6295. 'He too will be a people, and he too will become great' means that truth from good also, thus the celestial man, will be increased. This is clear from the meaning of 'a people' as truth, dealt with in 1259, 1260, 3581, 4619; from the meaning of 'becoming great as being increased; and from the representation of Manasseh, about whom these things are said, as good that belongs to the will in the natural and is born from the internal, dealt with in 6234, 6238, 6267. The fact that truth from good is a mark of the celestial man is clear from what has often been stated and shown already about the celestial man. That is to say, it has been shown that the celestial man is one who, led by his will, has a concern for good, and from this for truth, and that he is different from the spiritual man, in that the latter, led by his understanding, has a concern for truth and from this for good. And since 'Manasseh' means good belonging to the will he represents the celestial man - the external celestial man or member of the external celestial Church, to be exact. For 'Manasseh' is good belonging to the will within the natural, thus within the external man, whereas 'Joseph' is the member of the internal celestial Church because he represents good belonging to the will within the rational, thus within the internal man.

[2] Let something also be said briefly about the truth of good, a mark of the celestial man. This truth is indeed called truth, but really it is good. Residing with the celestial man is the good of love to the Lord and the good of love towards the neighbour, the good of love to the Lord forming the internal part of him, the good of love towards the neighbour the external part. This being so, the members of the celestial Church in the internal part of that Church are those who are governed by love to the Lord, and those in the external part are those governed by love towards the neighbour. The good of the latter love - love towards the neighbour residing with the celestial man - is what is here being called the truth of good and is represented by 'Manasseh'. For the celestial man is one who does not reason from truth, or even about truth, since he is able to perceive from good, that is, from the Lord through good, whether something is true or not true, 202, 377, 2715, 3146, 4448. Even so, the good of charity residing with him is what is called truth, but celestial truth.

4448. 'Shechem my son' means the truth derived from that good. This is clear from the representation of 'Shechem' as interior truth, dealt with in 4430, and so truth derived from the good meant by Hamor, 4447. Actually all the truth of the Church is derived from its good; such truth never arises from any other source. This truth which Shechem represents is called interior truth, being in essence nothing other than the good of charity. Indeed the Most Ancient Church, being celestial, was governed by the good of love to the Lord and as a consequence they had a perception of all truth; for the members of that Church were almost as angels. They also had communication with angels, that being the source of their perception. They never therefore reasoned about any truth of faith, but simply said 'Yes, that is the truth' because they had a perception of it from heaven. They did not even wish to make mention of faith, but of charity instead, see 202, 337, 2715, 2718, 3246. For this reason it is the good of charity that is meant at this point by interior truth. As regards the remnants of that Church existing with Hamor the Hivite and his son Shechem, see immediately above in 4447.

[2] With the Ancient Church, which was spiritual, it was different. This Church was not governed like the Most Ancient Church by love to the Lord but by charity towards the neighbour. Nor was it able to arrive at charity except through the truth of faith, of which, unlike the Most Ancient people, they did not have any perception and therefore began to make investigations into whether the truth was the truth. Regarding the difference between celestial people who had perception and spiritual ones who do not, see 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 3235, 3240, 3246, 3887.