Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons) n. 85

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85. 'Or else I will come to thee quickly, and remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent' signifies that otherwise they are sure not to be given enlightenment for seeing truths any more. By 'quickly' is signified certainty (n. 4,947), and by 'lampstand' the Church as to enlightenment (n. 43, 66). Consequently by 'remove it out of its place' is signified to remove enlightenment so that they may not see truths in their own light, and at length that they may see them no more. This follows from the things that have been said above (n. 82), namely that if the truths of doctrine are in view primarily or in the first place, they can indeed be known, but not seen interiorly nor loved by virtue of a spiritual affection, and therefore they fade gradually away; for to see truths out of their own light is to see them out of a man's interior mind, and this mind is called spiritual, and is opened by means of charity, and when it has been opened a light and an affection of understanding truths inflows out of heaven from the Lord. This results in an enlightenment. A man who is in this enlightenment acknowledges truths as soon as he reads or hears them; but not so the man whose spiritual mind has not been opened, who is one not in the goods of charity, irrespective of his being in the truths of doctrine.


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