APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED.

CHAPTER VII, VERSE I — NO. 417 (Continued)

...themselves the goods and truths of the church, consequently are outside of these, and thus are "the cut off of the corner."

have the same signification. [9.] In Moses:

"There shall arise a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre shall rise out of Israel, which shall break in pieces the corners of Moab" (Numbers 24:17).

"The corners of Moab" mean all things that are signified by "Moab;" and "Moab" Moab was a nation neighboring Israel; spiritually, it represents those who remain in external worship and, through pride, twist the Word to serve their own reputation. signifies those who are in the outmosts The most external or basic levels of religious life and thought. of the Word, of the church, and of worship; and in the contrary sense those who adulterate these by turning themselves towards self, and having regard to their own honor in every particular of these; therefore "the corners of Moab" mean adulterations of the Word, and thus of the church and of worship, such as are in those of that character.

has the same signification. [10.] In Zephaniah:

"A day of the trumpet and alarm upon the fenced cities and upon the high corners" (1:16).

"A day of the trumpet and alarm" signifies spiritual combat The inner struggle between truths and the false ideas that attack them., which is against falsities and evils; "fenced cities" signify false doctrinals Formal systems of religious teaching or dogma. that have been confirmed; and "high corners" signify those things that favor their loves. This makes clear what is signified by "a day of the trumpet and alarm upon the fenced cities and upon the high corners." In the same,

"I will cut off the nations; their corners shall be laid waste; I will make desolate their streets that none may pass by; and I will lay waste their cities .... so that there is no inhabitant" (3:6).

The destruction of all the goods of the church is signified by "I will cut off the nations, and their corners shall be laid waste," "nations" meaning the goods of the church, and "corners" all things of it, because its outmosts (as above). The destruction of truths of doctrine is signified by "I will make desolate their streets," "streets" meaning truths, and "cities" doctrinals; total destruction even until there is no good or truth left is signified by "that none pass by, and there is no inhabitant," for "to pass by" in the Word is predicated of truths, and "to dwell" of goods. [11.] In the Book of Judges:

"All the sons of Israel went out, and the congregation was assembled as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba. .... And the corners of all the people, all the tribes of Israel, presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God" (20:1, 2).