25 And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. -Daniel 7:25 King James Version (KJV)
Apocalypse Revealed, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1766], tr. by John Whitehead [1912], at sacred-texts.com
...[2] That they who are in the Roman Catholic religious persuasion have not any enlightenment, and perception of spiritual truth thence, may be evident from this, that they do not love any spiritual light; for the origin of spiritual light is from the Lord, as was said; and no others can accept that light, nor receive it, but they who are conjoined with the Lord; and conjunction with the Lord is effected solely by the acknowledgment and worship of Him, and at the same time by a life according to His commandments from the Word. The acknowledgment and worship of the Lord, and the reading of the Word, cause the presence of the Lord; but these two together with a life according to His commandments effect conjunction with Him. In Babylon [the Roman Catholic Church] it is the contrary; there the Lord is acknowledged, but without dominion; and the Word is acknowledged, but without the reading of it. Instead of the Lord the pope is there worshiped, and instead of the Word the papal bulls are acknowledged, according to which they live, and not according to the commandments of the Word. And those bulls have for their end the dominion of the pope and his ministers over heaven and the world, and the commandments of the Word have for their end the Lord's dominion over heaven and the world; and these are diametrically opposite to each other, like hell and heaven. These things are said, that it may be known, that they have altogether no... enlightenment, and thence the perception of spiritual truth, who are in the Babylonish religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it...
Since it is said that they have not any conjunction of good and truth, because with them there is not the marriage of the Lord and the church, something shall here be said of the authority of opening and shutting heaven, which acts as one with the authority of remitting and retaining sins, which they claim for themselves as the successors of Peter and the apostles. The Lord said to Peter: Upon this same rock will I build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail over it; I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens (Matt. 16:18-19). The Divine truth which is meant by "the rock" upon which the Lord will build His church is what Peter then confessed; which was: Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (Matt. 16:16). By "the keys of the kingdom of the heavens," which are that whatsoever that rock, which is the Lord, "shall bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever it shall loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens," is meant that the Lord has power over heaven and earth, as He also says (Matt. 28:18); thus the power of saving the men who from faith of heart are in that confession of Peter... [4] ...What... is more abominable, than to found a religious persuasion, by which it is sanctioned that the Divine authority and power belong to man and no longer to the Lord; and that heaven will be opened and shut, if only a priest says, "I absolve," or "I excommunicate;" and that sin, even if enormous, is remitted, provided he says, "I remit"? There are many devils in the world, who, in order to escape temporal punishments, seek and obtain absolution from a diabolical crime by arts and gifts. Who can be so insane as to believe that the authority is given of admitting devils into heaven? [5] It was said above (n. 790, at the end), that "Peter" represented the truth of faith of the church, "James" the good of charity of the church, and "John" the good works of the men of the church; and that the twelve apostles together represented the church as to all things of it. It is clearly manifest that they represented them, from the Lord's words to them in Matthew: When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30). By these words nothing else can be signified than that the Lord will judge all according to the goods and truths of the church. If this was not meant by these words, but the apostles themselves, all in the great city Babylon [the Roman Catholic Church,] who say they are the successors of the apostles, might claim to themselves that they will sit upon thrones as many in number as themselves, from the pontiff even to a monk, and that they will judge all in the whole world.
...[3] ...Something further shall be said here concerning dispensation by the authority of the keys, over crimes, even enormous ones, by which they not only liberate the guilty from eternal punishments, but even from temporal punishments; and if they do not liberate them, they still protect by asylums. Who does not see that this does not belong to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but to civil jurisdiction; and that it is to extend their dominion over everything secular, and to destroy the public security; also that by this authority still reserved to them, they are in the power of bringing back their former despotic [uncontrolled] domination over all tribunals established by kings, and thus over the judges, even the highest; which also they would do, if they did not fear withdrawal? This is meant in Daniel by: The fourth beast coming up out of the sea will think to change times and right (Dan. 7:25).
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