404. (Verse 14) And the heaven departed as a book when it is rolled together. That this signifies that the spiritual man was shut, is plain from the signification of heaven, as denoting the church in general and in particular; for the church is the Lord's heaven on earth; the church also makes one with heaven by conjunction; therefore when heaven and earth are mentioned in the Word, the church internal and external is meant; for the internal of the men of the church is heaven with them, and the external is the world with them. And because by heaven and earth is signified the church internal and external, hence also the internal and external man, or the spiritual and natural man, is signified; for the man is a church in whom is the good of love and faith, therefore from the men in whom the church is, the church in general exists; hence it is clear why by heaven is here meant the internal or spiritual man. It is said the spiritual man, and the spiritual mind is meant, which is the higher or interior mind of man, whereas the lower or exterior mind is called the natural man; and from the signification of, "it departed as a book when it is rolled together," as denoting its being closed; for the spiritual mind, which is, as was said, the higher or interior mind with man, is opened by truths applied to life, thus by goods, whereas it is closed by falsities applied to life, thus by evils, and the closing up is like the rolling together of the scroll of a book. That this is so, was plainly evident by the appearances in the spiritual world, when the Last Judgment was accomplished; for then the mountains and hills there appeared sometimes to be rolled together as the scroll of a book is rolled together, and then they that were upon them were rolled down into hell. The cause of this appearance is based on this circumstance, that the interiors of their minds, through which somewhat of light from heaven flowed in before, were then shut. What takes place in general with many, takes place with every one of a like quality in particular; for in the spiritual world such as is the general, such is the particular (as may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 73). By book is meant a scroll, because in ancient times there were no types and, consequently, no books, such as there are at this day, but there were scrolls of parchment; hence by the books in the Apocalypse are meant scrolls, and by, the heaven departed as a book when it is rolled together, is meant as a scroll rolled together; similarly in Isaiah:
"All the host of the heavens shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a book" (34:4).
