1071. Verse 13. These have one mind, and shall give over their power and authority to the beast, signifies the unanimity of such that the Word is the Divine truth, on which the church as to its doctrine must depend. This is evident from the signification of "having one mind," as being unanimity; also from the signification of "giving over their power and authority to the beast," as being that the Word is the Divine truth, on which the church as to its doctrine must depend; for "the beast" signifies the Word (see above, n. 1038); and "to give over to it power and authority" signifies to acknowledge it to be the Divine truth, from which is the doctrine of the church. It has been said above that the Gallican Church acknowledges the Word to be the Divine truth, and ascribes a Divine inspiration to all the particulars of the Word, and not an equal Divine inspiration to the decrees of the Pope as to those things which are means of salvation; and the same is true of others in the European world; and this has come to pass from the Divine Providence of the Lord, that the Christian Church might not be wholly destroyed, because by means of the Word man has communication and conjunction with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; and communication and conjunction with heaven and with the Lord cannot possibly be given through the declarations and decrees of the Pope, since these have not for their end the salvation of souls, but dominion; and all edicts and statutes that have dominion as their end, especially over the things of heaven and the church, have communication with hell, and effect conjunction with hell. From all this the signification of "the ten kings who gave over their power and authority to the beast" is evident. (Continuation respecting the Word.) [2] As it cannot but transcend the comprehension that the Lord in relation to His Human in the world was the Word, that is, the Divine truth, according to these words in John:
And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father (John 1:14), it shall be again explained to the comprehension as far as possible. It can be said of every regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, since the thought which belongs to his understanding is from truths, and the affection which belongs to his will is from goods. Whether you say, therefore, that a man is his own understanding and his own will, or that a man is his own truth and his own good, it amounts to the same thing. The body is mere obedience; for it speaks that which man thinks from the understanding, and does that which he wills from affection. Thus these things and the body mutually correspond and make one, like an effect and its effecting cause; and these taken together constitute the human. [3] As it can be said of the regenerate man that he is his own truth and his own good, so it can be said of the Lord as Man, that He is the truth itself or the Divine truth, and good itself or the Divine good. All this makes evident the truth that the Lord as to His Human in the world was the Divine truth, that is, the Word; and that everything that He then spoke was the Divine truth, which is the Word; and that afterwards when He went to the Father, that is, became one with the Father, the Divine truth proceeding from Him is the Spirit of truth, which goes forth and proceeds from Him, and at the same time from the Father in Him.
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