66 66 ❝tion, that they desired to know whether that spiritual sense existed in those words. Wherefore the Word "which is in heaven was given them, in which Word "there is not the natural but the spiritual sense, this being "for the use of the angels who are spiritual; and when they read it, they saw at once that Peter was not men"tioned there, but instead of Peter, Truth derived from good which is from the Lord.' On seeing this, they "rejected it with anger, and would have torn it to pieces "almost with their teeth, had it not been instantly taken "from them. Hence they were convinced, although un"willing to be convinced, that that power belongs to the "Lord alone, and not in the least degree whatever to any man, inasmuch as it is a divine power.' 46 66 " 769. Standing afar off for fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come," signifies, their fear of punishment, and grievous lamentation at the same time that this religion, so strongly fortified, could be subverted. so suddenly and so totally, and that they themselves might perish. To stand afar off for fear of her torment, signifies, a state as yet remote from the state of those who are un der condemnation already, because in fear of torment, as will be seen presently; alas, alas, signifies grievous lamentation; that alas signifies lamentation over calamity, unhappiness, and damnation, may be seen above, n. 416, hence Alas, alas! signifies grievous lamentation; by that great city Babylon, is signified that religion, in this passage, as above, n. 751. Babylon is spoken of as a woman and a harlot, because it is said her torment; by that mighty city, is signified that religion so well fortified; in one hour is thy judgment come, signifies, that there should be a possibility of its being so suddenly subverted, and that they themselves might perish; in one hour, signifies, so suddenly; and by judgment is signified the subversion of their religion and the destruction of those who had committed whoredom and lived deliciously with that harlot, such being here treated of; that they were destroyed at the last judgment, may be seen in a small tract on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon, published in London in the year 1758; for what is here said relates to that destruction. The reason why standing afar off for fear of her torment, signifies a state as yet remote from the state of those who are in condemnation, as being in fear of torment, is, because by afar off is not meant remoteness of space, but remoteness of state, when any one is in fear of punishment, for so long as a man is in a state of fear, he sees, weighs, and laments: remoteness of state, which is remoteness in a spiritual sense, is also signified by afar off in other parts of the Word, as in these passages: "Hear ye that are far off, what I have done, and ye that are near, acknowledge my might," Isaiah xxxiii. 13. "Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off?" Jerem. xxiii. 23. "The people found grace in the wilderness, even Israel,-Jehovah hath appeared to me from afar off," Jerem. xxxi. 2. 3. "Bring my sons from afar," Isaiah xliii. 6. "Hearken ye people from far," Isaiah xlix. 1, 2. "And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar," Isaiah v. 26; besides other places, as Jerem. iv. 16, xxv. 26, Zechar. vi. 15; where by nations and people from afar off, are meant those who are more remote from the truths and goods of the church. In common discourse also relations are said to be near, and the more remote in affinity are said to be distant. 770. That religion is called a strong city, because it had strongly fortified itself, for it had fortified itself not only by the multitude of nations and people that acknowledged it, but also by many other things; as by a plurality of monasteries, and by the armies of monks they contain ; this expression is used because they call their ministry their soldiery; by the possession of wealth beyond measure and satiety; also by the tribunal of the inquisition; and likewise by threats and terrors, especially in regard to purgatory, into which they say every one enters; by the extinction of the light of the Gospel, and consequent blindness in things of a spiritual nature, which is effected by prohibiting and preventing the people from reading the Word; by masses uttered in a language unknown to the vulgar; by various external formalities; by the worship of the dead and of images, to which the common people are prone, when kept in ignorance of God; also by various external pomps; that by means of these contrivances they may be kept in a corporeal belief of the sanctity of all things belonging to that religion. Hence it is that they are in total ignorance of what lurks inwardly in that religion; when yet its nature is altogether such as is described above in these words; "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her whoredom," Apoc. xvii. 4. But although Babylon had so fortified herself, and in like manner in the spiritual world also, of which below, n. 772, yet at the day of the last judgment she was totally destroyed. Concerning her devastation Jeremiah thus prophesied: "Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from me shall spoilers come," li. 53. "The mighty men of Babylon have forborne to fight, they have remained in their holds: their might hath failed, they have burned her dwelling places, her bars are broken; the city is taken at one end. The wall of Babylon also shall fall," li. 30, 31, 44. Babylon is suddenly fallen and destroyed: howl for her, take balm for her pain, if so be she may be healed," li. 8. 771. "And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no one buyeth their merchandise any more," signifies, the grief of those of the inferior orders. who minister and gain by holy things, because after the destruction of Babylon, their religious tenets are not acknowledged to be sacred, but to be adulterated and profaned goods and truths of the Word, and thence of the church, and thus they cannot any longer make a profit of them as before. By merchants are meant those of the inferior orders in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, because by the kings of the earth, before treated of, are meant those of the superior orders, as may be seen above, n. 767; therefore by merchants of the earth are signified they who are in the ministry and make money of things holy; by weeping and mourning is signified their sorrow, as above, n. 767; by their merchandise are signified things of a sacred or religious nature, with which they traffic and make a gain by not buying them any more is signified that there is no desire to possess them, seeing that they are not sacred, but adulterated and profaned goods and truths of the Word and thence of the church; that to buy is to procure for themselves, see n. 606. On this subject we read as follows in Jeremiah, "O Babylon, that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness,' li. 13. 772. "The merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones, and of pearls," signifies, that they no longer possess these things, because they are not in possession of the spiritual goods and truths, to which such things correspond. By their merchandise nothing else is signified but what is here named; for that they have gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls in abundance, and that they have procured these things by means of their religious ceremonies, which they made sacred and divine, is well known. Such things were in the possession of those who were of Babylon, prior to the last judgment: for they were then permitted to form, as it were, heavens to themselves, and by various arts to procure such valuables from heaven, yea, to fill storehouses with them, as they had done in the world; but after the last judgment, when their fictitious heavens were destroyed, all those things were reduced to dust and ashes, and carried away by an east wind, and scattered over their hells as profane dust. But on this subject read the description of those events from ocular testimony in the tract concerning the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon. Since that overthrow and their being cast into hell, they have been in so miserable a state, that they do not even know what gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls are; the reason is, because gold, silver, and precious stones, correspond to spiritual goods and truths, and pearls to the knowledges thereof; and since they are not in possession of any goods and truths, nor of the knowledges of these things, but instead of them possess evils and falses, and the knowledges of what are evil and false, they cannot have any other than such things as correspond to what they do possess, which are matters vile and disagreeable in appearance, with the exception of a few shells on which they place their affections, as they had formerly done upon the above recited precious things. It is to be observed, that in the spiritual world there exist all the objects that are to be seen in the natural world, but with this difference, that all things in the spiritual world are correspondences, for they correspond to the interiors of its inhabitants, being splendid and magnificent with those who are in wisdom derived from divine truths and goods, through the Word, from the Lord; and the contrary with those who are in a state of madness from falses and evils. Such a correspondence by virtue of creation, exists when what is spiritual in the mind is let down into what is sensual in the body; for which reason every one in the spiritual world knows the quality of another, as soon as he comes into his apartHence it may appear, that by merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones and pearls, is signified that they no longer possess these things; because they are not in possession of the spiritual goods and truths, nor of the knowledges of what is good and true, to which such things correspond. That gold by correspondence signifies good, and silver truth, see above, n. 211, 726. That precious stones signify spiritual truth, n. 231, 540, 726. That pearls signify the knowledges of things good and true, n. 727. ment. 773. "And of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet," signifies, that they no longer possess these things, because they are not in possession of the celestial goods and truths to which they correspond. By the things above-mentioned, namely, gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls, are signified in general spiritual goods and truths, as was observed above, n. 772; but by these, which are fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet, are signified in general celestial goods and truths; for with those who are in heaven and the church, there are spiritual goods and truths, and there are celestial goods and truths; spiritual goods and truths are of wisdom, and celestial goods and truths are of love; and because they are not in |