951. As "the seven angels that had the seven last plagues," signify the manifestation of the evils and falsities that have devastated the church, and as these are made manifest by means of the Divine truth in the Word, therefore those angels appeared "clothed in linen clean and bright;" for "linen clean and bright" signifies genuine truth. All angels appear clothed according to their functions; for the garments in which they go clothed correspond to their ministries, and in general to their interiors. The angels who are wise from Divine truth appear in white garments of muslin, lawn, or linen, because "muslin," "lawn," and "linen," correspond to the truths in which they are; and for this reason Aaron and his sons had garments of linen in which they ministered. These are described in Moses:

Thou shalt make for Aaron and his sons linen breeches to cover the flesh of their nakedness, from the loins even unto the thighs; these shall be upon them when they shall go into the Tent of meeting and when they come near unto the altar to minister in the holy place, that they bear not iniquity and die (Exodus 28:42, 43).

Again:

When Aaron shall enter into the holy place he shall put on the linen coat of holiness and the linen breeches shall be upon his flesh, and he shall gird himself with a linen belt and shall put on a linen miter (Leviticus 16:4).

He should put on the same garments when expiating the people (Leviticus 16:32).

Also when he took the ashes from the altar after the burnt-offering (Leviticus 6:10).

[2] In like manner the priests were to minister in the new temple. In Ezekiel:

When the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok shall enter at the gates of the inner court they shall put on linen garments; no wool shall come upon them while they shall minister in the gates of the inner court and within; linen miters shall be upon their head and linen breeches shall be upon their loins (Ezekiel 44:15, 17, 18).

They put on linen garments when they ministered holy things, because all holy administration is effected by the Divine truth. For the priesthood in which Aaron and his sons officiated represented the Lord as to the Divine good; and this ministers all things by means of the Divine truth. Moreover, the Divine truth protects from falsities and evils, which are from hell; therefore it is said "that they bear not iniquity and die," which signifies that otherwise falsities from hell would destroy them. These garments were called "garments of holiness," because holiness is predicated of the Divine truth. As the garments of ministry were linen garments, the priests wore a linen ephod when they ministered, as is read of Samuel (1 Samuel 2:18), and of the priests whom Saul slew (1 Samuel 22:18), and of David when he went before the ark (2 Samuel 6:14).

[3] Also of the Lord Himself in John:

Jesus rose up from supper and laid aside His garments, and took a linen cloth and girded Himself, and poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the linen cloth with which He was girded (Jeremiah 13:4, 5).

The washing of the disciples' feet represented and thus signified purification from evils and falsities by means of the Divine truth from the Lord; for all purification from evils and falsities is effected by the Lord by means of the Divine truth; and this is signified by "the linen cloth" with which the Lord girded Himself and with which He wiped the disciples' feet.

[4] Besides these seven angels treated of in Revelation there have been other angels seen in linen garments; as:

The angel who shall set a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh; and who shall go in between the wheels of cherubim and take coals of fire and scatter them over the city (Ezekiel 9:3, 4, 11; 10:2, 6, 7).

Likewise the angel seen by Daniel, clothed in linen, whose loins were girt with gold of Uphas (Daniel 10:5; 12:6, 7).

These appeared clothed in linen because girded for ministry. The angel who measured the new temple, whose appearance was like that of brass:

Was seen to have a line of flax in his hand and a measuring reed (Ezekiel 40:3).

By "the measuring of the temple" there, is described the New Church as to its quality; this is signified by the number of the measures; and as all the quality of the church is known by the Divine truth, therefore "a line of flax" was in his hand.

[5] As "linen" signifies truth, and "a girdle" everything of it, for it is what embraces and includes all things, and as nothing of truth any longer remained with the sons of Israel, therefore:

The prophet Jeremiah was commanded to buy himself a linen girdle, and to hide it in the cleft of a rock at the Euphrates; and at the end of many days it was spoiled and was profitable for nothing (Jeremiah 13:1-7).

"The linen girdle" signifies all the truth of doctrine from the Word. What is signified by its being "hidden in the cleft of a rock at the Euphrates and was there spoiled," may be seen above n. 569.

[6] "Linen" signifies the truth of the church also in Isaiah:

A bruised reed He will not break, and smoking flax He will not extinguish, and He will bring forth judgment in truth (Isaiah 42:3).

This was said of the Lord; and "the smoking flax," that He will not extinguish signifies the small amount of truth from good with anyone. (The rest may be seen explained above, n. 627.) "Linen" signifies also truth from the Word, especially the truth of the sense of its letter (Hosea 2:5, 9).

[7] Moreover, it was a statute with the sons of Israel:

That they should not wear a garment of wool and linen mixed together (Deuteronomy 22:11).

The reason was that "wool" signifies good and "linen" truth, also because man has communication with the societies of heaven by means of his garments; and there are societies that are in good and societies that are in truth; and man must not have communication with different societies at the same time, which would cause confusion. That this was the reason for this statute no one has heretofore known. But it has been granted me to know it from changing my garments; for when I have laid aside a linen garment those in the spiritual world who were in truths have complained that they could not be present; and when I again put on the garment the same spirits became present. That there is such correspondence with the very garments of man has not been known heretofore, and yet it can be seen from the passages cited above, namely, from what is said of the linen garments of Aaron and his sons, the linen ephod that the priests and David wore, the linen in which the angels appeared clothed, and the linen cloth with which the Lord girded Himself and wiped the disciples' feet, also the other garments of Aaron and his sons, all of which were representative; also from the signification of garments in general, as being truths clothing good (See above, n. 64, 65, 195, 271, 395, 475, 476, 637).

(Continuation respecting the First Commandment)

[8] It is not believed in the world that the love of ruling from the mere delight of ruling, and the love of possessing goods from the mere delight of possession, and not from the delight of uses, conceal in themselves all evils, and also a contempt for and rejection of all things pertaining to heaven and the church; and for the reason that man is stirred up by the love of self and the love of the world to doing good to the church, the country, society, and the neighbor, by making good deeds honorable and looking for reward. Therefore this love is called by many the fire of life, and the incitement to great things. But it is to be known that so far as these two loves regard uses in the first place and self in the second they are good, while so far as they regard self in the first place and uses in the second they are evil, since man then does all things for the sake of self and consequently from self, and thus in every least thing he does there is self and what is his own [proprium], which regarded in itself is nothing but evil. But to regard uses in the first place and self in the second is to do good for the sake of the church, the country, society, and the neighbor; and the goods that man does to these for the sake of these are not from man but from the Lord. The difference between these two is like the difference between heaven and hell. Man does not know that there is such a difference, because from birth and thus from nature he is in these loves, and because the delight of these loves continually flatters and pleases him.

[9] But let him consider that the love of ruling from the delight of ruling, and not from the delight of uses, is wholly devilish; and such a man may be called an atheist; for so far as he is in that love he does not in his heart believe in the existence of God, and to the same extent he derides in his heart all things of the church, and even hates and pursues with hatred all who acknowledge God, and especially those who acknowledge the Lord. The very delight of their life is to do evil and to commit wicked and infamous deeds of every kind. In a word, they are very devils. This a man does not know so long as he lives in the world; but he will know that it is so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death. Hell is full of such, where instead of having dominion they are in servitude. Moreover, when they are looked at in the light of heaven they appear inverted, with the head downwards and the feet upwards, since they gave rule the first place and uses the second, and that which is in the first place is the head, and that which is the second is the feet; and that which is the head is loved, but that which is the feet is trampled upon.

575. Verse 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and those that sat on them, signifies the falsifications of the Word by reasonings from fallacies. This is evident from the signification of "horses," as being the understanding of the Word (See above, n. 355, 364, 372, 373, 381, 382); here its falsifications, because it is said that "he saw the horses in vision" (of which presently); also from the signification of "those that sat on them," as being those who understand the Word (respecting which see the passages above cited), but here it means reasonings from fallacies respecting the meaning of the Word, because the sensual man and its reasoning from fallacies are treated of (See above, n. 569), and because it is said that he saw them "in vision," and not as before "in the spirit;" to see "in vision" signifying here to see from fallacies.

[2] Visions, which and from which a man or the spirit of man sees, are of a twofold kind; there are real visions and visions that are not real; real visions are visions of such things as really appear in the spiritual world, corresponding altogether with the thoughts and affections of angels, consequently they are real correspondences. Such were the visions that the prophets had who prophesied truths; such also were the visions that appeared to John, and that are described throughout Revelation. But visions that are not real have the same appearance in the external form as real visions, but not in the internal form; they are produced by spirits by means of phantasies. Such visions those prophets had who prophesied vain things or lies. All such visions, because they are not real are fallacies, and thus they also signify fallacies. And as "the horses and those that sat on them" were seen by John in such visions, they signify reasonings from fallacies, and thence falsifications of the Word.

[3] As the prophets, by whom the Word was written, had real visions, and others who were also called prophets had visions that were not real, but their visions were vain and are called "lies," it is important that it should be known what visions are. All things that really appear in the spiritual world are correspondences, for they correspond to the interiors of angels, which are the things of their minds, that is, of their affection and of their thought therefrom, and therefore such things are signified by them. For the spiritual, which is of the affection and the consequent thought of the angels, clothes itself with such forms as appear in the three kingdoms of the natural world, the animal, the vegetable, and the mineral, and all these forms are correspondences, such as appeared to the prophets, and which signify the things to which they corresponded. But in the spiritual world there can be appearances also that are not correspondences; and these are produced by spirits, especially evil spirits, by means of phantasies, for by means of phantasies such spirits can present to the view palaces, and houses full of decorations, also decorated garments; they can also induce upon themselves beautiful faces, and other like appearances; but as soon as the phantasy ceases all these things vanish, because they are external in which there is nothing internal. As such visions are from phantasies they signify fallacies because they deceive the senses and fallaciously present to view things like real things. Because such fallacies are here signified, it is said, "I saw horses in vision." As reasonings from fallacies are here treated of, what fallacies are is to be told.

[4] There are many fallacies in natural, in civil, in moral, and in spiritual affairs; but as fallacies in spiritual things are the fallacies here meant, I wish to show by some examples what and of what nature fallacies in spiritual things are. The sensual man is in fallacies, because all the ideas of his thought are from the world and enter through the bodily senses; from these, therefore, he thinks and draws conclusions respecting spiritual things. Moreover, the sensual man does not know what the spiritual is, and believes that there can be nothing above nature, or if there is, that it is natural and material. He cannot at all comprehend that anything can exist in the spiritual world like the objects in the natural world, that is, that there can appear there paradises, shrubberies, flower beds, grass plots, palaces, houses. Sensual men declare that such things are phantasies, although they know that like things were seen by the prophets when they were in the spirit. They do not believe that such things exist in the spiritual world, because they suppose anything that cannot be seen with the eyes or perceived by some sense of the body is a nonentity.

[5] Those who judge from fallacies cannot at all apprehend that man after death has a complete human form, and that angels have that form; they deny therefore that men after death are human forms; they say that they are something breathlike, without eyes, ears, or mouth, consequently without sight, hearing, or speech, flitting about in the air, and waiting for the resurrection of the body, that they may see, hear, and speak. This they say and believe because they think from the fallacies of the bodily senses. They who reason and draw conclusions from the fallacies of the senses attribute all things to nature, and scarcely anything to the Divine; if they attribute creation to the Divine, they imagine, nevertheless, that all things were transferred into nature, and that all the effects that appear flow from nature alone, and nothing from the spiritual world; as when they see the wonderful things that pertain to silk-worms, butterflies, bees, the wonderful things in the generation of all animals from eggs, and innumerable other like things, they imagine nature to be the sole artificer of these things, and are unable to think at all about the spiritual world and its influx into the natural, and about the existence and subsistence of such wonderful things as being from that source; and yet the truth is that the Divine flows in continually through the spiritual world into the natural, and produces such things, and that nature was created to serve for the clothing of these things that proceed and flow in from the spiritual world. But to specify all the fallacies in respect to spiritual things pertaining to the sensual man of the church, would be too lengthy; some of them may be seen mentioned in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 53).