70. The reason why the feet are said to be like unto fine brass is, that by fine brass is meant brass polished and shining, like something fiery; and brass in the Word signifies natural good. Metals, like all other things in the Word, are significative. Gold in the Word signifies celestial good, which is inmost good; silver signifies its truth, which is spiritual good; brass natural good, which is ultimate good, and iron its truth, which is natural truth. That such things are signified by metals, is from correspondence; for many things are seen in heaven shining like gold and silver, and also many things shining like brass and iron. And it is there known, that by those things are signified the above-mentioned kinds of good and truth; this is why the ancients, who were in the knowledge of correspondences, named the ages after those metals. The first age they called the golden age, because innocence, love and wisdom therefrom, then reigned; but the second age they called the silver age, because truth from that good, or spiritual good, and intelligence therefrom, then reigned; the third age they called the brazen, or copper, age, because only natural good, which is what is just and sincere pertaining to moral life, then reigned; but the last age they called the iron age, because only truth without good then reigned, and when that reigns, then also falsity reigns. The reason why the ages were thus distinguished, was from the spiritual signification of those metals.

[2] From these considerations it is evident what is signified by the statue of Nebuchadnezzar, seen in his dream,

"whose head was of gold, the chest and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay" (Dan. 2:32, 33).

The state of the church from its first time to its last as to good and truth, is here signified; its last time was when the Lord came into the world.

When it is known that gold signifies celestial good, silver spiritual good, brass natural good, and iron natural truth, many arcana in the Word where those metals are mentioned can be known. For example, what is signified by these words in Isaiah:

"For brass I will bring gold, for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron; I will also make thy government peace, and thine exactors justice" (60:17).

[3] But as the signification of brass is what is here treated of, as being natural good, it is necessary only to adduce a few passages where brass is mentioned and signifies that good. Thus in Moses:

"Asher acceptable to his brethren, and dipping his foot in oil; iron and brass thy shoe, and as thy day, thy fame" (Deuteronomy 33:24, 25).

Asher, as one of the tribes, signifies the happiness of life, and the delight of the affections (see Arcana Coelestia 3938, 3939, 6408); to dip the foot in oil signifies natural delight (that oil denotes delight, see n. 9954, and that the foot denotes the Natural, see above, n. 69); the shoe being iron and brass signifies the lowest Natural derived from truth and good, shoe denoting the lowest Natural (see n. 1748, 1860, 6844); iron is its truth, and brass its good, as above. Again,

"Jehovah thy God will bring thee into a rich land; a land out of whose stones thou shalt cut iron, and out of whose mountains brass" (Deuteronomy 8:7, 9).

And in Jeremiah:

"I will give thee unto this people for a fortified wall of brass, that they may fight against thee, and not prevail over thee" (15:20).

And in Ezekiel:

"Javan, Tubal, and Mesech, they were thy merchants; with the soul of man and vessels of brass they gave thy merchandise" (27:13).

In this chapter the merchandises of Tyre are treated of, by which are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth. By the names Javan, Tubal, and Mesech, are signified those things that pertain to good and truth, to which the knowledges relate; the soul of man denotes the truth of life; vessels of brass denote scientifics of natural good.

[4] (What is signified by Tyre, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1201; what by merchandises, n. 2967, 4453; what by Tubal and Mesech, n. 1151; what by Javan, n. 1152, 1153, 1155; what by the soul of man, n. 2930, 9050, 9281; what by vessels, n. 3068, 3079, 3316, 3318.)

Again, in the same prophet:

The feet of the cherubs "shone like the appearance of polished brass" (1:7).

(What the cherubs and the feet signify, may be seen above, n. 69.) And in the same prophet:

"I saw, and, lo, a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, and a thread of flax in his hands; he stood in the gate" (40:3).

Because the angel here mentioned measured the wall and the gates of the house of God, which signify the externals of the church, his appearance was seen to be the appearance of brass.

He who knows that brass signifies the external of the church, which in itself is natural, may in some measure understand why the altar of burnt-offering was overlaid with brass, and the gate round it was of brass, and the vessels of brass (Exodus 27:1-4), also why the great vessel, which was called the sea, with the twelve oxen under it, and the ten lavers with the bases, and also all the vessels of the tabernacle for the house of God, were made by Solomon of polished brass (1 Kings 7:43-47). He who knows what brass signifies, can also enter into the arcanum why a serpent of brass was commanded to be set up for the people to look at, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

"Jehovah sent serpents among the people, which bit the people. And he said unto Moses, Make thee a serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he hath looked upon it, shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and set it upon a pole, and it came to pass, that when a serpent had bitten any man, and he looked upon the serpent of brass, he lived" (Numbers 21:6, 8, 9).

That the Lord was signified by that serpent, He himself teaches in John:

"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (3:14, 15).

By the serpent is signified the ultimate of life in man, which is called the external Sensual, which is natural. To represent this ultimate, which in the Lord was Divine, among the sons of Israel, with whom all things were representative, a serpent of brass was made; and the signification was, that, if they looked to the Divine Human of the Lord, they would revive, that is, if they believed in Him, they should have eternal life, as the Lord himself also teaches. (That to see in the spiritual sense is to believe, may be seen above, n. 37, 68; and that a serpent denotes the external Sensual, which is the ultimate of the life of man, see Arcana Coelestia 195-197, 6398, 6949, 10313.) That brass and iron in the Word also signify what is hard, as in Isaiah 48:4; Dan. 7:19; and other places, will be seen in the following pages.

3938. 'And Leah said, In my blessedness! for the daughters will call me blessed' in the highest sense means eternity, in the internal sense the happiness of eternal life, in the external sense the delight that belongs to the affections. This is clear from the meaning of 'blessedness', and from the meaning of 'the daughters will bless me'. That 'blessedness' in the highest sense means eternity cannot be seen except from its correspondence with the things which exist with man, for the mind cannot have any grasp of things that are Divine or infinite except through those that are finite, of which man is able to have mental images. Without mental images formed from finite things, and especially images formed from things that exist within space and time, man cannot begin to comprehend Divine things, let alone the Infinite. Without mental images formed from space and time man is not even capable of thinking anything, 3404, for as to the body, and so as to thoughts which are formed from external sensory impressions, he dwells within the confines of time. But angels, since they are not bounded by time or space, have mental images formed from states of being. This is why spatial or temporal references in the Word mean states, see 1274, 1382, 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, 3827.

[2] But there are two states - a state which corresponds to space and a state which corresponds to time. The state which corresponds to space is a state in regard to being, while the state which corresponds to time is a state in regard to manifestation, 2625. There are two entities which constitute man, namely being (esse) and manifestation (existere). Man's being is nothing else than a recipient of the eternal which proceeds from the Lord. Indeed men, spirits, or angels are nothing else than recipients - that is, recipient forms - of life from the Lord. The actual reception of life is what the term manifestation refers to. Man imagines that he has being, and indeed that he is self-existent, when in fact he is not a self-existent being but, as has been stated, one who manifests being. Self-existent BEING occurs solely in the Lord, and that BEING is called JEHOVAH. This BEING which is JEHOVAH is the source from which all things that seem to be self-existent derive their being. But the Lord's or Jehovah's actual BEING cannot possibly be imparted to any, except to the Lord's Human. This Human was made the Divine Being, that is, it was made Jehovah. On the point that the Lord is Jehovah as to both Essences, see 1736, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035.

[3] Manifestation too is used of the Lord, but only of the time when He was in the world and there assumed the Divine Being. But ever since He was made the Divine Being the term Manifestation could no longer be used of Him except to refer to whatever proceeds from Him. That which proceeds from Him seems like a Manifestation within Him, but it is not. Rather it is that which goes forth from Him and causes men, spirits, and angels to be forms manifesting His Being, that is, to have life. In so manifesting His Being man, spirit, or angel has life, and the life he has is eternal happiness. The happiness of eternal life is what eternity, the source of which is the Lord's Divine Being, corresponds to in the highest sense. The fact that the happiness of eternal life is what is meant in the internal sense by 'blessedness' is evident from this, as also is the fact that the delight which belongs to the affections is meant in the external sense, and so is evident without explanation.

[4] But it is the delight belonging to the affections for truth and good, a delight which corresponds to the happiness of eternal life, that is meant. All affections have their own delights, but the nature of the affections determines that of the delights. The affections for evil and falsity have their own delights as well, and before a person is regenerated and receives from the Lord the affections for truth and good those delights seem to be the only delights, so much so that people believe that no other delights are possible, and consequently that if these were taken away from them they would perish completely. But people who do receive from the Lord the delights which belong to the affections for truth and good gradually see and perceive the true nature of the delights of that life which they had believed to be the only possible delights - that they are by comparison worthless, indeed foul. But the more he enters into the delights that belong to the affections for truth and good the more a person begins to despise those delights in evil and falsity, and at length to loathe them.

[5] I have on occasions spoken to spirits in the next life whose delights have been those of evil and falsity, and I have been allowed to tell them that they do not have life until these delights are taken away from them. But as with people like them in the world those spirits have said that if they were deprived of such delights they would no longer have any life at all. I have been allowed to reply however that that is just when that life begins, and with that life happiness such as exists in heaven, which compared with any other happiness defies description. But this they have been unable to grasp because of unbelief in anything which they do not actually know. They are like all those in the world who are governed by self-love and love of the world and who do not therefore have any charity. They know the delight that belongs to self-love and love of the world, but not the delight that belongs to charity. Consequently they have no knowledge at all of what charity is, and have less idea still of any delight residing within charity, when in fact the delight belonging to charity is the delight which fills the whole of heaven and is the producer of the blessedness and happiness there. And if you are willing to believe it, it is also the producer of intelligence and wisdom together with the delights that go with them, for the Lord enters with the light of truth and with the flame of good, and therefore with intelligence and wisdom, into the delights belonging to charity. But falsities and evils reject, stifle, and pervert those delights, and thereby cause stupidity and madness. These considerations show the identity and the nature of the delight which belongs to the affections and corresponds to the happiness of eternal life.

[6] People of the present day and age imagine that if only a person has the confidence received through faith even in his final hour before death, then regardless of whatever affection has been pre-eminent throughout the whole course of his life, he can enter heaven. I have on occasions spoken to spirits who have lived and believed as these people do. When they enter the next life they at first think of nothing else than of being able to enter heaven, irrespective of their previous life, that is to say, irrespective of the fact that by means of that life they have acquired the delight that belongs to the affection for evil and falsity arising out of self-love and love of the world, which loves constituted the ends they had in view. I have been allowed to tell them that everyone is able to be admitted into heaven, for the Lord denies heaven to none. But whether they have the ability to live in that place they will be able to know if admitted. Some who were resolute in the belief were admitted. But because the life that belongs to love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour reigns in heaven, which life enters into the whole sphere of life and the happiness there, when they arrived they began to feel a pain, for they were unable to breathe in such a sphere and began to become aware of the foulness of their own affections, and so to suffer hellish torment. As a consequence they hurried away from there, saying that they wanted to get right away from it, amazed that heaven should be what to them was hell. This shows the essential nature of the two different delights, and that people whose delight has been that of the affection for evil and falsity cannot in any way be among those whose delight has been that belonging to the affection for good and truth, and that the two delights are opposites, like heaven and hell, see 537-539, 541, 547, 1397, 1398, 2130, 2401.

[7] Furthermore as regards the happiness of eternal life, no one who is moved by the affection for good and truth is able when he is living in the world to perceive that happiness, but only a certain delight instead. The reason why he is unable to do so is that he is confined to the body, and when confined in the body he is subject to worldly cares and as a consequence to anxieties. These prevent the happiness of eternal life, which is inwardly present in him, being manifested in any other way, for when that happiness passes from the inward parts of his being into cares and anxieties which reside in his outward parts, it sinks into the cares there and the anxieties, and becomes a kind of obscure delight. Nevertheless it is a delight that holds blessedness within it, and happiness within that. Being content in God constitutes such happiness. But once a person casts aside the body, and at the same time those worldly cares and anxieties, the happiness which has been so lying hidden in obscurity within his more internal man comes forward and reveals itself.

[8] As the term affection is used so often, let a definition of what that term means be given here. Affection is nothing else than love, yet it is an extension branching out of it. For the affection anyone has, whether for evil and falsity or for good and truth, stems from love. And as this love is present with and exists in every single part of a person it, is not perceived as love but is varied according to circumstances and according to the states, and the changes of these states, through which that person is passing. And this is unceasingly the case in everything he wills, thinks and does. This extension from love is what is called affection, and it is this extension which reigns in a person's life and which produces every delight residing with him. And in producing his every delight it produces his actual life, for a person's life is nothing else than the delight which belongs to his affection, and so is nothing else than the affection which belongs to his love. Love constitutes man's willing, and from this his thinking, and thereby his acting.