105. 'The tree of life' ¹ is love and faith deriving from love; 'in the middle of the garden' means in the will of the internal man. The chief place that the Lord occupies in men and angels is the will, which in the Word is called the heart. But since nobody can do good with self as the source, the will or the heart is not man's, even though it is referred to as his. What is man's is evil desire, and this he calls his will. Since the will is the middle of the garden, where the tree of life ¹ is, and since no will, only evil desire, belongs to man, 'the tree of life'' is therefore the mercy of the Lord, who is the source of all love and faith and consequently of all life.

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