1151. And ointment and frankincense.- That these signify worship from spiritual love, profaned, is evident from the signification of ointment, which denotes the good of spiritual love, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of frankincense, which denotes the truth of spiritual good (concerning which see above, n. 491). The reason why spiritual love is signified by ointment and frankincense, is that by means of these incense offerings were made, and the incense from the fragrant fumes that ascended from the holy fire in the censers signified spiritual love. Spiritual love is love towards the neighbour, which makes one with the love of uses. There are two loves pertaining to heaven, and thence to the church, from which the Lord is worshipped, celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbour; the former love is signified by cinnamon and perfumes, the latter by ointment and frankincense. All worship also is from love. That worship which is not from the one love or the other is not worship, but only an external act, in which there is interiorly nothing of the church. That the burning of incense signified worship from spiritual love may be seen above (n. 324, 491, 492, 494, 567). By ointment is meant that which was composed of aromatics, and used for incense, as is evident from these words in Moses:

"Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet smelling and pure frankincense; and thou shalt make it an incense, an ointment, the work of the maker of ointment; tempered together, pure, holy; and thou shalt beat of it very small, and shalt put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with thee; it shall be the holy of holies unto you" (Exodus 30:34-37).

Here all those things together are called the ointment of the maker of ointment. These things are explained in detail in the Arcana Coelestia 10289-10308).

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- There is infernal freedom, and there is heavenly freedom. Infernal freedom is that into which a man is born from his parents, and heavenly freedom is that into which he is brought by reformation by the Lord. From infernal freedom man derives the will of evil, the love of evil, and the life of evil; but from heavenly freedom he derives the will of good, the love of good, and the life of good; for as was said previously, the will, the love, and the life of man make one with his freedom. These two kinds of freedom are opposite to each other, but the opposite does not appear, except so far as man is in the one and not in the other. Nevertheless man cannot come out of infernal freedom into heavenly freedom, unless he compels himself. To compel oneself is to resist evil, and to fight against it as if from himself, but still to implore the Lord for aid to do so; it is thus that a man fights from the freedom which is from the Lord interiorly in himself, against the freedom which is from hell exteriorly in himself. It appears to him, while he is in the combat, that it is not freedom from which he fights, but a kind of compulsion, because it is against that freedom which is born with him; nevertheless, it is freedom, since otherwise he would not fight as if of himself.

[3] But the interior freedom from which he fights, though appearing like compulsion, is afterwards felt as freedom, for it becomes as if involuntary, spontaneous, and as it were innate. The case is comparatively, like that of a man who compels his hand to write, to work, to play upon a musical instrument, or to fence, the hands and arms afterwards performing these actions as if of themselves, and of their own accord; for man in such a case is in good, because removed from evil, and led by the Lord.

When a man has compelled himself against infernal freedom, he then sees and perceives that such freedom is servitude and that heavenly freedom is freedom itself, because from the Lord. The case in itself is this, that so far as a man compels himself by resisting evils, so far are the infernal societies with which he acted in unison removed from him, and he is introduced by the Lord into heavenly societies, that he may act in unison with them. On the other hand, if a man does not compel himself to resist evils, he remains in them. That this is the case, has been made known to me by much experience in the spiritual world and further, that evil does not recede in consequence of any compulsion effected by punishments, nor afterwards by any fear induced by punishments.

10292. 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses. This is clear from the meaning of 'stacte' as truth on the level of the senses, an affection for that truth being meant on account of the sweet smell this spice has. For an odour means perception, a sweet odour meaning perception that is pleasing, a foul and stinking odour perception that is displeasing; and any pleasure or displeasure that perception brings is attributable to and in keeping with the affection belonging to love, see 925, 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 4748, 5621, 10054. It should be remembered in general that all things whatever in the vegetable kingdom, both those which woodlands yield and those which gardens, fields, and plains produce, such as trees, crops, flowers, grass, and vegetables, mean spiritual and celestial realities generally and specifically. The reason why this should be so is that the whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord's kingdom, see in the places referred to in 9280.

[2] 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses because it is mentioned first; for there are four spices from which the incense was made, even as there are four spices from which the anointing oil was prepared. And the one that is mentioned first is the most external, as was that mentioned first in the preparation of the anointing oil, namely the best myrrh, by which the perception of truth on the level of the senses is meant, see 10252 above.

[3] The reason why four spices were used in the preparation of both the oil and the incense was that they meant levels of truth in their proper order, from outward to inmost; and in a person they follow one another in that same order. For a person has an external, called the external man, and an internal, called the internal man; and in each of these there is a more external level and a more internal one. The most external level is called that of the senses; this therefore is what is meant by 'stacte'. What the level of the senses is and what it is like, see 9996, 10236.

[4] The fact that 'stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses cannot be corroborated from other places in the Word because it is not mentioned anywhere else. Yet another kind of stacte, for which also a different word is used in the original language, is mentioned among those spices which were taken down into Egypt, Genesis 37:25; 43:11; and by those commodities which were taken down to Egypt such things as exist in the external or natural man are implied. This is because 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, which belongs to the natural man, see in the places referred to in 9391.