9881. Of pure gold. That this signifies through celestial good, is evident from the signification of “gold,” as being the good of love (see n. 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, 9490, 9510); and as it is called “pure gold,” it is celestial good which is meant; for there is celestial good, and there is spiritual good, and each both internal and external. Celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good is the good of love toward the neighbor. In the Word all these goods are called “gold,” and are distinguished as “the gold from Uphaz,” “from Ophir,” “from Sheba” and “Havilah,” and also “from Tarshish”—by “the gold from Uphaz” in Jeremiah 10:9; and Daniel 10:5, which denotes celestial good; by “the gold from Ophir” in Isaiah 13:12; Psalm 45:9; and Job 22:24; 28:16, which denotes spiritual good; by “the gold from Sheba” in Isaiah 60:6; Ezekiel 27:22; Psalm 72:15, which denotes the good of knowledges; as also by “the gold from Havilah” in Genesis 2:11-12; and by “the silver and gold from Tarshish” in Isaiah 60:9, which denote the truth and good of memory-knowledge.

5658. Our silver in its weight. That this signifies truths according to each one’s state, is evident from the signification of “silver,” as being truth (see n. 1551, 2954); and from the signification of “weight,” as being the state of a thing as to good (n. 3104); thus “truths according to each one’s state” is according to the good they are capable of receiving. Weights and measures are mentioned in many passages of the Word; yet in the internal sense they do not signify weights and measures; but weights signify the states of a thing as to good, and measures the states of a thing as to truth. So also do heaviness and extension; heaviness in the natural world corresponds to good in the spiritual world, and extension to truth. The reason is that in heaven, which is the source of correspondences, there is no heaviness and no extension, because there is no space. Things indeed appear heavy and extended among spirits; but these are appearances arising from states of good and truth in a higher heaven.

[2] That “silver” signifies truth was very well known in ancient times. Hence the ancients distinguished the several ages of the world from the first to the last into the golden, the silver, the copper, and the iron ages, to which they added an age of clay. They called those times the golden ages when there was innocence and wholeness, and when everyone did what was good from good, and what was just from justice. They called those times the silver ages when there was no longer innocence, but still a kind of wholeness that consisted not in doing good from good, but in doing truth from truth; and they gave the name of copper and iron to the ages which are yet lower.

[3] That they so designated these periods was not from comparison, but from correspondence; for the ancients knew that silver corresponds to truth, and gold to good, and this by communication with spirits and angels. For when good is spoken about in a higher heaven, there is an appearance of gold below among those who are beneath them in the first or lowest heaven; and when truth is spoken of, there is an appearance of silver; sometimes so that not only the walls of the rooms where they dwell sparkle with gold and silver, but also the very atmosphere. Tables of gold also, golden lampstands, and many other things, appear with the angels of the first or ultimate heaven who are in good from good; while to those who are in truth from truth, such objects appear of silver. Yet who at the present day knows that it was from their correspondence that the ancients called these the gold and silver ages? Indeed who at this day knows anything about correspondence? And he who does not know this, and still more he who makes pleasure and wisdom consist in disputing whether it is or is not so, cannot know the least of the countless things that belong to correspondence.