Page:A Compendium of the Chief Doctrines of the True Christian Religion.djvu/136

132 about heavenly things: whereas, were such persons acquainted with what is signified by those people and nations, or by their names, they might then be led out of error into truth. In like manner, when it is observed, that in the Word frequent mention is made of gardens, groves, woods, and also of the trees that grow therein, as the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, and the oak; also of lambs, sheep, goats, calves, and oxen; and likewise of mountains, hills, vallies, fountains, rivers, waters, and the like; he who knows nothing of the spiritual sense of the Word, must of necessity be led to suppose, that nothing further is meant by these things than what is expressed in the letter: for he little thinks, that by a garden, a grove, and a wood, are meant wisdom, intelligence, and science; that by the olive, the vine, the cedar, the poplar, and the oak, are meant the good and truth of the church, under the different characters of celestial, spiritual, rational, natural, and sensual; that by a lamb, a sheep, a goat, a calf, and an ox, are meant innocence, charity, and natural affection of different degrees; that by mountains, hills, and vallies, are meant the higher, the lower, and the lowest things relating to the church; also that by Egypt is signified what is scientific, by Assyria what is rational, by Edom what is natural, by Moab the adulteration of good, by the children of Ammon the adul- teration of truth, by the Philistines faith without charity, by Tyre and Sidon the knowledges of good and truth, and by Gog external worship without internal; in general, that by Jacob in the Word is understood the church natural, by Israel the church spiritual, and by Judah the church celestial. When the mind is opened to this knowledge, it may then be able to conceive, that the Word treats solely of heavenly things, and that the earthly things mentioned in it are only