fancieth it to be a bird, and goeth to catch it, and take it up in his hand, and doth not discover his mistake till he is pierced with its deadly sting. They may likewise be compared with a cormorant, or a kite, spying a small part of a fish's back above the surface of the water, to which they instantly fly, and fix their beaks so fast therein, that they are pulled over head by the fish, and drowned. They are also like a person who enters into a labyrinth, without either a guide or a thread for his direction, the consequence of which is, that the farther he penetrates, the more he is at a loss to find his way out again. In fine, the man who readeth the word, not under the Lord's influence, but under the influence of his own understanding, fancieth himself to be as quick-sighted as a lynx, and to have more eyes than Argus, when yet interiorly he does not discern a single truth, but only what is false, and persuading himself that this is truth, it appears to him like the polar star, by which he steereth, and to which he directeth all the sails of thought and conception, till at length he hath no more discernment of truth than a mole, and what he doth discern he bendeth in favour of his own fancy, whereby he perverteth, and falsifieth the holy things of the word.
There are general, and also particular essentials of every one thing, which all together constitute one essence. The general essentials of every one man are his soul, body, and operation; and that these constitute one essence is evident from this circumstance, that one existeth by derivation from the other, and for the sake of the other, in a continued series; for man hath his beginning from the soul, which is the very
