10050. 'And its legs' means purification of the more external things belonging to the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing the legs' as purification of the natural man (for the meaning of 'washing' as purifying, see immediately above in 10049); and from the meaning of 'the legs' as the more external things belonging to the natural man. The reason why these things are meant by 'the legs' is that one must at the same time understand the feet, since an animal's four legs are closely connected to its feet, and 'the feet' by virtue of their correspondence mean the natural or external level in a person, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 4938-4952.

[2] Much the same is meant by 'the legs' in Amos,

As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so will the children of Israel dwelling in Samaria be rescued, on the corner of a bed and on the end of a couch. Amos 3:12.

'The lion' here means those who lay the Church waste, 'legs' the external part of it, which is also the external part of the natural man, 'a piece of an ear' its discernment, and those 'dwelling in Samaria' those whose worship is external. 'The corner of a bed and the end of a couch' is the lowest part of the natural, which is external sensory awareness and its truth and good.

[3] In Daniel's description of Nebuchadnezzar's statue - its head made of pure gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and side of bronze, legs of iron, and feet partly of iron and partly of clay, Daniel 2:32-33 - what is meant by 'the legs' is the truth of faith in the external or natural man; and the same thing is also meant by 'iron', see 10030. The reason why the legs in the description are distinguished from the feet is that human legs are by nature different from animal legs.

10029. 'And you shall take all the fat' means the accommodated good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the fat' as good, dealt with in 5943. The good is described as being accommodated because the subject here is the purifying of the external or natural man, also the implanting of truth and good and so the joining together of the two there; for these things are what are meant by sacrifices and burnt offerings. Here therefore the fat from the young bull serves to mean good which has been accommodated to the natural or external man and is able to be joined to the truth there. For truth must be accommodated to its good and good to its truth, the reason being that they must exist as one. It should also be remembered that truth and good in the natural or external man are different from truth and good in the internal man, just as outer and inner are different, or lower and higher, or - what amounts to the same thing - posterior and prior. Truth as it exists in the natural man is factual knowledge, and good as it exists there is the accompanying delight. Both of these are perceptible to a person while in the world, for when he gives thought to them they are immediately apparent. Truth in the internal man however is not like factual knowledge immediately making itself apparent; rather it is truth implanted in the understanding part of the internal man. The good too implanted in the internal man is not perceptible, for it is implanted in the will part there. Both belong to the person's inner life, in which the truth is the truth of faith and the good is the good of love. Such is the difference between the truth and good in the internal or spiritual man and the truth and good in the external or natural man. The implantation and joining together of the truth and good in the external man is meant by the sacrifice of the young bull, but the implantation and joining together of the two in the internal man is meant by the burnt offering of the ram, described further on in this chapter. From all this it is evident what should be understood by the accommodated good, meant by 'the fat' from the young bull.

4218. THE GRAND MAN AND CORRESPONDENCE - continued

At the ends of chapters in the previous volumes ¹ things are recorded which I have been allowed to see and to be made aware of in the world of spirits and in the heavens of angels, the last subject to be dealt with being the Grand Man and Correspondence. To enable people to understand more fully man's state of being - that he lives connected to heaven not only as to his thoughts and affections but also as to his bodily organs, interior and exterior, and that without that connection he cannot remain in existence for a single instant - let what was begun at the ends of chapters immediately before the present one regarding Correspondence with the Grand Man be continued in this volume.

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