The Faith that Belongs to Charity in Form

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

There are two states with the man who is being regenerated and becoming a church; namely, -

• the first when he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of charity
• the second when he is in the good of charity.

That there are these two states with the man who is being regenerated and becoming a church, has been heretofore unknown, chiefly for the reason that the man of the church has not made any distinction between truth and good, thus not between faith and charity; and also because he has had no distinct perception of the two faculties of man, which are the understanding and the will; and that the understanding sees truths and goods, and the will is affected with them and loves them.

For the same reason he could not know that the first state of the man who is being regenerated is learning truths and seeing them, and that the second state is willing and loving them. The things which a man has learned and seen are not appropriated to him until he wills and loves them; for the will is the man himself, and the understanding is his minister.

If these things had been known, it might have been known and perceived that the man who is being regenerated is endowed by the Lord with both a new understanding and a new will, and that unless he has been endowed with both, he is not a new man - for the understanding is merely the seeing of the things which the man wills and loves, and thus, as before said, is only a minister.

Consequently, the first state of the man who is being regenerated is to be led through truths to good, and the second state is to be led by means of good, and when he is in this latter state, the order has been inverted, and he is then led by the Lord; consequently, he is then in heaven, and hence in the tranquility of peace.
. . .
He who knows nothing about these two states must needs be ignorant of many things contained in the Word; for in the Word, especially the prophetic Word, the two states are distinctly described. Nay, without this knowledge, he cannot apprehend the internal sense of the Word, nor even many things which are in its literal sense, as for example the following which the Lord foretold concerning the last time of the present church, which is there called the "consummation of the age" in these passages:

Then let them that are in Judea flee unto the mountains; let him that is upon the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him that is in the field not return back to take his garments (Matt. 24:16-18).

In that day, whosoever shall be upon the house, and his vessels in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and whosoever is in the field let him likewise not return to the things that are behind him. Remember Lot's wife (Luke 17:31, 32).

The second state is here described, and that no one ought to return from that state to the first.

That these states are distinct from each other is also involved in these words in Moses:

When thou makest a new house, thou shalt make a compass to thy roof. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard nor thy field with mixed seed. Thou shalt not plough with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not put on a mixed garment of wool and linen together (Deut. 22:8-11; Lev. 19:19);

by these words is signified that he who is in the state of truth, that is, in the first state, cannot be in the state of good, that is, in the second state, nor the converse. The reason is that the one state is the inverse of the other.

• In the first state the man looks from the world into heaven
• In the second state he looks from heaven into the world

Because in the first state truths enter from the world through the intellect into the will, and there become goods, because of love; but in the second state the goods so formed go forth from heaven through the will into the intellect, and there appear in the form of faith. It is this faith which is saving, because it is from the good of love, that is, through the good of love from the Lord; for this faith belongs to charity in form.

(from Arcana Coelestia 9274)

The Divine in the Heavens is the Divine Human of the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

No other Divine is acknowledged and worshiped in the heavens than the Divine Human of the Lord; for the Divine which the Lord called His "Father," was the Divine in Him. That in the heavens no other Divine is acknowledged and worshiped than the Lord as to the Divine Human, can be seen from many of the Lord's words in the Evangelists as from these:

All things are delivered unto Me by the Father (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22).

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:34, 35).

The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).

Without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:5).

Father, all Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:10).

All power hath been given unto Me in the heavens and on earth (Matt. 28:18).

Jesus said to Peter, I will give thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth, shall be bound in the heavens; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens (Matt. 16:19).

That this is so is also plain from the fact that no one can be conjoined by faith and love with the Divine Itself without the Divine Human;

for the Divine Itself, which is called the "Father," cannot be thought of, because it is incomprehensible, and what cannot be thought of cannot become a matter of faith, nor therefore an object of love; when yet the chief of all worship is to believe in God, and to love Him above all things.

That the Divine Itself, which is the "Father," is incomprehensible, the Lord also teaches in John:

No man hath ever seen God; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath set Him forth (John 1:18).

Ye have neither ever heard the voice of the Father, nor seen His shape (John 5:37).

And that the Divine Itself, which is the "Father," is comprehensible in the Lord through His Divine Human, He again teaches in these passages:

He that seeth Me, seeth Him who sent Me (12:45).

If ye have known Me, ye have known My Father also; and henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him. He that seeth Me, seeth the Father (John 14:6-11).

All things have been delivered unto Me of My Father; and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth anyone know the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son shall be willing to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27; Luke 10:22).

That it is also said, "no one knoweth the Son but the Father," is because by the "Son" is meant the Divine truth, and by the "Father," the Divine good, both in the Lord; and the one cannot be known except from the other; and therefore the Lord first says that all things have been delivered to Him by the Father, and then that he knoweth Him to whom the Son willeth to reveal Him. From all this it is now evident that the Divine in the heavens is the Divine Human of the Lord.
. . .
... a reciprocal unition of Divine good and Divine truth, thus of the Divine Itself which is called the "Father," and of the Divine truth which is called the "Son."

That the unition was reciprocal is very evident from the words of the Lord in the following passages:

The Father and I are one; though ye believe not Me, believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:30, 38).

Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:10-11).

Jesus said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. All things that are Mine are Thine, and all Thine are Mine (John 17:1, 10).

Now hath the Son of man been glorified; and God hath been glorified in Him; and God shall glorify Him in Himself (John 13:31-32).

From these passages it can be seen that the Divine good of the Divine love, which is the "Father," was united to the Divine truth, which is the "Son," reciprocally in the Lord; and hence that His Human itself is Divine good. The like is also signified by His "coming forth from the Father, and coming into the world, and going to the Father" (John 16:27-29); and by "all things of the Father being His" (John 16:15); and by "the Father and He being one" (John 10:30).

But these things can be better apprehended from the reciprocal conjunction of good and truth in the man who is being regenerated by the Lord, for as before said the Lord regenerates man as He glorified His Human.

When the Lord is regenerating man, He insinuates the truth which is to be of faith in the man's understanding, and the good which is to be of love in his will, and therein conjoins them; and when they have been conjoined, then the truth which is of faith has its life from the good which is of love, and the good which is of love has the quality of its life from the truth which is of faith. This conjunction is reciprocally accomplished by means of good, and is called the heavenly marriage, and is heaven with man. In this heaven the Lord dwells as in His own, for all the good of love is from Him, and also all the conjunction of truth with good. The Lord cannot dwell in anything of man's own, because it is evil.

This reciprocal conjunction is what is meant by the words of the Lord in John:

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

All thing of Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, but I have been glorified in them. That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in them, and that they may be one in us (John 17:10, 21, 22).

Reciprocal conjunction is thus described; but still it is not meant that man conjoins himself with the Lord, but that the Lord conjoins with Himself the man who desists from evils;

for to desist from evils has been left to the man's decision, and when he desists, then is effected the reciprocal conjunction of the truth which is of faith and of the good which is of love from the Lord, and not at all from man; for that from himself man can do nothing of good, and thus can receive nothing of truth in good, has been known in the church;

and this also the Lord confirms in John:

Abide in Me, and I In you. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing (John 15:4, 6).

This reciprocal conjunction can be illustrated from the conjunction of the understanding and will in man; his understanding is formed from truths, and his will from goods; and truths are of faith with him, and goods are of love. Man imbibes truths from hearing, through the sense of hearing; and from reading through the sight; and stores them up in his memory. These truths relate either to the civil state, or to the moral state, and are called memory-knowledges. The love of man which is of his will through the understanding looks into these things in the memory, and from it chooses those which are in agreement with the love; and those which it chooses, it summons to itself, and conjoins with itself, and by means of them strengthens itself from day to day. Truths thus vivified by love make the man's understanding, and the goods themselves which are of the love make his will. The goods of love are also like fires there, and truths in the circumferences round about, vivified by the love, are like the light from this fire. By degrees, as the truths are kindled by this fire, there is kindled in them a desire to conjoin themselves reciprocally. From this comes a reciprocal conjunction, which is permanent.

From all this it is evident that the good of love is really that which conjoins, and not the truth of faith, except insofar as this has the good of love within it. Whether you say love, or good, it is the same, for all good is of love, and that which is of love is called good; and also whether you say love, or the will, it is likewise the same, for that which a man loves he wills.

Be it known that the things which are of the civil or moral state, just now spoken of, conjoin themselves in the external man; but those which are of the spiritual state, before spoken of, conjoin themselves in the internal man, and then through the internal in the external. For the things of the spiritual state, which are truths of faith and goods of love to the Lord, and which look to eternal life, communicate with the heavens, and open the internal man, and they open it insofar and in such a way as the truths of faith are received in the good of love to the Lord and toward the neighbor, from the Lord. From this it is evident that those are only external men who do not at the same time imbue themselves with those things which are of the spiritual state; and that those are merely sensuous men who deny these things, however intelligently they may seem to talk.

(from Arcana Coelestia 10067)

Good and Truth When Turned into Evil and Falsity

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The sense of the letter of the Word consists of appearances; while the spiritual sense puts off those appearances, and presents interior things naked, without clothing, and when these appear, they appear in a wholly different form.

The Divine good that proceeds from the Lord is united with His Divine truth, as heat from the sun is with light in the time of spring. But the angels, who are recipients of the Divine good and Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, are distinguished into celestial and spiritual. Those who receive more of the Lord's Divine good than of His Divine truth are called celestial angels; because these constitute the kingdom of the Lord that is called the celestial kingdom. But the angels who receive more of the Lord's Divine truth than of His Divine good are called spiritual angels, because the Lord's spiritual kingdom consists of these.

This makes clear that goods and truths have a twofold origin, namely, a celestial origin and a spiritual origin. Those goods and truths that are from a celestial origin are the goods and truths of love to the Lord; while those goods and truths that are from a spiritual origin are the goods and truths of love towards the neighbor. The difference is like that between higher and lower, or between interior and exterior; thus like that between things that are in a higher or interior degree, and those that are in a lower or exterior degree.

In Luke:

There was a certain rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and indulged in delicacies every day (Luke 16:19).

The "rich man" means the Jewish nation and the church therein, which was called "rich" from the knowledges of good and truth from the Word that they had, "in purple" meaning the knowledges of good, and "in fine linen" the knowledges of truth, both from a celestial origin.

Something has been said about good and truth from a celestial origin, and good and truth from a spiritual origin; and something shall now be said about the evil and falsity that are opposite to these.

As the heavens are divided into two kingdoms, namely, into a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom, so are the hells divided into two dominions opposite to those kingdoms. The dominion opposite to the celestial kingdom is called devilish, and the dominion opposite to the spiritual kingdom is called infernal. These dominions are distinguished in the Word by the names Devil and Satan. There are two dominions in the hells, because the heavens and the hells are opposite to each other; and opposite must fully correspond to opposite that there may be equilibrium. For the existence and subsistence of all things, both in the natural world and in the spiritual world, depend upon an exact equilibrium between two activities that are opposite; and when these act against each other manifestly, they act by forces, but when not manifestly they act by endeavors [conatus]. By means of equilibriums all things in both worlds are preserved; without this all things would perish. In the spiritual world the equilibrium is between good from heaven and evil from hell; and thus between truth from heaven and falsity from hell. For the Lord continually arranges that all kinds and species of good and truth in the heavens shall have opposite to them in the hells evils and falsities of kinds that correspond by opposition; thus goods and truths from a celestial origin have for their opposites evils and falsities that are called devilish; and in like manner goods and truths from a spiritual origin have for their opposites evils and falsities that are called infernal.

The cause of these equilibriums is to be found in the fact that the Divine goods and the Divine truths that the angels in the heavens receive from the Lord, the spirits in the hells turn into evils and falsities. All angels, spirits, and men are kept by the Lord in equilibrium between good and evil, and thus between truth and falsity, in order that they may be in freedom; and thus may be led from evil to good and from falsity to truth easily and as if by themselves, although in fact they are led by the Lord. For the same reason they are led in freedom from good to evil, and from truth to falsity, and this, too, as if by themselves, although the leading is from hell.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1042-1043)

The True Idea of the DIVINE ETERNITY

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Men cannot but confound the Divine Infinity with infinity of space; and as they have no apprehension of infinity of space except as of a nothing, which in fact it is, they do not believe in the Divine Infinity. Such also is the case with the Eternity, which men cannot conceive of except as an eternity of time, since it is presented by means of time to those who are in time.

The true idea of the Divine Infinity is insinuated into the angels by the fact that they are instantly present under the Lord's sight, with no intervening space or time, even though they were at the furthest extremity of the universe. The true idea of the Divine Eternity is insinuated by the fact that thousands of years do not appear to them as time, but scarcely otherwise than as if they had lived only a minute.  Both ideas are insinuated by the fact that in their present they have past and future things together. Hence they have no solicitude about future things; nor have they ever any idea of death, but only the idea of life; so that in all their present there is the Lord's Eternity and Infinity.

(Arcana Coelestia 1382)

The Commandments of the Decalogue

Selections from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The commandments of the Decalogue are called the ten words or ten commandments, because "ten" signifies all. Consequently, the ten words mean all things of the Word, and thus all things of the church in a summary. All things of the Word and all things of the church in a summary are meant, because there are in each commandment three interior senses - each sense for its own heaven - for there are three heavens. The first sense is the spiritual moral sense - this is for the first or lowest heaven. The second sense is the celestial spiritual sense, which is for the second or middle heaven. The third sense is the Divine celestial, which is for the third or inmost heaven. There are thus three internal senses in every least particular of the Word. For from the Lord who is in things highest, the Word has been sent down in succession through the three heavens even to the earth, and thus has been accommodated to each heaven. Therefore the Word is with each heaven and almost with each angel in its own sense, and is read by them daily. There are preachings from it, as on the earth.

For the Word is Divine truth itself, thus the Divine wisdom, proceeding from the Lord as a sun, and appearing in the heavens as light.

Divine truth is the Divine that is called the Holy Spirit, for it not only proceeds from the Lord but it also enlightens man and teaches him, as is said of the Holy Spirit. As the Word in its descent from the Lord has been accommodated to the three heavens, and the three heavens are joined together as inmosts are with ultimates through intermediates, so, too, are the three senses of the Word; which shows that the Word is given that by it there may be a conjunction of the heavens with each other, and also a conjunction of the heavens with the human race, for whom the sense of the letter is given, which is merely natural and thus the basis of the other three senses. That the ten commandments of the Decalogue are all things of the Word in a summary can be seen only from the three senses of those commandments.

What these three senses in the commandments of the Decalogue are can be seen from the following summary explanation:

The first commandment of the Decalogue, "Thou shalt not worship other gods besides Me," involves in the spiritual moral sense that nothing else nor anyone else is to be worshipped as Divine. Nothing else, that is, nature, by attributing to it something Divine of Itself, nor anyone else, that is, any vicar of the Lord or any saint. In the celestial spiritual sense it involves that ONE God ONLY is to be acknowledged, and not several according to their qualities, as the ancients did, and as some pagans do at this day, or according to their works, as Christians do at this day, who make one God from creation, another from redemption, and another from enlightenment.

This commandment in the Divine celestial sense involves that the Lord alone is to be acknowledged and worshiped, and a trinity in Him, namely, the Divine Itself from eternity, which is meant by the Father, the Divine Human born in time, which is meant by the Son of God, and the Divine that proceeds from both, which is meant by the Holy Spirit. These are the three senses of the first commandment in their order. From this commandment viewed in its threefold sense it is clear that it contains and includes in a summary all things that concern the Divine as to essence.

The second commandment, "Thou shalt not profane the name of God," contains and includes in its three senses all things that concern the quality of the Divine, since "the name of God" signifies His quality, which in its first sense is the Word, doctrine from the Word, and worship of the lips and of the life from doctrine; in its second sense it means the Lord's kingdom on the earth and the Lord's kingdom in the heavens; and in its third sense it means the Lord's Divine Human, for this is the quality of the Divine Itself. (That the Lord's Divine Human is "the name of God" in the highest sense) In the other commandments there are likewise three internal senses for the three heavens.

As Divine truth united to Divine good proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and by this, heaven and the world were made (John 1:1, 3, 10), it follows that it is from this that all things in heaven and in the world have reference to good and to truth and to their conjunction that they may be anything.

These ten commandments contain all things of Divine good and all things of Divine truth, and there is also in them a conjunction of these.

But this conjunction is hidden; for it is like the conjunction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor. Divine good belongs to love to the Lord, and Divine truth to love towards the neighbor. when a man lives according to Divine truth, that is, loves his neighbor, the Lord flows in with Divine good and conjoins Himself.

For this reason there were two tables on which these ten commandments were written, and they were called a covenant, which signifies conjunction; and afterwards they were placed in the ark, not one beside the other, but one above the other, for a testimony of the conjunction between the Lord and man.

Upon one table the commandments of love to the Lord were written, and upon the other table the commandments of love towards the neighbor. The commandments of love to the Lord are the first three, and the commandments of love towards the neighbor are the last six; and the fourth commandment, which is "Honor thy father and thy mother," is the mediating commandment, for in it "father" means the Father in the heavens, and "mother" means the church, which is the neighbor.

Something shall now be said about how conjunction is effected by means of the commandments of the Decalogue:

Man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and this He does by man's knowing, understanding, willing, and doing these commandments.  When man does them, there is conjunction, but if he does not do them, he ceases to will them, and when he ceases to will them he ceases also to understand and know them. For what does willing amount to if man when he is able does not do? Is it not a figment of reason? From this it follows that conjunction is effected when a man does the commandments of the Decalogue.

But it has been said that man does not conjoin himself to the Lord, but that the Lord alone conjoins man to Himself, and that conjunction is effected by doing.

From this it follows that it is the Lord with man that does these commandments. But anyone can see that a covenant cannot be entered into and conjunction be effected by it unless there is some reciprocal on man's part, not only that he may consent but also that he may receive.

To this end the Lord has imparted to man a freedom to will and act as if of himself, and such a freedom that man does not know otherwise, when he is thinking truth and doing good, than that the freedom is in himself and thus from himself. This reciprocal is on man's part in order that conjunction may be effected. But as this freedom is from the Lord, and continually from Him, man must by all means acknowledge that to think and understand truth and to will and do good are not from himself, but are from the Lord.

Consequently when man through the last six commandments conjoins himself to the Lord as if of himself, the Lord then conjoins Himself to man through the first three commandments, which are that man must acknowledge God, must believe in the Lord, and must keep His name holy. This man does not believe, however much he may think that he does, unless the evils forbidden in the other table, that is, in the last six commandments, he abstains from as sins. These are the things pertaining to the covenant on the part of the Lord and on the part of man, through which there is reciprocal conjunction, which is that man may be in the Lord and the Lord in man

At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

It is said by some that he who sins against one commandment of the Decalogue sins also against the rest, thus that he who is guilty of one is guilty of all. It shall be told how far this is in harmony with the truth.

When a man transgresses one commandment, by confirming with himself that it is not a sin, thus without fear of God, he commits it; because he has thus rejected the fear of God, he does not fear to transgress the rest of the commandments, although he may not do this in act.

For example, when one does not regard frauds and illicit gains, which in themselves are thefts, as sins, neither does he regard as a sin adultery with the wife of another, hating a man even to murder, lying about him, coveting his house and other things belonging to him; for when he rejects from his heart in any one commandment the fear of God he denies that anything is a sin; consequently he is in communion with those who in like manner transgress the other commandments. He is like an infernal spirit who is in a hell of thieves, and although he is not an adulterer, nor a murderer, nor a false witness, yet he is in communion with such, and can be persuaded by them to believe that such things are not evils, and can be led to do them. For he who has become an infernal spirit through the transgression of one commandment, no longer believes it to be a sin to do anything against God or anything against the neighbor.

But the opposite is true of those who abstain from the evil forbidden in one commandment, and who shun and afterwards turn away from it as a sin against God. Because such fear God, they come into communion with the angels of heaven, and are led by the Lord to abstain from the evils forbidden in the other commandments and to shun them, and finally to turn away from them as sins; and if perchance they have sinned against them, yet they repent and thus by degrees are withdrawn from them.

(selections from Apocalypse Explained 1024 - 1028)

Everyone Acquires Doctrine

Selection from Apocalypse Revealed ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

"A bed" signifies doctrine is from correspondence, for as the body rests in its bed, so does the mind rest in its doctrine. But by "bed" is signified the doctrine which everyone acquires to himself either from the Word, or from his own intelligence, for therein the mind rests and, as it were, sleeps.

The beds in which they lie in the spiritual world, are from no other origin; for there everyone's bed is according to the quality of his science and intelligence, magnificent for the wise, mean for the unwise, and filthy for falsifiers.

This is signified by "a bed" in Luke:

I say unto you, in that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left (Luke 17:34).

This is concerning the Last Judgment; "two in one bed" means two in one doctrine, but not in similar life. In John:

Jesus saith unto the sick man, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk; and he took up his bed, and walked (John 5:8-9);

and in Mark:

Jesus said unto the palsied, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee; and He said unto the Scribes, Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed, and walk? then He said, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk; and he took up the bed, and went forth from them (Mark 2:5, 9, 11-12).

That here something is signified by "bed" is evident, because Jesus said, "Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed and walk?" By "carrying his bed and walking" is signified to meditate in doctrine; it is so understood in heaven.

Doctrine is also signified by "bed" in Amos:

As the shepherd rescueth from the mouth of the lion, so shall the sons of Israel be rescued that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and in the extremity of a couch (Amos 3:12).

"In the corner of a bed" and "in the extremity of a couch" means what is more remote from the truths and goods of doctrine. "Bed" and "couch" and "bed chamber" have a similar signification in other places (as in Isa. 28:20; 57:2, 7-8; Ezek. 23:41; Amos 6:4; Micah 2:1; Ps. 4:4; Ps. 36:4; Ps. 41:3; Job 7:13; Lev. 15:4-5).

Since by "Jacob" in the Propheticals of the Word is signified the church as to doctrine, therefore it is said of him, that:

He bowed himself upon the head of the bed (Gen. 47:31).

That when Joseph came, he sat upon the bed (Gen. 48:2).

That he gathered up his feet upon the bed, and expired (Gen. 49:33).

The doctrine of the church is signified by "Jacob" therefore sometimes when I have thought of Jacob, there has appeared to me above, in front, a man lying in a bed.

(from Apocalypse Revealed 137)

Adulteration and Profanation of the Word

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
Adulteration and Profanation of The Word — From which comes Every Good and Truth of the Church

The Babylonians have subjected the truths of the Word and the holy things of the church to their judgment, jurisdiction, and dominion.  They persuade the people that the Word is understood by them alone and not by any who have not been inaugurated into the ministry; and by this means they subject all things of the Word and thus all things of the church to their dominion.

Moreover, the Word is such in the sense of its letter that it may be drawn aside to confirm any heresy whatever; for the sense of the letter consists of appearances of truth, which hold enclosed in them the genuine truths of heaven, which are called spiritual truths. Unless these truths are revealed and laid bare, that is, unless they are taught in the doctrines of the church, the appearances they present may be drawn over and perverted to favor any falsity whatever, and even to favor evil.

For the genuine truths of the Word are like a man, and the appearances of truth, of which the sense of the letter consists, are like his garments, from which alone no judgment can be formed respecting who the man is or what he is. 

If a man were judged from his garments alone, a king might be called a servant, and a servant a king, and a good man might be called an evil man, and an evil man a good man; and so on.

So those who arrogate to themselves dominion over all things of the church and heaven can apply the sense in its letter a thousand ways to favor their dominion. And this is an easy task, because all things of the church, which are called holy, they place above the human understanding, and when this is assented to and no genuine truth is taught, infernal falsities may be called truths, and devilish evils may be called goods; and the simple may even be persuaded that the edicts of the Pope are just as holy as the commandments of the Word, and even more holy; and yet these are from heaven, while those edicts are for the most part from hell.

For every edict respecting government, faith, and worship in the church, that has for an end dominion in the world, however it may appear in the external form, and may sound as if from the Word, is from hell; while every commandment from the Word, because it has for its end the salvation of souls by the Lord, is from heaven. 

From all this it can be seen that "sitting upon many waters," when predicated of Babylon as a harlot, signifies having dominion over all things of the Word, and thus over the holy things of the church.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1033)