678.“就有恶而且毒的疮”表对教会的一切良善与真理具有毁灭性的内在邪恶与虚假。“疮”在此无非表示源于遵行这为首的教义（即唯信称义和得救，无需律法行为）生活的邪恶；因为它“生在那些有兽印记，拜兽像的人身上”，以此表示这信和照之的生活；故“恶而且毒的疮”表示对教会的一切良善与真理具有毁灭性的内在邪恶与虚假。“毒”表示毁灭性，因为邪恶只会摧毁良善，虚假只会摧毁真理。“疮”之所以具有这种含义，是因为身上的疮源于血液变坏的状态或某种其它内在毒性。灵义上所指的疮也一样，这些“疮”源于欲望及其快乐，它们才是内因。“疮”所表示的邪恶本身外在显得令人快乐，但内在却隐藏着欲望，而这邪恶就源于这些欲望，并由它们构成。
要清楚知道，人的心智内层以连续次序和同步次序存在于每个人里面。它们处于从心智的高层或在先事物到其低层或在后事物的连续次序中。而在终端，或最后区域，它们则处于从内在事物到外在事物的同步次序中，如同从一个核心到其周边。这个主题在《圣爱与圣智》（173-281节）一书论述层级的地方多有说明；由此明显可知，终端是一切在先事物的综合体。由此可知，一切恶欲皆以同步次序从内存在于此人在自己里面所察觉到的这个邪恶里面，而人在自己里面所察觉到的一切邪恶皆处于终端；由于这个原因，人在凭自己弃绝邪恶时，同时也弃绝了这邪恶的欲望；其实不是靠他自己，而是靠着主。人的确能凭自己弃绝邪恶，但不能弃绝恶欲；所以，他想要通过与邪恶争战而弃绝邪恶时，就必须仰赖主；因为主从至内层到终端进行运作，事实上，祂通过人的灵魂进入并洁净他。说这些事是叫人知道，“疮”表示显现在终端或表层、源于内在恶意的邪恶。这种事会发生在所有说服自己相信唯信得救的人身上，因此，这种人不省察自己里面的邪恶，也不仰望主。
在以下经文中，“疮”与“伤”表示源于内在邪恶，也就是欲望的终端邪恶：
从脚掌到头顶，没有一处完全的。尽是伤口、青肿和新打的伤痕，都没有收口，没有缠裹，也没有用油滋润。（以赛亚书1:6）
我的罪孽高过我的头；因我的愚昧，我的伤发臭流脓。（诗篇 38:4，5）
当耶和华缠裹祂百姓的损处，医治他们鞭伤的日子。（以赛亚书 30:26）
你若不顺从耶和华的声音，不谨守遵行祂的诫命，耶和华必用埃及人的疮并痔疮、牛皮癣与疥攻击你，使你膝上腿上，从脚掌到头顶，长毒疮无法医治。（申命记28:15，27，35）
在埃及，人身上和牲畜身上所生的起泡的疮（出埃及记9:8-11）并非表示别的；因为在那里所行的神迹表示他们所处的邪恶与虚假。由于犹太民族陷入对圣言的亵渎中，这一点由“大麻风”来表示，所以他们不仅身上有大麻风，而且衣服、房屋和各样器皿也有大麻风；各种亵渎由麻风病的各种邪恶来表示，它们是：疖子，流脓的疖子，白疥和红疥，脓疮，火毒（burnings），癣，火斑等（利未记13章，Tumors，ulcerous tumors，white and red pimples，abscesses，burnings，tetters，scurfs，注：有些英文单词和圣经上的译文不一致，只能大体对应一下）。这个民族当中的教会是一个代表性教会，在该教会中，内在事物以相对应的外在事物来代表。
678. And an evil and noxious sore formed. This symbolizes interior evils and falsities destructive of every good and truth in the church.
The sore here symbolizes nothing else than evil arising from a life in accordance with this chief point of the doctrine, that faith alone justifies and saves without works of the law. For we are told next that it formed in people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image, which symbolizes that faith and a life in accordance with it. Therefore an evil and noxious sore symbolizes interior evils and falsities destructive of every good and truth in the church. Its being noxious symbolizes its destructiveness, and evil cannot but destroy goodness, and falsity truth.
This is the symbolic meaning of the sore because sores of the body arise from a vitiated condition of the blood or some other internal malignancy. So, too, with sores viewed according to their meaning in the spiritual sense. Those sores arise from lusts and their accompanying delights, which are their internal causes. The evil itself symbolized by the sore, which in its outward expressions seems to be delightful, inwardly conceals in itself lusts, from which it arises and of which it consists.
[2] It should rightly be known, however, that the interior constituents of the human mind in everyone exist in a sequential order and in a concurrent one. They exist in sequential order from its higher or prior constituents to ones lower or subsequent. They exist in concurrent order in their outmost or final expressions, though they range in these from interior elements to outer ones, as from a center to the peripheries. The reality of this is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 173-281, in a section on degrees. It is apparent from those numbers that the outmost degree embraces all the prior ones.
It follows, therefore, that all lusts for evil exist inwardly in a concurrent order in the evil itself that a person perceives in himself. Every evil that a person perceives in himself exists in its outmost expressions. Consequently, when a person rejects evil, he at the same time rejects also its lusts, though he still does not do this on his own, but from the Lord. A person can indeed on his own reject evil, but not its lusts. Therefore, when he wishes to reject some evil and is fighting against it, he must look to the Lord, since the Lord operates from inmost elements to outmost ones. For He enters through a person's soul and purifies him.
We have said this much to make known that a sore symbolizes evil appearing in its outmost or final expressions, arising from an internal malignancy. This is the case with all people who persuade themselves that faith alone saves, and for that reason do not reflect upon any evil in themselves or look to the Lord.
[3] Sores and wounds symbolize evils in outmost expressions arising from interior ones, or lusts, also in the following places:
From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness... A wound and a scar, and a fresh blow, have not been expressed, have not been bound up, have not been softened with oil. (Isaiah 1:6-7)
...my iniquities have passed through my head... My wounds have putrefied, have decayed, because of my foolishness. (Psalms 38:4-5)
In the day that Jehovah binds up the fracture of His people... He will heal the blow's wound. (Isaiah 30:26)
...if you do not obey the voice of Jehovah..., being careful to do... His commandments... Jehovah will strike you with the sore of Egypt, with hemorrhoids and scabies, and itching... and with an evil sore upon the knees and upon the legs... from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. (Deuteronomy 28:15, 27, 35)
The sore of the boils that broke out on man and beast in Egypt (Exodus 9:8-11) has just this symbolic meaning; for the miracles done there symbolized the evils and falsities with which the Egyptians were taken up.
Moreover, because the Jewish nation engaged in a profanation of the Word, and this is the symbolic meaning of leprosy, therefore leprosy occurred not only in their flesh, but also in their garments, houses, and vessels. The various kinds of profanation were also symbolized by the various evil consequences of leprosy, namely swellings, the sores of the swellings, white and reddish pimples, abscesses, burning feelings, losses of skin pigmentation, scaly patches of skin, and so on (see Leviticus 13). For the church with that nation was a representational church, in which internal things were represented by external ones that corresponded to them.
678. 'And an evil and hurtful sore was produced' signifies interior evils and untruths destructive of everything good and true in the Church. By the 'sore' here nothing else is signified but the evil arising from a life in accordance with this main point of doctrine, that faith alone justifies and saves without the works of the law, because it follows on 'in the men having the mark of the beast and adoring his image,' by which that faith is signified and a life in accordance with it. Therefore by 'an evil and hurtful sore' are signified evils and untruths destructive of everything good and true in the Church. By 'hurtful' is signified what is destructive, and evil cannot but destroy good, and untruth truth. 'A sore' signifies those things because the sores of the body arise from the corruption of the blood or from another interior malignity. Likewise 'sores' understood in the spiritual sense: these arise from the lusts and their delights that are the interior causes. The evil itself, which is signified by the 'sore' and appears in the externals as delightful, conceals within it the lusts from which it arises and is inflamed.
[2] It should be known well that the interior things of the human mind are in a successive order and in a simultaneous order with every one. They are in a successive order going from the higher or prior things to the lower or posterior things thereof, [and] they are in a simultaneous order in the ultimates or last things, but in these they are from interior to exterior things as from a centre to a circumference. That this is the case has been shown many times in ANGELIC WISDOM CONCERNING DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM 173-281, where it treats of degrees; from which it is plain that the ultimate is the complex of all the prior things. From this it follows that all the lusts of an evil are in a simultaneous order inwardly in the evil itself that a man perceives with himself, every evil that the man perceives with himself being in the ultimates. And therefore when a man rejects an evil from himself, he also rejects its lusts at the same time, yet not of himself but from the Lord. A man can indeed of himself reject an evil, but not its lusts; and therefore when he is willing to reject the evil by fighting against it he will look to the Lord, for the Lord operates from inmost things to ultimates, for He enters through the man's soul and purifies him. These things have been said that it may be known that 'a sore' signifies an evil appearing in ultimates or extremes, arising from an internal malignity. This comes to pass with all who persuade themselves that faith alone saves, and on that account do not reflect upon any evil with themselves, nor look to the Lord.
[3] 'Sores' and 'wounds' signify evils in the extremes arising from interior evils that are lusts, in the following passages also:
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness; the wound, the scar, and the recent plague, not pressed out, not bound up, not mollified with oil. Isaiah 1:6-7.
Mine iniquities have gone over my head, [my] wounds have festered, they have wasted away because of my foolishness. Psalms 38:4-5 [H.B. 5-6].
In the day that Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people, He shall heal the wound of [their] plague. Isaiah 30:26.
If thou wilt not obey the voice of Jehovah, by taking care to do His precepts, Jehovah shall smite thee with the sore of Egypt, with hemorrhoids and scabies and the itch; and an evil sore upon the knees and upon the thighs, from which thou canst not be healed, from the soul of the foot even unto the top of thy head. Deuteronomy 28:15, 27, 35.
Nothing else is signified by:
The sore of blisters flourishing on man and beast in Egypt, Exodus 9:8-11; for the miracles done there were significant of the evils and untruths in which they were. And because the Jewish nation was in the profanation of the Word, and this was signified by leprosy, therefore the leprosy was not only in their flesh, but also in their garments, houses and vessels; and the kinds of profanation are signified by the various hurtful symptoms (mala) of leprosy, which were:
Tumours, the sores of tumours, white pimples and ones becoming red, abscesses, burnings, skin eruptions, scuffs, etc. Leviticus 13:1 to the end.
For the Church with that nation was a representative Church in which internal things were represented by means of the corresponding external things.
678. And there came an evil and noxious sore, signifies interior evils and falsities destructive of all good and truth in the church. By "a sore," here nothing else is signified but evil originating in a life according to this head of doctrine, that faith alone without the works of the Law justifies and saves; because it came "upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and adored his image," by which that faith, and a life according to it, are signified; wherefore by "an evil and noxious sore" are signified interior evils and falsities, destructive of all good and truth in the church. By "noxious" is signified what is destructive, for evil cannot but destroy good, and falsity truth. "A sore" has this signification because the sores of the body originate from a corrupt state of the blood, or from some other interior malignity. It is the same with sores meant in the spiritual sense, these originate from lusts and their delights, which are interior causes. The evil itself which is signified by "a sore" and which appears in externals as delightful, conceals within it the lusts whence it originates, and of which it is composed.
[2] It should be clearly known, that the interiors of the human mind exist in successive order and in simultaneous order with everyone. They are in successive order from its higher or prior things to its lower or posterior things. They are in simultaneous order in the ultimates or postremes, but in these latter they exist from interior things to exterior, as from a center to its circumference. This is shown in many places in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (173-281), where degrees are treated of; from which it is evident that the ultimate is the complex of all the prior things. Hence it follows, that all the lusts of evil exist in simultaneous order inwardly in the very evil which the man perceives in himself, every evil which a man perceives in himself being in ultimates; for which reason when a man rejects evil from himself, he at the same time rejects its lusts; but still not from himself, but from the Lord. A man can indeed of himself reject evil, but not its lusts; wherefore, when he wills to reject evil, by fighting against it, he will look up to the Lord; for the Lord operates from inmosts to ultimates, for He enters through the soul of man, and purifies him. These things are said that it may be known that "a sore" signifies the evil appearing in ultimates or extremes, and originating from internal malignity. This takes place with all who persuade themselves that faith alone saves, and therefore they do not reflect upon any evil in themselves, nor do they look to the Lord.
[3] "Ulcers" and "wounds" signify evils in the extremes, springing from interior evils, which are lusts, also in the following passages:
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness; wound and scar, and a fresh stroke; they have not been pressed out nor bound up, nor softened with oil, (Isaiah 1:6).
My iniquities have gone over my head; my wounds have putrefied, they have wasted away, because of my foolishness, (Psalms 38:4-5).
In the day that Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people, and shall heal the wound of their stroke, (Isaiah 30:26).
If thou wilt not obey the voice of Jehovah, observing to do His commandments, Jehovah will smite thee with the sore of Egypt, with emerods and with the scab, and with the itch, and with an evil sore upon the knees and thighs, of which thou canst not be healed, from the sole of the foot even to thy crown, (Deuteronomy 28:15, 27, 35).
The sore with blains breaking out on man and on beast in Egypt, (Exodus 9:8-11) signifies nothing else; for the miracles done there signify the evils and falsities in which they were. And because the Jewish nation was in the profanation of the Word, and this is signified by leprosy, therefore they had leprosy not only in their flesh, but also in their garments, houses, and vessels; and the kinds of profanation are signified by the various evils of leprosy, which were:
Tumors, ulcerous tumors, white and red pimples, abscesses, burnings, tetters, scurfs, etc. (Leviticus 13).
For the church with that nation was a representative church, in which internal things were represented by external things which corresponded.
678. "Et factum est ulcus malum at noxium," significat interiora mala et falsa destructiva omnis boni et veri in Ecclesia. - Per "ulcus" hic non aliud significatur quam malum oriundum ex vita secundum hoc caput doctrinae, quod sola Fides sine Operibus Legis justificet et salvet, quia sequitur, "in hominibus habentibus characterem Bestiae et imaginem ejus adorantibus," per quae illa fides et vita secundum illam significatur; quare per "ulcus malum et noxium" significantur interiora mala et falsa destructiva omnis boni et veri in Ecclesia; per "noxium significatur destructivum, et malum non potest non destruere bonum, ac falsum verum. Quod "ulcus" illa significet, est quia ulcera corporis oriuntur ex vitiositate sanguinis, aut ex alia malignitate interiore; similiter ulcera in spirituali sensu intellecta, haec oriuntur ex concupiscentiis et earum jucundis, quae sunt causae interiores; ipsum malum quod per "ulcus" significatur, et in externis apparet ut jucundum, intus in se recondit concupiscentias, a quibus oritur et conflatur. Sed probe sciendum est, quod interiora mentis humanae sint in successivo ordine et in simultaneo apud unumquemvis; in successivo ordine sunt a superioribus seu prioribus ad inferiora seu posteriora ejus; in simultaneo ordine sunt in ultimis seu postremis, sed in his sunt ab interioribus ad exteriora sicut a centro ad peripherias; quod ita sit multis ostensum est in Sapientia Angelica de Divino Amore et Divina Sapientia (173-281), ubi de Gradibus ex quibus patet, quod ultimum sit complexus omnium priorum. Inde sequitur, quod omnes concupiscentiae mali sint in ordine simultaneo intus in ipso malo quod homo percipit apud se: omne malum quod homo percipit apud se est in ultimis; quare cum homo rejicit a se malum, simul etiam rejicit concupiscentias ejus, sed usque non a se, sed a Domino. Homo quidem a se potest rejicere malum, sed non concupiscentias ejus: quare cum vult rejicere malum, pugnando contra illud, spectabit ad Dominium; Dominus enim operatur ab intimis ad ultima; intrat enim per animam hominis, et purificat. Haec dicta sunt, ut sciatur quod "ulcus" significet malum in ultimis seu extremis apparens, ex interna malignitate oriundum. Hoc fit apud omnes qui sibi persuadent solam Fidem salvare, et propterea non reflectunt super aliquod malum apud se nec spectant ad Dominum. "Ulcera" et "vulnera" significant mala in extremis oriunda ex malis interioribus, quae sunt concupiscentiae, etiam in sequentibus locis:
"A vola pedis usque ad caput non est integritas; Vulnus et Cicatrix, et plaga recens; non expressa sunt, non obligata, non emollita oleo," (Esaias 1:6); 1
"Iniquitates meae transiverunt caput meum: computruerunt, contabuerunt Vulnera propter stultitiam meam," (Psalm 38:5-6 (B.A. 4-5));
"In die, quo obligabit Jehovah fracturam populi Sui, Vulnus plagae sanabit," (Esaias 30:26);
"Si non obediveris voci Jehovae, custodiendo ad faciendum praecepta Ipsius, percutiet te Jehovah Ulcere Aegypti, haemorrhoidibus et scabie et prurigine: et Ulcere malo super genubus, et super femoribus, a quibus non possis sanari; a vola pedis usque ad verticem tuum," (Deuteronomius 28:15, 27, 35).
Per "Ulcus pustularum efflorescens in homine et in bestia in Aegypto," (Exodus 9:8-11),
nec aliud significatum est; nam miracula ibi facta significabant mala et falsa in quibus erant. Et quia Gens Judaica erat in prophanatione Verbi, et haec per "lepram" significatur, ideo fuit lepra non modo in eorum carne, sed etiam in vestibus, domibus et vasis; et prophanationis genera significantur per varia mala leprae, quae erant Tumores, ulcera tumorum, papulae albae et rubescentes, abscessus, ustiones, vitiligines, porrigines, etc. (Leviticus 13).
Ecclesia enim apud illam gentem erat Ecclesia repraesentativa, in qua interna repraesentabantur per externa quae correspondebant.
Footnotes:
1. 6 pro "6, 7"