A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion/Chapter 15
XV. Good and Truth.
AS the divine essence itself is capable of being distinguished into two distinct principles of life, viz. divine love and divine wisdom, or divine good and divine truth, which yet in the Lord are perfectly one; so in heaven, in the church, and even in nature, every thing that exists in a state of order, bears some relation to the good and truth proceeding from the Lord. In heaven these two principles are united, as in a kind of marriage; and they ought also to be united in every member of the church on earth. There is a mutual tendency on the part of each to unite with the other; and in those who are regenerated, they are actually united; but not so in the unregenerate.
Truth from the Word, and from other instructive writings, enters into the human mind by an external way, chiefly by seeing and hearing: but good from the Lord enters by an internal way, and endeavours to elevate the truth previously received to itself, and thus to give it life: for until it is so elevated, it is merely natural, and destitute of spiritual life.
In the first stages of regeneration, man is chiefly under the influence of truth, or at least of what appears to him to be such: for by truth he learns to know the nature and quality of evil, as well as of good, together with the necessity of shunning the one, and pursuing the other. But in the last stage of regeneration, he is placed under the more immediate influence of good; and from this he perceives and loves the truth. Arrived at this state, man is said to be regenerated, the good and the true are united in him, and he is become a subject of the heavenly marriage.
There are many varieties of good, which may all be comprehended in the general division into celestial, spiritual, and natural good. The two first carry with them a saving power; but the last possesses no such power, unless it be receptive of, and qualified by, a certain degree of spiritual or celestial life. There are also many varieties of truth; every truth, that is really and spiritually such, being either directly or indirectly derived from good, and at the same time a form thereof. But many things appear to be good and true, which yet in reality are not, or at least not in the degree at first apprehended: hence a further distinction may be made between genuine good and truth, and such as are only apparent. This may be illustrated by a most familiar mode of expression adopted in regard to natural things. Both in speaking and writing, nothing is more common, than to ascribe motion to the sun in it's rising and setting, which yet belongs only to the earth. So in the Sacred Scriptures it is frequently said, that God is angry, punishes, casts into hell, and the like; when yet those expressions are to be interpreted in reference to the wicked, and not to the Lord, who is pure love and mercy towards all his creatures. The former then is an apparent truth, and the latter a genuine truth. The kinds and qualities of each are discernible to an enlightened understanding, acting under the influence of a pure affection.
What has been said of good and truth, may be justly applied in a reversed sense to evil and falsehood. For as every thing in the universe, which exists according to divine order, has relation to good and truth, so every thing, which exists contrary to divine order, has relation to evil and falsehood. And again, as good loves to be united with truth, and truth with good, so evil desires to be united with falsehood, and falsehood with evil. Lastly, as all wisdom and understanding arise from the union of good and truth, so all insanity and folly arise from the union of evil and falsehood. This union is called the infernal marriage, but the former is called the celestial marriage.
