All these actions that the Philistines undertook on the recommenda-
tion of their diviners were correspondences. This clearly shows that the
study of correspondences was preserved for a long time among people
outside the church.204 Over the course of time, the early church’s symbolic rituals, which
were correspondences, began to turn into idolatry and even magic.
Therefore in the Lord’s divine providence the study of correspondences
was gradually lost.
For the Israelite and Jewish nation, the study of correspondences was
completely wiped out. Their worship did indeed consist entirely of corre-
spondences and therefore it portrayed heavenly things, but they had no
idea what anything in their worship meant. They were completely
earthly people who did not want to know and could not know anything
about what is spiritual and heavenly, or anything about correspondences
for that matter, since correspondences are earthly symbols of spiritual
and heavenly things.
205 Among people outside the church in early times, the study of corre-
spondences led to forms of idolatry because all things that are visible on
earth have a correspondence—not only trees but also animals and birds
of every kind, as well as fish, and everything else. Early people involved
in the study of correspondences made images that corresponded to
things in heaven. They enjoyed these images because the images stood
for things related to heaven and the church. They placed these images
not only in their temples but also in their homes, not in order to worship
them but to be reminded of the heavenly things they meant. In Egypt
and elsewhere there were images of calves, oxen, and snakes, as well as
children, old people, and young women, because calves and oxen meant
the emotions and forces in the earthly self; snakes meant prudence but
also the deceitfulness of the senses; children meant innocence and good-
will; old people meant wisdom; and young women meant types of love
for the truth; and so on.
When the study of correspondences was wiped out, later generations
began worshiping the images and statues erected by the early people.
They worshiped them first as sacred objects and then as deities, since
they found them in and around temples.
Because of the study of correspondences, the early people had also
worshiped in gardens and groves, depending on which species of trees
were there. They also worshiped on mountains and hills. Gardens and
groves meant wisdom and intelligence; and every tree meant some aspect