207. Verse 8. (Revelation 3:8) I know thy works, signifies a life of charity. This is evident from the signification of "works," as being those things that are of man's love, thus of his life (See above, n. 98, 116, 185); here, therefore, the things that are of charity, since that is what is treated of in what is written to this church.

Fowl signify spiritual truth; a bird, natural truth; and a winged thing, sensual truth. Fowl of heaven, as in Hosea 2:18, signify the affections of truth; and reptiles of the earth, the affection of the knowledges of truth and good. Fowl signify thoughts, and all that creeps on the ground, the sensual principle. Fowl signify intellectual things.

(Reference: Arcana Coelestia 777; Hosea 2)