691. 'And it was given him to strike men down with heat by means of fire' signifies that love directed to the Lord was torturing them because they were in the lusts of the evils derived from the delight of their love. Since by 'to pour out the phial' is signified an influx from the Lord out of goods and truths, therefore by 'to pour out the phial into the sun' is signified an influx from the Lord out of Divine Love for the purpose of discovering what the love with the men of that Church was like. Consequently by 'it was given to the angel to strike men down with heat by means of fire' is signified that the Lord's Divine Love tortured them. And because the Lord's Divine Love only tortures those who are in the lusts of evil derived from the delight of the love of self, therefore it follows that by 'it was given him to strike down men with heat by means of fire' is signified that love directed to the Lord tortured them because they were in the lusts of evils derived from the delight of the love of self. That 'heat' signifies lusts for evils, and consequently for untruths, may be seen above (n. 382), and that 'fire' signifies Divine Love, and in the opposite sense infernal love (n. 494 above). That the love of self is an infernal love, and its delight an infernal delight, and that the delight of that love has its existence and consistency as the result of innumerable lusts of evils, has been shown many times in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE PROVIDENCE, also in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM. That this is the case is unknown in Christendom, because it is not known what love directed to the Lord is, and this love will teach what the love of self is.