1138. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her.- That this signifies the mourning and grief of those who acquire the things pertaining to that religion, in order to gain honours and wealth, is evident from the signification of merchants, who denote those who acquire knowledges of the truth and good of the Church, and, in the opposite sense, those who acquire knowledges of evil and falsity; consequently, in the present case, they denote those who acquire the knowledges of that religion for the sake of gain, which consists both of honours and wealth. That such is the signification of merchants may be seen above (n. 840, 1104); and from the signification of weeping and mourning, as denoting to grieve and lament. There are four kinds of men of that religion, who are described here, those called kings of the earth, those called merchants of the earth, those called merchants of wares, and those called pilots of ships with sailors; the kings of the earth are treated of in verses 9, 10; the merchants of the earth, verses 11-14; merchants of merchandise, verses 15, 16; and the pilots of ships and sailors, verses 17, 18, 19.
[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed, and concerning the Lord.- It is evident from the above that the Lord cannot lead man to heaven except by these laws, although in Him there are Divine Love from which He wills, Divine Wisdom from which He knows all things, and Divine Power - which is omnipotence - from which He can perform what He wills. For the above laws of Providence are laws of order in regard to reformation and regeneration, thus in regard to the salvation of man; against these the Lord cannot act, because to act against them would be to act against His own wisdom and love, thus against Himself.
The first law, that man from sensation and perception shall have no other idea than that life is in himself, yet that he should acknowledge that the goods and truths pertaining to love and faith, which he thinks, wills, speaks, and does, are not from himself, but from the Lord, implies the second, that man possesses freedom, and that it also ought to appear as his own, but that still he ought to acknowledge that it is not so, but that it is the Lord's in him.
[3] This law follows from the former, because freedom makes one with life; for without freedom man could not feel and perceive that he has life as it were in himself, this being felt and perceived from freedom. For it appears to a man from freedom, that every action of his life is his own and proper to him, freedom being the power of thinking, willing, speaking, and acting from himself, in this case, as if from himself. And it is chiefly the power of willing; for a man says, I have the power to do what I will, and I have the will for what I have the power, that is, I am in freedom. Who, again, from freedom cannot think that one thing is good and another evil; or, that one thing is true and another false? Together with life man was therefore endowed with freedom, nor is it ever taken away from him; for in the measure that it is taken away or lessened, a man feels and perceives that he does not himself live, but another in him, and so far the delight of everything pertaining to his life is taken away and diminished, for he becomes a slave.
[4] That man from sensation and perception, has no other idea than that life is in himself, that it is thus as it were his own, needs no other confirmation than that of experience itself. For who has any other feeling or perception than that when he thinks he thinks from himself, that when he wills he wills from himself, and that when he speaks and acts he speaks and acts from himself? But it is from a law of Divine Providence that man should not know otherwise, since without such feeling and perception, he could not receive, or appropriate any thing to himself, or produce any thing from himself, thus he would not be a recipient of life and an agent of life from the Lord. He would be like an automaton, or an image without understanding and will, standing with hands hanging down, in expectation of influx, which would not be imparted; for life, in consequence of non-reception and non-appropriation on man's part, would not be retained, but would pass through, whence man, from being alive, would become as it were dead, and from being a rational soul would become irrational, thus either a brute or a stock. For he would be without the delight of life, the delight which every one has from receiving, appropriating, and producing as if from himself; and yet delight and life act in unity, for take away all the delight of life, and you will become cold and die.
[5] If it were not from a law of Divine Providence, that man should feel and perceive as if life and everything pertaining to it were in himself, and he were merely to acknowledge that good and truth are not from himself, but from the Lord, nothing would be imputed to him - neither good nor truth, thus neither love nor faith. And if nothing were to be imputed, the Lord would not have commanded in the Word, that man should do good and shun evil, and that if he did good, heaven would be his inheritance, but if evil, his lot would be hell; in fact, there would be neither heaven nor hell, since, without that perception, man would not be man, thus he would not be the habitation of the Lord. For the Lord desires to be loved by man as if it were from man himself; thus the Lord dwells with him in what is his own, which He has given to him for the sake of this end, that He may be loved in return. For the Divine love consists in this, that it desires that what belongs to itself should belong to man, and this would not be the case unless man felt and perceived that what is from the Lord is, as it were, his own.
[6] If it were not from a Divine law, that man from sensation and perception should have no other idea than that life is in himself, man would have no end, for the sake of which to act; he has such an end, however, because the end from which he acts appears to be as it were in himself. The end from which he acts is his love, which is his life, and the end for the sake of which he acts, is the delight of his love or life, and the effect in which the end presents itself is use. The end for the sake of which he acts which is the delight of the love of life, is felt and perceived in man, because the end from which he acts gives him the feeling and perception of it, and this end is, as was said, love, which is life. But when a man acknowledges that all things belonging to his life are from the Lord, He imparts the delight and blessedness of His love, so far as he makes this acknowledgment and performs uses. Thus while man by acknowledgment and faith from love as from himself, ascribes to the Lord everything belonging to his life, the Lord, on the other hand, ascribes to him the good of his life, which is attended with every satisfaction and blessedness. The Lord also permits him from what is interior to have an exquisite feeling and perception of this good in himself as though it were his own, and the more exquisite in proportion as he wills from the heart what he acknowledges in faith. Perception is then reciprocal; for it is pleasing to the Lord that He is in man, and man in Him; and is attended with satisfaction for man that he is in the Lord, and the Lord in him. Such is the union of time Lord with man, and of man with the Lord, by means of love.
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