718. [verse 1] 'And there came one of the seven angels having the seven phials, and spoke with me' signifies now an influx and revelation from the Lord out of the inmost of heaven concerning the Roman Catholic form of religion. Thus far [the Word] has treated of the state of the Church of the Reformed at its end. Now it treats of the state of the Roman Catholic form of religion at its end; and this also follows in the order mentioned in the introduction. It is not termed the Roman Catholic Church, but the Roman Catholic form of religion, because they do not approach the Lord, nor read the Word, and because they invoke the dead; and a Church is a Church out of the Lord and out of the Word, and its perfection is in accordance with the acknowledgment of the Lord and the understanding of the Word. The reason why one of the seven angels having the seven phials came and spoke with John is because by 'the seven angels having the seven phials' is signified an influx from the Lord out of the inmost of the Christian heaven into the Church for the purpose of disclosing the evils and untruths there, as may be seen above (n. 672, 676, 677, 683, 690, 691, 699, 700). Here therefore by those 'seven angels' is signified the Lord speaking out of the inmost of the heaven and revealing what state the Roman Catholic form of religion is in at its end. Consequently also, one of those seven angels took John upon a high mountain and showed him the Lamb's wife, which is the New Jerusalem (chap. xxi 9, 10).