3. C

Calf [vitulus]. A calf signifies the natural affection of knowing truths, and, in the opposite sense, the affection of knowing falsities, shown n. 242. Calves in sacrifices signify the affection of knowing truths: and the calves of Egypt, and the calves of Samaria signify the affection of knowing falsities, n. 242. The calf, which was one of the four animals which were cherubim, signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to affection, illustrated n. 242.

Called [vocatus]. By the called, in a general sense, are meant all throughout the world, because all are called, n. 744. By the called, in a particular sense, are meant they who are with the Lord, illustrated n. 744. The called to the marriage supper of the lamb signify those who receive the things which are of the new church, n. 816. The called, the chosen, and the faithful signify those who are in the externals, the internals, and inmosts of the church, n. 744.

Camp [castra]. A camp signifies all the truths and goods of the church, shown n. 862.

Candle. See Lamp.

Candlestick. See Lampstand.

Captive, Captivity [captivus, captivitas]. Captivity signifies spiritual captivity, which is a leading away from truths and goods, and detention in falsities and evils, shown n. 591. The bound and shut up in prison signify the same as captives, n. 591, shown n. 884 toward the end. See Bound. Chain [catena]. To have a chain in the hand signifies the endeavor proceeding from the power of binding loosing 840.

Chalice [calix, vide poculum]. See Cup.

Chariot [currus]. A chariot signifies the doctrine of the church, shown n. 437. A coach signifies nearly the same, shown n. 781.

Charity [charitas]. For the good of charity and of life, see Works. For the nature of mutual love, n. 353, see Love. Faith is from charity, and it is the form of charity, altogether like speech and sound, illustrated n. 655, illustrated n. 875. What is the quality of the man of the church, if he gives charity the precedence: and what is his quality, if he gives faith the precedence, illustrated n. 655. Charity and faith are not any thing unless they are in works, and in works they exist and subsist, illustrated n. 875. Charity and faith also exist and subsist in works while they are inwardly in will or endeavor, illustrated n. 875. A comparison made between charity and faith, and heat and light, from which may be seen the nature of faith united with charity, and the nature of faith separated from charity, illustrated n. 875. Charity consists in doing the commandments of the Decalogue, shown from Paul, n. 356. A disputation among those who make faith the primary, and consequently spiritual, and thence heavenly, illustrated n. 386, 655. The neighbor is not to be thought of from his person, but from his quality, illustrated n. 611. A dispute concerning faith alone was heard at a distance like the gnashing of teeth, and a disputation concerning charity like a beating noise, illustrated n. 386.

Chasten, to, and to Rebuke [castigare et arguere]. They signify to tempt, n. 215.

Cherubim [cherubi]. The four animals in the throne, and round about the throne, were cherubim; and that cherubim signifies the Word in its literal sense, and defenses or guards, lest the interior senses, which are spiritual and celestial, should be hurt, illustrated and shown n. 239, 275, 296, 314. The first chapter of Ezekiel concerning the cherubim explained, n. 239 toward the end. Seraphim signify doctrine from the Word 245.

Christ [Christus]. Christ is the messiah, shown n. 520. Christ or the messiah is the son of God, shown n. 520. By Christ is meant the Divine human of the Lord, n. 520; {w219}. By Christ is meant the Divine truth. by false Christs are meant Divine truths falsified, shown 595.

Church [ecclesia]. For the doctrine of the Reformed concerning the church, see the doctrines of the Reformed churches in what is premised, n. 18. The church appears before the Lord as a man, beautiful or deformed according to its doctrine, and at the same time conformity of life to it, n. 601. The church becomes more perfect, as the various things of which it consists are conveniently disposed in their order, n. 66, 73. Every church commences from the goods of life or charity, and terminates in faith alone, n. 82. The church in process of time decreases, by receding from the good of love and truths of faith, even until evil is supposed to be good, and falsity truth, n. 658. The angels of heaven lament when the church on the earth is destroyed, and pray to the Lord that it may be brought to an end, which is effected by the last judgment, illustrated n. 645. Because the church on the earth is the foundation of heaven, n. 645. At the end of the present church there exists such an inversion and affliction as can never be exceeded, shown n. 711. The church on the earth will be in all things even as the church is in the heavens, because they are conjoined like the internal and the external with man, illustrated n. 533. The church on the earth, like heaven, is distinguished into three degrees; hence that those who are in the church are in the externals, internals, and inmosts, n. 744. They who are in the externals are said to be the called; they who are in the internals, the chosen; and they who are in the inmosts, the faithful, n. 744. The doctrine of truth constitutes the church, and a life conformable thereto constitutes religion, illustrated n. 923. Where the life is not conformable to doctrine, there is neither religion nor a church, n. 923. At this day there is no church in the Christian world, neither among the Roman Catholics, nor among the Reformed, illustrated n. 263, illustrated n. 675. There is no church among the Roman Catholics, but a religious persuasion, because they do not approach the Lord, nor read the Word, and because they invoke the dead, n. 718. The church of the Lord as to doctrine is represented as a city, and sometimes as an espoused virgin, illustrated n. 881. By the seven churches are meant all who are of the church in the Christian world, and every one according to reception, n. 10, 41, 69. In the Word of both testaments it is predicted concerning a new church, which will acknowledge the Lord only, and that this prediction has not been fulfilled until this day, n. 478. This new church, inasmuch as it will acknowledge the Lord only, is called the bride and the wife of the Lord, shown n. 533. This new church is meant and described in Revelation by the new Jerusalem, illustrated and shown n. 880, 881. All things appertaining to the new church will be from the good of love, n. 907, illustrated 908, 912, 917. All who are in truths from good are received into the new church, because they love the light thereof and the rest cannot bear that light, illustrated n. 922. This new church is successively formed and increases; the reason whereof is that the falsities of the former church are first to be rejected, also that the new heaven has first to be formed, which will act in unity with it, n. 547. This new church cannot be established before those things which are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are removed, shown n. 473. This new church will consist of such as approach the Lord only, and perform the work of repentance from evil works, illustrated and shown n. 69–72. The two essentials of the new church are, the acknowledgment of the Lord, that he is the God of heaven and earth, and that his human is Divine; the other, a life conformable to the precepts of the Decalogue; and that these two are conjoined, like the two tables of the Decalogue, and like love to God and love toward the neighbor, n. 490, illustrated and shown, n. 903. They who desire to destroy these two essentials of the new church will perish, n. 494. They cannot receive any truth from heaven, n. 496. They falsify the Word, n. 497. They plunge themselves into all kinds of evils and falsities, n. 498. Those who acknowledge faith alone will reject these two essentials, n. 500, 501. These two essentials of the new church are in opposition to the two essentials of the old church, concerning which illustrated n. 509, illustrated n. 537.

City [urbs]. A city signifies the doctrine of the church illustrated and shown n. 194, illustrated n. 712, illustrated n. 861, 881. Inasmuch as the church is described as a city, shown n. 896. Jerusalem as a city signifies the new church of the Lord as to doctrine, n. 879, 912. The cities of the nations signify heretical doctrines, n. 712.

Cleft [fissure]. See Rock.

Cloak [pallia]. See Garment.

Clouds [nubes]. Clouds signify Divine truth in the ultimates, consequently the Word in the sense of the letter, shown n. 24, 466, 642, 820. White clouds signify the Word in the literal sense translucent from its spiritual sense, n. 642. By the Lord’s saying he will come in the clouds of heaven with glory, is signified his advent in the Word, and a revelation of its spiritual sense from him for the use of the new church which will then be established, shown n. 24, shown n. 642, illustrated n. 820.

Cluster [botrus]. See Grapes.

Color [color]. White and red are fundamental colors in heaven, because white is from the light of the sun of heaven, and red is from the fire of the sun there, concerning which, illustrated n. 231, 915; See White Red. Those two colors are changed into other colors by shade which in heaven is ignorance 915. There exists a satanic black, which is opposite to white, and a diabolic black which is opposite to red, n. 231, 232.

Companion [socius]. What is signified by companion and brother, 32.

Comparison [comparatio]. Comparisons in the Word are from correspondences, n. 334.

Conception [generatio]. See Birth.

Confession [confessio]. Of repentance and confession among the Reformed, see the doctrines of the Reformed in what is premised at p. 19, Vol. 1.

Confirmation [confirmatio]. There is a false light arising from confirmation, and it appears to those who are in falsities as light, but it is the light of infatuation, which is of such a nature that it is converted into darkness on the flowing in of light from heaven, and the sight of their eyes is like that of owls and bats, illustrated n. 566, 695. Those who have confirmed themselves in falsities are not willing to understand truth, and it appears as if they were not able, n. 765.

Consummation [consummatio]. Consummation and the consummation of the age signifies the end of the church, which takes place when there no longer remains any good of life or truth of doctrine in the church, illustrated and shown n. 658. Consummation in the Word is also called devastation and decision, shown n. 658. Consummation or devastation is effected by the deprivation of goods and truths, which being taken away man enters into the evils and the falsities which he inwardly cherished, shown n. 676. What is meant by the last words of the Lord to the disciples, in Matthew, that he would remain with them even until the consummation of the age, n. 750.

Containing, Contained [continens, contentum]. The thing containing signifies the same with the thing contained, illustrated n. 406, 672. See Vessel.

Conversion [conversio]. Angels and good men as to their spirit continually turn themselves toward the Lord as a sun, and thus they have the Lord continually before their face, and this which way soever they turn, which is wonderful; and the devils continually turn themselves from the Lord, n. 380, 938.

Copper [cuprum]. See Brass.

Corner [angulus]. The four corners signify the four quarters of the spiritual world, shown n. 342. Hence the four corners of the earth signify the entire heaven, n. 342. The cornerstone signifies the foundation, n. 342.

Correspondence [correspondentia]. There is a correspondence between the natural and spiritual, concerning which, illustrated n. 1.

Costliness [pretiosa]. Costliness signifies the holy things of the church, shown n. 789.

Cotton. See Linen.

Court [atrium]. The court of the temple signifies the external heaven, and heaven in ultimates, also the church on earth, illustrated and shown n. 487. Concerning the two courts of the temple at Jerusalem, n. 487.

Covenant [foedus]. Covenant signifies conjunction, illustrated and shown n. 529, toward the end.

Create, to [creare]. To create signifies to reform and regenerate shown n. 254, 476.

Creature [creatura]. Creatures signify all who are to be created, that is, who are capable of being reformed, shown n. 405. What is signified by creatures of the earth, air, and sea, n. 405. See Beasts, Fowls, and Fish.

Cross [crux]. The cross signifies temptations, shown n. 639. To crucify signifies many things, principally to deny the Lord to be the son of God, n. 504.

Crown [corona]. Crown signifies wisdom, illustrated and shown n. 189, 252. A crown signifies an ensign of warfare and victory, shown n. 300. Hence a crown was an ensign of victory to martyrs because they had conquered in temptations, n. 103.

Crucify, to [crucifigere]. See Cross.

Crying, or a Cry [clamor]. Crying or a cry is spoken of grief and fear of the falsities from hell, and thence of damnation, shown n. 885. It is spoken of every affection breaking out from the heart, n. 885.

Cunning [astus]. See Deceit.

Cup [poculum]. A cup, chalice, platter, vial signify the same as the things contained in them; if wine is in them, they signify truth or falsity, illustrated and shown n. 672. A bottle or pitcher signifies the same, shown n. 672 toward the end. Vials full of the wrath of God signify the evils falsities in the church 673. To pour out the vials upon the earth, and upon the sea signifies influx into the church, n. 676, 677, 680.

Cursed Thing [devotum]. A cursed thing signifies evil, which separates the Lord from man, n. 937.

Custody [custodia]. See Bound and Captive.

788. 18:19 "And they put dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning, and saying, 'Woe, woe, that great city!'" This symbolizes their interior and exterior grief and mourning, which is a lamentation that so eminent a religion was completely destroyed and condemned.

Putting dust on their heads symbolizes their interior and exterior grief and mourning over the destruction and damnation, as we will show below. To cry out, weeping and mourning, symbolizes their exterior grief and mourning - to weep symbolizing a mourning of the soul, and to grieve a grief of the heart. "Woe, woe, that great city!" symbolizes a grievous lamentation over the destruction and damnation. That "woe" symbolizes a lamentation over a calamity, misfortune, or damnation, and that "woe, woe," therefore symbolizes a grievous lamentation, may be seen in nos. 416, 769, 785; and that the city symbolizes the Roman Catholic religion may be seen in no. 785 and elsewhere.

That putting dust on the head symbolizes an interior grief and mourning over a destruction and damnation is clear from the following passages:

They will cry bitterly and cast dust on their heads; they will roll about in ashes. (Ezekiel 27:30)

(The daughters) of Zion sit on the ground...; they have cast dust on their heads... (Lamentations 2:10)

(Job's friends) rent their tunics and sprinkled dust upon their heads... (Job 2:12)

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne... (Isaiah 47:1)

And so on elsewhere.

The people put dust on their heads when they grieved deeply, because dust symbolized something damned, as is apparent from Genesis 3:14, Matthew 10:14, Mark 6:11, Luke 10:10-12, and dust on the head represented the people's acknowledgment that of themselves they were damned, and thus their repentance, as in Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13.

Dust symbolizes something damned because the land over the hells in the spiritual world consists of nothing but dust, without grass or plants.

531. To this I will append the following account:

I was suddenly seized with an almost fatal illness. My whole head was weighed down. A toxic smoke emanated from the Jerusalem called Sodom and Egypt. I was half-dead with the fierce pain. I awaited the end. In that state I lay in my bed for three and a half days. Thus was my spirit afflicted, and because of it my body.

And then I heard about me voices saying, "Look, there he lies dead in our city's street, the one who preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins and Christ alone, a man." And they asked some of the clergy whether they ought to bury him.

The clerics said, "No. Let him lie there for people to see."

The people went to and fro, scoffing.

In truth this happened to me when I was expounding this chapter of the book of Revelation.

I heard then the sober words of the people scoffing, especially the following:

"How can one repent apart from faith? How can Christ, a man, be worshiped as God? Since we are saved by grace apart from any merit of our own, what need do we have then of anything but simply a faith that God the Father sent His Son to take away the condemnation of the Law, to impute His Son's merit to us and thus justify us in His sight, to absolve us of our sins through His emissary the priest, and to grant us then the Holy Spirit to bring about any goodness in us? Does this not accord with Scripture, and also with reason?"

At that the crowd standing around applauded.

[2] I heard this, but could not reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three and a half days my spirit recovered, and in the spirit I went from the street into the city and said again, "Repent and believe in Christ, and your sins will be forgiven you and you will be saved. If you don't, you will perish. Didn't the Lord Himself preach repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and for people to believe in Him? Didn't He command His disciples to preach this, too? The dogma attending your faith - is it not followed by a lack of concern over the way you live?"

But they said, "What nonsense are you prattling on about? Did not the Son make satisfaction? Did the Father not impute this to us and justify those of us who believe it? We are led, therefore, by the spirit of grace. What then is sin in us? What then does death have to do with us? Do you not comprehend this gospel, you preacher of sin and repentance?"

However, a voice was heard from heaven then, saying, "What is the faith of an impenitent person but a lifeless one? The end is coming. The end is coming upon you so unconcerned, so blameless in your own eyes, so justified in that faith of yours, you who are devils."

Then suddenly a chasm opened at the center of that city and widened, and one after another their houses fell and were swallowed up. And shortly water bubbled up from that broad gulf and flooded the devastated land.

[3] When they were thus covered with water and seemingly drowned, I wished to know their fate at the bottom, and I was told from heaven, "You will see and hear it."

And before my eyes then the water vanished - the water in which they were seemingly drowned, because bodies of water in the spiritual world are correspondent forms, which appear therefore around people who are caught up in falsities - and I saw them then in the sandy bottom. There were heaps of piled up stones there, and the people were running among them, lamenting the fact that they had been cast down from their great city. They kept crying out and bawling, "Why has this happened to us? Thanks to our faith in the world, are we not pure, just, and godly?"

And others cried, "Has our faith not cleansed us, purified us, justified and sanctified us?"

And still others, "Has our faith not made us such that in the sight of God the Father we appear, seem, and are regarded as clean, pure, just and godly, and declared to be so in the eyes of angels? Have we not been reconciled, restored to favor, and atoned for, and so freed, washed and cleansed of any sins? Has Christ not taken away the condemnation of the Law? Why, then, have we been cast down here as though condemned?

"A brazen preacher of sin told us in our great city, 'Believe in Christ and repent.' Have we not believed in Christ, since we believed in His merit? And have we not repented, since we confessed ourselves sinners? Why, then, has this befallen us?"

[4] At that they then heard from one side a voice speaking to them. "Are you aware of any sin gripping you? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you as a result refrained from any evil as being a sin against God? Anyone who does not, remains caught up in it. Is not sin the devil? You are therefore the kind of people about whom the Lord says,

Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.' But He will say, 'I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.' (Luke 13:26-27)

"And also the kind of people spoken of in Matthew 7:22-23. ¹

"Go, therefore, each to his own place. You will see caves opening into caverns. Go in, and there each of you will be given his own work to do, and food then commensurate with the work. If you don't want to go in, still hunger will drive you to."

[5] After that a voice from heaven addressed some people aboveground who were outside that great city - people also mentioned in Revelation 11:13 - saying loudly, "Beware! Beware of allying yourselves with people like that. Can you not understand that evils called sins and iniquities render a person unclean and impure? How can a person be cleansed and purified of those evils except by actual repentance and faith in Jesus Christ? Actual repentance is to examine oneself, to recognize and acknowledge one's sins, to make oneself guilty of them, to confess them before the Lord, to implore His aid and power in resisting them, and so to refrain from them and lead a new life, doing all this as though of oneself. Do this once or twice a year when you go to Holy Communion; and afterward, when the sins of which you have made yourself guilty recur, say to yourselves, 'We refuse to do them because they are sins against God.' That is actual repentance.

[6] "Who cannot understand that someone who does not examine himself and see his sins, remains caught up in them? For every evil is delightful from one's birth, inasmuch as it is delightful to take revenge, to be licentious sexually, to prey on others, to blaspheme, and most of all to dominate others from a love of self. Does delight not cause these to go unseen? And if by chance someone says they are sins, does not the delight you find in them cause you to excuse them, even to persuade you and by false arguments convince you that they are not sins, so that you remain caught up in them and go on doing them, afterward even more than before? And this until you do not know what sin is, indeed whether there is any such thing as sin.

"It is different with someone who repents actually. His evils that he recognizes and acknowledges, he calls sins, and therefore he begins to refrain from them and to be averse to them, and to feel the delight he had felt in them as undelightful. Moreover, to the extent that he does this, to the same extent he sees and loves goods, and finally feels delight in them, a delight which is one of heaven. In a word, to the extent someone casts the devil behind him, to the same extent he is adopted by the Lord and taught, led, withheld from evils by Him and kept in goods. This is the way, the only way, from hell to heaven."

[7] Surprisingly, it is a fact that the Protestant Reformed have a certain deep-seated resistance, opposition and aversion to actual repentance, which is so great that they cannot compel themselves to examine themselves and see their sins and confess them before God. It is as though a kind of horror besets them when they go to do it.

I have asked many of them in the spiritual world about this, and they have all said that it is beyond their power.

When they are told that Roman Catholics still do it, namely that they examine themselves and openly confess their sins to a monk, they are quite surprised, saying that the Protestant Reformed cannot do this in secret to God, even though they are likewise enjoined to do it before they take Holy Supper. Some of them there also inquired into why this was, and they found that faith alone produced in them such a state of impenitence and such a disposition.

They were then given to see, moreover, that Roman Catholics who worship the Christ and do not call on their saints, and who do not worship their so-called Vicar of Christ ² or any of his keepers of the keys, are saved.

[8] After that I heard what sounded like thunder and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, "We are astonished. Tell the company of the Protestant Reformed, 'Believe in the Christ and repent and you will be saved.'"

So I said that, and also added, "Is not Baptism a sacrament of repentance and thus an initiation into the church? What else do the sponsors promise for the one being baptized than to renounce the devil and his works?

"Is not Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance and thus an initiation into heaven? Are the communicants not told to thoroughly repent before they approach?

"Any catechism containing the universal doctrine of the Christian Church, is it not a document teaching repentance? Does it not say there in reference to the six commandments of the second table that you must not do this or that evil, and say that you must do this or that good?

"You may know from this that to the extent someone refrains from evil, to the same extent he loves good; and that before then you do not know what good is, nor even what evil is."

Footnotes: