Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3690conjunction of truth with good in the sensuous which is subject tothe intellectual part, further particulars cannot be given, for theyare secrets too deep for apprehension, and it is necessary forknowledges about the state of the celestial of the spiritual, andabout this sensuous, to come first, and also about the state of thenatural in which this conjunction comes into existence.[2] That “grapes” signify the good of the spiritual man, thuscharity, is evident from many passages in the Word; as in Isaiah:My well beloved had a vineyard in a horn of the son of oil; helooked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wildgrapes (Isa. 5:1–2, 4);where a “vineyard” denotes the spiritual church; his “looking that itshould bring forth grapes” denotes the goods of charity; and its“bringing forth wild grapes” the evils of hatred and revenge.[3] Again:Thus hath said Jehovah, As the new wine is found in the cluster,and one saith, Destroy it not, for a blessing is in it (Isa. 65:8);the “new wine in the cluster” denotes truth from good in thenatural.[4] In Jeremiah:Gathering I will gather them, saith Jehovah; no grapes in the vine,nor figs in the fig tree (Jer. 8:13);there being “no grapes in the vine” denotes that there is no interioror rational good, and “no figs in the fig tree” that there is noexterior or natural good; for a “vine” is the intellectual part (asshown just above, n. 5113); and when the conjunction of truth andgood is therein, a “vine” is the rational, for the rational is thence.(That a “fig tree” is the good of the natural or exterior man may beseen above, n. 217.)