1000. Three unclean spirits like frogs.

That this signifies reasonings from mere falsities against Divine truths, is evident from the signification of unclean spirits, as denoting the falsities of evil from hell. For all in the hells are unclean from the falsities of evil, because all unclean things exist from falsities from evil, and all clean things from truths from good; and from the signification of three, as denoting all things and what is full, and as being said of truths or of falsities (concerning which see (n. 435, 506, 532, 658); hence also by three is signified entirely and absolutely, in this case, absolute falsity, and from the signification of frogs, as denoting reasonings from falsities. That these are signified by frogs follows not only from their croaking but also from their living in marshy and putrid ponds, by which also infernal falsities are signified. For those who reason from falsities against Divine truths dwell in hells which appear to be like marshes and stinking ponds. And those who are there, when seen in the light of heaven, are like frogs, some in a larger, some in a smaller form, according to their conceit arising from reasoning more or less acute. They are also more or less unclean, according to their reasonings against the more interior and more important Divine truths.

[2] That frogs signify reasonings from mere falsities against Divine truths, is evident from the miracle of the frogs in Egypt. For all the miracles performed there signify the plagues or evils with which those are affected after death, who, by the scientifics of the natural man, fight against spiritual goods and truths, and endeavour to destroy them. For by Pharaoh and by the Egyptians were represented and thence signified natural men; and by the sons of Israel, whom they infested and desired to drive back into servitude, were represented and thence signified spiritual men. Thus also by the Egyptians were represented and signified the things pertaining to the natural man, and by the sons of Israel, those pertaining to the spiritual man. The things pertaining to the natural man have reference to evils and falsities, evils to the love, and falsities to the doctrine thereof; and the things that pertain to the spiritual man have reference to the goods that belong to love, and to the truths pertaining to the doctrine thereof.

That by frogs are there signified the reasonings of the natural man from falsities against the truths of the spiritual man, is evident from the description of that miracle in Moses:

That he caused the river to bring forth frogs in abundance; and they went up and came into the house of Pharaoh, and into his bed-chamber, and upon his bed, and into the house of his servants, and of his people, and into the ovens and the kneading troughs. And that after they were dead, they were gathered into heaps, and the land stank (Exodus 8:1, 14).

That frogs here signify the reasonings of the natural man from falsities against Divine truths, is evident from the explanation of all those words in the Arcana Coelestia 7345-7357, 7379-7409).

Also in David:

"He turned their waters into blood, and killed their fish; he caused frogs to come forth upon their lands, into the chambers of their kings" (Psalms 105:29, 30).

[3] This treats of the plagues in Egypt. By the waters turned into blood are signified truths falsified; by the fishes killed are signified that the scientific truths and knowledges of the natural man perished. By the frogs coming forth upon the land are signified the reasonings of the natural man from falsities; the chambers of the kings signify interior truths, which they perverted by reasonings from falsities, inner chambers denoting the interiors, and kings denoting truths. Similar things are signified by the frogs coming up into the house of Pharaoh, into his bed-chamber, and his bed. From these things it is now evident what is signified by the three unclean spirits like frogs, which went forth out of the mouth of the dragon, of the beast, and of the false prophet.

Continuation concerning the Sixth Precept:-

[4] Those who are in love truly conjugial, after death, when they become angels, return into their youth and adolescence. The males, however worn out with age, become young men; and the wives, however worn out with age, become young women. Each conjugial partner returns into the prime of life and into the joys of the age in which conjugial love begins to intensify life with new delights, and to inspire with joyous activity for the sake of prolification. Into this state, first exteriorly, afterwards more and more interiorly to eternity, a man (homo) comes who had shunned adulteries as sins, and was initiated by the Lord into conjugial love in the world.

Because they are always growing more interiorly young, it follows that love truly conjugial increases and enters into the delights and joys provided for it from the creation of the world. These are the delights and joys of the inmost heaven, arising from the love of the Lord towards heaven and the church, and thence from the mutual love of good and truth; from this love every joy in the heavens is derived.

The reason why a man (homo) thus grows young in heaven is, that he then enters into the marriage of good and truth. And there is in good an effort of continually loving truth, and in truth there is an effort of continually loving good; and then the wife is good in form, and the man is truth in form. It is from that effort that a man (homo) puts off all severity, senile harshness, mournfulness, and want of vitality, and puts on the activity, gladness, and freshness of youth, from which the effort receives life and becomes joy.

[5] It has been told me from heaven that they have then a life of love, which can only be described as being the life of joy itself.

That a man (homo) who lives in the world in love truly conjugial comes after death into the heavenly marriage, which is that of good and truth, springing from the marriage of the Lord with the church, is quite clear from this fact, that from marriages in the heavens, although married partners are there united as on earth, children are not born, but instead of children, goods and truths, and thence wisdom, as said above. This is why by births, nativities, and generations in the Word, in its spiritual sense, are meant spiritual births, nativities, and generations, and by sons and daughters, the truths and goods of the church, and other things, but of a similar kind, by daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law, and fathers-in-law. From these things it can also be clearly seen that marriages on earth correspond to marriages in the heavens, and that a man after death comes into the correspondence, that is, from natural corporeal marriage into spiritual heavenly marriage, which is heaven itself, and the joy of heaven.

20. To the seven churches. That this signifies to all those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity, is evident from the signification of seven, as being all. For, seven in the Word, signifies a beginning and an end, thus an entire period and a full state, just as a week does (Arcana Coelestia 728, 6508, 9228). And because it signifies what is full, it also signifies all, because all make what is full; for fulness in respect to those who constitute any society, in this case the church, denotes all therefore, when magnitude is treated of in the Word, seven signifies what is full, and when multitude is treated of, seven signifies all. Three, also, in the Word signifies full and all (as may be seen, n. 2788, 4495, 7715); but where anything holy is treated of in the Word, seven is used, and in other cases three (n. 10127). Here, therefore, seven is used, because the subject treated of is truths from good, which are the holy things of the church. This also appears from the signification of churches, as denoting those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity. The reason why such persons are meant by churches is, because those truths constitute the church with every one; for those who are not in truths from good, although born within the church, yet are not of the church, because no church exists in them. This is why the Lord's church consists of all those, wheresoever they are, who are the church, that is, who are in truths from good. (That the church, like heaven, is in man, and not outside of him, and hence that the man who is in truths from good is a church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3884; and in the work, Heaven and Hell 53, 54, 57.) It is also said, "who are in faith from charity," because this is the same thing; for truth belongs to faith, and good to charity; that is to say, everything that a man believes is called truth, and everything that he loves is called good. (That all truth is from good, and everything of faith is from charity, may be seen in the small work, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 84-107, 108-122, and The Last Judgment 33-39; as also in Heaven and Hell 364, 424, 482, 526.) He who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, believes nothing else, when he reads these things, than that by the seven churches are meant the seven churches afterwards named (verse 11); but churches are not meant, but all those who belong to the church; such being the spiritual sense of the Word.