Page:Arcana Coelestia - Volume I.djvu/40

26 use, whereby the church itself, by reason of its affection for goodness, was called daughter, and virgin, as the virgin Zion and the virgin Jerusalem, and also wife. But on this subject more may be seen in the following chapter, verse 23; and in the third chapter, verse 15.

. Verse 28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be ye fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that creepeth upon the earth. The most ancient people, in consequence of calling the conjunction of the understanding and will, or of faith and charity, a marriage, also denominated every thing of good produced from that marriage, fructifications, and everything of truth, multiplications. Hence the like method of speaking is used in the prophets; as in Ezekiel: "I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall multiply and fructify themselves; and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings, and ye shall know that I am Jehovah, yea, I will cause man to walk upon you, even my people Israel," (xxxvi. 11, 12.) By man is here meant the spiritual man, who is called Israel; by old estates, the Most Ancient Church; by beginnings, the Ancient Church after the flood. The reason why multiplication, which is of truth, is first mentioned, and fructification, which is of good, secondarily, is, because the passage treats of one who is to become regenerated, not of one who is already regenerated. "When the understanding is united with the will, or faith with love, man is called by the Lord married land; as in Isaiah: "Thy land shall be no more termed desolate, but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah [my delight is in her], and thy land Beulah, married,—for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married," (lxii. 4). The fruits thence issuing, which are of truth, are called sons, and those which are of good are called daughters, and this method of speaking occurs very frequently in the Word. The earth is replenished, or filled, when there is an abundance of truth and goodness; and when the Lord blesses, and speaks to man, or in other words operates upon him by his divine proceeding, there is an immense increase of goodness and truth, as the Lord says in Matthew: "The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard-seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; which indeed is the least of all seeds; but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the heavens come and build their nests in the branches thereof," (xiii. 31, 32.) A grain of mustard-seed is man's goodness before he becomes spiritual, which is the least of all seeds, because he thinks to do good of himself, and what is of himself is nothing but evil. Since, however, a state of regeneration has commenced, there is