41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

1843. That 'your seed will be strangers' means that charity and faith will be scarce is clear from the meaning of 'strange' and from the meaning of 'seed'. 'Strange' means not born in the land, thus not recognized as a native of it, and therefore looked upon as foreign. But 'seed' means charity and its attendant faith, as shown already in 255, 1025, and above at verse 3. Since that which is looked upon as foreign is called 'strange' and foreign describes what is not within the land or of the land, that which is scarce is consequently meant. The meaning here therefore is that charity and its attendant faith, meant by 'seed', will be scarce. It is the time just before the close - when there is 'great darkness', or falsities - that is the subject; at this time the seed will be 'strangers', that is, charity and faith, will be scarce.

[2] The fact that faith would be scarce in the last times was foretold by the Lord when He described the close of the age, in Matthew 24:4-end; Mark 13:3-end; Luke 21:7-end. Everything that is stated in these places implies that in those times charity and faith will be scarce, and that at length there will not be any at all. Something similar was foretold through John in the Book of Revelation, and also occurs many times in the Prophets, besides what appears in the historical sections of the Word.

[3] But by the faith that is going to perish in the last times nothing other than charity is meant. No other faith can possibly exist, except faith that is grounded in charity. The person who has no charity is incapable of possessing any faith at all, charity being the soil in which faith is implanted, its heart from which it derives its being and life. The ancients for this reason compared love and charity to the heart, and faith to the lungs, both of which lie inside the breast. That comparison is also a perfect simile; for to imagine a life of faith without charity is like imagining life from the lungs alone without the heart, which is an impossibility, as may become clear to anyone. The ancients therefore used to call all things that belonged to charity those of the heart, and all that belonged to faith devoid of charity those of the lips alone, that is, of the lungs passing by means of breath into speech. From this came the sayings of old about the need for goods and truths to go forth from the heart.