1151. And ointment and frankincense signifies profaned worship from spiritual love. This is evident from the signification of "ointment," as being the good of spiritual love (of which presently); also from the signification of "frankincense," as being the truth of spiritual good (See n. 491). "Ointment and frankincense" signify spiritual love because the incense offerings were made with these; and the incense offerings signified spiritual love because of the fragrant smoke that went up from the holy fire in the censers. Spiritual love is love towards the neighbor, which makes one with the love of uses. There are two loves of heaven, and thus of the church, from which the Lord is worshipped; celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor; the former is signified by "cinnamon and perfumes," the other by "ointment and frankincense." Moreover, all worship is from love; the worship that is not from one or the other of these loves is no worship, but only an external act in which there is inwardly nothing of the church. That the incense offerings signified worship from spiritual love may be seen (n. 324, 491-492, 494, 567). Ointment means a compound of aromatics that was used in the incense offerings, as can be seen from these words in Moses:

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

Here all these things are called "the ointment of the perfumer." (The particulars are explained in Arcana Coelestia 10289-10308.)

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] There is infernal freedom and there is heavenly freedom. Infernal freedom is that into which man is born from his parents, and heavenly freedom is that into which man is reformed by the Lord. From infernal freedom man has the will of evil, the love of evil, and the life of evil; while from heavenly freedom he has the will of good, the love of good, and the life of good; for as has been said before, a man's will, love and life, make one with his freedom. These two kinds of freedom are opposites of each other, but the opposition is not evident except so far as man is in one and not in the other. But a 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 oneself, but still to implore the Lord for help. Thus a man fights from the freedom that is inwardly in him from the Lord against the freedom that is outwardly in him from hell. While he is in the combat it seems to him that it is not freedom from which he fights, but a kind of compulsion, because it is against that freedom into which he was born; and yet it is freedom, since otherwise he would not fight as if of himself.

[3] But this inward freedom from which he fights, which seems like compulsion, is afterwards felt as freedom, for it becomes like what is involuntary, spontaneous, and as it were innate, comparatively like one's compelling his hand to write, to work, to play a musical instrument, or to contend in games, for after a while the hands and arms do these things as if of themselves or spontaneously; for man is then in good because he is then removed from evil and is led by the Lord. When a man has compelled himself to act in opposition to infernal freedom he sees and perceives that infernal freedom is servitude and that heavenly freedom is freedom itself, because it is from the Lord. The essence of the matter is this, that so far as a man compels himself by resisting evils, so far the infernal societies with which he acts as one are removed from him, and he is introduced by the Lord into heavenly societies, with which he acts as one. On the other hand, if a man does not compel himself to resist evils he remains in them. That this is so I have learned through much experience in the spiritual world, and further, that evil does not withdraw in consequence of any compulsion that comes from punishments, or from fear of them afterwards.

10289. Verses 34-38 And Jehovah said to Moses, Take for yourself sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum - [these] sweet ones, and pure frankincense; amount for amount there shall be ¹ . And you shall make this an incense, an ointment, the work of an ointment-maker - salted, pure, holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. The holy of holies ² it shall be to you. And the incense which you make, according to its composition ³ , you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be to you holy for Jehovah. The man who makes any like it, to make an odour with it, will be cut off from his people.

'And Jehovah said to Moses' means enlightenment and perception once again from the Lord through the Word. 'Take for yourself sweet spices' means the affections for truth springing from good which must be present in the worship of God. 'Stacte' means an affection for truth on the level of the senses. 'And onycha' means an affection for truth on the more internal natural level. 'And galbanum' means an affection for truth on a still more internal level. '[These] sweet ones' means affections springing from spiritual good. 'And pure frankincense' means truth on the inmost level, which is spiritual good. 'Amount for amount there shall be' means total agreement. 'And you shall make this an incense' means worship consisting of them. 'An ointment, the work of an ointment-maker' means as a result of the influx and operation of what is Divine and the Lord's within every single part. 'Salted' means the desire which truth has for good. 'Pure' means devoid of evil. 'Holy' means devoid of the falsity of evil. 'And you shall beat some of it very fine' means the arrangement of truths into their own series. 'And put some of it before the Testimony in the tent of meeting' means worship of the Lord in heaven and in the Church. 'Where I will meet with you' means as a result of the influx of the Lord. 'The holy of holies it shall be to you' means since it emanates from the Lord. 'And the incense which you make, according to its composition, you shall not make for yourselves' means that worship consisting of the Church's holy truths must not be attached to the loves that are a person's own. 'It shall be holy to you for Jehovah' means that it must be attached to love that is Divine. 'The man who makes any like it, to make an odour with it' means an imitation - springing from self - of the worship of God expressed through affections for truth and good. 'Will be cut off from his people' means separation from heaven and the Church, and spiritual death.

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