223. As the "face of the Lord" is mercy, peace, and every good, it is evident that He regards all from mercy, and never averts His countenance from any; but that it is man, when in evil, who turns away his face, as is said by the Lord in Isaiah:—
Your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid His face from you (lix. 2);
and here, "they hid themselves from the face of Jehovah, because they were naked."
224. Mercy, peace, and every good, or the "faces of Jehovah," are the cause of the dictate with those who have perception, and also, although in a different manner, with those who have conscience, and they always operate mercifully, but are received according to the state in which the man is. The state of this man, that is, of this posterity of the Most Ancient Church, was one of natural good; and they who are in natural good are of such a character that they hide themselves through fear and shame because they are naked: while such as are destitute of natural good do not hide themselves, because they are insusceptible of shame; concerning whom, in Jeremiah viii. 12, 13. (See above, n. 217.)
225. That the "midst of the tree of the garden," signifies natural good, in which there is some perception which is called a "tree," is also evident from the "garden" in which the celestial man dwelt; for everything good and true is called a "garden," with a difference according to the man who cultivates it. Good is not good unless its inmost is celestial, from which, or through which, from the Lord, comes perception. This inmost is here called the "midst," as also elsewhere in the Word.
226. Verses 9, 10. And Jehovah God cried unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself The meaning of "crying," of the "voice in the garden," of their "being afraid because they were naked," and of "hiding themselves," has been previously explained. It is
