442. Verse 13. And the sixth angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of their state of life in the church of the Reformed who are not so wise, and yet place the all of religion in faith, and think of it alone and of nothing except it, and the customary worship, and so live as they please. That these are treated of to the end of this chapter, will appear from the explanation of what follows. That "to sound" signifies to explore and make manifest the state of the church, and thence of the life of those whose religion consists in faith alone, may be seen above (n. 397).
[2] These who are now treated of, are altogether distinct from those referred to thus far in this chapter, the falsities of whose faith were seen in the form of locusts. They are distinct in this: those already described are studious in exploring the arcana of justification by faith, and also in giving the signs of it, and its testimonies, which, with them, are the goods of moral and civil life; insisting that the precepts of the Word are indeed in themselves Divine, but that with man they become natural, because they proceed from his will, which have no conjunction with the spiritual things of faith; and because they confirm these things by rational considerations, which savor of erudition, they dwell in the southern quarter of the abyss, according to the description above (n. 421).
[3] But they who are treated of in what follows to the end of the chapter, do not study those arcana, but only make mere faith the all of religion, and nothing besides it and the customary worship, and so live as they please. I have been permitted to see and converse with these also; they live in the northern quarter, in huts that are scattered about, and constructed of reeds and rushes plastered over with lime, in which the ground is the floor. The more ingenious, who, by means of natural light, know how to establish that faith by reasonings, and confirm that it has nothing in common with life, dwell in front, the more simple behind them, and the more stupid toward the western part of that region; the multitude of them is so great that it is incredible. They are instructed by angelic spirits, but they who do not receive the truths of faith, and live according to them, are let down into the hell which is under them, and imprisoned.