1057. They whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world. That this signifies that they are those who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine power over heaven and earth, but as transferred to some vicar, and from him to his vicars, is evident from the signification of names not written in the book of life, as denoting those who are not received in heaven (concerning which see (n. 199, 222, 299). And because those who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine power over heaven and earth are not received in heaven, therefore these are they who are meant; and from the signification of the foundation of the world, as denoting from the establishment of the church. By the foundation of the world, in the literal or natural sense, is meant the creation of the world; but in the internal spiritual sense the establishment of the church is meant. For the spiritual sense treats of spiritual things; and the natural sense of the natural things that pertain to the world. Hence it is that by the creation of heaven and earth, in the first chapter of Genesis, in the spiritual sense, is described the new creation or establishment of the first and Most Ancient Church on this earth. That this is described by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, where the things in that chapter are explained. Moreover, by creating, in the Word, is signified to reform, and by Creator, the Lord as Reformer and Saviour. That to create signifies to reform, and that by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis is described, in the spiritual sense, the establishment of the Most Ancient Church, may be seen above (n. 294, 739).

[2] The establishment of the church is also meant by the foundation of the world in these passages in the Word:

"The king shall say to them on the right hand, Come and possess as a heritage the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).

Jesus praying said, "Father, because thou hast loved me before the foundation of the world" (John 17:24).

Jesus said, "The blood of all the prophets, shed from the foundation of the world, shall be required of this generation" (Luke 11:50).

That the establishment of the church is meant by the foundation of the world, is evident from the passages in the Word where it is said to found the earth, the founding of the earth, and the foundation of the earth, by which is not meant the foundation or creation of the earth, but the establishment or creation of the church upon the earth. As in Zechariah:

"Jehovah who stretcheth out the heavens, and layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him" (12:1).

Here by stretching out the heaven, and founding the earth, is not meant the stretching out of the visible heaven, and founding the habitable earth, but the church as to its internals, which are called spiritual, and as to its externals, which are called natural. To found the latter and stretch out the former is to establish; therefore it is also said, forming the spirit of man in the midst of him, which signifies his reformation and regeneration.

[3] In Isaiah:

"Attend to me, O Jacob and Israel, my hand hath founded the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens" (48:12, 13).

By founding the earth with the hand, and spanning the heavens with the right hand, are signified similar things to those explained just above, as is evident from the preceding and following parts of the chapter, where the establishment of a new church by the Lord is treated of.

In the same:

"Hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, who stretcheth out the heavens, and foundeth the earth" (51:13).

Here also by the heavens and the earth is signified the church as to its internal or spiritual things, and as to its external or natural things and by stretching out and founding is signified to establish.

[4] In the same:

"I will put my words into thy mouth, and with the shadow of my hand will I cover thee, to plant the heavens, and to found the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou art my people; awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem" (51:16, 17).

Here by planting the heavens and founding the earth, is evidently meant to establish the church; for this is said unto the prophet, that the word should be put in his mouth, and that he should be covered with the shadow of the hand to plant the heavens and to found the earth. By a prophet the earth cannot be founded, but the church. Therefore also it is added, "To say unto Zion, thou art my people;" also, "Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem." For by Zion and by Jerusalem, in the Word, is meant the church.

In David:

"The heaven and the earth are thine; the world and the fulness thereof thou hast founded them" (Psalm 89:11).

Here in like manner by heaven and the earth is signified the church, by the world the church as to good; and by the fulness thereof are signified all the goods and truths of the church.

[5] Again:

"Jehovah hath founded the earth and the world upon the seas, and established them upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of his holiness?" (Psalm 24:2, 3).

That the establishment of the church is described by founding the earth and the world upon the seas, and establishing them upon the rivers, may be seen above (n. 304, 518, 741). That the establishment of the church is signified, is evident from what follows here, namely, who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness? By the mountain of Jehovah is understood Zion; whereby is signified, where the Lord reigns by means of Divine truth; and by the place of [His] holiness is meant Jerusalem, where the temple was, by which is signified the church as to doctrine. From these things it is evident, that by the foundation of the world is signified the establishment of the church. For the same is meant by the world, as by heaven and the earth. And it is said, "To found the earth;" because by the earth is signified the church on earth, and upon this heaven is founded as to its holy things.

Hence, also, it is evident what is signified by the foundations of the earth in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"Have ye not known, have ye not heard, hath it not been declared to you from the beginning, have ye not understood the foundations of the earth?" (40:21).

In the same:

"The foundations of the earth are corrupted" (24:18).

Likewise in Isaiah 63:12; Jeremiah 31:37; Micah 6:2; Psalms 18:7, 15; 82:5; and elsewhere).

Continuation concerning the second kind of Profanation:-

[6] The reason why profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but cunning and ingenious in worldly things is, that they make one with the devils in hell.

And because, as said above, they are merely sensual, and thence are in their own proprium, which draws its delight of life from the unclean effluvia exhaled from effete things in the body, and exhaled from dunghills, from these also arise their conceit and pride when things are in their delight.

[7] That it arises from these is evident from their delights, after death, when they live as spirits; for then in preference to the most fragrant odours they love the rank stenches that arise from the air discharged from the belly, and from latrines, which smell to them more fragrant than thyme. By the breath and touch of these the interiors of the mind are closed, and the exteriors belonging to the body are opened, whence arise their eagerness in worldly matters, and their dulness in spiritual things. In a word, the love of domination by means of the holy things of the church corresponds to filth, and the delight of it to an unspeakable stench, which to the angels is most horrible. Such is the exhalation from their hells when they are opened, but because of the oppression that arises, and on account of swooning that sometimes follows, they are kept closed.

280. And the third animal had a face like a man. That this signifies the appearance in ultimates of the Divine guardianship and providence as to wisdom, is evident from the signification of the face of a man, as denoting the affection of truth, the face signifying affection, and man signifying one who receives Divine truth; and because his Rational is therefrom, by man is signified wisdom; for man was created that he might be rational and wise, by which he is distinguished from the brute animals; this is why man in the Word signifies wisdom. The reason why man signifies the affection of truth and at the same time wisdom is that the affection of truth, and wisdom, act as one. For he who is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, who is affected with truth, or who loves truth because it is truth, is conjoined to the Lord, because the Lord is present in His own truths, and is His own truth with man; hence a man has wisdom, and hence he is a man. Some suppose that a man is a man from his face and his body, and that by these he is distinguished from the beasts; but they are in error; a man is a man from wisdom, therefore so far as any one is wise, so far is he a man. This is why those who are wise appear in heaven and in the light of heaven as men, graceful and beautiful according to their wisdom; whereas those who are not wise (and such are those who have no spiritual affection, but merely natural affection, in which a man is when he does not love truth for its own sake but for the sake of glory, honour and gain), these, in the light of heaven, do not appear as men, but as monsters in various forms (as may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 70, 72, 73-77, 80; and what wisdom is, and what non-wisdom, may be seen in the same, n. 346-365).

[2] That by man in the Word is signified the affection of truth, and thence wisdom, is evident from the following passages, as in Isaiah:

"O Lord, how long? He said, Until the cities shall be laid waste so that they shall be without an inhabitant, and the houses so that a man shall not be in them, and the land be utterly desolate; Jehovah shall remove man, and deserts shall be multiplied in the midst of the land" (6:11, 12).

These things are not said of the laying waste of the land, that there should be no more any cities or houses therein, and that these should be without inhabitant, and without man; but they are said of the laying waste of good and truth in the church. By cities are there signified the truths of doctrine; by inhabitant is signified the good of doctrine; by houses are signified the interior things of man's mind; and by man the spiritual affection of truth and thence wisdom. This is signified by the houses being laid waste that there be no man in them; by the land which shall be utterly desolate, is signified the church; hence it is evident what is signified by removing man, and by multiplying deserts in the midst of the land; a desert signifies where there is no good because no truth.

[3] In the same:

"I will make a man (vir homo) more rare than pure gold; and a man (homo) than the gold of Ophir" (13:12).

By a man (vir homo) is signified intelligence, and by a man (homo) wisdom; and that these were about to cease is signified by its being said that they shall be made rare. Intelligence is distinguished from wisdom by this, that intelligence is the understanding of truth such as the spiritual man has, and wisdom is the understanding of truth such as the celestial man has; the understanding of the latter being from the will of good. It is therefore evident what is signified by man (vir homo), and what by man (homo), in the above passage.

[4] Again:

"The inhabitants of the earth are burned up, and few men are left" (24:6).

By the inhabitants of the earth, are signified the goods of the church, and these are said to be burned up when the loves of self and of the world begin to reign; and that in such case the spiritual affection of truth, and of wisdom thence derived, would cease is signified by few men being left.

[5] Again:

"The highways lie waste; he that traverses the way hath ceased; he hath rendered the covenant vain, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth not man" (33:8).

The devastation of the church is also here spoken of; the highways which lie waste, and he that traverses the way, who has ceased, signify that the goods and truths which lead to heaven were no more; the covenant being rendered vain, signifies that, there was no conjunction with the Lord; he hath despised the cities signifies that they spurn doctrine; he regardeth not man, signifies that they make no account of wisdom.

[6] In Jeremiah:

"I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was empty and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled" (4:23, 25).

That the earth as being empty and void is not here meant, nor the heavens as having no light, nor that there was no man upon the earth, nor that all the birds of heaven were fled, is evident; but the true import of these things can be evident only from the spiritual sense of the Word. In that sense, by the earth is signified the church; being empty and void signifies its being destitute of good and truth; by the heavens, where there is no light, are signified the interiors of man's mind, which are the receptacles of the light of heaven; the light which is not there denotes the Divine truth and wisdom therefrom: therefore it is said, "I beheld, and, lo, there was no man;" by the birds of heaven which were fled are signified the Rational and Intellectual.

[7] In the same:

"Behold the days come, saith Jehovah, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast" (31:27).

By the house of Israel and the house of Judah is signified the church as to truth and good; by the seed of man and the seed of beast are signified the spiritual affection of truth and the natural affection of the same. For when man and beast are mentioned in the Word they signify what is spiritual and what is natural, or what is internal and what is external (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 7424, 7523, 7872).

[8] In Zephaniah:

"I will consume man and beast, I will consume the bird of the heavens and the fish of the sea; I will cut off man from the surfaces of the earth" (1:3).

To consume man and beast, denotes the spiritual affection of truth and the natural affection of the same; to consume the bird of the heavens and the fish of the sea denotes spiritual truths and natural truths; and to cut off man from the surfaces of the earth denotes the affection of truth and wisdom.

[9] In Ezekiel:

"Ye, my flock, the flock of my pasture; ye are man, I am your God" (34:31).

The flock of the pasture signifies spiritual good and truth; the pasture denotes the reception thereof from the Lord; hence it is said, "ye are man, I am your God," man denoting the spiritual affection of truth, and wisdom.

[10] In the same:

"Behold, I am with you, and I will have respect unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown; then I will multiply man upon you, all the house of Israel, even the whole of it; and the cities shall be inhabited, and the wastes shall be builded; I will cause man to walk upon you, even my people Israel. Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Inasmuch as ye say, Thou art consuming man and hast bereaved thy peoples, therefore thou shalt not consume man any more," and thy sword shall not bereave any more, "the devastated cities shall be full of the flock of man" (36:9-14, 38).

The subject here treated of is the restoration of the church. By Israel is signified the spiritual church, or the church that is in spiritual good, which is the good of charity; this church is here called man from the spiritual affection of truth, which constitutes the church; wherefore it is said:

"I will multiply man upon you, all the house of Israel. I will cause man to walk upon you, even my people Israel."

By the waste cities being filled with the flock of man is signified that the doctrines of the church shall be full of spiritual truths; by the sword which shall not bereave any more is signified that falsity shall no more destroy truth.

[11] In the same prophet:

"Thy mother is a lioness; she lay down among lions, one of her whelps rose up, which learned to catch the prey, it devoured men" (19:2, 3, 6).

Mother denotes the church, in this case the church perverted; the falsity of evil destroying truth is signified by the lioness lying down among lions; by her whelp which learned to catch the prey, and which devoured men, is signified the primary falsity of their doctrine, which destroyed truths and consumed every affection thereof. These things are said concerning the princes of Israel, by whom are signified primary truths, but here, in an opposite sense, primary falsities.

[12] In Jeremiah:

"Hazor shall become a dwelling for dragons, a desolation even for an age; there shall not dwell there a man (vir), nor a son of man (homo) abide in her" (49:33).

Here the subject is the church which is in falsities, and in no truths. Hazor signifies the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth; and the knowledges (cognitiones) of falsity are signified by a dwelling for dragons; that there is consequently no truth, or doctrine of truth is signified by there shall not dwell there a man, nor a son of man abide in her; man denotes truth, and the son of man the doctrine of truth.

[13] Again, in the Apocalypse:

"He measured the wall" of the Holy Jerusalem, "an hundred and forty and four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel" (21:17).

No one can understand what is signified by the wall of the holy Jerusalem being an hundred and forty and four cubits, and by this being the measure of a man, that is, of an angel, unless he knows the signification of the holy Jerusalem, of its wall, of the number 144, also of a man, and of an angel. The holy Jerusalem signifies the church as to doctrine; wall signifies truth defending; the number 144, signifies all truths from good in the aggregate; man signifies the reception of these from affection, and an angel signifies the same; it is therefore said to be the measure of a man, that is, of an angel, measure signifying quality. From these considerations it is evident how these words are to be spiritually understood. (These things may be seen more clearly explained in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.1.)

[14] Because by man is signified the spiritual affection of truth, and thence wisdom, therefore by man is also signified the church, because the church with man is a church from the spiritual affection of truth and of wisdom therefrom.

From this it is evident that man in the first chapter of Genesis, signifies the church which was the first and the most ancient on this earth; this is meant by Adam, or man (homo). The establishment of that church is described in the first chapter by the creation of the heaven and the earth, its intelligence and wisdom, are signified by paradise, and its fall is described by man's eating of the tree of knowledge.

[15] But by man in the highest sense, is meant the Lord Himself, because from Him are heaven and the church, and also the spiritual affection of truth and wisdom with every one of those who constitute heaven and the church. This is why, in the highest sense, the Lord alone is man, and that others, in both the natural and the spiritual worlds, are so far man as they receive from Him truth and good, thus so far as they love the truth and live according to it. Hence also it is that the whole angelic heaven appears as one man, and also each society there; and hence also it is that the angels appear in a perfect human form (concerning these things more may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 59-67, 68-72, 73-77, 87-102).

[16] It is for this reason that the four cherubim, by which are signified the guardianship and providence of the Lord lest the higher heavens should be approached except by the good of love, were seen as men, although they had each four faces; and also that the Lord was seen above them as a man. That the four cherubim were seen as men, is evident in Ezekiel:

"This was the aspect" of the four animals, "they had the likeness of a man, but four faces to each" (1:5, 6).

Similarly the two cherubim over the mercy seat were, as to the face, like men. Again, that the Lord was seen above the cherubim as a man, is expressly affirmed by the same prophet:

"Above the expanse which was over the head" of the cherubim, "as it were the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne, and upon the likeness of a throne, a likeness as it were the appearance of a man upon it above" (1:26).