578. And out of their mouths went forth fire, and smoke, and brimstone.- That this signifies thought and reasonings therefrom springing from the love of evil, and from the love of falsity, and from the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying truths and goods by means of the falsities of evil, is evident from the signification of the mouth as denoting thought and reasoning therefrom of which we shall speak in the explanation of the 19th verse; and from the signification of fire, as denoting the love of self, and the love of evil thence (see above, n. 504, 539); and from the signification of smoke, as denoting the dense falsity springing from the love of evil (see above, n. 494, 539); and from the signification of brimstone, as denoting the lust of destroying the truths and goods of the church by means of the falsities of evil.

[2] That this is the signification of brimstone, is evident from the Word where it is mentioned, as in Moses:

"Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire" (Genesis 19:24).

And in Luke:

"On the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (17:29, 30).

The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, mean those who are in the falsities of evil from the love of self; and since the falsities of evil from that love destroyed them, therefore it rained brimstone and fire, brimstone, from the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying the church by means of the falsities of evil, and fire because that lust burst forth from the love of self. That this would be the case when the Son of man should be revealed, signifies, that then also the falsities of evil from the love of self would destroy the church. Rain of such a kind also appears in the spiritual world, when the evil, who are in falsities from that love, are cast down into hell.

[3] So again, in Moses:

What shall your sons "and the stranger say when they shall see the plagues of this land and its sicknesses? The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor germinates, nor doth any grass grow thereon, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim" (Deuteronomy 29:22, 23).

These are the curses with which the sons of Israel were threatened if they did not keep the precepts and statutes, and if they worshipped other gods; and because then the church would become vastated and destroyed by the falsities of evil, and the evils of falsity, hence it is said that then the whole land [should be] brimstone, salt, burning, the land denoting the church. By its not being sown, nor germinating, nor any grass growing thereon, is signified, that there should be no more any reception or production of truth from good.

[4] Again, in Isaiah:

"For Tophet is prepared from yesterday; yea, for the king it is prepared; he shall descend into a deep and wide [place]; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it" (30:33).

Tophet here signifies the hell where the direful and cruel love of destroying all the truths and goods of the church reigns, especially the savage desire of destroying the goods of innocence. That dreadful hell originates in the falsities of evil, and is signified by, he shall descend into a deep and wide [place]. The king, for whom it is prepared, signifies the infernal falsity itself. The pile thereof is fire and much wood signifies evils of every kind which pertain to that love. And because that hell burns from the lust of destroying, it is said that "the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." For there, as soon as they hear the truths of the church from any one, and perceive its goods, they are inflamed with the frenzy of destroying and annihilating them.

[5] Again, in the same prophet:

"The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion. And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch; It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall ascend for ever" (34:8, 10).

The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion, signifies the coming of the Lord, and the last judgment then wrought by Him. By the torrents turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone, is signified the hell into which those, who are in the falsities of evil, and in the evils of falsity, are cast. The evil of infernal love, and its punishment, are signified by the pitch burning night and day, and not quenched; and the dire falsity from that evil is signified by the smoke ascending for ever.

[6] Again, in Ezekiel:

"I will contend with" Gog "with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire and brimstone" (38:22).

Gog means those who place all worship in a holy and pious external, and not in that which is internal, when yet external is according to the quality of internal worship; and it is said that "Jehovah shall rain upon them an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire, and brimstone," which signifies falsities and evils destroying all the truths and goods of the church; fire and brimstone denote the evils of falsity, and the falsities of evil, both being diabolical.

[7] Again in David:

"Upon the wicked" Jehovah "shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and the wind of storms shall be the portion of their cup" (Psalm 11:6).

These words signify, that the impious are destroyed by their own evils of falsity, and by their own falsities of evil, which destroy in them all the truths of the church. Snares, fire, and brimstone, denote the evils of falsity, and the falsities of evil; and the wind of storms which shall be the portion of their cup, signifies the destruction of all truth. That it does not mean that [Jehovah], shall rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked is clear, for it is also said that snares shall rain upon them; fire and brimstone therefore must mean such things as are wholly destructive of the truths and goods of the church.

[8] Similarly in Job:

"Brimstone shall be scattered upon the habitation of the wicked" (18:15);

for brimstone means such falsity of evil as destroys every thing of the church in man; this is falsity from the evil of the love of self such as prevailed with those who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. It is said of the brimstone, not only that it destroyed the cities and the inhabitants, but also the plain and that which springeth up in the field. That which sprouteth in the field signifies the truth of the church springing up (Genesis 19:25). The signification of fire and brimstone in the following passages in the Apocalypse is similar:

"If any man worship the beast and his image, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone" (14:9, 10).

Again:

"The beast, and the false prophet were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (19:20).

"The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are" (20:10).

"Murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (21:8).

538. It was said that the abyss signifies the hells where and whence falsities are. The reason of this signification is, that those hells, where the falsities of evil reign, appear like seas, in the depths of which are the infernal crew, who are in the falsities of evil. They appear like seas, because falsities continually flow out from them and falsities appear like waters, wherefore waters in the Word also signify falsities. The quality of the falsity is also known from the waters themselves. For falsities are of many kinds, as many as there are evils; the falsities which are from grievous evils appear over those hells like gross and black waters, and falsities from the evil of the love of self, like red waters, the quality of the kind of the falsity being distinguishable from the grossness and colour. It must be remembered that in the spiritual world, truths also appear like waters, but like waters of a limpid and pure quality; the reason is, that there are three degrees of the life of man, as there are three heavens. Those in whom the third degree is opened are in an atmosphere pure like the ether; in such an atmosphere are those who dwell in the third or inmost heaven; but those in whom the second degree only is opened, are in an atmosphere like air; in this are those of the second or middle heaven. But those in whom the first degree only is opened, are in an atmosphere, watery as it were, yet limpid and pure; in such are those in the first or ultimate heaven. The reason of this is, that interior perceptions and thoughts, because they are more perfect, correspond to a similar purity of the atmosphere, in which they are; for they diffuse themselves from every angel, and still more from every angelic society, and present a corresponding sphere, and this sphere appears in a purity similar to that in which the perceptions and thoughts of the angels, or their intelligence and wisdom are. This sphere appears as an atmosphere, as an etherial atmosphere in the inmost heaven, as an aerial atmosphere in the middle heaven, and as a limpid watery atmosphere in the ultimate heaven, as stated above. It is therefore evident that an atmosphere of a watery appearance corresponds to natural thought and perception, but that an atmosphere which is as it were thinly watery, corresponds to spiritual natural thought and perception, in which are the angels of the ultimate heaven; but one which is of a grossly watery nature, verging either to black or to red, corresponds to natural thought in which there is nothing spiritual; and natural thought in which there is nothing spiritual pertains to those who are in the hells where falsities reign; for all those who are there are merely natural and sensual. That man has three degrees of life as the three heavens, and that they differ in purity, may be seen in the work concerningHeaven and Hell 33, 34, 208, 209, 211). It is evident from these facts why those hells are in the Word called seas and abysses; seas, because they appear like seas, and abysses from their depth.

[2] That seas, depths, and abysses, signify the hells where and whence the falsities of evil are, is clear from the following passages of the Word.

In Moses:

"Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea; the depths covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were heaped up, the floods stood upright as a heap, and the abysses were congealed in the heart of the sea" (Exodus 15:4, 5, 8).

These words form part of the song of Moses concerning Pharaoh and his host after they were drowned in the Sea Suph (Red Sea). Pharaoh and his host signify those who are in falsities from evil, and the Sea Suph (Red Sea) signifies the hell where those falsities are. It is therefore evident that by the depths which covered them are signified the hells. What the rest signifies in the spiritual sense, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 8272-8279, an. 8286-8289), where it is explained.

[3] The signification of the following in David is similar:

"He rebuked the Sea Suph (Red Sea), so that it was dried up; and he led them through the abysses as in a wilderness, and the waters covered their adversaries" (Psalm 106:9, 11).

And in Isaiah:

"Art thou not he who dried up the sea, the waters of the great abyss; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?" (51:10, 15).

Again, in the same prophet:

"Who divided the waters before them, who led them through the abysses as a horse in the wilderness; they stumbled not" (63:12-13).

The sons of Israel, before whom the Sea Suph (Red Sea) was dried up that they might pass safely through, mean all those who are in truths from good, whom the Lord defends, lest the falsities of evil which ascend continually from the hells should injure them. This is what is meant by drying up the sea, the waters of the great abyss, and by making the depths thereof a way for the redeemed to pass over; also by leading them through the abysses. For the falsities breathed out from the hells continually cling to man, consequently the hells, for whether we speak of falsities from the hells, or of the hells themselves, it is the same thing; but the Lord continually disperses them with those who are in truths from good from Himself. This, then, is the signification of drying up the sea, and leading them through the abysses. Those who are in truths from good from the Lord, are meant by the redeemed.

[4] The same is signified by drying up the abyss and making dry the rivers in Isaiah:

Jehovah "saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof; that saith to the abyss, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers" (44:26, 27).

Jerusalem signifies the church of the Lord, and the cities of Judah signify the goods and truths of doctrine; the restoration of the church and of doctrine is signified by being inhabited and built; the dissipation of evils and falsities from the hells, and protection from them, are signified by drying up the abyss and making dry the rivers, as may be seen above.

[5] The same thing is signified by these words in Zechariah:

"Israel shall pass through the sea of affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river shall be dried up; and the pride of Assyria shall be cast down, and the staff of Egypt shall depart away" (10:11).

That those who live in truths from good are defended by the Lord, although falsities from the hells encompass them, is signified by Israel passing through the sea, and smiting the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the river being dried up. For by Israel are meant those who are in truths from good; by the sea is signified hell and all the falsity thence; by the waves of the sea are signified reasonings from falsities against truths; by drying up all the depths of the river is signified to scatter all the falsities of evil, even the more profound. The river Nile denotes the false scientific; wherefore it follows, that "the pride of Assyria shall be cast down, and the staff of Egypt shall depart away." Assyria signifies reasoning from falsities against truths, and Egypt, the scientific applied to confirm falsities; the pride of Assyria which shall be cast down, signifies [man's] own intelligence from which reasoning proceeds, and the staff of Egypt, which shall depart away, signifies the power which comes to reasoning through scientifics applied for the purpose of confirmation.

[6] In Ezekiel:

"In the day when he shall descend into hell, ¹ I will make him mourn, I will cover upon him the abyss" (31:15).

This is said of Pharaoh and Assyria; and Pharaoh signifies the same as Egypt, namely, the scientific destroying the truth of the church by application to falsities; and reasoning from them is signified by Assyria. That such are cast down into hell, where those falsities and reasonings from them are, is signified by his going down into hell, and being covered with the abyss. It is therefore evident that the abyss denotes the hell where and whence are the falsities of evil.

[7] In Micah:

God "will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and he will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea" (7:19).

Because the depths of the sea equally as abysses denote the hells where and whence are evils and falsities, therefore it is said that He will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

[8] In Ezekiel:

"When I shall make thee a desolated city like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the abyss against thee, and many waters shall cover thee; and I will bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, to the people of an age, and will make thee to dwell in the land of the lower [parts] in the desolations from of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou have no habitation" (26:19, 20).

This is said of Tyre, which signifies the church as to the cognitions of truth and good, or as to the truths of the natural man, for the truths of the natural man are the cognitions of truth and good. The vastation of the church as to these things is here treated of; to make Tyre a desolated city, as cities that are not inhabited, signifies its doctrine without truths, and as doctrines that are without good, for truths of doctrine without good are not truths, because all truths are of good. By bringing up the abyss against Tyre, and causing many waters to cover her, is signified immersion in falsities from hell in much abundance, the abyss denoting hell, and many waters denoting falsities in much abundance. With them that descend into the pit, to the people of an age, signifies unto those in hell who were there from the Most Ancient church just before the deluge, and who are called the people of an age, because they were from ancient time, and were, above all others, in falsities of a direful nature. Hence it is evident what is signified by making to dwell in the land of the lower [parts] in the desolations from an age, with them that descend into the pit, that thou have no habitation. Not to have a habitation denotes here not to be in any truths, because not in good. Such also do not dwell in houses but in pits.

[9] Similar things are signified in Zechariah:

"Behold, Jehovah shall impoverish Tyre, and shall shake out her riches into the sea; and she herself shall be devoured with fire" (9:4).

By shaking out her riches into the sea, is signified to cast falsities into hell, the sea denoting the hell where the falsities of evil are, and her riches those falsities themselves.

[10] So again, in Ezekiel:

"They who contemn thee have brought thee into many waters; the east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the seas. Thy riches, and thy tradings, thy merchandise, thy mariners, and thy pilots, thy calkers, and they who trade thy tradings, and all thy men of war that are in thee, and in all thy company which is in the midst of thee, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy fall" (27:26, 27).

These things are also said concerning Tyre and her ships, which signify the cognitions of good and truth, or the truths of the natural man, which they procure for themselves, and sell, but here they denote falsities. The heart of the seas, in which it is said the east wind hath broken her, and into which she shall fall in the day of her fall, signifies the same as the abyss or the hell, whence falsities of doctrine are. The east wind denotes influx out of heaven, and the day of her fall, a last judgment. Her riches signify falsities; tradings and merchandise, the acquisitions and communications thereof; mariners, signify ministers, and pilots, the leaders who lead and teach. The men of war, denote those who defend, and the company, false doctrinals.

[11] So in Jonah:

"Out of the belly of hell ¹ cried I, and thou heardest my voice. For thou didst cast me into the deep, even into the heart of the seas; and the stream compassed me about; all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. The waters compassed me about, even to the soul; the abyss closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the cuttings off of the mountains; the bars of the earth upon me for ever; yet hast thou made my life to ascend out of the pit" (2:2, 3, 5, 6).

Jonah in the whale three days and three nights, represented that the Lord would be in like manner in the heart of the earth, as He Himself teaches in Matthew (12:39, 40; 16:4; Luke 11:29, 30). And the dire temptations of the Lord are described by these words of Jonah; because temptations are the result of inundations of evils and falsities, which ascend from hell, and as it were overwhelm, it is said, that he cried out from the belly of hell and that he was cast into the deep, even into the heart of the seas, which also signifies hell. The stream, and the waters which compassed him about, and the waves and billows which passed over him, signify evils and falsities thence. The abyss which closed him round about signifies the hells where and whence falsities are. The cuttings off of the mountains to which he went down, signify the hells where and whence evils are; that he was as it were bound by them is signified by the weed wrapped about the head, and by the bars of the earth being upon him, weeds denoting being bound by falsities, and the bars of the earth being bound by evils; victory over them from His own power, is signified by, Yet hast thou made my life to ascend out of the pit. It is said, Thou hast made "to ascend"; but by this, when stated of the Lord, is meant that He Himself from His own Divine, thus by His own power, caused Himself to ascend.

[12] Similar things are signified by the following passages in David:

"Abyss calleth unto abyss at the noise of thy water-spouts; all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me" (Psalm 42:7).

So again:

"The waters are come in unto my soul. I sink in mire of the deep where there is no standing; I am come into the depths of waters, and the floods overflow me. Deliver me out of the mire, and let me not sink; let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the depths of waters. Let not the water-floods overflow me, neither let the pit shut her mouth upon me" (Psalm 69:1, 2, 14, 15).

Again:

"Return, quicken me, return, and bring me up again from the abyss of the earth" (Psalm 71:20).

And again:

"I am counted with them that go down into the pit; neglected among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the pit of the lower [parts] in dark places, in the deeps" (Psalm 88:4, 5, 6).

In these passages in David also the temptations of the Lord, by which He subjugated the hells, and glorified His Human, while in the world, are described. Waves and billows, signify evils and falsities, and abysses and depths of the sea, and also the pit, signify the hells where and whence those evils and falsities are; for as we said above, temptations are as it were immersions into the hells, and obsessions by evils and falsities. These things are signified by lamentations in many places in David, and also in the prophets. For in the spiritual sense of the Word, the temptations of the Lord are much treated of by which He subjugated the hells, and reduced all things to order in the heavens and in the hells, and by which He glorified His Human; they are especially meant by the things predicted in the prophets and Psalms concerning the Lord, and fulfilled by Him, as stated in Luke (24:44).

[13] The abyss, and the sea and the depths thereof, also signify the hells, in the following passages; as in Jeremiah:

"Flee ye, they have turned themselves away, they have cast themselves down into the deep, the inhabitants of Dedan, and Hazor" (49:8, 30).

And again:

"The sea is come up upon Babylon; she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof" (Jeremiah 51:42).

And in Amos:

"The Lord Jehovih made me to see, and behold calling to contend by fire, he hath devoured the great abyss" (7:4).

And in David:

"The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid; the abysses also were troubled" (Psalm 77:16).

And again:

"We will not fear, when the earth shall be changed and though the mountains shake in the heart of the seas; though the waters thereof shall roar and be troubled" (Psalm 46:2, 3).

And in Moses:

"On the same day were all the fountains of the great abyss broken up, and the flood gates of heaven were opened" (Genesis 7:11).

And again:

"The fountains also of the abyss, and the flood gates of heaven were stopped" (Genesis 8:2).

So in Job:

"Where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding? Man knoweth not the price thereof. The abyss saith, It is not in me; and the sea saith, It is not with me" (28:12, 13, 14).

And again:

"Hast thou entered into the weepings of the sea? or hast thou walked in search of the abyss? Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?" (38:16, 17).

So in the Evangelists:

"Whoso shall cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it were better for him that an ass-millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were sunk in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18:6; Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2).

And again, we read, that the demons who obsessed the man, entreated Jesus that He would not command them to go into the abyss, therefore He suffered them to enter into the swine (Luke 8:31, 33; Matthew 8:31, 32).

And also in the following passages in the Apocalypse:

"The beast that ascendeth out of the abyss and made war" (11:7).

"The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the abyss" (17:8).

"I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he bound the dragon a thousand years; and cast him into the abyss" (20:1, 2, 3).

In these passages also, by the abyss, and by the depth of the sea, is signified the hell where and whence the falsities of evil are. The reason of this is, that the spirits who are there, and who, whilst they lived as men in the world, were in the falsities of evil, appear to dwell as it were in the bottom of seas, and this the more deeply according to the grievousness of the evil from which the falsity was derived.

[14] As abysses signify the hells, where and whence falsities are, so they also signify the ultimates of heaven, where and whence are the cognitions of truth, which are the truths of the natural man. The reason is, that the ultimates of heaven also appear to be as it were in waters, but such as are limpid and clear; for, as was said above, the atmosphere of the highest heaven is as it were ethereal, the atmosphere of the middle heaven as it were aerial, and the atmosphere of the ultimate heaven as it were watery. The reason why this latter atmosphere appears to be watery is, because the truths pertaining to those who are in it, are truths of the natural man, and the atmosphere of the natural man is, as it were, watery; hence also are the appearances of rivers, lakes, and seas, in the spiritual world. Therefore seas also signify cognitions and scientifics in general, or in their whole compass; that these things are signified by seas may be seen above (n. 275, 342).

[15] The signification of abysses in the following passages is similar; as in Moses:

"Jehovah, thy God, bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers of water, of fountains and abysses springing out of the valley and out of the mountain" (Deuteronomy 8:7),

this passage may be seen explained above (n. 518:8).

So again:

God shall bless Joseph "with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the abyss that lieth under" (Genesis 49:25; Deuteronomy 33:13), (see also above, n. 448:7).

So in David:

"By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap, putting the abysses in storehouses" (Psalm 33:6, 7), (see also above, n. 275).

Again:

"Thou coveredst the earth with the abyss as with a garment" (Psalm 104:6), (see also above, n. 275).

Again:

"Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye sea monsters and all abysses" (Psalm 148:7).

Abysses in these passages signify the ultimates of heaven, in which are the spiritual-natural angels.

So again, in Ezekiel:

"The waters made it to grow, the abyss made it high" (31:4), (see above, n. 518:15).

[16] Moreover abysses also signify Divine truths in abundance, and the interior things of Divine wisdom.

Thus in David:

"He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and made [them] drink great abysses" (Psalm 78:15).

And again: Jehovah, "thy justice is a great abyss" (36:6); and in other places.

Footnotes: