1012. (Verse 17) And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air. That this signifies the state of the church manifested as to all things of thought, is evident from the signification of the angel pouring out the vial, as denoting the state of the church manifested, as above; and from the signification of the air, as denoting thought, in this case everything of thought, because it is the last state of the church that is here described; therefore on the manifestation of that state, it is said, "It is done, that is, consummated."

The reason why the air signifies thought is, that respiration, which takes place by means of the air, corresponds to the thought of the understanding, as the motion of the heart corresponds to the affection of the will. That the respiration of the lungs corresponds to thought is quite clear from the fact that their operation is simultaneous and synchronous. For as a man thinks so he breathes. If he thinks tacitly he also breathes tacitly, and, on the contrary, if he thinks forcibly. If he thinks intensely and interiorly in himself, he then by degrees checks respiration, and also suspends it. Thus a man varies the state of his respiration in accommodation to every state of his thought. The reason is, that a man has two lives - the life of the understanding and the life of the will; and all the things of the body correspond to those two lives of the mind. Thus, in general, the life of the respiration corresponds to the life of the understanding and of the thought therefrom; and the life of the motion of the heart corresponds to the life of the will and of the love therefrom. These two lives are also meant by soul and heart in the Word, where it is said, with the whole soul and the whole heart, which signifies with the whole understanding and the whole will; or, with every thought of faith, and every affection of love. These things are said, in order that it may be known, that by the air is signified thought, because breathing takes place by its means.

[2] The reason why the vial was, lastly, poured out into the air is, that everything in a man closes in his thoughts. For such as a man is as to the church and 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. And this may especially be observed in the spiritual world; for when any angel comes out of his own society into one not his own, his breathing then labours, because he does not think from a similar affection. This also is why an infernal spirit when he ascends into an angelic society experiences difficulty and pain in breathing, and comes into fancifulness and blindness of thought. From these things it is evident that such as a man is, such is his thought.

[3] In what follows some things shall now be related concerning the Seventh Precept, which is, "Thou shalt not kill."

All the precepts of the Decalogue, like everything in the Word, involve two internal senses, besides the highest, which is the third; one which is proximate, and is called the spiritual-moral sense; another which is more remote, and is called the celestial-spiritual sense. The proximate sense of this precept, "Thou shalt not kill," which is the spiritual-moral sense, is, that thou shalt not hate thy brother or thy neighbour, and thence not treat him with contempt and ignominy; for thus thou dost damage and destroy his good name and honour, from which is his life amongst his brethren, called civil life. Consequently, he will afterwards live in society as dead, being numbered amongst the vile and wicked, with whom no one will hold any intercourse. This, when done from enmity, hatred, or revenge, is murder. This proceeds, and is estimated by many in the world, in a way similar to that of the life of the body. He, therefore, who does this, is as guilty before the angels in the heavens as if he had killed his brother. For enmity, hatred, and revenge breathe out murder, and would do this unless restrained and held in by the fear of the law, of resistance, and of reputation. Still these three are efforts to murder; and every effort is as an act, for it goes forth into act when fear is removed. These things the Lord teaches in Matthew:

"Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill, and whoso shall kill shall be liable to judgment. But I say unto you, that whoso is angry with his brother rashly, shall be liable to judgment; and whoso 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" (5:21-26).

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

[4] But the more remote sense of this precept, "Thou shalt not kill," which is called the celestial-spiritual sense, is, Thou shalt not take away from a man the faith and love of God, and thus his spiritual life, this being murder itself. For from this life a man is a man, the life of the body serving thereto as the instrumental cause to its principal cause.

From this spiritual murder comes moral murder. Therefore he who is in the one is also in the other; for he who desires to take away man's spiritual life hates him if he cannot take it away; for he hates his faith and love, and thus the man himself.

These three, namely, spiritual murder, which is that of faith and love; moral murder, which is that of good name and honour; and natural murder, which is that of the body, follow in a series, one from the other, as cause and effect.

693. And the nations were angered.- That this signifies the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord, and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and of the church, is evident from the signification of nations, as denoting those who are in the goods of the church, and in the opposite sense those who are in evils, here those who are in evils, for it is said that they were angered, (That nations signify those who are in goods and those who are in evils, and in an abstract sense, the goods and evils of the church, and that peoples signify those who are in truths and those who are in falsities, and, in an abstract sense, the truths and falsities of the church, may be seen above (n. 175, 331, 625);

[2] and from the signification of being angered, when said of the evil, who are signified by nations, as denoting to be in contempt, enmity, and hatred against the Lord, and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and of the church. These and many other similar things are signified by being angered, because every one burns with wrath, and is angry when his love and the delight of his love are attacked, this being the cause of all wrath and anger. The reason of this is, that every one's love is his life, therefore to do injury to the love is to do injury to the life, and when this is injured the mind is disturbed, and thus anger and wrath follow. It is similar with the good when their love is attacked, but with this difference, that they are filled not with wrath and anger, but with zeal. This zeal is indeed called anger in the Word, although it is not anger; it is called anger because in external form it appears like anger although it is interiorly nothing but charity, goodness and mercy; therefore zeal does not last like anger after the one against whom it was enkindled has come to himself and turned away from evil. Anger with the evil is of a different nature, for it interiorly conceals in itself hatred and revenge, which the evil love, it therefore persists and is rarely extinguished. It consequently follows that anger belongs to those who are in the loves of self and of the world, for such also are in evils of every kind, but zeal belongs to those who are in love to the Lord, and in love towards the neighbour. Zeal therefore looks to the salvation of man, but anger to his damnation; the latter is in the purpose of an evil man when angry, but salvation is in the purpose of a good man when zealous.

[3] The nations being angered here signifies the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord, and against the Divine things that are from Him, thus against the holy things of heaven and of the church, because at the end of the church, a little before a last judgment, which is here treated of, a change takes place in the state of those who are in the former heaven and former earth, which is effected by the separation of the good from the evil. And when this is accomplished, the externals of the evil, by and from which they spoke truths and did goods from pretence and hypocrisy, are closed, and their interiors, which are infernal, are opened, and when these are opened, their contempt, hostility, and hatred openly burst forth with invectives against the Lord and against the holy things of heaven and of the church. For these things with such have lain interiorly stored up, but covered over by the loves of self and of the world; and these loves are of such a kind that they can do good and speak truths for the sake of self and of the world, because the holy things of heaven and of the church serve them as means to ends, which are reputation, glory, honour, and gain, in a word, self and the world, and the means are loved for the sake of the ends. But, because with such the end which is of man's love, and thence of his intention and will, is corporeal and worldly, and consequently infernal, therefore the goods and truths which pertain to heaven and the church remain with them only in their externals, and none in their internals, because evils and falsities are therein. For the goods and truths of heaven penetrate into the internals with those only who make the holy things of heaven and of the church their ends, that is, cause them to be of their love, and thus of their intention and will; and when these are the ends regarded then the spiritual mind is opened, and by means of this man is led by the Lord. But the contrary is the case when the goods and truths of heaven and of the church are not regarded as ends but as means; for, as said just above, ends pertain to man's ruling love, and when this is the love of self, it is also the love of his proprium, which, considered in itself, is nothing but evil, and so far as man acts from it he acts from hell, consequently also in opposition to the Divine.

[4] It must be moreover understood that in all evil there is anger against the Lord, and against the holy things of the church. That this is so has been made clearly evident to me from the hells, where all are in evils, and from which all evils are; for when those who are there merely hear the Lord named, they become inflamed with vehement anger, not only against Him, but also against all who confess Him. For this reason hell is the direct opposite of heaven, and is in the continual effort to destroy it, and to extinguish the Divine things therein, which are goods of love and truths of faith. It is evident from this that evils are angry with goods, and the falsities of evil with truths; and this is why anger, in the Word, signifies evil in its whole extent.

[5] Similarly in the following passages.

In Luke:

Jesus said, "Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days, for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger in the people" (Luke 21:23).

This is said of the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church. That then good and truth cannot be received is signified by, woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck. The rejection of good because of the evil which will then rule in the church, and the rejection of truth because of falsity, is signified by, for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger in the people, distress here denoting the dominating evil, and anger the dominating falsity from evil; for at the end of the church the evil feel anguish at the presence of good, and are rendered angry by truth.

[6] In Isaiah:

"Only in Jehovah is justice and strength, unto him shall [men] come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed" (45:24).

All that are incensed against Jehovah shall be ashamed, signifies that all who are in evils and falsities will desist from them; to be incensed against Jehovah signifies to be in falsities from evil.

[7] In Moses:

"Simeon and Levi are brethren; in their anger they slew a man, and in their good pleasure they unstrung an ox; cursed be their anger for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel" (Genesis 49:5-7).

Reuben, Simeon, and Levi signify faith, charity, and the works of charity, but here Reuben signifies faith separated from charity, from which there is neither charity nor any work of charity, since these three cohere together; for as is faith, so is charity, and as is charity so are the works of charity; they are therefore inseparable, the one belongs to the other, and thus the one is as the other. And because Reuben, on account of his adultery with the handmaid, his father's concubine, was accursed, therefore Simeon and Levi were also rejected; their rejection is signified by being divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel. Now because faith, which was represented by Reuben, was not to be accepted as the first thing of the church, but spiritual good, which is truth in the understanding and will, therefore Joseph was accepted as the first-begotten of the church in the place of Reuben, for Joseph represented spiritual good, which in its essence is truth in the understanding and will. It is therefore evident what is signified by the anger of Simeon and Levi which is fierce, and by their wrath which is hard, namely, a turning away from good and truth, thus evil and falsity in their whole extent; for when charity departs from faith, then there is no longer any good, or any truth. But these things may be seen explained more fully in the Arcana Coelestia 6351-6361).

[8] In Matthew:

Jesus said, "It was said to them of old, Whosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment, but I say unto you, Whosoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be liable to the judgment" (5:21, 22).

To be angry with his brother rashly here also signifies enmity and hatred against good and truth. Those also who have such enmity and hatred do continually kill in mind, intention, and will, and they would actually kill, if they were free to do so, that is, if they were not restrained by the laws and a consequent fear of punishment and of losing life, reputation, honour or gain; for what a man cherishes in his mind, this he carries out when the opportunity arises. He who is angry with his brother rashly is liable to the judgment, equally as he who kills, because to be angry signifies to think, intend, and wish evil to another, and all evil of the will is in the life of man's spirit, and returns after death, and this is why he is then liable to the judgment; for what is of the intention and will is considered in judgment as if actually done. But it is not necessary to cite further passages to shew the signification of anger and wrath with those who are in evil, for it is self-evident that all evil conceals in itself anger against good, since it desires to extinguish it, and even to kill him in whom good is, if not as to the body, yet [as] to the soul; this proceeds altogether from anger and is accompanied by anger.