Page:Arcana Coelestia - Volume I.djvu/41

 something of good in him, but it is the lea9t of all goodness. At length his faith is joined with love, it grows larger, and becomes an herb; and lastly, when the conjunction is perfected, it becomes a tree, and then the birds of the heavens, in this passage also denoting truths, or things intellectual, build their nests in its branches, which arc scientifics. When man is spiritual, as well as during the time of his becoming spiritual, he is in a state of warfare, and therefore it is said, subdue the earth and have dominion.

. Verse 29. And God said, Behold, I give you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the faces of all the earth; and every tree, in which is fruit, the tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. The celestial man is delighted with celestial things alone, which being agreeable to his life are called celestial meats: the spiritual man, with spiritual things, and as these are agreeable to his life they are called spiritual meats: the natural man in like manner is delighted with natural things, which by reason of their suitableness to his life are called meats, and consist chiefly in scientifics. Forasmuch as the spiritual man is here treated of, his spiritual meats are described by representatives, as by the herb bearing seed, and by the tree in which is fruit, which are in general called the tree yielding seed. His natural meats are described in the following verse.

. The herb bearing seed is every truth which regards use; the tree in which is fruit is the good of faith; fruit is what the Lord gives to the celestial man, but seed producing fruit is what he gives to the spiritual man; wherefore it is said, the tree yielding seed, to you it shall be for meat. Celestial meat is called fruit from a tree, as is evident from the following chapter, where the celestial man is treated of, and from these words which the Lord spake by Ezekiel: "And by the river, upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed; it shall bring forth new fruit according to its months; because their waters issued out of the sanctuary; and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine," (xlvii. 12.) Waters issuing out of the sanctuary signify the life and mercy of the Lord, who is the sanctuary; fruit wisdom, which shall be meat for them; the leaf is intelligence which shall be for their use, and this use is called medicine. But that spiritual meat is called herb, appears from David: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want; thou makest me to lie down in pastures of herb," (Psalm xxiii. 1, 2.)

58. Verse 30. And to every wild beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the heavens, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is a living soul, [I give] every green herb for meat: and it was so. The natural meat of the same is here