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were instead of a Fountain. In like Manner, for the Sake of Representation was instituted the Water of Sin or Purification, which was to be sprinkled upon the Levites, Numb. viii. 7. Then of the Water of Separation of the Ashes of a red Heifer, Numb. xix. 2 to 10. That the Spoils of the Midianites should be cleansed with Water, Numb. xxxi. 19 to 25. The Waters which were given out of the Rock, Exod. xvii. 1 to 8. Numb. xx. 1 to 13. Chap. xxiii. 13. represented and signified the Abundance of Spirituals or Truths of Faith from the Lord. The Bitter Waters which were healed by Wood, Exod. xv. 22 to 25. represented and signified Truths which do not please, which from Good or its Affection, become acceptable and grateful; that Wood signifies the Good which is of the Affection or the Will, may be seen N. 643. From these Things it may be known, what Water sig. nifies in the Word, and from thence what is signified by Water in Baptifm, of which the Lord thus speaks in John, "Except a Man be born of Water " and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God," iii. 5. namely, Water is the Spiritual of Faith, and the Spirit is its Celestial, so that Baptism is the Symbol of the Regeneration of Man from the Lord by the Truths and Excellencies of Faith; not that by Baptism is Regeneration, but by the Life fignified in Baptifm, into which Christians, who have the Truths of Faith, because they have the Word, shall enter.

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2703. And she filled the Bottle with Water, that it signifies Truths from thence, appears from the Signification of Water, which is Truth, of which just above.

2704. And gave the Lad to drink, that it signifies Instruction in Spirituals, appears from the Signification of, to drink, which is to instruct in Truths; and from the Signification of Lad, which is the Spiritual with respect to Truth, of which, N. 2697. This State, which is of Instruction, is the Third State of those who come out of Vastation or Desolation; for when they come into the State of Illustration or celestial Light, of which in the Verse preceding 18, see N. 2699, then are they in the Affection of knowing and learning Truths, and when they are in that Affection, they are easily and as it were of their own Accord instructed in Truths, they who are on Earth, by the Word of the Lord or by Doctrine, but they who are in Heaven, by Angels, who perceive nothing more happy and blessed than to teach and instruct new Brethren in Truths and Virtues, which are of the celestial Order, so those which lead to the Lord.

2705. Ver. 20. And God was with the Lad, and he grew, and dwelt in the Wilderness, and became an Archer. God was with the Lad, signifies the Prefence of the Lord with spiritual Men. And he grew, signifies Increases. And dwelt in the Wilderness, signifies Obscurity respectively. And he became an Archer, fignifies the Man of the spiritual Church.

2706. God was with the Lad, that it signifies the Presence of the Lord with those who are spiritual, appears from the Signification of, God to be with any one, and of Lad; that, God to be with any one, signifies the Presence of the Lord, may appear without Explanation; the Lord indeed is present with every Man, for otherwise there is no Life, and he governs No. VI.

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every Thing pertaining to it, even in the most wicked, and in Hell itself, but in a different Manner according to the Reception of Life; they who receive the Life of the Love of Good and Truth of Him wrongly, and pervert it into the Loves of Evil and Falsity, with such is the Lord present, and he governs their Ends, as much as poffible, for Good, but Presence in them is faid to be Absence, and in such a Degree, as Evil is distant from Good, and Falsity from Truth. But in those who receive the Life of the Love of the Good and Truth of the Lord, Prefence is predicated, and indeed according to the Degree of Reception: This is comparatively as the Sun, which is present in its Heat and Light in the Vegetables of the World, also according to Reception. That Lad signifies the Spiritual with respect to Truth, was faid above, here spiritual Men, because they represent the Man of the fpiritual Church, also the Church spiritual itself, and in an universal Sense the spiritual Kingdom of the Lord; for when it is said, that any one fignifies the Spiritual, as here Lad, the Spiritual with respect to Truth, it involves the Signification of spiritual Persons, for the Spiritual is not given without a Subject; thus it is with the rest, which are spoke in an abstracted Sense.

2707. And he grew, that it signifies Increases, appears without Explanation.

2708. And dwelt in the Wilderness, that it signifies Obscurity respectively, appears from the Signification of, to dwell, which is, to live, of which, N. 2451; and from the Signification of Wilderness, which is a little vital, of which, N. 1927, here Obscurity but respectively; by Obscurity respectively is understood the State of the spiritual Church respectively to the State of the celestial Church, or the State of fpiritual Men respectively to the State of celestial; the Celestials are in the Affection of Good, Spirituals in the Affection of Truth; Celestials have Perception, but Spirituals the Dictate of Confcience; to Celestials the Lord appears as the Sun, but to Spirituals as the Moon, N. 1521. 1530. 1531. 2495. in them the Light is as it were Visual, also perceptive of Good and Truth from the Lord, it is as the Light of the Day from the Sun, but Light to these from the Lord is as the Light of the Night from the Moon, so in these it is Obscurity respectively; the Reason is, because Celestials are in Love to the Lord, fo in the very Life of the Lord, but Spirituals are in Charity towards their Neighbour and in Faith, and so indeed in the Life of the Lord, but more obfcurely; hence it is that Celestials never reason about Faith and its Truth, but as they are in the Perception of Truth from Good, they say, that so it is, but Spirituals speak and reason about the Truths of Faith because they are in the Conscience of Good from Truth, as also because in Celestials the Good of Love is implanted in their voluntary Part, where is the secondary Life of Man; hence is the Reason, that in Spirituals there is an Obscurity respectively, as may be seen, N. 81. 202. 337.765.784. 895. 1114 to 1125. 1155. 1577. 1824. 2048.2088.2227. 2454. 2507; this Obscurity is here respectively called Wilderness. Wilderness in the Word signifies but a little inhabited and cultivated, and it signifies moreover not inhabited and cultivated, or, where there are but few Habitations, SheepSheep folds, Pastures, and Waters, signifies that or those who have but little of Life and Light respectively, as the Spiritual or spiritual Persons respectively to the Celestial or celestial Persons; but where it signifies wholly not inhabited or cultivated, where there are no Habitations, Sheep-folds, Pastures and Waters, it signifies those who are in Vastation with respect to Good and in Desolation with respect to Truth. That Wilderness signifies but a little inhabited and cultivated respectively, appears from these Places; in Ifaiah, "Sing unto Jehovah a new Song, and his Praise from the End of "the Earth. Ye that go down to the Sea, and all that is therein; the Ines " and the Inhabitants thereof. Let the Wilderness, and the Cities thereof " lift up their Voice, the Villages that Kedar doth inhabit. Let the In" habitants of the Rock sing, let them shout from the Top of the Moun"tains," xlii. 10, 11. In Ezekiel, “I will make with them a Covenant of "Peace, and will cause the evil Beasts to waste out of the Land; and they " shall dwell fafely in the Wilderness, and fleep in the Woods. And I will " make them, and the Places round about my Hill, a Blessing; and the "Tree of the Field shall yield her Fruit, and the Earth shall yield her " Increase," xxxiv. 25, 26, 27. there the Prophet speaks of Spirituals. In Hofea, "I will allure her and bring her into the Wilderness, and speak com

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fortably unto her, and I will give her her Vineyards from thence,” ii. 14, 15. where the Prophet speaks of the Desolation of Truth and afterwards of Comfort. In David, "They drop upon the Pastures of the Wilderness; " and the little Hills rejoice on every Side. The Pastures are cloathed " with Flocks; the Valleys also are covered over with Corn," lxv. 12, 13. In Ifaiah, "I will open Rivers in high Places, and Fountains in the "Midst of the Valleys. I will make the Wilderness a Pool of Water, " and the dry Lands Springs of Water. I will plant in the Wilderness "the Cedar, the Shittah Tree, and the Myrtle, and the Oil-tree; I " will fet in the Defart the Fir-tree; that they may fee and know and " understand together, that the Hand of the Lord hath done this, and the

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holy One of Ifrael hath created it," xli. 18, 19, 20. where the Prophet speaks of the Regeneration of those who are in Ignorance of the Truth, or of the Gentiles; and of the Illumination and Instruction of those who are in Desolation; Wilderness is predicated of those; the Cedar, Myrtle and Oiltree are put for the Truths and Virtues of the interior Man, the Fir-tree for those of the exterior. In David, "Jehovah turneth Rivers into a Wilderness, " and Water-springs into dry Ground. He turneth the Wilderness into a "standing Water, and dry Ground into Water-springs," cvii. 33, 35, understood in the fame Manner. In Ifaiah, "The Wilderness and the folitary Place shall be glad for them; and the Desart shall rejoice and blossom as "the Rofe. It shall blossom abundantly. In the Wilderness shall Waters " break out, and Streams in the Desart," xxxv. 1, 2, 6. In the fame,

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Places," lviii 11, 12. In the same, "Until the Spirit be poured upon us " from on high, and the Wilderness shall be a fruitful Field, and the fruitful " Field be counted for a Forest. Then Judgment shall dwell in the Wilder

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ness, and Righteousness remain in the fruitful Field," xxxii. 15, 16. where the Prophet speaks of the Church spiritual, which altho' it was inhabited and cultivated, it is called Wilderness respectively, for it is said, Judgment shall dwell in the Wilderness and Righteousness in the fruitful Field. That Wilderness is an obscure State respectively, is plain from those Places where it is called a Desart, as also a Wood; manifestly in Jeremiah, "O Generation,

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see ye the Word of the Lord; have I been a Wilderness unto Israel? a " Land of Darkness?" ii. 31. That Wilderness signifies wholly uninhabited or uncultivated, or where there are no Habitations, Sheep-folds, Pastures, and Waters, so those who are in Vastation with respect to Good, and in Desolation with respect to Truth, appears also from the Word; this Wilderness is predicated in a double Sense, namely, of those who are afterwards reformed and of those who cannot be reformed; of those who are afterwards reformed, as here of Hagar and her Son, in Jeremiah, "Thus faith Jehovah, " I remember thee, the Kindness of thy Youth, when thou wentest after me " in the Wilderness, in a Land that was not sown," ii. 2. where the Prophet speaks of Jerufalem, which there is the Antient Church which was the spiritual. In Mofes, " For Jehovah's Portion is his People; Jacob is the

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Lot of his Inheritance. He found him in a defart Land, and in the " waste and howling Wilderness he led him about, he instructed him, he kept him as the Apple of his Eye," xxxii. 9, 10. In David, "They "wandered in the Wilderness in a folitary Way, they found no City to " dwell in," cvii. 4. where the Pfalmist speaks of those who are in the Desolation of Truth and are reformed. In Ezekiel, " And I will bring

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you into the Wilderness of the People, and there will I plead with you Face to Face, as I pleaded with your Fathers in the Wilderness of the Land " of Egypt," xx. 35, 36, where the Prophet likewise treats of the Vastation and Desolation of those who are reformed. The Sojournings and Wandrings of the People of Ifrael in the Wilderness, signified nothing more than the Vastation and Desolation of the Faithful before their Reformation, and so their Temptation, just as it is when they are in spiritual Temptations, they are in Vastation and Desolation, as may likewise appear from these Quotations from Mofes, "Jehovah bare thee in the Wilderness as a Man doth bear his Son, " in all the Way that ye went, until ye came unto this Place," Deut. i. 31. and elsewhere, "And thou shalt remember all the Way which Jehovah thy "God led thee these forty Years in the Wilderness, to humble thee, and to

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prove thee, to know what was in thine Heart, whether thou wouldest keep "his Commandments or no. And he humbled thee and fuffer'd thee to hunger, and fed thee with Manna (which thou knewest not, neither did thy "Fathers know) that he might make thee know that Man doth not live by " Bread only, but by every Word which proceedeth out of the Mouth of "Jehovah doth Man live," Deut. viii. 2, 3. And farther, "Who led thee " thro' "thro' that great and terrible Wilderness, wherein were fiery Serpents, and " Scorpions, and Drought, where there was no Water; who brought thee "forth Water out of the Rock of Flint; who fed thee in the Wilderness " with Manna, which thy Fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and " that he might prove thee, to do thee Good at the latter End," ib. Ver. 15, 16. there Wilderness is put for Vastation and Desolation, such as they are in who are in Temptations; by their Journeyings and Wanderings forty Years in the Wilderness, is described every State of the Church militant when it sinks under its own Burden, but conquers by the Lord. By the Woman who fled into the Wilderness in John, nothing more is signified than the Trial of the Church, of which thus, "The Woman, who had brought forth a Man" child, fled into the Wilderness, where the hath a Place prepared of God. " And to the Woman were given two Wings of a great Eagle, that the

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might fly into the Wilderness, into her Place. And the Serpent cast out " of his Mouth Water as a Flood, after the Woman, that he might cause her

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to be carried away of the Flood. And the Earth helped the Woman, and "the Earth opened her Mouth, and swallowed up the Flood which the " Dragon cast out of his Mouth," Rev. xii. 6, 14, 15, 16. That Wilderness is predicated of the Church quite defolated, and of those who are wholly defolated with respect to Good and Truth, who cannot be reformed, we find thus in Ifaiab, " I make the Rivers a Wilderness; their Fish stinketh because "there is no Water, and dieth for Thirst. I cloath the Heavens with Black" ness," 1. 2, 3. In the fame, "Thy holy Cities are a Wilderness, Zion is "a Wilderness, Jerufalem a Defolation," Ixiv. 10. In Jeremiah, “I beheld, " and lo, the fruitful Place was a Wilderness, and all the Cities thereof were " broken down at the Prefence of the Lord," iv. 26. In the fame, Many " Pastors have destroyed my Vineyard, they have troden my Portion " under Foot, they have made my pleasant Portion a defolate Wilderness. "They have made it desolate, and being defolate it mourneth unto me; "the whole Land is made defolate, because no Man layeth it to Heart. "The Spoilers are come upon all high Places in the Wilderness," xii. 10, 11,

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In Joel, "The Fire hath devoured the Pastures of the Wilderness, and "the Flame hath burnt all the Trees of the Field. The Rivers of Waters are " dried up, and the Fire hath devoured the Pastures of the Wilderness,” i. 19,

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In Ifaiab, "That made the World as a Wilderness, and destroyed the "Cities thereof," xiv. 17. where the Prophet speaks of Lucifer. In the same, "The Burden of the Defart of the Sea. As Whirlwinds in the South, pass "through; so it cometh from the Desart from a terrible Land," xxi. 1, and following. The Desart of the Sea is put for Truths defolated by Scientifics and Reasonings from thence; from these Things it may appear what is fignified by that which is faid of John the Baptist, by Ifaiah, The Voice of one

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crying in the Wilderness, prepare ye the Way of the Lord, make his Paths "strait," Matt. iii. 3. Mark i. 3. Luke iii. 4. John i. 23. Ija. xl. 3. namely, that the Church was then wholly defolated, fo that there was no longer any Good,

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