1065. And the one is, signifies the adulterated and profaned truth that the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, thus over men to save them, is transferred to their head, and from him to the others who are under him. This is evident from the series of things regarded in the internal sense. For as the "seven kings" signify all the truths of the Word profaned, and "the five have fallen" signifies that nothing is here said about the rest of the truths, or that they are to be passed by, only the two that are heads of the rest, namely, that respecting the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, and that respecting the Word, so it follows that "the one king who is" and "the other who is to come" signify the transference of the Lord's authority to their head; and that "the beast that is the eighth king" signifies the acknowledgment of the Word as Divine, and yet its rejection. [2] In respect to the matter itself, namely, that they have transferred the Lord's authority over heaven and earth, thus over men to save them, to their head and from him to the others who are under him, this is well known; and it is evident from this that with all the heart and mind they aspire to be gods over the earth, consequently to be adored with Divine worship. That their head is adored as a god in place of the Lord is evident from their venerating him upon the knees, from the holy kissing of his shoes, also of his footsteps. This veneration or rather adoration follows from this, that he is able to open heaven by the keys of Peter, and thus to give heaven to whomsoever he pleases; also by the same means to close heaven, thus to cast into hell whomsoever he pleases. Nor is this enough; they aspire to dominion over the earth, and to this end under various pretenses of sanctity they scrape together and bring into their monasteries, which are so many treasuries, the wealth of the kingdoms of the world, thus subjecting to themselves both the souls of men and their resources; consequently not only the things of heaven but also those of the world with men. For they know that he who possesses the souls of men and also their wealth, possesses men as God does, and can transfer to himself a kind of Divine worship. From this it is clear that those who belong to the Babylon of the present day aspire with the whole heart and mind to be gods, and to be adored with Divine worship. But although they aspire to this they deny that they have transferred anything Divine to themselves, as will be shown in the following article.
CONCERNING THE WORD
[3] In what now follows the Word and its holiness shall be treated of as a supplement. It was said of old that the Word is from God, Divinely inspired, and thus holy; and yet it has not been known heretofore where in the Word the Divine is. For the Word appears in the letter like a common writing in a strange style, not so sublime or so lucid as appears in the writings of the present age. For this reason a man who worships nature more than God, or in place of God, and thus thinks from himself and what is his own [proprium], and not from the Lord out of heaven, can easily fall into error respecting the Word, and into contempt for it, saying in his heart when he reads it, "What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God who has infinite wisdom speak in this manner? Where is its holiness, and from what source, unless from the religious persuasion whose ministers it serves?" And other like things. But that they may know that the Word is Divine, not only in every sentence but also in every expression, its internal sense, which is spiritual, and which is in its external sense, which is natural, as a soul in its body, has now been revealed. This sense can bear witness to the Divinity and consequent holiness of the Word; and can convince even the natural man that the Word is Divine if he is willing to be convinced.
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