ment that of themselves they were damned, and consequent penitence, as in Matt. xi. 21, Luke x. 13; the reason why dust signifies what is damned, is because the earth over the hells consists of mere dust, without grass or herbs.

789. "Wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea, by reason of her costliness, for in one hour is she made desolate," signifies, by reason that through the holy things of that religion, all who were willing to buy, had propitiation, and in consideration for temporal and worldly riches, received spiritual and eternal riches, and that now no one can avail himself of this. By being made rich from her costliness, is signified to be pardoned of God by means of the ceremonies of that religion, or to believe that for temporal and temporary merchandise or riches, they will receive spiritual and eternal merchandise or riches; that is to say, that for gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, purple, and the other things enumerated in verses 12 and 13, they will receive blessings and felicities after death;. these things are understood by the costliness with which they say they are made rich from that city; that such is their language is well known. By their being made desolate in one hour, is signified, that by reason of the destruction of that religion, no one can hereafter purchase its holy things; from what has been said it may appear that the above is the signification of these words. That the holy things of the church are signified by things precious or costly, is evident from the following passages: "And of Joseph he said, Blessed of Jehovah be his land, for the precious things of heaven, and for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for the precious things of the earth," Deut. xxxiii. 13, 14, 15. "Is Ephraim my precious son? Is he a pleasant child?" Jerem. xxxi. 20. By Ephraim is meant intellectual knowledge or understanding of the Word. "The precious sons of Zion were esteemed comparable to fine gold," Lament. iv. 2; the sons of Zion are the truths of the church; not to mention other places, as Isaiah xiii, 12, xliii. 4, Psalm xxxvi. 8,

Psalm xlv. 9, Psalm lxviii. 13, Psalm xcvi. 6. This then is the reason why it is said, that from that city were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness.

790. " Rejoice over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged your judgment upon her," signifies, that the angels of heaven and men of the church, who are in goods and truths derived from the Word, now rejoice in their hearts, because they who are in the evils and falses of that religion are removed and rejected. Rejoice over her, O heaven, signifies, that the angels of heaven now rejoice in their hearts, for exultation is joy of heart; and ye holy apostles and prophets, signifies, and together with them the men of the church who are in goods and truths derived from the Word; by apostles are signified they who are in the goods and thence in the truths of the church derived from the Word, and abstractedly the goods and thence the truths of the church from the Word, n. 79; and by prophets are signified truth derived from good from the Word, n. 8, 133; who are called holy, because apostles and prophets, as before observed, signify abstractedly the goods and truths of the Word, which in themselves are holy, being from the Lord, n. 586, 666; for God hath avenged your judgment upon her, signifies, because they are removed and rejected, who are in the evils and falses of that religion; that no others are removed and rejected, may be seen. above, n. 786. The joy of the angels of heaven on account of the removal and rejection of those who are in the evils and falses of that religion, is treated of in the next chapter from the 1st to the 9th verse, here it is only said that they rejoiced; howbeit, the joy of the angels does not proceed from their condemnation, but from the new heaven and new church, and the salvation of the faithful, which could not be established prior to this removal, which removal is and was effected by the last judgment, on which subject see the explanation of verses 7, 8, 9, of the next chapter. From these considerations it may appear, that by "rejoice over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged your judg

ment upon her," is signified that the angels of heaven, and men of the church who are in goods and truths derived from the Word, now rejoice in their hearts, because they are removed and rejected who are in the evils and falses of that religion. Who cannot see that it is not the apostles and prophets we read of in the Word, who are here meant, since these are few in number and no better than others; but by them are meant all in the Lord's church who are principled in goods and truths from the Word, and the same are meant likewise by the twelve tribes of Israel, as explained above, n. 349; by the apostle Peter is meant the truth or the faith of the church, by the apostle James, the charity of the church, and by the apostle John the works of charity of the men of the church.

791. "And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all," signifies, that by the Lord's strong influx out of heaven, that religion, together with all its adulterated truths of the Word, will be cast headlong into hell, and never appear in the sight of angels any more. A mighty angel took up, signifies, strong influx from the Lord out of heaven, for by an angel is signified the Lord, and his operation, which is effected through heaven, n. 258, 415, 465, 649; by his being here called a mighty angel and his taking up a great millstone, powerful operation is signified, which is strong influx; by a stone like a great millstone, are signified the truths of the Word adulterated and profaned; for by a stone is signified truth, and by a mill is signified inquiry, search into, and confirmation of truth out of the Word, see n. 794; but in the present instance the adulteration and profanation of the truth of the Word, because it is said of Babylon; by casting it into the sea, is signified to cast into hell; by thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be cast down, is signified that thus that religion shall be cast headlong into hell. To be found no more at all, signifies, that it will never appear in the sight of angels any more. The reason why this is signified, is,

because all of that religion, who are in its evils and falses, do indeed come after death into the world of spirits, for that world is like a forum or place of resort, where all are at first assembled, and is as a stomach, in which the food is at first collected; the stomach, moreover, corresponds to that world; but at this day, because it is after the last judgment, which was executed in the year 1757, they are not allowed, as before, to stay in that world, and to form to themselves imaginary heavens, but immediately on their arriving there, they are remanded to societies therein, which are in conjunction with the hells, into which they are also cast from time to time; and thus it is provided by the Lord, that they shall never appear before the angels any more. This then is what is signified by that city, or, by that religion, not being found any more at all. Inasmuch as by a millstone is signified the truth of the Word adulterated, and by the sea, hell, therefore the Lord says: "But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea," Matt. xviii. 6. called a millstone in Mark ix. 42, Luke xvii. 2. like thing is said of Babylon in Jeremiah: "When thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shalt bind a stone upon it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again," li. 63, 64; by the midst of the Euphrates, the same is meant as by the sea, because the river Euphrates bounded Assyria, where Babylon was, and separated it from the land of Canaan.

It is

The

792. "And the voice of harpers, and of musicians, and of pipers, and of trumpeters shall be heard no more at all in thee," signifies, that among them there will not be any affection of spiritual truth and good, nor any affection of celestial truth and good. By the voice is meant sound, and all sound corresponds to affection which is of love, because it originates therefrom; hence it is, that the sounds of the harp, of music, and of the pipe, by correspondence signify affections; but affections are of two kinds, spiritual and celestial; spiritual affections are

affections of wisdom, and celestial affections are affections of love; they differ from each other as the heavens, which are divided into two kingdoms, the celestial and spiritual, as has been several times shown above. There are

therefore some instruments of music, whose sounds have relation to spiritual affections, and there are others which have relation to celestial affections; the voice or sound of harpers and musicians relates to spiritual affections, and the voice or sound of pipers and trumpeters to celestial affections; for the instruments whose sounds are discrete, as is the case with stringed instruments, belong to the class of spiritual affections; and such as have their sounds continuous, as is the case with wind-instruments, belong to the class of celestial affections, hence it is, that the voice or sound of harpers and musicians signifies the affection of spiritual truth and good, and the voice or sound of pipers and trumpeters signifies the affection of celestial truth and good. That the sound of the harp from correspondence signifies confession originating in the affection of spiritual truth, see n. 276, 661. That they who are in the evils and falses of the Roman Catholic religion, have no affections of spiritual truth and good, nor any affections of celestial truth and good, is here understood, because it is said, that the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters shall not be heard in thee any more; the reason why they have not such affections, is, because they cannot exist among them, for they have not any truth from the Word, and inasmuch as they have no truth, neither have they any good; this is given only to those who desire truths; but none desire truths from spiritual affection except those who approach the Lord; those, according to this their desire, are instructed after death by angels, and receive them. The external affections, by which they are influenced while hearing mass, or engaged in other devotions, being void of truths from the Lord, through the Word, are merely natural, sensual, and corporeal; and since they are such, and without internal affections from the Lord, it is not to be wondered at, that in that state of darkness and blindness they should be carried away to the worship of living and dead men,