894. 'At the beginning, on the first of the month' means a starting point. This is now clear from what has been said above. Everything that this statement embodies is an arcanum so deep that it cannot be described, except for just the point that no definite period of time ever exists when anyone is regenerate enough to be able to say, 'Now I am perfect'. In fact an unlimited number of states of evil and falsity exist with everyone, not only simple states but also varied and complex ones which, as has been stated, have to be disposed of in such a way that they do not recur. In some states a person can be called fairly perfect, but in countless others he cannot. People who have been regenerated during their lifetime, and in whose lives faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour have been present, are in the next life being perfected all the time.

7563. 'Caused his servants and his livestock to flee to the houses' means that they were stored away and placed in safe keeping interiorly. This is clear from the meaning of 'servants' as the things in the natural mind, as immediately above in 7562; from the meaning of 'livestock' as truth and good, also dealt with above, in 7556; and from the meaning of 'the houses' as the things present inwardly in a person, where goodness and truth from the Lord are stored away and placed in safe keeping, dealt with in 7560. From this it is evident that 'he caused his servants and his livestock to flee to the houses' means that the truths and forms of good which are in the natural mind, that is to say, the things which are the Lord's, have been gathered and have been stored away and placed in safe keeping interiorly.