1129. Verse 9. And the kings of the earth shall weep for her and wail over her, signifies mourning and grief of heart of those who have exercised that authority. This is evident from the signification of "to weep and wail," as being mourning and grief of heart (of which presently); also from the signification of "kings of the earth," as being those who are in truths from good, and in the contrary sense who are in falsities from evil (See n. 29, 31, 625, 1034, 1063), here those who have exercised that authority and are therefore called "kings of the earth," the "earth" meaning the church. It is evident from what follows that such are signified by "kings of the earth," for it is said "who have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with her," which signifies who have been in falsities and evils from delight respecting that authority. Those who are in truths from good, who are also signified by "kings of the earth," cannot "weep for her and wail over her."

[2] The expressions "to weep" and "to wail" are used, because "to weep" signifies mourning because of falsities, and "to wail" mourning because of evils, and because both have been lost; thus "to weep" has reference to the falsity that they have called truth, and "to wail" has reference to the evil that they have called good. This is why "mourning and wailing" are mentioned together in the Word. As in Jeremiah:

O daughter of My people, make thee mourning for an only begotten, a wailing of bitterness, for the waster shall suddenly come upon us (Jeremiah 6:26).

Here "mourning" is named because of truth destroyed, and wailing on account of good destroyed; the "waster" signifies the loss of these, and thus the end of the church. In Micah:

I will make a wailing like the dragons, and a mourning like the daughters of the owl (Micah 1:8).

Because "wailing" has reference to good, and in the contrary sense to evil, it is said, "I will make a wailing like dragons," "dragons" being those who are in the lusts of evil; and because "mourning" has reference to falsity it is said, "I will make a mourning like the daughters of the owl," "daughters of the owl" being those who are in falsities and their pleasantness, "owls" signify falsities, because they see in darkness and not in the light. In Zechariah:

They shall wail over him according to the wailing over a first begotten, ¹ and they shall mourn over him according to the mourning over a first begotten (Zechariah 12:10).

Here, too, "wailing" is predicated of the loss of good, and "mourning" of the loss of truth. In Jeremiah:

Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go away to wail (Jeremiah 16:5);

where the meaning is the same. Both expressions are used on account of the marriage of good and truth, or on account of the marriage not of good and truth, which is in every particular of the Word.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith and respecting the Lord)

[3] That all things are from the life itself which is God, and which is wisdom and love, can also be made clear by reference to things created when they are viewed from order. For it is from order that the angelic heavens, consisting of thousands and thousands of societies, act as one through love to the Lord and through love towards the neighbor, and that they are kept in order through Divine truths which are the laws of order. Also it is from order that the hells beneath the heavens, which are also divided into thousands and thousands of congregations, are kept in order by means of judgments and punishments, so that they are unable to do the least harm to the heavens, although they are hatreds and insanities. It is also from order that between the heavens and the hells there is an equilibrium, in which is man in the world, and in which he is led to heaven if led by the Lord, and to hell if led by himself; for it is the law of order that man must do whatever he does from freedom according to reason.

[4] Since so many myriads of myriads of men from the creation of the world have poured into the spiritual world and are unceasingly pouring in like streams, and each individual has a different disposition and love, they could by no means have been associated together as a one unless God who is life itself had been one, and unless this life had been wisdom itself and love itself, and thus order itself. Thus much about heaven. But in the world the Divine in order appears to be from the sun, moon, stars, and planets. The sun in appearance makes the years, days, and hours, also the seasons of the year, which are spring, summer, autumn, and winter, also the divisions of the day, which are morning, noon, evening, and night; and it vivifies all things of the earth according to the reception of its heat in light and of its light in heat; and according to reception it opens, arranges, and prepares bodies and matters, which are in the earth and upon the earth, to receive influx from the spiritual world. Thus in the spring time, by the union of heat and light at that season the flying things of heaven and the animals of earth return into the love of prolification, and into a knowledge of all things pertaining to that love; and the things of the vegetable kingdom return into the efforts and activities of producing leaves, flowers and fruits, and seeds in them for perpetuating their kind to eternity, and for multiplying it to infinity.

[5] It is also from order that the earth produces vegetables, and that vegetables nourish animals, and that both are useful to man for food, raiment, and for pleasure; and as man is the one in whom is God, so all things thus return to God from whom they are. All this makes clear that created things follow in such order that one is for the sake of another, and that they are perpetual ends which are uses, and that the ends which are uses are constantly so directed as to return to God from whom they are. All this now shows that all things have been created from life itself, which is wisdom itself, and also shows that the created universe is full of God.

Poznámky pod čarou:

625. Upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings, signifies with all who are in truths and goods in respect to life, and at the same time in goods and truths in respect to doctrine according to each one's religion, consequently to teach the Word in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "peoples and nations," as being those who are of the spiritual church and those who are of the celestial church; those who are of the spiritual church are called in the Word "peoples," but those who are of the celestial church are called "nations." Those who are of the spiritual church, who are called "peoples," are they who are in truths in respect to doctrine and life; and they who are of the celestial church, who are called "nations," are they who are in the good of love to the Lord, and thus in good in respect to life. (But on this signification of "peoples and nations" in the Word, see above, n. 175, 331.) Also from the signification of "tongues and many kings," as being those who are in goods and truths in respect to life and doctrine, but according to each one's religion; for "tongues" signify the goods of truth and confession of these according to each one's religion (See above, n. 330, 455); and "kings" signify truths that are from good, and "many kings" various truths from good, but according to each one's religion. (That "kings" signify truths from good, see above, n. 31, 553)

[2] "Many kings" signify various truths that are from good, because the peoples and nations outside of the church were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine, and yet because they lived a life of love to God and of charity towards the neighbor the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths, for the reason that there was inwardly in their falsities the good of love, and the good of love gives its quality to every truth, and in this case it gives its quality to the falsity that such accept as truth; and moreover, the good that lies concealed within causes such when they come into the other life to perceive genuine truths and accept them. Again there are truths that are only appearances of truth, like those truths that are in the sense of the letter of the Word; these appearances of truth are accepted by the Lord as genuine truths when there is in them the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbor; and with such in the other life the good that lies hidden within dissipates the appearances, and makes bare the spiritual truths which are genuine truths. From this it can be seen what is here meant by "many kings." (But respecting the falsities in which there is good that exist among the Gentiles, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] From what has been said and shown in this and the preceding article, it can be seen that "he must again prophesy upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings" signifies that the Word must still be taught to those who are in goods and truths in respect to doctrine, and thence are in life; but as it is said "upon peoples, nations, tongues, and kings," these words signify also that the Word must be taught in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine, for these two are what the Word in its whole complex contains.

[4] This is the sense of these words abstracted from persons, which is the truly spiritual sense. The sense of the letter in most places has regard to persons, and mentions persons, but the truly spiritual sense is without any regard whatever to persons. For angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word have no idea of person or of place in any particular of what they think or speak, for the idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts, and thereby renders them natural; it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from persons and places. It is from this that angels have intelligence and wisdom, and that thence angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable. While man lives in the world he is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its ideas from persons, places, times, and material things, and if these should be taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for without these he comprehends nothing; but angelic thought is apart from ideas drawn from persons, places, times, and material things; and this is why angelic thought and speech are ineffable, and to man also incomprehensible.

[5] And yet a man who has lived in the world a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor comes, after his departure from the world, into that ineffable intelligence and wisdom; for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened, and then the man, when he becomes an angel, thinks and speaks from that mind, and consequently thinks and speaks such things as he could not utter or comprehend in the world. Such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind, every man has; but because man while in the world speaks, sees, hears, and feels, by means of a material body, that mind lies hidden within the natural mind, or lives above it; and what man thinks in that mind he is wholly ignorant of; for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind, and there limits, bounds, and so presents itself as to be seen and perceived. So long as man is in the body in the world, he does not know that he has within him this mind, and in it possesses angelic intelligence and wisdom, because, as has been said, all things that abide there flow into the natural mind, and thus become natural according to correspondences. This has been said to make known what the Word is in the spiritual sense, which sense is wholly abstracted from persons and places, that is, from such things as derive their quality from the material things of the body and the world.