AC 8080 - truth of faith / good of faith

AC 8080 [3]
That regarded in itself the truth of faith without its good
is not to be ascribed to the Lord, that is given to Him,
or acknowledged to be from Him, is because
no truth of faith has any life in it until it becomes the good of faith; and
the truth of faith becomes the good of faith by willing it and doing it.

When therefore it becomes the good of faith,
then it is acknowledged by the Lord as being His,
for the Lord gives faith mediately through its good.
Moreover with the man of the spiritual church
all the truth of faith becomes the good of faith
when he is being regenerated,
and then for the first time it becomes the Lord's.

AC 8051 - rejecting falsity and accepting truth

AC 8051
... falsity and that which is falsified
cannot be appropriated as such to any one who is in good
and from this desires to be in truth,
but only to him who is in evil and from this does not desire to be in truth.

That to him who is in good and from this desires to be in truth,
falsity is not appropriated as falsity,
is because he thinks well with respect to God,
the kingdom of God, and spiritual life,
and consequently he applies falsity so as not to be contrary to these things,
but in some way to be in accord with them; thus he softens it,
and the asperity and hardness of it does not come into his idea.
Unless this were the case, scarcely any one could be saved,
for falsities are more prevalent than truths.

But be it known that they who are in good are also in the love of truth,
and therefore in the other life, when they are instructed by angels,
they reject falsities and accept truths,
and this according to the degree of the love of truth
which they had in the world.

AC 8037 - angelic happiness

AC 8037
... to will good to the neighbor
without reward
is heaven in a person,
and that in this affection
there is happiness
as great as is that of the angels,
which is unutterable.

AC 8020 - the Lord's Word

AC 8020
If there were not something spiritual in the whole and in each detail,
the angels who are with a person when he reads the Word
would comprehend but little,
indeed scarcely anything,
from the Word;
for the angels comprehend spiritually all things
that have been described in the Word in a natural manner.

AC 8005 - memory-knowledges are like bones

AC 8005
... memory-knowledges are like the bones in a person;
if these are not sound, or in their order,
as when disjointed or distorted,
the form of the body is thereby changed,
and the actions in accordance therewith.
The truths of memory-knowledge are doctrinal things.

AC 7988, 7989 - "Jehovah Zebaoth" & "watches to Jehovah"

AC 7988 [5]
As from truths and goods the angles are called "the armies of Jehovah,"
and so also the sun, moon, and stars;
and as all truth and good proceed from the Lord;
therefore in the Word the Lord is called "Jehovah Zebaoth,"
that is, "of armies".
He is so called also from the fact that He fights for man against the hells.

AC 7989
... the signification of the "watches to Jehovah,"
as being the presence of the Lord and thence protection;
for by the presence of the Lord
those are enlightened who are in good and thence truth...
and also by the presence of the Lord
those are brought out from damnation
who are to be raised into heaven,
for they are withheld from evil and are kept in good,
and this by a strong force from the Lord....

AC 7973 - 600,000

AC 7973
About six hundred thousand on foot that were men. (Exodus 12:37)

That this signifies all things of the truth and good of faith in one complex,
is evident from the signification of the number "six hundred thousand;"
for this number arises from six and also from twelve,
and "twelve" signifies all things of faith and charity.
It is for this reason that the sons of Jacob were twelve,
and that their posterity were distinguished into twelve tribes,
and also that the twelve disciples were adopted by the Lord, namely,
to represent all things of faith and charity.

[6]
That this number signifies such things scarcely any one can believe,
for the reason that it is a matter of history,
and everything historical keeps the mind continually in the external sense,
and withdraws it from the internal sense.
Nevertheless this number has such a signification,
for there is not even a syllable, nor yet one jot or point in the Word,
which is not in itself holy, because it infolds in itself what is holy.
Every one sees that there is nothing holy in the mere historical fact.

AC 7967 - delightful truths

AC 7967
All the truths that enter with a person have been conjoined with some delight,
for truths without delight are not of any one's life.

AC 7935 - the interior perception of truth, which perception is of conscience

AC 7935
... those who are of the spiritual church
and are liberated by the Lord,
in that this truth must remain fixed in their minds;
that their salvation ought to be accepted as solely from the Lord.
The perception of this truth is of conscience;
for they who are of the spiritual church have not perception
as have those who are of the celestial church,
but in place of it they have conscience.
Conscience with them is born and formed
from the truths of the church wherein they have been born,
which truths have been received by them in childhood and afterward,
and have been confirmed by life,
and in this way have become matters of faith.
To act according to these truths is to act according to conscience,
and to act contrary to them is to act contrary to conscience.
They are fixed in the interior memory as if written there,
and at last are so to speak things that have been impressed in infancy,
which afterward appear quite familiar and as it were innate,
just as do the speech, thoughts, recollections, various reflections,
and, in external matters, the gait, gestures, countenance
and other things into which one is not born, but is introduced by habits.
When the truths of faith also have been impressed in this way,
which takes place in the interior man,
then they in like manner become familiar,
and at last, being as it were innate,
impel the man to think, to will, and to act according to them.
This part of the life is called conscience, and is the life of the spiritual man,
which is to be valued in proportion
as the truths from which he thinks are genuine truths of faith,
and as the goods from which he acts are genuine goods of charity.

AC 7914 - compel

AC 7914
For the good of innocence,
which is the good of love to the Lord,
is not received by the man of the spiritual church
unless he compels himself;
because it can with difficulty be believed by him
that the Lord is the only God,
and also that His Human is Divine....

AC 7902 - falsity can be removed

AC 7902
Innocence
consists in acknowledging that in one's self there is nothing but evil,
and that all good if from the Lord;
and also in believing
that a person does not know or perceive anything from himself,
but from the Lord, thus also the truth which is of faith.
When a person is in the state,
then falsity can be removed from him,
and truth can be insinuated by the Lord.
This state is what is signified by the unleavened things,
and also by the eating of the paschal lamb.

AC 7884 - worship according to the order of heaven

AC 7884
By worship according to the order of heaven
is meant all practicing of good according to the Lord's precepts.
By the worship of God at this day
is chiefly meant the oral worship in a temple,
both morning and evening.
But the worship of God does not consist essentially in this,
but in a life of uses;
this latter worship is according to the order of heaven.
Oral worship is also worship,
but it is of no avail whatever
unless
there is the worship that belongs to the life;
for this worship is of the heart;
and oral worship, that it may be worship, must proceed from this.

precepts - laws, commands

Blessed New Church Day, everyone!

AC 7857 - don't go back

AC 7857
When a person is being regenerated,
the good with him proceeds from the truth of faith;
for he then acts in accordance with truth;
not from the affection of truth,
but from obedience,
because it has been so commanded.
Afterward however, when he has been regenerated,
he does what is good from affection, thus from love.
These two states with people are precisely distinguished in the Word,
for the reason that a person cannot be in both states at the same time.
He who is in the first state cannot enter into the other
until he has been regenerated;
and he who is in the second state
must not betake himself to the former.
If any one so betakes himself,
he loses the affection of doing what is good from love,
and relapses into the state of faith, which had been of service to him...
and he also relapses beyond this state.

AC 7836 & 7840 - good & truth working for regeneration

AC 7836
... "the truth of good,"
... by this is meant the truth which is from good.
For when they who are of the spiritual church are being regenerated,
they are introduced to the good of charity
by means of the truth of faith;
but when they have been introduced to the good which is of charity,
the truths which are afterward born
are called the "truths of good."

AC 7840
In every good there must be innocence that it may be good;
without innocence good is as if without its soul.
The reason is
that the Lord flows in by means of innocence,
and by means of it
enlivens the good with those who are being regenerated.
The good which innocence enlivens is internal and external;
internal good is with those who are called men of the internal church;
but external good is with those who are men of the external church.
Men (people) of the internal church
are they who have qualified their good by means of exterior truths,
such as are those of the literal sense of the Word.
People of the internal church
are they who do what is good to the neighbor from the affection of charity;
but people of the external church are they who do it from obedience.
Every person while being regenerated
first becomes a person of the external church,
and afterward a person of the internal church.

AC 7828 - the source of salvation

AC 7828
... the glorification and resurrection of the Lord as to His Human
is the source of all salvation.

AC 7795, 7796 - the choice for hell

AC 7795 [2]
That before the evil are condemned and let down into hell
they undergo so many states,
it is altogether unknown in the world.
It is believed that a person is at once either condemned or saved,
and that this is effected without any process;
but the case is otherwise.
Justice reigns there,
and no one is condemned until he himself knows,
and is inwardly convinced, that he is in evil,
and that it is utterly impossible for him to be in heaven.
His own evils are also laid open to him,
according to the words of the Lord:

There is nothing covered up, that shall not be revealed;
or hidden, that shall not be known.
Wherefore whatsoever you have said in the darkness
shall be heard in the light;
and that which you have spoken in the ear in the bedchambers
shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.
(Luke 7:2.3; Matthew 10:26,27; Mark 4:22)

AC 7796
... the Divine vastates no one;
but the evil person vastates himself
by rendering himself determined against truth Divine,
extinguishing, rejecting, or perverting it;
and by turning the good Divine which continually flows in, into evil.
This evil then is that which vastates...

AC 7779 - willing and acting

AC 7779 [3]
The life of a person is his love,
and that which he loves
he wills and intends,
and that which he wills and intends,
he does.
This is the being of a person,
but not that which he knows and thinks and does not will.
This being of a person cannot in any wise be changed
into another being
by thinking about mediation and salvation;
but by regeneration anew;
and this is not effected by thinking and speaking,
but by willing and acting.

AC 7752, 7756, 7757, 7770 - more on the Doctrine of Charity

AC 7752
All things in the universe bear relation to Good and Truth.
That which does not bear relation to good and truth
is not in Divine order;
and that which does not bear relation to both together,
produces nothing.
Good is that which produces,
and truth is that by which it produces.

AC 7756
The good which is of charity enters through the soul into a person,
but the truth which is of faith enters through the hearing;
the former flows in immediately from the Lord,
but the latter mediately through the Word.
. . . the way by which the good of charity enters is called the internal way;
and the way by which the truth of faith enters is called the external way.

AC 7757
The conjunction of the good of charity with the truth of faith
is effected in the interiors of a person.
The good itself which flows in from the Lord adopts truth there,
and appropriates it to itself,
and thereby causes the good with the person to be good,
and the truth to be truth;
or the charity to be charity,
and the faith to be faith.
Without this conjunction charity is not charity, but only natural goodness;
neither is faith faith,
but only the memory-knowledge of such things as are of faith,
and in some cases
a persuasion that a thing is so for the sake of earning gain or honor.

AC 7770 [3]
. . . with the evil
the knowledges of good and truth are applied to evil uses,
and with the good
the knowledges of good and truth are applied to good uses;
the knowledges are the same,
but the application to uses effects their quality with each person.

AC - 7747 - sincerity

AC 7747
. . . for they who are sincere
do not wish to speak
or even think
anything
which others may not know . . .

whereas they who are not willing
that others should know what they speak,
pass judgment on others,
think ill of them and well of themselves,
and at last contract such a habit
that they think and speak ill even of the church,
of heaven, (even) of the Lord Himself.

AC 7710 - nothing but good proceeds from the Lord

AC 7710
... the Lord is continually setting heaven in order,
and endowing those who are there,
and those who newly arrive,
with celestial and spiritual good....

... nothing but good proceeds from the Lord,
and He does not vastate the evil,
still less cast them into hell,
but that they themselves do this.

AC 7710 - nothing but good proceeds from the Lord

AC 7710
... the Lord is continually setting heaven in order,
and endowing those who are there,
and those who newly arrive,
with celestial and spiritual good....

... nothing but good proceeds from the Lord,
and the He does not vastate the evil,
still less cast them into hell,
but that they themselves do this.

AC 7680 - What is perception?

AC 7680
Perception is to see that truth is truth, and good good;
and also that evil is evil, and falsity falsity;

but it is not perception to see truth as falsity and good as evil;
or the reverse, evil as good and falsity as truth.
They who do this, instead of perception, have fantasy....

AC 7663 - With our flock and with our herd will we go. (Exodus 10:9)

AC 7663
By the words in this verse, that
"they would go with their boys and their old men,
and with their sons and with their daughters,
and with their flock and with their herd,"
is meant in the internal sense everything that belongs to the church,
both the external and the internal church.

The things of the external church are meant by "boys," and "herd;"
and the things of the internal church by "old men," "daughters," and "flock;"
"daughters," the affections of good;
and "flock," good itself, which are of the internal church....

AC 7640 - "How long do you refuse to be humbled before Me?" (Exodus 10:3)

AC 7640
How long do you refuse to be humbled before Me?
... there are two things in humiliation, namely,
the acknowledgment of self, that it is nothing but evil,
and that relatively to the Divine it is as nothing;
and the acknowledgment of the Divine,
that it is nothing but good, and is infinite.
These two things are not possible with the evil,
because they are in the love of self.
If they humble themselves it is either from fear,
or that they may be honored or enriched....
As humiliation is not possible with the evil,
therefore in the internal sense by
"to be humbled" is signified obedience,
and thus by "refusing to be humbled" is signified no obedience.

AC 7632 - "made heavy the heart of Pharaoh"

AC 7632
Its being said that Jehovah "made heavy the heart of Pharaoh,"
in the internal sense signifies that Pharaoh made heavy his own heart.
In ancient times, for the sake of the simple,
all evil was attributed to Jehovah;
and this because the simple could not know,
and most of them could not comprehend,
how that which came to pass
could come from any other source than Jehovah;
nor how it is to be understood that Jehovah permits
the diabolical crew to occasion evil,
and why He does not prevent it,
when yet He has all power.
As the simple could not apprehend this,
nor scarcely even the intelligent,
it was therefore said, and believed by many,
that even evil had sprung from Jehovah.
This is a common thing in the Word,
the sense of the letter of which is in accordance with the faith of the simple.

AC 7624 - united

AC 7624
When Good and Truth proceed from the Lord
they are completely united,
and so united as to be not two, but one.
Consequently they are one in heaven;
and because they are one in heaven,
heaven is an image of the Lord.
It would be the same with the church
if charity and faith therein were a one.

AC 7601 - "flax"

AC 7601 [portions of 2, 3, & 5]

It is from representatives in heaven that "flax" signifies truth.

In heaven
they who are in the truth of the natural
appear clothed in white,
which white appears as of linen.
The truth itself of the natural is also there represented
as if woven from the purer threads of the flax.
These threads appear like threads of silk -
bright, beautifully translucent, and soft;
and the clothing made of them appears similar
if the truth which is so represented is from good;
but on the other hand these threads, which are like those of flax,
do not appear translucent, nor bright, nor soft,
but hard and brittle, and yet white,
if the truth which is so represented is not from good.

As "flax" signified the truth of the exterior natural,
and the exterior natural is what clothes the interiors,
therefore this truth is what was represented by the linen garments
with which the angels were clothed;
and also by the garments of flax (or linen) with which Aaron was clothed
when he ministered in the holy place...

AC 7599 - looking towards, or away from, the Lord

AC 7599
... the Lord is "Jehovah" in the Word...
... by "the face of Jehovah" is signified mercy,
and from this, peace and every good,
and in the opposite sense
no mercy, no peace, and no good.
... because the evil turn themselves away from Jehovah, or the Lord,
for they turn themselves away from the good which is of charity,
and from the truth which is of faith, in which the Lord is;
and then the things that belong to the Lord are behind them,
and those which belong to themselves are in front of them;
and that which is behind them they neither see nor care for.
From this comes all evil to man, consequently unhappiness and hell.

AC 7573 - "the voice of Jehovah"

AC 7573 [5-6]
... "the voice of Jehovah" denotes truth Divine and its power,
thus also the Word, because this is truth Divine

A strong angel coming down cried with a great voice,
and when he cried the seven thunders uttered their voices.
I was about to write,
but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me,
Seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered,
and write them not. (Revelation 5:1,3,4)

"voices" denote truth Divine;
"thunders," those who carry it and bring it from heaven to earth.
Every one can see that by "thunders" and "voices" are signified Divine things,
and are called "the voices of Jehovah,"
it is evident that they denote Divine truth.
It was for this reason that when Jehovah
descended upon Mount Sinai and promulgated Divine truth,
there were voices, lightnings, and thunders (Exodus 19:16: 220:18)

AC 7564 - goods & truths from the Lord or not from the Lord

AC 7564
Goods and truths are either of the Lord or not of the Lord.
Those which are of the Lord are those which the man does
for the sake of his neighbor,
for the sake of his country,
for the sake of the church,
and for the sake of the Lord's kingdom,
thus for the sake of good and truth itself,
and especially for the sake of the Lord.

These goods and truths are those which are of the Lord;
but the truths and goods which are not of the Lord
are those which a man does for the sake of himself as the end,
and for the sake of the world as the end.
These latter sometimes appear like the former in the outward form,
but in the inward form they are quite different;
for these lead to self. . . .

AC 7554 - bad smells

AC 7553
... for all bad smell comes from evils mingled with goods,
and falsities mingled with truths.

AC 7553 - rain

AC 7553
A "rain" in general signifies a blessing,
and in the opposite sense a curse;
when a blessing,
it signifies the influx and reception
of the truth that is faith and of the good that is of charity,
for this is a blessing;
but when it signifies a curse,
it signifies falsity that is contrary to the truth of faith,
and evil that is contrary to the good of charity,
for these are a curse.

AC 7506 - the truths and goods of faith

AC 7506 [2]
The truths and goods of faith
with those who are of the church and are saved,
are from the good of charity;

and as the affection of charity is the spiritual itself,
these truths and goods are spiritual,
and flow in through heaven from the Lord,
for the interiors of those who receive them are open to heaven.