As a result, there are two things that are essential to the church, called
goodwill and faith. Each and every thing in the church consists of these
two; in fact, these two have to be in each and every aspect of the church.
The reason for this is that all good things related to the church have to do
with goodwill and are called goodwill; and all true things related to the
church have to do with faith and are called faith. It is our pleasure in love,
which is the same as our pleasure in goodwill, that makes us call love
good. It is our delight in wisdom, which is the same as our delight in hav-
ing faith, that makes us call a true thing true. This pleasure and this
delight bring those qualities to life; without any life coming from pleasure
or delight, goodness and truth are more or less dead, and are in fact sterile.
[ 2 ] There are actually two kinds of pleasure having to do with love, and
two kinds of delight that seem related to wisdom: the pleasure of a good
kind of love or the pleasure of an evil kind of love; and a delight in true
faith or a delight in false faith. People call the pleasure from each kind of
love a good thing when they feel it; they also call the delight from each
kind of faith a good thing when they perceive it, although because it is in
the intellect it is actually true rather than good. Yet the two kinds are oppo-
site to each other. When we feel good from the one type of love, it is actu-
ally good, but from the other type, it is actually evil. When we see truth in
the one type of faith it is actually true, but in the other type, it is false.
The love in which we feel a genuinely good pleasure is comparable to
the type of heat from the sun that makes plants fruitful and thriving, and
causes fertile soil, and productive trees and grains. Where this type of
heat is in effect, the land becomes like a paradise, a garden of Jehovah, or
the [biblical] land of Canaan. The delight we feel in the truth related to
this love is like the sunlight in spring, or like a ray of light shining on a
crystal vase of gorgeous flowers, causing them to open and give off a
sweet fragrance.
The love in which we feel an evil pleasure is comparable to the type
of heat from the sun that makes plants dry and withered, and causes ster-
ile soil and harmful plants like thorns and brambles. Where this type of
heat is in effect, the land becomes an Arabian desert with serpents,
hydras, and presters. The delight we feel in the falsity related to this love
is like sunlight in winter, or like a ray of light shining on a jar of maggots
and stinkbugs swimming in vinegar.
[ 3 ] It is important to realize that everything good structures itself,
and also envelops itself, with things that are true. This is how it differen-
tiates itself from other types of good. Furthermore, types of good from
§38 god the creator & creation 57