256. It was said above, that by the seven churches here written to, are not meant seven churches, but all those who belong to the church, and, in the abstract, all things of the church; that this is the case is evident from the consideration, that by seven are signified all, and all things, and that by the names are signified things. That all who belong to the church, or all things of the church, are meant by what is written to those seven churches is also evident from the explanation of those things. For all things of the church have reference to the following four general principles, doctrine, life according to it, faith according to life. These are treated of in what is written to six of the churches - doctrine, to the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna; life according to doctrine, to the churches in Thyatira and Sardis; and faith according to life, to the churches in Philadelphia and Laodicea. And because doctrine cannot be implanted in man's life and become a matter of faith unless he fights against the evils and falsities which he possesses from heredity, therefore that combat is also treated of in what is written to the church in Pergamos; for the subject there treated of is temptations; and temptations are combats against evils and falsities.

(That temptations are treated of in what is written to the church in Pergamos may be seen above, n. 130; that doctrine is the subject treated of in what is written to the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna may be seen above also, n. 93, 95, 112; that a life according to doctrine is treated of in what is written to the churches in Thyatira and Sardis, (n. 150, 182, and that faith according to life is treated of in what is written to the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea, n. 203 and 227.) Because in what is written to this last church, namely, that in Laodicea, those who are in the doctrine of faith alone are treated of, and also, at the end, the nature of faith originating in charity, to what has already been said, it is here to be added, that love constitutes heaven; and because it does so, it also forms the church. For all the societies of heaven, which are innumerable, are arranged according to the affections of love, and also all within each society; so that it is affection, or love, according to which all things are arranged in the heavens, and not in any case faith alone. Spiritual affection, or love, is charity. It is therefore clear that no one can ever enter heaven unless he is in charity.

547. Verse 5. And it was given ¹ to them that they should not kill them, signifies that they should not be deprived of the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good. This is evident from the signification of "men," as being the understanding of truth and the perception of good (See above, n. 546); and from the signification of "killing them," as being to destroy as regards the spiritual life (of which above, n. 315; but here to deprive of the faculty of understanding truth and perceiving good. This is the signification of "killing men," because every man is born into the faculty to understand truth and perceive good; for this faculty is the spiritual itself by which every man is distinguished from the beasts. This faculty man never destroys, for if he should destroy it he would be no longer a man but a beast. It appears as if the sensual man who is in the falsities of evil had destroyed it, because he neither understands truth nor perceives good when reading the Word or hearing it from others, but yet he has not destroyed the faculty itself to understand and perceive, but only the understanding of truth and the perception of good, so long as he is in the falsities in which he has confirmed himself from evil; for then he is averse to listen to truth, and this appears like an inability to understand it; but if the persuasion of falsity which obstructs is removed, he then understands and perceives that truth is truth and that good is good, just as a spiritual-rational man does.

[2] That this is so it has been given me to know by much experience; for there were many of the infernal crew who had confirmed themselves in falsities against truths and in evils against goods, who thence had become such that they were not willing to hear anything of truth, still less to understand it; and respecting these, therefore, others entertained the opinion that they were unable to understand truth; but the same spirits, when the persuasion of falsity was removed from them, came into the same power and faculty to understand truth as those had who were in the understanding of truth and the perception of good; but immediately upon their falling back into their former state they again appeared to be unable to understand truth, and indeed, were exceedingly indignant at having understood, declaring then that still it was not truth. For it is affection which belongs to the will that makes all the understanding there is with man; from affection is the life itself of the understanding. Consider whether anyone thinks without affection, and whether affection is not the life itself of thought, consequently the life of the understanding. We say an affection and mean the affection that is of love, or love in its continuity. This makes clear that man can indeed destroy the understanding of truth and the perception of good, which is done by means of the falsities of evil; and yet he does not on that account destroy the faculty to understand truth and perceive good; if he did he would no longer be a man, for the human itself consists in that faculty; from this it is that man lives after death, and appears then as a man; for with that faculty the Divine is conjoined. For this reason although a man in respect to his two lives, which are the life of his understanding and the life of his will, may have turned away from the Divine, yet by his ability to understand truth and to perceive good he has conjunction with the Divine, and consequently lives to eternity. From this it can now be seen that "it was given to the locusts that they should not kill men" signifies that still they should not be deprived of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good.

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