427. Those kind acts are at the present time believed to be the proper deeds of charity meant in the Word by good deeds, because charity is in many passages described in the Word by giving to the poor, helping the needy, and taking care of widows and orphans. But up to now it has not been known that the Word in its literal meaning names only such things as form the external, in fact, the outermost aspects of worship, but uses them as a means of conveying spiritual or internal ideas. On this see above in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture (193-209). It will be clear from what is said there that when the poor, the needy, widows and orphans are mentioned, it is not they who are meant, but those who are spiritually like them. 'The poor' means those who lack the knowledge of truth and good: see APOCALYPSE REVEALED 209. 'Widows' means those who lack truths, but still want them (AR 764), and so on.