AR 443-446 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 2)

AR 443

And I heard a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar
which is before God,
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet.
(Revelation 9:14)

This symbolizes a command
by the Lord out of the spiritual heaven
to those who were to examine and expose
the state of life among those people
who were not so wise.

A voice symbolizes a Divine command.
The golden altar,
or the altar upon which incense was burned,
symbolizes the spiritual heaven.
The four horns of the altar symbolize its power,
here the power to release the four angels
that were bound at the river Euphrates,
as we are told next.
The sixth angel having a trumpet
symbolizes a directive
to those on whom was enjoined the task
of examining and disclosing these things.

AR 444

"Release the four angels
who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
(Revelation 9:14)

. . . In the Word,
the Euphrates symbolizes the inner constituents
of the human mind, called rational,
which in people governed by truths
springing from goodness
are full of wisdom,
but which in people caught up in falsities
springing from evil
are full of irrationality.
This is the symbolic meaning
of the river Euphrates in the Word.
The reason is that this river formed the boundary
between the land of Canaan and Assyria,
and the land of Canaan symbolized the church,
and Assyria its rational component.
Therefore the river
that formed the boundary between them
symbolizes the inner constituents of the mind
called rational,
and this in both senses.
For there are three components
that form the person of the church:
the spiritual component;
the rational or intellectual component;
and the natural component,
which is one of knowledge.
The spiritual component of the church
is symbolized by the land of Canaan and its rivers;
the rational or intellectual component of the church
by Asshur or Assyria and its river, the Euphrates;
and the natural component of the church,
which is one of knowledge,
by Egypt and its river, the Nile.

AR 445

And the four angels were released.
(Revelation 9:14)

This symbolically means
that when the external bonds were removed,
the interiors of their minds became apparent.

AR 446

Who had been prepared for
the hour and day and month and year,
to kill a third of mankind.
(Revelation 9:15)

This symbolizes their being in a perpetual effort
to take away spiritual light and life
from the people of the church.

. . . To kill means, symbolically,
to take away spiritual light and life
from people of the church.