423. Having the seal of the living God, signifies the Divine will. This is evident from the signification of "having the seal" of anyone, as meaning to have command, for a command is confirmed by a seal; therefore "to have the seal of the living God" means to have Divine command. Here Divine command means the Divine will, because "the angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal," signifies Divine love proceeding from the Lord; and whatever goes forth from Divine love is the Divine will. There are also Divine commands that are not from the Divine will, but from sufferance and permission, many of which were given to the sons of Israel, as that it was permitted them to take several wives, and to give bills of divorcement, with other like things. These commands were from permission, given because of the hardness of their hearts (as is evident from the Lord's words in Matthew 19:8; and Mark 10:4, 5); but the commands that are immediately from the Divine love are all of the Divine will; therefore it is said, "the seal of the living God;" for the Lord is called "the living God" from the Divine love, for love is man's very life, and the Divine love is the source of the life of all.

141. THE FOUR QUARTERS IN HEAVEN.

Both in heaven and in the world there are four quarters, east, south, west, and north, determined in each world by its own sun; in heaven by the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, in the world by the sun of the world. And yet there are great differences between them. In the first place, in the world that is called the south where the sun is in its greatest altitude above the earth, north where it is in its opposite position beneath the earth, east where it rises at an equinox, and west where it then sets. Thus in the world it is from the south that all the quarters are determined. But in heaven that is called the east where the Lord is seen as a sun, opposite to this is the west, at the right is the south in heaven, and at the left the north; and this in whatever direction the face and the body are turned. Thus in heaven it is from the east that all the quarters are determined. That is called the east [oriens] where the Lord is seen as a sun, because all origin [origo] of life is from Him as a sun; moreover, so far as angels receive heat and light or love and intelligence from the Lord He is said to arise [exoriri] upon them. For the same reason the Lord is called the East [Oriens] in the Word. ¹

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