558. 'Woe to those inhabiting the land and the sea, because the Devil has come down to you having great wrath' signifies a lamentation over those who are in things internal and external of the doctrine concerning faith alone, and consequently are in evils of life, since their like have been cast down out of heaven into the world of spirits, and are consequently in conjunction with the men of the earth, and by reason of hatred against the New Church are stimulating them to persist in their untruths and consequent evils. By 'woe to those inhabiting the land and sea' is signified a lamentation upon those in the Church who are in the doctrine concerning faith alone. By 'woe' is signified lamentation (n. 416); by 'those inhabiting' are signified those who are in the Church of which the doctrine is faith alone; by 'land' is understood those who are in the internal, and by 'sea' those who are in the external things thereof (n. 470). By 'great wrath' is signified hatred against the New Church because against 'the woman' (n. 525); by 'to come down to them' is signified to those who are in the world of spirits, and because these are in conjunction with the men of the earth it also signifies to such on the earth. That 'the dragon' has been cast out of heaven into the world of spirits, and that those who are there are in conjunction with the men of the earth, may be seen above (n. 552). [2] The dragon is here called 'the Devil' because those who are in evils of life as a result of that heresy are understood, and those are in evils of life on that account who live in accordance with this [tenet] of their faith, that those who pray confidently to God the Father have no sins, and if they have, that they are remitted. These, because they do not examine themselves, are unaware of any sin in their own case, and at length do not know what sin is, [as] may be seen above (n. 531). That by the dragon as 'the Devil' are understood those who are in the evils of their own lusts (n. 550). The reason every man is in conjunction with those who are in the world of spirits is because a man as to the affections of his mind and the consequent thoughts is a spirit. In respect to these he is therefore in conjunction with the spirits who are in a like affection and the consequent thoughts. The conjunction is such that if this bond should be broken for a single moment the man would fall down dead. Formerly the Church had no knowledge of this, nor of the fact that after death a man is his own affection and the consequent thought, thus his own charity and the consequent faith, and that no one can be a faith separated from charity.