32. Love and faith are first called 'the great lights', then love is called 'the greater light' and faith 'the lesser light'. In reference to love it is said that it will have dominion over the day, and in reference to faith that it will have dominion over the night. Because these are arcana and have become hidden, especially at this end of an epoch, in the Lord's Divine mercy let the whole subject be opened up. The reason they have become hidden, especially at this present end of an epoch, is that now is the close of the age, when love is almost non-existent, and consequently faith too, just as the Lord Himself foretold in the Gospels with these words,

The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.

Here 'the sun' is used to mean love, which is 'darkened', 'the moon' faith which does not give its light, 'the stars' cognitions of faith which fall from heaven, and which are the various 'powers of the heavens'. The Most Ancient Church acknowledged no other faith than love itself; celestial angels as well do not know what faith is except faith which stems from love. Love pervades the whole of heaven, for in the heavens no other life is found except the life that belongs to love. This is the source of all happiness in heaven, a happiness so great that no aspect of it can be described or in any way captured in human concepts. People in whom this love is present love the Lord wholeheartedly. Yet they realize, say, and perceive that all love, thus all life, which belongs exclusively to love, and so all happiness, come from the Lord and nowhere else, and that they derive not one trace of love, life, and happiness from themselves. The Lord's being the source of all love was again represented by the greater light, that is, the sun, at the Transfiguration, for His face shone like the sun, and His garments became white as the light, Matthew 17:2. What is inmost is meant by His face, and what emanates from the inmost by His garments. Thus His Divinity is meant by the sun or love, and His Humanity by the light or wisdom coming from love.

3786. 'It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together' means that goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine were not yet gathered into one. This is clear from the meaning of 'time' as state in general, dealt with in 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356; from the meaning of 'being gathered together' as being made into one; and from the meaning of 'the cattle' in general as goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine. The reason why 'the cattle' in general has this meaning is that in the religious observances of the representative Church, and in the Word, living creatures mean affections for what is good and for what is true, as becomes clear from what has been shown in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 1823, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519. And since goods and truths constitute the Churches and their matters of doctrine, and these are the subject in the internal sense, it is evident that 'not time for the cattle to be gathered together' means that the goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine are not yet gathered into one. The situation with these in the representative sense is as follows: The person who is casting aside the old state and assuming the new, that is, who is being regenerated, must prior to this learn and be endued with the goods and truths that constitute the Churches and their matters of doctrine. For cognitions, and also affections for them, are the vessels which receive the new life. This is why nobody is able to be regenerated until he is passing through the appropriate period of life, that is, until one state has been completed, see what has been shown in 677, 679, 711, 1555, 2046, 2063, 2636, 2679, 2697, 2979, 3203, 3502, 3508, 3510, 3665, 3699, 3701.

[2] It is in general the same with the Church. When this is being re-established matters of doctrine concerning good and truth have first to be gathered into one since they are the base on which it is built. Matters of doctrine also have connections one with another and relate one to another. Consequently unless they are first gathered into one a defect would exist and things that are missing would have to be supplied from the person's rational. And how blind and deluded the rational is so far as spiritual and Divine things are concerned when it relies on itself in the conclusions it reaches has been shown in various places already. To the Church therefore the Word has been given which contains all matters of doctrine concerning good and truth. In this respect the Church answers in a general way to what exists in particular with the individual who is being regenerated, for he is the Church in particular. The point that with any person matters of doctrine concerning good and truth which are the Church's ought first to be gathered together in him before regeneration takes place has been stated above. It is those goods and truths that are meant in the internal sense by 'Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together'.