2388. 'Whom have you here still? Son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and everyone you have in the city - bring [them] out of the place' means that all with whom the good of charity exists, and everything belonging to that good, were to be saved; also those governed by the truth of faith, provided they drew back from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons-in-law', 'sons', 'daughters', 'city', and 'place', which are dealt with in the paragraphs following this.

[2] As regards the salvation of those governed by the truth of faith provided they drew back from evil, the position is that truths of faith are the vessels themselves for receiving good, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269, and they receive good insofar as the individual draws back from evil. For good is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but it is the evil belonging to the life within that prevents the reception of that good by the truths present in a person's memory or knowledge. Consequently insofar as a person draws back from evil good enters in and inserts itself within the truths he has. When this happens the truth of faith residing with him becomes the good of faith. A person can indeed know the truth, even profess it because some worldly reason prompts him to do so; in fact he can even be persuaded that it is the truth. But this truth still does not live so long as he leads a life of evil. Such a person is like a tree that has leaves on it but no fruit; and that truth is like light in which there is no warmth, like that in winter-time when nothing grows. When however there is warmth within it, it becomes like light in spring-time when everything is growing. In the Word truth is compared to and actually called the light, while love is compared to warmth and also called spiritual warmth. In the next life moreover truth manifests itself by means of light while good does so by means of warmth. But truth devoid of good manifests itself as cold light, while truth accompanied by good does so as spring-like light. This shows what the truth of faith is when devoid of the good of charity. Here too is the reason why his sons-in-law and his sons, who meant such truths, were not saved, only Lot together with his daughters.

[3] Since it is stated here that they also are saved who are governed by the truth of faith provided they draw back from evil, it should be recognized that these people are such - on account of their having been so taught - as profess faith but think nothing of charity. They do not know what charity is, imagining that it is purely a matter of giving away what is one's own to others and of taking pity on everyone. Nor do they know what the neighbour is, towards whom charity has to be exercised; they imagine that almost everybody without discrimination is the neighbour. Nevertheless these same people do lead a life of charity towards the neighbour since the life of good is present in them. They come to no harm because they profess faith along with the rest, since their faith has charity within it; for by charity is meant all goodness of life in general and in particular. What charity is therefore, and what the neighbour, will in Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on.

1900. 'Go in now to my servant-girl' means a joining to the more exterior man. This too is clear from what has been stated already - that the rational part of man's mind is conceived and begotten from the internal man as its father and from the exterior as its mother. Man's very life springs from the internal man, which cannot have any communication with the external, other than a very obscure communication, until the formation of recipient vessels belonging to the memory has been effected by means of cognitions and knowledge.

[2] The influx of the internal man occurs as an influx into the cognitions and factual knowledge that are present in the exterior man - affection being the means. Meanwhile, before they are present, a communication does indeed exist, but solely through those affections that control the external man; so that not more than very general stirrings and certain appetites occur there, and also certain blind inclinations such as reveal themselves in small children. But this life grows by degrees more definite as vessels are formed in the memory by means of cognitions and in the inner memory by rational concepts. As these vessels are formed and arranged into a sequence - into such a sequence in fact that they stand mutually related to one another like blood relatives and relatives by marriage, or like communities and families - so the correspondence is perfected of the external man with the internal man, and even better so through rational concepts, which are intermediate.

[3] But if the cognitions by means of which those vessels are formed are not truths, a lack of congruity still exists, for the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the internal man do not discover any correspondence for themselves except within truths. Such truths constituting the organic forms of the two memories ¹ are the genuine vessels into which the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith may be introduced fittingly; for when they are so introduced they are arranged by the Lord according to the pattern and image of the communities of heaven, that is, of the Lord's kingdom - insomuch that the person becomes, in miniature, heaven or the Lord's kingdom, as also in the Word the minds of those people are called in whom the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith are present. But these matters have been stated for the benefit of those minds that like to go more deeply.

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