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ruling grounded in self-love, over all things of the Lord, which are all things of heaven and the church, is turned after death into such torment; and the pleasure of the love of filling the mind and body with delicacies and indulgences procured by wealth, among those who are principled in the above-mentioned love of power, is changed into such mourning; for the delights and satisfactions proceeding from various kinds of love constitute the life. of every one, wherefore when those delights and satisfactions are converted into their opposites, the result is torment and mourning, these are the retributions and punishments which are meant in the Word by torments in hell; and the hatred thence derived against the Lord, and against all things of heaven and the church, is meant by hell fire. The like is said of Babylon in the prophets; as, "I will render unto Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their evil that they have done in Zion in your sight," Jerem. li. 24. "Because the spoiler is come upon Babylon, for Jehovah the God of recompenses shall surely requite," Jerem. li. 5, 56. "Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, the worm (the torment which is internal grief) is spread under thee; for thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will be like the Most High yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall say, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms?" Isaiah xiv. 11, 13-16, speaking of Lucifer, who in this passage is Babylon, as is evident from verses 4— 22 of that chapter.

764. "For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow," signifies, that these things befall them because from elatedness of heart over dominion, and exultation of mind over riches, they are in full trust and confidence, that they shall reign for ever, and be their own protectors, and that they can never be deprived of their power and possessions. To say in her heart, signifies, from elatedness of heart by reason of dominion, to be in full trust, as also from exultation of mind on account of riches, to be in full confi

dence; I sit a queen, signifies, that they shall reign, in the present instance for ever, because it follows, and shall see no sorrow; and am no widow, signifies, that they shall be their own protectors; for by a widow is signified one who is without protection, because without a husband. The words queen and widow are used, and not king and man or husband, because Babylon as a church is understood; and I shall see no sorrow, signifies, that they can never be deprived of those two things viz., of power and riches; that their being deprived of them is the cause of mourning after death, may be seen above, n. 763. The like is said of Babylon in Isaiah: "Thou shalt no more be called the lady of kingdoms. And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever; that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments. For thou hast trusted in wickedness; thou hast said, none seeth me. Thy wisdom it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me. Therefore shall evil come upon thee," xlvii. 5, 8 -11. By a widow in the Word is meant one who is without protection, for, in a spiritual sense, by a widow is signified one who is in good and not in truth, for by a man is signified truth, and by his wife, good; consequently, by a widow is signified good without truth, and good without truth is without protection, since truth protects good; this is the signification of a widow when mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah ix. 13, 14, 16, x. 1, 2, Jerem. xxii. 3, xlix. 10, 11, Lament. v. 2, 3, Ezek. xxii. 6, 7, Malachi iii. 5, Psalm lxviii. 5, cxlvi. 7, 8, 9, Exod. xxii. 20-23, Deut. x. 18, xxvii. 19, Matt. xxiii. 14, Luke iv. 26, xx. 47.

765. "Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and sorrow, and famine," signifies, that therefore at the time of the last judgment, the punishment of the evils they have committed shall return upon them, namely,

death, which is infernal life, and intestine grief in consequence of their fall from power, sorrow, which is eternal grief through being reduced from a state of opulence to want and misery, and famine, which is the deprivation of the understanding of all truth. By "therefore," is meant because she hath said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow, of which above, n. 764; in one day, signifies, the time of the last judgment, which is also called the day of judgment; by plagues are signified the punishments of the evils, which they committed in the world, and which will then return upon them; by death is signified infernal life, and intestine grief, in consequence of their fall from power, as above, n. 764, it is called torment, concerning which death something will be said presently; by sorrow is signified internal grief, through being reduced from a state of opulence to want and misery, as above, n. 764; by famine is signified the deprivation of the understanding of all truth; into these three plagues, or punishments, do they come who are of that religion, who have ruled from self-love, and not from any love of usefulness, except for the sake of themselves; these are also atheists at heart, since they attribute every thing to their own prudence and to nature the rest of that nation, who are like them, but do not think interiorly in themselves, are idolaters. That by the plague or punishment which is called famine, is meant the deprivation of the understanding of all truth, may be seen above, n. 323; every man, indeed, so long as he lives in the world, has rationality, that is, the faculty of understanding truth; this faculty continues with every man after death, but yet they who, from self-love, and the pride of self-derived intelligence, have imbibed false principles of religion in this world, have no desire to understand truth after death; and not to will or desire is as not having the ability: this want of ability through the absence of will or desire prevails among all such persons as are above described, and is increased from the circumstance of the delight of the concupiscence of falsity for the sake of dominion, causing them to imbibe continually new confirming falses, and thus to become in point of un

derstanding mere falsities, and to remain so to eternity. Something of this kind is meant by the following passage concerning Babylon in Jeremiah: "Your mother shall be sore confounded; she that bare you shall be ashamed; behold the hindermost of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert,-Because of the wrath of Jehovah it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate, every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues," 1. 12, 13.

766. "And she shall be utterly burned with fire; for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her," signifies, that they will entertain hatred against the Lord and against his heaven and church, because they will then see that the Lord alone governs and reigns over all things in heaven and earth, and not any man in the least degree from himself. The fire by which she will be burned, signifies, hatred against the Lord, and against his heaven and church, of which see below; for strong is the Lord who judgeth her, signifies, because then, that is, in the spiritual world, into which they enter after death, they will see that the Lord alone governs and reigns over all things in the heavens and earths, and not in the least any man from himself; the reason why this is signified by "for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her," is, that the Lord judges no one to hell, but such judgment results from the man himself; for when men feel the angelic sphere flowing down out of heaven from the Lord, they flee away and cast themselves into hell, as may appear from what is shown above, n. 233, 325, 340, 387, 502. That by fire is signified love in both senses, celestial love which is the love of the Lord, and infernal love which is the love of self, see above, n. 468, 494; the reason why infernal fire is hatred, is, because self-love hates, for all who are in that love, burn with anger in proportion to the degree of such love, and are full of hatred and revenge against those who oppose it, and they who are of Babylon, against such as deny that they ought to be worshiped and adored as saints; therefore when they hear, that in heaven the Lord alone is worshiped and adored, and that to worship any man instead of the Lord is profane, adoration of the Lord with

them is turned into hatred against Him, and adulteration of the Word, to the end that they themselves may be worshiped, becomes profanation; this, therefore, is what is signified by Babylon's being burned with fire. That to be burned with fire is the punishment consequent upon the profanation of what is holy, see above, n. 748. The like is meant by these words in Jeremiah: "Behold, I am against thee, O Babylon, thou destroying mountain, which destroys all the earth, I will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burning mountain. The broad walls of Babylon shall be utterly broken, and her high gates shall be burned with fire," li. 25, 58.

767. "And the kings of the earth who have committed whoredom and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning," signifies, the interior grief of those who were in superior dominion and its delights, by the falsified and adulterated truths of the Word, which constitute the holy things of the church, when they see those holy things converted into such as are profane. This and the following verse treat of the lamentation of the kings of the earth, by whom are meant such as are of the supreme order, who are called great men and primates; from verses 11-16 the lamentation of the merchants of the earth is treated of, by whom are meant those of the inferior order, who are called monks; from verses 17—19, the lamentation of the pilots and mariners is treated of, by whom are meant those who are the vehicles, as it were, of importing, who are called the laity. The kings of the earth are in this place treated of, by whom are signified those who are of the supreme order; that by kings are not meant kings, but those who are in truths derived from good, and, in an opposite sense, those who are in falses derived from evil, see above, n. 483, 704, 737, 740, 720; here, therefore, by the kings of the earth who committed whoredom and lived deliciously with the harlot, are signified those who are in power and in the delights pertaining to it, by falsifying and adulterating the truths of the Word, especially in consequence of falsifying and adulterating that truth of the Word, which the Lord spake unto Peter,

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