55. But what vastation is, and whence it arose with the people of the Israelitish church, may be gathered from the passages in the Prophets where it is mentioned, which shall, therefore, be adduced therefrom in abundance. It must be premised, that, in the following and the subsequent passages from the Word, by "land" is signified the Church, because the land of Canaan is meant, in which the Church was; by "Zion," the Church as to the Word; by "Jerusalem," the Church as to doctrine from the Word; by the "cities" in that land, doctrinals; by the "mountains," "hills," "valleys," and "rivers," the formalities of the Church; and by the territories there, the general things of the Church, and these according to the representation of the tribe by which they were possessed.