907. 'And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia*; the length and the breadth and the height of it were equal' signifies the quality of that Church out of the doctrine was shown, that all the things thereof were derived from the good of love. By 'to measure with a reed' is signified to get to know the quality of a thing (n. 904); and because the angel did the measuring in the presence of John, there is signified to show it that he might get to know. By' the city', here Jerusalem, is signified the Lord's New Church as to the doctrine (n. 879, 880). By 'twelve thousand stadia' are signified all the goods and truths of that Church. That 'twelve thousand' signify much the same as 'twelve', and that 'twelve' signify all goods and truths and that they are said of the Church, may be seen above (n. 348). By 'stadia' are signified similar things as by measures, and by 'measures' the quality is signified (n. 313, 486). The reason why the length, breadth and height are said to be equal is that it might be signified that all the things of that Church were derived from the good of love; for by 'length' is signified the good of love, and by 'breadth' the truth derived from that good (n. 906), and by 'height' is signified good and truth together in every degree, for 'height' is from the highest to the lowest, and what is highest descends to what is lowest by degrees, which are called degrees of altitude. In these degrees are the heavens from the highest or third to the lowest or first. A treatise (actum) concerning these degrees may be seen in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM in the Third Part. The reason why 'the length and the breadth and the height are equal' signifies that all the things are derived from the good of love is because 'the length', which signifies the good of love, precedes, and 'the breadth' is equal to this, thus like the length, and 'the height' likewise. Otherwise to what purpose would it be that the height of the city would be 12000 stadia, thus it would go up far above the clouds, even above the aerial atmosphere, the height of which does not exceed 30 stadia? In fact, it would go up far into the ether towards the zenith. That by these three [measurements] being equal is signified that all the things of that Church are derived from the good of love is plain from the things following, for it is said that 'the city was of pure gold like unto pure glass' (verse 18), and also that 'the street of the city was of pure gold as it were transparent glass' (verse 21), and by 'gold' is signified the good of love. That all the things of heaven and the Church are derived from the good of love, and the good of love is derived from the Lord, will be seen in the following paragraph. * Plural of stadium=approx. one-eighth of a mile.