479. "And the voice which I heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go, take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the sea and upon the earth," signifies, a command from heaven, that they should admit that doctrine concerning the Lord, but that it should be made manifest by John, how it would be received in the church, before they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are removed. By the voice which he heard from heaven now again talking with him, is meant the voice which told him to seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and not to write them, verse 4, by which is signified, that the doctrine concerning the Lord would not be received till after they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, should be cast out of the spiritual world, because there would be danger were it to be received before, as may be seen above, n. 473; that this is the case, is now made manifest by John, by his eating up the little book, as presently follows. That by the little book is meant the doctrine concerning the Lord, may be seen, n. 469, 472; and that by the angel who stood upon the sea and upon the earth is understood the Lord, n. 465, 470.

480. "And I went unto the angel, and said unto him, Give me the little book," signifies, a motion or inclination of the mind, with many in the church, to receive the doctrine. This is signified, because by John is here manifested the way in which the doctrine concerning the Lord is received by many in the church, as just observed; a motion or inclination of the mind with these to receive this doctrine is meant, because an inclination was apparent in John, in that he went and asked for it. As these things involve such a meaning, therefore John was first told to take the little book; he then went and asked for it; then the angel said that he would give it him, but that it would make his belly bitter; and, lastly, it is said that it was given him, and that it so came to pass; all these circumstances being significative.

481. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but it shall be in thy

mouth sweet as honey," signifies, that reception from acknowledgment that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer, is grateful and pleasing, but that the acknowledgment that he alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is Divine, is unpleasing and difficult to receive by reason of falsifications. By taking the little book, is signified to receive the doctrine concerning the Lord; by eating it up, is signified to acknowledge it; by making the belly bitter, is signified that it will be unpleasant and difficult by reason of falsifications, for bitter signifies truth falsified, n. 411; by being in the mouth sweet as honey, is signified that the reception of it at first is grateful and pleasant. These things that are now applied to the doctrine, which is meant by the little book that was open in the hand of the angel, n. 409, 472, signify that reception from acknowledgment that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer, is grateful and pleasing; but that the acknowledgment that he alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is Divine, is unpleasing and difficult by reason of falsifications. The falsifications, by which that doctrine is rendered disagreeable and difficult of reception, consist principally in not acknowledging the Lord to be one with the Father, although he himself so taught; and in not acknowledging his Humanity to be Divine, which, nevertheless, is the Son of God, Luke i. 35; and thus it may be said, that they have made God three, and the Lord two; not to mention the falses continued from them: from these falses flows the doctrine of faith alone, and faith alone afterwards confirms those falses. That in consequence of these falses, so great a bitterness and repugnance exists, that they cannot, after death, even name the Divine Humanity from any acknowledgment in thought, may be seen above, n. 294.

482. "And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and when I had eaten it my belly was bitter," signifies, that so it came to pass, and was thus manifested what reception that doctrine would meet with, before they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the 7

VOL. II.

false prophet, were removed. As this is a necessary consequence of what was said above, it needs no further explanation. It is written that the prophet Ezekiel also was commanded to eat the volume of the book, and that in his mouth it was sweet as honey, Ezek. ii. 8, 9, 10, iii. 1-4.

483. "And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings," signifies, that this is the case, because the quality of those who are principled in faith alone must be further shown. That this is signified, appears from what follows, down to chap. xvii., which treats of those who are in faith alone; and afterwards of the Roman Catholic religion, and then of the expulsion of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, into hell, and thus concerning the New Church, in which the Lord alone will be worshiped. To prophesy, signifies to teach, n. 8, 133, therefore to prophesy again, signifies to teach further; by peoples, are signified those who are in the truths or falses of doctrine; and by nations, those who are in the good or evil of life, as will be seen presently; by tongues, are signified those who are exteriorly in such things, n. 282; and by kings, are signified those who are interiorly in them; for by kings, are signified those who are in truths derived from good; and, in the opposite sense, those who are in falses derived from evil, and, abstractedly, truths from good or falses from evil, as may be seen, n. 20, 664, 704, 720, 830, 921; and since they who are principled in interior falses are specifically treated of in what follows, it is said, "and many kings," by which are signified falses of evil in great abundance. Peoples, nations, tongues, and kings, are mentioned for the sake of comprehending all who are such in the church. John being told that he must prophesy again, signifies, that it is necessary to teach further what is the quality of those who are in faith alone, to the end that their falses may be detected, and thus abolished; inasmuch as no falsity is ever abolished before it is detected. That peoples signify those who are in truths or falses of doctrine, and nations, those who are in good or evil of life, may appear from many passages in

the Word, where peoples and nations are mentioned; but in confirmation of this, only those passages shall be here adduced, where peoples and nations occur together, from which this inference may be drawn, seeing that in the Word throughout, both generally and particularly, there is a marriage of the Lord and the church, and thence a marriage of good and truth; and peoples relate to truth, and nations to good. That there is such a marriage in all and every particular of the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 80-90. The passages in the Word are as follow: "Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity," Isaiah i. 4. “I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath," Isaiah x. 6. Jehovah smote the peoples in wrath, he ruled the nations in anger, Isaiah xiv. 6. "Go to a nation scattered and peeled-to a people terrible from their beginning," Isaiah xviii. 2. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee," Isaiah xxv. 3. Jehovah will destroy the covering which is cast over all peoples and the vail that is spread over all nations, Isaiah xxv. 7. 8. "Come near, ye nations, and hear, ye people," Isaiah xxxiv. 1. "I will give thee for a covenant to the peoples, and a light to the nations," Isaiah xlii. 6. "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my standard to the peoples," Isaiah xlix. 22. "Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled," Isaiah xliii. 9. "Behold I have given him for a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander to the nations,” Isaiah lv. 4, 5. "Behold, a people cometh from the north country, and a great nation from the sides of the earth," Jerem. vi. 22, 23. "Many peoples shall come, and strong nations to seek Jehovah of Hosts in Jerusalem," Zech. viii. 22. "Jehovah bringeth the counsel of the nations to nought, he maketh the devices of the peoples of none effect," Psalm xxxiii. 10. "Jehovah shall subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet; Jehovah reigneth over the nations, the princes of the peoples are gathered together," Psalm xlvii. 8, 9.

“Let the peoples praise thee, let the nations be glad, for thou shalt judge the peoples righteously, and govern the nations upon earth," Psalm lxvii. 3, 4, 5. "Remember me, O Jehovah, with the favor of thy people, that I may rejoice in gladness of thy nations," Psalm cvi. 4, 5. All the peoples, nations, and tongues, of the Son of Man shall worship, Dan. vii. 14. Besides other places; as in Psalm xviii. 43, Isaiah ix. 2, 3, xi. 10, Ezek. xxxvi. 15, Joel ii. 17, Zeph. ii. 9, Apoc. v. 9, Luke ii. 30, 31, 32.

484. To the above I will add three Memorable Relations of what took place in the spiritual world. The first was as follows. I once heard a noise like the grinding of a mill; it was in the northern quarter. At first I wondered what it could mean, till I recollected that by a mill and by grinding, in the Word, is meant to collect from the Word what is serviceable to doctrine, n. 794. I advanced, therefore, towards the place from whence the noise came, and as I approached, the noise ceased: then I observed something like a roof above ground, the entrance to which was through a cave; on seeing which, I descended and entered; and lo, there was an apartment, in which I saw an aged person sitting, surrounded with books, with the Word before him, in which he was searching for what might be serviceable to his doctrine. There were papers lying about him, on which he wrote such passages as suited his purpose. And, in the next room, were a number of scribes, who collected the papers, and copied out their contents on a whole sheet. I inquired first, concerning the books which lay about him; he said, that they all treated of justifying faith: "Those from Sweden and Denmark," says he, "enter deeply into the subject; those from Germany somewhat deeper; those from England deeper still; and those from Holland the deepest of all;" he added withal, that notwithstanding the difference of their sentiments on other points, yet in the articles of justification and salvation by faith alone, they were all agreed. He then told me, that at that time he was collecting from the Word, this chief article of justifying faith, viz. that God the Father fell away from grace