377. Verses 7-8. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a pale horse; and he that sat upon him his name was Death, and hell followed with him. And there was given unto them power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with famine, and with death, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

7. "And when he had opened the fourth seal," signifies prediction still further manifested (n. 378); "I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying," signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. n. 379); "Come and see," signifies attention and perception (n. 380).

8. "And I saw, and behold a pale horse," signifies the understanding of the Word then become nought in consequence of evils of life and then of falsities therefrom n. 381; "and he that sat upon him," signifies the Word (n. 382); "his name was Death, and hell followed with him," signifies eternal damnation (n. 383); "and there was given unto them power over the fourth part of the earth, to kill," signifies the loss of every good and thence of every truth from the Word, and in consequence, in the doctrine of their church from the Word n. 384; "with sword," signifies by falsity (n. 385); "and with famine," signifies by the loss, lack, and ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good (n. 386); "and with death," signifies the consequent extinction of spiritual life (n. 387); "and by the wild beasts of the earth," signifies the evils of life or lusts and falsities therefrom springing from the love of self and of the world, which devastate all things of the church with man n. 388.

382. And he that sat upon him, signifies the Word. This is evident from what has been said and shown above n. 373. Its being said that "his name was Death" does not mean that the Word in itself is death, but only before those who are in evils and falsities therefrom, for such persons see and perceive in the Word nothing of truth and good, thus nothing of spiritual life; consequently before such as these it is according to appearance and perception that his name that sat upon the pale horse is "Death." For the Word appears to everyone according to his quality, as life to those who are in good and truth, but as death to those who are in evils and falsities. It is similar with the Lord Himself, who is the Word; He too appears to everyone according to his quality; to those who are in goods and truths therefrom He appears as a fire and as light vivifying and recreating, but to those who are in evils and in falsities therefrom He appears as a consuming fire and as thick darkness (See Arcana Coelestia 934, 1861 end, 6832, 8814, 8819, 9434, 10551). And for the same reason to those who are in evil and in falsities therefrom the Lord appears to be angry, to punish, to condemn, and to cast into hell, when yet He is never angry, never punishes, or condemns, or casts into hell, but saves so far as man applies himself; for the Lord is good itself and truth itself, He is love itself and mercy itself. The like is true of this passage, where it is said that the name of the one that sat on the pale horse is "Death." (On this more may be seen cited above, n. 373)