signifies infernal love; and shall devour their enemies, signifies that they who hurt them will perish by that love; but it is not here to be understood that fire will proceed out of the mouth of the witnesses, but from those who desire to destroy these two essentials of the New Church, which are meant by the witnesses, n. 490. Fire is infernal love; for he who does not live according to the commandments of the decalogue, and approach to God the Saviour and Redeemer, cannot be otherwise than in infernal love, and perish. This is similar to its being said, in other parts of the Word, that fire proceeds from Jehovah to consume the wicked; and that Jehovah acts from the fire of his wrath, anger, and fury; not to mention other expressions of a like kind, by which it is not meant that this comes from Jehovah, but from the infernal love of the wicked. Such expressions are used in the Word, because they are appearances; the Word, in its literal sense, being written according to correspondences and appearances. Since it is said, that fire should proceed out of their mouth, and that thereby it is to be understood that it proceeds from those who are in infernal love, some passages shall be adduced in which it is said that fire comes from Jehovah: "The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it," Isaiah xxx. 33. "Smoke went up out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth, coals were kindled by it," Psalm xviii. 9. will pour out upon them the indignation of mine anger, for in the fire of my zeal shall the whole earth be devoured," Zeph. iii. 8. "Behold, Jehovah shall come in fire, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire," Isaiah lxvi. 15. "Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah in a flame of devouring fire," Isaiah xxix. 6, xxx. 30; besides many others.

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495. "And if any one desire to hurt them, he must thus be killed," signifies, that he who condemns them, shall in like manner be condemned. By desiring to hurt them, is here signified to condemn, because it follows, he must thus be killed, and by being killed, in the Word, is signified to be killed spiritually, which is to be condemned; for the Lord says, With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, Matt. vii. 1

496. "These have power to shut heaven, that the rain fall not in the days of their prophecy," signifies, that they who reject these two essentials, cannot receive any truth from heaven. By heaven is here meant the angelic heaven; consequently, by rain, the truth of the church from thence is signified; wherefore, by shutting heaven that the rain fall not, is signified that they are not able to receive any truth of the church from heaven; the truth of the church from heaven is the truth of doctrine from the Word. It is said that the witnesses had this power, but it is to be understood here as above, n. 494, that they have not the power to shut heaven, but that they shut heaven against themselves who reject these two essentials of the New Church, because they remain in their own. falses. That rain signifies divine truth from heaven, appears from these passages: "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew," Deut. xxxii. 2. "If ye serve other gods, Jehovah will shut up the heaven, that there be no rain," Deut. xi. 11, 14, 16, 17. I will lay my vineyard waste, and "I will command the clouds, that they rain no rain upon it," Isaiah v. 6. "Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed," Jerem. ii. 3. "For as the rain cometh down from heaven, so shall my Word be that goeth forth out of my mouth," Isaiah lv. 10, 11. "Ye children of Zion rejoice and be glad in Jehovah, for he hath given you the former rain moderately," Joel ii. 23. "Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain,” Psalm lxviii. 9. "He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass, in his days shall the righteous flourish," Psalm lxxii. 6, 7. "Jehovah shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth," Hosea vi. 3. "My speech dropped upon them, and they waited for me as for the rain, and they opened their mouth wide as for the latter rain," Job xxix. 22, 23. "Son of man, say unto her, thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation, there is a conspiracy of the prophets in the midst thereof," Ezek. xxii. 24, 25; besides other places; as in Isaiah xxx. 23, Jerem.

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v. 24, x. 12, 13, xiv. 3, 4, li. 16, Ezek. xxxiv, 26, 27, Amos iv. 7, 8, Zech. x. 1, Psalm lxv. 10, 11, Psalm cxxxv. 7, 2 Sam. xxiii. 3, 4. An inundating rain denotes the devastation of truth, Ezek. xiii. 11, 13, 14, xxxviii. 22; and temptation, Matt. vii. 24—27.

497. "And have power over the waters to turn them into blood," signifies, that they who reject these two essentials falsify the truth of the Word. By waters, are signified truths, n. 50; and by blood, the falsification of the truth of the Word, n. 379; therefore, by turning the waters into blood is signified to falsify the truths of the Word. This is to be understood in the same manner as before, namely, that they who reject the two essentials of the New Church can see nothing but their own falses, and, if they confirm these by the Word, they then falsify its truths.

498. "And to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will," signifies, that they who desire to destroy these two essentials of the New Church will plunge themselves into all kinds of evils and falses, as often, and in proportion, as they do so. By the earth, is signified the church, n. 285; and by a plague, is signified evil and falsity, n. 456; hence by smiting the earth with every plague, is signified to destroy the church by all kinds of evils and falses. But this passage is to be understood in the same manner as the former, viz., that they who desire to smite these two essentials of the New Church with a plague, that is, to destroy them, which is done by evil through falses, will plunge themselves into all kinds of evils and falses; and as the natural sense is thus inverted while it is spiritual, therefore also this expression," as often as they will," is inverted in like manner into this, as often, and in proportion, as they do this. The reason is, because in proportion as any one destroys these two essentials, in the same proportion he destroys the truths of the Word; and so far as he destroys the truths of the Word, so far he plunges himself into evils and falses; for these two essentials are the truths of the Word, as may appear manifestly from The two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem; one concerning The Lord,"

and the other concerning The Doctrine of Life from the Precepts of the Decalogue. This passage, which ascribes to the witnesses the power of smiting the earth with every plague as often as they will, is similar to many others in the Word, which attribute to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, that he smites men with plagues, and that such is his will, when yet it must be understood that he neither smites them, nor is it his will to do so; as in Zechariah : "And this shall be the plague wherewith Jehovah will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem,” xiv. 12, and following verses. And in Jeremiah: "I

have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity," xxx. 14; likewise in many other places. See also above, n. 494.

499. "And when they shall have finished their testimony," signifies, that after the Lord has taught that he is the God of heaven and earth, and that conjunction is formed with him by a life according to the precepts of the decalogue. When they shall have finished, signifies after the Lord has taught; the two witnesses, indeed, taught, yet not from themselves, but from the Lord. That testimony signifies these two essentials, may be seen above, n. 490.

500. "The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them," signifies, that they who are principled in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone will oppose them, and assault these two essentials of the New Church, and will reject them, and, as far as lies in their power, will cause others to reject them. By the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit, are meant they who came up out of the bottomless pit, and appeared like locusts, chap. ix. 1-12. That these were they who are in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone, may be seen in the explanation there given; by making war, is signified to oppose and assault these two essentials of the church, as will be seen presently; by overcoming and killing them, is signified to reject and extirpate them in themselves, and, as far as lies in their power, to cause

others to do the same. The reason why they who are principled in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone will impugn and reject these two essentials, is, because they have confirmed themselves in two things diametrically opposite to them,-first, that it is not the Lord, but God the Father, who is to be approached; and, secondly, that a life according to the precepts of the decalogue is not a spiritual life, but only a moral and civil life, and this they confirm, that no one may believe that he can be saved by works, but by their faith alone. All they who have had these tenets strongly impressed upon their minds in schools and universities do not recede from them afterwards; and that for these three several reasons, which have not been made known till now; first, because they have entered, as to their spirit, into association with their like in the spiritual world, where there are many satans, who are delighted with nothing but falses, from whom they can no how be separated but by rejecting those falses; nor can this be done but by immediately approaching God the Saviour, and beginning a Christian life according to the precepts of the decalogue. The second reason is, because they believe that remission of sins, and consequent salvation, may take place in a moment in the act of faith, and afterwards in the state or in the progression by the same act continued, preserved, and retained, from the Holy Spirit, separate from the exercises of charity; and they who have once imbibed these doctrines afterwards make no account of sins before God, and so live in their uncleanness; and, because they have the art to confirm their tenets before the unlearned very ingeniously by falsifications of the Word, and before the learned by much sophistry, it is here said, that the beast which came up from the bottomless pit overcame and killed the two witnesses. But this is only exhibited among such as love to follow their own inclinations, being borne along by the delights of their lusts, and who, while thinking about salvation, nevertheless cherish those lusts in their hearts, and embrace their faith with both hands, seeing that they may be saved by uttering certain words with a tone of confidence, and need not attend to leading a life for the