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2692. And the Angel of God called unto Hagar out of Heaven, that it signifies Confolation, appears from the Signification of, to cry out of Heaven, also of the Angel of God, as likewise of Hagar; to call out of Heaven signifies Influx; rhe Angel of God, the Lord, N. 1925. 2321; and Hagar the Knowledge of Truth, N 2691: the Influx of the Lord into the Affection of Truth, when this is in the deepest Sorrow on Account of Privation, is Confolation. That which flows into Man from the Lord, is faid to be called out of Heaven, because it is thro' Heaven, and is there manifest, but in the Perception and Thought of Man it is obscure, only evidencing itself by Change of the State of Affection, as here that she receiv'd Confolation.

2693. Said unto her, what aileth thee Hagar, that it fignifies Perception of her State, appears from the Signification of, to say, in the Historicals of the Word, which is to perceive; and from the Signification of, what aileth thee Hagar, which is the State in which she was; here it signifies that the Lord knew her State, altho' she is interrogated, and it is faid, what aileth thee Hagar? In the Sense of the Letter it is an Interrogation from the Lord, but in the internal Sense it is the infinite Perception of all Things; that Men are interrogated concerning their State, is occasionally read in the Word, but the Reason is, because Man does not believe otherwise than that Nobody knows Thoughts, less the State of Affection; as likewise that they may have Comfort from thence, that they may open the Senses of the Mind, which is usually a Remedy, as may be seen, N. 1701. 1931.

2694. Fear not, for God hath heard the Voice of the Lad, where he is, that it fignifies Hope of Assistance, appears from the Signification of, fear not, which is, not to despair, for Fear being taken away Hope is present; and from the Signification of, to hear the Voice of the Lad, which is Help, of which above, N. 2691, where are the like Words. In the preceding Verses we treated of the State of Desolation, in which they are who are reformed and become spiritual; now we treat of their Restitution, here of the Comfort and Hope of Help. That they who are reformed are reduced into the Ignorance of the Truth or Defolation, even to Grief and Desperation, and that then first they have Comfort and Help from the Lord, is at this Day unknown, for this Reason because few are reformed; they who are such that they may be reformed, are, if not in this Life, yet in the other, reduced into this State, where it is perfectly known, and is called Vastation or Desolation, of which fomething in the First Part, see N. 1109. They who are in fuch a Vastation or Defolation, are reduced even to Desperation, and when they are in this State, then they receive Comfort and Help from the Lord, and at length are taken into Heaven, where among the Angels they are instructed as it were a new in the Excellencies and Truths of Faith. The Reason of this Vastation and Desolation is principally, that the Perfuafive may be broken, which they have take from their own Ability, as may be seen N. 2682; as likewise that they may receive the Perception of Good and Truth which they cannot receive, before the Persuasive, which is from Ability, is as it were soften'd;

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the State of Anxiety and Grief even to Desperation does this; what Good, nay, what Happiness and Felicity is, no Man can perceive with an exquifite Senfe, unless he has been in a State of not Good, not Happiness, not Felicity, from this he takes the Sphere of Perception; and this in that Degree in which he was in the opposite State, from Relatives actually formed, it becomes the Sphere of Perception, and the Extension of its Limits; these are the Reasons of Vastation or Desolation, befides many others. But let us illustrate this by Examples: They who attribute all Things to their own Prudence, and little or nothing to Divine Providence; tho' they should be convinced by a thousand and a thousand Reasons, that Divine Providence is universal, but universal from hence, because it is singularly in every Thing, and that not even a Hair of the Head shall fall to the Ground, that is, not the least thing imaginable, which is not foreseen and accordingly provided for, yet the State of their Thought concerning their own Prudence is not from hence changed, except only in that Moment when they find themselves convicted by Reasons; nay, if the same Thing could be made evident to them by lively Experiences, then when they fee the Experiences, or are in them, they confess that so it is, but after an Intermission of a few Moments, they return to the same State of Opinion; such Things have a momentary Effect upon the Thought, but not upon the Affection, and unless the Affection is broken, the Thought remains in its own State, for Thought has its Faith and its Life from Affection; but when Anxiety and Grief are brought upon them from this, that they can do nothing at all of themselves, and this even to Desperations, then the Persuasive is broken, and the State is changed; and then they may be brought into that Belief, that they can do nothing of themselves, but that, all Power, Prudence, Understanding and Wifdom is from the Lord. Thus it is with those who believe that Faith is from themselves, that Good is from themselves. This may be farther illustrated by an Example: They who have got this Persuasive, that when they are justified, they have no longer any Evil in them, but that it is wholly wiped away and blotted out, but that they are with-held from Evil, and that they are pure; they, tho' they should be enlighten'd by a thousand Reasons, that nothing is wiped away and blotted out, but that they are with-held from Evil, and kept in Good by the Lord, they who are such from the Life of Good, in which they were in the World, yet think it is from themselves; and if they should be further convinced by Experiences, that of themselves they are nothing but evil, nay, that they are most impure Heaps of Evils; yet they do not recede from the Faith of their Opinion; but when they are reduced to that State, that they perceive Hell in themselves, and this to that Degree, as to despair of ever being saved, then that Persuasive is first broken, and with it their Pride, and the Contempt of others in Comparison of themselves, also their Arrogance that they alone are they who are saved, and may be brought into the true Confession of Faith, not only that all Good is from the Lord, but also that all Things are of his Mercy; and at length into an Humiliation of the Heart before the Lord, which is not practicable without Selfacknow

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acknowledgment. Hence it is now evident, why they, who are reformed and become spiritual, are brought into a State of Vastation and Defolation, of which in the preceding Verses, and when they are in that State even to Desperation, then they first have Comfort and Assistance from the Lord.

2695. Ver. 18. Arise, lift up the Lad, and hold him in thine Hand; for I will make him a great Nation. Arise, signifies the Elevation of the Mind. Lift up the Lad, signifies the Spiritual with respect to Truth. And hold him in thine Hand, signifies Upholding from thence. For I will make him a great Nation, signifies the Church spiritual.

2696. Arife, that it fignifies Elevation of Mind, appears from the Signification of, to rife, in the Word, which involves, where it is mentioned, fome Elevation, of which, N. 2401, here the Elevation of the Mind, because Illustration, and in the following Verse Instruction, in Truths.

2697. Lift up the Lad, that it signifies the Spiritual with respect to Truth, appears from the Signification of Lad, which is the Spiritual principally with regard to Truth, of which, N. 2677.2687. For the Man of the spiritual Church seems to be regenerated by the Truths of Faith, but knows not that it is by the Good of Truth, for that does not appear, it manifests itself only in the Affection of Truth, and afterwards in Life according to Truth; no Man can ever be regenerated by Truth, unless Good is with Truth, for Truth without Good is of no Life; wherefore by Truth separated from Good there is not any new Life, which yet a Man has by Regeneration.

2698. And hold him in thine Hand, that it signifies Upholding from thence, appears from the Signification of, to be held, which is to be sustained, from the Signification of Hand, which is Power, of which, N. 878, which is of upholding; him, or the Lad, is from hence, namely, which is of the Spiritual with respect to Truth. They who are in internal Grief, and in Despair for the Privation of Truth, they are elevated and upheld only by Truth, because they had Grief and Despair concerning this; they who are in the Affection of Good, Good in them desires Good as the Hungry defires Bread, or as the Thirsty Water. What is here meant by holding him in the Hand, will not be understood by any one, except in the internal Senfe.

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2699. For I will make him a great Nation, that it signifies the Church spiritual, appears from the Signification of a great Nation, which is the Church spiritual, which should accept the Good of Faith, of which above, N. 2669; it is said a great Nation, because the Spiritual Kingdom is another Kingdom of the Lord, of which also in the Place cited. By Ismael, as the Man of the spiritual Church is reprefented, so is also the Church spiritual represented, as likewise the Spiritual Kingdom of the Lord in the Heavens, for the Image and Likeness of one is in the other. The first State after Desolation is described in the preceding Verse, which was the State of Confolation and of the Hope of Help; their other State after Desolation is described in this Verse, which is the State of Illustration and Recreation from thence. As No. VI.

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these States are unknown in the World, for this Reason, because few at this Day, as has been faid, are regenerated, we shall declare, what this their State is in the other Life, where it is most known. There they who have been in Vastation or Desolation, after they are comforted with the Hope of Help, are elevated by the Lord into Heaven, so from the State of Shadow which is the State of Ignorance, into a State of Light which is the State of Illustration and of Recreation from thence, so into Joy, which affects their Internals; it is actually Light into which they come, which is such, that it not only illuminates the Sight but likewise the Understanding at the fame Time, which Light how much it recreates them, may appear from the opposite State from which they are free'd; some are carried about to many angelical Societies, and are every where receiv'd with Charity as Brethren, and whatever of Good is agreeable to their new Life, is presented to them; to some it is granted to fee the Immensity of Heaven or of the Kingdom of the Lord, and to perceive the Happiness of those who are there; besides innumerable other Things, which cannot be described. Such is the State of the Illustration and from thence of the Recreation of those who come out of Desolation.

2700. Ver. 19. And God opened ber Eyes, and she saw a Well of Water; and she went and filled the Bottle with Water, and gave the Lad Drink. God opened her Eyes, signifies Understanding. And she saw a Well of Water, fignifies the Word of the Lord from which are Truths. And she filled the Bottle with Water, signifies Truths from thence. And gave the Lad Drink, signifies Instruction in Spirituals.

2701. God opened her Eyes, that it signifies Understanding, appears from the Signification of, to open, and that God should open, as likewise from the Signification of Eyes, that they are to give Intelligence; that Eyes fignify the Understanding, may be seen N. 212, in like Manner as Sight, or to fee, N. 2150.2325. God is faid to open the Eyes, when he opens the interior Sight or Understanding, which is done by an Influx into the Rational of Man, or rather into the Spiritual of his Rational, this by the Way of the Soul or the internal Way, to Man unknown; this Influx is the State of his Illustration, in which Truths are confirmed to him, which he hears, or which he reads, with a certain Perception of the Interior in his Intellectual. This Man believes is natural to him, and proceeds from his own proper intellectual Faculty, but he is grossly deceiv'd, the Influx is thro' Heaven from the Lord into the Obscure, Deceivable, and Appearance of Man, and by the Good which is there it does those Things, which he believes, emulous of Truth; but they who are spiritual are only made happy by Illustration in Spirituals; it is that which is signified by, God opened her Eyes. That the Eye signifies the Understanding, is because the Eye of the Body corresponds to the Sight of his Spirit, which is the Understanding, and because it corresponds, by Eye in the Word, almost wherever it is named, is signified the Understanding, even where it is otherwife believed ;

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as where the Lord says in Matthew, "The Light of the Body is the Eye, " if therefore thine Eye be single, thy whole Body shall be full of Light. "But if thine Eye be evil, thy whole Body is full of Darkness. If there"fore the Light that is in thee be Darkness, how great is that Darkness?" vi. 22, 23. Luke xi. 34. where Eye is the Understanding, whose Spiritual is Faith, which also may appear from the Explanation there, if therefore the Light be Darkness, how great is that Darkness? In like Manner in the same, "If thy right Eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee," v. 29. Chap. xviii. 9. The left Eye is the Intellectual, but the right Eye is its Affection, that the right Eye is to be plucked out, signifies that the Affection is to be tamed if it gives Offence. In the fame, "Blessed are your Eyes, for

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they fee, and your Ears for they hear," xiii. 16. and in Luke, " And Jesus " faid unto his Disciples, Blessed are the Eyes which see the Things which ye " see," x. 23. There by the Eyes which fee is signified the Understanding and Faith; for to fee the Lord, as also his Miracles and Works, did not render any Man blessed, but that they understood and believed, which is to see with the Eyes, and that they obeyed is what is meant by hearing with their Ears; that, to fee with the Eyes is to understand, as also to have Faith, may be seen N. 897. 2325; the Understanding is the Spiritual of Sight, and Faith is the Spiritual of the Understanding; the Sight of the Eye is from the Light of the World, the Sight of the Understanding is from the Light of Heaven flowing into those Things which are of the Light of the World, but the Sight of Faith is from the Light of Heaven; hence it is said, to fee with the Understanding, and to fee with Faith; that to hear with the Ear, is to obey, may be seen N. 2542. In Mark, "Jesus saith unto his Disciples, Per"ceive ye not, neither understand? Have ye your Heart yet hardned?

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Having Eyes fee ye not? and having Ears hear ye not?" viii. 17, 18. where it is plain, that not to be willing to understand, and not to believe, is to have Eyes and not to fee. In Luke, Jesus speaking of the City, "If thou " hadst known the Things which belong to thy Peace, but now they are "hid from thine Eyes," xix. 41, 42. And in Mark, "This was the 'Lord's

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Doing, and it is marvellous in our Eyes," xii. 11. where that it was hidden from the Eyes, and it is marvellous in the Eyes, is before the Understanding, is known to every one from the Signification of the Eye, and from the familiar Use of Speech.

2702. And she saw a Well of Water, that it signifies the Word of the Lord, appears from the Signification of Well of Water, and Fountain which is the Word, as also Doctrine from the Word, consequently also the Word itself, of which it presently follows; and from the Signification of Water, which is Truth. That a Well in which is Water, and Fountain, is the Word of the Lord, as likewise Doctrine from the Word, consequently also Truth itself, may appear from many Places; here because the Church spiritual is treated of, it is called Well not Fountain, as also in the following Verses of this Chapter. "Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a Well of Water, which Abimelech's

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