1242. That by the two sons of Eber, who were named Peleg and Joktan, the two kinds of worship of that church, internal and external, are signified-by Peleg the internal worship and by Joktan the external worship-is evident especially from this, that in the internal sense this second Ancient Church is signified by Eber and the Hebrew nation, and that in every church there is an internal and an external. For without the internal it is not and cannot be called a church, but an idolatry. Therefore, “sons” being here predicated of the church, it is evident that by one son the internal of the church is signified, and by the other the external; as in various other places in the Word; and as is signified by Adah and Zillah, the two wives of Lamech (see n. 409); by Leah and Rachel; by Jacob and Israel, of whom hereafter; and by others. The posterity of Joktan is treated of in this chapter; that of Peleg in the following chapter.

409. The case was the same with the heresy called “Cain” which in process of time was vastated, for although it acknowledged love, yet it made faith the chief and set it before love, and the heresies derived from this one gradually wandered from it, and Lamech, who was the sixth in order, altogether denied even faith. When this time arrived, a new light, or morning, shone forth, and a new church was made which is here named “Adah and Zillah” who are called the “wives of Lamech.” They are called the wives of Lamech, although he possessed no faith, just as the internal and external church of the Jews, who also had no faith, are also in the Word called “wives” being represented by Leah and Rachel, the two wives of Jacob-Leah representing the external church and Rachel the internal. These churches, although they appear like two, are yet only one; for the external or representative, separate from the internal, is but as something idolatrous, or dead, whereas the internal together with the external constitute a church, and even one and the same church, as Adah and Zillah do here. As however Jacob and his posterity, like Lamech, had no faith, the church could not remain with them, but was transferred to the Gentiles, who lived not in infidelity but in ignorance. The church rarely, if ever, remains with those who when vastated have truths among them [apud se] but is transferred to those who know nothing at all of truths, for these embrace the faith much more easily than the former.