862. That 'it happened at the end of forty days' means the duration of the former state, and the beginning of the one that followed, is clear from the meaning of 'forty', see 730, where, the subject being temptation, the phrase 'forty days and forty nights' was used, which meant the duration of temptation. Here, since the subject is the state following temptation, 'forty days' is mentioned but not forty nights. The reason is that charity now starts to appear, which in the Word is compared to the day and is called the day. Faith however which precedes but has not yet been so joined to charity is compared to the night and is called the night, as in Genesis 1:16, and elsewhere in the Word. Faith is also called 'the night' in the Word because it receives its light from charity, just as the moon does from the sun. Faith is therefore also compared to the moon and is called the moon; and love or charity is compared to the sun and is called the sun. 'Forty days', or the duration of time meant by them, refers both to the things that precede and to those that follow; hence the statement 'at the end of forty days', which accordingly means both the duration of the previous state, and the beginning of the one being described now. This then begins the description of the second state following temptation of the member of this Church.

202. 17. The offspring born of couples who are in a state of truly conjugial love derive from their parents a conjugial connection between good and truth, from which they have an inclination and faculty, if a son, to perceive matters having do to with wisdom, if a daughter, to love the things that wisdom teaches. Everyone knows from historical accounts in general and their own observations in particular that children inherit from their parents tendencies to the same kinds of things as had been connected with their parents' love and mode of life. However, they do not inherit or have transmitted to them the parents' actual affections or resulting modes of life, but only tendencies to these and also capacities for them (a point convincingly shown by some of the wise in the spiritual world, as reported in two narrative accounts presented above ¹ ).

[2] Evidence that descendants are drawn by hereditary inclinations into affections, thoughts, ways of speaking, and modes of life similar to those of their parents - if they do not break themselves of those inclinations - is clearly apparent from the Jewish nation today and its close similarity to that nation's ancestors in Egypt, in the desert, in the land of Canaan, and at the time of the Lord. It is apparent, moreover, not only from the close similarity in their minds, but also in their faces. Who does not recognize a Jew by his looks?

It is the same with other lines of descent. One may legitimately conclude from this that people are born with inclinations to similar things as their parents and that these inclinations are hereditary.

However, to keep actual thoughts and deeds from ensuing, it is Divinely provided that corrupt inclinations may be rectified, and that a capacity for this is also implanted. Resulting from this capacity are an ability and power in people to mend their habits, under the direction of parents and teachers, and afterwards by themselves when they come into their own right and judgment.

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