681. "And it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died in the sea," signifies, infernal falsity among them, by which every truth of the Word, and consequently of the church, and of faith, is extinguished. By blood as of a dead man, or by gore and sanies, is signified infernal falsity; for by blood is signified divine truth, and, in an opposite sense, the same falsified, n. 379; but by blood as of a dead man, is signified infernal falsity, for by death is signified extinction of spiritual life, and thence by dead is signified what is infernal, n. 321, 525. By every living soul dying, is signified that every truth of the Word, of the church, and of faith, was extinguished, for by living soul is signified the truth of faith, and by the death of the living soul, extinction of the truth of faith. By soul, in the Word, when spoken of man, is signified his spiritual life, which also is the life of his understanding, and as the understanding is such by virtue of truths, and truths are of faith, therefore by soul is signified the truth of faith. That this is the signification of soul may appear from many passages in the Word, and particularly from those where soul and heart occur; that by soul and heart is meant the life of man, is plain, but his life is from the will and understanding, or spiritually speaking, from love and wisdom, so from charity and faith; and the life of the will from the good of love, or of charity, is meant by the heart, and the life of the understanding from the truths of wisdom, or of faith, is meant by the soul. This is what is meant by soul and heart in Matt. xxii. 3, Mark xii. 30, 33, Luke x. 27, Deut. vi. 5, x. 11, xi. 14, xxvi. 16, Jerem. xxxii. 41, and in other places; it is the same in those passages where the heart is mentioned by itself, and the soul by itself. That the reason of their being named is grounded in the correspondence of the heart with the will and love, and of the respiration of the lungs with the understanding and wisdom, may be seen in the Wisdom of Angels concerning the Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, Part V. where that correspondence is treated of.

683. "And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters," signifies, influx into

their understanding of the Word. By the third angel pouring out his vial, in like manner as by the former, is signified influx from the Lord from truths and goods, in the present case, into the understanding of the Word among them: for by rivers are signified truths in abundance, serving the rational man, thus the understanding, for doctrine and life, n. 409, and by a fountain of waters is signified the Lord as to the Word, thus the Word of the Lord, and therefore by fountains of waters are signified divine truths from thence, n. 384, 409.

684. "And they became blood," signifies, the truths of the Word falsified. That by blood, in a good sense, is signified divine truth, and, in an opposite sense, divine truth falsified, see above, n. 373; the reason why divine truth falsified and profaned is signified by blood, is, because the Jews shed the Lord's blood, who was the divine truth itself, or the Word, and this they did in consequence of having falsified and profaned all the truths of the Word. That the Lord suffered as the Word, or that the Jewish nation did the same violence to the Lord as they had done to the Word, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, n. 15—17. The reason why they who are principled in faith alone, falsify all the truths of the Word, is, because the whole Word treats of a life according to the commandments that are therein, and of the Lord as being Jehovah and the only God, and they who are principled in faith alone do not think of living according to the commandments in the Word nor do they approach the Lord.

685. "And I heard the angel of the waters say," signifies, the divine truth of the Word. By the angel of the waters nothing else is signified but the divine truth of the Word, because waters signify truths, n. 50, and an angel signifies what is divine from the Lord, n. 415, 631, 633, and also truth from him. n. 170.

686. "Thou art righteous, O Lord, Who art, and who wast, and art holy, because thou hast judged thus," signifies, that this is of the divine providence of the Lord, who is and who was the Word, and divine truth itself, which otherwise would be profaned. Thou art righteous,

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O Lord, because thou hast judged thus, signifies, that this is of the Lord's divine providence, as will be seen presently; Who art, and Who wast, signifies the Lord as to the Word, and that he is and was the Word, according to John i. 1, 2, 14. The reason why the Lord is here understood as to the Word, is because the subject now treated of is concerning the understanding of the Word among those who are of the church. What is further signified by Is and Was, the Beginning and End, the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, when applied to the Lord, may be seen above, n. 13, 29, 30, 31, 38, 57; by holy is signified that he is the divine truth itself, n. 173, 586, 666. From these considerations it appears, that by Thou art righteous, O Lord, Who art, and Who wast, and art holy, because thou hast judged thus, is signified, that this is of the divine providence of the Lord, who is and was the Word and divine truth itself. The reason why it is so ordered by the divine providence that they who are principled in faith alone should be permitted to falsify the truths of the Word, is, because if they knew them, so as to think of them interiorly, they would profane them; for they are in evils, because they do not shun evils as sins, nor approach the Lord immediately; wherefore if they were to receive the genuine truths of the Word, they would mix them with the evils of their life and the result of this would be a profanation of what is holy. It is therefore one of the laws of permission, which are also laws of the divine providence, that they should from themselves falsify truths, and this in proportion as they are in evils of life. That it is so ordered by the divine providence, that they who are in evils of life should never be otherwise than in falses of doctrine, lest the divine truths of the Word should be profaned, may be seen in the Wisdom of Angels concerning the Divine Providence, n. 221— 233, and 257 to the end.

687. "For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets," signifies, this by reason that that single tenet, that faith alone saves without the works of the law, when received, perverts all true doctrinals from the Word.

By shedding blood is signified here, as above n. 684, to falsify the truths of the Word, thus to pervert them; by saints are signified they who are in truths in the church, thus also abstractedly, the truths of the church, n. 586. By prophets are signified they who are in doctrinals from the Word, thus also abstractedly, doctrinals from the Word, n. 133.

688. "And thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy," signifies, that they who have confirmed themselves in faith alone, both in doctrine and in life, have been permitted by the divine providence of the Lord to falsify the truths of the Word, and to tincture their lives with such falsifications. By drinking blood is signified not only to falsify the truths of the Word, but also to imbibe such falsifications in their life, for he who drinks any thing, appropriates it to himself and imbibes it. It is said, "for they are worthy," by reason that they who receive the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and live according to it, are in evils as to life, and evil operates that in them; and of those who are in evils, it is here said, that they are worthy, as it is said in the world, of those who are punished for crimes. Concerning the divine providence in relation to this subject, see above, n. 686.

689. "And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty; true and righteous are thy judgments," signifies, the divine good of the Word confirming that divine truth. By another (angel) is signified the divine good of the Word; by an angel is signified somewhat divine from the Lord, n. 415, 431, 633, and by an angel out of the altar, is signified the divine good of love, n. 648, here, the divine good of the Word, because the Word still continues to be treated of, and because by the angel of the waters is signified the divine truth of the Word, n. 685. Now since the divine good of the Word and the divine truth of the Word make one, therefore the signification of what was spoken by the angel of the waters is similar to that which was spoken by the angel out of the altar; for the angel of the waters said, Thou art righteous, O Lord, Who art, and Who wast, and art holy,

because thou hast judged thus; but the angel out of the altar said, Even so, Lord God Almighty; true and righteous are thy judgments. Both these expressions have the same signification, but with this difference, that one of the angels spake from the influence of truth, and the other from good, and one confirmed what the other spake, but by different words, one by words which belong to the class of truth, and the other by words which belong to the class of good; for there is a marriage of good and truth in every particular of the Word, n. 97, and there are words which relate to good and words which relate to truth, which seem different, but nevertheless involve things that are similar.

690. "And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun," signifies, influx into their love. By pouring out his vial is signified here, as before, influx from goods and truths, in the present case into their love, for by the sun is signified the divine love of the Lord, and, in an opposite sense, self-love, n. 53, 382, 414, here, self-love, because it follows, that men were scorched with fire, and burned with great heat, by which are signified the concupiscences of that love.

691. "And power was given unto him to scorch men with fire," signifies, that love to the Lord tormented them, because they were in the concupiscences of evils from the delight of the loves of them. Since, by pouring out his vial, is signified influx from the Lord from goods and truths, therefore by pouring his vial upon the sun, is signified influx from the Lord from divine love, in order to discover the quality of the love of the men of that church; hence by its being given the angel to scorch men with fire, is signified that the divine love of the Lord tormented them; and inasmuch as the divine love of the Lord does not torment any but those who are in the concupiscences of evils from the delight of self-love, it thence follows, that by its being given him to scorch men with fire, is signified that love to the Lord tormented them, because they were in concupiscences of evils from the delight of self-love. That burning heat signifies concupiscences prompting to evils and consequent