3179. And they said, Let us call the damsel and inquire at her mouth. That this signifies the consent solely of the affection of truth, appears from the signification of a “damsel,” as being an affection wherein is innocence (see n. 3067, 3110); here the affection of truth, because she is Rebekah, who, before she consents, is called “damsel,” but when she consents, as presently follows, is called “Rebekah” (that “Rebekah” is the affection of truth, may be seen above, n. 3077); and from the signification of “inquiring at her mouth,” as being to perceive whether this consents; thus it is the consent solely of the affection of truth that is here signified.

[2] The case is this: Truth itself, which is to be initiated into good, acknowledges its own good; because good acknowledges its own truth; hence comes consent, but that it is a consent inspired into truth from good may be seen above (n. 3161). With man it never appears that there is any consent on the part of truth when it is being initiated and conjoined with good (that is, when man is being regenerated), nor on the part of good as knowing its own truth, and initiating and conjoining such truth with itself; and yet these things are effected precisely in this way; for the things that take place during man’s regeneration are altogether unknown to him; and if he were to know only one out of ten thousand of them he would be astounded. There are innumerable, nay, illimitable secret things by which man is at that time led of the Lord, some only of which shine forth from the internal sense of the Word.

[3] The Ancient Church formed for itself an idea of these things from marriages; namely, from the state of a virgin before betrothal, from her state after betrothal, from her state when she was to be wedded, afterwards when she was married, and lastly when she bore offspring to her husband; the fruits of truth from good, or of faith from charity, they called children, and so on. Such was the wisdom of the Ancient Church; their books were also written in this way; and this manner of writing was transmitted from them to the Gentiles; for it was their desire by things which are in the world to express those which are in heaven, and indeed from natural things to see spiritual ones; but at the present day this wisdom is altogether lost.

3161. Behold Rebekah is before thee; take her and go, and let her be the woman of thy lord’s son, as Jehovah hath spoken. That this signifies consent inspired from the Lord, is also evident from the explication of the several words, of which in the internal sense this is a general conclusion. The case herein is this: When the Lord lived in the world He by His own power made the human in Himself Divine. The human begins in the inmost of the rational (n. 2106, 2194); and it is here described how He made this Divine; namely, that as this had been done before as to good, so now it is done as to truth; for the rational consists of good and truth. The good there, was from His veriest Divine, that is, from Jehovah the Father, of whom He was conceived; but the truth was to be procured in the ordinary way, as with other men.

[2] For it is well known that man is not born rational, but only into the capacity of becoming rational; and that he becomes so through memory-knowledges, namely through knowledges of many genera and species, the first of which are means leading to those which follow next, and this in order even to the last, which are knowledges of the spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, and are called doctrinal things. That these are learned in part from the doctrine of faith, in part immediately from the Word, and so in part by the man’s own study, is also well known. So long as these doctrinal things are only in the memory, they are only truths in the form of memory-knowledge; nor are they yet appropriated to the man as his; but they are for the first time appropriated to him when he begins to love them for the sake of life, and still more when he applies them to life. When this is done, then the truths are raised out of the natural memory into the rational, and are there conjoined with good; and when they have been conjoined, they are no longer of memory-knowledge merely, but of the life; for then the man no longer learns from truths how he should live, but lives from them, and thereby the truths are appropriated to him, and become of the will. Thus man enters into the heavenly marriage; for the heavenly marriage is the conjunction of good and truth in the rational. These things the Lord does with men.

[3] But in Himself the Lord did all these things from Himself; and from the Divine Itself He not only begat the rational as to good, but also through this the natural as to truth, which He conjoined with good; for it is good that chooses truth for itself, and also forms it, since good acknowledges nothing else as truth than that which is in agreement. In this way did the Divine good, which was the Lord’s, make for itself truth; nor did it acknowledge as truth anything else than that which agreed with Divine good, that is, that was Divine from Him. Thus He did all things both in general and in particular from His own power. All this is what is signified by the acknowledgment that it was of the Lord alone, and by consent inspired from the Lord.