3324. 'Jacob said' means the doctrine of truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' as the doctrine of natural truth, dealt with in 3305, or what amounts to the same, as those with whom the doctrine of truth predominates. The subject in these verses to the end of this chapter is, To which does the priority of place rightly belong - whether to truth or to good; or what amounts to the same, whether it belongs to the doctrine of truth or to the life within good; or what also amounts to the same, whether it belongs to faith, insofar as faith is the truth taught by doctrine, or to charity, insofar as charity is the good of life? When a person judges things from natural perception he supposes that faith, insofar as it is truth taught by doctrine, is prior to charity, insofar as this is the good of life. He supposes this because he perceives how truth, which is taught by doctrine, enters in, but not how good, which is the good of life, does so; for truth enters in by an external route, that of the senses, whereas good enters in by an internal route. In addition he supposes that faith is prior for the reason that he cannot know other than that truth, since it teaches what good is, exists prior to good, and also for the reason that a person's reformation is effected by means of truth as well as in accordance with truth; indeed he is perfected in good only to the extent that truth can be joined to it, so that good is perfected by means of truth. Yet another reason why he supposes that faith is first is that a person may know the truth and be able to think and speak from it, and to do so seemingly with ardent zeal, even though at the same time no good exists with him; indeed from that truth he may be quite confident of salvation. These and many other considerations cause a person, when judging matters from the sensory and natural man, to think that truth, which constitutes faith, comes before good, which flows from charity. But all these ideas are reasonings based on illusions, for they are things as seen by the sensory and natural man.

[2] That which is prior is good itself - the good of life. This good is the ground itself into which truths are sown, and the nature of the ground determines how the seeds, that is, the truths of faith, are received. Truths are, indeed, able to be stored away previous to this in the memory like seeds in a box or in the crop situated in the gullet of small birds, but they do not become part of a person until the ground is prepared. And the character of the ground, that is, of good, determines that of their growth and fruitfulness. But see what has been shown in many places already regarding these matters. Those places are indicated below so that from them it may be known what good is and what truth is, and that good has priority over truth, not truth over good:

[3] Why no distinct idea may be had of the difference between good and truth, 2507. ¹

Good flows in by an internal route unknown to man, whereas truth is obtained by an external route, which is known to him, 3030, 3098.

Truths are the recipient vessels of good, 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269, 3068, 3318.

Good acknowledges its own truth to which it is joined, 3101, 3102, 3179.

Very careful examination is made and precaution taken to prevent falsity being joined to good, or truth to evil, 3033, 3101, 3102.

Good forms for itself the truth to which it is joined since it acknowledges no other as truth than that which accords with it, 3161.

Truth is nothing other than that which springs from good, 2434.

Truth is the form that good takes, 3049.

Truth possesses within itself the image of good, and within good the replica of itself from which it springs, 3180.

The seed that is truth is rooted in the good that stems from charity, 880.

Faith cannot possibly exist except within its own life, that is, within love and charity, 379, 389, 654, 724, 1608, 2343, 2349.

It is possible for truths that constitute matters of doctrine concerning faith to be looked at from love and charity, but not the reverse, 2454.

Looking from faith and not from love and charity is looking behind oneself and turning backwards, 2454.

Truth is given life according to the good anyone has, thus according to the state of innocence and charity residing with that person, 1776, 3111.

Truths of faith can be received only by those who are governed by good, 2343, 2349.

Those who have no charity are not able to acknowledge the Lord, nor thus any truth of faith at all. If they do profess it, it is something external devoid of what is internal, or something that is the product of hypocrisy, 2354.

No faith at all is present where there is no charity, 654, 1162, 1176, 2429.

Wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge are 'the sons' of charity, 1226.

Since love exists with angels, so do intelligence and wisdom, 2500, 2572.

Angelic life consists in the good deeds of charity; and angels are forms of charity, 454, 553.

Love to the Lord is His likeness and charity towards the neighbour His image, 1013.

Angels perceive through love to the Lord anything that is a matter of faith, 202.

Nothing has life except love and affection, 1589.

Those who have mutual love, or charity, have the Lord's life, 1799, 1803.

Love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour is heaven itself, 1802, 1824, 2057, 2130, 2131.

The Lord's presence is relative to the state of love and charity, 904.

All the Ten Commandments and all matters of faith have their origin in charity, 1121, 1798.

Knowledge of matters of doctrine concerning faith achieves nothing if a person does not have charity, for matters of doctrine have charity as the end in view, 2049, 2116.

No acknowledgement of truth, nor thus faith, can exist unless a person is governed by good, 2261.

The holiness of worship depends on the nature of and the amount of the truth of faith that has been implanted in charity, 2190.

There is no salvation through faith but through the life of faith, which is charity, 2228, 2261.

The heavenly kingdom belongs to those who have faith that is the expression of charity, 1608.

In heaven all are viewed from charity and from faith from this, 1258.

They are not allowed into heaven, except by willing what is good from the heart, 2401.

People are saved who possess faith provided that faith includes good, 2261, 2442.

Faith which has not been implanted in the good of life perishes altogether in the next life, 2228.

If faith that is purely thought could save, all would be brought into heaven; but it is because their life prevents them that some are not able to be saved, 2363.

Those who maintain the idea that faith alone saves defile truths with the falsity of that idea, 2383, 2385.

The fruits of faith are good works; a good work is charity; charity is love to the Lord; and that love is the Lord, 1873.

The fruits of faith are the fruit of good which stems from love and charity, 3146.

Trust or confidence which is called faith that saves cannot exist except with those who are leading a good life, 2982.

Good is the life of truth, 1589.

At what point truths may be said to have acquired life, 1928.

Good from the Lord flows into truths of every kind, but it is supremely important that they should be genuine truths, 2531.

The amount of good and truth that flows in from the Lord depends on the extent to which evil and falsity is being removed. 2411, 3142, 3147.

Good cannot flow into truth as long as a person is under the influence of evil, 2388.

Truth is not truth until it has been accepted by good, 2429.

The marriage of good and truth exists in every single thing, 2173, 2508, 2517.

The affection for good constitutes life, and the affection for truth exists for the sake of life, 2455. ¹

Truth tends towards good, and stems from good, 2063.

By means of influx truths are summoned out of the natural man, raised up, and implanted in the good present in the rational, 3085, 3086.

When truth is joined to good it becomes a person's own, 3108.

For truth to be joined to good there has to be consent from the understanding and the will. When there is consent from the will conjunction takes place, 3157, 3158.

Truth in the rational is acquired by means of cognitions, and truths become a person's own when they are joined to good. at which point they belong to the will and exist for the sake of life, 3161.

Truth is introduced and joined to good, not all at once but throughout the whole of life, and beyond, 3200.

Just as light devoid of warmth is unproductive, so is the truth of faith when devoid of good stemming from love, 3146.

The nature of the idea of truth devoid of good, and the nature of its light in the next life, 2228.

Separated faith is like the light in winter, whereas faith derived from charity is like the light in the spring, 2231.

Those who in action separate the truth, which constitutes faith, from charity are unable to have conscience, 1076, 1077.

The reason why they have separated faith from charity and said that faith saved, 2231.

When a person is being regenerated the Lord instills good into the truths residing with him, 2063, 2189.

A person is not regenerated by means of truth but by means of good, 989, 2146, 2183, 2189, 2697.

When a person is being regenerated the Lord comes to meet him and fills the truths residing with him with the good of charity, 2063.

Those who lead a good life but do not have the truth of faith, like gentiles and young children, receive truths of faith in the next life and undergo regeneration, 989; regarding gentiles, 932, 1032, 2049, 2284, 2589-2604; regarding young children, 2290-2293, 2302-2304.

A person is regenerated by means of the affection for truth, and one who is regenerate acts from the affection for good, 1904.

With one who is to be regenerated seed is unable to take root except in good, 880, 989.

The light that a regenerate person has flows from charity, not from faith, 854.

The same truths are indeed truths with one person, but with another less so, and with some they are even falsities; this variation is determined by the good of life in each of them, 2439.

What the difference is between the good of a young child, the good of one who does not know, and the good of one who has intelligence, 2280.

Who are able to enter into cognitions of truth and into faith, and who are not, 2689.

The Church does not exist unless truths of doctrine have been implanted in the good of life, 3310.

Doctrine does not make the Church, but charity, 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844.

The Church's doctrines count for nothing if people do not live according to them, 1515.

The doctrine of faith is the doctrine of charity, 2571.

The Church exists from charity, not from separated faith, 916.

Anyone may know from charity whether the internal dimension of worship exists with him, 1102, 1151, 1153.

The Lord's Church spread throughout the world is everywhere various so far as truths are concerned, but it is one through charity, 3267.

The Church would be one Church if all had charity even though they differed in religious observances and on points of doctrine, 809, 1285, 1316, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844.

From being many it would become one Church if with everyone charity and not faith were the essential thing of the Church, 2982.

There are two kinds of doctrinal teachings - teachings to do with charity and teachings to do with faith. The Ancient Church possessed matters of doctrine concerning charity which today belong among things that have been lost, 2417.

How ignorant of the truth they are who do not possess matters of doctrine concerning charity, 2435.

And because at the present day faith is regarded as the essential thing of the Church people do not even see or pay any attention to the things that the Lord has said so many times about love and charity, 1017, 2373.

Good that is the expression of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour is higher and prior to truth that constitutes faith, and not the reverse, 363, 364.

Footnotes:

1798. That 'Abram said, See, to me You have not given seed' means that there was no internal dimension of the Church, [which is love and faith,] is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as love and faith, dealt with already in 255, 256, 1025, and in what follows below from the meaning of 'an heir'. The fact that love and faith deriving from love constitute the internal dimension of the Church has been stated and shown frequently already. No other kind of faith that constitutes the internal dimension of the Church is meant than the faith which is a product of love or charity, that is, which originates in love or charity.

[2] In a general sense faith embraces everything that is taught by the Church; but doctrinal teachings separated from love or charity do not in any way constitute the internal dimension of the Church, for such teachings are no more than knowledge which is present in the memory and which also exists with the worst of people, even with those in hell. But doctrinal teachings which originate in charity, that is, which are a product of charity, do constitute the internal dimension of the Church, for this dimension is essentially its life. The life itself constitutes the internal aspect of all worship, and so too do all doctrinal teachings that flow from the life that belongs to charity. It is these teachings when they comprise faith that are meant here, and it is faith such as this that constitutes the internal dimension of the Church, as may become clear from the single consideration that anyone who is leading a charitable life has an awareness of all things of faith.

[3] Just examine, if you care to do so, any doctrinal teachings, so that you may see what they are and what they are like. Do they not all have regard to charity, and so to faith that derives from charity? Take simply the Ten Commandments, the first of which is that you should worship the Lord God. Anyone who possesses the life of love or charity worships the Lord God, for it is in this that the life within him consists. Another commandment says that you should keep the Sabbath. Anyone in whom the life of love, that is, in whom charity, is present keeps the Sabbath holy since nothing delights him more than worshipping the Lord and declaring His glory day by day. The commandment that you should not kill has regard entirely to charity. Anyone who loves his neighbour as himself shudders at doing him any injury whatever, and even more at killing him. Likewise with the commandment that you should not steal, for the person who possesses the life of charity would rather give from what is his own to his neighbour than take away anything from him. Equally the commandment that you should not commit adultery. A man in whom the life of charity is present is minded rather to protect his neighbour's wife lest anyone should do such great harm to her, and regards adultery as a crime committed against conscience, such as destroys conjugial love and the responsibilities that go with it. Coveting things that belong to the neighbour is also contrary to the mind of those in whom the life of charity is present, for the essence of charity is to will good to others from oneself and what is one's own, thus they in no way covet what belongs to another.

[4] These Commandments, included among the Ten, are more external matters of doctrine concerning faith, which are not simply retained as knowledge in the memory of him in whom charity and the life of charity are present, but are in his heart. They are also inscribed upon him because they are grounded in his charity and so in his very life, in addition to other things of a dogmatic nature that are inscribed upon him which in a similar way he knows from charity alone. For he lives in accordance with a conscience for that which is right. Anything right or true which he is unable to understand and examine in this fashion he nevertheless believes in simplicity - that is, in simplicity of heart - to be right or true because the Lord has so said. Nor is anything wrong with such belief, even if that which is believed is not in itself true, only an appearance of truth.

[5] People may believe for example that the Lord can be angry, punish, tempt, and the like. Also, they may believe that in the Holy Supper the bread and wine have some spiritual meaning, or that flesh and blood are present in some way or other which they are able to explain. But whether they express the one or the other of these views about the Holy Supper, it makes no difference provided that two things are characteristic of these persons: Few people in fact give the matter any thought at all, and if any do give it any thought it makes no difference which view is held provided, a) It is done from a simple heart because it is what they have been taught, and b) They are leading charitable lives. When they hear that the bread and wine mean in the internal sense the Lord's love towards the whole human race, and the things that go with that love, and man's reciprocated love to the Lord and towards the neighbour, they believe it instantly and rejoice that it really is so. This is never the case with those who possess doctrine yet lack charity. They dispute everything and condemn anyone who does not speak - though they say it is to believe - as they do. From these considerations it may become clear to anyone that love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour constitute the internal dimension of the Church.