468. THE INTERNAL SENSE

It is clear from what was stated and shown in the previous chapter that names meant heresies and systems of doctrine. From that it becomes clear that the names in this chapter do not mean specific individuals but other things that existed. Here they mean systems of doctrine or Churches which, though they underwent certain changes, were preserved from the time of the Most Ancient Church down to that of Noah. Now it so happens that every Church in the course of time gets smaller until at length it remains among only a few people. The few with whom it remained at the time of the Flood were called Noah.

[2] The fact that the true Church gets smaller and remains among the few becomes clear from other Churches which have in a similar manner got smaller. In the Word those who remain are called 'the Remnant' and 'that which is left', and indeed people 'in the midst (or the middle) of the land'. What applies in general applies in particular also; that is, what is true of the Church is equally true of individuals. If the Lord did not preserve remnants with each individual he would inevitably perish in eternal death, for those remnants contain spiritual and celestial life. The same applies to what is general or universal; were there not always some people among whom the Church, or true faith, existed, the human race would perish. For as is well known, a city, even a whole kingdom, is preserved for the sake of a few. These factors are akin to the heart in man: as long as the heart is sound the surrounding organs can go on living. But when it is weak, deterioration sets into them all and the person dies. Final remnants are meant by Noah, for with the exception of these, as is clear from verse 12 of the next chapter, 'the whole earth was corrupt'.

[3] The remnants residing with the individual or within the Church are frequently the subject in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

He who remains in Zion, and he who is left in Jerusalem will be called holy to Him, everyone who has been written for life ¹ in Jerusalem, when the Lord will have washed the filth of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood ² of Jerusalem from its midst. Isaiah 4:3-4.

Here holiness is attributed to the remnants, which mean remnants of the Church, and also of the member of the Church, for those left in Zion and in Jerusalem could not be holy people merely because they had been left there.

Similarly in the same prophet,

On that day, the remnant of Israel and those of the house of Jacob that escaped will no more lean on him that smote them; but they will lean upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the God of power. (Isaiah 10:20)

In Jeremiah,

In those days and in that time the iniquity of Israel will be sought, but there will be none, and the sins of Judah, but they will not be found; for I will pardon him whom I shall make one that is left. Jeremiah 50:10.

In Micah,

The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Jehovah, like showers on the grass. Micah 5:7.

[4] That which is left, or the remnant, whether of the individual or of the Church, was also represented by tenths, which were holy. And any number involving ten was consequently holy too. Ten therefore has reference to things that are left over, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah will remove man far away, and there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be a wiping out like an oak or a terebinth when the stump is cast away from them. The holy seed is its stump. Isaiah 6:12-13.

Here that which is left is called 'the holy stump'. In Amos,

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes forth a thousand will have a hundred that are left, and that which goes forth a hundred will have ten that are left to the house of Israel. Amos 9:3.

In these and many other places the internal sense means remnants, also the subject here. The fact that a city is preserved for the sake of the remnant of the Church is clear from what Abraham was told concerning Sodom, Abraham said, Perhaps ten may be found there; and He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. Genesis 18:32.

Poznámky pod čarou:

9276. 'And whatever is left by them let the wild animal of the field eat' means being joined through them to those immersed in the delights that go with external truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'whatever is left by them', that is to say, by 'the needy of the people', as that which is left and so remains after them, but at this point that which is received through them since the subject is the Church's being joined to those who possess few truths, and also here being joined to those immersed in the delights that go with external truth (the Church is joined to the latter through the former, as will be seen below); from the meaning of 'eating' as communicating and being joined together, dealt with immediately above in 9275; and from the meaning of 'the wild animal of the field' as those immersed in the delights that go with external truth. For in the Word affections for truth and good are meant by 'beasts', affections for internal truth and good being meant by 'beasts belonging to the flock', and affections for external truth and good being meant by 'beasts belonging to the herd'. But 'wild animals' are the kinds of affections that are drawn towards most external truth; for these affections compared with internal ones are 'wild animals', since they are the affections that belong to the level of the senses, and are called lowly pleasures and delights. They are delights that go with truth and not so much with good, the reason for this being that the senses, which are in direct contact with the world through the body, derive scarcely anything from spiritual good; for bodily and worldly kinds of love reside especially on the sensory level.

Affections for truth and good are meant in the Word by 'beasts', see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519, 5198, 9090.

Affections for internal truth and good are meant by 'beasts belonging to the flock', and affections for external truth and good by 'beasts belonging to the herd', 5913, 8937, 9135.

The senses are in contact with the world, being the most external powers of the mind, 4009, 5077, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310, 6311, 6313, 6315, 6318, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7693, 9212, 9216.

From all that is shown in these places one can see what the sensory level of a person's mind compared with more internal levels is like, namely like a wild animal.

[2] The present verse deals in the internal sense with those who are governed by the good of charity, then with those who possess few truths and still have a desire to receive instruction, and after that with those who are immersed in the delights that go with external truth. These three groups of people constitute the Church. Those governed by the good of charity constitute the internal part of the Church, whereas those who possess few truths and still wish to receive instruction, thus who derive from good an affection for truth, constitute the external part of the Church. But those immersed in the delights that go with external truth are the most external; they so to speak form the perimeter and enclose the Church.

[3] Heaven is joined to the human race, that is, the Lord coming by way of heaven is joined to it, through those who are governed by the good of charity, thus through the good of charity since the Lord is present within that good. For essentially that good is the Lord, because it emanates from Him. Through that good the Lord joins Himself to those who have an affection for truth; for the affection for truth is derived from good, and good emanates from the Lord, as has been stated. Through these people in turn the Lord is present with those immersed in the delights that go with external truth; for their delights spring for the most part from self-love and love of the world and derive little at all from spiritual good. Such is the manner in which heaven makes contact with people, that is, such is the manner in which the Lord coming by way of heaven makes contact with them; such therefore is the manner in which He is joined to them.

[4] That such is the manner in which the Lord makes contact with and is joined to the human race is clear from the consideration that the manner in which influx takes place with every member of the Church is such. The expression 'member of the Church' is used to mean one who is governed by the good of charity and consequently by the truths of faith received from the Lord; for charity from which faith springs is the Church itself present with a person, since charity and faith come from the Lord. The Lord flows into that good, which is the internal level of a person, then through that good into the affection for truth, which is his external level, and on through that affection into the delights that go with external truth, which are present on the most external levels.

[5] What applies to the individual member of the Church also applies to the Church as a whole, that is, to all collectively who constitute the Lord's Church. The reason why this should be so is that in the Lord's eyes the entire Church is like a human being; for the Lord's heaven, with which the Church acts as one, is in His eyes seen as one total human being, as becomes clear from what has been shown regarding heaven as the Grand Man at the ends of a number of the chapters explaining Genesis. This being so with the Church, the same is so with the individual member of the Church; for the individual member of the Church is a miniature heaven, Church, and Lord's kingdom.

[6] The Church also resembles an actual human being in this respect, that a person has two fountains of life, namely The Heart and The Lungs. It is well known that when human life begins the first part to develop is the heart and that the second is the lungs, and that from these two as fountains of life every other part of the body receives life. The heart of the Grand Man, that is, of heaven and the Church, is composed of those who are governed by love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, and so, considered without reference to persons, consists in love of the Lord and love of the neighbour. But the lungs in the Grand Man, or heaven and the Church, are composed of those who are governed by charity towards the neighbour, which comes from the Lord, and from this by faith, and so, considered without reference to persons, consists in charity and faith coming from the Lord. The remaining organs and members in the Grand Man however are composed of those who are governed by external forms of good and external truths, and so, considered without reference to persons, consist in external forms of good and external truths, by means of which internal truths and forms of good can be brought in. Just as the heart, then, flows first into the lungs, and subsequently from itself through these into the organs and members of the body, so too the Lord flows through the good of love into internal truths, and through these into external truths and forms of good.

[7] From all this it may be seen that the existence of the Church on earth is absolutely vital, and that without the Church the human race would perish; for it would be like a person at the time of death, when the lungs and heart stop working. For this reason the Lord sees to it that there always exists on earth a Church in which the Lord has made Himself known through Divine Truth received from Him, such Divine Truth on our planet being the Word. Scarcely anyone at the present day believes that this is so, because no one believes that human life comes wholly from the Lord by way of heaven. For it is supposed that life exists innately in a person and can continue to do so without connection with heaven, that is, with the Lord through heaven. But that supposition is utterly false.

[8] All this now shows how to understand the idea of being joined through the good of charity to those who possess few truths and still have a desire to receive instruction, and being joined through them to those immersed in the delights that go with external truth, meant by the law about letting the land rest and letting it lie fallow in the seventh year, when the needy of their people would eat, and whatever was left by these the wild animal of the field would eat. But see what has been shown already regarding matters that are mentioned above:

In the Lord's eyes heaven is seen as one total human being and for this reason heaven is called the Grand Man, 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 4218-4228.

[9] The same applies to the Lord's Church, for the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church, which acts as one with the Lord's kingdom in heaven, 4060, 7396, 9216.

The individual member of the Church has heaven and the Church within him, 1900, 1902, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884, 4292, 4523, 4524, 4625, 6013, 6057.

Those who are governed by love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour constitute the province of the heart in the Grand Man, and those who are governed by charity and from this by faith coming from the Lord constitute the province of the lungs, 3635, 3883-3896.

Human life flows in wholly from the Lord by way of heaven, 2536, 2706, 2886-2889, 2893, 3001, 3318, 3484, 3742, 3743, 4151, 5846, 5850, 5986, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004, 7055, 7056, 7058, 7147, 7270, 7343, 8321, 8685, 8701, 8717, 8728, 9110, 9111, 9216.

Heaven exists in connection with mankind, 9216.

Without the Church on earth the human race would perish, 468, 637, 2853, 4545.