Concerning the inner meaning of Earths in the Universe 111

Let it be known first of all that Moon represents faith or truth; even as the Sun represents love. It is in this context that we must understand references to the Moon or, as here, to the Spirits of the Moon; in that Writing on faces, interiors, called Earths in the Universe:

"It was told me by the angels, that they were from the Moon. He who was carried on the other's back, on coming to me, applied himself to my left side under the elbow, and thence spoke with me, saying that whenever they utter their voices they thus thunder; and that thereby they terrify the spirits who wish to do them evil; and put some to flight, and that thus they go with security whithersoever they will. That I might know certainly that they made this sound, he retired from me to some others, but not entirely out of sight, and thundered in like manner. They showed, moreover, that the voice being uttered from the abdomen, like an eructation, made this thundering sound. It was perceived that this was owing to the fact, that the inhabitants of the Moon do not speak from the lungs like the inhabitants of other earths, but from the abdomen, and thus from some air there collected, by reason that the Moon is not encompassed with an atmosphere like that of other earths" (Earths in the Universe 111).

Also:

"If a man of the Most Ancient Church had read the Word, he would have seen those things clearly which are in the internal sense, but obscurely those which are in the external sense" (White Horse 12).

For instance, the part of this passage about the Moon having no atmosphere and the inhabitants thereof having air within a chamber in their abdomens expresses roughly the same message as Paul here:

"...who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the [a]Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life" (2 Corinthians 3:6). 

We are dealing in the literal sense with Spirits of the Moon, but we must remember that the Moon has no atmosphere; and apply ourselves to going beyond that literal sense to the spiritual sense within it from which the thunders proceed.

Concerning Psalms 18:13:

""And Jehovah gave voices of thunder. That this signifies the withdrawal and separation of the communication with those who are in good and truth is evident from the signification of the “voices,” which are those of thunders, as being truths Divine that enlighten and perfect those who are in heaven, and that terrify and devastate those who are in hell" (Arcana Coelestia 7573).

This is the same thing as "thereby they terrify the spirits who wish to do them evil; and put some to flight" in Earths in the Universe, for the thunders are divine truths which instruct the good and put to flight the evil; and the Moon has to do, like the Spirits of the Moon, with the truths of faith.

We see this in the same passage: "In order that I might know their quality, some of them let themselves down from on high where they were thundering" (ibid 111). The direction "down from on high" has specifically been mentioned because "high" involves more interior grasp of truth; and to be "let... down from on high" involves bringing the interior truths into sight, into understanding.

We see the same message otherwise expressed in the same passage thus: "That I might know certainly that they made this sound, he retired from me to some others, but not entirely out of sight, and thundered in like manner". This involves the way that some parts of the inner sense of the Word are easier to access, closer to the surface of the literal sense.

We might call such parts of the Word 'tips of the iceberg' which give us a clearer indication of the inner sense than can ordinarily be seen in the literal sense.

The thunders involve instruction in divine truths, like the thunders whose content John was told not to write down on Patmos:

"And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not" (Revelation 10:4).

As is evident, the thunders do contain divine truths; this is a confirmation that thunders involve instruction in such truths. That we can thus determine that thunders contain divine truth even from the wording of the literal sense is much the same thing as "he retired from me to some others, but not entirely out of sight, and thundered in like manner" in Earths in the Universe.

The content of the thunders is sealed in Revelation, which is a reference to their being hidden in the literal sense; and is an instance of thunders in close association with guards on the internal sense; so that only people who belong in the internal sense genuinely see it, while those who do not belong there are variously driven or frightened away. 

Let us look again at the description of these Spirits of the Moon:

" Their faces appeared not unhandsome, but longer than the faces of other spirits. Their stature was like the stature of boys seven years old, but more robust; thus they were dwarfs. It was told me by the angels, that they were from the Moon" (Earths in the Universe 111).

The "faces" signify their interiors, what they are really like; the fact that the faces are "longer than the faces of other spirits" has to do with their being more interiorly good, more interiorly innocent. We see in confirmation of this the reference to their being like a little child, as the Lord says we are to be; and like "boys seven years old". This "seven" underlines their innocence, and "boys" signify "the good of innocence" (Arcana Coelestia 6680). 

We see that these Spirits of the Moon are "more robust" than actual 7 year old boys. This spiritually expresses that the innocence of a little child differs very much from that of a mature adult who has become as a little child; for the innocence of the mature adult is instructed and full-fledged, whereas the innocence of the little child is ignorant and passes away.

We see this in such passages as "Little children are therefore led from the innocence of early childhood to the innocence of wisdom; that is, from an external innocence to an internal one" (Conjugal Love 413).

We must leave behind the childish innocence of childhood for the "more robust" innocence of adulthood, which is mature and instructed and forever.

One more thing: we see that these thunders (this instruction in ever more interior divine truths) proceed from the abdomen of these Spirits of the Moon. This has roughly the same sense as the Lord's words here:

"He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:38). For such rivers of living water are rivers of divine truth such as may proceed from one who truly believes the Lord and lives a life according to His commandments. 

One might say much more, but this is already quite enough; one will, however, emphasize that one has barely begun to explain even this one small passage from Earths in the Universe, which is absolutely saturated with inner meaning. As the Writings frequently say in an ongoing refrain, "But concerning this, of the Lord's divine mercy, elsewhere..."