In league with the stones and at peace with the beasts of the field

 Job 5:23 - King James Version (KJV)

<23> For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

For thou shalt live thy life by taking the truths of the Church (stones of the field) and putting them into practice. And the affections of your heart (the beasts of the field) will approve those truths and will them in practice. And there will be Sabbath peace, the peace of conjunction between faith and charity, righteousness and understanding, love and wisdom. 

"Truth teaches what is evil and what is false, and in this way the man sees and acknowledges it; and when he sees and acknowledges, he can then be amended. For the Lord flows into those things in man which the man knows; but not into those things which he does not know; and therefore He does not amend what is evil or what is false until the man has been instructed that it is evil or false. From this it is that those who do the work of repentance must see and acknowledge their evils, and

thus live a life of truth" (AC9088).

Luke 12:48 - King James Version (KJV)

<48> But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

John 9:41 - King James Version (KJV)

<41> Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

In order to arrive at the Sabbath rest of conjunction between faith and charity when the bride and brideroom sound joyously, there must be a willingness to put the truths of faith into practice insofar as these are understood. This willingness encounters the evil affections of the fallen heart which naturally oppose these spiritual stones of the field, these truths of the Church. There is a personal turbulence at that point similar to that which astronauts enounter when leaving the Earth's atmosphere.

This personal turbulence, the bitterness in the belly of one who has eaten the little book in the angel's hand, these waters of Marah, present our wills with the choice of good and evil, God's fire or strange fire. Our choice between these in spiritual exams within the human heart is mandatory in this life or the next, less because of some rule than because you will otherwise find the love and fraternity of Heaven unbearable. It is up to you whether the fire into which you are plunged makes you feel happy amid your labors or burns like lusts not overcome forever.

How does it feel to be angry at one person and group of persons after the next all day? It feels like crud. How would any of us like to experience that forever around others who experience that forever, thus further marinating their grumpiness and our own? That is the question we answer not with our lips so much as in the assent of our wills to good or to evil;. And the choice we make in practice between good and evil impulses of the will, the beasts of the field, is a choice guided by the lamp of God's teachings and the Church's faciliations of these: the stones of the field.

These stones of the field are in league not only with your will and understanding, the receptacles of good and truth within you, but also with the Lord. That is why God says "These are the two candlesticks and two olive trees which stand by the Lord of the whole Earth" of the two witnesses in Revelation. Because a good state of the will witnesses for you and a good understanding lived in practice witnesses for you. But their opposites, evil and falsehood supportive of evil, also witness against you. Your choice between good and evil in trials by fire as informed by the truths of the Church and the turbulence which comes of sincerely attempting to live them out in practice cannot be hid.

Exodus 21:28-29 - King James Version (KJV)

<28> If an ox gore a man or a woman, that they die: then the ox shall be surely stoned, and his flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the ox shall be quit. <29> But if the ox were wont to push with his horn in time past, and it hath been testified to his owner, and he hath not kept him in, but that he hath killed a man or a woman; the ox shall be stoned, and his owner also shall be put to death.

If an affection for evil in the natural harms some truth or good of the Church that these are extinguished, then the sin that particular ox/affection for evil/lust involves will be identified clearly by the truths of the Church to the master or human to whom belongs the oxen; be the oxen heads or tails, they are its master. If the master of the lust that causes damage to some truth or good of the Church knew the lust was wrong and damages the understandings which facilitate good practice and that practice in itself, then he has chosen damnation by feeding an evil impulse of the will despite its having been identified clearly as such.

Matthew 5:17 - King James Version (KJV)

<17> Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

There is not a mention of beasts of the field and stones of the field without like significance; but there are many states of the will and understanding and thus many oxen and stones. But know this for a surety, that the animals and materials of the Word do prosper where He sends them. And everything in the Word (and much that is not the Word but incorporates correspondences like Job and Proverbs) behaves in like manner. An ox cannot so much as toss its head in the Word of God without its meaning something that applies today in some relation to what you are willing and not willing, understanding and not understanding. It is amazing. It is to be hoped that more and more of this will come to light and be received in practice, where it belongs, that the stones of the field and the beasts of the field may be in league with us all and the Lord. Godspeed!