1061. Verse 9. This is the mind that hath wisdom, signifies the understanding of these things in the natural sense from the spiritual. This is evident from the signification of "this is the mind," as being the understanding of these things; also from the signification of "having wisdom," as being one who is able to see what is represented and thus signified by the vision, particularly by "the scarlet beast" and "its seven heads and ten horns." But in a sense abstracted from person, "having wisdom" means the explanation from the spiritual sense of the thing represented in the natural sense, thus the explanation of what is meant by "the seven mountains" and "the seven kings," which are signified by "the seven heads." For the explanation given by the angel, that the "seven heads" are "seven mountains upon which the woman sitteth," and that they are "seven kings, five of whom have fallen, and the one is, and the other is not yet come," with what follows, is not an explanation from the spiritual sense in the natural sense, but is an explanation in a sense merely natural, in which the spiritual sense lies concealed, and this sense must be unfolded; and it is unfolded when it is explained what is signified by "the seven mountains," "the seven kings," "the five that have fallen," and "the one that is," and so on; therefore this is what is meant by "having wisdom," as also above:
Here is wisdom. He that hath intelligence let him count the number of the beast (Rev. 13:18). The angel did not explain the vision in the natural sense from the spiritual, because his explanation constitutes the Word in the letter; and the Word in the letter must be natural, in every particular of which the spiritual sense must be stored up; otherwise the Word would not serve the heavens as a basis; nor would it serve the church as the means for its conjunction with heaven. For the same reason when angels explain visions elsewhere in the Word, as in Daniel and the rest of the prophets, they explain them in a sense merely natural, and not at all in the natural sense from the spiritual. The natural sense from the spiritual, is when the signification of "the seven mountains," "the seven kings," and the other things is explained, namely, that "mountains" signify the goods of the Word, and "seven mountains" these profaned; and that "kings" signify the truths of the Word, and "seven kings" these profaned. This is the natural sense from the spiritual sense, which is called the internal sense, also the spiritual-natural sense.
(Continuation respecting the Fourth Kind of Profanation)
[2] The fourth kind of profanation is to lead a life of piety, by frequenting temples, listening devoutly to preachings, observing the sacrament of the Supper, and the other appointed forms of worship, reading the Word at home, and sometimes books of devotion, and habitually praying morning and evening, and yet making the precepts of life that are in the Word, and particularly in the Decalogue, of no account, by acting dishonestly and unjustly in business and in judgments for the sake of gain or influenced by friendship; committing whoredom and adultery when lust inflames and urges; burning with hatred and revenge against those who do not favor their gain or honor; lying and speaking wickedly of the good, and well of the evil, and so on. When a man is in these evils, and has not been purified from them by turning away from them and hating them, and still worships God devoutly, as has been said above, then he profanes; for he mingles his internals which are impure with externals that are pious, and these he defiles. For there can be nothing external that does not proceed and exist from internals. The actions and speech of man are his externals, and thoughts and volitions are his internals. Man can speak only from thought, and can act only from volition. When the life of the thoughts and of the will is imbued with cunning, malice, and violence, it must needs be that these, as interior crimes of the life, will flow into the speech and actions pertaining to worship and piety, and defile them as filth defiles waters. [3] This worship is what is meant by "Gog and Magog" (Rev. 20:8), and is thus described in Isaiah:
What is the multitude of sacrifices unto Me, meal-offering, incense, Sabbaths, new moons, appointed feasts, and prayers, when your hands are full of bloods? Wash you, make you clean, put away the wickednesses of your doings; cease to do evil (Isa. 1:11-19). This kind of profanation is not hypocritical like the former, because the man who is in it believes that he will be saved by external worship separate from internal, and does not know that the worship by which he is saved is external worship from internal.
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