2040. Verse 11. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you. “Ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin,” signifies the removal of the love of self and of the world; “and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and you,” signifies a representative and significative of purity.

694. As heaven from the Lord, through mutual love, constitutes as it were one man, and one soul, and thus has regard to one end, which is the conservation and salvation of all to eternity, so, on the other hand, hell, from man’s Own, through the love of self and of the world, that is, through hatred, constitutes one devil and one mind [animus], and thus also has regard to one end, which is the destruction and damnation of all to eternity. That such is their endeavor has been perceived thousands and thousands of times, so that unless the Lord preserved all every instant, they would perish.