55. Verse 28 And God blessed them, and God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, ¹ and over every living thing that creeps upon the earth.

Because the most ancient people applied the term Marriage to understanding and will, or faith and love, when joined together, they gave the name Fruitfulness to any good resulting from that marriage, and Multiplication to any truth. For this reason similar expressions occur in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they will multiply and be fruitful, and I will resettle you ² to be as in your ancient times, and I will bless you more than in your former times, and you will know that I am Jehovah, and I will cause man to walk upon you, even My people Israel. Ezekiel 36:8-11.

Here 'man' is used to mean the spiritual man, who is also called Israel, 'ancient times' the Most Ancient Church, 'former times' the Ancient Church which came after the Flood. The reason why 'multiplying', which relates to truth, comes first and why 'being fruitful', which relates to good, follows is that the subject is the person who is to be regenerated, not one who has been regenerated.

[2] When the understanding is coupled to the will, or faith to love, the individual is called by the Lord in Isaiah 'a married land',

Your land will no more be called Desolate, but you will be named My-good-pleasure-is-in-her, and your land, Married; for Jehovah will take His pleasure in you, and your land will be married. Isaiah 62:4.

The resulting fruits which are matters of truth are called 'sons', and the fruits which are matters of good are called 'daughters'. This recurs very frequently in the Word.

[3] The earth is 'being filled' when there are many goods and truths, for when the Lord is 'blessing' and 'saying' - that is, when He is at work - the increase of good and truth is limitless, as the Lord says,

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is indeed the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of all plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air ³ come and nest in its branches. Matthew 13:31-32.

'A grain of mustard seed' is the good a person has before he becomes spiritual. It is 'the smallest of all seeds' because he imagines that he himself is the source of the good he does. In reality what he does of himself is nothing but evil, yet because he is in a state of being regenerated there is some element of good, though it is quite 'the smallest of all'. Later on when faith is being joined to love it grows larger and becomes 'a plant'. Once it has finally been joined to love it develops into a tree, and at that point 'the birds of the air, ³ which here are truths or intellectual concepts, 'nest in its branches', which are facts.

[4] A person is involved in conflict not only when becoming spiritual, but also when he is spiritual. Hence the statement, 'Subdue the earth, and have dominion over it'.

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1012. Verse 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, signifies the state of the church manifested in regard to all things of thought. This is evident from the signification of "the angel pouring out the vial," as being the state of the church manifested (as above); also from the signification of the "air," as being thought, here everything of thought, because the last state of the church is here described; therefore when this state has been manifested it is said, "It is done," that is, it is consummated. The "air" signifies thought because respiration, which is effected by means of the air, corresponds to thought, which is of the understanding, as the motion of the heart corresponds to affection, which is of the will. That the respiration of the lungs corresponds to thought is clearly evident from the fact that they operate simultaneously and harmoniously, for as man thinks so he breathes. If he thinks quietly he breathes quietly, and reversely if forcibly. If he thinks intensely and interiorly in himself, respiration is gradually arrested and withdrawn. Thus man varies the state of his respiration in accommodation to every state of his thought. The reason of this is that man has two lives, namely, the life of the understanding and the life of the will; and all things of the body correspond to these two lives of the mind. Thus in general the life of the respiration corresponds to the life of the understanding and consequent thought; and the life of the motion of the heart corresponds to the life of the will and the consequent love. These two lives are meant by "soul" and "heart" in the Word, where it is said "with the whole soul and with the whole heart," which signifies with the whole understanding and the whole will, or with every thought which is of faith and with every affection which is of love. This is said to make known that the "air," since respiration is effected by it, signifies thought.

[2] "The last vial was poured out into the air," because all things of man close into his thoughts. For such as a man is as to the church and as to the goods and truths of the church, also as to love, in a word, such as he is as to his spiritual, moral, and civil life, such is he as to thought. This can be perceived especially in the spiritual world. When any angel goes out of his own society into a society not his own his breathing labors, because he is not thinking from a like affection. So, too, when an infernal spirit ascends into an angelic society he comes into distress of breathing, and thus into anguish, or into fantasy, or into blindness of thought; which makes clear that such as a man is such is his thought.

(The Seventh Commandment) ¹

[3] In what now follows something shall be said about the seventh commandment, which is, "Thou shalt not kill." In all the commandments of the Decalogue, as in all things of the Word, two internal senses are involved (besides the highest which is a third), one that is next to the letter and is called the spiritual moral sense, another that is more remote and is called the spiritual celestial sense. The nearest sense of this commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," which is the spiritual moral sense, is that one must not hate his brother or neighbor, and thus not defame or slander him; for thus he would injure or kill his reputation and honor, which is the source of his life among his brethren, which is called his civil life, and afterwards he would live in society as one dead, for he would be numbered among the vile and wicked, with whom no one would associate. When this is done from enmity, from hatred, or from revenge, it is murder. Moreover, by many in the world this life is counted and esteemed in equal measure with the life of the body. And before the angels in the heavens he that destroys this life is held to be as guilty as if he had destroyed the bodily life of his brother. For enmity, hatred, and revenge, breathe murder and will it; but they are restrained and curbed by fear of the law, of resistance, and of loss of reputation. And yet these three are endeavors towards murder; and every endeavor is like an act, for it goes forth into act when fear is removed. This is what the Lord teaches in Matthew:

Ye have heard that it was said to them of old, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be liable to the judgment; whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be liable to the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be liable to the Gehenna of fire (Matthew 5:21-26).

This may be seen explained above (n. 693, 746).

[4] But the more remote sense of this commandment, "Thou shalt not kill," which is called the celestial spiritual sense, is that one shall not take away from man the faith and love of God, and thus his spiritual life. This is murder itself, because from this life man is a man, the life of the body serving this life as the instrumental cause serves its principal cause. Moreover, from this spiritual murder moral murder is derived; consequently one who is in the one is also in the other; for he who wills to take away a man's spiritual life is in hatred against him if he cannot take it away, for he hates the faith and love with him, and thus the man himself. These three, namely, spiritual murder, which pertains to faith and love, moral murder, which pertains to reputation and honor, and natural murder, which pertains to the body, follow in a series one from the other, like cause and effect.

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