Arcana Coelestia volume 7 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 3720The Lord insofar as possible then removes from that abode thegoods and truths of early childhood, and withdrawing them towardthe interiors stores them up in the interior natural for use. Thesegoods and truths stored up in the interior natural are signified inthe Word by “remains” (see n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661,1050, 1738, 1906, 2284). But if evil steals the goods and truthsthere, and applies them to confirm evils and falsities, especially if itdoes this from deceit, then it consumes these remains; for it thenmingles evils with goods and falsities with truths till they cannot beseparated, and then it is all over with the man.[5] That such things are signified by “theft” may be seen from themere application of “theft” to the things of spiritual life. In spirituallife there are no other riches than the knowledges of good andtruth, and no other possessions and inheritances than the felicitiesof life arising from goods and their truths. As before said, to stealthese things is “theft” in the spiritual sense; and therefore by“thefts” in the Word, nothing else is signified in the internal sense;as in Zechariah:I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, when behold a flying roll. Then saidhe unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth upon the faces of thewhole earth; for everyone that stealeth hence, like it is innocent; andeveryone that sweareth, like it is innocent. I have cast it forth that it mayenter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him thatsweareth by my name for lying; and it shall pass the night in his house,and shall consume it and the wood thereof and the stones thereof (Zech.5:1, 3–4);the evil which takes away the remains of good is signified by “himthat stealeth” and by the “house of the thief”; and the falsity whichtakes away the remains of truth is signified by “him that sweareth”and by the “house of him that sweareth for lying”; the “faces of thewhole earth” denote the universal church; therefore it is said that“the curse shall consume the house and the wood thereof and thestones thereof.” The “house” is the natural mind or man as to thismind (n. 3128, 3538, 4973, 5023); “wood” is the goods therein (n.2784, 2812, 3720, 4943); and the “stones” are truths (n. 643,1298, 3720).