Spiritual Meaning of

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That a "field" is the good of life in which are to be implanted the things which are of faith, that is, spiritual truths which are of the church, is very evident from the Lord's parable in Matthew:--

The sower went forth to sow, and as he sowed, some fell upon the hard way, and the birds came and devoured them and others fell upon stony places where they had not much earth, and straightway they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; and when the sun was risen, they were scorched, and because they had no root, they withered away; and others fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them; but others fell upon the good ground and yielded fruit, some a hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, some thirty-fold: he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear (Matthew 13:3-9; Mark 4:3-9; Luke 8:5-8).

Here four kinds of earth or ground in a field-that is, in the church-are treated of. That the seed is the Word of the Lord, thus truth, which is said to be of faith, and that the good ground is the good which is of charity, is evident, for it is the good in man that receives the Word; the hard way is falsity; a stony place is truth that has no root in good; thorns are evils.

from AC 3310

That herb signifies truth is because the land signifies the church, also a field; and hence all the produce from it signifies either the truth that is of faith, or the good that is of charity, for these are of the church. By the herb of the field is meant all in general that comes from the field, as is plain from the Lord's parable in Matthew:--

The kingdom of the heavens is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field, but when the herb sprouted forth and bore fruit, then appeared the tares (Matthew 13:24, 28);

where the herb stands for the produce of the field. That by the herb is here signified the truth of the church, and by tares falsity, is evident

from AC 7571

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