True Christian Religion (Ager) n. 398

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398. (2) Good and truth. 1. All things in the universe that are in Divine order have relation to good and truth; for nothing can exist in heaven or in the world that does not have relation to these two. This is because both of these, good as well as truth, go forth from God from whom are all things. [2] 2. From this it is clear that it is necessary for man to know what good is and what truth is, how the one has regard to the other and how the one is conjoined with the other; and this is especially necessary for the man of the church, since all things of the church have relation to good and truth, just as all things of heaven do, because the good and truth of heaven are also the good and truth of the church. [3] 3. It is according to Divine order for good and truth to be conjoined and not separated, thus that they be one and not two; for they are conjoined when they go forth from God and are conjoined in heaven, and therefore must be conjoined in the church. The conjunction of good and truth is called in heaven the heavenly marriage, for all who are there are in that marriage. For this reason in the Word heaven is likened to a marriage, and the Lord is called the bridegroom and husband, and heaven, and likewise the church, the bride and wife. Heaven and the church are so called because those who are there receive the Divine good in truths. [4] 4. All the intelligence and wisdom that the angels have is from that marriage, and nothing thereof is from good separated from truth, or from truth separated from good. It is the same with the men of the church. [5] 5. Since the conjunction of good and truth is like a marriage, it is evident that good loves truth, and that truth in turn loves good, and that each desires to be conjoined with the other. The man of the church who has no such love and no such desire is not in the heavenly marriage; therefore the church is not yet in him, since the conjunction of good and truth is what constitutes the church. [6] 6. Goods are manifold. In general there is spiritual good and there is natural good, and also the two conjoined in genuine moral good. As with goods so with truths, since truths are of good and are forms of good. [7] 7. As with good and truth, so is it in an opposite way with evil and falsity; that is, as all things in the universe that are in accordance with Divine order have relation to good and truth, so do all things contrary to Divine order have relation to evil and falsity. Again, as good loves to be conjoined with truth, and truth with good, so does evil love to be conjoined with falsity and falsity with evil. And further, as all intelligence and wisdom is born from the conjunction of good and truth, so is all irrationality and folly born from the conjunction of evil and falsity. The conjunction of evil and falsity viewed interiorly is not marriage but adultery. [8] 8. From the fact that evil and falsity are the opposites of good and truth, it is clear that truth cannot be conjoined with evil, nor good with the falsity of evil. If truth is joined to evil it comes to be no longer truth, but falsity, because it is falsified; and if good is joined to the falsity of evil it comes to be no longer good, but evil, because it is adulterated. But falsity that is not the falsity of evil may be joined to good. [9] 9. No one who is in evil and therefrom in falsity by confirmation and life, can know what good and truth are, for he believes his own evil to be good, and therefore his own falsity to be truth; but everyone who is in good, and therefrom in truth by confirmation and life, can know what evil and falsity are. This is because all good and its truth are in their essence heavenly, while all evil and its falsity are in their essence infernal, and everything heavenly is in light, but everything infernal in darkness.


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