1096. Verse 2. And he cried out mightily with a great voice, signifies manifestation before heaven and in the church from joy of heart. This is evident from the signification of "crying out," as being to make manifest, namely, that the Last Judgment has been effected upon Babylon, for it is added, "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great." Also from the signification of "mightily," as being in power before heaven and in the church (of which in what follows). Also from the signification of "a great voice," as being joy of heart, for from joy of heart the voice becomes great. The joy of heart was from this, that after the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by the "harlot" (or "Babylon"), power and light came to the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord, according to those things which have been said in a preceding article. A "great voice" signifies joy of heart, because every great voice crying out comes from some affection, more intense according to the affection or degree of love. "Mightily" signifies in heaven and on earth, because might signifies power, and there was now the power to make these things manifest before heaven and before the world. That there was now this power, may be seen above (n. 1093). (Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith.) [2] The first and foremost thought that opens heaven to man is thought about God, and for the reason that God is the all of heaven, even to the extent that whether we say heaven or God it is the same thing. The things Divine that make the angels of whom heaven consists to be angels are, when taken together, God; and this is why thought about God is the first and foremost of all the thoughts that open heaven to man, for it is the head and sum of all truths and loves celestial and spiritual. But there is thought from light, and there is thought from love; thought from light alone is knowledge that there is a God, which appears like acknowledgment but is not. [3] By thought from light man has presence in heaven, but not conjunction with heaven, for the light of thought alone does not conjoin, but presents man as present to the Lord and the angels. For such light is like winter light, in which man sees with the same clearness as in summer light, and yet that light does not join itself to the earth, nor to any tree, shrub, flower, or blade of grass. Moreover, every man has implanted in him the faculty of thinking about God, and also of understanding in the light of heaven the things relating to God; but thought alone from that light, which is intellectual thought, merely causes his presence with the Lord and with angels, as has been said. [4] When a man is in mere intellectual thought about God and about things relating to God, he appears to angels at a distance like an image of ivory or marble that can walk and utter sounds, but in whose face and in whose voice there is as yet no life. Also to the angels he appears comparatively like a tree in winter time, with naked branches without leaves, and yet of which some hope is cherished that it will be covered with leaves and afterwards with fruit, when to the light heat is joined, as in the spring time. As thought about God is what primarily opens heaven, so thought against God is what primarily closes heaven.