image signifies spiritual love, that is, love to the neighbor, or charity, as has been shown before (n. 50, 51). That 2 this church was, from spiritual love, or charity, an image of the Lord, is evident from this verse; and that charity is itself an image of the Lord is evident from its being said, "for in the image of God made He man - that is to say, charity itself made him so. That charity is the image of God is most clearly evident from the very essence of love, or charity. Nothing else than love and charity can make an image and likeness of any one. It is the essence of love and charity to make of two, as it were one. When one loves another as himself, and more than himself, one then sees the other in himself, and himself in the other. This may be known to every one if he only attends to love, or to those who love each other. The will of the one is the will of the other, they are interiorly as it were joined together, and only in body distinct the one from the other. Love to 3 the Lord makes man one with the Lord, that is, a likeness of Him. So does charity, or love toward the neighbor, make him one with the Lord, but as an image. An image is not a likeness, but is according to likeness. This oneness arising from love the Lord Himself describes in John: I pray that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art

in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. And the glory which Thou hast given unto Me, I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (xvii. 21-23). This being one is that mystical union which some think about, and which is by love alone. Again: I live, and ye shall live. In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you. He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me. If a man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him (xiv. 19-23). Hence it is evident that it is love which conjoins, and that the Lord has His abode with him who

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loves Him, and also with him who loves his neighbor, for 4 this is love of the Lord. This union, which makes a likeness and image, cannot be so well seen among men, but is seen in heaven, where from mutual love all the angels are as Each society, which consists of many, constitutes as it were one man. And all the societies together whole heaven- constitute one man, which is also called the Greatest Man (see n. 457, 549). The whole heaven is a likeness of the Lord, for the Lord is the all in all therein. So also is each society a likeness, and so each angel. The celestial angels are likenesses, the spiritual angels are images. Thus heaven consists of as many likenesses of the Lord as there are angels, and this only through mutual love one loving another more than himself (see n. 548, 549). For in order that the general or entire heaven may be a likeness, the parts, or angels singly, must be likenesses, or images according to likenesses. Unless the general consists of parts like itself, it is not a general that makes a one. From these things it may be seen, as by mental vision, what makes a likeness and image of God, namely, love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor; consequently, that every regenerate spiritual man, from love or charity, which is from the Lord alone, is His image. And he who is in charity from the Lord, is in integrity of which integrity, by the Divine mercy of the Lord, we shall speak hereafter.

1014. Verse 7. And you, be ye fruitful and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. "Be ye fruitful and multiply" signifies here, as before, increase of good and truth in the interior man; to be fruitful is predicated of goods, and to multiply of truths; "bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein " signifies increase of good and truth in the external man, which is the earth; to bring forth abundantly is predicated of goods, and multiply of truths.

1015. Be ye fruitful and multiply. That this signifies

increase of good and truth in the interior man, and that to be fruitful is predicated of goods, and to multiply of truths, is evident from what has been shown before at the first verse of this chapter, where the same words occur. That the increase is in the interior man may be evident from what follows, where it is said again "multiply," which repetition would be needless, because superfluous, if it did not signify something peculiar, distinct from what goes before. From this and from what was said above it is evident that being fruitful and multiplying are here predicated of goods and truths in the interior man. It is said the interior man because, as was shown above, man as to what is celestial and spiritual, which is of the Lord alone, is an internal man; but as to what is rational he is an interior or middle man, between the internal and the external; and as to affections of good and knowledges of the memory he is external. That such is the nature of man has been shown in what is premised to this chapter (n. 978); but his not knowing it while he lives in the body is because he is in the things of the body, and hence does not even know that there are interior things, still less that they are so distinct in their order. Yet if he will reflect it may be very evident to him, when he is in thought withdrawn from the body and is thinking as it were in his spirit. That fruitfulness and multiplication are predicated of the interior or rational man is because the operation of the internal man is not perceived, except in the most general way, in the interior man. For there are numberless particulars that compose one general thing, and indeed the most general, in his interior man. How innumerable the particulars are, what is their nature, and how they present an obscure general whole, may be evident from what has been shown above (n. 545).

1016. Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein. That this signifies increase of good and truth in the external man, which is the earth; and that bringing

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forth abundantly is predicated of goods, and multiplying of truths, is evident from what has now been said, and also from the signification of earth, as the external man what was said and shown at the first verse of this chapter (n. 983). As to its being said, " Bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein," the case is this: nothing is multiplied with the regenerate man in his external man, that is, nothing of good and truth receives increase, except by the effect of charity. Charity is as heat in the time of spring or summer, which causes grass and plants and trees to grow. Without charity, or spiritual heat, nothing grows, and for this reason it is here first said, "Bring forth abundantly in the earth," which is predicated of goods, which are of charity, by means of which there is multiplication of good and truth. Any one may understand how this is: nothing is increased and multiplied in man unless there be some affection. The enjoyment of affection causes it not only to take root, but also to increase. All things are brought about according to the aspiration of affection. What man loves he freely seizes, retains, and cherishes thus all things that favor any affection. Those which do not favor, man cares nothing for, regards as nothing, and even rejects. But such as the affection is, such is the multiplication. With the regenerate man the affection is that of good and truth from charity given by the Lord. Whatever therefore favors the affection of charity he seizes, retains, and cherishes, and thus confirms himself in goods and truths. This is signified by, Bring forth abundantly in the earth and multiply therein.

1017. To see that multiplication is such as is the affection, take for example a man who accepts the principle that faith alone saves, even if he does no work of charity, that is, even if he has no charity, and thus separates faith from charity not only on account of this principle received from childhood, but also because he supposes that if one should call the works of charity, or charity itself, the essen

tial of faith and should therefore live more piously, he could not but place merit in works, though this is a false supposition. Thus he rejects charity and makes the works of charity of no account, abiding only in the idea of faith, which is of no avail without its essential, namely, charity. In confirming this principle in himself, he does it not at all from affection for good, but from affection for pleasure, that he may live in the indulgence of his lusts. And whoever of this mind confirms it in many ways, does this not from affection for truth, but for his own glory, that he may seem greater, more learned, and more exalted than others, and may thus take a high place among those in wealth and honor. Thus he does it from the enjoyment of his affection, and this enjoyment causes the multiplication of confirmations; for, as has been said, such as the affection is, such is the multiplication. In general, when the principle is false, nothing but falsities can follow from it; for all things conform themselves to the principle. Indeed — as I know from experience which, by the Divine mercy of the Lord, will be told elsewhere — those who confirm themselves in such principles about faith alone, and are in no charity, care nothing for, and are as if they did not see, all that the Lord said so many times about love and charity (see Matt. iii. 8, 9 ; v. 7, 43–48; vi. 12, 15; vii. 1–20; ix. 13; xii. 33; xiii. 8, 23; xviii. 21-23 and to the end; xix. 19; xxii. 34-39; xxiv. 12, 13; xxi. 34, 40, 41, 43: Mark iv. 18-20; xi. 13, 14, 20; xii. 28–35: Luke iii. 8, 9; vi. 27-39, 43 to the end; vii. 47; viii. 8, 14, 15; x. 25– 28; xii. 58, 59; xiii. 6-10: John iii. 19, 21; v. 42; xiii. 34, 35; xiv. 14, 15, 20, 21, 23; xv. 1–19; xxi. 15-17).

1018. The reason why it is here said again, “Be ye fruitful, and multiply," as in the first verse of the chapter, is that here is the conclusion, and that all things will succeed and will be fruitful and multiply, if they do not what is signified by eating blood and by shedding blood-that is, if they do not extinguish charity by hatred and profanations.