The Abundant Life - A Spiritual Marriage of Goods and Truths - Part 4
By Rev. Paul Booth
By Rev. Paul Booth
When truth proceeds from good it becomes one with it so that these become one good. Thus, the will and the understanding of a man make one mind, and one life. The result is that the man receives truth in his new understanding and good in his new will, whereas, before, man had thought one thing, but spoke another than he wills. In this respect, a man who is not 'born again', that is, is not regenerated and has 'as it were' two lives, one of the will and the other of the understanding. Yet, these two make one life with him when he is regenerated.
Life, then with man, is nothing else than good and truth - the proceeding Love - which are of the Lord. To show that this is true just ask yourself, can a man do or will anything or even think without good and truth? The man who has two lives - the life of his will and of his understanding - becomes only one when this thoughts are derived from his will, or when the truth, which is of his faith are from good, which is of love. This man, then, is made into an image of God and the marriage of good and truth is within, these having relationship in man in a conjunction - a marriage - so that man may produce.
Let us come to understand this even clearer. All things in man that are from the Lord have reference to good and truth, but those that are from the man himself - things proper to man or his proprium - have reference to evil and falsity. Now, it is in man that all things in the universe have reference to good and truth, for man, we said, is the receptacle and the vessel of them, that is, his will and understanding can receive both good and truth. This good and truth from the Lord forms a man's new will and understanding. This is the man's new spiritual birth from the Lord. Man's old will and understanding are formed from his natural birth, because of his hereditary tendency to sin. The new birth is called the process of regeneration and is when good and truth, which are spiritual, becomes as one in man in a new will and understanding.
The will and the understanding in a man must become one. The understanding of a man is to understand the truth and that its purpose is to be implanted in the will and become good. So, when it is in the will it is in man, otherwise the truths that one learns and comes to knows remains outside 'as it were' and are only in his memory and is not a part of the true life God wants him to have.
Is not the man's will the inmost faculty in man, where the very esse or the man's being and life is? Therefore, the understanding is the exterior faculty and exists only from the will, because this faculty receives truths from the world through the senses. Thus, what man wills, he loves, and what he loves, he feels delight in and confirms by his reason, which he calls truths. From this you may see why the will and the understanding make one and why, when they appear as two as when one understands the truth, yet wills evil. The unregenerate man, who thinks from himself, understands according to his will or in agreement with his love. Thus, man can speak in accordance with the truth and do well, yet he wills to do evil. In this we understand he uses good and the truth to accomplish his selfish desires. In effect, goods and truths become subservient to him.
However, when spiritual knowledge or cognition of God's Word are believed because they are the truth for the sake of the truth they enter the will. And, when the person wills the truth and does good for the sake of good, the person's faith and charity become one and his life is one. You can see that this one life of faith and charity are formed from truths and goods or from the Lord in a man, and that they are conjoined and are as a marriage and are no longer divided in him. The two become one even as the Lord becomes 'as it were' married to the Church on earth and in Heaven. The Word teaches this truth also in the marriage of a man and woman, which are to become 'as it were' one 'flesh' portraying the true conjugial love of good and truth.
As this acknowledgement takes place in man and the person's faith and charity become one as truth and good become one in him. His falsities and evils are taken away or are removed. As this happens, a new will and understanding are made in the man and the person's sins are taken away - or are removed - from having the center of a man's life. This is the same as redeeming the person and saving him. It becomes obvious that the man's sins are removed 'as it were' by two things - a belief in God and by living according to God's truths, that is, His commandments. In this act one's love of self and the world are put aside and no longer prevents the man from loving God, even from truly understanding God's truths.
From this you may see that one's faith has something to with his life, yet, it also has to do with his thinking. Therefore, it has something to do with his willing. Willing, thinking, and doing go to make the life in each of us and is according to our love. Here, we can understand that it is in the doing of good that unites our willing with our thinking. Likewise, it is the doing of evil that unites us with the thinking of evil. These become our life - either a good or an evil life. One sees that the outcome of a good life is of faith and charity, that is, of a belief and a love of truths and goods, which are the Esse, the Being and the Existere, the existence, of God, whose presence then becomes known to man.
The result of this is a person becomes principled in good, loves truth, and so, loves God, who becomes his Lord. He does so because the Lord is Good Itself and Truth Itself. Thus, it is that when we love truth from good, then we love the Lord.
End.
Life, then with man, is nothing else than good and truth - the proceeding Love - which are of the Lord. To show that this is true just ask yourself, can a man do or will anything or even think without good and truth? The man who has two lives - the life of his will and of his understanding - becomes only one when this thoughts are derived from his will, or when the truth, which is of his faith are from good, which is of love. This man, then, is made into an image of God and the marriage of good and truth is within, these having relationship in man in a conjunction - a marriage - so that man may produce.
Let us come to understand this even clearer. All things in man that are from the Lord have reference to good and truth, but those that are from the man himself - things proper to man or his proprium - have reference to evil and falsity. Now, it is in man that all things in the universe have reference to good and truth, for man, we said, is the receptacle and the vessel of them, that is, his will and understanding can receive both good and truth. This good and truth from the Lord forms a man's new will and understanding. This is the man's new spiritual birth from the Lord. Man's old will and understanding are formed from his natural birth, because of his hereditary tendency to sin. The new birth is called the process of regeneration and is when good and truth, which are spiritual, becomes as one in man in a new will and understanding.
The will and the understanding in a man must become one. The understanding of a man is to understand the truth and that its purpose is to be implanted in the will and become good. So, when it is in the will it is in man, otherwise the truths that one learns and comes to knows remains outside 'as it were' and are only in his memory and is not a part of the true life God wants him to have.
Is not the man's will the inmost faculty in man, where the very esse or the man's being and life is? Therefore, the understanding is the exterior faculty and exists only from the will, because this faculty receives truths from the world through the senses. Thus, what man wills, he loves, and what he loves, he feels delight in and confirms by his reason, which he calls truths. From this you may see why the will and the understanding make one and why, when they appear as two as when one understands the truth, yet wills evil. The unregenerate man, who thinks from himself, understands according to his will or in agreement with his love. Thus, man can speak in accordance with the truth and do well, yet he wills to do evil. In this we understand he uses good and the truth to accomplish his selfish desires. In effect, goods and truths become subservient to him.
However, when spiritual knowledge or cognition of God's Word are believed because they are the truth for the sake of the truth they enter the will. And, when the person wills the truth and does good for the sake of good, the person's faith and charity become one and his life is one. You can see that this one life of faith and charity are formed from truths and goods or from the Lord in a man, and that they are conjoined and are as a marriage and are no longer divided in him. The two become one even as the Lord becomes 'as it were' married to the Church on earth and in Heaven. The Word teaches this truth also in the marriage of a man and woman, which are to become 'as it were' one 'flesh' portraying the true conjugial love of good and truth.
As this acknowledgement takes place in man and the person's faith and charity become one as truth and good become one in him. His falsities and evils are taken away or are removed. As this happens, a new will and understanding are made in the man and the person's sins are taken away - or are removed - from having the center of a man's life. This is the same as redeeming the person and saving him. It becomes obvious that the man's sins are removed 'as it were' by two things - a belief in God and by living according to God's truths, that is, His commandments. In this act one's love of self and the world are put aside and no longer prevents the man from loving God, even from truly understanding God's truths.
From this you may see that one's faith has something to with his life, yet, it also has to do with his thinking. Therefore, it has something to do with his willing. Willing, thinking, and doing go to make the life in each of us and is according to our love. Here, we can understand that it is in the doing of good that unites our willing with our thinking. Likewise, it is the doing of evil that unites us with the thinking of evil. These become our life - either a good or an evil life. One sees that the outcome of a good life is of faith and charity, that is, of a belief and a love of truths and goods, which are the Esse, the Being and the Existere, the existence, of God, whose presence then becomes known to man.
The result of this is a person becomes principled in good, loves truth, and so, loves God, who becomes his Lord. He does so because the Lord is Good Itself and Truth Itself. Thus, it is that when we love truth from good, then we love the Lord.
End.