were instead of a Fountain. In like Manner, for the Sake of Representation was inftituted the Water of Sin or Purification, which was to be fprinkled 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 fhould be cleanfed 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. reprefented and fignified the Abundance of Spirituals or Truths of Faith from the Lord. The Bitter Waters which were healed by Wood, Exod. xv. 22 to 25. reprefented and fignified Truths which do not please, which from Good or its Affection, become acceptable and grateful; that Wood fignifies the Good which is of the Affection or the Will, may be feen N. 643. From thefe Things it may be known, what Water fig. nifies in the Word, and from thence what is fignified by Water in Baptism, of which the Lord thus fpeaks 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 Celeftial, fo that Baptifm is the Symbol of the Regeneration of Man from the Lord by the Truths and Excellencies of Faith; not that by Baptifm is Regeneration, but by the Life fignified in Baptifm, into which Chriftians, who have the Truths of Faith, because they have the Word, shall enter.

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2703. And the filled the Bottle with Water, that it fignifies 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 fignifies Inftruction in Spirituals, appears from the Signification of, to drink, which is to inftruct in Truths; and from the Signification of Lad, which is the Spiritual with refpect to Truth, of which, N. 2697. This State, which is of Inftruction, is the Third State of those who come out of Vaftation or Defolation; for when they come into the State of Illuftration or celeftial Light, of which in the Verfe preceding 18, fee 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 inftructed 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 bleffed than to teach and inftruct 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, fignifies the Prefence of the Lord with fpiritual Men. And he grew, fignifies Increases. And dwelt in the Wilderness, fignifies Obfcurity refpectively. And he became an Archer, fignifies the Man of the fpiritual Church.

2706. God was with the Lad, that it fignifies the Prefence of the Lord with those who are fpiritual, appears from the Signification of, God to be with any one, and of Lad; that, God to be with any one, fignifies the Prefence of the Lord, may appear without Explanation; the Lord indeed is prefent with every Man, for otherwife there is no Life, and he governs every

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every Thing pertaining to it, even in the moft 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 Falfity, with fuch is the Lord prefent, and he governs their Ends, as much as poffible, for Good, but Prefence in them is faid to be Absence, and in fuch a Degree, as Evil is diftant from Good, and Falfity 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 prefent in its Heat and Light in the Vegetables of the World, alfo according to Reception. That Lad fignifies the Spiritual with refpect to Truth, was faid above, here fpiritual Men, because they reprefent the Man of the fpiritual Church, alfo the Church fpiritual itself, and in an univerfal Senfe the fpiritual Kingdom of the Lord; for when it is faid, that any one fignifies the Spiritual, as here Lad, the Spiritual with refpect to Truth, it involves the Signification of fpiritual Perfons, for the Spiritual is not given without a Subject; thus it is with the reft, which are spoke in an abftracted Sense. 2707. And he grew, that it fignifies Increases, appears without Explanation.

2708. And dwelt in the Wilderness, that it fignifies Obfcurity refpectively, 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 Obfcurity but respectively; by Obscurity refpectively is understood the State of the fpiritual Church respectively to the State of the celestial Church, or the State of fpiritual Men refpectively to the State of celeftial; the Celestials are in the Affection of Good, Spirituals in the Affection of Truth; Celeftials have Perception, but Spirituals the Dictate of Confcience; to Celeftials 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, alfo perceptive of Good and Truth from the Lord, it is as the Light of the Day from the Sun, but Light to thefe from the Lord is as the Light of the Night from the Moon, fo in these it is Obfcurity refpectively; 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 fo indeed in the Life of the Lord, but more obfcurely; hence it is that Celestials never reafon about Faith and its Truth, but as they are in the Perception of Truth from Good, they fay, that fo it is, but Spirituals speak and reason about the Truths of Faith because they are in the Confcience of Good from Truth, as also because in Celestials the Good of Love is implanted in their voluntary Part, where is the fecondary Life of Man; hence is the Reason, that in Spirituals there is an Obfcurity refpectively, as may be feen, N. 81. 202. 337-765. 784. 895. 1114 to 1125. 1155. 1577. 1824. 2048. 2088. 2227. 2454. 2507; this Obfcurity is here refpectively called Wilderness. Wilderness in the Word fignifies but a little inhabited and cultivated, and it fignifies moreover not inhabited and cultivated, or, where there are but few Habitations,

Sheep

Sheep folds, Paftures, and Waters, fignifies that or those who have but little of Life and Light refpectively, as the Spiritual or fpiritual Perfons refpectively to the Celestial or celeftial Perfons; but where it fignifies wholly not inhabited or cultivated, where there are no Habitations, Sheep-folds, Paftures and Waters, it fignifies thofe who are in Vastation with refpect to Good and in Defolation with refpect to Truth. That Wilderness fignifies but a little inhabited and cultivated refpectively, appears from thefe Places; in Ifaiah, "Sing unto Jehovah a new Song, and his Praife from the End of "the Earth. Ye that go down to the Sea, and all that is therein; the Isles " 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 fing, let them fhout 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 wafte out of the Land; and they "fhall dwell fafely in the Wilderness, and fleep in the Woods. And I will "make them, and the Places round about my Hill, a Bleffing; and the "Tree of the Field fhall yield her Fruit, and the Earth fhall 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 fpeak com"fortably unto her, and I will give her her Vineyards from thence," ii. 14, 15. where the Prophet speaks of the Defolation of Truth and afterwards of Comfort. In David, "They drop upon the Paflures of the Wilderness; "and the little Hills rejoice on every Side. The Paftures are cloathed "with Flocks; the Valleys alfo are covered over with Corn," lxv. 12, 13. In Ifaiah, "I will open Rivers in high Places, and Fountains in the "Midft 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 "holy One of Ifrael hath created it," xli. 18, 19, 20. where the Prophet fpeaks of the Regeneration of those who are in Ignorance of the Truth, or of the Gentiles; and of the Illumination and Inftruction of thofe who are in Defolation; Wilderness is predicated of thofe; the Cedar, Myrtle and Oiltree are put for the Truths and Virtues of the interior Man, the Fir-tree for thofe of the exterior. In David, "Jehovah turneth Rivers into a Wilderness, "and Water-fprings into dry Ground. He turneth the Wilderness into a

standing Water, and dry Ground into Water-fprings," cvii. 33, 35, understood in the fame Manner. In Ifaiab, "The Wilderness and the folitary "Place fhall be glad for them; and the Defart fhall rejoice and bloffom as "the Rofe. It fhall bloffom abundantly. In the Wilderness fhall Waters "break out, and Streams in the Defart," xxxv. 1, 2, 6. In the fame, "Thou shalt be like a watered Garden, and like a Spring of Water, whofe "Waters fail not; and they that fhall be of thee, fhall build the old waste Places,"

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"Places," lviii 11, 12. In the fame," Until the Spirit be poured upon us "from on high, and the Wilderness fhall be a fruitful Field, and the fruitful "Field be counted for a Foreft. Then Judgment fhall dwell in the Wilder"ness, and Righteousness remain in the fruitful Field," xxxii. 15, 16. where the Prophet speaks of the Church fpiritual, which altho' it was inhabited and cultivated, it is called Wilderness refpectively, for it is faid, Judgment fhall dwell in the Wilderness and Righteoufnefs in the fruitful Field. That Wilderness is an obfcure State refpectively, is plain from thofe Places where it is called a Defart, as alfo a Wood; manifeftly in Jeremiah, "O Generation, "fee ye the Word of the Lord; have I been a Wilderness unto Ifrael? a "Land of Darkness?" ii. 31. That Wilderness fignifies wholly uninhabited or uncultivated, or where there are no Habitations, Sheep-folds, Paftures, and Waters, fo thofe who are in Vastation with refpect to Good, and in Defolation with refpect to Truth, appears alfo from the Word; this Wildernefs is predicated in a double Senfe, namely, of those who are afterwards reformed and of those who cannot be reformed; of thofe 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 wenteft after me "in the Wilderness, in a Land that was not fown," ii. 2. where the Prophet fpeaks of Jerufalem, which there is the Antient Church which was the fpiritual. In Mofes, "For Jehovah's Portion is his People; Jacob is the "Lot of his Inheritance. He found him in a defart Land, and in the "waste and howling Wilderness he led him about, he inftructed 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 Pfalmift fpeaks of those who are in the Defolation of Truth and are reformed. In Ezekiel, "And I will bring 86 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 likewife treats of the Vastation and Defolation of those who are reformed. The Sojournings and Wandrings of the People of Ifrael in the Wilderness, fignified nothing more than the Vastation and Defolation of the Faithful before their Reformation, and fo their Temptation, juft as it is when they are in fpiritual Temptations, they are in Vastation and Defolation, as may likewife appear from thefe 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 fhalt remember all the Way which Jehovah thy "God led thee thefe forty Years in the Wilderness, to humble thee, and to 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 kneweft 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

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Jehovah doth Man live," Deut. viii, 2, 3. And farther, "Who led thee

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"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 Vaftation and Defolation, fuch as they are in who are in Temptations; by their Journeyings and Wanderings forty Years in the Wilderness, is defcribed every State of the Church militant when it finks under its own Burden, but conquers by the Lord. By the Woman who fled into the Wilderness in John, nothing more is fignified than the Trial of the Church, of which thus, "The Woman, who had brought forth a Man"child, fled into the Wilderness, where he hath a Place prepared of God. "And to the Woman were given two Wings of a great Eagle, that she might fly into the Wilderness, into her Place. And the Serpent caft out "of his Mouth Water as a Flood, after the Woman, that he might cause her "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 caft 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 Isaiah, “ I make the Rivers a Wilderness; their Fish ftinketh because "there is no Water, and dieth for Thirst. I cloath the Heavens with Black"nefs," 1. 2, 3. In the fame, " Thy holy Cities are a Wilderness, Zion is "a Wilderness, Jerufalem a Defolation," lxiv. 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 "Paftors have deftroyed my Vineyard, they have troden my Portion "under Foot, they have made my pleasant Portion a defolate Wilderness. "They have made it defolate, 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, II, 12. In Joel, "The Fire hath devoured the Paftures of the Wilderness, and "the Flame hath burnt all the Trees of the Field. The Rivers of Waters are "dried up, and the Fire bath devoured the Paftures of the Wilderness," i. 19,

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20.

In Ifaiab, "That made the World as a Wilderness, and destroyed the "Cities thereof," xiv. 17. where the Prophet speaks of Lucifer. In the fame, "The Burden of the Defart of the Sea. As Whirlwinds in the South, pafs "through; fo it cometh from the Defart from a terrible Land," xxi. 1, and following. The Defart of the Sea is put for Truths defolated by Scientifics and Reasonings from thence; from thefe Things it may appear what is fignified by that which is faid of John the Baptift, by Ifaiak, The Voice of one crying in the Wilderness, prepare ye the Way of the Lord, make his Paths "ftrait," 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,