Apocalypse Explained, Vol. 6

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 may be likened to a man, and the appearances of truth, of which the sense of the letter consists, to 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 adapt the sense in the letter in a thousand ways to favor their dominion. And this is an easy task, because all things of the church, which are called holy, are placed 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 ruling over all things of the Word, and thus over the holy things of the church.

1034. [Verse 2.] "With whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom" signifies that they have falsified all the truths of the church.—This is evident from the signification of "committing whoredom," as meaning to falsify see n. 141, 161, 817c, 881; also from the signification of "the kings of the earth," as meaning the truths of the church, "kings" meaning truths, and the "earth" the church. "Kings" are mentioned in many places in the Word, and it is supposed that kings or their kingdoms are thereby meant; but in the Word "kings" mean all who are in truths from good from the Lord, and in an abstract sense, in which is the spiritual sense, they mean truths from good. That this is the meaning of "kings" may be seen above n. 29, 31, 553, 624e, 625. This can be further seen from the following in the Apocalypse Revelation: