388. When He opened the seventh seal. (8:1) This symbolizes an examination by the Lord of the state of the church and consequent life of people who are in His spiritual kingdom - people who are governed by charity and its accompanying faith - here people caught up in faith alone.

That this is the symbolic meaning can be seen from the particulars of this chapter, understood in its spiritual sense. For the spiritual sense in this chapter and in those that follow up to chapter sixteen deals with the inhabitants of His spiritual kingdom, who, as we said just above in no. 387, are people governed by love for the neighbor and its accompanying intelligence. But because love for the neighbor is today called charity, and intelligence is called faith, and because the examination here does not fall on people governed by charity and its accompanying faith, as these are qualities belonging to people who are in heaven, therefore the examination is one that falls on people caught up in faith alone.

Faith alone is also faith divorced from charity, because there is no conjunction of the two (see no. 417 below).

To be shown that opening a seal symbolizes an examination of the state of life, or to say the same thing, an examination of the state of the church and the consequent life, see nos. 295, 302, 309, 317, 324 above.