Thursday, October 09, 2008

AC 9296 - "a feast" and the good with a person

AC 9296 [2]
. . . the signification of "a feast,"
as being the worship of the Lord and thanksgiving,
thus worship from a grateful mind. . ..

[3] . . . the good with a person is wholly in accordance with the use of life.
If the use of life is for the neighbor (that is, for the good of our fellow citizen,
of our country, of the church, of heaven), and for the Lord,
then this good is the good of charity.


More of 9296 has been posted as a comment - it talks much more about how the Lord implants good.

1 comment:

Heavenly Doctrine Quotes said...

AC 9296. And the feast of ingathering, in the going out of the year, when thou gatherest in thy works out of the field. That this signifies worship from a grateful mind on account of the implantation of good therefrom, thus on account of regeneration and complete liberation from damnation, is evident from the signification of "a feast," as being the worship of the Lord and thanksgiving (of which above, n. 9286, 9287, 9294), thus worship from a grateful mind; from the signification of "ingathering," when said of the implantation of truth in good, as being the implantation of good itself; from the signification of "the going out of the year," as being the end of the works; and from the signification of "when thou gatherest in thy works out of the field," as being the enjoyment and use of all things that have been implanted in good. For, by "the works" are signified not only the things of the field, but also those of the vineyard and the oliveyard, consequently those of the fruit of the earth; as is evident from the description of this feast in Moses:
Thou shalt make for thee the feast of tabernacles seven days, after thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress. And Jehovah thy God shall bless thee in all thy produce, and in every work of thy hands (Deut. 16:13, 15).
On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep the feast of Jehovah seven days (Lev. 23:39).
[2] As by this feast is signified the worship of the Lord from a grateful mind on account of the implantation of good, and thus on account of complete liberation from damnation, it shall first be explained what the implantation of good is. It has already been everywhere shown that man has two faculties of life, namely, the understanding and the will; and that the understanding is allotted to the reception of truth, and the will to the reception of good; for there are two things to which all things in the universe, both in heaven and in the world, bear relation, namely, truth and good. From this it is also evident that these two make the life of man, and that the truth of faith and the good of charity make his new life, and that unless both of these have been implanted in man he has no new life. In what way the truth which is of faith is sown and implanted in man, is known in the church; but it is not as yet so well known in what way the good which is of charity is implanted. When he is a little child, man receives good from the Lord, and this good is the good of innocence, such as little children have. This good makes the beginning of the new will in man, and in the succeeding age it grows in accordance with his life of innocence with his companions and in accordance with his life of goodness and obedience toward his parents and masters, but still more with those who afterward suffer themselves to be regenerated. This the Lord foresees, and provides according to the state of life that follows; for in every present moment the Lord foresees evil, and provides good; and this He does from the first thread of life even to eternity. Afterward, when the man grows up and begins to think from himself, so far as he is then carried away by the delights of the loves of self and of the world, so far this new willing, or beginning of a new will, is closed; and so far as he is not carried away by these delights, so far it is opened, and is also perfected.
[3] But how it is perfected by the implantation of truth, shall now be told. This new will, which is from the good of innocence, is the dwelling place through which the Lord enters into man and excites him to will what is good, and from willing to do it. This influx works in the man in proportion as he desists from evils. From this he has the faculty of knowing, of perceiving, reflecting upon, and understanding moral and civil truths and goods in accordance with the delight of use. Afterward the Lord flows in through this good into the truths of doctrine of the church with the man, and calls forth from the memory such as are of service to the use of life, and implants these in the good, and so perfects the good. It is from this that the good with a man is wholly in accordance with the use of life. If the use of life is for the neighbor (that is, for the good of our fellow citizen, of our country, of the church, of heaven), and for the Lord, then this good is the good of charity. But if the use of life is only for self and the world, then this beginning of the new will is closed, and beneath it is formed a will from the evils of the loves of self and of the world, and from this an understanding is formed of falsities. This latter will is closed above and open beneath, that is, closed to heaven and open to the world. From all this it is evident how truths are planted in good, and form it; and also that when a man is good he is in heaven with the Lord; for as before said, the new will, in which is the good of charity, is the dwelling place of the Lord, and consequently is heaven in man; and the new understanding thence derived is as it were the tabernacle through which He comes in and goes out.