As "the seven angels that had the seven last plagues," signify the manifestation of the evils and falsities that have devastated the church, and as these are made manifest by means of the Divine truth in the Word, therefore those angels appeared "clothed in linen clean and bright;" for "linen clean and bright" signifies genuine truth. All angels appear clothed according to their functions; for the garments in which they go clothed correspond to their ministries, and in general to their interiors. The angels who are wise from Divine truth appear in white garments of muslin, lawn, or linen, because "muslin," "lawn," and "linen," correspond to the truths in which they are; and for this reason Aaron and his sons had garments of linen in which they ministered. These are described in Moses: Thou shalt make for Aaron and his sons linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness, from the loins even unto the thighs; these shall be upon them when they shall go into the Tent of meeting and when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die (Exod. 28:42, 43). Again: When Aaron shall enter into the holy place he shall put on the linen coat of holiness and the linen breeches shall be upon his flesh, and he shall gird himself with a linen belt and shall put on a linen miter (Lev. 16:4). He should put on the same garments when expiating the people (Lev. 16:32). Also when he took the ashes from the altar after the burnt-offering (Lev. 6:10). [2] In like manner the priests were to minister in the new temple. In Ezekiel: When the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok shall enter at the gates of the inner court they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they shall minister in the gates of the inner court and within; linen miters shall be upon their head and linen breeches shall be upon their loins (44:15, 17, 18). They put on linen garments when they ministered holy things, because all holy administration is effected by the Divine truth. For the priesthood in which Aaron and his sons officiated represented the Lord as to the Divine good; and this ministers all things by means of the Divine truth. Moreover, the Divine truth protects from falsities and evils, which are from hell; therefore it is said "that they bear not iniquity and die," which signifies that otherwise falsities from hell would destroy them. These garments were called "garments of holiness," because holiness is predicated of the Divine truth. As the garments of ministry were linen garments, the priests wore a linen ephod when they ministered, as is read of Samuel (1 Sam. 2:18), and of the priests whom Saul slew (1 Sam. 22:18), and of David when he went before the ark (2 Sam. 6:14). [3] Also of the Lord Himself in John: Jesus rose up from supper and laid aside His garments, and took a linen cloth and girded Himself, and poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the linen cloth with which He was girded (13:4, 5). The washing of the disciples' feet represented and thus signified purification from evils and falsities by means of the Divine truth from the Lord; for all purification from evils and falsities is effected by the Lord by means of the Divine truth; and this is signified by "the linen cloth" with which the Lord girded Himself and with which He wiped the disciples' feet. [4] Besides these seven angels treated of in Revelation there have been other angels seen in linen garments; as: The angel who shall set a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh; and who shall go in between the wheels of cherubim and take coals of fire and scatter them over the city (Ezek. 9:3, 4, 11; 10:2, 6, 7). Likewise the angel seen by Daniel, clothed in linen, whose loins were girt with gold of Uphas (Dan. 10:5; 12:6, 7). These appeared clothed in linen because girded for ministry. The angel who measured the new temple, whose appearance was like that of brass: Was seen to have a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed (Ezek. 40:3). By "the measuring of the temple" there, is described the New Church as to its quality; this is signified by the number of the measures; and as all the quality of the church is known by the Divine truth, therefore "a line of flax" was in his hand. [5] As "linen" signifies truth, and "a girdle" everything of it, for it is what embraces and includes all things, and as nothing of truth any longer remained with the sons of Israel, therefore: The prophet Jeremiah was commanded to buy himself a linen girdle, and to hide it in the cleft of a rock at the Euphrates; and at the end of many days it was spoiled and was profitable for nothing (Jer. 13:1-7). "The linen girdle" signifies all the truth of doctrine from the Word. What is signified by its being "hidden in the cleft of a rock at the Euphrates and was there spoiled," may be seen above (n. 569). [6] "Linen" signifies the truth of the church also in Isaiah: A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not extinguish, and He will bring forth judgment in truth (42:3). This was said of the Lord; and "the smoking flax," that He will not extinguish signifies the small amount of truth from good with anyone. (The rest may be seen explained above, n. 627.) "Linen" signifies also truth from the Word, especially the truth of the sense of its letter (Hos. 2:5, 9). [7] Moreover, it was a statute with the sons of Israel: That they should not wear a garment of wool and linen mixed together (Deut. 22:11). The reason was that "wool" signifies good and "linen" truth, also because man has communication with the societies of heaven by means of his garments; and there are societies that are in good and societies that are in truth; and man must not have communication with different societies at the same time, which would cause confusion. That this was the reason for this statute no one has heretofore known. But it has been granted me to know it from changing my garments; for when I have laid aside a linen garment those in the spiritual world who were in truths have complained that they could not be present; and when I again put on the garment the same spirits became present. That there is such correspondence with the very garments of man has not been known heretofore, and yet it can be seen from the passages cited above, namely, from what is said of the linen garments of Aaron and his sons, the linen ephod that the priests and David wore, the linen in which the angels appeared clothed, and the linen cloth with which the Lord girded Himself and wiped the disciples' feet, also the other garments of Aaron and his sons, all of which were representative; also from the signification of garments in general, as being truths clothing good (see above, n. 64, 65, 195, 271, 395, 475, 476, 637). (Continuation respecting the First Commandment) [8] It is not believed in the world that the love of ruling from the mere delight of ruling, and the love of possessing goods from the mere delight of possession, and not from the delight of uses, conceal in themselves all evils, and also a contempt for and rejection of all things pertaining to heaven and the church; and for the reason that man is stirred up by the love of self and the love of the world to doing good to the church, the country, society, and the neighbor, by making good deeds honorable and looking for reward. Therefore this love is called by many the fire of life, and the incitement to great things. But it is to be known that so far as these two loves regard uses in the first place and self in the second they are good, while so far as they regard self in the first place and uses in the second they are evil, since man then does all things for the sake of self and consequently from self, and thus in every least thing he does there is self and what is his own [proprium], which regarded in itself is nothing but evil. But to regard uses in the first place and self in the second is to do good for the sake of the church, the country, society, and the neighbor; and the goods that man does to these for the sake of these are not from man but from the Lord. The difference between these two is like the difference between heaven and hell. Man does not know that there is such a difference, because from birth and thus from nature he is in these loves, and because the delight of these loves continually flatters and pleases him. [9] But let him consider that the love of ruling from the delight of ruling, and not from the delight of uses, is wholly devilish; and such a man may be called an atheist; for so far as he is in that love he does not in his heart believe in the existence of God, and to the same extent he derides in his heart all things of the church, and even hates and pursues with hatred all who acknowledge God, and especially those who acknowledge the Lord. The very delight of their life is to do evil and to commit wicked and infamous deeds of every kind. In a word, they are very devils. This a man does not know so long as he lives in the world; but he will know that it is so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death. Hell is full of such, where instead of having dominion they are in servitude. Moreover, when they are looked at in the light of heaven they appear inverted, with the head downwards and the feet upwards, since they gave rule the first place and uses the second, and that which is in the first place is the head, and that which is the second is the feet; and that which is the head is loved, but that which is the feet is trampled upon.
And girded about the breasts with golden girdles, signifies Divine spiritual good holding truths in order and connection. This is evident from the signification of "a golden girdle," as being what holds in order and in connection, for a girdle or belt encloses the garments and holds them together. Truths are so held in order and connection because truths are signified by "garments," and particularly by "linen garments." Spiritual good is meant, because the "breast" which was girt about, and the "gold" of which the girdles were made, signify that good. What has been said above, that: The Son of man was seen in the midst of the lampstands, girt about the paps with a golden girdle (Rev. 1:3), has a like signification, as may be seen explained above (n. 65). (That a "girdle" or "belt" signifies a common bond for holding all things in order and connection may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, n. 9341, 9828. What "the girdle of the ephod" signifies may be seen n. 9837; and what "the belt of Aaron's coat," n. 9944.) "Belt (or girdle)" has the same signification elsewhere in the Word (as in Isa. 9:5; 23:10; Jer. 13:1-7). (Continuation respecting the First Commandment.) [2] He is deceived who supposes that he acknowledges and believes that there is a God before he abstains from the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, especially from the love of ruling from the delight in ruling, and from the love of possessing the goods of the world from the delight of possession, and not from the delight of uses. Let a man confirm himself as fully as he can, from the Word, from preachings, from books, and from the light of reason, that there is a God, and thus be persuaded that he believes, yet he does not believe unless the evils have been removed that spring from the love of self and of the world. The reason is that evils and their delights block up the way, and shut out and repel goods and their delights from heaven, and prevent their confirmation. And until heaven is confirmed there is only a faith of the lips, which in itself is no faith, and there is no faith of the heart, which is real faith. A faith of the lips is faith in externals, a faith of the heart is faith in internals; and if the internals are crowded with evils of every kind, when the externals are taken away (as they are with every man after death), man rejects from them even the faith that there is a God.
Verses 7, 8. And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the anger of God, who liveth unto the ages of the ages. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be consummated. 7. "And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the anger of God, who liveth unto the ages of the ages," signifies all the falsities of evil that have destroyed the spiritual life of the men of the church made manifest by the Lord by means of the Divine truth or the Word (n. 954). 8. "And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power," signifies the Divine truth or the Word in the natural sense in light and power from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense (n. 955); "and no one was able to enter into the temple," signifies that it is in obscurity before the understanding (n. 956); "till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be consummated," signifies until evils and falsities have been rejected, and those who are in them cast into hell (n. 957).
Verse 7. And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the anger of God, who liveth unto the ages of the ages, signifies all the falsities of evil that have destroyed the spiritual life of the men of the church made manifest by the Lord by means of the Divine truth or the Word. This is evident from the signification of "the four animals," as being the inmost heaven (see n. 277, 322, 462), and as being the Word (n. 717), consequently the Lord as to heaven and the Word, for heaven is heaven from the Lord, and the same is true of the Word. Also from the signification of "the seven angels," as being manifestations through the Divine truth or the Word (see above, n. 949). Also from the signification of "the seven vials," as being all falsities and evils, for "the seven vials" have a like signification as "the seven plagues" (verse 6), namely, evils and falsities therefrom, and falsities and evils therefrom (see above, n. 949). These are said to be "full of the anger of God, who liveth unto the ages of the ages," because these devastate the church and destroy the spiritual life of the men of the church. These are what are signified by "the anger of God." All this makes clear that the words, "one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the anger of God, who liveth unto the ages of the ages," signify all the falsities of evil that have destroyed the spiritual life of the men of the church, made manifest by the Lord by means of the Divine truth or the Word. "Vials" are mentioned instead of plagues because vials are the containants, and plagues are the contents; and in the Word the containants are frequently mentioned instead of the contents, because the containants are the ultimates, in order that the sense of the letter of the Word may be in ultimates. Likewise "cups" and "chalices" are mentioned instead of wine. (But see further on this subject in the following chapter, where the seven vials and the seven plagues therein are treated of.) (Continuation respecting the First Commandment) [2] So far as a man resists his own two loves, which are the love of ruling from the mere delight of ruling and the love of possessing the goods of the world from the mere delight of possession, thus so far as he shuns as sins the evils forbidden in the Decalogue, so far there flows in through heaven from the Lord, that there is a God, who is the Creator and Preserver of the universe, yea also that God is one. This then flows in for the reason that when evils have been removed heaven is opened, and when heaven is opened man no longer thinks from self but from the Lord through heaven; and that there is a God and that God is one is the universal principle in heaven which comprises all things. That from influx alone man knows, and as it were sees that God is one, is evident from the common confession of all nations, and from a repugnance to thinking that there are many gods. Man's interior thought, which is the thought of his spirit, is either from hell or from heaven; it is from hell before evils have been removed, but from heaven, when they have been removed. When this thought is from hell man sees no otherwise than that nature is God, and that the inmost of nature is what is called the Divine. When such a man after death becomes a spirit he calls anyone a god who is especially powerful; and also himself strives for power that he may be called a god. All the evil have such madness lurking inwardly in their spirit. But when a man thinks from heaven, as he does when evils have been removed, he sees from the light in heaven that there is a God and that He is one. Seeing from light out of heaven is what is meant by influx.
Verse 8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, signifies the Divine truth or the Word in the natural sense, in light and power from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense. This is evident from the signification of the "temple," as being the Divine truth or the Word in the natural sense enlightened from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense (see above, n. 948); also from the signification of "smoke," as being the understanding of the Word in the natural sense (of which presently); also from the signification of "the glory of God," as being the light of heaven, which is the Divine truth in the spiritual sense (see n. 33, 288, 345, 874); also from the signification of "the power of God," as being the Divine power; for in the natural sense of the Word there are glory and power [virtus] or light and power [potentia] from its spiritual sense, but not apart from that sense. Those are without that sense who do not regard the Word as holy, and to whom therefore the Divine truth therein is without light and power; while those who regard the Word as holy have that light and power. The reason is that such are conjoined with heaven through the spiritual sense, although they are not conscious of it. From this it is clear that the words "the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power" signify that the Word in the natural sense is in light and power from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense. [2] "Smoke" signifies the understanding of the Word in the natural sense, because "smoke" has the same signification as "cloud;" and that "cloud" signifies the Word in the natural sense may be seen (n. 36, 504, 594, 906); also because "smoke" here has a like signification as "the smoke of the incense;" and that "the smoke of the incense" signifies the Word in the natural sense may be seen (n. 494, 539 at the end). "Smoke" has this signification because smoke is from fire, and "fire" signifies love in both senses, and "holy fire" celestial love. The same is true of the Word in the sense of the letter when it is enlightened and as it were enkindled by the spiritual sense, namely, that the truth there, as to the understanding of it, is in obscurity as if from smoke, until the falsities and evils that pour darkness over the light and cause blindness are dissipated; and this is what is meant by "no one was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be consummated." [3] The Divine truth in the natural sense is signified also by "smoke" in Isaiah: Jehovah will create over every dwelling of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud by day and a smoke and the brightness of a flame of fire by night; for over all the glory shall be a covering (4:5). In the same: The posts of the threshold were moved at the voice of the seraphim crying, and the house was filled with smoke (Isa. 6:4). Also by the "smoke" seen upon Mount Sinai when the law was promulgated; and elsewhere in the Word, by "the smoking of the mountains" when Jehovah comes down. Also by: The smoking flax (Isa. 42:3); And by the smoke of the incense-offerings ascending with the prayers of the saints (Rev. 8:4). (Continuation respecting the First Commandment) [4] When a man shuns and turns away from evils because they are sins, he not only sees from the light of heaven that God is and that God is one, but also that God is Man. For he wishes to see his God, and he is incapable of seeing Him otherwise than as Man. Thus did the ancients before Abraham and after him see God; thus do the nations in countries outside the church see God from an interior perception, especially those who are interiorly wise although not from knowledges; thus do all little children and youths and simple well-disposed adults see God; and thus do the inhabitants of all earths see God; for they declare that what is invisible, since it does not come into an idea, does not come into faith. The reason of this is that the man who shuns and turns away from evils as sins thinks from heaven; and the whole heaven, and everyone there, has no other idea of God than as that of Man; nor can he have any other idea, since the whole heaven is a man in the largest form, and the Divine that proceeds from the Lord is what makes heaven; consequently to think otherwise of God than according to that Divine form, which is the human form, is impossible to angels, since angelic thoughts pervade heaven. (That the whole heaven in the complex answers to one Man may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 51-86; and that the angels think according to the form of heaven, n. 200-212.) [5] This idea of God flows in from heaven with all in the world, and has its seat in their spirit; but it seems to be rooted out with those in the church who are in intelligence from what is their own [proprium], indeed so rooted out as to be no longer a possible idea; and this for the reason that they think of God from space. But when these become spirits they think otherwise, as has been made evident to me by much experience. For in the spiritual world an indeterminate idea of God is no idea of Him; consequently the idea there is determined to someone who has his seat either on high or elsewhere, and who gives answers. From the general influx which is from the spiritual world men have received ideas of God as Man variously according to the state of perception; and for this reason the triune God is with us called Persons; and in paintings in churches God the Father is represented as Man, the Ancient of Days. It is also from a general influx that men, both living and dead, who are called saints, are adored as gods by the common people in Christian Gentilism, and their sculptured images are loved. The same is true of many nations elsewhere, of the ancient peoples in Greece, in Rome, and in Asia, who had many gods, all of whom were regarded by them as men. This has been said to make known that there is an intuition, namely, in man's spirit, to see God as Man. That is called an intuition which is from general influx.
And no one was able to enter into the temple, signifies that it is in obscurity before the understanding. This is evident from the signification of the "temple," as being the Word (see above); therefore "not to enter the temple on account of the smoke" signifies that the Word is in obscurity before the understanding. The Word is in obscurity even so as not to be understood because in the end of the church there are no truths, and thus all things of the Word are falsified; therefore until genuine truths have been disclosed the Word is in obscurity before the understanding. (Continuation respecting the First Commandment) [2] As man from a general influx out of heaven sees in his spirit that God is Man, it follows that those who are of the church where the Word is, if they shun and turn away from evils as sins, see, from the light of heaven in which they then are, the Divine in the Lord's Human, and the trine in Him, and Himself to be the God of heaven and earth. But those cannot see this who by intelligence from what is their own [proprium] have destroyed in themselves the idea of God as Man; neither do they see from the trinity that is in their thought that God is one; they call Him one with the lips only. But those who have not been purified from evils, and therefore are not in the light of heaven, do not in their spirit see the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth; but in place of the Lord some other being is acknowledged; by some of these someone whom they believe to be God the Father; by others someone whom they call God because he is especially powerful; by others some devil whom they fear because he can bring evil upon them; by others nature, as in the world; and by others no God at all. It is said "in their spirit," because they are such after death when they become spirits; therefore what lay concealed in their spirit in the world then becomes manifest. But all who are in heaven acknowledge the Lord only, since the whole heaven is from the Divine that proceeds from Him, and relates to Him as Man; and for this reason no one can enter heaven unless he is in the Lord, for he enters into the Lord when he enters into heaven. If others enter they become impotent in mind and fall backwards.
Till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be consummated, signifies until evils and falsities have been rejected, and those who are in them cast into hell. This is evident from the signification of "being consummated," as meaning to be ended, but here to be rejected; also from the signification of "the seven plagues," as being all the evils and falsities that have devastated the church (see above, n. 949); also from the signification of "the seven angels," as being manifestation (see n. 949). Thus "till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be consummated" signifies until the evils and falsities that are made manifest are rejected. These words signify also until those who are in evils and falsities have been cast into hell, because they relate to the time before the Last Judgment was accomplished, and before the good had been separated from the evil, and the good had been raised up into heaven and the evil cast into hell, thus before the new heaven and new earth had been established. That "no one was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels should be consummated" signifies that until that time the Word was in obscurity before the understanding. [2] But this arcanum must be more fully explained. The Divine truths that lie interiorly stored up in the Word could not be made manifest until after the Last Judgment had been accomplished; and for the reason that before that judgment the hells had prevailed, while since that judgment the heavens prevail; and man is placed in the middle between the hells and the heavens; consequently so long as the hells prevail the truth of the Word is either perverted or despised or rejected; but the reverse takes place when the heavens prevail. From all this it can be seen why Divine truths are now first disclosed and the spiritual sense of the Word revealed. This, then, is the meaning of the statement that the Word was in obscurity in regard to the understanding of it until those who were in evils and falsities had been cast into hell. (Continuation respecting the First Commandment) [3] The idea of God is the primary of all ideas; for such as this idea is such is man's communication with heaven and his conjunction with the Lord, and such is his enlightenment, his affection of truth and good, his perception, intelligence, and wisdom; for these are not from man but from the Lord according to conjunction with Him. The idea of God is the idea of the Lord and His Divine, for no other is the God of heaven and the God of earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew: All authority has been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (28:18). But the idea of the Lord is more or less full and more or less clear; it is full in the inmost heaven, less full in the middle, and still less full in the ultimate heaven; therefore those who are in the inmost heaven are in wisdom, those who are in the middle in intelligence, and those who are in the ultimate in knowledge. The idea is clear in the angels who are at the center of the societies of heaven; and less clear in those who are round about, according to the degrees of distance from the center. [4] All in the heavens have places allotted them according to the fullness and clearness of their idea of the Lord, and they are in correspondent wisdom and in correspondent felicity. All those who have no idea of the Lord as Divine, like the Socinians and Arians, are under the heavens, and are unhappy. Those who have a twofold idea, namely, of an invisible God and of a visible God in a human form, also have their place under the heavens, and are not received until they acknowledge one God, and Him visible. Some in the place of a visible God see as it were something aerial, and this because God is called a spirit. If this idea is not changed with them into the idea of Man, thus of the Lord, they are not accepted. But those who have an idea of God as the inmost of nature are rejected, because they cannot help falling into the idea of nature as being God. All nations that have believed in one God, and have had an idea of Him as Man, are received by the Lord. From all this it can be seen who those are that worship God Himself and who those are that worship other gods, thus who live according to the first commandment of the Decalogue and who do not. Revelation 16 1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth. 2. And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there came an evil and noxious sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that adored his image. 3. And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood as of one dead; and every living soul in the sea died. 4. And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and into the fountains of the waters; and they became blood. 5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things. 6. For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. 7. And I heard another out of the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments. 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and it was given him to scorch men with fire. 9. And men were scorched with great heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who hath authority over these plagues, and they repented not to give Him glory. 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for distress. 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their distresses and their sores; and they repented not of their works. 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. 13. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14. For they are spirits of demons, doing signs, to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15. Behold, I come as a thief; happy is he that is awake and keepeth his garments, that he may not walk naked and they see his shame. 16. And he gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon. 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came forth a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done. 18. And there were voices, and lightnings, and thunders, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great. 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. And great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His anger. 20. And every island fled, and the mountains were not found. 21. And great hail, as of the weight of a talent, cometh down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
EXPLANATION. Verses 1, 2. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth. And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there came a great 958-1 and noxious sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that adored his image. 1. "And I heard a voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels," signifies manifestation by the Divine truth from the Word of the evils and falsities that have devastated the church (n. 959); "Go, pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth," signifies the state of the devastated church (n. 960). 2. "And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth," signifies manifestation of the state of the church in general (n. 961); "and there came a great and noxious sore," signifies evil works therein, and consequent falsifications of the Word (n. 962); "upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that adored his image," signifies those who acknowledge faith alone and its doctrine, and who live according to it (n. 963).
Verse 1. And I heard a voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, signifies manifestation by the Divine truth from the Word of the evils and falsities that have devastated the church. This is evident from the signification of "a voice out of the temple," as being the Divine truth from the Word, for a "voice" signifies the Divine truth (see above, n. 261, 668); and "the temple of the tabernacle of the Testimony," out of which the voice came, signifies the Word in which is the Divine truth both natural and spiritual (n. 948). Also from the signification of "the seven angels," as being manifestations (as has often been said above). And as "the seven vials" or "plagues" which they had signify the evils and falsities that have devastated the church, therefore manifestations of all the evils and falsities that have devastated the church are here signified by "the seven angels." The manifestations of these are further treated of in the following verses. (Continuation: The Second Commandment) [2] In the preceding chapter the first commandment of the Decalogue is treated of at the end of the several articles. In the following articles in this chapter the other commandments of the Decalogue will be treated of; and here the second commandment, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God." In the first place, what is meant by "the name of God" shall be told, and afterwards what is meant by "profaning" it. "The name of God" means every quality by which God is worshiped. For God is in His own quality, and is His own quality. His essence is the Divine love, and His quality is the Divine truth therefrom united with the Divine good; thus with us on earth it is the Word; consequently it is said in John: The Word was with God, and God was the Word (1:1). Thence also, it is the doctrine of genuine truth and good from the Word; for worship is according to that. [3] Now as His quality is manifold, for it comprises all things that are from Him, so He has many names; and each name involves and expresses His quality in general and in particular. He is called "Jehovah," "Jehovah of Hosts," "Lord," "Lord Jehovih," "God," "Messiah or Christ," "Jesus," "Savior," "Redeemer," "Creator," "Former," "Maker," "King," and "the Holy One of Israel," "the Rock" and "the Stone of Israel," "Shiloh," "Shaddai," "David," "Prophet," "Son of God," and "Son of man," and so on. All these names are the names of the one God, who is the Lord; and yet where they occur in the Word they signify some universal Divine attribute or quality distinct from the other Divine attributes or qualities. So, too, where He is called "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit," three are not meant, but one God; that is, there are not three Divines, but one, and this trine which is one is the Lord. [4] Since each name signifies some distinct attribute or quality, "to profane the name of God" does not mean to profane the name itself but His quality. "Name" signifies quality for the reason that in heaven everyone is named according to his quality; and the quality of God or the Lord is everything that is from Him by which He is worshiped. For this reason, since no Divine quality of the Lord is acknowledged in hell, the Lord cannot he named there; and in the spiritual world His names cannot be uttered by anyone except so far as His Divine is acknowledged; for there all speak from the heart, thus from love and consequent acknowledgment.
Go pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth, signifies the state of the devastated church. This is evident from the signification of "the vials of the anger of God," as being the evils and falsities that have devastated the church; for "the vials of the anger of God" have the like signification as "the plagues" in the preceding chapter (15:6), where it is said that "seven angels went out from the temple having seven plagues," "plagues" there signifying the evils and falsities therefrom and the falsities and evils therefrom that have devastated the church (see above, n. 949). "The anger of God" has a similar signification, for "the anger of God" is predicated of the evils and falsities that devastate the goods and truths of the church. It is evident also from the signification of "the earth," as being the church (see above, n. 29, 304, 417, 697, 741, 752, 876). "To pour out these vials into the earth" signifies the state of the church so produced, because the vastations of the church are attributed in the Word to God, consequently they are represented as flowing forth from heaven; and yet nothing of them comes from God, but they are solely from man. Nevertheless, it is so said in the sense of the letter of the Word because it so appears to men, and that sense being the ultimate sense consists of appearances. [2] These are called "vials" because vials are vessels, and vessels have a similar signification as their contents, as goblets, beakers, cups, with wine or other liquor in them; and as the incense vessels and censers for the incense, and many other vessels. The reason of this is that the sense of the letter of the Word is the ultimate sense of the Divine truth, and therefore consists of the ultimate things that are in nature; for upon ultimates interior or higher things are built and founded. That vials, goblets, cups, beakers, and platters are mentioned in place of their contents, and therefore have a similar signification, is evident from the Word, where they signify falsities from hell, and drunkenness or insanity therefrom. They also signify temptations; also truths from the Lord and wisdom therefrom. That they signify falsities from hell and insanity therefrom is evident from the following passages. In Jeremiah: Jehovah said, Take this cup of the wine of the anger of Jehovah out of My hand, and make all nations to whom I send thee to drink of it, that they may drink and stagger, and be mad because of the sword. When they refuse to take the cup out of thine hand to drink, thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts, Drinking ye shall drink (25:15, 16, 28). "Cup of wine" here signifies the falsity that is from hell; "to drink" signifies to appropriate to oneself; "to be mad" signifies to be spiritually insane, which takes place when falsity is called truth and truth falsity. The "nations" that shall drink signify the evil, and in an abstract sense evils; for many nations that were to drink are there enumerated, and yet nations are not meant, but the evils signified by them, and evils are what drink, that is, appropriate to themselves, falsities. That "cup of wine" signifies falsity is evident also from the words, "that they may be mad because of the sword," for "sword" signifies falsity destroying truth. [3] In the same: Babylon is a cup of gold in the hand of Jehovah, making the whole earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad (Jer. 51:7). "Cup of gold" signifies falsity destroying good; "Babylon" signifies dominion over heaven and over the souls of men by means of the holy things of the church, from which dominion profane falsities flow forth; "to make the earth drunk" signifies to so infatuate the church that truth is not seen any more. "Wine" signifies that falsity. [4] In Ezekiel: Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister, therefore will I give her cup into thine hand. Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Thou shalt drink of thy sister's cup, which is deep and broad; thou shalt be for a laughing and derision; ample to contain, thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sadness, with the cup of devastation and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria, which thou shalt drink and press out; and thou shalt break in pieces the shards thereof (23:31-34). This is said of Jerusalem, which signifies the celestial church as to doctrine; and Samaria, which is the "sister," signifies here the spiritual church, also as to doctrine. For the Jewish nation represented the Lord's celestial kingdom, and the Israelitish nation His spiritual kingdom. But here "Jerusalem and Samaria" signify the church devastated as to all good and truth. The full devastation of the church with the Jewish nation is described by "the sister's cup, which is deep and broad," and "they shall be filled with drunkenness and sadness," and "they shall drink the cup and press it out, and break in pieces the shards thereof. "It is called "a cup of devastation and desolation," because "devastation" is predicated of good, and "desolation" of truth. [5] In Zechariah: Behold I make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the peoples round about (12:2). In Habakkuk: Thou shalt be satiated with shame more than with glory; drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered. The cup of Jehovah shall go about unto thee, and shameful vomiting shall be upon thy glory (2:16). "Cup" stands for falsified truth, which in itself is falsity, and of this "shameful vomiting" is predicated; therefore it is said "upon thy glory," "glory" signifying the Divine truth in the Word. In Lamentations: Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom; the cup shall pass through unto thee also; thou shalt be made drunken and shalt be uncovered (4:21). Here "cup" has the same signification. [6] In David: Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked snares, fire, and brimstone, and a wind of tempests shall be the portion of their cup (Ps. 11:6). In the same: There is a cup in the hand of Jehovah, and He hath mixed it with wine. He hath filled it with mixture, and hath poured it out thence; but the dregs of it all the wicked of the earth shall suck out and drink (Ps. 75:8). "Snares, fire, and brimstone," signify falsities and evils leading astray, and "a wind of tempests" signifies vigorous assault upon truth. These are called "the portion of a cup," because a "cup," as a containant signifies these. "To mix" and "to fill with mixture" signify to falsify truth and to profane it. [7] In all these passages the devastation of truth and good by falsities and evils is attributed to Jehovah, for it is said that "they were to take the cup of the anger of Jehovah out of His hand," that "Jehovah hath mixed it with wine and filled it with mixture," also it is called "a cup in the hand of Jehovah;" and yet it must be understood that nothing of devastation is from Jehovah, but everything of it is from man. It is so said because the natural man sees no otherwise than that God is angry with, punishes, condemns, and casts into hell, those who despise and blaspheme Him, in a word, who do not give glory to Him; and because to so think is natural, it is so said in the sense of the letter of the Word, which is natural. [8] So in other passages in Revelation: He that adored the beast shall drink of the wine of the anger of God, mixed with unmixed wine in the cup of His wrath (14:9, 10). Great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath (16:19). A woman having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and of the uncleanness of her whoredom (17:4). Double unto her double according to her works; in the cup that she mingled mingle to her double (18:6). This makes clear the signification of the seven "vials" of the angels, which they poured out into the earth, the sea, the rivers, the fountains of waters, upon the sun, the throne of the beast, the river Euphrates, and into the air, namely, that they mean states of devastation, which are described by these. [9] That a "goblet" or "cup" signifies temptations can be seen from the following passages. In the Gospels: Jesus said to the sons of Zebedee, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said, We are able. Then He said unto them, My cup indeed shall ye drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with (Matt. 20:22, 23; Mark 10:38, 39). But these passages may be seen explained above (n. 893). In the same: Jesus said to Peter, The cup which the Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11). Jesus said in Gethsemane, If it be possible let this cup pass away from Me (Matt. 26:39, 42, 44; Mark 14:36; Luke 22:42). In these passages a "cup" or "goblet" plainly signifies temptations. So in Isaiah (51:17, 22), where it is also called "the cup of the anger of God" and "the cup of trembling." [10] As "cup" has a similar signification as "wine," and "wine" in the good sense signifies the Divine truth, therefore also this is what "cup" signifies in the following passages. In the Gospels: Jesus taking the cup and giving thanks, gave to the disciples, saying, All drink from it; for this is My blood, that of the new Testament (Matt. 26:27, 28; Mark 14:23, 24; Luke 22:17, 18). As the Lord's "blood," and likewise "wine," signify the Divine truth that proceeds from Him, consequently the "cup" also, it is said therefore "this is My blood;" and as it is by means of the Divine truth that the Lord is conjoined with the church, it is called "that of the new Testament or the new Covenant." (That the Lord's "blood" signifies the Divine truth may be seen n. 328, 329, 476, 748; and that "covenant" signifies conjunction, n. 701.) [11] In David: Jehovah is the portion of your 960-1 part and of my cup; Thou sustainest my lot (Ps. 16:5). In the same: Thou wilt set a table before me in the presence of mine enemies; Thou wilt make fat my head with oil; my cup shall run over (Ps. 23:5). 960-2 In these passages "cup" stands for the Divine truth; and as this is the signification of "cup" it is also called: The cup of salvation (Ps. 116:13); And the cup of consolations (Jer. 16:7). [12] In Mark: Whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in My name, because ye are Christ's, he shall not lose his reward (9:41). "To give a cup of water to drink in My name, because ye are Christ's," signifies to teach truth from the love of truth, thus from the Lord, likewise to do it. The love of truth for the sake of truth is meant by "giving a cup of water in the name of the Lord;" and "Christ" means the Lord as to the Divine truth. [13] In the Gospels: Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites; for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and the platter, but within they are full from rapine and intemperance. Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside may become clean also (Matt. 23:25, 26; Luke 11:39). The Lord used the terms "cup" and "platter," because the containant has the same signification as the contents; thus the "cup" the same as "wine," and the "platter" the same as "food." "Wine" signifies the truth of the Word and of doctrine, and "food" the good of the Word and of doctrine. The natural man or the natural mind is inwardly purified when falsities and evils are removed, but it is not purified when they are not removed. For such as the interior is such does the exterior become, but the interior does not become such as the exterior is. For the interior flows into the exterior and disposes it to agreement with itself, but not the reverse. (Continuation respecting the Second Commandment) [14] Since "the name of God" means that which is from God and which is God, and this is called the Divine truth, and with us the Word, this must not be profaned, because it is in itself Divine and most holy; and it is profaned when its holiness is denied, which is done when it is despised, rejected, and treated contemptuously. When this is done heaven is closed and man is left to hell. For the Word is the only medium of conjunction of heaven with the church; therefore when the Word is cast out of the heart that conjunction is dissolved; and because man is then left to hell he no longer acknowledges any truth of the church. [15] There are two things by which heaven is closed to the men of the church. One is the denial of the Lord's Divine, and the other is the denial of the holiness of the Word; and for this reason that the Lord's Divine is the all of heaven, and the Divine truth, which is the Word in the spiritual sense, is what makes heaven; which makes clear that he who denies the one or the other denies that which is the all of heaven, and from which heaven is and exists, and thus deprives himself of communication and thence of conjunction with heaven. To profane the Word is the same as "blaspheming the Holy Spirit," which is not forgiven to anyone, consequently it is said in this commandment that he who profanes the name of God shall not be left unpunished.
Verse 2. And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth, signifies manifestation of the state of the church in general. This is evident from the signification of "pouring out the vial upon the earth," as being manifestation of the state of the church in general, for "the seven angels" signify manifestation, and "the earth" the church, here as just above (n. 960).
And there came a great 962-1 and noxious sore, signifies evil works therein and consequent falsifications of the Word. This is evident from the signification of a "sore," as being works that are done from man, thus that are from what is his own [proprium] and that are evil (of which presently); and as "great" is predicated of good, and in the contrary sense of evil, and "noxious" of what is falsified, therefore "a great and noxious sore" signifies evil works, and consequent falsifications of truth. "Sores" signify works from what is one's own [proprium], and thus evils, because from what is man's own nothing but evil can be produced. For what is man's own is that into which he is born, and which he afterwards carries into effect by means of his life. And as what is his own is thus from very birth composed of mere evils, man must be as it were created anew, that is, regenerated, that he may be in good and thus be received into heaven. When he is being regenerated the evils that are from his own are removed, and goods are implanted in their place, and this is effected by means of truths. That evil works and falsifications of truths are with those who acknowledge faith alone in doctrine, and confirm it in life is meant by what follows, namely, that "a great and noxious sore is on the men who have the mark of the beast and who adore his image." [2] That "sores" signify works that are from one's own can be seen from the Word where sores and wounds, also diseases of various kinds, as leprosies, fevers, ulcers, emerods, and many others, are mentioned. All of these correspond to the cupidities that arise from evil loves, and thus signify them. Moreover, what sores or wounds signify can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah: From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; wound, and bruise, and the fresh blow, they have not been pressed out nor bound up nor softened with oil. Your land is a solitude, your cities are burned with fire (1:6, 7). This describes that there is no good and consequently no truth in the church, but evil and falsity therefrom. "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness" signifies that both natural and spiritual things which are the interiors of man and of his will have been destroyed. "Wound and bruise and fresh blow" signify the evils of the will, and the falsities of the thought therefrom continually increasing. Evils of the will are also evil works. "Not bound up nor softened with oil" signifies not amended by repentance and tempered by good. "Your land is a solitude, your cities are burned with fire" signifies that the church has been devastated as to all truth, and its doctrinals have been destroyed by a life according to the cupidities that spring from an evil love. [3] In Hosea: Ephraim saw his disease, and Judah his wound; and Ephraim went to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb, and he was not able to heal you, neither shall he cure you of your wound (5:13). "Ephraim" signifies the church as to the understanding of truth, here as to the understanding of falsity; and "Judah" signifies the will of good, but here the will of evil; the "Assyrian" and "king Jareb" signify the rational perverted as to good and truth. This makes clear the signification of these words in the series, namely, that man is unable from self-intelligence to amend the falsities that spring from the evils of the will, "wound" meaning the evil of the will, which also is the evil of the life. [4] In David: Mine iniquities have passed over my head. My wounds have putrefied, they have wasted away because of my foolishness (Ps. 38:4, 5). Here, too, "wounds" stand for evils of the will, which are evil works, these are said "to putrefy and to waste away because of foolishness" when it is the delight of the will and of the thought therefrom to do them. [5] In Isaiah: In the day that Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people, and shall heal the wound of their blow (30:26). "The breach of the people" signifies the falsity of doctrine; and "the wound of their blow" the evil of life; the reformation of doctrine by means of truths is signified by "Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people;" and reformation of the life by means of truths is signified by "He shall heal the wound of their blow." [6] In Luke: The Samaritan bound up the wounds of the man disabled by robbers, and poured into them oil and wine (10:33, 34). This signifies that by means of truths from good, those who are in the good of charity will to amend the evils that spring from falsities; "robbers" mean those who have infused falsities from which come evils, in particular the Jews; "wounds" mean those evils; "oil" means the good of love; and "wine" the truth of the Word and of doctrine. (But this may be seen explained above, n. 376, 444.) [7] In Luke: Lazarus, full of sores, who was cast forth at the vestibule of the rich man (16:20, 21), signifies the nations that were in falsities from ignorance of truth, and thus were not in goods. From this he is said to have been "fall of sores;" "the rich man" at whose vestibule he was cast forth means the Jewish nation, which could have been in the truths from the Word that it possessed. [8] That "a boil breaking forth" was one of the plagues in Egypt is evident in Moses: Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses scatter it towards heaven before the eyes of Pharaoh; and it shall become dust upon all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and Moses scattered it towards heaven, and it became a boil of pustules breaking forth on man and beast; and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the boil, because the boil was upon the magicians and upon all the Egyptians (Exod. 9:8-11). "Pharaoh and the Egyptians" signify the natural man obsessed by evils and falsities of every kind, and the natural man's striving after dominion over the spiritual; the spiritual man is here signified by the sons of Israel. The miracles in Egypt, which were so many plagues, also called diseases, signify so many evils and falsities infesting, devastating, and destroying the church which is with spiritual men. "The ashes of the furnace" which Moses scattered towards heaven signify the falsities of lusts that are stirred up; "the dust in the land of Egypt" signifies damnation; "the boil breaking forth in pustules" signifies the filthy things of the will with blasphemies. (But this may be seen explained in detail in the Arcana Coelestia, n. 7516-7532.) [9] So, too, these words in Moses have a like signification: Jehovah shall smite thee with the boil of Egypt and with emerods, and with scab and the itch, so that thou canst not be healed, with which thou shalt become mad from the sight of their eyes. Jehovah shall smite thee with an evil boil upon the knees and upon the thighs, of which thou canst not be healed (Deut. 28:27, 34-36). The plagues here mentioned signify evils and falsities of various kinds arising from the filthy loves of the natural man, for they correspond thereto. For sores and wounds exist from injury to flesh and blood, and evils and falsities from injury to the Divine good and the Divine truth; and flesh corresponds to good, and thus signifies it in the Word, and blood to truth, and thus signifies it. [10] As "leprosy" signifies the profanation of truth, and the profanation of truth is various, is light or grievous, interior or exterior, and is according to the quality of the truth profaned, so too its effects are various, and these are signified by the appearances in leprosy, which were: Tumors, suppurating tumors, white pustules, reddenings, abscesses, burnings, tetter, scall (Lev. 13:1 to the end). The Jewish nation was afflicted with such things from correspondence because of their profanations of the Word, not only in their flesh, but also in their garments, houses, and vessels. (Continuation respecting the Second Commandment) [11] As the Divine truth or the Word is meant by "the name of God," and the profanation of it means a denial of its holiness, and thus contempt, rejection, and blasphemy, it follows that the name of God is interiorly profaned by a life contrary to the commandments of the Decalogue. For there is profanation that is interior and not exterior, and there is profanation that is interior and at the same time exterior, and there can be also a kind of profanation that is exterior and not at the same time interior. Interior profanation is produced by the life, exterior by the speech. Interior profanation, which is produced by the life, becomes exterior also, or of the speech, after death. For then everyone thinks and wills, and so far as it can be permitted, speaks and acts, according to his life; thus not as he did in the world. In the world, for the world's sake and to gain reputation, man is wont to speak and act otherwise than as he thinks and wills from his life. This is why it has been said that there is profanation that is interior and not at the same time exterior. There can also be a kind of profanation that is exterior and not at the same time interior. It can come from the style of the Word, which is not at all the style of the world, and for this reason it may be to some extent despised from ignorance of its interior sanctity.
Upon the men that had the mark of the beast and that adored his image, signifies those who acknowledge faith alone and its doctrine, and who live according to it. This is evident from the signification of "the beast," as being those who are in faith alone, or in faith separated from goods of life, and who confirm this by reasonings from the natural man (see in the preceding thirteenth chapter, from beginning to end). It is evident also from the signification of its "mark," as being acknowledgment, reception, and attestation thereof (see above, n. 838, 886). Also from the signification of its "image," as being doctrine, and of "adoring" it, as being to acknowledge it in heart and life (see n. 827, 833). That to such belong evil works and falsifications of the Word has been shown in the chapters that treat of the dragon and of the two beasts of the dragon, and is clearly evident from this, that such exclude good works from saving or justifying faith, teaching that faith justifies and saves without these, and as they are unnecessary they are omitted. It is from an eternal statute or from the Divine order that where there are not good works there are evil works; therefore these evil works are what are signified by "the great 963-1 and noxious sore in the earth," that is, in the church, with those who are in faith alone both in doctrine and in life. (Continuation respecting the Second Commandment) [2] He who abstains from profaning the name of God, that is, the holiness of the Word, by contempt, rejection, or any blasphemy, has religion; and such as his abstinence is such is his religion. For no one has religion except from revelation, and with us revelation is the Word. Abstinence from profaning the holiness of the Word must be from the heart, and not merely from the mouth. Those who abstain from the heart live from religion; but those who abstain merely from the mouth do not live from religion, for they abstain either for the sake of self or for the sake of the world, in that the Word can be made to serve them as a means of acquiring honor and gain; or they abstain from some fear. But of these many are hypocrites who have no religion.
Verse 3. And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood as of one dead; and every living soul in the sea died. 3. "And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea," signifies the state of the church manifested as to the knowledges of truth in the natural man (n. 965); "and it became blood as of one dead," signifies that these have all been falsified (n. 966); "and every living soul in the sea died," signified that there is no longer anything from the spiritual man in the natural man from the Word (n. 967).
Verse 3. And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea, signifies the state of the church manifested as to the knowledges of truth in the natural man. This is evident from the signification of "the angel pouring out the vial," as being the state of the church manifested (see above, n. 960, 961); also from the signification of the "sea," as being the generals of truth in the natural man (see n. 275, 342, 511, 876, 931, 934), here from the Word, the generals of truth from which are knowledges; therefore the "sea" signifies the natural man as to the knowledges of truth from the Word, also the knowledges of good therefrom, for the knowledges of good are also the knowledges of truth; for it is a truth to know that a thing is good, and that it is such a good; also to see by the understanding various goods and their differences, and their opposites which are called evils; these so far as they are knowledges are truths; nor are these essentially goods until they are felt as delightful or not delightful, that is, when they are perceived by some sense or from some love. (Continuation: The Third Commandment) [2] Now follows the third commandment, which is, to keep the sabbath holy. The third and fourth commandments of the Decalogue contain things that must be done, namely, that the sabbath must be kept holy, and that parents must be honored. The other commandments contain things that are not to be done, namely, that other gods must not be worshiped; that the name of God must not be profaned; that one must not steal, must not commit adultery, must not bear false witness, must not covet the goods of others. These two commandments are commandments to be done, because the sanctification of the rest of the commandments depends upon these, for the "sabbath" signifies the union in the Lord of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human, also His conjunction with heaven and the church, and thus the marriage of good and truth with the man who is being regenerated. This being the signification of the sabbath, it was the chief representative of all things of worship in the Israelitish Church, as is evident in Jeremiah (17:20-27), and elsewhere. It was the chief representative of all things of worship, because the first thing in all things of worship is the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord's Human, for without that acknowledgment man can believe and do only from self, and to believe from self is to believe falsities, and to do from self is to do evils, as is also evident from the Lord's words in John: To those asking, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus said, This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom God hath sent (6:28, 29). And in the same: He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5). [3] That the sabbath represented that union and the holy acknowledgment of it, has been shown in many places in the Arcana Coelestia, namely, that the "sabbath" signified in the highest sense the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord, in the internal sense the conjunction of the Lord's Human with heaven and with the church, in general the conjunction of good and truth, thus the heavenly marriage (n. 8495, 10356, 10730). Therefore the rest on the sabbath day signified the state of that union, because the Lord then has rest; also through that union there is peace and salvation in the heavens and on the earth. In a relative sense it signified the conjunction of man with the Lord, because man then has peace and salvation (n. 8494, 8510, 10360, 10367, 10370, 10374, 10668, 10730). The six days preceding the sabbath signified the labors and combats that precede union and conjunction (n. 8510, 8888, 9431, 10360, 10667). [4] The man who is being regenerated is in two states, the first when he is in truths and by means of truths is being led to good and into good, the other when he is in good. When man is in the first state he is in combats or temptations; but when he is in the second state he is in the tranquility of peace. The former state is signified by the six days of labor that precede the sabbath; and the latter state is signified by the rest on the sabbath day (n. 9274, 9431, 10360). The Lord also was in two states; the first when He was Divine truth and from it fought against the hells and subjugated them, the other when He was made Divine good by union with the very Divine in Himself. The former state was signified in the highest sense by the six days of labor, and the latter by the sabbath (n. 10360). Because such things were represented by the sabbath it was the chief representative of worship, and the holiest of all (n. 10357, 10372). "To do work on the sabbath day" signified to be led not by the Lord but by self, thus to be disjoined (n. 7893, 8495, 10360, 10362, 10365). The sabbath day is not now representative, but is a day of instruction (n. 10360 at the end).
And it became blood as of one dead, signifies that these have all been falsified. This is evident from the signification of "blood," as being the Divine truth, and in the contrary sense Divine truth falsified (see n. 30, 328, 329, 476, 748); so here that all knowledges of truth from the Word have been falsified. Knowledges of truth from the Word are the truths of the sense of its letter, that is, the truths in the Word that are for the natural man, and these, too, are Divine truths. These wholly falsified are signified by the words, "the sea became blood as of one dead." The Divine truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are said to be falsified when they are perverted even to the destruction of interior Divine truth, that is, Divine truth in the heavens. In the heavens they then appear with man as the blood of one dead. It has been frequently shown above that those who separate faith from the goods of life falsify the Word; and it is of such that these things are said, as is evident from the second verse of this chapter. (Continuation: The Fourth Commandment) [2] The fourth commandment of the Decalogue is that parents must be honored. This commandment was given because honor to parents represented and thus signified love to the Lord and love towards the church, for "father" in the heavenly sense, that is, the Heavenly Father, is the Lord; and "mother" in the heavenly sense, that is, the heavenly mother, is the church; "honor" signifies the good of love; and "length of days," which they will have, signifies the happiness of eternal life. So is this commandment understood in heaven, where no other father but the Lord is known, and no other mother but the kingdom of the Lord, which is also the church. For the Lord gives life from Himself, and through the church He gives nourishment. That in the heavenly sense no father in the world can be meant, and indeed, when man is in a heavenly idea, can be mentioned, the Lord teaches in Matthew: Call no man your father on earth; for one is your Father who is in the heavens (23:9). That "Father" signifies the Lord as to the Divine good may be seen above (n. 32, 200, 254, 297). That "mother" signifies the Lord's kingdom, the church, and the Divine truth, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 3703, 5581, 8897). That "length of days" signifies the happiness of eternal life (n. 8898); and that "honor" signifies the good of love (n. 8897, and above, n. 288, 345). All this makes clear that the third and fourth commandments involve arcana relating to the Lord, namely, the acknowledgment and confession of His Divine, and the worship of Him from the good of love.
And every living soul in the sea died, signifies that there was no longer anything from the Word from the spiritual man in the natural man. This is evident from the signification of "living soul in the sea," as being what has in itself spiritual life (of which presently); also from the signification of "sea," as being the generals of truth in the natural man, and thus also the knowledges of truth from the Word (of which just above, n. 965). When these have no life from the spiritual world or from heaven they are called dead. "Living soul in the sea" means fishes of various kinds, and these signify knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man (see above, n. 531); they also signify the knowledges of truth from the Word with natural men, for with natural men the knowledges [cognitiones] of truth from the Word do not differ from the knowledges [scientifica] of the world, and for the reason that with such these knowledges have in them no life from the spiritual, and unless the spiritual flows in out of heaven into the knowledges from the Word they are not living but dead. [2] Knowledges of truth from the Word are not living with man until the internal spiritual man has been opened; and this is opened by the Lord while man is being regenerated; and then through the opened spiritual man the spiritual out of heaven flows into the knowledges of truth and good that are from the Word in the natural man and vivifies them. It vivifies them in such a way that the knowledges of truth and good in the natural man become correspondences of the spiritual things that are in the internal spiritual man; and when they are correspondences they are living, for then the spiritual is enclosed in the particular knowledges or truths as the soul is in its body. For this reason man after death comes into these spiritual things, and the knowledges to which they corresponded serve them for a basis. But it is otherwise with those in whom the knowledges from the Word have not been vivified. The spiritual that flows into the knowledges out of heaven is the affection of truth, the affection of good, and the affection of bearing fruit; for it is spiritual heat which is the love or the affection of good, and spiritual light which is the affection of truth. These are the spiritual things that flow in and vivify the knowledges of truth from the Word with those who are in the life of charity and in faith therefrom. But these same knowledges with those who are in faith separated from a life of charity are dead. This, therefore, is what is signified by the words "every living soul in the sea died." (Continuation: The Fifth Commandment) 967-1 [3] The fifth commandment is, "Thou shalt not steal." By "thefts" are meant thefts that are manifest and those not manifest, such as unlawful usury and gains, which are effected by fraud and craft under various pretenses to make them appear lawful, or so done clandestinely as not to appear at all. Such gains are commonly made by higher and lower managers of the goods of others, by merchants, also by judges who sell judgments and thus make justice purchasable. These and many other things are thefts that must be abstained from and shunned, and finally renounced as sins against God, because they are against the Divine laws that are in the Word and against this law, which is one among the fundamental laws of all religions in the whole globe. For these ten commandments are universals, given to the end that in living from these a man may live from religion, since by a life from religion man is conjoined with heaven, while a life according to these from obedience to civil and moral law conjoins man with the world and not with heaven, and to be conjoined with the world and not with heaven is to be conjoined with hell.
Verses 4-7. And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and into the fountains of the waters, and they became blood. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Thou art just, O Lord, who art and who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things. For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments. 4. "And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and into the fountains of the waters," signifies the state of the church manifested as to the faculty of understanding the truths of the Word (n. 969); "and they became blood," signifies that it was destroyed by falsifications (n. 970). 5. "And I heard the angel of the waters saying," signifies preaching of the Lord's justice from His spiritual kingdom (n. 971); "Thou art just, O Lord, who art and who wast," signifies the Lord as to the Divine good from eternity (n. 972); "and art holy," signifies as to the Divine truth (n. 973); "because Thou hast judged these things," signifies by whom it was foreseen that these things would take place, and was provided that the heavens, which are in Divine good and in Divine truth, might not suffer harm (n. 974). 6. "For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets," signifies because they have falsified the truths of the Word and of doctrine from the Word (n. 975); "and Thou hast given them blood to drink," signifies that consequently such are in the falsities of evil (n. 976); "for they are worthy," signifies that it is done to them as they do (n. 977). 7. "And I heard another out of the altar saying," signifies the preaching of the Lord's justice from His celestial kingdom (n. 978); "Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments," signifies that this is done because all things are and live and have power from the Divine good and the Divine truth (n. 979).
Verse 4. And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and into the fountains of waters, signifies the state of the church manifested as to the faculty of understanding the truths of the Word. This is evident from the signification of "the angel pouring out the vial," as being the state of the church manifested (see above, n. 960, 961, 965); also from the signification of "rivers," as being such things as belong to intelligence, and thus to the faculty of understanding (see n. 518); also from the signification of "fountains of waters," as being the truths of the Word (see n. 483). From this it is clear that "the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and into the fountains of waters" signifies the state of the church manifested as to the faculty of understanding the truths of the Word. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] Man is so created as to be an image of heaven and an image of the world, for he is a microcosm. He is born of his parents an image of the world, and he is born again to be an image of heaven. To be born again is to be regenerated; and man is regenerated by the Lord by means of truths from the Word and a life according to them. Man is an image of the world as to his natural mind, and he is an image of heaven as to his spiritual mind. The natural mind, which is the world, is beneath; and the spiritual mind, which is heaven, is above. The natural mind is full of all kinds of evils, such as thefts, adulteries, murders, false witnesses, covetousnesses, and even blasphemies and profanations of God. These evils and many others have their seat in that mind, for the loves of them are there, and thus the delights of thinking, willing, and doing them. These things are innate in that mind from parents, for man is born and grows up into the things that are in that mind, and is restrained only by the bonds of civil law and by the bonds of moral life from doing them, and from thus manifesting the tendencies of his depraved will. Who cannot see that the Lord cannot flow in out of heaven with man and teach him and lead him before these evils have been removed? For they obstruct, repel, pervert, and suffocate the truths and goods of heaven, which present themselves from above, press down and strive to flow in. For evils are infernal and goods are heavenly, and everything infernal burns with hatred against everything heavenly. [3] This makes clear that before the Lord can flow in with heaven out of heaven and form man to the image of heaven, those evils that lie heaped up in the natural mind must needs be removed. Moreover, as the removal of evils must come first before man can be taught and led by the Lord, the reason is evident why in eight commandments of the Decalogue the evil works that must not be done are recounted, but not the goods that must be done. Good does not exist together with evil, nor does it exist before evils have been removed; for until then there is no way possible from heaven into man. Man is like a dark sea, the waters of which must be removed on either side before the Lord in a cloud and in fire can give a passage to the sons of Israel. The "dark sea" signifies hell, "Pharaoh with the Egyptians" the natural man, and "the sons of Israel" the spiritual man.
And they became blood, signifies that it was destroyed by falsifications. This is evident from the signification of "blood," as being truth falsified (see above, n. 966); therefore that "the rivers and fountains became blood" signifies that the faculty of understanding the truths of the Word was destroyed by falsifications. Every man has the faculty of understanding truths, for it is this faculty by which man is distinguished from beasts; and this remains with every man, even with the evil, since it is the spiritual part of man and the most essential means of his regeneration. For man is regenerated by the Lord by means of truths, and if he were not able to understand truths he could not receive them and thus be reformed; for to receive what he is not able to understand does not profit. That this is so has been proved by experience in the spiritual world. There was a discussion among the spirits whether everyone has the faculty of understanding truths; and an infernal spirit was taken as a witness whether he could understand the truths of heaven, and it was found that he understood them when he heard them just as well as a good spirit, and yet that he was not willing to understand them, for he turned away from them because they were opposed to the evils and the falsities therefrom that were delightful to him. And it was said that man through that faculty has conjunction with the Lord, since that faculty is proper to man. That faculty is said to have been destroyed by falsifications, because those who have falsified the Word are not willing to understand truths themselves; and those who are not willing are as it were not able, although they would be able if they were willing. For the mind of such rejects truths, and like one deaf does not hear them so long as it clings to things opposite. But when these opposite things are removed it is as if the ears of the deaf were opened. All this has been said to make known what is meant by the destruction of the faculty of understanding the truths of the Word by falsifications. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] It has been said above that communication with heaven is not given before the evils and the falsities therefrom with which the natural mind is stopped up have been removed; for these are like black clouds between the sun and the eye, or like a wall between the light of heaven and the dim light of a candle in a chamber. For so long as a man is in the dim light of the natural man only he is like one shut up in a chamber where he sees by a candle. But as soon as the natural man has been purified from evils and falsities therefrom he is as if he saw through windows in the wall the things of heaven from the light of heaven. For as soon as evils have been removed, the higher mind, which is called the spiritual mind, is opened, and this, viewed in itself, is a type or image of heaven. Through this mind the Lord flows in and enables man to see from the light of heaven, and through this He also reforms and at length regenerates the natural man, and implants in it truths in the place of falsities and goods in the place of evils. This the Lord does through spiritual love, which is the love of truth and good. Man is then placed in the midst between two loves, between the love of evil and the love of good; and when the love of evil recedes the love of good takes its place. It is solely through the life according to the commandments of the Decalogue, that is, through refraining from the evils there enumerated because they are sins, and finally shunning them as infernal, that the love of evil recedes. [3] In a word, so long as man does not refrain from evils because they are sins the spiritual mind is shut; but as soon as he refrains from evils because they are sins the spiritual mind is opened, and with that mind heaven also. And when heaven is opened man comes into another light as to all things of the church, heaven, and eternal life; although so long as man lives in this world the difference between this and the former light is scarcely noticeable, and for the reason that in the world man thinks naturally even about spiritual things, and until he passes from the natural into the spiritual world spiritual things are enclosed in natural ideas; but in the spiritual world spiritual things are disclosed, perceived, and made evident.
Verse 5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, signifies preaching of the Lord's justice from His spiritual kingdom. This is evident from the signification of "the angel of the waters," as being the Lord's spiritual kingdom; for "angel" signifies in the Word something pertaining to the Lord, also a heavenly society, also heaven; here "the angel of the waters" signifies the heavens of which the Lord's spiritual kingdom consists, for "waters" signify truths, thus things spiritual, since the Divine truth in the heavens is called spiritual, while the Divine good is called celestial. All the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, one called the spiritual kingdom, the other the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom consists of the heavens and the angels there that are in the Divine truth, and those heavens are in the southern and northern quarters. The celestial kingdom consists of the heavens and the angels there that are in the Divine good, and these heavens are in the eastern and western quarters. Therefore the spiritual kingdom, which consists of the heavens and the angels there, that are in the Divine truth, is meant by "the angel of the waters;" while the celestial kingdom, which consists of the heavens and the angels there that are in the Divine good, is meant by "the angel from the altar" (described in the seventh verse of this chapter), since the "altar" signifies the Divine good. That "the angel of the waters" preached the Lord's justice is evident from the things said by that angel that now follow. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] So far as man refrains from evils and shuns and turns away from them as sins, good flows in from the Lord. The good that flows in is the affection of knowing and understanding truths, and the affection of willing and doing goods. But man cannot refrain from evils by shunning and turning away from them of himself, for he himself is in evils from his birth, and thus from nature; and evils cannot of themselves shun evils, for this would be a like a man's shunning his own nature, which is impossible; consequently it must be the Lord, who is the Divine good and the Divine truth, who causes man to shun them. Nevertheless, man ought to shun evils as if of himself, for what a man does as if of himself becomes his and is appropriated to him as his own; while what he does not do as if of himself in no wise becomes his or is appropriated to him. What comes from the Lord to man must be received by man; and it cannot be received unless he is conscious of it, that is, as if of himself. This reciprocation is a necessity to reformation. This is why the ten commandments were given, and why it is commanded in them that man shall not worship other gods, shall not profane the name of God, shall not steal, shall not commit adultery, shall not kill, shall not covet the house, wife, or servants of others, thus that man shall refrain from doing these things by thinking, when the love of evil allures and incites, that they must not be done because they are sins against God, and in themselves are infernal. So far, therefore, as a man shuns these evils so far the love of truth and good enters from the Lord; and this love causes man to shun these evils, and at length to turn away from them as sins. And as the love of truth and good puts these evils to flight, it follows that man shuns them not from himself but from the Lord, since the love of truth and good is from the Lord. If a man shuns evils merely from a fear of hell they are withdrawn; but goods do not take their place; for as soon as the fear departs the evils return. [3] To man alone is it granted to think as if of himself about good and evil, that is, that good must be loved and done because it is Divine and remains to eternity, and that evil must be hated and not done because it is devilish and remains to eternity. To think thus is not granted to any beast. A beast can do good and shun evil, yet not of itself, but either from instinct or habit or fear, and never from the thought that such a thing is a good or an evil, thus not of itself. Consequently one who would have it believed that man shuns evils or does goods not as if of himself but from an imperceptible influx, or from the imputation of the Lord's merit, would also have it believed that man lives like a beast without thought of, or perception of, or the affection of truth and good. That this is so has been made clear to me from manifold experience in the spiritual world. Every man after death is there prepared either for heaven or for hell. From the man who is prepared for heaven evils are removed, and from the man who is prepared for hell goods are removed; and all such removals are effected as if by them. Likewise those who do evils are driven by punishments to reject them as if of themselves; but if they do not reject them as if of themselves the punishments are of no avail. By this it was made clear that those who hang down their hands, waiting for influx, or for the imputation of the Lord's merit, continue in the state of their evil, and hang down their hands forever. [4] To shun evils as sins is to shun the infernal societies that are in them, and man cannot shun these unless he repels them and turns away from them; and a man cannot turn away from them with repulsion unless he loves good and from that love does not will evil. For a man must either will evil or will good; and so far as he wills good he does not will evil; and it is granted him to will good when he makes the commandments of the Decalogue to be of his religion, and lives according to them. [5] Since man must refrain from evils as sins as if of himself, these ten commandments were inscribed by the Lord on two tables, and these were called a covenant; and this covenant was entered into in the same way as it is usual to enter into covenants between two, that is, one proposes and the other accepts, and the one who accepts consents. If he does not consent the covenant is not established. To consent to this covenant is to think, will, and do as if of oneself. Man's thinking to shun evil and to do good as if of himself is done not by man, but by the Lord. This is done by the Lord for the sake of reciprocation and consequent conjunction; for the Lord's Divine love is such that it wills that what is its own shall be man's, and as these things cannot be man's, because they are Divine, it makes them to be as if they were man's. In this way reciprocal conjunction is effected, that is, that man is in the Lord and the Lord in man, according to the words of the Lord Himself in John (14:20); for this would not be possible if there were not in the conjunction something belonging as it were to man. What man does as if of himself he does as if of his will, of his affection, of his freedom, consequently of his life. Unless these were present on man's part, as if they were his there could be no receptivity, because nothing reactive, thus no covenant and no conjunction; in fact, no ground whatever for the imputation that man had done evil or good or had believed truth or falsity, thus that there is from merit a hell for anyone because of evil works, or from grace a heaven for anyone because of good works.
Just art thou, O Lord who art and who wast, signifies the Lord as to the Divine good from eternity. This is evident from the signification of "just," as being in relation to the Lord the Divine good, for "just" is predicated in the Word of good, and "holy" of truth (see above, n. 204); also from the signification of "who art and who wast," as being the infinite and the eternal, for "art and wast" means the same as "Jehovah," and the Lord is called Jehovah in the Word from the Divine good, and God from the Divine truth; moreover, to be [esse] in reference to the Lord means to be from Himself, that is, in Himself, and to exist [existere] means in reference to the Lord to exist from Himself and in Himself. And in a relative sense to exist [existere] is to be [esse] in all things of heaven and the church; and this is effected by the Divine truth. This to be [esse] is what is meant by the eternal; for in heaven (otherwise than in the world) eternal, as applied to the Lord is without any idea of time; for in the angelic idea eternal means a state of the Divine existence, which nevertheless makes one with the Divine essence, which is Jehovah. The infinite in relation to being [esse] is signified by "who art" in Jehovah; and the infinite in relation to existence [existere] is signified by "who was" in Jehovah. The infinite existence [existere], which is also the eternal, is the Divine proceeding, from which is heaven and everything of it. The Divine existence [existere] is also the Divine being [esse] but it is called existence [existere] in relation to heaven, where it is the all in all. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] He who refrains from thefts, understood in a broad sense, and even shuns them from any other cause than religion and for the sake of eternal life, is not cleansed of them; for in no other way can he open heaven. For it is through heaven that the Lord removes evils with man, as through heaven He removes the hells. For example, there are higher and lower managers of property, merchants, judges, officers of every kind, and workmen, who refrain from thefts, that is, from unlawful modes of gain and usury, and who shun these, but only to secure reputation and thus honor or gain, because of civil and moral laws, in a word, from some natural love or natural fear, thus from merely external constraints, and not from religion; but the interiors of such are full of thefts and robberies, and these burst forth when external constraints are removed from them, as takes place with everyone after death. Their sincerity and rectitude is nothing but a mask, a disguise, and a deceit.
And art holy, signifies and in relation to the Divine truth. This is evident from the signification of "holy," as being the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord; for this in the Word is meant by "holy," also by "the Holy Spirit," which is therefore called "the Spirit of Truth." (That in the Word "holy" is predicated of truth, and "just" of good, may be seen n. 204; and that the Lord alone is holy, because He is the Divine truth itself, n. 204, 285, 328.) (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] So far then as the various kinds and species of thefts are removed, and the more they are removed, so far the kinds and species of good to which they by opposition correspond enter and occupy their place; and these have reference in general to what is sincere, right and just. For when a man shuns and turns away from unlawful gains through fraud and craft he so far wills what is sincere, right, and just, and at length begins to love what is sincere because it is sincere, what is right because it is right, and what is just because it is just. He begins to love these things because they are from the Lord, and the love of the Lord is in them. For to love the Lord is not to love the Person, but to love the things that proceed from the Lord, for these are the Lord with man; thus it is to love sincerity itself, right itself, and justice itself. And as these are the Lord, so far as a man loves these, and thus acts from them, so far he acts from the Lord and so far the Lord removes insincerity and injustice as to the very intentions and volitions in which they have their roots, and always with less resistance and struggle, and therefore with less effort than in the first attempts. Thus it is that man thinks from conscience and acts from integrity, not indeed the man of himself but as if of himself; for he then acknowledges from faith and also from perception. It indeed appears as if he thought and did these things from himself, and yet he does them not from himself but from the Lord.
Because Thou hast judged these things, signifies by whom it was foreseen that these things would take place, and by whom it was provided that the heavens, which are in the Divine good and in the Divine truth, might not suffer harm. This is evident from the signification of "judging these things," as being to cause them to be done or come to pass, namely, what follows, that "because they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, He gave them blood to drink." But as this is said respecting the Lord, and the Lord never gives anyone blood to drink, or gives what is signified by "drinking blood," and yet these with many other like things in the Word are attributed in the sense of the letter to the Lord, it follows that these words must be understood to mean that the Lord foresaw that these things would take place, and provided that no harm should be done thereby to the heavens, which are in the Divine good and in the Divine truth. For the Lord foresees evil and provides good. Such are the things signified by these words in the spiritual sense, that is, when the natural, which is the exterior, is put off, and the spiritual, which is the interior, appears; consequently when the thought of the natural man, which is according to appearances, is supplanted by the spiritual thought of the angels, which is according to the essence of the thing. This makes clear what the sense of the letter of the Word is and what its spiritual sense is, also what human thought is and what angelic thought is, namely, that these are in accord like what is internal and what is external, or like a cause and an effect, and that the effect or external that is with man is put off, and the cause or internal that is with the angels who are with man becomes manifest. And this is why a holy internal from the angels flows into the external thought of the man who regards the Word as holy, even when he does not know it. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] When a man begins to shun and turn away from evils because they are sins all things that he does are good, and also may be called good works; with a difference according to the excellence of the uses. For what a man does before he shuns and turns away from evils as sins are works done by the man himself; and as the man's own [proprium], which is nothing but evil, is in these, and they are done for the sake of the world, therefore they are evil works. But the works that a man does after he shuns and turns away from evils as sins are works from the Lord, and because the Lord is in these and heaven with Him they are good works. The difference between works done from man and works done from the Lord in man is not apparent to men's sight, but is clearly evident to the sight of angels. Works done from man are like sepulchers outwardly whitened, which within are full of the bones of the dead. They are like platters and cups outwardly clean, but containing unclean things of every kind. They are like fruits inwardly rotten, but with the outer skin still shining; or like nuts or almonds eaten by worms within, while the shell remains untouched; or like a foul harlot with a fair face. Such are the good works done from man himself, since however good they appear on the outside, within they are full of impurities of every kind; for their interiors are infernal, while their exteriors appear heavenly. But after man shuns and turns away from evils as sins his works are good not only outwardly but inwardly also; and the more interior they are the more they are good, for the more interior they are the nearer they are to the Lord. Then they are like fruits that have a fine-flavored pulp, in the center of which are depositories with many seeds, from which new trees, even to whole gardens, may be produced; but everything and all things in his natural man are like eggs from which swarms of flying creatures may be produced, and gradually fill a great part of heaven. In a word, when man shuns and turns away from evils as sins the works that he does are living, while those that he did before were dead, for what is from the Lord is living, but what is from man is dead.
Verse 6. For they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, signifies because they have falsified the truths of the Word and of doctrine from the Word. This is evident from the signification of "blood" as being the Divine truth (see above, n. 30, 328, 329, 476, 748); also from the signification of "pouring it out," as being to do violence to the Divine truth, which is to falsify it (see n. 329); also from the signification of "saints," as being those who are in the Divine truth from the Lord (see n. 204); but in the abstract sense Divine truths from the Lord (n. 325); and as holy things mean Divine truths in the Word, so they mean the Word. Also from the signification of "prophets" as being those who teach doctrine from the Word; and in the abstract sense truths of doctrine from the Word (see n. 624). Therefore "to pour out the blood of saints and prophets" signifies to falsify the truths of the Word and the truths of Doctrine from the Word. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] It has been said that so far as a man shuns and turns away from evils as sins he does goods, and that the goods that he does are the good works which are meant in the Word, for the reason that they are done in the Lord; also that these works are good so far as man turns away from the evils opposed to them, because so far they are done from the Lord and not from man. Nevertheless, works are more or less good according to the excellence of the use; for works must be uses. The best are those that are done for the sake of the uses of the church. Next in point of goodness come those that are done as uses of one's country; and so on, the uses determining the goodness of the works. The goodness of works increases with man according to the fullness of truths from affection for which they are done; since the man who turns away from evils as sins wishes to know truths because truths teach uses and the quality of their good. This is why good loves truth and truth loves good, and they wish to be conjoined. So far, therefore, as such a man learns truths from the affection of them so far he does goods more wisely and more fully, more wisely because he knows how to distinguish uses and to do them with judgment and justice, and more fully because all truths are present in the performance of uses, and form the spiritual sphere that the affection of them produces.
And thou hast given them blood to drink, signifies that consequently such are in the falsities of evil. This is evident from the signification of "drinking blood," as being to imbibe falsities, for "blood" signifies truth falsified, and "to drink" signifies to imbibe. And as falsified truth is the falsity of evil, therefore here "to drink blood" signifies to be in the falsities of evil. Falsified truth is the falsity of evil, because evil falsifies truth. That such are in falsities of evil is here attributed to the Lord; for it is said, "Thou hast given them blood to drink," as if the Lord had done it in the way of vengeance, although the Lord never avenges the evil done to Him by man. This makes clear that an interior sense lies hidden in these same words, and that this sense appears when the sense of the letter, which is that of apparent truth, is put off. When that sense is put off the spiritual sense comes forth, which is, that the Lord did not give them blood to drink, but that man gives himself blood to drink; in other words, that from the evil in which he is man has falsified the Word, and consequently is in the falsities of evil. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] Take judges for an example: All who make justice venal by loving the function of judging for the sake of gain from judgments, and not for the sake of uses to their country, are thieves, and their judgments are thefts. It is similar if they judge according to friendships and favors, for friendships and favors are also profits and gains. When these are the end and judgments are the means, all things that they do are evil, and are what are meant in the Word by "evil works" and "not doing judgment and justice, perverting the right of the poor; of the needy, of the fatherless, of the widow, and of the innocent." Yea, even if they do justice, and yet regard profit as the end they indeed do a good work, but to them it is not good; for justice, which is Divine, is to them a means, and such gain is the end; and that which is made the end is everything, while that which is made the means is nothing except so far as it is serviceable to the end. Consequently after death such judges continue to love what is unjust as well as what is just, and are condemned to hell as thieves. I speak this from what I have seen. These are such as do not abstain from evils because they are sins, but only because they fear the punishments of the civil law and the loss of reputation, honor, and office, and thus of gain. [3] It is otherwise with judges who abstain from evils as sins and shun them because they are contrary to the Divine laws, and thus contrary to God. These have justice for their end, and they venerate, cherish, and love it as Divine. In justice they see God, as it were, because everything just, like everything good and true, is from God. They always join justice with equity and equity with justice, knowing that justice must be of equity in order to be justice, and that equity must be of justice in order to be equity, the same as truth is of good and good is of truth. As such make justice their end, their giving judgments is doing good works; yet these works, which are judgments, are to them more or less good as there is in their judgments more or less of regard for friendship, favor or gain; also as there is more or less in them of a love of what is just for the sake of the public good, which is that justice may reign among their fellow-citizens, and that those who live according to the laws may have security. Such judges have eternal life in a degree that accords with their works; for they are judged as they themselves have judged.
For they are worthy, signifies that it is done to them as they do. This is evident from the signification of "being worthy," namely, that they are in falsities of evil because they have falsified the truths of the Word and of doctrine, which is signified by "it was given to them to drink the blood of the saints and of the prophets, which they poured out," consequently that it is done to them as they have done. For it is according to order that his works follow everyone and judge everyone; thus it is done to everyone as he has done; therefore this is here meant by "being worthy," that is, having so deserved. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] Take as an example managers of the goods of others, higher and lower. If these secretly by arts or under some pretext by fraud deprive their kings, their country, or their masters of their goods, they have no religion and thus no conscience, for they hold the Divine law respecting theft in contempt and make it of no account. And although they frequent temples, devoutly listen to preachings, observe the sacrament of the Supper, pray morning and evening, and talk piously from the Word, yet nothing from heaven flows in and is present in their worship, piety, or discourse, because their interiors are full of theft, plundering, robbery, and injustice; and so long as these are within, the way into them from heaven is closed; consequently all the works they do are evil. [3] But the managers of property who shun unlawful gains and fraudulent profits because they are contrary to the Divine law respecting theft, have religion, and thus also conscience; and all the works they do are good, for they act from sincerity for the sake of sincerity, and from justice for the sake of justice, and furthermore are content with their own, and are cheerful in mind and glad in heart whenever it happens that they have refrained from fraud; and after death they are welcomed by the angels and received by them as brothers, and are presented with goods even to abundance. But the opposite is true of evil managers; these after death are cast out of societies, and afterwards seek alms, and finally are sent into the caverns of robbers to labor there.
Verse 7. And I heard another out of the altar saying, signifies the preaching of the Lord's justice from His celestial kingdom. This is evident from the signification of "an angel out of the altar," as being the Lord's celestial kingdom; for the "altar" signifies the Lord as to the Divine good, thus also the heaven that is in the Divine good; that heaven or those heavens constitute the Lord's celestial kingdom. (That the "altar" signifies the Lord as to the Divine good may be seen n. 391, 490, 915.) The angel speaking "out of the altar" signifies the Lord's celestial kingdom, because "the angel of the waters" speaking, described in the fifth verse, means the Lord's spiritual kingdom (see above, n. 971). As the Lord's justice is here preached from the heavens, and as the heavens consist of two kingdoms, namely, the spiritual and the celestial, therefore there is preaching from each kingdom; and one is meant by "the angel of the waters," and the other by "the angel of the altar." (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] Take merchants as an example: All their works are evil works so long as they do not regard as sins, and thus shun as sins illegitimate gains and unlawful usury, also fraud and craft; for such works cannot be done from the Lord, but are done from man himself. And the more expert they are in skillfully and artfully contriving devices from within for overreaching their companions the more evil are their works. And the more expert they are in bringing such devices into effect under the pretense of sincerity, justice, and piety, the more evil still are their works. The more delight a merchant feels in such things the more do his works have their origin in hell. But if he acts sincerely and justly in order to acquire reputation, and wealth through reputation, even so as to seem to act from a love of sincerity and justice, and yet does not act sincerely and justly from affection for the Divine law or from obedience to it, he is still inwardly insincere and unjust, and his works are thefts, for through a pretense of sincerity and justice he seeks to steal. [3] That this is so becomes evident after death, when man acts from his interior will and love, and not from the exterior; for then he thinks about and devises nothing but sharp practices and robberies, and withdraws himself from those who are sincere, and betakes himself either to forests or deserts, where he devotes himself to stratagems. In a word, all such become robbers. But it is otherwise with merchants who shun as sins thefts of every kind, especially the more interior and hidden, which are effected by craft and deceit. All their works are good, because they are from the Lord; for the influx from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord, for accomplishing such works is not intercepted by the evils just mentioned. To these, riches do no harm, because to them riches are means for uses. Their tradings are the uses by which they serve their country and their fellow-citizens; and through their riches they are in a condition to perform those uses to which the affection of good leads them.
Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments, signifies that these things are done because all things have their essence, life and power from the Divine good and the Divine truth. This is evident from the signification of "Lord God," as being the Lord as to the Divine good and the Divine truth; for the Lord is called "Lord" from the Divine good, and "God" from the Divine truth. Also from the signification of "Almighty," as being to be, to live, and to have power from Himself (see n. 43, 689, 939); so also that He is being, life, and power to all things; for the Lord is all this from Himself, but man is all this from the Lord. Also from the signification of "Thy judgments," as being those things that are being done, namely, those mentioned above in the sixth verse. That this is what is meant by "judgments" is evident from the fifth verse, where it is said, "Just art Thou, O Lord, and holy, because Thou hast judged these things." These judgments are called "true" from the Divine truth, and "just" from the Divine good, from which two all things are effected. (That "just" is predicated of the Divine good may be seen above, n. 972.) The same things are involved in these words, "Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments," as in the words of the fifth verse, "Thou art just, O Lord, who art and who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things." The only difference is that the latter were said from the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and the former from His celestial kingdom. "Yea" is here an expression confirmative of the statements from the spiritual kingdom. That the same things are involved see above (n. 972-974), and compare. (Continuation respecting the Fifth Commandment) [2] From what has been said above, what is meant in the Word by good works can now be seen, namely, that they are all works done by man when evils have been removed as sins. For the works done after this are done from man only as if from him; for they are done from the Lord, and all works done from the Lord are good, and are called the goods of life, the goods of charity, and good works; as for instance, all the judgments of a judge who has justice as his end, and who venerates and loves it as Divine, and who detests as infamous decisions made for the sake of rewards or friendship, or from favor. Thus he consults the good of his country by causing justice and judgment to reign therein as in heaven; and thus he consults the peace of every innocent citizen and protects him from the violence of evildoers. All these are good works. So all services of managers and dealings of merchants are good works when they shun unlawful gains as sins against the Divine laws. When a man shuns evils as sins he daily learns what a good work is, and the affection of doing good grows with him, and the affection of knowing truths for the sake of good; for so far as he knows truths he can perform works more fully and more wisely, and thus his works become more truly good. Cease, therefore, from asking in thyself, "What are the good works that I must do, or what good must I do to receive eternal life?" Only cease from evils as sins and look to the Lord, and the Lord will teach and lead you.
Verses 8, 9. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and it was given him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who hath authority over these plagues; and they repented not to give Him glory. 8. "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun," signifies the state of the church manifested as to love to God, thus to the Lord (n. 981); "and it was given him to scorch men with fire," signifies the cupidity for falsifying truths arising from the loves of self and of the world (n. 982). 9. "And men were scorched with great heat," signifies the ardent cupidity of adulterating the truths and goods of the Word (n. 983); "and they blasphemed the name of God," signifies the falsification of the Lord's Word even to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens (n. 984); "who hath authority over these plagues," signifies no fear of the Last Judgment by the Lord and of the condemnation and punishment at that time of the evils and consequent falsities that have devastated the church (n. 985); "and they repented not to give Him glory," signifies that they were unwilling to turn themselves to living according to the Lord's commandments (n. 986).
Verse 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, signifies the state of the church manifested as to love to God, thus to the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "the angel pouring out his vial," as being the state of the church manifested (as above, n. 969); also from the signification of the "sun," as being love to God, thus to the Lord (see above, n. 401, 412, 422, 525, 527, 708). The "sun" signifies love to God, thus to the Lord, because the Lord appears before the angels in the heavens as a sun, and His appearance as a sun is from the Divine love. For all love in the spiritual world corresponds to fire and flame, and because it corresponds it is manifested representatively by fire and by flame; consequently the Lord's Divine love appears as a sun. This is why the "sun" signifies in the Word the Lord as to love towards all who are in heaven and in the world, and in a reciprocal sense love to the Lord. Love to the Lord means the love or affection of doing His commandments, thus the love of keeping the commandments of the Decalogue. For so far as a man from love or from affection keeps and does these, so far he loves the Lord, and for the reason that these are the Lord with man. (Continuation: The Sixth Commandment) [2] Thus far five commandments of the Decalogue have been explained. Now follows the explanation of the sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." Who at this day can believe that the delight of adultery is hell with man, and that the delight of marriage is heaven with him, consequently so far as man is in the one delight so far he is not in the other, because so far as man is in hell so far he is not in heaven? Who at this day can believe that the love of adultery is the fundamental love of all infernal and diabolical loves, and that the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love of all heavenly and Divine loves; consequently so far as a man is in the love of adultery so far he is in every evil love, if not in act yet in endeavor; and on the other hand, so far as man is in the chaste love of marriage so far he is in every good love, if not in act yet in endeavor? Who at this day can believe that he who is in the love of adultery believes nothing of the Word, thus nothing of the church, and even in his heart denies God; and on the other hand, that he who is in the chaste love of marriage is in charity and in faith, and in love to God; also that the chastity of marriage makes one with religion, and the lasciviousness of adultery makes one with naturalism? [3] All this at this day is unknown because the church is at its end, and is devastated as to truth and as to good; and when the church is such, the man of the church, by influx from hell, comes into the persuasion that adulteries are not detestable things and abominations, and thus comes into the belief that marriages and adulteries do not differ in their essence, but only as a matter of order, and yet the difference between them is like the difference between heaven and hell. That such is the difference between them will be seen in what follows. This, then, is why in the Word in its spiritual sense heaven and the church are meant by nuptials and marriages, and hell and the rejection of all things of the church are meant in the Word in its spiritual sense by adulteries and whoredoms.
And it was given him to scorch men with fire, signifies the cupidity of falsifying the truths arising from the evils of the loves of self and of the world. This is evident from the signification of "heat," as being the lust of falsity and for falsity (see n. 481); also from the signification of "fire," as being love in both senses, namely, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, and in the contrary sense love of self and love of the world, and thus a cupidity for evils of every kind. That the loves of self and of the world are the origins of all evils may be seen above (n. 162, 171, 506, 510, 512, 517, 650, 653, 950, 951). And as these loves are the origins of all evils, and in their continuation are called cupidities and also lusts, so "to scorch men with fire" signifies the cupidity or lust for falsities from evils of every kind, and thus for evil or for doing harm to others; for this is the delight of life of those who are in the love of self and in the love of the world. It is from this delight that the continuation of these loves are called cupidities and lusts. [2] In the world it is scarcely known that all who are in the love of self, according to the delight of that love, are in the delight of injuring others who do not make one with them. That this is so is clearly evident from the same persons after death; then it is the delight of their life to do harm and to do evil to others in any way whatever, especially to the good. This delight of theirs is the delight of hatred; for they hate, and from hatred persecute, all who worship the Lord. This hatred is not manifested with them in the world because they are held back and checked by external restraints, which are fears of punishments from the civil law, and of loss of reputation, honor, gain, employments, pleasures, and of life, and injuries to it, so that this hatred does not come forth to the sight of others; nevertheless it lies hidden in their spirit; and consequently after death, when man becomes a spirit and external restraints are taken away from him it breaks forth even into destruction so far as the reins are loosened. Such is the signification of "scorching men with fire." [3] It is said that "the angel poured out his vial into the sun," and that "it was given him to scorch men with fire," and that the "sun" signifies love to God, and "heat" and "fire" signify the cupidity for falsity and for doing evil, and this is said because the loves and the cupidities of falsity and evil are brought forth and made evident with the evil by means of the influx of love or the affection of good and truth from heaven. For so far as heavenly loves and affections flow into the evil there is kindled in them a frenzy and cupidity for doing evil and speaking falsity; and for the reason that every good of heaven with them is turned into evil, and every truth of heaven into falsity. For their interiors, which belong to the will and consequent thought, are turned directly contrary to heavenly things, and whatever flows into a contrary form is turned into what is contrary. And when that which flows in becomes powerful it is turned into fury, and when very powerful into torment; as when good flows strongly into the evil, the evil come either into a state of fury or of infernal torment. But when evil flows powerfully into the good, the good come into a state of anguish, and also into a certain torment of conscience. [4] The inmost cause of these effects is that the life of the affections and consequent thoughts of all in the entire world, both the spiritual and the natural worlds, proceed from a single fountain of life, which is the Lord, and this life is received by each one according to the quality of his life, thus according to the quality of his love; therefore those who have turned heavenly love with themselves into infernal love cannot help turning into their own love the love that flows in out of heaven; the same as the heat and light of the sun always do when they flow into objects on the earth, some of these from that influx giving forth a sweet odor, and some a foul odor, and yet the heat and light are the same in themselves and are from a single fountain, namely, the sun. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [5] Since adultery is hell with man and marriage is heaven with him, it follows that so far as a man loves adultery he removes himself from heaven; consequently adulteries close heaven and open hell, and this they do so far as they are believed to be allowable and are perceived to be more delightful than marriages. The man, therefore, who confirms himself in adulteries and commits them from the favor and consent of his will, and turns away from marriage, closes heaven to himself, until finally he ceases to believe anything of the church or of the Word, and becomes a wholly sensual man, and after death an infernal spirit; for, as has been said above, adultery is hell, and thus an adulterer is a form of hell. And since adultery is hell it follows that unless a man abstains from adulteries and shuns them and turns away from them as infernal he shuts up heaven to himself, and does not receive the least influx therefrom. Afterwards he reasons that marriages and adulteries are alike, but that marriages must be maintained in kingdoms for the sake of order and on account of the education of offspring; also that adulteries are not criminal, since offspring are equally born from them; and they are not harmful to women, since they can endure them, and by them the procreation of the human race is promoted. He does not know that these and other like reasonings in favor of adulteries ascend from the Stygian waters of hell, and that the lustful and bestial nature of man which inheres in him from birth attracts them and sucks them in with delight, as a swine does excrement. That such reasonings, which at this day possess the minds of most men in the Christian world, are Stygian, will be seen in what follows.
Verse 9. And men were scorched with great heat, signifies the cupidity of adulterating the truths and goods of the Word. This is evident from the signification of "great heat," as being the lust of falsity, and for falsity, thus the cupidity of adulterating the truths and goods of the Word (see n. 481). This is said of those who are in faith separated from the goods of life, who are meant by those that "have the mark of the beast" and that "adore his image" (verse 2). Because such separate from faith the very essential of the church, which is the good of life, and thus remove it from being a means of salvation, they cannot do otherwise than falsify all the truths of the Word; for those who set aside a life according to the Lord's commandments annihilate all things of the Word, since all things of the Word are precepts of life. The precepts of faith, which are the truths of the Word, teach life. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] That marriage is heaven and that adultery is hell cannot be better seen than from considering their origin. The origin of love truly conjugial is the Lord's love for the church and this is why the Lord is called in the Word the "Bridegroom" and the "Husband," and the church the "bride" and the "wife." It is from this marriage that the church is the church in general and in particular. The church in particular is a man in whom the church is. From this it is clear that the Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is the very origin of love truly conjugial; and how that conjunction can be the origin shall be told. The Lord's conjunction with a man of the church is a conjunction of good and truth; good is from the Lord, and truth is with man, and from this is the conjunction that is called the heavenly marriage. From that marriage, love truly conjugial exists between two partners that are in such conjunction with the Lord. From this it is now evident that love truly conjugial is from the Lord alone, and exists with those who are in the conjunction of good and truth from the Lord. As this conjunction is reciprocal it is said by the Lord that: They are in Him, and He in them (John 14:20). [3] This conjunction or this marriage was thus established from creation. The man was created to be the understanding of truth, and the woman to be the affection of good; and thus the man to be truth, and the woman good. When the understanding of truth which is with the man makes one with the affection of good which is with the woman, there is a conjunction of the two minds into one. This conjunction is the spiritual marriage from which conjugial love descends. For when two minds are so conjoined as to be one mind there is love between them; and when this love, which is the love of spiritual marriage, descends into the body it becomes the love of natural marriage. That this is so anyone can clearly perceive if he will. A married pair who interiorly or as to their minds love each other mutually and reciprocally also love each other mutually and reciprocally as to their bodies. It is known that all love descends into the body from an affection of the mind, and that apart from such an origin no love exists. [4] Since then the origin of conjugial love is the marriage of good and truth, which marriage in its essence is heaven, it is clear that the origin of the love of adultery is the marriage of evil and falsity, which in its essence is hell. Heaven is a marriage because all who are in the heavens are in the marriage of good and truth; and hell is adultery because all who are in the hells are in the marriage of evil and falsity. From this it follows that marriage and adultery are as opposite as heaven and hell are.
And they blasphemed the name of God, signifies the falsification of the Lord's Word even to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens. This is evident from the signification of "blaspheming," as being to falsify the Divine truth even to its destruction in heaven (see n. 778); also from the signification of "the name of God," as being the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Word (see n. 962); therefore the words "they blasphemed the name of God" signify the falsification of the Word even to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens. (On the falsification of the Word even to the destruction in heaven of the Divine truth that the Word contains see above, n. 778, 888, 914, 916 at the end, 950.) (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] Man was so created as to be spiritual and celestial love, and thus an image and likeness of God. Spiritual love, which is the love of truth, is the image of God; and celestial love, which is the love of good, is the likeness of God. All the angels in the third heaven are likenesses of God; and all the angels in the second heaven are images of God. Man can become the love which is an image or likeness of God only by a marriage of good and truth; for good and truth inmostly love one another, and ardently long to be united that they may be one; and for the reason that the Divine good and the Divine truth proceed from the Lord united, therefore they must be united in an angel of heaven and in a man of the church. This union is by no means possible except by the marriage of two minds into one, since, as has been said before, man was created to be the understanding of truth, and thus truth, and woman was created to be the affection of good, and thus good; therefore in them the conjunction of good and truth is possible. For conjugial love which descends from that conjunction is the veriest means by which man [homo] becomes the love that is the image or the likeness of God. For the two partners who are in conjugial love from the Lord love one another mutually and reciprocally from the heart, thus from inmosts; and therefore although apparently two they are actually one, two as to their bodies, but one as to life. This may be compared to the eyes, which are two as organs but one as to the sight; also to the ears, which are two as organs but one as to hearing; so, too, the arms and the feet are two as members but one as to use, the arms one as to action, and the feet one as to walking. So with the other pairs with man. All these have reference to good and truth, the organ or member on the right to good, and that on the left to truth. It is the same with a husband and wife between whom there is love truly conjugial; they are two as to their bodies but one as to life; consequently in heaven two partners are not called two angels but one. All this makes clear that through marriage man becomes a form of love, and thus a form of heaven, which is the image and likeness of God. [3] Man is born into the love of evil and falsity, which love is the love of adultery; and this love cannot be converted and changed into spiritual love, which is the image of God, and still less into celestial love, which is the likeness of God, except by the marriage of good and truth from the Lord, and not fully except by the marriage of two minds and two bodies. From this it is clear why marriages are heavenly and adulteries infernal; for marriage is an image of heaven, and love truly conjugial is an image of the Lord, while adultery is an image of hell, and love of adultery is an image of the devil. Moreover, conjugial love appears in the spiritual world in form like an angel, and the love of adultery in form like a devil. Reader, treasure this up within you, and after death, when you are living as a spirit-man, inquire whether this is true, and you will see.
Who hath authority over these plagues, signifies no fear of the Last Judgment by the Lord, and of the condemnation and punishment at that time of the evils and consequent falsities that have devastated the church. This is evident from the signification of "having authority," as being, in reference to God whose name they blasphemed, the Lord as to the Last Judgment; also from the signification of "plagues," as being the evils and consequent falsities, and the falsities and the consequent evils that have devastated the church (see n. 949). It is the Lord in regard to judgment that is signified by "who hath authority over the seven plagues" that are treated of in this chapter, because the end of the church, when these plagues, that is, these evils and falsities exist, is what is here treated of; and after that the judgment is wrought by the Lord. By the Last Judgment all that are in these plagues, that is, in the evils and falsities that have devastated the church, are cast into hell, and thus the New Church which is then to be established is cleansed of them. This makes clear the signification of "having authority over these plagues." (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] How profane and thus how much to be detested adulteries are can be seen from the holiness of marriage. All things in the human body, from the head to the heel of the foot, both interior and exterior, correspond to the heavens, and in consequence man is a heaven in its least form, and also angels and spirits are in form perfectly human, for they are forms of heaven. All the members devoted to generation in both sexes, especially the womb, correspond to societies of the third or inmost heaven, and for the reason that love truly conjugial is derived from the Lord's love for the church, and from the love of good and truth which is the love of the angels of the third heaven; therefore conjugial love, which descends therefrom as the love of the heavens, is innocence, which is the very being [esse] of every good in the heavens. And for this reason embryos in the womb are in a state of peace, and after birth infants are in a state of innocence; so, too, is the mother in relation to them. [3] As this is the correspondence of the genital organs of both sexes, it is evident that from creation they are holy, and therefore they are devoted solely to chaste and pure conjugial love, and are not to be profaned by the unchaste and impure love of adultery, by which man converts the heaven with himself into hell; for as the love of marriage corresponds to the love of the highest heaven, which is love to the Lord from the Lord, so the love of adultery corresponds to the love of the lowest hell. The love of marriage is so holy and heavenly because it has its beginning in the inmosts of man from the Lord Himself, and it descends according to order to the ultimates of the body, and thus fills the whole man with heavenly love and brings him into a form of the Divine love, which is the form of heaven, and is an image of the Lord, as has been said above. But the love of adultery has its beginning in the ultimates of man from an impure lascivious fire there, and thus, contrary to order, penetrates towards the interiors, always into the things that are man's own [proprium], which are nothing but evil, and brings these into a form of hell, which is an image of the devil. Therefore a man who loves adultery and turns away from marriage is in form a devil. [4] As the organs of generation in each sex correspond to the societies of the third heaven, and the love of a marriage pair corresponds to the love of good and truth, so those organs and that love correspond to the Word. The reason is that the Word is the Divine truth united to the Divine good proceeding from the Lord; and this is why the Lord is called "the Word," also why in every particular of the Word there is a marriage of good and truth, or a heavenly marriage. That there is such a correspondence is an arcanum not yet known in the world, but it has been made evident and proved to me by much experience. From this also it is clear how holy and heavenly marriages are in themselves, and how profane and diabolical adulteries are. And for this reason adulterers make no account of Divine truths and thus of the Word, and if they were to speak from the heart they would even blaspheme the holy things that are in the Word. This they do when they have become spirits after death, for every spirit is compelled to speak from the heart that his interior thoughts may be revealed.
And they repented not to give Him glory, signifies that they were unwilling to turn themselves to living according to the Lord's commandments. This is evident from the signification of "repenting," as being to turn themselves from evils and their falsities, here before the Last Judgment and condemnation and punishment come upon them; also from the signification of "giving glory to the Lord," as being to live according to His commandments (see above, n. 874). (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] As all the delights that a man has in the natural world are turned into correspondences in the spiritual world, so are the delights of the love of marriage and the delights of the love of adultery. The love of marriage is represented in the spiritual world as a virgin, whose beauty is such as to inspire the beholder with the charms of life; while the love of adultery is represented in the spiritual world by an old woman, whose deformity is such as to inspire in the beholder a coldness and death to every charm of life. Therefore in the heavens the angels are beautiful according to the quality of conjugial love with them, and in the hells the spirits are deformed according to the quality of the love of adultery with them. In a word, the angels of heaven have life in their faces, in the movements of their body, and in their speech, according to their conjugial love, while the spirits of hell have death in their faces according to their love of adultery. In the spiritual world the delights of conjugial love are represented to the sense by odors from fruits and flowers of various kinds, while the delights of the love of adultery are there represented to the sense by the stenches from excrements and putridities of various kinds. Moreover, the delights of the love of adultery are actually turned into such things, since all things pertaining to adultery are spiritual filth. Therefore from the brothels in the hells stenches pour forth that excite vomiting.
Verses 10, 11. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became dark; and they gnawed their tongues for distress. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their distresses and their sores; and they repented not of their works. 10. "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast," signifies the state of the church manifested as to the doctrine of faith (n. 988); "and his kingdom became dark" signifies the church in consequence in mere and dense falsities (n. 989); "and they gnawed their tongues for distress," signifies that they were unwilling from loathing to perceive and know genuine goods and truths (n. 990). 11. "And they blasphemed the God of heaven," signifies the falsification of the Word (n. 991); "because of their distresses and their sores," signifies from loathing and nausea towards genuine truths and goods, arising from the falsities and evils in which those are who are in faith alone (n. 992); "and they repented not of their works," signifies that they were unwilling to live according to the Lord's commandments (n. 993).
Verse 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast, signifies the state of the church manifested as to the doctrine of faith. This is evident from the signification of "the angel pouring out the vial," as being the state of the church manifested (as above); also from the signification of "the throne of the beast," as being the doctrine of faith. "The throne of the beast" signifies the doctrine of faith because "throne" signifies the church as to the truth that reigns therein, and "the beast" signifies such faith as exists in that church, therefore "the throne of the beast" signifies the church as to the doctrine of faith. This follows also from what is said before, that "the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun," which signifies the state of the church manifested as to love (see above n. 981); consequently the vial poured out by this angel upon the throne of the beast signifies manifestation of the state of the church as to faith, since love and faith are what constitute the church, but only when they are one and not two. But "the throne of the beast" means such faith as there is at this day in that church, which is faith separated from the goods of life. [2] The doctrine of faith is meant by "the throne of the beast," because "throne" means in the highest sense heaven and the church as to the Divine truth; and in the Christian Church the Divine truth is called faith; which was not done in the ancient churches, in which they did not know what faith is since faith involves something that is not understood and yet must be believed as if it were truth. Nearly everything of the church and of its doctrine at the present day is such; as for instance, what must be believed about the trinity, that there are three Persons of the Divinity, that the Lord was born from eternity, that the Holy Spirit proceeds from them, and that this proceeding is a Person which is God by Himself, and yet that there are not three but one, and thus that there is a trinity in the unity, and a unity in the trinity; furthermore, that faith is saving apart from its life, which is from the goods of charity or from good works; that to one who has been justified by faith alone, all works even such as are evil are pardoned, and the law does not condemn him, since the Lord has taken away the condemnation by the fulfilling of the law and by the passion of the cross; and that man will be saved when this is merely believed. [3] There are many other things that must be believed as truths which are said to be matters of faith because whether they are true or not cannot be seen; as what is said about free will, about the faith of infants, about the flesh and blood in the Holy Supper, also about the life of man after death, and the Last Judgment, which are called things to be believed although the understanding sees in them mere paradoxes that transcend all faith; as that man after death is a shadowy or airy something, a formless phantom of ether that does not see, hear or speak, and thus is either flying in the air or is in a somewhere awaiting the judgment, which is to come with the destruction of the entire universe, both the visible heaven, the sun, moon and stars, and also the earth; and then all things of the body left in the world by death are to come together again and clothe the soul, and thus man's senses will be restored; with other like things. As these cannot fall into the understanding they cannot be called truths, but must be called faith. Such is the faith that is meant by "the throne of the beast." [4] Who cannot see that by such a faith a man may be induced to believe mere absurdities and falsities, provided they are set up as dogmas by those placed in authority and are confirmed by others who for various reasons prefer to live in blind obedience? For by fallacies and sophistries, falsities, even infernal ones, can be so confirmed as to appear like truths, for instance, that infernal falsity that nature is everything; that whatever appears is ideal; that there is little difference between man and beast, that they die a like death and do not live after death; that the Word is not holy; and other like things; from which it is clear that all blindness in spiritual things has been induced by the faith of the present day, which was begun and brought to its densest darkness by the Babylonish nation; and although the Reformed, who separated from that nation, came forth from that thick darkness into some light by reading the Word they did not come into a light that enabled them to see truths as the ancient people did, and for the reason that they separated faith from the life, and it is from the life that a man has light, and not from any faith separated. All this makes clear what is meant by "the throne of the beast," the same as before by: The throne that the dragon is said to have given to the beast (Rev. 13:2, see above, n. 783). Also by the throne of Satan (Rev. 2:13). "Thrones" signify false doctrinals in other passages in the Word, as in Ezekiel: All the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and shall cast away their mantles and they shall be clothed with terrors (26:16). In Haggai: I will overthrow the throne of the Kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdoms of the nations (2:22). And in Daniel: I beheld till thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit (7:9). (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [5] How holy in themselves, that is, from creation, marriages are can be seen from the fact that they are seminaries of the human race; and as the angelic heaven is from the human race they are also the seminaries of heaven; consequently by marriages not only the earths but also the heavens are filled with inhabitants; and as the end of the entire creation is the human race, and thus heaven, where the Divine Itself may dwell as in its own and as it were in itself, and as the procreation of mankind according to Divine order is accomplished through marriages, it is clear how holy marriages are in themselves, that is, from creation, and thus how holy they should be esteemed. It is true that the earth might be filled with inhabitants by fornications and adulteries as well as by marriages, but not heaven; and for the reason that hell is from adulteries but heaven from marriages. Hell is from adulteries because adultery is from the marriage of evil and falsity, from which hell in the whole complex is called adultery; while heaven is from marriages because marriage is from the marriage of good and truth, from which heaven in its whole complex is called a marriage, as has been shown above in its proper article. That is called adultery where its love reigns, which is called the love of adultery, whether it be within matrimony or out of it, and that is called marriage where its love reigns, which is called conjugial love. Whether the earth might be filled with inhabitants by fornications and adulteries as well as by marriages will be further considered in the following article. [6] When procreations of the human race are effected by marriages in which the holy love of good and truth from the Lord reigns, then it is on earth as it is in the heavens, and the Lord's kingdom on earth corresponds to the Lord's kingdom in the heavens. For the heavens consist of societies arranged according to all the varieties of celestial and spiritual affections, from which arrangement the form of heaven springs, and this preeminently surpasses all other forms in the universe. There would be a like form on the earth if the procreations there were effected by marriages in which love truly conjugial reigned; for then, however many families might descend in succession from one head of a family, there would spring forth as many images of the societies of heaven in a like variety. Families would then be like fruit-bearing trees of various kinds, forming as many different gardens, each containing its own kind of fruit, and these gardens taken together would present the form of a heavenly paradise. This is said in the way of comparison, because "trees" signify men of the church, "gardens" intelligence, "fruits" goods of life, and "paradise" heaven. I have been told from heaven that with the most ancient people, from whom the first church on this globe was established, which was called by ancient writers the golden age, there was such a correspondence between families on the earth and societies in the heavens, because love to the Lord, mutual love, innocence, peace, wisdom, and chastity in marriage then reigned; and it was also told me from heaven that they were then inwardly horrified at adulteries, as at the abominable things of hell.
And His kingdom became dark, signifies the church in consequence in mere and dense falsities. This is evident from the signification of "kingdom," as being the church as to truths (see n. 48, 683, 684, 685); also from the signification of "darkness," as being falsities (see n. 526), here mere and dense falsities, because it is added, "even so that they gnawed their tongues and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their distresses and sores." That through faith alone, that is, through faith separated from good works, all the truths of the church have been banished, and mere falsities have been introduced in their place, has been frequently shown above. Nor can it be otherwise when life is separated from faith, and is thus shut out from religion. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] That heaven is from marriages and hell from adulteries has been shown above. What this means shall now be told. The hereditary evils into which man is born are not from Adam's having eaten of the tree of knowledge, but from the adulteration of good and the falsification of truth by parents, thus from the marriage of evil and falsity, from which the love of adultery exists. The ruling love of parents by means of an offshoot is derived from them and transcribed into the offspring and becomes its nature. If the love of the parents is the love of adultery it is also the love of evil for falsity and of falsity for evil. From this source man has all evil, and from evil he has hell. All this makes clear that it is from adulteries that man has hell, unless he is reformed by the Lord by means of truths and a life according to them. And no one can be reformed unless he shuns adulteries as infernal and loves marriages as heavenly. In this and in no other way is hereditary evil broken and rendered milder in the offspring. [3] It is to be noted, however, that while from adulterous parents man is born a hell, he is not born for hell but for heaven. For the Lord provides that no one shall be condemned to hell on account of hereditary evils, but only on account of the evils that the man has actually made his own by his life, as can be seen from the lot of infants after death, all of whom are adopted by the Lord, educated under His auspices in heaven, and saved. This makes clear that every man is born not for hell but for heaven, although from connate evils he is a hell. It is the same with every man born from adultery if he does not himself become an adulterer. Becoming an adulterer means living in the marriage of evil and falsity by thinking evils and falsities from a delight in them and by doing them from a love for them. Every man who does this becomes an adulterer. It is from Divine justice that no one is punished for the evils of his parents, but for his own; therefore the Lord provides that hereditary evils shall not return after death, but one's own evils, and it is for those that return that a man is then punished.
And they gnawed their tongues for distress, signifies that from loathing they are unwilling to perceive and know genuine goods and truths. This is evident from the signification of "gnawing their tongues," as being to be unwilling to perceive and know genuine goods and truths (of which presently); also from the signification of "distress," as being loathing. "Gnawing their tongues" signifies to be unwilling to perceive and know genuine goods and truths, because the "tongue" signifies perception of truth, and "to gnaw the tongue" to repress it. For the tongue has various significations, because it is an organ both of speech and of taste; as an organ of speech it signifies confession, thought, and religion; and as an organ of taste it signifies the natural perception of good and truth; while the sense of smell corresponds to the spiritual perception of good and truth. For the tongue tastes and relishes foods and drinks; and foods and drinks signify the goods and truths which nourish the natural mind. To be unwilling to have that perception, or to be unwilling to perceive genuine goods and truths, is signified by "gnawing their tongues." This has been said of those who separate faith from the goods of life; for they bring together all things of the church or of religion into one article of faith; and contend that by this man is justified. And as man is justified and saved by this alone, it follows that they loathe the remaining things of faith, which are truths of the church, even so as to be unwilling to perceive or to know them; for they say in their heart, "Of what use are these when this one thing is what saves, namely, that God the Father sent the Son, who has redeemed me from hell by the passion of the cross? Therefore the works of the law neither condemn nor save me, because I am saved simply by thinking and believing this with confidence." This, then, is why they are unwilling from loathing to perceive or know genuine truths and goods. They are nauseated at them, because being in faith alone they have an inward antagonism to the goods and truths of heaven and the church, also because these goods and truths are subjects of interior thought, and therefore transcend their material ideas. This loathing and nausea are here signified by "distress." (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] It has been said abode that the difference between the love of marriage and the love of adultery is like that between heaven and hell. There is a like difference between the delights of these loves; for delights derive their all from the loves from which they spring. The delights of the love of adultery derive what they are from the delights of doing evil uses, thus of evil doing; and the delights of the love of marriage from the delights of doing good uses, thus of well-doing. Therefore such as the delight of the evil is in doing evil such is the delight of their love of adultery; because the love of adultery descends therefrom. That it descends from that scarcely anyone can believe; and yet such is its origin. From this it is evident that the delight of adultery ascends from the lowest hell. But the delight of the love of marriage, since it is from the love of the conjunction of good and truth and from the love of doing good, is a heavenly delight; and it comes down from the inmost or third heaven, where love to the Lord from the Lord reigns. [3] From this it can be seen that the difference between these two delights is like that between heaven and hell. And yet, what is wonderful, it is believed that the delight of marriage and the delight of adultery are similar; nevertheless the difference between them is such as has now been described. But the difference can be discerned and felt only by one who is in the delight of conjugial love. One who is in that delight very clearly feels that in the delight of marriage there is nothing impure or unchaste, thus nothing lascivious; and that in the delight of adultery there is nothing but what is impure, unchaste, and lascivious. He feels that unchastity comes up from beneath, and that chastity comes down from above. But one who is in the delight of adultery is incapable of feeling this, because he feels what is infernal as his heavenly. From all this it follows that the love of marriage, even in its ultimate act, is purity itself and chastity itself; and that the love of adultery in its acts is impurity itself and unchastity itself. Since the delights of these two loves are alike in outward appearance, although inwardly they are wholly unlike, because opposites, the Lord provides that the delights of adultery shall not ascend into heaven and that the delights of marriage shall not descend into hell; and yet that there shall be some correspondence of heaven with prolification in adulteries, though none with the delight itself in them.
Verse 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven, signifies the falsification of the Word. This is evident from the signification of "blaspheming," when predicated of God, as being to falsify the Word even to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens (see n. 778); also from the signification of "the God of heaven," as being the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. This is the meaning of "the God of heaven" here and elsewhere in the Word, because the whole heaven consists of that Divine; and this is why angels are called "gods," and why they signify the Divine truths that are from the Lord; this also is why the Lord is called "the Word," which is the Divine truth, and why here the words "they blasphemed the God of heaven" signify the falsification of the Word even to the destruction of the Divine truth in the heavens. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] It has been said that conjugial love, which is natural, descends from the love of good and truth, which is spiritual; this spiritual therefore is in the natural love of marriage as a cause is in its effect. So from the marriage of good and truth there exists the love of bearing fruit, namely, good through truth and truth from good; and from that love the love of producing offspring descends, in which there is all delight and pleasure. On the contrary, the love of adultery, which is natural, exists from the love of evil and falsity, which is spiritual; consequently this spiritual is in the natural love of adultery as a cause is in its effect. So from the marriage of evil and falsity by love there exists the love of bearing fruit, namely, evil through falsity and falsity from evil; and from that love descends the love of producing offspring in adulteries, and in that love there is every delight and pleasure. [3] There is every delight and pleasure in the love of producing offspring, because all that is delightful, pleasurable, blessed and happy, in the whole heaven and in the whole world, has been from creation brought together in the effort and thus into the act of producing uses; and these joys increase in an ascending degree to eternity, according to the goodness and excellence of the uses. This makes evident why the pleasure of producing offspring, which surpasses every other pleasure, is so great. It surpasses every other because its use, which is the procreation of the human race, and thus of heaven, surpasses all other uses. [4] From this, too, comes the pleasure and delight of adultery; but as prolification through adulteries corresponds to the production of evil through falsity and of falsity from evil, that pleasure or delight decreases and becomes vile by degrees until it is changed at last into loathing and nausea. Because, as has been said above, the delight of the love of marriage is a heavenly delight, and the delight of adultery is an infernal delight, so the delight of adultery is from a certain impure fire, which as long as it lasts, counterfeits the delight of the love of good, but in itself it is the delight of the love of evil, which is in its essence the delight of hatred against good and truth. And because this is its origin there is no love between an adulterer and an adulteress except such as the love of hatred is, which is such that they can be in conjunction in externals but not in internals. For in the externals there is something fiery, but in the internals there is icy coldness; therefore after a short time the fire is extinguished and icy coldness succeeds, either with impotence or with aversion as from one filthy. [5] It has been granted me to see that love in its essence, and it was such that within it was deadly hatred, while without it appeared like a fire from burning dung and putrid and stinking matters. And as that fire with its delight burnt out, so by degrees the life of mutual discourse and interaction expired, and hatred came forth, manifested first as contempt, afterwards as aversion, then as rejection, and finally as blasphemy and fighting. And what was wonderful, although they hated each other they could from time to time come together and for the time feel the delight of hatred as the delight of love; but this came from an itching of the flesh. [6] What the delight of hatred and thus of doing evil is with those who are in hell can neither be described nor believed. To do evil is the joy of their heart, and this they call their heaven. Their delight in doing evil derives its all from hatred and vindictiveness against good and truth; when, therefore, they are moved by a deadly and diabolical hatred they rage against heaven, especially against those who are from heaven and who worship the Lord; for they violently burn to slaughter them, and because they cannot destroy their bodies they will to destroy their souls. It is, therefore, the delight of hatred which, becoming a fire in the extremes and being injected into the lusting flesh, becomes for the moment the delight of adultery-the soul in which the hatred lies concealed then withdrawing itself. It is for this reason that hell is called adultery, and also that adulterers are desperately unmerciful, savage and cruel. This, then, is the infernal marriage. [7] As adultery is fiery in the externals but cold in the internals, and as therefore the internal does not produce the external, as it does in marriages, but they mutually act against each other, so the man feels impotence if the woman desires the act, and still more if she importunes it; for the internal which is cold then comes into the effort and flows into what is fiery in the externals and extinguishes it, and so casts it off as unfit. Add to this that the lust of violating, which also enkindles that impure fire, then perishes.
Because of their distresses and their sores, signifies from loathing and nausea towards genuine truths and goods arising from the evils and falsities in which those are who are in faith alone. This is evident from the signification of "distresses," as being loathing toward genuine truths and goods arising from the falsities in which those are who are in faith alone (see n. 990); also from the signification of "sores," as being nausea arising from evils of the life. That "sores" signify the evil works that are what is man's own [proprium) and consequent falsifications of truth and good, may be seen above (n. 962]. Nausea is signified because pain from the sores on account of which they blasphemed the God of heaven is meant, and yet not pain on that account, but nausea for truths and for the goods therefrom. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] It has been said that the love of adultery is a fire enkindled from impurities that soon burns out and is turned into cold, and into an aversion corresponding to hatred. But the reverse is true of the love of marriage. This is a fire enkindled from the love of good and truth and from the delight in well-doing, thus from love to the Lord and from love towards the neighbor. This fire, which from its origin is heavenly, is full of innumerable delights, as many, in fact, as are the delights and blessednesses of heaven. It has been told me that the charms and pleasantnesses of that love which are manifested from time to time are so many and such that they cannot be numbered or described. Moreover, they are multiplied with continual increase to eternity. These delights have their origin in the fact that the married pair wish to be united into one as to their minds, and into such a union heaven breathes from the marriage of good and truth from the Lord in heaven. [3] I will here say something about the marriages of angels in heaven. They declare that they are in continual potency, that after the acts there is never any weariness, still less any sadness, but eagerness of life and cheerfulness of mind, that the married pair pass the night in each other's bosoms as if they were created into one, that effects are constantly open, that they are never lacking when they have desire, since without these their love would be like the channel of a fountain stopped up. The effect opens that channel and causes continuance and conjunction that they may become as one flesh; for the vital of the husband adds itself to the vital of the wife and binds together. They declare that the delights of the effects cannot be described in the expressions of any language in the natural world, nor be thought of in any except spiritual ideas, and that even these do not exhaust them. These things have been told me by the angels.
And they repented not of their works, signifies that they were unwilling to live according to the Lord's commandments. This is evident from the signification of "repenting," as being to live a different life; also from the signification of "their works," as being evils from falsities. For those who separate faith from works do evils from falsities, in that they say that as works are from man they are not good but are meritorious, and therefore must not be joined with faith, which is spiritual and justifying. For a man can do nothing that is good from a false principle; and where there is no good there is evil. It is otherwise when a man lives according to the Lord's commandments, which are, that evils must be refrained from and goods must be done. Therefore "they repented not of their works" signifies not to be willing to live according to the Lord's commandments. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] That true conjugial love contains in itself so many ineffable delights that can neither be numbered nor described can be seen from the fact that this love is the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, since through that love man becomes love; for from it each of the marriage pair loves the other as good loves truth and truth loves good, thus representatively as the Lord loves heaven and the church. Such love can exist only through a marriage in which the man is truth and the wife is good. When a man through marriage has become such love he is also in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor, and thus in the love of all good and in the love of all truth. For from man as love there must proceed loves of every kind; therefore conjugial love is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven. And as it is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven it is also the fundamental of all the delights and joys of heaven, since every delight and joy is of love. From this it follows that heavenly joys, in their order and in their degrees, have their origins and their causes from conjugial love. [3] From the felicities of marriages a conclusion may be drawn respecting the infelicities of adulteries, namely, that the love of adultery is the fundamental love of all infernal loves, which are in themselves not loves, but hatreds; consequently from the love of adultery hatreds of every kind gush forth, both against God and against the neighbor, and in general against every good and truth of heaven and the church; therefore to it all infelicities belong, for, as has been said before, from adulteries man becomes a form of hell, and from the love of adulteries he becomes an image of the devil. That from the marriages in which there is true conjugial love all delight and felicities increase even to the delights and felicities of the inmost heaven, and that all that is undelightful and unhappy in the marriages in which the love of adultery reigns increases in direfulness even to the lowest hell, can be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 386).
Verses 12-16. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. For they are spirits of demons, doing signs to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of the Almighty. Behold I come as a thief; happy is he that is awake and keepeth his garments, that he may not walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon. 12. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates," signifies the state of the church as to things rational, and intelligence therefrom (n. 995); "and the water thereof dried up," signifies that falsities were removed (n. 996); "that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared," signifies that Divine truth from the Lord might flow in (n. 997). 13. "And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast," signifies from the thought, reasoning, religion, and doctrine of those who are in faith alone, and in confirmations of that faith from the natural man (n. 998); "and out of the mouth of false prophets," signifies the doctrine of faith separated from the life, and of justification by it, confirmed from the Word falsified (n. 999); "three unclean spirits like frogs," signifies reasonings from mere falsities against Divine truths (n. 1000). 14. "For they are spirits of demons," signifies false reasonings from hell (n. 1001); "doing signs," signifies persuading by fallacies and sophistries (n. 1002); "to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle," signifies to excite dissensions and combats against truths with all who are of the church (n. 1003); "of that great day of the Almighty," signifies the last state of the church, when the Lord comes and the Let Judgment takes place (n. 1004). 15. "Behold I come as a thief," signifies the Lord's coming and the Last Judgment (n. 1005); "happy is he that is awake," signifies the happy state of those who look to the Lord (n. 1006); "and keepeth his garments," signifies and who live according to His Divine truths (n. 1007); "that he may not walk naked," signifies that he may not be without truths, and thus without good (n. 1008); "and they see his shame," signifies and thus be in filthy loves (n. 1009). 16. "And he gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon," signifies a state of combat from falsities against truths, arising from the love of self with the men of the church (n. 1010).
Verse 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, signifies the state of the church manifested as to things rational, and intelligence therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "the angel pouring out the vial," as being the state of the church manifested (as often above); also from the signification of "Euphrates," as being the rational (see above, n. 569), which is called "a great river" from the intelligence that man has from the rational, for "river" signifies intelligence (see n. 518). All the intelligence of the natural man is from his rational, for the rational is the medium between the spiritual and the natural; and because it is the medium, it first receives influx from the spiritual world and transfers it into the natural. From this it follows that before the spiritual mind, which is called the spiritual man, can be opened, and through it influx into the natural mind be given, the rational must be cultivated, which is done by means of knowledges [scientifica], which are natural and moral truths, and by means of cognitions [cognitiones] of truth and good from the Word. Through these the rational mind is opened from below. But as soon as the spiritual mind has been opened, and there is influx from that, the rational mind is opened from above; and thus the rational, as an intermediate, furnishes a passage; and then through it the natural mind, which contains knowledges and cognitions [scientifica et cognitiones, is subordinated to the spiritual mind, and thus to heaven and the Lord. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] True conjugial love is from the Lord alone. It is from the Lord alone because it descends from the Lord's love for heaven and the church, and thus from the love of good and truth; for good is from the Lord, and truth is in heaven and the church; and from this it follows that true conjugial love in its first essence is love to the Lord. And from this it is that no one can be in true conjugial love and its pleasantnesses, delights, happiness, and joys, unless he acknowledges the Lord alone, that is, that the trinity is in Him. He who approaches the Father as a person by Himself, or the Holy Spirit as a person by Himself, and these not in the Lord, can have no conjugial love. The genuine conjugial is given especially in the third heaven, because the angels there are in love to the Lord, they acknowledge Him alone as God, and they do His commandments. To them doing the commandments is loving the Lord. To them the Lord's commandments are the truths in which they receive Him. There is conjunction of the Lord with them, and of them with the Lord; for they are in the Lord because they are in good, and the Lord is in them because they are in truths. This is the heavenly marriage, from which true conjugial love descends.
And the water thereof was dried up, signifies that falsities were removed. This is evident from the signification of "waters," as being truths, and in the contrary sense falsities (see n. 518), here falsities, for it is added, "that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared," which signifies that the Divine truth from the Lord might flow in. Also from the signification of "being dried up," as meaning to be removed. This describes the state of man as to the rational. It is from the rational that man can see and understand truths; and so far as he can see truths, so far falsities from evils do not obstruct. For every man, even an evil man, has the faculty of understanding truths (see above, n. 874, 970); but man does not see them, nor does he understand them because he loves evil, and evil brings in falsity, and afterwards when truth has fallen into falsity, truth can no longer appear in its own light, for it is blunted, obscured, suffocated, and rejected. But in the first age of man falsities from evils do not enter, and thus do not obstruct. But they enter in his second and third age, when he no longer thinks from the memory alone or from a master, but from his own understanding. For the rational, in which is the understanding, is opened gradually, as man grows up. From this it is clear that falsities are in the meantime removed, and then the knowledges of good and truth from the Word enter; and these the man sees in a certain light apart from falsities. But afterwards the rational sight is perverted by reasonings from fallacies and from falsities which is signified by "three unclean spirits like frogs" that went forth out of the mouth of the dragon and of the beast and of the false prophet, which are treated of in what follows. The nearest sense of the words, that "the water of the river Euphrates was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared," is that a passage might be given from the church, where Divine truths are, which the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet wished to pervert. For the Euphrates was a boundary of the land of Canaan on one side and separated it from Assyria; and "the land of Canaan" signifies the church, and "Assyria" the rational. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] As true conjugial love in its first essence is love to the Lord from the Lord it is also innocence. Innocence is loving the Lord as one's Father by doing His commandments and wishing to be led by Him and not by oneself, thus like an infant. As that love is innocence, it is the very being [esse] of all good; and therefore man has so much of heaven in himself, or he is so much in heaven, as he is in conjugial love, because he is so far in innocence. It is because true conjugial love is innocence that the playfulness between a married pair is like the play of infants together; and this is so in the measure in which they love each other, as is evident in the case of all in the first days after the nuptials, when their love emulates true conjugial love. The innocence of conjugial love is meant in the Word by the "nakedness" at which Adam and his wife blushed not; and for the reason that there is nothing of lasciviousness, and thus nothing of shame, between a married pair, any more than between little children when they are naked together.
That the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared, signifies that the Divine truth from the Lord might flow in. This is evident from the signification of "the way of the kings," as being the influx of Divine truth, "way" signifying influx, and "kings" truths. The influx of Divine truth is meant because it is called "the way of the kings from the rising of the sun," for "ways" signify influx, since all influx from one society to another, thus from the Lord, is through ways opened in the spiritual world. And since "the rising of the sun" signifies where the Lord is, so "from the rising of the sun" means from the Lord. That the Lord is the sun of heaven, and therefore the "sun" means in the Word the Lord as to love, may be seen above (n. 401, 412, 527). (That "the east" and "the rising of the sun" mean where the Lord is, see n. 422; and that "kings" signify Divine truths, n. 29, 31, 553, 625.) What these words mean in the nearest sense has been told above, namely, that a way might be opened from the land of Canaan, which signifies the spiritual of the church, to Assyria, which signifies the rational of the church. The river Euphrates separated and bounded these countries. So "the way of the kings from the rising of the sun" signifies a passage from the church; and that this was opened is meant in that sense by "the water of the Euphrates was dried up." [2] Something shall now be said about the influx into men of Divine truth from the Lord. From the Lord as a sun both heat and light proceed; but the heat is Divine good, and the light is Divine truth. The light, which is Divine truth, flows into and enters into every angel of heaven, and also into every man in the world, and gives internal sight, which is the sight of the understanding. For every man, not as to his body but as to his spirit, has a faculty for receiving that light, that is, for understanding the Divine truth. And that faculty is opened as the man grows up, and cultivates and forms his rational according to order, by the knowledges [scientifica] and by the cognitions [cognitiones] of good and truth. But the heat, which is Divine good, does not flow into an angel or a man as the light, which is Divine truth, does, for the reason that man is born into evils of every kind, and evils obstruct; consequently evils must first be removed before the heat, which is Divine good, can flow in; and evils are removed by looking upon them as sins against God and shunning them, by praying to the Lord for help; and so far as a man thus receives Divine good so far he comes into the light of understanding Divine truth. For the way of Divine truth into a man who is reformed is through the good of the will, and of the life therefrom with him. [3] But when a man is not in Divine good, but in evil, he has nonetheless the faculty for receiving light, that is, for understanding Divine truth; and yet only so far as he is in a state separate from evil; if he is not in a state separate he has no such understanding of truth. A man is in a state separate when he is held solely in the thought that belongs to his understanding and not at the same time in the affection that belongs to his will. But in this state a man is not reformed, because the light does not then affect his life, that is, Divine truth is not then implanted. But man is in a state not separate when he is held in thought from the understanding and at the same time in affection from the will; and in that state man does not receive light, that is, does not understand Divine truth, unless he is at the same time in Divine good as to the affection of the will, for in that state the evils that belong to the will and the consequent falsities that belong to the thought obstruct and extinguish the light. But of these two states of man more will be said hereafter. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [4] Since conjugial love in its first essence is love to the Lord from the Lord, and thus is innocence, conjugial love is also peace, such as the angels in the heavens have. For as innocence is the very being [esse] of all good, so peace is the very being [esse] of all delight from good, consequently is the very being [esse] of all joy between the marriage pair. As then, all joy is of love, and conjugial love is the fundamental love of all the loves of heaven, so peace itself has its seat chiefly in conjugial love. Peace is happiness of heart and soul arising from the conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the church, as well as from the conjunction of good and truth, when all conflict and combat of evil and falsity with good and truth has ceased, as may be seen above (n. 365). And as conjugial love descends from such conjunction so all the delight of that love descends and derives its essence from heavenly peace. Moreover, this peace shines forth in the heavens as heavenly happiness from the faces of a marriage pair who are in that love, and who mutually regard each other from that love. But such heavenly happiness, which inmostly affects the delights of loves, and is called peace, can be granted only to those who can be joined together inmostly, that is, as to their very hearts.
Verse 13. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast, signifies from the thought, reasoning, religion, and doctrine of those who are in faith alone, and in confirmations of that faith from the natural man. This is evident from the signification of the "mouth," as being thought, reasoning, religion, and doctrine (see n. 580, 782, 794); also from the signification of the "dragon," as being those who are in faith alone both as to doctrine and as to life (see n. 714-716, 737); also from the signification of the "beast," as being those who confirm faith alone by reasonings from the natural man (see n. 773). For there were two beasts, one coming up out of the sea, the other out of the earth; and "the beast out of the sea" means faith alone confirmed by reasonings from the natural man; and "the beast out of the earth" means that faith confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, and its consequent falsification. But here "the beast coming up out of the sea" is meant, that is, faith confirmed by reasonings; since it is added, "out of the mouth of the false prophet," and "the false prophet" has the same signification as "the beast out of the earth," namely, faith alone confirmed by the Word, thus the doctrine of falsity from falsified truths. [2] This and what here follows describes how the doctrine of faith alone has blunted and almost extinguished the faculty of understanding the Divine truth, which is given to every man by the Lord so far as falsities from evil do not block up influx and access, lest anything should be perceived from heaven. For a man is like a garden, which receives light in winter equally as in summer, but not heat; and yet when it does receive heat it blossoms and bears fruit. So the evil man equally with the good man is able to receive light, that is, to understand Divine truth, but he cannot blossom and become fruitful, that is, be wise and do works that are good, except as he receives heat, that is, the good of love. [3] There are many who believe that the learned, since they know many things from the Word and from doctrine from the Word, are more intelligent and wise than others; and yet they have only so much intelligence and wisdom as they have spiritual heat, that is, the good of love, for only so far is their faculty of understanding truths opened and vivified; while that faculty is as it were covered up and blotted out by the evils of one's own love. That they have, nevertheless, this intellectual faculty, however covered up and blotted out, I have frequently heard proved by experiment. There were spirits who were wholly in falsities from evil, and who in their heart denied the Divine influx into all things of the understanding of truth and of the will of good, that is, denied the Divine Providence, and thus they confirmed with themselves that all things are of nature and of their own prudence. Although these spirits had as it were no faculty of understanding truths when they thought about them with themselves, yet when they heard from others that the Divine is everything, and that the natural is relatively nothing except as a tool is to a workman, they understood all this as clearly as those did who taught it, or as others did who had confirmed themselves in that Divine truth. But the moment they turned away their ear they fell back into things contrary, and no longer understood these truths, because they covered them up with falsities from confirmations. This clearly showed that all have the faculty of understanding the truth or of receiving light from heaven; and yet they receive only so far as by life they are in the good of love; the same as a garden that admits light from the sun in winter equally as in summer, and yet it blossoms and bears fruit only so far as it receives at the same time heat from the sun, which it does in spring and summer. (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [4] Man has such and so much of intelligence and wisdom as he has of conjugial love. The reason is that conjugial love descends from the love of good and truth as an effect does from its cause, or as the natural from its spiritual; and from the marriage of good and truth the angels of the three heavens have all their intelligence and wisdom; for intelligence and wisdom are nothing else than the reception of light and heat from the Lord as a sun, that is, the reception of Divine truth conjoined to Divine good, and of Divine good conjoined to Divine truth; thus it is the marriage of good and truth from the Lord. That it is so has been made clearly evident by angels in the heavens. When these are separated from their consorts they are indeed in intelligence, but not in wisdom; but when they are with their consorts they are also in wisdom; and what is wonderful, as they turn the face to their consort they are to the same extent in a state of wisdom; for the conjunction of truth and good is effected in the spiritual world by looking; and the wife there is good and the husband truth; therefore as truth turns itself to good so truth becomes living. By intelligence and wisdom ingenuity in reasoning about truths and goods is not meant, but the faculty of seeing and understanding truths and goods, and this faculty man has from the Lord.
And out of the mouth of the false prophet, signifies the doctrine of faith separated from life, and of justification by it confirmed from the Word falsified. This is evident from the signification of "the false prophet," as being the doctrine of falsity from truths of the Word falsified. This is signified by the "false prophet" because a "prophet" means the doctrine of truth from the Word, and in the highest sense the Word (see above, n. 624); so a "false prophet" means the contrary of this. Moreover, "the false prophet" here has the same signification as "the beast coming up out of the earth," for it is said, "out of the mouth of the beast and of the false prophet." For there were two beasts by which the dragon has been further described, one seen coming up "out of the sea," the other "out of the earth;" and "the beast out of the sea" signifies confirmations of faith separated from the life by reasonings from the natural man, but "the beast out of the earth" signifies confirmations from the Word of faith separated from the life, and the consequent falsifications of the Word. And because the doctrine of the church was made from this, and that doctrine teaches the separation of faith from the life and justification by that separated faith, so this second beast is meant by "the false prophet." (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [2] From true conjugial love there is power and protection against the hells, because it is against the evils and falsities that ascend from the hells, and for the reason that through conjugial love man has conjunction with the Lord, and the Lord alone has power over all the hells; also because through conjugial love man has heaven and the church; consequently as the Lord unceasingly protects heaven and the church from the evils and falsities that rise up from the hells, so He protects all who are in true conjugial love because heaven and the church is with these and with no others. For heaven and the church are the marriage of good and truth, from which is conjugial love, as has been said above. And this is why through conjugial love man has peace, which is inmost joy of heart from a complete safety from the hells and a protection from infestations of the evil and falsity therefrom.
Three unclean spirits like frogs, signifies reasonings from mere falsities against Divine truths. This is evident from the signification of "unclean spirits," as being falsities of evil which are from hell; for all who are in the hells are unclean from falsities of evil, for the reason that all unclean things exist from the falsities that are from evil, and all clean things from the truths that are from good. Also from the signification of "three," as being all things and fullness, and as being applied either to truths or to falsities (see n. 435, 506, 532, 658); and because of this "three" signifies wholly and merely, and here, mere falsity. Also from the signification of "frogs," as being reasonings from falsities. Frogs have this signification not only because of their croaking, but also because they live in bogs and fetid pools; and for the same reason they signify infernal falsities. For those who reason from falsities against Divine truths live in hells that appear like bogs and fetid pools; and those who are there, when they are seen in the light of heaven, resemble frogs, some in a larger and some in a smaller form according to their elation of mind arising from more or less keenness of reasoning. They are also more or less unclean according as their reasonings are against more or less interior and important Divine truths. [2] That "frogs" signify reasonings from mere falsities against Divine truths can be seen from the miracle of the frogs in Egypt. For all the miracles there performed signify the plagues or evils with which those are affected after death who fight against spiritual goods and truths and endeavor to destroy them by means of the knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man. For Pharaoh and the Egyptians represented and thus signified natural men; and the sons of Israel, whom they infested and wished to reduce to servitude, represented and thus signified spiritual men. So, too, the Egyptians represented and signified the things of the natural man, and the sons of Israel the things of the spiritual man. The things of the natural man have reference to evils and falsities, and evils have reference to the love, and falsities to its doctrine; while the things of the spiritual man have reference to the goods that belong to the love and to the truths that belong to its doctrine. That "frogs" here signify the reasonings from falsities of the natural man against the truths of the spiritual man is evident from the description of that miracle in Moses: He caused the river to swarm with frogs, and they went up and came into the house of Pharaoh and into his bed-chamber and upon his bed, and into the house of his servants and of his people, and into the ovens and the kneading troughs. And when they were dead they were gathered into heaps, and the land stank (Exod. 7:27-29; 8:1-14). That "frogs" here signify the reasonings from falsities of the natural man against Divine truths can be seen from the explanation of all this in the Arcana Coelestia (n. 7345-7357, 7379- 7409). [3] Also in David: He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. He caused frogs to creep forth upon their lands, into the chambers of their kings (Ps. 105:29, 30). This is said of the plagues in Egypt. "The waters turned into blood" signify truths falsified; "the fishes slain" signify scientific [scientifica] truths and cognitions [cognitiones] of the natural man, that they perished; "the frogs creeping forth upon their lands" signify reasonings of the natural man from falsities; "chambers of the kings" signify interior truths, which they perverted by reasonings from falsities, "chambers" being interior things, and "kings" truths. "The frogs that came up into the house of Pharaoh, into his bed-chamber, and upon his bed," have a similar signification. All this makes clear what is signified by "three unclean spirits like frogs, which went forth out of the mouth of the dragon, of the beast, and of the false prophet." (Continuation respecting the Sixth Commandment) [4] Those who are in true conjugial love, after death, when they become angels, return to their early manhood and to youth, the males, however spent with age, becoming young men, and the wives, however spent with age, becoming young women. Each partner returns to the flower and joys of the age when conjugial love begins to exalt the life with new delights, and to inspire playfulness for the sake of prolification. The man who while he lived in the world had shunned adulteries as sins, and who has been inaugurated by the Lord into conjugial love, comes into this state first exteriorly and afterwards more and more interiorly to eternity. As such continue to grow young more interiorly it follows that true conjugial love continually increases and enters into its charms and satisfactions, which have been provided for it from the creation of the world, and which are the charms and satisfactions of the inmost heaven, arising from the love of the Lord for heaven and the church, and thus from the love of good for truth and truth for good, which loves are the source of every joy in the heavens. Man thus grows young in heaven because he then enters into the marriage of good and truth; and in good there is the conatus to love truth continually, and in truth there is the conatus to love good continually; and then the wife is good in form and the husband is truth in form. From that conatus man puts off all the austerity, sadness, and dryness of old age, and puts on the liveliness, gladness, and freshness of youth, from which the conatus lives and becomes joy. [5] I have been told from heaven that such then have the life of love, which cannot otherwise be described than as the life of joy itself. That the man who lives in true conjugial love in the world comes after death into the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth springing from the marriage of the Lord with the church, is clearly evident from this, that from the marriages in the heavens, although the married pair have consociations there like those on the earth, children are not born, but instead of children goods and truths, and thus wisdom, as has been said above. And this is why births, nativities, and generations mean in the Word, in its spiritual sense, spiritual births, nativities, and generations, and sons and daughters mean the truths and goods of the church, and other like things are meant by daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law, and fathers-in-law. This also makes clear that marriages on the earth correspond to marriages in the heavens; and that after death man comes into the correspondence, that is, comes from natural bodily marriage into spiritual heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself and the joy of heaven.
958-1 In the text at the beginning of the chapter it reads "malum et noxium," "evil and noxious" here in the photolithograph Swedenborg first wrote "malum" but crossed this out and wrote over it "magnum" "great," through the following explanation he wrote "magnum" where the word is quoted. The Greek word means evil. In The Apocalypse Revealed Swedenborg translates it "malum" "evil," wherever quoted.
960-1 The Latin has "vestrae" "your." The Hebrew has "my."
960-2 [Marginal Note:] Skins of wine.
962-1 In the text at the beginning of the chapter it reads "malum et noxium," "evil and noxious" here in the photolithograph Swedenborg first wrote "malum" but crossed this out and wrote over it "magnum" "great," through the following explanation he wrote "magnum" where the word is quoted. The Greek word means evil. In The Apocalypse Revealed Swedenborg translates it "malum" "evil," wherever quoted.
963-1 In the text at the beginning of the chapter it reads "malum et noxium," "evil and noxious" here in the photolithograph Swedenborg first wrote "malum" but crossed this out and wrote over it "magnum" "great," through the following explanation he wrote "magnum" where the word is quoted. The Greek word means evil. In The Apocalypse Revealed Swedenborg translates it "malum" "evil," wherever quoted.
967-1 This order of the commandments reverses their usual order against killing and stealing. This order is found in the Septuagint. Elsewhere in treating of the Decalogue (in Arcana Coelestia, Doctrine of Life, and True Christian Religion) the traditional order is followed.
