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.

368. Verses 5-6. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third animal saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold, a black horse; and he that sat upon him had a balance in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals saying, A measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius; and the oil and the wine hurt thou not.

5. "And when he had opened the third seal," signifies prediction respecting the state that next follows with those who are of the church where the Word is n. 369; "I heard the third animal saying," signifies out of the inmost heaven from the Lord. n. 370); "Come and see," signifies attention and perception (n. 371); "and behold, a black horse," signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed in respect to truth n. 372; "and he that sat upon him had a balance in his hand," signifies the estimation of truth from the Word in that state of the church n. 373.

6. "A measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley for a denarius," signifies that the genuine good of the church, as well as the genuine truth of the church, is of no account to them (n. 374; "and the oil and the wine hurt thou not" signifies that it is provided that the internal or spiritual sense of the Word should suffer no harm either in respect to good or in respect to truth (n. 375, 376).