3121. 'And His truth towards my master' means an influx of charity from that inflowing love. This is clear from the meaning of 'truth' as charity. In the proper sense 'truth' means the same as faith, and in the Hebrew language faith is expressed by such a term, so that what is called truth in the Old Testament Word is regularly called faith in the New Testament Word. This is also why, in what has gone before, truth has often been called the truth of faith, and good the good of love. But in the internal sense faith is nothing else than charity - see what has often been stated and shown already, such as the following:

No faith exists except through love, 30-38.

Faith does not exist except where charity does so, 654, 724, 1162, 1176, 2261.

Faith is faith grounded in charity, 1608, 2049, 2116, 2343, 2349, 2417.

Charity constitutes the Church, not faith separated from charity, 809, 916, 1798, 1799, 1834, 1844, 2190, 2228, 2442.

From these paragraphs it is evident that in the internal sense truth or faith is the same as charity. Indeed all faith springs from charity, and faith that does not spring from it is not faith. Or what amounts to the same, all truth in the internal sense is good, since all truth is grounded in good, and truth that is not grounded in it is not truth. For truth is nothing else than the form that good takes, 3049; it is born from, and receives its life from nothing other than good.

809. 'Which was on the face ¹ of the ground' means the descendants of the Most Ancient Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', dealt with already, as the Church and therefore as what belongs to the Church. Here, because it is said that [every] being ² 'on the face' of the ground' was wiped out, the meaning is that people belonging to the Most Ancient Church who were of that kind were wiped out. Here it is called 'the ground', but in verse 21 above 'the earth', the reason being that the Church is never referred to as such because of things of the understanding but because of those of the will. Factual knowledge and rational conviction that are part of faith in no way constitute the Church or the member of the Church, but charity which belongs to the will. Every essential element comes from the will. Nor therefore does anything doctrinal make the Church unless generally and specifically it has regard to charity, in which case charity becomes the end in view. The end in view determines the true character of doctrine, and whether or not it belongs to the Church. As with the Lord's kingdom in the heavens love and charity alone constitute the Lord's Church.

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