1155. And horses and carriages.- That these signify worship from truths and goods that are from a rational origin, profaned, is evident from the signification of horses, which denote things intellectual (see above, n. 355, 364, 372, 373, 381, 382, 575, 923), thus also truths which are from a natural origin, for those things, which belong to the understanding, belong to truth and reason; and from the signification of carriages, which denote goods from a rational origin, because they are drawn by horses, which signify truths from that origin. For carriages are a kind of chariot, and chariots signify doctrinals (see above, n. 355), which, when they are drawn by truths, as chariots are by horses, are goods, for doctrines teach truths, and also goods.
[2] The signification of carriages in Isaiah is similar:
"Then shall they bring all your brethren from all nations a gift to Jehovah, upon horses and upon a chariot, and upon arched carriages, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to the mountain of my holiness, Jerusalem" (66:20).
Horses, a chariot, arched carriages, mules, and swift beasts, in the spiritual sense, mean things pertaining to doctrine, and thence to the church; for the subject there treated of is a New Church to be established by the Lord. Horses signify intellectual things, a chariot doctrine, arched carriages doctrinals of good, mules rational things, and swift beasts similarly things rational as to good. The brethren, whom they shall bring, signify all who are in the good of charity, and Jerusalem the mountain of holiness signifies the church, in which charity reigns. The reason why these things profaned are here meant, is, that they are said of Babylon, by which is signified the profanation of truth and good.
[3] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- The sixth law of the Divine Providence is, That man should not be reformed by external, but by internal means; by external means are meant miracles and visions, fears and punishments; by internal means are meant truths and goods from the Word, and from the doctrine of the church, and also looking to the Lord; for these means enter by an internal way, and cast out the evils and falsities which reside within; but external means enter by an external way, and do not cast out evils and falsities, but shut them in. Nevertheless, man is further reformed by external means, provided he has been before reformed by internal means. This follows from the laws above stated, namely, that man is reformed by means of freedom, but not without it, and further, that to compel himself is to act from freedom, but to be compelled is not so. Man is compelled by miracles and visions, and also by fears and punishments; by miracles and visions the external of his spirit, which consists in thinking and willing, is compelled, and by fears and punishments the external of his body, which consists in speaking and acting, is compelled. The latter may be compelled, because man, nevertheless, thinks and wills freely; but the external of his spirit, which consists in thinking and willing, must not be compelled, for in that case his internal freedom, by means of which he was to be reformed, perishes.
[4] If a man could be reformed by miracles and visions, then all men throughout the whole world would be reformed. It is, therefore, a holy law of the Divine Providence that internal freedom should not, in the least degree, be violated; for by it the Lord enters into man, even into the hell where he is, and by it He there leads him; if man is willing to follow, He brings him out and introduces him into heaven, bringing him there nearer and nearer to Himself. It is in this way only that man is brought out of infernal freedom, which, regarded in itself, is slavery, because from hell, and is introduced into heavenly freedom, which is freedom itself; by degrees this becomes a higher kind, until it attains its highest state, because it proceeds from the Lord, whose will is that man should not be in any way compelled. This is the path along which man's reformation proceeds, but it is a path which miracles and visions would close.
[5] The freedom of man's spirit also is never violated, for this reason, that his evils, both hereditary and actual, may be removed, and this is accomplished when he compels himself, as said above. These evils are removed by the Lord's inspiring him with affection for truth, from which he derives intelligence, and with affection for good, by which he acquires love; for so far as he is in these affections, so far he compels himself to resist evils and falsities. This path of reformation is also closed by miracles and visions, for they persuade and compel belief, and thus cast the thoughts bound, as it were, into a prison. When therefore his freedom is taken away, he has no means from what is interior of removing his evils, for no evil is removed except by such interior means. The evils thus remain shut in, and from their own infernal freedom in which they delight, they continually act in opposition to those truths and those goods which miracles and visions had impressed, and at length dissipate them, calling miracles the interior operations of nature, and visions the insane delusions of a disordered imagination, and truths and goods fallacies and absurdities. Such is the effect which evils shut in produce upon the externals which enclose them. Nevertheless, man, when he thinks only superficially, may possibly believe that miracles and visions, although they persuade, still do not take away freedom of thought; but the fact is that with the unreformed they do take it away, but not with the reformed, for with the former they shut evils in, but not with the latter.
