48. From these considerations it is now clear that the fifth state is one in which a person speaks from faith which is part of the understanding and in so doing confirms himself in truth and good; and that what he produces at that point are the animate things called 'the fish of the sea and the birds of the air. ¹ It is also clear that the sixth state exists when he utters truths and performs good deeds from faith which is part of the understanding and so from love which is part of the will. What he produces at that point is called a living creature and a beast. And because at that point he begins to act both from faith and from love simultaneously, he becomes a spiritual man, who is called an image; and this is dealt with next.

Footnotes:

2199. That 'well advanced in years' means that the time was at hand follows from what has now been stated. 'A day' in the Word, as also 'a year', and indeed 'time' in general, means state, as shown in 23, 487, 488, 493, 893. Thus: here 'advanced in years' means, in the internal sense, entering that state in which He was to cast off the human, and so means that the time was at hand.