1135. That strong city.- That this signifies which had fortified itself by so many wicked artifices, is evident from the signification of strong, when said of doctrine and the religion which it teaches, signified by the city of Babylon, as denoting that they are fortified by artifices, lest they should be attacked and injured. What those artifices are, and how wicked they are, may be seen above (n. 1112). That those artifices, however, were of no avail at the day of the Last Judgment, when all who were of such a character perished, is evident from what follows, where it is said, "For in one hour is thy judgment come," and that, not only the kings of the earth, but also the merchants of the earth, and the pilots of the ships wept and wailed over her.

[2] In other parts of the Word, also, those are called strong who are in evils and thence in falsities, and who have fortified themselves, by means of artifices, against the goods and truths of the church, that is those with whom the church is devastated, and who devastate the church in others.

As in Joel:

"The day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness, and of thick darkness; a people great and strong, such as there has not been from an age; as heroes they run, as men of war they mount the wall" (2:2, 7).

Here also the subject is the Last Judgment, which is signified by the day of Jehovah, a day of darkness, and of thick darkness. Those who are in falsities of evil, and have fortified their falsities against truths by reasonings and by falsifications of the Word, are signified by a people great and strong. Their reasonings from falsities against truths, and their attack upon them, is signified by, as heroes they run, as men of war they mount the wall. Similarly in other places.

[3] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed and concerning the Lord.- Since the Divine Omnipotence is such that a man cannot of himself think and will, and thence speak and act, but from the life which is God, the question arises, Why, then, is not every man saved? But he who concludes from this that every one is saved, and if not, that he is not in fault, is ignorant of the laws of Divine Order respecting man's reformation, regeneration, and consequent salvation. The laws of that order are called laws of the Divine Providence, and of these the natural mind can have no knowledge unless it is enlightened. And because man has no knowledge of them, and, therefore, forms conclusions concerning the Divine Providence from events in the world, and falls by means of these into fallacies, and thence into errors, from which he afterwards extricates himself with difficulty, therefore it is expedient that these laws should be made known.

[4] But before we proceed to state them it is important that it should be understood that the Divine Providence, in every particular pertaining to man, even in the most minute, operates for his eternal salvation, the salvation of man being the end of the creation of both heaven and earth. For the end was, that out of the human race heaven might be formed, in which God might dwell, as in His own abode; the salvation, therefore, of man is the all in all of the Divine Providence. But the Divine Providence proceeds so secretly, that man scarcely sees a vestige of it, and yet it is operative in the most minute particulars relating to him, from infancy to old age in the world, and afterwards to eternity; and it is eternity which is regarded in every least thing.

[5] Because Divine Wisdom in itself is nothing but an end, therefore Providence acts from an end, in an end, and with reference to an end, the end being that man may become wisdom and love, and thus a habitation and image of the Divine Life. But, because the natural mind, unless it is enlightened, cannot comprehend why the Divine Providence, while alone operative in the work of salvation, and in the most minute particulars relating to the progress of man's life, does not lead all to heaven, although from love it is willing to lead them, and is omnipotent, therefore, in what now follows, the laws of order which are laws of the Divine Providence shall be disclosed; by their means, the mind, previously unenlightened, may be withdrawn, I hope, from fallacies, if it is willing to be withdrawn.