10456. And he said, It is not the voice of a cry for victory, neither is it the voice of a cry for being overcome. That this signifies heaven acting on the one side and hell on the other, thus falsity against truth and truth against falsity, is evident from the signification of “the voice of a cry,” or of “the voice in shouting,” as being the quality of the interiors of that nation (see above, n. 10454); and from the signification of “not for victory, and not for being overcome,” as being the hanging of the combat between falsity and truth, and no decision. And whereas all falsity is from hell, and all truth is from heaven, by the same words is signified that heaven acts on one side and hell on the other. (That a “cry” denotes falsity, see n. 2240; that it denotes thought with the full intention of acting, n. 7119; and that it denotes interior lamentation, n. 7782.) By these words is described the state of the interiors of that nation, in which they are when hell acts with them against heaven, and heaven against hell, thus when they are held between the two, which was the case when they were in external worship while their internal was closed. The latter was closed to the intent that nevertheless there might be a communication with heaven by means of external things, which were representative of interior ones, which subject has been treated of above.