so populous, that they do not believe any country in the world to be more so; which is very credible from the wall so many miles long, which the Chinese formerly built as a defence against any invasion from them. Seek for it in China, and peradventure you may find it there among the Tartars."

12. "Grace be unto you and peace," signifies, divine salutation. What is understood specifically by grace and peace, will be explained in what follows; that " peace be unto you" was the Lord's salutation to his disciples; thus the divine salutation, may be seen in Luke xxiv. 36, 37; John xx. 19, 20, 21; and by command of the Lord, it was the salutation of the disciples to all to whom they should enter in, Matt. x. 11—15.

13. "From him who is, who was, and who is to come," signifies, from the Lord who is eternal and infinite, and who is Jehovah. That it is the Lord, appears clearly from what follows in this chapter, where it is said that he heard a voice from the Son of Man, saying, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last," verse 11, 13: and afterwards, "I am the First and the Last," verse 17 and in the following chapter, verse 8; and afterwards, chap. xxi. 6, xxii. 12, 13; and in Isaiah: "Thus saith Jehovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and beside me there is no God," xliv. 6: also xlviii. 12: and he who is the First and the Last, is he who is, and who was, and who is to come. This also is to be understood by Jehovah; for the name of Jehovah signifies is, and he who is, or who is esse itself, the same is also he who was, and is to come, for in him the past and the future are present; hence he is without time eternal, and without place infinite: this also is acknowledged by the church in the Doctrine of the Trinity, called Athanasian, in which are these words: "The Father is eternal and infinite, the Son is eternal and infinite, and the Holy Spirit is eternal and infinite; but yet there are not three eternals and infinites, but one;" that this one is the Lord, is demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord.

14. "And from the seven spirits which are before his throne," signifies, from the universal heaven where the Lord is in his divine truth, and where his divine truth is received. By seven spirits are meant all who are in divine truth, and, in an abstract sense, the divine true or divine truth itself; that seven in the Word means all and every thing, may be seen above, n. 10; and that by throne is understood the universal heaven, will be seen presently; therefore by being before his throne, is meant where his divine truth is; for heaven is not heaven from any thing proper to the angels, but from the divine of the Lord, as is fully shown in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, and the Divine Love. That the Lord's throne signifies heaven, is evident from the following passages: "Thus saith Jehovah, heaven is my throne," Isaiah xlvi. 1. "Jehovah hath prepared his throne in the heavens," Psalm ciii. 19. "He that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon," Matt. xxiii. 22. "Above the firmament that was over the heads of the cherubim, was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone, and upon it the likeness as the appearance of a man," Ezek. i. 26; x. 1: by the firmament over the heads of the cherubim, is meant heaven; and in the Apocalypse: "To him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne," iii. 21: in my throne, is in heaven; specifically, where his divine truth reigns; thus also, where judgment is treated of, it is said, that the Lord will sit upon a throne, for judgment is performed by truths.

15. "And from Jesus Christ," signifies, the Divine Humanity. That by Jesus Christ and by the Lamb in the Word, is meant the Lord as to his Divine Humanity, may be seen above, n. 6.

16. "Who is the faithful witness," signifies, that he is Divine Truth itself. That witness is predicated of truth, and that the truth testifies of itself, thus the Lord, who is Divine Truth itself, and the Word, may be seen above, n. 6.

17. "The first-begotten from the dead," signifies, that

he is Divine Goodness itself. What the first-begotten from the dead means, no one as yet knows; even the ancients disputed about the signification of it: they knew that by first-begotten is signified what is first and primary, from which is the all of the church; and it was believed by many, that it was truth in doctrine and in faith; but by few, that it was truth in act and operation, which is good of life. That this is the first and primary of the church, and thence in a strict sense is meant by first-begotten, will be seen presently; but first something shall be said on the opinion of those who believed, that truth in doctrine and in faith is the first and primary of the church, thus the first-begotten. They believed this, because it is first learnt, and because a church is a church by virtue of truth, though not before it forms a part of the life; until this happens, it is only in the thought of the understanding, and in the memory, and not in the act of the will; and truth, which is not truth in act or operation, has no life; it is only like a luxuriant tree having branches and leaves, but no fruit; and it is like knowledge without any application to use; and like a foundation upon which a house is built to be lived in. These things are first as to time, but they are not first as to end; and what is first as to end is primary; for habitation is the first as to end, but the foundation is the first as to time; use also is first as to end, and knowledge is first as to time; in like manner the first thing as to end, when a tree is planted, is the fruit, but the first things as to time are the branches and leaves. With the understanding it is similar, which is formed in man first, but to this end; that what a man sees with his understanding, he may bring into act; otherwise the understanding is like a preacher, who teaches well, but lives ill. Beside all truth is sown in the internal man, and rooted in the external; wherefore, unless the truth that is inseminated takes root in the external man, which is effected by doing it, it becomes like a tree planted, not in the ground, but upon it, which withers on exposure to the heat of the sun: the man who has acted up to the truth, takes this root with him after death; but not the

man who had only known and acknowledged it now as in faith. Many of the ancients made that which is first as to time, the first also as to end, that is, primary; therefore they said, that first-begotten signified truth in doctrine and faith in the church; not knowing that this is the first-begotten apparently, and not actually. But all they who have made truth in doctrine and in faith primary, are condemned; because in this there is nothing of action or operation, or nothing of life; therefore Cain, who was the first-begotten of Adam and Eve, was condemned; that by him is signified truth in doctrine and in faith, may be seen in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, n. 242. And Reuben also, who was the first-begotten of Jacob, was condemned by his father, Genesis xlix. 3, 4: and his birthright taken from him, 1 Chron. v. 1: that by Reuben, in the spiritual sense, is meant truth in doctrine and in faith, will be seen presently. By the first-born of Egypt, which were all cut off, because condemned, nothing else is meant in the spiritual sense, but truth in doctrine and in faith separate from the good of life, which truth is in itself dead. By the goats in Daniel and in Matthew, none others are to be understood, but those who are in faith separate from life, concerning whom see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith, n. 6168. That they who were in faith separate from life, were rejected and condemned about the time of the last judgment, may be seen in The Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, n. 16, and following ones. From this brief account it may appear, that truth in doctrine and in faith is not the first-begotten of the church; but truth in act or operation, which is good of life; for the church is not in man, unless truth is in the life, and when truth is in the life, then it is good; for the thought of the understanding, and the memory, do not flow into the will, and through the will into act; but the will flows into the thought of the understanding, and into the memory, and acts; and what proceeds from the will, through the understanding, proceeds from affection, which is of love, through the thought, which is of

the understanding, and is all called good, as it enters into the life; wherefore the Lord saith, that "he who doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God," John iii. 21. Because John represents the good of life, and Peter the truth of faith, as may be seen above, n. 5; therefore, John leaned on the Lord's breast, and followed Jesus, but not Peter, John xxi. 18-23: the Lord also said of John, that he should tarry till he came, verse 22, 23: thus to this day, which is the Lord's coming; the good of life is therefore now taught by the Lord for those, who are to be of his New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. In short, that is the first-begotten which truth first produces from good, thus what the understanding produces from the will; because truth is of the understanding, and good is of the will; this first is primary, because it is as the seed from which proceeds every thing else. So the Lord is the first-begotten from the dead, because he, as to his Humanity, is the truth itself united to the divine good, from whom all men, who in themselves are dead, are made alive. The same is understood in David: "I will make him my first-born higher than the kings of the earth," Psalm 1xxxix. 27; speaking of the Lord's Humanity. It is on this account that Israel is called the first-born, Exod. iv. 22, 23: by Israel is understood truth in act, and by Jacob truth in doctrine; and because there is no church from the latter alone, therefore Jacob was named Israel; but in a supreme sense by Israel is meant the Lord. On account of this representation of the first-born, all the first-born and all the first-fruits were sanctified to Jehovah, Exod. xiii. 2, 12, xxii. 28, 29. On account of this representation of the first-born, the Levites were taken instead of all the firstborn in the Israelitish church; and it is said that thereby they belonged to Jehovah; Numbers iii. 12, 13—46, xviii. 15-18: for by Levi is signified truth in act, which is the good of life; and therefore the priesthood was given to his posterity, which will be treated of below. For the same reason a double portion of the inheritance was given to the first-born, and he was called the beginning of strength, Deut. xxi. 15-17. The reason why