10698. And afterward all the sons of Israel came near. That this signifies all who were in external things without what is internal and yet represented internal things, is evident from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being those who are in external things without what is internal (of whic h just above, n. 10692). That it also signifies those who represented internal things, is because Moses obtained permission for the church to be represented among that nation, although they were of such a character that no church could be instituted among them. For there can be no church among those who are in external things without what is internal, because the church is in the internal of man, and not in the external without this; for man’s communication with heaven and with the Lord is through the internal. When there is no internal, that is, when it has been closed, there is then communication with hell. But although the sons of Israel were of such a character that no communication of heaven with them was possible through the internal, nevertheless they could represent such things as were of the church and of heaven, which is effected solely by means of external things to which internal things correspond, and for this reason they were received. (That with that nation there was not a church, but only the representative of a church, may be seen at the places cited in n. 9320, 10396; and that communication with heaven was effected by means of external things that represented internal things, may be seen at the places cited in n. 9320, 10396; also n. 10492, 10500, 10549-10551, 10570, 10575, 10602, 10629.)

301. The other arcanum is that had they been instructed in the mysteries of faith they would have perished eternally, which is signified by the words, “now lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of lives, and eat, and live to eternity.” The case is this: When men have become inverted orders of life, and are unwilling to live, or to become wise, except from themselves and from their Own, they reason about everything they hear respecting faith, as to whether it is so, or not; and as they do this from themselves and from their own things of sense and of memory-knowledge, it must needs lead to denial, and consequently to blasphemy and profanation, so that at length they do not scruple to mix up profane things with holy. When a man becomes like this, he is so condemned in the other life that there remains for him no hope of salvation. For things mixed up by profanation remain so mixed up, so that whenever any idea of something holy presents itself, an idea of something profane that is conjoined with it is also there, the consequence of which is that the person cannot be in any society except one of the damned. Whatever is present in any idea of thought in consequence of being conjoined with it, is most exquisitely perceived in the other life, even by spirits in the world of spirits, and much more so by angelic spirits, so exquisitely indeed that from a single idea they know a person’s character. The separation of profane and holy ideas when thus conjoined cannot be effected except by means of such infernal torment that if a man were aware of it he would as carefully avoid profanation as he would avoid hell itself.