1. APPENDIX to THE WHITE HORSE ¹

Since today it must inevitably appear strange that a horse means the understanding of truth, and in a contrary sense, reasonings coming as it were from the understanding which confirm falsehood, I should like to quote more passages still from the Word where the horse is mentioned. Let these suffice:

Is Thine indignation against the sea, O Jehovah, when Thou dost ride upon Thy horses! Thy chariots are salvation. Thou didst trample the sea with Thy horses, the surging of the waters, Habakkuk 3:8, 15.

The hoofs of Jehovah's horses are reckoned as flint, Isaiah 5:28.

At Thy rebuke both chariot and horse lay stunned, Psalm 76:5-6.

I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will overthrow the chariot and those that ride in it, and the horses and their horsemen shall go down, Haggai 2:22.

I will cut off the horse from Jerusalem: he shall speak peace to the nations, Zechariah 9:10.

In these places the Church's understanding of truth is meant by the horse, and doctrine derived from it by the chariot; and those who are able to understand and learn from the Word are meant by riders and horsemen. The matter is plainer still from these places:

Gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice; you shall be satisfied at My table with horse and chariot. So I will set My glory among the nations, Ezekiel 39:17, 20-21.

Gather yourselves to the great supper of God, and you shall eat the flesh of horses and of those seated on them, Revelation 19:17-18.

The subject here is the New Church that is to be established by the Lord. At that time the understanding of the Word will be opened and from it men will be taught the doctrine of truth. What else would the statements that they were to be filled at the Lord's table with horse and chariot, and that they were to eat the flesh of horses and of those seated on them, be but utter absurdities! In addition to the examples already brought forward, the meaning of horse and chariot is obvious from these places:

Gird on Thy sword, O Mighty One! Mount, and ride on the Word of truth, Psalm 45:3-4.

Sing, lift up a song to Him Who rides upon the clouds, Psalm 68:4.

Jehovah comes riding upon a cloud, Isaiah 19:1.

Sing to the Lord Who is riding on the highest heaven of old, Psalm 68:33-34.

God rode on a cherub, Psalm 18:10.

Then you shall take delight in Jehovah, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, Isaiah 58:14; Deuteronomy 32:13.

I will make Ephraim ride, Hosea 10:11.

By riding in these passages is meant teaching and being taught the truths of doctrine, and thus being wise. By the heights of the earth are meant the summits of the Church, and by Ephraim also the understanding of the Word. Like matters are meant by horses and chariots, by the four chariots coming out between the mountains of bronze, and by the four horses harnessed to them, which were red, black, white, and dappled grey, and which are also called spirits and are said to have gone forth from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole earth, Zechariah 6:1-8, 15.

Things of a similar nature are meant by these words as well:

When the Lamb opened the seals of the book horses went out in order, first a white horse, second a red horse, third a black horse, and fourth a pale horse, Revelation 6:1-8.

It is obvious that by the book whose seals the Lamb opened the Word is meant, out of which nothing else could come except the understanding of it. What other meaning could horses coming out of an opened book have!

It is clear that a horse means the understanding of truth and a chariot doctrine from the same words when they are used in a contrary sense. A horse then means the understanding falsifying truths by means of mere reasonings, and a chariot consequent doctrine, that is, heresy, as in the following places:

Woe to those who go down into Egypt for help and rely on horses and do not look to the Holy One of Israel! For Egypt is man and not God, and his horses are flesh and not spirit, Isaiah 31:1, 3.

You shall set over Israel a king whom Jehovah shall choose, only let him not multiply horses for himself nor lead the people back into Egypt to multiply horses, Deuteronomy 17:14-16.

These matters have been stated because by Egypt is meant the natural man, who corrupts the truths of the Word by mere reasonings from the physical senses. What else could the horses of Egypt being flesh and not spirit, and the king not having to multiply horses, that is, falsehoods that have to do with religion, mean?

Assyria will not save us, we will not ride upon a horse, Hosea 14:3.

Some boast of the chariot and others of horses but we will boast of the name of our God, Psalm 20:7-8.

A horse is a vain thing for safety, Psalm 33:17.

The Holy One of Israel said, In trust shall be your strength. But you said, No. We will flee on a horse, we will ride on a swift one, Isaiah 30:15-16.

Jehovah will set Judah like a glorious horse; they shall put to shame those riding on horses, Zechariah 10:3-5.

I will bring against Tyre the king of Babylon, with horse and with chariot, and with horsemen. Their horses shall be so many that their dust will cover you, and the noise of horse and chariot so much that your walls will be shaken. With the hoofs of his horses he will trample all your streets, Ezekiel 26:7-11.

By Tyre in the Word is meant the Church as regards its cognitions of good and truth, and by the king of Babylon the falsification and profanation of them. Hence it says here that he will come with horse and chariot and horsemen, and that the horses will be so many that their dust will cover him. Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies, with whinnying horse and bounding chariot, Nahum 3:1-4.

By the bloody city is meant doctrine derived from truths of the Word that have been falsified. And in other places as well, such as Isaiah 5:26, 28; Jeremiah 6:23, 8:16, 46:4, 9, 50:37-38, 42; Ezekiel 17:15, 23:6, 20; Habakkuk 1:6, 8-10; Psalms 66:11-12, 147:10. A falsified and ruined understanding of truth that is in the Word is also meant by the red, black, and pale horses of Revelation 6:4-5, 8. Since therefore a horse means an understanding of truth, and in a contrary sense, an understanding of falsehood, it is clear what the Word is like in its spiritual sense.

It is well known that hieroglyphics existed in Egypt and that these were inscribed on columns and temple walls, etc., and that nobody knows nowadays what they meant. They were nothing else but correspondences of natural and spiritual things, to which the Egyptians applied themselves more than any other peoples of their own times in Asia, and it was according to these correspondences that the ancient Greeks composed their fables. The most ancient style was nothing else but this. To all these matters let me add one that is new: All things that manifest themselves in the spiritual world to angels and spirits are without exception correspondences, and for that very reason the whole of the Sacred Scripture has been written by means of correspondences [in the margin: in order that by means of it, as this is the nature of it, men of the Church would be conjoined with angels of heaven]. But because the Egyptians, and others with them in the kingdoms of Asia, began to turn those correspondences into forms of idolatry which the children of Israel tended to favour, the latter were forbidden to call them back into any use at all, as is quite plain from the first of the Ten Commandments where these words appear:

You shall not make for yourself any carved image which is in the heavens above or which is on the earth beneath or which is in the waters under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them, for I am Jehovah your God, Deuteronomy 5:8-9.

And there are many more examples elsewhere. From that time on the knowledge of correspondences was blotted out. This happened by stages, in so much that nowadays its existence in the past is almost unknown, or that there is such a thing. Now however because a New Church is to be established by the Lord, one that is to be based on the Word, and which is understood by the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation, the Lord has been pleased to reveal that knowledge, and so to open up the Word to show what it is like inside in its inmost parts, that is, to show what it is in the spiritual sense. This has been done by means of myself in ARCANA COELESTIA, published in London, and afterwards in APOCALYPSE REVEALED, published in Amsterdam. Since for men of early times that knowledge was the greatest knowledge of all, and from it came their wisdom, it is important that some member of your academy should devote his labours to that knowledge, which can be done chiefly from the correspondences disclosed in APOCALYPSE REVEALED and proved from the Word. If there is a demand for it I am willing to unravel the Egyptian hieroglyphics, which are nothing else but correspondences, and have the matter published. Nobody else can do it.

Em. Swedenborg

Footnotes:

1. 小論「白馬」の付録

馬は、真理を理解することを意味しますが、その反対の意味では、理性が偽りで心を固めた場合の推論を意味します。これは今日では、いささか奇妙に思えるかも知れませんので、〈みことば〉の中から「馬」の引用のある多くの箇所を挙げてみます。

「エホバよ、あなたは馬に乗った騎兵たち、あなたの馬は救いです。あなたは馬に乗って泥水の中を走られた。それは海にたいするあなたの怒りでしょうか」（ハバクク3:8、15）。

「エホバの馬のひずめは、岩と見なされている」（イザヤ5:28）。

「あなたの叱責を前にして、馬車と馬は眠りこけた」（詩76:7）。

「わたしは諸王国の王座を覆そう。またその王座に仕える馬車と騎兵たちを覆そう。馬と騎兵たちは下ってくるであろう」（ハガイ2:22）。

「エルサレムから来る馬をわたしは断つ。しかし諸民族にたいしては、平和を語るであろう」（ゼカリヤ9:10）。

以上の箇所で、馬は教会の真理を理解することを意味します。馬車はそれに由来する教義を意味し、乗馬者とか騎兵は、〈みことば〉に根差した理解力と教義を意味します。もっとはっきりするのは次です。

「あなた方は周囲から、わたしの犠牲のほうに集まってきなさい。あなた方は、わたしの食卓について、馬と馬車を食べ飽きなさい。こうしてわたしは、諸民族の中にわたしの栄光を与えよう」（エゼキエル39:17、20、21）。

「あなた方は、神の大宴会に集まって、馬の肉、それに乗る者たちの肉を食らいなさい」（黙示19:17、18）。

これは、主によって創設される新しい教会について語っています。そのさい、〈みことば〉にたいする理解が開かれ、〈みことば〉に基づいた真理の教義の中で教わります。そうでなかったら、主の食卓で馬と馬車で食べ飽きるようになり、馬の肉とそれに乗る者たちの肉を食べるだろうなどは、空文句でしかないことになります。

「あなたの剣を腰に帯びよ。力ある者よ、真理の〈みことば〉という馬に乗って行きなさい」（詩45:4、5）。

「歌え、雲に馬乗り跨って来る者を褒めあげよ」（詩68:5）。

「エホバは、雲の馬に乗ってこられる」（イザヤ19:1）。

「主を褒めたたえよ。主は古えの天界の天の上に馬乗りになって来られる」（詩18:33、34）。「神はケルブ天使の上に乗って来られる」（詩18:11）。

「その時あなたは、エホバを喜び楽しむ。わたしはあなたが地の高いところを馬乗りになるようにする」（イザヤ58:14、申命32:13）。

「わたしはエフライムが馬に乗るようにする」（ホセア10:11）。

以上の箇所で、「馬に乗る」とは教義上の真理を教える、または教わること、そしてそれを英知で味わうという意味です。「地の高いところ」とは、崇高な諸教会を表します。「エフライム」とは、〈みことば〉を理解することです。馬または馬車も同じことを表わします。空中の山々の中を行く四つの馬車、またそれに繋がれている赤、黒、白、灰色の四頭の馬も同じです。それは霊たちと呼ばれ、全地の主のみ側に立っていたところから走り出たといわれます（ゼカリヤ6:1-5、15）。

同様ですが、また次のようにあります。

「子ヒツジが書物の封印を解いたとき、馬が続いて出てきた。最初の馬は白色、次の馬は赤色、第三番目の馬は黒色、四番目の馬は青白い色をしていた」（黙示6:1-8）。

子ヒツジがその封印を解いたという書物は、〈みことば〉のことで、そこから出てきたのは、〈みことば〉への理解力以外のなにものでもありません。馬は真理を理解することを意味し、馬車は教義を意味しますが、それは対立する意味でいわれている箇所から明らかです。

「助けを求めてエジプトに下る者、馬に寄りかかる者、イスラエルの聖なる方に目を置かない者たちに、わざわいあれ。なぜならエジプトは人であって神ではなく、馬たちは肉であって霊ではないからである」（イザヤ31:1、3）。

「あなたは、エホバが選ばれる王をイスラエルの上に据えなさい。その王は自分のために馬を増やすことはないし、また馬を増やすため、民をエジプトに戻すこともない」（申命17:14、15、16）。

以上のように記されていますが、それは、エジプトが自然的人間のことを意味し、〈みことば〉の真理は、肉的感覚に根差す推理判断によって覆されるためです。さもなくば、エジプトの馬は肉であって霊ではないとか、王は馬を増やすべきでないとは記されなかったでしょう。ここで馬は宗教上の偽りを意味します。

「アッシリヤはわれわれには仕えず、それでわれわれは馬に乗って行かないであろう」（ホセア14:4）。

「この人たちは馬車を誇り、あの人たちは馬を誇る。わたしたちは、わたしたちの神のみ名を誇るであろう」（詩20:8）。

「馬は安全にたいしては嘘になる」（詩33:17）。

「イスラエルの聖なる方は言われた、信頼すればあなた方には力がある、と。しかしあなたは言った、われわれは馬に乗って逃げるであろう。われわれは馬に乗って疾走する」（イザヤ30:15、16）。

「エホバは栄光の馬にたいしてするようにユダを立てた。馬に乗る者らは恥じ入るであろう」（ザカリヤ10:3、4、5）。

「わたしはツロに逆らってバビロンの王を立てる。王は馬と馬車と騎兵を伴う。数多くの馬の前には、かれらの塵があなたを覆うだろう。騎兵と馬車の声に先だって、あなたの壁は動かされるであろう。かれらの馬のひずめは、あなたの大通りをすべて踏み散らすであろう」（エゼキエル26:7-11）。

〈みことば〉で、ツロは善と真理の認識の面での教会を意味します。バビロンの王とは、その認識を偽りに化したり、冒涜したりすることです。またその王は、馬と馬車と騎兵を率いいて来ると言われ、数多くの馬の前に、かれらの塵が覆うとあります」。

「血の都にわざわいあれ。都はデマに満ちあふれ、馬はいななき、馬車は踊り走る」（ナホム3:1、2）。

血の都とは、〈みことば〉の真理の歪曲に根差した教義のことです。またその他の箇所として、イザヤ5:26、28、エレミヤ6:23、8:16、46:4、9、50:37、38、43、エゼキエル17:15、23:6、20、ハバクク1:6、8、9、10、詩66:11、12、147:10を参照のこと。

赤馬、黒馬、青白い馬などは、〈みことば〉の真理を歪曲し、覆したまま理解していることを意味します（黙示6:4、5、8）。馬とは真理を理解すること、またその反対の意味では、偽った理解をも示しますが、それによって〈みことば〉の霊的意味とはどんなものか明らかになります。

エジプトには象形文字があったことは周知のことです。神殿の柱や壁に刻まれていました。ただし現在、それが何を意味しているか分かっている人はいません。そのような文字は、自然的なものと霊的なものとの相応以外のなにものでもないのです。エジプト人たちは、当時アジアのどの民族よりもそれに通じており、しかもギリシャの古代人たちは、それに基づいて自分たちの寓話を記しました。最古代の文体には、その他のものはありませんでした。

さらに新しいことを付け加えます。

霊界では天使たちや霊たちの眼前に現れるものは全部、特異なやりかたで、相応に由来します。聖書が全体として相応から記されているわけは、ここにあります。またエジプト人たちは、アジア諸国の他の国民もそうでしたが、偶像崇拝の方に、相応を曲げていきました。イスラエルの子らも、偶像崇拝に陥る傾向がありました。だからこそ、自分の手で転用することを禁じられていました。十戒の第一戒を見てもそれがはっきり出ています。すなわち、

「天の高きにあるものの像を自分のために刻んではいけない。また地上低くあるもの、地下の水の中にあるものをを像としてはいけない。その前に跪いてはいけない。それに仕えてはいけない。わたしはあなたの神エホバであるから」（申命5:8、9）と。

その他にもたくさんあります。

その時以来、相応の科学は廃れていきました。そしてついには現在のように、相応の科学がかつて存在したことだけでなく、意味あるものであることさえ分からなくなってしまっています。

それで主は、現在〈みことば〉を土台にして、新教会を創立されるおつもりです。その教会は、黙示録に出てくる新しいエルサレムのことです。

このように、主は相応の科学を啓示され、〈みことば〉の内奥すなわち〈みことば〉の霊的意味を開き示そうとの思し召しです。それは、ロンドンで発行した『天界の秘義』、およびアムステルダム発行の『啓示された黙示録』の中で、筆者の手をとおして実現しました。

相応の科学は、古代人にとっては諸科学の中の科学であり、さらに英知でもあります。ですから、読者の学問の世界から、どなたかが出て、その科学に専念されることが必要になります。それはなによりも相応に根差すものです。その相応は、啓示された黙示録の中に発見され、〈みことば〉に根拠をおいて証明されなくてはなりません。

もし望まれるなら、わたしはエジブトの象形文字を解読・出版したいと思います。この文字は相応以外のなにものでもなく、他の方によっては、できないことと思われます。

エマヌエル・スヴェーデンボルイ

5319. 'And clothed him in robes of fine linen' means an outward sign denoting the celestial of the spiritual, 'robes of fine linen' being truths going forth from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'robes' as truths, dealt with in 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248. The reason 'robes of fine linen' means truths going forth from the Divine is that a robe made of fine linen was absolutely white and at the same time shining, and truth going forth from the Divine is represented by robes which have that kind of brightness and splendour. And the reason for this is that heaven derives its brightness and splendour from the light that flows from the Lord; and the light that flows from the Lord is Divine Truth itself, 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 1776, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862, 4415, 4419, 4526, 5219. This explains why, when the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, His clothing appeared as the light, Matthew 17:2; glistening, intensely white like snow, as no fuller on earth could bleach them, Mark 9:3; and dazzling, Luke 9:29. It was Divine Truth itself going forth from the Lord's Divine Human that was represented in this manner. But they are exterior truths that are represented in heaven by the brightness of robes, whereas interior truths are represented by the brightness and splendour of the face. This is why 'being clothed in robes of fine linen' at this point means an outward sign denoting truth going forth from the celestial of the spiritual, for this was what the Lord's Divine consisted in at this time.

[2] There are other places too in the Word where truth going forth from the Divine is meant by 'fine linen' and 'robes of fine linen', as in Ezekiel,

I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and shed you with badger, and swathed you in fine linen, and covered you in silk. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver, and your robes were fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth. Ezekiel 16:10, 13.

This refers to Jerusalem, which is used in these verses to mean the Ancient Church. The truths of this Church are described by robes made of embroidered cloth, fine linen, and silk, and by being adorned with gold and silver. 'Embroidered cloth' means truths existing as facts, 'fine linen' natural truths, and 'silk' spiritual truths.

[3] In the same prophet,

Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you an ensign; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Ezekiel 27:7.

This refers to Tyre, which too is used to mean the Ancient Church, but so far as cognitions of good and truth are concerned. 'Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, which was its sail' means truth obtained from factual knowledge, which was the outward sign of that Church.

[4] In John,

The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over Babylon, since no one buys their wares any more, wares of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and bronze, and iron, and marble. Revelation 18:11-12.

All the specific commodities mentioned here mean the kinds of things that have to do with the Church and so truth and goodness. Here however they are used in the contrary sense because they are spoken of in reference to Babylon. Anyone may see that such commodities would never have been listed in the Word which has come down from heaven unless each one held something heavenly within it. What other reason can there be for a list of worldly wares when Babylon, meaning an unholy Church, is the subject? Similarly in the same book,

Woe, woe, the great city, you that were clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, covered ¹ with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. Revelation 18:16.

[5] The fact that each commodity means something Divine and heavenly is quite evident in the same book where it states what fine linen is, namely the righteous acts of the saints,

The time of the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. At that time she was given fine linen, clean and shining, to wear; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:7-8.

'Fine linen' is 'the righteous acts of the saints' for the reason that all those with whom truth received from the Divine exists are clothed with the Lord's righteousness. For their robes which are bright and shining are products of the light which flows from the Lord. Therefore in heaven truth itself is represented by 'brightness', 3301, 3997, 4007; and people who are being raised to heaven from a state of vastation are seen to be clothed with brightness because they are at this point casting off the robe of their own righteousness and putting on that of the Lord's righteousness.

[6] So that truth from the Divine might be represented in the Jewish Church, they were commanded to use cotton or fine linen in Aaron's vestments, and also in the curtains around the Ark, referred to in Moses as follows,

You shall make in chequered pattern for Aaron a tunic of cotton, and you shall make a turban of cotton. Exodus 28:39.

They made tunics of cotton, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and his sons. Exodus 39:27.

You shall make the Dwelling-place, ten curtains - fine-twined cotton, violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet. Exodus 26:1; 36:8.

You shall make the court of the Dwelling-place. The hangings for the court shall be of fine-twined cotton. Exodus 27:9, 18; 38:9.

The screen for the gate of the court, the work of an embroiderer, violet and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and fine-twined cotton. Exodus 38:18.

Cotton is fine linen, which they were commanded to use because each object in the Ark and around the Ark, also every detail of Aaron's vestments, were representative of spiritual and celestial realities. From this one may see that a person has only a meagre understanding of the Word if he does not know what such things represent, and scarcely any understanding at all if he thinks that the Word possesses no holiness other than that which presents itself in the letter.

[7] When angels with whom truth from the Divine is present are seen by anyone they are clothed so to speak in fine linen, that is, in shining brightness, as is evident in John where 'a white horse' is referred to,

The One seated on a white horse was clothed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word. His armies in heaven were following Him on white horses; they were clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Revelation 19:11, 13-14.

These words show quite plainly that 'fine linen' is an outward sign denoting truth from the Divine, for 'the One seated on a white horse' is the Lord as to the Word; indeed those words state quite explicitly that He is the Word. The Word is truth itself received from the Divine, and 'a white horse' is the internal sense of the Word, see 2760-2762. Consequently truths received from the Divine are meant by 'white horses', for such truths constitute the whole of the internal sense of the Word. This was why His armies were seen 'on white horses' and why 'they were clothed in fine linen, white and clean'.

Footnotes: