[186.] 49. That by the dragon are meant those caught up in faith alone was apparent from the following events. It is recorded that the dragon stood by the woman about to give birth in order to devour her child.* And the fact that by the child which the woman was about to give birth to is meant doctrine regarding the Lord and the life of charity became evident from this, that when I was writing that doctrine, I had present with me many of those spirits caught up in faith alone, in such a rage that I could scarcely have continued to write if I had not been protected by the Lord through his angels; and it seemed as though they were trying to rip up the doctrine and tear it to shreds. By the woman there is meant the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and by the child, its doctrine concerning the Lord and the life of charity; and by the dragon are meant those who were caught up in faith alone, because they behaved as reported then, and were those who were about to do as afterward described, namely, to persecute the woman in order to swallow her up by spewing out water like a flood. "Water like a flood" symbolically means falsities. * Revelation 12:1-6, 13-17.