781. 'And of horses and of carriages and of bodies and the souls of men' signifies all those things in accordance with the understanding of the Word and the doctrine therefrom, and in accordance with the goods and truths of the sense of the letter thereof, which they do not have because they are falsifying and adulterating the Word by applying the things that are there to dominion over heaven and the world, contrary to its genuine sense. These things are said in the genitive case because they belong to the things that precede. That by 'horses' the understanding of the Word is signified may be seen (n. 298). That by 'chariots doctrine out of the Word is signified (n. 437); consequently the like by 'carriages'. That the goods and truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are signified by 'bodies and the souls of men' is because similar things are signified by them as by the body and blood in the Holy Supper. In that, by the 'body' is signified the Lord's Divine Good and by the 'blood' the Lord's Divine Truth; and because they signify those they also signify the Divine Good and Divine Truth of the Word, because the Lord is the Word. But here instead of 'blood' it is termed 'soul'. This is because by 'soul' in like manner Truth is signified as may be seen above (n. 681), and because in the Word the blood is called 'the soul' (Gen. ix 4, 5; Lev. xvii 12-14; Deut. xii 23-25). The like is signified by 'the soul of man (Ezek. xxvii 13); also by 'the seed of man' (Dan. ii 43). [2] Similar things are signified by 'horses' and 'carriages' in Isaiah:-
Then shall they bring all your brothers upon horses and upon the chariot and upon carriages, and upon mules and upon swift horses unto the mountain of My holiness, Jerusalem Isa. lxvi 20.
These things are said of the Lord's New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, concerning those there who are in the understanding of the Word and in doctrine therefrom, which are 'horses', 'the chariot' and 'carriages'. Now because those who are of the Roman Catholic form of religion falsify and adulterate the Word by the application [thereof] to dominion over heaven and the world, it is signified that they do not have any goods and truths out of the Word, and therefore neither do they have them in their doctrine. On this point Jeremiah says thus:-
The king of Babel has eaten me up, he has thrown me into confusion, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up like a whale, he has filled his belly with my luxuries Jer. li 34, 35.
The sword is against the horses of Babel, and against its chariots, and against its treasures, that they may be pillaged; a drought is upon its waters that they may be dried up; because it is a land of graven images, and they boast of their terrible things Jer. l 37, 38.
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