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.

10545. 'And Moses took a tent' means the holiness of worship, the Church, and the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'a tent' in the highest sense as the Lord, also heaven and the Church, and in the relative sense as everything holy belonging to heaven and the Church, consequently also the holiness of worship and the holiness of the Word; for worship and the Word belong to the Church, and they are the Lord's since they are derived from Him. The reason why 'a tent' means these things is that the most ancient people used to live in tents and also to hold their holy worship in them. Among these people the celestial Church existed, and this was holier than all the Churches that came after it. For the one they worshipped was the Lord; for them Jehovah was none other than Him. And since it was He who led them, they were in direct contact with the angels of heaven, as a consequence of which they possessed heavenly wisdom that comes from the Lord. The establishment of that Church is what the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis describes, and their wisdom is what paradise describes; for 'heaven and earth' in the Word means the Church, 'paradise' means intelligence and wisdom, and 'man' (homo) means the Church itself, as does 'the ground', from which the name Adam derives.

'Heaven and earth' in the Word means the Church, 'heaven' the internal Church and 'earth' the external Church, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355(end), 4535, 10373.

Intelligence and wisdom is described by paradise-like and other gardens, 100, 108, 2702, 3220.

'Man' means the Church, 478, 768, 4287, 9276, and so does 'the ground', 566, 1068.

'Creating man' means establishing the Church, 16, 88, 10373.

See in addition 8891, 9942.

[2] Because this Church was the Lord's beloved more than all the rest and the Lord had His home with them in their tents (for the Lord is said to have His home with the person who loves Him, John 14:23), therefore to commemorate these things the tabernacle or tent of meeting was erected among the Israelite nation, to house their holy worship. And this was why the feast of tabernacles or tents was instituted.

[3] The fact that 'tent' means those holy things, and in particular the holiness of worship, is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Sing, O barren one that did not bear. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:1-2.

'Enlarging the place of the tent' means doing so to the things which belong to the Church and consequently to those which belong to worship. 'Stretching out the curtains of the dwelling-places' means multiplying truths, 'curtains' meaning the Church's truths, see 9595, 9596, 9606, 9756. 'Barren one' means the person with whom the Church's truths and forms of good have not existed hitherto, 3908, 9325.

[4] In Jeremiah,

The whole land has been laid waste. Suddenly My tents have been laid waste, My curtains in a moment. Jeremiah 4:20.

'The land' means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325; and since the Church is the Church by virtue of forms of the good of love and by virtue of the truths of faith it says that tents and curtains have been laid waste, 'tents' being the Church's forms of good and 'curtains' its truths.

[5] In the same prophet,

My tent has been laid waste, and all My ropes torn away. My sons have gone away from Me, and they are not. There is no one stretching out My tent any more, or setting up My curtains. For the shepherds have become stupid. Jeremiah 10:20-21.

Similar things are meant here by 'tent' and 'curtains'. 'Ropes torn away' means that goodness and truth are no longer joined together, nor truths to one another. Therefore also it says 'My sons have gone away', for truths are meant by 'sons'.

'Ropes' means a joining together, see 9777, 9854, 9880.

'Sons' means truths, 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 9807.

[6] In David,

O Jehovah, who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and who does righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. Psalms 15:1-2.

'Sojourning in Jehovah's tent' means abiding in heaven, and in the good of love there. In the same author,

I will remain in Your tent forever. Psalms 61:4.

Here the meaning is similar.

[7] In Amos,

On that day I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen down, and I will close up its breaches and restore its destroyed places. Amos 9:11.

'The tent of David' means the Lord's Church and the holiness that goes with worship of Him. 'Closing up breaches and restoring destroyed places' means renewing those things by moving falsities away from them. 'David' in the Word means the Lord, see 1888, 9954, so that 'the tent of David' means the Lord's Church and the holiness that goes with worship. In Jeremiah,

Behold, I will bring back the captivity ¹ of the tents of Jacob, and will have compassion on his dwellings. Jeremiah 30:18.

'The tents of Jacob' and 'his dwellings' stand for the Church's forms of good and its truths.

[8] Since forms of good present in the Church and in worship are meant by 'tents', forms of evil present in worship and in the Church are meant in the contrary sense by 'tents', as may be recognized from the following places: In Jeremiah,

I will liken the daughter of Zion to one who is comely. Shepherds and their flocks will come to her and pitch their tents against her round about. Jeremiah 6:2-3.

In the same prophet,

Go up against Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. They will take their tents and their flocks, their curtains and all their vessels. Jeremiah 49:28-29.

In Hosea,

What will you do on the solemn day, and on the day of the feast of Jehovah? For behold, they have gone away on account of the devastation; the thorn will possess their precious things of silver, the nettle will be in their tents. Hosea 9:5-6.

In David,

He smote all the firstborn of Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Psalms 78:51.

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