442. [verse 13] 'And the sixth angel sounded' signifies an examination and making manifest [to show] the state of life in the case of those in the Church of the Reformed, who are not wise in that manner, and yet place everything of religion in faith, and think of it alone and of nothing besides it and the customary worship, and so live as they please. That it treats of these as far as to the end of the chapter will be plain from the exposition of the things following. That 'to sound' signifies to examine and make manifest the state of the Church, and consequently the state of life [of those] with whom religion is faith alone, may be seen above (n. 397).
[2] * Those of whom [the Word] now treats are altogether distinct from those of whom it has treated so far in this chapter, and whose untruths of faith were seen in the form of locusts. They are distinct in this respect, that those of whom it has treated are devoted with zeal to investigating the mysteries of justification by faith, and also to transmitting its signs, as well as its testimonies, which to them are the goods of a moral and civil life. [They do this] by establishing that the precepts of the Word are indeed in themselves Divine, but that with a man, because they proceed from his will, they become natural things that have no conjunction with the spiritual things of faith. And because they confirm these things by the rational things that they discern by virtue of erudition, they spend their time in the southern quarter in the deep, in accordance with the description above (n. 421). [3] Those, however, of whom [the Word] treats in the things now following to the end of the chapter do not devote themselves to these mysteries, but only make a bare faith the whole of religion, and [have] nothing besides it and the customary worship, and so they live as they please. It has been given [me] to see and speak with these also. They spend their time in the northern quarter in huts built of rushes and reeds bedaubed with lime, in which the ground is the floor. These huts are scattered about. The more ingenious, who know how to establish that faith by means of reasonings out of natural light and to confirm that it has nothing in common with the life, dwell in front, the more simple behind them, and the more stupid towards the west of that quarter. There is such a crowd of them as cannot be believed. They are trained by angelic spirits, but those who do not receive truths of faith, nor live in accordance with them, are cast down into the hell that is beneath them and are imprisoned. * This section is in inverted commas in the Original. Cf. n. 421.