3796. 'And so it was, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother's brother' means an acknowledgement of the affection for that truth as to its origin. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' here as acknowledging, as is evident from the train of thought, and from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with above in 3793. The expression 'the daughter of Laban his mother's brother' embodies the origin of that affection; that is to say, it came from a parallel good which had been joined in a brotherly relationship to rational truth represented by 'Rebekah, Jacob's mother'.

[2] As regards affections for truth and good, genuine affections for truth and good which are perceived by a person all have a Divine origin since they come from the Lord. But as they come down they branch off into various and different streams where they form new origins for themselves. For as they flow into affections which are not genuine but spurious, and into affections for evil and falsity present with a person, so they become varied. Affections which often have a similar outward appearance to genuine ones present themselves, but these are nevertheless not genuine inwardly. The only way to establish their true identity is to discover the end they have in view. If that end is selfish or worldly those affections are not genuine. But if the end is the good of the neighbour, the good of the community, the good of the country, and more still if it is the good of the Church and the good of the Lord's kingdom, they are genuine, for in that case the Lord is their end, since the Lord is within those varieties of good.

[3] But it is the mark of someone wise to be aware of which ends are present in himself. Sometimes it does seem as though his ends are selfish when in fact they are not, for the human being is such that in everything he considers how it affects himself. This he does regularly and habitually. But if anyone wishes to know the ends he himself has in view he has merely to take note of his feeling of delight - whether it is on account of his receiving praise and glory, or whether it is on account of his performing some unselfish service. If it is the latter delight which he feels, genuine affection is present in him. He ought also to take note of the varying states he passes through, for those states cause his feelings to vary considerably. A person is able to find these things out in himself, but not in others, for the ends in view to anyone's affection are known to the Lord alone. This is why the Lord said,

Do not judge, lest you are judged; do not condemn, lest you are condemned. Luke 6:37.

For a thousand people may apparently share the same affection for truth and goodness, and yet the affection in each of them may have a different origin, that is, each may have a different end in view.

[4] The reason the end makes the affection what it is - that is to say, genuine, spurious, or false - is that the end is the person's actual life. Indeed a person has as his end in view that which constitutes his life, or what amounts to the same, his love. When the good of the neighbour, the common good, the good of the Church and of the Lord's kingdom is the end in view, a person's soul is in the Lord's kingdom and so abides with the Lord. For the Lord's kingdom is nothing else than a kingdom of ends and purposes directed towards the good of the human race, 3645. Angels themselves present with a person are nowhere else than within his ends in view. To the extent that someone's end in view is such as that which exists in the Lord's kingdom, angels take delight in him and join themselves to him as a brother. But to the extent a person's end is himself, angels depart and evil spirits from hell draw near, for in hell no other end in view reigns. From these considerations one may see how important it is to find out and to know where one's affections originate; these can be known from nothing else than one's end in view.

63. Further particulars respecting love and its essence and quality, may be known from what has been said and shown above, concerning good and truth; also from what has been said and quoted concerning the will and the understanding; and also from what has been said and quoted concerning the internal and the external man; because all things which are of the love refer themselves either to goods or to evils; and so also all things which are of the will: and since the two loves of heaven open and form the internal spiritual man; but the two loves of hell close and destroy it. Hence applications may be made and conclusions drawn respecting the quality of love in general and particular.

5664. 'Has given you the concealed gift in your pouches' means that it came from Him without the exercise of any prudence by them. This is clear from the meaning of 'the concealed gift' as truth and good conferred by the Lord without man's knowledge; and from the meaning of 'the silver put back in their sacks (or in their pouches)' as without expending any power of their own, dealt with in 5488, 5496, 5499. From this it is evident that 'has given you the concealed gift in your pouches' means that from Him - that is to say, from the Lord's Divine Human - came truth and good in the natural, without the expenditure of any power of their own. And because the gift comes without the expenditure of any power of their own, it comes without the exercise of any prudence by them. The expression prudence is used for the reason that prudence is the virtue [in man] that answers to providence [in God]; and what is attributable to Divine Providence is not attributable to human prudence.

5664[a] 'Your silver came to me' means that it will seem as though truth has been acquired by them. This is clear from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2954. The coming of their silver to him implies that payment had been made by them, thus that they had made an acquisition for themselves; for' buying' means acquiring, 5655. This explains why 'your silver has come to me' means that truth has been acquired by them. Yet because the truth which constitutes faith is never an acquisition that a person makes but is a gift instilled and conferred by the Lord, though it seems to be an acquisition made by that person, the expression it will seem as though truth has been acquired by them is used.

[2] The fact that truth is instilled and conferred by the Lord is also well known in the Church, for the Church teaches that faith does not originate in man but comes from God, so that not only confidence but also the truths that constitute faith come from Him. Yet the appearance is that truths of faith are acquired by the person himself. The fact that they flow into him is something he is totally unaware of because he has no perception of their doing so. The reason he has no such perception is that his interiors are closed, so that he is unable to have any communication with spirits and angels that is perceptible by him. When a person's interiors are closed he cannot know anything whatever about what is flowing into him.

[3] But it should be recognized that it is one thing to know the truths of faith, another thing to believe them. Those who merely know the truths of faith consign them to their memory in the way they do anything else that is an item of knowledge. A person can acquire those truths without any such inflow into himself; but they do not possess any life, as is evident from the fact that a wicked person, even a very wicked one, can know the truths of faith just as well as an upright and God-fearing person. But in the case of the wicked, as stated, truths possess no life; for when a wicked person brings them forth he sees in each one either his own glory or personal gain. Consequently it is self-love and love of the world that fill those truths and give them what seems like life. But this life is akin to that in hell, which life is called spiritual death. Consequently, when such a person brings forth those truths he does so from his memory, not from his heart. But someone who has a belief in the truths of faith is bringing them forth from his heart when they pass through his lips; for in his case the truths of faith have so taken root in him that they strike root in the external memory and then, like fruitful trees, grow up into interior or higher levels of the mind, where tree-like they adorn themselves with leaves and at length blossom, to the end that they may bear fruit.

[4] This is what someone with belief is like. He too has nothing else in mind, when employing the truths of faith, than the performance of useful services or the exercise of charity, which is his 'fruit'. These are not the kind that anyone can acquire by himself. Not even the smallest can be so acquired by him; rather, the Lord gives such to him freely, doing so every single moment of his life. Indeed, if he will but believe it, countless gifts are imparted every single moment. But man's nature is such that he has no perception of the things that flow into him; for if he did have that kind of perception he would fight against the idea, as stated above, for he would then think that if the idea was true he would lose his selfhood, and with this his freedom, and with his freedom his delight, and so would be left with nothing. And without that perception a person knows no other than that such things originate in himself. This then is the meaning of the explanation 'it will seem as though truth has been acquired by them'. What is more, if a person is to have a heavenly selfhood and heavenly freedom conferred on him, he must do what is good as though he himself were the source of it and think what is true as though he were the source of that. But when he stops to reflect he must acknowledge that such goodness and truth have their origin in the Lord, see 2882, 2883, 2891.