660. Since good has to do with the will and truth with the understanding, and since there are many things in the world, such as profit and service, which correspond to good - imputation itself corresponds to valuing and price - it follows that the remarks made here about imputation can find a parallel in all created things. For, as has been shown in various places in this book, everything in the universe has reference to good and truth, or in the opposite case to evil and falsity. One might therefore make a comparison with the church, for it gets its reputation from charity and faith, not from its ceremonies, which are an extra. One might also make a comparison with a minister of the church being valued for his will and his love, together with his understanding in spiritual matters, not for his affability or clerical garb.
[2] There is also a comparison with worship and with the building in which it is held. Worship itself takes place in the will, and in the understanding which is a kind of church for it; and this is called holy not on its own account, but because of the Divine instruction given there. A comparison is also possible with an empire ruled over by good, together with truth, which is much loved; but not with one where truth rules without good. Does anyone judge a king from his attendants, his horses and carriages, and not from the royalty which they know is in him? Royalty consists in a loving and prudent government. Does anyone watching a victory parade fail to look at the victor and judge the procession from him, not him from the procession? It follows that one judges the formal aspect from the essential, not the reverse. The will is the essential, and thought is the formal. No one can impute to the form anything but what it derives from the essential; so imputation applies to the essential, not the formal.
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