9070. 'And if the ox has been accustomed to gore in the past' means if the affection for evil has existed for a long time. This is clear from the meaning of 'an ox accustomed to gore' as an affection for evil, dealt with above in 9065; and from the meaning of 'in the past' as the previous state and time, dealt with in 6983, 7114, thus that which has existed previously and for a long time.

491. The same things are signified by “sons” and “daughters” in this chapter (verses 4, 7, 10, 13, 16, 19, 26, 30), but such as is the church, such are the “sons and daughters” that is, such are the goods and truths; the truths and goods here spoken of are such as were distinctly perceived, because they are predicated of the Most Ancient Church, the principal and parent of all the other and succeeding churches.