a principle of religion, is as blind as a mole, and there is nothing but mere darkness in it, and such darkness as rejects from itself all spiritual light, opposes its influx from the Lord and from heaven, and sets up a barrier against it in the sensual corporeal part, far below the rational in matters relating to faith, that is, places it in the nose, and fixes it in its cartilage, on which account they cannot afterwards so much as scent spiritual things; whence some have been reduced to such a state as that the very scent of any thing spiritual throws them into a swoon by scent I mean perception. These are they who make God three; they say, indeed, from an idea of his essence, that God is one, but yet when they pray in. conformity to their faith, to the following effect, that God the Father would have mercy for the sake of the Son and send the Holy Spirit, they evidently make three gods: they cannot do otherwise, for they pray to one to have mercy for the sake of another, and send a third." After this the master taught them concerning the Lord, that he is the one God, in whom there is a divine trinity.

CHAPTER XIV.

1. AND I saw, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written on their foreheads.

2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no one could learn that song but the hundred forty and four thousand, who were bought from the earth.

4. These are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were bought from among men, being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb.

5. And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God.

6. And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people,

7. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

8. And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon, that great city is fallen, is fallen; because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

9. And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast, and his image, and receive his mark on his forehead or on his hand,

10. He shall even drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture in the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb:

11. And the smoke of their torment ascended up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. 12. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.

13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; and their works do follow them.

14. And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.

15. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe.

16. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.

17. And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18. And another angel came out from the altar, having power over fire: and he cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes are ripe.

19. And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God.

20. And the wine-press was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the wine-press, even unto the bridles of the horses, for a thousand six hundred furlongs.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. Concerning the new Christian heaven: it is described from verses 1-5; the Lord's coming proclaimed, and then a new church, verses 6, 7, 13; an exhortation to renounce the doctrine of faith, separated from charity, in which the present church is principled, verses 9-12; an exploration of these, and a manifestation that their works are evil, verses 14-20.

THE CONTENTS OF EACH VERSE. "And I saw, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred forty and four thousand," signifies, the Lord now in the new heaven of Christians, who have acknowledged him as the God of heaven and earth, and have been in truths of doctrine from him by the Word; "Having his Father's name written on their foreheads," signifies, their acknowledgment of the Lord's Divinity and Divine Humanity: "And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, signifies, the Lord speaking through the new heaven from divine truths: "And as the voice of great thunders," signifies, and from divine love: "And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps," signifies confession of the Lord from joy of heart by the spiritual angels in the inferior heavens: "And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and before the elders," signifies, the celebration and glorification of the Lord before him and before the angels of the superior heavens: “And no one could learn that song but the hundred forty and four thousand," signifies that no other Christians could understand, and thereby from love and faith acknowledge, that the Lord is the only God of heaven and earth, but those who are received by the Lord into his new heaven: "Who were bought from the earth," signifies, that they are such as were capable of being regenerated by the Lord and thus redeemed in the world: "These are they that were not defiled with women, for they are virgins," signifies that they did not adulterate the truths of the church, and defile them with the falsities of faith, but that they loved truths because they are truths: "These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth," signifies, that they are conjoined to the Lord through love and faith in him, because they have lived according to his commandments: "These were bought from among men," signifies here as before: "Being the first fruits unto God and the Lamb," signifies, the beginning of the Christian heaven, which acknowledges one God, in whom there is a trinity, and that the Lord is that God: "And in their mouth was found no guile," signifies, that they do not from cunning and design speak and persuade to what is false and evil: "For they are without fault before the throne of God," signifies, because they are principled in truths grounded in good from the

Lord: "And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth," signifies, the annunciation of the Lord's advent, and of the new church about to come down out of heaven from him: "And to every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people," signifies, to all who from religion are in good, and from doctrine in truths: "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God," signifies, an admonition not to do evil, because this is against the Lord: "And give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come,” siguifies, an acknowledgment and confession that every truth of the Word is from the Lord, according to which every man will be judged: "And worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters," signifies, that the Lord alone is to be worshiped, because he alone is the Creator, Saviour, and Redeemer, and from him alone the angelic heaven and the church, and all things relating to them, exist: "And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon, that great city, is fallen, is fallen," signifies, that now the Roman Catholic religion, as to its tenets and doctrinals, is dispersed: "Because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication," signifies, because, by profanations of the Word, and adulterations of the good and truth of the church, she hath seduced all whom she could subject to her dominion: "And a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice," signifies something further from the Lord concerning those who are principled in faith separated from charity: "If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark on his forehead or on his hand," signifies, that he who acknowledges and receives the doctrine of justification and salvation by faith alone, confirms himself in it, and lives according to it: "He shall even drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture in the cup of his indignation," signifies, that they falsify the goods and truths of the Word, and tincture their lives with such falsifications: "And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb: and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever," signifies self-love and the love of the world, and their derivative lusts, and the pride of self-derived intelligence proceeding from these latter; and torment in hell from the former: "And they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name,” signifies, a perpetual state in things undelightful with those who acknowledge and receive that faith, confirm it, and live according to it: "Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus," signifies, that the man of the Lord's church by temptations arising from those who worship the beast, is searched and tried as to his quality in regard to a life according to the commandments of the Word and faith in the Lord: "And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth," signifies, a prediction from the Lord of

their state after death, who will be of his New Church, that they will have eternal life and felicity: "Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors," signifies that the divine truth of the Word teaches, that they who afflict their soul and crucify the flesh, on that account shall have peace in the Lord: "And their works do follow them," signifies, according as they have loved and believed, and thence acted and spoken: "And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man," signifies, the Lord as the Word: "Having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle,” signifies, the divine wisdom from his divine love, and the divine truth of the Word: "And another angel came out of the temple," signifies, the angelic heaven: " Crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come for thee to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe,” signifies, the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord, that he would make an end, and execute judgment, because the church is now arrived at its last state: "And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth: and the earth was reaped," signifies, the end of the church, by reason that there was no longer any divine truth therein: "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle,” signifies, the heavens of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and the divine truth of the Word with them: "And another angel came out from the altar, having power over fire," signifies, the heavens of the Lord's celestial kingdom, who are in the good of love from the Lord: "And he cried with a loud cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth," signifies, the Lord's operation from the good of his love through the divine truth of his Word upon the works of charity and faith among the men of the Christian church: "For her grapes are ripe," signifies, because it is the last state of the Christian church: "And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth,” signifies, the end of the present Christian church: "And cast it into the great wine-press of the wrath of God," signifies, an exploration of the quality of their works, that they were evil: "And the wine-press was trodden without the city," signifies, that an exploration was made from the divine truths of the Word, into the quality of the works resulting from the doctrine of faith of the church: "And blood came out of the wine-press even unto the bridles of the horses," signifies, violence done to the Word by direful falsifications of truth, and the understanding so closed thereby, that man is scarcely capable any longer of being taught, and thus led by divine truths from the Lord: "For a thousand six hundred furlongs," signifies, mere falsities of evil.