Arcana Coelestia (Potts) n. 5345

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5345. And Joseph heaped up corn as the sand of the sea, exceeding much. That this signifies the multiplying of truth from good, is evident from the signification of "heaping up," as here being to multiply; and from the signification of "corn," as being truth in the will and in act (n. 5295), the multiplying of which, when compared to the sand of the sea, signifies that it is from good, and here from the good of the celestial of the spiritual by influx; for truth in the interiors is never multiplied from any other source than good. The multiplying of the truth which is not from good is not the multiplying of truth, because it is not truth, however much in the outward form it may appear to be truth. It is a sort of image with no life in it, and being dead, does not approach truth; for truth to be truth in man, must live from good, that is, through good from the Lord; and when it so lives, multiplying may be predicated of it in the spiritual sense. That the multiplying of truth is solely from good, may be seen from the fact that nothing can be multiplied except from something like a marriage, and truth cannot enter into marriage with anything but good; if with anything else, it is not marriage, but adultery. What therefore is multiplied from marriage is legitimate, thus is truth; but what is multiplied from adultery is not legitimate, but spurious, thus is not truth.


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