427. Till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. That this signifies that those who are in truths from good must first be separated, is evident from the signification of sealing, which denotes to distinguish and separate, and of which we shall speak presently; from the signification of the servants of God, as denoting those who are in truths from good (concerning which see above, n.6); and from the signification of forehead, which denotes the good of love. The basis of this signification of the forehead is correspondency; for everything in man's body, both internal and external, corresponds to heaven, the whole heaven in the Lord's sight being as one man and so arranged as to correspond to each and all things in man. The whole face, where the organs of the sensations of sight, smell, hearing, and taste, are situated, corresponds to the affections and thence to the thoughts in general, the eyes corresponding to the understanding, the nostrils to perception, the ears to hearing and obedience, and the taste to the desire of knowing and of becoming wise. But the forehead corresponds to the good of love, from which all these proceed, because it forms the highest part of the face, and embraces at once the anterior and primary parts of the brain, whence are man's intellectual [powers]. Hence the Lord looks upon the angels in the forehead, and the angels look to the Lord with the eyes; the reason of this is that the forehead corresponds to love, from which the Lord looks upon them, while the eyes correspond to the understanding, from which they look to the Lord. For the Lord permits Himself to be seen by means of the influx of love into their understandings. Concerning this fact see Heaven and Hell 141, 151), and that the whole heaven collectively represents one man (n. 68 to 87); and that therefore there is a correspondence of all things of heaven with all things of man (n. 87-102). From these things it is evident that being sealed on their foreheads, signifies to be in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, and by means of that to be distinguished and separated from those who are not in that love. For the Lord looks upon them in the forehead, and fills them with the good of love, from which they look to Him with thought from affection. Others cannot be looked upon by the Lord in the forehead, because they avert themselves from Him, and turn to that opposite love, which fills and attracts them. That every one in the spiritual world, and also man as to his spirit, turns the face to the ruling love may be seen in Heaven and Hell 17, 123, 142-144, 153, 552).

[2] That to be sealed does not mean to be sealed, but to be brought into that state in which their quality can be known, so that they may be conjoined with those who are in a similar state, and separated from those who are in a dissimilar state, is signified by being marked, and by a mark, in the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

"And Jehovah said," to the man clothed in linen, "Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that mourn and that sigh for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. Go ye through the city after him, and smite; let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark" (9:4-6).

The subject is here the separation of the good from the evil. To be marked (or sealed) on the forehead has the same signification as in this passage in the Apocalypse, that is, to be distinguished and separated from the evil, and conjoined to the good. The casting-out of the evil, and their condemnation are also afterwards described. Those who are in good are described by the men that cry and sigh for all the abominations done in the midst of the city of Jerusalem. Those who mourn and sigh over the abominations are such as are not in evils and the falsities therefrom; mourning and sighing over them signify aversion and grief on account of them, Jerusalem denoting the church, and the city doctrine. The casting-out of the evil and their condemnation are afterwards described, by the command that they should go through the city after him and smite, and that their eye should not spare. To smite and to kill signify to be damned, for spiritual death is damnation, and is signified in the Word by natural death.

[3] In Isaiah:

"He will come to gather together all nations and tongues, that they may come and see my glory. And I will set a mark among them" (66:18, 19).

These words are spoken concerning the Lord, and the new church to be established by Him, and therefore concerning the new heaven and the new earth, as is evident from verse 22 of that chapter. By gathering together all nations and tongues, the same is signified as by gathering together the elect from the four winds (Matthew 24:31). To gather together signifies to call His own to Himself; nations signify those who are in good, and tongues, those who are in a life according to doctrine. To come and see the glory of the Lord, signifies to be enlightened in Divine Truth, and thus to experience heavenly joy; for the glory of the Lord signifies the Divine Truth, and the illustration and joy which it affords. To set a mark among them, signifies to distinguish and separate them from the evil, and conjoin them to the good.

[4] It is said of Cain, that Jehovah set a mark upon him, lest any should kill him (Genesis 4:15). Unless this interior fact of the Word be known, that by persons named in its historical parts, things are meant in the spiritual sense, or that every person there mentioned represents, and consequently signifies, something pertaining to the church and heaven, nothing further can be known than the literal history, which appears to be no more divine than other histories. But in every detail of the Word, both prophetical and historical, there is the Divine, which does not appear in the letter, except to those who are in the spiritual sense and acquainted with it. The interior spiritual fact contained in the history of Cain and Abel is that Abel represents the good of charity, and Cain the truth of faith; and this good and this truth are also called brethren in the Word. The truth of faith is called the first-born because truths which are afterwards to become the truths of faith, are first acquired and stored up in the memory, in order that good may take thence as from a storehouse what it can conjoin to itself, and thus cause them to be truths of faith. For truth is not of faith until man wills it and does it, and as far as man does this, the Lord conjoins him to Himself and to heaven, and from love flows in with good, and by means of good into the truths which he has acquired from his childhood, conjoins them to good, and causes them to become truths of faith. Before this has taken place, they are nothing more than cognitions and knowledges (scientiae), and these he believes as yet only in the same way that he believes what he hears from others which he can give up if he afterwards think differently, therefore this faith is the faith of another in himself, and not his own, and yet a man's faith must be his own, in order that it may remain with him after death. It becomes his own when he sees, wills, and does what he believes, for then it enters into the man, moulds his spirit, and becomes an integral part of his affection and thought; for the spirit of man in its essence is nothing else but his own affection and thought.

[5] That which is of affection is called good, and that which is of thought therefrom is called truth; nor does a man believe anything to be the truth, but that which belongs to his affection, that is, to the interior affection of his spirit. Wherefore what a man thinks from interior affection is his belief, and nothing else that he retains in his memory, whether from the Word or the doctrine of the church, from reading, from preaching, or from his own understanding, is faith, although he thinks that it is, and although it is declared and believed to be so at this day. This primary and first-begotten [principle] is represented and signified by Cain in the above historical part of the Word, for Cain was the first-begotten. When it is believed that such a faith saves man, and not the willing and doing of it, or a life according to it, then there arises the baneful heresy that faith alone saves whatever the life may be, and that there may be faith without life, although this is not faith, but merely knowledge exteriorly in the memory, and not interiorly in the life. If this be called faith it is historical faith, which is the faith one man has from another, and has no life in itself, until he who possesses it sees for himself that what he has received is true, and this first takes place when he wills and does it. When that heresy prevails, then charity, which is the good of life, is annihilated, and at length rejected as not essential to salvation. This was represented by Cain's slaying his brother Abel; for faith and charity or the truth of faith and the good of charity, are called brethren in the Word, as stated above.

[6] That Jehovah set a mark upon Cain lest he should be slain, signifies that he distinguished him from others, and preserved him, because saving faith cannot exist, unless historical faith precede, which is the knowledge of the things of the church and of heaven derived from others, in a word, the knowledge of such things as shall afterwards pertain to faith. For unless a man from his infancy received truths from the Word, from the doctrine of the church, or from preaching, he would possess none, and the Lord cannot act upon such a man, nor can he receive influx out of heaven from the Lord, for He operates and inflows by means of good into the truths which a man possesses and conjoins them, and thus makes charity and faith one. From these considerations it is evident what is signified by Jehovah setting a mark on Cain, lest any one should slay him, and by him that should slay him being avenged sevenfold. Besides, those who are only in historical faith, that is, in the knowledge of such things as belong to faith, - and such persons and faith are signified by Cain, - are also preserved, because they can teach others truths from the Word, for they teach from the memory.

[7] Since the forehead corresponds to the good of love, and therefore the Lord from His Divine Love looks upon angels and men in the forehead, as stated above, it was commanded that a plate of pure gold, upon which was engraved "Holiness to Jehovah," should be placed upon the mitre of Aaron on the forehead, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to Jehovah. And thou shalt put it on a thread of purple, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be, that it may be upon Aaron's forehead, and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah" (Exodus 28:36-38).

For Aaron, as the chief priest, represented the Lord as to the good of Divine Love, and therefore his garments represented such things as proceed from that love. The mitre represented intelligence and wisdom, and the forefront of it, love, from which are intelligence and wisdom, and so the plate of pure gold, upon which "Holiness to Jehovah" was engraved, was there placed upon a thread of purple. The pure gold of which the plate was made signifies the good of celestial love; the purple forming the thread upon which the plate was put, signifies the good of spiritual love, and spiritual love is the love of truth; the engraving of a signet signifies continuance to eternity; holiness to Jehovah signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, from which every thing holy of heaven and of the church proceeds. These were upon the front of the mitre which was on the head of Aaron, because the mitre like the head, signifies Divine Wisdom, and the forehead, the Divine Good of Love. Aaron represented the Lord as to the good of love, as may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 9806, 9946, 10017). "Purple" signifies the love of truth (n. 9466, 9687, 9833); and the mitre signifies intelligence and wisdom (n. 9827).

[8] Since the forehead signifies the good of love, the Israelites were therefore commanded to bind upon their foreheads the precept concerning love to Jehovah.

Thus in Moses:

"And thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And thou shalt bind these words for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be for frontlets before thine eyes" (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:18; Exodus 13:9, 16).

It is said, that they should be for frontlets before the eyes, to represent the fact that the Lord looks upon angels and men in the forehead, because from Divine Love, and gives to angels and men the power to see Him from intelligence and wisdom, for the eyes signify the understanding. All man's understanding also is from the good of his love, and according to that which he receives from the Lord. That they should also bind them upon the hand represented the ultimates, because the hands are the ultimates of the powers of man's soul; therefore upon the forehead and upon the hand signifies in primaries and in ultimates. Primary and ultimate signify all, as may be seen above (n. 417). This precept was bound in this manner, because on it hang all the law and the prophets, that is the whole Word, consequently all things of heaven and of the church. That the law and the prophets hang on this precept, the Lord teaches in Matthew (22:35-38, 40). From this it is evident why kings at their coronation were in former times and are to-day anointed with oil upon the forehead and upon the hand. For kings formerly represented the Lord as to Divine Truth, and because this is received in the good of love which flows in from the Lord, therefore anointing was performed upon the forehead and upon the hand. The oil also, with which they were anointed, signifies the good of love. Therefore kings in the Word signify those who are in truths from good, and in an abstract sense truths from good; as may be seen above (n. 31). From these considerations it is clear what a sign or mark upon the forehead means, as mentioned here and in other passages in the Apocalypse (9:4; 14:1; 22:3, 4).

[9] But on the other hand, the forehead signifies the evil of love which is opposite to the good of love, and therefore what is hard, obstinate, shameless and infernal. Thus in Isaiah, "hardness" is described in these words:

"Thou art hard, for thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy forehead brass" (48:4).

In Ezekiel "obstinacy."

"The house of Israel will not hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are of an obstinate forehead and hard of heart" (3:7).

In Jeremiah "shamelessness."

"Thou hadst a harlot's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed" (Jeremiah 3:3).

"Infernal" in the Apocalypse (13:16; 14:9-11; 16:2; 17:5; 19:20; 20:4). For as the good of love is celestial, and therefore gentle, patient, and modest, so the evil opposite to that good is infernal, hard, obstinate, and shameless.

3993. 'Removing from it every speckled and spotted member of the flock' means that everything good and true that is meant by 'Laban' and which - when mingled with evil, meant by 'speckled', or mingled with falsity, meant by 'spotted' - will be separated. This is clear from the meaning of 'removing' as separating, and from the meaning of 'member of the flock', in this case she-goats and lambs, as goods and truths, dealt with in 1824, 3519. The fact that these details and those that follow in this chapter hold arcana within them may be recognized from the consideration that for the most part they would not be worth mentioning in the Divine Word if they did not include any deeper arcana than those to be seen in the letter, such as the following: For his wages Jacob asked for the speckled and the spotted among the she-goats and for the black among the lambs; and after this, in the runners he placed rods - which he had peeled down to the white and which were of hazel and of plane - in front of Laban's flocks when these came on heat, and in the case of the lambs he set the faces of the flock towards the variegated and the black in Laban's flock, thereby making himself rich not by the use of a good skill but of an evil one. These details do not seem to hold anything Divine within them, and yet the Word is Divine in every single part, even to the smallest part of a letter. And what is more, knowing all these details does not contribute one tiny bit to a person's salvation, yet being Divine the Word does not contain within itself anything else than such things as lead to salvation and eternal life.

[2] From these details and others like them elsewhere anyone may come to the conclusion that some arcanum is concealed within them, and that although in the literal sense they are the kind of facts that are not worth mentioning, those details - every single one - are pregnant with ideas much more Divine. But what exactly these ideas may be cannot possibly be seen by anyone except from the internal sense, that is, unless he knows the way in which angels perceive these matters; for they perceive the spiritual sense when man sees the historical natural sense. How remote these two senses seem to be from each other when in fact they are closely linked to one another may become quite evident from the historical details explained above and from all other such details. The actual arcanum present within the details here and in those after them in this chapter may, it is true, be known to some extent from what has been stated already about Laban and Jacob - about 'Laban' meaning the kind of good by means of which genuine goods and truths are able to be introduced, while 'Jacob' means the good of truth. Yet few know what natural good corresponding to spiritual good is, even fewer what spiritual good is and that a correspondence ought to exist between the two, and fewer still that a type of good which merely looks like good is the means for introducing genuine goods and truths. This being so, the arcana which describe these matters cannot be explained easily and intelligibly since they fall within the poorly lit parts of the understanding. It is rather like someone talking in a foreign language, in that no matter how clearly the thing is explained in that language the hearer does not understand. Even so, because what is concealed in the internal sense of the Word is to be made known, the actual arcanum within the details here has to be discussed.

[3] In the highest sense the subject at this point is how the Lord made His own Natural Divine, and in the representative sense how the Lord regenerates the natural as it exists with man and brings it into correspondence with his interior man, that is, with that which is going to live after the death of the body. At that point it is called man's spirit which, when released from the body, takes with it every part of the external man except the flesh and bones. If the correspondence of the internal man with the external has not been effected in the temporal state, that is, during a person's life in the body, it is not effected after that. The Lord's joining of the two together through regeneration is the subject in the internal sense here.

[4] Previous sections have dealt with the general truths which a person ought to receive and acknowledge before he can be regenerated, those truths being meant by Jacob's ten sons by Leah and the servant-girls; then they deal - after he has received and acknowledged them - with the joining of the external man to the interior, that is, of the natural man to the spiritual, which was meant by 'Joseph'. Now in the sequence of ideas the subject is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth which begin to occur once the rational man has been joined to the spiritual, and in the measure that they are so joined. These are the considerations meant by the flock which Jacob acquired to himself by means of Laban's flock. 'Flock' here means good and truth, as it does many times elsewhere in the Word. 'Laban's flock' means the good that is represented by 'Laban', the nature of which has been stated above; 'Jacob's flock' means the genuine good and truth which is acquired by means of that good represented by Laban.

[5] It is the way in which genuine goods and truths are acquired that is described here. Yet this cannot by any means be comprehended unless one knows what is meant in the internal sense by 'speckled', 'spotted', 'black' and 'white', and therefore these must first be dealt with here. That which is speckled or that which is spotted consists of black and of white. In general 'black' means that which is evil, in particular man's proprium since this is nothing but evil. 'Dark' however means that which is false, and in particular false assumptions. 'White' in the internal sense means truth; strictly speaking it means the Lord's Righteousness and Merit, and from this the Lord's righteousness and merit as these exist with man. This whiteness is called bright because it shines from the light that radiates from the Lord. But 'white' in the contrary sense means self-righteousness or one's own merit. Indeed truth devoid of good has such merit within it, for when any good action performed by a person does not stem from the good of truth that person always desires something in return since he acts for the sake of himself. But when good lies behind the truth that a person carries into effect, that truth is enlightened by the light which radiates from the Lord. From this one may see what is meant by 'spotted', namely truth with which falsity has been mingled, and what by 'speckled', namely good with which evil has been mingled.

[6] Actually visible in the next life are colours so beautiful and bright that they defy description, 1053, 1624. They are the product of the variegation of light and shade within white and black. But although it appears before the eyes as light, the light there is unlike the light in the world. The light in heaven includes intelligence and wisdom, for Divine Intelligence and Wisdom from the Lord manifest themselves there as light and also light up the whole of heaven, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3339-3341, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862. Shade likewise in the next life, although it appears as shade, is unlike shade in the world, since the shade in that life is the absence of light and as a consequence the lack of intelligence and wisdom. So because the white and the black are in the next life a product of light which has intelligence and wisdom within it, and a product of the shade which is the lack of these, it is evident that white and black mean such things as have been stated above. Consequently, since colours are the modifications of light and shade within surfaces consisting of white and black, it is the variegations produced by those modifications that are called colours, 1042, 1043, 1053.

[7] From all this one may see what is meant by speckled, or marked and dotted with black and white specks, namely good with which evil has been mingled, and also what is meant by spotted, namely truth with which falsity has been mingled. These are the things that were taken from 'Laban good' to serve in the introducing of genuine goods and truths. But in what way they are able to serve is an arcanum which can indeed be presented clearly to those who see in the light of heaven because this light, as has been stated, holds intelligence within it, but not to those who see in the light of the world unless their light of the world is lit up by the light of heaven, as it is with those who are regenerate. For every regenerate person sees goods and truths within his own natural light from the light of heaven, because the light of heaven brings sight to his understanding even as the inferior light of the world gives him natural sight.

[8] But all this needs to be taken a little further. No pure good, or good with which evil is not mingled, exists with anyone. Neither does any pure truth, or truth with which falsity is not mingled, exist with him. This is because man's will is nothing but evil, from which falsity is constantly passing into his understanding; for as is well known, he possesses by inheritance the evil that has been accumulated consecutively by his forefathers. From this inheritance he brings out evil into his own actions and makes it his own, adding further evil from himself to the inheritance. But the evils residing with man are of various kinds. There are evils with which goods cannot be mingled and there are evils with which they can. And the same applies to falsities. If this were not so nobody could ever have been regenerated. The evils and falsities with which goods and truths cannot be mingled are ones that are contrary to love to God and love towards the neighbour - forms of hatred, revenge, and cruelty, and consequent contempt for others in comparison with oneself, and also consequent false persuasions. But the evils and falsities with which goods and truths can be mingled are ones that are not contrary to love to God and love towards the neighbour.

[9] Take for example anyone who loves himself more than others and because of that love strives to excel others in private life and in public life, to excel them in knowledge and doctrine, and to be promoted to positions of greater importance than others, and also to greater affluence than others. If at the same time he acknowledges and adores the Lord, from the heart performs acts of kindness to the neighbour, and from conscience behaves justly and fairly, the evil that belongs to his self-love is such that good and truth can be mingled with it. For this is an evil which belongs to a person as his own and into which he is born by heredity. And to take that away from him suddenly would be to put out the fire of life that burns in him at first. But in the case of someone who loves himself more than others and because of that love despises others in comparison with himself, hates those who do not hold him in esteem and so to speak adore him, and therefore enjoys the feelings of hatred that are present in revenge and cruelty, the evil of that love is such that good and truth cannot be mingled with it because they are contraries.

[10] Take as another example anyone who believes that he is pure from sins, and so is cleansed like somebody from whom dirt has been washed away by means of much water, once he has repented and carried out the prescribed penances, or after he has made his confession and heard the confessor declare him free from sins, or after he has been to the Holy Supper. If he leads a new life, being stirred by an affection for good and truth, that falsity is such that good can be mingled with it. But if he goes on leading a carnal and worldly life as before, it is in that case a falsity with which good cannot be mingled. Also, with anyone who believes that man is saved by virtue of believing what is good and not of willing it, and yet who does will what is good and therefore does it, that falsity is such that good and truth can be attached to it. But not so if he does not will what is good and therefore does not do it.

[11] Take yet another example. If anyone does not know that man rises again after death and consequently does not believe in the resurrection, or else if anyone who does know but nevertheless doubts or practically denies it, and yet each one leads a life of truth and goodness, good and truth can be mingled with that falsity also. But if a person leads a life of falsity and evil they cannot be mingled with that same falsity because they are contraries. The falsity destroys the truth, and the evil destroys the good.

[12] And still another example. Pretence and shrewdness which have a good end in view, whether the good of the neighbour, or of one's country, or of the Church, constitute prudence. The evils that are mixed up with them can be mingled with good by reason of and for the sake of the end in view. But presence and shrewdness which have an evil end in view do not constitute prudence but trickery and deceit. Good cannot possibly be joined to these, for deceit which goes with an evil end in view brings what is of hell into every single part of a person, sets evil in the middle, and casts good away to the circumferences. This order is the order itself of hell. And so with countless other examples that could be taken.

[13] The fact that there are some evils and falsities to which goods and truths can be attached may be seen merely from the consideration that so many different dogmas and teachings exist, many of them totally heretical, and yet subscribing to each one there are people who are saved. The same may also be seen from the consideration that among gentiles outside of the Church there is another Church that is the Lord's, and that those are saved who lead charitable lives, even though falsities exist with them, 2589 2604. This could by no means be the case if there were no evils with which goods can be mingled, and no falsities with which truths can be mingled. For the evils with which goods are mingled, and the falsities with which truths are mingled, are wonderfully arranged into order by the Lord. For they are not combined with one another, still less are they made into one, but lie adjacent to and touch one another, so that in fact the goods together with the truths occupy the middle, at the central point so to speak, while the evils and falsities occupy positions radiating outwards to the surrounding areas or circumferences. Consequently the evils and falsities receive light from the goods and truths, and are variegated like patches of white and black created by light radiating from the middle or centre. This constitutes heavenly order. These are the things meant in the internal sense by 'speckled' and 'spotted'.