988. (Verse 10) And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast. That this signifies the state of the church manifested as to the doctrine of faith, is evident from the signification of the angel pouring out the vial, as denoting the state of the church manifested as above, and from the signification of the throne of the beast, as denoting the doctrine of faith. The reason why the doctrine of faith is signified by the throne of the beast is, that by throne is signified the church as to the truth which reigns therein, and by the beast is signified faith such as exists in that church; hence by the throne of the beast is signified the church as to the doctrine of faith. This also follows from this fact, that the fourth angel poured out his vial into the sun, which signifies the state of the church manifested as to love (see above, n. 981). Hence it follows that by the vial poured out by this angel upon the throne of the beast, is signified a manifestation of the state of the church as to faith. For love and faith constitute the church, but they constitute it only when they are one, and not two. But by the throne of the beast is meant such faith as is at this day in that church, which is a faith separated from the goods of life.

[2] The reason why the doctrine of faith is meant by the throne of the beast is, that by throne, in the highest sense, is meant heaven and the church as to Divine truth; and Divine truth in the Christian Church is called faith. It was different in the Ancient Churches, in which it was not known what faith is, because faith involves something that is not understood, but is yet to be believed as if it were truth. Such are almost all the things of the church and of its doctrine at this day. As, for example, what is to be believed concerning the Trinity, as that there are three persons in the Godhead; that the Lord was born from eternity; that the Holy Spirit proceeds from them, and that this proceeding is a Person which is Himself God; and yet that there are not three but one, and thus that the trinity is in unity, and the unity in trinity.

[3] Moreover, that faith without its life, which is from the goods of charity or from good works, saves; that to one who is justified by faith alone, all his works, even such as are evil, are pardoned, and that the law does not condemn him, because the Lord has taken away the condemnation by the fulfilling of the law, and by the passion of the cross; that this is only to be believed, and man will be saved.

There are also several other things that are to be believed as truths, and are said to belong to faith, although whether they are truths cannot be seen; as, for example, what is said concerning free choice, the faith of infants, and the flesh and blood in the Holy Supper; also the things to be remembered about the life of man after death and the Last Judgment, these being called things to be believed, although the understanding sees in them merely paradoxes that are beyond all faith. As, again, that a man, after death, is a kind of shadowy, spiritual, or formless ethereal phantom, which neither sees, hears, nor speaks; and that thus he either flits about in the air, or elsewhere, and waits for the judgment that is to come with the destruction of the whole universe, not only of the visible heaven, the sun, moon, and stars, but also of the earth; and that then all parts of the body left in the world by death will come together again and clothe the soul; and that thus man will recover his senses; besides other similar things. Because these cannot fall into the understanding, they cannot be called truths, but faith. Such a faith is meant by the throne of the beast.

[4] Who cannot see that a man by such a faith may be induced to believe pure contradictions and falsities, provided they are laid down as dogmas by those placed in authority, and confirmed by others who, for various reasons, love to live in blind obedience? For by fallacies and sophisms falsities, even the most infernal, can be made to appear like truths, as, for example, that infernal falsity that nature is everything; that whatever appears is ideal; that man and beast differ but little, that neither live after death; that the Word is not holy; and other similar things. From which it is evident, that all blindness in spiritual things is induced by the faith of the present day.

This began and was brought to its utmost darkness by the Babylonish nation. From this darkness, indeed, the Reformed, who separated from that nation, came forth into some light by the reading of the Word, but not so far as to be able to see truths, as the ancients did. The reason was that they separated faith from life; and it is from life that a man has light, and not from any separated faith.

From these things it is now evident what is meant by the throne of the beast, just as previously,

By "the throne which the dragon is said to have given to the beast" (Apoc. 13:2; concerning which see above, n. 783).

Also,

By "the throne of Satan" (Apoc. 2:13).

False doctrinals are also signified by thrones in other passages in the Word. As in Ezekiel:

"They shall come down from their thrones, all the princes of the sea, and shall cast away their mantles, and "shall be clothed with terrors" (26:16).

In Haggai:

"I will overturn the throne of the kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations" (2:22).

In Daniel:

"I saw until the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days sat" (7:9).

Continuation concerning the Sixth Precept:-

[5] How intrinsically holy, that is, from creation, marriages are, may be seen from this fact, that they are the seminaries of the human race. And because as the angelic heaven is from the human race, they are also the seminaries of heaven. Consequently, that by marriages not only worlds, but also the heavens, are filled with inhabitants. And since the end of the whole creation is the human race, and thence heaven, wherein the Divine Itself may dwell as in its own, and as if in Itself, and since the procreation of the human race according to Divine order was instituted by means of marriage, it is manifest how intrinsically holy marriages are, thus from creation, and how sacredly they ought therefore to be regarded.

The earth, indeed, might equally be filled with inhabitants through fornication and adultery as by marriage, but not heaven. The reason is, that hell is from adulteries, and heaven from marriages. The reason why hell is from adulteries is, that adultery is from the marriage of evils and falsities, as a result of this hell in its whole extent is called adultery. The reason why heaven is from marriage is, because marriage is from the marriage of good and truth, as a result of which, heaven in its whole extent is called a marriage, as was shown above in its own article.

[6] By adultery is meant, where the love thereof, which is called the love of adultery, reigns, whether in wedlock or without it; and by marriage is meant, where the love thereof, which is called conjugial love, reigns. That the earth might equally be filled with inhabitants by fornication and adultery as by marriage will be further explained in the following article.

When the procreations of the human race result from marriages, in which the holy love of good and truth from the Lord reigns, then it is on the earths as in the heavens, and the Lord's kingdom on the earths corresponds to the Lord's kingdom in the heavens. For the heavens consist of societies arranged according to all the varieties of celestial and spiritual affections, from which arrangement exists the form of heaven, which far surpasses all forms in the universe. A similar form would exist on earth if the procreations there resulted from marriages in which love truly conjugial reigns; for then in proportion as from one parent many families successively descended, in the same proportion images of heavenly societies would exist in similar variety. Families would then be like fruit-bearing trees of various kinds, from which as many gardens would be produced, each containing its own species of fruits; these gardens, taken together, would present the form of a heavenly paradise. But these things are said by way of comparison, because trees signify the men of the church; gardens, intelligence; fruits, the good of life; and paradise, heaven.

It has been told me from heaven that such correspondence of the families on the earths with the societies in the heavens existed with the most ancient people, of whom the first church on this earth was formed. It was called by ancient writers the Golden Age, because love to the Lord, mutual love, innocence, peace, wisdom, and chastity in marriage then prevailed. And it was also declared from heaven that they then inwardly shuddered at adulteries as at the abominable things of hell.

783. And the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority. That this signifies that those who separate faith from life, by reasonings based on fallacies, establish their doctrinals, and confirm them, and thereby powerfully deceive, is evident from the signification of the beast to which the dragon gave his powers, as denoting reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life (concerning which see above, n. 774). The reason why those reasonings are from the fallacies of the senses is, that that beast appeared like a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear; and by the feet of a bear are signified fallacies; concerning which also see above (n. 781); and from the signification of giving his power, his seat, and great authority, as denoting to establish doctrinals and thus to confirm them; power signifying validity; the seat, the church as to doctrine, which is from falsities; and great authority signifying strengthening and confirmation thence. That these things coincide with reasonings and their fallacies was shown above.

[2] That those who separate faith from life, that is, from good works, have power, a seat, and great authority is not because the falsities in which they are have any power in themselves; for falsities from evil have no power at all, because all power is in truths from good. But falsities have power against falsities, as like over like. This is quite clear from the power of infernal spirits amongst themselves, which they exercise by means of imaginary things which resemble correspondences from which they desire to appear very powerful and strong; nevertheless they have no power at all against truths, and so completely so, that it is nothing. This might be confirmed from much experience were there space to enlarge so far in these explanations of the Apocalypse. It is evident solely from this fact, that the hells, in which there are myriads of myriads, are kept bound by the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, so that not one of them dare venture to raise a finger of his hand. It is also evident from this fact, that a thousand companies of evil spirits may be led, restrained, bound, and dispersed by one angel, by means of truths from the Lord; and this by merely looking at them from an intention of the will. Such power has been sometimes granted to me also, from the Lord.

That the church when at its end is in falsities and hence in evils, and in evils and hence in falsities, and yet that all power pertains to truths from good, which seem to be able to be given from the Lord by means of truths from the Word, may appear wonderful. The reason, however, is that falsities have power against those who are in falsities from evil; and at the end of the church those falsities govern; and when they do so, truths are not received. For this reason falsities cannot be dispersed by truths, and hence it is that the devil in such case is called powerful, and loosed from bonds.

[3] Hence it is that infernal falsity is called in the Word a lion, a bear, a wolf, and a beast; also a wild beast, strong and rapacious.

It is for this reason, that those who are in falsities are called, in the Word, powerful, mighty, robust, strong, heroes, rulers, terrible, formidable, and devastators; as is evident from various passages where they are treated of, as from the following in Jeremiah:

"Behold I bring upon you a nation from afar, O house of Israel, a mighty nation, all men of might" (5:15, 16).

Again:

"Go up ye horses, rage ye chariots, let the mighty men go forth" (46:9).

And again:

"A sword against the mighty that they may be dismayed" (50:36).

In Ezekiel:

"I will give" Pharaoh "into the hand of a mighty one of the nations" (31:11, 12).

In Hosea:

"Thou hast trusted to thy way, to the multitude of the mighty" (10:13).

And in Joel:

"A people great and strong, like heroes they run, they climb over the wall" (2:2, 7).

In Amos:

"The refuge of the swift perisheth, and the mighty shall not confirm his strength, neither shall the powerful deliver his soul, the mighty in his heart among heroes shall flee naked in that day" (2:14, 16).

In David:

"Rebuke the wild beast of the reed; the congregation of the mighty" (Psalm 68:30).

In 1 Samuel:

"The bows of the mighty are broken" (2:4).

In the Apocalypse:

"All the kings, and great men, and rich men, and chief captains, and the powerful, hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks" (6:15).

In Matthew:

"The princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion, and the great men exercise power" (20:25).

In Luke:

"This is your hour and the power of darkness" (22:53).

Besides various other passages.

[4] To what has been said above it may be added, that infernal spirits believe themselves to be strong and powerful more than others. But this is because they prevail only against those who are in evils and in falsities therefrom; for thus one infernal spirit prevails over another, or one evil and its falsity against another evil and its falsity; and it is from this appearance that they believe themselves to be powerful. Such power, however, may be compared to that of a mite against a mite, or of a flea against a flea, of dust against dust, and of a straw against a straw; the power of these is only relative to their mutual strength. Add to this that infernal spirits are proud, and wish to be regarded as strong, mighty, and heroes for the most trivial reasons.

[5] Because the subject here treated of is the power and great authority which the dragon gave from himself to the beast rising up out of the sea, and hence the power of infernal spirits among each other, some mysteries shall here be disclosed concerning the arts they practise to acquire power in the spiritual world. There are some who procure to themselves power by means of the Word; for they are acquainted with some of its passages, which they repeat, and, by means of this, communication is effected with those who are in simple good, and thence conjunction with them as to externals; and in proportion as they are in that conjunction, they prevail over others. The reason is, that all things in the Word are truths, and all power belongs to truths, and the simple good are in truths; whence power is derived from conjunction with them, but only so long as that conjunction exists. This, however, does not continue long, because they are soon afterwards separated from one another by the Lord.

Some procure to themselves power by pretended affections of good and truth, and by affections pertaining to the love of what is sincere and just; by means of which also they induce the simple good to think favourably of them, and cherish goodwill towards them; and so they attract and adjoin them to themselves. And so long as that benevolent attitude intercedes as it were mutually, so long they are powerful more than others.

Some also procure to themselves power by means of representatives of various kinds, which are abuses of correspondences; and some by means of another kind. And because all power is in truths from good, and resides in the angels, therefore nothing is more earnestly desired by evil spirits than to attract good spirits to their side, because the evil prevail by this means. As soon, however, as they are separated from them, they are in the falsities of their own evil; and when they are in these, they are deprived of all power.

[6] This is the reason, moreover, why all the evil who flock out of the world, are first separated from the goods and truths which they knew only from memory, and thence professed with their lips; and when they are separated from these, their inner states appear, which consist of nothing but quantities of falsities from evils. And because, when they are in these, they have no longer any power, they fall down headlong into hell, as heavy bodies in the air fall to the earth. That goods and truths are taken away from the evil, is known from the Word; for the Lord says,

"Take away the talent from him, and give it to him that hath ten talents; for to every one that hath shall be given, that he may have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken even that which he hath; but cast out the useless servant into outer darkness, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 25:28, 29, 30. Also Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18; 19:26.)