AC 9568 - The Good from the Lord in Everything

AC 9568

Good is the source of truths,
and truths from good
are the source of memory-knowledges.
So is the one derived and produced from the other.
Nevertheless good is everything
in its products and derivatives,
because these are from good.
The case herein
is like that with end, cause, and effect.

The end is everything of the cause,
and the cause is everything of the effect;
from which it follows
that the end is everything of the effect,
insomuch that
if the end or final cause is withdrawn,
there is no efficient cause and no effect of it.
In like manner do the celestial, the spiritual,
and the natural succeed each other;
from the celestial is all the spiritual,
and from the spiritual is all the natural,
that is, from the celestial through the spiritual.
With a person all is called "celestial"
that is of the good of love,
all "spiritual" that is of the truth of faith from there,
and all "natural" that is of memory-knowledge.
That memory-knowledge is natural,
is because this knowledge is truth
appearing in the light of the world;
whereas the truth of faith,
insofar as it is of faith with a person,
is in the light of heaven.

From all this it can now be seen
how one thing is produced and derived
from another,
and that the first is everything
in the products and derivatives,
insomuch that if the first is withdrawn,
the things which follow from it perish.
Everyone capable of perception can know
that the Divine is the first of all things,
and therefore is the all in all
of the order of things,
thus in all things of good and truth
which make heaven,
and which make the life of heaven, with a person.
Consequently good from the Divine
is in all the truths of faith,
and if good is not everything in them,
and if the Divine of the Lord
is not everything in good,
the person has in him nothing of heaven,
thus nothing of the church.

But the Divine of the Lord
is in all things of good with a person,
and from this in all things of truth with him,
when he wills from love,
and believes from the consequent faith,
that all good and all truth,
thus everything of love and everything of faith,
are from the Lord,
and absolutely nothing from himself;
and also that he possesses the truth of faith
in the exact proportion of
his reception of good from the Lord;
for, as before said,
good is the all in all things of truth,
and truth without good is truth without life.