803. And there was given to him authority over every tribe and tongue and nation, signifies domination over all the truths and goods of the church, and over the doctrine of faith and love. This is evident from the signification of "authority," as being domination; also from the signification of "tribe," as being the truths and goods of the church in general (See above, n. 39, 330, 430, 431, 454, 657). Also from the signification of "tongue," as being the doctrine of the church, also confession and religion (See above, n. 330, 455, 625, 657), here the doctrine of faith; also from the signification of "nation," as being the good of love, likewise the doctrine of love, and thence of the church (See above, n. 175, 331, 625, 657). From this it can be seen that "authority was given to the beast over every tribe and tongue and nation" signifies domination over all the truths and goods of the church, and over the doctrine of faith and love. And as "the beast" signifies faith separated from the life, corroborated and established by reasonings from the natural man, it follows that to such a faith domination is given over all things of the church and its doctrine. It is evident that domination was given to this faith, since faith alone is the universal prevailing principle in the churches; for it has been taken to be the essential means of salvation, as is clearly evident from the doctrines of the churches, as well as from the verbal profession of the men of the church, and in general from their lives; also from this, that they do not know what charity and love are, consequently what works are. And as such is the domination of faith separate, so it has domination over all the truths and goods of the church, and extinguishes them by falsifying, perverting, and adulterating them; for where that faith rules there is no longer anything good, and thence no truth.

[2] It is known that faith from love is the essential means of salvation, and thus is the principle of the doctrine of the church; but since it is important to know how a man can be in such enlightenment as to learn the truths that must constitute his faith and in such affection as to do the goods that must constitute his love, and thus can know whether his faith is a belief in truth and his love a love of good, this shall be told in its proper order, as follows: 1. Let him read the Word every day, one or two chapters, and learn from a master and from preachings the dogmas of his religion; and especially let him learn that God is one, and that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth (John 3:35; 17:2; Matthew 11:27; 28:18), that the Word is holy, that there is a heaven and a hell, and that there is a life after death.

2. Let him learn from the Word, from a master, and from preachings, what works are sins, and that they are especially adulteries, thefts, murders, false witness, and the others mentioned in the Decalogue; likewise that lascivious and obscene thoughts are also adulteries, that frauds and illicit gains are also thefts, that hatred and revenge are also murders, and that lies and blasphemies are also false witness; and so on. Let him learn all these things from childhood to youth.

3. When man begins to think for himself, which is the case after he has grown up, it must be to him the first and chief thing to refrain from doing evils for the reason that they are sins against the Word, thus against God, and for the reason that if he does them he will gain, not life eternal, but hell; and afterwards as he grows up and becomes old he must shun them as damned, and must turn away from them in thought and intention. But in order to so refrain from them and shun and turn away from them, he must pray to the Lord for help. The sins he must refrain from and must shun and turn away from are chiefly adulteries, frauds, illicit gains, hatreds, revenges, lies, blasphemies, and elation of mind.

4. So far as man detests these evils because they are opposed to the Word, and thence opposed to God, so far there is granted him communication with the Lord, and conjunction is effected with heaven. For the Lord enters, and with the Lord heaven enters, as sins are removed; since these and their falsities are the sole hindrances. The reason is because man has been placed in the midst between heaven and hell, wherefore hell acts from the one side, and heaven from the other; therefore so far as evils that are from hell are removed, so far goods from heaven enter; for the Lord says:

Behold I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hear and open the door, I will come in to him (Revelation 3:20).

But if man refrains from doing these evils for any other reason than because they are sins, and are opposed to the Word and because thence to God, no conjunction of heaven with him is effected, because his refraining is from self, and not from the Lord. The Lord is in the Word, even so that He is called the Word (John 1:1-4), because the Word is from Him; consequently the conjunction of heaven with the man of the church is by means of the Word, as may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 303-310.

5. So far, then, as man detests these sins so far good affections enter. Then so far as he detests adulteries so far chastity enters; so far as he detests frauds and unlawful gains so far sincerity and justice enter; so far as he detests hatred and revenge so far charity enters; so far as he detests lies and blasphemies so far truth enters; and so far as he detests elation of mind so far humility before God and love of the neighbor as oneself enter; and so on. From this it follows that to shun evils is to do goods.

6. So far as a man is in these good affections he is led by the Lord and not by self; and so far as he acts from them so far he does what is good, because he does this from the Lord and not from self; and then he acts from chastity, from sincerity and justice, from charity, from truth, in humility before God; and from these no one can act from self.

7. The spiritual affections that are granted by the Lord to him who is in them and who acts from them, are the affection of knowing and understanding the truths and goods of heaven and the church, together with the affection of willing and doing them; also the affection of combating with zeal against falsities and evils and dispersing them, both with himself and with others. From this man has faith and love, and from this he has intelligence and wisdom.

8. Thus and in no other way is man reformed; and so far as he knows and believes truths, and wills and does them, so far is he regenerated, and from natural becomes spiritual. The like is true of his faith and his love.

[3] If evils have not been removed because they are sins nothing that a man thinks, speaks, wills, and does, is good or true before God, however it may appear as if good and true before the world. The reason is that they are not from the Lord but from man, since it is the love of the man and of the world from which they are, and which is in them. Most people at this day believe that they will come into heaven if they have faith, live piously, and do goods; and yet they do not turn away from evils because they are sins, consequently they either do them or believe them to be allowable; and those who believe them to be allowable do them when opportunity is given. But let them know that their faith is not faith, that their pious things are not pious, and that their goods are not goods; for they flow from the impurities that lie inwardly concealed with man; and externals derive everything that they are from internals. For the Lord says:

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside may become clean also (Matthew 23:26).

From this it can now be seen that if a man were able to fulfill all things of the law, if he should give much to the poor, if he should do good to the fatherless and the widow, and if he should also give bread to the hungry and drink to the thirsty, take in the strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and go to them that are bound in prison, if he should earnestly preach the Gospel, convert the Gentiles, frequent temples, listen devoutly to preachings, observe the sacrament of the Supper often every year, spend his time in prayer, and other things; and his internal has not been purified from hatred and revenge, from craftiness and malice, from insincerity and injustice, from the filthy delight of adultery, from the love of self and the consequent love of rule, and the pride of self-intelligence, from contempt of others in comparison with oneself, and from the other evils and their falsities; still all these works would be hypocritical and from the man himself, and not from the Lord. And yet these same works, when the internal has been purified, are all good, because they are from the Lord with man, and since the man is in the faith and in the love of doing these works he will do them as a matter of course. This has been proved to me by a thousand examples in the spiritual world. I have there heard that it has been granted to many to recall the actions of their life in the world, and to enumerate the goods they had done; but when their internal was opened it was found to be full of every evil and the falsity therefrom; and it was then disclosed to them that the goods they had enumerated had been done from self, because for the sake of self and the world, and that they were full of evils from their interiors; and on this account they appeared either as if scorched with fire, or as if sooty.

[4] But it was otherwise with those who from the Word had abstained from doing evils, and had afterwards shunned them and turned away from them because they were sins and were opposed to love to God and to charity towards the neighbor. Although there was a similar perception to them that their works were done as if from self, yet they were all good, and appeared in the light of heaven like white snow and wool (Isaiah 1:12-18). These are the works that are meant in the Word by the works that can in no wise be separated from faith; for faith separated from them is dead, and a dead faith is a faith in falsity from an evil love; or it is the thought that a thing is true, while the life is still evil.

That abstaining from evils for any reason whatever except from the Word does not purify the internal man is evident from the origin of evil works and from the origin of good works. For example, he that abstains from adulteries from fear of the civil law and its punishments, from fear of the loss of reputation and thus of honor, from fear of deprivations arising from poverty, parsimony, or avarice, from fear of consequent illness, from fear of brawls at home with the wife and the consequent intranquility of life, from fear of chastisement by the servants of the injured husband, from infirmity arising from abuse, or age, or impotence, or even from natural goodness and consequent moral goodness, that is, as not being proper and honorable, and so on, and if for such reasons only he lives chastely still he is interiorly unchaste and an adulterer, so long as he does not abstain from these evils from spiritual faith, which is a belief that adulteries are infernal because they are contrary to the Divine Law, and thus contrary to the fear of God and to love of the neighbor. And so in all other cases.

[5] From what has now been presented it can be seen what the internal and the external are, also what faith and love are, namely, that faith and love are with man when his internal has been purified from evils in the manner just described, and that they are not in him if it be not purified, and that where faith and love are, there is heaven, and where faith and love are not, there is hell. More on this may be seen hereafter n. 825.

625. Upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings, signifies with all who are in truths and goods in respect to life, and at the same time in goods and truths in respect to doctrine according to each one's religion, consequently to teach the Word in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "peoples and nations," as being those who are of the spiritual church and those who are of the celestial church; those who are of the spiritual church are called in the Word "peoples," but those who are of the celestial church are called "nations." Those who are of the spiritual church, who are called "peoples," are they who are in truths in respect to doctrine and life; and they who are of the celestial church, who are called "nations," are they who are in the good of love to the Lord, and thus in good in respect to life. (But on this signification of "peoples and nations" in the Word, see above, n. 175, 331.) Also from the signification of "tongues and many kings," as being those who are in goods and truths in respect to life and doctrine, but according to each one's religion; for "tongues" signify the goods of truth and confession of these according to each one's religion (See above, n. 330, 455); and "kings" signify truths that are from good, and "many kings" various truths from good, but according to each one's religion. (That "kings" signify truths from good, see above, n. 31, 553)

[2] "Many kings" signify various truths that are from good, because the peoples and nations outside of the church were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine, and yet because they lived a life of love to God and of charity towards the neighbor the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths, for the reason that there was inwardly in their falsities the good of love, and the good of love gives its quality to every truth, and in this case it gives its quality to the falsity that such accept as truth; and moreover, the good that lies concealed within causes such when they come into the other life to perceive genuine truths and accept them. Again there are truths that are only appearances of truth, like those truths that are in the sense of the letter of the Word; these appearances of truth are accepted by the Lord as genuine truths when there is in them the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbor; and with such in the other life the good that lies hidden within dissipates the appearances, and makes bare the spiritual truths which are genuine truths. From this it can be seen what is here meant by "many kings." (But respecting the falsities in which there is good that exist among the Gentiles, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21.)

[3] From what has been said and shown in this and the preceding article, it can be seen that "he must again prophesy upon peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings" signifies that the Word must still be taught to those who are in goods and truths in respect to doctrine, and thence are in life; but as it is said "upon peoples, nations, tongues, and kings," these words signify also that the Word must be taught in respect to the goods of life and the truths of doctrine, for these two are what the Word in its whole complex contains.

[4] This is the sense of these words abstracted from persons, which is the truly spiritual sense. The sense of the letter in most places has regard to persons, and mentions persons, but the truly spiritual sense is without any regard whatever to persons. For angels who are in the spiritual sense of the Word have no idea of person or of place in any particular of what they think or speak, for the idea of person or of place limits and confines the thoughts, and thereby renders them natural; it is otherwise when the idea is abstracted from persons and places. It is from this that angels have intelligence and wisdom, and that thence angelic intelligence and wisdom are ineffable. While man lives in the world he is in natural thought, and natural thought derives its ideas from persons, places, times, and material things, and if these should be taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for without these he comprehends nothing; but angelic thought is apart from ideas drawn from persons, places, times, and material things; and this is why angelic thought and speech are ineffable, and to man also incomprehensible.

[5] And yet a man who has lived in the world a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor comes, after his departure from the world, into that ineffable intelligence and wisdom; for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened, and then the man, when he becomes an angel, thinks and speaks from that mind, and consequently thinks and speaks such things as he could not utter or comprehend in the world. Such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind, every man has; but because man while in the world speaks, sees, hears, and feels, by means of a material body, that mind lies hidden within the natural mind, or lives above it; and what man thinks in that mind he is wholly ignorant of; for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind, and there limits, bounds, and so presents itself as to be seen and perceived. So long as man is in the body in the world, he does not know that he has within him this mind, and in it possesses angelic intelligence and wisdom, because, as has been said, all things that abide there flow into the natural mind, and thus become natural according to correspondences. This has been said to make known what the Word is in the spiritual sense, which sense is wholly abstracted from persons and places, that is, from such things as derive their quality from the material things of the body and the world.