3121. And His truth from my lord. That this signifies an influx of charity therefrom, is evident from the signification of “truth,” as being charity. “Truth” in its proper sense signifies the same as “faith,” and in the Hebrew language faith is expressed by a like word; so that what is called “truth” in the Word of the Old Testament is in various places called “faith” in the Word of the New Testament; and for this reason also it has been so often said in the foregoing pages that truth is of faith and good is of love. And yet that in the internal sense faith is nothing else than charity, may be seen from what has been said and shown above in many places-as that there is no faith except by love (n. 30-38): That no faith is possible except where there is charity (n. 654, 724, 1162, 1176, 2261): That faith is the faith of charity (n. 1608, 2049, 2116, 2343, 2349, 2419): That charity makes the church, not faith separate from charity (n. 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2190, 2228, 2442). From all this it is evident that in the internal sense truth or faith is the same as charity; for all faith is from charity; the faith which is not from charity not being faith; or what is the same, in the internal sense all truth is good; for all truth is from good, and the truth which is not from good is not truth, truth being nothing else than the form of good (n. 3049); its birth is from no other source, and its life is from no other.

1096. Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem. That this signifies every good for those who worship the Lord from internals, is evident from the signification of “blessed.” Blessing involves every good: celestial, spiritual, and natural; and all these are signified by “blessing” in the internal sense. In the external sense, by “blessing” is signified every worldly, corporeal, and earthly good; but these, if they be a blessing, must necessarily be so from internal blessing; for this alone is blessing, because it is eternal, and is conjoined with every felicity, and is the very being of blessings. For what really is, unless it is eternal? Every other being ceases to be. It was customary among the ancients to say, “Blessed be Jehovah;” by which they meant that from Him is every blessing, that is, every good; and the same was also a formula of thanksgiving because the Lord blesses, and has blessed; as in David (Psalms 28:6; 31:21; 41:13; 66:20; 68:19, 35; 72:18-19; 89:52; 119:12; 124:6; 135:21; 144:1; and many other places).

[2] “Blessed be Jehovah” is said here because Shem, or the internal church, is the subject that is being treated of, which church is said to be internal, from charity. In charity the Lord is present, who is here called “Jehovah God.” But He is not so called in the external church, for although the Lord is present in it, He is not present as He is in the man of the internal church. For the man of the external church still believes that he does the goods of charity from himself, and therefore when the subject treated of is the man of the external church, the Lord is called “God” as in the following verse concerning Japheth: “God shall enlarge Japheth.” That every good is the portion of those who worship the Lord from internals, is evident also from the order of things; for the order is this: from the Lord is everything celestial, from the celestial is everything spiritual, from the spiritual is everything natural. This is the order of the coming forth of all things, and therefore it is the order of influx.

[3] The celestial is love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. Where there is no love, the connection is broken, and the Lord is not present, who flows in solely through the celestial, that is, through love. When there is no celestial, there cannot possibly be any spiritual, because everything spiritual is through the celestial from the Lord. The spiritual is faith, and therefore there is no faith except through charity, or love, from the Lord. It is similar with the natural. According to this same order do all goods flow in; from which it follows that those have every good who worship the Lord from internals, that is, from charity; whereas those who do not worship Him from charity have no good, save such as counterfeits what is good, but in itself is evil, such as the delight of hatreds and adulteries, which regarded in itself is nothing but an excrementitious delight, into which also it is turned in the other life.