498. 'And to smite the land with every plague as often as they will' signifies that those who wish to destroy these two Essentials of the New Church hurl themselves into evils and untruths of every kind as often and as much as they do so. By 'the land' the Church is signified (n. 285); and by 'a plague' evil and untruth (n. 456). Consequently by to smite the land with every plague' is signified to put an end to the Church with evils and untruths of every kind. But this is to be understood as the former passage was, namely, that those who wish to smite these two Essentials of the New Church with a plague, that is, destroy them, which is done as the result of evil by means of untruths, will cast themselves into evils and untruths of every kind. And because the natural sense is inverted in this manner while it is becoming spiritual, therefore also this expression, 'as often as they will', is inverted into this, 'as often and as much as they do so'. This is because, in so far as any one destroys these two Essentials, so far he is destroying the truths of the Word, and in so far as he destroys the truths of the Word, so far he hurls himself into evils and untruths; for these two Essentials are the truths of the Word, as can be manifestly established out of THE TWO DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, the one concerning THE LORD, and the other which is called THE DOCTRINE OF LIFE DERIVED FROM THE PRECEPTS OF THE DECALOGUE. This statement, that the witnesses 'have power to smite the land with every plague as often as they will', is similar to many in the Word, which attribute to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, that He smites men with a plague and that this is of His will, when yet it should be understood that He does not smite and that it is not of His will, as in Zechariah:-