10309. 'The man who makes any like it, to make an odour with it' means an imitation - springing from self - of the worship of God expressed through affections for truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'making any like it' as imitating the worship of God, for 'making' means imitating, and the incense to which this refers means the worship of God, as above; and from the meaning of 'making an odour' as producing what is pleasing. And since this is done through affections for truth and good, these affections are what is meant by such pleasure; for 'odour' means the perception of something enjoyable, and so means that which is pleasing, 10292. It is evident that any imitation of this springs from self, for it says that 'he who makes it will be cut off from his people'. The proprium or self is the source of any endeavour that springs from an affection which desires truth and good not for their own sake but for a selfish reason; and doing something for a selfish reason implies doing it for the sake of personal gain, important positions, and reputation as the ends in view, and not for the sake of the welfare of one's neighbour and the glory of the Lord. Consequently that endeavour springs from evil and not from good; or what amounts to the same thing, it springs from hell and not from the Lord. This therefore is what should be understood by an imitation - springing from self - of the worship of God expressed through affections for truth and good, meant by 'making an incense like it, to make an odour with it'. The people therefore who do this are those who love the world more than heaven, and themselves more than God. Also, when they think secretly within themselves they have no belief at all in heaven nor in the Lord; but when they think openly, as they do when talking in the presence of other people, they talk about heaven and the Lord with more emotion and conviction than others express. How much more depends on the degree to which they burn with the desire for personal gain, important positions, and reputation. Their condition at this time is such that inwardly they are black and outwardly shining white, that is, they are devils in the shape of angels of light. For their interiors which ought to lie exposed to heaven are closed, and their exteriors which lie exposed to the world are open. And if they are moved at this time by an affection that seemingly belongs to love to raise their eyes and hands towards heaven, they are nevertheless like statues skillfully made to portray that pose; and they also appear to angels as such statues. Indeed, can you believe it, there are in hell very many such as these who are present with and inspire people like them in the world, especially with preachers who for selfish reasons imitate the worship of God by expressing affections for truth and good. Furthermore the Lord allows them to act in this way, because at the same time they also perform a useful function; for good people can still receive the Word properly from them. They can do so because the reception of the Word by a person, no matter whose mouth it goes out of, depends on the character of the good governing that person. But such externals, being mere postures, are stripped away from them in the next life, and then their spirit is shown to be black, as it had been while they were in the body.

10292. 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'stacte' as truth on the level of the senses, an affection for that truth being meant on account of the sweet smell this spice has. For an odour means perception, a sweet odour meaning perception that is pleasing, a foul and stinking odour perception that is displeasing; and any pleasure or displeasure that perception brings is attributable to and in keeping with the affection belonging to love, see 925, 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 4748, 5621, 10054. It should be remembered in general that all things whatever in the vegetable kingdom, both those which woodlands yield and those which gardens, fields, and plains produce, such as trees, crops, flowers, grass, and vegetables, mean spiritual and celestial realities generally and specifically. The reason why this should be so is that the whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, see in the places referred to in 9280.

[2] 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses because it is mentioned first; for there are four spices from which the incense was made, even as there are four spices from which the anointing oil was prepared. And the one that is mentioned first is the most external, as was that mentioned first in the preparation of the anointing oil, namely the best myrrh, by which the perception of truth on the level of the senses is meant, see 10252 above.

[3] The reason why four spices were used in the preparation of both the oil and the incense was that they meant levels of truth in their proper order, from outward to inmost; and in a person they follow one another in that same order. For a person has an external, called the external man, and an internal, called the internal man; and in each of these there is a more external level and a more internal one. The most external level is called that of the senses; this therefore is what is meant by 'stacte'. What the level of the senses is and what it is like, see 9996, 10236.

[4] The fact that 'stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses cannot be corroborated from other places in the Word because it is not mentioned anywhere else. Yet another kind of stacte, for which also a different word is used in the original language, is mentioned among those spices which were taken down into Egypt, Genesis 37:25; 43:11; and by those commodities which were taken down to Egypt such things as exist in the external or natural man are implied. This is because 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, which belongs to the natural man, see in the places referred to in 9391.