503. And there was hail and fire mingled with blood, signifies the destroying infernal falsity and evil mingled with the truths and goods of the Word, to which violence was offered. This is evident from the signification of "hail," as being the destroying infernal falsity (of which presently); from the signification of "fire" as being the destroying infernal evil (of which also presently); and from the signification of "blood," as being the Divine truth, here that to which violence was offered, consequently Divine truth falsified, because it is said "hail and fire mingled with blood." That "blood" signifies Divine truth proceeding from the Lord and received by man, and in the contrary sense its destruction by the falsities of evil, and thus violence offered to it, may be seen above n. 329.

[2] This signification of "hail and fire," as being destroying falsity and evil, is also from the appearances in the spiritual world when Divine truth flows down there out of heaven and flows into the sphere where those are who are in falsities from evil and who are eager to destroy the truths and goods of the church; to those who stand afar off there is then an appearance of a shower of hail and fire, a shower of hail in consequence of their falsities, and a shower of fire from their evils. The reason of this appearance is that when Divine truth flows into the sphere where falsities and evils are, it is changed into something similar to what is in that sphere; for all influx is changed in the recipient subject according to its quality, as with the light of the sun in black subjects, and the heat of the sun in putrid subjects. So it is with Divine truth (which is the light of heaven) and Divine good (which is the heat of heaven) in evil subjects, which are spirits who are in falsities from evil; thence is this appearance. From this it is that "hail and fire" have these significations in the Word; for the sense of the letter of the Word comes for the most part from appearances in the spiritual world.

[3] That "hail" signifies infernal falsity destroying the truth of the church is evident elsewhere in the Word, where the destruction of truth is described by "hail;" as in Egypt, when Pharaoh would not let the people of Israel go, which is thus described in Moses:

Moses said to Pharaoh that he would cause it to rain a very grievous hail, such as had not been in Egypt. There shall be hail upon man and upon beast, and upon every herb of the field in the land of Egypt. And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven; and Jehovah sent voices and hail, and the fire ran along the earth; and Jehovah caused hail to rain upon the land of Egypt; and there was hail, and fire with it, raining in the midst of the very grievous hail. And the hail smote all that was in the field, from man even to beast; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke down every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel were, was there no hail. And the flax and the barley were smitten; for the barley was a ripening ear, and the flax was a stalk. But the wheat and the spelt were not smitten, for these were covered (Exodus 9:18-35).

"The hail in Egypt" has a similar signification as the "hail" here in Revelation; for this reason many like things are said; as that "the hail and the fire ran together," and "the hail smote the herb of the field, and broke down the trees." Many like things are here mentioned, because the plagues of Egypt and the plagues of Revelation that came when the seven angels sounded have a similar signification; for the "Egyptians" signify merely natural men, the "sons of Israel" spiritual men, the "plagues of Egypt" the changes that precede the Last Judgment, the same as here in Revelation; for the drowning of Pharaoh and the Egyptians in the Red Sea represented the Last Judgment and damnation. This makes clear that here, too, "hail and fire" signify falsities and evils destroying the church. (But those things may be seen explained in Arcana Coelestia 7553-7619.)

[4] So "hail" and "coals" (or fire) have a like signification in David:

He smote their vine with hail, and their sycamore trees with a grievous hail; and He shut up their beast to the hail, and their herds to the coals. He sent among them the fierceness of His anger, an incursion of evil angels (Psalms 78:47-49).

Because "hail" signifies falsity destroying the truths of the church it is said "He smote their vine with hail, and their sycamore trees with a grievous hail," for "vine" signifies the spiritual truth of the church, and "sycamores" its natural truth; and as "coals" signifies the love of evil and its ardor for destroying the goods of the church, it is said, "He shut up their beast to the hail, and their herds to the coals," "beast" and "herds" signifying the evil affections or cupidities that arise from evil love, and "coals" the cupidity and ardor for destroying; "an incursion of evil angels" signifies the falsity of evil from hell.

[5] In the same:

He gave them hail for their rain, a fire of flames in their land; and He smote their vine and their fig tree, and broke down the tree of their border (Psalms 105:32, 33).

This, too, is said of the "hail of Egypt" which signifies infernal falsity destroying the truths of the church; and the "vine" and the "fig tree" here also signify similar things as the "vine" and the "sycamore trees" above, namely, the "vine" spiritual truth, and the "fig tree" natural truth, each belonging to the church; and "tree" signifies the perceptions and knowledges of truth and good.

[6] "Hail" has a similar signification in Joshua, when Joshua fought against the five kings of the Amorites, of which it is said:

It came to pass when the kings fled before Israel, and they were in the going down to Beth-horon, that Jehovah cast down great hailstones from heaven upon them unto Azekah; and more died from the hailstones than the sons of Israel slew with the sword (Joshua 10:11).

As the histories of the Word, the same as the prophecies, are representative and contain an internal sense, therefore also does this that is related of the five kings of the Amorites and the battle of the sons of Israel with them; for the "nations" that were driven out of the land of Canaan signified the evil who are to be cast out of the Lord's kingdom, and the "sons of Israel" signified those to whom it would be granted to possess the kingdom, for the "land of Canaan" signified heaven and the church, thus the Lord's kingdom; thence the "five kings of the Amorites" signified those who are in the falsities of evil and who wish to destroy the truths of the good of the church; this is why they were slain by "hailstones out of heaven," that is, were destroyed and perished by their own falsities of evil; for the evil themselves perish in consequence of their evils and falsities, with which they wish to destroy the truths and goods of the church.

[7] In David:

At the brightness before Him His clouds passed, with hail and coals of fire. Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered His voice, hail and coals of fire. And He sent forth His arrows and scattered them, and many lightnings and discomfited them (Psalms 18:12-14).

Here "hail and fire" have a similar signification as the "hail and fire" in this passage in Revelation, namely, falsities and evils destroying the truths and goods of the church. It is said that such things are from Jehovah, because Divine truth coming down out of heaven is changed with the evil into infernal falsities, as has been said above; and from this change there spring forth many appearances such as the fall of hail and fire; and yet these things are not out of heaven from the Lord, but from those who are in the falsities of evil, who turn the influx of Divine truth and good into the falsity of evil. It has been granted me to perceive these changes, when Divine truth flowed down out of heaven into some hell. On the way it was successively turned into the falsity of evil, like that which was with them; just as it is with the sun's heat when it falls into dung heaps, or the sun's light when it falls into subjects that turn its rays into horrid colors; or when the sun's light and heat produce in fetid marshy lands noxious plants that nourish serpents, while in good lands they produce trees and grasses that nourish men and useful beasts. The cause that such effects are produced in putrid land is not the light and heat of the sun, but the lands themselves which are such, and yet these effects may be ascribed to the sun's fire and heat. From this it can be seen what the origin is of the appearances of hail and fire in the spiritual world, and why it is said that "Jehovah causes them to rain," when yet there is nothing from Jehovah but what is good; and when Jehovah, that is, the Lord, renders the influx powerful, it is not that He may destroy the evil but that He may rescue and protect the good, for He thus conjoins the good to Himself more closely and interiorly, and thus they are separated from the evil, and the evil perish; for if the evil were not separated the good would perish and the angelic heaven would fall to ruin.

[8] "Hail" and "the rain of hail" have a similar signification in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim. Behold, the Lord strong and mighty, as an inundation of hail, as a tempest of slaughter (Isaiah 28:1, 2).

In the same:

The hail shall overthrow the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place (Isaiah 28:17).

In the same:

Then Jehovah shall cause His glorious voice to be heard, and shall cause His resting arm to be seen in the indignation of anger, and in the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering and inundation, and with hailstones (Isaiah 30:30).

In the same:

It shall hail until the forest shall sink down and the city be laid low in lowliness (Isaiah 32:19).

In Ezekiel:

And I will plead with Gog with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire and brimstone (Job 38:22).

In Revelation:

Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of the Covenant; and there were lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail (Revelation 11:19).

And again:

And a great hail as of a talent-weight cometh down out of heaven upon men; and the men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great (Revelation 16:21).

[9] So those who are in falsities of evil are called "hailstones" in Ezekiel:

Say unto them that daub on what is unfit, that it shall fall; there shall come an overflowing rain, in which ye, O great hailstones, shall fall (Ezekiel 13:11).

Here "them that daub on what is unfit" signify those who confirm falsities to make them appear outwardly as truths; such are called "hailstones" because they thus destroy truths; the dispersion of such falsities is signified by "an overflowing rain. "

[10] In Job:

Hast thou come to the treasuries of the snow, and hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail, which I keep back against the time of battle and war, which is the way in which light is diffused? (Job 38:22-24).

Job is asked by Jehovah about many things, whether he knows them, and the things he is asked about signify such things as belong to heaven and the church; and "Hast thou come to the treasuries of the snow, and hast thou seen the treasuries of the hail?" signifies whether he knows why truth is taken away and is destroyed by the falsities of evil, which in the spiritual world appears like a fall of snow and hail out of the sky there. That there are such appearances when the evil are to be dispersed is signified by "which I keep back against the time of battle and war;" thence it is added, "which is the way in which light is diffused?" This signifies the process by which truth is insinuated, "light" meaning truth.

[11] "Hail" signifies the falsity of evil, and "a storm of hail" the destruction of truth, because hail in itself is cold and cannot bear the heat of heaven, and "coldness" signifies the deprivation of the good of love; the good of love is the heat in the angelic heaven (See the work on Heaven and Hell 126-140). Another reason for this meaning is that "stones" in the Word signify truth, and in the contrary sense falsities, and great hail appears to be made up of stones cast down out of heaven, which destroy the crops and herbs of the field, as well as the smaller animals as stones would, and this is why they are called "hailstones." (That "stones" signify in the Word truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, see Arcana Coelestia 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, 8609, 10376)

825. So that he even maketh fire to come down from heaven unto the earth before men, signifies the love of falsity from evil, arising from the pride of self-intelligence, as if it were the love of truth from good, which is in the church from ¹ the heavens. This is evident from the signification of "fire," as being love in both senses, namely, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor; and in the contrary sense, the love of self and the love of the world (See above, n. 504, 539), consequently both the love of good and truth and the love of evil and falsity; for all goods and truths therefrom flow forth from love to the Lord and from love towards the neighbor; and on the other hand, all evils and falsities therefrom flow from the love of self and the love of the world. Therefore those who are in the love of self and of the world are in the love of all the evils that arise therefrom, and in the love of the falsities from those evils. (On these loves and the evils and falsities arising therefrom, see the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, n. 65-83.) The above is evident also from the signification of making it, namely, the fire, "to come down from heaven," which is said because this is done in the spiritual world, by means of arts there known, by those who are in faith separate; and it means that the appearance that the love of falsity from evil is the love of truth from good, is from the confirmation of faith separated from the life by means of the sense of the letter of the Word; since what is confirmed from the Word is confirmed from heaven; but when a falsity is confirmed from the Word it is not confirmed from heaven, but only appears to be confirmed from heaven. So also from the signification of "before men," as being especially before those who are in the pride of self-intelligence, and who confirm in themselves this heretical dogma by their writings and preachings. From these it passes to the simple-minded, who have no pride of self-intelligence; but these do not confirm it with themselves, but suppose that it is so because it is declared and affirmed by a man of learning and consequent authority. But these merely hold the dogma in the memory, while the others implant it in their life, especially if they have lived according to it; and that which is implanted in the life inheres to eternity; but not what is merely in the memory.

[2] The pride of self-intelligence is with all who confirm falsities even to the destruction of the Divine truth, in which the angels of heaven are; for those are in that pride who regard self only, that is, their reputation, in their writings and preachings. For such are in the love of self, and everyone who is in the love of self when he writes and preaches is in pride; and pride derives all things from man's own [proprium], consequently it is called the pride of self-intelligence. The love of self has its seat in the will, and the pride of self-intelligence in the thought therefrom; consequently when they think anything from self they can think nothing but what is false, for one's own [proprium] which is of the will and therefore of the love, is what rules, and this, viewed in itself, is nothing but evil. It is otherwise with those who are in the love of uses, and thence in the love of truth for the sake of truth.

[3] Because those who are in the pride of self-intelligence remove works from faith, and therefore do not know what is meant by works, nor indeed what is meant by charity and by the neighbor, and even, when they have confirmed themselves, are not willing to know, it shall here be told what is meant by good works. Good works are all things that a man does, writes, preaches, and even speaks, not from self but from the Lord; and he acts, writes, preaches, and speaks from the Lord when he is living according to the laws of his religion. The laws of our religion are that one God is to be worshiped; that adulteries, thefts, murders, false witness, must be shunned; thus also frauds, unlawful gains, hatreds, revenge, lies, blasphemies, and many other things that are mentioned not alone in the Decalogue but everywhere else in the Word, and are called sins against God and also abominations. When man shuns these because they are opposed to the Word, and thence opposed to God, and because they are from hell, then man lives according to the laws of his religion, and so far as he lives according to his religion is he led by the Lord; and so far as he is led by the Lord are his works good; for he is then led to do goods and to speak truths for the sake of goods and for the sake of truths, and not for the sake of self and the world; uses are his enjoyments, and truths his delights. Moreover, he is daily taught by the Lord what he must do and what he must say, also what he must preach or what he must write; for when evils are removed he is continually under the Lord's guidance and in enlightenment. Yet he is not led and taught immediately by any dictate, or by any perceptible inspiration, but by an influx into his spiritual delight, from which he has perception according to the truths of which his understanding consists. When he acts from this influx, he appears to be acting as if from himself, and yet he acknowledges in heart that it is from the Lord. All angels are in such a state; and all infants in heaven are being led by that way to heaven.

[4] But it is otherwise with man when he refrains from evils and shuns them on account of the civil laws or the damage to his reputation; he does not then shun evils from any spiritual origin, but from a natural origin; consequently he indeed does works that appear outwardly as if good yet inwardly they are evil. They are like pictures composed of filthy mire, but overlaid with colors beautiful to the sight; or like harlots who appear comely in form, and adorned in white raiment, with diadems upon their foreheads and in their ears, and yet within are full of foulness. Consider, then, what the Christian world is at this day; how many there are who shun adulteries, frauds, unlawful gains, hatred, revenge, lies, and blasphemies, not because they are opposed to the Word and thus to God, but because they are opposed to the civil laws, and for the sake of reputation and from a fear of the loss of honor and gain in the world; then search interiorly into the reason, and you will perceive that it is because they do not believe that there is a heaven and a hell or a life after death. From this it is clear that whatever a man does, be it small or great, is a good work when it is done from religion, and in the church when it is done from the Word, when the man has come to detest evils because they are sins, and in themselves are infernal; on the other hand, that whatever a man does, be it small or great, is an evil work when it is not done from religion, and with us, from the Word. (For more about this see above, n. 803).

[5] It must be known, however, that he who shuns evils because they are opposed to the Divine laws in the Word also shuns them because they are opposed to civil and moral laws in the world, for a man thinks from civil and moral laws when he is in a natural state, but from the Divine laws when he is in a spiritual state. From this it follows, that to shun evils and do goods for the sake of reputation and one's own honor is not hurtful, provided the Word and religion therefrom hold the higher place and constitute the head, and self and the world hold the lower place and constitute the feet. But otherwise religion is trampled down with the feet, and the world is worshiped with the head.

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