1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

1919. That 'Abram said to Sarai' means perception is clear from what has been stated above in 1898. The perception which the Lord had was represented and is here meant by 'Abram said to Sarai', but thought which sprang from that perception is meant by 'Sarai said to Abram' - perception being the source of thought. The thought possessed by those who have perception comes from no other source. Yet perception is not the same as thought. To see that it is not the same, let conscience serve to 'illustrate this consideration.

[2] Conscience is a kind of general and thus obscure dictate which presents those things that flow in from the Lord by way of the heavens. Those things that flow in manifest themselves in the interior rational man where they are enveloped so to speak in cloud. This cloud is the product of appearances and illusions concerning the goods and truths of faith. Thought is, in truth, distinct and separate from conscience; yet it flows from conscience, for people who have conscience think and speak according to it. Indeed thought is scarcely anything more than a loosening of the various strands that make up conscience, and a converting of these into separate ideas which pass into words. Hence it is that the Lord holds those who have conscience in good thoughts regarding the neighbour and withholds them from evil thoughts. For this reason conscience can never exist except with people who love the neighbour as themselves and have good thoughts regarding the truths of faith. These considerations brought forward here show how conscience differs from thought, and from this one may recognize how perception differs from thought.

[3] The Lord's perception came directly from Jehovah, and so from Divine Good, whereas His thought came from intellectual truth and the affection for it, as stated above in 1904, 1914. No idea, not even an angelic one, is adequate as a means to apprehend the Lord's Divine perception, and thus this lies beyond description. The perception which angels have - described in 1384 and following paragraphs, 1394, 1395 - adds up to scarcely anything at all when contrasted with the perception that was the Lord's. Because the Lord's perception was Divine, it was a perception of everything in heaven; and being a perception of everything in heaven it was also a perception of everything on earth. For such is the order, interconnection, and influx that anyone who has a perception of heavenly things has a perception of earthly as well.

[4] But after the Lord's Human Essence had become united to His Divine Essence, and had become at the same time Jehovah, the Lord was then above what is called perception, for He was above the order which exists in the heavens and from there upon earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and therefore one may say that Jehovah is Order itself, for from Himself He governs order, not merely, as is supposed, in the universal but also in its most specific singulars, for it is these singulars that make up the universal. To speak of the universal and then separate such singulars from it would be no different from speaking of a whole that has no parts within it and so no different from speaking of something consisting of nothing. Thus it is sheer falsity - a figment of the imagination, as it is called - to speak of the Lord's Providence as belonging to the universal but not to its specific singulars; for to provide and govern universally but not specifically is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, yet, strange to say, philosophers themselves, including the more eminent, understand this matter in a different way and think in a different way.

4538. 'God said to Jacob' means the perception which the kind of natural good that 'Jacob' now represents received from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in historical descriptions in the Word as perceiving, dealt with in 1602, 1791, 1815, 1822, 1898, 1919, 2061, 2080, 2238, 2260, 2619, 2862, 3395, 3509, so that 'God said' means perception received from the Divine; and from the representation of 'Jacob' in the highest sense here as the Lord as regards natural good. Jacob's representation in the Word has been shown in previous sections; but because it is varying, his representation must be discussed briefly here.

[2] In the highest sense 'Jacob' represents in general the Lord's Divine Natural. But the Lord's Natural, when He glorified it, was different at the beginning of the process of glorification from what it was during this and at the end of it; and this is why Jacob's representation was varying. That is to say, at the beginning of the process the Lord's Natural as regards truth is represented by him, during that process the Lord's Natural as regards the good of truth, and at the end of it as regards good. For the Lord's glorification advanced from truth to the good of truth, and finally to good, as shown many times in what has gone before. The end of the process being the subject at present, 'Jacob' represents the Lord as regards natural good. See what has been shown already about these matters, that is to say, about Jacob's representation in the highest sense - how at the beginning of the process he represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards truth, 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576' 3599, during it the Lord's Divine Natural as regards the good of truth, 3659, 3669, 3677, 4234, 4273, 4337. But now he represents the Lord's Divine Natural as regards good, for the reason, as stated, that it is the end of the process.

[3] Such was the process which took place when the Lord made His Natural Divine. A similar process also takes place when the Lord regenerates man, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He was pleased to do things in the same sequence as He does when He makes man new. This explains why it has been stated frequently that man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402. When the Lord makes man new He first of all supplies him with the truths of faith, for without the truths of faith he does not know who the Lord is, what heaven is, or what hell is; he does not even know of their existence, let alone of the countless things which have to do with the Lord, His kingdom in heaven, and His kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Nor does he know the identity or nature of the opposite of these, namely the things of hell.

[4] Until he does know these things no one can know what good is. The word 'good' is not used to mean the public good or the good of the individual, for one can learn in the world about these through laws and regulations and through reflection on human customs and habits, which is why gentiles outside the Church know such things too. 'Good' is a word used to mean spiritual good, which in the Word is called charity, and this good in general implies willing and doing to another that which is good not for any selfish reason but out of delight and affection for doing it. This good is spiritual good, which no one can possibly arrive at except through the truths of faith, which are taught by the Lord through the Word and regular preaching of the Word.

[5] Once a person has been supplied with the truths of faith he is then gradually led by the Lord to will the truth, and from willing it to putting it into practice. This truth is called the good of truth, for that good is truth present in will and action and is called the good of truth because truth which has been a matter of doctrine now becomes a matter of life. When at length the person takes delight in willing good and so putting it into practice, it is no longer called the good of truth, but simply good. For now he is regenerate, and it is no longer truth leading him to will and do what is good, but good moving him to will and put truth into practice. And the truth now practiced by him is also so to speak good, since that truth derives its essential being from that in which it originates - in good. From all this one may see what is meant by the statement that in the highest sense 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Natural as regards good, and one may see where that representation has its origin. The reason why 'Jacob' here represents this good is that the subject now in the internal sense is further advances, that is to say, advances made into more interior parts of the natural, which are meant by 'Israel', 4536. No one who is being regenerated by the Lord can be led to those more interior things until the truth present with him has become good.