898. Write. That this signifies certainty, is evident from the signification of writing, as denoting certainty. For what is said from heaven, and commanded to be written, is as if it had been written down; thus it is truth, and consequently certain; here that those who suffer spiritual temptations shall have consolations, and be blessed.

The reason why to write signifies certainty is, that writing is the final act of the thought and consequently of discourse, and therefore certain, because terminated. None of the things that a man wills, thinks, and thence speaks, but does not ultimate by doing them, are yet in man's life; for the ultimate is wanting, in which prior things coexist. That by writing is thence signified to inscribe on the life may be seen above (n. 222).