sacred or religious nature, with which they traffic and make a gain by not buying them any more is signified that there is no desire to possess them, seeing that they are not sacred, but adulterated and profaned goods and truths of the Word and thence of the church; that to buy is to procure for themselves, see n. 606. On this subject we read as follows in Jeremiah, "O Babylon, that dwellest upon many waters, abundant in treasures, thine end is come, and the measure of thy covetousness,'

li. 13.

772. "The merchandise of gold, and of silver, and of precious stones, and of pearls," signifies, that they no longer possess these things, because they are not in possession of the spiritual goods and truths, to which such things correspond. By their merchandise nothing else is signified but what is here named; for that they have gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls in abundance, and that they have procured these things by means of their religious ceremonies, which they made sacred and divine, is well known. Such things were in the possession of those who were of Babylon, prior to the last judgment: for they were then permitted to form, as it were, heavens to themselves, and by various arts to procure such valuables from heaven, yea, to fill storehouses with them, as they had done in the world; but after the last judgment, when their fictitious heavens were destroyed, all those things were reduced to dust and ashes, and carried away by an east wind, and scattered over their hells as profane dust. But on this subject read the description of those events from ocular testimony in the tract concerning the Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon. Since that overthrow and their being cast into hell, they have been in so miserable a state, that they do not even know what gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls are; the reason is, because gold, silver, and precious stones, correspond to spiritual goods and truths, and pearls to the knowledges thereof; and since they are not in possession of any goods and truths, nor of the knowledges of these things, but instead of them possess evils and falses, and the knowledges of what are evil and false, they cannot have any other

than such things as correspond to what they do possess, which are matters vile and disagreeable in appearance, with the exception of a few shells on which they place their affections, as they had formerly done upon the above recited precious things. It is to be observed, that in the spiritual world there exist all the objects that are to be seen in the natural world, but with this difference, that all things in the spiritual world are correspondences, for they correspond to the interiors of its inhabitants, being splendid and magnificent with those who are in wisdom derived from divine truths and goods, through the Word, from the Lord; and the contrary with those who are in a state of madness from falses and evils. Such a correspondence by virtue of creation, exists when what is spiritual in the mind is let down into what is sensual in the body; for which reason every one in the spiritual world knows the quality of another, as soon as he comes into his apartHence it may appear, that by merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stones and pearls, is signified that they no longer possess these things; because they are not in possession of the spiritual goods and truths, nor of the knowledges of what is good and true, to which such things correspond. That gold by correspondence signifies good, and silver truth, see above, n. 211, 726. That precious stones signify spiritual truth, n. 231, 540, 726. That pearls signify the knowledges of things good and true, n. 727.

ment.

773. "And of fine linen, and of purple, and of silk, and of scarlet," signifies, that they no longer possess these things, because they are not in possession of the celestial goods and truths to which they correspond. By the things above-mentioned, namely, gold, silver, precious stones, and pearls, are signified in general spiritual goods and truths, as was observed above, n. 772; but by these, which are fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet, are signified in general celestial goods and truths; for with those who are in heaven and the church, there are spiritual goods and truths, and there are celestial goods and truths; spiritual goods and truths are of wisdom, and celestial goods and truths are of love; and because they are not in

possession of these latter goods and truths, but of the evils and falses opposite to them, therefore mention is made of these latter, for they follow in order. Now inasmuch as the case is the same with these as with the former, there is no need of any further explanation than what may be met with in the foregoing article. What is signified in particular by fine linen, shall be explained in the next chapter, where these words occur. "Fine linen is the righteousness of the saints," verse 8, n. 814, 815; that purple signifies celestial good, and scarlet celestial truth, see above, n. 725: by silk is signified mediate celestial good and truth, good from its softness, and truth from its shining; it is mentioned only in Ezekiel xvi. 10, 13.

774. "And all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory," signifies, that they no longer possess these things, because they are not in possession of the natural goods and truths, to which they correspond. The case is the same with this passage as with those explained above, n. 772, 773, only with this difference, that by those things which are first mentioned are meant spiritual goods and truths, as above, n. 772; and by those which are mentioned secondly are meant celestial goods and truths, as above, n. 773; and by these now mentioned, which are thyine wood and vessels of ivory, are meant natural goods and truths; for there are three degrees of love and wisdom, and thence three degrees of good and truth; the first degree is called celestial, the second spiritual, and the third natural; these three degrees exist by birth in every man, and they exist also in common in heaven and in the church; which is the reason why there are three heavens, the supreme, the middle, and the ultimate or lowest, altogether distinct one from another according to these degrees; in like manner the Lord's church upon earth: but what its quality is with those who are in the celestial degree, what with those who are in the spiritual degree, and what with those who are in the natural degree, does not belong to this place to explain. But the subjects are treated of at length in the treatise on The Wisdom of Angels concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, part the third, where degrees are explained: it must

suffice to observe here, that among those who are of Babylon, there are neither spiritual goods and truths, nor celestial goods and truths, nor even natural goods and truths. The reason why spiritual things are first mentioned, is, because many of them are capable of being spiritual, provided only that in their hearts they esteem the Word as holy, according to what they confess with their mouths: but they cannot become celestial, because they do not approach the Lord, but they approach and worship living and dead men: this is the reason why celestial things are mentioned in the second place. The reason why thyine wood signifies natural good, is, because wood in the Word signifies good, and stone truth, and thyine wood derives its denomination from two, and two also signifies good. The reason why it signifies natural good, is, because wood is not so precious or valuable as gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk, and scarlet; the same may be said of stone; and also of ivory, by which natural truth is signified. The reason why ivory signifies natural truth, is, because it is white, and capable of being polished, and because it is protruded from the mouth of the elephant, and also constitutes his strength. To the intent that ivory may denote the natural truth of the good signified by thyine wood, a vessel of ivory is mentioned, for by a vessel is signified that which contains, in the present instance, the truth that is the continent or vehicle of good. That wood signifies good, may, in some measure, appear from the following passages: That the bitter waters at Marah were made sweet by putting wood in them, Exod. xv. 25. That the tables of stone, on which the law was written, were deposited in the ark made of shittim wood, Exod. xxv. 10—16. That the temple at Jerusalem was covered with wood and lined with wood, 1 Kings vi. 10, 15. That the altar in the wilderness was made of wood, Exod. xxvii. 1, 6. And also from these passages; "For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of wood shall answer it," Habak. ii. 11. "And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise and they shall lay thy stones and thy wood and thy dust in the midst of the water," Ezek. xxvi. 12. The

prophet was commanded, " to take one stick of wood, and write upon it, For Judah and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick and write upon it, For Joseph the stick of Ephraim; and join them into one stick," Ezek. xxxvii. 16, 17. "We have drunken another water for money; our wood is sold unto us," Lament. v. 4. "As when a man goeth into the wood with his neighbor, and the axe slippeth from the wood upon his neighbor, that he die; he shall flee into a City of Refuge," Deut. xix. 5; the reason of this law is, because wood signifies good, and thus that he did not kill his companion out of evil or from an evil intention, but by mistake, because he was principled in good; not to mention other passages. But by wood, in an opposite sense, is signified evil or what is accursed, as by the making of graven images out of wood and worshiping them, Deut. iv. 23-28, Isaiah xxxvii. 19, xl. 20, Jerem. x. 3, 8, Ezek. xx. 32; also that the being hanged upon wood was a curse, Deut. xxi. 22, 23. That ivory signifies natural truth, may appear from the passages in which ivory is mentioned, as Ezek. xxvii. 6, 15, Amos iii. 15, vi. 4, Psalm xlv. 9.

775. "And every vessel of most precious wood, and of brass, and of iron, and of marble," signifies, that they no longer possess these things, because they are not in possession of scientific goods and truths in matters relating to the church, to which such things correspond. The case is the same with this passage as with those explained above, n. 772, 773, 774, with this difference, that by the articles here mentioned are signified scientifics, which are the ultimates of men's natural mind, and which differing as they do in quality, according to the essence that is within them, are called vessels of most precious wood, of brass, of iron, and of marble, for by vessels are signified scientifics, in the present instance scientifics relating to matters of the church; these being the continents of good and truth, as vessels are the continents of oil and wine. Scientifics are also of great variety, and the memory constitutes this receptacle. The reason why they are of great variety, is, because the interiors of man are in