signified thereby, and also heaven in ultimates, because the church on earth is the entrance to heaven, and likewise heaven in ultimates. This is what is signified by a court, in the following passages: "Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, that he may dwell in thy courts; we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple," Psalm lxv. 5. "Praise ye the name of Jehovah, ye who stand in his house, in the courts of the house of our God," Psalm cxxxv. 1, 2. "How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Jehovah, my soul longeth, yea, even fainteth, for the courts of Jehovah," Psalm lxxxiv. 1, 2. "Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise," Psalm c. 4. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree, those that be planted in the house of Jehovah, shall flourish in the courts of our God," Psalm xcii. 12, 13. "A day in thy courts is better than a thousand, I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness," Psalm lxxxiv. 10; besides others; as in Psalm xcvi. 7, Isaiah i. 12, lxii. 9, Zech. iii. 7, Ezek. x. 3, 4, 5. Of the courts of the temple of Jerusalem, 1 Kings vi. 3, 36. Of the courts of the new temple, Ezek. xl. 17-31-44, xlii. 1—4, xliii. 4-7. And of the court without the tabernacle, Exod. xxvii. 9—18.

488. "For it is given unto the Gentiles," signifies, because the state of that church is destroyed and laid waste by evils of life, as is evident from the signification of Gentiles, as denoting those who are in evils of life, and, abstractedly, evils of life, n. 147, 483.

489. "And the whole city shall they tread under foot forty and two months," signifies, that it would disperse every truth of the Word, even to nothing remaining. By the holy city, is meant the holy Jerusalem; and by the holy Jerusalem, is meant the New Church which is in truths of doctrine, for holy is predicated of divine truth, n. 173; and a city, signifies doctrine, n. 194; therefore by treading that city under foot, is signified to disperse the truths of its doctrine; by forty and two months, is signified until there is an end, when there is no truth left; by truths of doctrine are meant truths from the Word, be

cause the doctrine of the church, and all that relates to it, is thence derived. That they who are, at this day, in the internals of the church, have so dispersed the truths of the Word, and thence the doctrines of the church, and every thing relating to the church, is described in this chapter by the beast coming up out of the bottomless pit, in that he slew the two witnesses, verse 7, and may also be seen from the Memorable Relations from the spiritual world, annexed to each chapter. By forty and two months, is signified to the end, and till nothing good or true is left in the church, because the same thing is signified by forty and two as by six weeks, for six times seven is forty-two, and by six weeks, is signified what is complete to the end; for the number six has this signification, and a week signifies state, and the seventh week a holy state, which is a new state of the church, when the Lord enters upon his reign. This number has a similar signification in the following passage: "And there was given unto the beast which came up out of the sea a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty-two months," Apoc. xiii. 5, n. 583. The reason why six signifies what is complete. to the end, is, because three has that signification, n. 505, and six is double that number, and a number doubled has the same signification as the simple number; besides the same is signified by this number as by three and a half, because forty-two months make three years and a half. Months are mentioned because by a month is signified a full state; as in Isaiah lxvi. 23, Apoc. xxii. 1, 2, Gen. xxix. 14; Numb. xi. 18, 19, 20, Deut. xxi. 11, 13.

490. "And I will give unto my two witnesses," signifies, those who confess and acknowledge in their hearts. that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is Divine, and who are conjoined to him by a life according to the precepts of the decalogue. The reason why such persons are here understood by the two witnesses, is, because these two things constitute the two essentials of the New Church. That the first essential, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is Divine, is a testimony or witness, and,

consequently, that they are witnesses who confess and acknowledge it in their hearts, may be seen, n. 6, 846, and likewise from the following passages: "I am thy fellow-servant, of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," Apoc. xix. 10. The angels of Michael overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of his testimony: and the dragon "went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," Apoc. xii. 10, 17. The souls of them that were smitten with the axe, for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God," Apoc. xx. 4; these are they who have acknowledged the Lord. It is called the testimony of Jesus, because the Lord testifies it from his Word, thus from himself, therefore he himself is called the faithful and true witness, Apoc. i. 5, iii. 14, and says, I testify of myself, and my testimony is true, because I know whence I came, and whither I go, John viii. 14; also, "When the Comforter is come, even the Spirit of Truth, he shall testify of me," John xv. 26. That the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, which also is the Holy Spirit, is the proceeding Divinity, and that this is the Lord himself, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, n. 46-54. Now since the Lord himself is the witness, therefore also by witnesses are meant they who testify this from the Lord, as did John : Jesus said, "Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth but I receive not testimony from man," John v. 33. John came as a witness, to bear witness of the light; he was not the light, but was to bear witness of the light. The Word which was with God, and which was God, was the true light, John i. 1, 2, and following verses, 14, 34. That the other essential of the New Church, which is conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the decalogue, is a testimony, appears from the decalogue being called the testimony, as in these passages: "And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee," Exod. xxv. 16. Moses put the testimony into the ark, Exod. xl. 20. The

mercy-seat that is over the testimony, Levit. xvi. 13. Leave the rods of the tribes before the testimony, Numb. xvii.; besides other places, as in Exod. xxv. 22, xxxi. 7, 18, xxxii. 15, Psalm lxxviii. 5, Psalm cxxxii. 12. Something must here be said concerning conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the decalogue. There are two tables upon which those precepts are written, one for the Lord, the other for man; what the first table contains, is, that a plurality of gods are not to be worshiped, but only one; and the second, that evils are not to be committed; therefore, when one God is worshiped, and man does not commit evils, a conjunction takes place; for in proportion as man desists from evils, that is, does the work of repentance, in the same proportion he is accepted of God, and does good from him. But who now is this one God? A trine or triune God is not one God, so long as this trine and triunity exists in three persons; but he, in whom a trine or triunity exists in one person, is one God, and that God is the Lord; enter into whatever intricacies of thought you please, yet will you never be able to extricate yourself and make out that God is one, unless he is also one in person. That this is the case, the whole Word teaches, both in the Old Testament and Prophets, and in the New Testament and Evangelists, as may be clearly seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord.

491. "And they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days," signifies, that these two articles, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the commandments of the decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, are to be taught until the end and the beginning. That these two articles, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the commandments of the decalogue, are the two essentials of the New Church, and are meant by the two witnesses, may be seen above, n. 490; and that to prophesy signifies to teach, n. 8, 133. By one thousand two hundred and sixty days, is signified until the end and the beginning, that is, until the end of the former church, thus the beginning of the New; the reason why this is signified

by this number, is, because it has the same signification as three and a half, and by three and a half is signified an end and a beginning, n. 505; it has the same signification as three and a half, because the number one thousand two hundred and sixty, when reduced into years, makes three years and a half. The like is signified by the same number in the next chapter: "And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days," Apoc. xii. 6.

492. "Clothed in sackcloth," signifies, lamentation in the mean time on account of the non-reception of truth. By being clothed in sackcloth, is signified lamentation on account of the devastation of truth in the church; for garments signify truths, n. 166, 212, 318, 378, 379: therefore to be clothed in sackcloth, which is not a garment, signifies lamentation because there is no truth, and where there is no truth there there is no church. The children of Israel represented lamentation by various things, which, from correspondences, were significative, as by putting ashes on the head, by rolling themselves in the dust, by sitting a long time silent upon the ground, by shaving themselves, by mourning and howling, by tearing their garments, and also by putting on sackcloth, besides other particulars; and each of these signified some evil of the church among them, for which they were punished; and when they were punished, they represented repentance by such things, and on account of the representation of repentance, and, at the same time, of humiliation, they were heard. That lamentation on account of the devastation of truth in the church, was represented by putting on sackcloth, may be seen from the following passages: "The lion is come up from his thicket, he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; for this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl," Jerem. iv. 7, 8. "O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and wallow thyself in ashes, for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us," Jerem. vi. 26. "Woe unto thee, Chorazin and Bethsaida! for if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in