933. [verse 2] 'In the midst of the street and of the river on this side and on that is a tree of life bearing twelve fruits' signifies that in the inmost things of the truths (veritas) of the doctrine and consequently of the life in the [New] Church is the Lord in His Divine Love, from Whom are flowing forth all the goods that a man does apparently as of himself. By 'in the midst' is signified in the inmost, and thence in the things around (n. 44, 383). By 'the street' is signified the truth of the Church's doctrine (n. 501, 917). By 'the river' is signified Divine Truth in abundance (n. 409, 932). 'On this side and on that (hinc et hinc)' signifies on the right and on the left, and the truth on the right is what is in clarity and on the left what is in obscurity; for the south in heaven, by which is signified truth in clarity, is on the right, and the north, by which is signified truth in obscurity, is on the left (n. 901). By 'a tree of life' is signified the Lord as to Divine Love (n. 89). By 'fruits' are signified the goods of love and charity that are called good works, treated of in the following paragraph. By 'twelve' are signified all, and it is said of the goods and truths of the Church (n. 348). From these things gathered together into one meaning it follows that by 'in the midst of the street and of the river on this side and on that is a tree of life bearing twelve fruits' is signified that in the inmost things of the truths (veritas) of the doctrine and of the life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine Love, from Whom are flowing forth all the goods that a man does apparently as of himself. [2] This comes to pass with those who approach the Lord directly and flee from evils because they are sins, thus who will be in the Lord's New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; for those who do not approach the Lord directly cannot be conjoined to Himself, nor thus to the Father, and consequently cannot be in the love that is from the Divine. For visibility (aspectus) conjoins, not an intellectual visibility only, but an intellectual visibility derived from an affection of the will, and an affection of the will is not given unless a man does His precepts; and therefore the Lord says:-
He who does My precepts, that one loves Me, and I will come unto Him and make an abode with him John xiv 21-24.
[3] It is said 'in the inmost things of the truths (veritas) of the doctrine and consequently of the life in the New Church', because in spiritual things all things exist and proceed from the inmost, as fire and light at the centre [proceed] into the circumferences; or as from the sun, which also is at the centre, heat and light [proceed] into the universe. It takes place thus in the least things as in the greatest. Because the inmost of every truth is signified, therefore it is said 'in the midst of the street and of the river' and not 'on each side of the river', although this is understood. That from the Lord, while He is in the inmost, all the goods of love and charity exist and proceed is plain from the words of the Lord Himself in John:-
Jesus said, As the branch cannot bear fruit from itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the Vine, you are the branches: be who abides in Me and I in him, this one bears much fruit, because without Me you cannot do anything John xv 4-6.
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