566. To this I will append the following accounts:

An argument arose among some spirits as to whether it is possible for someone to see a doctrinal, theological truth in the Word without doing so from the Lord. They all agreed that no one could without doing so from God, because "a person can obtain nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven" (John 3:27). Thus they were arguing over whether anyone could do so without directly approaching the Lord. Spirits on one side said that the Lord must be approached directly because He embodies the Word. Spirits on the other side said that doctrinal truth may be seen when one approaches God the Father directly. The argument therefore came down to this primarily, whether any Christian might approach God the Father directly and so climb up above the Lord, or whether this would be an improper and reckless act of arrogance and audacity, because the Lord says that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6).

They left this point, however, and said that a person could see doctrinal truth in the Word by the use of his own natural sight. But this point, too, was rejected. Therefore they insisted that those people could see it who pray to God the Father. Something from the Word was accordingly read to them, and then kneeling they prayed for God the Father to enlighten them. And in response to the words read to them from the Word, they said that such and such was the truth in them, though what they said was false. This experiment was repeated several times until they tired of it. Finally they confessed that it was not possible. Meanwhile the spirits on the other side, who approached the Lord directly, kept seeing the truths and informing them of them.

[2] After this argument thus came to an end, some spirits rose up from a pit who looked at first like locusts, but afterward as human. They were people who in the world had prayed to the Father and convinced themselves of justification by faith alone. They said that they saw with a clear sight and also from the Word that a person is justified by faith alone apart from works of the Law. They were asked what faith that was. They replied, "Faith in God the Father." But after they had been examined, they were told from heaven that they did not know even one doctrinal truth from the Word. At that they retorted that still they saw it clearly. They were then told that they saw it in an illusory light.

"What is an illusory light?" they asked.

They were informed that an illusory light is the light of a defense of falsity, and that that light corresponded to the kind of light had by owls and bats, for which darkness is light, and light darkness. They had this confirmed for them by the fact that when they looked upward to heaven, where real light is found, they saw darkness, and when they looked downward into the pit from where they had come, they saw light.

[3] Incensed at this confirmation, the spirits said that light and dark are therefore not something real, but are only conditions of the eye that cause people to say that light is light and that dark is dark.

They were shown, however, that theirs was an illusory light, namely, the light of a defense of falsity, and that their light was only an activity of their minds arising from the fire of their lusts, not unlike the light of cats, whose eyes in storerooms at night look like candles because of their burning appetite for rats and mice.

Hearing this, the spirits angrily said that they were not cats, or even like cats, because they could see if they wished. But because they were afraid to be asked why they did not wish to, they left and descended into their pit and into their own light.

The inhabitants there and others like them are also called owls and bats.

[4] When those spirits reached their fellows in the pit and told them that angels had said that they did not know any doctrinal truth, not even one, and that they had therefore called them bats and owls, a tumult arose there. And their fellows said, "We will pray to the Lord to be allowed to ascend, and we will clearly show that we have many doctrinal truths, which even archangels will acknowledge."

Then, because they prayed to the Lord, they were given permission, and as many as three hundred of them ascended. And on emerging above ground they said, "In the world we were celebrated and renowned, because we knew and taught the mysteries of justification by faith alone, and from our proofs we gained not only a clear sight, but also as it were brilliant flashes of light, as we continue to do currently in our chambers. And yet we have been told by our comrades who were in your company that this light is not light but darkness, because, as you said, we do not have any doctrinal truth from the Word.

"We know that every one of the Word's truths shines, and we have believed that our flashes of light come from them when we are deeply pondering our mysteries. We will show, therefore that we possess a great abundance of truths from the Word."

So they said, "Have we not this truth, that there is a Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and that people must believe in the Trinity?

"Have we not this truth, that Christ is our Redeemer and Savior?

"Have we not this truth, that Christ alone is righteousness, and that He alone possess merit, and that any person who wishes to ascribe any of His merit and righteousness to himself is unrighteous and impious?

"Have we not this truth, that no mortal can do any spiritual good of himself, but that all good that is good in itself comes from God?

"Have we not this truth, that there is such a thing as merit-seeking good and also hypocritical good, and that these goods are evil?

"Have we not this truth, that no one can, by his own power, contribute anything to his salvation?

"Have we not this truth, that works of charity must still be done?

"Have we not this truth, that there is such a thing as faith, that people must believe, and that everyone has life in the measure of his belief? And so, too, many other truths from the Word.

"Who of you can deny any of these truths? And yet you have said that in our deliberations we do not have any truth, not even one. Have you not cast such accusations at us undeservedly?"

[5] But they were told in reply then, "Everything that you have cited is, in itself, true, but you have falsified those truths by using them to support a false principle, and therefore with you and in you they are truths falsified - truths which derive from the false principle the character of being themselves false.

"We will also demonstrate the reality of this visibly. Not far from here there is a place where light flows in directly from heaven. At the center of it is a table. When a piece of paper is placed on it on which a truth from the Word has been written, the piece of paper shines like a star because of the truth written on it. Write, therefore, your truths on a piece of paper and have it placed on the table, and you will see."

They did so and gave the piece of paper to a guard, who placed it on the table and said to them, "Move back and keep your eyes on the table."

So they moved back and watched, and lo, the piece of paper shone like a star.

Then the guard said, "You see that the things you wrote on the piece of paper are true. But come nearer and fix your gaze on the piece of paper."

They did so, and suddenly then the light disappeared and the piece of paper turned black, as though covered with the soot of a furnace.

And speaking again the guard said, "Touch the paper with your hands, but be careful not to touch the writing."

And when they did as bidden, a flame erupted and consumed the paper.

On seeing this the spirits fled away. And they were told, "If you had touched the writing, you would have heard a sharp report and burned your fingers."

Some bystanders then told them from behind, "You have seen now that the truths you abused to support the mysteries of your idea of justification are true in themselves, but in you are truths falsified.

The spirits then looked up, and the sky appeared to them as though blood-red, and after that as black. Moreover, they themselves appeared to the eyes of angelic spirits, some as bats, some as barn owls, some as moles, and some as eagle owls. And they fled away into their darkness, which to their eyes shone with an illusory light.

[6] The angelic spirits who were present were astonished, because they had not known anything about that place and table before. And then a voice spoke to them from the southern zone, saying, "Come over here, and you will see something even more marvelous."

So they went, and entered into a room whose walls shone as though with gold, and they saw a table there also, on which lay a copy of the Word, surrounded with precious stones in a heavenly pattern.

An angelic guard then said, "When the Word is opened, a beam of light radiates from it, of indescribable brilliance, and at the same time then a rainbow emanating from the precious stones appears above and around the Word. When an angel from the third heaven comes here and views the open Word, a multicolored rainbow appears above and around the Word against a red background. When an angel from the second heaven comes here and views it, the rainbow appears against a blue background. When an angel from the lowest heaven comes and views it, the rainbow appears against a white background. And when a good spirit comes and views it, a variegated light appears as though of marble."

The reality of this was also visibly shown to them.

The angelic guard said further, "If someone comes here who has falsified the Word, then first the radiance vanishes, and if he draws near and fixes his eyes on the Word, it becomes surrounded as though by blood, and he is warned to leave because he is in danger."

[7] One of the spirits, however, who in the world had been a leading authority on the doctrine of faith alone, boldly came forward and said, "When I was in the world I did not falsify the Word. Along with faith I also extolled charity, and I taught that a person is renewed, regenerated and sanctified in a state of faith in which he practices charity and its works. I said, too, that faith is not possible by itself, that is, without good works, as a tree is not possible without its fruit, the sun without its light, or fire without its warmth. Moreover, I also faulted those who said that good works are not necessary, and I stressed as well the importance of the Ten Commandments and also repentance. Thus in a marvelous way I applied everything in the Word to our article on faith, which I even so determined and showed to be alone saving."

Trusting in his assertion that he had not falsified the Word, the spirit went over to the table, and despite the angel's warning, touched the Word. And suddenly then fire and smoke poured from the Word, and there was an explosion and loud crash, which hurled the spirit to a corner of the room, and he lay there for a time as though dead.

The angelic spirits were surprised at this, but they were told that although that notable more than others had extolled the goods of charity as emanating from faith, still he meant only public works called moral and civic, which have to be done for the sake of the world and success in it, but not any of the works that must be done for God's sake and for the sake of salvation. Moreover they were told that he also substituted for those works the invisible works of the Holy Spirit of which a person is not at all aware, which are engendered in the act of faith in a state of faith.

[8] The angelic spirits then talked together about falsification of the Word, and they agreed that to falsify the Word is to take truths from it and use them to support falsities, which is to take them out of the Word and away from it and slay them. As for example, if someone takes this truth from the Word, that the neighbor is to be loved, and that good must be done to him out of a love for him for God's sake and for the sake of eternal life, and if he then establishes that it must be done, but not for the sake of salvation, because every good done by man is not good, then he takes that truth out of the Word and away from it and butchers it. For the Lord in His Word enjoins on everyone who wishes to be saved to do good to the neighbor as though of himself, and yet to believe that it comes from the Lord.

6832. 'In a flame of fire from the middle of a bramble bush' means God's love present in true factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'a flame of fire' as God's love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a bramble bush' as true factual knowledge. The reason why 'a bramble bush' means true factual knowledge is that all shrubs of every kind mean factual knowledge, whereas actual plantations of trees, being larger, mean cognitions and perceptions. Because it produces flower and berries 'a bramble bush' means true factual knowledge. True factual knowledge that the Church possesses consists in nothing else than the Word as it exists in the sense of the letter and also every one of the Church's representative forms and meaningful signs that existed among the descendants of Jacob. These in the external form they take are called true factual knowledge; but in their internal form they are spiritual truths. But truths in their internal or spiritual form could not be made visible to those descended from Jacob, for the reason that they were interested solely in things of an external nature and had no wish whatever to know about anything internal. Therefore the Lord appeared in a bramble bush (when the Lord appears to people He does so in a way suited to the kind of people they are, for a person cannot receive the Divine in any way other than that which is a way suited to the kind of person he is); and therefore also, when the Lord appeared on Mount Sinai He appeared to the people' as a fire burning even to the heart of heaven, and as darkness, cloud, and pitch darkness', Deuteronomy 4:11; 5:22-25; also Exodus 19:18. He would have appeared in an altogether different way if the people below the mountain who beheld Him had not been the kind of people they were. And because those people were interested solely in things of an external nature, when Moses went in to the Lord on Mount Sinai, it is said that he went into the cloud, Exodus 20:21; 24:2, 18; 34:2-5, 'the cloud' being the external aspect of the Word, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), and also consequently representatives in the Church which are seen in outward form.

[2] The truth that the Lord appears to each individual person in a way suited to the kind of person he is may be recognized from the consideration that the Lord appears to those in the inmost or third heaven as the Sun from which light beyond description radiates, the reason being that those there are governed by the good of love to the Lord. He appears to those in the middle or second heaven as the Moon, the reason being that there they are governed by love to the Lord in a more remote and obscure way; for they are governed by love towards the neighbour. But the Lord does not appear to those in the lowest or first heaven either as the Sun or the Moon, only as Light, a light far more brilliant than light in the world. And since the Lord appears to each in a way suited to the kind of person he is, He cannot appear to those in hell as anything other than dark cloud and pitch darkness. For as soon as the light of heaven which comes from the Lord shines into any hell, darkness and thick darkness are produced there. From all this one may now recognize that the Lord appears to each individual person in a way suited to the kind of person he is, for this is suited to the way he receives the Lord. And since the descendants of Jacob were interested solely in things of an external nature, the Lord appeared to Moses in a bramble bush, and also in a cloud when Moses went in to the Lord on Mount Sinai.

[3] The reason why 'a flame' is God's love is that love in its earliest origin is nothing other than fire or flame from the Lord as the Sun. The fire or flame of this sun is what supplies each individual person with the being (esse) of his life; it is that life-giving fire which fills a person's interiors with warmth, as one may recognize from what happens with love. To the extent that love increases in a person he warms up; but to the extent that it diminishes he cools off. This explain s why, when the Lord appeared in a vision, He appeared as fire and flame, as in Ezekiel,

The appearance of the four living creatures (who were cherubs) was like burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps. It was moving between the living creatures as a bright fire, and out of the fire went forth lightning. Above the firmament that was over their heads, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and over the likeness of a throne there was a likeness as the appearance of a man upon it, above. And I saw the shape of burning coals, as the shape of fire, within it round about, from the appearance of His loins and upwards. But from the appearance of His loins and downwards I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it. Ezekiel 1:13, 26-28.

[4] Nobody can deny that all the several details of this vision are signs that represent aspects of the Divine; but unless one knows what is meant by 'the cherubs', 'the burning coals of fire, like the appearance of lamps', 'a throne', 'the appearance of a man upon it', 'his loins from which fire emanated upwards and downwards, and the brightness radiating from the fire', one can have no knowledge of the real holiness hidden within all those several details. 'The cherubs' are the Lord's Providence, see 308; 'the throne' is heaven, or - to be exact - Divine Truth that emanates from the Lord to form heaven, 5313; 'the appearance of a man upon the throne above' is plainly the Lord's Divine Human; and 'loins' are conjugial love and all heavenly love that derives from it, 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575, 5050, 5062. This love was represented by 'the shape of burning coal, as the shape of fire, whose brightness was round about it'.

[5] In Daniel,

I saw, until thrones had been placed, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was a flame of fire; His wheels were burning fire. A river of five issued and came forth from before Him. Daniel 7:9-10.

The Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love was seen in this vision too as a flame of fire. In John,

He who sat on the white horse, His eyes were like aflame of fire. Revelation 19:11-12.

'He who sat on the white horse' is the Lord in respect of the Word, as is explicitly stated in verses 13, 16, of that chapter. Thus 'the flame of fire' is Divine Truth contained in the Word, which radiates from the Lord's Divine Goodness. In the same book,

In the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe. His head and hair were white, like white wool, like snow; but His eyes were like a flame of fire. Revelation 1:13-14.

Here also 'eyes like a flame of fire' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Goodness.

[6] The meaning of 'a flame of fire' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is also evident in David,

The voice of Jehovah falls like a flame of fire. Psalms 29:7.

'The voice of Jehovah' stands for Divine Truth. In order that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good might be represented, the people were commanded to make a lampstand of pure gold with seven lamps and to place it in the tent of meeting by the table where the loaves of the presence were, and to keep the lamps burning unceasingly before Jehovah, Exodus 25:31-end; 37:17-24; 40:24-25; Leviticus 24:4; Numbers 8:2; Zechariah 4:2. The lampstand with its seven lamps served to represent Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good.

[7] In order also that Divine Good itself might be represented they were commanded to have perpetual fire on the altar,

Fire shall burn on the altar and not be put out; the priest shall kindle pieces of wood on it at every dawn. Fire shall burn unceasingly on the altar and not be put out. Leviticus 6:12-13.

The fact that the ancients were very well acquainted with the use of fire to represent Divine Love may be recognized from the spread of that representative from the Ancient Church even to nations far away whose worship was idolatrous and who, as is well known, established an everlasting sacred fire and placed in charge of it virgins, who were called the vestal virgins.

[8] In the contrary sense 'fire' and 'flame' mean filthy kinds of love, such as those of vengeance, cruelty, hatred, and adultery, and in general the cravings that spring from self-love and love of the world. This too is clear from very many places in the Word, of which let just the following be quoted: In Isaiah,

Behold, they have become as stubble, the fire has burned them; they do not save themselves from the power of the flame. ¹ There will be no coal to be warmed by [nor] fire to sit in front of. Isaiah 47:14.

In Ezekiel,

Behold, I will kindle in you a five, which will devour in you every green tree and every dry tree. The blazing flame ² will not be put out, and all faces from south to north will be scorched by it. Ezekiel 20:47.

Here 'fire' and 'flame' mean desires for what is evil and false which annihilate everything good and true in the Church, and thereby lay it waste.

[9] In Luke,

The rich man said to Abraham, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Luke 16:24.

People who do not know that a person's vital heat has a different origin from that which is the source of elemental fire cannot possibly do anything else but think that by hell fire is meant fire like that found in the world. In the Word however this latter kind of fire is not meant but the fire of love, thus the fire of a person's life, emanating from the Lord as a Sun. And when this fire comes among those engrossed in pursuits contrary to it, it is turned into the fire of evil desires which, as stated above, belong to vengeance, hatred, and cruelty, and which well up from self-love and love of the world. This is the fire that torments those who are in hell, for when the restraint placed on their evil desires is relaxed, one sets upon another and they torment one another in dreadful and indescribable ways. For each has the wish for supremacy and wants to take from the other the things he has by hidden or open devices. When one or two have such desires hatreds consequently develop within the group, and these lead to the savage deeds that are performed, especially by the use of devices involving magic and the use of figments of the imagination, devices which are countless and totally unknown in the world.

[10] People who do not believe in the existence of spiritual things, especially those who worship nature, cannot at all be led to believe that the warmth present in living persons, which constitutes the actual life within them, has a different origin from that which is the source of worldly heat. For they are not even aware, let alone able to acknowledge, that there is a heavenly fire radiating from the Lord as a Sun, and that this Fire is pure love. Consequently they are unaware of countless instances in the Word in which no other kind of fire is meant; nor are they aware of countless manifestations of it in the human being, who is an organ made to receive that fire.

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