1099. And a hold of every unclean spirit, signifies where there is nothing but evils from the adulterated goods of the Word. This is evident from the signification of a "hold," as being where those are who are meant by "Babylon," "hold" being the same here as "habitation" above. Also from the signification of "unclean spirits," as being those who are in evils from the adulteration of good, thus abstractly the evils themselves that are adulterated goods. Goods that have been applied to evils are called adulterated, as for instance, the goods of love to the Lord applied to the loves of self, and the goods of love towards the neighbor applied to the loves of the world. Love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor are pure and holy loves, but the loves of self and of the world, such as they are in those who have claimed to themselves the Lord's dominion over heaven and over the church, are impure and profane loves; therefore to change holy loves into profane loves is to adulterate the goods of the Word, especially when they call their profane things holy and their evil things good. Those who have been such in the world become after death unclean spirits; and their hell is meant by "the hold of every unclean spirit."

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] It has been said that man has thought from light and thought from love, and that thought from light makes man's presence in heaven, but thought from love makes man's conjunction with heaven, and for the reason that love is spiritual conjunction. Therefore, when man's thought from light becomes his thought from love he is introduced into heaven as to a marriage, and so far as love is the primary agent in thought from light or leads that thought, man enters heaven as a bride enters the bride-chamber, and is wedded. For the Lord is called in the Word a "bridegroom" and a "husband," and heaven and the church are called a "bride" and a "wife." "To be wedded" means to be conjoined to heaven in some society of it; and one is so far conjoined to heaven as he has acquired in the world intelligence and wisdom from the Lord through the Word, thus so far as he has learned by means of Divine truths to think that there is a God, and that the Lord is that God. And yet one who thinks from few truths, thus from little intelligence, although he is conjoined with heaven when he thinks from love, is conjoined in its lower parts only.

[3] By love, love to the Lord is meant, and loving the Lord does not mean loving Him as a Person, for by such a love only man is not conjoined to heaven, but by the love of Divine good and Divine truth, which are the Lord in heaven and in the church; and these two are not loved by knowing them, thinking about them, understanding them, and speaking them, but by willing and doing them for the reason that they are commanded by the Lord, and thus because they are uses. Nothing prior is full until it has been done; and the end for the sake of which the thing is done is the love; consequently the love of knowing a thing, of thinking about it, and of understanding it springs from a love of willing and doing it. Tell me why you wish to know and understand anything except for the sake of an end which you love. The end that is loved is the deed. If you say, it is for the sake of faith, this is faith alone, or faith merely of the thought separated from actual faith which is the deed, which is nothing. You are greatly deceived if you think that you believe in God, when you are not doing the things pertaining to God; for the Lord teaches in John:

He that hath My commandments and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me, and I will make My abode with him. But he that loveth Me not keepeth not My words (John 14:21, 23-24).

In a word, loving and doing are one; therefore where loving is mentioned in the Word doing is meant, and where doing is mentioned loving also is meant; for what I love, that I do.

522. Because they were made bitter, signifies because the truths of the Word were falsified. This is evident from the signification of "the waters in the rivers and in the fountains," as being the truths of the understanding and the truths of doctrine (of which above, n. 518; also from the signification of "bitter" and "bitterness," as being what is falsified by the mingling of truth with the falsities of evil; for "bitter" here means the bitter of wormwood, and "wormwood" by reason of its bitterness signifies truth mixed with the falsity of evil, thus truth falsified (of which above, n. 519. "Bitter" signifies in the Word what is undelightful, but one kind of undelightfulness is signified by the bitter from wormwood, another by the bitter from gall, another by the bitter of hemlock, another by the bitter from unripe fruit, another by the bitter that is neither from herbs nor fruit; this bitter signifies grief of mind and anxiety from various causes.

[2] This makes evident the signification of "bitterness" in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter. Woe unto the mighty in drinking wine, and unto men of strength in mingling strong drink (Isaiah 5:20, 22).

In the same:

The new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish, all the glad of heart shall sigh. They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it (Isaiah 24:7, 9).

In Moses:

That the waters in Marah, which they were not able to drink because of their bitterness, were healed by the wood that was cast into them (Exodus 15:23-25);

That at the time of the Passover they ate unleavened bread with bitter herbs (Exodus 12:8; Numbers 9:11).

In the same:

That the waters of the curse should be given to a wife accused by her husband of adultery, and if she was guilty these waters would become bitternesses in her, and her belly would swell and her thigh would fall in (Numbers 5:12-29).

In Revelation:

The little book that the prophet ate by command was in his mouth sweet like honey, but the belly was made bitter by it (Revelation 10:9, 10).

So in other passages. But here, where it is said that "many men died of the waters because they were made bitter," the bitter of wormwood is meant, and the signification of this bitterness has been explained just before.