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570. And the four angels were loosed.- That this signifies liberty to reason from fallacies, is clear from the signification of the four angels bound at the river Euphrates, as denoting reasonings from fallacies pertaining to the sensual man, not received before (see above, n. 569:1); it therefore follows, that by their being loosed is signified that there is now liberty to reason from fallacies. The reason that there is now this liberty, is, that the sensual man reasons only from such things as are in the world, and that he can see with his eyes; but he says that those things which are within or above them have no existence, because he does not see them. For this reason he denies, or does not believe in the existence of those things which pertain to heaven and the church, because they are above his thoughts, and because he ascribes all things to nature. The sensual man thinks thus with himself, or in his spirit, but otherwise before the world, for before the world he speaks from his memory, also concerning spiritual things from the Word, or from the doctrine of the church, and the things which he utters resemble those which are spoken by the spiritual man. Such is the state of the men of the church at its end; and although they may speak eloquently, or preach as it were from a spiritual source, still all this proceeds from the ultimate Sensual, in which their spirit is, which, when left to itself, reasons against these things, because it reasons from fallacies, and therefore from falsities.
570. Verse 15. And the four angels were loosed, signifies license to reason from fallacies. This is evident from the signification of "the four angels bound at the river Euphrates," as being reasonings from fallacies which are of the sensual man, not accepted before (See above n. 569; from this it follows that "they were loosed" signifies license to reason now from fallacies. This license was now granted because the sensual man only reasons from such things as he sees in the world with his eyes, while the things that are within and above these he declares cannot be, since he does not see them; this is why the things that belong to heaven and the church, because they are above his thoughts, he either denies or does not believe, but ascribes all things to nature. Thus the sensual man thinks by himself or in his spirit, but otherwise before the world, for before the world he speaks from his memory, even about spiritual things from the Word or from the doctrine of the church; and what he says has a similar sound as when a spiritual man says it. Such is the state of men of the church at its end; and although they fit together words which they speak or preach seemingly from a spiritual origin, they nevertheless flow from the ultimate sensual in which their spirit is, and this when left to itself reasons against them, because it reasons from fallacies, consequently from falsities.
570. [Vers. 15.] "Et soluti sunt quatuor angeli." - Quod significet licentiam ratiocinandi ex fallaciis, constat ex significatione "quatuor angelorum vinctorum ad flumen Euphratem", quod sint ratiocinationes ex fallaciis quae sensuali homini, non prius receptae (de qua mox supra, n. 569 [a]): inde sequitur quod per quod "soluti sint" significetur quod nunc licentia ratiocinandi ex fallaciis. Causa quod nunc licentia, est quia sensualis homo ratiocinatur modo ex talibus quae in mundo sunt et oculis videt; quae autem intra aut supra illa sunt, quia non videt, dicit non dari; inde est quod illa quae caeli et ecclesiae sunt, quia supra ejus cogitationes sunt, neget aut non credat, et quod Naturae omnia adscribat. Sensualis homo ita cogitat secum, seu in suo spiritu; at coram mundo aliter, nam coram mundo loquitur ex memoria, etiam de spiritualibus ex Verbo aut ex doctrina ecclesiae; et quae loquitur sonant similiter sicut dum illa loquitur spiritualis homo. Talis est status hominum ecclesiae in fine ejus; quae tametsi concinnant verba quae loquuntur aut praedicant sicut ex spirituali origine, usque fluunt ex sensuali ultimo, in quo eorum spiritus est; qui sibi relictus ratiocinatur contra illa, quia ex fallaciis, proinde ex falsis.