428. Verse 4. And I heard the number of those sealed: a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel.

4. "And I heard the number of those sealed," signifies the quality of those who are in good who are separated from the evil (n. 429); "a hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel," signifies all who are in truths from good, and thence in the Lord's church n. 430.

142. Another difference is that to the angels the east is always before the face, the west behind, the south to the right, and the north to the left. But since this cannot be easily comprehended in the world, for the reason that men turn the face to every quarter, it shall be explained. The entire heaven turns itself to the Lord as to its common center; to that center do all the angels turn themselves. Also on the earth, as is well known, there is a directing of all things towards a common center; but there is this difference between this directing in the world and that in heaven, that in heaven the front parts are turned to the common center, but in the world the lower parts of the body. In the world this directing is called centripetal force, also gravitation. The interiors of angels are actually turned forwards; and since interiors manifest themselves in the face it is the face that determines the quarters. ¹

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