2053. My covenant shall be in your flesh. That this signifies the conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity, is evident from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (explained above); and from the signification of “flesh,” as being what is man’s own (also explained above, n. 2041: how impure what is man’s own is was also stated there, and was shown in Part First, n. 141, 150, 154, 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047). As regards the words “my covenant in your flesh” denoting the conjunction of the Lord with man in his impurity, the case is this: With man there is no pure intellectual truth, that is, truth Divine; for the truths of faith appertaining to man are appearances of truth, to which fallacies of the senses adjoin themselves, and to these the falsities that belong to the cupidities of the love of self and of the world. Such are the truths appertaining to man. How impure these are may be seen from the fact that such things are adjoined to them.

[2] But still the Lord conjoins Himself with man in these impure truths, for He animates and vivifies them with innocence and charity, and thereby forms conscience. The truths of conscience are various, that is, they are according to each person’s religion; and these truths, provided they are not contrary to the goods of faith, the Lord will not do violence to, because the man has been imbued with them, and has regarded them as holy. The Lord breaks no one, but bends him, as may be seen from the fact that in every dogma within the church there are some who are being gifted with conscience, which conscience is a better one in proportion as its truths approach more closely to the genuine truths of faith. As conscience is formed from truths of faith of this kind, it is evident that it has been formed in the intellectual part of man, for it is the intellectual part that receives these truths; and therefore the Lord has miraculously separated this part from the will part-an arcanum not previously known, and concerning which see Part First (n. 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023). That a “covenant in your flesh” also denotes what is significative, namely, of purification, is evident from what has been shown in respect to circumcision in n. 2039.

694. As heaven from the Lord, through mutual love, constitutes as it were one man, and one soul, and thus has regard to one end, which is the conservation and salvation of all to eternity, so, on the other hand, hell, from man’s Own, through the love of self and of the world, that is, through hatred, constitutes one devil and one mind [animus], and thus also has regard to one end, which is the destruction and damnation of all to eternity. That such is their endeavor has been perceived thousands and thousands of times, so that unless the Lord preserved all every instant, they would perish.