Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1100

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1100. That 'Japheth' means a corresponding external Church has been discussed already; so also has what is meant by an external Church, namely that it is external worship, and so people who do not know what the internal man is and what belongs to the internal man, but who nevertheless lead charitable lives. With them the Lord is just as much present, for the Lord works by means of charity wherever charity exists. It is as with young children. Although these do not know what charity is, still less what faith is, the Lord is nevertheless far more present with them than with adults, especially when young children lead mutually charitable lives. He is in the same way present with simple people who have innocence, charity, and mercy within them. A person's knowing much counts for nothing if he does not live in accordance with what he knows, for the sole purpose of knowledge is that by means of it a person may become good. Once he has become good he possesses far more than someone who knows a vast amount and yet is not good, for what the latter seeks to find through many channels, the former possesses already. It is altogether different in the case of one who knows many truths and goods, and who at the same time has charity and conscience and is a member of the internal Church, which is 'Shem'. People who know little but have conscience are enlightened in the next life even to the point of their becoming angels whose wisdom and intelligence are beyond description. These people are meant by 'Japheth'.


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