1151. And ointment and frankincense.- That these signify worship from spiritual love, profaned, is evident from the signification of ointment, which denotes the good of spiritual love, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of frankincense, which denotes the truth of spiritual good (concerning which see above, n. 491). The reason why spiritual love is signified by ointment and frankincense, is that by means of these incense offerings were made, and the incense from the fragrant fumes that ascended from the holy fire in the censers signified spiritual love. Spiritual love is love towards the neighbour, which makes one with the love of uses. There are two loves pertaining to heaven, and thence to the church, from which the Lord is worshipped, celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbour; the former love is signified by cinnamon and perfumes, the latter by ointment and frankincense. All worship also is from love. That worship which is not from the one love or the other is not worship, but only an external act, in which there is interiorly nothing of the church. That the burning of incense signified worship from spiritual love may be seen above (n. 324, 491, 492, 494, 567). By ointment is meant that which was composed of aromatics, and used for incense, as is evident from these words in Moses:

"Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, sweet smelling and pure frankincense; and thou shalt make it an incense, an ointment, the work of the maker of ointment; tempered together, pure, holy; and thou shalt beat of it very small, and shalt put of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with thee; it shall be the holy of holies unto you" (Exodus 30:34-37).

Here all those things together are called the ointment of the maker of ointment. These things are explained in detail in the Arcana Coelestia 10289-10308).

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- There is infernal freedom, and there is heavenly freedom. Infernal freedom is that into which a man is born from his parents, and heavenly freedom is that into which he is brought by reformation by the Lord. From infernal freedom man derives the will of evil, the love of evil, and the life of evil; but from heavenly freedom he derives the will of good, the love of good, and the life of good; for as was said previously, the will, the love, and the life of man make one with his freedom. These two kinds of freedom are opposite to each other, but the opposite does not appear, except so far as man is in the one and not in the other. Nevertheless man cannot come out of infernal freedom into heavenly freedom, unless he compels himself. To compel oneself is to resist evil, and to fight against it as if from himself, but still to implore the Lord for aid to do so; it is thus that a man fights from the freedom which is from the Lord interiorly in himself, against the freedom which is from hell exteriorly in himself. It appears to him, while he is in the combat, that it is not freedom from which he fights, but a kind of compulsion, because it is against that freedom which is born with him; nevertheless, it is freedom, since otherwise he would not fight as if of himself.

[3] But the interior freedom from which he fights, though appearing like compulsion, is afterwards felt as freedom, for it becomes as if involuntary, spontaneous, and as it were innate. The case is comparatively, like that of a man who compels his hand to write, to work, to play upon a musical instrument, or to fence, the hands and arms afterwards performing these actions as if of themselves, and of their own accord; for man in such a case is in good, because removed from evil, and led by the Lord.

When a man has compelled himself against infernal freedom, he then sees and perceives that such freedom is servitude and that heavenly freedom is freedom itself, because from the Lord. The case in itself is this, that so far as a man compels himself by resisting evils, so far are the infernal societies with which he acted in unison removed from him, and he is introduced by the Lord into heavenly societies, that he may act in unison with them. On the other hand, if a man does not compel himself to resist evils, he remains in them. That this is the case, has been made known to me by much experience in the spiritual world and further, that evil does not recede in consequence of any compulsion effected by punishments, nor afterwards by any fear induced by punishments.

491. Having a golden censer.- This signifies the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good, and thus the conjunction of the higher heavens, as is evident from the signification of a censer, which denotes worship from spiritual good, for that worship was represented by the incense from the censers, as may be seen above (n. 324). To have a golden censer signifies the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good, because the angel standing at the altar had the censer, and by the altar is signified worship from celestial good, and by the golden censer, spiritual good from celestial good; gold also signifies celestial good. The censers which were in use amongst the Jewish and Israelitish nation were of brass, and the offerings of incense from those censers represented worship from spiritual good, and at the same time conjunction with natural good, for brass signifies natural good. Here therefore the golden censer signifies the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good. The reason why the conjunction of the two higher heavens is also signified, is that the good of the inmost heaven is celestial good, and the good of the middle heaven spiritual good. When, therefore, the conjunction of those goods is referred to, the conjunction of the heavens is also understood, because good is that which makes heaven. Celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and makes the highest or inmost heaven, and spiritual good is the good of love towards the neighbour, and makes the heaven below that, and this is called the second and middle heaven.

[2] That frankincense signifies in the Word spiritual good, and similarly the censer which contained it, the thing containing being assumed for what is contained, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

"I have not made thee to serve with a meat-offering, nor wearied thee with frankincense" (43:23).

Both the meat-offering and frankincense are mentioned, because the meat-offering, which was bread made of fine flour, signifies celestial good, wherefore frankincense signifies spiritual good. The reason why both are named is, that in every part of the Word there is the marriage of good and truth; that is to say, where good is treated of, truth is also treated of; and spiritual good in its essence is truth. From these things it is evident, that frankincense denotes spiritual good, or the truth of celestial good. This is further evident from other passages in which meat-offering and frankincense are mentioned; as in Isaiah:

"Causing the meat-offering to ascend, offering incense" (66:3).

[3] So again, in Jeremiah:

"They offered burnt-offering and sacrifice, and meat-offering, and frankincense" (17:26).

Burnt-offering also signifies worship from the good of celestial love, and sacrifice, worship from the good of spiritual love. These two goods are also signified by meat-offering and frankincense. Similarly meat-offering and incense, for incense consisted chiefly of frankincense.

In Malachi it is said,

"In every place incense, and a pure meat-offering is offered unto my name" (1:11).

In David:

"My prayers have been accepted before thee [as] incense; the lifting up of my hands [as] the meat-offering of the evening" (141:2).

Therefore oil was poured upon the meat-offering, and frankincense was put thereon (Leviticus 2:1, 2, 15). This was done in order that the meat-offering might represent the conjunction of celestial good and spiritual good, for the oil signified celestial good, and the frankincense spiritual good.

[4] Therefore frankincense was also put upon the bread of faces in the tabernacle (Leviticus 24:7), and this was done on account of the conjunction of both kinds of good; for the bread signified celestial good, and the frankincense, spiritual good; wherefore, when the frankincense was put on the bread, the conjunction of both was represented. In order to represent the conjunction of celestial good and spiritual good, a table was set in the tabernacle for the bread, and on the other side the altar for the offerings of incense was placed.

[5] Where meat-offering and frankincense are not named, oil and frankincense are mentioned, and gold and frankincense; for oil and gold, like the meat-offering, signify celestial good. Oil and incense are mentioned together in Ezekiel:

"Thou didst take mine oil and mine incense, and didst set before them" (16:18).

Gold and frankincense are mentioned in Isaiah:

"All they from Shebah shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense; and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah" (60:6).

The wise men from the east, who came to the new-born Christ, opened their treasures and "presented gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh" (Matthew 2:11).

Gold signified celestial good; frankincense, spiritual good; and myrrh, natural good thence; thus the three goods of the three heavens. From these things the signification of the angel seen at the altar having a golden censer is now evident. For the altar was representative of celestial good, and the censer of spiritual good, and both together were representative of the conjunction of celestial good with spiritual good, or, what is the same thing, of the conjunction of the higher heavens, or of the heaven of the celestial angels with the heaven of the spiritual angels.