angels, since it is said of them, in what follows, n. 446, that they were prepared to kill the third part of men, and the interiors of men make one with spirits, either infernal or celestial, because they cohabit: by loosing them, is signified to remove external restraints, that the interiors of their minds may appear. Such is the signification of these words. By Euphrates are signified the interiors of man's mind bordering upon or bounding the spiritual things of his church, as may appear from those places in the Word where Ashur or Assyria is mentioned; but Euphrates occurs, in an opposite sense, in which it signifies the interiors full of falses and thence of insanities, in these passages: "Behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria. And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow, and go over," Isaiah viii. 7, 8. "And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, that thou shouldest drink the waters of the river?" Jerem. ii. 18. "And Jehovah shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and shake his hand over the river Euphrates," Isaiah xi. 15. "And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up," Apoc. xvi. 12. The prophet was commanded to put a girdle upon his loins, and to hide it afterwards in a hole of a rock beside the Euphrates, and after a short time when he took it, behold it was rotten, nor was it useful for any thing, Jerem. xiii. 1-7, 11. And he was also commanded, When he had done reading the Book, to cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and to say, thus shall Babylon sink, and not rise again, Jerem. li. 63, 64; by these things were represented the interiors of the state of the church with the children of Israel. That the river of Egypt, the Nile, and the river of Assyria, the Euphrates, were the boundaries of the land of Canaan, appears from this passage: "Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates," Gen. xv. 18. That the Euphrates was a boundary, may be seen, Exod. xxiii. 31, Deut. i. 7, 8, xi. 24, Joshua i. 4, Micah vii. 12.

445. "And the four angels were loosed," signifies, that when external restraints were removed, the interiors of their minds appeared. This follows from what was said above.

446. "Who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men," signifies, that they were perpetually in the effort to take away spiritual light and life from men of the church. Being prepared, signifies to be in the endeavor; by an hour, a day, a month, and a year, is signified continually and perpetually, in like manner as by at all times; to slay, signifies to take away spiritual light and life from men of the church, n. 325; and the third part, signifies all, n. 400.

447. "And the number of the armies of horsemen were two myriads of myriads," signifies, reasonings concerning faith alone, with which the interiors of their minds were filled, from the great abundance of mere falses of evil. By armies, are signified goods and truths; and, in the opposite sense, evils and falses; here, the falses of evil, of which below. By horsemen, are signified reasonings concerning faith alone; because by a horse is signified the understanding of the Word, n. 298; and also the understanding of the Word destroyed, n. 305, 312, 321; therefore by horsemen, are signified reasonings from the understanding of the Word destroyed: in the present instance, concerning faith alone; because they who are principled therein, are treated of. By two myriads of myriads, are not meant the precise number, but a great abundance; two are mentioned, because two are predicated of good, and, in the opposite sense, of evil, n. 322; and myriads are predicated of truths, and, in the opposite sense, of falses, n. 336. Hence it may be seen, that by the number of the armies of horsemen, two myriads of myriads, are signified reasonings concerning faith alone, with which the interiors of their minds were filled, from the great abundance of mere falses of evil. That by armies, in the Word, are signified the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and, in the opposite sense, evils and falses, may appear from those places where the sun, moon, and stars, are called armies or hosts; and by the

sun is signified the good of love; by the moon, the truth of faith; and by the stars, knowledges of what is good and true; and the contrary, in the opposite sense, n. 51, 53, 332, 413; both the former and the latter are called armies or hosts, in these passages: "Praise Jehovah all ye his hosts, praise ye him sun and moon, praise him all ye stars of light," Psalm cxlviii. 2, 3. "My hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded," Isaiah xlv. 12. "By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth," Psalm xxxiii. 6. The heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them, Gen. ii. 1. The horn of the goat grew even "to the host of heaven, and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host-and an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground: then I heard one saint speaking, How long is the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot," Dan. viii. 10—14. "Jehovah shall utter his voice before his army," Joel ii. 11. On the housetops they offered incense to all the host of heaven, Jerem. xix. 13. Lest thou worship and serve the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the host of heaven, Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 3, Jerem. viii. 2; in like manner in Isaiah xiii. 4, xxxiv. iv. xl. 26, Jerem. xxxiii. 22, Zech. ix. 15, Apoc. xix. 14. Because the host of heaven signifies the goods and truths of heaven and the church, therefore the Lord is called Jehovah Zebaoth, that is, Jehovah of hosts: and, for the same reason, the ministry of the Levites was called military service, Numb. iv. 3, 23, 30, 39; and it was written in David: "Bless Jehovah all ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure," Psalm ciii. 21. Evils and falses in the church are signified in Isaiah, by the army of the Gentiles, xxxiv. 2; and by the army of the king of the north, with which he came against the king of the south," Dan. xi: 13, 15, 20. The king of the north is the false of evil in the church, and the king of the south is the truth of good there. It is said by the Lord, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know

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 medium? 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

being healed but by faith alone? What can our works 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 us." 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.

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