Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 403

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403. From these quotations it is clear what 'a city' means. But because everything is put together as history, what else can people who are confined to the sense of the letter see than the idea that Cain built a city and called it Enoch? Yet even they from the sense of the letter must suppose that the earth was already populated, notwithstanding what is said about Cain being Adam' s firstborn. The historical sequence of events implies this. But as stated already, it was the custom among the most ancient people to convert all things into representative types and then arrange them as history. And to them this was something supremely delightful. When they did this everything they saw was seemingly alive.


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