3726. 'And placed it as a pillar' means a holy boundary. This is clear from the meaning of 'a pillar', dealt with in the next paragraph. The meaning here becomes clear from what has gone before, that is to say, the subject is the order by which the Lord made Divine His Natural, and in the representative sense how the Lord makes new or regenerates man's natural. The nature of that order has been stated and shown above in various places, that is to say, order is inverted while a person is being regenerated, and truth is placed first; but proper order is restored once that person has been regenerated, and good is in first place and truth in the last; see 3325, 3330, 3332, 3336, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3688. This was represented by the stairway by which angels were going up and coming down, where first it is said that they were going up, and then that they were coming down, 3701. This going up is the subject at present, that is to say, a going up from the ultimate degree of order, which is referred to just above in 3720, 3721. Here therefore truth as it exists in the ultimate degree of order is meant. This ultimate degree is called a holy boundary, and is meant by the stone which Jacob took and placed as a pillar. The existence of truth as the ultimate degree of order becomes clear from the consideration that good cannot be encompassed by good, only by truth, for truth is the recipient of good, 2261, 2434, 3049, 3068, 3180, 3318, 3387, 3470, 3570.

[2] Good with a person which is devoid of truth, that is, which is not joined to any truth, is like the good which exists with young children, with whom as yet no wisdom at all is present because no intelligence at all is there. But as a young child grows older so he receives truth stemming from good, that is, as in his case truth is joined to good, so he becomes more truly human. From this it is evident that good is the primary degree of order and truth the ultimate. Consequently from facts which are the truths of the natural man, and then from matters of doctrine which are the truths of the spiritual man within its natural, a person must start to be introduced into the intelligence that leads to wisdom, that is, he must start to enter into spiritual life which makes a person human, 3504. For example, to be able to love the neighbour as a spiritual man does, a person must first learn what spiritual love or charity is, and who the neighbour is. Until he knows these things, he is indeed able to love the neighbour, but only as a natural man, not as a spiritual man does; that is, his love towards the neighbour is a product of natural good, not of spiritual good, see 3470, 3471. But once he does know those things spiritual good from the Lord may be implanted within cognitions concerning love towards the neighbour. The same applies to all other things that are called cognitions, matters of doctrine, or truths in general.

[3] Reference is being made here to good from the Lord that may be implanted within cognitions, and also to truth that is the recipient of good. But people who have no other conception of cognitions, and also of truths, than that these exist as mere abstractions - which is most people's conception too of thoughts - cannot possibly grasp what is meant by good implanted within cognitions or by truth that is the recipient of good. But it should be recognized that cognitions and truths no more exist in isolation from the purest substances belonging to the interior man or man's spirit than sight exists in isolation from its own organ, which is the eye, or hearing from its own organ, which is the ear. There are purer substances, which have real existence, and it is from these that cognitions and truths are brought into actual being. The variations in form taken by those substances are such that they give life to and modify those cognitions through the influx of life from the Lord and enable them to be apprehended. And it is the agreements and harmonious relationships of those substances, whether these exist consecutively or simultaneously, that stir people's affections and constitute that which is called beautiful, pleasant, and delightful.

[4] Spirits themselves are forms, that is, they consist, as much as men do, of a whole combination of forms. But those forms consist of purer substances not visible to the sight of the body, that is, of the eye. Now because those forms or substances are not visible to the eye of the body mankind today inevitably conceives of cognitions and thoughts as mere abstractions. This is also the reason for the insanity of our times, in that people do not believe that they have a spirit within them which will live after the body has died - yet the spirit is a substance far more real than the material substance constituting the body. Indeed, if you can believe it, following its release from bodily things the spirit is the purified body itself, which many say they will possess at the time of the last judgement when, they believe, they will first be resurrected. The fact that spirits, or what amounts to the same, souls, are endowed with a body, see one another in broad daylight, talk to one another, hear one another, and actually have far keener senses than when they were in the body or the world, becomes quite clear from what I have told so abundantly from experience.

2760. PREFACE ¹

How deluded those people are who confine themselves to the sense of the letter and do not look for the internal sense in other places where this is explained in the Word becomes quite clear from the great number of heresies there are, each one of which confirms its own doctrinal position from the literal sense of the Word. It is particularly clear from that great heresy which insane and hellish self-love and love of the world have made out of the Lord's words to Peter,

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:15-19.

[2] People who keep rigidly to the sense of the letter imagine that these words refer to the man Peter and that such great power was given to him. Although they know that Peter was just an ordinary simple human being who by no means exercised such power, and that the exercise of that power is contrary to the Divine, they nevertheless adopt and stoutly defend a literal interpretation of what the Lord said, because of the insane and hellish self-love and love of the world which fill them with the desire to arrogate such power to themselves on earth and in heaven and to make gods of themselves. But the internal sense of those words is that faith itself in the Lord, which exists solely with those in whom love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are present, possesses that power, yet not faith but the Lord, the Source of faith. In the words addressed to Peter 'rock' is used to mean that faith, as it is everywhere else in the Word. It is on this faith that the Church is built, and against this faith that the gates of hell do not prevail. It is that faith also which holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven, for that faith closes heaven to prevent evils and falsities entering in, and it opens heaven to goods and truths. This is the internal sense of these words.

[3] Like the twelve tribes of Israel the twelve apostles represented nothing else than all aspects of such faith, 577, 2089, 2129, 2130 (end). Peter represented faith itself, James charity, and John the good works that flow from charity - see the Preface to Genesis 18 - as in a similar way did Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, Jacob's three eldest sons, in the Jewish and

Israelitish representative Church, a point that is clear from a thousand places in the Word. And it was because Peter represented faith that those words were addressed to him. From all these considerations one may recognize what darkness it is into which people plunge themselves, and others with them, who explain everything literally, as they do who, taking literally the words addressed to Peter, use them to take the power of saving the human race away from the Lord and arrogate it to themselves.

² 2760. In John - in the Book of Revelation - the Word as to its internal sense is described as follows,

I saw heaven standing open, and, behold, a White Horse; and He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle. His eyes a flame of fire, and on His head many jewels, He has a name written which nobody knows but He Himself, and He is clothed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies that are in heaven were following Him on white horses and were clothed in linen, white and clean. And on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:11-14, 16.

What each individual part of this description embodies nobody can know except from the internal sense. Plainly, each one is representative and carries a spiritual meaning, such as 'heaven standing open'; 'the horse which was white'; 'He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle'; 'His eyes a flame of fire'; 'on His head many jewels'; 'He has a name which nobody knows but He Himself'; 'He is clothed in a garment dyed with blood'; 'the armies in heaven following Him on white horses'; 'clothed in linen, white and clean'; 'on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written'. It is stated openly that the One sitting on the White Horse is the Word, and that He is the Lord who is the Word, for it is said, 'His name is called the Word of God', and after that, 'on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords'.

[2] From the interpretation of each individual expression it is evident that the Word as to the internal sense is described here. 'Heaven standing open' represents and means that the internal sense of the Word is not seen except in heaven and by those to whom heaven stands open, that is, those in whom love to the Lord and faith in Him-derived from that love are present. 'The horse which was white' represents and means the understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents. The next paragraph shows that 'a white horse' has this representation and meaning. 'He who sat on it' is, it is clear, the Word and the Lord who is the Word. He is called 'faithful' and 'one who judges out of righteousness' by virtue of good, and 'true' and 'one who goes into battle out of righteousness' by virtue of truth; for the Lord Himself is righteousness. 'His eyes a flame of fire' means Divine Truth glowing from the Divine Good that issues from His Divine Love. 'On His head many jewels' means all things of faith. 'He has a name written which nobody knows but He Himself' means that nobody sees the essential nature of the Word in the internal sense except the Lord Himself and he to whom He reveals it. 'Clothed in a garment dyed with blood' means the Word in the letter. 'The armies in heaven that were following Him on white horses' means people who have an understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents. 'Clothed in linen, white and clean' means that in these same persons love and faith derived from love are present. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written' means truth and good. From these verses in Revelation and from those which come before and after them it is evident that around the last period [of the Church] the internal sense of the Word will be opened. But what is going to happen in that last period is also described in verses 17-21 of that chapter.

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