured of it in the measure that he is governed by good. But if the truths discerned by him are at variance with the teachings of the Church, let him beware of creating a disturbance in the Church.

[3] Once he has become assured and so affirms from the Word that the Church's teachings are truths of faith, let him then employ any fact he knows, whatever the name or nature of it, to corroborate them. For now that he is thoroughly affirmative in his attitude towards the truth he welcomes facts that accord with them and casts away those which because of the misconceptions present within them do not accord. The facts are used in support of his faith. No one therefore should be forbidden to search the Scriptures if motivated by a desire to know whether the teachings of the Church in which he was born are true; for in no other way can he ever become enlightened. Nor should he be forbidden after that to use factual knowledge to support his beliefs; but let him not do so before that. This and no other is the way in which the truths of faith should be joined to factual knowledge - not only the facts known to the Church but also any other kinds of facts. But very few at the present day proceed in this way, for the majority of people who read the Word are not motivated by a desire for truth when they read it but by a desire to endorse the teachings of the Church in which they were born, no matter what those teachings may be like.

[4] The Word contains a description of the Lord's kingdom in which the spiritual domain, the domain of reason, and the domain of factual knowledge exist joined together; but in that description names that serve to mean those domains are used - Israel, Asshur, and Egypt. 'Israel' describes the spiritual domain, 'Asshur' the domain of reason, and 'Egypt' that of factual knowledge, in the following words in Isaiah,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at its border; and it will be for a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt, for they will cry out to Jehovah because of the oppressors, and He will send a saviour and prince to them, and he will deliver them. And Jehovah will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Jehovah on that day and will offer sacrifice and minchah, and will make a vow to Jehovah and perform it. On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and Egypt will serve Asshur. ¹ On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom Jehovah Zebaoth will bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel My heritage. Isaiah 19:18-25.

[5] Anyone may see that in this quotation the country Egypt is not meant, or Asshur, or even Israel, but that some other thing is meant by each of them. 'Israel' is used to mean the spiritual domain of the Church, see 3654, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5837; 'Asshur' to mean the domain of reason, 119, 1186; and 'Egypt' to mean the domain of factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 6004, 6015. The existence of the three joined together in the member of the Church is described in the prophet by the words 'there will be a highway from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and Egypt will serve Asshur. On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the earth'. For to be a member of the Church a person must of necessity be a spiritual person, and also a rational one whom factual knowledge will serve. From all this it may now be evident that factual knowledge should not on any account be cast aside from the truths of faith but should be joined to them. But one should go the primary way, that is, the way that begins with faith, not the secondary way, that is, the one that begins with factual knowledge. See also what has been shown in 128-130, 195, 196, 232, 233, 1226, 1911, 2568, 2588, 4156, 4760, 5510, 5700.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1911. 'And she saw that she had conceived, and her mistress was despised in her eyes' means that this rational at its conception despised truth itself that was allied to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'mistress', or Sarai, as truth allied to good. The rational conceived first is unable to acknowledge intellectual or spiritual truth as truth because it has clinging to it many illusions that are a product of what is known about the world and the natural order, and many appearances which are not truths but are a product of things known from the literal sense of the Word. For example,

[2] It is an intellectual truth that all life is from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not apprehend this, but supposes that if it did not live of itself it would possess no life at all; indeed it is angry if anything different is asserted, as I have noticed frequently in the case of spirits who cling to the illusions of the senses.

[3] It is an intellectual truth that all good and truth are from the Lord. Again, the rational conceived first does not apprehend this because of its sensation that these are as if from itself; and also it supposes that if good and truth are not from itself, it is unable to think, let alone perform, anything good and true, and that if it did have some other source it would give up its own efforts and constantly wait for influx into itself.

[4] It is an intellectual truth that nothing but good, and not even the smallest amount of evil, comes from the Lord. The rational conceived first does not believe this either, but it supposes that because the Lord rules over every single thing, even evil derives from Him. And because He is all powerful and present everywhere and is Goodness itself but does not abolish the punishments of evil people in hell, it supposes that He wills the evil of punishment, when in fact He does not do evil to anyone and does not will that anyone should be punished.

[5] It is an intellectual truth that the celestial man has from the Lord a perception of good and truth. But the first rational either denies the existence of perception altogether or else it supposes that if it did perceive from another and not from its own self it would be like one who is inanimate, or devoid of life. Indeed the more that the thinking of the rational is based on the facts that arise from sensory evidence and the more it is based on philosophical arguments, the less it apprehends these and all other intellectual truths, for the illusions that result are enveloped in shadows darker still. This is why the learned are less believing than others.

[6] Since the rational conceived first is such, it is clear that 'it despises its mistress', that is, it despises intellectual truth. Intellectual truth is not open to view, that is, it is not acknowledged, until illusions and appearances have been dispersed, and these are never dispersed as long as a person reasons about truths themselves on the basis of sensory evidence and factual knowledge. But the moment he believes in simplicity of heart that it is the truth because the Lord has declared it to be so, the shadows of illusions are at that point dispelled, and then there is nothing to stop him apprehending it.

[7] With the Lord however no illusions were present; but when His rational was first conceived there were appearances of truth which were not truths in themselves, as is evident from what has been stated in 1661. This also explains why His rational when first conceived despised intellectual truth, but step by step, as the rational became Divine, the clouds of appearances were dispersed and intellectual truths in their light were for Him open to view. This was represented and meant by the expulsion of Ishmael from the house when Isaac grew up. That the Lord did not despise intellectual truth but that He perceived and saw that His new rational did so will be clear from what follows in 1914.