808. 'He wiped out every being' ¹ means the desires which belong to self-love. This is clear from what follows where they are described by means of representatives. 'Substance' has reference to things of the will, for it is from the will that all things with man originate, that is, come into being and remain in being. The will is man's very being, or the person himself. The desires of the people before the Flood were those belonging to self-love. Actually there are two very general kinds of evil desires, the first kind being those of self-love, the second those of love of the world. The object of man's desire being nothing other than what he loves, desires therefore belong to love. With the people before the Flood self-love reigned and consequently the desires belonging to it. In fact they so loved themselves that they imagined they were gods, and acknowledged no other god superior to themselves. And they persuaded themselves that this was so.

V: