the evils of his own heart, against which he must struggle. So, when the Lord says, "If any one come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple."[1] Here it is plain that the words are to be understood only in a spiritual sense: no one, surely, is required to hate the members of his own family, in order to love the Lord. But all these several terms of relationship signify the various natural evils and false principles existing in every unregenerate mind, which are banded together in a kind of household relationship.
So in the text. By "wife, man-servant, and maidservant, ox, and ass," are signified the principles and affections of man's own mind. But here the terms are used in a good sense. By wife is signified the affection of good and truth spiritual; by man-servant and maid-servant are signified the affection of good and truth rational, serving the spiritual (for man's rational mind or reason is intended to be subservient, not opposed, to his spiritual mind); and by the ox and the ass are signified the affection of good and truth natural (for animals, especially beasts of burden, are representatives of thoughts and affections in the natural mind, which are intended to serve both the rational and spiritual). Such is the signification of the terms used in the text.
This being understood, then it will be seen that by coveting these, namely, a man's wife, man-servant, &c, is signified, in the spiritual sense, a desire to get
