who believe in the Lord, and are in charity and its faith from him. This is the summary of what is contained in this chapter. By the temple is signified the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony, mentioned in the foregoing chapter, xv. 5, whereby is signified the inmost of heaven, where the Lord is in his holiness in the Word, and in the law or decalogue, n. 669. By a great voice coming from thence, is signified a divine command to go and pour out the vials. By the seven angels is meant the Lord, as above, n. 657. By pouring out the vials, which contained the plagues, upon the earth, is signified influx into the church of the Reformed; by pouring out the vials is signified the influx, and by the earth is signified the church, n. 285. The church among the Reformed is still treated of; but in the next chapter the subject is concerning the Roman Catholic church, and afterwards concerning the last judgment, and finally concerning the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem (see the preface and n. 2). Chapters viii. and ix. treat of the seven angels who had the seven trumpets, which they sounded, and inasmuch as many similar circumstances occur there, I will explain what is signified by those seven angels, and what by these; by the seven trumpets,, which the seven angels sounded, is signified the exploration and manifestation of the falses and evils, in which they who are in faith separated from charity are principled; but by the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, is signified their devastation and consummation, for the last judgment is not executed upon them until they are devastated. Devastation and consummation in the spiritual world take place in this manner: from those who are in falses as to doctrine, and thence in evils as to life, are taken away all the goods and truths which they possessed only in the natural man, and by virtue of which they simulated Christians; on being deprived of which, they are separated from heaven, and conjoined with hell; and then they are disposed into societies in the world of spirits according to their various concupiscences, and afterwards these societies soon begin to sink down. They are deprived of goods and truths by an influx from heaven:

the influx is of genuine truths and goods, by which they are tortured and tormented; just like a serpent when put near a fire, or thrown upon an ant-hill; for which reason they reject from themselves the goods and truths of heaven, which are also the goods and truths of the church, and at last, by reason of their feeling as if their infernal torment proceeded from them, they curse them: when this has come to pass, they enter into their own evils and falses, and are separated from the good. These are the things which are described and signified in this chapter by the pouring out of the vials, wherein were the seven last plagues. The vials did not contain the evils and falses, signified by the plagues, but genuine truths and goods, the effect of which was such as has been described; for the angels came out of the temple of the tabernacle of testimony, by which is meant the inmost of heaven, where there are nothing but truths and goods in divine holiness, chap. xv. 6. Öf this is the devastation and consummation which the Lord speaks of in these words: "For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath," Matt. xxv. 29, Mark iv. 25. "Take, therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents; for unto every one that hath shall be given, that he may abound, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath," Matt. xxv. 28, 29, Luke xix. 24, 25, 26.

677. "And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth," signifies, influx into those who are in the interior things of the Reformed Church, and study the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and who are called the clergy. By pouring out his vial is signified influx, as above, n. 676. By the earth is signified the church, n. 285, in the present instance, those therein who are skilled in its interior things, and are such as study the doctrine of justification by faith alone; these also say that they understand its interior things; but these interior things are only confirmations of this single position, that faith alone justifies without the works of the law;

other interior things they know not: and as these are chiefly priests, professors of divinity, and lecturers in colleges, in short doctors and pastors, therefore this first influx was into them, who are called the clergy. The reason why they are meant, is, because it is said that the first angel poured out his vial upon the earth, and the second angel upon the sea, and, further, by the earth is meant the church among those who are in its internals, and by the sea is meant the church among those who are in its externals, as above, n. 398, 403, 420, 470; that these are meant, is also evident from its being said that a noisome sore broke out upon them.

678. "And there fell a bad and noisome sore," signifies, interior evils and falses destructive of all good and truth in the church. By a sore, in this passage, nothing else is signified but evil originating in a life according to this primary article of doctrine, that faith alone without the works of the law justifies and saves, because it is said to fall upon the men who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image, whereby that faith and a life according to it, are signified; wherefore by a bad and noisome sore are signified interior evils and falses, destructive of all good and truth in the church: what is noisome or noxious signifies what is destructive, for evil cannot but destroy good, and falsehood truth. A sore has this signification because the sores of the body proceed from a corrupt state of the blood, or some other interior malignity; it is the same with sores understood in a spiritual sense, these proceed from concupiscences and their delights, which are interior causes. The evil itself which is signified by a sore, and which appears to be pleasant in externals, conceals within it the concupiscences from whence it springs, and of which it is composed. It is well to be attended to, that the interiors of the human mind exist in successive order and in simultaneous order in every one; they are in successive order from its superior or prior things to its inferior or posterior things, and they are in simultaneous order in ultimates or postremes, but in these latter they exist from interior things to exterior, as from a centre to its circumference. This,

is shown at large in the Wisdom of Angels concerning Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, n. 173-281, where degrees are treated of; from which it appears that the ultimate is the complex of all prior things: hence it follows, that all the concupiscences of evil exist in simultaneous order inwardly in the very evil which the man perceives in himself, every evil which a man perceives in himself being in ultimates; for which reason when a man rejects evil from himself, he at the same time rejects its concupiscences; but still not by his own power, but by the Lord. A man can indeed of himself reject evil, but not its concupiscences; wherefore, when he desires to reject evil, by fighting against it, he will look up to the Lord, for the Lord operates from intimates or inmost principles to ultimates, for he enters through the soul of man, and purifies him. These observations are made, that it may be known that a sore signifies the evil appearing in ultimates or extremes, and originating from internal malignity; this takes place with all who persuade themselves that faith alone saves, and therefore do not reflect upon any evil in themselves, nor look up to the Lord. Ulcers and wounds signify evils in extreme things, springing from interior evils, which are concupiscences, as in the following passages: "From the sole of the foot even unto the bead there is no soundness in it; but wounds and bruises and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment," Isaiah i. 6. "For mine iniquities are gone over my head, my wounds stink, and are become corrupt because of my foolishness," Psalm xxxviii. 5, 6. “In the day that Jehovah bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound," Isaiah xxx. 26. "If thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes;―Jehovah will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with the scab, and with the itch; and in the knees and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head," Deut. xxviii. 15, 27, 35. Nor had the boil breaking out with blains upon man

and upon beast in Egypt," Exod. ix. 8-11, any other signification; for the miracles performed in Egypt signified the evils and falses in which they were principled. And inasmuch as the Jewish nation were guilty of profaning the Word, this being signified by leprosy, therefore the leprosy was not only in their flesh, but also in their clothes, houses, and vessels; and the kinds of profanation are signified by the various bad forms of leprosy, such as tumors, ulcerous tumors, white and red spots, abscesses, scalls, freckled spots, scurfs, &c. Levit. xiii. 1, to the end. For the church with that nation was a representative church, in which internals were represented by corresponding externals.

679. "Upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshiped his image," signifies, among those who live a life of faith alone, and receive its doctrine. To have the mark of the beast, signifies, to acknowledge faith alone, to confirm one's self in it, and to live according to it; and to worship his image signifies, to receive its doctrine, see above n. 602, also 634, 637. By living a life of faith alone, and receiving its doctrine, is meant to make no account of life for the sake of salvation, nor of any truth, believing that if they only pray to God the Father, to have mercy for the Son's sake, they shall be saved. This is particularly the case with those who are acquainted with the interior subtilties of this doctrine, and acknowledge them; such being here treated of, see above, n. 677.

680. "And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea," signifies, an influx of truth and good from the Lord among those in the church of the Reformed who are in its externals, and are principled in that faith, and are called the laity. By pouring out his vial, is signified the influx of truth and good from the Lord, as above, n. 676, 677; by the sea is signified the external of the church, thus those who are in its externals, when the earth signifies the internal of the church, and thus those who are in its internals, n. 398, 403, 404, 420, 470, 477; these are they who are called the laity and are principled in that faith.