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that the desolation thereof is nigh," Luke Jerusalem is here signified the church, and evils and falses which would lay it was the consummation of the age, which is the church. Evils and falses are signific in Joel: "And I will restore to you the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, the the palmer-worm, my great army, whic you," ‚” ii. 25. That by the locust and t is signified the false in extreme or lowes above, n. 424.

448. "And I heard the number of that the quality of them was perceived, w lows. To hear, signifies to perceive; nun quality and state of a thing, n. 10, 348, the quality of their state, as given belo described in what now follows, wherefor thus I saw.

449. "And thus I saw the horses in them that sat on them," signifies, that covered that the reasonings of the interior concerning faith alone, were imaginary an that they themselves were infatuated with signifies to discover their quality; by hor the reasonings of the interiors of their m faith alone; in the present case, imagina reasonings, because it is said, that he saw By those that sit on horses, are signified ligent from the Word understood, but he infatuated by imaginary and visionary no contrary to the Word. Because the minds appeared under such forms as sign visionary reasonings concerning faith alon which I have heard from their own mout public; thus, for instance: "Was not the grievous fall of man, made the only tion? How can we appear before God dium? Is it not the only medium? Ar sins, and is not our nature entirely corrup gression of Adam? Can there be any

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that the desolation thereof is nigh," Luke xxi. 20. By Jerusalem is here signified the church, and by armies the evils and falses which would lay it waste; speaking of the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church. Evils and falses are signified by an army, in Joel: "And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the canker-worm, the caterpillar, and the palmer-worm, my great army, which I sent among you, ii. 25. That by the locust and the other things, is signified the false in extreme or lowest principles, see above, n. 424.

448. "And I heard the number of them," signifies, that the quality of them was perceived, which was as follows. To hear, signifies to perceive; number, signifies the quality and state of a thing, n. 10, 348, 364: it denotes the quality of their state, as given below, because it is described in what now follows, wherefore it is said, And thus I saw.

449. "And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them," signifies, that then it was discovered that the reasonings of the interiors of their minds concerning faith alone, were imaginary and visionary, and that they themselves were infatuated with them. To see, signifies to discover their quality; by horses, are signified the reasonings of the interiors of their minds concerning faith alone; in the present case, imaginary and visionary reasonings, because it is said, that he saw them in vision. By those that sit on horses, are signified such as are intelligent from the Word understood, but here, such as are infatuated by imaginary and visionary notions, which are contrary to the Word. Because the interiors of their minds appeared under such forms as signify imaginary and visionary reasonings concerning faith alone, a few of them, which I have heard from their own mouths, shall be made public; thus, for instance: "Was not faith alone, after the grievous fall of man, made the only medium of salvation? How can we appear before God without that me-. dium? Is it not the only medium? Are we not born in sins, and is not our nature entirely corrupted by the transgression of Adam? Can there be any other means of

What can our works

being healed but by faith alone? contribute towards this? Who can do any good work from himself, who can purify, forgive, justify, and save himself? Does there not lurk, in every work that man does from himself, merit and self-righteousness? And if, haply, we should do any thing that was good, could we do all, and fulfill the law? Besides, if any one sins against one commandment, he sins against all, because they cohere. Why did the Lord come into the world, and suffer so grievously on the cross, but to take away from us damnation and the curse of the law, to reconcile God the Father, and become merit and righteousness alone, which might be imputed to man through faith? otherwise, what good end could be answered by his coming? Since, then, Christ, suffered for us, and fulfilled the law for us, and took away its right of condemnation, can evil, in this case, any longer condemn, and can good save us? therefore we who have faith, are at full liberty to think, will, speak, and do whatever we please, provided we do no injury to our reputation, honor, and interest, nor incur the penalties of the civil law, which would be a disgrace and hurt to Some, who wander further north, said, "That good works, which are done for the sake of salvation, are hurtful, pernicious, and cursed;" among these, also, there were some presbyters. These things are what I heard, but they mumbled and muttered many more, which I did not hear. They spoke, also, indecently with all licentiousness, and were lascivious, both in words and actions, without fear for any wicked deed, except out of pretence, for the sake of appearing honest. Such are the interiors of the mind, and thence the exteriors of the body of those, who place the all of religion in faith alone. But all those things, which were uttered by them, fall to the ground, if the Lord himself-the Saviour-is immediately approached, and believed in, and good is done, each for the sake of salvation, and by man as from himself, with a belief, however, that it is from the Lord: unless these things. are done as by man, neither faith nor charity can be given at all; nor, consequently, can religion nor salvation.

us."

450. "Having breast-plates of fire, and of jacinth, and

of brimstone," signifies, their imaginary and visionary argumentations from infernal love and self-derived intelligence, and the concupiscences thence proceeding. By breast-plates, are signified argumentations, by which they fight for faith alone, n. 436; by fire, is signified celestial love, and, in the opposite sense, infernal love, n. 452, 465, 495; by jacinth, is signified intelligence from spiritual love, and, in the opposite sense, intelligence from infernal love, which is self-derived intelligence, of which below; and by brimstone is signified concupiscences derived from that love through self-intelligence, n. 452: hence it follows, that by breast-plates of fire, of jacinth, and of brimstone, such things are signified. The reason why their argumentations in favor of faith alone are thus described, is, because all they who believe themselves justified, that is, absolved from sin, by faith alone, never think of repentance; and an impenitent man is in mere sins, and all sins are derived from, and thence partake of the nature of infernal love, of self-intelligence, and the concupiscences springing from them; and they who are principled in these things, not only act from them, but also speak, yea, think and will, and consequently reason and argue from them; these constitute, indeed, the very man, because they are his very life; but then a man-devil, and an infernal life. They who live a moral life, only for the sake of themselves and the world, do not know this; the reason is, because their interiors are infernal, whilst their exteriors are similar to the exteriors of those who live a Christian life: let them know, however, that every one when he dies, comes into his interiors, because he becomes a spirit, this being the internal man; and then the interiors accommodate the exteriors to themselves, and they become alike: wherefore the morality of their life in the world then becomes as the scales of fishes which are wiped away. The case is quite different with those who hold the precepts of moral life to be divine, and then those also of a civil nature, by reason of their having relation to love towards the neighbor. A jacinth, signifies intelligence derived from spiritual love, because its color partakes of the redness of fire and the whiteness

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