10206. 'Or a burnt offering, or a minchah' means that nothing representative of regeneration by means of the truths and forms of good belonging to celestial love should be there. This is clear from the meaning of 'a burnt offering' as that which is representative of purification from evils, of the implanting of goodness and truth and joining together of them, and so of regeneration, dealt with in 10042, 10053, 10057; and from the meaning of 'a minchah' as celestial good, to which a person is brought through regeneration, dealt with in 4581, 9992, 10079, 10137, and also as that which is representative of regeneration, 9993, 9994. From all this it is evident that the words telling them 'not to cause a burnt offering or a minchah to go up' on the altar of incense mean that nothing representative of regeneration by means of the truths and forms of the good of faith and love should be there, only that which was representative of worship of the Lord that springs from them. For regeneration is one thing, worship another; first there is regeneration, and according to the nature of what it brings about in the person there is worship. To the extent that the person has been purified from evils and consequent falsities, and to the extent at the same time that the truths and forms of the good of faith and love have been implanted, worship is acceptable and pleasing. For by worship everything which emanates from love and faith present with a person and which is raised up to the Lord by the Lord should be understood.

Since this phase marks the completion of the process, the altar of incense, by which worship was represented, is described last, for all things follow in the same order as the sequence in which they are described. First the Testimony is described, by which the Lord should be understood; next the ark containing the Testimony, by which the inmost heaven where the Lord dwells is meant; after this the table on which the loaves were placed, by which the good of love from there is meant; then the lampstand with the lamps, by which Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is meant; next the actual tent, by which heaven and the Church consisting of these entities is meant; at length the altar of burnt offering, by which regeneration by means of truths springing from good is meant; and finally the altar of incense, by which worship springing from all those things in heaven and in the Church is meant.

9994. 'And unleavened wafers anointed with oil' means what is celestial in the external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'wafers' as what is celestial in the external man, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'unleavened' as what has been purified, dealt with above in 9992; and from the meaning of 'oil' as the good of love, dealt with in 886, 4582, 4638. From these meanings it is evident that 'unleavened wafers anointed with oil' means what is celestial in the external man, which proceeds in order from the first two. The wafers are said to be 'anointed with oil' but the cakes 'mixed with oil' because the wafers are third in order and the cakes second, as stated immediately above in 9993. What is second in order proceeds directly from the inmost and consequently has the inmost celestial within it, meant by 'oil'; and what is third in order proceeds indirectly from the inmost, that is to say, through what is second in order, and does not consequently have the inmost within it in quite the same way as that second in order. So it is that the cakes, since they mean the celestial that is second in order, are said to be 'mixed with oil', whereas the wafers, since they mean the celestial that is third in order, are said to be 'anointed with oil'. But these matters are hardly intelligible to anyone unless he knows something about the way things come into existence in succession; this has the same relation as end, cause, and effect. What is inmost constitutes the end, what is in the middle constitutes the cause, and what stands last constitutes the effect. The end must be within the cause if this is to be the cause belonging to that end, and the cause must be within the effect if this is to be the effect belonging to that cause. The end is not apparent within the effect as it is within the cause, because the effect lies further away from the end than the cause does. All this may enlighten the mind to recognize the nature of the inmost, middle, and external following one another in successive order.