shut heaven, or to loose and to bind, consequently to remit sins, which is the same thing as to reform and regenerate, and so to redeem and save man, is a work purely divine; and that man without profanation cannot claim to himself any thing divine, and that neither did Peter claim the like to himself, for which reason he never exercised it; moreover that the succession is an invention proceeding from that love; as also the transferring of the Holy Spirit from one man to another. On bearing these things, would not that love, which is the devil, thunder out its anathemas upon him who uttered them; and in the fire of his fury command him to be delivered to the inquisitor, and cast into a dungeon? If any one should say further, How can the Lord's divine power be transferred to you ? How can the Lord's divinity be separated from his soul and body? Does not your faith reply that it cannot ? How can God the Father convey his divine power into the Son, except into his divinity, which is the receptacle? How can this be transferred to a man so as to become his own? Not to mention other considerations of a like na On hearing these things, would not that love, which is the devil, have nothing to say; would he not burn with rage, gnash with his teeth, and exclaim, "Away with him, crucify him, crucify him, get you gone, every one of you, see this grand heretic, and delight yourselves in his punishment? CHAPTER XIX. 1. AND after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia! Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God: 2. For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judg ed the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. 3. And again they said, Alleluia! And her smoke rose up for ever and ever. 4. And the four-and-twenty elders, and the four animals, fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia! 5. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great. 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. 7. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8. And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and shining, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. 9. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are called unto the marriage-supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true words of God. 10. And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus; worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 11. And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon him is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12. And his eyes were as a flame of fire: and on his head were many diadems; and he had a name written, that no one knew but he himself. 13. And he was clothed with a vesture stained with blood: and his name is called the Word of God. 14. And the armies in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the wine-press of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of hea ven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; 18. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both small and great. 19. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make war with him that sat on the horse, and with his army. 20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that wrought signs before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21. And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which proceedeth out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. A glorification of the Lord by the angels of heaven, on account of the removal of the Roman Catholic religion in the spiritual world, whereby they were restored to their light and beatitude, verses 1-5. Annunciation of the Lord's advent, and of a New Church from him, verses 6—10. The opening of the Word as to its spiritual sense for the use of that church, verses 11—16. The calling of all men unto it, verses 17, 18. The resistance of those who are principled in faith separated from charity, verse 19. Their removal and damnation, verses 20, 21. THE CONTENTS OF EACH VERSE. "And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia,” signifies, thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens, on account of the removal of the Babylonians: "Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power unto the Lord our God," signifies, that now there is salvation from the Lord, because now there is a reception of divine truth and divine good by virtue of his divine power: "For true and righteous are his judgments, for he hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom," signifies, because in justice the profane Babylonian religion is condemned for destroying the Lord's church by foul adulterations of the Word: "And hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand," signifies, retribution for the mischief and violence offered to the souls of them who worship the Lord: "And again they said, Alleluia! And her smoke rose up for ever and ever,” signifies, thanksgiving and celebration of the Lord, for joy that that profane religion is condemned to eternity; "And the four-and-twenty elders, and the four animals, fell down and worshiped God, who sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia," signifies, adoration of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and judge of the universe, by the angels of the higher heavens, and confirmation of the thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens: "And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God all ye his servants, and ye that fear him," signifies, influx from the Lord into heaven, and consequent unanimity of the angels, that all who are in the truths of faith and in the goods of love, should worship the Lord as the only God of heaven: "Both small and great," signifies, those who in a lesser and greater degree worship the Lord from the truths of faith and the goods of love: "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," signifies, the joy of the angels of the lowest heaven, of the angels of the middle heaven, and of the angels of the highest heaven, because the Lord alone reigns in the church which is now about to come: "Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come," signifies joy of soul and heart, and consequent glorification of the Lord, because from henceforth a full marriage of him with the church is effected: "And his wife hath made herself ready," signifies, that they who are to be of this church, which is the New Jerusalem, will be collected, initiated, and instructed:" And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and shining," signifies, that they will be instructed in genuine and pure truths through the Word from the Lord: "For fine linen is the righteousness of the saints," signifies, that by truths from the Word, they who are of the Lord's church acquire the goods of life: “And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are called unto the marriagesupper of the Lamb," signifies, a single angel sent from heaven to John, and talking with him concerning the Lord's New Church, and saying that it would be given to know upon earth, that they have eternal life, who receive the things which are of that church: "And he saith unto me, These are the true words of God," signifies, that this is to be believed because it is from the Lord: "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus; worship God," signifies, that the angels of heaven are not to be worshiped and invoked, because they have nothing divine in them, but that they are associated with men, as brethren with_brethren, with such as worship the Lord, and therefore that the Lord alone is to be worshiped in consociation by both: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," signifies, that the acknowledgment, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time a life according to his precepts, is, in an universal sense, the all of the Word and of doctrine derived from it: "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse,” signifies, the revealing of the spiritual sense of the Word by the Lord, and thereby the discovery of the interior meaning of the Word, which is the coming of the Lord: "And he that sat upon him is called Faithful and True: and in righteousness he doth judge and make war," signifies, the Lord as to the Word, that he is the divine good and divine truth itself, from both which he executes judgment: "And his eyes were as a flame of fire," signifies, the divine wisdom of the Lord's divine love: "And on his head were many diadems," signifies, the divine truths of the Word from him: "And he had a name written, that no one knew but he himself," signifies, that what the Word is in its spiritual and celestial sense, no one sees but the Lord, and they to whom he reveals it: "And he was clothed with a vesture stained with blood: and his name is called the Word of God," signifies, the divine truth in its ultimate sense, or the Word in the letter, to which violence has been offered : "And the armies in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean," signifies, the angels in the new christian heaven, who were in conjunction with the Lord, in the interior understanding of the Word, and thus in pure and genuine truths: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword,” signifies, the dispersion of falses by doctrine thence derived froin the Lord: "That with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron," signifies, that he will convince all who are in a dead faith, by the truths of the literal sense of the Word, and by rational arguments: "And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God," signifies, that the Lord alone sustained all the evils of the church, and all the violence offered to the Word, thus to himself: "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords," signifies, that the Lord teaches in the Word what he is, that he is the divine truth of divine wisdom, and the divine good of divine love, thus that he is the God of the universe: "And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God," signifies, the Lord from divine love, and thence from divine zeal, calling and inviting all, who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and think of heaven, to the New Church, and to conjunction with himself, thus to life eternal: "That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both small and great," signifies, the appropriation of good things from the Lord by the truths of the Word and of doctrine derived from it, in every sense, degree, and kind: “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with him that sat on the horse, and with his army," signifies, that all the interiorly wicked, who have made profession of faith alone, with their leading men and their adherents, will impugn the divine truths of the Lord in his Word, and infest those who are to be of the Lord's New Church: "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that wrought signs before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image," signifies, all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, as well the laity and common people as the clergy and the learned, who by ratiocinations and attestations, that faith alone is the sole medium of salvation, have induced others to receive that faith, and to live according to it: "These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone," signifies, that all these, as they were, were cast into hell, where are the loves of falsity, and at the same time the lusts of evil: "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which |