836. [verse 21] 'And the rest were slain by the sword of the One sitting upon the horse, proceeding out of His mouth' signifies that all [who are] of the various heresies among the Reformed who have not lived in accordance with the Lord's precepts in the Word that they were aware of, being judged out of the Word, perish. By 'the rest' are understood all [who are] of the various heresies among the Reformed, who have not lived in accordance with the Lord's precepts in the Word that they were aware of, which are the precepts of the Decalogue, thus who do not flee from evils as sins. For those who do not flee from them are in evils of every kind, for they are lodged with them from birth and consequently from infancy even to the end of life, and they increase daily if not removed by actual repentance. It is said of these that 'they were slain by the sword of the One sitting upon the horse'. By 'to be slain' is signified here, as often before, to be slain spiritually, which is to perish as to the soul. By 'the sword of the One sitting upon the horse, proceeding out of His mouth' are signified truths of the Word fighting against untruths of evil; for by 'sword' (gladius), 'short sword' (machoera) and 'long sword' (romphaea) is signified truth fighting against untruth and untruth fighting against truth (n. 52). But a 'sword' is upon the thigh, resulting in a combat from love; a 'short sword' is in the hand, resulting in a combat from power; a 'long sword' is of the mouth, resulting in a combat from doctrine; and therefore 'the long sword proceeding out of the Lord's mouth' is combat out of the Word against untruth (n. 108, 117, 827), for the Word proceeded out of the Lord's mouth. The reason why it treats here of combat with the Reformed and not with the Babylonians, is because the Reformed read the Word and acknowledge the truths there as Divine truths. It is otherwise with the Babylonians. They indeed acknowledge the Word, but still they do not read it, and everyone regards the Pope's pronouncements as more excellent and of greater value (priori loco, et procul pro aequali); and therefore with them there cannot be any combat out of the Word. Also they put themselves above it and not under it. Nevertheless they are judged out of the Word and out of the Pope's pronouncements so far as these are in agreement with the Word.