578. And all the earth went marveling after the beast. This symbolically means that then that faith was accepted with joy and made the doctrine of the whole church, because people were in that case not servants under the law, but free under faith.
That the earth went marveling symbolizes people's marveling that the "mortal injury" was healed, and their acceptance of that faith therefore with joy. All the earth symbolizes the entire Protestant Reformed Church, inasmuch as the earth is the church (no. 285). Consequently, that all the earth went marveling after the beast means symbolically that that faith was accepted with joy and made the doctrine of the whole church. People received it with joy because in that case they were not servants under the law, but free under faith - not knowing that the case is altogether the reverse, namely, that people who believe themselves to be free under faith, either because of that faith or by means of that faith, are servants to sin, that is to say, to the devil, for sin and the devil are one and the same. Indeed, they believe that in their case the law does not condemn. Thus they believe that to sin without the condemnation of the law is freedom, provided they have faith, even though this is the essence of servitude. On the other hand, when a person refrains from sin, that is, from the devil, he becomes no longer a servant but free.
[2] To this I will add the following account:
I have spoken with several church doctors in the world of spirits, asking what they mean by works of the law, and by the law under whose yoke, servitude and condemnation they say they are not.
They said they were the works of the law in the Decalogue.
At that I then said, "What does the Decalogue command? Is it not the following, 'You shall not kill, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness'? These are the works of the law that you divorce from faith, saying that faith alone apart from works of the law justifies and saves, and that they are works for which Christ made satisfaction."
They replied that they were the works. And they heard then a voice from heaven saying, "Who can be so irrational?" And immediately their faces were turned in the direction of some diabolical spirits, with Machiavelli 1
among them, and many of the Jesuit order, who permitted all of these forbidden practices, provided they took precautions against the world's laws. And the church doctors would have joined their company, except that a society was interposed between them and separated them.
We are told that all the earth went marveling after the beast. That to go after it means to follow it and obey it, is apparent from the following passages:
...David... kept My commandments and... walked after Me with all his heart... (1 Kings 14:8)
The... sons of Jesse went... after Saul into battle. (1 Samuel 17:13)
You shall not go after a multitude to do evil; nor shall you testify in a dispute... after many to pervert justice. (Exodus 23:2)
...you shall not go after other gods whom you do not know. (Jeremiah 7:9)
They have gone after other gods to serve them. (Jeremiah 11:10, cf. Deuteronomy 8:19)
...Jehovah... will destroy...[every] man... who went after Baal of Peor. (Deuteronomy 4:3)
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