Page:Arcana Coelestia (Potts) vol 1.djvu/66

 . Verse 10. And a river went out of Eden, to water the garden, and from thence it was parted, and was into four heads. A "river out of Eden," signifies wisdom from love, for "Eden" is love; "to water the garden," is to bestow intelligence; to be "thence parted into four heads," is a description of intelligence by means of the four rivers, as follows.

. The most ancient people, when comparing man to a "garden," also compared wisdom, and the things relating to wisdom, to "rivers;" nor did they merely compare them, but actually so called them, for such was their way of speaking. It was the same afterwards in the Prophets, who sometimes compared them, and sometimes called them so. As in Isaiah:—

Treating of those who receive faith and love. Again, speaking of the regenerate:—

In Jeremiah:—

In Ezekiel the regenerate are not compared to a garden and a tree, but are so called:—

From these passages it is evident that when the most ancient people compared man, or the things in man, to a "garden," they added the "waters" and "rivers" by which he might be