709. The name Jehovah is used because now the subject is charity. From verse 9 to the end of the previous chapter Jehovah is not used but God, the reason being that there the subject is the preparation of Noah, or the member of the Church called Noah, as regards things of his understanding, which are matters of faith. Here however it is the preparation of him as regards the things of his will, which are matters of love. When the subject is the things of the understanding, that is, the truths of faith, the name God is used, but when it is those of the will, that is, goods stemming from love, Jehovah is used. For it is not things of the understanding, that is, of faith, that constitute the Church but those of the will which are matters of love. Jehovah is present within love and charity, but not within faith except faith that inheres in love or charity. This also is why in the Word faith is compared to the night, but love to the daytime, as in Genesis 1 where the great lights are mentioned; the greater light, which is the sun and means love, has dominion over the day, while the lesser light, which is the moon and means faith, has dominion over the night, Genesis 1:14, 16. Similarly in the Prophets, Jeremiah 31:35; 33:20; Psalms 136:8-9; also Revelation 8:12.

6492. My father once appeared to me in a dream, and I spoke to him, saying that after he has become responsible for himself a son ought not to acknowledge his father as his father, as he did previously. For the reason why he should acknowledge him when he is being brought up is that at that time his father stands in place of the Lord; and during that time he does not know, except as his father leads him, how he should act. But when he becomes responsible for himself and can think for himself, and it seems to him that he can control his life for himself, the Lord must be his Father, in whose place his natural father had previously functioned. I spoke these things in my dream, and when I woke up there seemed to come down from heaven a long scroll attached to rods and tied round by means of very beautiful pieces of fabric of a bright blue colour. Their beauty was beyond description. I was told that angels often make such gifts to one another.