913. The reason why gold signifies the good of love is because metals, just the same as all things collectively and separately that appear in the natural world, correspond; gold to the good of love, silver to the truths of wisdom, copper or bronze to the good of charity, and iron to the truths of faith. This is why these metals also exist in the spiritual world, since all the things that appear there are correspondences, for they correspond to the affections and consequently to the thoughts of the angels, which in themselves are spiritual. That 'gold' by reason of the correspondence signifies the good of love can be established from these passages:-
I counsel thee to buy from Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich Rev. iii 18.
How the gold has become dim, the best refined gold changed; the stones of holiness have been poured Out at the head of all the streets; the sons of Zion were esteemed equal to pure gold Lam. iv 1, 2.
He shall preserve the souls of the poor, and give them of the gold of Sheba Ps. lxxii 13, 15.
For bronze I will bring gold, and for iron silver, and for wood bronze and for stones iron, and I will make thy property (censum tuum) peace, and thine exactors justice Isa. lx 17.
Behold, thou art wise no secret has been hidden from thee, in thy wisdom and in thine intelligence thou hast made gold and silver for thyself in thy treasuries; thou hast been in the garden of Eden, every precious stone was thy covering, and gold Ezek. xxviii 3, 4, 13.
A troop of camels shall cover thee, all they from Sheba shall come, they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah Isa. lx 6, 9; Matt. ii 11.
I will fill this house with glory, the silver is Mine and the gold is Mine; the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former Hagg. ii 7-9.
King's daughters were among thy precious ones, the queen stood at thy right hand in the best gold of Ophir, her clothing was of woven gold Ps. xlv 9, 13 [H.B. 10, 14]; Ezek. xvi 13.
Thou hast accepted the vessels of thine adornment of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and thou hast made to thyself images of a male Ezek. xvi 17.
You have taken My silver and My gold, and you have carried My desirable things into your temples Joel iii 5 [H.B. iv 5].
[2] Since 'gold' used to signify the good of love, therefore when:-
Belshazzar with his magnates was drinking wine out of the vessels of gold brought from the temple at Jerusalem, and at the same time was praising the gods of gold, silver, bronze and iron, the wall was written on, and that same night he was slain Dan. v 2 seq.;
besides in many other places. Since 'gold' used to signify the good of love, therefore:-
The ark, in which was the Law, had been overlaid with gold inside and outside Exod. xxv 11.
And therefore the propitiatory and the cherubs over the ark were of pure gold Exod. xxv 18.
The altar of incense was of pure gold Exod. xxx 3.
Likewise the lampstand with the lamps Exod. xxv 31, 38.
And the table upon which was the bread of faces was overlaid with gold Exod. xxv 23, 24.
[3] Since 'gold' used to signify the good of love, 'silver' the truth of wisdom, 'bronze' the good of natural love that is called charity, and 'iron' the truth of faith, therefore the ancients used to call the successions of the times from the most ancient up to the last the golden, silver, bronze and iron ages. Similar things are signified by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream:-
Whose head was good gold, the breast and arms silver, the belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron, the feet part iron part clay Dan. ii 32, 33.
By these things were signified the successive states of the Church in this world from the most ancient times up to the present day. The state of the Church at present is described thus, that:-
Thou didst see iron mixed with miry clay; they shall mix themselves together by means of the seed of man, but they shall not cohere together the one to the other, even as iron is not mixed with clay (verse 43) [of Dan. ii].
By 'iron' is signified the truth of faith, as was said, but when there is no truth of faith, but faith without truth, then there is 'iron mixed with miry clay', and these do not cohere. By 'the seed of man' with which those will mix themselves together is signified the truth of the Word. This is the state of the Church at this day. What it is going to be afterwards is described there in a few words (verse 45), but more fully in chap. vii 13-18, 27.