Doc. of Faith (Potts) n. 52

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52. That those who are in faith separated from charity were represented by the Philistines, is evident not only from their wars with the sons of Israel, but also from many other things recorded about them in the Word, such as that about Dagon their idol, and about the hemorrhoids and mice with which they were smitten and infested for placing the ark in the temple of their idol, and from other things occurring at the same time, as recorded in 1 Sam. 5 and 6; and likewise from what is said about Goliath, who was a Philistine, and was slain by David, as related in 1 Sam. 17. For Dagon from the navel upward was like a man, and below was like a fish, and thus represented their religion, in that from faith it was as it were spiritual, but was merely natural from having no charity. The "hemorrhoids" with which they were smitten, signified their filthy loves. The "mice" by which they were infested, signified the devastation of the church through falsifications of truth. And "Goliath" whom David slew, represented their conceit of self-intelligence.


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