Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com

Apocalypse Explained

And when I saw her I wondered with great wonder, signifies an astonishing vision, in which were arcana of heaven that were unknown to him. This is evident from the signification of "wondering with great wonder" at those things that he saw, as being to be astonished respecting the vision, in which lay hidden arcana unknown to him, therefore the angel said to him, "I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her." (Continuation respecting Profanation) [2] This kind of profanation exists especially with those who acknowledge the Lord and His Divine, and the Word and its holiness; and for the reason that the Lord alone by means of truths from the Word opens heaven to the man who lives according to those truths; and unless heaven is opened such profanation is not possible. And this shows why the Gentiles, who are ignorant of the Lord and know nothing about the Word, cannot bring upon themselves such profanation; neither can the Jews, for they deny the Lord from their infancy, and heaven is not opened to them by means of the Word; neither can the impious who have been such from childhood; for, as has been said, those only profane who believe well and live well, and afterwards believe wrongly and live wrongly. Besides this kind of profanation there are other kinds of it, which shall be treated of in the following articles.

Verses 7-8. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore, dost thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition; and they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder, whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast that was and is not, and yet is. 7. "And the angel said unto me, Wherefore dost thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns," signifies manifestation of all things (n. 1053). 8. "The beast that thou sawest was and is not," signifies the Word which in the beginning was received in the church and read, and afterwards was taken away from the people and not read (n. 1054); "and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition," signifies that it is acknowledged as Divine and yet is rejected (n. 1055); "and they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder," signifies those of that religion who reject the Word (n. 1056); "whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world," signifies that there are those who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine authority over heaven and earth, but regard it as transferred to a certain vicar, and from him to his vicars (n. 1057); "seeing the beast that was and is not," signifies knowing that the Word has been received, and yet is rejected (n. 1058); "and yet is" signifies that it still is because it is Divine and has not been rejected except by profaners (n. 1059).

Verse 7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore dost thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns, signifies manifestation of all things, as is evident without explanation; but what each particular signifies, as "to wonder," "the mystery of the woman," "the scarlet beast," "the seven heads," and "the ten horns," has been told in the preceding pages, and will be further explained in what follows. (Continuation: the Second Kind of Profanation) [2] There is another kind of profanation of holy things that those come into who have domination as their end, and regard the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, as means. The Divine order is that heaven and the church, and consequently the holy things of these, be the end, and domination the means for promoting that end. For when holy things are the end and domination the means, the Lord is worshiped and adored; but when domination is the end and holy things the means, instead of the Lord man is worshiped and adored. For the means look to the end as servants look to their master, and the end looks to the means as a master looks to his servants; consequently as a master esteems and loves his servants according to the compliance they render to his will, so a man who has domination as his end esteems and loves the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, according to the compliance they render to his end, which is domination. And on the other hand, as a lord despises and dismisses servants and takes others in their place when they are not subservient to his will, so a man who has domination as his end despises and rejects the holy things of the church, and takes other things in their place when they are not subservient to his end, which is domination. [3] From this it is clear that in those who have domination as their end, holy things are of no account except so far as they are subservient to the end, and also that they are not holy, but are profane when they are subservient to this end; and for the reason that the end, when it is domination, is the man himself, and as this end is love of self it is the man's own [proprium]; and man's own when viewed in itself is nothing but evil, and indeed is profane, and the end joins to itself the means that they may be as one. In this kind of profanation are all those who are in sacred ministries, and who are seeking by means of the holy things of the church to gain honor and glory, and these and not use, which is the salvation of souls, are what give them joy of heart.

Verse 8. The beast that thou sawest was and is not, signifies that the Word in the beginning was received in the church and read, and afterwards was taken away from the people and not read. This is evident from the signification of "the scarlet beast," as being the Word in the letter as to its holy things (see n. 1038); also from the signification of "was," as being that in the beginning it was received in the church and read; also from the signification of "is not," as being that afterwards it was taken away and not read. That this is the meaning of these words is evident from the fact that the Word was so treated, namely, that in the beginning they acknowledged it as Divine, taught from it, and read it before the people; but that afterwards, as they extended their dominion over the church and over heaven, while they acknowledged it to be Divine they no longer taught from it as before. For they interdicted the people from reading it, and instead of doctrine from it they put forth their doctrine from the Papal throne as Divine, they instituted Divine worship in masses not understood by the common people, and they preached the adoration of the Pope and of dead men whom they call saints, instead of the Lord whom they previously adored. All this makes clear that the Word is what is meant by "the scarlet beast, which was and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss, and go into perdition." That Babylon in the beginning was a church that worshiped the Lord, and preached the Divine truth from the Word, but afterwards, while it retained an adoration of the Lord it was an external, that is, a formal adoration, and the internal which is the essential adoration they transferred to the Pope as the Lord's vicar, and consequently to the ministering body as vicars under him; this may be seen above (n. 1029). (Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation) [2] Those who are in this kind of profanation cannot do otherwise than adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths, and thus pervert the holy things of the church; for these are not in accord with the end, which is the domination of man over them, for they are Divine things that cannot be mere servants; therefore from necessity, that the means may be in accord with the end, goods are turned into evils, truths into falsities, and thus holy things into things profane, and this in an increasing degree as dominion, which is the end, is increased. [3] That this is so can be clearly seen from the Babylon of the present day, to which the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are means, and domination is the end. So far as they have amplified domination they have weakened the holiness of the Word, and have actually exalted above it the holiness of the Pope's decrees; they have claimed to themselves authority over heaven, and even over the Lord Himself, and they have instituted the idolatrous worship of men, both living and dead, and this until there is nothing left of Divine good and Divine truth. [4] That the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, have been so changed is of the Lord's Divine Providence; not of His providence that this should be so done, but of His providence that when men wish to have dominion and do have dominion by means of holy Divine things, they should choose falsity in place of truth and evil in place of good, for otherwise they would defile holy things, and render them abominable before angels; but when holy things no longer exist this cannot be done. Take as an example what has been done with the Holy Supper instituted by the Lord; they have separated the bread and the wine, giving the bread to the people and drinking the wine themselves. For "bread" signifies the good of love to the Lord, and "wine" the truth of faith in Him; and good separated from truth is not good, nor is truth separated from good truth, for truth is truth from good, and good is good in truth. And so in other things.

And is about to come up out of the abyss, and go into perdition, signifies that it is acknowledged as Divine for form's sake, and yet is rejected. This is evident from the signification of "coming up out of the abyss," as being, in reference to the Word with those who are of Babylon, to be accepted and acknowledged as Divine for form's sake (of which presently); also from the signification of "going into perdition," as being not to be acknowledged but to be rejected. That the Word has been thus treated by those who are of Babylon is known. For the Word is acknowledged as Divine on account of the Lord's words to Peter respecting the keys, on account of the stories of the passion, of Mary, and of the apostles, and some passages which they can pervert to favor their dominion. Since all these are from the Word, and upon these their religion is founded, so if the Word were not acknowledged as Divine the religion itself would fall, and they could no longer rule over holy things, nor even be called Christians. But that the Word, nevertheless, is rejected by them is also known, for it is not read by the common people, and but little by the monks who teach; and many invalidate its holiness, as is evident from their writings and sayings, for the reason that it contains things that are not in accord with the decrees and bulls of the Pope, also because Babylon is there described to the life and condemned to hell. These are the causes of its rejection. All this makes clear that the Word is acknowledged as Divine only for form's sake. And that this is what these words signify can be clearly seen when it is seen that "the scarlet beast" means the Word, and the "harlot or the woman that sitteth upon it" means the religious persuasion that regards dominion as its end, and the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship as the means. (Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation) [2] Those who are in the love of self, and from that in the love of having dominion, and who covet, acquire, and afterwards exercise domination by means of the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are those who profane. For the delight of the love of having dominion for self's sake, that is, for the sake of eminence, and consequent homage, and a kind of adoration of self, is an infernal delight. Moreover, this reigns in hell, for in hell everyone wills to be the greatest, while in heaven everyone wills to be the least; and to have dominion over holy things from an infernal delight is to profane them. [3] But this second kind of profanation of the holy things of the church is not like the former kind of the profanation of them. Those fall into the former kind in whom a communication with heaven has been effected by the opening of their spiritual mind; while this second kind of profanation those have with whom the spiritual mind has not been opened, or communication with heaven effected through it. For so long as the delight of the love of having dominion resides in man, that mind cannot be opened, and communication with heaven is not possible to him. [4] Moreover, the lot of these profaners after death differs from the lot of the former. The former, as has been said, are in an unceasing delirium of fantasy; but these hate the Lord, hate heaven, hate the Word, hate the church, and hate all its holy things; and they come into such hatred because their dominion is taken away from them, and thus their state is changed into its opposite. They appear like something fiery, and their hell appears like a conflagration; for infernal fire is nothing else than the lust of having dominion from the love of self. These are among the worst, and are called devils; while the others are called satans.

And they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder, signifies those of that religious persuasion who reject the Word. This is evident from the signification of "they that dwell upon the earth," as being those who are of that religious persuasion; for the "earth" signifies the church, but here a religious persuasion because there is no church, since there is a church only where the Lord is worshiped and the Word is read. That those who reject the Word are meant is clear from what follows, namely, that they are those "whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world," and are those "who saw the beast that was and is not, and yet is," "beast" signifying the Word (as above); therefore they wonder that the Word still is, although it was and is not. (Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation) [2] The love of having dominion by the holy things of the church as means wholly shuts up the interiors of the human mind from the inmosts towards the outmosts, according to the kind and extent of that love. But to make clear that they are shut up, something shall first be said about the interiors belonging to the human mind. Man has a spiritual mind, a rational mind, a natural mind, and a sensual mind. By means of the spiritual mind man is in heaven and is a heaven in its least form. By means of the natural mind he is in the world and is a world in its least form. Heaven with man communicates with the world in him by means of the rational mind, and with the body by means of the sensual mind. The sensual mind is the first to be opened with man after his birth; after that the natural mind, and as he seeks to become intelligent the rational mind, and as he seeks to become wise the spiritual mind. And at length, as man becomes wise the spiritual mind becomes to him as the head, and the natural mind as the body, and the rational mind serves as a neck to join this to the head, and then the sensual mind becomes like the sole of the foot. [3] With infants the Lord so arranges all these minds by means of the inflow of innocence from heaven that they can be opened. But with those who begin from childhood to be inflamed with the lust of having dominion by means of the holy things of the church as means, the spiritual mind is wholly shut; so, too, is the rational mind, and finally the natural mind, even to the sensual mind, or as it is said in heaven, even to the nose. And thus they become merely sensual, and are the most stupid of all in things spiritual and thus in things rational, and the most crafty of all in worldly and thus in civil matters. That they are so stupid in spiritual things they do not themselves know, because in heart they do not believe these things, and because they believe craft to be prudence and malice to be wisdom. And yet all of this kind differ according to the kind and extent of their lust of having dominion and of exercising it, also according to the kind and extent of the persuasion that they are holy, and according to the kind of good and truth from the Word that they profane.

Whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, signifies that there are those who do not acknowledge the Divine authority of the Lord over heaven and earth, but regard it as transferred to a certain vicar, and from him to his vicars. This is evident from the signification of "names not written in the book of life," as being those who are not received in heaven (see n. 199, 222, 299); and as those are not received into heaven who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine authority over heaven and earth, such are here meant. Also from the signification of "from the foundation of the world," as being from the establishment of the church. In the sense of the letter or the natural sense "the foundation of the world" means the creation of the world; but in the internal spiritual sense it means the establishment of the church; for the spiritual sense treats of spiritual things, while the natural sense treats of natural things which pertain to the world. For this reason the creation of the heaven and the earth in the first chapter of Genesis describes in the spiritual sense the new creation or establishment of the first and Most Ancient Church on this earth. (That this is described by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, where the contents of that chapter are explained.) Moreover, "to create" signifies in the Word to reform; and "the Creator" means the Lord as Reformer and Savior. (That "to create" signifies to reform, and that the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis in the spiritual sense describes the establishment of the Most Ancient Church can be seen above, n. 294, 739.) [2] The establishment of the church is meant by "the foundation of the world" in these passages in the Word: The king shall say to them on the right hand, Come and possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matt. 15:34). Jesus praying said, Father, for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). Jesus said, The blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world shall be required of this generation (Luke 11:50). That the establishment of the church is meant by "the foundation of the world" is evident from passages in the Word where mention is made of "founding the earth," "the founding of the earth," and "the foundation of the earth," which do not mean the founding or creating of the earth, but the establishment or creation of the church upon the earth. As in Zechariah: Jehovah spreadeth abroad the heavens, and foundeth the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him (Zech. 12:1). Here "spreading abroad the heaven and founding the earth," does not mean the spreading abroad of the visible heaven and the founding of the habitable earth, but the church as to its internals, which are called spiritual, and as to its externals, which are called natural. "To found" this and "to spread abroad" that means to establish; and therefore it is added, "and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him," which signifies his reformation and regeneration. [3] In Isaiah: Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My hand hath founded the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens (Isa. 48:12-13). "Founding the earth with the hand, and spanning the heavens with the right hand," has a similar signification here as above, as can be seen from what precedes and what follows in this chapter where the establishment of a New Church by the Lord is treated of. In the same: Thou hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretcheth forth the heavens and foundeth the earth (Isa. 51:13). Here again, "the heavens and the earth" signify the church as to its internal or spiritual things and its external or natural things; and "to stretch forth and found" signifies to establish. [4] In the same: I will put My words in thy mouth, and will cover thee with the shadow of My hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou art My people. Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem (Isa. 51:16-17). Here "to plant the heavens and to found the earth" evidently stands for the establishment of the church; for this is said to the prophet, that "the word should be put in his mouth, and that he should be covered with the shadow of the hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth;" and a prophet cannot found the earth, but he can found a church; therefore it is also added, "to say unto Zion, Thou art my people. Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem," "Zion and Jerusalem," in the Word, meaning the church. In David: The heaven is Thine and the earth is Thine; the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded them (Ps. 89:11). Here too, "heaven and earth" signify the church; "the world" signifies the church as to good, and "the fullness thereof" signifies all the goods and truths of the church. [5] In the same: The earth and the world Jehovah hath founded upon the seas, and established upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness? (Ps. 24:2-3). The establishment of the church is described by "founding the earth and the world upon the seas, and establishing them upon the rivers," as can be seen above (n. 304, 518, 741). That the establishment of the church is signified is evident from what here follows, namely, "Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness?" "The mountain of Jehovah" means Zion, which signifies where the Lord reigns by means of the Divine truth, and "the place of His holiness" means Jerusalem, where the temple was, which signifies the church as to doctrine. All this makes clear that "the founding of the world" signifies the establishment of the church. For the "world" has a similar meaning as "heaven and earth;" and the expression "to found the earth" is used because the "earth" signifies the church on earth, and upon this heaven as to its holy things is founded. This also makes clear the signification of "the foundations of the earth" in the following passages. In Isaiah: Do ye not know, do ye not hear, hath it not been declared to you from the beginning, do ye not understand the foundations of the earth? (Isa. 40:21). In the same: The foundations of the earth are corrupted (Isa. 24:18; likewise 63:12; Jer. 31:37; Micah 6:2; Ps. 18:7, 15; 82:5; and elsewhere). (Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation) [6] Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but are crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the devils in hell; and because, as has been said above, they are merely sensual, and are therefore in what is their own [proprium], which draws its delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste matters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these cause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the titillation of these causes delight. [7] That such is the source of their delight is made evident by their delights after death when they are living as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love the rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from outhouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme. The approach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and open the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which comes their quickness in worldly things, and their dullness in spiritual things. In a word, the love of having dominion by means of the holy things of the church corresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by words, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their hells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the oppression and occasional swooning which they produce.

Seeing the beast that was and is not, signifies the knowledge that the Word has been received, and yet is rejected. This is evident from the signification of "seeing," as being to know and cognize (see n. 260, 529); also from the signification of the "beast," as being the Word (see n. 1038); also from the signification of "that was and is not," as being that it has been received, and yet rejected (see n. 1054-1056). (Continuation: the Third Kind of Profanation) [2] In this kind of profanation are those who with devout gestures and a pious utterance adore Divine things, and yet in heart and spirit deny them; thus who venerate the holy things of the Word and of the church and of worship outwardly or before the world, and yet at home or in secret deride them. When those of this class are in a holy external, and are teaching in a temple or conversing with the common people, they do not know otherwise than that what they say is true; but as soon as they return into themselves they think the opposite. Because these are such they can counterfeit angels of light, although they are angels of darkness. From this it is clear that this kind of profanation is a hypocritical kind. They are not unlike images made of filth and gilded, or like fruits rotten within but with a beautiful skin, or like nuts eaten by worms within but with a whole shell. From all this it is evident that their internal is diabolical, and therefore that their holy external is profane. [3] Such are most of the rulers in the Babylon of the present day, and many of a certain society in Babylon, as those of them know who claim to themselves dominion over the souls of men and over heaven. For to believe as they do, that authority has been given them to save and to admit into heaven, is the very opposite of acknowledging in heart that there is a God, and for the reason that man, in order to be saved and admitted into heaven must look to the Lord and pray to Him. But a man who believes that such authority has been given to him looks to himself, and believes the things that are the Lord's to be in himself; and to believe this, and at the same time to believe that there is a God or that God is in him, is impossible. For a man to believe that God is in him when he thinks himself to be above the holy things of the church, and heaven to be in his power, is like ascribing that belief to Lucifer, who burns with the fire of ruling over all things. If such a man thinks that God is in him he cannot think this otherwise than from himself; and thinking from himself that God is in him is thinking not that God is in him, but that he himself is God, as is said of Lucifer in Isaiah (14:13, 14), by whom is there meant Babylon, as is evident from the fourth and twenty-second verses of the same chapter. [4] Moreover, such a man, of himself, when power is given him, shows forth what he is of himself, and this by degrees according to his elevation. From this it is clear that such are atheists, some avowedly, some clandestinely, and some ignorantly. And as they regard dominion as an end, and the holy things of heaven and the church as means, they counterfeit angels of light in face, gesture, and speech, and thus profane holy things.

And yet is, signifies that it still is, because it is Divine, and has not been rejected except by profaners. This is evident from the signification of the "beast" of which this is said, as being the Word. That this still is, and that it is commonly acknowledged to be Divine, and its sanctity to be equal to that of the decrees and bulls of the Pope is known; and that it is nevertheless rejected by those who deny Divine truths in heart, and thus profane the holy things of, the church, has been shown above. The expression "and yet is" is a hidden saying, that has respect to those who acknowledge the Word to be Divine, of whom we shall speak in the explanation of the sixteenth and seventeenth verses of this chapter. (Continuation respecting the Third Kind of Profanation) [2] Those who are in this kind of profanation, which is hypocritical, differ in this respect, that there are those who have less ability and those who have more ability to conceal the interiors of their mind, that they may not be disclosed, and to shape the exteriors, which pertain to the face and mouth, into an expression of sanctity. When such after death become spirits they appear encompassed with a cloud, in the midst of which is something black, like an Egyptian mummy. But as they are raised up as it were into the light of heaven, that bright cloud changes to a diabolical duskiness, not from any shining through it, but from a breathing through it, and the consequent darkening. In hell, therefore, these are black devils. The differences in this kind of profanation are known from the blackness, as being more or less foul and horrid.

Verses 9-11. This is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sitteth upon them. And they are seven kings; the five have fallen, and the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he is come, he must remain a short time. And the beast which was and is not is himself an eighth, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition. 9. "This is the mind that hath wisdom," signifies the understanding of these things in the natural sense from the spiritual (n. 1061). "The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sitteth upon them," signifies the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned by those who are in dominion from that religious persuasion (n. 1062). 10. "And they are seven kings," signifies the truths of the Word falsified and profaned by such (n. 1063); "the five have fallen," signifies that nothing is here said about the rest of the truths profaned, but only about the two that are the heads of religion (n. 1064); "and the one is," signifies the adulterated truth that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, thus over men to save them, has been transferred to their head, and from him to the others who are under him (n. 1065); "the other is not yet come; and when he is come he must remain a short time," signifies the profaned truth that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, assumed by them, is said not to be Divine, and yet it is Divine (n. 1066). 11. "And the beast which was and is not is himself an eighth, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition," signifies that the truth that the Word is Divine has also been profaned, and yet it has been rejected (n. 1067).

Verse 9. This is the mind that hath wisdom, signifies the understanding of these things in the natural sense from the spiritual. This is evident from the signification of "this is the mind," as being the understanding of these things; also from the signification of "having wisdom," as being one who is able to see what is represented and thus signified by the vision, particularly by "the scarlet beast" and "its seven heads and ten horns." But in a sense abstracted from person, "having wisdom" means the explanation from the spiritual sense of the thing represented in the natural sense, thus the explanation of what is meant by "the seven mountains" and "the seven kings," which are signified by "the seven heads." For the explanation given by the angel, that the "seven heads" are "seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth," and that they are "seven kings, five of whom have fallen, and the one is, and the other is not yet come," with what follows, is not an explanation from the spiritual sense in the natural sense, but is an explanation in a sense merely natural, in which the spiritual sense lies concealed, and this sense must be unfolded; and it is unfolded when it is explained what is signified by "the seven mountains," "the seven kings," "the five that have fallen," and "the one that is," and so on; therefore this is what is meant by "having wisdom," as also above: Here is wisdom. He that hath intelligence let him count the number of the beast (Rev. 13:18). The angel did not explain the vision in the natural sense from the spiritual, because his explanation constitutes the Word in the letter; and the Word in the letter must be natural, in every particular of which the spiritual sense must be stored up; otherwise the Word would not serve the heavens as a basis; nor would it serve the church as the means for its conjunction with heaven. For the same reason when angels explain visions elsewhere in the Word, as in Daniel and the rest of the prophets, they explain them in a sense merely natural, and not at all in the natural sense from the spiritual. The natural sense from the spiritual, is when the signification of "the seven mountains," "the seven kings," and the other things is explained, namely, that "mountains" signify the goods of the Word, and "seven mountains" these profaned; and that "kings" signify the truths of the Word, and "seven kings" these profaned. This is the natural sense from the spiritual sense, which is called the internal sense, also the spiritual-natural sense. (Continuation respecting the Fourth Kind of Profanation) [2] The fourth kind of profanation is to lead a life of piety, by frequenting temples, listening devoutly to preachings, observing the sacrament of the Supper, and the other appointed forms of worship, reading the Word at home, and sometimes books of devotion, and habitually praying morning and evening, and yet making the precepts of life that are in the Word, and particularly in the Decalogue, of no account, by acting dishonestly and unjustly in business and in judgments for the sake of gain or influenced by friendship; committing whoredom and adultery when lust inflames and urges; burning with hatred and revenge against those who do not favor their gain or honor; lying and speaking wickedly of the good, and well of the evil, and so on. When a man is in these evils, and has not been purified from them by turning away from them and hating them, and still worships God devoutly, as has been said above, then he profanes; for he mingles his internals which are impure with externals that are pious, and these he defiles. For there can be nothing external that does not proceed and exist from internals. The actions and speech of man are his externals, and thoughts and volitions are his internals. Man can speak only from thought, and can act only from volition. When the life of the thoughts and of the will is imbued with cunning, malice, and violence, it must needs be that these, as interior crimes of the life, will flow into the speech and actions pertaining to worship and piety, and defile them as filth defiles waters. [3] This worship is what is meant by "Gog and Magog" (Rev. 20:8), and is thus described in Isaiah: What is the multitude of sacrifices unto Me, meal-offering, incense, Sabbaths, new moons, appointed feasts, and prayers, when your hands are full of bloods? Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickednesses of your doings; cease to do evil (Isa. 1:11-19). This kind of profanation is not hypocritical like the former, because the man who is in it believes that he will be saved by external worship separate from internal, and does not know that the worship by which he is saved is external worship from internal.

The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sitteth upon them, signifies the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned by those who are in dominion from that religious persuasion. This is evident from the signification of "the seven heads of the beast," as being the holy things of the Word profaned (see n. 1040); also from the signification of "seven mountains," as being the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned. (That "mountains" signify the goods of love, and in the contrary sense evils pertaining to the love, see n. 405, 510, 850, 1025; also that "seven" is predicated of what is holy, and in the contrary sense of what is profane, n. 1040; therefore "seven mountains" signify the goods of love, which are the goods of the Word, adulterated and profaned.) Also from the signification of "where the woman sitteth upon them," as being where there is dominion from that religious persuasion. (That "the woman" signifies the religious persuasion of those that belong to Babylon, may be seen above, n. 1038; and that "to sit" signifies to have dominion, see above, n. 1033, 1038, where the woman is said "to sit upon many waters," and "to sit upon a scarlet beast.") Dominion from that religious persuasion is meant because those who are in dominion over the holy things of the church, and exercise that dominion, are the ones meant by this "woman," who is called a "harlot," and "the mother of the whoredoms and the abominations of the earth," and not those who are in worship according to that religious persuasion and are not in dominion. When such live according to the statutes of the Pope, and acknowledge him to be the Lord's vicar, and observe the holy things of worship as they have been instituted, they are not dissimilar to upright pagans, who know not otherwise than that they are truths, goods and holy things which their ministers and monks teach; and this the more because they do not read the Word, some because it has been taken away from them, and some because under persuasion they depend upon the mouth of their monks, and believe that these alone and no others understand the Word. [2] But those of their people who look to the Lord, and to the Pope only as to the head of the church, and who are in some affection for truth, are indeed in Babylon, but are not of it; for after death these can be drawn away from the vanities of that religious persuasion and from idolatries, and can be led to worship and adore the Lord; and they also receive truths from the Lord through the Word or through those who teach it. For this reason, after the Last Judgment many societies, which are so many churches, were instituted from these by the Lord (of which in what follows). In regard to "the seven mountains" upon which the woman was seen to sit, it is believed that they are the seven mountains of Rome, where the Papal throne is. But admitting that Rome is meant, still "the seven mountains" signify the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned; for the Word is spiritual in every part, and this is the spiritual of it. That "the seven mountains" signify the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned is evident also from what immediately follows, where it is said that "the seven heads of the beast" mean also "seven kings;" and "seven kings" signify in the spiritual sense the truths of the Word falsified and profaned. (Continuation respecting the Fourth Kind of Profanation) [3] Those who give themselves up wholly to a life of piety, who walk continually in pious meditations, who pray frequently upon their knees, and talk about salvation, faith, and love at all times and in all places, and yet do not shun frauds, adulteries, hatreds, blasphemies, and the like, as sins against God, nor fight against them, are the kind that more fully profane; for by the impurities of their minds they defile the piety of their lips, especially when they renounce the world, and lead solitary lives. Of this kind there are some who still more fully profane; these are like those just described, but by reasonings and by the Word falsely interpreted they defend their vices, as adulteries and lusts that belong to their nature, and thus to their enjoyment. Such first regard themselves as free from danger, afterwards as blameless, and at length as holy; and thus under the veil of sanctity they cast themselves into uncleannesses with which they pollute both themselves and their garments.

Verse 10. And they are seven kings, signifies the truths of the Word falsified and profaned by such. This is evident from the signification of "kings," as being the truths of the Word (see n. 29, 31, 625, 1034); also from the mention of "seven," which has reference to what is holy, and in the contrary sense to what is profane; therefore "seven kings" signify the truths of the Word falsified and profaned. "Seven kings" have this signification because the "seven mountains" just mentioned signify the goods of the Word adulterated and profaned. For in the Word where good is treated of truth is also treated of, because of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth in all the particulars of it (see above, n. 238, 660, 775). [2] One who does not know that in the Word "kings" signify truths can by no means know what is meant by "kings" in many passages in the Word, as in Daniel where it is said: The heads and the horns of the beasts are kings or kingdoms (Dan. 7:17, 24; also in Rev. 16:12, 14; 18:3; 19:19; 21:24; and elsewhere). And in this chapter: The seven heads are seven kings; the five have fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come. And the beast that was and is not is the eighth king, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition. And the ten horns are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom; and other things that follow (Rev. 17:10-12). For if kings were here meant by "kings" it could not possibly be divined by any conjecture what these expressions mean. But when it is known that "kings" signify the truths of the Word and thus the truths of the church, the meaning is plainly evident. Moreover, by the numbers so many truths are not to be understood, but such truths as are signified by the number in the spiritual sense. For if seven truths were signified by the "seven kings," and five truths by "the five kings who have fallen," and ten truths by the "ten kings" and as many "horns," from all this no spiritual sense could in any way result; therefore it must be altogether known that all numbers signify in the Word the qualities of the things which are described. (Continuation respecting the Fourth Kind of Profanation) [3] In this kind of profanation are those especially who read the Word and know about the Lord; because from the Lord through the Word are all things holy that can be profaned; things not from that source cannot be profaned. That is said to be profane that is the opposite of what is holy, and that offers violence to what is holy and destroys it. From this it follows that those do not belong to this kind of profanation who do not read the Word and do not approach the Lord, as is the case with the Papists, still less those who know nothing about the Lord and the Word, like the Gentiles. Those who belong to this kind of profanation appear after death at first with a face of human color, around which float many wandering stars; and those of them that had been leaders sometimes appear shining about the mouth. But as they are brought into the light of heaven, the stars and the shining of the mouth vanish, and the color of the face is changed to black, and likewise their garments. But the blackness of these profaners draws something from blue, as the blackness of the other kind of profaners draws something from red, for the reason that the latter profane the goods of the Word and of the church, while the others profane the truths of the Word and of the church. For red derives from the sun its signification of good, while blue derives from the sky its signification of truth.

The five have fallen, signifies that nothing is here said about the rest of the truths profaned, but only about the two that are the heads of religion. This is evident from the signification of "the five have fallen," as being that of the rest nothing is here said. For when five in the Word follows after ten it signifies some persons or things, or the remaining persons or things, or few persons or things; but when it does not follow after ten it signifies many persons or things. (On the signification of this number see n. 584.) That "the five have fallen" signifies that nothing is said of the rest is evident also from what follows, "The one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he is come he must continue a little while," which signifies that the two profaned truths that are the heads of the rest must here be spoken of; and of the other it is further said in the following verse, "And the beast that was and is not is himself an eighth king, and is of the seven;" from which it is evident that all this signifies that these profaned truths alone, and not the others, are here to be spoken of. [2] Consequently the "five" that have fallen signify the remaining things of that religion that have been profaned, for five kings of the seven are meant, and the "seven kings" signify all the truths of the Word falsified and profaned by them (see just above, n. 1063). Therefore the two profaned truths here treated of, that are the heads of the rest, are that they have transferred to themselves the Lord's Divine authority, and that they have rejected the Word. The transferring of the Lord's Divine authority to themselves is signified by the "one king who is," and by "the other who is to come;" and their rejection of the Word by the "beast" that is the eighth king, and yet among the seven. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Kind of Profanation) [3] This kind is not like the others that have been treated of, for it consists in jesting from the Word and about the Word. For those who make jokes from the Word do not regard it as holy, and those who joke about it hold it in no esteem. And yet the Word is the very Divine truth of the Lord with men, and the Lord is present in the Word, and heaven also; for every particular of the Word communicates with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; therefore to jest from the Word and about the Word is to bespatter the holy things of heaven with the dust of the earth.

And the one is, signifies the adulterated and profaned truth that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, thus over men to save them, is transferred to their head, and from him to the others who are under him. This is evident from the series of things regarded in the internal sense. For as the "seven kings" signify all the truths of the Word profaned, and "the five have fallen" signifies that nothing is here said about the rest of the truths, or that they are to be passed by, only the two that are heads of the rest, namely, that respecting the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, and that respecting the Word, so it follows that "the one king who is" and "the other who is to come" signify the transference of the Lord's authority to their head; and that "the beast that is the eighth king" signifies the acknowledgment of the Word as Divine, and yet its rejection. [2] In respect to the matter itself, namely, that they have transferred the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, thus over men to save them, to their head and from him to the others who are under him, this is well known; and it is evident from this that with all the heart and mind they aspire to be gods over the earth, consequently to be adored with Divine worship. That their head is adored as a god in place of the Lord is evident from their venerating him upon the knees, from the holy kissing of his shoes, also of his footsteps. This veneration or rather adoration follows from this, that he is able to open heaven by the keys of Peter, and thus to give heaven to whomsoever he pleases; also by the same means to close heaven, thus to cast into hell whomsoever he pleases. Nor is this enough; they aspire to dominion over the earth, and to this end under various pretenses of sanctity they scrape together and bring into their monasteries, which are so many treasuries, the wealth of the kingdoms of the world, thus subjecting to themselves both the souls of men and their resources; consequently not only the things of heaven but also those of the world with men. For they know that he who possesses the souls of men and also their wealth, possesses men as God does, and can transfer to himself a kind of Divine worship. From this it is clear that those who belong to the Babylon of the present day aspire with the whole heart and mind to be gods, and to be adored with Divine worship. But although they aspire to this they deny that they have transferred anything Divine to themselves, as will be shown in the following article. CONCERNING THE WORD [3] In what now follows the Word and its holiness shall be treated of as a supplement. It was said of old that the Word is from God, Divinely inspired, and thus holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word the Divine is. For the Word appears in the letter like a common writing in a strange style, not so sublime or so lucid as appears in the writings of the present age. For this reason a man who worships nature more than God, or in place of God, and thus thinks from himself and what is his own [proprium], and not from the Lord out of heaven, can easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, saying in his heart when he reads it, "What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God who has infinite wisdom speak in this manner? Where is its holiness, and from what source, unless from the religious persuasion whose ministers it serves?" And other like things. But that they may know that the Word is Divine, not only in every sentence but also in every expression, its internal sense, which is spiritual, and which is in its external sense, which is natural, as a soul in its body, has now been revealed. This sense can bear witness to the Divinity and consequent holiness of the Word; and can convince even the natural man that the Word is Divine if he is willing to be convinced.

The other is not yet come, and when he is come he must remain a short time, signifies the profaned truth that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, assumed by them, is said not to be Divine, and yet it is Divine. This is evident from the signification of "the other king" of the two that remained besides "the five" of the seven that "had fallen," as being here the other truth profaned, which nevertheless is one with the former, with the difference that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, which they have transferred to themselves, is said not to be Divine, and yet it is Divine. And because it is Divine, although this is denied, it is said that "this king," that is, this profaned truth, "is not yet come;" and that "when he is come he must remain a short time," which signifies that that authority is Divine, although it is said that it is not Divine. This is the signification of "that other king," because he acts as one with the former king, only with the difference as to whether that authority is Divine or not. That he acts as one with the former with this difference is evident from the following verse, in which the beast is said to be "the eighth king, and yet of the seven;" therefore as the beast is said to be one king of the seven, it follows that these two that remain after five of the seven had fallen, and that are called "the one" and "the other," have respect to one matter, that is, to one profaned truth; and that the other profaned truth is what is signified by the beast, so far as that is said to be "one king of the seven." [2] In respect to the thing itself it is well known that they claim that the authority over heaven, and over the souls of men to save them, is not Divine, since it was the authority of the Lord's Human transferred to Him from God the Father, and from the Lord to Peter. But this is said from a fear that the common people may withdraw from them. Nevertheless, that authority is Divine as is clearly evident from this, that after God had created the universe, the chief object of the Divine power is to deliver men from hell and to save them. For man is not saved in a single moment, since he is reformed and regenerated by the Lord by successive steps from infancy even to the end of his life in the world, and afterwards to eternity; and to this no human power can contribute in the least. That man is thus reformed and regenerated by the Lord they do not know, because they do not wish to know it; consequently they persuade themselves that salvation is instantaneous, and is simply an admission into heaven, which is a huge falsity. But on this more will be said elsewhere. (Continuation respecting the Word) [3] In a summary: The Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens men. As Divine truth proceeds from the Lord, and as what proceeds is Himself out of Himself, the same as light and heat proceed from the sun and are the sun, that is, are of the sun out of it, and as the Word is the Divine truth, it is also the Lord, as it is called in John (1:1-3, 14). Inasmuch as the Divine truth, which is the Word, in its descent into the world from the Lord, has passed through the three heavens, it has become accommodated to each heaven, and lastly to men also in the world. This is why there are in the Word four senses, one outside of the other from the highest heaven down to the world, or one within the other from the world up to the highest heaven. These four senses are called the celestial, the spiritual, the natural from the celestial and the spiritual, and the merely natural. This last is for the world, the next for the lowest heaven, the spiritual for the second heaven, and the celestial for the third. These four senses differ so greatly from one another that when one is exhibited beside the other no connection can be recognized; and yet they make one when one follows the other; for one follows from the other as an effect from a cause, or as what is posterior from what is prior; consequently as an effect represents its cause and corresponds to its cause, so the posterior sense corresponds to the prior; and thus it is that all four senses make one through correspondences. [4] From all this these truths follow. The ultimate sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter, and the fourth in order, contains in itself the three interior senses, which are for the three heavens when a man on the earth is reverently reading the Word. Therefore the sense of the letter of the Word is that from which and through which there is communication with the heavens, also from which and through which man has conjunction with the heavens. The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of Divine truth in the heavens, and without such a basis the Divine truth would be like a house without a foundation; and without such a basis the wisdom of the angels would be like a house in the air. It is the sense of the letter of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists. It is the sense of the letter of the Word through which man is enlightened by the Lord and through which he receives answers when he wishes to be enlightened. It is the sense of the letter of the Word by which everything of doctrine on the earth must be confirmed. In the sense of the letter of the Word is the Divine truth in its fullness. In the sense of the letter of the Word the Divine truth is in its holiness.

Verse 11. And the beast which was and is not is himself the eighth, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition, signifies that the truth that the Word is Divine has also been profaned; and yet it has been rejected. This is evident from the signification of "the beast," as being the Word (see above, n. 1038); also from the signification of "which was and is not," as being that the Word in the beginning was received and read, but afterwards was taken away, and not read (see above, n. 1054); also from the signification of "is himself the eighth, and is of the seven," as being that the good and truth that the Word to them is Divine has been profaned (of which presently); also from the signification of "going into perdition," as being that this is acknowledged for the sake of form, and still has been rejected (see above, n. 1055). From all this it can be seen that these words signify this profaned truth of good that the Word is Divine, and still it has been rejected. It has been received and acknowledged as Divine chiefly because their religion is founded on the keys given to Peter, as described in the Word. Nevertheless, that it has been rejected is well known, for it is taken away from the common people, it is not read in the temples, and the same holiness and inspiration are attributed to the decrees of the Pope as to the Word; but as these are not in harmony with the Word, the Word in general is invalidated, and even blasphemed, by the claim that it is allowable to change it according to the state of the church. From this it is clear that the truth that the Word is Divine has been profaned by them. [2] That this is the signification of these words can be seen from this, that "the beast" treated of in this chapter signifies the Word, and is called the "eighth king," and yet is "of the seven." It is called "the eighth king" because a "king" signifies truth, and the number "eight" signifies good, and "seven" the truth of good profaned. For the Word is truth conjoined to good; therefore in every particular of it there is the marriage of good and truth. When this is seen to be the signification of these words their meaning is clearly evident; but otherwise no one could perceive nor indeed surmise what is meant by "the beast is the eighth king and yet of the seven, and he goeth into perdition," for to be the eighth and yet to be of the seven would be a contradiction. Nor could anyone perceive or surmise what is meant by "the seven kings," of whom "five have fallen and one is, and the other is not yet come;" also what is signified by what is said of the beast, namely, that "it was and is not, and yet is," and afterwards that "the ten kings shall give over their authority unto the beast, and shall make the harlot desolate." These would have been mysteries forever, deeply hidden from mankind, if it had not been revealed that the things recorded in this chapter describe what Babylon is as to the Word. (Continuation respecting the Word) [3] That the Word is the Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens men, can be apperceived or seen only by a man enlightened. For to a worldly man, whose mind has not been raised above the sensual sphere, the Word in the sense of the letter appears so simple that scarcely anything could be more simple; and yet the Divine truth, such as it is in the heavens, and from which angels have their wisdom, lies concealed in it as in its sanctuary. For the Word in the letter is like the adytum in the midst of a temple covered with a veil, within which lie deposited arcana of heavenly wisdom such as no ear hath heard. For in the Word and in every particular of it there is a spiritual sense, and in that a Divine celestial sense, which regarded in itself is the Divine truth itself, which is in the heavens and which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens men. The Divine truth in the heavens is light proceeding from the Lord as a Sun, which is the Divine love. And as the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is the light of heaven, so it is the Divine wisdom. This illuminates both the minds and the eyes of angels, and also enlightens the minds of men, but not their eyes, and enables them to understand truth and also to perceive good when man reads the Word from the Lord and not from self; for he is then in consort with angels, and interiorly has a perception like the spiritual perception of angels; and that spiritual perception which the man-angel has flows into his natural perception, which is his own while in the world, and enlightens it. Consequently the man who reads the Word from the affection of truth has enlightenment through heaven from the Lord.

Verses 12-14. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give over their power and authority unto the beast. These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is the Lord of lords, and King of kings; also those who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful. 12. "And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings" signifies the truths of the Word as to power (n. 1069); "who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast," signifies with those who have not thus acknowledged that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth has been transferred to man, but have ascribed Divine holiness to the Word, and not to the decrees of the Pope (n. 1070). 13. "These have one mind, and shall give over their power and authority unto the beast," signifies the unanimity of such that the Word is the Divine truth, on which the church must depend as to its doctrine (n. 1071). 14. "These shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them," signifies that these must contend with those meant by the "harlot" concerning the holiness of the Word and the Lord's authority to save men, and that the Lord has delivered those who have been willing to be led by Him by means of the Word, and not by the woman the harlot (n. 1072); "for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings," signifies for the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and thus omnipotent (n. 1073); "also those who are with Him are called and chosen and faithful," signifies that those who are in love to the Lord, in love towards the neighbor, and in the faith of charity, have the truth respecting the Lord's Divine power and Divine holiness of the Word (n. 1074).

Verse 12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, signifies the truths of the Word as to power. This is evident from the signification of "horns," as being the power of truth (see n. 316, 567, 776, 1041). There were "ten horns" because "ten" signifies many persons and many things, likewise all persons and all things (see above, n. 675); therefore "ten horns" signify, in reference to the truths of the Word, all power. Also from the signification of "ten kings," as being the truths of the Word and thus of the church (of which frequently above). In these three verses, and in verses 16 and 17, the signification of "the ten horns of the beast" is explained, namely, that they are those Divine truths that the Babylonish nation has profaned, which are especially, that the Lord has authority over heaven and earth, and that the Word alone is holy and Divine; for these two truths make the church itself of the Lord on earth, for the church is a church from this that the Lord is adored and that the Word is read. For the Lord reforms man, and the Word teaches how man must live that he may be reformed by the Lord; therefore if these two truths are not acknowledged and received the church itself perishes, for upon these two truths the church is founded. It was for this reason that it came to pass through the Divine Providence of the Lord that certain churches separated themselves from the Babylonish, and these acknowledge the Lord's Divine power over heaven and earth to be equal to the power of God the Father, and also attribute Divine holiness to the Word alone. This was provided by the Lord in order that the Christian Church in the European world might not be utterly overthrown. That this is the signification of "the ten horns which are ten kings" will appear from what follows. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] Since the Word is the Divine truth, and this proceeds from the Lord's Divine Being [Esse] as light proceeds from the sun, it follows as a consequence that the Lord is the Word because He is the Divine truth. The Lord is the Word, because He is the Divine truth, and this proceeds from His Divine Being [Esse], which is the Divine love, because the Divine love was in Him when He was in the world as the soul is in its body; and as the Divine truth proceeds from the Divine love as light proceeds from the sun, as has been said, therefore the Lord's Human in the world was the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine love that was in Him. That the Divine Itself, which is called "Jehovah" and the "Father," and which is the Divine love, was in the Lord from conception, is evident in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matthew from these words: When Mary the mother of Jesus had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. And the angel said to Joseph in a dream, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. This came to pass that it might be fulfilled which was said of the Lord by the prophet, Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. And Joseph knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son; and he called His name Jesus (Matt. 1:18-25). And in Luke from these words: The angel said to Mary, Behold thou shalt conceive in the womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call His name Jesus; He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. But Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; wherefore also the Holy One that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:30-35). It was because He was conceived of Jehovah that He is so frequently called in the Word "the Son of God," and Jehovah is called His "Father." Jehovah as to His Being [Esse] is the Divine love, and as to His Existing [Existere] He is the Divine good united to the Divine truth. [3] From this it can be seen what is meant by: The Word that was with God and that was God, and also was the light that enlighteneth every man (John 1:1-10), namely, that it was the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Lord as to His Existing [Existere]. That the Lord as to His Existing [Existere] was Divine truth, and that this was His Divine Human, because this existed from His Divine Being [Esse] as the body from its soul, these words in John clearly certify: The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:14). "The Word" is the Divine truth, which also is "glory;" "flesh" means the Divine Human, "the only-begotten of the Father" means that which exists or proceeds from the Divine Esse in Him.

And have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast, signifies with those who have not thus acknowledged that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth has been transferred to man, but have ascribed Divine holiness to the Word and not to the decrees of the Pope. This is evident from the signification of "kings," as being the truths of the Word, here those two primary truths that have been treated of in the verses just preceding; also from the signification of "kingdom," as being the church, here the church called Babylon, where these two truths have been profaned; and yet those truths have not been profaned by such as are meant by "the kings that have not yet received a kingdom," but have been accepted by them. Also from the signification of "one hour," as being some part, for "hour," like times in general and in particular, signifies in the Word the thing as to the quality of its state; so here "one hour" signifies some part, and thus that these in some degree reigned with the woman the harlot. Therefore from all this there comes this meaning, that these two primary truths of the church (namely, that the Lord's authority over heaven and the church, and thus over the souls of men to save them, has been transferred to a certain man, and that the voice of the mouth of the Pope has equal power and holiness with the Word), have not been acknowledged and thus have not been profaned. That this sense is contained in these words can be seen especially from what follows, namely, that "they shall give over their authority to the beast," which signifies that Divine holiness must be attributed to the Word; also that "the Lamb shall fight with them," and "the Lamb shall overcome them," which signifies that they will acknowledge that the Lord has power to save, thus that He, and not the Pope, has dominion over heaven, the church, and the souls of men. [2] It has been said above that there are two things that constitute the church, namely, the acknowledgment and belief that the Lord has the power to save, and that the Word is Divine; and that where these two are not acknowledged and believed there is no church; and for the reason that the Lord reforms man and gives him faith and love, and the Word teaches the way in which man must go to the Lord that he may receive faith and love from Him. Unless these two truths are recognized in a church it is not a church. But that the church in the European world might not wholly perish, it has been provided by the Lord that not only within the kingdom of Babylon, but also outside of it, there should be societies that should not make one with the Babylonians in these two primary truths, which are the pillars and the foundations of the church itself. Within Babylon there are those in the kingdom of France, and many in Holland, England, Scotland, and Ireland, who have not taken away from the Lord the power to save men, nor from the Word Divine holiness, and ascribed these to some vicar; as may appear from the contest between the Gallican Church and the Roman, which has so long continued and still continues. These are the things especially treated of in verses 12-14 of this chapter. Since outside of the kingdoms of Babylon there are churches that ascribe all power to save to the Lord, and none to the Pope, and acknowledge the Word alone to be Divine, and have wholly withdrawn from the papal dominion, and are consequently called Protestants and Reformed, so these also are treated of in this chapter. For it is of these that it is said, that "they shall hate the harlot and shall make her desolate and naked, and also shall eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire," and "shall give the kingdom to the beast" (verses 16, 17). (But of this presently.) (Continuation respecting the Word) [3] But as the world does not know how the words in John (1:1, 2, 14) that the Lord is the Word, are to be understood, this shall be further explained. It is known in the church that God is good itself and truth itself, and thus that all the good that an angel has and that a man has is from God, and likewise all truth. Now since the Lord is God, He is also the Divine good and the Divine truth; and this is what is meant by "the Word, that was with God, and was God," and also was "the light that enlighteneth every man," and that also "became flesh," that is, Man in the world. That when the Lord was in the world He was the Divine truth, which is the Word, He Himself teaches in many passages where He calls Himself "the Light," also where He calls Himself "the Way, the Truth, and the Life;" and where He says that "the Spirit of truth" proceeds from Him. "The Spirit of truth" is the Divine truth. When the Lord was transfigured He represented the Word, "His face that shone as the sun" represented its Divine good; and "His garments, which were bright as the light" and "white as snow," represented its Divine truth. "Moses and Elijah," who then talked with the Lord, also signified the Word, "Moses" the historical Word, and "Elijah" the prophetic Word. Moreover, all things of the Lord's passion represented the kind of violence that the Jewish nation offered to the Word. Again, the Lord from Divine truth, which He is, is called "God," "King," and "Angel," and is meant by "the rock in Horeb," and "the rock" where Peter is spoken of. All this makes clear that the Lord is the Word, because He is the Divine truth. The Word in the letter, which is with us, is the Divine truth in ultimates.

Verse 13. These have one mind, and shall give over their power and authority to the beast, signifies the unanimity of such that the Word is the Divine truth, on which the church as to its doctrine must depend. This is evident from the signification of "having one mind," as being unanimity; also from the signification of "giving over their power and authority to the beast," as being that the Word is the Divine truth, on which the church as to its doctrine must depend; for "the beast" signifies the Word (see above, n. 1038); and "to give over to it power and authority" signifies to acknowledge it to be the Divine truth, from which is the doctrine of the church. It has been said above that the Gallican Church acknowledges the Word to be the Divine truth, and ascribes a Divine inspiration to all the particulars of the Word, and not an equal Divine inspiration to the decrees of the Pope as to those things which are means of salvation; and the same is true of others in the European world; and this has come to pass from the Divine Providence of the Lord, that the Christian Church might not be wholly destroyed, because by means of the Word man has communication and conjunction with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; and communication and conjunction with heaven and with the Lord cannot possibly be given through the declarations and decrees of the Pope, since these have not for their end the salvation of souls, but dominion; and all edicts and statutes that have dominion as their end, especially over the things of heaven and the church, have communication with hell, and effect conjunction with hell. From all this the signification of "the ten kings who gave over their power and authority to the beast" is evident. (Continuation respecting the Word.) [2] As it cannot but transcend the comprehension that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was the Word, that is, the Divine truth, according to these words in John: And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:14), it shall be again explained to the comprehension as far as possible. It can be said of every regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, since the thought which belongs to his understanding is from truths, and the affection which belongs to his will is from goods. Whether you say, therefore, that a man is his own understanding and his own will, or that a man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts to the same thing. The body is mere obedience; for it speaks that which man thinks from the understanding, and does that which he wills from affection. Thus these things and the body mutually correspond and make one, like an effect and its effecting cause; and these taken together constitute the human. [3] As it can be said of the regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, so it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is the truth itself or the Divine truth, and good itself or the Divine good. All this makes evident the truth that the Lord as to His Human in the world was the Divine truth, that is, the Word; and that everything that He then spoke was the Divine truth, which is the Word; and that afterwards when He went to the Father, that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth proceeding from Him is the Spirit of truth, which goes forth and proceeds from Him, and at the same time from the Father in Him.

Verse 14. They shall fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them, signifies that these must contend with those meant by "the harlot" respecting the holiness of the Word, and the Lord's power of saving men, and that the Lord has delivered those who have been willing to be led by Him by means of the Word, and not by the woman the harlot. This is evident from the signification of "fighting with the Lamb," as being to contend about the holiness of the Word and the power of the Lord to save men; for those who contend about these things fight with the Lord, but not against the Lord, for the Lord is the Word and the Lord is salvation. Also from the signification of "and the Lamb shall overcome them," as being that He will deliver those who are willing to be taught and led by Him by means of the Word. That such are those whom the Lord conquers is evident from what follows in this verse, that they are "those who are with Him, who are called, and chosen, and faithful." These are all such, in the kingdoms subject to the papal dominion, who call the Pope merely the head of the church, and not a vicar in any such sense as would put him in the place of the Lord in the world, as to the power of opening and shutting heaven at will, since that power is the Divine power that cannot be transferred to any man; and they also hold that it is not allowable for the Pope to change the holy things of the Word, and to issue new decrees that are not in harmony with it. These are the ones here meant. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] That the Word is holy and Divine from inmosts to outermosts is not evident to the man who leads himself, but is evident to the man whom the Lord leads. For the man who leads himself sees only the external of the Word, and judges from its style; but the man whom the Lord leads judges of the external of the Word from the holiness that is in it. The Word is like a garden, that may be called a heavenly paradise, in which are dainties and delightful things of every kind, dainties from the fruits, and delightful things from the flowers; and in the middle of it trees of life, and near them fountains of living water, and round about trees of the forest, and near them rivers. The man who leads himself judges of that paradise, which is the Word, from its circumference, where the trees of the forest are; but the man whom the Lord leads judges of it from the middle of it, where the trees of life are. The man whom the Lord leads is actually in the middle of it, and looks to the Lord; but the man who leads himself actually sits down at the circumference, and looks away from it to the world. [3] Again, the Word is like fruit within which there is a nutritious pulp, and in the middle of it seed vessels, in which inmostly is a living germ that germinates in good soil. Again, the Word is also like a most beautiful infant, which, except the face, is enveloped in wrappings upon wrappings; the infant itself is in the inmost heaven, the wrappings are in the lower heavens, and the general covering of the wrappings is on the earth. As the Word is such it is holy and Divine from inmosts to the externals.

For He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, signifies because the Lord is good itself and truth itself, and thus omnipotent, as is evident from the fact that the Lord is called "Lord" from the Divine good, and "King" from the Divine truth. There are two things that proceed from the Lord, namely, the Divine good and the Divine truth. These two proceed from the Lord united, but in heaven they are received by the angels not so united. In the highest or third heaven more Divine good than Divine truth is received; in the middle or second heaven more Divine truth than Divine good is received. Therefore the third heaven is called the Lord's dominion, and the second heaven is called the Lord's kingdom; and thence also the angels who are in the third heaven are called sons of the Lord, and also lords, and the angels in the second heaven are called sons of the kingdom and sons of the King, and also kings. These two classes of angels are meant by "lords" and by "kings," when the Lord is called "Lord of lords and King of kings." So, too, when He is called "God of gods," the Lord is meant by "God," and the angels by "gods." But in general "lords" in the spiritual sense mean all who are in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and "kings" those who are in the doctrine of truth from that love, whether in the heavens or on the earth. Now as all the good of love and thus of charity, and all the truth of doctrine and thus of faith, is given to man by the Lord through the Word, and this they know, who attribute to the Lord the Divine power of saving men, and who attribute to the Word a Divine holiness, so it is here said that "the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings," that is, because the Lord alone is the Divine good and the Divine truth, and thus also the Word. Because all things are done by the Lord from the Divine good by means of the Divine truth, "Lord of lords and King of kings" means also the Lord as omnipotent. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] The Word is such because in its origin it is the Divine itself that proceeds from the Lord, and is called the Divine truth; and when this descended to men in the world it passed through the heavens in their order according to their degrees, which are three; and in each heaven it was written there in accommodation to the wisdom and intelligence of the angels. Finally it was brought down from the Lord through the heavens to men, and there it was written and promulgated in adaptation to man's understanding and apprehension. This, therefore, is the sense of its letter, and in this the Divine truth such as it is in the three heavens, lies stored up in distinct order. From this it is clear that all the wisdom of the angels in the three heavens has been imparted by the Lord to our Word, and in its inmost there is the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven, which is incomprehensible and ineffable to man, because full of arcana and treasures of Divine verities. These lie stored up in each particular and in all the particulars of our Word. And as the Divine truth is the Lord in the heavens, so the Lord Himself is present, and may be said to dwell in all the particulars and each particular of His Word, as He does in His heavens; and in the same way as He has said of the ark of the Covenant, in which were deposited only the Ten Commandments written on the two tables, the first fruits of the Word, for He said that He would speak there with Moses and Aaron, that He would be present there, that He would dwell there, and that it was His holy of holies, and His dwelling place as in heaven.

Also those who are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful, signifies that those that are in love to the Lord, in love towards the neighbor, and in the faith of charity, have the truth respecting the Lord's Divine authority and the Divine holiness of the Word. This is evident from the signification of the "called," as being in reference to the Lord those who are in love to the Lord; also from the signification of the "chosen," as being those who are in love towards the neighbor; also from the signification of the "faithful," as being those who are in the faith of charity. That this is the meaning of "the called, the chosen, and the faithful," is evident from the Word where "the called, the chosen, and the faithful," are mentioned; and also from the fact that the angels of the third heaven, who are in love to the Lord, are called the "called," the angels of the second heaven, who are in love towards the neighbor, are called the "chosen," and the angels of the first heaven, who are in the faith of charity, are called the "faithful." And since in the Lord's church on earth there are those who belong to the third, the second, and the first heaven, and who therefore become after death angels of those heavens, so "the called, the chosen, and the faithful," mean all those in the kingdoms under the dominion of the Pope who ascribe to the Lord the power of saving men, and ascribe to the Word alone Divine holiness and inspiration, and in these two doctrines recede from the vicarship of the Pope. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] As the Divine truth, when passed from the Lord Himself through the three heavens down to men in the world, was written and became the Word in each heaven, therefore the Word is the union of the heavens with each other, and the union of the heavens with the church in the world. For the Word is the same everywhere, differing only in the perfection of glory and wisdom according to the degrees in which the heavens are; consequently the holy Divine from the Lord flows in through the heavens with the man in the world who acknowledges the Lord's Divine and the holiness of the Word when he reads it; and so far as such a man loves wisdom, he can be instructed and can imbibe wisdom from the Word as from the Lord Himself, or from heaven itself, and can thus be nourished with the food with which the angels themselves are nourished, and in which there is life; according to these words of the Lord: The words that I speak unto you are spirit and are life (John 6:63). The water that I will give you shall become a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:14). Man doth not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4). Work for the food that abideth unto eternal life, which the Son of man shall give unto you (John 6:27). Such is the Word.

Verse 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 15. "And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues," signifies the doctrinals from the Papal Consistory in general, that is, all the other doctrinals, that they are falsities and evils interior and exterior (n. 1076, 1077).

Verse 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, signifies the doctrinals from the Papal Consistory in general, that is, all the other doctrinals. This is evident from the signification of "waters," as being the truths of the Word, and thus of the church, consequently doctrinals (see n. 71, 483, 518, 854); here truths falsified and profaned, because they are those upon which "the harlot sitteth," by which is signified Babylon, where all the holy things of the church are profaned. Also from the signification of "where the harlot sitteth," as being where the dominion of Babylon is, the "harlot" signifying the church that has become Babylon by the profanation of all things of good and truth (see above, n. 1032); and to "sit" signifying to have dominion (see above, n. 1033, 1038, 1062). And as "waters" signify the doctrinals that are in Babylon, and these proceed from the Papal Consistory, therefore "the waters where the harlot sitteth," signify the doctrinals that are from the Papal consistory; here all except the two that have just been mentioned. For the series of things from verses 12 to 17 is as follows: verses 12-14 treat of the profanation of the two truths which are the primary truths of the church, namely, the Lord's Divine authority over heaven and the church, and the Divine holiness of the Word; that is, that there are many within the kingdom of Babylon who have not profaned these, because they have not accepted them. Verse 15 treats of profaned goods and truths in general, thus of all other truths. Verses 16 and 17 treat of those who are outside of Babylon, who have acknowledged the Lord's Divine authority over the holy things of the church, and also the Divine holiness of the Word, who are those called the Reformed. This is the series of things in the internal sense from verses 12 to 17. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] It has been said that the Divine truth proceeds from the Lord, and that the Word is from that, and that through the Word angels and men have wisdom. But so long as it is unknown how the Divine truth proceeds from the Lord, this may be said but it cannot be understood. The Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine wisdom, proceeds from the Lord as light and heat do from the sun. The Lord is the Divine love itself, and love appears in the heavens from correspondence as fire, and the Lord's Divine love as a sun, glowing and resplendent like the sun of the world. From that sun, which is high above the heavens where the angels are, and which is the Divine love, heat and light proceed; the heat therefrom is the Divine good, and the light therefrom is the Divine truth. The heat is the Divine good, because all the heat of life proceeding from love is felt as good, for it is spiritual heat; and the light is the Divine truth, because all the light proceeding from love is felt as truth, for it is spiritual light; consequently it is from that light that the understanding sees truths, and it is from that heat that the will is sensible of goods; and this is why in the Word love is meant by heavenly fire and wisdom by heavenly light. It is the same with a man and with an angel. Every angel and man is his own love, and a sphere flowing out from his love encompasses every man and angel. That sphere consists of the good of his love and of the truth of his love, for love produces both, as fire produces both heat and light; from the will of a man or angel it produces good, and from his understanding it produces truth. This sphere, when the man or angel is good, has an extension into the heavens in every direction according to the quality and the amount of the love, and into the hells in every direction when the man or angel is evil. But the sphere of the love of a man or an angel has a finite extension into a few societies only of heaven or hell, while the sphere of the Lord's love, because it is Divine, has an infinite extension, and creates the heavens themselves.

Are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, signifies which are falsities and evils interior and exterior. This is evident from the signification of "peoples," as being those who are in truths, and in the contrary sense those who are in falsities (see n. 175, 331, 625); also from the signification of "multitudes," as being also those who are in truths or in falsities, for "multitudes" mean people of a lower kind; also from the signification of "nations," as being those who are in goods, and in the contrary sense those who are in evils (see n. 175, 331; 452; 455; 625); also from the signification of "tongues," as being those who are in various confessions and perceptions of good (see n. 455, 625, 657, 990). "Peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," signify falsities and evils interior and exterior, because the truly spiritual sense comprehends things abstracted from persons; and thus when you take away from "peoples," who are those who are in truths or falsities, all idea of person, truths or falsities are signified instead. The same is true of "multitudes, nations, and tongues." Falsities and evils are signified, because the "earth" signifies the church, and therefore "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," signify the things of which the church consists, which are either truths and goods or falsities and evils; and as every church is internal and external, because its truths and goods or falsities and evils are interior and exterior, therefore these are the things that are signified by these words. This follows also from the signification of the "waters upon which the harlot sitteth," which it is here said are "peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues," as meaning the holy things of the church that have been profaned (see above, n. 1033), and the holy things of the church which have been profaned are falsities and evils, for they are the truths of the Word falsified and its goods adulterated. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] The Word of the Lord is wonderful in this, that in every particular of it there is a reciprocal union of good and truth, which testifies that the Word is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is the Divine good and the Divine truth reciprocally united; and also testifies that in the Word there is a marriage of the Lord with heaven and the church, which also is reciprocal. There is a marriage of good and truth, also of truth and good, in every particular of the Word, in order that it may be a source of wisdom to angels and of intelligence to men, for from good alone no wisdom or intelligence is born, neither from truth alone, but from their marriage when the love is reciprocal. This reciprocal love the Lord teaches in John: He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him (John 6:56). In the same: In that day ye shall know, that ye are in Me and I in you. He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and I will love him (John 14:20-21). The reciprocal is that they are in the Lord and the Lord is in them, also that whoever loves the Lord, the Lord also will love him. "To have His commandments" is to be in truths, and "to do them" is to be in good. [3] The reciprocal is also described by the Lord in His union with the Father, in these words: Philip, How sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me (John 14:9-11). From this reciprocal union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord proceeds the reciprocal union of the Divine good and the Divine truth; and this proceeds from the Lord's Divine love; and the same is true of the Lord's reciprocal union with heaven and the church, and in general the reciprocal union of good and truth with an angel of heaven and with a man of the church. And as good is of charity and truth is of faith, and as charity and faith make the church, it follows that the church is in a man when there is a reciprocal union of charity and faith in him. Again, as good is of the will and truth is of the understanding, and as the will and understanding make man, it follows that man is man according to the union of the will and all things belonging to it with the understanding and all things belonging to it, and this reciprocally. This union is what is called marriage, which from creation is in every particular of heaven and in every particular of the world; and from this is the production and the generation of all things. That in every particular of the Word there is such a marriage that good loves truth and truth loves good, thus mutually and in turn, the spiritual sense of the Word reveals; and it is from this marriage that good and truth are one and not two, and are one when good is of truth and truth is of good.

Verses 16-18. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and shall burn her up with fire. For God gave into their hearts to do His mind, and to do one mind, 1078-1 until the words of God shall be consummated. And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, which hath dominion over the kings of the earth. 16. "And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast," signifies the truths of the church from the Word with the Reformed, especially respecting the Lord's Divine authority and the Divine holiness of the Word (n. 1079); "these shall hate the harlot," signifies an entire rejection of the dogmas by which the Papal Consistory has falsified the truths and adulterated the goods of the Word, and has thus profaned the holy things of the church (n. 1080); "and shall make her desolate and naked," signifies rejection of its falsities, which are falsified truths, and then manifestation that they were without any truth (n. 1081); "and shall eat her flesh" signifies rejection of its evils, which are adulterated goods, and then the manifestation that they were without any good (n. 1082); "and shall burn her up with fire," signifies rejection of the whole of that religion, which has profaned the holy things of the church by the love of having dominion over them and over heaven (n. 1083). 17. "For God gave into their hearts to do His mind," signifies things from the Lord, causing them to recede altogether (n. 1084); "and to do one mind" signifies unanimously (n. 1085); "and to give their kingdom unto the beast," signifies acknowledgment that the Word is Divine, and the founding of the church upon it (n. 1086); "until the words of God shall be consummated," signifies even to the last state of the church, when there is a judgment, and after that what is new (n. 1087). 18. "And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city," signifies the heinous doctrine of the church (n. 1088); "which hath dominion over the kings of the earth," signifies its dominion over the truths of the church (n. 1089).

Verse 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, signifies the truths of the church from the Word with the Reformed, especially respecting the Lord's Divine authority and the Divine holiness of the Word. This is evident from the signification of "the ten horns upon the beast," as being the truths of the church from the Word (see above, n. 1069; that "horns" mean truths as to power, see n. 316, 567, 776, 1041; and that the "beast" means the Word, n. 1038). That "the ten horns of the beast" signify here the truths of the Word as to power with the Reformed, is evident from what is said in these two verses, namely, that "they shall hate the harlot, shall make her desolate and naked, shall eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire," which signifies they have altogether rejected all the statutes and decrees of the Pope, thus his falsifications and profanations, especially the two treated of above, namely, respecting his authority over the holy things of the church and over the souls of men to save them, which is called the authority to open and shut heaven, also respecting the authority to interpret the Word, and to change things in it to favor his own dominion; these being the two heads of their religion which the Reformed have wholly rejected and burned with fire. That this recession is described in this and the following verse can be seen from the series of things in the internal sense; for verses 12-14 treat of those within Babylon who have rejected those two profane dogmas, while these two verses treat of those outside of Babylon who have rejected them, and the rest of their profanations are treated of in verse 15. That this is so is clearly evident when the Word is meant by "beast," its truths by "the horns of the beast," and the Babylonish profanations by the "harlot." (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] The Word in the sense of the letter appears very simple, and yet there is stored up in it the wisdom of the three heavens, for each least particular of it contains interior and more interior senses; an interior sense such as exists in the first heaven, a still more interior sense such as exists in the second heaven, and an inmost sense such as exists in the third heaven. These senses are in the sense of the letter, one within the other, and are evolved therefrom one after the other, each from its own heaven, when a man who is led by the Lord reads the Word. These interior senses differ in the degree of light and wisdom according to the heavens, and yet they make one by influx, and thus by correspondences. How they thus make one shall be told in what follows. All this makes clear how the Word was inspired by the Divine, and that it was written from such an inspiration to which nothing else in the world can in anywise be compared. The arcana of wisdom of the three heavens contained in it are the mystical things of which many have spoken.

These shall hate the harlot, signifies the entire rejection of the dogmas by which the Papal Consistory has falsified the truths and adulterated the goods of the Word, and has thus profaned the holy things of the church. This is evident from the signification of "hating," as being to reject altogether; also from the signification of the "harlot," as being Babylon, which is called a "harlot" from its falsification and adulteration of the Word, and consequent profanation of the holy things of the church. (That "harlots" and "whoredoms" have this signification in the Word may be seen n. 141, 817, 881, 1032.) "Those who hate the harlot" mean the Reformed, who have altogether rejected the dogmas that have proceeded from the Papal Consistory, which, because they had for their end the enlargement of dominion, and not the salvation of man, could not but be against the truths and goods of the Word, and thus could not but falsify and adulterate them. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] It has been said that there is a Word in each heaven and that these Words are in our Word in their order, and that they thus make one by influx and consequent correspondences. Here, therefore, it shall be told what correspondence is and what influx is; otherwise it cannot be comprehended what the Word is inwardly in its bosom, thus as to its life from the Lord, which is its soul. But what correspondence is and what influx is shall be illustrated by examples. The changes of the face that are called the countenance correspond to the affections of the mind; consequently the face changes as to the countenance just as the affections of the mind change as to their states. These changes in the face are correspondences, as consequently the face itself is; and the action of the mind into it, that the correspondences may be exhibited, is called influx. The sight of man's thought, which is called the understanding, corresponds to the sight of his eyes; and consequently the quality of the thought from the understanding is made evident from the light and flame of the eyes. The sight of the eye is a correspondence, as consequently the eye itself is; the action of the understanding into the eye, by which the correspondence is exhibited, is influx. The active thought, which belongs to the understanding, corresponds to speech, which belongs to the mouth. The speech is a correspondence, likewise the mouth and everything belonging to it, and the action of thought into speech and into the organs of speech is influx. The perception of the mind corresponds to the smell of the nostrils. The smell and the nostrils are correspondences, and the action is influx. For this reason a man who has interior perception is said to have a keen nose, and perceiving a thing is called scenting it out. [3] Hearkening, which is obedience, corresponds to the hearing of the ears; consequently both the hearing and the ears are correspondences, and the action of obedience into the hearing, that a man may raise his ears and attend, is influx; therefore hearkening and hearing are both significative, hearkening and giving ear to anyone being to obey, and hearkening and hearing anyone meaning to hear with the ears. The action of the body corresponds to the will, the action of the heart corresponds to the life of the love, the action of the lungs, which is called respiration, corresponds to the life of the faith, and the whole body as to all its members, viscera, and organs, corresponds to the soul as to all the functions and powers of its life. From these few examples it can be seen what correspondence is and what influx is; and that when the spiritual, which belongs to the life of man's understanding and will, flows into the acts which belong to his body, it exhibits itself in a natural effigy, and there is correspondence; also that thus the spiritual and the natural act as one by correspondences, like interior and exterior, or like prior and posterior, or like the effecting cause and the effect, or like the principal cause which belongs to man's thought and will, and the instrumental cause which belongs to his speech and action. There is such a correspondence of natural things and spiritual not only in each and every thing of man, but also in each and every thing of the world; and the correspondences are produced by an influx of the spiritual world and all things of it into the natural world and all things of it. From all this it can be seen in some measure how our Word, as to the sense of the letter, which is natural, makes one by influx and correspondences with the Words in the heavens, the senses of which are spiritual.

And shall make her desolate and naked, signifies rejection of its falsities, which are falsified truths, and then the manifestation that they were without any truth. This is evident from the signification of "making desolate and naked," as being to reject its falsities, which are falsified truths; and when these have been rejected it is manifest that there is no truth, this also is signified. "To be desolate and naked" signifies to be without any truth, for spiritual vastation and nakedness are signified; and spiritual vastation is like that in a desert where there is no grain and no fruit trees, and spiritual nakedness is like that of a man who has no garments. "Grain and fruit trees" signify knowledges of truth and good, and "garments" signify truths investing; therefore to be without these means to be without any truth. That "nakedness" means deprivation of truth may be seen (n. 240, 1008); and that "vastation," such as exists in a desert, means where there is no truth may be seen (n. 730). (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] What the Word is as to influx and correspondences can now be illustrated. It is said in John: He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they should see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and should turn themselves and I should heal them (John 12:40). The "eyes" that are blinded signify the understanding of truth and the belief in it; the "heart" that is hardened signifies the will and the love of good; and "to be healed" signifies to be reformed. They were not permitted "to turn themselves and be healed" lest they should commit profanation; for an evil man who is healed and who returns to his evil and falsity commits profanation; and so it would have been with the Jewish nation. [3] In Matthew: Blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear (Matt. 13:16). Here, too, the "eyes" signify the understanding of truth and the belief in it; so "to see" signifies to understand and believe, and the "ears" signify obedience, thus a life according to the truths of faith, and "to hear" signifies to obey and live. For no one is blessed because he sees and hears, but because he understands, believes, obeys, and lives. [4] In the same: The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be sound the whole body is lucid; if the eye be evil the whole body is darkened. If, therefore, the light [lumen] is darkness, how great is the darkness (Matt. 6:22-23). Here, again, the "eye" signifies the understanding of truth and the belief in it, which is called a lamp from the light of truth that man has from understanding and belief. And because a man becomes wise from understanding and believing in truth, it is said "if the eye be sound the whole body is lucid." The "body" means the man, and "to be lucid" means to be wise. But it is the reverse with the "evil eye," that is, understanding and believing in falsity. "Darkness" means falsities, "if the light [lumen] be darkness" signifies if the truth be false or falsified, and because truth falsified is worse than any other falsity, it is said, "If the light [lumen] be darkness, how great is the darkness." [5] These few examples make clear what correspondence is and what influx is, namely, that the eye is a correspondence of the understanding and faith, the heart a correspondence of the will and love, the ears a correspondence of obedience, the lamp and light [lumen] correspondences of truth, and darkness a correspondence of falsity, and so on; and as the one is spiritual and the other natural, and the spiritual acts into the natural and forms it to an image of itself that it may appear before the eyes or before the world, therefore that action is influx. Such is the Word in each and every particular.

And shall eat her flesh, signifies rejection of its evils, which are adulterated goods, and then the manifestation that they were without any good. This is evident from the signification of "flesh," as being the good of the Word and of the church, and in the contrary sense the evil thereof. Here "flesh" means evils, which are adulterated goods. Also from the signification of "to eat," as being to consume, but here to reject wholly, because this is said of the Reformed, who have rejected the works or goods of Babylon, which consist especially in gifts to the idols of their saints, to their sepulchers, also to monasteries, and to the monks themselves, given as offerings for various expiations. It follows that the same words mean also the manifestation that they were without any good, for when spurious and meritorious goods are rejected, which are signified by the "flesh that they should eat," it is then manifest that they are without any good. [2] "Flesh" has various significations in the Word. It signifies what is man's own [proprium], thus either his good or evil, and from this it signifies the whole man. But in the highest sense it signifies the Lord's Divine Human, and particularly the Divine good of the Divine love that proceeds from Him. That "flesh" signifies the Divine Human as to the good of love is evident in John: Jesus said, I am the living bread, which cometh down out of heaven; if anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever; and the bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews, therefore, strove one with another, saying, How can this one give His flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood ye shall not have life in yourselves. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood abideth in Me and I in him. This is the bread which cometh down out of heaven (John 6:51-58). It is clearly evident that "flesh" here means the own [proprium] of the Lord's Divine Human, which is the Divine good of the Divine love, and is that which is called in the Holy Supper the body. (That the "body" there, that is, the "flesh," is the Divine good, and the "blood" is the Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 329.) And as "bread and wine" have the same signification as "flesh and blood," "bread" meaning the Divine good, and "wine" the Divine truth, therefore these were commanded in place of flesh and blood. [3] Divine good from the Lord was signified also by the flesh of the sacrifices that Aaron, his sons, and those who sacrificed, and others who were clean, might eat: And that this was holy (may be seen in Exod. 12:7-9; 29:31-34; Lev. 7:15-21; 8:31; Deut. 12:27; 16:4); Consequently if an unclean person ate of that flesh he would be cut off from his people (Lev. 7:21). That those sacrifices were called bread (Lev. 22:6-7). That that flesh was called the flesh of holiness (Jer. 11:15; Hag. 2:12), And the flesh of the offering, which was to be upon the table in the Lord's kingdom (Ezek. 40:43). The Lord's Divine Human is also called "flesh" in John: The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:14). [4] That "flesh" signified also the good with man can be seen from the following passages. In Ezekiel: I will give them one heart, and I will give a new spirit in the midst of you, and I will take away the heart of stone out of their flesh, and I will give them a heart of flesh (Ezek. 11:19; 36:26). "Heart of flesh" means the will and love of good. In David: O God, Thou art my God, in the morning I seek Thee; my soul thirsteth for Thee; my flesh longeth for Thee in a land of drought and weariness without waters (Ps. 63:1). In the same: My soul longeth for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God (Ps. 84:2). The "flesh" that longeth for Jehovah, and that crieth out unto the living God, signifies man as to good of the will, for the "flesh" of man corresponds to the good or evil of his will, and the "blood" to the truth or falsity of his understanding; here "flesh" means the good of the will, because it longeth for Jehovah and crieth out unto God. [5] In Job: I have known my Redeemer, He liveth, and at the last He shall rise upon the dust; and afterwards these things shall be encompassed by my skin, and from my flesh I shall see God (Job 19:25-27). To see God from one's flesh signifies from one's own voluntary made new by the Lord, and thus good. In Ezekiel: Upon the bones seen in the midst of the valley, I will put sinews, and I will cause flesh to come up upon them, and I will cover them with skin, and I will give spirit unto them that they may live (Ezek. 37:6, 8). Here, too, "flesh" signifies what is one's own [proprium] of the will made new by the Lord, and thus good. What "bones" and the rest signify here may be seen above (n. 418, 419, 665). In Revelation: Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, small and great (Rev. 19:17-18; Ezek. 39:17-19). That "flesh" here does not mean flesh but goods of every kind, is clearly evident. [6] But on the other hand, that "flesh" signifies man's own voluntary, which regarded in itself is evil, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah: They shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (Isa. 9:20). In the same: I will feed thine oppressors with their own flesh (Isa. 49:26). In Jeremiah: I will feed you with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their daughters; and they shall eat every man the flesh of his companion (Jer. 19:9). In Zechariah: The rest shall eat everyone the flesh of another (Zech. 11:9). In Moses: I will chastise you sevenfold for your sins, and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters (Lev. 26:28-29). [7] In Jeremiah: Cursed is the man who trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm (Jer. 17:5). Here "flesh" signifies what is man's own [proprium] which in itself is evil; to appropriate this to oneself is signified by eating and feeding upon it. Again, "flesh" signifies what is man's own [proprium] in Matthew: Jesus said, Blessed art thou, Simon, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee (Matt. 16:17). In John: As many as received, to them gave He power to become sons of God, who were born, not from bloods nor from the will of the flesh, but from God (John 1:12-13). In Ezekiel: Jerusalem committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt her neighbors, great in flesh (Ezek. 16:26). In Isaiah: Egypt is man and not God, and his horses are flesh and not spirit (Isa. 31:3). In John: It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing (John 6:63). In the same: That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is begotten of the spirit is spirit (John 3:6). In David: God remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and returneth not (Ps. 78:39). The evil of man's will, which is what is his own [proprium] from birth. is what is signified in these passages by "flesh"; also by: The flesh that the sons of Israel lusted after in the desert, and on account of which they were smitten with a great plague, and from which the place was called graves of lust (Num. 11:4-34). Moreover, in the Word the expression "all flesh" is frequently used as meaning every man (as in Gen. 6:12, 13, 17, 19; Isa. 40:5, 6; 49:26; 66:16, 23, 24; Jer. 25:31; 32:27; 45:5; Ezek. 20:48; 21:4, 5; and elsewhere). (Continuation respecting the Word) [8] The spiritual by influx presents what is correspondent to itself in the natural, in order that the end may become a cause, and the cause become an effect, and thus the end through the cause may present itself in the effect as visible and sensible. This trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, is given from creation in every heaven. The end is the good of love, the cause is truth from that good, and the effect is use. That which produces is love, and the product therefrom is of love from good by means of truth. The final products, which are in our world, are various, as numerous as the objects are in its three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral. All products are correspondences. [9] As this trine, namely, end, cause, and effect, exists in each heaven, there must be in each heaven products that are correspondences, and which in form and aspect are like the objects in the three kingdoms of our earth; from which it is clear that each heaven is like our earth in external appearance, differing only in excellence and beauty according to degrees. Now in order that the Word may be full, that is, may consist of effects in which are a cause and an end, or may consist of uses, in which truth is the cause and good is the end and love is that which produces, it must needs consist of correspondences; and from this it follows that the Word in each heaven is like the Word in our world, differing only in excellence and beauty according to degrees. What this difference is shall be told elsewhere.

And shall burn her up with fire, signifies rejection of the whole of that religious persuasion which has profaned the holy things of the church by the love of having dominion over them and over heaven. This is evident from the signification of "burning with fire," as being to destroy the things of the church that have been profaned by the love of having dominion. The punishment for profaning the holy things of the church was burning with fire, for the reason that that "fire" represented the fire of hell, and "to be burned" signified to perish thereby, and the fire of hell is the love of having dominion. "To be burned up with fire" is here the punishment for profaning the holy things of the church, since the harlot is here referred to, and "Babylon" as a "harlot" signifies profanation of the holy things of the church by the diabolical love of having dominion over them. "To be burned up with fire" has a like signification as "Tophet" in the valley of Hinnom, where they burned sons and daughters, and which signified in the spiritual sense the profanation of the truths and goods of the church, "sons" its truths, and "daughters" its goods. The valley of Achor, where Achan, who took of the devoted thing, was burned with fire after he had been stoned, has nearly the same signification. From all this it can be seen that "burning the harlot with fire" signifies the rejection of the whole religious persuasion that has profaned the holy things of the church by the love of having dominion over them and over heaven. This means rejection by the Reformed, as above. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] As there is a trine, one within another, in every least particular of the Word, and this trine is like that of effect, cause, and end, it follows that there are three senses in the Word, one within another, namely, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial; the natural for the world, the spiritual for the heavens of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and the celestial for the heavens of His celestial kingdom. (That all the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, the spiritual and the celestial, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell n. 20-28.) Now as there is one sense within another, the first which is the sense of the letter for the natural world, the second which is the internal sense for the spiritual kingdom, and the third which is the inmost for the celestial kingdom, it follows that the natural man draws from it his sense, the spiritual angel his sense, and the celestial angel his sense, thus everyone what is analogous to and in agreement with his own essence and nature. This takes place whenever a man who is led by the Lord is reading the Word. [3] But let this be illustrated by examples. When this commandment of the Decalogue is read: "Thou shalt honor thy father and thy mother," a man in the world understands by "father and mother" a father and mother on the earth, and also all who are or may be in the place of father or mother; and by "honoring" he understands to hold such in honor. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom understands by "father" the Divine good, and by "mother" the Divine truth, and by "honoring" loving; while an angel of the celestial kingdom understands by "father" the Lord, and by "mother" heaven and the church, and by "honoring" doing. [4] When the fifth commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not steal," is read, by "stealing" a man understands stealing, defrauding, and taking away under any pretense his neighbor's goods. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by "stealing" understands depriving another of his truths and goods by means of falsities and evils, while an angel of the celestial kingdom by "not to steal" understands not to attribute to himself the things that are the Lord's, as the good of love and the truth of faith; for thereby good becomes not good, and truth not truth, because they are from men. [5] When the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," is read, a man by "committing adultery" understands committing adultery and whoredom, also thinking filthy thoughts, speaking lasciviously, and doing obscene things. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by "committing adultery" understands falsifying the truths of the Word and adulterating its goods, while an angel of the celestial kingdom by "committing adultery" understands blaspheming against the Lord, heaven, and the church. [6] When the seventh commandment "Thou shalt not kill," is read, by "killing" a man understands hating and desiring revenge, even to murder. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by "killing" understands the killing of a man's soul by stumbling blocks to the life and by reasonings, whereby a man is led into spiritual death, while an angel of the celestial kingdom by "killing" understands seducing a man into believing that there is no God and no heaven and no hell, for thus man perishes as to eternal life. [7] When the eighth commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness," is read, a man by "false witness" understands lying and defamation. But an angel of the spiritual kingdom by "false witness" understands asserting, confirming, and persuading that falsity is truth and evil is good, or on the other hand that truth is falsity and good is evil, while an angel of the celestial kingdom by "false witness" understands every falsity against the Lord, and against heaven in favor of hell. [8] All this makes clear how a man draws and calls forth from the Word in the letter the natural sense, a spiritual angel the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel the celestial sense, much as the wood of a tree draws its sap, the leaf its sap, and the fruit its sap, from the same soil. And what is wonderful, this is done instantly, without the angel's knowing what the man thinks, or the man what the angel thinks, and yet their thoughts are one by correspondences, as end, cause, and effect are one. Moreover, ends are actually in the celestial kingdom, causes in the spiritual kingdom, and effects in the natural world.

Verse 17. For God gave into their hearts to do His mind, signifies things from the Lord, causing them to recede altogether. This is evident from the signification of "giving into their hearts," as being to inspire affection, for the "heart" signifies the will and the love, that is, the affection, which is the will and the love in its continuity. God, of whom this is said, means the Lord, because there is no other God of heaven and earth. Also from the signification of "doing His mind," that is, in reference to the "harlot," as being the things said in the preceding verse, that "they should make the harlot desolate and naked, eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire," which signifies in brief that they would wholly reject the profane things of Babylon and recede from them, as was done by the Reformed. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] Since it is from creation that end, cause, and effect shall together make one, so it is from creation that the heavens shall make one with the church on the earth, but by means of the Word, when it is read by man from the love of truth and good. For the Word was given by the Lord to this end, that there might be a perpetual conjunction of the angels of heaven with men on the earth, and a perpetual communication according to conjunction. Without this medium there would not be any conjunction and communication with heaven on this earth. The conjunction and communication are instantaneous, and for the reason that all things of the Word in the sense of the letter are as effects, in which the cause and the end exist together, and the effects, which are in the Word, are called uses, their causes truths, and their ends goods; and the Divine love, which is the Lord, unites these three together in the man who is in the affection for uses from the Word. How a man draws and calls forth from the Word in the letter the natural sense, a spiritual angel the spiritual sense, and a celestial angel the celestial sense, and this instantly, from which there is communication and conjunction, shall be illustrated by comparisons; first by something in the animal kingdom, afterwards by something in the vegetable kingdom, and finally by something in the mineral kingdom. [3] From the Animal Kingdom: From the food, when it has become chyle, the vessels draw and call forth their blood, the fibers of the nerves their fluid, and the substances that are the origins of fibers their spirit, which is called the animal spirit; and this is done through the vital heat, which in its essence is love. The vessels, the fibers, and the substances which are their origins, are distinct from each other, and yet they act as one throughout the body, and they act together and in an instant. [4] From the Vegetable Kingdom: The tree, with its trunk and branches, leaves and fruits, stands upon its root, and from the soil where its root is draws and calls forth its sap, a coarser sap for the trunk and branches, a purer for the leaves, and a still purer and also nobler for the fruits and for the seeds in them; and this is done by means of heat from the sun. Here the branches, leaves, and fruit although they are distinct, yet they extract together and instantly and from the same soil foods of such different purity and nobleness. [5] From the Mineral Kingdom: In the bosom of the earth in certain places there are minerals impregnated with gold, silver, copper, and iron. From vapors stored up in the earth the gold attracts its element, silver its element, copper and iron theirs, distinctly together and on the instant, and this by means of some power of unknown heat. [6] As it is allowable to illustrate spiritual things by means of comparisons drawn from natural things, these will serve to illustrate how interior things, which are spiritual and celestial, and by which a man of the church has communication and conjunction with the heavens, can be drawn and called forth and extracted and eliminated from the Word in its ultimates, which is, the sense of the letter. Comparisons can be made with these, because all things in the three kingdoms of nature, animal, vegetable, and mineral, correspond to the spiritual things that are the three heavens, as the food of the body, with which a comparison has been made, corresponds to the food of the soul, which is knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom; a tree, with which also a comparison has been made, corresponds to man, the tree to man himself, the wood to his good, the leaves to his truths, and the fruits to his uses; so, too, gold, silver, copper, and iron correspond to goods and truths, gold to celestial good, silver to spiritual truth, copper to natural good, and iron to natural truth. Moreover, these things have these significations in the Word. And what is wonderful, the purer are contained in the grosser and are drawn from them, as the animal spirit and the nerve fluid are contained in the blood from which the original substances and nerve fiber draw and extract their distinct portions. So, again, fruits and leaves draw theirs from the gross fluid that is brought up from the soil by the wood and its bark, and so on. Thus comparatively, as has been said, the purer senses of the Word are drawn and called forth from the sense of the letter.

And to do one mind, signifies unanimously. This is evident from the signification of "doing one mind," as being unanimously, for "it was given into their hearts to do the mind of the harlot" signifies that they should wholly withdraw from the profane things of Babylon; consequently "to do one mind" signifies unanimity in it. That there is unanimity in this is evident from the Reformed, who are divided into three churches, one of which has embraced the doctrine of Luther, another that of Calvin, and the third that of Melancthon; nevertheless all three have wholly withdrawn from the profane things of Babylon. This, therefore, is what is here signified by "doing one mind" (see just above, n. 1084). (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] As there are three senses in the Word, the natural, the spiritual, and the celestial, and as its natural sense, which is the sense of the letter, is a containant of the two senses, the spiritual and the celestial, it follows that the sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of those senses. And as the angels of the three heavens receive their wisdom from the Lord through the Word with them, and as their Words make one with our Word by correspondences, it also follows that the sense of the letter of our Word is the basis, support, and foundation of the wisdom of the angels of heaven. For the heavens rest upon the human race as a house rests upon its foundation; so the wisdom of the angels of heaven rests in like manner upon the knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom of men from the sense of the letter of the Word; for as has been said above, communication and conjunction with the heavens are effected through the sense of the letter of the Word. Thence it is, that of the Lord's Divine Providence it has come to pass, that the Word as to the sense of the letter from its first revelation has not been mutilated, 1085-1 not even as to an expression and letter in the original text, for every expression is a support, and in some measure the letters. From all this it is clear what a profanation it is to falsify the truths and adulterate the goods of the Word, and how infernal it is to deny or to weaken its holiness. As soon as that is done, for that man of the church heaven is closed. The blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, which cannot be forgiven, is the blasphemy of the Word by those who deny its holiness. Since the Word is the basis of the heavens, and since the Word has been wholly falsified and adulterated by the Jewish nation by traditions and by applications of the sense of the letter to favor their evil loves, lest the heavens should be endangered and the wisdom of the angels there should become foolishness, it has pleased the Lord to come down from heaven and to put on the Human and to become the Word (as is evident from John 1:14), and thus to restore the state of heaven.

And to give their kingdom unto the beast, signifies acknowledgment that the Word is Divine, and the founding of the church upon it. This is evident from the signification of "giving a kingdom," as being the church; for "kingdom" signifies in the Word the church as to truth, and "dominion" the church as to good. Also from the signification of "the beast," as being the Word (see above, n. 1038). Therefore "to give a kingdom to the beast" signifies to give the church to the Word, or what is the same, to acknowledge the Word, and to establish and found the church upon it. From what is related in this verse, also in verses 11, 12, 13, 16 above respecting the beast, and which is there explained, it is clearly evident that "the beast" signifies the Word received by those who are meant by "the harlot," and yet rejected, and nevertheless defended by others both within Babylon and without it. [2] The Word can be meant by a "beast," for a lion and a lamb are beasts, and yet by them the Lord is meant throughout the Word; also sheep, kids, rams, goats, and heifers are beasts, and yet by them the holy things of heaven and the church are signified throughout the Word; and again, "the beast out of the earth," mentioned above, signified confirmations from the Word in favor of faith separated (see n. 815). That nothing else can be signified by this beast is clearly evident from what is said about it (verse 13), that "the ten kings would give their power and authority unto the beast;" also in verses 16 and 17, that "they would give their kingdom to the beast;" although they were those who "made the harlot desolate, ate her flesh, and burnt her up with fire." [3] The harlot was seen sitting upon the beast because Babylon has founded her dominion upon certain passages in the Word; as upon those things which were said by the Lord to Peter. That the harlot would sit "upon many waters," and elsewhere "upon treasures," also that she was seen "arrayed in purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup" (verses 1-4 of this chapter, and Jer. 51:13), has a like signification. (Continuation respecting the Word) [4] There is successive order and there is simultaneous order. In successive order things pure and perfect appear above, and those less pure and perfect appear below. The three heavens are in successive order, one above another; and in the higher heavens all things are pure and perfect, while in the lower they are less pure and perfect. Simultaneous order exists in lower things, and fully in the lowest; for higher things let themselves down and place themselves in the order that is called simultaneous, in which the pure and perfect things, which were the higher, are in the middle or center, and the less pure and perfect, which were the lower, are in the circumferences. Therefore all things that have existed in successive order are together in ultimates in their order. [5] And as all higher things place themselves in what is lowest in simultaneous order, it follows that in the ultimates of the Word, which constitute the sense of its letter, are all things of the Divine truth and of the Divine good, even from their firsts. And as all things of the Divine truth and the Divine good are together in their ultimate, which is the sense of the letter of the Word, there evidently is the power of Divine truth, yea, the omnipotence of the Lord in saving man. For when the Lord operates He operates not from first things through mediates into ultimates, but from first things through ultimates and thus into mediates. This is why the Lord is called in the Word the First and the Last; and this is why the Lord assumed the Human, which in the world was the Divine truth or the Word, and glorified it even to the ultimates, which are the bones and the flesh, in order that He might operate from first things through ultimates, and not as before from man, but from Himself. This power in ultimates was represented by the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for the hair corresponds to the ultimates of the Divine truth. And for this reason, to produce baldness was regarded in ancient times as disgraceful. [6] The boys who called Elisha "bald head" were torn in pieces by bears, because Elisha and Elijah represented the Word; and the Word without the sense of the letter, which is like a head without hair, is without any power, and thus is no longer the Word. "Bears" signify those that have strength from the ultimates of truth. The power of the Word in the sense of the letter is the power to open heaven, whereby communication and conjunction are effected, and also the power to fight against falsities and evils, thus against the hells. A man who is in genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word can disperse and scatter the whole diabolical crew and their devices in which they place their power, which are innumerable, and this in a moment, merely by a look and by an effort of the will. In brief, in the spiritual world nothing can resist genuine truths confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word.

Until the words of God shall be consummated, signifies even to the last state of the church, when there is a judgment, and after that what is new. This is evident from the signification of "to be consummated," as being to have an end; or specifically, when there is no longer any good and truth of doctrine and of life remaining, that is, when the last state of the church has come. (That consummation signifies the last state of the church can be seen n. 624, 911.) And as the Last Judgment comes in the last state of the church, and after that the New Church is established by the Lord, so "to be consummated" signifies the last state of the church when judgment takes place, and afterwards that which is new. Also from the signification of "the words of God," as being predictions in the Word; therefore "the words of God shall be consummated" signifies when the predictions are fulfilled. It is said that those signified by "the ten horns of the beast" will "make the harlot desolate, eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire," and "will give the kingdom to the beast, until the words of God shall be consummated," because those also who have wholly withdrawn from Babylon and have rejected her profane things are then devastated as to all the goods and truths of heaven, that is, they have equally falsified the Word, not from the principle of having dominion over the holy things of the church and over heaven, but from the principle of separating works from faith, and when these have been separated there is no longer any living from the Lord, but only a living from self and the world, and that life is a life of evil from falsity, therefore "the words of God shall be consummated" also means when these, too, have been devastated. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] Now since all interior things, that is, the spiritual and celestial things that are in the Words of the three heavens, are together in the ultimate sense of the Word, which is called the sense of the letter, (for in its inmosts there are the things that are in the Word with the angels of the third heaven, and in its middle parts the things that are in the Words of the angels of the lower heavens, and these are encompassed by such things as exist in the nature of our world and are included in these), so the sense of the letter of our Word is from all these. From this it can be seen that the Divine truth is in its fullness in the sense of the letter of our Word. That is said to be full which contains in itself all things prior, even from the first, or all things higher even from the highest; the ultimate is what includes these. The fullness of the Word is like a general vessel of marble, in which are countless lesser vessels of crystal, and in these still more numerous vessels of precious stones, in and about which are the most delightful things of heaven which are for those who perform noble uses from the Word. That the Word is such is not evident to man while he is in the world; but it is evident to him when he becomes an angel. Because the Word is such in ultimates it follows that it is not the Word until it is in that ultimate, that is, until it is in the sense of the letter. The Word not in that ultimate would be like a temple in the air and not on the earth, or like a man having flesh but without bones. [3] As the Divine truth is in its fullness and also in its power in its ultimate, for when it is in that it is in all things at once, therefore the Lord never works except from first things through ultimates, and thus in fullness. For He reforms and regenerates man only through truths in ultimates, which are natural. And this is why a man after his departure out of the world remains to eternity such as he has been in the world. For the same reason heaven and hell are from the human race, and angels are not created immediately; for in the world a man is in his fullness, consequently he can there be conceived and born, and afterwards be imbued with knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and become an angel. To create angels in any other way is not given. [4] Because the Lord works all things from things first through ultimates, and is in His power and in His fullness in ultimates, therefore it pleased the Lord to take upon Him the Human and to become the Divine truth, that is, the Word, and thus from Himself to reduce to order all things of heaven and all things of hell, that is, to execute a Last Judgment. This the Lord could accomplish from the Divine in Himself, which was in things first, through His Human which was in ultimates, and not, as before, from His presence or abode in the men of the church; for these had wholly forsaken the truths and goods of the Word, in which the Lord had previously had His dwelling-place with men. This was the chief reason for the Lord's coming into the world, also for making His Human Divine; for by this He put Himself into the power of holding all things of heaven and all things of hell in order to eternity. This is meant by: Sitting at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19). "The right hand of God" means the Divine omnipotence, and "to sit at the right hand of God" means to be in that omnipotence through the Human. That the Lord ascended into heaven with His Human glorified even to the ultimates He testifies in Luke: Jesus said to the disciples See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself, handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye behold Me have (Luke 24:39). This the Lord said just before 1087-1 His resurrection. "Flesh and bones" are the ultimates of the human body, on which its strength depends.

Verse 18. And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, signifies the heinous doctrine of the church. This is evident from the signification of "the woman," as being the church, here a church in which the truths and goods of the Word are profaned, which is no longer a church, but a religious persuasion that is called Babylon. Also from the signification of "city," as being the doctrine of the church (see n. 223), here the doctrine of Babylon, which doctrine is heinous, because it is from the truths and goods of the Word, from which are the holy things of the church, which have been profaned. This woman, by whom is signified the church, is called "a great city," which signifies doctrine, because only from doctrine can there be a church, and such as the doctrine is such is the church, here such is the religious persuasion. It is Babylon that is here meant by the "city;" and "Babylon" as a metropolis has a similar signification as "Babylonia" which is a kingdom; as also in Daniel, where it is called "Babel." Other metropolitan cities have a like signification as their kingdoms, as the Jewish kingdom and Jerusalem, the Israelitish kingdom and Samaria, the kingdom of Syria and Damascus. But while the kingdom signifies the church, the metropolitan city signifies the church as to doctrine. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] The Divine truth is what is called holy, but only when it is in its ultimate, and its ultimate is the Word in the sense of the letter; therefore the Divine truth there is holy, and may be called a sanctuary, and for the reason that that sense contains and encloses all the holy things of heaven and the church. The appearance is that the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, are more holy than the Divine truths in the sense of the letter of the Word, which are natural; but the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, are comparatively like the lungs and heart in man, which form the chest only when they are encompassed by ribs, and enclosed in the pleura and diaphragm; for without these integuments they could not perform their vital functions, and even unless connected with them by bonds. The spiritual things of the Word are like the breathing of the lungs, its celestial things are like the systole and diastole of the heart, and its natural things are like the pleura, the diaphragm, and the ribs, with the moving fibers attached, by which the motions are made reciprocal. [3] Again, the spiritual and celestial things of the Word are comparatively like the holy things of the tabernacle, which were the table upon which was the show bread, the golden altar upon which was the incense, the perfumes and the censer, also the lampstand with the lamps, and still further within the cherubim, the mercy seat and the ark. All these were the holy things of the Jewish and Israelitish church; nevertheless they could not be called holy and the sanctuary until they had been covered by curtains and veils, for without those coverings they would have stood under the naked sky, exposed to showers and storms, to the birds of heaven and the wild beasts of the earth, and also to robbers that would violate, plunder, and scatter them. So would it be with the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, unless they were enclosed in natural truths, like the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word. [4] Natural truths, which are the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, are not the very truths of heaven, but are appearances of them; and appearances of truth encompass, enclose, and contain the truths of heaven, which are genuine truths, and cause them to be in connection and order and to act together, like the cardiac and pulmonary organs with their coverings and ribs, as has been said above; and when these truths are held in connection and in order they are holy, and not till then. This the sense of the letter of our Word does by means of the appearances of truth of which its ultimate consists; and this is why that sense is the holy Divine Itself and the sanctuary. [5] But he is greatly mistaken who separates appearances of truth from genuine truths and calls these appearances holy by themselves and from themselves, and not the sense of the letter holy by genuine truths and from them and together with them. He separates these who sees only the sense of the letter and does not explore its meaning, as those do who do not read the Word from doctrine. The "cherubim" mean in the Word a guard and protection that the holy things of heaven be not violated, and that the Lord be approached only through love; consequently these signify the sense of the letter of the Word, because that is what guards and protects. It guards and protects in this manner that man can think and speak according to the appearances of truth so long as he is well-disposed, simple, and as it were an infant; but he must take heed not to so confirm appearances as to destroy the genuine truths in the heavens.

Which hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth, signifies its domination over the truths of the church. This is evident from the signification of "having a kingdom," as being domination, and as being predicated of truths or falsities. That "kingdom" means the church in respect to truths or falsities, may be seen (n. 48, 684, 685). Also from the signification of "kings of the earth," as being truths (see n. 31, 625, 1034, 1063, 1073). Also from the signification of "earth," as being the church (of which frequently above). This makes clear that "having a kingdom over the kings of the earth" signifies domination over the truths of the church. There is domination over the truths of the church because their chief, who is called Pope and Pontiff, ascribes to his own decrees an equal holiness and a like inspiration with the truths of the Word. It is also a part of this doctrine that it is lawful for him to change the truths of the Word according to the changes of the state of the church, and thus to turn them into such things as may be means of domination, and these are falsities; for all things that have regard to domination are falsities, or truths falsified, since the end chooses the means and applies them to itself; and means that are applied to an end which is domination over the souls of men, over all things of the church and over heaven, cannot be truths, and if they are truths the end falsifies them, but with those only who are in dominion. (Continuation respecting the Word) [2] It is an invariable truth that no one can understand the Word without doctrine; for he may be led away into any errors to which he may be inclined from some love, or to which he may be drawn from some principle, whereby his mind becomes unsettled and uncertain, and at length as it were destitute of truth. But he who reads the Word from doctrine sees all things that confirm it, and many things that are hidden from the eyes of others, and does not permit himself to be drawn away into strange things; and thus his mind becomes so settled as to see with certainty. The Word may be drawn away to confirm heresies unless it is read from doctrine, for the reason that the sense of its letter consists of mere correspondences, and these are in great part appearances of truth, and in part genuine truths, and unless there be doctrine for a lamp these cannot be seen and cannot be distinguished from each other. [3] But doctrine can be acquired from no other source than from the Word, and it can be acquired only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord. Those are in enlightenment who love truths because they are truths and make them to be of their life. Moreover, all things of doctrine must be confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word, because the Divine truth is in its fullness and in its power in that sense, and through it man is in conjunction with the Lord and in consociation with the angels. In brief, he who loves truth because it is truth can inquire of the Lord, as it were, in doubtful matters of faith, and can receive answers from Him, but nowhere except in the Word, for the reason that the Lord is the Word. Revelation 18 1. And after these things I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened by his glory. 2. And he cried out mightily with a great voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the anger of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her; and the merchants of the earth have become rich from the abundance of her luxuries. 4. And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come forth out of her, my people, that ye become not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. 5. For her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her injustices. 6. Render unto her even as she hath rendered unto you, and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup that she hath mingled mingle to her double. 7. How much she hath glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much torment and mourning give her, for in her heart she saith, I sit a queen, and a widow I am not, and mourning I shall not see. 8. For this reason in one day shall her plagues come, death and mourning and famine, and she shall be burned up in fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. 9. And the kings of the earth shall weep for her and wail over her, who have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning; 10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, that great city Babylon, that mighty city; for in one hour is thy judgment come. 11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, because no one buyeth their merchandise anymore; 12. Merchandise of gold and of silver, and of precious stones and of pearl, and of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk and scarlet, and of all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory and every vessel of precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble; 13. And cinnamon and incense, and ointment and frankincense, and wine and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts of burden and sheep, and horses and carriages, and slaves, and souls of men. 14. And the fruits of the desire of thy soul have departed from thee; and all fat and splendid things have departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more. 15. The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning; 16. And saying, Woe, woe, that great city, arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold, precious stone and pearls; 1089-1 for in one hour were devastated so great riches. 17. And every pilot, and all that are employed on ships, and sailors, and as many as work at sea, stood afar off, 18. And cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like this great city? 19. And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried out weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, that great city, wherein all that had ships in the sea were made rich by her costliness; for in one hour they were devastated. 20. Exult over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment upon her. 21. And one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall Babylon, that great city, be cast down and shall be found no more. 22. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, shall not be heard in thee anymore; and no craftsman of whatsoever craft shall be found in thee anymore, and the voice of a millstone shall not be heard in thee anymore; 23. And the light of a lamp shall not shine in thee anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and of bride shall not be heard in thee anymore, because thy merchants were the great men of the earth, because by thy sorcery have all nations been seduced. 24. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that had been slain on the earth.

EXPLANATION Verse 1. And after these things I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened by his glory. 1. "After these things" signifies what was done after the Last Judgment upon those meant by the "harlot" (n. 1091); "I saw an angel coming down from heaven" signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord in heaven and in the world (n. 1092); "having great authority" signifies which now has omnipotence, as in the heavens so upon the earth (n. 1093); "and the earth was lightened by his glory" signifies the church now in light from the influx and reception of Divine truth (n. 1094).

Verse 1. After these things signifies what was done after the Last Judgment upon those meant by the "harlot." This is evident from what follows in this chapter, namely, from the cry of the angel that came down out of heaven, that Babylon the great had fallen, and had become "a habitation of demons, a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird," which means its downfall, thus the Last Judgment; also from what follows that they who stood afar off on account of the fear of her torment said, "Alas, alas, the great city Babylon, the strong city, for in one hour her judgment is come" (verses 10, 15, 16, 19), and from the rest. But what was to be done after this, that is, after the Last Judgment upon these, is related in this chapter, namely, that their religious persuasion would be wholly condemned, nor would it ever rise again to eternity. But this must be thus understood, that this religious persuasion will continue in the world, because the love of ruling is so implanted in everyone that it cannot be rooted out, and so long as that love is present it is impossible for that religious persuasion to come to an end in the world; and yet in the spiritual world, into which everyone comes after death, it will come to an end, for then all who are of that religion and have exercised dominion from the delight of the love of ruling, do not as they previously did, make for themselves seeming heavens in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell, and dwell there for a time, but as soon as they arrive there they are sent away and cast into their hells. This is what is meant by the destruction of Babylon, as predicted both here in Revelation, and in many passages in the prophets. Since the Babylonians have transferred the Lord's authority over heaven and the church to their chief pontiff, whom they call the successor of Peter, and thus the vicar of the Lord, declaring that the authority over heaven and hell was transferred by the Lord to Peter, and that it was not the Lord's Divine authority but His human authority given Him from God the Father, I will show at the end of the articles of this chapter that the Lord even as to His Human was God, that is, that His Human was Divine; and from this it follows that the Babylonians did transfer His Divine authority to him whom they call the Lord's vicar, and thus they have made him God upon earth, and that he has made his ministers deities, which can be nothing else than horrible. In the first place, then, at the end of the articles the doctrine of the Trinity that is accepted in the whole Christian world, and is called the Creed of Athanasius, also the Athanasian Faith, according to the decree of the Council of Nice, shall be examined; and here the creed itself, as adopted in England from the decree of the council, shall be quoted entire. THE ATHANASIAN SYMBOLIC FAITH [2] "Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith; Which faith except everyone shall keep it whole and entire, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly. The Catholic faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons, nor dividing the substance (essence). For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit; But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, is one and the same, the glory equal, and the majesty co-eternal. Such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such is the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreate, the Son is uncreate, and the Holy Spirit is uncreate. The Father is infinite, the Son infinite, and the Holy Spirit infinite. The Father eternal, the Son eternal, and the Holy Spirit eternal. And yet there are not three eternals, but one eternal; Also there are not three infinites, nor three uncreates, but one uncreate and one infinite. So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty, and the Holy Spirit Almighty; And yet there are not three Almighties, but one Almighty. As the Father is God, so the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet there are not three gods, but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord; And yet there are not three lords, but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be God and Lord; So we are forbidden by the Catholic religion to say there be three gods or three lords (others, we cannot from the Christian faith make mention of three gods or of three lords.) The Father was made of none, neither created nor begotten; The Son is of the Father alone, not made nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit is of the Father and of the Son, neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. And in this Trinity none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another; But the whole three Persons are co-eternal and co-equal. So that in all things, as before said, the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshiped (others, three Persons in one Godhead, and one God in three Persons is to be worshiped.) He, therefore, that will be saved must thus think of the Trinity. Furthermore, it is necessary for salvation that he believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ (others, that he constantly believe that our Lord Jesus Christ is true Man.) For the true faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man. God of the substance (or essence; others, nature) of the Father, begotten before the world, and man of the substance (others, nature) of the mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, consisting of a reasonable soul and a human body; Equal to the Father as touching the Divine, and inferior to (others, lesser than) the Father as touching the Human. Who although He be God and Man, yet He is not two but one Christ; one not by conversion of the Divine Essence into the Human (or, of the Godhead into the flesh) but by a taking of the Human Essence into the Divine (or into God). One altogether, not by confusion of essence (or substance) but by unity of Person (others, because they are one Person). For as the reasonable soul and body are one man, so God and Man is one Christ. Who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, and rose again on the third day from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father God Almighty; From whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies; [And shall give account for their own works;] And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they that have done evil into everlasting fire. This is the Catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved. Glory be to God the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever; world without end. Amen.

I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord in heaven and in the world. This is evident from the signification of "an angel coming down out of heaven," as being the Lord as to the Divine proceeding, for in the internal sense an angel means not an angel, but either the Lord or something pertaining to the Lord (see n. 130, 302, 593, 910), here the Lord, because it is said that "he had great authority, and the earth was lightened by his glory," which means the power and presence of the Divine truth now in heaven and in the world; for it is now made clear that Babylon has been destroyed, and when she has been destroyed there is an accession of power and light to the Divine that proceeds from the Lord. The reason of this will be explained hereafter. (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [2] This is the doctrine respecting God that is accepted in the whole Christian world, because it is from a council. But before that doctrine is examined, a certain arcanum respecting the state of man's faith and love in this world, and afterwards in the other world into which he comes after death shall be disclosed; for until this has been disclosed man can have no other idea than that everyone, whatever his faith may have been, can by the Divine mercy be admitted into heaven and saved, which is the source of the erroneous belief of the Babylonish race, that man has heaven from the good pleasure of the Pope, and by the favor of his vicars. [3] The arcanum is this, that all the thoughts of man pour themselves forth into the spiritual world in every direction, much the same as rays of light from a flame. As the spiritual world consists of heaven and hell, and as heaven as well as hell consists of innumerable societies, the thoughts of man must needs pour themselves forth into societies; spiritual thoughts, which relate to the Lord, to love and faith in Him, and to the truths and goods of heaven and the church, into heavenly societies; but merely natural thoughts, which relate to self and the world and the love of these, and not at the same time to God, into infernal societies. [4] That there is such an extension and determination of all man's thoughts has not been known heretofore, because it has not been known what heaven is and what hell is, thus that they consist of societies, consequently that there is an extension of man's thoughts into another world than this natural world, into which the sight of his eyes extends. Thus it is the spiritual world into which thought extends, and the natural world into which sight extends, because the thought of the mind is spiritual while the sight of the eye is natural. That all thoughts of man extend into the societies of the spiritual world, and that without such extension no thought is possible, has been made so evident to me by the experience of many years that I can with all faith affirm it to be true. [5] In a word, man is in the spiritual world with his head as he is in the natural world with his body, head meaning here his mind, which consists of understanding, thought, will, and love, and body here meaning his senses, which are seeing, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch. And as a man is in the spiritual world as to his head, that is, as to his mind, so he is either in heaven or in hell; and where the mind is there the whole man with the head and body is when he becomes a spirit. Moreover, man is wholly such as his conjunction is with the societies of the spiritual world, such an angel as his conjunction is with the societies of heaven, and such a devil as his conjunction is with the societies of hell.

Having great authority, signifies which has omnipotence, as in the heavens so upon the earth. This is evident from the signification of "great authority," as being, in reference to the Lord, omnipotence. "Great authority" here signifies omnipotence because according to the idea that man has of angels, great authority can be predicated of an angel, but not omnipotence; but when the Lord as to His Divine proceeding is meant by an angel, then "great authority" means omnipotence. Moreover, omnipotence belongs to the Lord because He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth, and by the Divine that proceeds from Him as a sun heaven and earth were created, and by it heaven with the earth is held together and subsists. The Divine proceeding is what is called in John, "the Word that was with God and that was God, by which all things were made that have been made, and by which also the world was made" (John 1:1, 2, 10). The Lord's omnipotence as in the heavens so upon the earth, is what is meant by "the great authority of the angel," because it is added, that "the earth was lightened by his glory;" for when the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by "the harlot or Babylon" was accomplished, the darkness that was interposed between heaven and earth was removed. But more upon this below. (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [2] From what has been said it is clear that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that if there were no extensions there would be no thoughts. For man's thought is like the sight of his eyes; if sight had no extension out of itself, either there would be no sight or there would be blindness. But it is a man's love that determines his thoughts into societies, good love determining them into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies; for the entire heaven is arranged into societies, generally, particularly, and most particularly, according to all the varieties of affections belonging to the love; while on the other hand, hell is arranged into societies according to the cupidities of the love of evil, which are opposite to the affections of the love of good. [3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like rays of light therefrom. If the love is good, the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths. If the love is evil, the thoughts, which are like rays, are falsities. Thoughts from a good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; while thoughts from an evil love, which are falsities, tend towards hell and conjoin themselves with homogeneous societies, that is, with societies of like love, and adapt themselves to them, and ingraft themselves into them, and so intimately that the man is wholly one with them. [4] Through love to the Lord man is an image of the Lord. The Lord is the Divine love; and in heaven before the angels He appears as a sun. From that sun light and heat proceed; the light is the Divine truth and the heat is the Divine good. From these two is the whole heaven, and from them are all the societies of heaven. The Lord's love in a man who is an image of Him is like the fire from that sun, from which fire also light and heat proceed; the light is the truth of faith and the heat is the good of love; both of these are from the Lord, and both are implanted in the societies with which the man's love acts as one. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God is evident from Genesis (1:26); and he is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, not the least thought can exist unless it finds reception in some society, not in the individuals or angels of the society, but in the affection of love from which and in which that society is; and for this reason the angels are not aware of the influx at all, and such influx in no way disturbs the society. [5] From all this the truth is clear that while man is living in the world he is in conjunction with heaven and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are unconscious of it. They are unconscious of it because man's thought is natural and an angel's thought is spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Because man is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell by means of the thoughts of his love, so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death, his character is known merely by the extensions of his thoughts into societies; and thus everyone is explored; and he is reformed by the admissions of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and is condemned by the immersions of his thoughts in the societies of hell.

And the earth was lightened by his glory, signifies the church now in light from the influx and reception of Divine truth. This is evident from the signification of "the earth," as being the church (of which frequently); also from the signification of "to be lightened," as meaning to be in light; also from the signification of "glory," as being, in reference to the Lord who is here meant by the angel, the Divine truth (see n. 33, 288, 345, 874). That "glory" means the Divine truth, since that is the light of heaven and from it angels have all their wisdom and happiness, and also magnificence, may be seen (n. 678). It is said of the angel coming down out of heaven, that he had "great authority," and that "the earth was lightened by his glory," because the Last Judgment was effected on those who are meant by "the harlot or Babylon," for this is the meaning of the words of the angel: Fallen, fallen is Babylon, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird (Rev. 18:2). And when judgment had been effected upon these, the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord came into its power and into its light; for so long as the Babylonians were tolerated under heaven they were like the dense and dusky clouds between heaven and earth by which the rays of light from the sun are intercepted and the day is darkened; and this for the reason that the Divine truth, which is the Word, was not only falsified but also rejected; and moreover, by transferring the Lord's Divine authority to themselves they annihilated it. These and many other things, so long as they were permitted to make dwelling places for themselves under the heavens, were like dusky clouds between heaven and earth, through which the Divine truth could not pass to enlighten any man of the church. But as soon as they had been driven away and cast into hell, there was an accession of power and light to the Divine truth that proceeded from the Lord as a sun, to the extent that the Lord could lead more powerfully and enlighten more clearly not only the spirits who are under the heavens, but also the men in the church. This is why the spiritual sense of the Word was not revealed and the state of heaven and hell manifested until the Last Judgment had been accomplished, for if before there would have been no power and light in the Divine truth. (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [2] Since man when born is not in any society either heavenly or infernal, being without thought, and yet is born for eternal life, it follows that in the course of time he either opens heaven or opens hell to himself, and enters into societies, and becomes an inhabitant either of heaven or of hell even while he is in the world. Man becomes an inhabitant of the spiritual world, because that is his real dwelling place, and as it is called, his native land, for there he is to live to eternity after he has lived some years in the natural world. From this it may be concluded how necessary it is for a man to know what it is in him that opens heaven and leads him into its societies, and what it is that opens hell and leads him into its societies. This will be told in the appendices to the following articles. Here let it be said that a man lets himself more and more into the societies of heaven successively according to the increase of wisdom, and into more and more interior societies successively according to the increase of the love of good; also that so far as heaven is opened to him hell is closed. But it is man who opens hell to himself, while it is the Lord who opens heaven to man.

Verse 2. And he cried out mightily with a great voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. 2. "And he cried out mightily with a great voice," signifies manifestation before heaven and in the church from joy of heart (n. 1096); "saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great," signifies that the Last Judgment has been effected upon those who had profaned the holy things of heaven and the church by the dominion they had assumed over them (n. 1097); "and is become a habitation of demons" signifies where there are direful falsities from the profaned truths and goods of the church (n. 1098); "and a hold of every unclean spirit," signifies where there are nothing but evils from the adulterated goods of the Word (n. 1099); "and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird" signifies where there are nothing but falsities from the falsified truths of the Word (n. 1100).

Verse 2. And he cried out mightily with a great voice, signifies manifestation before heaven and in the church from joy of heart. This is evident from the signification of "crying out," as being to make manifest, namely, that the Last Judgment has been effected upon Babylon, for it is added, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." Also from the signification of "mightily," as being in power before heaven and in the church (of which in what follows). Also from the signification of "a great voice," as being joy of heart, for from joy of heart the voice becomes great. The joy of heart was from this, that after the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by the "harlot" (or "Babylon"), power and light came to the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord, according to those things which have been said in a preceding article. A "great voice" signifies joy of heart, because every great voice crying out comes from some affection, more intense according to the affection or degree of love. "Mightily" signifies in heaven and on earth, because might signifies power, and there was now the power to make these things manifest before heaven and before the world. That there was now this power, may be seen above (n. 1093). (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith.) [2] The first and foremost thought that opens heaven to man is thought about God, and for the reason that God is the all of heaven, even to the extent that whether we say heaven or God it is the same thing. The things Divine that make the angels of whom heaven consists to be angels are, when taken together, God; and this is why thought about God is the first and foremost of all the thoughts that open heaven to man, for it is the head and sum of all truths and loves celestial and spiritual. But there is thought from light, and there is thought from love; thought from light alone is knowledge that there is a God, which appears like acknowledgment but is not. [3] By thought from light man has presence in heaven, but not conjunction with heaven, for the light of thought alone does not conjoin, but presents man as present to the Lord and the angels. For such light is like winter light, in which man sees with the same clearness as in summer light, and yet that light does not join itself to the earth, nor to any tree, shrub, flower, or blade of grass. Moreover, every man has implanted in him the faculty of thinking about God, and also of understanding in the light of heaven the things relating to God; but thought alone from that light, which is intellectual thought, merely causes his presence with the Lord and with angels, as has been said. [4] When a man is in mere intellectual thought about God and about things relating to God, he appears to angels at a distance like an image of ivory or marble that can walk and utter sounds, but in whose face and in whose voice there is as yet no life. Also to the angels he appears comparatively like a tree in winter time, with naked branches without leaves, and yet of which some hope is cherished that it will be covered with leaves and afterwards with fruit, when to the light heat is joined, as in the spring time. As thought about God is what primarily opens heaven, so thought against God is what primarily closes heaven.

Saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, signifies that the Last Judgment has been effected upon those who have profaned the holy things of heaven and the church by the dominion they have assumed over them. This is evident from the signification of "Fallen, fallen," as being utter overthrow and downfall, thus the Last Judgment, for through the Last Judgment utter overthrow and downfall are effected, since such then are cast into hell. Also from the signification of "Babylon," as being those who have profaned the holy things of heaven and the church by the dominion they have assumed over them; for by "Babylon" the same is meant as by "the harlot sitting on the scarlet beast," and the same as by "the mother of whoredoms and of the abominations of the earth" in the preceding chapter, which mean those who have profaned the holy things of the church. These and the profanations wrought by them are treated of in that chapter. (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [2] Thought about one God opens heaven to man, since there is but one God, while on the other hand thought about many gods closes heaven, since the idea of many gods destroys the idea of one God. Thought about the true God opens heaven, since heaven and everything belonging to it is from the true God, while on the other hand thought about a false God closes heaven, since no other than the true God is acknowledged in heaven. Thought about God the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Enlightener opens heaven, for this is the trinity of the one and true God. Again, thought about God infinite, eternal, uncreate, omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient opens heaven, for these are attributes of the essence of the one and true God, while on the other hand thought about a living man as God, of a dead man as God, or of an idol as God closes heaven, because they are not omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, uncreate, eternal, and infinite, nor was creation or redemption wrought by them, nor is there enlightenment by them. [3] Thought about God as Man, in whom is the Divine trinity, that is, the trinity called the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, alone opens heaven; while on the other hand thought about God as not Man, which idea is presented in appearance as a little cloud, or as nature in her least parts, closes heaven, for God is Man, as the whole angelic heaven in its complex is Man, and every angel and every spirit is in consequence a man. For this reason thought about the Lord as being the God of the universe is what alone opens heaven, for the Lord says: The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35). The Father hath given the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2). All things have been delivered to Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27). All authority hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18). [4] All this makes clear that man without such an idea of God as exists in heaven cannot be saved. The idea of God in heaven is the Lord, for the angels of heaven are in the Lord and the Lord is in them; consequently to think of any other God than the Lord is to them impossible (see John 14:20, 21). Allow me to add that the idea of God as Man has been implanted from heaven in every nation throughout the whole world, but what I lament, it has been destroyed in Christendom. The causes of this will be told below.

And is become a habitation of demons, signifies where there are direful falsities from the profaned truths and goods of the church. This is evident from the signification of "habitation," as being where those have been since the Last Judgment who are meant by "Babylon" as a harlot. Also from the signification of "demons," as being those who are in direful falsities from profaned truths and goods (see above, n. 586, 1001). Here the hell of such is described, namely, that it is "a habitation of demons, a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird." That their hell is such is evident from the exhalations therefrom, which are the profaned truths and goods of heaven and the church, for in speech, countenance, and gesture they are in holy externals, which they raise heavenward, and yet in soul and heart they do not look to any God, but only to themselves as deities of the earth. Thus they make one with those who are in hell. They profane holy things, because their interiors, which pertain to the soul and heart, flow into exteriors that are disposed in a holy manner. Such are here meant by "demons." (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [2] The thought alone that there is a God and that the Lord is the God of heaven opens heaven and presents man as present there, and yet so slightly as to be almost unseen, appearing afar off as in the shade. But in proportion as his thought of God becomes more full, true, and just, he appears in the light. Thought becomes more full by the knowledges of truth from the Word that pertain to faith and of good that pertain to love; for all things from the Word are Divine, and Divine things taken together are God. A man who thinks merely that there is a God and who gives no thought to what God is, is like one who thinks that the Word exists and that it is holy, and yet knows nothing of its contents; or like one who thinks that the law exists, but knows nothing of what is in the law. But the thought of what God is, is so great that it fills heaven, and makes all the wisdom of the angels, which is ineffable, for in itself it is infinite, because God is infinite. The thought that there is a God, derived from what He is, is what is meant in the Word by "the name of God" (see above, n. 102, 135, 148, 695, 959).

And a hold of every unclean spirit, signifies where there is nothing but evils from the adulterated goods of the Word. This is evident from the signification of a "hold," as being where those are who are meant by "Babylon," "hold" being the same here as "habitation" above. Also from the signification of "unclean spirits," as being those who are in evils from the adulteration of good, thus abstractly the evils themselves that are adulterated goods. Goods that have been applied to evils are called adulterated, as for instance, the goods of love to the Lord applied to the loves of self, and the goods of love towards the neighbor applied to the loves of the world. Love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor are pure and holy loves, but the loves of self and of the world, such as they are in those who have claimed to themselves the Lord's dominion over heaven and over the church, are impure and profane loves; therefore to change holy loves into profane loves is to adulterate the goods of the Word, especially when they call their profane things holy and their evil things good. Those who have been such in the world become after death unclean spirits; and their hell is meant by "the hold of every unclean spirit." (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [2] It has been said that man has thought from light and thought from love, and that thought from light makes man's presence in heaven, but thought from love makes man's conjunction with heaven, and for the reason that love is spiritual conjunction. Therefore, when man's thought from light becomes his thought from love he is introduced into heaven as to a marriage, and so far as love is the primary agent in thought from light or leads that thought, man enters heaven as a bride enters the bride-chamber, and is wedded. For the Lord is called in the Word a "bridegroom" and a "husband," and heaven and the church are called a "bride" and a "wife." "To be wedded" means to be conjoined to heaven in some society of it; and one is so far conjoined to heaven as he has acquired in the world intelligence and wisdom from the Lord through the Word, thus so far as he has learned by means of Divine truths to think that there is a God, and that the Lord is that God. And yet one who thinks from few truths, thus from little intelligence, although he is conjoined with heaven when he thinks from love, is conjoined in its lower parts only. [3] By love, love to the Lord is meant, and loving the Lord does not mean loving Him as a Person, for by such a love only man is not conjoined to heaven, but by the love of Divine good and Divine truth, which are the Lord in heaven and in the church; and these two are not loved by knowing them, thinking about them, understanding them, and speaking them, but by willing and doing them for the reason that they are commanded by the Lord, and thus because they are uses. Nothing prior is full until it has been done; and the end for the sake of which the thing is done is the love; consequently the love of knowing a thing, of thinking about it, and of understanding it springs from a love of willing and doing it. Tell me why you wish to know and understand anything except for the sake of an end which you love. The end that is loved is the deed. If you say, it is for the sake of faith, this is faith alone, or faith merely of the thought separated from actual faith which is the deed, which is nothing. You are greatly deceived if you think that you believe in God, when you are not doing the things pertaining to God; for the Lord teaches in John: He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will make My abode with him. But he that loveth Me not keepeth not My words (John 14:21, 23-24). In a word, loving and doing are one; therefore where loving is mentioned in the Word doing is meant, and where doing is mentioned loving also is meant; for what I love, that I do.

And a hold of every unclean and hateful bird, signifies where there are nothing but falsities from the falsified truths of the Word. This is evident from the signification of a "hold," as being where the falsifiers are, thus hell (as above); also from the signification of "every unclean and hateful bird," as being falsities from the falsified truths of the Word; for "birds" signify things rational and intellectual, thoughts, ideas, and reasonings, thus truths or falsities, and "unclean" means what flows forth from a filthy love, and especially from the love of having dominion, for this constitutes uncleanness in hell; and "hateful" signifies what flows forth from a false principle, thus from a religious principle confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word falsified. It is from correspondence that "birds" signify such things as pertain to man's thought, both spiritual and infernal, thus both truths and falsities, for these pertain to thought. That this is from correspondence is evident from the birds seen in the spiritual world, where all things that appear before the eyes and the other senses are correspondences. All sorts of animals of the earth, also flying things of heaven, both beautiful and unbeautiful, are seen there, and they appear from the affections and thoughts of angels or of spirits, the animals from affections, and the flying things from thoughts. It is known to everyone there that these are correspondences; and they know also to what affections and thoughts they correspond. That they are correspondences of affections and thoughts is made to appear most clearly; since they are instantly dissipated when the spirit or the angel goes away or stops thinking about the matter. As birds are correspondences of thoughts both rational and not rational, thus of both verities and falsities, therefore they have this signification in the Word, for all things of the Word are correspondences. [2] That "birds" signify thoughts that are from truths, both rational and spiritual, can be seen from the following passages. In David: Let them praise the name of Jehovah, the wild beast and every beast, creeping thing and winged bird (Ps. 148:5, 10). That "the wild beast and beast" signify the affections of the natural man, both of truth and of good, and in the contrary sense the cupidities of falsity and evil, may be seen above (n. 522, 650, 781); therefore "winged bird" signifies thoughts. This is why it is said that they should praise Jehovah, for it is man who must praise from affections and thoughts, thus from goods and truths. [3] In Hosea: In that day will I make a covenant for them with the wild beast of the field, and with the bird of the heavens, and with the creeping thing of the earth; and I will break the bow and the sword and the war from the earth (Hos. 2:18). This is said of the Lord's coming and of the state of heaven and the church from Him. "In that day" means the Lord's coming; "the covenant" that He will then make signifies conjunction with those who believe in Him; therefore, "the wild beast of the field and the bird of heaven" cannot mean wild beasts and birds, but must mean the things to which they correspond, which are the affections of good and truth and consequent thoughts. That there will then be no infestation from falsities and evils from hell is signified by "the bow, the sword, and the war, shall be broken in the earth." [4] In David: Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under his feet, flocks and herds, yea, the beasts of the fields, the birds of heaven, and the fish of the sea (Ps. 8:6-8). This treats of the Lord, of whom it is here said that "He shall have dominion over all the works of Jehovah's hands," which does not mean terrestrial things, such as flocks, herds, beasts, birds, and fishes. For what have these things to do with His dominion, which is in the heavens, and from the heavens over men on the earth, whom He will lead to life eternal? Therefore the spiritual things of the church are what are meant, "flock" signifying in general all things spiritual with man, "herd" all things natural with him that correspond to things spiritual, "beasts of the fields" affections of good in the natural man that pertain to the church (for "field" signifies the church), "birds of heaven" signify the thoughts of the rational man, and "fishes of the sea" knowledges. [5] In Ezekiel: I will take of the shoot of a high cedar, in the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it, that it may lift up the bough and bear fruit and become a magnificent cedar; that under it may dwell every bird of every wing, in the shades of its branches shall they dwell (Ezek. 17:22-23). This means the establishment of a new church by the Lord; its establishment anew or from its first rise is meant by "the shoot of a high cedar," "cedar" here as elsewhere in the Word signifies the spiritual rational church, such as was the church with the ancients after the flood. "To plant a shoot in the mountain of the height of Israel" signifies in spiritual good, which is the good of charity, "the mountain of the height of Israel" signifying that good; "to become a magnificent cedar" signifies the full establishment of that church; "that under it may dwell every bird of every wing" signifies that there will be rational truths of every kind in that church; "to dwell in the shade of its branches" signifies these terminated in natural truths, since these cover and guard rational truths that are from a spiritual origin. [6] In the same: Ashur a cedar in Lebanon, which has become high. In his branches have all the birds of the heavens built their nests, and under his branches all the beasts of the field have brought forth, and in his shade have dwelt all great nations (Ezek. 31:3, 5-6). Here, too, "cedar" signifies the spiritual rational church, since "Assyria" signifies the rational; and as "cedar" signifies the church, it follows that "the birds of the heavens that have built their nests in its branches," and "the beasts of the field that have brought forth under them," mean rational thoughts respecting the truths of the church, and the affections of them; and this being the meaning it is added, "In his shade have dwelt all great nations." [7] In Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar in a dream saw a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great; and it grew and became strong, and the height thereof reached even unto heaven, and the sight thereof unto the end of the earth; the leaf thereof was beautiful, and the flower thereof much; and in it was food for all. The beast of the field had shade under it, and the birds of the heavens dwelt in the branches of it, and all flesh was nourished by it. But a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven, crying out, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaf, and scatter his flower; let the beast flee away from under it, and the birds from his branches (Dan. 4:10-14, 20-21). Here, too, "tree" signifies the church called Babylon in its beginning and progress, and here that church in the knowledges of truth and good. Its beginning and progress is described in the words, "it became great and strong, the leaf thereof was beautiful, and the flower thereof much, and in it was food for all;" its affections of good and thoughts of truth are signified by "the beast of the field that had shade under it, and the birds that dwelt in its branches." That it lifted up its dominion over the holy things of the church and of heaven, is meant by "a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven, and cried out, Hew down the tree and cut off his branches." That "beast and bird" here signify affections and thoughts is evident from its being said, when the tree was cut down, "let the beast flee away from under it, and the birds from his branches." [8] "The birds of heaven" have a similar signification in the Gospels: Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field, and it becometh a tree, so that the winged things of heaven come and build nests in the branches thereof (Matt. 13:31-32; Mark 4:31-32; Luke 13:19). "A tree from a grain of mustard seed" signifies a man of the church, and also a church beginning from a very little spiritual good by means of truth; for if only a very little spiritual good takes root with a man it grows like a seed in good ground. And as a "tree" thus signifies a man of the church, it follows that "the winged things of heaven" that made nests in its branches signify the knowledges of truth and thoughts therefrom. Anyone can see this is not a mere comparison, for if it were, what would be the need of such things in the Word and of like things in the Prophets? [9] So again in David: Jehovah sendeth forth fountains into the streams, they go between the mountains. They give drink to every wild beast of the fields; the wild asses quench their thirst; by them the bird of the heavens dwells, from among the boughs they utter their voices. The trees of Jehovah are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted, where the birds make their nests; as to the stork her house is in the fir trees (Ps. 104:10-12, 16-17). Such things as these also would not have been said in the Divine Word unless each particular of them had been a correspondence of things spiritual and celestial, and consequently holy. For otherwise why should it be said that "streams from fountains go between the mountains, and give drink to every wild beast of the field; that the wild asses quench their thirst, and by them the bird of the heavens dwells, and utters its voice among the boughs, and the stork in the fir trees"? But when by "fountains" truths of the Word are understood, by "rivers" intelligence therefrom, by "mountains" goods of love, by "wild beast of the fields" affections of truth, by "wild asses" the rational, and by "birds of the heavens" thoughts from Divine truths, then the Word is the holy Divine; otherwise it would be merely human. [10] In Job: Ask, I pray, the beasts, and they shall teach thee, or the birds of heaven, and they shall tell thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who doth not know from all these that the hand of Jehovah doeth this? (Job 12:7-9). Evidently "beasts, birds of heaven, and fishes of the sea," do not mean here beasts, birds, and fishes, for these cannot be asked, or teach, or tell, or declare "that the hand of Jehovah doeth this;" but these signify the things that pertain to man's intelligence, "beasts" meaning his affections, "birds of heaven" his thoughts, and "fishes of the sea" cognitions and knowledges [cognitiones et scientifica]. From these man can teach that the hand of Jehovah doeth it. Unless the things of man's intelligence were signified by "beasts, birds, and fishes," it could not be asked, "Who doth not know from all these?" [11] In Ezekiel: Son of man, Say to the bird of every wing, and to every wild beast of the field, Gather yourselves and come, gather yourselves from every side to a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel. And I will give My glory among the nations (Ezek. 39:17, 21). This describes the establishment of the church among the nations, and the invitation and calling to it, for it is said, "So will I give my glory among the nations;" therefore "the bird of every wing," and "every wild beast of the field," signify all who are in the affection of good and the understanding of truth. [12] So in Revelation: An angel standing in the sun cried out with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and be gathered together to the supper of the great God (Rev. 19:17). Here "birds flying in the midst of heaven" cannot mean birds, but men who are rational and spiritual; for they are invited to the supper of the great God. [13] In Jeremiah: I beheld the mountains, and lo they were moved, and all the hills were overturned; I beheld, when lo there was no man, and all the birds of heaven were flown away. I beheld when Carmel was a wilderness, and all its cities were desolated (Jer. 4:24-26). This was said of the devastation of the church as to all its good and truth. "Mountains and valleys" signify celestial and spiritual loves; and "to be moved and overturned" signifies to perish. For in the spiritual world, when there no longer exists in spirits any celestial or spiritual love, the mountains are actually moved and the hills overthrown upon which they dwelt. "All the birds were flown away" signifies that there was no longer any knowledge and consequent thought of truth; "there was no man" signifies no understanding of truth; "Carmel was a wilderness" signifies a church destitute of good and truth; and "its cities desolated" signifies that there were no longer any doctrinals of truth. [14] In the same: The habitations are laid waste, so that no man passeth through, neither do they hear the voice of cattle; from the bird of the heavens even to the beast they have flown away, they have gone; for I will make Jerusalem heaps, a habitation of dragons (Jer. 9:10-11; 12:9). Here, too, the devastation of the church is described. "The habitations that are laid waste, so that no man passeth through," signify the doctrinals of the church which were from the Word, in which now there is no good or truth; "the voice of cattle which they do not hear," signifies good of charity and truth of faith, of which there is none; "the birds of the heavens and even the beasts are flown away, they have gone" signifies that there is no longer any thought of truth from the knowledge of it, nor any affection of good. This evidently does not mean the flying away of the birds of heaven and the going away of the beasts of the earth, but the vastation of the church as to doctrine, for it is added, "I will make Jerusalem into heaps, a habitation of dragons," "Jerusalem" signifying the church as to doctrine, and "making it into heaps, and into a habitation of dragons," its devastation. [15] In Hosea: There is no truth and no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land. Therefore the land shall mourn for the wild beast of the field, and for the bird of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea shall be gathered together (Hos. 4:1, 3). Evidently "the wild beast of the field, the bird of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea," have the same signification here as above, for here, too, the devastation of the church is treated of, for it is said, "there is no truth, no mercy, and no knowledge of God in the land," and "the land" signifies the church. [16] In Zephaniah: I will consume man and beast, I will consume the bird of the heavens and the fishes of the sea, I will cut off man from the faces of the land (Zeph. 1:3). "To consume man and beast" signifies to destroy spiritual and natural affection; "to consume the birds of the heavens and the fishes of the sea" signifies to destroy the perceptions and knowledges of truth; and as these signify things pertaining to the church it is said, "I will cut off man from the faces of the land," "man" signifying everything of the church. [17] In David: God said, I know every bird of the mountains, and the wild beast of My fields is with Me (Ps. 50:11). In Ezekiel: There shall be a great earthquake upon the land of Israel, and the fishes of the sea, and the bird of the heavens, and the wild beast of the field, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man who is upon the faces of the earth shall tremble before Me (Ezek. 38:19-20). Here "the bird of the heavens and the wild beast of the field" have the same signification as above. "Earthquake" signifies a change of state of the church. [18] In Isaiah: Woe to the land shadowed with wings, which is beyond the rivers of Cush. The bird of the mountains and the beasts of the earth shall be left, but the bird shall loathe it, and every beast of the earth shall despise it (Isa. 18:1, 6). This treats of the establishment of the church with the nations and the devastation of the Jewish church; therefore "the bird and beast of the earth" signify the knowledges of truth and the affections of good. [19] In the same: I am God, and there is no God besides, and there is none like Me, calling a bird from the east, a man of counsel from a land far off (Isa. 46:9, 11). The "bird" called from the east signifies the truth of the Word, which is said to be "from the east" because it is from the good of love, "the east" being the good of love. Otherwise, what could be meant by "God shall call a bird from the east, and a man of counsel from a land far off"? "A man of counsel" means a man who is intelligent from truths that are from the good of love. [20] In Hosea: Ephraim, as a bird shall his glory fly away, from the birth and from the belly and from conception (Hos. 9:11). In the same: I will not return to destroy Ephraim. They shall go after Jehovah. With honor shall they come as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove from the land of Assyria (Hos. 11:9-11). "Ephraim" signifies the understanding of the truths of the church; and this is why he is compared to a bird, and it is said, "as a bird shall his glory fly away." Also in Hosea (7:12) he is compared to a bird, for a "bird" signifies everything pertaining to the understanding, including the knowing, the thinking, and the reasoning faculties; while everything that is delightful and pleasurable, thus that pertains to the will and affection, is signified by "beast and wild beast." "The bird from Egypt" signifies the knowing faculty, which pertains to the natural man; and "the dove from Assyria" the rational faculty, since "Egypt" signifies the knowing faculty, and "Assyria" the rational faculty. Here a church to be established by the Lord is treated of. [21] As most things of the Word have also a contrary sense, so have birds, and in that sense they signify fallacies from the sensual man, also reasonings from falsities against truths, and also falsities themselves, worse and more noxious according to the genera and the species of unclean birds; rapacious birds signifying especially the falsities that destroy truths. In many passages of the Word it is said that men "should be given for food to birds and wild beasts," which signifies that they would altogether perish by fallacies, falsities, consequent reasonings, cupidities of evil, and in general by evils and falsities from hell. This is signified by "being given for food to the birds of heaven and the beasts of the earth" in the following passages. In Jeremiah: The carcass of this people shall be for food to the bird of the heavens, none shall frighten them away (Jer. 7:33). In the same: I will visit upon you in four kinds, with the sword to kill, and with dogs to drag about, and with the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and to destroy (Jer. 15:3). In the same: They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, that their carcass may become food for the birds of the heavens and the beast of the earth (Jer. 16:4; 19:7; 34:20). In Ezekiel: Upon the faces of the field thou shalt fall, thou shalt not be brought together nor gathered; I have given thee for food to the wild beast of the earth and the bird of heaven (Jer. 29:5). Upon the mountains of Israel thou shalt fall; I have given thee for food to the bird of the heavens of every wing and to the wild beast of the field (Jer. 39:4). This is said of Gog. In David: The nations have come into Thine inheritance, they have defiled the temple of Thy holiness; they have laid Jerusalem in heaps, the carcass of Thy servants have they given for food to the bird of the heavens, the flesh of Thy saints to the wild beast of the earth (Ps. 79:1-2). [22] Because of this signification of "the birds of the heavens and the wild beasts of the earth," and because the nations of the land of Canaan signified the evils and the falsities of the church, it was customary for the Jewish nation to expose the carcasses of their enemies after their slaughter to the wild beasts and birds, by which they were devoured. This is why it was formerly regarded as horrible and profane, and is still so regarded, to leave dead men upon the face of the earth unburied, even after a battle. Also this is the signification in the Word of "not being buried," and of "bones drawn out of the graves and cast forth." Infernal falsities are signified also by: The birds that came down upon the carcasses, that Abram drove away (Gen. 15:11). Also by the birds in Revelation (19:21); Also by the birds that devoured that which was sown on the hard way (Matt. 13:3, 4; Mark 4:4; Luke 8:5). In Daniel: In the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the meal offering to cease. At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision it shall drop upon the devastation (Dan. 9:27). This is said of the total devastation of the Jewish church which was when the Lord was born. Its devastation by horrible falsities is signified by "the bird of abominations"; that falsity is here meant by "bird" is clearly evident. It is to be known that there are many kinds of falsities, and that each of them is signified by its own kind of bird; and these are enumerated in Moses (Lev. 11:13 seq.; and Deut. 14:11-20), and are mentioned in various parts of the Word, as the eagle, the kite, the woodpecker, the raven, the screech owl, the spoonbill, the heron, the owl, the horned owl, the dragon, and others. (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith) [23] About God and about Divine things, which are called in heaven celestial and spiritual, and in the world ecclesiastical and theological, there is thought from light; there is also thought not from light about them. Those have thought not from light who know about these things but do not understand them. Such are all those at the present day who wish the understanding to be kept under obedience to faith, holding even that a thing must be believed and not understood, and claiming that intellectual faith is not true faith. But these are such as are not interiorly in the genuine affection of truth, and consequently are in no enlightenment; and many of them are in the pride of self-intelligence, and in the love of ruling over the souls of men by means of the holy things of the church, not knowing that truth wishes to be in the light, since the light of heaven is the Divine truth, and that a truly human understanding is moved by that light and sees from it, and that when the understanding does not see from that light it is the memory that has faith and not the man; and such faith is blind, because without an idea from the light of truth; for the understanding is the man, and the memory introduces. If what is not understood must be believed a man might be taught like a parrot to speak and to remember, even that there is holiness in the bones of the dead and in sepulchers, that carcasses perform miracles, that man will be tormented in purgatory if he does not consecrate his wealth to idols or to monasteries, that men are gods because heaven and hell are in their power, with other like things which man must believe from a blind faith and from a closed understanding, and thus from the light of both extinguished. But be it known that all the truths of the Word, which are the truths of heaven and of the church, can be seen by the understanding, in heaven spiritually, in the world rationally; for a truly human understanding is the sight itself of these truths, for it is separated from what is material, and when separated it sees truths as clearly as the eye sees objects; it sees truths as it loves them, for as it loves them it is enlightened. The angels have wisdom in consequence of seeing truths; when, therefore, it is said to any angel that this or that must be believed although it is not understood, the angel answers, Do you think that I am insane, or that you are God whom I am to believe if I do not see? It may be falsity from hell.

Footnotes

1078-1 The photolithograph omits the clause, "and to give their kingdom unto the beast." It is given below and in the explanation, n. 1086.

1085-1 Swedenborg wrote mutatum (changed), but crossed this out and wrote mutilatum (mutilated).

1087-1 Photolithograph has ante before, the Latin editor gives post after.

1089-1 English version, verse 17 begins here.