8326. 'And plant them' means regeneration going on continuously. This is clear from the meaning of 'planting' as regenerating, for regeneration is like the activity of planting. When a tree is planted it grows into branches, leaves, and fruit, then from seeds in the fruit it grows into new trees, and so on. A person's regeneration is similar, which also explains why in the Word a person is compared to a tree, and one who has been regenerated to a garden or paradise. The truths of faith with that person are compared to the leaves, and forms of the good of charity to the fruit; the seeds from which new trees grow correspond to truths which spring from good, or what amounts to the same thing, to faith which springs from charity. The expression 'regeneration going on continuously' is used because a person's regeneration has a beginning but never ceases; he is continually being made more perfect not only while he lives in the world but also in the next life for evermore. Yet he can never reach any kind of perfection that enables him to be compared with the Divine.
