491. Having a golden censer, signifies the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good, and thus the conjunction of the higher heavens. This is evident from the signification of a "censer," as being worship from spiritual good, for such worship was represented by incense from the censers (See above, n. 324). "Having a golden censer" signifies the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good, because the angel standing at the altar had a censer, and the "altar" signifies worship from celestial good, and "a golden censer" spiritual good from celestial good, "gold" signifying celestial good. The censers that were in use with the Jewish and Israelitish nation were of brass; and the offerings of incense from those censers represented worship from spiritual good, and conjunction at the same time with natural good, for "brass" signifies natural good; so here "a golden censer" signifies the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good. It also signifies the conjunction of the two higher heavens, because the good of the inmost heaven is celestial good, and the good of the middle heaven is spiritual good; when therefore the conjunction of these goods is mentioned, the conjunction of the heavens is also meant, because the good is what constitutes the heaven. Celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and it constitutes the highest or inmost heaven; and spiritual good is the good of love towards the neighbor, and it constitutes the heaven next below, which is called the second or middle heaven.

[2] "Frankincense" in the Word signifies spiritual good, the same as the censer that contained it (where the containant is taken for the content), as can be seen in the following passages. In Isaiah:

I have not made thee to serve by a meal-offering, nor wearied thee by frankincense (Isaiah 43:23).

"A meal-offering and frankincense" are mentioned, because the "meal-offering," which was made of fine flour and was therefore bread, signifies celestial good, consequently "frankincense" signifies spiritual good. Both are mentioned because in every part of the Word there is a marriage of good and truth, that is, where it treats of good it also treats of truth, and spiritual good in its essence is truth; this shows that "frankincense" means spiritual good, or the truth of celestial good. This can be seen further from other passages in which "meal-offering" and "frankincense" are mentioned together. Thus in Isaiah:

Causing the meal-offering to ascend, offering frankincense (6 Isaiah 66:3).

[3] In Jeremiah:

They shall offer the whole burnt-offering and the sacrifice, the meal-offering and frankincense (Jeremiah 17:26).

"Burnt-offering" also signifies worship from the good of celestial love, and "sacrifice" worship from the good of spiritual love; these two goods are signified also by "meal-offering and frankincense." The like is true of "meal-offering and incense-offering," for the incense-offering was chiefly of frankincense. In Malachi:

In every place incense is offered to My name, and a clean meal-offering (Malachi 1:11).

In David:

My prayers are accepted as incense before Thee; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening meal-offering (Psalms 141:2).

Therefore:

Oil was poured upon the meal-offering, and frankincense put on it (Leviticus 2:1, 2, 15).

This was done that the meal-offering might represent the conjunction of celestial good and spiritual good, for "oil" signified celestial good, and "frankincense" spiritual good.

[4] So again:

Frankincense was put upon the bread of faces in the tabernacle (Leviticus 24:7);

and this was done on account of the conjunction of the two kinds of good, for the "bread" signified celestial good, and "frankincense" spiritual good; so when the frankincense was put upon the bread the conjunction of the two goods was represented. For the sake of representing the conjunction of celestial good and spiritual good, a table for the bread was placed in the tabernacle, and on the other side an altar for incense offerings was placed.

[5] Where "meal-offering and frankincense" are not mentioned, "oil and frankincense" are mentioned, and "gold and frankincense," since "oil" and "gold," in like manner as "meal-offering," signify celestial good. "Oil and incense" are mentioned in Ezekiel:

Thou hast taken my oil and my incense and hast set them before them (Ezekiel 16:18).

"Gold and frankincense" are mentioned in Isaiah:

All they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah (Isaiah 60:6).

And in Matthew:

The wise men from the east who came to the newborn Christ opened their treasures, and offered unto Him gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh (Matthew 2:11);

"gold" signifying celestial good, "frankincense" spiritual good, and "myrrh" natural good therefrom, thus the three goods of the three heavens. This makes evident the signification of the angel that was seen at the altar having a golden censer, for the "altar" was representative of celestial good, and the censer was representative of spiritual good, and the two together were representative of the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good, or what is the same, of the conjunction of the higher heavens, or of the heaven where celestial angels are with the heaven where the spiritual angels are.

634. It is extremely difficult however to state intelligibly what the understanding of truth and the will for good are, properly speaking. The reason is that everything man thinks he ascribes to the understanding because he calls it so, and everything he desires he ascribes to the will because he calls it so. And it is even more difficult to state what they are in an intelligible way because the majority nowadays are also unaware that what belongs to the understanding is distinct and separate from what belongs to the will; for when they think something they say that they will it, and when they will something they say that they think it. Their speaking in this way is thus one reason for the difficulty. And a further reason why it is difficult to grasp the matter is that such people are engrossed solely in bodily interests, that is, their life consists in things of a more external nature.

[2] For these same reasons people are also unaware of the fact that with everybody there exists something interior, something more interior still, and indeed something inmost, and that the bodily and sensory part of a person is the most external. Desires and things of the memory are interior, affections and rational concepts more interior still, while the will for good and the understanding of truth are the inmost. Nothing could possibly be more distinct and separate than these are from one another, yet a bodily-minded man sees no difference at all, and so confuses them all with one another. This is the reason why he believes that when his physical body dies, everything else will die as well, when in reality only at that point does he start to live, and to do so indeed through his own interior things which are arranged in consecutive order. Unless man's interior things were distinct and separate in this way and arranged consecutively, men could not possibly be spirits, angelic spirits, or angels in the next life, all of whom differ in this way from one another according to things that are interior. Consequently the three heavens are very distinct and separate from one another. From all these considerations it now becomes clear to some extent what the understanding of truth and the will for good are, properly speaking, and that they are attributable only to the celestial man, or angels of the third heaven.