girdles or zones signify containing truths and goods in their order and connexion, n. 46; from these circumstances it appears, that by angels clothed in linen, clean and shining, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles, are signified truths and goods pure and genuine, and as they are from no other source but the Word, they signify the truths and goods of the Word. That linen signifies divine truth, may appear from the following passages: as, That Aaron had on linen breeches when he entered the tabernacle and approached the altar, Exod. xxviii. 42, 43. That when "Aaron went into the holy place, he was to put on the holy linen coat, to have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and to be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre tp be attired; these are holy garments;-and shall put on the holy garments when he makes atonement for the people," Levit. xvi. 4, 32. In like manner, that the priests the Levites, "when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments, they shall have linen bonnets upon their heads, and shall have linen breeches upon their loins,' Ezek. xliv. 17, 18. That the priests wore linen ephods, 1 Sam. ii. 28. That Samuel, when as a child he ministered before Jehovah, was girded with a linen ephod, 1 Sam. ii. 18. That David, when the ark was removed into his city, was girded with a linen ephod, 2 Sam. vi. 14. Hence it may appear, why the Lord, when he washed the disciples' feet, girded himself with a towel, and wiped their feet with a towel, John xiii. 4, 5. Also, why the angels appeared clothed in linen, Dan. x. 5; Ezek. ix. 2-4, 11; x. 2-7. Moreover, the angel which was seen in the Lord's sepulchre, "His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow," Matt. xxviii. 3. That the angel who measured the new temple had a line of flax in his hand, Ezek. xl. 3. Also Jeremiah, that he might represent the state of the church as to truth, was commanded to get a linen girdle, and hide it in the hole of a rock by the river, and that afterwards he found it was marred and profitable for nothing, Jerem. xiii. 1-7. It is also said in Isaiah, "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth," xlii. 3. By linen in these places nothing else is meant but truth.

672. And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, signifies those truths and goods, by which the evils and falses of the church are detected, taken from the literal sense of the Word. That the four animals, which are cherubs, signify the Word in ultimates, and its protection, lest its genuine truths and goods should suffer violation, may be seen above, n. 239; and as the interior truths and goods of the Word are protected by its literal sense, therefore this sense of the Word is signified by one of the four animals. By the seven vials the same is signified as by the seven plagues, for they are

things containing, and the same is signified by these, in the Word, as by that which is contained; thus the same thing is signified by a cup as is signified by the wine, and by a platter as by meat. That by cups, chalices, vials, and platters, the same is signified as by the things contained in them, will be seen in what follows. What is signified by the seven angels has been explained above. The reason why vials were given them, is, because the subject treated of is concerning the influx of truth and good into the church, in order that its evils and falses may be discovered, but naked goods and truths cannot enter by influx, for such are not received, but only truths clothed, such as are in the literal sense of the Word; and moreover the Lord always operates from inmost principles through ultimates, or in fulness. This is the reason why there were given to the angels vials, by which are signified containing truths and goods, such as are those of the literal sense of the Word, by means of which falses and evils are discovered. That the literal sense of the Word is a continent or containing vessel, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 27-36, and 37-49. That by vials, platters, cups, and chalices, and by bottles, are signified the things which they contain, may appear from the following passages: "Jehovah said, Take the wine сир of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee, to drink it. And if they refuse to take the cup, then shalt thou say unto them, Ye shall certainly drink," Jerem. xxv. 15, 16, 28. "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the hand of Jehovah, that made all the earth drunken," Jerem. li. 7. "I will give the cup of thy sister into thine hand;thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria," Ezek. xxiii. 31-34. "The cup of Jehovah shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory," Hab. ii. 16. "Unto thee, O daughter of Edom, the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt nake thyself naked," Lam. iv. 21. "Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked an horrible tempest, this shall be the portion of their rup," Psalm xi. 6. "For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same,-all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them," Psalm lxxv. 8. "They who worship the beast, shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation," Apoc. xiv. 10. "Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling," Isaiah li. 17. "The woman having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication," Apoc. xvii. 4. "And double unto her double, according to her works, in the cup

66

which she hath filled, fill to her double," Apoc. xviii. 6. "1 make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about," Zech. xii. 2. "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also," Matt. xxiii. 25, 26; Luke xi. 39. Jesus said unto Zebedee's sons, "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?" Matt. xx. 22, 23; Mark x. 38, 39. Jesus said unto Peter, "The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?" John xviii. 11. Jesus said in Gethsemane, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me," Matt. xxvi. 39, 42, 44. Jesus took the cup, saying, Drink ye all of it. For this is my blood of the New Testament," Matt. xxvi. 27, 28; Mark xiv. 23, 24; Luke xxii. 17. "Jehovah is the portion of my cup, thou maintainest my lot," Psalm xvi. 5. "Thou preparest a table before me, my cup runneth over," Psalm xxiii. 5 "What shall I render unto Jehovah, I will take the cup of salvation," Psalm cxvi. 12, 13. "To drink of the cup of con solations," Jerem. xvi. 7. A vial, and also a bottle or pitcher; signify the same as a cup, Matt. ix. 17; Luke v. 37, 38; Jerem xiii. 12; xlviii. 12; Habak. ii. 15. By vials and censers containing incense, the same is signified as by incense; and in general by all kinds of vessels the same as by the things contained in them.

673. Full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever, signifies the evils and falses which will appear and be discovered by means of the pure and genuine truths and goods of the Word. It is said that the vials were full of the wrath of God, because they were full of plagues, by which are signified the evils and falses of the church, n. 657; but yet they were not full of them, but full of pure and genuine truths and goods from the Word, by means of which the evils and falses of the church were to be discovered; nor, indeed, were they vials in which were truths and goods, but influx from heaven into the church was signified by them: their being said to be full of the wrath of the living God, is conformable to the style of the Word in its literal sense, as may appear from the passages above cited, in which anger and wrath are ascribed to Jehovah, when yet Jehovah is not angry and wrathful, but man is angry and wrathful against him; the reason why it is so said in the letter, may be seen above, n. 525, 635, 658. From these considerations it is plain, that by vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever, are signified the direful evils and falses of the church, which will appear and be discovered by means of the goods and truths of the Word. Evils and falses, indeed, are only discovered by truths and goods, for these are in the light of heaven, but falses and evils are in the darkness of hell, and in darkness nothing is discovered, because nothing else but evil and falsity appear there, but by means of the light

of heaven all things are discovered, because in it all things appear; for the light of heaven is the divine truth of the Lord's divine wisdom.

674. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, signifies the inmost of heaven full of divine spiritual and celestial truth from the Lord. By the temple is signified the inmost of heaven, as explained above, n. 669; by smoke is signified the divine in ultimates, as will be seen presently. By glory is signified divine spiritual truth, n. 249, 629, and by power is signified divine celestial truth, n. 373; therefore, by the temple being filled with smoke from the glory of God and his power, is signified the inmost of heaven full of divine spiritual and celestial truth. The reason why smoke sig nifies divine truth in ultimates, is, because fire, from which smoke issues, signifies love; the fire of the altar of burnt-offering, celestial love, n. 395, 494; and the fire of the altar of incense, spiritual love, n. 277, 392, 394. That smoke has this signification, may appear from the following passages: "Jehovah will create upon every dwelling place of Mount Zion-a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of flaming fire by night, for upon all the glory shall be a defence," Isaiah iv. 5. "And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke," Isaiah vi. 4. "And the smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the saints ascended up before God, out of the angel's hand," Apoc. viii. 4. "And the smoking flax shall he not quench; he shall bring forth judgment unto truth," Isaiah xlii. 3. That smoke, in an opposite sense, signifies the falses of concupiscences, may be seen above, n. 422, and falses originating in the pride of selfintelligence, n. 452; smoke also signifies the same as cloud in many places.

And no one was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were consummated, signifies in such degree there, that more could not be supported, and this until after devastation, the end of that church was seen. By no man being able to enter into the temple, is signified that the inmost of heaven was full of divine spiritual and celestial truth, to such a degree, as that more could not be borne; by the temple is signified here, as above, the inmost of heaven; by till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled, is signified this until after devastation, when is an end of the church, n. 658; and by the seven plagues of the seven angels, are signified the evils and falses which devastate the church and bring it to its end, n. 657.

675. To the above I will add this Memorable Relation. A paper was seen to come down from the Lord through heaven to a society of Englishmen, to one of the least among them, but

in which were two bishops. The paper contained an exhortation to acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ as the God of heaven and earth, as he himself taught, Matt. xxviii. 18, and to recede from their doctrine respecting faith as being justificatory without the works of the law, because it was erroneous. The contents of the paper were read and transcribed by several, and they thought and spoke upon it from interior judgment, and they were in illumination from the Lord, the illumination being received in the light which is peculiar to the English more than to any other nation. But after they had received the paper, they said one to another, "Let us hear the sentiments of the bishops." Their opinion was accordingly given, but they reviled and contradicted its contents; for these bishops were among the number of those whose hearts were hardened by the falses which they had imbibed in the world: so that after a short consultation with each other, they sent the paper back again to heaven from whence it came. Upon this, after some murmuring, sev eral of the laity retracted their former assent, and straightway the light they enjoyed on spiritual subjects, which before shone very bright, was suddenly extinguished. After this they were a second time admonished, but in vain; whereupon I observed that society sink under ground, but how deep I could not see; it was thus removed from the sight of angels, who worship the Lord only, and hold in aversion the doctrine of justification by faith alone.

But some days after, I saw near a hundred persons ascending from the lower earth, whither that small society had sunk down, who coming to me, one of the wisest of them said, "Listen to our wonderful relation. On our descent, it appeared to us, at first, as if we were in a lake or a bog, but presently the appearance changed to that of dry ground, and then to a small city, in which particular dwellings were allotted to each person, but such as were very miserable. The next day we consulted among ourselves what steps we should take; and it was the opinion of many, that we should go and mildly remonstrate with the two bishops, for sending the paper back to heaven from whence it came down, for this was the apparent cause of our present calamity. Accordingly, a certain number of us were deputed to go to the bishops (he who gave me this relation said he was one of the deputies), and when we were introduced, a particular person of distinguished wisdom amongst us thus addressed them: Be pleased, fathers, to attend to us. We have plumed ourselves heretofore on the pre-eminence of our church and religion, because we have heard it asserted, that we enjoyed the highest degree of gospel light but some of us have lately been favoured with illustration from heaven, in which state we had a perception that at this day there is no longer any church throughout the Christian world, because