Arcana Coelestia volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

ARCANA COELESTIA 139by, “Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of lives,and eat, and live to eternity” (verse 22).284. Of the fifth posterity, which was deprived of all good andtruth, and was reduced to the state in which they had been previousto regeneration, which is meant by his being “sent forth out of thegarden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken” (verse23).285. Of the sixth and seventh posterities, in that they weredeprived of all memory-knowledge of what is good and true, andwere left to their own filthy loves and persuasions; this beingprovided lest they should profane the holy things of faith, which issignified by his being “driven out, and cherubim being made todwell at the garden, with the flame of a sword, to keep the way ofthe tree of lives” (verse 24).THE INTERNAL SENSE286. This and the preceding chapters, down to the verses nowunder consideration, treat of the most ancient people and of theirregeneration; first, of those who lived like wild animals, but atlength became spiritual men; then of those who became celestialmen, and constituted the most ancient church; afterwards of thosewho fell away, and their descendants, in regular order through thefirst, second, and third posterities and their successors, down to theflood. In the verses following, which conclude the chapter, we havea recapitulation of what occurred from the period when the man ofthe most ancient church was formed, until the flood; thus it is aconclusion to all that goes before.287. Verse 20. And the man called his wife’s name Eve, because shewas the mother of all living. By the “man” [homo] is here meant theman of the most ancient church, or the celestial man, and by the