235. I will spue thee out of my mouth. That this signifies separation from knowledges derived from the Word is evident from the signification of spuing, when by the Lord, as being separation; not that the Lord separates them from Himself, but that they separate themselves from the Lord. The expression to spue is used, because the subject treated of is the lukewarm; and in the world what is lukewarm causes vomiting. This is also from correspondence; for the food which man takes corresponds to knowledges, and consequently, in the Word, signifies knowledges; therefore separation from them signifies non-admission; but because those who are here treated of do admit something from the Word, it signifies casting out, or vomiting (that food, from correspondence, signifies knowledges and intelligence therefrom, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5410, 5426, 5576, 5582, 5588, 5655, 8562; for knowledges nourish the internal man, or spirit, as food nourishes the external man, or body, n. 4459, 5293, 5576, 6277, 8418); and from the signification of out of the mouth, when said of the Lord, as being out of the Word. The reason why out of the mouth, when said of the Lord, signifies the Word is, that the Word is Divine truth, and this proceeds from the Lord, and what proceeds from Him and flows into man is said to be out of the mouth, although it is not out of the mouth, but is as light from the sun. For the Lord above the heavens, where the angels are, appears as a Sun; and the light therefrom is Divine truth, from which angels and men have all their intelligence and wisdom (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 116-125, and 126-140). It is therefore evident that by I will spue thee out of my mouth, is signified to separate from Divine truth, or, what amounts to the same, from knowledges derived from the Word.

[2] That those who are lukewarm, that is, neither cold nor hot, as those are who live from the doctrine of faith alone and justification thereby, of which we have spoken just above, are separated from knowledges derived from the Word, is not known to themselves, for they believe that they possess knowledges more than all others; but still they do not, indeed, they have scarcely any knowledge. The reason of this is, that the principles of their doctrine and religion are false; and from false principles nothing but falsities follow; therefore, when reading the Word, they keep the mind fixed in their falsities; consequently they either do not see truths, or if they do, they pass by or falsify them. The false principles referred to are, that salvation is by faith alone, and that man is justified by that faith. Such persons might know, if they would, that they are separated from knowledges derived from the Word, and that they do not see truths. For what is more frequently said by the Lord than that they ought to keep His words, His commandments, and do His will; and that every one shall be rewarded according to his deeds; as also that the whole Word is founded upon two commandments, which are, to love God, and to love the neighbour, and that to love God is to do His precept (John 14:21, 23, 24)? That these must be done in order to salvation, is said a thousand times in both Testaments; also that to hear and to know them is to no purpose unless they are done. But do those who have confirmed themselves in faith alone, and justification thereby, see those things? and if they do see them, do they not falsify them? This is why such persons have no doctrine of life, but a doctrine of faith alone; when nevertheless it is the life that forms the man of the church, and those things become his faith which enter into his life.

[3] That such persons are separated from knowledges derived from the Word is evident also from this, that they do not know that they will live as men after the death of the body; that it is the spirit in them which lives; that heaven and also hell are from the human race; that they know nothing at all of heaven and heavenly joy; neither of hell and infernal fire; thus nothing about the spiritual world; nothing about the internal or spiritual sense of the Word; about the glorification of the Lord's Human; about regeneration; about temptation, and about Baptism and what it involves; nothing about the Holy Supper, and about what flesh and blood, or bread and wine, therein signify; nothing about free-will; nothing about the internal man; nothing about charity, the neighbour, good, and love; neither do they know what remission of sins is; besides many other things contained in the Word. I have also heard the angels say that, when they are permitted to look into the church and see those who believe themselves to be intelligent from doctrine, they see mere thick darkness, and such intelligent ones, as it were, deep under waves.

[4] There are two reasons why they are separated from knowledges derived from the Word. The first is that they cannot be enlightened from the Lord; for the Lord flows into the good of man, and from that good enlightens him in truths, that is, He flows into man's love, and thence into his faith. The other reason is that they profane truths by falsifications; and those who do this are separated from truths themselves while they live in the world, so that they do not know them; but in the other life they reject all the things which, during their abode in the world, they had known from the Word. Both these separations are meant by being vomited out of the mouth. Similar things are meant by vomiting elsewhere in the Word; as in the following passages; in Isaiah:

"Jehovah hath mingled in the midst of Egypt a spirit of perversities; whence they have caused Egypt to go astray in every work thereof, even as a drunkard goeth astray in his vomit " (19:14).

Egypt signifies the knowledge (scientia) of things, both spiritual and natural; by mingling in the midst thereof a spirit of perversities is signified to pervert and falsify those things; by a drunkard are signified those who are insane in spiritual things; and, inasmuch as truths mingled with falsities are cast out, it is therefore said, "as a drunkard goeth astray in his vomit." (That Egypt signifies knowledge (scientia), may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 5700, 5702, 6015, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 7296, and also the scientifics of the church, n. 7296, 9340, 9391; that the drunken signify those who are insane in spiritual things, n. 1072.)

[5] In Jeremiah:

"Drink ye, and be drunken, and spew and fall, and rise no more, because of the sword" (25:27).

To drink and be drunken is to imbibe falsities and mingle them with truths, and hence to be insane; to spew and fall, is altogether to cast out things falsified; the sword because of which they shall rise no more, signifies falsity destroying and vastating truth (see Arcana Coelestia 2799, 4499, 7102). It is therefore evident what is meant by spewing and falling.

Again:

"Make Moab drunken, because he hath lifted himself up against Jehovah, that he may wallow in his vomit" (48:26).

Moab signifies those who adulterate the goods of the church wherefore vomiting is said of them.

[6] Also in Habakkuk:

"Woe unto him that maketh a companion to drink even in being drunken, that thou mayest look upon their nakednesses. Thou shalt be satiated with shame more than glory; drink thou, also, and let thy foreskin be discovered; the cup of Jehovah shall go about unto thee, so that shameful spewing shall be upon glory " (2:15, 16).

To drink in being drunken, also signifies to imbibe truths and mingle them with falsities; the nakednesses upon which they look signifies the deprivation of truth and of intelligence therefrom (see Arcana Coelestia 1073, 5433, 9960); the foreskin which shall be discovered, signifies the defilement of good (see Arcana Coelestia 2056, 3412, 3413, 4462, 7225, 7245); glory signifies Divine truth, consequently the Word (see Arcana Coelestia 4809, 5922, 8267, 8427, 9429). It is therefore evident what is signified by shameful spewing upon glory.

[7] In Isaiah:

"These err through wine; through strong drink they wander out of the way; the priest and the prophet err through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they err among the seeing, they stumble in judgment. Nay! all tables are full of the vomit of filthiness; there is no place. Whom shall he teach knowledge?" (28:7-9).

Here wine and strong drink, through which they are said to err, signify truths mingled with falsities; the priest and the prophet signify those who teach goods and truths, and, in the abstract, the goods and truths of the church; those who err among the seeing signify those who were about to see truths; to stumble in judgment signifies insanity; tables signify all those things which should nourish the spiritual life, for by tables are meant the food which is upon them, and food signifies all truths and goods, because these nourish spiritual life. Here, therefore, by tables being full of vomit and filthiness are signified the same things falsified and adulterated.

[8] In Moses:

"Defile not yourselves in any of these things; for in all these the nations are defiled which I cast out before you. And the land is defiled; therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants; that the land spew not you out also when ye defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were before you" (Leviticus 18:24, 25, 28).

By the subject here treated of is meant all kinds of adulteries, by which, in the spiritual sense, are meant all kinds of adulterations of good and falsifications of truth, or profanations; and because evils and goods, as also falsities of evil and truths of good, cannot be together, but are cast out, therefore it is said that the land, that is the church, has vomited them out. From these things it is now evident what is signified by vomiting, I will vomit thee out of my mouth.

9212. 'If you ever take your companion's clothing as a pledge' means if factual knowledge of truths is dispersed by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking as a pledge' as receiving a token for goods that are supplied, for 'a pledge' is a token for goods that are being lent. When spiritual things are understood instead of these, supplying goods means giving instruction in truths, and the token or pledge in this instance means truth on the level of the senses. For 'the clothing' here which is given as a pledge means the lowest level of the natural, which is that of the senses. Since illusions abound on this level and illusions wipe out truths, 'taking your companion's clothing as a pledge' means the dispersing of truths by illusions that are a product of sensory impressions. The fact that these things are meant is clear from the whole train of thought in the internal sense.

[2] In general 'clothing' means everything that clothes another, and so whatever is relatively more external. Consequently the external or natural man is called the clothing in relation to the internal or spiritual man. In a similar way truth is called the clothing in relation to good, because truth clothes good; likewise factual knowledge of truth in relation to the truth of faith which belongs to the internal man. Sensory perception, which constitutes the lowest level of life with a person, is the clothing in relation to factual knowledge of truth.

'Clothes' are lower things that cover higher ones, or what amounts to the same thing, exterior things that cover interior ones, see 2576, 5248. In general they are truths, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 9093, factual knowledge of truths, 6918, or truths on the level of the senses, 9158. Sensory perception constitutes the lowest level of life with a person, 4009, 5077, 5125, 5128, 5767, 5774, 6201, 6313, 7442, 7693, and sensory perception is subject to illusions, 5084, 5089, 6201, 6948, 6949, 7442.

[3] The meaning of 'clothes' as truths owes its origin to representatives in the next life. There angels and spirits appear dressed in clothes in keeping with the state of faith or truth that is theirs, and their clothes are varied in keeping with the changes which that state undergoes. Those governed by authentic truth appear dressed in white garments, and those governed by truths springing from good in shining ones. But those governed purely by good, as angels of the inmost heaven are, called celestial angels, appear naked. So it is then that clothes are truths, and that truths are meant in the Word by 'clothes', as may be seen from places referred to above. To these places let the following in the Gospels be added:

[4] In Matthew,

When Jesus was transfigured His face shone like the sun, and His garments became [white] as the light. Matthew 17:2.

'Face' in the Word means the interiors, in particular the affections, 358, 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796, 4797, 5102, 5695, 6604, 6848, 6849, and 'God's face' Goodness itself, 222, 223, 5585. 'The sun' means God's love, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321 (end), 4696, 7083, 8644. From this it is evident what the meaning is when it says that the Lord's face shone like the Sun, namely that His interiors were the Good of Divine Love. 'His garments became [white] as the light' means Divine Truth radiating from Him, which also appears in heaven as the light, 1521, 1619-1632, 3195, 3222, 3485, 3636, 3643, 4415, 5400, 8644.

[5] In the same gospel,

When Jesus drew near to Jerusalem they brought the she-ass and the colt and laid their garments on them and set Him on them. But a very great crowd spread their garments on the road, while others were breaking off branches from trees and spreading them on the road. Matthew 21:1, 7-8.

Riding on a she-ass and her colt was a representative sign of the Supreme Judge and King, see 2781, as also is evident from what comes before in verse 5,

Tell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King is coming to you, meek, seated on a she-ass, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.

It is also evident in Mark 11:1-12; in Luke 19:28-41; in John 12:12-16; and in Zechariah 9:9-10, where it says of the Lord that He would ride on an ass, and on a young ass, a son of she-asses. There He is called a King, and in addition it says that His dominion will be from sea even to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the earth. The fact that the supreme judge rode on a she-ass, and his sons on young asses, see Judges 5:9-10; 10:3-4; 12:14; and that the king rode on a she-mule, and the king's sons on mules, 1 Kings 1:33, 38, 44-45; 2 Samuel 13:29.

[6] When the disciples laid their garments on the she-ass and her colt, it represented the recognition that truths in their entirety were the foundation on which the Lord as supreme Judge and King rested; for the disciples represented the Lord's Church in respect of truths and forms of good, see 2129, 3488, 3858 (end), 6397, and their garments truths themselves, 4545, 4763, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 9093. This same recognition was likewise represented when the crowd spread their garments, also the branches of trees, on the road. Another reason why they spread them on the road was that 'the road' means the truth by means of which a member of the Church is led, see 627, 2333, 3477. And the reason why they also spread the branches of trees was that 'trees' meant perceptions and also cognitions or knowledge of truth and good, 2682, 2722, 2972, 4552, 7692, so that their branches are the truths themselves. Those actions were also performed then because it was customary for the chief persons among the people to lay their garments on supreme judges and kings' she-asses and mules when they rode in pomp on them, and for the people themselves to spread their garments on the road, or the branches of trees instead. For in heaven judgeship consists in Divine Truth derived from Good, and kingship in Divine Truth, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148.

[7] In Luke,

No one adds a piece of a new garment onto an old garment; in doing so he splits the new, and the binding from the new is unsuitable for the old.

Luke 5:36.

The Lord used this comparison to describe the truth of the new Church and the truth of the old Church; for 'garment' means truth. Sewing on one or binding it to the other means destroying both; for the truth of the new Church is interior truth, thus truth for the internal man, whereas the truth of the old Church is exterior truth, thus truth for the external man. The latter kind of truth prevailed in the Jewish Church, for by means of external things this Church represented internal ones, whereas the Church of today has knowledge of the internal truths that were represented then, because the Lord has revealed them. The fact that these truths are not suited to external ones in such a way that they can exist together is what the words used by the Lord serve to mean. From all this also it is evident that 'garment' means the Church's truth.

[8] In John,

Jesus said to Peter, Truly, truly I say to you, When you were a boy you girded your loins and walked where you wished. But when you are old you will stretch out your hands, [and] another will gird your loins and lead you where you do not wish. John 21:18.

No one without knowledge of the internal sense can see what these words imply; plainly, they contain arcana. In the internal sense 'Peter' means the Church's faith, see the Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, and 3750, 6000, 6073 (end), 6344 (end). Consequently Peter when he was a boy means the nature of the Church's faith as it is initially, and Peter when he would be old means the nature of the Church's faith as it is finally. From this it is evident what 'when you were a boy you girded your loins and walked where you wished' means, namely that the Church's faith as it is initially is faith composed of truth derived from good, thus faith composed of charity towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. And at this time a member of the Church in doing what is good acts freely, because his actions spring from the Lord. For aspects of the good of love are meant by 'the loins', 3021, 3294, 4280, 4575, 5050-5062, so that 'girding the loins' means clothing good with truths; and living is meant by 'walking', 519, 1794, 8417, 8420, so that 'walking where one wishes' means leading a life that is free. Those people lead a life that is free, or act freely, whose faith springs from love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour; for they are led by the Lord, 892, 905, 2870-2893, 6325, 9096. 'When you are old you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird your loins and lead you where you do not wish' means that the Church's faith as it is finally will be none at all, at which time falsities that arise from evil springing from self-love and love of the world will take the place of faith and enslave it. This is the arcanum which these words spoken by Lord contain and which can be seen only from their internal sense. All this shows once again the kind of way in which the Lord spoke, namely in such a way that an inner meaning might be present within every detail, to the end that heaven might be joined to the world by means of the Word. For without the Word, that is, without Divine Truth that has been revealed, they are not joined together; and if they are not so joined the human race perishes.