116. Verse 9. I know thy works, signifies love. This is evident from the signification of "works," as being the things that are of the will or love, since works proceed therefrom, and that from which anything proceeds constitutes the all in that which proceeds, as cause does in effect, for when the cause is taken away or ceases the effect ceases. So it is with man's will and works therefrom; will is the cause and works are the effects, and it is well known that when will ceases work ceases. From this it is clear that "works" in relation to cause are the will. The will of man is spiritual, but works therefrom are natural; therefore here by "works," in the spiritual sense, the will is meant. By "works" is meant also the love, because what a man loves that he wills, and what in heart he wills that he loves; and if you look more deeply you will see that all things of man's interior will are of his love. Yet in common discourse we speak of man's love, not of his will, because the loves are manifold, and there are many in one man, and all are together in the will, which is perceived by man as a one, because he distinguishes between will and understanding. The will, therefore, is man's spiritual itself, because love is spiritual. "Works" are mentioned in the Word, and not the will or love (as here and in what follows, to the angels of the churches, "I know thy works," and not "I know thy will," or "thy love"), because all things that are in the sense of the letter of the Word are natural, and contain within them things spiritual; to bring out, therefore, the spiritual sense of the Word, the spiritual, which is in the natural or from which the natural proceeds, is to be explored.