Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons) n. 681

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681. 'And it became blood as of one dead, and every living soul died in the sea' signifies infernal untruth with them by which every truth of the Word, and consequently of the Church and of faith, has been extinguished. By 'blood as of one dead', or by gore and bloody matter, is signified infernal untruth; for by 'blood' is signified Divine Truth, and in the opposite sense that falsified (n. 379), but by 'blood as of one dead' is signified infernal untruth; for by 'death' is signified the extinction of spiritual life, and consequently by 'one dead' is signified what is infernal (n. 321, 525). By [its being said] that 'every living soul died' is signified that every truth of the Word, of the Church, and of faith, has been extinguished; for by a 'living soul' is signified the truth of faith. Consequently by a 'living soul dead' is signified the truth of faith extinguished. By 'soul' in the Word, where it relates to a man, is signified the life of his spirit, which is also the life of his understanding; and because the understanding is the understanding by virtue of truths, and truths are of faith, therefore by 'soul' is signified the truth of faith. That this is signified by 'soul' can be established from many passages in the Word, and also from those where 'soul and heart' is said. It is plain that by 'soul and heart' is understood a man's life, but his life is derived from the will and from the understanding, or spiritually speaking is from love and wisdom, also from charity and faith; and the life of the will derived from the good of love or charity is understood by heart', while the life of the understanding derived from truths of wisdom or of faith is understood by 'soul'. These are understood by 'heart' and 'soul' in Matt. xxii 37; Mark xii 30, 33; Luke x 27; Deut. vi 5; x 12; xi 13; xxvi 16; Jer. xxxii 41; and elsewhere; also in places where 'heart' by itself and 'soul' by itself is said. That the cause of their distinction by name is the result of the correspondence of the heart with the will and with love, and of the living activity (animatio) of the lungs with the understanding and with wisdom, may be seen in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM, Part V, where it treats of that correspondence.


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