Verses 1-2. That when conjunction of good and of truth is effected, it is allowed man to appropriate every good, notwithstanding appearances to the contrary in the representative Church.

Verses 3-5. Since the Lord, by coming into the world, and uniting his Human principle to the Divine, abolished the Sabbath as to representative worship, and made Himself the True Sabbath.

Verses 6-11. And thus restores the truth of the Church to conjunction with its good, from which it had been separated, since this was the great end of his coming into the world, and making his Human principle Divine.

Verse 11. Nevertheless this doctrine excites abhorrence and hatred against Him in the representative Church.

Verse 12. Which abhorrence and hatred become instrumental in leading the Lord's Human principle to a more intimate union with the Divine.

Verse 13. So that by the light derived from this union he is enabled to discriminate all the goods and truths constituent of the Church, and to conjoin them to himself.

Verses 14-17. Which goods and truths are enumerated.

Verses 17-20. Therefore all, who are desirous of spiritual instruction, and to be delivered from false and evil principles, seek communication and conjunction of life with the Lord, and find it.

Verse 20. Being instructed, that all have such communication and conjunction, who from the heart acknowledge that no one knows, understands, and is wise of himself, but from the Lord, since in this acknowledgement there is internal truth and good.

Verse 21. And being further instructed, that, all are gifted with heavenly good, who in heart desire it, and that all are gifted with heavenly truth, who feel the want of it.

Verses 22-23. And that all goods and truths are more closely conjoined with the Lord, and more fully confirmed, in states of opposition from infernal men and infernal spirits, than at any other time, and that this has been the case from the beginning.

Verses 24-25. Yet that truth of itself, without good, separates itself from the Lord, as also does good without truth, and as likewise does the affection of truth, unless the affection of good be in it.

Verse 26. Since the affection of truth may be excited by worldly considerations of fame and glory, as was the case with teachers of old.

Verses 27-28. Whereas the affection of good is kind and well-disposed towards all, doing good to, instructing, and interceding for all.

Verses 27-29. Also being patient, and contented as far as possible, under the assault of evil, whether the assault be against good, or against truth.

Verses 30-31. And imparting both good and truth to all who are in the affection of those principles, content, for the sake of others, to be deprived of its own, and showing kindness to others in the same degree that it expects to receive, kindness from others.

Verses 32-34. Since true charity does not consist in natural affection, but in spiritual, and thence in natural.

Verses 35-36. Good therefore ought to be done without a view to recompense, because it brings along with it its own reward, by restoring in man the Divine image and likeness.

Verses 37-38. So that he will never think ill of what is good and true, but will live in the exercise of charity, from a conviction, that in proportion as he does good to others, he will receive a more abundant measure of the love of good from the Lord.

Verse 39. Neither will he attempt to instruct others, until he himself is instructed in the truth, lest he should lead both himself and others into what is false.

Verses 39-40. But will rather submit himself to the guidance of the Divine Truth.

Verses 41-42. Not looking at the intellectual errors of another, but at the evils which pervert his own understanding, since it is impossible to correct another's intellectual errors, until a man's own understanding be separated from evil, and therefore every one ought first to remove evil from his own love and life, that he may be in a state to remove error from the understanding of another;

Verses 43-44. For the good of love produces good of life, as evil love produces evil of life, therefore every one's quality may be known from his life, since no good, either external or internal, can be derived from falsities and evils.

Verse 45. The true character of every one is thus determined by his will, since if the will be principled in the love of truth, the good of life will be thence derived, whereas if the will be principled in the love of what is false, it will then give birth to evil of life.

Verse 46. That consequently external worship is of no avail, unless it proceed from obedience of life.

Verses 47-48. Which obedience consists in the acknowledgement of the Lord's divine Humanity, and in a right understanding and practice of His precepts, by virtue whereof the true believer acquires a knowledge of the Interior truths of the Word, and conjoins them with the divine truth, and thus is preserved in all states of spiritual temptation.

Verse 49. Whereas he, who is only in the intelligence of truth, and not in the good of love and charity, fails in temptation, and perishes by grievous falsities.

6948. 'And He said, Throw it to the earth. And he threw it to the earth' means an influx of the power of the Lord's Divine Natural into the sensory level. This is clear from the meaning of 'rod' as power in the natural, and - when used in reference to the Lord - as the power emanating from His Divine Natural, dealt with immediately above in 6947; from the meaning of 'throwing', or sending forth, as emanating, which is influx; and from the meaning of 'the earth' as the external part of the human mind, dealt with in 82, 917, 1411, 1733, here the sensory and bodily levels of it, which are the most external, for the rod was made into a serpent and 'a serpent' means the sensory and bodily levels of a person's mind.

[2] By the Lord's Divine power one should here understand Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, for power resides within Divine Truth to such an extent that it is power itself, 3091, 4931, 6344, 6423. Divine Truth emanating from the Lord flows into every person by way of his interiors into his exteriors, right down into the external sensory and the bodily levels, and everywhere it flows it stirs to life things attuned to it in their proper order - on the sensory level things attuned to it such as appear in the world around and on earth. But things that exist in the world around and on earth are different in appearance from what they really are, and so they are full of illusions. When therefore the sensory level relies solely on those appearances ¹ the thought which takes place there is inevitably opposed to any good or truth of faith because that thought is based on illusions, and when Divine Truth flows in the sensory level turns it into falsity. The fact that a person's thought is based on illusions if he does not rise above the sensory level but confines himself to that Level and thinks on it can be demonstrated by the following examples:

[3] There are for instance illusions regarding a person's life - that it belongs essentially to the body, when in fact it belongs to the spirit within the body. There are illusions about sight, hearing, and speech - that they belong to the eye, ear, tongue and mouth, when in fact the spirit is what sees, hears, and speaks, through those organs of the body. Then there are illusions about life - that it is innately present in a person, when in fact it flows into him; and illusions about the soul - that it is unable to exist within a human form, or to have human senses and affections. There are also illusions about heaven and hell - that the one is above a person and the other beneath, when in fact they are within him; illusions that there is an influx from objects to interior things, when in fact what is external does not flow into what is internal, but what is internal into what is external; illusions about life after death - that it is not possible without the presence also of the physical body; not to mention illusions involving natural phenomena which lead to conflicting conjectures made by so many people.

[4] Can anyone fail to see the predominance of illusions and consequently of falsities over truths simply from the dispute that had gone on for a long time about the circulation of the blood, which in spite of so much convincing evidence nevertheless remained open to doubt for a long time? That predominance of illusions may also be recognized from the dispute about the sun, that it revolved each day around this earth, and not only the sun but also the moon, all the planets, and the whole starry sky, and from the dispute which continues to exist regarding the soul - how it is joined to the body, and where it is seated there. When the illusions of the senses prevail in such matters, even though the true nature of these is evident from so many phenomena and effects, how much more will they prevail in the kinds of things that belong to heaven, which, being spiritual ones, do not make themselves plain except by means of correspondences?

[5] From all this one may now see what the sensory level of a person's mind is like regarded in itself and left to itself - that it is full of illusions and consequently falsities and so is opposed to the truth or good of faith. This is why when a person does not rise above the sensory level and sees things in the inferior light which shines on that level he is completely in the dark so far as things belonging to the spiritual world are concerned, that is, things which dwell in light from the Divine. And that inferior light on a sensory level is turned into thick and utter darkness when light from heaven penetrates it. The reason for this is that truths which belong to Divine light cannot exist together with illusions and consequent falsities; it snuffs them out and in so doing causes thick darkness.

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