417. Four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord in the whole spiritual world. This is evident from the signification of "angels," as being the Divine proceeding from the Lord (See above, n. 130, 200, 302); and from the signification of "the four corners of the earth," as being the whole spiritual world; for "the four corners" signify the spiritual world because there are lands there as well as on our globe; for there, as here, there are mountains, hills, rocks, plains, valleys, and other things, as has been several times said above; and as the Last Judgment on all in the spiritual world is treated of in Revelation, and here the separation of the good from the evil there, therefore "the earth" means that world. "The earth" signifies the church, as has been frequently said before, because the face of the earth in the spiritual world is exactly like the face of the church with the spirits and angels there; the face of the earth is most beautiful where the angels of the higher heavens dwell, and also beautiful where the angels of the lower heavens dwell, but unbeautiful where evil spirits dwell; for where the angels dwell there are paradises, gardens, flower beds, palaces, and all things in heavenly form and harmony, from which enjoyments flow and inmostly delight the mind; but with the evil spirits all places are marshy, or stony, or barren, and they dwell in huts of a vile appearance, and also in caverns and caves.

[2] This has been said to make known that "the earth," in the nearest sense, means the spiritual world; nor could any other earth appear to John, since it was seen by him when he was in the spirit; and when man is in the spirit he sees nothing on our globe, but only what is in the spiritual world. This is why John saw four angels, and these were standing upon the four corners of that earth. There were four angels seen, because these standing "on four corners" signify the Divine proceeding from the Lord in the whole spiritual world, for the four quarters, namely, the eastern, western, southern, and northern, constitute the whole of that world, for that world is thus divided; and those who are in the good of love to the Lord dwell in the eastern quarter, likewise in the western, the former in clear because interior good of love, the latter in obscure because exterior good of love; those who are in the clear light of truth dwell in the southern quarter, and those who are in the obscure light of truth in the northern. (But on these quarters see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 141-153, where they are treated of.) And because all things have reference to the good of love and to the truth from that good, or in general to good and truth, therefore these four quarters also mean all things of heaven and the church. These quarters are meant also in the Word by "the four winds," and here by "the four corners." It is evident, therefore, that the angels were not seen standing on the four corners of the earth, but in the four quarters. The quarters are called "the four corners" because "corners" signify the outermost parts, and the outermost parts signify all things, because they include all.

[3] That "corners" signify quarters is evident from the passages in the Word, where quarters are designated as "corners," as in the following. In Moses:

Thou shalt make for the tabernacle twenty boards for the south corner southward. And for the second side of the tabernacle, towards the north corner, twenty boards (Exodus 26:18, 20; 27:9, 11; 36:21, 23, 25).

"For the south corner" means for the southern quarter; and "towards the north corner" means towards the northern quarter, for there were twenty boards for each side. So in Ezekiel:

Next the border of Dan, from the east corner even to the west corner, Asher one. And thence next the border of Asher, from the east corner even unto the corner towards the west (4 Ezekiel 48:1-8).

In the same:

These shall be the measures: the north corner four thousand and five hundred, and the south corner the same, and from the east corner the same, and the west corner the same, next the border to the east corner towards the west (Ezekiel 48:16, 17, 23-28, 33, 34; also Ezekiel 47:17-20).

In Moses:

Ye shall measure without the city the corner towards the east two thousand cubits, and the south corner the same, and the west corner and the north corner the same (Numbers 35:5).

Also in Joshua (Joshua 15:5; 18:12, 14, 15, 20). Here the east, south, west, and north corners mean the sides towards the east, south, west, and north quarters. This makes clear that the "four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth" mean not upon its four corners, but in its four quarters. So elsewhere in Revelation:

Satan shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth (Revelation 20:8).

[4] "Four corners" are mentioned, and not four quarters, because "corners" also signify all things, since they are outermost parts, for the outermost parts comprehend all things from the center to the last circumferences, for they are the last borders. This is why four horns were placed on the four corners of the altar, and upon them the blood was poured, and thus expiation was made for the whole altar (as is evident from Exodus 27:2; 29:12; 30:2, 3, 10; 38:2; Leviticus 4:7, 18, 25, 30, 34; 16:18, 19; Ezekiel 41:22; 43:20).

[5] That "corners" signify all things because the outermost parts (for the reason stated above, that the outermost parts include and comprehend all things) is clearly evident from some of the statutes given to the sons of Israel, as:

That they should not round or shave the corner of their head (Leviticus 19:27).

That they should not shave off the corner of their beard (Leviticus 19:27; 21:5).

And that they should not wholly finish the corners of their field when they reaped (Leviticus 19:9; 23:22).

Why such statutes were given them cannot be known unless it is known what is signified by "the hair of the head," by "the beard," by "the field," and also by "the corner;" "the hair of the head," and "the beard" signify the ultimate of man's life, which is called the corporeal sensual; and "field" signifies the church, and "reaping" the truth of doctrine. By these statutes, therefore, it was represented that the ultimates must be preserved because they signify all things; for unless there are outermost things, the middle things are not kept together, but are dispersed, comparatively as the interior parts of man would be dispersed if he were not encompassed by skins. It is similar in everything, thus in what is signified by "the hair of the head," by "the beard," and by "the harvest of the field." (That "the hair of the head" signifies the outermost of man's life, which is called the corporeal sensual, may be seen above, n. 66; and that "the beard" has a like signification, see Arcana Coelestia 9960; that the outermosts or ultimates signify all things in the complex, thus the whole, n. 10044, 10329, 10335.) And as "a field" signified the church, and "harvest" its truths, so "not to finish wholly the corners of thy field when thou reapest" signifies the conservation of all things that are signified by "the harvest of the field."

[6] That "corners" signify all things because they signify outermost things can be seen also from the following passages. In Moses:

I will hurl them into the extreme corners; I will make the remembrance of them to cease from man (Deuteronomy 32:26).

"To hurl into the extreme corners" signifies to be deprived of all good and truth; it is therefore added, "I will make the remembrance of them to cease from a man," which signifies that they would no longer have anything of spiritual life, which comes to pass when man is merely in the ultimates of life, called the corporeal sensual, in which alone most of those are who acquire nothing of spiritual life; for such then become not unlike the beasts, for this is the kind of life beasts have, but with this difference, that as man is born a man he is able to speak and to reason, but this he does from the fallacies of the senses, or of the outermost things of nature, of the world, and of the body; this is what is meant here by "being hurled into the extreme corners."

[7] In Jeremiah:

Their camels shall be for a prey, and the multitude of their cattle for a spoil; and I will disperse them unto every wind among the cut off of the corner; and from all the passages thereof I will bring calamity (Jeremiah 49:32).

This is said of the devastation of Arabia and Hazor by the king of Babylon; and "Arabia" and "Hazor" signify the knowledges of good and truth, and "the king of Babylon" signifies evil and falsity laying waste. The vastation of all confirming knowledges (scientifica), and cognitions of good and truth is signified by "their camels shall be for a prey, and the multitude of their cattle for a spoil;" "camels" meaning confirming knowledges (scientifica), and "cattle" the cognitions of good and truth. Vastation in respect to all things of good and truth, so that there is nothing left, is signified by "I will disperse them unto every wind, among the cut off of the corner;" "the cut off of the corner" meaning the outermost parts where there is no longer any good and truth. That evils and falsities will then break in on every side is signified by "from all the passages thereof I will bring calamity;" for in the spiritual world where the evil are, on every side ways from the hells are open, and evils and their falsities break in through these; and all who are in like evils and falsities go through these ways and consociate themselves with the evil there. This has been said to make known what is signified by "from all the passages I will bring calamity;" "to be for a prey and a spoil," and "to disperse and to bring calamity" signify devastation.

[8] In the same:

Behold, the days come in which I will visit upon everyone that is circumcised in the foreskin; Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the sons of Ammon, and Moab, and all the cut off of the corner that dwell in the wilderness; for all nations are uncircumcised, and the whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart (Jeremiah 9:25, 26).

Here "the cut off of the corner" signify those who are in the ultimates of the church separate from the interiors, which are spiritual, thus those who are only in things sensual, which are the ultimates of the natural man. (Respecting those who are merely sensual, who and of what quality they are see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 50.) These are signified by "the cut off of the corner," because "corners" signify the quarters of the spiritual world, and the quarters of the spiritual world signify all the goods and truths of heaven and the church, as has been said previously. The habitations of spirits and angels in that world succeed in such an order that those who are in the highest wisdom and intelligence are in the midst, and from the midst even to the last circumferences those in less and less degree; and these diminutions are in exact accord with the distances from the midst; in the ultimates are those who are in no wisdom or intelligence, and outside of these are those who are in evils and falsities therefrom. These are the ones meant by "the cut off of the corner;" and as these are desert places, they are said "to dwell in the wilderness." (On these diminutions in the spiritual world, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 43, 50, 189.) The same are meant by "the uncircumcised nations" and "the house of Israel uncircumcised in heart;" "the uncircumcised" signifying those who are without love and charity, thus without good, and therefore in the loves of self and of the world; and those who are in these loves are in the ultimates of the natural man wholly separate from things spiritual; therefore they are "the cut off of the corner that dwell in the wilderness;" "Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, and Moab," mean all who, through these loves, have separated from themselves the goods and truths of the church, consequently are outside of these, and thus are "the cut off of the corner":

The cut off of the corners (Jeremiah 25:23);

have a similar signification.

[9] In Moses:

There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall arise out of Israel, which shall break in pieces the corners of Moab (Numbers 24:17).

"The corners of Moab" mean all things that are signified by "Moab;" and "Moab" signifies those who are in the ultimates of the Word, of the church, and of worship; and in the contrary sense those who adulterate these by turning themselves towards self, and having regard to their own honor in every particular of these; therefore "the corners of Moab" mean adulterations of the Word, and thence of the church and of worship, such as are with those of that character:

The corner of Moab (Jeremiah 48:45);

has a similar signification.

[10] In Zephaniah:

A day of the trumpet and alarm upon the fenced cities and upon the high corners (Zephaniah 1:16).

"A day of the trumpet and alarm" signifies spiritual combat, which is against falsities and evils; "fenced cities" signify false doctrinals that have been confirmed; and "high corners" signify those things that favor their loves. This makes clear what is signified by "a day of the trumpet and alarm upon the fenced cities and upon the high corners." In the same:

I will cut off the nations; their corners shall be laid waste; I will make desolate their streets that none may pass by; and I will lay waste their cities so that there is no inhabitant (Zephaniah 3:6).

The destruction of all the goods of the church is signified by "I will cut off the nations, and their corners shall be laid waste;" "nations" meaning the goods of the church, and "corners" all things of it, because its outermost parts (as above). The destruction of the truths of doctrine is signified by "I will make desolate their streets and I will lay waste their cities;" "streets" meaning truths, and "cities" doctrinals; total destruction even until there is no truth and good left is signified by "that none pass by, and there is no inhabitant;" for "to pass by" in the Word is predicated of truths, and "to dwell" of goods.

[11] In the book of Judges:

All the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba. And the corners of all the people, all the tribes of Israel presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God (Judges 20:1, 2).

"The corners of all the people presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God" signifies all on every side, or from every quarter, as is clearly evident from its being said that "all the sons of Israel and all the tribes of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled from Dan to Beersheba;" but in the spiritual sense, "the corners of all the people" signify all the truths and goods of the church; so, too, "all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba," signify all these from the last to the first, and "the assembly of the people of God" signifies consideration of the things of the church; for in the histories of the Word, as well as in the prophecies, there is everywhere a spiritual sense; therefore in the historical sense "corners" signify quarters, such as are in the spiritual world; but in the spiritual sense they signify all the truths and goods of the church, for the reason given above.

[12] From this what is signified by "corner stone" in the following passages becomes evident. In Isaiah:

I will lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a proved stone, a precious corner stone, of a foundation that is founded (Isaiah 28:16).

In Jeremiah:

They shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone of foundations (Jeremiah 51:26).

In Zechariah:

Out of Judah the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the bow of war (Zechariah 10:4).

In David:

The stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner (Psalms 118:22; see also Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10, 11; Luke 20:17, 18).

"The stone of the corner" signifies all Divine truth upon which heaven and the church are founded, thus every foundation; and as the foundation is the ultimate upon which a house or temple rests, therefore it signifies all things. Because "the stone of the corner" signifies all things upon which the church is founded it is said "I will lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a proved stone, a precious cornerstone, of a foundation that is founded;" and it is called also "a stone for a corner" and "a stone of foundations;" and because "the stone of the corner" signifies all Divine truth upon which the church is founded, it also signifies the Lord in respect to His Divine Human; because all Divine truth proceeds from that; "the builders" (or architects) who rejected that stone, as is read in the Gospels, are those who are of the church, here of the Jewish Church, which rejected the Lord, and with Him all Divine truth; for with them there was nothing but vain traditions drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word in which the truths themselves of the Word were falsified and its goods adulterated. (That ultimates signify all things, see Arcana Coelestia 634, 5897, 6239, 6451, 6465, 9216, 9824, 9828, 9836, 9905, 10044, 10099, 10329, 10335, 10548)

5084. 'Of the house of the chief of the attendants' means the things that are first and foremost in explanations. This is clear from the meaning of 'the chief of the attendants' as the things which are first and foremost in explanations, dealt with in 4790, 4966. The meaning here therefore is that both kinds of sensory impressions were cast aside by the things which are first and foremost in explanations, that is to say, by those which belong to the Word in the internal sense. Sensory impressions are said to be cast aside when the things that are first and foremost in explanations place no reliance on them; for they are indeed sensory impressions, and impressions received by the mind directly through the senses are illusions. The senses are the source of all the illusions that reign in a person, and they are the reason why few have any belief in the truths of faith and why the natural man is opposed to the spiritual man, that is, the external man to the internal. Consequently if the natural or external man starts to have dominion over the spiritual or internal man, no belief at all in matters of faith exists any longer, for illusions cast a shadow over them and evil desires smother them.

[2] Few know what the illusions of the senses are and few believe that these cast a shadow over rational insights and most of all over spiritual matters of faith - a shadow so dark that it blots them out. This happens especially when at the same time what a person delights in is the result of desires bred by a selfish and worldly love. But let examples be used to shed some light on this matter, first some examples of illusions of the senses which are purely natural ones, that is, illusions about things within the natural creation, then some examples of such illusions in spiritual things.

I. It is an illusion of the senses - a purely natural one, or an illusion about the natural creation - to believe that the sun is borne round this globe once a day, and that the sky too and all the stars are borne round at the same time. People may be told that it is impossible and therefore inconceivable that so vast an ocean of fire as the sun, and not only the sun but also the countless stars, should revolve once a day without undergoing any changes of position in relation to one another. They may be told in addition that one can see from the planetary system that our own globe performs a daily movement and an annual one, by rotations on its axis and by revolutions. This can be recognized from the fact that the planets are globes like ours, some of which have moons around them and all of which, as observation shows, perform daily and annual movements like ours. But for all that they are told, the illusion the senses prevails with very many people - that things really are as the eye sees them.

[3] II. It is an illusion of the senses - a purely natural one, or an illusion about the natural creation - that the atmosphere is a single entity, except that it becomes gradually and increasingly rarified until a vacuum exists where the atmosphere comes to an end. A person's external senses tell him nothing else than this when their evidence alone is relied on.

III. It is an illusion of the senses, a purely natural one, that the power which seeds have to grow into trees and flowers and to reproduce themselves was conferred on them when creation first began, and that that initial conferment is what causes everything to come into being and remain in being. People may be told that nothing can remain in being unless it is constantly being brought into being, in keeping with the law that continuance in being involves a constant coming into being, and with another law that anything that has no connection with something prior to itself ceases to have any existence. But though they are told all this, their bodily senses and their thought that is reliant on their senses, cannot take it in. Nor can they see that every single thing is kept in being, even as it was brought into being, through an influx from the spiritual world, that is, from the Divine coming through the spiritual world.

[4] IV. This gives rise to another illusion of the senses, a purely natural one, that single entities exist called monads and atoms. For the natural man believes that anything comprehended by his external senses is a single entity or else nothing at all.

V. It is an illusion of the senses, a purely natural one, that everything is part of and begins in the natural creation, though there are indeed purer and more inward aspects of the natural creation that are beyond the range of human understanding. But if anyone says that a spiritual or celestial dimension exists within or above the natural creation, this idea is rejected; for the belief is that unless a thing is natural it has no existence.

VI. It is an illusion of the senses that only the body possesses life and that when it dies that life perishes. The senses have no conception at all of an internal man present within each part of the external man, nor any conception that this internal man resides in the inward dimension of the natural creation, in the spiritual world. Nor consequently, since they have no conception of it, do the senses believe that a person will live after death, apart from being clothed with the body once again, 5078, 5079.

[5] VII. This gives rise to the further illusion of the senses that no human being can have a life after death any more than animals do, for the reason that the life of an animal is much the same as that of a human being, the only difference being that man is a more perfect kind of living creature. The senses - that is, the person who relies on his senses to think with and form conclusions - have no conception of the human being as one who is superior to animals or who possesses a life superior to theirs because of his ability to think not only about the causes of things but also about what is Divine. The human being also has the ability to be joined through faith and love to the Divine, as well as to receive an influx from Him and to make what flows in his own. Thus because of his response to such influx from the Divine it is possible for the human being to receive it, which is not at all the case with animals.

[6] VIII. This gives rise to yet another illusion, which is that what is actually living in the human being - what is called the soul - is merely something air-like or flame-like which is dispersed when the person dies. Added to this is the illusion that the soul is situated either in the heart, or in the brain, or in some other part of him, from where it controls the body as if this were a machine. One who relies on his senses has no conception of an internal man present in every part of his external man, no conception that the eye sees not of its own accord, and that the ear hears not of its own accord, but under the direction of the internal man.

IX. It is an illusion of the senses that no other source of light is possible than the sun or else material fire, and that no other source of heat than these is possible. The senses have no conception of the existence of a light that holds intelligence within it, or of a heat that holds heavenly love within it, or that all angels are bathed in that light and heat.

X. It is an illusion of the senses when a person believes that he lives independently, that is, that an underived life is present within him; for this is what the situation seems to be to the senses. The senses have no conception at all that the Divine alone is one whose life is underived, thus that there is but one actual life, and that anything in the world that has life is merely a form receiving it, see 1954, 2706, 2886-2889, 2893, 3001, 3318, 3337, 3338, 3484, 3742, 3743, 4151, 4249, 4318-4320, 4417, 4523, 4524, 4882.

[7] XI. The person who relies on his senses can be misled into a belief that adulterous relationships are allowable; for his senses lead him to think that marriages exist merely for the sake of order which the upbringing of children necessitates, and that provided this order is not destroyed it makes no difference who fathers the children. He can also be misled into thinking that the married state is no different from having sex with someone, except that it is allowable. That being so, he also believes that it would not be contrary to order for him to many several wives if the Christian world, basing its ideas on the Sacred Scriptures, did not forbid it. If told that a correspondence exists between the heavenly marriage and marriages on earth, and that no one can have anything of marriage within him unless spiritual good and truth are present there, also that a genuinely conjugial relationship cannot possibly exist between one man and several wives, and consequently that marriages are intrinsically holy, the person who relies on his senses rejects all this as worthless.

[8] XII. It is an illusion of the senses that the Lord's kingdom, or heaven, is like an earthly kingdom, that joy and happiness there consist in one person holding a higher position than another and as a consequence possessing more glory than another. For the senses have no conception at all of what is implied by the idea that the least is the greatest and the last is the first. If such people are told that joy in heaven or among angels consists in serving the welfare of others without any thought of merit or reward, it strikes them as a sorrowful existence.

XIII. It is an illusion of the senses that good works earn merit and that to do good to someone even for a selfish reason is a good work.

XIV. It is also an illusion of the senses that a person is saved by faith alone, and that faith may exist with someone who has no charity, as well as that faith, not life, is what remains after death. One could go on with very many other illusions of the senses; for when a person is governed by his senses the rational degree within him, which is enlightened by the Divine, does not see anything. It dwells in thickest darkness, in which case every conclusion based on sensory evidence is thought to be a rational one.