429. [verse 6] 'And in those days shall men seek death and not find it, and shall desire to die and death shall flee from them' signifies that those who are in the doctrine of a separated faith are desirous that in matters of faith the understanding be closed up, and the will blocked, and thus that they may not have any spiritual light and heat; but that nevertheless it has been provided by the Lord that the understanding should not be closed up, nor the will blocked, lest spiritual light and life with men be extinguished. 'In those days' signifies the last state of the Church when the doctrine of faith alone has been received universally. 'Men shall seek death' signifies that they are desirous that in matters of faith the understanding should be closed up. 'And shall not find it' signifies that it has been provided by the Lord that it should not be done. 'And shall desire to die' signifies that they are desirous that the will also should be blocked in them. 'And death shall flee from them' signifies that it has been provided that this should not be done either; for thus spiritual light and life would be extinguished, and a man would die spiritually. 'To seek' is predicated of the understanding, and 'to desire' of the will, and 'death' of both. It is plain that these things are signified by these words. What otherwise would be the meaning of men in those days seeking death and not finding it, and desiring to die and death fleeing from them? For by 'death' no other death than spiritual death is understood, and this is induced when the understanding is removed from the things to be believed; for in this case a man does not know whether he thinks and does what is true or false, thus whether [he acts] with heaven's angels or with hell's devils.