1145. And all thyme wood.- That this signifies all good conjoined to truth in the natural man, is evident from the signification of wood, which denotes good of the natural man, of which we shall speak presently; but thyme wood signifies good conjoined to truth in the natural man, for the word thyme is derived from two in Greek, and two signifies that conjunction. That thyme wood signifies good conjoined to truth is clear also from those things that precede, and those that follow. It is evident from what precedes, because those things are mentioned that signify celestial goods and truths, and spiritual goods and truths, which are fine linen, crimson, silk, and scarlet; from what follows, because things that signify natural goods and truths are mentioned, which are vessels of ivory, and vessels of precious wood, of brass, and iron, and marble. It is therefore evident that thyme wood signifies good conjoined to truth in the natural man, arising from those goods and truths which have been referred to above. For there are three degrees of life in man, which regarded in their order, are called celestial, spiritual, and natural; such things are named in the same order in this verse as signify goods and truths according to their degrees. But since those things mentioned above, signify truths and goods, profaned, which in themselves are falsities and evils, so also by the good conjoined to truth - which is thyme wood - is meant that good profaned, which is evil conjoined to falsity. That good, because it belongs to the natural man, is especially profaned by the veneration paid to bones and sepulchres, by the sanctification of various things used in worship, by the different things connected with processions, in general by all those things of an idolatrous nature that are pleasing to the natural man, and are consequently felt to be good, and are called true.
[2] Wood signifies good, because it is a from trees which bear fruits, and because wood can be kindled, and serve the purpose of warming the body, constructing houses and fabricating various articles of convenience and use, and because oil, by which the good of love is signified, is expressed from wood. Wood also conceals in itself a fiery principle (calidum); but, on the other hand, stone, because of a cold nature and uninflammable, here signifies the truth of the natural man.
Since wood signifies good, therefore also, among most ancient peoples, who were in the good of love, temples were constructed of wood, which were not called temples, but houses of God, while with many these were in their tabernacles, in which they not only lived, but also held Divine worship. The angels, therefore, of the third heaven dwell in houses of wood, because they are in the good of love to the Lord, and wood corresponds to that good; they have also woods different according to the correspondences of the trees from which they come; for a tree signifies man, and from its fruit the good of man. It is from this fact that woods of various kinds of trees are mentioned in the Word, as the wood of the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, and the oak. Wood of the olive signifies celestial good, of the vine, spiritual good, of the cedar, rational good, of the poplar, natural good, and of the oak, sensual good.
[3] Now because all things in the Word are correspondences, and because wood corresponds to good, and, in the opposite sense, to evil; therefore wood here signifies good, and in the opposite sense evil. This is evident from the following passages.
In Lamentations:
"We drink our waters for silver, and our woods come for a price" (v. 4).
The want of the knowledges of truth and good is thus described; the want of the knowledges of truth by drinking waters for silver, and the want of the know- ledges of good by the woods coming for a price.
In Ezekiel:
"They shall make a spoil of thy wealth, and make a prey of thy merchandise; they shall destroy thy walls, and overturn the houses of thy desire; thy stones, thy woods, and thy dust shall they give into the midst of the sea" (xxvi. 12).
These things are said concerning the devastation of all things of the truth and good of the church by evils and falsities. The wealth which they shall make a spoil are the knowledges of truth; the merchandise which they shall make a prey are the knowledges of good; the walls which they shall destroy are doctrinals; the houses which they shall overturn are things belonging to the mind, thus the things of the understanding and will, for it is there that the man dwells. The stones, the woods, and the dust, which they shall give into the midst of the sea, are the truths and goods of the natural man, stones denoting its, truths, woods its goods, and dust its very lowest things, which are those of the sensual man.
[4] In the same prophet:
"Son of man, take unto thee one stick (lignum), and write upon it, for Judah and the sons of Israel his companions; then take one stick, and write upon it, for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of the tribes of Israel his companions; afterwards join them for thee one to another into one stick, that both may be one in my hand, and I will make them into one stick" (xxxvii. 16, 17, 19, 20).
By these things are represented the conjunction of the celestial and spiritual kingdoms of the Lord by the good of love. Judah and the sons of Israel his companions, signify the Lord's celestial kingdom; Judah signifies that kingdom as to good, and the sons of Israel his companions signify the same as to truth. But Joseph and the tribes of Israel his companions, signify the Lord's spiritual kingdom, Joseph signifies that kingdom as to good, and the tribes of Israel his companions, signify the same as to truth. Ephraim signifies the understanding of truth, and because those who are in the understanding of truth from spiritual good are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, therefore it was called "the stick of Ephraim." That the Lord conjoins these two kingdoms into one by means of the good of love to Him, and the good of charity towards the neighbour, is meant by their being joined by the Lord one to the other into one wood, that they might both be one in the hand of Jehovah, and become one stick.
That those things which come from falsities are amended by good, was represented and signified by the bitter waters at Marah being made sweet by the wood cast into them (Exod. xv. 25). Bitter waters are those things that are apparently true, but draw [their quality] from falsities. Wood is the good of the natural man. Because wood, from correspondence, signifies the good of love, therefore the tables of stone on which the law was written were placed in an ark made of shittim wood. And for the same reason various things belonging to the tabernacle were formed of the same wood; and the temple also at Jerusalem was lined with wood.
[5] As most things in the Word have also an opposite sense, and this is the case with wood, which in an opposite sense signifies evil, because evil is the opposite of good, therefore this is signified by serving wood and stone (Deut. iv. 23-28; Isaiah xxxvii. 19; Jerem. iii. 9; Ezek. xx. 32; and other places). To the same purpose are these words in Isaiah:
"He chooseth wood that will not rot, he seeketh unto him a wise artificer, to prepare a graven image, that it may not be moved" (xl. 20).
Wood here signifies evil which is adored as good, for the graven image denotes the evil of worship; wood which will not rot signifies some good from the Word which is adulterated, and therefore becomes evil; this he is said to choose, because that which is from the Word persuades, and consequently does not perish in the mind. This is the case with every evil and falsity confirmed by means of the Word. His seeking a wise artificer, signifies to seek one who from his own intelligence has the faculty to confirm and falsify.
[6] In Jeremiah:
"The statutes of the nations are vanity, for one heweth wood out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman with the axe; they are brutish and become foolish, their wood is a doctrine of vanities" (x. 3, 8).
The statutes of the nations, which are vanity, signify all things belonging to the worship of those who are in evil. By the wood hewn out of the forest and the work of the hands of the workman with the axe, is signified evil, from which is derived a form of worship, contrived by falsities originating in [man's] own intelligence; wood denotes the evil of worship, meant by the graven image; the work of the hands of the workman denotes what is from [man's] own intelligence; the axe is the falsity which destroys good and confirms evil.
[7] In the same prophet:
"The voice shall go as that of a serpent; and they came with axes, as hewers of wood" (xlvi. 22).
The voice of a serpent means craftiness and deceit; with axes signifies with falsities destroying good; as hewers of wood, signifies as if willing to uproot evils, when nevertheless they uproot good.
Also in Moses: "If any one slay his companion through error; as when a man cometh with his companion into a forest, and the axe falleth out of the wood upon his companion, he shall flee to the city of refuge" (Dent. xix. 5).
The contingency of a person sinning through error who is allowed to flee to a city of refuge, is here illustrated by a case that can rarely happen, but which is nevertheless used to illustrate what is meant by slaying another through error. The illustration is used because wood is significative, as are also axe and forest; wood denotes good, axe falsity, and forest the natural man. These words therefore signify that if any one who is in natural good should destroy the soul of another by means of falsity which he does not know to be falsity, it shall be accounted as done through error, because not done from evil.
[8] In Habakkuk:
"The stone crieth out of the wall, and the beam out of the wood answereth" (ii. 11).
This means that evil confirms falsity, and incites. The wall out of which the stone crieth, signifies man void of truths, and who thus from falsity desires to be instructed; the beam which answereth out of the wood signifies man destitute of goods, wood denoting evil which confirms and assents to falsity.
In Jeremiah:
"Saying to the wood, Thou art my father, and to the stone, Thou hast begotten me, because they have turned the neck to me and not the face" (ii. 27).
By saying to the wood, Thou art my father, is signified that they were conceived from evil; and by saying to the stone, Thou hast begotten me, is signified that they were born from the falsity of evil; by turning the neck and not the face, is signified that they have turned themselves away from all good and truth. Fire and wood are spoken of in Zechariah (xii. 6), and in Isaiah (xxx. 33), because fire signifies evil love, and wood evils therefrom.
[9] Because swords signify falsities destroying truths, and [staves of] wood (ligna) evils destroying good, therefore, by the command of the chief priests, a multitude went out with Judas Iscariot against Jesus, with swords and staves (lignis) (Matt. xxvi 47; Mark xiv. 43, 48; Luke xxii. 52). This took place because all things relating to the Lord's passion were representative of the destruction of everything belonging to good and truth by the Jews. Among the sons of Israel there were two common forms of punishment, stoning, and hanging upon wood, stoning for the injury and destruction of truth, and hanging upon wood for the injury and destruction of good; hanging upon wood was therefore a curse (Deut. xxi. 22, 23). From these things it is evident, that wood signifies good, in particular the good of the natural man, and in the opposite sense its evil.
[10] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- There are in the world men-angels, and there are men-devils; heaven is from men-angels, and hell is from men-devils. With a man-angel all the degrees of his life even up to the Lord are open; but with a man-devil only the ultimate degree is open, and time higher degrees are closed. A man-angel is led by the Lord both from within and from without; but a man-devil is led by himself from within, and of the Lord from without. A man-angel is led by the Lord according to order - from within from order, from without to order; but a man-devil is led by the Lord to order from without, but by himself against order from within. A man-angel is continually withdrawn from evil by the Lord, and led to good; but a man-devil is also continually withdrawn by the Lord from evil, but from a more grievous to a less one, for he cannot be led to good. A man-angel is continually withdrawn from hell by the Lord, and led more and more interiorly into heaven; but a man-devil is also continually withdrawn from hell, but from a more grievous to a milder hell, for he cannot be led into heaven. A man-angel, because he is led by the Lord, is led by civil, moral, and spiritual laws, on account of the Divine which is in them; a man-devil is led by the same laws, but it is on account of his own in them.
[11] A man-angel, from the Lord, loves the goods of the church, which are also the goods of heaven, because they are goods; similarly he loves its truths, because they are truths; but from himself he loves the goods of the body and of the world, because they are for use and pleasure; similarly he loves the truths of the various branches of knowledge (scientiarum); he loves both the one and the other apparently of himself, but actually from the Lord. But a man-devil, from himself, also loves the goods of the body and of the world, because they are for use and pleasure; he similarly loves the truths of the various branches of knowledge; but he loves both the one and the other apparently from himself, but actually from hell. A man-angel is in freedom and in the delight of his heart when he is doing good from good, and also when he is not doing evil; but a man-devil is in freedom and in the delight of his heart when he is doing good from evil, and also while he is doing evil. A man-angel and a man-devil resemble each other in externals, but they are altogether unlike in internals; when, therefore, external things are laid aside by death, the difference between them becomes clear; the one is carried up into heaven, and the other is borne down into hell.