Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 10266

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10266. By the preparation of the oil of anointing in what just precedes, there has been described the Divine good of the Lord's Divine love in His Divine Human; and in the relative sense the good of love with man from the Lord; for what is said in the Word, in the supreme sense, of the Lord, in the relative sense is said also of man, because the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord's Human (see n. 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688). From this it is evident that the preparation of the oil of anointing involves also the generation and formation by the Lord of the good of love with man; consequently that the good of love is formed by means of the truths of the church which are from the Word, first by means of the external truths, and then by means of those which are more and more interior, according to the description in what just precedes; and that accordingly the external man is first imbued with these truths, and then the interior man successively. Be it known that this good is preserved by the Lord, and subsists, in the same order in which it had been formed by the Lord by means of truths, that is, in the order in which it had come forth; for preservation is perpetual formation, as subsistence is a perpetual coming-forth. From this it follows that the quality of the good of love with a man is according to the quality of the perception and the affection, and according to the order in which the man has become imbued with truths. If his affection of truth has been for the sake of truth and good, without affection for the sake of self and the world, and if the order has been from outermost things to more interior ones, by degrees, then the good of love is genuine; if otherwise, it is spurious, or not good. It matters not if in the beginning, when the man begins to be formed, his affection of truth is also for the sake of himself and the world. But this affection must be put off as good increases by means of truths; and moreover the man is afterward continually being purified from such things; as are the digestive organs, from what is of no use. He who believes that a man can be endowed with the good of love, without the truths of faith, and without a life in accordance with these, is very much mistaken.


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