AR 255 - A Vision of the Lord's Protections of His Word

AR 255 [1-4]

To prevent someone from entering
into the spiritual meaning of the Word
and perverting the genuine truth
found in that meaning,
the Lord has set protections,
which in the Word are meant by cherubim,
which is what the four living creatures here are.

That protections have been set
was represented to me in the following way:

I was given to see large purses, looking like sacks,
which had stored away in them a great deal of silver.
And since they were open,
it seemed as if anyone might take
the silver deposited in them,
even to make off with it,
but next to those purses
two angels were sitting as guards.
The place where the purses rested
looked like a manger in a stable.
In the next room I saw modest maidens,
together with a chaste wife.
Near that room were two little children,
and I heard it said
that they were not to be played with in a childish way,
but wisely.
And afterward a harlot appeared,
then a horse lying dead.

Having seen these things,
I was told that they represented
the literal meaning of the Word,
which has a spiritual meaning within.
The large purses full of silver symbolized concepts
of truth and goodness in great abundance.
The purses' being open and yet guarded by angels,
meant symbolically
that anyone might acquire concepts of truth there,
but that one should take care
not to falsify the spiritual meaning,
which contains only truths.

The manger in the stable where the purses were sitting
symbolized spiritual instruction for the intellect.
(A manger has this symbolism,
like the manger where the newborn Lord lay,
because a horse, which eats from it,
symbolizes an understanding of the Word.)

The modest maidens I saw in the next room
symbolized affections for truth,
and the chaste wife the conjunction of truth and good.
The little children symbolized
the innocence of the wisdom in the Word
(they were angels from the third heaven,
all of whom appear like little children).
The harlot together with the dead horse
symbolized the falsification of the Word
by many people today,
by which all understanding of the truth has perished.
(A harlot symbolizes falsification,
and a dead horse no understanding of truth.)