729. [verse 5] 'Upon her forehead was written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the land' signifies what the Roman Catholic form of religion is like interiorly, which has been concealed; that as the result of its origin from the love of dominating out of the love of self over the holy things of the Church and over heaven, thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, it has defiled and profaned the things that are of the Word and of the Church therefrom. By 'written on the forehead' is signified inherent (insitum) in the love, for 'the forehead' signifies the love (n. 347, 605). By 'mystery' is signified what is interiorly hidden. By 'Babylon the great' is signified the Roman Catholic form of religion and all its quality, as above (n. 717). By 'whoredoms' are signified the adulterations of the good and truth of the Word (n. 719-721), and also their defilements, as just above (n. 728); by 'abominations' are signified the profanations of the holy things of the Church, as also just above (n. 728); by 'the land' is signified the Church (n. 285). Consequently by 'the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the land' is signified the origin of these. Now because those words were written on her forehead, and by 'written on the forehead' is signified inherent in the love, and their love is the love of dominating out of the love of self over all things of the Church and over heaven, thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, therefore this is signified. [2] From these considerations it can be seen that by 'upon her forehead was written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of the whoredoms and abominations of the land' is signified what the Roman Catholic form of religion is like interiorly, which has been concealed; that as the result of its origin from the love of dominating out of the love of self over the holy things of the Church and over heaven, thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, it has defiled and profaned the things that are of the Word and of the Church therefrom. That there is the love of dominating over all things of the Church is known from the legal right claimed for themselves over the souls of men, and over all things of their worship. That it is over heaven is known from the authority taken to themselves of loosing and binding, and thus of opening and shutting. That it is over all things of the Lord is known from the vicarship by means of which they attribute all things of His to themselves. That it is over all things of the Word is also known from their having reserved its interpretation to themselves only. It is termed the love of dominating out of the love of self because a love of dominating out of the love of uses also exists. These two loves are diametrically opposed to each other. For the love of dominating out of the love of self is diabolical, for it regards itself only and the world for the sake of itself; but the love of dominating out of the love of uses is heavenly, for it regards the Lord, from Whom all things that proceed are uses, and uses to it are to do good to the Church for the sake of the salvation of souls; and therefore this love abominates the love of dominating out of the love of self.