3122. With regard to this truth, by which charity is meant, there is more to be said: The most ancient people, who were celestial, understood nothing else by mercy and truth from the Lord than the reception ¹ of the influx of love to the Lord and from this of charity towards the neighbour; but the ancients, who were spiritual, took mercy and truth present with them from the Lord to mean charity and faith. The reason for this was that those who were celestial never thought about the things that are matters of faith or truth but about those that are matters of love or good, as becomes clear from what has been stated already about the celestial man in 202, 337, 2669, 2715. Furthermore it was by means of charity towards the neighbour that celestial people were led into love to the Lord when they were being reformed and regenerated. From this it is evident that 'mercy from the Lord' is used to mean nothing else than a perception of the influx of love to Him, and 'truth' to mean the influx of charity towards the neighbour from that inflowing love.

[2] With those who are spiritual however it is different. These do think about the things that are matters of faith, and when they are being reformed and regenerated it is by means of the things which are matters of faith that they are led into charity towards the neighbour. Consequently when spiritual people are the subject 'mercy from the Lord' is used to mean the influx of charity towards the neighbour, and 'truth' to mean the influx of faith. Nevertheless once the spiritual man has been regenerated this faith becomes charity, for now he acts from charity, so much so that anyone among them who does not act from charity is not regenerate, whereas anyone who does act from charity is regenerate. Also, he now has no interest at all in matters of faith or truth, for his life springs from the good of faith, and no longer from the truth of faith. Indeed truth has now so joined itself to good that it ceases to be seen except as the form which good takes, that is, faith is now nothing else so to speak than the form which charity takes.

[3] From this one may see what the most ancient people meant, and what the ancients meant, by mercy and truth which are mentioned so many times in the Word, as in David,

The king will dwell for ever before God. Prepare mercy and truth, let them watch over him. Psalms 61:7.

In the same author,

Mercy and truth will meet, righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Psalms 85:10.

In the same author,

The Lord God is great in mercy and truth. Psalms 86:15.

In the same author,

My truth and My mercy will be with Him. Psalms 89:24.

In the same author,

Jehovah has remembered His mercy and His truth to the house of Israel. Psalms 98:3.

In the same author,

O Jehovah, not to us, but to Your name give glory, for the sake of Your mercy and Your truth. Psalms 115:1.

In Micah,

Jehovah God will give truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old. Micah 7:20.

Here 'Jacob' stands for the Lord's external man, 'Abraham' for the internal as regards the human. In Hosea,

Jehovah's controversy with the inhabitants of the land because there is no truth, and no mercy, and no knowledge of God. Hosea 4:1.

'No truth' stands for no reception of the influx of charity, 'no mercy' for no reception of the influx of love, 'no knowledge of God' for no reception of the influx of the truth of faith.

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2256. That 'as to make the righteous die with the wicked, so that the righteous will be as the wicked' means that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it, is clear from the meaning of 'the righteous' as good and of 'the wicked' as evil, dealt with above in 2250. From this 'to make the righteous die with the wicked' means making good perish with evil; but because this ought never to be done, and also because the very thought of it evokes horror, it is removed in the internal sense, and the following is at the same time presented - that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

[2] The implications of this particular matter are known to few, if any. It has to be recognized that all the good whatever that a person has thought and done from earliest childhood through to the very end of his life remains; and the same applies to all the evil, so much so that not even the least trace of it completely perishes. All that good and evil is written in his book of life, that is, in each of his memories, ¹ and in his true self, that is, in his character and disposition. From that good and evil he has formed a life for himself and, so to speak, a soul, the essential nature of which remains unchanged after death. But goods are never so mixed up with evils, nor evils with goods, that they cannot be separated; for if they were so mixed a person would perish for ever. The Lord sees to it that they are not. If he has led a life abiding in the goods of love and charity, then when a person enters the next life the Lord separates the evils, and by means of the goods present with him raises him into heaven. But if he has led a life immersed in evils, that is to say, in things contrary to love and charity, the Lord separates the goods from him, and his evils carry him into hell. Such is the experience of everyone after death. But it is a separation and in no way a complete removal.

[3] What is more, because the will of man, which constitutes the one part of his life, has been utterly destroyed, the Lord separates that destroyed part from the other part, which is that of his understanding, and in this other part He implants - in the case of those who are being regenerated - the good of charity and through this a new will. These are they who have conscience. In the same manner also the Lord in general separates evil from good. Such are the arcana that are meant in the internal sense by the statement that good cannot die, because evil can be separated from it.

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