Praise Jehovah of Hosts," Jerem. xxxiii. 10, 11. "Let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet," Joel ii. 16. "Then will I cause to cease from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride,” Jerem. vii. 34, xvi. 9. "Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle, and this whole land shall be a desolation" by the king of Babylon, Jerem. xxv. 10, 11.

From what has been said the series of things in these two verses, may now be seen, which is, that they who are in that religion have no affection of spiritual truth and good whatever, n. 792; neither any understanding of spiritual truth, nor therefore any thought of it, n. 793 ; for thought proceeds from affection and according to it. That neither do they make any inquisition, examination, or confirmation of spiritual truth, n. 794. That neither have they any illumination from the Lord, and consequently no perception of spiritual truth, n. 796. And, finally, that there is not among them any conjunction of good and truth, which constitutes a church, n. 797; thus do these things also follow each other in order.

798. Since it is said that there is no conjunction of good and truth with them, by reason of there not being among them a marriage of the Lord and the church, something shall here be said concerning the power of opening and shutting heaven, which operates as one with the power of forgiving and retaining sins, which they claim to themselves as the successors of Peter and the apostles. The Lord said to Peter, "And upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven," Matt. xvi. 18, 19. The divine truth, which is meant by the rock upon which the Lord would build his church, is that which Peter then confessed, which was, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of

the living God," verse 16. By the keys of the kingdom of heaven, which consist in this, that whatsoever that rock, which is the Lord, shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever he shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, is meant that the Lord has power over heaven and earth, as he also says, Matt. xxviii. 18, thus the power of saving men, who are in that confession of Peter from faith of heart. The Lord's divine operation to save men is from first principles through ultimates, and this is what is meant by whatsoever he shall bind or loose on earth, shall be bound or loosed in heaven; the ultimates, through which the Lord operates, are upon earth, and indeed with men; on this account, in order that the Lord himself might be in ultimates as he is in first principles, he came into the world, and put on the humanity. That every divine operation of the Lord is from first principles through ultimates, thus from himself in first principles and from himself in ultimates, may be seen in the Wisdom of Angels concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 217, 218, 219, 221; and that this is the reason why the Lord is called the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the Almighty, see above, n. 29, 30, 31, 38, 57. Who cannot see, if he pleases, that the salvation of man is a continual operation of the Lord in man from his earliest infancy to the latest period of his life, and that this is a work purely divine, never assignable to any man? This is such a divine work, as to partake at once of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence; and that the reformation and regeneration of man, thus his salvation, is wholly of the divine providence of the Lord, may be seen in the Wisdom of Angels concerning the Divine Providence, from beginning to end. The coming of the Lord himself into the world was solely for the sake of man's salvation; on this account, he assumed humanity, removed the hells, and glorified himself, and invested himself with omnipotence even in ultimates, which is meant by his sitting at the right hand of God. What then can be more abominable than to fabricate a religion, which sanctions the idea of that divine power and potency belonging to

man, and no longer to the Lord; and that heaven is to be opened and shut merely by a priest saying, I absolve, or, I excommunicate; and that a sin is forgiven or remitted, howsoever enormous it may be, if he does but say, I remit? There are many devils in the world, who, to avoid temporal punishments, seek and obtain absolution for a diabolical deed by arts and gifts; who can be so insane as to think that a power is given of admitting devils nto heaven?

It has been said above, at the end of n. 790, that Peter represented the truth of faith of the church, James the good of charity of the church, and John the good works of the men of the church, and that the twelve apostles, collectively, represented the church as to all things pertaining to it. That they represented these things, is clearly evident from the Lord's words to them in Matthew: "When the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel," xix. 28, Luke xxii. 30; by which words nothing else can be signified, than that the Lord will judge all men according to the goods and truths of the church; if these things were not understood by these words, but the apostles themselves, all in the great city Babylon, who call themselves the successors of the apostles, might also claim the privilege of sitting upon thrones, as many in number as themselves, from the pope to the monk, and of judging all the inhabitants of the earth.

799. "For thy merchants were the great men of the earth," signifies, that the superiors in their ecclesiastical hierarchy are such, because by means of the various and even arbitrary rights left them, in the statutes of their order, they traffic and make gain. By great men are meant the superiors in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, who are called cardinals, bishops, and primates; these are called merchants, because they trade with the holy things of the church, as articles of merchandise, n. 771, 783; in the present instance, who trade with, and turn to lucre, the various and even arbitrary rights left them in the statutes of their order. The reason why this is said, ap

pears from what has gone before, it being a necessary consequence thereof. In what has gone before it is said, that there shall no more be heard in Babylon the voice of harpers, musicians, pipers, and trumpeters, that there shall not be there an artificer of any craft whatsoever, that the sound of the millstone shall not be heard there, that there shall be no light of a candle there, and that neither shall the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride be there, by which is signified, that in Babylon there is no affection of spiritual truth, no understanding, and consequently no thought of it, nor any inquiry or search after it, neither any illumination and perception of it, and of course no conjunction of good and truth, which constitutes the church, see above, n. 792, 793, 794, 796, 797; the reason why they have not these things, is, because they of the superior orders also carry on a trade to enrich themselves, and thus set a bad example to their inferiors; this is the reason also why it is said, For thy merchants were the great men of the earth. But, perhaps it may be asked, What are those arbitrary rights which may receive the term of merchandise? They are not their annual incomes and stipends, but dispensations derived from the power of the keys, such as the remitting of sins even of an enormous kind, and exempting persons thereby from temporal punishments; using their influence with the pope to allow marriages to be contracted within the degrees that are forbidden, and to be dissolved when not within the degrees forbidden, and doing such things themselves without application to the pope for toleration; by granting privileges within their jurisdictions; by ordaining ministers and confirmations; by gratuities both general and particular from monasteries; by the misapplication of revenues which belong to others; and by many other means. These things, and not their annual incomes, had they been content with them, are the causes why they have no affection, or thought, or search after, or perception of spiritual truth, nor any conjunction of truth and good, because these are the gains of the unrighteous mammon, and the unrighteous perpetually covet natural riches, and have an aversion to spiritual riches, which are

divine truths from the Word. From these considerations it may now appear, that because thy great men were the merchants of the earth, signifies, that the superiors in their ecclesiastical hierarchy were such, because they made a trade of, and turned to lucre, the various and even arbitrary rights left to them in the statutes of their order. Here it may further be observed concerning the dispensation of crimes even of an enormous nature, by the power of the keys, by which they not only liberate the guilty from eternal, but also from temporal punishments, and if they do not liberate them, still they afford them protection where they take sanctuary. Who does not see that this belongs not to the ecclesiastical, but to civil jurisdiction? and that this is to extend their dominion over every thing of a secular nature, and to destroy the public security? likewise that by still reserving this prerogative to themselves, they have it in their power to recover their former despotic sway over all the judgments established by kings, thus over the supreme judges likewise? which also they would do, were it not for fear of producing separation from them. This is what is meant in Daniel, by the third beast which came up out of the sea thinking "to change the times and laws," vii. 25.

800. "For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived," signifies, their abominable arts and schemes. whereby they have diverted the minds of all from the holy worship of the Lord to the profane worship of living and dead men and of idols. By the sorceries whereby all nations have been deceived, are signified abominable arts and schemes, to delude and persuade people to worship and adore themselves instead of the Lord, thus as the Lord; and inasmuch as the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as he himself teaches in Matt. xxviii. 18, consequently as gods. That they have transferred the Lord's divine power to themselves, may be seen above, n. 798; and since this is the signification of these words, they also signify that by their abominable arts and contrivances they have turned the minds of all from the holy worship of the Lord to the profane worship of living and dead men and of idols, That nevertheless there will be an end of these