4760. CONCERNING THE DRAGON IN THE APOCALYPSE. It was discovered to me who are understood by the dragon in the Apocalypse. They are those who reason about divine truth from sciences, thus, from such things as are in nature, and, for confirmation, take the literal sense of the Word, which they torture into agreement; thus, those who wish to be wise concerning Divine things from Natural Theology; and, especially, those who are naturalistic, and, in their heart, deny the Divine; for they reason more than others, and bring all things to the negative. There was a certain one, who, in the world, was the first theologian in his kingdom. He did not believe in the Word, but believed that Natural Theology enlightened the mind and taught spiritual truths. He acted like such as are dragons merely in this, that he tortured the literal sense of the Word to whatsoever he wished, when yet his purpose was to destroy it, and, especially, by means of the literal sense to destroy the internal sense.