Page:Sermons on the Ten Commandments.djvu/124

 [Here by jewels of gold and silver are signified the treasures of good and truth which the Lord had given to the church (Jerusalem); by 'making images of men' is signified to fabricate resemblances of genuine truths; and to commit whoredom with them, is thereby to falsify the Word.] 'Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians, thy neighbors. Thou hast played the harlot also with the Assyrians, and hast multiplied thy whoredoms in the land of Canaan unto Chaldea' (Ezek. xvi. 1, 15—29). Who cannot see that by whoredoms here are signified the falsification of truth and the adulteration of good; and who can understand a single word of this passage, unless he knows that whoredom has such a signification? also unless he knows what is meant by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and Chaldea, with whom Jerusalem is said to have committed adultery. It may be expedient therefore to show what these signify in the internal sense. By Jerusalem is signified the Church: by garments are signified truths which are perverted: by the Egyptians are signified scientifics, and by the Assyrians reasonings; and Chaldea signifies the profanation of truth."

In the same manner are explained innumerable passages and whole chapters in the prophets, especially in Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea, in which Jerusalem is spoken of as committing adultery and whoredom all which are entirely unintelligible, without this key to their spiritual sense. In order to represent the corrupt state of the Jewish Church, the prophet Hosea