though he were dead, yet shall he live; whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die," John xi. 25, 26; besides other places; as in John vi. 38, 39, 40, vii. 37, 38, viii. 12, xii. 36, 46. To believe in the Lord, is to approach him immediately, and to have confidence that it is he who saves; and since no one can have this confidence who does not lead a good life, therefore this also is understood by believing in him, see above, n. 67.

554. "For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night," signifies, that by the last judgment they are removed who opposed the doctrine of the New Jerusalem. By the dragon being cast down, is signified that they are removed who are meant by the dragon; that they were removed by being cast down from heaven into the world of spirits, and then into hell, which is their last judgment, was observed before. By brethren, are meant they who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and in a life according to it; by accusing, is signified to oppose the doctrine, to maintain that it is false, and to exclaim against it; and because they do this continually, as it were, before God, the dragon is called the accuser of our brethren, accusing them before God day and night. This also the devil does when he tempts, for he brings forth various things out of man, which he calls falses, and condemns.

555. "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony," signifies, victory by the divine truth of the Word, and thence by the acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the precepts of the decalogue are precepts of life according to which men ought to live. That the blood of the Lamb is the divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the divine truth of the Word, may be seen above, n. 379; that the testimony is the divine truth, above, n. 6, 16, and that it specifically consists in these two things, viz.: that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the commandments of the decalogue are precepts of life, n. 490, 506; for which reason, the decalogue is also called the testimony, Exod. XXV. 22, xxxi. 7, 18, xxxii. 15, Levit. xvi. 13, Numb.

xvii. 19, Psalm lxxviii. 5, Psalm cxxxii. 12. Those at the present day, that are principled in faith alone, believe that, by the blood of the Lamb, is here meant the Lord's passion on the cross, and this because they make the Lord's passion on the cross the chief point of their solifidian dogma, saying, that thereby he transferred to himself the condemnation of the law, made satisfaction to the Father, and reconciled the human race to him; besides many other things. That this, however, is not the case, but that the Lord came into the world to subdue the hells and glorify his Humanity, and that the passion of the cross was the last combat, whereby he fully overcame the hells and fully glorified his Humanity, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, n. 12, 13, 14. Hence it may be seen, that by the blood of the Lamb is not here meant the passion of the cross according to the modern dogma. That by the blood of the Lamb is meant the divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the divine truth of the Word, may appear from this consideration, that the Lord is the Word; and because he is the Word, the divine truth therein is his blood, and the divine good therein, his body. This may be rendered evident at once, in the following manner :Is not every man his own good and his own truth? And, since good has relation to the will, and truth to the understanding, every man is his own will and his own understanding. What else constitutes a man? Is not man, as to his essence, these two? But the Lord is good itself and truth itself, that is, divine good and divine truth, which two are also the Word.

556. "And they loved not their lives unto the death," signifies, who loved not themselves more than the Lord. By loving their lives, is signified to love self and the world, for by the lives is signified man's own life, which every one has by birth, which consists in loving himself and the world above all things; therefore by not loving their lives, is signified not to love self and the world, more than the Lord and the things which are of the Lord; unto death, signifies to be willing to die rather; consequently it is to love the Lord above all things, and our neighbor

as one's self, Matt. xxii. 35-38; and to be willing to die rather than recede from those two loves. The same is signified by these words of the Lord: "He that findeth his life, shall lose it, and he that loseth his life for the sake of Jesus, shall find it," Matt. x. 39, Luke xvii. 33. "He that loveth his life shall lose it; but he that hateth his life in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal," John xii. 25. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me, let him deny himself; for whosoever will save his life, shall lose it; and whosoever will lose his life, for my sake, shall find it: What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt. xvi. 24, 25, Mark viii. 35, 36, 37, Luke ix. 24, 25. By loving the Lord, is meant to love to do his commandments, John xiv. 20-24. The reason is, because he himself is his own commandments, for they are from him, consequently he is in them, thus in the man, in whose life they are inscribed; and they are inscribed in man by willing and doing them.

557. "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them,” signifies, a new state of heaven, in that they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them. By heavens, is meant the heaven of Christians, in which the Lord alone is acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth; by rejoice, is signified its new state, full of joy; by they that dwell in them, are signified they who are in good, n. 380; and because all good is from the Lord, it signifies that they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them.

558. "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath," signifies, lamentations over those who are principled in the internals and externals of the doctrine of faith alone, and thence in evils of life, because their like are cast down from heaven into the world of spirits, and are thence in conjunction with men on earth, whom, out of hatred to the New Church, they excite to persevere in their falses and consequent evils. By woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, is signified lamentation over those in the church who are influenced by the

doctrine of faith alone; by woe, is signified lamentation, n. 496; by inhabitants, are signified they who are in the church whose doctrine is faith alone; by earth are meant they who are in its internals, and by sea they who are in its externals, n. 470; by great wrath, is signified hatred against the New Church, because it denotes hatred against the woman, n. 525; to come down unto them, signifies coming to those who are in the world of spirits, and as these are in conjunction with men upon earth, it also signifies to their like upon earth. That the dragon was cast out of heaven into the world of spirits, and that they who are in that world are in connexion with men upon earth, see above, n. 552. The dragon is here called the devil, because they are meant who from that heresy are in evils of life; and they are in evils of life from that heresy who live according to this tenet of their faith, that they have no sins who pray in confidence to God the Father, and that if they have they are remitted; all such, inasmuch as they do not examine themselves, know not any one sin that is in them, and at length do not even know what sin is, as may be seen above, n. 531. That by the dragon, as the devil, are meant they who are in the evils of their concupiscences, see n. 550. The reason why every man is in conjunction with those who are in the world of spirits, is, because man, as to the affections of his mind and the thoughts thence proceeding, is a spirit, therefore, as to such affections and thoughts, he is continually in conjunction with spirits who are in a similar affection, and thence in similar thoughts; there is such a conjunction, that if this bond was broken for a single moment, man would fall down dead. The church has hitherto known nothing of this; nor that man, after death, is his own affection and consequent thought, therefore his own charity and consequent faith, and that no one can be faith separated from charity.

559. "Because he knoweth that he hath but a short time," signifies, because he knows that a new heaven is formed, and that thus there is about to be a New Church upon earth, and that then he, with his like, will be cast into hell. This is signified, because the dragon knows

that a new heaven is formed, for he was expelled from it, verse 8,9; he knows also that there is about to be a New Church upon earth, from what is foretold in the Apocalypse, chap. xxi.; and he knows, likewise, that he and his like are then to be cast into hell, from what is also foretold, Apoc. xx. 1, 2, 10.

560. "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child," signifies, that the dragonists in the world of spirits, immediately upon their being thrust down, began to infest the New Church on account of its doctrine. When the dragon saw that he was cast upon the earth, signifies that when the dragonists saw that they were separated from heaven, and in conjunction with men upon earth, n. 552, 558; he persecuted the woman, signifies that they immediately began to infest the Lord's church; that the woman whom he persecuted is that church, may be seen, n. 533; who brought forth a son, signifies on account of its doctrine; that the son, which the woman brought forth, is the doctrine of the New Church, see n. 535, 542, 543, 545.

561. "And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place," signifies, the divine circumspection over that church, and its protection, while as yet confined to a few. By the woman, is signified the New Church, n. 533; by wings, are signified power and protection, n. 245; by an eagle is signified intellectual sight, and consequent thought, n. 245; by flying, is signified seeing and circumspection, n. 245; by a wilderness, is signified the church desolated, and thus among a few, n. 546; by her place, is signified its state there; from which it follows, that by there being given to the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, is signified the divine circumspection over the New Church, and its protection, while as yet confined to a few.

562. "Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent," signifies, that by reason of the craftiness of seducers, provision is made with circumspection that its numbers may increase