1066. That 'from them the whole earth was overspread' means that from these three all doctrines have been derived, both true and false, is clear from the meaning of 'the earth'. In the Word 'the earth' has various meanings. In the universal sense it stands for the place or region where the Church is or once was, for example, the land of Canaan, the land of Judah, the land of Israel. It thus stands in that universal sense for every member of the Church, for a land takes its name from the people who inhabit it, as is also well known from everyday speech. In ancient times therefore when people spoke of 'the whole earth' they did not mean every land throughout the world but only that part of the earth where the Church existed, and so the Church itself, as becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

Jehovah is emptying the earth, the earth will be utterly emptied. The earth will mourn and be turned upside down. And the earth will be polluted under its inhabitants. Therefore a curse will devour the earth, therefore the inhabitants of the earth will be scorched and few men left. The floodgates from on high have been opened, and the foundations of the earth have been shaken. The earth has been utterly broken. The earth has been utterly rent asunder. The earth is violently shaken. The earth staggers altogether like a drunken man, and sways to and fro like a hut. Its transgression will lie heavily upon it, and it will fall, and it will not rise again. Isaiah 24:1, 3-6, 18-21.

'Earth' stands for the people inhabiting it, in particular the people of the Church, and so stands for the Church itself, and the things that are the Church's that have been vastated. These when being vastated are spoken of as 'being emptied', 'being shaken', 'staggering like a drunken man', 'swaying', 'falling and not rising'.

[2] That 'earth' or 'land' means man, and consequently the Church which is made up of men, is seen in Malachi,

All the nations will declare you blessed, for you will be a land of delight. Malachi 3:12.

That 'the earth' stands for the Church is seen in Isaiah,

Do you not understand the foundations of the earth? Isaiah 40:21.

Here 'foundations of the earth' stands for the foundations of the Church. In the same prophet,

Behold I am creating new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1.

'New heavens and a new earth' stands for the Lord's kingdom and the Church. In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.

'Earth' stands for the Church, as in earlier chapters,

In the beginning God created heaven and earth. Genesis 1:1.

The heavens and the earth were finished. Genesis 2:1.

These are the generations of heaven and earth. Genesis 2:4.

In each instance 'earth' stands for the Church being 'created', 'formed', and 'made'. In Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened. Joel 2:10.

'Earth' stands for the Church, and for the things that are the Church's. When these things are being vastated, 'heaven and earth' are said to quake, 'the sun and moon' to grow dark, that is, love and faith.

[3] In Jeremiah,

I looked to the earth, when behold, that which is void and empty; and to the heavens, and they had no light. Jeremiah 4:23.

Here 'the earth' plainly stands for the person who does not have anything of the Church within him. In the same prophet,

The whole earth will be desolate, yet I will not bring it to a close. For this the earth will mourn and the heavens be black. Jeremiah 4:27, 18.

Here likewise the Church is meant, whose exterior things are 'the earth' and interior 'the heavens'. These are referred to as 'being black and having no light' when there is no longer any wisdom arising from good or intelligence from truth. In that case the earth is also 'void and empty', as is the member of the Church who ought to be an embodiment of the Church. That 'the whole earth' is also used in other places to mean the Church alone is seen in Daniel,

The fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth, which will be different from all the kingdoms and will devour the whole earth, and trample it down, and break it in pieces. Daniel 7:23.

'The whole earth' stands for the Church and for the things that are the Church's; for the Word does not deal, as secular authors do, with the powers of monarchs, but with sacred matters, and with states of the Church, which are meant by 'kingdoms of the earth'.

[4] In Jeremiah,

A great tempest will be raised up from the sides of the earth, and the slain ¹ of Jehovah on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. Jeremiah 25:32, 33.

Here 'from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth' stands for the Church and for everything that is the Church's. In Isaiah,

The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they burst into cries of joy. Isaiah 14:7.

Here 'the whole earth' stands for the Church.

In Ezekiel,

As the whole earth rejoices. Ezekiel 35:14.

Here too 'the whole earth' stands for the Church.

In Isaiah,

I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Isaiah 54:9.

Here 'the earth' stands for the Church since the Church is the subject here. Because in the Word the earth means the Church it also means what is not the Church, for every such expression has a contrary or opposite sense. This applies, for example, to the various lands of the gentiles, in general to all lands outside the land of Canaan. 'Land' also stands therefore for the people and for the individual outside of the Church, and from this for the external man - for his will, for his proprium, and so on.

[5] In the Word 'earth' rarely stands for the whole world except when it is used to mean the state of the whole human race, whether of the Church or not of the Church. And because the earth includes the ground, which also means the Church, and the ground includes the field, the expression 'earth', entailing many things, has many meanings. But what it means is evident from the subject under discussion to which it refers. From this it now becomes clear that here 'the whole earth was overspread by the sons of Noah' does not mean the whole world, that is, the whole human race, but all doctrines, both true and false, which Churches possessed.

Bilješke:

110. Which is in the midst of the paradise of God. That this signifies that all knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth in heaven and in the church, look thither and proceed thence, is evident from the signification of the midst, as being the centre to which all things in the circumference look, and from which they proceed (concerning which see above, n. 97): and from the signification of paradise, as being the knowledges of good and truth, and intelligence therefrom (concerning which see Arcana Coelestia 100, 108, 1588, 2702, 3220). And because these things are signified by paradise, therefore by the paradise of God is signified heaven, and because heaven is signified, the church also is signified; for the church is the Lord's heaven on earth; these are called the paradise of God, because the Lord is in the midst thereof, and from Him are all intelligence and wisdom. Because hitherto it has not been known that all things in the Word are written by correspondences, and consequently that spiritual things are involved in the most minute things there related, it is believed that, by the paradise treated of in the second chapter of Genesis, is meant a paradisiacal garden, whereas no terrestrial paradise is there meant, but a heavenly paradise, which those possess who have intelligence and wisdom from the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth (see above, n.109, and in the work, Heaven and Hell 176, 185).

[2] It is therefore evident, not only what is signified by paradise, or the garden of Eden, but also by the paradises, or gardens of God, mentioned in other parts of the Word; as in Isaiah:

"Jehovah will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her waste places, so that he will make her wilderness into Eden, and her desert into the garden of Jehovah: joy and gladness shall be found therein" (51:3).

In Ezekiel:

"Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone thy covering" (28:13).

These things are said concerning Tyre, because by Tyre in the Word is signified the church which is in the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, and thence in intelligence (see Arcana Coelestia 1201). Its intelligence derived therefrom is signified by Eden, the garden of God, also by every precious stone of which was his covering (see Arcana Coelestia 114, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873). In the same:

"Behold, Asshur a cedar in Lebanon. The cedars did not hide it in the garden of God; nor any tree in the garden of God was equal to it in beauty. I have made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches; and all the trees of Eden in the garden of God, envied it" (31:3, 8, 9).

By Asshur in the Word are meant those who have become rational by the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, thus whose minds are enlightened from heaven. (That Asshur denotes man's Rational may be seen,Arcana Coelestia 119, 1186.)

[3] Something shalt here be said to explain, how it is to be understood that all knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth have regard to the good of love to the Lord, and also that they thence proceed; which things are signified by the words: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." The good of love to the Lord is the Lord Himself because the Lord is in the good of His own love with men, spirits, and angels.

That all knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth look to this, or to the Lord, is known in the Christian Church; for the doctrine of the church teaches that without the Lord there is no salvation; and also, that all salvation is in the Lord; the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, or doctrinals from the Word, teach how man may come to God, and be conjoined to Him. (That no one can be conjoined to God except from the Lord, and in the Lord, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, 283, 296.) It is therefore evident that all things which the church teaches from the Word, have regard to the Lord and to love to Him, as the end to which they are all directed. That all knowledges of good and truth, or doctrinals from the Word, proceed from the Lord, is also known in the church; for it is taught in the church that everything of love and of faith is from heaven, and nothing from man, and also that no one can love God and believe in Him from himself. To love God and to believe in Him, involve all those things that the church teaches, which are called doctrinals and knowledges (cognitiones), because it is from these that He is loved and believed in. Love and faith are not granted to man without previous knowledges (cognitiones); for without the latter man would be empty.

[4] From these considerations it follows, that as everything of love and of faith proceeds from the Lord, so also all the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, which constitute and form love and faith, proceed from Him, because all these knowledges look to the Lord, and proceed from Him; and this is what is signified by the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God; therefore, all the trees in the paradise are called trees of life, and trees of Jehovah. Thus, in the Apocalypse they are called trees of life:

"In the midst of the street of it, and of the river going out from the throne of God and the Lamb, on this side and on that side, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve fruits" (22:1, 2);

and "trees of Jehovah" in David:

"The trees of Jehovah are full of sap, and the cedars of Lebanon which he hath planted" (Psalms 104:16).

It is therefore clear that by the tree of life in the midst of paradise, is meant every tree there, that is, every man, in the midst of whom, that is, in whom, is the Lord. From these considerations, and those adduced in the preceding article, it may be known what is signified by the statement, that to him that overcometh the Lord will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.