914. Verse 19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone, signifies that all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem taken from the sense of the letter of the Word, with those who are therein, will appear in light according to reception. By "the twelve foundations" are signified all things of doctrine (n. 902). By "the wall" is signified the Word in the sense of the letter (n. 898). By "the holy city Jerusalem" is signified the Lord's New Church (n. 879, 880). By "precious stone" is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, pellucid from its spiritual sense (n. 231, 540, 726, 911). And because this is according to reception, therefore it signifies that all things of doctrine from the Word with them, will appear in light according to reception. All who do not think sanely, cannot believe that all things of the New Church can appear in light, but let them know that they can, for every man has exterior and interior thought. Interior thought is in the light of heaven, and is called perception, and exterior thought is in the light of the world; and the understanding of every man is such that it can be elevated even into the light of heaven, and also is elevated, if from any delight he wishes to see truth. That this is so, has been given me to know by much experience, concerning which, wonderful things may be seen in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence; and still more in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom. For the delight of love and wisdom elevates the thought, enabling one to see as in the light that a thing is so, although he had never heard it before. This light, which enlightens the mind, flows in from no other source than out of heaven from the Lord; and as they who will be of the New Jerusalem, will directly approach the Lord, that light will flow in, by the way of order, which is through the love of the will into the perception of the understanding. [2] But they who have confirmed themselves in that dogma, that the understanding in theological things is to see nothing, but that what the church teaches must be believed blindly, cannot see any truth in the light, for they have obstructed the way of the light into themselves. This dogma the Reformed Church has retained from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, which declares that no one but the church itself, by which they mean the pope and papal consistory, ought to interpret the Word, and that he who does not in faith embrace all the doctrine delivered by the church, is to be considered as a heretic, and is accursed. That this is the case, is evident from a clause of the Council of Trent, in which all the dogmas of that religion are established, and where these words are at the end: "Then the president, Moronus, said, 'Go in peace.' There followed acclamations, and among others this declaration of the cardinal of Lorraine and the fathers: 'We also believe, we are all of this very opinion, we all consenting and embracing, subscribe to it; this is the faith of the blessed Peter and of the apostles, this is the faith of the fathers, this is the faith of the orthodox. So be it, Amen, Amen, Anathema to all heretics, Anathema, Anathema.'" The decrees of that Council are quoted in a summary at the beginning of this work, in which, indeed, there is scarcely a single truth. [3] These particulars are quoted to show that the Reformed have retained from that religious persuasion a blind faith, that is, a faith separated from the understanding; and they who do retain it henceforth cannot be enlightened in Divine truths from the Lord. So long as the understanding is held captive under obedience to faith, or so long as the understanding is removed from seeing the truths of the church, theology is only a thing of the memory, and a thing of the memory only is dissipated, like everything disunited from the judgment, and perishes from its obscurity. Hence it is, that they are: