393. Before I explain the symbolism of these things on the inner plane, the nature of faith needs to be understood.
The people of the earliest church were such that they acknowledged no other faith than faith from love, so much so that they did not even want to say the word faith. Everything involved in faith they subsumed under the idea of love from the Lord. Heavenly angels (described above [§202]) are the same way.
It was foreseen, though, that the human race would not maintain this character but would split faith off from love for the Lord and make it into a doctrine of its own. So it was also provided that faith would indeed be split off but in such a way that through it, or through a knowledge of it, the Lord would give us a heart for charity. In this way, knowledge, or "hearing the message," would come first. 1 Then through that knowledge or hearing the Lord would give us the gift of charity — that is, love for our neighbor, and mercy. The charity acquired by this means not only would be inseparable from faith but also would constitute faith's principal concern.
Afterward conscience took the place of the perception that the earliest church had enjoyed. Conscience, built up through the faith that is attached to charity, would speak from within, not explaining what was true but affirming that a particular thing was true, and this because the Lord had said so in the Word. For the most part, the churches that came after the Flood — including the early [Christian] church (the first church following the Lord's Coming) — adopted this character.
The same criterion distinguishes spiritual angels from heavenly angels.
Footnotes:
1. "Hearing the message" here is an allusion to Romans 10:17: "Therefore faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through God's word." [LHC]
