this heaven was seen open, and there appeared tongues, as of flame, descending and influencing some; and they then celebrated THE DIVINE HUMANITY OF THE LORD, saying, "Remove the idea of three gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and that the Father and he are one, as the soul and body are one, and that God is not air or ether, but that he is a Man, and then you will be brought into conjunction with heaven, and thereby have power from the Lord to pronounce the name Jesus,' and utter the words ' Divine Human.'"

CHAPTER VI.

1. AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four animals say, as with a voice of thunder, Come and see.

2. And I saw, and behold, a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second animal say, Come and see.

4. And there went out another horse that was red, and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto hin a great sword.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third animal say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo, a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.

6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal say, Come and see.

8. And I looked, and behold, a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.

10. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11. And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. ·

12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a figtree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14. And the heaven departed as a scroll, when it is rolled together and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains;

16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17. For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. The subject treated of is concerning the exploration of those, on whom the last judgment is to be executed; and exploration is made to discover the quality of their understanding of the Word, and thence the quality of their state of life. That they consisted of such as were in truths originating in good, verses 1, 2; of such as were without good, verses 3, 4; of such as were in contempt of truth, verses 5, 6; and of such as were totally devastated, both as to good and truth, verses 7, 8. Of the state of those who were preserved by the Lord from the wicked in the inferior earth, and were to be delivered at the time of the last judginent, verses 9, 10. Of the state of those who were in evils and thence in falses, the nature of that state at the day of the last judgment, verses 12-17.

THE CONTENTS OF EACH verse. "And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals," signifies, exploration from the Lord of all those upon whom the last judginent was about to be executed, as to their understanding of the Word, and theuce as to their state of life: "And I heard one of the four animals say, as with a voice of thunder,” signifies, according to the divine truth of the Word: "Come and see," signifies, a manifestation concerning those who were first in order: "And I saw, and behold, a white

horse," signifies, the understanding of truth and good from the Word with these: “And he that sat on him had a bow,” signifies, that they had the doctrine of truth and good from the Word, by virtue of which they fought against the falses and evils which are from hell: "And a crown was given unto him,” signifies, his token of combat: "And he went forth conquering, and to conquer," signifies, victory over evils and falses to eternity: "And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second animal say, Come and see," signifies the same here as above: "And there went out another horse that was red," signifies, the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good, and thence as to life, in these: "And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth," signifies, the taking away of charity, spiritual security, and internal tranquillity: "And that they should kill one another," signifies, intestine hatreds, infestations from the hells, and internal restlessness: "And there was given unto him a great sword," signifies, the destruction of truth by falses of evil: "And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third animal say, Come and see," signifies the same here as above: “And I beheld, and lo, a black horse," signifies, the understanding of the Word destroyed in these as to truth and thus as to doctrine : "And he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand,” signifies, the estimation of good and truth, of what kind it was with these: "And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals say," ,"signifies, the divine protection of the Word by the Lord: "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny," signifies, because the estimation of good and truth is so small as scarcely to amount to any thing: "And see thou hurt not the oil and the wine,” signifies, that it is provided by the Lord, that the holy goods and truths which lie interiorly concealed in the Word, shall not be violated and profaned: "And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal say, Come and see," signifies, the same here as above: "And I looked, and behold, a pale horse,” signifies, the understanding of the Word destroyed both as to good and as to truth: "And his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him," signifies, the extinction of spiritual life and thence damnation: "And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill," signifies, the destruction of all good in the church: “With sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth," signifies, by falses of doctrine, by evils of life, by the love of self, and by lusts: "And when he had opened the fifth seal," signifies, exploration from the Lord into the state of life of those who were to be saved at the day of the last judgment, and were in the mean time reserved: "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held," signifies, those who were rejected by the wicked on account of their life being conformable to the truths of the Word, and their acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine Humanity, and who were guarded by the Lord

that they might not be seduced: "And they cried with a loud voice," signifies, grief of heart: "Saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth," signifies, by reason that the last judgment was protracted, and that they who offer violence to the Word and to the Lord's Divine Humanity were not removed: "And white robes were given unto every one of them," signifies, their communication and conjunction with angels who are in divine truths: "And it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled,” signifies, that the last judginent should yet be protracted a little, till they should be collected, who should be rejected in like manner by the wicked: "And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal," signifies, exploration from the Lord of their state of life, who were interiorly evil, upon whom the last judgment was to be executed: "And lo, there was a great earthquake," signifies, the state and terror of the church with those totally changed: "And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood," signifies, the adulteration of all the good of love in them, and the falsification of all the truth of faith: "And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth," signifies, the dispersion of all the knowledges of good and truth: "Even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind," signifies, by the ratiocination of the natural man separated from the spiritual: "And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together," signifies, separation from heaven and conjunction with hell: “ And every nountain and island were moved out of their places," signifies, that all the good of love and truth of faith departed: "And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every freeman," signifies, those who, before separation, were in the understanding of truth and good, in the science of the knowledges thereof, in erudition, either from others or from themselves, and yet not in a life conformable thereto : "Hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains," signifies, that they were now in evils and in falses of evil: "And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,” signifies, confirmations of evil by means of falsity and of falsity from evil, until they did not acknowledge any divinity in the Lord: "For the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand?" signifies, that they were made such of themselves by separation from the good and faithful on account of the last judgment, which otherwise they would not be able to abide,

THE EXPLANATION.

295. “AND I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals," signifies, exploration from the Lord of all those upon whom the last judgment was about to be executed, as to their understanding of the Word, and thence as to their state of life. This is signified, because now follows in order the exploration of all upon whom the last judgment was about to be performed, as to their states of life, and this from the Lord according to the Word. Such then is the signification of the Lamb's opening the seals of the Book. That to open the Book, and loose the seals thereof, signifies to know the states of the life of all, and to judge every one according to his own respectively, may be seen above, n. 259, 265, 266, 267, 273, 274.

296. "And I heard one of the four animals say, as with a voice of thunder," signifies, according to the divine truth of the Word. That by the four animals, or cherubs, is understood the Word, may be seen above, n. 239, 275, 286, and by a voice of thunder, the perception of divine truth, n. 236. It is here said a voice of thunder, because by this animal is meant the lion, by which is signified the divine truth of the Word as to its power, n. 241; hence it is, that this animal is said to have spoken as with a voice of thunder; for it is said afterwards, that the second animal spake, then the third, and the fourth.

297. "Come and see," signifies, a manifestation concerning those who were first in order. It has been observed above, that in this chapter is described the exploration of all upon whom the last judgment was to be executed, as to their states of life, and this from the Lord according to the Word, n. 295; here therefore is described the exploration of the first in order, as to their understanding of the Word, and consequent state of life. That the church exists from the Word, and that the nature and quality of every church is determined by the understanding it has of the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, n. 76-79.